Ritualistic

Ritual Gets Game License for Sequel to Cult Classic Film, "Heavy Metal"; The Gathering to Publish and Distribute Title

Hard-core action lives on with today's announcement that Gathering of Developers will publish and distribute Ritual Entertainment's PC game, Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 (Federation Assigned Ketogenic Killzone). The game, based on the upcoming sequel to the explosive and groundbreaking animated film, Heavy Metal, will launch with the movie in late Summer 1999. The Gathering, a developer-driven computer and video game publishing company, is planning for an aggressive co-marketing push. Ritual Entertainment, a founding partner of The Gathering, was granted the license for the game from Kevin Eastman's Heavy Metal Entertainment.

Eastman, who co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, serves as the creative director on behalf of Heavy Metal Entertainment. The film will feature conceptual character art and style by world-renowned British artist Simon Bisley and is being produced by Cinegroupe Animation and Helkon Media. The film will be distributed by Columbia TriStar. Ritual has access to, and use of, all of the film's artwork as well as the movie's soundtrack. With Eastman's blessing and conceptual guidance, the story-line behind Ritual's game picks up as a sequel to where the movie leaves off. "We've all been fans of Heavy Metal, Julie Strain, Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley for some time and it's an incredible honor to create the F.A.K.K.2 game," said Robert Atkins, Ritual Entertainment co-founder. "It's great working with Kevin who has given us carte blanche to add our own slant to the already twisted Heavy Metal Universe. We really have been given a special opportunity to create something unique and entertaining." "We are extremely enthusiastic about working with Ritual on the F.A.K.K.2 game and are taking a new approach to a license by giving Ritual free reign over designing the game," said Eastman. "Ritual has impressed us immensely with its designing strength, creativity and vision for F.A.K.K.2." The game will be designed around a cutting-edge next-generation gaming engine which creates extremely detailed indoor and outdoor surface renderings and settings, resulting in extremely immersive environments. Ritual and The Gathering will showcase the game at the Fall 1998 European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) in London.

The original Heavy Metal movie brought eleven animated stories by some of the world's finest animators and technicians to the silver screen. Ivan Reitman produced the movie which featured the voice of the late John Candy and a soundtrack with artists such as Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Devo and Sammy Hagar. The movie netted more than $20 million in the box office in 1981 and sold over a million copies when it was released on video in 1996."The unique approach that Eastman and Ritual have agreed upon for F.A.K.K.2 will significantly change the industry's perception and expectations of licensed properties," said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gathering of Developers. "This relationship is representative of an ideal synergism that can be worked out between the interactive entertainment industry and Hollywood." Ritual Entertainment, founded in August 1996, develops hyper-immersive computer games. Based in Dallas, TX, members of Ritual's talented team have worked on some of the industry's most successful games including Duke Nukem 3D, Terminal Velocity, Links LS and Rise of the Triad. The company's first title, developed in conjunction with id Software, was QUAKE Mission Pack No.1: Scourge of Armagon, which won "Best Add-On of the Year for 1997" from Computer Gaming World and PC Games magazine. Ritual is currently developing it's 3D action game SiN. Ritual can be found on the Web at http://www.ritual.com Founded in Dallas, TX in December 1997, Gathering of Developers is a developer-driven computer and video game publishing company. The company's mission is to be the worldwide leader in the development and delivery of commercially successful computer game software designed for a range of platforms. The company's pioneering partners are industry leaders and proven hit makers 3D Realms, Epic MegaGames, PopTop Software, Ritual Entertainment, Terminal Reality Inc and Edge of Reality. For more information visit Gathering of Developers Web site at http://www.godgames.com.

Heavy Metal and FAKK2 are trademarks of Metal Mammoth, Inc. For Heavy Metal: FAKK2 licensing information contact Russell Binder at jrothin@aol.com.