Sierra Online and Stainless Steel Studios Interactive Invite Strategy Gamers
to Rub Elbows with the Industry's Best and Brightest
"Empire Earth University" Contest Gives Chance to be a Part of an Epic in
the Making
BELLEVUE, WA (March 2, 2001) - Sierra Online and Stainless Steel Studios
Interactive (SSSI) today announced that three lucky gamers will have an
opportunity to hob-nob with strategy gaming's top talent at "Empire Earth
University" (EEU), a three-day retreat being hosted by the game's designers
to help fine-tune their upcoming epic real-time strategy game due to be
released this Summer.
About the Contest
Beginning today, and running until March 23rd, fans can fill out a contest
entry form at www.empireearth.com. Sierra and SSSI will select three lucky
entrants among those who apply to attend EEU in April. Each winner will
receive a $500 Best Buy gift certificate in addition to the all-expenses
paid trip to SSSI headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the chance to
play Empire Earth with elite real-time strategy players.
About Empire Earth University
Recognizing the need to create a game that appeals to many different types
of gamers, SSSI has invited 27 of real-time strategy gaming's best and
brightest stars to EEU. From Age of Empires® tournament champions, to
award-winning Starcraft scenario designers, these gamers will converge upon
SSSI's headquarters to get an exclusive hands-on preview of Empire Earth.
Participants will play both single and multiplayer scenarios, take part in
tournaments and speak to the game's designers in two weekend sessions in
April.
Attendees include:
Brian "Kleitus" Noonan - An original member of the famous Age of Empires'
Clan Shai'tan, Brian's team dominated their competition and held first place
for half a year on the Age of Empires team ladder. Additionally, Brian
maintained a top-ten standing in MSN Gaming Zone singles play and he won
first place in the Ultimate Ager Tournament. Brian has published Age of
Empires strategy guides at Gamers.com and is currently a member of the
Empire Earth Multiplayer Strike Team.
Jason "The Rasher" Dillman - Jason is a talented and highly-rated scenario
designer who was a finalist in both the Rise of Rome Campaign Design Contest
and the Mongolian Campaign Design Contest, each sponsored by the Age of
Empires Heaven web site. He later won a Scenario Design Contest sponsored
by AOE2.com. Jason is a member of Empire Earth's Scenario Design Strike
Team, which is a group of professional gamers who are helping to develop,
design, and create Empire Earth's single player campaigns.
Ronnie "Jinx" Jenkins - Though Ronnie started playing Age of Kings well
after its release, he quickly established a name for himself by reaching a
2,000 rating on the MSN Gaming Zone. He followed up this feat with a
first-place finish at the BattleTop tournament in New York, earning $4,000.
About Empire Earth
Empire Earth is an epic real-time strategy (RTS) game that covers 500,000
years of human history, from the discovery of fire to the laser battles of
the future. Each player takes control of a fledgling civilization and
strives to forge the greatest of all empires. Rick Goodman, Lead Designer
of the acclaimed game Age of Empires, is poised to catapult the RTS genre
into a bold new era.
Company Backgrounds
Stainless Steel Studios, Inc. headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is
a game design and development organization. Founded in 1998 by Rick
Goodman, lead designer of Microsoft's Age of Empires, SSSI will produce
advanced real-time strategy titles for the new millennium. Goodman was the
winner of the 1998 Computer Game Developer Conference's "Annual Achievement
Award for Game Design and Development."
Sierra On-Line, Inc. http://www.sierra.com/ is one of the original
developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and
productivity software. Sierra is a division of Havas Interactive, a global
leader in interactive content, and is one of the world's largest publishers
of education, entertainment and home productivity software. Its divisions,
Blizzard Entertainment®, Coktel, Knowledge Adventure®, Sierra™ and
Flipside.com™ are famous for releasing critically acclaimed and award
winning titles. Havas Interactive has operations in the US and in Europe and
is a subsidiary of Havas, the publishing and information division of
Vivendi, a world leader in mass market multimedia comunications.