``We recognize the tremendous demand for a Baldur's Gate game on PlayStation 2,'' stated Feargus Urquhart, Black Isle Studios Division Director. ``We're totally committed to making Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance a completely original experience that both console gamers and RPG fans will enjoy.''

While maintaining the flair of the original games, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance will be an entirely new action adventure experience opening the Baldur's Gate franchise to a much wider gaming community. Faithful adaptation of the new Dungeons & Dragons rules set, customizable player characters and character development allows for an engrossing gameplay experience new to console gamers. Dramatic new spell effects and powerful new abilities have been included to add to the flavor of the action-packed game and assist the player in combat against the terrifying monsters found in the adventure.

``We are developing the game from the ground up to take full advantage of the sophisticated PlayStation 2 technology,'' stated Ryan Geithman, Director of Snowblind Studios. ``Our goal is to push the hardware to its limits thus creating stunning environmental effects and highly detailed characters never before seen on the console.''

Played from a third person perspective Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance immerses players in the port town of Baldur's Gate. Darkness has fallen upon the town and rumors of a Thieves' Guild civil war brew beneath the streets of the city. Entering this desperate situation, the player finds himself fresh to the city of Baldur's Gate and new to the world of adventuring. He soon learns that he stands in the way of one of the greatest threats ever to strike the town of Baldur's Gate and The Sword Coast.

Debuting in 1998, the Baldur's Gate franchise redefined the role-playing genre and has since dominated the PC Game charts generating sales of over 3.5 million units worldwide. The franchise continues to receive accolades from press and pundits around the world. In fact, Black Isle Studios has been presented the RPG of the Year award from Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer for the last three years running. Top computer gaming magazines, Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer have also offered RPG of the Year nods for Baldur's Gate in 1998 and BG II in 2000 as have the popular computer gaming-oriented online sites GameSpot and IGN. Additionally, Computer Games, Computer Games Online, Imagine Games Network and Vault Network named Baldur's Gate Game of the Year for 1998, while leading websites MSNBC.com and Gamespot named Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Game of the Year for 2000, an honor rarely bestowed upon role-playing games.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is due to ship fall of 2001 for PlayStation 2. More comprehensive information can be found on the official Black Isle web site, located at http://www.blackisle.com.

Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro (NYSE: HAS - news) and the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, is a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation's largest specialty game retail chains. Producing both the Pokemon(TM) and world's best-selling Magic: The Gathering® trading card games, the company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanic of trading card games. Publisher of adventure games such as the classic Dungeons & Dragons games, family card and board games and electronic media products, Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world's leading fantasy and science fiction book publishers. The company's retail locations, many of which provide game-play areas, include a growing chain of Wizards of the Coast® specialty game retail stores as well as 53 The Game Keeper® stores. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, London and Beijing. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the company's web site and electronic retail store at http://www.wizards.com.

Black Isle Studios is a division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., a leading developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for both core gamers and the mass market. Interplay currently balances its development efforts by publishing for personal computers and current generation video game consoles. Interplay releases products through Interplay, Shiny Entertainment, Digital Mayhem, Black Isle Studios, 14 Degrees East, its distribution partners and its wholly owned subsidiary Interplay OEM, Inc. More comprehensive information on Black Isle Studios, Interplay and its products is available through its worldwide web sites at http://www.blackisle.com or http://www.interplay.com. For investor relations' inquiries, please contact Patrick Sutton (pat@liolios.com) or Christopher Rosgen (chris@liolios.com) at Liolios Group, Inc. (949) 574-3860.

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For further information please contact Lisa Bucek of Interplay Entertainment Corp., 949-553-6655, lbucek@interplay.com.

SOURCE: Interplay Entertainment Corp.