Ubi Soft Entertainment - Press News

UBI SOFT'S POD BRINGS NEW POWERS TO INTERNET, MULTI-PLAYER GAMING

Features Mix-and-Match Options for Linking up to Eight Simultaneous Players, Anti-Latency Engineering, Free Matchmaking Service and More!

San Francisco, CA, January 15th, 1997 -- Cyberspace game play is about to take a mega-leap forward with POD, a new CD-ROM sci-fi racing game from Ubi Soft Entertainment with far-reaching Internet capabilities ranging from new linking options for multi-player gaming to new technology that conquers the latency problems frequently experienced by online gamers.

Set on a futuristic planet where a cancerous green fungus called POD is rapidly destroying everything in its path, POD will be the first game on the market with the option of bringing together up to eight simultaneous players in any mix of computing environments. For the first time in gaming history, players will mix and match their linking options over the Internet, local area network, modem or two-computer direct link connection.

Example: Two people playing in split-screen mode on the same computer will be able to link up with a friend in another city by calling the IP number of a designated server, and that friend will be able to link to other gamers in his company over his corporate LAN. The entire group will be able to hurtle around PODs tracks at intense speeds in a fierce contest to determine who will escape before the planet explodes.

Pre-calculated car movements have been integrated directly into the game engine, permitting smaller packets of information to be transmitted when the game is being played over the Internet. This will result in smooth movements and eliminate system jumping for a more enjoyable gaming experience, altogether surmounting the entire latency issue.

A free matchmaking service called POD-NET that can be accessed direct from the POD CD or from the Ubi Soft Web site will enable players to find opponents for Internet-based POD sessions whenever they have no one to play with. The site's virtual game room will also give users the ability to download ghosts from other games, upload their own ghosts if they qualify for the POD Hall of Fame, chat with other POD gamers, read the latest POD news and view a ranking of all competitors.

Other Internet features include automatic e-mails that will alert players to new developments and a customized POD Web page for each player that will track that gamer's score, suggest new playing strategies and advise him of online tournament opportunities. Future embellishments will add the ability to download or upload new tracks or cars, or download the tools needed to design a new track or car.

The game also features stunning 3-D environments, 16 tracks, several hidden bonus tracks and three levels of difficulty.

Preview editions of POD will debut in February as a featured game on new computer systems incorporating Intel's new MMX chip. The full retail version will be available for sale as a hybrid MMX/Pentium CD-ROM on April 1, 1997. For more information, contact Ubi Soft at 415/547-4000 or 800-UBI-SOFT.

# # # Ubi Soft Entertainment, a $50 million European-based software publishing and distribution company, was founded in 1986 in France. Ubi Soft entered the software development arena in 1991 after its continued success in software distribution, representing 35% of all entertainment software to the French market. In addition to its U.S. offices in California and its headquarters in France, Ubi Soft has offices in Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy, England and China.

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