Cavedog Entertainment - Press News - Coming Soon Magazine

Cavedog Entertainment Ships 250,000 Total Annihilation Games Worldwide in First Month;
Delivers Simultaneous Release in Three Languages and 14 Countries

Cavedog Entertainment Gives Gamers an Unprecedented Treat: Total Annihilation's First Free Battle Reinforcement Hits World Wide Web Nov. 14

Seattle, WA, October 30, 1997 -- Total Annihilation, Cavedog Entertainment's groundbreaking 3-D real-time strategy game, was simultaneously launched in three languages and 14 countries on September 27, blasting more than 250,000 games into retail stores during its first month of release. Now, Cavedog Entertainment is delivering an unprecedented treat for gamers by unleashing its first free weekly downloadable battle unit for Total Annihilation from https://www.cavedog.com on Nov. 14.

"Now, Total Annihilation's nonstop action expands weekly, and each new unit delivers more exciting challenges, strategies and game play possibilities," said Cavedog Entertainment founder and creative director Ron Gilbert.

Red Hot New Battle Units

Total Annihilation, with its 150 run-time 3-D articulated units, 50 explosive missions, ultrarealistic 3-D terrains, advanced multiplayer capabilities, and an original music score featuring a 95-piece symphony orchestra, is about to get even better. Each new Arm or Core unit seamlessly integrates into single player, Internet or LAN multiplayer combat. The first downloadable reinforcements available from https://www.cavedog.com are:

Nov. 14: "Flakker" Antiaircraft Flak Gun (Arm) - Defends against massive Core bomber and fighter raids when missiles aren't enough.

Nov. 21: "Toaster" Pop-Up Heavy Cannon (Core) - Have a blast surprising your enemy with this fun loving unit at the last second.

Nov. 28: "Defender NS" Naval Series Missile Tower (Arm) - When land is a problem, wallpaper the ocean with this anti-aircraft defense system.

Dec. 5: "Spoiler" Mine-Laying Vehicle (Core) - Turn a beautiful countryside into hell's half-acre.

Total International Phenomenon

English, French and German language versions of Total Annihilation simultaneously launched in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. By Nov. 1, Total Annihilation will launch in Brazil, Israel, Korea and Taiwan. Localized Italian, Japanese and Spanish language versions of Total Annihilation will also soon be available.

New Critical Acclaim

Internet gamers have avidly embraced the award-winning Total Annihilation CD-ROM. Within a mere four days of its Oct. 14 debut on the Total Entertainment Network (TEN), Total Annihilation shot to the top of the charts to become the No. 1 game on TEN with the most simultaneous users. In addition, enthusiastic players have created more than 35 fan Web sites dedicated to Total Annihilation plus a USENET newsgroup alt.games.total-annihil.

Total Annihilation's latest raves include The Washington Post's Oct. 10 review which said, "There is a ton of real-time strategy games, all out to eat Command & Conquer's lunch, but Total Annihilation is the only one of them you need to buy this year." In October, GamePen proclaimed, "Total Annihilation is the best multiplayer real-time strategy game out. Period."

Commitment to Retail

Cavedog Entertainment is aggressively supporting Total Annihilation at retail with personal demonstrations and prize drawings at hundreds of computer specialty stores throughout the United States in November and December. National and regional Total Annihilation feature ads are being run with key retailers and supported with in-store endcap product displays.

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Cavedog Entertainment, based in the Seattle area, was created in 1995 by Ron Gilbert and a team of the game industry's best designers, programmers and artists, to explore interactive gaming and create new standards of fun. In 1997, Computer Gaming World and GameSpot proclaimed Ron Gilbert to be one of "the 15 most influential people of all time." Gilbert previously spent eight years at LucasArts Entertainment, where he designed such classic games as Maniac Mansion and the Monkey Island series. Both games have won numerous awards and appeared in PC Games' Top Eight Most Influential Games of All Time list. Chris Taylor, creator and lead designer of Total Annihilation, is an award-winning game designer responsible for such hit titles as Triple Play Baseball, Hardball II and 4D Sports Boxing. Industry accolades include the Software Publishers Association Sports Game of the Year Award. Cavedog Entertainment is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GT Interactive Software Corp. (NASDAQ: GTIS).

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