Gaming News - June 2003

Fairfax, VA (June 24, 2003) - Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of the multiple award-winning game Dark Age of Camelot, today released Dark Age of Camelot: Foundations, a downloadable free expansion that adds player and guild housing to the its popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

From Mythic Entertainment:

Foundations brings customizable real estate to Mythic's online world by enabling players and guilds to pick the neighborhood they want to live in, choose the perfect lot, and then select a house style that fits their taste - and budget. They then can decorate, and redecorate, the house's interior and exterior.

In a first for housing systems in online games, the outside garden and yard of houses can be decorated by the player. Hundreds of objects are being made available for decoration, including hedges, flower gardens and stone walls for the garden; and pictures, torches, stuffed animals and furniture for the interior and even more options will be made available through future expansions.

"Mythic is the industry leader in offering its players updates and improvements to the game as part of their subscription service," said Mark Jacobs, President and CEO of Mythic Entertainment. "Foundations demonstrates that commitment now and into the future."

Mythic's new expansion also brings many other new features to the game. Players can now use their homes as private, outdoor markets to sell items to other players by hiring a "consignment merchant" to stand outside their house and hawk their wares - even when the player is offline. Also with Foundations, crafters can open their own home business by purchasing crafting tools to put in their house. Up to four storage vaults - that store up to 100 items each - can be placed in a house's basement; a tenfold increase of available storage space.

Initially, 36,000 housing lots will go up for auction on Mythic's U.S. servers. Lots will be sold through an innovative reverse auction process, which counters the first-come first-serve land grab problems of housing systems in other online games. The price of lots will initially be very high, but step down at steady increments until they reach a set minimum price or the lot is purchased. This innovative reverse auction process allows prices to fluctuate according to location and market demand.

Housing lots are located in special housing zones located in the home area of each Realm that are safe from attack by members of the other realms. Lots are grouped in a series of villages of about ten lots each, with paths connecting villages to one another. There are rivers, lakes, woods, and hills in the peaceful housing zones, which will lead to some lots - such as lakefronts - that will command higher prices than others.

"The reaction to Foundations from our beta testers has been extremely positive," says Walter Yarbrough, Content Producer, Mythic, for the expansion. "But, we're not done - we plan to continue to add content to Foundations over time through regularly downloaded patches, in much the same way as we add content to the regular game."

The Dark Age of Camelot: Foundations expansion is available for download at www.camelotherald.com/housing, as well as on the recently release Dark Age of Camelot: Gold Edition CD and the CD included in the July issue of Computer Gaming World magazine. There are versions of Foundations for both the original Dark Age of Camelot, as well as a version compatible with Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles, the game's first retail expansion.

Dark Age of Camelot and Shrouded Isles were developed by Mythic Entertainment and co-published with Abandon Entertainment.

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