Deal Teams Centropolis Entertainment's Creative Talent With Bethesda's
Technical Expertise
LOS ANGELES (E3, Booth 3918), May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of all the hype surrounding the much-touted Hollywood/high-tech convergence comes one partnership that promises to deliver the steak behind the sizzle. Top Hollywood producers Centropolis Entertainment and award-winning computer game wizards Bethesda today announced a joint partnership to create original computer games. Their first offering, The Tenth Planet, combines Bethesda's new 3-D, Xngine(TM) with the creative cinematic vision of Centropolis.
Centropolis has wowed film audiences with such smash science fiction hits as Stargate and Universal Soldier, and is currently working on the upcoming 20th Century-Fox film, Independence Day. Centropolis principals -- Roland Emmerich, director and co-writer for Stargate, and Dean Devlin, co-writer/producer for Stargate and co-writer for Universal Soldier -- are developing the script for The Tenth Planet. The game is a story of the discovery of a tenth planet in our solar system that is found to have been the cause of numerous "natural disasters" in ancient Earth history -- only there was nothing "natural" about them. Now man must face an unknown foe and defend Earth from a repeat scenario.
Bethesda will offer a sneak preview of The Tenth Planet at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) May 11-13, 1995, Booth 3918.
"What makes this project significant is that with The Tenth Planet, we are not taking an old movie script and trying to shoehorn it into a game. We are creating an original script for the game itself," said Bethesda President Chris Weaver. He also stressed that this association is unique in that it teams the people who will actually be doing the work, rather than just the corporate executives who dreamed up the deal.
"Dean (Devlin) is knowledgeable and passionate about computer games and Roland (Emmerich) has always had a unique cinematic vision that lends itself to the kind of things we do," Weaver said. "This is a deal among creators, not the 'talking heads' of the film industry. Our collective talents are sure to yield fantastic results."
Having worked previously with some of the biggest names in the software industry, Centropolis had been looking for a long-term technology partner with whom they could share their creative vision.
"We had talked to a lot of people both inside and outside the industry," Devlin said. "When we asked who were the best technologists, as well as the proven visionaries across a broad industry spectrum, Bethesda was the hands-down choice. When we met, the chemistry was immediate. We are very excited about the potential for this relationship."
As an example that the chemistry is working, Devlin is using Weaver, an experienced engineer, as a technical advisor on Independence Day, scheduled for release on July 4, 1996.
With The Tenth Planet, Bethesda is once again pushing the limits of technological advancement. The revolutionary Xngine raises the bar in 3- D technology by incorporating the best aspects of the most sophisticated computer engines currently on the market, and taking them to the next level. The result is a combination of quicker action, unrestricted viewing angles and complete freedom of movement for the most realistic computer simulations in the industry. Xngine is incorporated in a number of Bethesda's 1995-1996 product line, including The Tenth Planet, The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall and The Terminator: Future Shock.
Since its founding in 1986, Bethesda has received almost every major industry award, including the industry's Oscar, the "Codie." Weaver, one of the pioneers of interactive computer technology, has been working in the field since the 1970s. His vision has helped direct Bethesda to such award-winning products as Wayne Gretzky Hockey, The Elder Scrolls and The Terminator series.
Centropolis Entertainment began in Germany in 1981 as a small film production entity formed by Roland Emmerich and his sister Ute. For nearly 10 years, Centropolis Film Productions produced several successful science fiction films in Germany, including The Noah's Arc Principal, Making Contact and Moon 44. In 1989, actor-turned- screenwriter Dean Devlin became a partner and the company moved to Hollywood, Calif.
Centropolis' popular science fiction films have grossed over $350 million worldwide. Stargate, which set a box office record for the largest fall opening in U.S. history, was the number one video rental in the U.S. for four consecutive weeks.
Headquartered in Rockville, Md., Bethesda is the fourth largest privately held publisher of PC entertainment software. Bethesda's success and long-standing technical expertise has consistently attracted world-class programmers as well as veterans of the largest Hollywood animation studios. The company is the entertainment software division of Media Technology Limited, an engineering research and development firm originally founded by members of the Architecture Machine Group from MIT. Bethesda can be reached at 1370 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850; 301/926-8300 (voice) or 301/926-8010 (fax).
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CO: Bethesda Softworks; Centropolis Entertainment ST: California, Maryland IN: CPR ENT SU:
RB -- SE003 -- 5452 05/11/95 08:01 EDT