2008.04.01pressrelease

VIRTRIUM LLC CHANGES NAME OF GAME PRODUCT HORIZONS TO WORLD OF DRAGONS

COMPANY CONTACTS:

Virtrium LLC - Rick Simmons, CEO, rick.simmons@virtrium.com

VIRTRIUM LLC CHANGES NAME OF GAME PRODUCT HORIZONS TO WORLD OF DRAGONS

April 1, 2008 PHOENIX, Arizona – Virtrium LLC, developers of online game technologies and products, announced in a bold move, that Horizons would now be known as the "World of Dragons" and focused primarily on Dragon play. www.dragoncraftonline.com

"Players will still be able to choose to play the lesser races.", said Rick Simmons, President of Virtrium. In talking about the new direction, Mr. Simmons continued, "Dragons will recover death point time by eating gnomish player characters of the appropriate tier. Gnomes can avoid this fate by crafting and carrying massive amounts of hard earned hoardable items, referred to as their 'Tribute Value'. Dragon players then have to engage in what we call MoralityPlay® ; eating the gnome player or sparing the gnome player and receiving the 'Tribute'."

World of Dragons will allow players to assume the role of a Dragon, with the full capabilities of the mythical race, including the ability to fly, breathe fire, build lairs, and hoard treasure. Players will be able to make MoralityPlay® decisions, requiring a careful choice to burn homes, eat lesser races, lay waste to surrounding lands, or spare them, but absorb their 'Tribute Value'.

Mr. Simmons elaborated in discussing the MMO market in general, "In the past we've seen ourselves appealing to a discerning player, but still a player who is part of the larger overall MMO audience. A sub experience of this change encompasses an aspect of game play completely new within the MMO market. Most games focus on trying to appeal to a player's sense of being a hero or having power - be the Dragon, gain power. We're confident there's a completely untapped market of players whose idea of entertainment is to play the victim - be the Gnome, lose everything. We're very excited about pioneering this newly identified segment of the market and expect a significant change in our subscription numbers."

Project manager for Virtrium, Heather Rothwell, provided an exciting look from the test shards a few weeks ago, "It was carnage, pure carnage. And within minutes, all of the Gnomes in Istaria were gone. The heavens literally opened up and poured forth a flood of scaled, fire-breathing creatures, who swept down and devoured the unsuspecting Gnomes in a frenzy of tinkering parts and oddly shaped spectacles." Heather continued reflecting on the gnomish player experience, "We're really pleased with the balance we've achieved - it's not just about Dragons eating the lesser races, it's about Dragons making a MoralityPlay® decision in whether to eat the other races. And to top it off, players of the other races don't mind what happens, just as long as a powerful Dragon is involved in their game experience. I'm sure we're the first MMO with such a symbiotic relationship between two such distinct groups of players."

MoralityPlay® is patent pending and Virtrium encourages all interested parties to contact Virtrium for more information about licensing opportunities.

ABOUT VIRTRIUM - Virtrium LLC, founded in July 2006, is a privately held software development company founded to support the games and technology behind the massively multi-player online games market. Virtrium brings real, applied experience in technology design, development and implementation for the software and techniques behind MMO products – as well as experience behind product launch and continued development in a live, production environment. The company's mission is to provide software technologies and support services that enable the growth of niche entertainment products within the massively multi-player online games market. To find out more about Virtrium LLC, visit http://www.virtrium.com

ABOUT WORLD OF DRAGONS - Originally developed by Artifact Entertainment and published by Atari, the MMO World of Dragons launched in December 2003 and currently boasts a dedicated following of players worldwide. The ability to play as a flying Ancient Dragon, coupled with comprehensive crafting and community construction, allows World of Dragons fans to experience, explore and create a world epic in scope. Players are able to take on the primary role of Dragon, or one of nine other lessor races ranging from the lawful Elf to dark Fiends, as well as more unusual forms, such as the cat-like Saris and horned Satyr. Friends that circle the globe can meet and play together as dragons or be victimized as the lessor races in a world that they can call their own. For more information on World of Dragons, visit http://www.dragoncraftonline.com

###

Back to Main