Digital Jesters Announces Worldwide Publishing Rights for DogTag Urban Warfare Game on PC and Xbox 360

LOS ANGELES, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Video game publisher Digital Jesters announced today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) the signing of an action-packed new urban warfare title DogTag, which will be due for release on PC and Xbox 360 in 2006. Developed by DiezelPower Studios with dedicated teams in both France and Japan, the gritty street combat game will be published by Digital Jesters across all territories worldwide.

"Signing DogTag has been a top priority for us and we look forward to working closely with DiezelPower Studios over the coming months," said Terry Malham, Digital Jesters co-founder and commercial director. "We're very excited by what we've seen so far, and believe DogTag will offer gamers a unique slant on the traditional idea of good vs. evil, with a storyline that could easily have come directly from Hollywood."

Roel Frankel, CEO, DiezelPower comments, "Right from our first meeting we knew Digital Jesters was the perfect partner for our next-generation title. DogTag will provide a brutally realistic approach to action games which is guaranteed to appeal to all hardcore gamers. We are delighted to work with Digital Jesters to bring this title to a worldwide audience next year."

About DogTag

DogTag is a squad based military game, where a marine battalion has been sent in to replace a retreating rebel faction. A few weeks later, intelligence confirms that the colonel leading the battalion had engaged in a mutiny against central command with the support of (some or all of) the troops under his command. His reasons, at this stage, are unknown.

Players will control an elite Special Ops Squad whose mission is to arrest and retrieve the command structure behind the rebellion. If retrieval is not possible, players need to neutralize the battalion command. How will the player decide to pull the trigger when the enemy is a friend?

Using a unique cover-based gameplay system, players will be encouraged to fully interact with every aspect of the environment for both offensive and defensive maneuvers. In addition to shielding your squad from any immediate threat, the environments are specifically designed to provide multiple tactical firing positions, as well as blind-fire tactics to destroy the enemy without exposing your team.

   Key Features

   *  Intense urban combat in ultra-realistic modern day city and industrial
      environments

   *  Unique cover based gameplay -- using every aspect of the environment
      for defensive manuevers and blind-fire tactics to destroy the enemy

   *  Tactical squad based movement and attack against an enemy who knows
      all your moves

   *  Face an entire battalion of soldiers, equipped with the latest
      military hardware, vehicles and weaponry

   *  Marine vs. Marine as the distinction between good and evil disappears

   *  Proprietary game engine with full environmental and player collision
      physics, dynamic shadowing and global illumination light mapping

  Dog Tag is due for release on PC and the Xbox 360 in Q2, 2006.

  About Digital Jesters

Founded in 2003, Digital Jesters is a British-based publisher of computer and video games. This summer, the company is introducing "Bet on Soldier," a first-person shooter that received critical acclaim throughout Europe. Set up by the duo responsible for launching and establishing the Sudden Strike and Cossacks series of games in the UK, the firm's remit is simple: to source and publish the best games available. Digital Jesters' commitment to originality resulted in snapping up the original TrackMania game from French developer Nadeo and with the ethos of community development, the game quickly became one of the sleeper hits of the year. A tie-in with record-breaking yachtswoman Ellen Macarthur for the firm's second release, Virtual Skipper 3, ensured the game received widespread attention among the elusive non-gamer, and firmly placed the publisher on the map.

For additional information on Digital Jesters, please visit http://www.digitaljesters.com/ or http://www.djmediacentre.com/.

   MEDIA CONTACT
   Mark Van Lommel
   GCI Group for Digital Jesters
   323-761-7435 office / 213-804-3253 mobile
   mvanlommel@gcigroup.com