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Malice

MALICE

Malice, an action-adventure game, boasts a tough and feisty teenage heroine, which players will no doubt grow addicted to guiding through time in order to undo the terror of the evil God Nefarious Rex. Malice features 22 levels, a truly original story, and a cast of mad characters. It's been heralded for its fantastic graphics, unique weaponry, compelling storyline, and intriguing heroine. Use your wits, brute force and apocalyptic weaponry to fight your way through a universe gone mad. Now you must choose – Take up arms or watch the world fall in the wake of one god's nuclear insanity. Malice is sure to be one of the great platform-adventure games on the next generation console systems.

Malice, a character driven, fast paced and challenging 3D action adventure game, made headlines at this year's CES trade show when Bill Gates used it to demonstrate the capabilities of the Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft. Malice delivers a new level of video gaming experience with substantially enhanced levels of gameplay, graphics and audio.

"This is a title we've had our eye on and have been excited about for a long time," said J Allard, General Manager, Xbox Platform. "We are happy to be working with such experienced talent from Argonaut and Sierra and are looking forward to seeing this remarkable game come to life on Xbox."

"This is a very strategic partnership for us as we extend our brand into the console market," said Mike Ryder, president at Sierra. "I believe we're poised to make a tremendous impact in the console market in the future, especially with the launch of Malice in 2002."

"Vivendi Universal Publishing's marketing and distribution capabilities will allow us to substantially grow the Malice franchise," said Joss Ellis, COO, Argonaut Software. "This agreement marks the start of a new and promising relationship with one of the key global players in the games marketplace."

ROCK BAND NO DOUBT

VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES AND ROCK BAND NO DOUBT TO MIX ON MALICE

Malice Game to Feature Characters Voiced by Members of No Doubt and Songs from their Rock Steady Album

Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games), a division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, Interscope Records and recording artist No Doubt announce today their collaboration on the upcoming release of Malice(tm), a character-based, action-adventure game, developed by Argonaut Games PLC (AGT.L) and published by Sierra Entertainment, Inc. This partnership will feature several of the band's songs in the upcoming game, as well as introduce lead vocalist Gwen Stefani as the voice of unexpected, hammer-wielding heroine, Malice, and band members Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young as voices of her cronies within the game. Malice is due to release worldwide this November on both the Xbox(tm) video game system and the PlayStation(r)2 computer entertainment system.

No Doubt, currently on a worldwide tour to promote their album, Rock Steady, will provide three songs for Malice's in-game music and television advertisement campaign. Some of the songs will be remixed to compliment the game's look and feel.

"Having our songs in Malice is another way to get our music to people who might not otherwise hear it," says Gwen. "We make music - that's what we do and we love to share it."

"Being a band that grew up in the video game generation, the fusing of video games and music is exciting to us," said Tony. "To be involved with a game during its creative development was a cool opportunity so we jumped at the chance to be part of Malice."

"This collaboration between Vivendi Universal's Games and Music divisions is a prime example of the unique, synergistic opportunities available within the Vivendi Universal family of companies," said Luc Vanhal, President & COO of Vivendi Universal Games. "Music and movies have long been a natural pairing," he continued. "Music and games is the logical next step in the evolution of interactive entertainment and we're pleased to partner with Interscope Records and No Doubt to take the gaming experience to the next level."

Features

Play as Malice, the tough and feisty girl with a big hammer.
Unravel the unique and twisted story.
Interact with quirky and original characters.
Explore 22 free roaming, 3D levels of puzzles and arcade action.
Wield magical weapons such as the Mace of Clubs, the Clockwork Hammer, & the Quantum Tuning Fork.
Punch, kick, and smash your way through those who dare to cross your path.
Master the mayhem of 5 Elemental Magics
Experience furious combat action, brain-frying puzzles, and interact with fiendish foes
Transform through four different incarnations to become the powerful god destined to defeat Nefarious Rex
Gwen Stefani as the voice of Malice

Publisher: Sierra Entertainment

Developer: Argonaut Games PLC

Release Date: November , 2002

Platform(s): Sony PlayStation® 2 and the Xbox

ESRB Rating: T for Teen (animated blood, violence)

Genre: action-adventure

MSRP: $49.99

URL: http://malice.sierra.com

About No Doubt

No Doubt, from Orange County, California, have just finished a sold-out U.S. tour in support of their fifth album Rock Steady. The album's first single, "Hey Baby," reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 Chart and the video received over 550 plays on VH1 and MTV. The just-released second single, "Hella Good," is already in the Top 10. Over the last few months No Doubt has performed on Saturday Night Live, the Billboard Music Awards, and the My VH1 Music Awards. They can be seen on the covers of Rolling Stone and Teen People and vocalist Gwen Stefani has appeared on recent covers of Vanity Fair, Blender, ElleGirl, Jane, CosmoGirl and Seventeen. No Doubt is preparing to tour Europe, Japan and Australia in the upcoming months and will return to the states for a Fall arena tour.

About Argonaut

Argonaut Games PLC, http://www.argonaut.com, based in London, Oxfordshire, Sheffield and Cambridge UK, is one of the largest independent games developers in the world, with over 220 employees, and an 18 year history of producing groundbreaking hit games such as Croc: The Legend of the Gobbos, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on PS one(tm) and hardware technologies, like the Super FX chip. Argonaut prides itself on its creativity in games design and is at the vanguard of new technologies with development for current and future mass-market video game platforms such PlayStation(r)2, Game Cube(tm) and Xbox(tm).

About Sierra

Sierra Entertainment, Inc. http://www.sierra.com, a studio of Vivendi Universal Publishing and part of its Games division, is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra is renowned for releasing critically acclaimed and award winning titles that represent a wide variety of computer entertainment on both next generation console and PC platforms.

About Vivendi Universal Games

Headquartered in New York, NY, Vivendi Universal Games www.vugames.com is a global leader in multi-platform interactive entertainment and a worldwide operating division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, the world's third-largest publishing company. A leading publisher of PC, console and online-based interactive content, Vivendi Universal Games' portfolio of development studios includes Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment and Universal Interactive. Through its Partner Publishing Group, Vivendi Universal Games also co-publishes and/or distributes interactive products for a number of strategic partners, including Empire Interactive, Fox Interactive, Mythic Entertainment and Simon & Schuster, among others. Games are one of parent company Vivendi Universal's key content areas, along with movies, music and other publishing activities.