DEFIANCE-DAY

DEFIANCE-DAYDistributed by
NicelyCrafted.comPosted: August 23rd, 2002.

Time of Defianceunleashed on the public; limited discount subscriptionsavailable.

Two million gaming minutes served over a year of beta testing willculminate now with the release of Nicely Crafted Entertainment’s(NiCE) Time of Defiance – available for download fromNicelyCrafted.com

The brainchild of Toby and Ben Simpson, Time of Defiance is the world’sfirst 3D massively multiplayer real-time strategy game. Players useaggression, politics, risk and stealth as they battle for control ofthousands of islands spread across the remnants of a distant planet. Up to1,000 players can compete in each game, and there will be many gamesrunning concurrently in order to accommodate a huge audience.

A five-day demo can be downloaded from the site, offering players a tasteof this incredibly addictive strategy title. After that, subscriptioncharges apply – and, for a limited time only, these are offered at anintroductory rate of £5 per month standard, £25 for six months(effectively one month free) or £40 per 12 months (effectively four monthsfree).

Sign-up is easy and takes less than a minute. Once registered, players candownload the client (under 10Mb) and enter the battle immediately. Withthe client, players can check out the community forums and view the battlecries and banter which form a vital part of the game.

Time of Defiance uses revolutionary server technology to ensure thatplayers don’t need a super-fast Internet connection in order to enjoy thegame. A standard 56k dial-up is completely sufficient – and players haveeven been known to play with a laptop and GSM mobile phone.

“This is the culmination of eighteen month’s intensive hard work,” saysToby Simpson, managing director, Nicely Crafted Entertainment. “We firmlybelieve in providing games that don’t tell you how to have fun; places youcan go and be entertained. The human factor that massively multiplayergames bring to the party provides players with an endless range ofstrategies and challenges as other players resort to increasingly deviousploys. Almost all of our original alpha testers from August last year arestill playing today, which is a fantastic testament to the flexibility anddepth of the product.”

“After the investment we put in to creating such a detailed background toTime of Defiance it has been exciting to see our virtual world come tolife,” adds Ben Simpson, creative director, Nicely Crafted Entertainment.“I can’t wait to compete against our players when we open the game forall – and perhaps one day, I might actually win a game.”

Time of Defiance will be available for full download from August 21st 2002.

Time of Defiance Features:

• The first 3D massively multiplayer real-time strategy game
• Huge community aspect: Players can chat, brag, forge alliances and buyor sell items in central ‘Eighth House’
• Massive play area: It can take several days of real time to cross fromone side to another (though ‘jump gates’ are available for those that canafford them!)
• Ability to interact with the game via e-mail and SMS (text alertsavailable in September)
• Requires little bandwidth: Players can play with virtually anymodem
• Not a time dependant game – it isn’t the player who is on the mostthat wins
• Emergent strategies are limitless

News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2002.

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