Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone Goes Gold

Straight from my inbox:

ATARI’S FORGOTTEN REALMS: DEMON STONE GOES GOLD

Available on PlayStation®2 September 14; Xbox® and PC in November

LOS ANGELES Aug. 27, 2004 Atari today announced that Forgotten Realms®: Demon Stone™, an action adventure game set in the popular Dungeons & Dragons® world created by Wizards of the Coast, has gone gold. Demon Stone for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system is scheduled to ship to retailers on September 14 for an estimated retail price of $49.95. Demon Stone will be available for the Xbox® videogame system from Microsoft and personal computer in November.

Designed by Stormfront Studios, developers of The Lord of the Rings®: The Two Towersâ„¢, Demon Stone features a storyline developed by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore as well as the extraordinary talents of actors Patrick Stewart and Michael Clarke Duncan, who provided their voices to two prominent roles in the video game. Stewart gives voice to Khelban ‘Blackstaff’ Arunsun — a wizard of legendary power and wisdom while Michael Clarke Duncan provides the voice of Ygorl, the evil Slaad Lord a bloodthirsty conqueror from a mystical realm of chaos.

Demon Stone’s intense, cinematic action is set entirely within the visually stunning Forgotten Realms fantasy world. Familiar characters, such as the famous drow Drizzt Do’Urden and the legendary mage Khelban (Blackstaff) Arunsun; terrifying monsters, including Dragons, Orcs, Slaadi, Yuan-Ti and Trolls; as well as geographical locations straight from the popular D&D campaign setting will make appearances and serve as backdrops throughout the game. The story of Demon Stone revolves around the adventuring party’s unwitting intrusion into an age-old conflict between two warring demonic armies; one led by a Githyanki Princess and, the other, a Slaad Lord. After inadvertently releasing both demons back upon the world after eons of imprisonment, it becomes the adventurer’s quest to right their wrong and restore order to the world of Faerun.

In Demon Stone, the player directs a party of three characters Fighter, Sorcerer and Rogue. The player controls one party member at a time — switching between them on the fly — while the other party members are controlled by the engine’s sophisticated artificial intelligence. For example, when the player controls the Fighter, the Sorcerer and Rogue will continue to engage in combat, cast spells and assist the player in defeating all challengers. In many situations, the characters will be able to divide and conquer difficult objectives while the Fighter holds back a horde of Yuan-Ti snakemen with brute force, the Sorcerer supports him with devastating ranged magic while the Rogue sneaks above and behind them for a coup de grace. The player participates seamlessly in each critical moment as they are cinematically switched from one perspective to another.

Forgotten Realms, Demon Stone, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter Nights, Drizzt Do’Urden and Magic the Gathering are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.