Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter Shipping

Great news, Icewind Dale fans! According to the following press release, Black Isle Studios’ Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter expansion pack is headed to a retail store near you:

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ — Black Isle Studios, the role-playing game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (Nasdaq: IPLY), announced today that the highly anticipated expansion, Icewind Dale(TM): Heart of Winter, has shipped to retail. This expansion pack for the popular role-playing game Icewind Dale(TM), was developed internally at Black Isle Studiosand will offer more classic dungeon crawl using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(R) Second Edition rules under license from Wizards of the Coast, including new monsters, spells, and areas to explore within the Forgotten Realms(R) campaign setting. Based in part on the series of books by New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter will also offer many new technological and gameplay enhancements to the original game including higher resolution support, larger monsters and new interface configuration options.

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter incorporates the award-winning gameplay elements found in Icewind Dale, offering players the ability to hone their combat skills, and achieve more powerful possessions, spells, and experience. Supporting 800 x 600 high resolution graphics and improved OpenGL 3D support (technology by BioWare Corp. for Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn(TM)), Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter adds many new spells including Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting and Blade Barrier. Players will be able to explore five new treacherous lands, as well as Lonelywood (another of the famous Ten-Towns), and encounter new creatures including barbarians, Wailing Virgins, Remorhaz (polar worms) and more. Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter will also feature powerful new magical items like the Ring of the Will-o-Wisp, which allows the wearer to shoot a shower of electricity at enemies, and the Vexed Armor, a suit of armor inhabited by a demon, where the demon inside can destroy the wearer and go on a destructive rampage.

The Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter expansion makes use of a modified version of the award-winning BioWare Infinity Engine(TM), originally developed by BioWare Corp. for Baldur’s Gate(TM) and Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter offers novice and advanced players more challenges including changes to the original Icewind Dale, as well as removing the experience point cap allowing characters to reach the near godlike status of level 30.

From the creators of the Fallout(TM) series and Planescape: Torment(TM), Black Isle Studios is proud to bring Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter to retail for Windows(R) 95/98-based computers. The Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter expansion will require an installed copy of the original Icewind Dale in order to run. Complete information on Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter can be found at http://www.interplay.com/icewind.

Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro and the worldwide market share leader in the trading card game and tabletop role playing game categories, is a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products as well as the owner and operator of one of the nation’s largest specialty game retail chains. Producing both the Pokemon(TM) and world’s best-selling Magic: The Gathering(R) trading card games, the company holds an exclusive patent on the play mechanic of trading card games. Publisher of adventure games such as the classic Dungeons & Dragons games, family card and board games and electronic media products, Wizards of the Coast is also one of the world’s leading fantasy and science fiction book publishers. Headquartered near Seattle, Washington, Wizards of the Coast has international offices in Antwerp, Paris, Milan, London and Beijing. For more information on Wizards of the Coast, visit the company’s web site and electronic retail store at http://wwww.wizards.com.

Black Isle Studios is a division of Interplay Entertainment Corp., a leading developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for both core gamers and the mass market. Interplay currently balances its development efforts by publishing for personal computers as well as current and next generation video game consoles. Interplay releases products through Interplay, Shiny Entertainment, Digital Mayhem, Black Isle Studios, 14 Degrees East, its distribution partners and its wholly owned subsidiary Interplay OEM, Inc. More comprehensive information on Interplay and its products is available through its worldwide web site at http://www.interplay.com.

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