Fountainhead Entertainment Brings Sidrial to the Quake III Community.

Business Editors

MESQUITE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2002

Fountainhead Entertainment(TM) announced today the release of Sidrial(TM) a Total Conversion game expansion for Quake III Arena(TM). Sidrial will be available as a free downloadable game expansion featuring animations, characters and scenes from the original animated feature, Sidrial.

The unsurpassed technology of the Quake III Arena engine has brought many gaming enthusiasts together in what is known to be one of the world's most innovative and imaginative communities around. This new year brings more innovation and more imagination to a community that thirsts for something different. Sidrial was created from an art form known as Machinima where game meets cinema. Where once games were created and Machinima followed, with Sidrial, Machinima led the way to game.

"Sidrial is a pivotal product that makes you believe in the merging of theatrical animation and game as a valid form of entertainment today," said Katherine Anna Kang, Producer and CEO of Fountainhead. "A lot of people are going to be pleased to see what Machinima can do. In Sidrial, all cinematics were created entirely in Machinima. The work is tricky but it's a wonderful thing to see unfold."

"Sidrial is an excellent example of a professional level of polish brought to a non-commercial game conversion," said John Carmack, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of id Software. "It's great to see that level of quality accomplished completely with publicly available tools."

"By delivering cinematic effects, with advancements such as NVIDIA's shading technology, to the desktop PC, NVIDIA has revolutionized the gaming industry with stunning images and real-time special effects," stated David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA. "Sidrial is the first Machinima feature that delivers an unprecedented level of graphics quality, allowing the user to feel as if they are a part of the environment. This is truly an innovative leap in the entertainment industry."

In Sidrial, a bloodthirsty race bent on power and destruction have annihilated every inhabited planet in their wake. Sidrial is the last outpost between Earth and extinction. In the Total Conversion, the Sidrial story is the driving force behind the game where players find themselves in the middle of a seemingly hopeless war. A devastated planet forges new heroes and the ultimate fight is for survival. The two levels included in the release, one single player and one multiplayer level, reflect the basic storyline of a war torn planet.

"Sidrial is another demonstration of the awesome power and flexibility of the QUAKE III engine, which is undoubtedly one of the most advanced 3-D gaming engines in the marketplace today," states Dusty Welch, Sr. Director, Global Brand Management for Activision. "This innovative game will deliver a new and exciting experience to QUAKE fans around the world."

foun-tain-head: n. A spring that is the source of a stream; a chief and copious source of origin. Privately held, Fountainhead Entertainment develops and produces animation and specializes in new media. Founded in 2000, the company strives to bring new and quality productions to the public with focus in combining the best elements of traditional media with new emerging forms. To find out more about Fountainhead Entertainment, visit http://www.fountainheadent.com.

(c) 2002 Fountainhead Entertainment, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Sidrial(TM) is a trademark of Fountainhead Entertainment, Inc. Quake III Arena(TM) is a trademark of Id Software, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.