Highly-Anticipated `Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver' Looks to Take a Bite at the Electronic Game Charts This August; Television, Magazine Ad Buys and a Retail Promotional Onslaught Put the Word Out on Eidos Interactive's Sequel to `Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen'.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 1999--

Eidos Interactive is pumping up the arrival of its anticipated 3D action-adventure electronic game title "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" with a four million dollar advertising and marketing campaign aimed straight at a target audience of action game fanatics. The Sony PlayStation and PC title, which lets gamers portray rival vampires who feed on souls in the real world and a dark, spectral plane, arrives in stores this August.

The game, a sequel to the hot-selling "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen," has already garnered more than 10 computer and videogame magazine covers. Eidos is using television, and hardcore gaming and lifestyle magazine ad buys, plus a strong retail promotional presence, to give the title even more heat. "`Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver' is one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year for both PC and PSX consumers and retailers," said Rob Dyer, CEO, Eidos Interactive. "We are confident that the release of `Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver' further strengthens Eidos' hold on the action-adventure genre."

"Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" will get a retail chain jump start with a six-week television campaign featuring commercials on guy-friendly ESPN 1 and 2, TNT and TBS pro wrestling broadcasts, MTV and Comedy Central's infamous "South Park" animated series.

The campaign will stress variety with four different commercials, three 30-second spots and a 15-second spot. Each will riff on destruction in a light-hearted way. For example, an on-air character will get incinerated after being a little generous applying lighter fluid on his backyard barbecue. He receives this less-than-somber epithet, "At least he got to keep his soul." The tagline is followed with game play footage from the game.

Supplementing this television effort will be a massive print ad campaign in electronic gaming and lifestyle magazines. It will include images of Kain and Raziel, the rival and the main character in the new installment, respectively.

Eidos is also applying promotional muscle at the retail level with in-store contests, giveaway promotions and massive point of purchase (P.O.P.) displays that will appear at all retailers, including Toys `R' Us, Electronic Boutique, Target, Wal-Mart, Babbages, Best Buy and Comp USA.

Furthermore, an exclusive Soul Reaver comic book will be available from the industry's premier comic book publisher, Top Cow Comics, and Eruptor Entertainment, an Internet entertainment company. The book will be available exclusively online via Eruptor's web sites, www.eruptor.com and their commerce site www.monstermart.com this September.

"`Soul Reaver' features two unforgettable undead icons, just as in `Interview With The Vampire,'" explained Dyer. "The marketing campaign is geared to move the game through the retail channel, as well as increase awareness of the characters and further build the `Kain' franchise."

Featuring incredibly fluid graphics and realistic environments, "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" draws players into more than 70 hours of gameplay on the PlayStation or PC. New streaming technology eliminates load times and allows for seamless gameplay, while more than 100 cinematics and 45 minutes of voice-overs deliver the epic tale of Raziel's quest to uncover the truth behind Nosgoth's demise and exact revenge against Kain.

The story is set in a netherworld of vampire gangs seeking world dominion. Jealous rage inflames Kain, the leader, when he sees his undead lieutenant Raziel has usurped him on the evolutionary plane by sprouting wings. Raziel is disfigured and banished to the spectral plane, a dark dimension where he must battle deadly monsters before he can confront Kain and his followers in the real world.

Along with first-rate gameplay, "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" features blood chilling original music composed and performed by Kurt Harling, former front man and musician for the famed 1980s techno-twinged band, The Information Society.

In addition to great gameplay, the mid-August arrival of "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" is ideally timed. The horror movie-fueled summer of 1999, that began with "The Mummy," is reaching full fruition with the cult hit, "The Blair Witch Project," as well as "The Haunting," "Lake Placid," "Deep Blue Sea" and "The Sixth Sense."

Eidos Interactive, Inc. is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment products for the PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and GameBoy Color. Eidos Interactive is part of London-based Eidos plc (NASDAQ:EIDSY) with additional offices in San Francisco, Paris, Hamburg, Singapore and Tokyo. For more information on Eidos Interactive's product line visit http://www.eidosinteractive.com.