DAVID BOWIE AND REEVES GABRELS CHANGE THE FACE OF GAMES WITH “OMIKRON: THE NOMAD SOUL” FROM EIDOS

DATE: MAY 12, 1999

FROM: TRESA REDBURN/MITCH SCHNEIDER

DAVID BOWIE
AND REEVES GABRELS
CHANGE THE FACE OF GAMES
WITH "OMIKRON: THE NOMAD SOUL"
FROM EIDOS

DAVID BOWIE and long time co-conspirator Reeves Gabrels have collaborated with one of the world's leading publishers of computer games to create original music for the new game "Omikron: The Nomad Soul."

"Omikron: The Nomad Soul" is a brilliant, strikingly stylistic and futuristic 3D action-adventure game. It will be released on PC CD-ROM and other games platforms in October 1999.

David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels worked closely with the game's developer, Quantic Dream, based in Paris, France. They spent several weeks with the development team and created original songs for the game. In the game itself, Bowie plays "Boz," while he, Gabrels and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey appear as the virtual band performing in several bars in the streets of Omikron City.

Iman, the world-famous model and Bowie's wife, is also featured as an `incarnable' character in the game.

According to Bowie, "I moved right away from the stereotypical industrial game music sound. My priority in writing music for Omikron was to give it an emotional subtext. It feels to me as though Reeves and I have achieved that."

Eidos' `Omikron: The Nomad Soul' has never-before-seen features. "It's set to be massive, leading-edge game," says Charles Cornwall, CEO of Eidos Plc. "David Bowie's involvement endorses the quality of the game and the fact that world-wide entertainment stars realize the value of the computer games market as an essential ingredient of the entertainment mix."

"Omikron" has been over two years in development. For the first time, it features facial motion captured in real-time. It contains over 400 different sets in four huge cities; 140 characters in 3D real time; and has four hours of dialogue, with more than 1,200 responses. GAME DETAILS:

_ "Omikron" is a mysterious city sheltering beneath a protective dome in an inhospitable universe. Beneath its foundations lie the ancient ruins of countless dynasties and empires. Its citizens live out their lives in near utopia, oblivious to the evil that lurks just below the surface of their hi-tech city.

_ The player is free to move around within "Omikron," both in the streets as well as inside the buildings. The player can talk to the people of the city, drive anti-gravity vehicles and fight in 3D (with bare hands, or with a laser gun).

_ The player can also go into the bars and see BOWIE, GABRELS and DORSEY performing in their virtual band. BOWIE also plays a character in the game named "Boz"–the Virtual Being and leader of The Awakened.

_ IMAN acts as the model for one of the characters–"Iman 1631–that the player can take control of as a part of the "Virtual Reincarnation" process. IMAN portrays a bodyguard who sells her fighting skills to the highest bidder.

_ "Omikron: The Nomad Soul" introduces virtual reincarnation to the gaming world. In order to move around the city, the player must place his or her soul into the body of someone in "Omikron." Whenever the body dies, the soul is transferred into the body of the first character who touches the dead body. From that point on, the player will have to talk, investigate, fight, drive, shoot, ride and explore his or her way into the conclusion of the game: deliverance from this strange dimension.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

_ Complete freedom within a city in real-time 3D, with passers-by and vehicles.

_ More than 400 different sets in four huge cities.

_ Motion capture body and facial movements bring every citizens of "Omikron" to life.

_ 150 different real time 3D motion captured characters

_ More than 300 objects can be used.

_ Four hours of dialogue with more than 1200 responses.

_ 70 talking characters.

_ Enhanced for Direct 3D and Voodoo 2, featuring fog, opacity and translucency effects.

For further information re Eidos, call Heather Hawkins at 415 547 1257.