Press Release

Online roleplaying will never be the same again.
Hero's Journey™ Redefines Online Roleplaying Games at E3
May 10, 2006

At this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Simutronics holds the first public demonstration of its next massively multiplayer online (MMO) roleplaying game (RPG), Hero's Journey, in Kentia Hall booth 6553.

Like other new MMO games, Hero's Journey features flashy visuals and animations, special magical effects, and combat between players and against monsters, all powered by the company's HeroEngine™ technology platform. Once you get beyond the basics and into the details of game design, Hero's Journey shows its true nature.

Online roleplaying will never be the same again.

"Other MMO games are roleplaying in name only," says Simutronics founder and CEO David Whatley, who has headed the firm's studio since 1987. "They are about leveling up and improving your stats. We believe that is only one small part of the experience, and with Hero's Journey we're bring the RP back to online RPGs."

Hero's Journey is built around the player's character. In a bold move ahead from other games, each character develops a unique set of abilities and a unique storyline. Where other MMO games seem very repetitive, Hero's Journey offers unlimited replayability -- no two characters are alike.

The Hero's Journey demonstration at E3 focuses on an innovative system called Wyr™ where the player's character, items and abilities can be customized to make them truly different from everyone else. Wyr can literally change the game by altering spells to behave differently, and several Wyr can combine in surprising ways. Wyr represents a new dimension in online roleplaying games.

The Hero's Journey character generation system lets players choose a unique appearance. Says Whatley, "We decoupled the way you look from your abilities. On the TV show, Xena fought battles in a leather miniskirt. In other MMO games you have to wear bulky armor to protect yourself, but we believe players want to control how they look, so your protection in combat is completely separate from how you look on the screen."

Beyond clothing, Hero's Journey provides players with a system for designing each character's appearance to an unprecedented level of detail in face and body features, so everyone is truly unique.

Hero's Journey supports roleplaying by a social system that encourages players to get to know one another as friends or even as rivals. Players have home towns, houses of their own, and neighbors who may or may not be friends. Unlike other games where players roam the world and only get to know guild mates, Hero's Journey builds a rich social setting where half the fun is the other players, and where playing your part in the world is deeply rewarding.

Hero's Journey also features multiple character classes, letting players break the bonds of rigid game systems and enjoy the features of more than one class at a time.

Hero's Journey will go into beta testing later in 2006 and be launched commercially in mid-2007. Simutronics will announce retail distribution plans and local online partners at a later date.

About Simutronics
Simutronics Corp. is a leading creator of advanced technology platform for developers in the billion dollar global market for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Our HeroEngine platform reduces time to market by 1-2 years with a full feature set in an integrated turnkey solution. The company also offers a proprietary catalog of MMO games. Founded in 1987 and known as the original master of online games, the firm has innovated in the multiplayer online game world with popular titles like GemStone IV, DragonRealms, and CyberStrike, all of which are still played by avid fans on the play.net website. Simutronics has offices in St. Charles, MO and Gaithersburg, MD. HeroEngine and Hero's Journey are trademarks of Simutronics Corp., all rights reserved.