The Classic Game of Chess:
Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ innovates chess to make new players out of the fearful and better players out of the experts

Novato, CA – August xx, 2003 – Fluent Entertainment and Vivendi Universal Games today announced a completely new class of chess game, Hoyle® Majestic Chess™. A perfect holiday gift for PC Gamers, chess players, Pocket PC® users and anyone who loves adventure, Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ will be on store shelves this fall

With a focus on innovating the most classic of all board games Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ introduces players at every level to a completely new way to play Chess with Chess Adventure. Unlike previous chess games, Chess Adventure combines the best of an adventure game with the best of chess – great fun for chess fans or just computer gamers. A game within a game, Chess Adventure allows players to experience chess and battle opponents through a variety of challenges, chess moves and puzzles, all in the context of a fantasy adventure game.

Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ has a world-class chess engine built to challenge both novices and skilled players in a beautifully rendered version of the classic game of chess. Additionally, Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ offers players an exciting and community-oriented, multi-player mode. Players can compete online in live chess challenges against friends next door or others around the world. And as a special introductory offer, marked boxes of the Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ PC game also come with a free handheld version for Pocket PC® devices.

"Power, cunning, speed, adventure . . . the game for kings is now the game for gamers,” said Anatoly Karpov, 16-time Chess World Champion. “All my life I’ve known chess to be the greatest adventure of all time, but it took 1500 years for something to come along and show everyone else. The greatest game of all time just got better."
Every holiday season, parents, relatives and friends scramble to find the perfect gift for a loved one that is both exciting and new, but not part of a disposable fad. They search the shelves for something that can educate and inspire but isn’t boring or stale. This seemingly impossible challenge has finally been met by Hoyle® Majestic Chess™. It is a completely new and compelling take on the world’s most respected game.
Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ was developed by Novato California-based Fluent Entertainment and a highly experienced group that included key members from the team that developed titles for the first major PC chess franchise.

“We designed Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ to be the best chess software product available for the PC. We already knew how to make a world-class chess engine and game. With the invention of Chess Adventure, we know this game to be incredibly fun for strategy game players and absolutely the most engaging product of its kind. It’s a game that will both appeal to the new player but still challenge the experts,” said Don Laabs, Chief Technology Officer for Fluent Entertainment.
Hoyle® Majestic Chess™ is distributed by Vivendi Universal Games The product launches in the United States on August 3rd, 2003.

About Vivendi Universal Games
Headquartered in New York, Vivendi Universal Games (www.vugames.com) is a global leader in multi-platform interactive entertainment. A leading publisher of PC, console and online-based interactive content, Vivendi Universal Games’ portfolio of development studios includes Black Label Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Coktel, Knowledge Adventure, NDA Productions, Sierra Entertainment and Universal Interactive. Through its Partner Publishing Group, Vivendi Universal Games also co-publishes and/or distributes interactive products for a number of strategic partners, including Bits Software, Crave Entertainment, Fox Interactive, Interplay, Majesco, Mythic Entertainment and Simon & Schuster, among others.

About the United States Playing Card Compan
The United States Playing Card Company is the leader in the production and distribution of premier brands of playing cards, including BEE®, BICYCLE® and HOYLE® playing cards. BICYCLE has been the best selling playing card brand in the world for more than 100 years. The privately held company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio since its founding on 1867, manufactures, markets and distributes playing cards, children’s card games, collectible tins, puzzles and card accessories.

HOYLE is a registered trademark of The United States Playing Card Company.
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