NCsoft Auctions Ability to send Human DNA Into Space

Highest bidder to have digitized DNA stored on International Space Station; Proceeds to benefit Planet Make-Over

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 14, 2008 - NCsoft® announced today that it will auction an opportunity for one person to send their digitized DNA into space on a special Operation Immortality sale on the popular Internet auction site, eBay. The news comes just days after the company announced that an Immortality Drive , a time capsule with the digitized DNA of select video gamers and space aficionados, and a collection of humankind's greatest achievements, will be carried to the International Space Station (ISS) by famed game designer Richard Garriott on October 12.

Just one day after announcing earnings for the second quarter of this year NCsoft has announced layoffs in their Austin studios. Director of Public Relations David Swofford gave us this statement:

We are announcing that 21 positions are being eliminated in the Austin office of NCsoft in the area of product development. Primarily this is related to products which we have not previously announced and were in prototype phases. We are also cutting some positions on the Dungeon Runners team after deciding not to port the client to other platforms at this time.

No response to questions regarding Tabula Rasa and the future of Dungeon Runners. Keep in mind that of the 18 people working on Dungeon Runners, 13 of them were let go.

Also let go was Scott Jennings , who will now be working with John Galt Games on WebWars , a non-MMO project based on the EVE intellectual property.

Rumors have been flying that the Austin studio is not long for this world, but little facts other then today's layoffs have come to light.

Our thoughts go out to those who are left without jobs, and we wish the entire NCsoft Austin team the best of luck, whether they be moving on or, hopefully, sticking around.

It was announced today that NCSoft, makers of MMOs such as City of Heroes , Tabula Rasa and Guild Wars , have agreed to be official sponsors at this year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival in Scotland.

Monday 4th August/... The Edinburgh Interactive Festival today announced two new partnerships for this year's event. NCsoft® Europe and Scottish Enterprise are the latest in an impressive roster of sponsors to confirm their support for the three-day public event and conference which takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre between Sunday 10th and Tuesday 12th August 2008.

Scottish Enterprise, a company that supports business growth and helps develop Scotland's business environment by working with ambitious companies and industries, has confirmed today that it will be sponsoring the prestigious VIP Dinner which takes place on Sunday 10th August at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Adrian Gillespie, Director of Digital Markets and Enabling Technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said: "Scotland has an excellent reputation for developing innovative video games and Scottish Enterprise has a vested interest in supporting forward thinking and ambitious companies in this key sector. It gives us an enormous amount of pleasure to be sponsoring the VIP Dinner for what is undoubtedly one of the most important events in the video gaming calendar."

Players of some of NCSoft's popular games, such as Tabula Rasa, City of Heroes and Exteel, will have an easier time buying their NCSoft game cards. The cards will soon be available at major retailers nationwide, with Best Buy, Target, and Rite Aid being the first to jump on board.

Austin, TX, July 28, 2008-NCsoft, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, is teaming up with InComm, a technology firm that develops markets and distributes stored-value gift and prepaid products, to bring many of NCsoft's popular games to consumers on prepaid Game Cards.

Some of the top retailers in North America are participating in the new retail initiative that will include City of Heroes®, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa® and ExteelTM. Target, Best Buy and Rite Aid will be the first stores to offer the NCsoft Game Cards.

"This is a great opportunity for NCsoft to grow its expanding portfolio of triple-A massively multiplayer games beyond traditional retail channels," said Lisa Bell-Cabrera, vice president of sales for NCsoft's North American business. "Of course, we think this is a huge value to our customers. The InComm cards provide an incredibly convenient way for our customers to access our games and by using the cards, they'll be getting some bonus items that will enhance their game play experience."

 

NCsoft announced today their planned appearances at trade shows and events this summer. If you're near any of the events, come check out what NCsoft has in store! If you're not nearby... well, that's what you stored up that vacation time at work for, right?

July 2, 2008 - Fans of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games will get a first-hand look at some of the leading online games on the market this summer as NCsoft makes appearances at some of the top entertainment consumer and trade shows in both Europe and North America.

At Comic Con International in San Diego, July 23-27, the NCsoft booth (#5209) will feature game stations set up for attendees to play the comic book inspired City of Heroes, as well as other NCsoft games, Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa and Exteel™. In addition to other activities, City of Heroes fanzine artist, Dave Hamann, will be on hand to draw City of Heroes' character sketches for players.

Yesteday NCsoft released episode two of their Europe Community team podcast!

This month’s episode features an in-depth interview with City of Heroes® Senior Designer Melissa “War Witch” Bianco, who we spoke to during the recent Omega Sektor miniconference in Birmingham, UK. You’ll also get the full rundown on features being brought in by Episide 12: Midnight Hour, and a great insight into the brand new Lineage II Collector’s Edition boxset!

You can listen and download from here.

NCsoft has announced the licensing of the Unreal Engine 3 engine for two new projects that have yet to be announced!

NCsoft® Corporation, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced that it has reinforced its relationship with Epic Games, Inc. by licensing Unreal Engine 3 to develop two unannounced, top-tier massively multiplayer online games. NCsoft has achieved spectacular results working with the Unreal Engine over the years, shipping the highly successful Lineage® II, and the soon to be released Exteel ™, using Unreal Engine 2.

“Unreal Engine 3 has a well structured rendering pipeline, and its graphical quality is superb thanks to advanced lighting and shadowing systems,” said Young-muk Choi, lead programmer, Development Unit, NCsoft. “Tools within the Unreal Editor empower us to instantly produce and optimize our outputs, and we especially love how the engine enables designers to easily prototype concepts without the need for programming.”

Can't wait to see what they have in store for us!