SIERRA BRINGS EMPIRE EARTH TOURNAMENT TO SAN FRANCISCO - PUBLIC INVITED TO WATCH COMPETITION ON OCTOBER 19^th!

Sierra, Intel, iGames, Prima Games, and FHM Magazine Sponsor Competition to Crown Country's Best Empire Earth Gamer 

BELLEVUE, WA (October 16, 2002) - Sierra Entertainment, Inc., a studio of the Games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, today announced that the U.S. finals of the Empire Earth World Championships will be held at Jillian's San Francisco on Saturday, October 19^th from 5 to 8 p.m.

The event, sponsored by Sierra, Intel Corporation, iGames, Prima Games, and FHM Magazine, will be open to the public and is the culmination of weeks of regional tournaments held at iGames centers around the country. 

All local San Francisco gamers are encouraged to attend the tournament at Jillian's San Francisco in the Metreon (101 4^th Street, San Francisco, California) and watch as the country's best Empire Earth gamers go head-to-head.  The championship matches will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 19^th and end at 8 p.m.  Prizes from all of the tournament's sponsors will be given away to lucky spectators.

Members of the Empire Earth development team will also be on hand to discuss the game and the future of the series.

About the Empire Earth World Championships

The Empire Earth World Championships consist of a series of tournaments held internationally, culminating in a Championship Tournament where the best of the best Empire Earth combatants will face off in hopes of winning the Grand Prize of US$20,000 and a chance to increase that amount to US$100,000.  The Championship Tournament will highlight the upcoming expansion pack to Empire Earth, Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest(tm).

The tournament began with regional competitions held in countries across the globe.  Winners of each regional final then moved on to national competition and national winners will be sent to the Empire Earth Worldwide Championships in Paris, France in December where the winner will be crowned.  

Competition rules and further details about the Empire Earth World Championships can be found online at http://www.empireearth.com/.

The Empire Earth World Championships will highlight Sierra Entertainment's expansion pack to its award winning real-time strategy game, Empire Earth.  Released in November 2001, Empire Earth has sold more than one million copies worldwide.  The game has won numerous industry awards, including PC Game of the Year honors from GameSpy.com, a "Gold Award" accolade by PC Action magazine in Germany, and a "Trophy Award" for special achievement in gaming from PC Team magazine in France.

About Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest

Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest includes three new single-player campaigns set in ancient Rome, the Pacific Theater of World War II, and Asia in the 22^nd century.  In addition, each of the 21 pre-designed civilizations in the game gains a unique special power, building, or unit.  Examples include: the Kingdom of Italy's Metallurgy power, which allows them to pay building costs with gold or iron interchangeably; Great Britain's S.A.S. unit will be able to plant demolitions and swim across water; and the United States' market building will allow that civilization to trade abundant resources for scarce ones. 

In Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest, gamers attempt to become the greatest conqueror of all time by creating, building, and leading a civilization to transcend the ages - from the discovery of fire, to flight, to the next frontier: space. 

From Prehistory to the Space Age of the 22^nd Century, Empire Earth serves up gaming on an broad scale. Empire Earth and Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest cover over 500,000 years of human history, from the discovery of fire to the laser battles of the future.  Each player takes control of a fledgling civilization and strives to forge the greatest of all empires.

Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest is optimized for the Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 processor.  Gamers with a PC equipped with a Pentium 4 processor will experience smoother animation, more lifelike video, and ultra-realistic environments.

About Sierra

Sierra Entertainment, Inc. http://www.sierra.com,  a studio of the Games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, is one of the earliest developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment software. Based in Bellevue, Washington, Sierra has released critically acclaimed and award winning titles that represent a wide variety of computer entertainment on game consoles and PC platforms.