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Iron Phoenix to Support Xbox Live

Xbox

(Press Release)

CARLSBAD, CA - SEPT 23, 2004 - Sammy Studios, Inc., a developer and publisher of interactive entertainment content, today announced that "Iron Phoenix" will support Xbox Live(TM) 3.0 when it releases in the first quarter of 2005. "Iron Phoenix," the first-ever 16-player online fighting game, will incorporate features built into the latest iteration of Xbox Live that allow players to form teams as well as organize and host tournaments.  These features are ideal for "Iron Phoenix," a video game that combines squad-based play and strategies traditionally found in online first-person shooters with fighting game-style melee combat.  Developed by InterServ International, Inc. exclusively for the Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft Corp., "Iron Phoenix" has an MRSP of $49.99 and is not yet rated.

"Gamers should be ready for unprecedented single and multiplayer experiences with 'Iron Phoenix,' a game that combines two very popular genres to introduce an entirely new form of game play," said Tim Pivnicny, senior VP of sales and marketing, Sammy Studios, Inc.

"Iron Phoenix" introduces team-based fighting for up to 16 players battling it out simultaneously in massive indoor and outdoor arenas.  Players engage each other in melee combat using a fight system where moves and combinations are dictated by weapons rather than characters.  "Iron Phoenix" offers nine weapons, each with a unique arsenal of powerful strikes, special moves, range attacks and combinations.  The game brings a new element to the fighting game experience with play modes that rely on team strategy and cooperative combat, featuring such abilities as combos strung together between team members or multiple opponents engaged by a single character's combo attack.  "Iron Phoenix" incorporates fight styles from Kung-Fu and other weapons-based martial arts, and takes inspiration from popular films of the genre by adding superhuman techniques and wire-fu.  "Iron Phoenix" also offers a single-player adventure where players can uncover weapons, characters and environments, and experience the game's rich premise set in a mythical China and inspired by popular martial arts epics.

"The game's online multiplayer mode is designed to be team-oriented, very much like popular online FPS games, yet 'Iron Phoenix' is a fighter at its heart," said Tim Hess, producer on "Iron Phoenix," Sammy Studios, Inc.  "We know that 'Iron Phoenix' is going to foster intense competition, and therefore we have always thought it essential to make performing tasks like creating clans and populating and hosting tournaments as easy as possible.  Xbox Live 3.0 features facilitate this, letting players get to what matters most - experiencing 3D fighting on a battle scale with 15 other players."

"Iron Phoenix" will incorporate nearly all Xbox Live 3.0 features into its own online feature set.  Xbox Live 3.0 offers team and messaging features that allow players to easily form clans and communicate among clan members.  "Iron Phoenix" will allow players to form their clan and assign it a special gamer tag so that all members are automatically recognized.  Clan members can then use Xbox Live 3.0 messaging features to send updates to existing teammates and even hold try-outs and interviews to qualify new members.  "Iron Phoenix" will also support video messaging for those equipped with web cams.  For competitions, "Iron Phoenix" will let clans organize and host tournaments for up to eight teams, with challengers and their statistics, as well as tournament results tracked through the Xbox Live service.

"Iron Phoenix" follows the fate of a set of powerful weapons created from shards of a massive meteor.  A legend claiming absolute power to anyone who controls all the weapons becomes the thunder portending a storm; a call to arms for the greatest warriors to gather for the final decisive battles.  More information on "Iron Phoenix," including downloadable art, screenshots and videos, is available at the game's dedicated web site www.ironphoenix.com, and at the "Iron Phoenix" community at http://forums.sammystudios.com.