Anarchy Online Wins Best Massively Multiplayer Game

Business Wire, Feb 11, 2002

Entertainment Editors

DURHAM, N.C.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2002

PC Gamer Awards Issue Asks: Have you played AO lately?

Funcom's massively multiplayer online game, Anarchy Online, has been awarded Best Massively Multiplayer Game by PC Gamer in the March issue going on sale tomorrow.

This follows the award of Best Multiplayer Game of Show at ECTS that Anarchy Online won in September of 2001.

"So why, you may wonder, would we reward the initially unstable and nearly impossible-to-play Anarchy Online...Our answer: Have you played AO lately?" PC Gamer's editorial staff said in the award issue. "In our original review of Anarchy Online we said that it would be the 'next great MMORPG,' only 'some time in the future.' Well, that future is here," the article read.

After a rocky start when the game launched in June of last year, Anarchy Online has now come full circle and is like no other game on the market. Anarchy Online is still the only massively multiplayer game for role-players to be based in a science fiction setting. Players start their experience by choosing sides in an epic struggle for control of the planet Rubi-ka nearly 30,000 years in the future. Characters can fly from city to city in sleek hovercrafts, heal themselves with nano-technology, and be enhanced through various cybernetic implants such as lungs, eyes and arms. Anarchy Online is one of the few in this genre to allow for shorter, solo play periods through individual missions, while still providing a fun group experience of hunting strange creatures and scouting new areas of the vast and graphically breathtaking world.

The production staff, based in Funcom's Norway office, continues to update content nearly every two weeks, with even more exciting things planned for the near future. You can take advantage of the company's 7-day free trial offer by following this link http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/tryout/ ; and if you don't have the bandwidth to download this amount of information, Funcom will send you the most recent version by mail for only $4.99. Anarchy Online can be purchased in stores or online by either credit card or PayByCash.com, and is free for the first 30 days with a monthly subscription fee of $12.95 after that period. This game can only be played through a connection to the Internet and has been rated Teen by the ESRB.

For more information about Anarchy Online, please visit www.anarchy-online.com or www.funcom.com.

About Funcom

As an international games developer and publisher, Funcom has offices in Switzerland, PC development along with marketing in Norway, and a new customer support and marketing office in Durham, North Carolina. Formed in 1993, Funcom is best known for The Longest Journey (www.longestjourney.com), voted Adventure Game of the Year 2000 by both PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World. Anarchy Online (www.anarchy-online.com) is the company's most recent success, having been released for the PC in the summer of 2001 and awarded Best Massively Multiplayer Game by PC Gamer. Funcom has had an impressive development track record producing titles for many platforms such as Pocahontas, Casper, Speed Punks, and Championship Motocross. With over 150 employees, the company now publishes and develops massively multi-player online games exclusively for the PC. Tri Synergy Inc. distributes Funcom products in North America. For retail information, please contact Tamra Nestler, tamra@trisynergy.com, (972) 307-1799 or Robin Frisby, rfrisby@mindspring.com, 214-827-8116. For more details about Funcom, please visit www.funcom.com or contact marketing@funcom.com or pr@funcom.com.