Virgin Interactive and Qube Software present "Force of One"
A truly genre-busting next generation adventure from one of Europe's most experienced and creative development teams.
Virgin Interactive and Qube - the creators of D3D - are proud to announce Force of One, the PC and PlayStation 2 hit slated for Christmas 2000 release. Force of One is set to blow-apart and redefine the action adventure genre, pushing next-gen hardware technology to the limit.
Force of One is Qube's first development project and is set in a world known as Calcaphon - an environment comparable to William Gibson's dystopic cyber-noir landscapes, characterised by a blend of the ultra high tech with a twist of arcane mysticism.
The story line resembles that of 'The Matrix' - last year's Hollywood blockbuster starring Keanu Reeves. In Force of One you must follow 'Farlight', a novice Technomancer as he is sent on a mission to capture a man who could change the very existence of the world of Calcaphon.
You are soon to discover that the world around you is not all it seems. Deceit and betrayal lurk around every corner. Only when you realise your true place in this world will you be able to conquer the demons that threaten the fabric of your world.
Combating great evil and, at times, the very ideas and beliefs by which you live your life, you will encounter a number of mysterious comrades whose talents must also be used to enable Farlight to fulfil his epic quest. Your emotions will be tested to their absolute limit as you discover deceit, betrayal, intrigue and loyalty.
The epic storyline, which will have you yearning for the next chapter, is complemented by visuals of outstanding detail and beauty. The gameplay is certainly action-packed, but the use of tactical squad-based combat will also be necessary in order to fully outsmart and ambush your foes. And there are certainly plenty of foes! Over 16 glorious levels are all filled with stimulating puzzles and outlandish creatures with such cunning you will think they are almost human.
With the adrenaline highs and lows of a Hollywood Blockbuster and more action and brains than any PC or next-gen action adventure yet, Force of One is sure to be the true gamer's top tip for Christmas. Force of One will be released for PlayStation 2 and PC in November 2000
-About Qube-
Qube Software Ltd specialise in building cutting edge and immersive entertainment media and providing tools and engines for the creation and playback of that media. Qube's staff are hand-picked for their expertise and experience in the games industry. Two of Qube's directors founded RenderMorphics, a company that specialised in 3D graphics engines for games. RenderMorphics was purchased by Microsoft and the same team went on to build Direct3D for Microsoft's DirectX. The core engineering team have worked together and shipped numerous products over the past 12 years from the text based adventure games of Magnetic Scrolls to the game technologies of RealityLab and DirectX.
The style of games developed at Qube are adventures set in immersive believable worlds like Final Fantasy VII and Riven. Instead of using static or scrolling pre-rendered backgrounds, full real-time first or third person 3D is used, allowing for a heightened immersive reality. Emphasis is also placed on the worlds themselves, the aim being to support a number of titles within each. This sharing of worlds facilitates a far richer backdrop for game content, which includes personalities, history, legends and rival factions. This sharing of worlds also paves the way for internet-based hosting of these titles.
Qube technology is split into two divisions, a content group and a technology group. Having two independent groups serves two purposes:
1 Stable technology is guaranteed for the content group to work with and new technology will not stall game development.
2. The game engines used will not fall behind the cutting edge of gaming.
For the past year the technology group have been developing a suite of tools and a cross platform game engine, a currently known under the title Q. The aim of Q is to facilitate rapid creation of quality 3D content. The world editor plugs onto a world database and artists and game designers can roam around the 3D world in real-time, tuning and editing the world along with the gameplay. There is no turnaround time between building a world and testing the gameplay within it - an essential feature for building convincing and functional game interaction.
