Atari's Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone brings together major Hollywood talent with best-selling author R.A. Salvatore and voice talent featuring Patrick Stewart and Michael Clarke Duncan

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"'Demon Stone' features a classic struggle between the forces of good and evil, and we needed two powerful voice talents to make that conflict real and bring it to life. Patrick Stewart's classic articulation and Michael Clarke Duncan's presence were absolutely perfect as the two opposing sides of that conflict," said John Hight, executive producer in Atari's Los Angeles studio. "As a best-selling author of numerous Forgotten Realms novels, R. A. Salvatore is uniquely suited to take on this project and his mastery of storytelling will immerse players more deeply in our game."

Patrick Stewart, who has starred in numerous major theatrical releases, including "X-Men," "X-2: X-Men United," "Conspiracy Theory," as well as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television series and feature films "Star Trek: Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Star Trek: Insurrection" and "Star Trek: Nemesis" will give voice to Khelban "Blackstaff" Aunsun - a wizard of legendary power and wisdom. Michael Clarke Duncan, who has appeared in feature films that include "Daredevil," "The Scorpion King," "Planet of the Apes" and "The Green Mile," will provide the voice of Ygorl, the evil Slaad Lord - a bloodthirsty conqueror from a mystical realm of chaos.

R. A. Salvatore is a prolific fantasy writer who has penned dozens of novels centered in the Forgotten Realms and other D&D locations, including the "Icewind Dale Trilogy," the "Dark Elf trilogy," and the "Demon Wars." Best known as the creator of the popular Drizzt Do'Urden, one of the fantasy genre's most beloved characters, Salvatore has sold nearly nine million novels to date. His latest novel, "The Lone Drow," chronicles the continued adventures of Drizzt in the land of Faerun, and spent 10 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.

In "Demon Stone," the player directs a party of three characters - Fighter, Sorcerer and Rogue. Switching control between characters on the fly, the player fights a wide range of enemies, with the other two party members controlled by artificial intelligence and ready to return to the player at any time. For example, when the player controls the Fighter, the Sorcerer and Rogue will continue to engage in combat, cast spells and assist the player in defeating all challengers. In many situations, the characters will be able to divide and conquer difficult objectives - while the Fighter holds back a horde of Yuan-Ti snakemen with brute force, the Sorcerer supports him with devastating long-ranged magic spells while the rogue sneaks above and behind the enemies for a coup de grace. The player participates seamlessly in each critical moment as the perspective and control switches among the characters, all under user control.

This real-time, on-the-fly character switching design allows "Demon Stone" to challenge players with innovative and compelling encounters. In true D&D fashion, each of the characters excels at a certain type of gameplay. The Fighter thrives in melee combat, the Sorcerer is excellent at ranged and magical combat and the Rogue excels at jumping, sneaking and disarming traps. Players will be continually tasked with choosing the best character for each challenge, as well as using each character's gameplay specialty to maximum effect.

"Demon Stone's" intense, cinematic action is set entirely within the Forgotten Realms fantasy world. Familiar characters, such as the famous drow Drizzt Do'Urden and the legendary mage Khelban "Blackstaff" Arunsun who assist the party in their struggles; terrifying monsters, including Dragons, Orcs, Slaadi, Yuan-Ti and Trolls; as well as geographical locations straight from the popular D&D campaign setting, will make appearances and serve as backdrops throughout the game.

The story of "Demon Stone" revolves around the adventuring party's unwitting intrusion into an age-old conflict between two warring demonic armies; one led by a Githyanki Princess and the other, a Slaad Lord. After inadvertently releasing both demons back upon the world after eons of imprisonment, the adventurers must embark upon a quest to right this wrong and restore order to the world of Faerun.

"Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone" will place players in the middle of a heated battle between two demonic armies set to overrun the world of Faerun. The intense story setting in "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone" will highlight the game's use of an enhanced version of Stormfront's powerful game engine, allowing for greatly improved graphics, faster gameplay and even more intelligent enemies.

"The work that Stormfront Studios have done in the past, most recently the acclaimed and highly successful "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", showed that they were the perfect team to bring all the action and intensity of the D&D universe to the PlayStation 2," said Martin Spiess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Atari Europe. "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a fantastic looking game, offering an incredible gameplay experience made possible by a vastly improved gaming engine and innovative gameplay features. The ability to switch between characters while in the middle of intense action is a first for an action adventure game of this kind, adding a completely new dimension to the gameplay."

"Console action game fans will be blown away by the depth and beauty of "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone," said Don Daglow, president of Stormfront Studios. "The technology improvements, the fantastic gaming universe of D&D's Forgotten Realms, and the wide variety of exciting cinematic gameplay all add up to one thing ?a fun and compelling action-adventure."

"Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone" will utilise an extensive fighting system which is both easy to learn and visually stunning. Characters will perform amazing attacks and feats at the simple touch of a button, but the system has sophisticated features for advanced players who want to tailor their attacks to maximize their damage in specific situations. Unique special attacks, combinations, linked combos, super attacks and even group super attacks allow advanced players to excel against their most fearsome foes.

In addition, "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone" will allow players to upgrade their characters with a branching path of new feats and combos as they gain experience and levels. Each character will feature a number of unique abilities, such as the Fighter's combat skills and strength, the Rogue's stealth and lock picking abilities and the Sorcerer's plethora of new spells. For example, when upgrading the Fighter, the player might have the choice of upgrading his Strength, his Melee Skill or his Hand-to-Hand skill. Within those choices, there will be other dependencies, such as the requirement to earn Power Attack before Cleave can be acquired.