OMNI INTERACTIVE AUDIO SIGNS DEAL TO PROVIDE SOUND EFFECTS FOR FUTURE CHAPTERS OF "GUILD WARS"

Game Audio Veterans Shape Sound for ArenaNet’s
Highly Anticipated Competitive Roleplaying Game

Redmond, Washington, April 18th, 2005 – Omni Interactive Audio (www.omniinteractiveaudio.com) – a leading full service audio production company for the video game industry – today revealed they have signed an ongoing, long-term deal to create and integrate all the sound effects for future chapters of Guild Wars®, the new online role playing game developed by ArenaNet® and published by NCSoft®.

Headed by Alistair Hirst, former senior audio director at Electronic Arts Seattle, and a veteran team of audio producers featuring noted sound designers, composers and recording engineers from both the video game and music industries, Omni Interactive Audio provides music, sound effects and voice production services for AAA videogame titles. In addition to creating and implementing all the sound effects for Guild Wars, their credits include Halo 2 (cinematics), NHL Rivals, Men Of Valor, and The Sims 2.

"Working with ArenaNet was a very enjoyable, free-flowing process," said Hirst. "The game world and creatures look fantastic and it is incredibly inspiring creating sounds for those beautiful visuals. There is a wide variety of creatures and gameplay skills, which leave plenty of room for creative approaches to the sounds."

By contracting out audio work to Omni, game companies are able to take advantage of their large team with a broad range of expertise and experience, and there is no capital overhead tied up in audio equipment and studio space.

Jeff Strain, cofounder of ArenaNet, commented, "Omni has a tremendous amount of industry experience and it really shows. They handle the entire chain of sound creation for us, from raw sound production, to actually integrating the sound into the game world. We are very happy with their contribution to Guild Wars and look forward to working together on future chapters."

Guild Wars is a competitive online roleplaying game that rewards player skill. Players explore a rich fantasy game world, acquire skills, build personalized characters and compete in head-to-head guild battles with friends around the world. It is the first title from ArenaNet, which was founded by some of the key members of the creative teams behind the hit games Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo®, and the creators of Battle.net®. Guild Wars will be available at retail in North America and Europe on April 28, 2005. For more information on the game please visit www.guildwars.com.