SAN FRANCISCO, May 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today announced that Ion Storm, creators of the award-winning Deus Ex franchise, is currently developing the next installment of the Thief series for the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft and PC.
"Eidos believes that the upcoming Thief game will establish itself as a major brand for the company," said Rob Dyer, President, Eidos Interactive US. "Ion Storm possesses a firm grasp of how to create and master the open-ended, stealth-based gameplay that has reached such high demand in the consumer marketplace. And it is the primary focus of franchises like Deus Ex and Thief."
"The opportunity to create a game in the Thief universe is a real thrill for me and the rest of the folks at Ion Storm," said Warren Spector, Studio Director at Ion Storm. "Thief pioneered the concept of "stealth action" gameplay on the PC and was the game that, more than any other, inspired me to build a team to create Deus Ex. Now, Ion and the Thief team hope to take the 'sneaker' genre to new heights and, by developing for both Xbox and PC, bring it to an even larger audience than before."
An innovative new key feature in Thief is "body awareness," which gives players the ability to see their hands and feet while climbing walls, leaning over ledges, and picking locks. Working hand-in-hand with body awareness is Ion Storm's dynamic lighting system. Garrett can manipulate the light and shadows real-time to his own advantage, creating entirely new stealth opportunities.
"The Thief team is poised to deliver an incredible action stealth game, featuring realistic sneaking and stealing. We want the player to feel like a real thief," said Randy Smith, Project Director at Ion Storm. "The game is accessible on both platforms yet sophisticated in its depth, enabling a lifetime of gameplay to explore and master. The internally developed technology that powers Thief puts control and direction of the action in the player's hands."
In this chapter of Thief, gamers once again take on the role of Garrett, a master thief who is rarely seen, never caught and capable of breaking into the most ingeniously secured places. Garrett steals from the wealthy and gives to himself, making his living in the dark and foreboding City. Although Garrett would prefer to be left alone to ply his trade, the prophecies of an impending Dark Age dictate a different plan for the thief. In his efforts to prevent the Dark Age, Garrett has inadvertently roused an ancient, hidden evil. Garrett finds himself without allies, standing alone between the City and the forces that would crush it.
Playing Garrett, gamers will use their skills to sneak throughout the City into castles, mansions, prisons, cathedrals, dungeons, and museums, past armed guards, hired muscle, angry thugs, hideous monsters, and much worse. Players must steal the City's oldest treasures in order to stop the darkness foretold in the prophecies. As Garrett, players have a wealth of thieves' tools at their disposal, including lock picks, arrows, wall climbing gloves, and flash bombs.
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