D3Publisher of America Inc and D3Publisher of Europe, Ltd. (D3PE), a publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, today announced that it has signed the next hot title from the co-creators behind the award-winning Epic Games' Unreal franchise. Ranked as one of the top independent interactive entertainment development studios in the world, Canadian-based Digital Extremes is currently in full production on Dark Sector being developed for next generation console platforms and personal computers. A third-person shooter, Dark Sector is anticipated for a worldwide release in Q3 2007 and has already garnered tremendous buzz among the gaming community and mass media as the next-gen game to watch.

"Our focus at D3Publisher continues to be acquiring good, mass-market appeal licensed properties, and the acquisition of IP from selected developers designed for next generation machines," stated Yoji Takenaka, executive vice president and COO for D3PA. "The opportunity to work with the world renowned design team that James Schmalz has assembled at Digital Extremes is just too good to pass up. They have an outstanding reputation for gorgeous graphics, polished gameplay and high quality production values. We are very proud to be working with them on Dark Sector."

Founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, Digital Extremes has become one of the world's top interactive entertainment development studios. Digital Extremes partnered with Epic Games to co-create Epic Games' Unreal and its counterpart Unreal Tournament, which has garnered critical acclaim globally and numerous awards including the coveted Game of the Year award from top media outlets Computer Gaming World, CNET, Gamespy and Gamespot. To date, the scope of games in the award-winning Unreal franchise, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship have sold more than 9 million units worldwide.

"We are very fortunate based on our previous successes to be in a position of being selective with our business partners," commented James Schmalz, Digital Extremes founder. "D3Publisher impressed us with their commitment to publishing high quality next-generation games that exceed gamers' expectations, which we certainly expect to do with Dark Sector. We consider this game to be the culmination of the experience we have garnered over the years in creating cutting-edge entertainment and we are pleased to be working with them to bring Dark Sector to gamers around the world."

A modern-day superhero saga, Dark Sector is a third-person shooter where players assume the role of the protagonist, Hayden Tenno who gains the ability to morph into dramatically different combat forms. Set in the crumbling infrastructure of a fictional Soviet-bloc country in the near future, the game features both single and multi-player action, with players working their way through a world where bio-weapons are no longer science experiments, but a hellish nightmare let loose on an unsuspecting populace.

Digital Extremes ranks as one of the world's top independent development studios in the interactive entertainment industry. The Canadian based developer is best known for its co-creation of Epic Games' Unreal, the multi-million unit selling franchise which includes the award-winning PC series Unreal and Unreal Tournament as well as Xbox hit Unreal Championship. Digital Extremes is currently in production on its next-generation title, Dark Sector using its proprietary next-gen technology, the Sector Engine.