Atari, BioWare and FloodGate Entertainment are joining forces to expand the universe of Neverwinter Nights, the award-winning fantasy role-playing game based in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms world. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide is the first official expansion pack and is scheduled for release in North America Spring 2003.

"Neverwinter Nights is the definitive role playing experience on the personal computer," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior vice president and head of Infogrames, Inc.'s Los Angeles studio. "With Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide, we are giving the fans all new content for their single player campaigning as well as the tools to push their own creations to the next level in the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset."

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide will include a new 40-hour single player campaign as well as game features new to Neverwinter Nights, such as additional D&D skills, feats, classes, monsters, weapons and spells. In addition, the pack will include two new tile sets and other assets for use in the Aurora toolset that will enable amateur module designers to create completely different worlds.

The game is being co-developed by BioWare, the creators of the original game, and FloodGate Entertainment, a company made up of developers largely from Looking Glass Studios. A second expansion pack with a new Neverwinter Nights campaign and even more features is also in the works for Summer 2003 and is under development exclusively at BioWare.

"It's a great collaborative arrangement we've got with FloodGate," said Dr. Greg Zeschuk, joint CEO and Co-Executive Producer of Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. "We're providing technical and design assistance. They're using the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset with some new additions and creating custom art to develop the new Dungeons & Dragons storyline and content."

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide offers role playing fans even more D&D features than the groundbreaking original. Additions include, new skills, including Tumble and Appraise; new feats, such as Divine Might, Extra Music and Bullheaded; new weapons, such as Holy Water Flasks and Choking Powder; new prestige classes, like Harper Scout; new monsters from the D&D universe, including Medusa, Cockatrice, Sphinx, and Female Fire Giant; and dozens of new spells.

In addition, the expansion pack equips amateur module makers with additional content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking software included with the full game that allows players to create their own universes, quests and storylines. The toolset will be augmented with all new tile sets for creation of new environments as well as new "Wizards," or automated guides, to help gamers build and play adventures of their own creation.

"Over the past few months, fans of Neverwinter Nights have been engrossed in the Official Campaign, or building their own incredible adventures with the Toolset, or guiding their friends through the thousands of user created modules as a Dungeon Master, or even tweaking the game in ways we'd not anticipated - all very exciting for us to see. They've also been asking for more 'official content' - and we're happy to be able to accommodate them with expansion packs," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, joint CEO and Co-Executive Producer of Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. "I think Dungeons & Dragons fans will be surprised and pleased with the new content and stories we're creating."

Look for Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide in stores throughout North America next spring.