Pariah Gets Some Rhythm

Hip Interactive | January 14, 2005 - Continuing the crossover trend between the movie and games industry, details surrounding the theatrical-style music score for the highly anticipated new first-person action game, Pariah were announced today. Tim Larkin, known for his work on the blockbuster Myst adventure series was chosen by developer, Digital Extremes to create a score that captured the mood and style of Pariah.

"Music and sound are vital to creating a truly immersive experience," said James Schmalz, founder and creative director of Digital Extremes. "The movie industry has demonstrated this very well and now that we have gotten to a point with technology where we can match image and sound quality in our games, it's finally possible for developers to create that immersion."

"For Pariah we were looking for something that would match the feeling of the storyline and characters in the game, futuristic but relatable and above all memorable," Schmalz continued. "Tim Larkin's talent is impressive and his music style really fit with the overarching themes in Pariah, mystery and action."

"I was looking for a really different signature sound to set the game apart from others and it was refreshing that Digital Extremes wanted to steer clear of the stereotypical hard-action music," said Tim Larkin, Audio Director at Cyan Worlds. "I typically look for rhythm and sounds in unusual places so my style is unique with its combination of atypical percussion mixed with traditional instruments. I'm really happy with the results for Pariah, it's distinctive and memorable."

Tim's experience in the music industry dates back to live performances as a trumpet player with artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Mel Torme, Sheila E and Huey Lewis to name a few. Over the past ten years he has composed music and directed audio in the games industry for such games as Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, Riven, Middle Earth, Lord of the Rings and the original Prince of Persia among others. Currently Tim is the audio director at independent game development studio Cyan Worlds, the creators of the award-winning adventure sensation Myst.

Anticipation for Pariah has been growing since it was announced last spring and then awarded Biggest Surprise at last year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) by IGN.com. Coming from the co-creators of the multi-million unit selling Unreal^® series, Pariah plans to grab gamers with its immersive single-player storyline and fully equipped multi-player campaign.

Pariah will reach major retail stores worldwide this spring on the Xbox^® video game system from Microsoft and the PC. For more information on the game visit the official website at www.pariahgame.com. For more information or to contact Tim Larkin visit www.timlarkin.net.

For more info [email protected]

About Digital Extremes

Founded in 1993 by industry visionary, James Schmalz, 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 creation of the multi-million unit selling Unreal^® 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 two games based on new originally created intellectual properties. For more information visit the company website at www.digitalextremes.com.

About Xbox

Xbox (http://www.xbox.com) is the video game system from Microsoft that brings people together for the most exhilarating game and entertainment experiences. Xbox delivers an expansive collection of breakthrough games, powerful hardware and the unified Xbox Live online service. The new tagline, "it's good to play together," captures the spirit of Xbox as the social hub of the new digital entertainment lifestyle. Xbox is now available in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Xbox is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Unreal^® is a trademark of Epic Games.