Cryptic Studios' Shayne Herrera To Judge And Speak At ARTimation 2006

LOS GATOS, CA. - October 19, 2006 - Cryptic Studios, Inc., the independent developer of massively multiplayer online games for the PC and next generation consoles, announced today that Shayne Herrera will be among the judges for ARTimation 2006 at the Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg. This juried digital arts festival will be held on October 23rd - October 25th. As the director of art for Cryptic Studios, the developer behind the critically-acclaimed "City of Heroes" and "City of Villains" games and the upcoming "Marvel Universe Online," Shayne will also be giving a presentation titled "Manufacturing a Universe" on Monday, October 23rd at 12:00 PM, exploring the secrets behind creating a visually immersive game universe. Previous years' judges have included representatives from studios such as Phuzz Entertainment, AREA 51, Digital Domain, Disney, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network, and Nick Digital.

A 10-year veteran of the video game industry, Shayne started his career as a production artist at Sierra Online, shipping the ground breaking hit "Starsiege Tribes." He's continued to work on high profile projects such as "Star Wars: Force Commander," "Escape from Monkey Island," "Star Wars: Starfighter," "007: Everything or Nothing," and "The Godfather." As the art director for Cryptic Studios, Shayne's current focus is guiding Cryptic Studios into the next generation of video game visuals.

About ARTimation

What started in 1999 as an opportunity for students and alumni to showcase their work on the big screen has evolved into a juried digital arts festival. This year's ARTimation is expected to draw more than 3000 people from across the country, including industry insiders and enthusiasts. The festival will showcase the work of current students and recent graduates with Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg's Bachelor of Fine Art degrees in Media Arts & Animation, Game Art & Design, Interactive Media Design, Digital Media Production and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics. The winners of this year's festival will be taking home software awards from Adobe, Autodesk, and Macromedia.

About Cryptic Studios

Cryptic Studios TM , Inc., located in Los Gatos, California, was established in July of 2000 and is an independent employee-owned developer of massively multiplayer online games for the PC and next generation consoles. Cryptic's first game, "City of Heroes," launched in April 2004 to popular acclaim, garnering the top accolades in the industry, from Best of Show at E3 to multiple Game of the Year awards. The game takes place in a virtual world where thousands of people play simultaneously, take on the role of super-powered heroes, fight villains and help create a dynamic story in a visually-stunning, 3-D graphical world.