March 16^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Microsoft Game Studios and Sigil Games Online today announced that Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, a next-generation massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG), is currently in development for the Windows platform. Brad McQuaid, one of the game industry’s most renowned designers and co-creator of EverQuest, is leading a star-studded team of MMORPG veterans to create the next evolution in the genre.

"Sigil’s unparalleled expertise and experience in the field will bring groundbreaking advances to the genre," said McQuaid, president and CEO of Sigil Games Online. "In recent years we’ve become concerned with a growing trend to water down gameplay in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience. At Sigil, we’re designing our game for the existing MMORPG gamer who is looking for both new challenges and new rewards. On one level, Vanguard combines everything we’ve learned from MMORPGs: their strengths, their deficiencies and how to address them. Even more important, we plan to introduce a whole new level of gameplay that represents, in our opinion, the logical evolution of the MMORPG genre."

The Vanguard team includes McQuaid and Steve Clover, both of whom co-authored the original design document and led the design team for EverQuest. McQuaid then served as the producer on EverQuest, with Clover driving development as lead programmer. Working with McQuaid as Vanguard’s co-producer is Jeff Butler, who also co-produced the EverQuest expansion The Ruins of Kunark and later served as producer on the highly successful expansions The Scars of Velious and The Shadows of Luclin. Rounding out the Vanguard leadership team is art director Keith Parkinson, the award-winning artist responsible for the painted box art for the original EverQuest and several later expansions.

More information about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes can be found at the official site at http://www.vanguardsoh.com/.