Jolt takes on NationStatesTM

Jolt, Europe's largest independent online gaming network, is pleased to announce that it has taken over the hosting and management of NationStates. Created by Max Barry and inspired by his novel Jennifer Government, NationStates is an innovative and satirical browser-based nation simulation game, in which players create a country and shape its development according to their own ideals.

Players impose their will by responding to (or ignoring) hot political issues, and see their nation develop into anything from a Leftwing Utopia to a Corporate Police State. Nations can also be eligible to join the United Nations, where resolutions are proposed, voted on and sometimes passed; further affecting the development of its member nations.

Originally conceived as a marketing tool to promote his novel, the game has since achieved runaway success. Said Max Barry, "I thought I could get maybe a thousand players and they would help spread word-of-mouth about my novel. But the game turned out to be massively more popular than I ever imagined, and until now it's never really had the hardware to cope."

Running since November 2002, NationStates has served over 800,000 accounts and currently has highly active forums where political debates rage and international incidents are simulated. The deal sees hosting of the game and its forums transferred to Jolt. The move ties in with a number of positive changes to the game's design and coding. Further to this, Jolt, together with Max, are set to begin work on an all new version of the game, tentatively titled NationStates 2.

Dominic Silk, Jolt CEO said, "We're delighted to be involved with NationStates and to be providing the infrastructure that such a popular game deserves. We are looking forward to releasing NationStates 2 this year, with many exciting new features that existing players have been yearning for."

More information about NationStates can be found at www.nationstates.net 

About Jennifer Government

Set in a world run by mega corporations where employees take on the names of their employers, Jennifer Government is fast-paced thriller that has received worldwide critical acclaim. First published by DoubleDay in the US & Canada in January 2003, Jennifer Government has since been published in ten other countries, including translations to French, German and Japanese.

A movie version of Jennifer Government is being developed for the big screen by Section Eight films, owned by Steve Soderbergh and George Clooney, in conjunction with Warner Brothers.

More information can be found at http://www.maxbarry.com/jennifergovernment/ 

About Jolt Online Gaming

Launched in October 1999, www.jolt.co.uk is Europe's largest and most popular online gaming network, with in excess of 1000 game servers.

In addition to its European operations Jolt has servers located across the USA (NYC (East Coast), Atlanta (Central), Chicago (Central) and San Jose (West Coast)) with further expansion planned during 2004.

Jolt pioneered and is the world leader in the supply of rent able servers to clans. For the last three years, Jolt has been providing clans and individuals the ability to hire and manage their own gaming server with the very highest levels of performance and connectivity, a service that has been copied all over the World

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