Montreal, Quebec – March 22, 2004 – Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), today announced SOFTIMAGE®|XSI® EXP for Half-Life® 2 – a free version of its award-winning 3-D nonlinear production environment designed to work exclusively with Half-Life 2, the upcoming action game created by Valve. The software, which will be demonstrated in the Softimage booth (# 1528) at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, Calif. March 24 – 26, allows gaming customers to create and modify characters, props, and scenery for Half-Life 2 MODs and other Valve Source™ engine-powered titles, and then output their creations directly into the games. On Wednesday, March 24, Softimage will provide special, limited edition, pre-release CDs to attendees of SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP for Half-Life 2 seminars at GDC. The complete software package is also expected to be available for download from the Softimage website by Wednesday, March 24.

“We’re thrilled to be involved with Half-Life 2, and for the opportunity to give gamers an easy, fun, and powerful way to alter the game and customize their entertainment experiences,” said Gareth Morgan, senior product manager for Softimage. “Half-Life 2 is significantly raising the bar for the gaming community, delivering higher quality graphics and presentation values than many other games on the market. This free version of our software will enable a generation of young artists to introduce new characters and other imaginative elements into Half-Life 2 using Valve’s Source engine. It’s a great way for creative gamers to experiment with the same animation tools used by their favorite professional game developers.”