This press release officially announces Blue Mars, a CryENGINE2 massively multiplayer virtual world in the works at Avatar Reality. The virtual world was first revealed by way of some concept art several months ago (story), but here's the full announcement, which promises a beta test later this year:

SAN FRANCISCO (from GDC 2008) – Feb. 19, 2008 – Avatar Reality Inc., a new development entity dedicated to the advancement of online community building, today announced it will provide a sneak preview of its upcoming massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW), Blue Mars, at the 2008 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Booth 418 in the West Hall Career Pavilion.

Set in Terraformed Mars in the year 2177 AD, Blue Mars will feature stunning graphics, realistic characters and endless gaming attractions that will allow players to build and simulate real-life scenarios by creating personalized characters, or avatars. The MMVW will launch in a public beta version at the end of 2008.

At GDC, Avatar Reality will conduct an interactive tour of Blue Mars attractions which highlight breathtaking graphics through the utilization of CryTek’s game middleware CryENGINE™2. Additionally, they will preview their scripting game development environment which enables third party developers to easily build rich 3D casual games, and their proprietary Avatar Technology, which enables realistic character appearance and animation.

Avatar Reality’s vice president Li-Han Chen will host a sponsored session on Wed., Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. announcing the Blue Mars Third Party Development Program which gives game developers, CG artists and interested business partners an opportunity to create a variety of in-world attractions, 3D art assets and promotions for Blue Mars users. The session will take place in the West Hall, Room 2000.

For more information on Blue Mars and the Third Party Development Program at GDC, please visit Avatar Reality at Booth 418 in the West Hall Career Pavilion.