ATARI'S HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED ROLLERCOASTER TYCOON 3 GAME ON TRACK TO LOOP, TWIST AND SOAR INTO STORES NOVEMBER 5th
#1 Tycoon Franchise Moves to 3D And Features a CoasterCam and Other New Additions
LONDON, UK - 11 October 2004 - Atari announced today that RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the highly-anticipated next addition to the best-selling RollerCoaster Tycoon® franchise, has gone gold and is on target for a European in-store date of 5 November.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the #1 Tycoon series with over eight million units sold life-to-date worldwide*, is a complete update for the franchise with stunning 3D graphics and the ability to see the park from the eyes of a guest and ride all the rides with the new CoasterCam feature. The game features amazing crowd scenes with enhanced park guests and characters, over 170 rides including new-to-the-franchise roller coaster types, realistic day and night cycles with superb lighting effects, extensive still-picture and movie-making capability to allow players to share the fruits of their creativity, a Sandbox Mode and many other new features which build upon the fun and addictive nature of the original games.
In addition, a new Fireworks MixMaster lets players create pyrotechnic masterpieces and synchronize them to music using pre-set in-game songs or selections from their own music files. And, as with all the other customizable elements like exchanging rides and people, in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, players will be able to trade firework shows with other players. In addition, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 will also include the ability to assign music from the player's own library to rides in the park, import roller coaster designs from previous games in the franchise, and features various weather effects.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was developed by Frontier Developments, Ltd. of Cambridge, England, in conjunction with Chris Sawyer, the creator and sole developer of the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise. A free playable demo of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is available for download at www.rollercoastertycoon.com. A pre-order program is currently underway allowing consumers that reserve a copy of the game to receive a Coaster Pack containing three exclusive, professionally designed coasters. Additional information about the features of the new game, videos, screenshots, character art, background information and other assets can also be found on the official site.
About Frontier Developments, Ltd.
Frontier and its founder, David Braben, have a long association with Chris Sawyer going back to 1987, when Chris first worked on PC versions of the famous "Elite" and "Virus" games. Frontier has for many years used its own cutting-edge 3D game engine on both PC and console titles. The company has a strong track record of creating both innovative 'own-IP' games and original high-quality titles that give a faithful treatment of existing brands. The company's most recent two console games gathered three prestigious BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nominations between them ("Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo" on PlayStation®2, Xbox, GameCube and PC, based on Aardman Animations Ltd.'s multiple Oscar®-winning duo; and the novel, award-winning "Dog's Life" published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe on PlayStation®2). Frontier employs approximately 60 people, and has offices in Cambridge and Ely in the UK.
About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari:
Infogrames Entertainment (IESA), the parent company of the Atari Group, is listed on the Paris Euronext stock exchange (ISIN code: FR-0000052573) and has two principal subsidiaries: Atari Europe, a privately-held company, and Atari, Inc., a United States corporation listed on NASDAQ (ATAR).
The Atari Group is a major international producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and in all existing game formats (Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) and on CD-ROM for PC. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries.
The Atari Group's extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Driver, Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, Unreal Tournament, Test Drive, Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc.) and international licenses (Mission Impossible from Paramount, Men In Black, Superman, Matrix, Terminator and Dragon Ball Z).
For more information: http://www.atari.com
*Over six million units in the U.S. through August 2004 according to The NPD Group, Inc.
® 2004 Atari Europe SASU. All Rights Reserved.
RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 game ® 2004 Chris Sawyer. Programming ® 2004 Frontier Developments Ltd. All rights reserved.
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