Playable
Game Demo of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Available Sept. 27th
(Press
Release)
BEVERLY,
MA - September 15, 2004 - Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) has announced a
"RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 Pre-Order Campaign" and demo
program, both part of a comprehensive multi-vehicle marketing campaign
for the November 2nd launch of RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3. The pre-order
program allows consumers who reserve a copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3,
the highly anticipated next addition of the RollerCoaster Tycoon
franchise, to download three professionally designed coasters that were
created exclusively for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. A playable demo of the
game will be available for download on Monday, September 27th at www.atari.com/rollercoastertycoon
and on partner sites.
Famous
for the Nemesis and Oblivion rides at Alton Towers Park in England,
world renowned roller coaster designer and creator John Wardley designed
five roller coasters for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 that are only available
through the pre-sell campaign and won't be included in the final game.
Consumers are able to pre-order RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 at participating
retail partners from now until the November 2nd launch.
"I've
had a great time designing coasters with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3,"
said John Wardley, professional roller coaster designer. "Atari and
Frontier are creating a superb amusement park simulation and the
addition of real-life coaster technology and the ability to ride the
rides you create makes the game as intense as it is captivating."
Consumers
will be able to download a "coaster pack" which contains three
exclusive Wardley designed pre-sell coasters. The coaster packs differ
depending on where consumers place their pre-order as outlined below:
Dueling
Dragsters:
A large and
fast giga-coaster set over a lake. Available through pre-orders at
Gamestop exclusively.
The
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 pre-sell program begins on September 15th at
participating retailers and the exclusive pre-sell coasters will be
available for download beginning on October 26th, one week prior to the
game's November 2nd in-store date.
At
the time of registration, consumers at Electronics Boutique, Gamestop
and Best Buy in the U.S., and other local retailers worldwide, will
receive a pre-sell box. This box will contain a key-code and
instructions to unlock and download a "coaster pack"
containing three custom-designed roller coasters (as outlined above).
Consumers can also pre-order online at EBgames.com, Walmart.com,
Amazon.com, and CompUSA.com and will receive a key code via email to
download the coasters.
RollerCoaster
Tycoon 3 features stunning 3D graphics, a CoasterCam(tm) that lets
players
"ride
the rides," a Fireworks MixMaster(tm) to create fireworks displays,
dozens of new rides and themed attractions, a Peep Designer, VIPeeps, a
Sandbox Mode, customizable music and various day and nighttime cycles.
RollerCoaster
Tycoon 3 is being developed by Frontier Developments, Ltd. and has a
U.S. in-store date of November 2nd and a November 5th launch date in
territories outside the U.S. A demo of the game will be available
worldwide on Monday, September 27th at www.atari.com/rollercoastertycoon.
Additional details about the game and the pre-order campaign are also
available on the web 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
Atari
New
York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all
platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of
interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+
titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as DRIV3R(tm), Enter
the Matrix(tm), Neverwinter Nights(tm), Stuntman(tm), Test Drive®,
Unreal® Tournament 2004, and Unreal® Championship; and mass-market and
children's games such as Backyard Sports(tm), Nickelodeon's Blue's
Clues(tm) and Dora the Explorer(tm), Civilization®, Dragon Ball Z® and
RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of
France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext - ISIN:
FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For
more information, visit www.atari.com.