INFOGRAMES,
INC. BRINGS ITS DISTINGUISHED RACING FRANCHISE TO
THE XBOX WITH TEST DRIVE®
The Granddaddy Of
The Racing Genre Makes Its Debut On Xbox™
This Fall With Hot Licensed Cars, Top Of The Line
Graphics And State Of The Art Xbox Technology
Grab the keys and
get ready for the test drive of your life this
fall with Infogrames, Inc.’s Test Drive for
the Xbox video game system. Infogrames, Inc.,
(Nasdaq: IFGM) is a leading global publisher of
interactive entertainment software. The company
announced today that its top-selling racing
franchise, the Test Drive series, is coming to
Xbox with Test Drive. With more than three
million copies sold worldwide, the Test Drive
series has enjoyed tremendous commercial success.
Test Drive is the
first Xbox title to be announced by Infogrames,
and will be in stores this fall. "The Xbox
video game system supports features and
technology that we’ve only dreamed of in
Test Drive games of the past," said Chris
Downend, executive producer of racing titles at
Infogrames’ San Jose Label. "With the
combination of highly sought after licensed
vehicles, action-packed Hollywood-style racing
and the exceptional graphics and technical
capabilities of Xbox, Test Drive will have no
limits."
Test Drive
continues the successful formula of the
award-winning series with players racing some of
the world’s most sought-after licensed
vehicles in exotic real-world locations. Whether
a player is looking for the prestige and strength
of an exotic sports car or the raw power and
rugged good looks of an American muscle car, the
game will offer something for every taste. The
fast-paced Hollywood-style racing action in Test
Drive will find players blowing through crowded
city streets with the cops on their tail as
pedestrians flee and cross traffic comes at them
from every direction. With a brand new,
built-from-scratch graphics engine, the game will
utilize numerous cutting edge techniques that
maximize visual and audio realism.
Visually Test
Drive will offer HDTV and widescreen (16:9)
support with dynamic pixel shader effects
allowing per pixel lighting, reflection mapping
and environmental mapping. Advanced cloud
movements and lighting effects including
realistic occlusion of the sun and rendering of
sunbeams are just a few of the examples of Test
Drive’s visual realism. In addition, the
game offers optimized vertex shaders using
unique-to-Xbox extensions not currently available
on other gaming platforms. For example, players
will see trees realistically bend and sway in the
wind.
The superior
audio capabilities of Xbox allow Test Drive to
offer surround sound, 3D positioned for all
objects and spot effects, as well as a high
quality licensed soundtrack. The fully licensed
soundtrack will be heard using the new Test Drive
radio feature. This feature allows players to
choose their favorite music "genre" and
listen to several different songs in that genre
as if they were listening to a radio station in
their own car.
Some of the cars
in Test Drive include the Dodge® Viper GTS,
Jaguar XK-R, Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, Lotus®
Esprit V8, Nissan Skyline, Ford Mustang and Ford
GT-40, Plymouth Cuda and Dodge® ‘69
Charger--with more licenses to come. Test Drive
will have four exotic real world locations to
race in.
The locations are
based on real world cities including San
Francisco and London. Each location will have
multiple paths within them and will offer
gravity-defying jumps, unpredictable
cross-traffic, relentless cops, smashable
street-side objects and reactive pedestrians.
Test Drive for
Xbox is being developed by the Pitbull Syndicate
and will offer 4-player multiplayer options via
split screen. Based in the United Kingdom, The
Pitbull Syndicate is known for developing
Demolition Racer™ and the highly successful
Test Drive® 4, Test Drive®5 and Test Drive®6
games.
www.pitbull.co.uk
About Xbox
Xbox is
Microsoft's future-generation video game system
that delivers new and unforeseen gameplay
experiences. With more than three times the
graphics performance of the newest generation of
game systems, Xbox unleashes game designers'
creativity to produce games that are challenging,
exhilarating, surprising and fun.
About Infogrames
Infogrames, Inc.
(Nasdaq: IFGM) is a leading publisher and
distributor of video games for consoles (Sony,
Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft), personal
computers and Macintosh systems. The
company’s award-winning franchises include
Alone In The Dark, Driver, Deer Hunter, Test
Drive, and Unreal. Infogrames Inc.’s
Humongous Entertainment division is a leader in
children’s entertainment software and its
Macintosh publishing label, Macsoft, is the
number one publisher of Macintosh entertainment
software. Based in New York, NY, Infogrames, Inc.
is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based
Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257) and
serves as the headquarters for the company's
operations in North America. Founded in 1983,
Infogrames Entertainment SA is a global publisher
and distributor of video games for all platforms,
as well as interactive digital television, mobile
smart devices (WAP, HDML) and in-flight
entertainment systems. With Infogrames
Entertainment SA’s recent acquisition of
Hasbro Interactive, the company now boasts a line
of software based on well-known licenses such as
Monopoly, Jeopardy, Tonka, and Atari.
www.us.infogrames.com
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