Anarchy, destruction and annihilation: Science fiction screenwriter sets scene for PC futuristic action strategy title "Maelstrom".

Codemasters is tapping into experienced screenwriting talent to create the backdrop for its futuristic strategy action epic Maelstrom, coming Q3 exclusively for PC.

When it launches the game will not just have the action and characters of a science-fiction blockbuster movie, but will also feature a gripping scenario devised by James Swallow, an experienced science fiction screenwriter whose previous credits include Star Trek: Voyager and Doctor Who.

"I'm excited to be a part of the Maelstrom project," says Swallow, "We have a dynamic and compelling plotline, epic scope and strong characters. As the game unfolds, the conflicts between the factions and the characters within them become the flashpoints for player missions, and what begins as a battle to live another day soon becomes a global fight for survival, with the player at the heart of the action."

Says Carl Johnson, Maelstrom's game designer at Codemasters:

"The story in Maelstrom is hugely important; it doesn't just set the tone and atmosphere, but it also ties directly into the game mechanics, to give the player a better understanding of each faction and how they play. The story follows the apocalypse that has befallen Earth and provides the player with a greater understanding of the motivations behind each of the game's three factions, the origins of the technology for each side, and the reasons behind the conflict."

Expanding on Swallow's backstory, gamers can sign up online (www.codemasters.co.uk/maelstrom) for exclusive e-mail newsletters that will detail additional scenarios, including first hand accounts from all of the main protagonists featuring in Maelstrom; the episodic content will start with General James Buchanan, the heroic leader of the Remnants faction. More revelations from the game's other factions - the Ascension and the Aliens - will follow.

BACKSTORY INFORMATION:

50 Years And Counting - the events leading to The Maelstrom:

In the span of a single generation, Earth will become a desolate wasteland, ravaged by an ecological apocalypse and fought over by the survivors of and war.

(Editors: The following backstory is available online to link to: www.codemasters.co.uk/maelstrom)

In the space of fifty years, Earth changed from a planet on cusp of a challenging future to a world a breath away from lifelessness. The survivors gave this time of chaos and madness a name; drawing on a word from an ancient language that describes a storm so terrible it could tear open the world. They called it The Maelstrom.

2010:

As the first decade of the Millennium came to a close, the rise of franchise terrorism and global paranoia led to a fortress mentality across the globe. Threatened from without by fanatical aggressors and from within by populations angered by the erosion of their personal freedoms, the leading governments of the world saw their power beginning to crumble, to be usurped by huge multi-national corporations.

2015:

Obsidian - a huge asteroid - crashed into the North Pacific with the impact of a dozen nuclear warheads, and triggered the Earth's weather system and ecology to completely collapse. First there were storms that measured off the conventional scales for hurricanes; then surge tides and earthquakes. It was if the planet itself was rising in anger against humanity.

2023:

A full-blown ecological cataclysm hits the planet as the damage done to the environment came back tenfold. Rising sea levels and flooding turned cities like Tokyo and Sydney into vast lakes, leaving the national governments powerless to combat this unstoppable force.

2029:

The fundamentalist terrorists who had plagued the early years of the 2000's attacked once more. This was the excuse the corporations needed, and many of them unveiled their own military forces, deploying troops and agents to hunt down and wipe out the bands of fanatics. As wars raged on the doomed planet only a few of the conglomerates survived, among them the powerful Ascension Industries. They seemed destined to make the planet their own.

2040:

Mass rioting in Europe, America and Russia. Pushed to the brink of despair by years of warfare, poverty and tyranny, the common people rose up in hundreds of isolated pockets of insurrection. It was no great rebellion, not some calculated revolution designed to shatter the old order - it was simply rage and hate, gone beyond breaking point. Soon the planet fell into a state of anarchy as open combat boiled over in every city, on every continent.

2042:

Against the backdrop of a failing ecosystem, humanity crashed back into its ancient tribal ways, fighting and killing to survive. The governments finally disintegrated and at last someone, somewhere pushed the button that unleashed salvos of missile strikes. Cities were vaporised in the nuclear infernos and civilisation fell.

The Maelstrom had struck.

For another eight years, the small wars flared and died like guttering embers in a fire, until there were no more battles to fight and precious few resources to fight over. It was only the Ascension, thanks to the foresight of its master Arlan Khan, who were spared the brunt of the global uprising. While they went to ground and made ready to weather the storm, Khan's rivals around the world caught the full fury of it, and were ripped apart.

2050:

From the ruins of this apocalypse emerged the survivors, the few who had the cunning or the intelligence to wear the passing of the Maelstrom. They hoped to rebuild, to start anew - but the seeds of conflict lay deep, and the old lines of battle had never been erased. In the ashes, the fight for freedom would be re-ignited; only this time, whomever was the victor would decide the future of mankind.

The time is now. The war is just beginning...

Maelstrom is the result of a unique collaboration between Codemasters and the award-winning Russian development team KDV games (previously known as K-D LAB) whose previous credits include award-winning PC strategy title Perimeter.

With a contemporary sci-fi theme and action packed tactical gameplay, including upgradeable transforming units and weapons of maelstromic destruction, Maelstrom is set to hit on PC in Q3 2006.

For the latest info, the new trailer movie and to sign up for exclusive newsletters, visit www.codemasters.co.uk/maelstrom