Kuju Announces Rail Simulator partnership with First Great Western
10th February 2006. Surrey, UK. Kuju Entertainment (AIM: KUJ) today announced a working partnership with First Great Western (FGW) in the development of their forthcoming PC title Rail Simulator. FGW, one of the leading franchise operators in the U.K., has provided the development team with detailed information about various aspects of the railways.
Richard Rogerson, Executive Producer for Rail Simulator commented, "Working with FGW allows us to build on the expertise we have in-house to achieve a higher level of fidelity and accuracy. For the modern day routes which feature in Rail Simulator, nothing beats being able to talk directly to the operator and FGW have simply been tremendous. FGW has been proactive in helping us by providing access to yards, sound recording sessions and in the provision of the general background information that will bring the route to life".
FGW have provided the Rail Simulator content team with a myriad of information and support. The layout of instruments in the train cabs required our artists to gain close up photographs and footage of the engines to ensure accurate reconstruction. FGW granted access to the trains for our sound engineers to record various sounds including shunting and coupling. Recording the sounds the instruments in the cab make when used is another example of the meticulous detail that FGW have been very helpful with.
Elaine Wilde, Head of Corporate Communications for First Great Western, said: "This is probably one of the most unusual and fascinating projects we have been involved in. We're most impressed with the high level of accuracy and attention given to every detail. "
FGW granted access to the trains for Kuju's sound engineers to record various sounds including shunting and coupling and even the ticks, clicks and whirrs made by the instruments in the cab as the train is in motion.
To accurately reproduce the routes, Kuju's team of researchers worked closely with FGW who provided great assistance in gathering information on track and signaling; engineering diagrams of the junctions and signals and Milepost data.
Rail Simulator will offer the opportunity for players to take charge of steam, diesel and electric trains on real routes in the UK and Germany. Challenging and fun gameplay will even enable players to design their own ideal journey routes. Rail Simulator will become the gold standard rail simulation title and will fully support the creation of add-on third party content.
For further information please contact: Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR
T: +44(0) 1608 645756 E: Alison@lincolnbeasley.co.uk
Rail Simulator is to be released in Europe in 2006 and is to be distributed and marketed by Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS). www.ea.com
The Great Western franchise was originally operated by Great Western Trains Company Limited from February 1996 until March 1998 when Great Western became part of the First group of companies and became First Great Western. In April 2004, Thames Trains also became part of First, operating as First Great Western Link, and represented the first move towards the creation of the Greater Western franchise.
First was awarded the new Greater Western franchise in December 2005 and will be running services across the South West of England and South Wales from 1st April, 2006 for seven years, with a possible three year extension. To find out more about First Great Western please visit their official website at http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk Kuju would like to take this opportunity to thank FGW for their commitment to working with us on Rail Simulator.
About Kuju Entertainment
Kuju Entertainment, one of Europe's leading independent game developers on console, PC and wireless platforms, operates six studios in the UK and has been creating top-rated games for over fifteen years. Kuju maintains specialist console/PC divisions in the action, strategy/tactical, racing, simulation and lifestyle genres as well as separate divisions for wireless development and conversion projects.
Kuju is also a leading developer of wireless Java games. Kuju Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuju plc. Kuju plc is listed on London's AIM market (LSE AIM: KUJ).
www.kuju.com
About First Great Western
First Great Western currently operates nearly 190 high speed services across the South West, South Wales, Bristol, the Cotswolds and to London Paddington every day carrying over 22 million passenger journeys a year.
First Great Western Link runs more than 830 local services each day from London Paddington throughout the Thames Valley, Kennet Valley and the Cotswolds, carrying almost 37 million passengers' journeys annually. First is one of the country's largest train operators, the UK's biggest bus operator and the second largest provider of yellow school bus services in the United States. First has the clear vision to 'Transform Travel' and become the number one public transport provider.