Paddington to Oxford route featuring High Speed Diesel Train to appear in Rail Simulator.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR
T: +44(0) 1608 645756
E: Alison@lincolnbeasley.co.uk
7th March 2006. Surrey, UK. Kuju Entertainment (AIM: KUJ) today revealed the second route and train to be included in their forthcoming PC title Rail Simulator - Oxford to Paddington will be one of the 4 routes and feature the High Speed Diesel Train (HST).
Claire Boissiere, Rail Simulator's Game Director, said, "Paddington station is one of the most popular and well recognized UK stations. It contains historic architecture, modern high-speed trains and a life of its own. Elements that are all reflected in Rail Simulator. Taking the route out to Oxford allows us to recreate the famous busy commuter runs in and out of London. In addition to the passenger trains the various freight operations that run along this route will also be included. Rail Simulator will bring the full environment to life and we'll be asking players if they can keep to a timetable.
The PADDINGTON to OXFORD route is being realistically modelled using the latest data collection methods. More than 7000 photographs have been taken of more than 250 locations along this historic yet modern mainline. Featuring along this 65mile route are all the common sights and sounds you'd expect to find on a busy Commuter railway, including the depots at Old Oak Common and Reading, industries at Acton and Didcot, and along the way passing through heavily commercialised areas and gentle rolling hills in the Thames Valley. This interesting combination of urban and rural landscapes gives the Great Western Mainline much of its character, setting it apart from other major rail routes in the UK.
The High Speed Train was therefore an obvious choice to go hand in hand with the Paddington to Oxford route. This iconic train gives us the opportunity to highlight the fascinating and intriguing operations of one of Britain's premier train companies. This highly regarded train represents the quality of modern passenger travel in the UK and has been accurately created in full 3D including real sound effects and a stunning cab reconstruction. The High Speed Train was first introduced to Britain's railways in 1976.
First Great Western has provided the development team with detailed information about various aspects of this route and the HST train, helping Kuju's researchers to accurately reproduce the route.
Rail Simulator will offer players the chance 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.
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
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.