ATARI ANNOUNCES UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004
 
Latest Edition of the Definitive Computer Blood Sport Includes New Maps,
Modes, Mods  
 
-- New "Assault" and "Onslaught" Game Types Include Huge Terrain, Land,
Space and Air-Based Vehicles --  
 
LOS ANGELES - May 13, 2003 - Atari is bringing Unreal® Tournament 2004, the
newest edition of the definitive virtual blood sport, to personal computers
this Fall.  Unreal Tournament 2004, like its predecessors, is being
co-created by Epic Games Inc. and Digital Extremes.  The game will be shown
at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, May 14 - 16, in
Petree Hall, room 4003.
 
"Unreal Tournament 2004 is OLE_LINK1the next evolution of the greatest
competitive computer game ever created," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior
vice president and general manager of Atari's Los Angeles studio.  "The
addition of new modes, mods and maps as well as the controllable land-, air-
and space-based vehicles, means Unreal fans are getting an entirely new
experience featuring devastating vehicular combat and wide scale warfare."
 
Key features of the game include:
 
* Assault Mode: The much heralded single-player oriented gametype
returns with all-out battles with land, space and air-based vehicles on the
home worlds of various Unreal Tournament 2004 combatants.  In one scenario,
players will experience the adrenaline rush of space-based battle while
attacking or defending a Skaarj mother ship. Another scenario takes place on
Xan Kriegor's mechanical home world where players attack or defend a robot
construction factory. There are currently six Assault scenarios planned to
ship with the game.  
* Onslaught Mode: New multi-player oriented combat game type on
custom-built large-scale maps featuring awesome new weapons and land- and
air-based vehicles.  From the lethal bomber to the nefarious spider mines -
players will work as teams to control map points and win the conflict.
There are currently nine Onslaught maps planned to ship with the game.
* Live voice chat over LAN and internet with 3D audio (on supported
sound cards) so players can sense where voices emanate from.  Using a
microphone and headset (not included), players can communicate with
teammates and buddies or just yell at everybody who gets in their way!
Several settings are provided to allow users to customize their voice chat
experience.  
* Fan-favorite Unreal characters will return to challenge in the
tournaments, including the Skaarj, the Necris and the infamous Xan Kriegor.
* The game will include 20 never-before-seen maps for the existing
game types, featuring tons of new textures, new static meshes and new music.
It's a field day for mod makers!  Also included are new maps from Digital
Extremes designed specifically to appeal to "hardcore" UT players.  
* In total, Unreal Tournament 2004  will ship with more
never-before-seen maps than the entire number of maps that shipped with
Unreal Tournament 2003!
* UnrealTV match broadcast system will allow for hundreds of people to
view an Unreal Tournament 2004 match with minimal performance impact on game
server.  UnrealTV will be fully integrated into the server browser to make
it easy to located broadcasted matches.
* Complete end-user voting system that will allow users to choose game
type, maps, mutators, rules and settings and will also provide the ability
to remove troublesome players from the game. Custom clan-match voting system
will allow clans to negotiate acceptable game settings prior to a
competitive match.  
* Unreal Tournament 2004 users will be able to join games on Unreal
Tournament 2003 servers.  
* A completely redesigned user interface (UI) will be easier to
navigate and support context-sensitive menus, an in-game login menu (to
improve team balancing) and an improved server browser with enhanced server
filtering options. The underlying user interface system has been
reengineered to be easier for Mod authors to build menus and implement their
own UI designs.
* Tons of cool gameplay tweaks and refinements including unique
crosshairs for each weapon, the ability to carry dual Assault Rifles,
improved computer-controlled "Bot" team coordination and movement, network
bandwidth usage optimizations and more!
 
In addition to the new modes, maps, characters, vehicles and improvements,
Unreal Tournament 2004 includes all of the content from Unreal Tournament
2003 plus the two free bonus packs released by Digital Extremes and Epic
Games.  
 
Unreal Tournament 2004 is expected to ship this Fall with an ESRB rating of
"M" for mature.
 
About Atari  
 
OLE_LINK4New 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 Driver(tm), Enter the
Matrix(tm), Neverwinter Nights(tm), Stuntman(tm), Test Drive®, Unreal®
Tournament 2003, 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 5257), the largest interactive games publisher in
Europe.  For more information, visit www.atari.com.
 
Unreal is a registered trademarks of Epic Games Inc.
 
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