Video Gaming News - March 2003

Calabasas, CA (March 26, 2003) - THQ Wireless today announced that it has appointed Monkeystone Games to develop Red Faction for the new Nokia N-Gage mobile game deck.

From THQ Wireless:

Monkeystone Games was founded in July 2001 by some of the biggest and most successful names in the video game industry. John Romero and Tom Hall were both co-founders of id Software and creators of Wolfenstein 3D, the Doom series and Quake. Stevie Case first gained recognition in 1996 when she defeated John Romero in a friendly challenge game of Quake and went on to work as a 3D designer with Hall and Romero at Ion Storm. Together the principals of Monkeystone have more than 50 years combined experience in games creation.

Stuart Platt, Executive Producer, THQ Wireless said: “Red Faction will be the first FPS (first person shooter) game on the Nokia N-Gage™. The team at Monkeystone was the obvious choice to work on the development of this latest version of Red Faction for Nokia’s new mobile games deck. They created the FPS genre of gaming with such classics as Quake and Doom, and we are delighted that we can bring this expertise and experience to the Nokia N-Gage™ platform.”

The Red Faction game is set in mines run by the Ultor Corporation far beneath the surface of Mars. Parker, a mineworker and the main character, leads a rebellion against the inhuman conditions being imposed by Ultor, while seeking to find the source of a mysterious and deadly plague which is sweeping through the mines. Red Faction action takes place in the subterranean mines, in the high tech laboratories of the Ultor Corporation and in satellites orbiting above the planet Mars.

John Romero, Chief Technical Officer at Monkeystone said: “I am thrilled to be working on a 3D shooter for one of the biggest publishers in wireless gaming. It's a real challenge to create a fast 3D game on such cutting-edge hardware, and I am loving every minute of it.”

“With our commitment to delivering a premium level of high quality games with a compelling gaming experience from world renowned publishers on the Nokia N-Gage™ mobile game deck, Red Faction really fits the bill,” said Ilkka Raiskinen, Senior Vice President, Entertainment and Media Business Unit, Nokia Mobile Phones. “Red Faction is a well-established title from a leading games publisher, which is now being developed specifically for the Nokia N-Gage™ platform by one of the world’s most experienced team of game creators. Taking advantage of the unique features of the Nokia N-Gage™, like the near distance gaming over Bluetooth, we believe that Red Faction has all the right ingredients to become very popular with Nokia N-Gage™ users.”

Games for the Nokia N-Gage™ platform will be available on memory cards and will include such additional features as near distance multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth as well as downloadable and uploadable mobile elements.

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