Video Gaming News - May 2004

Los Angeles, CA (May 21, 2004) - Atari and Zombie today announced that development is complete on Shadow Ops: Red Mercury for the Xbox.

From Atari:

The game features AAA Hollywood production values in sound effects, music, script writing and cinematics to create the ultimate interactive summer blockbuster. Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is expected to be available at retail stores in North America on June 15 and in Europe on June 18.

“Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is the most intense first-person action game ever made,” said Jean Philippe Agati, executive producer at Atari. “With nail-biting action sequences, hard-hitting enemies, a variety of incredibly detailed environments and THX™ Game Certification for the best audio and visuals, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury will offer gamers a completely immersive experience and they’ll be blown away by the cinematic feel and gripping Hollywood-style action of the game. It’s a race to save the world and no threat has ever been more real.”

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury will offer players a gripping action movie-style experience through its unprecedented Hollywood production values and ground-breaking sound effects. In the game, the player fills the battle-ready combat boots of Frank Hayden, a special forces operative hand picked to track down and destroy the stolen “Red Mercury,” a secret substance of unspeakable power that threatens the world with nuclear annihilation. The player will face off against blood-thirsty terrorists, renegade military forces and highly trained enemy special forces in a last ditch desperation mission to prevent the ultimate terror from reaching the world’s greatest cities.

Zombie, Inc. partnered with AAA Hollywood talent for sound effects, script writing and music to make Shadow Ops: Red Mercury the most cinematic action game ever created, essentially blurring the line between Hollywood summer blockbuster films and interactive entertainment. The game’s groundbreaking Hollywood elements include:

-- Soundelux, the Academy Award-winning sound studio best known for their work on films such as Kill Bill, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, created all the sound effects for the game, including immersive directional sound for ultra-realistic combat situations.

-- Inon Zur, a renowned composer of award-winning music for film, video games and television, created an all-original score for Shadow Ops: Red Mercury that includes more than an hour of sweeping interactive music that reacts to the player’s actions and changes for each location.

-- All music for the game was recorded at the Seattle Symphony, providing for a powerful performance and a more compelling audio experience.

-- The game has earned the coveted THX® Game Certification indicative of the immersive and compelling audio experience usually heard only in blockbuster Hollywood films.

-- Writers Tag Medillo and Ric Roman Waugh, renowned for work in films and video games, wrote the entire script for the game, including all in game cut-scenes and cinematics.

-- Developer Zombie, Inc. traveled the world researching locations for the game’s levels, taking thousands of digital photos to create ultra-realistic textures for game locations like the Congo, Kazakhstan, Syria, Chechnya and more.

-- Zombie, Inc. met with military consultants, including former special forces members, to create realistic character motion and military movements in the game; special forces members also provided motion capture animation for the game’s cinematics.

-- More than 30 minutes of movie-like cinematics were created by Attitude
Studios; cinematics were storyboarded and shot like a Hollywood film, using
dramatic angles and sweeping shots to further immerse the player in the
interactive blockbuster experience.

-- Shadow Ops: Red Mercury uses Epic Games’ industry-leading Unreal® Engine to accurately recreate the realistic and gritty look of the game’s many locations; the engine’s power provides for eye-popping visuals, highly realistic textures, dramatic special effects and blistering multiplayer action.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is expected to release in North America on June 15 and in Europe on June 18. For more information on Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, please visit the game’s official Web site at www.shadowopsgame.com.

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