DRIVER 3 - "Run the Gauntlet - Atari film"

First Trailer launched on Official Driv3r website

To coincide with the March launch of videogame Driver 3, a unique live action short film " Run the Gauntlet" debuts today online.

The plotline of this breath-taking three minute short film is being closely guarded, but producers' Ridley Scott Associates, in collaboration with Atari, is producing a series of 30 second vignettes as preview trailers for each one-minute episode of the film. The first of these trailers promoting Episode I debuts on www.DRIV3R.com from today.

The second trailer will debut on January 19th 2004, building to the exclusive release of Episode I on the site on January 23rd 2004. This film is closely inspired by and links to the story, characters and action of Driver 3. Never before have the motoring, games and film industries worked this close with such high production values.

Stay tuned for more information on Episodes II and III, and their corresponding trailers. These will be released exclusively to www.DRIV3R.com over the coming months, leading to the launch of the game itself.

Atari has also signed a blockbuster Hollywood cast to lend voices to this greatly anticipated videogame: Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Mickey Rourke and Michelle Rodriguez will play the lead roles of the third instalment of the crime-fighting driving game series, one of the most successful video game franchises of all time.

Developed by Reflections Interactive (an Atari videogame development studio), the masterminds behind DRIVER and DRIVER 2 – which have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide – Driver 3 is an action-packed driving adventure game that stays true to its roots, incorporating the cinematic gameplay and gritty street crime of its predecessors with ground-breaking graphics and three mammoth, wide-open city environments: Miami, Florida; Nice, France; and Istanbul, Turkey. Driver 3 is slated for release in March 2004 for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft.