Fans of Atari’s DRIVER video game series have flocked to the game’s official Web site, www.DRIV3R.com, to view the first-of-its-kind online film event based on the next installment in the franchise, DRIV3R. More than a half million users have logged on to view Episode 1 of the three-part short film titled “Run The Gauntlet” -- created by Ridley Scott Associates -- in the first month since launch, showing the massive scale of the worldwide anticipation for the launch of DRIV3R. In addition, www.DRIV3R.com has received the first of many weekly updates of exclusive content that will appear on the site every Thursday from now until the game is launched.

Run The Gauntlet is a groundbreaking event in the video game industry as the first ever Hollywood-produced live-action short film created to promote a video game, and it is the core component of the DRIV3R web site as well as a multi-million dollar global marketing and advertising campaign. Atari commissioned Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) – the commercial production company owned and run by legendary filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott – to produce the original three-minute live-action film inspired by DRIV3R. Episode 1 of the three-part short film debuted online on January 23, to both industry acclaim and fan appreciation.

In the gradual online unveiling of Run The Gauntlet, RSA, in collaboration with Atari, has produced a series of 30-second trailers as preview vignettes for each one-minute episode of the film. The two further trailers, promoting Episode 2, will debut exclusively on www.DRIV3R.com on February 26 and March 4, respectively, building to the exclusive release of Episode 2 on the site on March 11. The fifth trailer -- promoting Episode 3 -- will be released on March 23, in preparation for the release of Episode 3 exclusively on www.DRIV3R.com on April 1 as a countdown to launch on June 1.

Posted: February 13, 2004