Topic: DRIV3R Heads to the GBA

[Karl Castaneda #2]

Play Atari's third iteration of the series on the go.

ATARI ANNOUNCES DRIV3R FOR GAME BOYĀ®  ADVANCE    

Handheld Version of Best-Selling Console Title To Release Fall 2005    

NEW YORK, NY ā€“ July 26, 2005 ā€“ Hot on the heels of the Windows release in March, Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) announced today that DRIV3R , the action-driving game that sold more than 3 million copies worldwide on PlayStation Ā®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox Ā® video game system from Microsoft in 2004 , is currently in development for Nintendoā€™s Game Boy Ā® Advance to release fall 2005.    

Developed by G. Dubail and F. Velez, the talented development team behind a string of best-selling Game Boy Advance titles including Stuntman and V-Rally 3 , DRIV3R provides a very unique gaming experience to the console and PC versions.  DRIV3R for the Game Boy Advance features huge environments, character and vehicle control, and intricate collisions, to create the ultimate Hollywood driving adventure for a handheld device.    

The game consists of a single enormous ā€˜Undercoverā€™ game mode which encompasses missions and driving mini-games.  The 25 missions tell the tale of a jaw breaking, no-holds-barred undercover cop and master ā€œWheelmanā€ , Tanner, as he infiltrates the local and international underworld.  The first 12 missions take place in Miami with the remainder set in the French city of Nice .  With over 30 miles of streets to explore in each city, the player is free at any time to take a rest from the missions and go for a casual ride around town, gun in hand, in one of the more than 25 vehicles available.  Alternatively they can chose to test their mettle playing one of the driving mini-games, including Slalom, Checkpoint, Trailblazer and Destruction.    

ā€œ Driver is one of Atariā€™s major franchises, with a proven audience and following,ā€ said Marc Metis, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Atari, Inc.  ā€œWe are excited to extend this latest version of the brand to the handheld market with a Game Boy Advance offering.ā€    

DRIV3R for the Game Boy Advance will be released fall 2005.  For more information visit the gameā€™s official Web site at www.DRIV3R.com.

[KDR_11k]

Will this too cause a bought review scandal?

Seriously, does the brand have any recognition left? DRIV3L was a complete desaster, that's like making a new ET game.

[Djunknown]

My sentiment's exactly. Can't Atari just say publicly "We have no shame, we're don't know how to make good games, and we hope dumb parents will buy this dumb game for their dumb kids...." It'd save us a lot of trouble.

[Ian Sane]

EA released Goldeneye: Rogue Agent on the DS despite the console title being universally hated by everyone so this isn't too surprising.  Remember that with American publishers it's not about making a quality product, it's about conning whoever you can into buying your crap.  This strategy seems to work wonders on the GBA where stupid kids buy all sorts of licenced crap so this doesn't seem like too dumb of a move in that sense.  The GBA userbase is full of idiots.  If this scam is going to work anywhere it's going to work there.

[Infernal Monkey]

Another reason the Atari brand name never should of been given new life.