Frontier Announces "The Outsider", Its First 'Next Generation' Project

Cambridge, UK - September 16th, 2005 - Frontier Developments Ltd. ('Frontier'), the leading independent games developer, today announced its first new game for fifth generation consoles - "The Outsider".

Frontier has been focussing on new game-play elements that are now possible on the imminent console platforms, and emphasise that gorgeous graphics are merely the starting point; they do not make a true 'next generation' game. Several key proprietary technologies, which Frontier has been developing for some time, make their debut in "The Outsider" and bring the sort of freedom of action first seen in "Elite" bang up to date.

The game radically enriches the player's experience by abandoning the traditional, prescriptive, mostly linear story of current generation games, and replaces it by simulating characters' motivations and aims. This gives the player genuine freedom to change the story outcomes in a way that has not been seen before - each player will get a truly unique, sophisticated, visceral experience rather than simply switching between 'good' or 'evil'. The techniques used are enabled by the greatly increased processing power available to the imminent new consoles including the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

"The Outsider" is a gripping, high-tech thriller played out against the backdrop of a living, crowded city based on present-day Washington DC and its environs including the CIA HQ at Langley, Andrews Air Force Base and Newport News Naval Dockyard. As a CIA operative the player has a mouth-watering arsenal of technology, combat talents and weaponry available to him. A shocking opening scenario wrongly makes him Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of the media and the public at large, but leaves many different ways to proceed: to wreak ultra-violent revenge, to turn the tables and exploit the shady organisations he is mixed up with for his own ends or crusading to clear his name.

"The new games consoles like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 offer a massive opportunity in the future of gaming. One of the comparisons I like to make is with the film industry - we're at the stage that the film industry was at in 1930, where people had started to tire of effects driven 'car-on-a-train-track' films and wanted something more, just as technology and budgets greatly increased to bring in the golden age of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Wells and many others. A golden age of games is now just around the corner, and I believe 'The Outsider' is one of the first of these." said David Braben, Chairman and Founder of Frontier.

Frontier recently re-located to the prestigious Cambridge Science Park and is currently recruiting programmers, game designers, animators and artists, both experienced and new to the games industry.

The Outsider game web-page is at www.frontier.co.uk/outsider.

About Frontier

Frontier is based in Cambridge, UK and is one of the games industry's leading independent developers, having built upon the innovative creations of founder David Braben, co-author of the seminal 'Elite'. Frontier works with a number of top publishers and is also currently developing for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, PC, and Java mobile phone handsets. Additionally, Frontier is developing leading-edge proprietary technology for the next generation of games consoles.

Frontier has a proven reputation for original game design and commercial success, and aims to revolutionise perceptions of what gaming is all about by using innovative technical and artistic approaches on all leading-edge gaming platforms. It received three BAFTA nominations and several awards for its recent console games "Dog's Life" and "Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo", and scored a Christmas 2004 No.1 position in the USA with its RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 PC, which has also been the recipient of various awards and a prestigious Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences nomination.

Frontier holds the publishing rights for Aardman Animations' 'Wallace and Gromit' characters on mobile phones. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!", the first expansion pack for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, was released in June 2005, with a second expansion pack "RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Wild!" just announced for release in November 2005. Frontier and Aardman Animations have recently licensed Konami as worldwide publisher of Frontier's game of the forthcoming 'Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit' film produced by Aardman and Dreamworks, for September 2005 release.

In addition, Frontier is working on unannounced titles for 2006 and beyond.

More information on Frontier can be found at www.frontier.co.uk.