Jowood Wins Race For Bugbear's Historic Rally Trophy

By signing a software development and publishing agreement with Helsinki-based developer Bugbear Entertainment this week, Austria's leading publisher JoWooD is going to introduce Bugbear's challenging racing game on PC and next generation consoles worldwide by the end of 2001.

The cooperation between JoWooD and Bugbear for Historic Rally Trophy was initiated by US-based software firm, Octagon Entertainment who brought the two companies together. The title is scheduled for release in German-speaking territories, Europe and other key markets for Q4 this year.

Andreas Tobler, Chairman and CEO of JoWooD says, "When we saw the first bits of Historic Rally Trophy, we immediately were convinced by Bugbear's new game concept and its powerful 3D engine and graphics. It is with great pleasure that JoWooD adds this fine development team to our fast-growing roster of talented game designers. Bugbear has vast experience in developing racing games and Historic Rally Trophy is a tremendous opportunity for us to extend JoWooD's genre portfolio. We are very glad to have Historic Rally Trophy for preview for the upcoming E3 show in Los Angeles this May - and we are sure people will love it."

Janne Alanenpaa, Managing Director of Bugbear says, "We are very happy that Octagon brought us together with JoWooD. We had already heard a lot about JoWooD and had a good impression of the company from their high-key appearances at various international game shows. After talking to their development team about our upcoming game, we really felt that JoWooD shared our visions and ideas. We consider JoWooD to be by far the best choice and are completely convinced that they will bring in all their efforts and experience to make the most out of Historic Rally Trophy. Together with JoWooD, we are thoroughly prepared to deliver a state-of-the-art racing simulation."

Historic Rally Trophy is a challenging racing game and the first "historic rally" simulation. The most exciting elements of the game are the fourteen shining old racing classics to drive in total - all of which have been modeled in great detail to be extremely realistic. Great emphasis is being put on visualization. The race passes through beautiful landscapes with varying weather conditions such as daylight, sunset, snowfall, rain, storm and foggy weather. Everything imaginable is incorporated into the game, including fine particle effects, skid marks and reflections. The latest digital photo technology was used to create a highly realistic and stunning graphical environment.

For Historic Rally Trophy, Bugbear developed a new state-of-the-art 3D engine and extremely accurate vehicle dynamics to provide incredible playability and impressive car handling. The engine supports all of the latest 3D graphic cards and gives very high performance with stunning visual effects.

Kirk Owen, Agent at Octagon Entertainment, says, "Bugbear's Historic Rally Trophy demonstrates the superior technology, gameplay and graphics coming from Finnish developers. We are certain that Historic Rally Trophy will amaze the avid and casual gamer alike."