Atari's 'Act Of War: Direct Action™' Demo Hits 580,000 Downloads Worldwide

Bandai Namco | BEVERLY, MA, Feb. 4, 2005 - Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) today celebrates the success of the Act of War: Direct Action^TM demo. Since launching just two weeks ago, more than half a million enthusiastic gamers around the world have downloaded the playable demo for a preview of the highly anticipated strategy game available for personal computer on March 15, 2005.

In total, 350,000 U.S. gamers have sampled the techno-thriller story of Jason Richter and his battle-hardened counter-terrorist team, Task Force Talon. In Europe, download figures have shot past 230,000 and continue to climb. With the counter showing little sign of slowing down on both sides of the Atlantic, the Act of War: Direct Action^TM demo is on the verge of setting a new record for Atari, which recently saw an incredible level of success for its downloadable demo of Rollercoaster Tycoon^® 3.

Act of War: Direct Action^TM is a graphically stunning and frighteningly plausible tale of suspense, international intrigue and geopolitical military conflict. Through a techno-thriller story constructed by military expert and author Dale Brown, this real-time strategy experience puts players squarely in control of counterterrorist forces to defend cities of the world. As commander of a newly formed anti-terror military unit known as the Talon Task Force, players will need to recruit combat units, develop technologies, manage finite resources, and deploy their forces against a cunning and ruthless terror network. The single player Act of War: Direct Action^TM demo is taken from the game's sixth mission set in Egypt entitled 'Falling Hawk'.

Developed by Eugen Systems with a storyline and game universe created in cooperation with Dale Brown, New York Times best-selling author and expert on US military, global conflict and future military technology, Act of War: Direct Action^TM is scheduled to release on March 15, 2005 for the personal computer at a suggested retail price $49.99.

The downloadable demo and information about the pre-order offer can be found at www.atari.com/actofwar.

About Dale Brown

Dale Brown is the author of more than 15 New York Times bestsellers, including Plan of Attack (available in January 2005), his most recent novel starring his intrepid hero, Patrick McLanahan. His next book, Act of War (due out in June 2005), launches an unforgettable new series lead by a young new hero named Jason Richter. This surefire thriller combines geopolitics, terrorism, and plenty of action as it takes readers deep into the new world of intelligence-focused warfare like never before. A former U. S. Air Force captain, Brown can often be found flying his own plane over the skies of Nevada. He lives near Lake Tahoe. To learn more about Dale Brown and his books, visit his web site at: www.dalebrown.info.

About Atari

New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining games such as DRIV3R^TM, Enter the Matrix^TM, Neverwinter Nights^TM, Stuntman^TM, Test Drive^®, Unreal^® Tournament 2004, and Unreal^® Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard Sports^TM, Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues^TM and Dora the Explorer^TM, Dragon Ball Z^® and RollerCoaster Tycoon^®. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext - ISIN: FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.

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