Atari Announces Asterix & Obelix XXL 2

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Atari Announces Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum For PlayStation 2 & PC

LONDON, UK – 22 June 2005 – Atari is proud to announce the return of Asterix & Obelix in a game that will make interactive entertainment history as the first ever video game parody.

Faithful to the tradition of parody that runs throughout the Asterix stories, Atari's latest Asterix offering is an explosive video game crammed with surprising encounters that parody the greatest icons of the video game world and is awash with wry references to many of the great moments that have marked over 25 years of video game history.

Developed for Atari by Etranges Libellules, the studio behind the successful original Asterix XXL title (November 2003), ASTERIX & OBELIX XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum takes you on an action-packed tour of the astonishing "Las Vegum" theme park. In this original scenario, Getafix the famous druid is behaving very strangely, and all the other renowned druids of the Roman Empire have disappeared...

Las Vegum, "the city of games," is the brainchild of the visionary Julius Caesar. Its labyrinthine streets will lead you through the districts of Little Paris, WCW, LuckSore, Little Venetia, Pirate Island, and even SeizeUs Palace. Along the way, the programme for Caesar's farcical festivities is packed with pumped-up Romans alongside some curiously familiar characters paying tribute to the wider world of video games. And who other should top the bill than Centurion Larry Craft – who insists on jumping around in canvas shorts, rather than wear a skirt like everybody else. Fortunately Asterix and Obelix can count on the aid of a repentant Roman spy with inside knowledge of new-fangled techniques: Sam Shieffer.

"Asterix and Obelix are global icons on a scale that many of today's so-called celebrities can only dream about, and the time has come to share the massive French success of the Asterix & Obelix video game franchise with the rest of Europe," said Cyril Voiron, Marketing Director, Atari Europe. "This is the first game of its kind – a wildly entertaining spoof packed with a whole host of familiar faces players won't have too much trouble recognising."

Fifteen months of development have given rise to an hilarious game, totally faithful to the spirit that Uderzo and Goscinny originally breathed into their indomitable Gauls. The player will, of course, control both characters in the heroic duet, and reencounter the ultra-dynamic combat of Asterix XXL 1, but this time pushed to the extreme for even more madness and turmoil, with staggering attacks available right from the start.

ASTERIX & OBELIX XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum will be released in Europe in the second half of October 2005, for PlayStation®2 and PC, hot on the heels of the new Asterix story book, the release of which promises to be the major comic book publishing event for Back to School and Christmas 2005.

For more information about Atari's entire product line up, visit www.atari.com.

© 2005, Atari Europe SASU. All rights reserved.