Hooters ProCup Racing Released

Infogrames today announced the release of their Hooters ProCup Racing title for PC. Based on the Sportscar GT engine, this title won’t really compare well with the Papyrus NASCAR titles at the moment, but the track list is great and the title will likely do the job it was intended for if not directly compared…

Press release:

INFOGRAMES. UNLEASHES THE PASSION OF USAR HOOTERS PROCUP RACING

Plymouth, Minnesota – January 23, 2002 – Unleashing the passion of short-track stock car racing for the PC, Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFGM) announces the release of USAR Hooters ProCup Racing this spring. This action packed game features steeply banked half-mile ovals, 23 different tracks, and real life drivers.

“Infogrames is thrilled to bring the passion of USAR Hooters ProCup Racing to the main-stream audience,” said Paul Rinde, sr. vice president and general manager of Infogrames’ Minneapolis label. “This is a hometown sport with a national reach that translates well into an interactive game for motorsports fans. USAR Hooters ProCup Racing stands out as the premier series for high-end stock car racing on asphalt.”

USAR cars are 3,350 lb, steel-bodied, stockcars with 550-plus horse-powered engines that compete on 23 tracks in 12 states and Ontario, Canada. The drama of USAR Hooters ProCup Racing series is tested on tracks such as Jennerstown Speedway, USA International Speedway, Peach State Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Five Flags Speedway, and Indianapolis Raceway Park. Forty cars, fender to fender, on a tight half-mile track provide hometown fans the bumping and grinding excitement of competitive racing.

Unlike super speedways where every race team is a multi million-dollar enterprise, USAR Hooters ProCup series attracts local drivers and community sponsors. The series continues to serve as a primary entertainment venue for middle-class America. Between 5,000 and 10,000 trackside fans watch the series on any given Saturday and it is televised nationally on SpeedVision cable network to 50 million plus viewers weekly. Unlike NASCAR®, many USAR Hooters ProCup drivers are part-time racing enthusiasts that work in other fields and occupations.

USAR operates a 32-race season, beginning in February and ending with the series final in November. USAR’s inaugural season was in 1997. Drivers receive points by their finishing position in each single race. The driver with the greatest number of points at the end of the season wins the Championship.

Developed by Hoplite Research, LLC, USAR Hooters ProCup Racing will offer a variety of game modes to choose from. “We intend to put the player into the action!” said Manny Granillo Hoplite Research, LLC’s President and Founder. In Single Race mode players can quickly and easily jump into a single event while practice mode assists the casual gamer in developing their driving skills for the more in-depth and realistic Season Mode. In that mode, players can earn prize money and points on their way to the championship. Additionally, players can control the race difficulty, number of opponents, damage level and more while adjusting cross weight, steering, brake, bias and gear ratios in the quest to be the best.

Other game features include multi-player support up to 16 players, the excitement to race against friends as well as the computer and the unique attraction of steeply banked, half-mile oval courses with a hometown feel.

About Hoplite

Hoplite Research, LLC is an interactive entertainment developer and research house located in Oakland, CA. The company was founded in 2000 as an entertainment Think Tank with strategic relationships with various international publishers and manufacturers. For more information contact Manny Granillo at Hoplite Research, LLC 510-569-1525.

About Hooters

Hooters of America, Inc. is the franchiser and operator of 300 Hooters restaurants in 43 states and 9 foreign countries. The first Hooters opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. Hooters is well known for its brand of food and fun, featuring a casual beach-theme atmosphere, a menu that features seafood, sandwiches and Hooters’ signature chicken wings, and service provided by the All-American cheerleaders, the Hooters Girls. For more information contact Mike McNeil at Hooters of America at
770-951-2040.

About Infogrames

New York-based Infogrames, Inc. (Nasdaq: IFGM) is the second largest third-party publisher of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company develops video games for all consoles (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft), PCs, and Macintosh systems. Infogrames’ catalogue of more than 1,000 titles includes award-winning franchises such as Civilization, Deer Hunter, Driver, Roller-Coaster Tycoon, Test Drive, and Unreal, and key licenses including Survivor, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, Dragon Ball Z, Mission Impossible, Harley-Davidson, Major League Baseball, and the National Football League, among many others. The Company’s Humongous Entertainment and MacSoft labels are leaders in children’s entertainment software and Macintosh entertainment software, respectively.

Infogrames, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA) (Euronext 5257), a global publisher and distributor of video games for all platforms, as well as interactive digital television, mobile smart devices (WAP, HDML) and in-flight entertainment systems. In 2001, IESA acquired Infogrames Interactive, Inc. (formerly Hasbro Interactive), including its line of software based on well-known licenses such as Monopoly, Jeopardy, Tonka, and Atari, which are published and distributed in the U.S. by Infogrames, Inc. For more information, visit the Company’s Web site at www.infogrames.com.