Kuju Entertainment announced a working partnership with First Great Western in the development of their forthcoming PC title Rail Simulator. FGW has provided the development team with detailed information about various aspects of the railways.

Richard Rogerson, Executive Producer for Rail Simulator commented, "Working with FGW allows us to build on the expertise we have in-house to achieve a higher level of fidelity and accuracy. For the modern day routes which feature in Rail Simulator, nothing beats being able to talk directly to the operator and FGW have simply been tremendous. FGW has been proactive in helping us by providing access to yards, sound recording sessions and in the provision of the general background information that will bring the route to life".

FGW have provided the Rail Simulator content team with a myriad of information and support. The layout of instruments in the train cabs required our artists to gain close up photographs and footage of the engines to ensure accurate reconstruction. FGW granted access to the trains for our sound engineers to record various sounds including shunting and coupling. Recording the sounds the instruments in the cab make when used is another example of the meticulous detail that FGW have been very helpful with.

Elaine Wilde, Head of Corporate Communications for First Great Western, said: "This is probably one of the most unusual and fascinating projects we have been involved in. We're most impressed with the high level of accuracy and attention given to every detail. "

FGW granted access to the trains for Kuju's sound engineers to record various sounds including shunting and coupling and even the ticks, clicks and whirs made by the instruments in the cab as the train is in motion.

To accurately reproduce the routes, Kuju's team of researchers worked closely with FGW who provided great assistance in gathering information on track and signaling; engineering diagrams of the junctions and signals and Milepost data.

Rail Simulator will offer the opportunity for players to take charge of steam, diesel and electric trains on real routes in the UK and Germany. Challenging and fun gameplay will even enable players to design their own ideal journey routes. Rail Simulator will become the gold standard rail simulation title and will fully support the creation of add-on third party content.

Rail Simulator is to be released in Europe in 2006, distributed and marketed by Electronic Arts.