Reef Announces Free Running

Reef Entertainment, publisher of Rebellion’s new extreme sports franchise Free Running on PS2 and PSP has officially announced the game to an expectant market.

"This is a major coup for us” said Reef’s CEO Peter Rezon, "Free Running or Le Parkour, as it’s known in France, has been one of the fastest growing underground youth sports over the past two years, gaining massive popularity around the world."

Peter Rezon continues, "With a breakout into the mainstream for it’s leading exponents and high profile recognition of the sport through films such as District 13, the new James Bond movie - Casino Royale and Madonna’s music video for her Number 1 single ‘Jump’, everyone is beginning to see just how exciting this sport is. We are expecting great things from the game."

Rebellion acquired all rights to Free Running game along with the registered trademarks, through its acquisition of the former Core Design Studios in Derby from Eidos earlier in the year.

"We recognised the games potential immediately.” said Chris Kingsley CTO of Rebellion, "Coupled with the feedback we received from focus groups and leading lights from the sport itself reinforces our conviction that Free Running will be a huge success."

Jason Kingsley CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion commented "Free Running is currently QA’s favourite game, which is a very good sign. Some players have described it as ‘Tony Hawks without the skateboard’ if we get anywhere near that level of success, we’ll be immensely pleased."

In addition to featuring characters based on the leading free runners in Europe, Free Running has been developed with the help of the sports brand specialist Adidas. Their Free Running apparel and high fashion training shoes all feature in-game.

Peter Rezon concludes; "The initial launch will take place across Europe in Q1 2007, with the US release coming shortly after that. The feedback from partners and distributors who have seen the game has been excellent and we expect to see significant sales from this release."