January 26^th, 2005 (1:31pm) - Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) announced today that the full product website for the upcoming first-person shooter Cold Winter has launched. The site -- www.coldwinter.com -- grants unprecedented access into the shadowy world of international espionage in which Cold Winter is set. The gritty FPS action thriller set to hit retail shelves this April, is being developed exclusively for the PlayStation 2 by UK-based Swordfish Studios.

In Cold Winter, the player is Andrew Sterling, a disavowed British MI6 agent and expert in the kind of covert operations the public doesn’t believe proper governments engage in. Gamers will experience incredibly realistic interaction throughout six highly-detailed and life-like environments, featuring real-world physics, searching fallen enemies and manipulating objects to use as cover. As players encounter intelligent adversaries, they can choose from an arsenal of over 30 weapons which inflict extremely realistic zone-specific body damage and rag-doll death animations. The original storyline, written in collaboration with noted author Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Global Frequency) and set in 2002, brings to life both the heroic and fatally-misguided characters that inhabit the corrupt world of international espionage.

Cold Winter will also feature multiplayer support (headset enabled) with up to eight-player online multiplayer action powered by GameSpy, or up to four-player split-screen off-line mode. Players can choose from over 30 player skins and 12 maps, as well as, set the parameters to customize games.

All multiplayer game modes have team versions and include the following:

Deathmatch – Only kills matter in this mode.

King of the Hill – Race against other players to “capture the hill.”

Flag Tag – Find the flag and hold onto it for as long as possible. Kills aren’t counted.

Domination – Capture, defend and retain the most Objective Points in the level.

Last Man Standing – Outshoot, outplay and outlast opponents to win.

Head Match – Gruesome variation of Flag Tag where players try to get “ahead.”

Cold Winter will be available in North America in April 2005 on PlayStation 2 for a suggested retail price of $49.99, with an ESRB “M” for Mature rating.

Below are three new screenshots that were released alongside this press release.