"American Idol" will be a music-based, rhythm-action game, allowing players to create, style, train a character and compete as a singer. Each virtual contestant will then choose from more than 40 "top-ten" music tracks to perform for the judges. To ensure the "American Idol" game experience is truly authentic, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul will be featured as computer-generated characters, complete with their colorful commentary.

The project is being developed for the PlayStation 2 and PC by Hothouse Creations, and was acquired by Codemasters under its business development and acquisitions program.

"To secure one of the most talked about, widely watched and most fascinating entertainment brands of recent years is a major landmark in Codemasters' acquisition strategy," said Gary Rowe, Codemasters' Head of Business Development. "With the gaming industry established as a mass-market entertainment platform, the `American Idol' game will have an enormous impact."

In its first season, "American Idol" was the highest rated show on Fox in over a year, and the final episode attracted a staggering 22.8 million viewers. "American Idol 2" is already well into its season and is achieving even more impressive audiences, with the premiere episode attracting nearly 27 million viewers.

"The `American Idol' video game is an incredibly exciting project for us and we're delighted to have Codemasters as our worldwide publishing partner," said Dom Wheeler, U.K. Licensing Manager at Fremantle Brand Licensing. "Codemasters has an excellent history for bringing extremely popular big-brand video games to market in the U.S. and throughout the world. We strongly feel that working with Codemasters and Hothouse Creations, we have a game that truly reflects the show and gives everyone the chance to have the `American Idol' experience."

"To have a video game based on the dominating `American Idol' series is a major success," added Mike Hayes, Codemasters Group Marketing Director. "The power branding of `American Idol', combined with an excellent music rhythm-based game has immense appeal to the far-reaching gaming audience on PlayStation 2 and PC."

Codemasters will feature a first look at the "American Idol" video game at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, this May in Los Angeles. To keep up to date on the games, visit Codemasters online at http://www.codemasters.com.

Codemasters will also publish "Pop Idol," a U.K. edition of the game, based on the original British TV series.

"AMERICAN IDOL" -- GAME INFORMATION:

"American Idol" is a music-based, rhythm-action game that allows players to create, style and train a contestant for competition. Players will see their contestants through the auditions, various heats and, ultimately, progress to the grand finals. The game is complete with the trademark comments from the judges, including Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.

The gameplay has gamers "singing and dancing with their hands." Match the right combos of buttons to what's on the screen, and the contestant sings a sweet harmony and dances to the rhythm. Get it wrong and their voice fades and quivers as the judges, and later the audience, grow unsettled. With a track list of 40 international top-ten music tracks to master, players will get full feedback from the judges that will reflect their performance.