Driver is a series of mission-based driving video games set in an open world for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Wii, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, Mobile Phone and PC. Developed by Reflections Interactive (now Ubisoft Reflections) in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, it was originally published by GT Interactive and later by Atari. Recently, Ubisoft bought the franchise from Atari and all of the 80 employees who work at Reflections Interactive transferred to Ubisoft. There have been five installments released with a sixth one on the way, the latest on May 11, 2007.

Driver: You Are the Wheelman

The first game of the Driver series was released for the PlayStation on June 30, 1999 in the US, and March 9, 2000 in Japan. The PC And Mac version was released on September 10, 2000 in the US, and October 13, 2000 in Europe. You play as an undercover police officer named Tanner. It featured a storyline set in the 1970s and based in four real-life cities; Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. It was the best selling game of the Driver series of games and an evolution of the freedom to explore a city as brought forth in the early "Grand Theft Auto" games.

Driver 2: The Wheelman is Back

The second installment was only released for PlayStation, by Infogrames (now known as Atari), and later ported to the Game Boy Advance. It came out on November 13, 2000 in the US, and four days later, November 17 in Europe. It featured Tanner once more, in four real-life cities, which were Chicago, Havana, Las Vegas and Rio De Janeiro. It was also the first in the series to feature the ability to get out of your car at any time in order to steal another car on the street.

Driv3r

The third edition of Tanner's story was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on June 21, 2004 in the United States and officially on June 22 in Europe to generally poor reviews. This game takes place in Miami, Nice and Istanbul. It was subsequently followed by versions for the PC, Nokia's N-Gage and a GameBoy Advance version. The game sold rather well despite poor reviews, and Reflections paid notice to the complaints about the insipid story line, poor controls, and abundance of glitches in order to improve the series' standings with critics and gamers in the fourth installment of the series.

Driver: Vegas

A mobile exclusive game featuring Tanner, the protagonist of Driver, Driver 2 and Driv3r which features his exploits in Vegas in an attempt to exact revenge on Jericho.

Driver: Parallel Lines

The fourth game in the series, Driver: Parallel Lines, was released March 14, 2006. It is the most violent of the series— the first one to receive an 18 rating in the UK. Reflections intended Parallel Lines to "return the series to its roots" by focusing more on driving. The game differs greatly in other aspects from its predecessors, though, as the story no longer follows undercover cop Tanner and the game takes place in only one location, New York City. The new main player's name is T.K. The game includes two time periods, 1978 and 2006. While an improvement over the disappointing Driv3r, the game received mostly unimpressive reviews, but unlike Driv3r, did not sell particularly well. Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions were released in March 2006. Ubisoft released the game for PC and Wii in June 2007.

Driver 76

On the 23 January 2007, Gamespot reported that the Driver franchise would be coming to the PlayStation Portable, as Driver 76. This is set in New York City in 1976, two years before the events in the first half of Driver: Parallel Lines. The game was developed by Sumo Digital and Reflections, and was released on 11 May 2007.

Driver LA Undercover

Driver LA Undercover is a mobile game created by Ubisoft and Gameloft. The game was released on June 30th 2007.

Driver: Working Title

Driver: Working Title is the fifth game in the series. In August 2006, Ubisoft acquired the rights of the series from Atari , and that Sony confirmed at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show that a new Driver was already in development for the PlayStation 3. Developer Reflections Interactive (renamed Ubisoft Reflections) will continue developing the game, and will spend more time on the series after selling Stuntman to Pygnositics. It is unsure at this time whether Officer Tanner will return or whether the game will focus on a different playable character.

Film adaptation

In February 2003, Impact Pictures, the production team of Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, announced that it had acquired the film and TV rights to adapt the Atari video game Driver. Screenwriters James DeMonaco, Todd Jason Harthan, and James Roday were developing a script at the time. Impact Pictures had originally intended to produce the film Driver to coincide with the release of the video game Driver 3. The following November, Impact Pictures announced its plans to produce a $50 million adaptation of Driver after wrapping up principal photography on Resident Evil: Apocalypse. In April 2006, Rogue Pictures acquired the film rights to Driver from Impact Pictures and Constantin Films, the production companies responsible for the Resident Evil film franchise. Roger Avary replaced the original screenwriters in writing the script for Driver, as well directing the film.

Prior to January 2007, Driver, having a budget of $48 million, was slated to shoot at Cinespace Studios' MT28 lot in Toronto, Canada. Due to a waterfront revitalization project, the studio has been forced to move and the film has been put on hold.

References

External links

• Official Driver site