"Trainz impressed rail fans around the world with its combination of stunning graphics and easy layout construction," said Don McFatridge, President of Strategy First Inc. "We are delighted to have the opportunity to present this excellent upgrade in time for Christmas."

UTC brings a whole new dimension to gameplay with the introduction of challenging and compelling scenarios. From short passenger runs, to humpyard activities, to complex freight maneuvers, scenarios offer something for everyone. Performance is measured against scores or time limits, and play can vary between running a single engine, changing between multiple locos or operating as a switchman.

"The Ultimate Trainz Collection offers gamers and train fans more than just driving a train," said Tony Hilliam, Vice-President of Auran. "Working closely with our legion of loyal fans, we have improved our easy-to-use route editor and continued to add more content, more gameplay and more features. UTC also integrates closely with our Trainz Download Station making the collection and installation of new custom content a breeze.

We're excited by what our online community are already producing and are looking forward to the future as they invent new and imaginative ways of using this technology."

Users can even create their own scenarios using the powerful scripting language provided and provide them for download for other Trainz fans. Of course the selection of trains has been greatly expanded as well. There are dozens of new loco's, freight wagons and passenger cars plus a special bonus inclusion in UTC is Paint Shed; an easy-to-use paint program that allows users to create their own railroad liveries. In total, over 100 different cars, wagons and loco's are included, and thousands more objects can be downloaded free.

For more information about UTC, please visit www.auran.com. Infogrames will exclusively distribute UTC in North America.