From the Producer of RIDES, OVERHAULIN’ and PAYBACK
Forza Motorsport SHOWDOWN
The Game is REAL!
Forza Motorsport SHOWDOWN premieres Wednesday night, February 21 at 11 p.m. EST on SPEED!
FORZA MOTORSPORT SHOWDOWN OFFERS $100,000
PAYDAY ON NEW SPEED MINI-SERIES
SPEED TEAMS WITH XBOX FOR LIVE-ACTION PROGRAM BASED on FORZA MOTORSPORT 2
SPEED, the automotive lifestyle and motorsports network, has joined forces with Microsoft Game Studios in presenting a live-action mini-series based on Xbox 360’s new Forza Motorsport 2 video game.
Forza Motorsport Showdown, produced by Bud Brutsman of the popular SPEED reality show, Payback, is set to debut February 21, 2007 at 11 p.m. EST. The four-episode series will be hosted by Lee Reherman, best known as ‘Hawk’ on hit television show, American Gladiator.
Each episode rigors a diverse group of competitors through a roster of competitive motorsports disciplines – drag racing, road racing, autocross and drifting – in a $100,000 winner-take-all format. Forza Motorsport Showdown is designed to be the ultimate test of high-performance driving and mechanical skills.
“These are real people, real crews and real cars battling it out for a very significant cash prize,” said Robert Ecker, VP of Programming for SPEED. “It’s a very dynamic production encompassing an incredible amount of drama and suspense. Each team and personality has to excel in every one of these racing categories to be competitive; there’s not much room for error.
“Showdown marks the first time SPEED has been approached about doing a video game-based reality series, one with obvious appeal to a broad and youthful audience,” Ecker continued. “To the credit of our partners at Microsoft and Xbox, they did not want this to feel in any way, shape or form like an infomercial about their game. They were always very specific about wanting this to be a stand alone show with its own reality twists and uninhibited drama. It’s a very refreshing approach.”
Forza Motorsport 2 is Microsoft Game Studios’ sequel presentation to its award-winning Forza Motorsport title, which debuted in 2003. This offering is expected to set new standards for high-definition gaming, customization, driving, physical and damage simulation. In addition, Forza Motorsport 2 allows gamers to collect more than 300 personalized racers and pursue worldwide competitions through its revolutionary Xbox Live gaming community.
