RNS Number:0322S
Eleco PLC
26 February 2002



26 February 2002

                                   ELECO PLC


"FORMA'S ONLINE WRC CHALLENGE A ROARING SUCCESS AS 50,000 PLAYSTATION FANS RACE
                     AGAINST THE BEST GAMERS IN THE WORLD"


The WRC Challenge (www.wrc.com/playstation)

The race was on this January for Forma Communications, Eleco plc's award-winning
web design consultancy subsidiary, as 50,000 avid fans logged on to its most
recent online creation - the PlayStation 2 World Rally Championship challenge.
With a scheduled kick-off simultaneous to that of the real WRC races, the online
challenge sparked a phenomenal worldwide contest to win the ultimate prize of a
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

Celebrating the launch of the World Rally Championship (WRC) PlayStation 2 game
from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), players were introduced to the
key features of the game and dared to take on a series of four weekend
challenges. After the first frenzied weekend the site had generated over 5
million page impressions, 43,000 registrations with 12,700 competitors entering
over 100,000 time codes.  The peak number of simultaneous users hit over 7,600
during this launch period, as news of the challenge spread like wildfire in the
cyber community.


Forma Hosting Technology

Thanks to Forma's technology development and enhanced hosting methodology, the
WRC site was able to upscale and downscale at short notice - a tool which proved
invaluable as an unprecedented 6.9 million page impressions were generated, as
thousands of concurrent users logged on simultaneously.


Forma Online League Table Technology

Online league table technology developed by Forma allowed players to enter their
best completion times for each race sector on the website, in the form of
encrypted time-codes generated by their PS2 consoles, and this technology
enabled gamers across the world to compete fiercely against their contenders in
nationwide, international and personal leagues.

Commenting on the success of the WRC site, Tom Robberechts, Senior European
Product Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said, "we are delighted at
the amazing number of WRC supporters who have joined in this worldwide challenge
- Forma Communications designed and hosted our most successful online WRC
challenge ever. Together with Forma, we were able to bring the hardcore action
and thrilling excitement of Rally racing home to thousands of gamers throughout
Europe"

Toby Borger, Head of Sales & Marketing, Forma Communications, said "We were
thrilled to be selected by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to develop the
launch site for the new WRC PlayStation 2 game.  The success of the Formula One
2001 site last year proved that Forma's creation of online league tables
contained all the right elements for PS2 users and complemented the game
perfectly, due to its competitive nature and involvement of worldwide players."


www.forma.co.uk
www.elecoplc.co.uk
www.wrc.com/playstation


Enquiries to:


John Ketteley, Executive Chairman                    Tel: 01920 443830
Eleco plc

Mike Saunders, Managing Director                     Tel: 020 7729 8808
Forma Communications Ltd

David Millham/Tarquin Edwards                        Tel 020 7929 5599
Holborn


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange


Eleco Public (LSE:ELCO)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024 Click Here for more Eleco Public Charts.
Eleco Public (LSE:ELCO)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024 Click Here for more Eleco Public Charts.