The love of trains is a romantic childhood memory for many of us that takes us back to the railroad adventures we had either riding on the real railroad or putting down the track and running our own railroad in miniature with ourselves as the boss of the line. Today, however, Electronic Arts has announced that it will be giving all us PC users the chance to relieve those memories with the release of Rail Simulator for the PC on January 16, 2008 with new content specially developed for the North American release.

The game, developed by Kuju Entertainment, will provide gamers the chance to run a variety of antique and modern trains on over 1,000 miles of accurately recreated train routes that run all over the world. One of the new routes for the North American release is the trek from Barstow, Nevada to San Bernardino, California while at the controls of a brand new Union Pacific locomotive.

On the subject of controls they will have to be attended to carefully as players will be in control of all facets of the trains’ workings while riding the rails. For those just starting out, though, the game will include a variety of difficulty levels from Easy to Full Simulation allowing players to ride at a pace comfortable to them. Rail Simulator will also include a level editor that can be used to make their own games and display them to other players via the Internet.

Tim Gatland, the Managing Director of Rail Simulator Developments Limited, had this to say: “We’re thrilled to extend our European relationship with EA Partners to include distribution of Rail Simulator in North America.” He also stated that ““The team at Kuju Entertainment has created an incredible product for train enthusiasts of all ages, and the team at EA Partners is helping us reach the widest possible global audience.”

The Vice President and General Managers of EA Partners, David DeMartini, expressed similar satisfaction regarding the partnership when he was quoted as saying that ““Kuju Entertainment is the hands-down leader in this category and EA Partners is excited to be distributing Rail Simulator in North America this January.” Mr. DeMartini also promised that ““The team at EA Partners is committed to helping studios of all sizes take advantage of EA’s worldwide publishing infrastructure, and we can’t wait to help get Rail Simulator into the hands of North American gamers.”

For more information on Rail Simulator please visit www.railsimulator.com.