Gamers offered leading roles

The action centres around 'escape proof' Stalag Luft III PoW camp

If you ever fancied yourself in a starring role in the classic war film The Great Escape, then this is your chance.

With its game version of the classic movie due out next year, publisher SCi Games is offering 10 people the chance to appear in the game as a German officer, an allied prisoner of war or even a train conductor.

Fans need only e-mail a photo of themselves to [e-mail] before 13 September.

Their faces willl then be included as leading characters in the game. The only restrictions are that you must be a male aged 25- 55.

Personal involvement in games has become the latest marketing tool for game companies.

Motorbike scene

We are hoping to supplement the entertainment level of the film with an interactive element," said a spokesman for SCi.

"Not only can you feel part of the action, you can actually be part of the action,"

"Admittedly it is a small step down a very long path towards total interactivity but we are beginning to make strides in that direction," he added.

Will Steve McQueen escape in the game version?

The film is best known for the final sequence in which Steve McQueen makes a last heroic motorbike jump to freedom.

It has had generations of fans gripped, each hoping that on the next viewing McQueen will make it over the fence.

In the game version there may be a happy ending.

"We don't want to give the game away but one of the angles we are using for this product is, 'Will he finally make it over that fence...'", said the SCi spokesman.

Human adverts

The game will feature a chase through a moving train and an escape from a Luftwaffe airfield.

It centres on the largest mass breakout in history, from the infamous Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp.

Other companies have used personal involvement in games to market their products.

Last month Acclaim UK chose five people out of thousands who applied to change their name to Turok, the name of a games character.

It is part of a so-called identity marketing campaign, which uses people as human billboards