Covert Affairs promo from USA Network and Ralph helps fans hone espionage skills

Ralph Develops Online Interactive CIA Training Camp for USA Network Original Series COVERT AFFAIRS - The Farm

Fans Hone Espionage Skills for Free Prizes in New Interactive Casual Game

NEW YORK - (July 19, 2010) - The principals of award-winning digital creative agency Ralph are very proud to detail their latest project, a new online gaming experience developed in support of the much-anticipated USA Network original series COVERT AFFAIRS. COVERT AFFAIRS follows a young CIA trainee who is suddenly thrust into the inner sanctum of the agency after being promoted to field operative. COVERT AFFAIRS stars Piper Perabo ("Coyote Ugly," "Beverly Hills Chihuahua"), Christopher Gorham ("Ugly Betty," "Jake 2.0"), Peter Gallagher ("The O.C.," "American Beauty"), Kari Matchett ("Invasion"), Anne Dudek ("House," "Mad Men") and Sendhil Ramamurthy ("Heroes," "It's a Wonderful Afterlife"). COVERT AFFAIRS premiered on Tuesday, July 13 at 10/9c.

The new interactive experience entitled The Farm (https://thefarm.usanetwork.com) allows fans to work alongside Annie in her quest to continue to hone skills necessary for any active spy, including closed-course driving, video surveillance, lock-picking and more. For completing tasks, fans engaging in the online world of espionage will be entered to win prizes such as iPods, Bose products and more. New challenges will appear over the weeks to come, each of which allows fans to use Facebook Connect to pull in information, share scores and gain extra points by recruiting their friends to help answer questions.

"USA Network looks for partners in our digital initiatives that will help us push boundaries and offer fans something new and engaging when they enter the USA Network online world," said Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Network. "Ralph brought a technology prowess and know-how that allowed us to develop The Farm in a manner that created seamless social connectivity, which will significantly increase the player's level of interactivity and experience."

"This is the biggest gaming project our New York studio has worked on to-date, and over its course, we've built a great working relationship with everyone at USA Network," explained Iain Barrington-Light, director for Ralph New York. "After viewing the show's pilot, we collaborated to craft our ideas into entertaining gaming experiences for aspiring CIA agents. The goals were to immerse fans within the intense CIA training exercises Annie Walker has to go through in the show, while also enabling users to recruit allies using Facebook."

Continuing, Barrington-Light explained, "The biggest challenge for us was to produce interesting game mechanics for many unique CIA skills. While turning a skill like 'lock picking' into a realistic and fun game was rather daunting at first, we feel that all the experiences we've developed will keep fans engaged and coming back." The finished promo was created using a sophisticated software toolset that included Adobe's Flash 10, PHP and integration with Facebook and other social networks.

From Universal Cable Productions, COVERT AFFAIRS is executive produced by Doug Liman (the "Bourne" trilogy, "Heist") and David Bartis ("The O.C.") through Dutch Oven and written and co-executive produced by Matt Corman ("Deck the Halls") and Chris Ord ("Deck the Halls"). Tim Matheson (USA's BURN NOTICE, PSYCH, "Criminal Minds") directed the pilot.

Ralph's project team also included designers Alex Reinoso and David Sewell, developers Tom Bandy, Nick Kricos, Peter Warman, Danny Stevenson and James Buchanan, and producer Nicola Campbell.

Ralph has so far earned BAFTA Craft, BIMA and FWA Awards, and their promotional site created for Sony Pictures TV for AMC's "Breaking Bad" was a finalist in the 14th Annual Webby Awards. More information is available at www.ralphandco.com.

About USA Network
USA Network is the #1 network in all of basic cable and is seen in over 98.5 million U.S. homes. A division of NBC Universal, USA is the cable television leader in original series and home to the best in blockbuster theatrical films, acquired television series and entertainment events. The award-winning USA website is located at www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.

USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.

(Even More) About Ralph
Lean, nimble, proven and oddly named, Ralph is a new breed of digital creative agency. Since launching in London in 2006, we've created some of the world's most innovative and engaging digital content. For example, our 2007 viral campaign for the first season of "Dexter" earned BIMA's Best Use of Viral Award, AdFreak's Freakiest Advertising Moment of 2007 Award, many complaints from the public and several police interviews. After landing a BAFTA Craft Award in 2009 for our creative contributions to E4's "Dead Set," we opened new studios in New York and Los Angeles. And in 2010, we were named among the 49 companies in Facebook's Preferred Developer Consultant Program... although to be quite honest, we're still just getting started. For more information, please visit www.ralphandco.com.