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Forza Motorsport 3 adds Circuit de Catalunya, some Euro-Sport compacts detailed

by Xav de Matos { Jul 28th 2009 at 10:00PM }

Turn 10 has revealed a new addition to the Forza Motorsport 3 racetrack family: Spain's Circuit de Catalunya raceway. While the developer welcomes the Spanish Grand Prix track for the first time, it also announced plans for Germany's Nürburgring raceway to come back to the simulation racing franchise. Microsoft's press release describes Catalunya as "one of motorsport's most vital testing grounds," and detailed the track by adding players would "encounter a variety of obstacles," like hugging curves or speeding down straights -- which is notable because it proves there is no exciting way to verbally describe a road.

Turn 10 also detailed a sample of Euro-Sport compact cars making their way into Forza Motorsport 3, including the 2008 Saab 9-3 Turbo X, the 2009 Lotus Evora and the 2010 Fiat 500 Abarth SS. A full list of the adorable little European sport cars is after the break.

Gallery: Forza Motorsport 3

Continued →

Pick Forza 3's pre-order Audi's look, potentially drive the real thing

by Randy Nelson { Jun 22nd 2009 at 5:00PM }

Xbox.com is hosting a bit of a contest / user feedback survey involving the Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro which those who pre-order Forza 3 will receive as bonus DLC. Five potential paint jobs for the seriously slick ride are posted on the contest page, which instructs vistors to cast their votes via an incresingly popular means: downloading a correspnding (free) Gamer Picture from the Marketplace.

The design that has its gamerpic downloaded the most will be the one pre-order holders receive. Speaking of receiving, one contest entrant will be chosen at random to hit the track at the Infineon Raceway in a real Audi R8 5.2 FSI Quattro (lucky!) as part of the "Audi Sportscar Experience." (Yes, if you win, you actually get to drive the car -- we checked.)

Burnout cars spotted on Godfather II's streets

by Jason Dobson { Mar 8th 2009 at 10:45PM }

It seems the Don has been spending some time in Paradise City, returning from his extended vacation with a pair of the city's more recognizable rides. Eagle eyes at Polish site Play PC recently discovered similarities between two cars in both Godfather II and Burnout Paradise, namely the latter's Hunter Cavalry and Carson Opus.

Whether or not the cars in the upcoming EA sequel are the exact same models as those in Burnout, or just strikingly similar, isn't exactly clear. In any case, the Don's chop shop looks like it sanded off most of the details from Burnout's rides. When you're the Don, image is everything; we just hope the new paint jobs are as bulletproof as they are green.

[Via N4G]

Rock Band Wiikly: Six more tracks, just what we needed

by Ross Miller { Jan 27th 2009 at 8:30PM }

Another week, another bundle of Rock Band DLC oldies for the Wii, which according to the press release should be available now.

Individual Tracks (200 Wii points apiece)

"Attack" - 30 Seconds to Mars
"Gimme Three Steps" - Lynrd Skynrd
"Live Forever" - Oasis
"Just What I needed" - The Cars
"Siva" - Smashing Pumpkins
"Tell Me Baby" - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Fun fact: the Rock Band series has about 559 songs. At this point, Wii owners have access to 212 of them, leaving 347 songs to go. At 6 songs per week -- not counting any future DLC -- we should see Wii owners catch up to everyone else some time before mid-2010.

GRID getting new cars, events later this year

by Jason Dobson { Sep 19th 2008 at 5:15PM }

Codemasters has dropped word that new racing machines will be pulling up to GRID's starting line later this year. The game will be getting a new DLC pack, dubbed "8-Ball," this Fall, which will add two new multiplayer events and eight new cars, including the McLaren F1 GTR, Honda S2000 and 1971 Pontiac Firebird Trans AM. Additionally, while 8-Ball's new cars and events will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, the former will gain the added benefit of four new Achievements and 100 new Gamerpoints to earn. PS3 owners will have to fill their time dusting off vacant Trophy cases.

Another release, adding a V8 Supercars category and the Australian Bathurst circuit, is expected in the coming months. At this time, the Codies are tight-lipped regarding both price and an exact release date for any DLC, saying only that the first batch will drop this Fall for consoles, while PC players can expect information relevant to them to arrive "shortly."

Wii's first force feedback wheel looks great, seems pointless

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 21st 2008 at 3:38PM }

Yes, pointless.

As much as we love our Wii, it's not exactly creaking under the weight of great racing titles. There's Game Night favorite Mario Kart Wii, which is really fun, but that already comes with its own wheel, which works surprisingly well. And after that, we have (in order of GameRankings.com score) Excite Truck, MX vs. ATV Untamed, Speed Racer, and Cars, followed by fourteen other depressing drives.

None of which is intended as a slur on Logitech's new force feedback wheel for the Wii, which actually looks and sounds excellent. Releasing in November for $99.99 (!), the Logitech Speed Force Wireless features built-in gas and brake controls, a comfy-looking expandable lap rest, a wireless USB receiver and, naturally, full force feedback.

It is almost certainly the best possible way to play Cruis'n, GT Pro Series, and Wacky Races: Crash & Dash.

Gallery: Cruis'n

[Via press release]

Steering blobs and dropping dudes with Costco's $10.99 sale

by Chris Greenhough { Jun 11th 2008 at 1:15PM }

Is Mercury Meltdown Revolution a part of your Wii collection? If not, it absolutely should be, for Ignition's addictive puzzler must be one of the most criminally overlooked gems on the platform. And now Costco has it for $10.99, along with a bunch of other titles that range from pretty damn good to shovelware (oh, hai Pool Party). Angelina Jolie favorite Ghost Squad is also on sale, giving you a chance to knock terrorists from their speeding, swan-shaped jet skis, and save money in the process. If a better offer has come along this century, we've yet to see it.

Below are the six titles that most stood out to us (the full list is past the jump); we expect at least two of these to be in your house by June 22nd, when the sale ends:

Ghost Squad
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sega Bass Fishing
Mercury Meltdown: Revolution
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
SSX Blur

Gallery: Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Gallery: Ghost Squad Wii

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Judas Priest to lead Rock Band's full album downloads April 22

by Kyle Orland { Apr 18th 2008 at 9:53AM }

First promised back in July of '07 and teased again just last month, Rock Band will finally see its first full downloadable album when Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance" becomes available Tuesday, April 22. The set of ten master tracks will be available for $14.99 (that's 1200 Microsoft Points for those who can only make calculations in fake currencies) or individually for $1.99 (160 MS Points) per song.

A Rock Band forum moderator also confirms two more albums coming down the pike sometime soon: The Cars' self-titled debut and The Pixies' "Doolittle." Still no word on The Who's "Who's Next," which was originally promised as the first album available for download, or Nirvana's "Nevermind," which was hinted at in last July's GamePro -- or Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time," which we've been hoping against hope will be coming ever since the game's release. Oh Cyndi ... why did you ever stop recording?

Race Driver: GRID trailer revs up, impresses

by Chris Greenhough { Apr 4th 2008 at 6:00PM }

Can the DS do "serious" racing games? As things stand, there are three such titles due this year on the handheld: Evolution GT, Trackmania DS, and Race Driver: GRID. Developer Codemasters showed off the latter earlier today, and you can color us impressed. Watch the trailer above and you'll see ~~pure, white stallions emerging from magnificently rendered waves~~ that this is already looking remarkably fluid -- and that's with eight cars on track at once and an array of weather effects.

It's an early lead for GRID then, though there's every chance that Trackmania's vaunted track creation mode could see it pull back in front.

Gallery: Race Driver: GRID

[Via press release]

MX vs. ATV vets form Timefly Studios

by Jason Dobson { Apr 2nd 2008 at 1:00AM }

They say when one tree falls, another pushes up from the soil to take its place, a circle of life that's mirrored today with the establishment of Arizona-based developer TimeFly Studios, a developer committed to creating games based on both licensed and original properties.

The company is licensed developer for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and while no specific projects have yet been announced from the fledgling company, the studio notes that it will focus on the action/adventure, rhythm, and puzzle game genres. Noticeably absent from that list are racing games, interesting given that TimeFly Studios was founded by former Rainbow Studios vets Brad Ruminer, Dennis Booth, and Glenn O'Bannon, each of whom have left their fingerprints on such titles as MX vs. ATV and Cars.

While we continue to wait to see what kind of fruit comes of this new tree, we'll just sit here and play Splashdown, another of the trio's creations, and imagine racing watercraft down the river Charente.

Codemasters reveals DS racer

by David Hinkle { Feb 12th 2008 at 5:00PM }

Codemasters is striving to do what nobody has done before: create a competent racing game on the DS, as they've announced they're working on Race Driver: GRID. While we're not ones to believe that the platform is designed for games in the racing genre, we remain cautiously optimistic about this. Codemasters released Dirt, a game that even this Nintendo Fanboy can admit was amazing, so we're hoping this title shows the same care and polish.

Check out some screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: Race Driver: GRID

THQ earns more sales, less profits, lots of licenses

by Ross Miller { Feb 5th 2008 at 10:00PM }

For its third fiscal quarter through the holiday season, publisher THQ saw their sales boost to $509.6 million but profits down to $15.5 million (via Gamasutra). Comparatively, last year they had $475.7 million in sales (a 7% raise) and $62.1 million in profit (a 75% drop). THQ also had $27 million in non-cash charges due to the cancellations of Juiced and Stuntman.

Big sellers include THQ's licenses. Life to date sales from Nickelodeon projects total $1 billion, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 enjoyed a whopping five million in unit sales -- behold the power of licensing.

THQ plans games based on Pixar's WALL?E, nobody surprised

by Jason Dobson { Jan 3rd 2008 at 8:57AM }

With THQ still riding the wave of financial fortitude created by its adaptations of Disney Pixar's Cars and Ratatouille animated features, the company has unsurprisingly confirmed plans to give the film studio's next feature, WALL•E, similar treatment. Versions of the movie-made-game, which centers on a story of a robot named WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) and his journey of self discovery, should begin to populate store shelves for every platform under the sun in time for the film's summer release.

This game is the second title, following last year's Ratatouille, to stem from a new four game deal between THQ and Pixar, meaning that we expect these two will remain in bed together over the next couple of years at the very least. THQ hasn't shed many details on how the WALL•E games will play out, though given previous releases, we expect a handful of levels lifted from the film, partnered with mind numbing icon collecting and actors delivering lines with all of the enthusiasm of a cheese sandwich. Excited yet?

Best Buy offering $5 gift cards with kid-friendly games

by Eric Caoili { Dec 10th 2007 at 11:15AM }

Likely positioning this deal as an incentive for Christmas shoppers to purchase family-oriented titles for younger gamers, Best Buy is throwing in a $5.00 gift card with every video game purchase from its selection of E (Everyone) and E10+ (Everyone 10+) ESRB-rated offerings. Here's a list of the electronic retailer's DS games currently on that list:

Ben 10: Protector of Earth - $29.99
Cars (GBA) - $19.99
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker - $29.99
Drawn to Life - $29.99
Jam Sessions - $19.99
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck - $29.99
Ratatouille: Food Frenzy - $29.99

Aside from Jam Sessions, these aren't really great bargains, but if you were planning on eventually buying one of these games anyway, why not do it now and pick up a free gift card with your order?

[Via CAG]

ESA and Microsoft collaborate, offer mediocre games for charity

by Scott Jon Siegel { Nov 16th 2007 at 5:00AM }

Microsoft has teamed up with the Entertainment Software Association to offer a special three-pack of Xbox 360 games this holiday season. The pack, which retails for $29.99 USD, is comprised of Cars, Open Season, and Fuzion Frenzy 2 -- three E-rated games which are notable for tepid reviews across the board.

It's definitely for a good cause, so we really shouldn't be complaining. All retail fees for the three-pack have been waived, meaning that the entirety of each $29.99 purchase goes directly to the ESA Foundation, which raises money to support groups like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Penny Arcade's Child's Play event, and HopeLab, the developers behind the serious game Re/Mission.

The charity three-pack is currently available in retail stores, as well as on online sites such as Amazon.