GameStop has detailed the bonus items bundled with the Gamestop-exclusive Limited Edition of Forza Motorsport 3, letting buyers know what their extra twenty bucks will get them. These bonuses shouldn't require the box to be any bigger than the normal version, because with two exceptions, nothing in the pack is physical.

The Limited Edition comes with an exclusive car pack, featuring "5 cars that have been hand tuned and hand painted by the developers at Turn 10 to fly the Forza Motorsport colors," a Dashboard theme, and a "VIP Membership" that entitles the user to "special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums." The tangible items in the pack: a 2GB USB drive and a keychain, both emblazoned with Forza 3 logos. In addition, reserving the game provides access to the "community designed and chosen, Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro."

E3 was brütal! If you blinked, for a split/second, you missed something. Even if you were trine to keep up, it was a blur -- staying a.wake like that, you only pushed yourself to the brink of your own dark void. That's where Joystiq comes in; to crackdown on the madness; to reach out ... with conviction -- phew! Crysis averted.

We've scoured the dark corners and survived the inferno to piece together this roundup of all things Xbox at E3. Why? Just 'cause we love you. So, draw nier and shift your eyes past the break.

It was impossible for us to even fake surprise when Forza Motorsport 3 was revealed for the first time at Microsoft's Pre-E3 press briefing. After being rumored for the better part of the last year, we expected Forza 3 (from developer Turn 10) to steer into our direction during the industry's biggest event.

What did surprise us was how impressive the latest title in Microsoft's simulation racing series looked. For a franchise that has received flak from videophiles in the past, Forza Motorsport 3 was an impressive reveal for the Xbox 360 and one of the best racing games at E3 2009.

Are racing games the new first-person shooter? Revving up for release and shown off at E3 with tires smoking were Disney's Split/Second, Blur from Activision, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, and EA's Need for Speed: Shift. They range from hyper-realistic to arcadey, so chances are you'll find something that's right up your alley among these four. But which one will you choose? We spoke to all four developers and asked them the same questions to see how they'd stack up, and you can check out the results after the break.

If you're willing to drop bundles of real-life cash for a bit of virtual notoriety, Turn 10 has got a deal that should tickle your unusual fancy. The U.S. Gamestop-exclusive limited edition bundle for Forza Motorsport 3 will hit store shelves in October, selling at $79.99, and giving its purchasers a 2GB USB dongle, a few extra cars, a dashboard theme and a "Forza Motorsport VIP Membership."

What does this exclusive title give you? According to the Gamestop listing, the benefits of being a Very Important Person include "special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums," as well as five additional exclusive vehicles. The type of "special treatment" offered is still unknown, but our money's on virtual sensual footrubs.

Forza Motorsport 3 game director Dan Greenwalt is proud of his game. More specifically, he believes that Forza 3 has surpassed all of the competition, most notably Gran Turismo. When asked how Forza is positioned against other racing stalwarts like Need for Speed and Gran Turismo, Greenwalt did not mince words.

"I'm in this industry because of Gran Turismo, let's just be frank," said Greenwalt. He then explained that Gran Turismo inspired his first "stressful" car purchase, a Mitsubishi 3000GT, saying that is was "a great car in that game, and I thought 'Oh my God, if I'm ever going to have a car, that's the car that I want.'" Then things got ugly.

"So, props to Kazunori Yamauchi-san and the PS1 team," said Greenwalt. "That said," he continued, "I feel that he's passed us the baton. Perhaps he hasn't meant to, but we have taken the genre to new levels and they've stopped evolving the genre. So again, tremendous respect to him, but I'd say the differentiator is they're old school." He conclued, "The emperor's naked, and I don't want to, you know, I don't want to slap him around, but no game competes [with] us right now."

A bold claim to make, especially considering that neither Forza 3 nor Gran Turismo 5 have actually released yet. Whenever they do, we're hoping for a good rumble, Sharks vs Jets style.

Turn 10 Studios is celebrating the announcement of Forza Motorsport 3 this week by offering up a free car to Forza 2 players who reply to their blog with their Xbox Live gamertag attached. All you have to do is follow the cryptic, Da Vinci code-like instructions buried in their FAQ to link your gamertag, leave a comment on their post, and you'll get a free customized Audi S4 to drive around. At least until the new game comes out in October.

In an interview with Joystiq, Forza Motorsport 3 content director John Wendl of Turn 10, confirmed the upcoming racer would ship on two discs. As rumors last year noted, the core game will come on the game's first disc while the second will be reserved for other content -- such as vehicles and maps. "It is going to ship on two discs," Wendl said. "Disc one is the full experience, even disc one is bigger than any other racing game out there. Disc two includes a lot of extra cars, even a handful of tracks."

When asked if the second disc would act as a data transfer, downloading the additional content to the hard drive for use with the first disc, Wendl told us that was "exactly right." While Turn 10 assures all gamers will be able to enjoy the full Forza 3 experience, we now have confirmation that not all gamers will be able to enjoy all 400 vehicles promised at the Microsoft press briefing.

We get it: Nice cars and tight racing action keep race fans coming back to the Forza franchise, and Forza 3 will likely keep that tradition going. But, when you release a trailer for a game -- one which is Microsoft's only racing franchise -- you should probably have some actual game footage in there. A professional skaterboarder's opinons on the franchise are incredibly interesting, but give us what we came to see: Sweet automobiles hugging turns harder than Joystiq at a teddy bear factory.

Amazon.de (Germany) may have jumped the gun by listing a Forza Motorsport 3 strategy guide and becoming the latest entry in a laundry list of development-related rumors for the racing sequel.

According to the listing, the 192-page guide is produced by Prima Games (the same company behind guides for the first two Forza titles) and will ship on September 30, 2009. The listing isn't confirmation that Microsoft is developing a new title in the Forza series, but if the long rumored title does exist, we'd expect Microsoft to wave the green flag during its E3 media briefing on June 1.

[Via VG247]

You see that image above, friends (#1)? That was the image revealed last week to PortalXbox.com.br during a briefing in São Paulo, Brazil, teasing the assuredly to-be-announced at E3 2009 Forza 3, developed by Turn 10 Studios. It seems as though Turn 10 likes having a little bit of fun with its game reveals though, as the developer has released the full logo (#3), now with more silliness.

Through the magic of Twitter, Turn 10 linked its followers to "the logo of the new game [it's] working on," found below in the gallery. What's weirder is a little poking around in Turn 10's conversations with others on Twitter reveals another image (#2), though clearer, and this time sans "watersports." Looks an awful lot like what could be a Forza 3 logo to us. One thing's for sure: If this game ends up to be for real, we're going to have an awful lot of egg on our face to wash off. Let's hope that's not the case!

At this point, after "supposed" artwork was leaked and the franchise's publisher, Microsoft, circulated a survey inquiring about the game, you'd think the company would just up and announce Forza 3 already. Not so, however, as Microsoft's also notoriously cagey about the game's "possible" existence within its own doors!

As you can see in the video embedded after the break (and in the less than beautiful screen grab above), Microsoft hides a logo for Forza even when showing the game to its own employees a group of Xbox community members from PortalXbox.com.br during a recent, camera-laden meeting in Brazil. The crowd audibly cheers "Forza!" when the logo appears and the man in charge goes on to speak about his love for past entries in the franchise -- never mentioning "Forza 3" by name, mind you. All we get after this is a banner marked "AGUARDEM," meaning "coming soon."

Will we see more of the game at E3 2009? Our money's on "Yeah, we'll probably see it then." Oh, and hey, Portuguese-speaking readers, feel free to drop us a tip with the fully translated transcript when you get a second. Thanks!

UPDATE: Reader Daniel Gomes has informed us that the event was actually the "National Forum on April 25th in São Paulo" for PortalXbox.com.br, "the largest Xbox community in Brazil." Good to know!

UPDATE 2: Apparently the YouTube clip we embedded after the break got pulled. Luckily, we had already downloaded the video! Feel free to check it out, still after the break!

Microsoft's currently unannounced Forza Motorsport 3 will allegedly cross the developer finish line just in time for Christmas 2009, reports VG247.

Official acknowledgment of the game's existence is hopefully not too far off, as leaked assets and details, regarding the game's 400 cars and multiple discs, were already racing around the rumor mill since last year. If it's really penciled in for a holiday release, don't be too amazed if Microsoft talks up Forza 3 at GDC or June's E3 at the latest.

Interestingly enough, Kaarbo mentions that the asset posters (galleried below) are not their templetes, "are only samples and are not to be used" in any Forza title. They're still pretty, though, so check 'em out below.


[Via TeamXbox]