Get the latest Age of Conan news and views at Massively!
subscribe to this tagPosts in category driving

Rumor: WipEout HD held up by epilepsy tests


ACCORDING TO CVG, WIPEOUT HD'S DELAY CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO MORE THAN JUST TECHNICAL ISSUES AND "EXTRA FEATURES." THE GAME HAS REPORTEDLY FAILED EPILEPSY TESTING, REQUIRING IT TO BE "RE-ENGINEERED" BEFORE BEING RELEASED. IF ONLY THERE WAS SOMETHING WE COULD DO TO HELP SPEED UP THE PROCESS.

Gallery: WipEout HD

Kazunori Yamauchi: More Prologue, no GT5 soon, GT PSP still coming

We somehow managed to get Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi to slam on his brakes for a moment today and talk to us about his flagship racing franchise. According to the Polyphony Digital boss, his studio is focusing a majority of its efforts on Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. In fact, he confirmed that the proper, disc-based Gran Turismo 5 might not even roll out before 2010.

In the meantime, Polyphony will continue to expand Prologue with additional cars, tracks, and features. Yamauchi couldn't speak to specific plans, but mentioned that an new update is planned for the near future.

With all of the work his company is putting into the next console GT installment, Yamauchi tells us that it hasn't forgotten the long-delayed Gran Turismo 4 Mobile for PSP. He confirms that the game – originally announced at E3 2004 – is still actively in development, although it isn't planned for release until after GT5. That would be 2011 for those with pen and calendar in hand.

Factory-fresh Motorstorm: Pacific Rift trailer pulls up

The sequel to PS3's bippity-boppity-blazingly-fast off-road racer, Motorstorm, was shown only a wee bit of love at Sony's E3 press conference. Thankfully for it, Pacific Rift is being promoted much more vigorously on what's left of a show floor. It's getting dirt and palm fronds everywhere. While we can't promise anything, we think it's reasonably safe to watch the video above devoid of fear that the game will make a mess of your personal space. Reasonably safe.

Joystiq E3 impressions: Wheelman


Vin Diesel's gaming company, Tigon Studios, is trying to make good with Wheelman, a Driver-esque, open world action/driving experience due out from Midway. There were a few... interesting innovations in the game (instead of stopping your car to steal other vehicles, you can now hijack any car on the road while in motion), but this was mostly a case of "we saw it being played so you don't have to."

Still, Producer Pall Palsson was kind enough to show us what his team has been up to lately, so check after the break to see both what Wheelman has to offer, and what it doesn't (hint: realistic physics).

Continue reading Joystiq E3 impressions: Wheelman

Joystiq interview: Mercenaries 2 senior producer Jonathan Zamkoff

We spent some time with the eagerly awaited Mercenaries 2: World in Flames at Electronic Arts recently, and we can safely say that it's a lot of fun blowing crap up in this game. In fact, if they dropped the storyline (you're chasing a druglord) altogether and called this game Blowing Sh*t Up!, we'd still buy it.

Senior Producer Jonathan Zamkoff answered several of our questions about the game after we took a breath to check for scorch marks and shrapnel wounds. We'll be spending a lot more hands-on time with this one at E3, so look for more coverage next week. In the meantime, check after the break to find out why they hope driving won't suck in this one... although they don't explain why this screenshot looks like Motorstorm 2: Save Your Own Ass.

Gallery: Mercenaries 2: 7/10/2008

Continue reading Joystiq interview: Mercenaries 2 senior producer Jonathan Zamkoff

Burnout Paradise's 'Cagney' update delayed on Xbox 360 until July 24


Step right this way 360 owners, past the bearded woman, under the tent flap and into "Bizarro World!" In this world, 360 versions of things are always delayed, while PS3 players get to enjoy them first. Look, over there! That's a PS3 owner enjoying the new Burnout Paradise update "Cagney" today, and you've got to wait for it! And not just a few days like we originally thought! No, Criterion's now saying you're going to be waiting until at least July 24! The terror!

And look, over there, it's ... actually, that's the only exhibit we've got, sorry folks. Drive safely don't forget that your ticket stubs are good for 50 percent off at Pizza In a Cup.

[Thanks, SharpShooter]

Burnout Paradise 'Cagney' update for Xbox 360 delayed until July 14


Fans of Criterion's vehicular vehicleslaughter sim Burnout Paradise were supposed to receive the title's third major update this coming Thursday, codenamed "Cagney". The vaudevillian actor-turned-downloadable content will give Paradisians the opportunity to play through more than 70 events online in FreeBurn mode -- unfortunately, Paradisians of the Xbox 360 variety will have to wait a bit longer than their PS3 counterparts to enjoy the free update.

Unsurprisingly, the source of the hold-up is the rigorous Xbox Live certification process, which took longer than Criterion had expected. Their new release date for "Cagney" is the following Monday, July 14 -- though this delay won't affect PS3 owners. Nor will it affect DS owners, restaurant entrepreneurs, professional poker players, the current Dalai Lama, or the actual James Cagney, who is, in fact, deceased.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles bumped a month to October 7th


We hope you opted to use pencil when scribbling the release date for Rockstar's latest non-felony related driving game into your Niko Bellic pinup calendar. Midnight Club: Los Angeles – the fourth installment in Rockstar San Diego's pimp-your-ride racing game – has jettisoned the old September 9 release date in favor of a new October 7th date (October 10 for you Europeans). Ostensibly, the extra time is being used to put that final coat of Turtle Wax on the open-world, track-less, load-time-less title but we like to imagine they're having difficulty getting the LA traffic experience just right.

Gallery: Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Burnout Paradise to receive retroactive PlayStation Trophies

With nine days to go until Criterion's crazy-fast racer gets an infusion of new content via the "Codename: Cagney" update, designer Simon Phipps has confirmed on the PlayStation Blog that the game will also receive support for PlayStation Trophies "soon." He says that Trophy support won't be part of "Cagney," which will introduce 70 timed Freeburn challenges for the game's online component.

In a surprise turn, Phipps also revealed that Criterion was "thinking ahead" and the Trophies will, in fact, be retroactive, meaning that players will receive them for feats already performed in the game. This is, according to Phipps, possible because of the way Burnout Paradise save data is linked to players' PSN accounts, which also means it won't be happening in other PS3 games en masse.

Rumorang: Forza 3 'core game' will be on one disc


Last week we reported that Forza 3's sheer glut of content may mean the game will span two discs -- a feat not performed in console racing titles since Gran Turismo 2 back in 1999.

Fears of frequent disc swapping have been tentatively belayed, however. The Angry Pixel reports that only one disc will hold the "core game" content, presumably with the second disc holding additional, non-integral features. This possible scenario comes from a source at Dhruva Interactive, an India-based game developer contracted to deliver 3D assets for Forza 3.

The source also states that more news on the anticipated racing title is coming "fairly soon," so we'll hopefully get to the bottom of this "2 discs 1 game" rumor in the near future.

Joystiq hands-on: Ferrari Challenge

UK-based System 3 is out to fill the rather large racing simulation void on PS3 with Ferrari Challenge, a game the company is calling a spiritual successor to the Sega great, Ferrari F355 Challenge. It's also aimed directly at fans of Gran Turismo, GRID, and Project Gotham Racing.

With its release set for next month exclusively on PS3 – as far as HD consoles go – we recently put Ferrari Challenge through its paces, while getting some background on what sets the game apart from other current-gen racers (apart from the fact that all of the cars are, obviously, Ferraris). Read on after the break to hear our impressions of the sights, sounds, and feel that highlight this high-spec driving sim.

Gallery: Ferrari Challenge (PS3)

Continue reading Joystiq hands-on: Ferrari Challenge

Wii Wheel + Balance Board = racing simulator

Nintendo Wii Fanboy's code monkey extraordinaire, Mike Sylvester, stuns us again. His latest Revolutionary column is a step-by-step process of turning the Wii balance board and Wii wheel into a racing simulator, with the aid of GlovePIE and a PC version of Need for Speed ProStreet. Feel free to try this at home.

Next Need for Speed going 'Undercover' in 2009

We'll be honest and say that the past few entries in the Need for Speed franchise haven't exactly driven us mad with desire. But, ever the salesman, EA CEO John Riccitiello knows just the way to get a game back into our hearts: Mention it in the same breath as The Transporter.

Riccitiello said that the next iteration, Need for Speed: Undercover will have a strong mission structure and a similarity to the Jason Statham action classic. "For those of you who ever saw movies like The Transporter - it's sort of a cult classic among people with a B-movie mentality, which fits me perfectly," he said. "I liked it. I apologize. For those of you with no taste, and you liked it too, we can go have a Schlitz after this."

Don't worry John, we're right there with you. We're just heartbroken that we're apparently going to have wait until 2009 to partake of the fruits of your genius.

Ubisoft Reflections creating new Driver game

Obvious automobile news now, with the shocking revelation that the people inside Ubisoft's Reflections studio, nabbed by the French publisher in 2006, are hard at work clicking buttons, typing code and making "VROOM!" sound effects in order to service a new Driver game. You may remember it as the getaway car sim that you liked before Thelma and Louise took the wheel for most of the sequels.

Aside from its in-development status, not much is revealed about the new Driver in a BBC News clip, though it does show a man modeling a red (then blue, no, yeeeelllloooow!) sports car. That's a good start, we suppose.

Survey: Forza 3 to require 2 DVDs, 'over 400 cars and 100 tracks'


Despite Metal Gear Solid 4's teasing about the limitations of the DVD format, developers are already feeling the gigabyte crunch. Take Microsoft's own Forza 3 project (What? You didn't think they were working on another one?) which, according to the recently mined Xbox survey, won't be able to squeeze into a single DVD: "due to the number of cars and tracks included in the Forza 3 game, it will be sold as a 2-disc set."

Of course, the drawbacks of having multiple discs can be mitigated by handling the extra data intelligently, reducing the need to swap discs repeatedly, so we'll focus on the second part of that equation: one-hundred tracks? Seriously?

Next Page >

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: