On November 15, 2001, Microsoft unleashed the Xbox to the world of gaming in North America. With a built-in hard disk drive and the use of Dolby Interactive Content-Encoding Technology, the XBox brought about some new competition for the Sony Playstation 2, the Sega Dreamcast, and the Nintendo GameCube.
In late 2006, the XBox was discontinued, but its bigger and better brother, the XBox 360, was introduced on April 15, 2010.
Microsoft isn’t letting up on what they are calling the most cutting-edge racing game in history in their Forza Motorsport series and they are bringing it back into the headlines with a Ferrari 458 Italia gracing the official cover and the list of goodies players will get if they preorder their copy.
The fourth installment of Forza is scheduled to hit shelves in the Fall 2011 and the new support for Kinect, as well as the classic controls, will be up and ready to thrill gamers. If Fall 2011 is too long to wait, fans of the game will be happy to know that U.S. retailers will be allowing them to pre-order Forza for $59.99.
Pre-ordering the game wouldn’t exactly be all that necessary if doing so didn’t open up the doors to a bunch of extra goodies. When you pre-order Forza Motorsport at any retail location, the game will come with an exclusive in-game car pack that includes a 1965 Ford Mustang GT Coupe, a 2011 Koenigsegg Agera, a 1997 Lexus SC300, a 2011 RUF RGT-8, and a 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport. Players can race, tune, paint, and share their creations with their friends, but the pack will only be available in the first production run of “Forza Motorsport 4” game discs.
That’s not all, either. If gamers preorder their game at certain retailers, other fun prizes will be included in their pack. Hit the jump to check out the list of retailers and their extra goodies.
As avid video gamers that have a preference for whatever form of high-octane, four-wheeled racing action, we still have a soft spot for the down-and-smoky world of DiRT 3. The latest installment of the game isn’t scheduled to hit stores until May 24, 2011, but we’re already getting some good preview videos of what to expect when the time comes for us to part ways with our hard-earned money.
You certainly won’t confuse this game for the posh and shiny world of Gran Turismo 5, but what you do get is plenty of smoke, burning tires, and off-the-rails action. To give us an idea of what to expect in the game, resident drifters Ken Block and Tanner Foust - or at least their virtual likeness - slide their drift-ready Ford Fiestas through a make-shift course.
Interested in shredding your tires while performing burnouts for hours? DiRT 3 will give you all that and more when the game drops next week. For now, you can check out the video of Block and Foust doing what they do best.
You think you know what it’s like to be sitting behind the wheel of a race car as it blasts along a race track in preparation of a sharp corner? Try listening to Time Attack champion Chris Rado and see if you have what it takes.
In the latest promotional video for the just released Need for Speed SHIFT 2 Unleashed, Rado talks about the fine line between successfully navigating a corner and flying off of the apex. There’s more to it than skill. Every corner of every race track provides a different element of danger to it, one that all drivers should be well aware of.
People talk about racing as a sport of inches and they’re right, even down to the slightest twitch of a car that could either cost them the race or worse, their lives. Learning this understated yet important skill is something that separates a good racer from a pretender.
We haven’t even gotten our customary 100 hours of gameplay on the Need for Speed: SHIFT 2 Unleashed and we’re already being given a glimpse of the fourth installment of the Forza Motorsport video game franchise.
Call us conspiracy theorists, but as far as we’re concerned, there’s nothing coincidental about this. The folks of Microsoft are gearing up for what they claim to be the most cutting-edge racing game in history and their banking on the "Kinect" interactive controller to take the whole Forza gaming experience to a whole new level.
Not a lot of details were revealed about Forza 4, except that it is scheduled to be launched sometime in the fall of this year. As far as expectations are concerned, well, this preview video just ratcheted up the hyper for this game. The developers promised better graphics, an up-to-date list of the biggest, fastest and most powerful supercars, new gameplay modes, and even its own Top Gear feature.
Needless to say, expectations are extremely high for Forza 4, and we hope that the folks behind it are up to the task. In the meantime, check out the video of the game’s first official preview.
The Need for Speed – Slightly Mad Studios partnership that resulted in the first Need for Speed SHIFT game brought a whole new level of freshness and detail-oriented approach to the fabled racing franchise. Obviously, with the success of the first game, the second installment became a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.
Anybody that has played the first NFS Shift game will be familiar with the dynamics of the game, especially the prevalent way in which car crashes seem to occur. While the second version is pretty much a refinement of the original, there were a couple of tweaks and modifications done to make a little less crunchy and a lot more dynamic.
Make no mistake; there’s still plenty of carnage to go around and there seems to be some sort of infatuation with wrecked vehicles that it almost feels as if it hurts us to play this game.
But at the end of the day, this is NFS SHIFT 2 Unleashed’s winning-formula and as they say with a good thing, there ain’t no way to fix it. So instead of overhauling the whole game, Slightly Mad went on a slightly conservative approach, giving the game the same overall framework while adding some tweaks and refinements along the way.
Details on Need For Speed: SHIFT 2 Unleashed after the jump.
The hotly anticipated release of the Need for Speed Shift 2 Unleashed game is a week away so it only seems right that we drum up the interest on the game further to ensure that there’s enough hype to justify making a purchase. Of course, a game like this certainly doesn’t need the ‘added’ help considering that the NFS franchise speaks for itself as far as racing games are concerned.
Then again, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a few more previews of the game. The latest to come out of Electronic Arts’ marketing department is a video of Tommy Milner, the driver of the Corvette Racing Team, taking on a hot lap at Laguna SECA while driving his own Corvette C6.R GT1 race car.
The video shows Milner basically flying around Laguna Seca with a lap time that’s as clean as a whistle, including a smooth run around the infamous ‘Corkscrew’. It looked like he could have driven around the lap while eating a bucket of chicken on one hand. That’s the kind of talent he has.
In the end, Milner posted a lap time of 1:21:709, which for a GT1 car is mighty impressive. But if you think it’s not fast enough, you can take a shot at Milner’s time courtesy of the game’s Autolog Challenge and see if you can beat one of the sport’s promising young stars in a lap around Laguna Seca.
Disney Pixar’s Cars 2 hasn’t even come out yet and top execs are already salivating over the next possible money-making scheme to hand over to us on a gold platter. Following the second trailer for Cars 2 is yet another trailer, but this time, it’s for the video game by the same name.
The object of the game is to become world class spies, like Lightning McQueen, his good buddy Mater, and the rest of the gang. This is achieved by training at the international spy academy, CHROME (Command Headquarters for Recon Operations and Motorized Espionage) and taking on dangerous missions to become the fastest race car in the world. Gamers can also use their spy skills in action-packed combat racing and battle arenas while racing up to three of their friends.
Cars 2, the video game, will be released along with the movie in Summer 2011 and will be available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.
You could use a steering wheel console with its own pedals, but no matter how you go around it, strapping it on a kitchen table doesn’t do much in the way of realism. What you need, if you’re really after the virtual racing experience, is a racing seat simulator. And not just any seat simulator; it should be one that will not only give you the feel of real-world driving, but is also pretty damn cool. This is the F1 Red Bull Race Game Racing Simulator, or shall we say, your ticket to one of the best possible virtual racing experiences you’ll ever find.
Designed and built by Playseat in collaboration with Red Bull Racing,, the F1 seat was made to take motor sport gaming to a whole new level. It’s a patented racing seat that was built to give the gamer the feeling of sitting in a real cockpit. It has a fully-adjustable Black coated steel framework, a seat that has been upholstered with high-quality leather that’s complemented by black vinyl and a red double stitching design with a matching G27 gearshift support that’s also included.
According to Fernando Smit, the founder of Playseat, the Red Bull Race Game Simulator is the next step in taking realism of virtual racing to new heights. “The time that people raced, perched on a kitchen chair with a racing wheel clamped to the table, have been gone for some time now,” he said.
“But the new Playseat formula takes virtual racing to a completely new level. The interaction with the racing game is unrivaled. The user feels every bump in the road surface. People will experience the race as if they are real racing drivers.”
The simulator is compatible with a number of game consoles, including Playstation2, Playstation3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, and PC and sells for 949 Euros, which is about $1,300 based on current exchange rates.
If you needed any more reason to sweat out the wait for the new Need for Speed SHIFT 2 Unleashed video game, this trailer should drive up the anxiety levels a few notches higher.
The latest in a long line of trailers, this particular one features the game’s Autolog Drift Challenge being played by two of today’s most popular drifters, 2010 Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr and Team Need for Speed’s own, Matt Powers.
Powers took to the controls first, customizing a Toyota Corolla to suit his whims. Despite all the tinkering, Powers’ performance was anything but stellar and not up to what he’s capable of in the real world, racking up a pretty pedestrian score of 324. To Power’s good fortune, Gittin. Jr. didn’t fare a whole lot better despite using his usual Ford Shelby GT500. In the end, the champ’s 337 score was enough to drift past Powers’ best efforts.
Do you think you have what it takes to post higher scores than our seasoned pros? Scoop up a copy of Need for Speed: SHIFT 2 Unleashed when it drops in stores on March 29th, 2011 and find out.
Good news for all of you out there who were expecting the new Test Drive Unlimited 2: starting today the game is available into retail stores. With $50 you can get a game for the Xbox 360 or entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Windows PC and Windows PC Download.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 blends single player and multiplayer experiences seamlessly, creating a dynamic world of evolving content and challenges. Players define their online persona through unparalleled customization of their avatars and vehicles, and the acquisition of property, clothing and other accouterments of a luxurious international lifestyle.
"Test Drive Unlimited 2 continues to redefine the racing genre with massively open world online racing," said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari, SA. "We’re proud to unleash this game to our loyal community as they experience a dynamic environment filled with highly detailed limited edition automobiles, skill and luxury."
