DiRT Showdown 8 Ball Trailer
Dirt 3 Attract Superteams Gameplay Video
Grab a friend and get your console covered in Dirt
The Colin McRae name may have disappeared from the box, but Codemasters’ rally series is coming back with a bang. After the critical acclaim of Dirt 1 and the lukewarm reception for Dirt 2, the arrival of the third Dirt game on May 24th is a make-or-break moment for the series that debuted back in 1998. This is now the eighth in the ‘Colin McRae Rally’ series, barring the bonus version created for Mac users, and the signs look very promising indeed.
After being present in the first two games of the ‘Dirt’ series, McRae’s name is now gone but not forgotten. Following the legend’s untimely death in 2007, Codemasters have decided to drop his name from the game’s title in the UK (having done so already elsewhere), and to me it seems about the right time. It would have been wrong to drop the name from ‘Dirt 1’ that was released so soon after his fatal helicopter crash, and not enough time had passed when ‘Dirt 2’ was released two years later in September 2009. Ironically though, the dropping of the McRae name comes as the game is being re-focused on rallying – the part of the game that made the series what it is and the lack of it the thing most vehemently criticised in Dirt 2. Dirt 2 was a departure from the series’ roots, with more Motorstorm-style off-road buggy racing and more arcade-like handling; it didn’t feel like a proper McRae game. But Codemasters have listened to the fans and Dirt 3 is going to be at least 60% rally mode – more than double the amount of its predecessor. Core fans wanted a rally game, but got a mainly off-road driving experience selection box.
Not to say that all of Dirt 2 was bad, in fact the game scored highly in reviews, but fans of the series were unhappy with the change in direction. Codemasters’ award-winning EGO engine was developed for the game, and has gone on to be used superbly in other titles such as F1 2010. The game’s damage model, track design, surface modelling and weather effects were all top of the range. Two years down the line, one can only assume Dirt 3 will showcase the best yet.
Some of the best parts of Dirt 2 were the Multiplayer modes. Eight-player online racing returns for this game; alongside something I personally have been anticipating for a very long-time in the modern era of motorsport gaming – split-screen online play. You and a friend can now take on six other drivers from the same room, which for me is enough incentive to buy the game in itself. Split-screen enthusiasts have been poorly treated by developers in recent years in favour of the ‘people just want to play online’ brigade, but Codemasters are taking the plunge with this feature and I believe this should be applauded. Playing with a friend in the same room is a big part of gaming, and I warmly welcome its return.
There are also many multiplayer modes available including a ‘capture the flag’-style mode, one where aliens invade and another called ‘Cat and Mouse’ where two teams of four players in high-powered cars battle one another to protect their teammates trying to reach the finish line in a Mini Cooper. It’s a far cry from the original Colin McRae Rally and the game modes borrow heavily from titles such as ‘Motorstorm’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto 4’, but these game modes should provide a fun distraction from the pursuit of shaving tenths of your best time on your favourite special stage, especially if you are playing with friends.
Career mode is back, Ken Block’s gymkhana mode (which looked good even in early builds), night racing, snow, a hatful of legendary cars (including Group B), a full WRC license and the fact Codemasters have described it as their ‘biggest-ever driving game’ are all things that should mean virtual petrolheads will be lapping it up for a long time to come.
Buying Dirt 3
The game is released on May 24th on PS3, Xbox, and Windows.
Selected retailers will have the Superteam Pack as a pre-order bonus, which includes four exclusive teams ( Texaco Racing Team, Brembo Racing Team, Team Yokohama and Mobil 1 Performance Team), and unlocks 14 cars, including the Ford RS200 Rallycross, Fiat 131 Abarth, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Jun and the iconic Lancia Delta HF Integrale.
You can order it now at:
Gamestop (With Speedteams Pack) or (With Ken Block RC Car)
Dirt 3 “Group B Rally Cars Trailer”
DiRT 3 Developer Diary #1
DiRT 3 teaser trailer
Time for the commentary to cease
Often confusing, irritating and hilarious in equal measures, commentary in racing games has for too long been appalling. The PlayStation’s F1 ‘97 was legendary for all the wrong reasons. Murray Walker is, in my opinion, the greatest commentator of all time in any sport, but the game made him out to be some kind of maniac hell-bent on listing who the top-ten drivers were at least twice per-lap and only reacting to major incidents at least half a minute after they had occurred. And whilst that game was released thirteen years ago, things have not improved much.
Commentary Box image on Flickr by sbisson. (CC Licence)
I argue that such poor commentary systems detract from the overall experience of the game and serve to undermine the user’s enjoyment of playing it. I have never understood why commentary in racing games use such few phrases – it seems like developers get the voice talent into the recording studio and then say ‘well, we’ll need you to record a bit for the start… um, say the driver’s names… do a couple of exclamations for crashes and stuff… and then we’ll just loop them a few times and we can all go home early and pat ourselves on the back’. The result of this lack of variety is that repetitive, benign, irritating and distracting voices have left gamers frustrated for far too long. I believe is also a very valid argument for actually killing developers who have released an ‘update game’ twelve months on from the first and haven’t even bothered to update the commentary, let alone improve it. ‘Well, we all said it was brilliant last year, so let’s just use it again’. There is simply no excuse.
Racing games are obviously not the only culprit when it comes to appalling commentary. The Pro Evolution Soccer series for example has had terrible commentary for such a long time that it’s fans have come to regard it as more charming than irritating, hence this amusing tribute which is not too far off the real thing. Some blame the commentators themselves, some the programming code, and others the like-for-like Japanese translations which have made many a Nintendo game all the more amusing over the years. But in this day and age and as technology advances, I say the time has come for this practice to cease.
Not all racing games are culprits – for example the Gran Turismo series has never had a commentator, but does instead insist on giving you background music as the default setting. Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital may be the kings of the simulation, but I personally have never seen a racing car with a working radio inside it. Thankfully you can turn this off in the options menu and avoid the noise of generic rock music drowning out the beautifully-recreated sound of your roaring engine.
The key debate regarding in-game commentary lies in whether a sports game chooses to simulate the sport or the TV presentation of it. Games have for too long been stuck in limbo – a hybrid area between the two that doesn’t make sense to the gamer. There is no reason in a racing game for the player to be able to hear a television commentator during the race, let alone a television commentator AND an engineer broadcasting pit-to-car radio transmissions – such as in F1 2006 on the PS2. In Codemasters’ Colin McRae: Dirt, your co-driver Travis Pastrana is not only the in-game voiceover but also races against you, which makes it pretty difficult to suspend your disbelief. Are we to presume Travis is reading our pace notes whilst driving his own car? Or are there two of Travis Pastrana? Thankfully Dirt:2 provides the option to choose a different voice, although all of the potential selections sound nothing like they have ever been anywhere near a fast-moving vehicle, and suspiciously more like they have spent the morning sat in a recording booth helping themselves to too many free croissants.
To solve this gaming commentary crisis, I suggest this: the answer for developers is to make a choice about what they are choosing to represent – it has to be either the driving simulation or the broadcast simulation and make no attempt to create the ‘best of both worlds’. Studios must choose one option and stick to it, because a half-way house is never satisfying for the user, always confusing, and I would argue is yet to work effectively in any racing game to date.
Codemasters appear to be on the ball with this idea and have decided against having any in-game commentary for their fantastic-looking forthcoming F1 2010. Until such times as in-game commentary can be advanced enough that we hear intelligent comments from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle that relate directly to the action, and we can see and hear authentic, competent and articulate virtual versions of Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan making specific post-race assessments of my driving then surely, for now at least, less has to be more. I would love for this approach to work properly but I think a satisfying simulation is a fair few years off yet. So for now, I say scrap the TV-route altogether and stick to simulating the driving experience. OK?!
DiRT and Racedriver: GRID sequels confirmed by Codemasters
In addition to the upcoming F1 2010 game (Find out why it could be the game ORD’s Tom Bowker has dreamed about for years) due for release in September, Codemasters are also hard at work on sequels to both DiRT and Racedriver:GRID.
Codemasters DiRT 2 - third in the series is on the way
The news was revealed by SVP of Production Jamie MacDonald in an interview with Develop. “In Southam it’s full steam ahead with the next iteration in our Flashpoint series, as well as the next Dirt and Grid.”
No other details have been released yet about the games, which will be the third in the series for the DiRT franchise.
Racedriver: GRID - a big sequel for race fans
MacDonald and VP of Studios Gavin Cheshire also spoke about the EGO engine which powers Codemaster’s games, predicting that the weather in F1 will be the best of any game people have ever seen.
Both DiRT and GRID were well received by race fans, so the sequels should also be popular.
If you haven’t tried them yet, why not grab a copy now to get ready for the sequels to be released?
Racedriver: GRID – PC,Xbox 360,PS3,Nintendo DS
Colin McRae DiRT 2: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii,PSP,DS
World Rally Championship 2010 looks to be best ever
The World Rally Championship is always exciting to watch but in recent years, the dominance of Sebastien Loeb has made it feel as predictable as Formula 1 in the Schumacher years.
But this season is shaping up to be radically different with two new drivers in particular getting a lot of attention – and a win for Mikko Hirvonen at the opening round in Sweden.
Hirvonen is the biggest tital rival for Loeb, but has sometimes lacked a little bit of bravery and composure to take a victory at every opportunity – but this year things look different as he was able to build and hold a leader in Sweden that forced Loeb to admit he was settling for second place in the closing stages and there was nothing he could do about the Finn. As always both lead drivers were followed by their teammates, with Ford’s Jari-Matti Lattvala in third and Citroen’s Daniel Sordo in fourth.
But outside of the top ten in Sweden was a driver at the centre of media attention as Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, made his full WRC debut for Citroen. And despite finding the going particularly difficult, he made the finish and should be an interesting wildcard – particularly as his experience grows.
Ken Block
Image from Dez&John3313 on Flickr – used under CC Licence.
And there was also a very interested spectator in Sweden – Amercian rally and drift superstar Ken Block, who will debut in the Corona Rally Mexico, which runs from 5-7 March, 2010.
Want to know why Block is as famous on Youtube as he is in the motorsport world?
Not only is Block pretty charismatic (check out the official Monster World Rally team website), but for videogame fans, there’s also the fact the team is sponsored by DiRT2, the latest in the legendary Colin McRae series.
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for Xbox
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PS3
Buy Colin McRae: Dirt 2 for PC
So will Block’s talent convert into a decent result? Can Raikkonen learn quickly enough to make an impact? Will Hirvonen continue his good start or will Loeb regain control? And that’s not to mention the likes of former WRC champion Petter Solberg, who has a full factory spec car for this year.
