Need for Speed: The Run Demo date released

The demo for Need for Speed: The Run will be available to download on October 18, 2011, featuring the Lamborghini LP550-2 Valentino Balboni on Desert Hills and Independence Pass, as you race at 200mph with other drivers and attempt to dodge an avalanche.

There’s also a bonus, if someone on your friend’s list also downloads the demo, you’ll unlock the 2012 Porsche Carrera S. Which is nice.

It’ll be available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. And if you’re already tempted to pre-order, then you’ll be wanting to visit:

• Amazon, Game, Gamestop or  Play.com

 

Need for Speed: The Run adds Porsche Carrera S and Lambo Miura

Two more cars have been added to the official car list for Need for Speed: The Run, with one a Limited Edition extra that explains why Electronic Arts might have been keen not to licence Porsche cars to Turn 10 for Forza Motorsport 4.

The first is the Lamborghini Miura SV, the gorgeous twin-seater mid-engined sports car produced between 1966 and 1972, and immortalised in the intro to The Italian Job amongst other places. The SV model appeared from 1971-1972, with 150 built around the 4 litre V12 engine, and a top speed of around 171mph.

Whilst the Miura is one of the most beautiful and iconic cars ever created, including it in Need for Speed: The Run isn’t particularly contraversial. What has raised debate is the unveiling of the 2012 Porsche Carrera S as not only an in-game car, but one which you’ll only get by purchasing the Need for Speed: The Run Limited Edition.

Limited Edition cars are standard for any game these days, and the 3.8 litre, 400hp 188mph Porsche isn’t a bad choice, but it’s interesting timing to announce the Carrera S in a video and screenshots shortly after Turn 10 have admitted that they were unable to include any Porsche models in the official car list for Forza Motorsport 4 as the German brand are licenced to Electronic Arts (Just as Ferrari are licenced to Turn 10), and apperances in other games are the result of friendly agreements.

So if you really want to make sure you can drive a 2012 Porsche Carrera S in a game this year, you’ll need to pre-order Need for Speed: The Run Limited Edition. It’s available from:

• Game.
• EA’s Origin Store
• And apparently from both Amazon and Play according to the official site, but both have just the standard edition listed at the moment.

E3 – 10 new F1 2011 Screenshots

You may have already seen how much some of the ORD team adore F1 2010 and how excited they got during the build-up. If so, you’ll appreciate we’ve had to alert Tom’s family and friends before publishing 10 new screenshots of F1 2011 from E3. Hopefully they’ll have him sitting down and calm when he sees this during his leave of absence..

Not much in the way of info – just 10 lovely screenshots of the workd-in-progress that will be Codemaster’s F1 2011. And they do look mighty pretty!

And you can pre-order F1 2011 for it’s September 23rd release date. Pre-order F1 2011 for the PS3, or the Xbox 360 via Amazon, now!

Limited Edition Shift 2: Unleashed for Pre-Order

Shift 2: Unleashed is due to launch in Spring 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, and Electronic Arts has announced that gamers who pre-order a copy now will receive the Shift 2: Unleashed Limited Edition, with three exclusive cars; the Nissan Silvia Spec R Aero S15, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV, and the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640.

That seems to be about it for the Limited Edition bonuses, but Shift 2 is potentially a racing sim worth ordering. It’s the sequel to Need for Speed: Shift, and marks a split in the Need for Speed series, with Criterion handling the arcade side with Hot Pursuit. This means Slightly Mad games can focus on the simulator side of racing, and the aim is for Shift 2 to challenge the likes of Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo.

There’s certainly a different focus from the car catalogue approach, with handling, a helmet cam, and night racing all being demoed as focal points of the game. And here’s the official trailer for Shift 2.

So if you’re a fan of the first game, or tempted by the second, it’s time to check out the pre-order deals, although so far it appears only Amazon is currently listing the Limited Edition for pre-order.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 – Pre-order exclusives

If you’re one of the many people eagerly awaiting the release of Test Drive Unlimited 2, then you’ll be interested in taking a look at the range of pre-order exclusives before you place your order, as the bonuses on offer are quite different from retailer to retailer. And there’s not long with a release in February, 2011. Whatever happened to the days when you just nipped into a shop and bought a game?

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Pre-order bonuses:

• Amazon: Pre-order to receive the Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black special edition, exclusive avatar apparel and an additional bonus of an Amazon Video Games Credit.
• Best Buy: Pre-Order to get the Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Special Edition, and a Carbon Black themed apparel item for your avatar. Best Buy Reward Zone members also get a bonus in Reward Zone points.
• Direct2Drive: Pre-Order and get the Jaguar XKR with the Speed Pack and Black Pack. The Speed Pack increases the max speed from 155mph to 174mph, and the Black Pack gives you a black interior with seats, steering wheel, shift knob and centre console. You also get an exclusive shirt for your avatar.
• Gamestop: The TDU2 Casino Online is a fully functional add-on game mode which is exclusive as a pre-order bonus to GameStop customers. You also get the chance to win two vehicles by mastering the casino games: the Audi R8 Spyder and the Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder, plus the chance to win additional money to spend on the rest of the game.
• K Mart: Pre-order to unlock the Ferrari 612 Sessanta, which is designed to pay homage to the 1954 Ferrari 375 MM that director Roberto Rossellini commissioned for his wife, Ingrid Bergman, particularly the large side scallops and headlights. It tops out at 196mph, and reaches 60mph in 4.2 seconds from a standing start.
• Walmart: Pre-order to receive the Bugati Veyron Supersport 2010. One of the fastest production vehicles in the world it previously held the record as the fastest at 267.86mph, packs 1200 horsepower and goes from 0-60 in 2.2. seconds.
• You can also pre-order from Atari.com to receive the Ford Shelby GT 500, or on Steam to get the Pagani Zonda Tricolore.

Test Drive Unlimited 2: Pre-order trailer

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Demo – first impressions

The Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit demo is now available to play, and we’ve been checking out what it’s like, and what it shows for the final game, due out on November 16th (US) and November 19th (Europe) for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC.

Initial impressions of the Hot Pursuit Demo:

The first thing you’ll notice is an effective intro which is loud, colourful and channels the influence of action movies and Criterion Games’ Burnout series. It sets the scene well for the arcade action of the game itself.

You’re able to easily create or link an Electronic Arts account with your console profile (certainly on the Xbox version we played it seemed a much smoother process than for some previous games), and then it’s into the main game menu, featuring the Wall for communication, Career Mode for the playable demo levels, and the Autolog feature which tracks your performance and recommendations with the activities of your friends.

All of it works, although the wall comments and recommendations are fairly limited – mainly allowing you to see which friend is just ahead of your best performances, and to boast when you beat them.

What about the game itself:

This is not a sim by any stretch – it’s a pure arcade racer which mixes elements of previous Need for Speed games, Burnout, and the classic Chase HQ. You’re given the choice of driving as a racer to claim first place, or jumping into a patrol car to force illegal racers from the roads.

The ‘pure’ racing experience is OK – the graphics are impressive and extremely fast with no signs of any speed issues. In the demo version, you’re one of 6 cars on track on a long and winding coast road.

You’re given the choice of 3 open-topped sportscars from Porsche, BMW and Nissan, and there are slightly handling differences in addition to top speeds, but they’re not big enough to prevent you doing well with any of the cars. And the general handling model is fairly basic but effective – there is an element of fishtailing which can happen with all the cars, and is a little frustrating when it wrecks a good time.

The main issue with the handling model is drifting – any time you brake and turn, or turn tightly, your car will automatically start drifting, which looks cool enough but definitely isn’t the fastest way to drive. Drifting also slows you quite substantially, and it appears that the computer controlled cars can pick up speed out of the drifts far more quickly than any human efforts.

In addition to drifting, you’re also able to power-up and use nitrous by slipstreaming, driving on the wrong side of the road and cutting close to other cars – and it’s plentiful, meaning it can be useful to gas out of corners more quickly as well as maxing out your speed on the straighter stretches.

Join the Seacrest County Police Force:

But it’s the chance to be a cop which makes the game – and is definitely the better part of the package. You’re able to choose from a Ford Crown Victoria or Nissan 370Z patrol car, both of which also benefit from the same nitrous power up to slam into racers and end their fun.

But you also get some additional toys – in the demo, you’re able to drop speed spike strips behind you (Known as stingers in the UK), and also call in road blocks to slow the racers down. You’re limited to 3 of each, and there’s a little bit of powering up of each bar before you can use them, but the speed spike strips are particularly satisfying when there’s a racer right behind you…

And as you’d expect – contact and crashes are nicely done with some great footage of unfortunate racers careering into obstacles, cars being rolled and wrecked, and general carnage…

Hills, bends and shortcuts:

The roads are fairly nice to look at, but you won’t get to see much – for one thing, both roads in the demo are jam-packed with bends, and for another, you’ll be going to fast to notice much in the way of details.

Which is a bit of a shame as there are numerous shortcuts to use, but often you won’t notice them until you’ve gone past, and because of the speeds involved, it’s likely you’ll end up nerfing your patrol car into an obstacle.

Sharp bends and hills are put together nicely, and tend to force you onto the correct side of the road to avoid oncoming traffic, although the roads seem fairly deserted a lot of the time…

Stop with the promo:

There is one element of the demo which is particularly infuriating – and fortunately it’s nothing to do with the gameplay. Every time you complete a race, you’re forced to stare at a static promotional message about the game. Fine the first time, annoying the second time, and by the 3rd or 4th time, it makes you want to kill people… It’s a good reason to pause just before you complete a level and restart instead to avoid it (Unless you’ve got a personal best time).

Overall:

So it’s a good demo of a strong arcade game which will be a lot of fun – particularly in multi-player. The best part of the game is definitely chasing racers with your sirens blaring, and smashing them off the road – which overwhelms the more standard racing action.

Multi-player isn’t available in the demo, but should be good, with the chance to smash real friends from the streets – but despite the Seacrest Country setting, the roads do feel slightly limited if you compare the action to chases in Grand Theft Auto multi-player for example, or consider the same gameplay in an open Test Drive Unlimited setting. By having set courses, the action is pretty short and sweet – in the demo, times of around 2 minutes seem pretty common to complete the cop challenge.

It’s definitely worth downloading the demo for a blast, and it’ll be interesting to see how the full game expands the features and challenges when it arrives next month.

Pre-order Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

• Amazon (Xbox, PS3, PC, Wii)
• Game (XBox, PS3, PC, Wii)
• Gamestop (Xbox, PS3, PC, Wii – also selling the PS3 and Xbox limited edition version which includes Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Ford Shelby GT500, plus four unlocked cars at the start of the game – the Audi TT RS Coupe, Chevrolet Camaro SS, Porsche Cayman S and Dodge Challenger SRT8)
• Play.com (XBox, PS3, Wii, PC) – the Xbox and PS3 versions come with a Play.com exclusive car pack – codes to download the Porsche Cayman S and Dodge Viper SRT10.

Test Drive Unlimited 2: Ferrari Trailer

Pre-order at Amazon, Game, Gamestop, or Play.com – and get pre-order bonuses via Gamestop

Flag threat to Gran Turismo 5

The November 3rd release of Gran Turismo 5 could, in theory, be under threat from the officials of the city of Siena in Tuscany in Italy.

The reason is that the Piazza del Campo is featured as the site of the Palio di Siena, which is a bareback horse race run around a D-shaped course in the piazza since 1656. And GT5 no only features the course, but also the flags and colours of the 17 districts which take part in the race.

Apparently the Consortium for the Protection of the Palio are upset, saying there will be a ‘diplomatic request’ to Sony to resolve the matter, but if that isn’t satisfactory, the city may ask lawyers to seize Gran Turismo 5 at its release. Apparently the problem comes from the unauthorized use of the district flags. And if you’re wondering why the race is so important, here’s a handy link to Wikipedia.

Considering Gran Turismo 5 has taken so long to get this close to release, I can imagine that either flags are being removed as I type, or someone is flying to Italy with a briefcase full of cash.

In the meantime, you can always remind yourself why ORD’s Tom Bowker is ‘pulling himself off in anticipation‘. Or make sure you get a copy by pre-ordering from the likes of Amazon, Game, or Play.com (which comes with an exclusive stealth model car pack featuring the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG and the Nissan GT-R GT500).

Gran Turismo 5 can’t come soon enough…

So another month, another delay. Gran Turismo 5 is now officially late. I am one peed-off Playstation owner. I pre-ordered my copy last summer when I read rumours of a release before christmas. Then it got put back to March. Now it’s been put back to September 2010 at the earliest – and I’m not happy. Here’s why:

I’m a sim racer. I can’t stand arcadey car handling. Ridge Racer, Need for Speed and Burnout all make me want to eat my joypad. Motorstorm made me want to eat my Playstation. Not that GT: Prologue is bad, but it’s insufficient to keep me going. There are only six tracks, albeit with a couple of variations, but there’s only so many times you can go round each. As a virtual racer, when you start to find Suzuka boring, you know you need a fresh challenge. Polyphony Digital – could we not have a couple of new tracks? Could you fix it so I can race Suzuka backwards? How about giving the cars guns? Hell, I even took to oval racing the other day because I was fed up, and then gave up completely.

Image by sergesegal on Flickr, used under CC Licence.

The online racing is great, but servers are populated with people who pick the best cars for the same tracks over and over again. Well done you. Well done for making it so repetitive for everyone else. I’d love a ‘random’ mode where you don’t get to pick your own car… or a qualifying session followed by a reversed grid… or a staggered start… or just anything to help me enjoy it again. The menu music is now something I’m considering for my funeral.

Why do I persevere? Because the alternatives suck. Put simply, there just enough decent simulation racers on the PS3. F1 Championship Edition now feels out of date, and whilst fun enough to play, the graphics are looking a little shabby and the AI isn’t good enough for me to want to carry on for long periods. Race Driver: Grid was horrible. Colin McRae Dirt 2 somehow managed to be worse than the first one, but nobody except Codemasters is even bothering to produce the games I love most – hence my desperation for GT5.

My frustration lies in that I love this type of game, but there hasn’t been a recent one that’s up to scratch. Maybe they don’t sell well enough, but there’s been nothing to rival the Crammond GP series, or anything decent with one-make formula and all-equal set-ups where the winner is always the best, or luckiest driver. Racing the online Seat Leon championships in Toca Race Driver 2 was immense – it was all about driver skill, not car choice, and had great British tracks like Oulton Park and Knockhill. It’s so rare you’ll get three good drivers heading into the last corner three-abreast and you know two are going to end up in the gravel trap. Because that’s what it’s all about for me – those great racing moments, not my best lap times.

GT5 has carrying all my hopes for so long because I want it to be the next game that I fall in love with. I feel like a long-suffering groom-in-waiting who’s fiancé keeps putting off the wedding because they haven’t quite got the table decorations right. Of course if it is perfect when it arrives then all will be forgiven, but until then I have nothing to do except keep on reading the wedding magazines, and remembering how good my exes were with rose-tinted glasses.