BDR Daz

My Blog change to a Diary

2011-09-27T17:10:00.003+01:00

New use for my Blog ...

I haven't used this blog for a while (well over 2 years) how that has flown by !!

A lot has changed in my life in the last 2 years, I have had a promotion in work, Ive got a beautiful girlfriend that i really couldn't live without !

I never thought I would say this but I think she may be the "One", I have never found anyone that I am so comfortable with, we can talk about abolutley anything and we never argue (we are able to talk everything through before it gets to an argumant stage).

I've been thinking about a diary for a while now but didnt know where to do it or put it, I thought about doing it on the Calendar on my iPhone but that is limited to just that, there is nowhere else I can read it and it only takes me losing it for me to lose all my thoughts so I thought I would revive this old blog and make it my diary ...

So here goes, my first try on anything like this ...

27/9/2011

Mel and I had a day away from all the kids today with them all being in school and me having a day off and we decided we were going to spend time with it being just me and her, we went into town and had a nice Greggs whilst waiting for the Bristol Museum to open, ive never been there before soo it was a new experience for me, Mel has been a few times so she decided to let me look on my own but not go out the rooms so we were still together. there are some amzing things in there !!

My favourite rooms were the paintings all about Bristol and the rooms of the mamals and dinosaurs.

After we went in the museum we headed back home via Subway for a quick bite to eat, Mel was feeling tired so she had a little nap on the bus and then when we got home where I caught up on Spooks (My favourite TV Programe)

The weather held out and it was wicked seeing Mel sleep so peacefully on the bus and when we were back, I love watching her sleep, she looks so peaceful and troubles of the day are gone.

Now I am looking forwad to a quiet night and spending some more quality time with her ...

FIA announce 2010 entry list

2009-06-12T21:47:00.000+01:00

Press Release

2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Entry List

12/06/2009

Following the completion of the applications process for teams to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the following teams have been confirmed.

TEAM	CONSTRUCTOR
SCUDERIA FERRARI SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO RED BULL RACING AT&T WILLIAMS FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM CAMPOS GRAND PRIX MANOR GRAND PRIX TEAM US F1 VODAFONE McLAREN* BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM* RENAULT F1 TEAM* PANASONIC TOYOTA* BRAWN GP	FERRARI STR TBA RED BULL RACING WILLIAMS TOYOTA FORCE INDIA MERCEDES CAMPOS COSWORTH MANOR COSWORTH TEAM US F1 COSWORTH McLAREN MERCEDES BMW SAUBER RENAULT TOYOTA BRAWN TBA

*These five teams have submitted conditional entries.The FIA has invited them to lift those conditions following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday 19 June.

The maximum number of cars permitted to enter the 2010 Championship has been increased to 26, two being entered by each competitor. Pending completion of the discussions referred to above, further due diligence is currently taking place on other potential entries.

Soo does this mean theres a clutch in Forza 3 ?

2009-06-03T22:33:00.002+01:00

The Ultimate Racing Wheel for Xbox 360

Fanatec brings premium realism to Forza Motorsport 3, including H-pattern 6-speed shifter and clutch pedal.

Che Chou, 6.1.2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FANATEC® PORSCHE® 911 TURBO S RACING WHEELS FOR XBOX® 360™ TO DELIVER THE ULTIMATE RACING EXPERIENCE TO FORZA FANS

Full Lineup of Wheels to be Demoed with Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 3 at 2009 E3 Expo

(Los Angeles, CA) – June 1, 2009 – Fanatec®, a leading brand of high-end input devices for game consoles and PCs, today announced that its lineup of Porsche® 911 Turbo S Racing Wheels for Xbox® 360™, which are offered in three different versions (911 Turbo S Edition, Clubsport Edition, and Pure Edition), will be fully supported by Microsoft for its soon to be released Xbox 360 title, Forza Motorsport 3. During this year’s E3 Expo (June 2-4, 2009) in Los Angeles, CA, the wheels will be featured in the Microsoft booth (booth # 1523, South Hall) on Forza racing pods throughout the show.

The wheels, which will be playable for the first time at the E3 Expo, introduce new features to the Xbox 360. Developed by Fanatec in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios, a Redmond, Washington-based video game developer, these features are set to provide the ultimate simracing experience on the Xbox 360 and include the following: a 900° steering rotation, clutch, sequential shifter,6+1 H-pattern shifter, and force feedback effects, which are automatically detected by the game.

“For Xbox 360 fans seeking the ultimate driving experience, nothing brings the Forza Motorsport 3 experience to life better than the new racing wheels from Fanatec,” said Dan Greenawalt, game director, Turn 10.

Key features for all wheels include :

Official licensed for Xbox 360 (fully compatible with PC and other platforms as well)
Backwards compatible with existing games on the Xbox 360 Wireless connection with Xbox 360 and wireless connection through RF dongle to PC (new and improved technology) – Optional cable connection to PC and other platforms
Hand stitched leather wheel rim with large diameter
3 Force Feedback motors and smooth belt drive - deliver sensational realism
Two gear sticks included: 6+1 speed and sequential

For detailed information, images and pricing on all three wheels, go to www.FANATEC.com.

About Fanatec

Fanatec is a leading brand of high-end input devices for game consoles (PlayStation® 2/PlayStation® 3/Xbox®/Xbox® 360™) and PCs. Designed and manufactured by parent company ENDOR AG, the brand’s focus is centered solely on offering highly innovative and highly functional products designed to enhance and maximize the gaming experience. The brand is sold in Asia, Australia and Europe through distributors and in the U.S. directly through its ENDOR AG USA LLC subsidiary. Headquartered in Landshut, Germany, ENDOR AG was founded in 1997. To learn more about the Fanatec lineup of products, visit www.fanatec.com or visit the community website at www.911wheel.com

About Forza Motorsport 3

Drive your dream car with Turn 10’s latest racing epic, “Forza Motorsport 3.” Launching this October exclusively for Xbox 360, “Forza Motorsport 3” unites the racing game genre, making it possible for everyone to experience the thrill of the world’s most exotic and exquisite cars. Live the most realistic racing experience ever as you take the wheel of more than 400 of the most-beloved cars on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe. With breathtaking high-definition graphics and the most advanced vehicle performance modeling in a video game, “Forza Motorsport 3” includes a host of driving assists and adjustable skill levels to make the game a gripping pick-up-and-play experience for audiences of all ages and skill levels.

Your escape into the world of car culture in “Forza Motorsport 3” doesn’t stop at the track. “Forza Motorsport 3” further fuels the imaginations of its already thriving community of painters, tuners and photographers with improved customization tools and brand-new ways to share creations with the world via Xbox LIVE. Xbox LIVE makes your journey into the “Forza Motorsport” community and the world of user-generated content easy and fun. A love of cars lives in all of us. “Forza Motorsport 3” is the automotive playground we’ve all been waiting for. More information available at http://www.forzamotorsport.net.

About Turn 10

“Forza Motorsport 3” is piloted by Turn 10 of Microsoft Game Studios. The experienced development team, led by franchise director Dan Greenawalt, is composed of top developers, real race drivers and car collectors whose pedigrees include work on top racing franchises such as “Forza Motorsport,” “Project Gotham Racing” and “RalliSport Challenge.” In 2007, Turn 10 released its most recent title, “Forza Motorsport 2,” garnering racing game of the year awards from IGN Entertainment Inc., Yahoo! Inc., GameSpot, and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

Forza 3 REAL

2009-06-01T21:24:00.001+01:00

Forza Motorsport 3

Where Dreams Are Driven

Experience over 400 of the world's greatest cars, each rendered inside and out with exquisite detail.

Launching this October exclusively for Xbox 360, "Forza Motorsport 3" unites the racing game genre making it possible for everyone to experience the thrill of the world's most exotic and exquisite cars. Live the most realistic racing experience ever as you take the wheel of more than 400 of the most-beloved cars on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe. With breathtaking HD graphics and the most advanced vehicle performance modeling in a video game, "Forza Motorsport 3" includes a host of driving assists and adjustable skill levels to make the game a gripping pick-up-and-play experience for audiences of all ages and skill levels.

Your escape into the world of car culture in "Forza Motorsport 3" doesn't stop at the track. Turn 10 is a proven leader in user-generated content creation in games. "Forza Motorsport 3" further fuels the imaginations of its evergreen community of painters, tuners and photographers with improved customization tools and brand new ways to share creations with the world via Xbox LIVE*. Xbox LIVE makes your journey into the "Forza Motorsport" community and the world of user-generated content easy and fun.

A love of cars lives in all of us. "Forza Motorsport 3" is the automotive playground we've all been waiting for.

World-Class Cars and Tracks

Featuring the latest and greatest production offerings as well as the world's fastest and most exotic street cars, "Forza Motorsport 3" offers more than 400 fully customizable and tunable cars from over 50 of the world's leading manufacturers. Whether your passion is classic American muscle cars, European roadsters, purpose-built race cars or high-tech Asian imports, "Forza Motorsport 3" puts you in the cockpit of the cars you love. In addition to the return of world-famous tracks from previous "Forza Motorsport" games, including Suzuka, Nürburgring Nordschleife and the Sebring International Raceway, "Forza Motorsport 3" invites you to conquer the corners on more than 100 tracks, including some of the most beautiful road courses in the world. New environments like the gorgeous mountainous Montserrat region in Spain, the rugged Amalfi Coast in Italy and the American Southwest are presented in such majestic detail that you might find yourself pulling over just to take it all in.

Redefining the Modern Racing Game

"Forza Motorsport's" appreciation of the automobile is due in large part to the team's attention to detail. This is why automotive engineers from manufacturers like Audi and champion race teams like Peugeot as well as experienced computer graphics specialists from across Microsoft have all teamed up with Turn 10 to make "Forza Motorsport 3" the most beautiful and realistic racing game ever made. All 400-plus cars in the game have been built with more than 10 times the amount of polygons as "Forza Motorsport 2." This includes painstakingly researched cockpits and interiors for every vehicle. But realism isn't just about pretty graphics. Turn 10 takes realism to new heights, leading the industry with the most advanced physics model, artificial intelligence and damage calculations.

Forza is for Everyone

It's easy to go for a spin: "Forza Motorsport 3" redefines the racing genre by blurring the definition of simulation and arcade. Simulation games can be too hard for some players. "Forza Motorsport 3" rises above the distinction between simulation and arcade games by using a myriad of cutting-edge driving and gameplay assists such as auto-braking, gameplay rewind and auto-tuning. "Forza Motorsport 3" delivers an experience where everyone can have fun behind the wheel, regardless of your skill and dexterity. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned racing game pro, "Forza Motorsport 3" caters to how you drive and the game evolves with you over time as your skills develop.

Express Your Car Passion

Painters and tuners will once again be able to showcase creativity through the celebrated Livery Editor, Auction House and deep tuning garage in "Forza Motorsport 3." The car is literally the artistic canvas as some of the world's most creative car painters and designers find new layers of depth and freedom to create shocking visual masterpieces before sharing them with others over Xbox LIVE*. Each car in "Forza Motorsport 3" is fully upgradable, allowing gear heads to take on the challenge of turning a Honda Civic into a supercar killer. New Xbox LIVE scoreboards celebrate not only the greatest racers but also the most prolific car tuners and painters in the community.

Play Your Way with All-New Game Modes

"Forza Motorsport 3" is an epic racing game featuring more content and more ways to play than any racing title today. An innovative single-player season mode puts you through a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift and Timed Events. No two calendars are the same; they react to the cars you love and the races you enjoy most. In addition, the online multiplayer mode* gains an all-new game rules editor. This gives players a never-ending variety of ways to play with friends. Whether you're a speedster, dragster, drifter, painter, tuner or just a lover of cars, "Forza Motorsport 3" is the definitive racing game for you.

Race Pro getting new content

2009-05-27T23:47:00.002+01:00

This isn't Nurburgring, nor is it Spa Francorchamps, it is however Okayama A japanese track :

This isnt the most Compelling evidence I know but it does show that the Develpers are still working on Race Pro Content

This Weeks arcade Games

2009-05-23T23:26:00.001+01:00

Monday is Memorial Day, which is a National Holiday for the U.S. (and the unofficial start of Summer) so I am able to break tradition and share with you a little early what next weeks Arcade titles will be. Wallace & Gromit from Telltale Games and Yosumin Live from Square Enix will both be available Wednesday, May 27th for 800 points each. We'll also see Boggle get added to Hasbro Family Game Night for 800 points.

Edit: Fright of the Bumblebees is the W&G title being released.

X-Blades Demo

2009-05-23T23:25:00.002+01:00

Content: X-Blades Demo
Price: Free
Availability: Not available in Japan
Size: 703.45 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD,SUGGESTIVE THEMES,VIOLENCE] Download the 2 level demo.

Add this demo to your Xbox 360 download queue

Red Faction: Guerrilla Multiplayer Demo

2009-05-23T23:25:00.001+01:00

Content: Red Faction: Guerrilla Multiplayer Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD,STRONG LANGUAGE,VIOLENCE] Download the multiplayer demo for Red Faction®: Guerrilla™ and put your demolition skills to the test with up to 10 players in Damage Control, a multiplayer mode unique to Red Faction®: Guerrilla™. Two teams vie for control over three targets. Destroy enemy targets and then rebuild them with your Reconstructor to score points. Wreak havoc with 9 futuristic weapons and 5 backpacks using guerrilla tactics and strategic destruction in this revolutionary third-person shooter.

Add this free demo to your Xbox 360 download queue

Arcade : Gel

2009-05-23T23:24:00.002+01:00

Content: Gel
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: Get more costumes, more action, and more puzzles in the Full Version of Gel! Upgrade now for a total of over 100 Puzzle Mode challenges, four full cards of Action Mode intensity, Xbox LIVE online play and unfettered access to the Item Store! This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive or the 512MB Memory Unit for storage.

Add Gel to your Xbox 360 download queue

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 Demo

2009-05-23T23:24:00.001+01:00

Content: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: E (Everyone)] The Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 demo will let the user play on two holes on both the Bethpage-Black and Turnberry courses. This is intended to let them experience the new in-game features we are implementing. They will also be allowed to take part in a two hole practice round at these two courses. In Tournament Challenge they will be allowed to participate in a single challenge from this feature in order to get a preview of the mode. There will also be a number of feature preview screens that allow the player to read about the rest of the upcoming features in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

Add this free demo to your Xbox 360 download queue

Button gets a masterful Monaco Pole

2009-05-23T15:13:00.001+01:00

Pole position shootout

1. BUTTON Brawn 1m14.902s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m14.927s
3. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m15.077s
4. VETTEL Red Bull 1m15.271s
5. MASSA Ferrari 1m15.437s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m15.455s
7. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m15.516s
8. WEBBER Red Bull 1m15.653s
9. ALONSO Renault 1m16.009s
10. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m17.344s

Qualifying 2

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m14.514s
2. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m14.809s
3. WEBBER Red Bull 1m14.825s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m14.829s
5. ROSBERG Williams 1m14.846s
6. VETTEL Red Bull 1m14.879s
7. MASSA Ferrari 1m15.001s
8. BUTTON Brawn 1m15.016s
9. ALONSO Renault 1m15.200s
10. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m15.579s

Knocked out:
11. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m15.833s
12. PIQUET Renault 1m15.837s
13. FISICHELLA Force India 1m16.146s
14. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m16.281s
15. SUTIL Force India 1m16.545s

Qualifying 1

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m15.094s
2. BUTTON Brawn 1m15.210s
3. WEBBER Red Bull 1m15.260s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m15.340s
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m15.425s
6. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m15.495s
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m15.746s
8. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m15.834s
9. ALONSO Renault 1m15.898s
10. VETTEL Red Bull 1m15.915s
11. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m15.930s
12. PIQUET Renault 1m16.013s
13. FISICHELLA Force India 1m16.063s
14. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m16.120s
15. SUTIL Force India 1m16.248s

Knocked out:

16. HAMILTON McLaren 1m16.264s
17. HEIDFELD BMW 1m16.264s
18. KUBICA BMW 1m16.405s
19. TRULLI Toyota 1m16.548s
20. GLOCK Toyota 1m16.788s

DEAD TO RIGHTS®: RETRIBUTION WELCOMES YOU TO GRANT CITY

2009-05-20T21:19:00.001+01:00

DEAD TO RIGHTS®: RETRIBUTION WELCOMES YOU TO GRANT CITY

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today released new art, screens and video for Dead to Rights®: Retribution, a ground-up reinvention of the multi-million unit selling crime action series developed by Volatile Games. The new assets provide a tour of various locales from the game’s world – Grant City via a sampling of concept art, screens and “fly-by” videos of several environments in the game.

Grant City is as much a character of Dead to Right: Retribution as protagonists Jack and Shadow. It’s a living breathing city, steeped in history and symbolism and provides the setting for the neo-noir, heavy-going, bleak atmosphere for this epic game.

Thrusting players into a mature neo-noir crime drama as a vice cop Jack Slate and his canine companion Shadow, Dead to Rights: Retribution introduces new gameplay elements that unify the third person shooting and brawling genres for a brutal and relentless new action-driven experience. Introducing an innovative new hybrid combat system that seamlessly blends hand-to-hand combat with gunplay, the game puts the full combat potential of a highly trained, highly agitated law-enforcement officer into players’ hands.

Dead to Rights: Retribution will be available in Q4 2009 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

For more information on the game, please visit: http://deadtorights.com/

Live Activity 11/05

2009-05-20T00:46:00.001+01:00

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
7 FIFA 09
8 Left 4 Dead
9 Fallout 3
10 Fable II

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Brain Challenge
2 Castle Crashers
3 Star Trek: D•A•C
4 Hasbro Family Game Night **
5 Peggle
6 Worms
7 Space Invaders Extreme
8 UNO
9 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
10 ARKANOID Live!

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
**Combined sales of all Hasbro Family Game Night titles

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Fable
4 Counter-Strike
5 Conker: Live Reloaded
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 SW: Republic Commando
10 Guilty Gear XX #Reload

Top Community Games (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition
3 Rumble Massage
4 Aquarium HD
5 DrumKit
6 Iris
7 Math Sniper 3D
8 Cocktail Paradise
9 Remote Masseuse
10 Let's Draw A Picture Together!

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Community Games, full versions purchased during the week.

Me Darce and Moon running around curitiba

2009-05-20T00:23:00.002+01:00

Activision Reinvents Tony Hawk Franchise This Holiday With Innovative Skateboard Controller

2009-05-19T21:20:00.002+01:00

Activision Reinvents Tony Hawk Franchise This Holiday With Innovative Skateboard Controller

Tony Hawk: RIDE Set to Redefine Gaming by Offering Unparalleled Hands-Free Gaming Experience

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 18, 2009 - This fall players will be able to experience skateboarding like never before in Tony Hawk: RIDE from Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI). For the first time, players will have the ability to physically play the game using an innovative motion sensing skateboard controller, allowing for unprecedented freedom and movement. Tony Hawk: RIDE focuses on innovation and fun, bringing the #1 best-selling action-sports franchise to the forefront with cutting-edge technology for the hardcore fans and accessibility for the mass audience.

"Tony Hawk: RIDE is a massive step forward for the franchise and the gaming industry as a whole," said Rob Kostich, head of marketing, global brand management, Activision Publishing, Inc. "The skateboard controller will redefine sports games by offering players a true skateboarding experience, hands-free, playing with friends and family at home or online in a variety of different locations."

"This is the game I've always wanted to make," said Tony Hawk, who has been directly involved with development of the project. "Playing on the board is unlike any other game, and I'm excited for everyone to have the chance to feel what it's really like to experience the true feeling of skateboarding."

Tony Hawk: RIDE features a wireless skateboard controller designed in conjunction with the game to offer a dynamic gaming experience built from the ground up. Using a combination of accelerometers and motion sensors, the intuitive controller allows players to physically control the action by performing various movements and gestures on the board that directly translate into amazing tricks in the game. Without complex button combinations or analog sticks, gamers of all skill levels can literally step on the board and play!

Tony Hawk: RIDE is in development by Robomodo for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION^®3 computer entertainment system. Buzz Monkey is developing the Wii^TM system version. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB and is scheduled for release later this year.

For more information on Tony Hawk: RIDE, please visit www.THRide.com.

BURN IT UP ONLINE WITH THE NEW FUELTM MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY VIDEO.

2009-05-19T21:20:00.001+01:00

BURN IT UP ONLINE WITH THE NEW FUEL^TM MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY VIDEO.

Explore, compete or create your own race online in FUEL, coming May 29th†.

Tuesday 19th May/...Revealing FUEL™s extensive multiplayer gameplay experience, including 16 player Free Ride and Race Events, Codemasters® today launched the new FUEL ‘Multiplayer’ video, now available from www.fuel-game.com (in the Downloads section).

FUEL’s breath-taking 5,000 square mile+ racing sandbox will become the perfect setting for online multiplayer racing when the game launches on May 29th†. The new video showcases online Free Ride, where up to 16 players can explore and enjoy impromptu races and Race Events, where players can climb online leader boards and compete against up to 15 other racers. Unique custom races, player-created using FUEL’s powerful yet intuitive race editor, are also featured.

FUEL’s online events will see over 70 vehicles, including bikes, quads, buggies, trucks and cars competing on and off-road in challenges that include Circuit, Checkpoint and Raid races. The unique gameworld, which features no corridors or unnatural barriers, offers unprecedented player choice for on-the-fly route selection and delivers an exhilarating online racing experience across varied and challenging terrain.

In multiplayer Free Ride, the nearest 16 online players are connected together to create a busy world where gamers can explore together, seek-out collectibles and enjoy ad hoc races. The race editor allows almost limitless opportunities to create new and unique races set anywhere in FUEL’s beautiful and huge world and play them online. The extensive online offering compliments FUEL’s career mode, which features hundreds of races, events and unlockables, as players race and explore a world featuring the most diverse, inspiring and iconic areas of North America.

Delivering epic races in an epic environment, FUEL will set the new standard for open-world racing when it launches Friday May 29th† for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® with a Games For Windows® edition to follow. Experience the unique thrill of online racing in FUEL by downloading the trailer video at www.fuel-game.com.

ACTIVISION AND BIZARRE CREATIONS TO REVOLUTIONISE RACING GENRE WITH BLUR

2009-05-19T21:19:00.000+01:00

ACTIVISION AND BIZARRE CREATIONS TO REVOLUTIONISE RACING GENRE WITH BLUR

London, UK – 19 May, 2009 – Activision Publishing (Nasdaq: ATVI) is set to revolutionise the racing genre with the debut of Bizarre Creations’ newest project, Blur™ - the ultimate wheel-to-wheel racing action experience.

The game drops players into heart-pumping, electrified racing action with 20 cars on a track all targeting the finish line and battling each other as they trade paint and collect intense power-ups, including the ability to blast other cars out of the way with huge bursts of energy, boost their speed, and more.

While controlling photo realistic cars, gamers can use offensive and defensive attacks as they battle for the lead and careen through real-world track locations ranging from L.A. and San Francisco to the streets of Hackney, UK and the treacherous roads of Barcelona, Spain.

“We did our homework and saw a huge opportunity to move beyond traditional racers and create a game completely focused on making racing ‘fun’ again,” said Martyn Chudley, creative director, Bizarre Creations. “Blur delivers a new style of racing experience for all gamers, regardless of their experience, skill or genre preferences. Everything the player does, both in their cars and with their cars, is a dramatic adrenaline rush; it’s a real blast!”

“We know that racing can be fun for everyone, and we are excited to enter this genre with a game that keeps players in the pack and combines fun with intense racing battles,” said Maria Stipp, EVP and GM of Owned Properties, Activision Publishing. “Bizarre Creations is one of the most creative studios in the industry with a rich heritage of top-rated racing games and we are excited to partner with them on Blur, which is set to break the mold of traditional racing games.”

Beyond the action-packed racing filled with fast curves, sneaky alternate routes, hair-raising jumps and fully realised damage models that provide for spectacular crashes, Blur’s narrative is presented through Bizarre’s innovative new community-based interface, reaching far beyond the game itself. This unique story-driving social network evolves dynamically as players compete in different races, make new friends, rivals and fans, and connect with other racers both in-game and in real life.

Looking beyond Blur’s single player story, gamers can engage in competitive and team-based multiplayer races with up to 20 players online, or on a single console via 4-player split-screen. Bizarre is especially excited to introduce Blur’s original social gaming experience – custom groups, where anyone can create unique multiplayer modes based on their favourite ways to play the game. These new modes are immediately shared through Blur’s social network, expanding the game in ways that are only limited by the gaming community’s creativity.

Blur is planned for release this autumn for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and the PC, and is yet to be rated by the BBFC and PEGI.

For more information on Blur, please visit the official game web site located at: www.blurthegame.com

New Fallout DLC Maps announced

2009-05-19T21:18:00.002+01:00

Bethesda Softworks Europe Announces Plans for Additional Downloadable Content for Fallout 3 on Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3

19th May, 2009 - Bethesda Softworks Europe is today pleased to announce that Fallout® 3 downloadable content (DLC) is coming to PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. We have been working on implementing it for a while and look forward to bringing it to PS3 gamers via the PlayStation Network. Operation: Anchorage will be released for PS3 in late June, followed by the release of The Pitt and Broken Steel 4-6 weeks apart. Release dates will be forthcoming.

In addition, a new update will be released for PS3 that will allow users to download and play the new DLC. The release date for that update will be announced at a later date.

There are also two new DLCs planned for all three platforms:

• Point Lookout – Explore a massive new swampland area filled with new quests and content.
• Mothership Zeta – The aliens have returned, and they’re pissed. Experience an alien abduction first hand and find out if you’re tough enough to survive.

Point Lookout will be available in late June for Xbox 360 and PC. Cost will be 800 Microsoft Points. It will be available through Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. Point Lookout will be available on PS3 after the first three DLCs have been released.

Mothership Zeta is scheduled for release in late July for Xbox 360 and PC. Cost will be 800 Microsoft Points. It will be available through Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. Mothership Zeta will be available on PS3 after Point Lookout.

Finally, new Fallout 3 products will be available at retail this year.

Fallout 3 Game Add-on Pack #1 includes The Pitt and Operation: Anchorage on a disc and will be available for Xbox 360 and PC on June 12th across Europe.

Fallout 3 Game Add-on Pack #2 includes Broken Steel and Point Lookout on a disc and will be available for Xbox 360 and PC in August across Europe.

A Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition will be available in October. It will include the original game plus all five add-ons for £39.99 / €59.99 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and £29.99 / €49.99 for PC.

Retail versions of the game add-on packs for PS3 will not be available and the DLC will only be available for download via PlayStation Network or with the Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition.

BIONIC COMMANDO® SWINGS INTO A STORE NEAR YOU

2009-05-19T21:18:00.001+01:00

BIONIC COMMANDO^® SWINGS INTO A STORE NEAR YOU

Classic Capcom Action Title Comes Back for the Next Generation

SAN MATEO, Calif. — May 19, 2009 — Capcom® Entertainment, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, has shipped Bionic Commando® for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Bionic Commando is rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and carries a suggested retail price of $59.99.

Taking its inspiration from its 8-bit namesake -- released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1988 -- Bionic Commando features Nathan Spencer (voiced by Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle), a shining example of the technological advances made by the Federal Bionic Armaments Development Division. An expertly trained operative, Spencer is able to target and take out enemies while hanging upside down, climbing a building or even in mid-swing. At close quarters, the bionic arm packs a mean punch, while from a distance; objects such as boulders and cars can be grabbed and launched at enemies.

Bionic Commando harnesses the power of the latest generation of hardware to fully exploit the incredible swing gameplay that made the original title so unique. The ruins of Ascension City and its surroundings provide an engaging environment of towering buildings, suspended roadways and monorails, deep canyons and sheer rock faces that allow gamers to traverse each area via multiple routes using swinging, rappelling, climbing and wall-walking techniques, forcing players to think in three dimensions.

Players will also be able to take their swinging skills from single-player mode and challenge their friends online in a fierce 8-player multi-player game that will be available when the game ships on PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE. Players will need to utilize all the skills honed in single player such as Zip Kick, Death from Above and Adrenaline attacks to show the true power of a Bionic Commando.

The development team behind Bionic Commando represents a unique collaboration of cultures and skills, consisting of an American Producer living in Japan, a Japanese Creative Advisor and Swedish developer GRIN providing a European influence. This partnership provides a further example of Capcom’s strategy to work with the best developer talent while maintaining the unique elements of creativity and approach to game design for which Capcom is renowned.

For more information, please go to: http://www.bioniccommando.com

Microsoft need E3 to come SOON !

2009-05-19T01:15:00.002+01:00

Well it looks like E3 cant come soon enought for Microsoft ... Literally

All the things that are meant to be BIG hits at the event are leaking more than a dodgy water mains !

Forza 3, yeah the "Next big thing" Turn 10 are working on but not telling us ... Apparently there is an official guide coming out in September according to Amazon Germany this comes on the back of the Leaked footage of a Brazillain Internal conference and earlier leaks by Intellisponse...

We are looking at about 100 tracks and 400 cars spanning a 2 disk set to be announced at E3 in a couple weeks ...

RISING STAR GAMES AT LONDON MCM EXPO

2009-05-18T21:23:00.000+01:00

RISING STAR GAMES AT LONDON MCM EXPO

Rising Star Games to showcase Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Rygar: The Battle of Argus this weekend at the London MCM Expo; new IP to be announced

May 18th 2009 - Highly anticipated titles Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Rygar: The Battle of Argus will be playable to UK consumers this weekend at the London MCM Expo, Rising Star Games can confirm. The Expo will mark the first time the general public can experience both games ahead of their respective European releases and will form one third of a special triple experience for Rising Star Games’ maiden appearance at the MCM Expo. Other announcements comprise of a major new IP and a new initiative to complement the Home of Japanese Games campaign. The London MCM Expo will be held at the London ExCel exhibition centre on 23-24 May, 2009.

The new IP will be unveiled on the first day of the event and will confirm the identity of the game being played in a teaser video, released today. A formal announcement will be made immediately following the show.

A new component to the award-nominated Home of Japanese Games campaign will be announced before the start of the Expo, with working mechanics in operation throughout the weekend.

Rising Star Games will also be demonstrating upcoming titles including Avalon Code, Luminous Arc 2, Angel Cat Sugar and Happy Party with Hello Kitty & Friends, as well as conducting battle challenges on Valhalla Knights 2 and hands-on walkthroughs of the critically acclaimed Little King’s Story.

MANNY PACQUIAO AND RICKY HATTON SET TO REMATCH IN EA's FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 DEMO

2009-05-15T21:00:00.002+01:00

MANNY PACQUIAO AND RICKY HATTON SET TO REMATCH IN EA's FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 DEMO

EA SPORTS is giving fight fans the chance to redeem Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, after his knockout-loss to Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao earlier this month, in a playable three-round demo of Fight Night Round 4. The demo will be available today, May 14th, on Xbox LIVE® and the PlayStation®Network, exclusively to consumers who pre-order Fight Night Round 4 through GameStop. The demo will be available to all Xbox Gold Members on May 28th, and to PlayStation Network users and Xbox Silver members on June 4th.

On May 2nd, Pacquiao took on British boxing phenomenon Ricky Hatton, and delivered a devastating left cross that put Hatton to the canvas at the end of the second round. The playable demo will give players the chance to channel the lightning-fast hands and sharp reflexes of Pacquiao to recreate the punch that sent Hatton to the mat, or resurrect the bravado and unstoppable pressure that Hatton is known for and rewrite history. With an included video upload function, players can showcase their bouts to the world by uploading videos directly to www.easportsworld.com.

Consumers can gain early access to the demo by pre-ordering Fight Night Round 4 at their local GameStop or EB Games, or online at www.gamestop.com. Upon reserving the game, consumers will be presented with a unique Xbox Live or PlayStation Network code that can be redeemed to gain access to the demo. Those who have already pre-ordered Fight Night Round 4 from GameStop can bring in their pre-order receipt to receive their access code. Select retailers will also be offering download codes for five free songs from the game’s soundtrack.*

Fight Night Round 4 features unique boxer styles and an all new physics based engine that creates one-of-a-kind bouts between over 45 licensed boxers. The action inside the ring will be faster than ever, delivering a true representation of the sport’s incredible speed, accuracy, timing, and power.

Fight Night Round 4 will ship to stores for the Xbox 360® video game system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system on June 30th, 2009. The game has been rated T by the ESRB. The game has not yet been rated been rated by PEGI. For more information, log onto http://fightnight.easports.com. Media can find images of the cover, screenshots and video at http://info.ea.com.

Pemmel for XBLCG now available

2009-05-15T21:00:00.001+01:00

Pellmell for Xbox 360 Announced

Los Angeles, CA, May 15, 2009 - New Indie Game Creator SorceryGames LLC, is pleased to announce Pellmell a new Shootemup for Community Games on Xbox360. Pellmell has just been launched and is available now (rated E - for everyone).

This is the second original game produced by New indie Game creators SorceryGames. This game continues Sorcerygame's commitment to high quality games that it started with "Aceball". Created as an arcade style game and allowing multiple people to play together, this game is packed with highlights and features not seen on many community games before it.

The artwork was created by an industry veteran with many unique games and styles under his belt. This game brought forth another thrilling look to his already astounding portfolio. With good feedback from the Xbox community noting its original gameplay and overall experience, some announced it is "Graphically this is one of the very best XNA games I've seen." or "Impressive! …one of the most polished and exciting games I've seen on the Community Games so far." and "This looks and feels like it could be one of the most polished games on CG!"

VoodooChief was quoted as saying "I need a real shootemup, not another dual-stick shooter". With these words he created Pellmell. Although Microsoft do not allow community games to use their Live achievements, SorceryGames went ahead and implemented their own. Along with many more features like a high-score table, 100 levels, player requested Progression saving and the Original Playfield Control "Play it at your pace" feature. Packaging these great features with original music and gameplay put the finishing touches to Pellmell.

We at SorceryGames are proud to announce the arrival of Pellmell to the Xbox live community game area. Check out the 8 minute trial of the game and see what all the hype is about. For only 400 MS points you can purchase this new standard in arcade style shootemups.

About SorceryGames (http://www.sorcerygames.com) was founded in late 2008 by Games industry veterans looking for a more creative outlet. Big games are great but our passion is for smaller entertaining and cheaper games. Created with the fine quality standards associated with AAA titles.

Activision Secures All-Star Talent Line-Up For TransformersTM: Revenge of the Fallen Video Game

2009-05-15T20:59:00.001+01:00

Activision Secures All-Star Talent Line-Up For Transformers^TM: Revenge of the Fallen Video Game

Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker Return to Provide Voice-Over Performances

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 15, 2009: Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) has assembled an all-star cast for the upcoming Transformers^TM: Revenge of the Fallen video game, including the film's leads Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, who will reprise their starring roles in the game, and fan favorites Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the voices of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON from the original animated series. In the new game, developed under license from Hasbro, players are thrust into an adrenaline-pumping battle to defend Earth from a DECEPTICON attack that threatens mankind.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen features an extensive line-up of film actors, along with the voice talent that fans will recognize from the classic animated series," said Rob Kostich, head of marketing for licensed properties, Activision Publishing, Inc. "The diverse cast allowed us to not only capture the epic storyline from the film, but also seamlessly expand the fiction to create a unique and authentic TRANSFORMERS experience that fans of all ages will enjoy."

In addition to Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Mark Ryan (Bumblebee), Jess Harnell (Ironhide), Charles Adler (Starscream) and Robert Foxworth (Ratchet) reprised their film roles for the game. Voice-over veterans John Di Maggio (Sideways) and James Arnold Taylor (The Fallen) also join the roster.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is based on the upcoming live-action feature film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro, which opens nationwide on June 24, 2009.* The game lets players take on the role of their favorite AUTOBOTS^® or DECEPTICONS^®, picking from the largest, most diverse range of playable Transformers - each with their own distinct abilities and weaponry. Set in unique environments across the globe such as Cairo and Shanghai, the game allows players to instantly switch between vehicle and robot modes as they drive, fly, fight and blast their way through intense, pressure-packed levels. After engaging in single player action, players for the first time ever will be able to go online and battle friends in all-new multiplayer modes.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is currently in development by Luxoflux for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION^®3 computer entertainment system, and is rated "T" (Teen - Mild Language, Violence); the Windows PC version is being developed by Beenox Studios and is also rated "T" (Teen - Mild Language, Violence); the distinct Wii^TM and PlayStation^®2 computer entertainment system versions are being developed by Krome Studios and are rated "T" ("Teen" - Fantasy Violence); two unique AUTOBOT^® and DECEPTICON^®-specific Nintendo DS^TM versions are being developed by Vicarious Visions and are rated "E10+" (Everyone 10 and older - Fantasy Violence); the PSP^® (PlayStation^®Portable) system version is being developed by Savage Entertainment and is rated "E10+" (Everyone 10 and older - Fantasy Violence).

For more information on the game and to receive exclusive updates about the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game, visit www.TransformersGame.com.

In the highly anticipated "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," debuting June 24, 2009, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) again joins with the AUTOBOTS^® against their sworn enemies, the DECEPTICONS^®. Michael Bay directs from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger & Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures Present, In Association with Hasbro, A di Bonaventura Pictures Production, A Tom DeSanto/Don Murphy Production, A Michael Bay Film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro. The film is directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger & Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman. Based on Hasbro's TRANSFORMERS^TM Action Figures. Produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce. Executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. This film has not yet been rated.

Alice Cooper makes Rock Band debut

2009-05-15T20:58:00.000+01:00

THE FATHER OF SHOCK ROCK ALICE COOPER MAKES HIS ROCK BAND^® DEBUT; TAKING BACK SUNDAY ADDS THREE PACK TO THE ROCK BAND MUSIC STORE

Cambridge, Mass. – May 15, 2009 - Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that iconic metal genius Alice Cooper will make his Rock Band® debut next week adding a six pack of songs to the Rock Band® Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Next week’s lineup also features a three pack of songs from hard rockers Taking Back Sunday.

Alice Cooper’s impressive résumé spans over 40 years of rock ‘n roll history with multiple platinum albums and chart topping hits as well as unforgettable theatrical stage performances. Blending heavy metal, vaudeville, horror movies and garage rock, Cooper is credited with inventing and popularizing “shock rock.” The father of shock rock brings six of his biggest hits to the Rock Band Music Store in the “Alice Cooper Pack 01”. Four tracks are from Cooper’s live album, Classicks from 1995: “Under My Wheels (live),” “I’m Eighteen (live),” “Billion Dollar Babies (live)” and “School’s Out (live).” The other two tracks are “Poison,” the lead single from 1989’s Trash and one of Cooper’s biggest hits, “Vengeance is Mine,” from his latest offering, Along Came a Spider (2008).

Long Island based hard rock outfit Taking Back Sunday will also make its Rock Band debut next week offering up three of the band’s most popular hits. Deemed a consistent power player in the alternative/emo rock scene, the “Taking Back Sunday Pack 01” includes “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?,” “Liar” and “MakeDamnSure” from the group’s major label debut, Louder Now (2006). Taking Back Sunday makes its Rock Band debut ahead of the highly anticipated release of its newest album, New Again, due out June 2, 2009.

Tracks:

Alice Cooper “Under My Wheels” (Live)
Alice Cooper “I’m Eighteen” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Billion Dollar Babies” (Live)
Alice Cooper “School’s Out” (Live)
Alice Cooper “Poison”
Alice Cooper “Vengeance is Mine”
Taking Back Sunday “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?”
Taking Back Sunday “Liar”
Taking Back Sunday “MakeDamnSure”

(All tracks are original master recordings)

Release Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
(Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360®)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
(PlayStation®Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

Locations: Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360
PlayStation®Network

Music Videos:
Click on the track below to view the song’s corresponding music video. Videos can be embedded on your site.
Taking Back Sunday “MakeDamnSure”

Website Links:
For more information, please visit:

Rock Band Website
Alice Cooper Official Website
Taking Back Sunday Official Website

Rock Band 2 is available for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 system, PlayStation 2 system and Wii system.
There are now more than 670 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/music). Rock Band continues to satisfy music fans’ and gamers' voracious appetite for rock with more than 40 million paid downloads since its launch on November 20, 2007. The Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks and packs from the vast selection of offerings available to date without ever leaving the game as they build their own custom Rock Band library.
Rock Band and Rock Band 2 are rated "T" for Teen (lyrics, suggestive themes) by the ESRB.
For more information on Rock Band 2 and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Fact Sheet

2009-05-15T20:57:00.000+01:00

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Fact Sheet

In "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldermort's defences' and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.

Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is one for her, only she hadn't counted on Romilda Vane's choclates! And then there's Hermione, simmering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Compete as Gryffindor^TM for the Hogwarts^TM Quidditch^TM Cup: Take on Hufflepuff^TM, Ravenclaw^TM and Slytherin^TM in the most exciting wizarding sport.
Perfect your Quidditch^TM skills: Can you dodge a Bludger or catch the Snitch?
Take part in thrilling wizard duels. Battle against Death Eaters in Hogwarts^TM, Inferi in the Horcrux cave and much more.
Join the Gryffindor^TM Duelling Club. Perfect your duelling skills before you take on the other houses. Will you become the Duelling Club champion?
Create magical potions with Professor Slughorn - using the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book.
Explore Hogwarts^TM at night: Take on night-time missions while the castle sleeps.
Stuck? Call on Nearly Headless Nick^TM for clues and tips to help you complete your challenges.
Relive the action of the movie...from the Hogwarts^TM Express to the dramatic revelation of the Half-Blood Prince.
See more of the wizarding world: Explore new magical places like The Burrow, and the Horcrux cave.
Uncover the truth: Travel with Dumbledore to piece together Voldermort's past, and sneak around Hogwarts^TM to discover Malfoy's secrets.

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires hitting stores June 26th

2009-05-15T20:56:00.000+01:00

EMPIRES STRIKES BACK!

It takes bravery and brains to rule a nation in DYNASTY WARRIORS 6 EMPIRES.

Hertfordshire, UK- May 15th, 2009 - KOEI today announced that the European release of DYNASTY WARRIORS® 6: EMPIRES for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system will be on JUNE 26, 2009.

Set in the best-selling world of Dynasty Warriors, this is no straight forward brawl. For the first time ever in a Warriors game you get the opportunity to play as either a ruler or an officer. You can choose to be the all powerful decision maker who combines politics and tactics to achieve the ultimate goal or the warrior who carries out those orders and turns strategic planning into battlefield glory.

About DYNASTY WARRIORS 6 EMPIRES
What you thought you knew about Dynasty Warriors, you do not know. Brawn alone is not enough to conquer ancient China this time. Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires requires strength of mind as well as strength of muscle.

• Play as a ruler or as an officer in two distinctly different roles. Reign over vast armies to crush your foes or go freelance and work your way through the ranks to become a trusted military officer!
• Military cunning or military might – how will you unite ancient China?
• Create your own unique character in edit mode.
• Explore each level to discover strategic advantages and use new surprise attacks to catch your enemies unaware.
• One new character that didn’t appear in Dynasty Warriors 6 and six more characters have new weapons and new move sets.
• Brand new stages and levels that present new challenges to overcome. Including the return of the Nanman Kingdom.

A collection of incredibly influential cards can also be acquired throughout the game. These provide you with a vast array of options to improve the state of your people or force your followers to do your bidding and put your plans into action. By cleverly using these cards to boost your position of power you get to engage in diplomacy to make your strategic plans a reality and affect government policies to boost your popularity with your people.

Levels have also been designed to encourage exploration in order to discover numerous ways to gain an advantage over your enemies. Players can now, climb and jump up previously inaccessible areas such as cliffs. This presents the opportunity to take alternative routes towards the enemy and catch them by surprise with a sneak attack towards their less guarded flanks.

Match your your brawn with your brain, and become the ultimate Dynasty Warrior.

Crackdown premium theme available to download

2009-05-15T20:52:00.003+01:00

For some reason Microsoft today released a new Crackdown Premium Themse called "Play More Crackdown".

Apparently it has been released to celebrate 2 years of Crackdown being available to purchase

A lot of people think this is in Build up to something more *Cough* Crackdown 2 at E3 *Cough*

2 "Huge" announcemts to be made today ...

2009-05-15T20:48:00.002+01:00

Game Informer has announced it is going to have Two "Huge" announcements today

Speaking on Game informers Twitter it said : "tomorrow is going to be huge. Stay tuned for two HUGE exclusives!!"

The Editor in Chief of the mag Andy McNamara said that "In the last 24 hours I have seen 2 year defining things: one you will see shortly on our cover the other I can't speak of, both awesome,"

The magazines cover has the First info on the new Moders Warfare 2 so it looks like one is wrapped up ... What could the other one be ... We will soon see ...

Transformers 2: Reenge of the Fallen : Playable Characters detailed

2009-05-14T21:00:00.001+01:00

ACTIVISION > TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN > NEW PLAYABLE CHARACTERS AND MUSICAL COLLABORATIONS

We just wanted to let you know about two new exciting features for the eagerly anticipated Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen video game. Firstly, we’re pleased to announce a host of new playable characters, some of which will be exclusive only to multiplayer.

Playable characters include:
AUTOBOTS:

Optimus Prime
Ironhide
Breakaway
Bumblebee
Ratchet
Aerialbot (Multiplayer-exclusive)
Protectobot (Multiplayer-exclusive)

DECEPTICONS:

Starscream
Sideways
Grindor
Long Haul
Megatron
Seeker (Multiplayer-exclusive)

Secondly, we are also pleased to announce that the soundtrack to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is headlined by composer Steve Jablonsky, and he is joined by composer Bobby Tahouri and electronic music act Julien-K.

Jablonsky is best known for contributing music to the original score for 2007’s live-action Transformers movie and, more recently, the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. Jablonsky is also highly regarded for his work in the original score to the video game Gears of War 2.

Tahouri is best known for his contributions to the score for the 2008 blockbuster movie Iron Man. Julien-K’s “Technical Difficulties” was included on the soundtrack to the 2007 Transformers movie and was featured in the film’s closing credits. Their debut album, “Death to Analogue” was released on 10 March, 2009 through Metropolis Records. The band was featured on the main stage of the 2007 Projekt Revolution tour and has toured as an opening act for rock band Evanescence.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game, based on the upcoming live-action feature film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro, lets players take on the role of their favourite AUTOBOTS or DECEPTICONS, picking from the largest, most diverse range of playable Transformers – each with their own distinct abilities and weaponry. Set in unique environments across the globe such as Cairo and Shanghai, the game allows players to instantly switch between vehicle and robot modes as they drive, fly, fight and blast their way through intense, pressure-packed levels. After engaging in single player action, for the first time ever players will be able to go online and battle friends in all-new multiplayer modes.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game will be available on all major platforms and handhelds. The game hits store shelves in the UK on 26th June, 2009.

NHL 10 Announced, includes First person Fighting !

2009-05-14T20:58:00.001+01:00

19-TIME SPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR FRANCHISE DELIVERS NEW STANDARD FOR PHYSICAL PLAY IN EA SPORTS NHL10

Platinum-Selling* Franchise Authentically Replicates Emotion and Intensity of Playoff Hockey

GUILDFORD, UK. – May 14, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that EA SPORTS™ has innovated a new, physical brand of hockey that includes first-person fighting in NHL® 10 to match the toughness and emotional intensity real-world NHL players endure in pursuit of a Stanley Cup™ Championship.

The franchise that has won 19 sports game of the year awards over the past two years begins a new era with gameplay innovations that deliver a new standard of toughness, the emotion of playoff hockey on the ice and in the arena, and over 200 gameplay refinements that replicate the skill and finesse that every fan sees throughout the NHL playoffs.

A new first-person fighting engine enables players to trade punches with an NHL tough guy. Feel what it’s like to be on the ice in the skates of an NHL player to throw and dodge punches. Grab and tug an opponent’s jersey to land a punch that ignites the fans and sparks your team to victory. Challenge a skill player and an opposing team tough guy will step in to settle the score.

On ice toughness and intimidation is taken to a new level in NHL 10 where winning one-on-one battles for possession of the puck along the boards becomes a test of will and skill. Utilizing an all-new board physics engine, players can use their body to shield the puck on the boards and then kick-pass it to teammates. Bigger, stronger players pin opponents to the boards while fanatical fans bang on the glass, just like real life. Fore-check defenders, pressure the puck and finish checks to intimidate your opponent into mistakes. Players fatigue, bobble passes, and avoid collisions under threat of constant physical pressure. Inspire teammates, ignite the fans and change the momentum of a game by instigating scrums, drawing penalties, and mixing it up — all after the referee blows the whistle!

“This is the most authentic simulation of hockey we have ever created,” said Producer David Littman, a former NHL and minor league goaltender now in his eighth year working on the NHL franchise. “The Stanley Cup is the most difficult trophy in all of sports to win and NHL 10 replicates the emotion, intensity and toughness players require to win the Cup.”

NHL 10 features more than 200 gameplay refinements that replicate the skill and finesse of hockey and deliver the most responsive and authentic action ever for the series. Players can one-time loose pucks, score from their knees, knock pucks out of the air and lift a leg to fake a shot on goal. A new 360° precision passing mechanic delivers control over the speed and direction of passes so players can bank passes off the boards or play the puck into space for teammates to skate on to it. Plus, all-new interactive crowds bring the emotion of playoff hockey to life with towel-waving fans, glass bangers and crowds that react to the action on the ice.

Prove you are tough enough to quiet the crowd, silence the opposition and survive a playoff run to lift the Stanley Cup in NHL 10.

Screenshots of the NHL 10 are available at www.easports.co.uk/press.

NHL 10 will be available in stores this Autumn for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. It is developed under the EA SPORTS brand by EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C. The game has not been rated.

EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®.

*Based on total sales in 2008 according to the NPD.

Atari Europe renames to Namco Bandai

2009-05-14T20:54:00.002+01:00

Atari Europe in the next few weeks will be no more and will become "Namco Bandai", this is after the Publisher Aqquired it

A 34 Stake was brought in Atari Europe and Namco is expected to buy the rest of the shares from Infogrames next month.

Atari's US division will remain active and become the publisher's sole HQ, says MCV, headed up by current CEO David Gardner.

Fear 2: Project Origins Armoured Front map pack coming May 21st

2009-05-14T20:51:00.000+01:00

Beginning May 21, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin fans will be able to download the new “Armored Front” map pack for a whole new multiplayer experience for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®Network for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Armored Front Map Pack consists of two maps, Decoy and Conductor, as well as four unique character heads to swap out.

• Conductor Map: Push your way out of a train yard into the vast and open-ended junction station built around a turntable. EPAs will battle their way through the ground floor, as infantry can choose to either support from below or scale the heights of the station and engage in long-range combat.

• Decoy Map: Put your skill to the test in this full-scale training ground for Replica soldiers! Once a controlled arena for combat exercises, now it is under a full-blown assault for control between Replica and ATC. Watch out for ambushes, and don’t let the pop-up target dummies fool you!

• Character Heads: Four unique heads to customize your character.

“Armored Front” is the second of three robust DLC packs for F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin; the "Toy Soldiers” map pack launched April 16 and the next pack is slated for summer 2009. A premium theme and picture pack for Xbox 360, as well as a theme for PLAYSTATION 3 are also available. The “Armored Front” Map pack will be available for 540 Microsoft Points through Microsoft Marketplace and £4.39 through the PlayStation®Network.

In F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin a routine assignment to locate the president of Armacham Technology Corporation in connection with an unfolding hostage crisis turns into a desperate battle for survival after an explosion decimates the city and unleashes Alma Wade, the terrifying supernatural menace at the center of Armacham’s highly classified Project Origin. As Alma’s power swells out of control, special forces Sgt. Michael Becket and his squad must battle through an apocalyptic landscape of shattered buildings and buckled streets in search of clues for how to destroy her. The more Becket learns about Armacham’s secret experiments and reckless agenda, the more he begins to suspect that he’s somehow linked to the crisis and may be the only one capable of averting total disaster. F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin is rated “M” for Mature and is available now for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and Games for Windows®. For more information, please visit www.whatisfear.com

Grapple Buggy on XBLCG

2009-05-14T20:50:00.000+01:00

Take control of the prototype Grapple Buggy piloted by Nova Commander Javeya, and her alien co-pilot Drozo to explore the newly discovered VALD-END 317. The distant planet seems to house massive amounts of Tetravaldisae, known to its harvesters as ‘Vald’. Used to create fuel for faster-than-light travel, Vald is the single most valuable commodity in the known universe.

The New Homeworld Armada and the Drozo Empire have formed a strained alliance to confirm these portentous readings sending the Grapple Buggy and its team into action for the first time.

Can the Drozo Empire be trusted? Has Javeya’s government thrust her into a compromised situation? Will VALD-END thwart both species schemes?

Swing into action with Grapple Buggy!

Features:
• Sumptuous blend of buggy-driving craziness and grapple swinging glee!
• Upgrade your buggy with new wheels, jumping abilities, and devastating new grapple arms!
• Fight or befriend—explore VALD-END to encounter both terrifying xeno-fauna and sentient aliens!
• Features dynamic decision branching, and multiple, story-driven endings!

From developer Mommy’s Best Games creator of the award-winning Community Game Weapon of Choice.

New Forza 3 wheel showing at E3?

2009-05-14T01:59:00.003+01:00

If for some reason you weren't expecting Microsoft to show off Forza Motorsport 3 for the Xbox 360 at this year's E3 expo, start expecting it.

German racing wheel maker Fanatec says its new Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel controller, the one built with Forza 3 in mind, has entered pre-production and will be shown at E3 next month, hinting that it will be tied to the next Turn 10 Studios racer.

What's more interesting is why the wheel appears to have been slower in getting to production.

"It took a little bit longer than expected but Microsoft wanted us to support a new feature for Forza 3," writes Fanatec company rep Thomas Jackermeier. Wonder what that could be?

While the game hasn't yet been officially announced, its existence was not-so-subtly hinted at recently.

Arcade : Texas Cheat Em

2009-05-14T00:41:00.000+01:00

Content: Texas Cheat'em

Price: 800 Microsoft Points

Availability: Not available in Portugal

Dash Text: Texas Cheat'em – the poker game that gives you the ability to win just like the pros - by cheating! With a treasure trove of tricks hidden up your sleeve, there's no such thing as a "bad hand!" Bamboozle the competition, bag their cash, and bluff your way into poker history!

Add this Arcade title to your Xbox 360 download queue

Arcade Star Trek DAC

2009-05-14T00:39:00.000+01:00

Content: Star Trek: D•A•C

Price: 800 Microsoft Points

Availability: Not available in Japan or Korea

Dash Text: Star Trek®: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter inspired by the new motion picture. This pick-up and play game allows you and your friends to choose starships ( from a list including the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise ) and battle it out online! Enlist in Starfleet or join the Romulan Empire as you battle with up to 11 friends in game play modes including: Solo Play, Online Versus, and Online Co-op. Command the powerful Flagship, the nimble Fighter or the devastating Bomber, each with their own unique capabilities. Choose your side, fire your weapons, boldly go! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Add this Arcade title to your Xbox 360 download queue

Superstars V8 releasing on June 26th

2009-05-14T00:03:00.004+01:00

Speaking to Eurogamer Black Bean have revealed that Suerstars V8 Racing will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 on June 26th for £30 and PC for "20, there is als a demo in the pipeline for a June release

Asked about why there wasn't that much news/videos/screenshots so close to launch a spokesperson said :

"You are absolutely right, this does have the hallmarks of something worrying. It is, however, simply a case of this being the first game in a franchise from a smaller publisher known for bike racing, and we wanted to ensure we released quality assets we could honestly say were from the title."

The price is quite low and whilst asked about the Price Fabio Paglianti (Senior producer for Milestone) said :

"The game has very high quality, but the licence is not so famous. So we start with a mid-price so we can show to the audience we can do a very good game, a very beautiful game, to play, to see, to watch, with a good price. Because a mid-price game with that graphics, that content is a very good game for the audience."

Superstars V8 Racing will be a "Friendly Simulation Racer" that will be easy to start with and has Driving Aids that will ban be toggled on or off anyone familiar with SBK will remember the "Orbit" Mode where you can basically look all around the Bike/Car to get a clear viewof where you are positioned.

Superstars V8 Racing will have a "Quick Race" mode for online where players can also add Bots (like Race Pro) to fill up the umbers, "It's really, really fun," he said, "it's easy to play, it's aggressive." Said Paglianti.

The AI will be no push-over, either. "The AI have the same behaviour as the human," explained Paglianti, pointing out that different drivers have different skills as well as different cars.

"It's a very good game, but we have absolute faith that in the future we can improve Superstar a lot,"

Splinter Cell Conviction info teased

2009-05-13T23:58:00.001+01:00

Splinter Cell Conviction's Official website is currently "Under Investigation" and "If you have and information on Sam Fisher, Please Notify us here."

Apparently something will be revealed in "The Next coming days"

Stay tuned ...

Call Of Duty 7 already being made?

2009-05-13T23:53:00.002+01:00

Call of Duty 6 (Sorry "Modern Warfare 2") has only been unveiled in the last month with tid-bits of info and one video out in the wild and a long way off a release date. But Call of Duty 7 is already in the works from what Senior Animator Divid Kim has been stating :

"I am currently on my second title as a senior animator in the games industry with Activision / Treyarch on Call Of Duty 7. Previous to that I specialized as a previsualization artist for various productions."

Clearly dont expect ANY details for a while but it looks like the Series is here to stay!

atari pull out of E3

2009-05-13T23:48:00.001+01:00

Atari has pulled the plug on being an Exhibitor at this years E3, The company has said in a statement

"Atari has made the proactive decision to attend but not exhibit at this year's E3 event," said the company.

"Although we feel E3 benefits the entire games business, we are very focused around other selling and marketing initiatives for our upcoming Ghostbusters, Champions Online and other to be announced titles."

Although they have pulled out they are still on the E3 list of Exhibitors which should change pretty soon

Bomb Disposal Expert coming to XBLCG

2009-05-13T23:43:00.000+01:00

Bomb Disposal Expert now available on Xbox Live Community Games

www.bombdisposalexpert.com/xbox/

Barcelona, Spain, May 13, 2009 – Evolution Dreams Studio is proud to release their new game Bomb Disposal Expert (www.bombdisposalexpert.com) on Xbox Live Community Games at an incredible price, only 200 Microsoft Points.

You are a Bomb Disposal Expert in training. Hold your nerve while you exercise your memory and rhythm, following the light sequences. Hurry up or the bomb will explode! Play with up to eight friends (only one pad needed) in a crazy multiplayer mode. And if you start to think it's easy to defuse a bomb, try the special modes: mirror, clockwise and counterclockwise... and think again!!

Feel like a member of a federal agency and play through the Career mode with 20 bombs to defuse, the Arcade mode with Time Attack and Unlimited options, and score rankings, a multiplayer mode up to 8 players (only one controller is necessary), with 15 Awards to unlock and a practice mode with all the settings to play with. And all this for only 200 Microsoft Points.

The prestigious website IGN.com, in a feature published on May 1, picked Bomb Disposal Expert as one of the best games on Xbox Live Community Games.

Visit the official website and enjoy the flash minigame: www.bombdisposalexpert.com
Get more info and download the demo from the Xbox 360 Marketplace: www.bombdisposalexpert.com/xbox/

STAR TREK®: D-A-C BEAMS DOWN TO XBOX LIVE® ARCADE – NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

2009-05-13T23:41:00.000+01:00

STAR TREK^®: D-A-C BEAMS DOWN TO XBOX LIVE^® ARCADE – NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

Boldly Go into Deep Space Warfare in the New Xbox LIVE Arcade Title From Paramount Digital Entertainment

HOLLYWOOD, CA – May 13, 2009 Paramount Digital Entertainment, Bad Robot Interactive, CBS Consumer Products and Naked Sky Entertainment today announced that Star Trek®: D-A-C is now available for download on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Inspired by the new “Star Trek” film now playing in theatres worldwide, Star Trek: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter where players take the captain’s chair and engage in intense online multi-player or co-op battles. Players will choose between Romulan and Federation Starships including the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise™.

“Fans of the new ‘Star Trek’ film can now experience the excitement that made the movie a worldwide sensation in their own living rooms through fierce Star Trek: D-A-C multiplayer battles,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. “Rather than retelling the story of the blockbuster film, Star Trek: D-A-C lets gamers boldly go into deep space on Xbox LIVE Arcade and seize their own intergalactic triumphs.“

Star Trek: D-A-C allows fans to directly control a variety of ships and pitch battles between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire. Up to 12 players can compete in thrilling multiplayer team combat. Star Trek: D-A-C features three game play modes: Single player, online multiplayer and online co-op. For each mode, there are three different game types: Team Deathmatch, Assault and Conquest. Players can choose from three ship types for each faction, including the new U.S.S. Enterprise featured in the “Star Trek” film. Each ship – the powerful Flagship, the nimble Fighter and the devastating Bomber – offers its own unique capabilities for players to master and manipulate as they fight for victory. Star Trek: D-A-C also incorporates music and signature sounds taken directly from the new “Star Trek” film.

Star Trek: D-A-C is now available to download on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 for 800 Microsoft Points, or for $10. Star Trek: D-A-C will be available for the PlayStation®Network and Windows PC in 2009. It is rated “E” by the ESRB

Avatars get new shoes for the start of Summer

2009-05-13T23:40:00.001+01:00

Gents :

* Flip Flops
* High Top Sneakers
* Socks and Sandals
* 70’s Leather Platforms

Ladies:

* Sunny Day Sandals
* White 60’s Boots

Halo Wars Title Update Listed

2009-05-12T20:59:00.003+01:00

Microsoft has released some details of the Patch for Halo Wars that has been being worked onand it sets the game up for the DLC that is coming :

"The Halo Wars Title Update is ready to go live in the next day or so," reads the official website. "It contains bug fixes, some balance changes as well as adding a couple cool features like allowing Flaming Warthog and Honor Guard Wraith skins in multiplayer.

Halo Wars Title Update 5/12/09

General

Flaming Warthog and Honor Guard Wraith skins now available in multiplayer to players who have those skulls.
The option to show Unit Hit Point bars above units is now available.

Balance

The number of points to reach all ranks has been reduced. General now requires 2.4 million, down from 3.2 million, and other ranks have been reduced accordingly.
The max number of points you can get in a single match has been capped.
The Prophet of Regret's land speed is now reduced to match other leaders.
Vampire Tech Upgrades now increase damage done by 15% in addition to their other effects.
Anders Cryo Bomb Upgrades now cost 50% more supplies.
Anders Hawk Upgrade now costs 50% more supplies.

Bug Fixes

Multiplayer Matchmaking and Connection improvements have been put in. Players should find that their 2v2 and 3v3 teams no longer split up.
'Ready for the Sequel' Achievement should now be rewarded properly.
Units on Exile and Crevice should find it easier to traverse the map.

No news of when the DLC will hit but the "Strategic Options" DLC will add 3 new game modes and 4 new achievements.

Q: What happened to the Race Pro Demo? A: Find out here !

2009-05-12T20:55:00.001+01:00

There were mumblings from bth SIMBIN and Atari that a Demo for Race Pro wuld be out before the game actually hit stores, that never materialised and no demo since but wait ....

It seems OXM have got an Exclusive by having it included in issue 47 of their Mag...

The demo allows you to partake in a race at Monza, behind the wheel of a Corvette GT car, a time attack around the toughest circuit in the game (Macau's Guia Circuit) in the fastest car, the truly bonkers F3000, or a multiplayer session in the WTCC touring car class. Perfect for working out whether you've got the cojones to tackle the most detailed and subtle handling model of any racing game on the console.

OXM 47 is on sale now at Retailers

New Tony Hawk game info coming this friday

2009-05-12T20:52:00.002+01:00

Twitter still seems the "IN" Thing ... This time Tony Hawk has got in on the act, he has stated that May 15th (This Friday) will see the unveiling of his new game set to hit this year, this is what the man himself had to say :

"May 15 all will be revealed about our new game (dropping this year)," he writes. "I have been harboring the secret long enough."

Obviously no news on what platforms this game will be hitting but I highlt suspect the 360 will be one of them .....

Ferrari issue quit Ultimatum to FIA

2009-05-12T20:48:00.000+01:00

Ferrari have threatened to quit Formula 1 at the end of the season if the sport continues with plans to introduce an optional £40m budget cap from 2010.

"If the regulations for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari does not intend to enter cars in the next Formula 1 world championship," read the statement.

Read the rest HERE

Game Add On: Fable II: See The Future

2009-05-12T20:44:00.001+01:00

Content: Fable II – See the Future (Premium)

Price: 560 points

Availability: All Xbox LIVE Regions

Dash Text: [ESRB: M (Mature) BLOOD,LANGUAGE,SEXUAL THEMES,USE OF ALCOHOL,VIOLENCE] Strange new quests, new dog breeds and a vision of your future await you in this premium download. Murgo, trader of highly unusual and magical items, has returned to Bowerstone, and he has brought with him objects that will transport you to worlds and quests no Hero has ever faced before. Bring colour back to the world, dress up in creature costumes, compete in a new combat arena and find out what awaits you in Albion’s distant future. If you have the See the Future (Premium) pack and want to play co-op as normal, your co-op partner will need to download the Fable II See the Future (Free) or (Premium) pack. To enjoy the complete See the Future experience in co-op play, both players must download the See the Future (Premium) pack.

Add See The Future to your Xbox 360 download queue

Note: If you want to enjoy See The Future with a co-op buddy, that person will have to either download the free version of See The Future or purchase the full version.

Whos top of This weeks Xbox Live Activity chart ?

2009-05-12T20:38:00.000+01:00

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 UFC® 2009 Undisputed Demo
6 GTA IV
7 FIFA 09
8 Left 4 Dead
9 Fallout 3
10 RESIDENT EVIL 5

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1 Space Invaders Extreme
2 Hasbro Family Game Night**
3 Castle Crashers
4 Banjo-Tooie
5 Peggle
6 Worms
7 ARKANOID Live!
8 Cyber Troopers Virtual On Oratorio Tangram
9 UNO
10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
**Combined sales of all Hasbro Family Game Night titles

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Counter-Strike
4 Fable
5 Conker: Live Reloaded
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Doom 3
8 Star Wars: Battlefront
9 Guilty Gear XX #Reload
10 SW: Republic Commando

Top Community Games (Full Versions purchased)

1 RC-AirSim
2 Rumble Massage
3 Cocktail Paradise
4 Aquarium HD
5 ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition
6 Tank Strike
7 Let's Draw A Picture Together!
8 DrumKit
9 Remote Masseuse
10 StrikeForce-Psi

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Community Games, full versions purchased during the week.

Gel: Set and Match hitting XBLA Next week

2009-05-12T20:36:00.000+01:00

"GEL: SET & MATCH" SCHEDULED FOR MAY RELEASE ON XBOX LIVE ARCADE

Action Puzzler from Gastronaut coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade Wednesday, May 20th

SEATTLE - MAY 6, 2009 - Gastronaut Studios LLC, creator of the hit Xbox LIVE Arcade game “Small Arms”, announced today that their latest title “Gel: Set & Match” will be coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade next Wednesday, May 20th. The game will be available for purchase at 800 Microsoft Points.

“Gel” is the spiritual successor to the studio's debut title “Fuzzee Fever” which was available for the original Xbox, and was the first original IP created specifically as a downloadable console title. Players control a cute-yet-alien creature who matches colored blocks to solve unique puzzles, clear a road of gel blocks, or compete in multiplayer battles.

“Gel” lets friends play together wherever they are located with a number of both online, via Xbox LIVE, and offline modes. Action Mode and Puzzle Mode are both playable with 1-2 players online or local multiplayer and Battle Mode is for 2-4 players online or local.

- All new side-scrolling Action Mode.

- Over 100 single player puzzles

- 25 co-op specific puzzles

- 3 unique multiplayer battle modes

- Extensive character customization

- Special “seasonal costumes” only available at certain times of the year

- Fantastically realized 3D environments

"Gel: Set & Match" is rated "E" (Everyone) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) for Animated Blood and Comic Mischief.

For more information on "Gel: Set & Match", visit www.GelSetMatch.com

Peggle Hits iPhone

2009-05-12T20:34:00.003+01:00

PopCap Launches Blockbuster Game Peggle^TM on the iPhone^TM

Custom Adaptation of Peg-Popping Classic Now Available on iPhone and iPod^® Touch

SEATTLE, Washington – May 12, 2009 — PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced the launch of Peggle™ for the iPhone™ and iPod® touch. The game is available now for US $4.99 from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch, or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. One of the most critically acclaimed “casual” video games of recent years, Peggle has been downloaded nearly 50 million times and appeals to gamers of all shapes and sizes.

“Our new adaptation of Peggle for iPhone and iPod touch was truly a labor of love,” stated Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. “We spent huge amounts of time specifically optimizing this version of one of our favorite games to one of the world’s coolest devices, so that it was just right.”

Combining elements of pinball and pachinko, Peggle players fire a metallic silver ball from the top of the screen, relying on gravity to propel the ball downwards while it ricochets off unique arrangements of orange and blue pegs. The goal is to clear all the orange pegs from the screen, while earning as many points as possible, before running out of balls. A moving bucket at the bottom of the screen offers free balls, while green power-up pegs unlock special abilities via ten unique and memorable Peggle Masters who guide players through dozens of levels of gameplay challenges. Power-ups include explosive area-clearing blasts, lobster claws that serve as pinball-like flippers and “fireballs” that cut through all pegs in their path.

Exclusive to the iPhone and iPod touch versions of Peggle, the game boasts a host of specifically optimized features. These include a special ‘zoom’ feature for extra-accurate aiming, new types of style shots, a special aiming wheel for precision control, a new trophy system, and an enhanced UI to take advantage of the Touch and iPhone’s intuitive touch interface.

Since its first introduction in March 2007, the Peggle series has been downloaded more than 45 million times on the Web, and garnered more than a dozen awards from leading industry associations and trade journals. The game is now available for PC, Mac, Web, video iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, 650 models of mobile feature phones and smartphones, Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade.

About PopCap
PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of “casual games” — fun, easy-to-learn, captivating computer games that appeal to everyone from age 6 to 106. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of over 200 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C., Dublin and Shanghai. Its games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship title, Bejeweled®, has sold more than 25 million units across all platforms. Constantly acclaimed by consumers and critics, PopCap’s games are played on the Web, desktop computers, myriad mobile devices (cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, Pocket PCs, iPod and more), popular game consoles (including Xbox 360, PlayStation and Nintendo DS), and in-flight entertainment systems. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major sales channels, including Web portals, retail stores, mobile operators and developers, and game device manufacturers.

VIN DIESEL´S WHEELMANTM VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK FEATURES THE MUSIC OF COMPOSERS JORGE & GUILLERMO BADOLATO - BADOLATOMUSIC

2009-05-12T20:34:00.001+01:00

VIN DIESEL´S WHEELMAN^TM VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK FEATURES THE MUSIC OF COMPOSERS JORGE & GUILLERMO BADOLATO - BADOLATOMUSIC

Madrid, Spain - May 12th, 2009 - Composers Jorge & Guillermo Badolato (www.badolatomusic.com) are glad to announce they worked in the composition and production of the soundtrack for next-gen videogame Wheelman™, developed by Newcastle´s Midway Studios & Tigon Studios (Vin Diesel´s video game company, who also starres the game). The game has been published worldwide by Ubisoft® and Midway.

Jorge & Guillermo Badolato created half of the multi-layered interactive in-game soundtrack, the music for most of the cutscenes of the game that and also did part of the music for promotion trailers for Wheelman.

The game has a hi-energy & frenetic action score featuring a mixture of actual Hollywood´s cinematic car chase films, blending powerful orchestral textures, techno-electronica, percussion and spanish/flamenco & electric guitars (recorded live by Guillermo Badolato).

“It's been a honnor for us to work with Midway on this title, there has been an excellent understanding with Craig Beattie (Wheelman´s Audio Director) right from the start. Working on a game such amazing as this one is a blast!” Said Jorge & Guillermo.

Craig Beattie, Wheelman Audio Director/Midway UK: "Working with Badolatomusic was a complete joy. They delivered 50% of the in-game musical scores for Wheelman and most of the cutscene music. There music fitted perfectly with the tense missions and atmosphere of the game. When things got tight and changes to cutscenes where needed they re-scored the music to fit, they delivered time and time again without one complaint. I highly recommend these guys as professional and accomplished musicians".

Wheelman it´s available for the Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC from March 24, 2009, in North America and March 27, 2009, in Europe. For more information on Wheelman, please visit http://www.wheelmangame.com Other tracks from the game were composed by Rod Abernethy.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Ships to Stores for the Xbox 360

2009-05-12T20:33:00.001+01:00

Cary, NC, May 12, 2009 – cdv Software Entertainment USA and Ascaron Entertainment are pleased to announce that Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft has shipped to North American retailers. For a list of some of the retail outlets that are carrying the game, please visit - http://www.cdvusa.com/pages/buy-sacred2.

For more information about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, please visit http://www.sacred2.com or http://www.cdvus.com.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is a hack-and-slash action-RPG with a rich story that takes place in a gigantic seamless world. This world contains massive dungeons, treacherous opponents and hundreds of challenging quests. Intelligent enemies, which adapt in number and difficulty based on player progress, challenge gamers in heroic single- and multiplayer battles for up four players on next-generation consoles.

About cdv Software Entertainment USA

cdv Software Entertainment USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of cdv Software Entertainment AG, is a leading publisher of third-party video games and interactive entertainment with offices in New Jersey and headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. cdv Software Entertainment USA has published critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles including Divine Divinity, Blitzkrieg, American Conquest, Codename: Panzers, City Life, DarkStar One, War Front: Turning Point and the acclaimed Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. The company will continue to expand its offerings with upcoming titles including the highly anticipated Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. For more information, please visit http://www.cdvus.com.

Rhythm game 'Jammer' released on Xbox Community Games

2009-05-12T20:32:00.001+01:00

Rhythm game 'Jammer' released on Xbox Community Games

Austin, Texas. Monday 11th May – Developer Kevin Albers announces the release of his new rhythm game 'Jammer' for the Xbox Live Community Games marketplace. Jammer is a rhythm game in which player's actions affect musical arrangements. It features ten original music tracks, and is playable with standard gamepads and guitar controllers.

“Jammer is the first step in creating a series of rhythm games and interactive musical experiences that put musical decision-making into the hands of game players. The core audio engine mixes music in real-time from multiple musical elements, opening up many types of interaction not usually found in rhythm games.

I remember when I first encountered rhythm games years ago, and was simultaneously impressed with the experience yet disappointed by the lack of player input into the music itself. I told myself that if I could, one day I'd make something similar that gave players at least some control over the music itself, as opposed to simply tapping along to something set in stone” - Kevin Albers

Jammer trailer on youTube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7VXRvBez_U

Jammer on the community games marketplace -
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/00000001-0000-4000-8000-00005855020c?partner=RSS

Jammer webpage on Kevin Albers' site, including screenshots and box art -
http://kevinalbers.com/Jammer.htm

Far Cry 2 gets Title Update

2009-05-12T01:17:00.002+01:00

Ubisoft have released an update to fix some issues in Far Cry 2, Both Single Player and Multiplayer have had updates :

Today we are pleased to announce the release of a Farcry 2 title update for Xbox 360.

This patch will include a lot of improvements for both single player and multiplayer modes; with better browsing features, more multiplayer game options, and other new additions in order to let you play the game, the way you want. Information on a similar update for PS3 and PC will be announced soon. Here is a list of the fixes and additions:

Single Player

Fix some random crash occurring during specific Malaria attacks
Fix health damage not following the difficulty level when switching difficulty during player’s walkthrough
Fix some camera issue when using a mortar near a rock
Reduce significantly the probability of having a corrupted save game*

Multiplayer

Add Respawning time in Host - Advanced options - player match
Add Starting rank in Host - Advanced options - player match
Add min players in the host option
Add deaths in scoreboard
Balance current damage model
Show VIP on Scoreboard (for your team only)
Players can stay on the same host for consecutive matches in Ranked match
Add a Quick match button when selecting a map in the Map community
Fix vehicles spawning on their initial position immediately after being destroyed by an explosion
Fix client being disconnected from the host randomly and not being able to see it after that
Fix death message does not appear randomly
Fix some issues when interacting with objects
Fix bandolier doesn’t always unlock extra ammo
Fix some bug when healing another player and getting wounded at the same time
Fix diamond gain in rank mode
Fix players don’t get a request to keep a map after playing on a IGE map
DLC Fix some issues when using the crossbow

Extra features

Add a “hardcore mode” that will provide a new damage model where all weapons do much more damage to increase realism.
Add the possibility to play Rank matches on a selection of user maps**

Many of the new features were requested by members of the community and we would like to thanks everyone for taking the time to communicate with us, we hope you will enjoy the improvements.

* We are very aware of the problems some people have been experiencing and have been doing everything within our powers to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We found out during our testing that several elements could cause an issue with the same consequences and therefore prevent certain players to finish the game. We have been able to provide solutions that prevent those corruption problems in most cases and we haven’t encountered any problems now. We apologize wholeheartedly for the inconvenience that this matter has caused to some owners of the game.

** In answer to a growing demand we have developed a tool that enable us to mark user’s created maps as ranked. You should already find a selection of those maps thanks to some of our active community members.

Wii Fit on Top yet again in UK Charts

2009-05-11T21:13:00.001+01:00

This Week	Last Week	Title	Platform(s)
1	1	Wii Fit	Wii
2	2	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
3	3	FIFA 09	PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
4	4	Wii Play	Wii
5	6	Mario Kart Wii	Wii
6	5	Resident Evil 5	PS3, Xbox 360
7	10	Call of Duty: World at War	PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS
8	9	Professor Layton and the Curious Village	DS
9	12	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Wii, DS
10	New entry	Rhythm Paradise	DS
11	11	Street Fighter IV	Xbox 360, PS3
12	8	The Godfather II	PC, Xbox 360, PS3
13	13	Carnival: Funfair Games	Wii
14	21	Sonic Unleashed	Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
15	15	Killzone 2	PS3
16	16	Dr Kawashima's Brain Training	DS
17	17	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS
18	New entry	Hannah Montana: The Movie Game	DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
19	14	My Fitness Coach	Wii
20	25	Halo Wars	Xbox 360
21	19	Ben 10: Alien Force	Wii, DS, PS2, PSP
22	24	Pro Evolution Soccer 2009	PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PS2, Wii
23	22	Grand Theft Auto IV	Xbox 360, PS3, PC
24	26	Football Manager 2009	PC
25	23	SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection	Xbox 360, PS3
26	18	Guitar Hero: World Tour	Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
27	31	WWE Legends of Wrestlemania	PS3, Xbox 360
28	7	The Chronicles of Riddicl: Assault on Dark Athena	PC, PS3, Xbox 360
29	39	Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09	PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360
30	29	Mario Kart DS	DS
31	20	WSC Real 2009: World Snooker Champsionship	PC, PS3, Xbox 360
32	35	Wheelman	PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
33	40	Race Driver: GRID	DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
34	27	WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2009	Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii
35	33	Monsters vs Aliens	PC, Xbox 360, PS3
36	30	Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock	PC, PS3, PS2, Wii, Xbox 360
37	37	Gears of War 2	Xbox 360
38	Re-entry	Tomb Raider: Underworld	DS, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360
39	28	LEGO Indiana Jones	PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS
40	Re-entry	Burnout Paradise	PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Microsoft's E3 Line up leaked ?

2009-05-11T21:02:00.002+01:00

It seems Twitter is the "In" place to leak info now as the platform keeps growing.

Today sees the rumours that Micrsofots E3 Line up has been fully unveiled a little too early

GameFork has been tweeting over the last couple days and sharing apparent info of what Microsoft have lined up ... Heres the apparent Rundown :

Xbox Fluid - the Motion sensing camera
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Halo ODST
Alan Wake
APB
GTA4: Battle After All Fights Love Central
"Richter"
Assassin's Creed 2
Lost Planet 2
Metal Gear Solid 4 + Oxide

Apparently Microsoft have an Exclusive Metal Gear game coming to their shores and not on the Ps3 !

Apparently Microsoft are using Metal Gear as a show stopper and other titles have been cut to 3 minuite slots, these include :

Lost Planet 2
Assasins Creed 2
Bishock 2 and
GTA4 : Battle After All Fights Love Central

Konami also have an unnanounced Xbox 360 Exclusive that NOBODY outside of Konami know about ......

All this juicy information and nothing on Forza Motorsport/Watersport .....

SEGA Vintage Collection 2 Available Summer 2009 on XBLA

2009-05-11T21:00:00.000+01:00

This Summer, you will be able to individually download 7 classics from SEGA's archive!

New Features Include:

Re-worked for High-Definition
Online Leaderboards
Network Play (Excludes Phantasy Star II, Shinobi, Comix Zone)

Gunstar Heroes – The classic side scrolling shooter from the SEGA Genesis returns to captivate fans new and old with its non-stop action and cooperative play.

Altered Beast – "Rise from your Grave" as the original Genesis launch game is reborn and comes to a new generation of gamers. Battle hordes of undead warriors and monsters as you return to battle in order to save Zeus' daughter Athena.

Shinobi (arcade) – Battle your way through the "Ring of Five" as you save hostages with your ninja abilities.

Comix Zone – The game features an innovative art style that transports players directly into the panels of a comic as they fight their way to save a world from destruction as Sketch Turner. Everything from the speech bubble text, level design, and the revolutionary graphics scream COMIX!

Phantasy Star 2 (XBLA) – SEGA's classic RPG which expanded on the success of the first with its epic storyline and battle system.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – The game that introduced Knuckles the Echidna comes to a new generation of gamers as Sonic explores Angel Island and discovers the true power of the Master Emerald. Speed through each level at lightning speeds as either Sonic or Tails as you foil Dr. Eggman’s in his new Death Egg station.

And Coming late Summer 2009!

Sonic and Knuckles – Picking up where Sonic the Hedgehog 3 left off, players can now play as Knuckles for the first time. In addition, if players already have Sonic the Hedgehog 3 or Sonic 2 in their library, they will be able to access the lock-on bonus content for each game for the very first time since the days of the SEGA GENESIS! This allows for gamers to play Sonic 2 & 3 as Knuckles!

Europe gets exclusive Guitar Hero : Metallica bundle

2009-05-11T20:56:00.000+01:00

European-Exclusive Guitar Hero^® Metallica^® Solo Guitar Game Bundle Available At Launch

Guitar Heroes Across Europe Will "Ride the Lightning" in May

Monday 11th May/... In celebration of the upcoming release of Guitar Hero® Metallica® in Europe, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced a European-exclusive Guitar Hero Metallica Solo Guitar Game bundle which includes an exclusive guitar controller faceplate featuring the iconic Metallica skull motif, a copy of the critically acclaimed game and a wireless guitar controller.

Guitar Hero Metallica allows fans to experience the intensity and skill of world-renowned metal and rock band, Metallica, while shredding on the guitar controller, ripping on the drum kit controller and wailing on the mic to a set list of over 45 explosive hits from both Metallica’s illustrious career and more than 20 popular artists selected by the band. Guitar Hero Metallica allows fans to perform in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales. The all-new Expert+ drum difficulty setting, available for all platform versions of the game, features two bass drum kick pedals, offering an authentic Metallica experience with note-for-note tracking, and Metallifacts, which, after nailing a song, lets players enjoy a virtual concert filled with on-screen facts and trivia about the song being played.

Guitar Hero Metallica is set to be released across Europe and in Australia on May 22, 2009 and in the UK on May 29, 2009 for the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems.

For more information on Guitar Hero Metallica, please visit guitarherometallica.com.

Jonny Crish releases on the Xbox Community Games Channel

2009-05-11T20:55:00.000+01:00

Oesis has released "Jonny Crush" on the Xbox Community Games Channel

Swarms of giant bugs have taken over the city and as Jonny Crush; "Ace Exterminator" it is your job to exterminate every last one!

Redlands, CA, May 11, 2009: Jonny Crush is a first-person shooter unlike any before it. Getting thrown right into the midst of the infestation, players will need all the weapons, power ups, and lightning fast reflexes that they can get. Guns range from the small but fast SMGs to the mammoth Minigun, to the Hammerhead, an acid firing particle weapon. Power ups include brightly colored health packs, Green Cow Energy Drinks, which gives the player increased speed, and Tick-Tocks, which stops time for all enemies but the player. Featuring battles ranging up to a thousand, Jonny Crush promises adrenaline pumping encounters that will leave you breathless.

Oesis, Inc. is an indie development company comprised primarily of a father and his two children that enjoy a challenge developing games that push the Xbox console to its limits using XNA by Microsoft. “Jonny Crush” is our first game and was inspired by classic movies and shows recreating the exhilaration of fighting against impossible odds is what this game is all about. We believe that gamers are going to enjoy the mayhem!

Eidos announce that Battlestations Pacific will be available on May 15th in Europe

2009-05-11T20:54:00.001+01:00

Monday 11th May/... Eidos Interactive Ltd, creator of some of the world’s leading videogame properties, today releases the official launch trailer for Battlestations: Pacific™, available at retail across Europe on May 15th.

For more information on Battlestations Pacific, please visit www.battlestations.net

F1 2010 will be "The Best F1 game ever"

2009-05-11T11:42:00.002+01:00

Codemasters Gavin Raeburn has made a rather bold statement that F1 2010 will be "The Best F1 game ever" ....

Whilst speaking with OXM Gavin also confirmed that the game will have a Simulation feel aswell as Arcade, Stating it would "Capture the Drama and Rivalry of F1"

Talking about to online side of the game Gavin explained - "Key to this is enabling people to find and play with the right people, If you're an arcade fan playing F1 online you probably want to play with like-minded players in shorter races, rather than end up in a hardcore sim session."

There have been some pretty bold statements about the Sim side of the game in to un-oofficial Developer QnA about Changing grip levels, Weather, tracks that Dynamically change with the conditions, Marbles on the track and Debris taking effect to your car...

Codemasters have now made the move of confirming that the "Next-Gen" versions of the game will be based on the 2010 Season whereas the Wii and PSP versions (Releasing this year by an outsourced developer) will be based on this current season 2009.

Next Wheelman DLC Announced

2009-05-11T11:30:00.001+01:00

Ubisoft have anounced new Condent available for Wheelman for PSN and the Xbox Live Marketplace

For 400 Microsoft Points ($8.45 n PSN) you can download 5 new "Showdown" Missions, The Pack includes showdown missions taking place in Museu Nacional, Passeig De Gracia, Grand Theatre De Liceu, Cathedral De La Seu and Placa De Catalunya. The Free Street Showdown pack will feature one showdown mission taking place in Avinguda Del Paral-lel.

Codemasters to bring the Ashes to fans on Consoles

2009-05-11T11:29:00.001+01:00

Codemasters have divulged plans to release an Official Ashes Cricket Game, The Game will be fully icensed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) the

As the official game it means you will get all the Stadiums, players and up to date kit

The game is set to debut on Xbox, PS3 and PC this Summer and is being produced by Transmission Games.

Forza 3 leaked ?

2009-05-01T02:09:00.003+01:00

From OXM ...

Forza Motorsport 3 has come closer than ever to being official confirmed, after Microsoft revealed it during a briefing at its Brazilian HQ in Sao Paulo.

The video of the presentation below shows you an obscured logo, at around 6:58. You can clearly see that it's a Forza logo.

This sighting isn't the first time Forza 3 has been rumoured but it's the closest we've come yet to an official confirmation. The same briefing also reveals that the two-disc game will have over 100 tracks and 400 cars, making it (potentially) the biggest racing game to date.

Keep your eyes on E3 Forza fans, as the official unveiling can't be too far away now

A little but of digging and I found this ...

Not the most compelling evidence ever but us racing fans will take it ....

Button on the way to his First ever Formula 1 world championship ...

2009-04-30T13:33:00.003+01:00

With a near perfect start to the F1 season it seems Jenson Button is on his way to his First ever Formula 1 World Championship ...

With 3 wins out of 4 and a 2nd place finish Button currently resides 12 points better off in the Championship then his Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello and 13 over Sebastien Vettel

This is possibly the best start both Brawn and Button could have hoped for in a season that over the winter, they looked to be spectating without a solid drive, out of the doom and gloom the team have built an amazing car that has been leaps and bounds above the rest of the field.

Moving into the European segment of the season, Will Button be able to maintain his lead and ultimatley grip on the Title from the ever progressing pack ....

Mid-Race Refuelling and Tyre Warmers banned for 2010

2009-04-30T13:32:00.001+01:00

As proposed the World Motor Sport Council today confirmed a number of changes for the 2010 Formula One championship, the headline being the option to run under a cost cap of £40m. The FIA body also however confirmed that re-fuelling and tyre warmers will not be permitted next year.

"Refuelling during a race will be forbidden in order to save the costs of transporting refuelling equipment and increase the incentive for engine builders to improve fuel economy (to save weight)," a statement read.

"Tyre blankets will be banned and that the ban on other tyre-heating devices will be maintained.
"

The WMSC stated that the amended 2010 Sporting and Technical regulations will be available shortly.

Re-fuelling was re-introduced to the sport in 1994 after being originally banned a decade earlier.

FIA Outlines £40m Budget Cap

2009-04-30T13:29:00.000+01:00

The FIA has outlined its budget cap plans for 2010, including a spending limit of 40 million pounds. This new proposal increases the limit by 10m to try to convince more existing teams into the new system which includes more technical freedom than the uncapped teams.

Formula One faces a period of great uncertainty during this harsh recessionary period. Funding a team is increasingly seen as a discretionary spend for the majority of team owners and sponsors. To ensure a healthy grid all are agreed that costs need to be cut.

Two main philosophies have emerged, either i) reduce activity levels through very restrictive technical rules, plus a degree of standardization if required; or ii) restrict the money that teams are allowed to spend (cost capping).

The FIA believes that unfettered technical competition is part of Formula One’s DNA, and would like to see this flourish, but in an environment of strong, responsible and innovative management, not a spending race. For these reasons cost capping is preferred.

What is covered by the cost cap?
Everything except:

* Marketing and promotion – we want Formula One teams to look good and to entertain their partners. We want manufacturers to show off their cars at exhibitions and city centre displays, and we want teams and their sponsors to promote Formula One through inclusion in advertising campaigns.

* Drivers and young driver programmes – Formula One is the pinnacle of motor racing. Fundamental to this is attracting the world’s best drivers. Moreover we wish to encourage continued investment in young driver programmes.

* Engine costs – In order to attract manufacturer owned teams to take up the cost capping option, the FIA have decided to exclude engine costs for 2010 (only)

Furthermore, we are allowing manufacturers to honor existing supply arrangements, provided there is no element of subsidy that could have a cartel-like affect on the engine market.

How did the FIA arrive at the £40m figure?
We arrived at the figure by analysing both revenues and costs in Formula One.

We know what the FOM (Formula One Management) revenue is likely to be in the future, and we have some understanding of realistic sponsorship revenues during the recession. Taken together, it’s possible to project total external revenues for all finishing positions in the Championship. At £40m we believe that 70 per cent of the grid can generate a profit. This transforms the business case for owning a Formula One team, for both manufacturers and private investors. The desired net result is to have a very healthy commercial environment for present and new owners.

We also had a good look at costs, and believe that £40m in combination with greater technical freedom will allow engineers to create Formula One cars even more interesting and exciting than today’s cars.

Will the £40m cap for 2010 be changed for future years?
As set out in the Regulations, the cap for future years will be decided by the FIA. In setting future years’ limits, the FIA will have regard to the progress of the project and the feedback from all stakeholders to the sport.

How does the FIA intend to police the cost cap?
Throughout the construction of the Regulations we have worked with expert forensic accountants.

The Regulations allow for the establishment of a Costs Commission to monitor and assist teams in complying with the Regulations. The Costs Commission will appoint auditors, and other financial experts as required, in order to do this.

A key factor is that all cost capped teams are businesses engaged in exactly the same activities and this enables consistent interpretation of the principles of the regulations. It is difficult to hide engineering activity or to falsify accounts consistently, given the traceability of transactions in today’s world and the access and inspection powers which the Costs Commission will have. The penalties for defrauding the FIA with regard to any willful transgression of any Regulation or any subversion of an investigation are well established.

Is a Costs Commission really needed?
The emphasis is on teams to demonstrate compliance, and to pro-actively seek clarification and interpretation of the Regulations. As the Cost Cap Regulations are new the FIA has decided to provide an appropriate resource, staffed with a small number of financial and technical experts, to deal with such issues, and to monitor compliance, such that the Regulations are effective.

Who pays for the Costs Commission, auditors and other experts, and doesn’t this just add costs, rather than removing them?
The cost capped teams will each pay an equal contribution to cover these costs. The costs involved will represent a tiny fraction of the costs saved in Formula One.

What is the penalty if a team exceeds the cost cap?
This depends on the case. The International Sporting Code covers transgressions in the same manner as for the technical or sporting regulations. There are no ‘fixed penalties’. The Cost Commission will judge the degree of misdemeanor and advise the FIA , who will determine any penalty.

What measures are there to prevent teams spending money this year on a car that will compete under cost cap in 2010?
The teams must demonstrate that they have adhered to the spirit of the regulations and spend no more than 50% of the value of the 2010 cap on the development of the 2010 car (in 2009). Furthermore, there are limits on the value of stock of car parts which can be carried into 2010.

How will you stop manufacturer backed teams from running hidden F1-related projects in their parent companies?
The question is actually asking ‘how will we stop manufacturer teams from cheating’. The principles of determining a fair market value for all activities which are undertaken for the benefit of a team (whether a manufacturer or not) are clearly set out in the Regulations.

No team would wish to be exposed as cheating, so we expect a healthy amount of self-policing. However, the rules are clear on this point, such activities must be declared and appropriately valued. Bear in mind the access that the costs commission and auditors have and their ability to compare reported costs across all cost capped teams.

Will teams be allowed to buy parts from other teams/manufacturers?
Yes, according to the FIA regulations, but one should bear in mind that contractual arrangements with the Commercial Rights Holder will place restrictions on such activities. Inter-team transactions are covered by the regulations.

How many teams do you expect to take up the budget option?
All those who wish to transform the commercial basis of participation for their owners and investors. The FIA believes that cost capping will prove attractive, and it hopes that over time all teams will join. So far, interest has been extraordinarily high from both existing teams and potential new entrants.

If a team decides not to become cost capped now, can it do so at a later date?
Yes, a team will be able to opt to become cost capped in advance of each year of its participation in the Championship.

Are you worried that F1 will effectively become a two-tier championship?
There is one set of Technical Regulations and as always there are choices for all teams as to how they decide to attack the Championships.

Twitter is ADDICTIVE !!!!!!!!!

2009-03-26T03:36:00.003Z

As the title says Twitter is addictive ! you have 140 characters to write whatever you like and broadcast that to your friends, you can just put a brief note of what you are up to , a link, a pic whatever you want , its great !

F1 Starts TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-26T03:25:00.002Z

Yup thats right, Its OFICCIALY the start of the season today with the First Practice session at Melbourne ready for this weekends race ... Along with that we have Week Zero of Moto GP (For anyone not familiar with Toby Moody's Nickname for it that has stuck) Week Zero is the BMW/Timex Shootout at Jerez, Go there, get the fastest time, win a Beemer as easy as that TBH !

BUT for the fans we get a pre season taste of what is to come ! we see who is fastest and more importantly who is slowest ...

Talking of slow boys, WTF have Mclaren been playing at !! Lewis only expects 15th in qualifying for the aussie F1 opener ... Either they are SERIUSLY sand bagging or they are screwed !!!

oooh Roll on WSBK !!!!!

2009-02-28T03:07:00.002Z

So in T-minus 9 hours we have the start of the WSBK season of 2009 We are starting at Phillip Island with a good looking weekend ahead with some new additions to the Grid !

On other Motorbike racing news something I am personally very excited about !! Moto GP WILL make a return to Eurosport for the 2009 season, looks like the powers at Dorna have finally seen that they were being stupid to give sole broadcasting to the BBC and now Eurosport will cover 125 , 250 and Moto GP Practice and Qualifying Live on the Saturday, Eurosport will also cover the 125 and 250 races live although will have a delayed feed for the Moto GP Race !

Toby Moody has already hinted hes back onboard for the Eurosport coverage, lets hope we can get Randy Mamola and Julian Ryder back on board !

Moro F1 Details

2009-02-24T17:10:00.000Z

The Chain will be returning with the BBC F1 Music

After the race finishes there will be half an hour coverage on BBC1 and than an Hour on the Red Button

All Qualification and Races will be live on BBC 1 and any races that finish before 10am will be re-ran later on in the day aswell

The red button will have 3 options : The main feed with a choice of Comms, Split Screen with Main feed/in car camera/leaderboard, also rolling highlights

The BBC will be providing comprehensive coverage of the 2009 Formula One season across all its platforms.

F1 returns to BBC television for the first time in 12 years and there will be extensive coverage on network TV, red button, radio, online and mobile.

BBC One will carry live coverage of all 17 Grands Prix and every qualifying session except that in Brazil, which will be shown on BBC Two.

And every single on-track session can be watched on the red button or online.

Jake Humphrey will present the TV coverage, joined by 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and former team boss Eddie Jordan as pundits.

Jonathan Legard will commentate alongside award-winning broadcaster and former F1 driver Martin Brundle.

The pit lane reporters will be Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie.

F1 fans will be able to customise their viewing experience through the BBC's multi-platform offering with options such as: split-screen action; a live leaderboard; in-car cameras; choice of commentary; live online streaming; live text; interactive forums; circuit guides; and blogs.

Full schedule of BBC TV F1 coverage

TELEVISION COVERAGE

Every race and qualifying session will be shown live on BBC One, with the exception of qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix on 17 October, which will be shown on BBC Two.

All races and qualifying sessions that finish before 1000 will have a full repeat on either BBC One or Two later that day.

There will be a one-hour evening highlights programme at 1900 UK time on BBC Three for all races except Brazil.

Full schedule of BBC TV F1 coverage.

RED BUTTON

The BBC's red button interactive TV service will broadcast live coverage of all on-track sessions - Friday and Saturday practice, qualifying and race.

There will be an additional interactive analysis programme following on from the end of the BBC One coverage of each race.

On race day, viewers will be able to choose from three different video streams.

These will be: the main network feed with a choice of commentary from BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live; a split screen comprising the main network feed; an in-car camera feed and leaderboard; rolling highlights.

RADIO

Radio 5 Live will again be providing extensive coverage and live commentary of all on-track action - on 5 Live on 909 and 693MW and 5 Live Sports extra on digital radio.

David Croft will be the commentator, with former F1 driver Anthony Davidson as the expert analyst and Holly Samos as pit-lane reporter.

The station will continue with its half-hour 5 Live Formula One show on Friday evenings during race weekends.

It also has the Chequered Flag Podcast which is available after every race and features interviews with all the main players and in-depth analysis.

ONLINE

The BBC Sport website will carry live all BBC One, BBC Two and red button coverage of F1.

There will be multiple live video streaming, which will mirror what is available on the red button.

For the first time, video will be available in high quality, enabling viewers to watch on the internet near-television quality video.

In addition to the live text commentary and news and analysis which was already a feature of the website, there will be a number of new features for 2009.

These will include: extensive post-race video highlights; video race reviews by Murray Walker; interactive circuit guides; several blogs, including a diary-type F1 mole; columns; and comprehensive results and statistics.

The new-look BBC F1 website will be launched in the run-up to the season.

Mobile users will be able to access the latest news, insight and results.

Lewis Hamilton starts his defence of the drivers' title he won in dramatic style last year in Melbourne, Australia, on 29 March.

We will provide further details of our coverage plans closer to that date.

FORMULA ONE ON THE BBC IN 2009

Schedule times, channels and services will be provided in due course

MELBOURNE - AUSTRALIA

Friday 27 March

Practice: TBC, Red Button and BBC Sport website

Saturday 28th March

Qualifying: 0500-0715, BBC One/BBC Red Button/Radio 5 Live/online

Re-run: 1300-1415, BBC One

Sunday 29th March

Race: 0600-0900, BBC One/BBC Red Button/Radio 5 Live/online

Interactive Forum: 0900-1000, BBC Red Button/online

Race re-run: 1300-1500, BBC One/BBC Red Button/online

Highlights: 1900-2000, BBC Three/BBC Red Button/online

BBC F1 Coverage details revealed !

2009-02-24T16:51:00.002Z

The Chain will be returning with the BBC F1 Music

After the race finishes there will be half an hour coverage on BBC1 and than an Hour on the Red Button

All Qualification and Races will be like aon BBC 1 and any races that finish before 10am will be re-ran later on in the day aswell

The red button will have 3 options : The main feed with a choice of Comms, Split Screen with Main feed/in car camera/leaderboard, also rolling highlights

Halo Wars Achievements

2009-02-17T09:48:00.001Z

Adjudicate the Arbiter: Complete the Campaign on Heroic Difficulty (30)

Detour the Great Journey: Complete the Campaign on Legendary Difficulty (50)

Momma’s Boy: Get a Gold Medal on any mission (5)

Crushed Colors: Improve your Score in any Campaign Mission (10)

Mr. Punctual: Finish all missions under Par Time on Heroic difficulty (15)

Own Worst Enemy: Get a Gold Medal with all Debuff Skulls Active (20)

Wall of Recognition: Get a Gold Medal on every Campaign Mission (30)

Epic Grinder: Obtain a Lifetime Campaign Score over 1,000,000 (40)

Everything’s Better with Bacon: Mission 1: Ram 50 Grunts with Warthogs (5)

Endless Fun: Mission 2: Destroy every Methane Tank (5)

Covenant “Hot Drop”: Mission 3: Kill at least 5 Covenant Units with the Bridge (5)

The Real Winner: Mission 4: Save Adam (5)

He’s Got The Jack: Mission 5: Jack 6 Covenant Vehicles (5)

Rhino Hugger: Mission 6: Successfully protect every Rhino (5)

Micro Manager: Mission 7: Do not destroy any Power Node (5)

Ramblin’ Man: Mission 8: Use Elephants to train 100 Infantry (5)

Sweet Naptime: Mission 9: Put every Colony in Hibernation Mode at the same time (5)

The Procrastinator: Mission 10: Disrupt all Tractor Beams (5)

Battened Down the Hatches: Mission 11: Save all the Airlocks (5)

Handy with Tools: Mission 12: Repair the Power Core in less than 4 minutes (5)

Beaming with Pride: Mission 13: Destroy 25 units with the Scarab (5)

Didn’t Get To Second Base: Mission 14: Don’t claim an extra base (5)

Thinkin’ about My Doorbell: Mission 15: Open the Doors in order (5)

Backscratcher: Complete any Campaign Mission in Co-op Mode (10)

OMG BFF FTW: Complete entire Campaign in Co-op Mode (40)

Playin’ the Field: Win a Skirmish Game with every Leader (15)

Gallivant around the Galaxy: Win a game on every Skirmish Map (25)

Empire Builder: Win a game in every Skirmish Game Mode (5)

Titan: Get 20,000 points in any Skirmish Game (15)

Big Al’s Scooter: Win a Heroic Skirmish Game against the AI in under 10 minutes (10)

My Virtual Friends Love Me: Win a 3v3 Skirmish game with 2 AI Allies (10)

Walk-Off Winner: Use one of the 6 Major Leader Powers to destroy an enemy's last unit (30)

2 Bugs are Better Than 1: Win a Skirmish Game with Dual Scarabs (10)

Penny Pincher: Get a winning High Score with 10 or less Squads against the Heroic AI (10)

N00b n0 M0r3: Win a Matchmade Skirmish Game on Xbox LIVE (10)

So Lonely at the Top: Win and have the Highest Score in a Matchmade Skirmish Game On XBox Live (20)

Basically Naive: Obtain the Recruit Rank on Xbox LIVE (10)

Officer on Deck: Obtain the Lieutenant Rank on Xbox LIVE (30)

Running the Show: Obtain the General Rank on Xbox LIVE (50)

Alas, Poor Andrew Thomas: Collect your first Skull (5)

Graverobber: Collect all Skulls (30)

Halo Academic: Unlock 20 Timeline Events (15)

Halo Historian: Unlock All Timeline Events (40)

Ready for the Sequel: 100% Completion (75)

24 Hours of Quality: Play Halo Wars for at least 24 Total Hours (20)

Meet Seargeant Forge: Completed Mission 1 on any difficulty (10)

Ice Warriors: Completed Act I on any difficulty (40)

Key To Pirth: Completed Act II on any difficulty (50)

Ugly is only Skin Deep: Completed Act III on any difficulty (70)

No Way Home?: Completed Act IV on any difficulty (70)

Race pro Xbox LIVE options

2009-02-14T23:51:00.000Z

Here are the Xbox Live options when you're creating a room:

Difficulty (Novice, Semi-Pro, Professional)
Track
Car class
Race length (1-75 laps) You can pick from 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 all the way to 75, and amount you want
Weather (Dry, Rain)
Damage Sensitivity (Off, Forgiving, Intermediate, Realistic)
Brake and tire ware (On, Off)
Language
Player slots
AI opponents
Invite only (Yes, No)
Qualification (Yes, No)

Depending on what difficulty you set the room to, depends on what driver aids people in the room can use. If the room is set to Professional, then it seems that NO driver aids can be used.

Race Pro QnA

2009-02-03T21:39:00.001Z

First of all, could you give Xbox 360 owners a bit of an introduction to Simbin and tell us about your history in racing games?
DS: SimBin was founded in 2003 by Henrik Roos and in late 2004 we released our first PC titled – GTR. At the time, Simbin was a young company with a relatively small distribution team.

Today, SimBin consists of two development studios, a headquarters and hand picked offsite consultants who have all been recruited through our communities.

My own history in racing games is that of a racing game fan that played all the racing games as soon as they got released – regardless of system/platform. Through the community, I got an early access to GTR and based on testing the one car and track featured in the build – A Lister Storm and Spa Francorchamps – I wrote a “Hands on report”. My approach to writing the piece was to let my fellow racing game fans feel what I felt, but also try to be as constructive as possible when I wrote about some negative aspects of the “game build”. This led me to receive an invitation to Spa Francorchamps to meet SimBin and see the company’s race car on the track during the 24 hour race.

From there, one thing led to another, and today I work as the Creative Director for SimBin Studios. Who would have thought that this could be possible standing at Eau Rouge on a warm summer’s day in 2004!

We hear that your CEO, Henrik Roos, has an interesting history in racing – what’s the story?
DS: Yes, Henrik has owned his own GT Class race team and driven both in the Swedish GT championship and the FIA GT Championship with a Viper GTS-R. He won the Swedish GT Championship with the Viper GTS-R and managed to find funding to go for a full season in FIA GT the following season.

It is through Henrik’s racing career and knowledge of the racing scene that we managed to create GTR. All data recorded during two full seasons of FIA GT created the foundation of our data base used during physics creation.

Top level management in SimBin all have backgrounds in and around real racing. This means that we all know exactly what we want our games to communicate to the player both in terms of feel and immersion.

So how has this passion for racing transferred to RACE Pro?
DS: First and foremost our passion for racing rubs off on the development team - our offices and studios all feature elements from racing.

We also make an effort in making sure the development team gets exposed to racing, both by going to races all over Europe and through our connections and relationships with the teams and manufacturers so that we can get the guys up close and personal with the cars and tracks.

It is impossible to describe in words what a drive a around the track in a race car feels like; we therefore try to get our guys into the cars with a race driver for a few laps. It has never failed to amaze me how much of an impact such a drive can have on people and how much it changes their perception of what goes on inside a race car during a race.

It is important to remember that apart from being passionate about real racing we are all also passionate about racing games and we act like little kids when we get to drive a car or a track for the first time as part of production.

When we drive a car or a track for the first time, we often end up in a trip down memory lane where the topic of conversation turns to when or where we saw the car or track in real life.

Why is the time right to get your first Xbox 360 game out of the garage?
DS:
We wanted to provide the console crowd with our type of racing game and we believe there is a market for us on console.

At the end of the day, it is all a matter of mindset: the appeal to us is pure racing - it is the emotional rollercoaster ride while sitting behind the wheel of a race car. We therefore believe that RACE Pro is able to move and excite fans of racing.

What type of gamer are you aiming RACE Pro at?
DS: RACE Pro is aimed at anyone with a love for racing and racing cars.

RACE Pro targets both players new to racing and seasoned race game players, the game can be configured to be as much of a “sim” as the player wants it to be.

SimBin’s philosophy of “easy to learn – hard to master” has been a thread throughout the development process and focus has been on making sure the game would not “scare” away players new to racing. RACE Pro is meant to be a game they can grow with and a game that will challenge the players on their terms.

For the seasoned racing game players, the leader boards, online and AI races will show that there are lots of tenths, or maybe even seconds, still to find and it is during the hunt for these elusive tenths that the physics of RACE Pro really begins to flex its muscles.

The game will remain intuitive but get increasingly harder as the player takes the cars further and closer to their actual limits.

What types of racing and which types of motors should gamers expect?
DS: RACE Pro is all about circuit racing, therefore RACE Pro features officially licensed tracks from all over the world, including tracks such as the Macau circuit in its official layout, Laguna Seca, Valencia, Monza, Porto, Pau and Brands Hatch, to name just a few.

The cars are mostly race cars, but RACE Pro also offers a few of the race cars in their street legal form – Audi R8, Gumpert Apollo, Viper SRT10, Koenigsegg CCX and the 1018hp CCXR.

RACE Pro features race classes with Mini Cooper, Caterham CSR, Radical SR3 and SR4, WTCC, Formula BMW, Formula 3000, WTCC Extreme and then a host of GT cars split into three classes – GT Club, GT Sport and GT Pro.

In the GT classes, RACE Pro features cars such as the Aston Martin DBR9 and DBRS9, Corvette C6R and C5R, Saleen SR7, Viper Competition Coupe and GTS-R, BMW M3 GTR and Z4 GTR, Koenigsegg CCGT plus many more.

In addition to all the officially licensed cars and race cars, RACE Pro also offers a class of licensed prototype cars called WTCC Extreme. These cars are based on the WTCC cars but are taken to the “extreme” with rear wheel drive, light weight body kits, big wheels and big 600hp engines. With a chassis only weighing 1000Kg, these 600hp cars are extremely fast and alongside the formula 3000 cars are the fastest cars of the game in terms of lap times.

All tracks and cars have been created based on real data provided to us by the license in addition to data collection done on location by the SimBin Reference Team.

What features have you put in place to make RACE Pro more accessible for the casual gamer or a racing fan more used to arcade-style games?
DS: The most noticeable “feature” if you will is the Simbin mindset of “easy to learn – hard to master”.

With RACE 07 for PC, I believe that we managed to combine an accessible racing game with a racing game that also catered for the more seasoned (or more sim oriented) racing game fan. We did this by working really hard on the physics of the cars as well as the controls, especially controls other than wheel and pedal kits.

In order to make a game accessible, it has to be intuitive - even the most arcade oriented games can be hard to drive if the controls or feel of the car is not intuitive.

In terms of features designed to help the player, RACE Pro features a race line and driving aids. What is interesting about both the racing line and the driving aids is that these are both components from real life racing.

The race line (though not using the same color codes as that in RACE Pro) is right there for the driver to see on the track surface. What I refer to is the race groove: to the driver this is as informative as the colored race line accessible within the game. Worth noting is that RACE Pro of course features the race groove and once the players have learned how to use it, it can easily replace the colored race line.

As for driving aids, anti locking brakes and to some extend the stability system are not often used in real racing. But traction control is used in more or less all real life GT championships. Despite this undisputable fact, there are still purists who prefer their racing free of any aids. Luckily, RACE Pro allows the player to configure the game to suit their own perception of what is realistic.

There haven’t been many new Xbox 360 racing games recently - how do you see the racing landscape on Xbox 360 and where does RACE Pro fit?
DS: True, 2008 with regards to racing games has been pretty quiet. I do however think there have been some pretty cool driving and car games during 2008.

How do I see the racing landscape on Xbox 360? To me, this is a multi facetted question.

On consoles and on PC, there are enthusiasts who take their racing very seriously and I am sure they would welcome some better peripheral support or a broader selection of choices.

All racing game developers are looking for that next feature, function or style that will make their game stand out and come across as special.

SimBin’s approach has always been immersion first, and I hope that this is what will make RACE Pro stand out from the crowd and thereby let us fit into the racing game genre alongside the very capable competition already present on the Xbox 360 platform.

Would you claim that RACE Pro is the most realistic racing game on Xbox 360?
DS: No, I would not call RACE Pro the most realistic racing game for the Xbox 360 - what defines realism depends on personal preference and it would be wrong of me to dictate what people’s preferences should be.

RACE Pro is SimBin’s portrayal of real racing based on a selection of real life data. How we have chosen to treat the real life data is ultimately what defines the experience the player will have with the game and I certainly think RACE Pro features what matters the most and that is accuracy, attention to detail and immersion.

We believe that our approach creates a realistic portrayal of being behind the wheel of a race car, but as with beauty being in the eye of the beholder, I think the same can be said about realism. Therefore, I will let the players be the judge of the level of realism in RACE Pro.

Have you gone for 30fps or 60fps, and what influenced your decision?
DS: RACE pro runs at 30fps.
Ultimately, the Xbox 360 hardware dictated our decision as it also needed to run our level of simulation.

What kind of career modes have you implemented?
DS: The game features a progressive career mode that has been created using influences from real life.

In order to go racing for a team, the player needs a contract. There are two ways of getting a “seat” with a team: one being to “force” your way by paying the big bucks; the other is to do a try out for the team. If the player’s performance matches the expectations of the team, the cost of a “seat” will be a lot less. We let the player choose which option they would to follow and according to what their financial balance dictates.

The career mode also features “Stand in” contracts. In real life, a stand in would be called in if a team’s normal driver is unable to race a given race or races. Stand in contracts let the player get their hands on cars not yet unlocked while at the same time earning a little extra cash.

What about Xbox LIVE? Was LIVE racing a big focus for you during development?
DS: RACE Pro is about pure racing and the online experience should reflect this as much as possible.

We wanted 12 players during online races and we wanted to make sure that even 2 guys would be able to have a meaningful online session.

So with this as our main target, we began working on adding AI support into the multiplayer experience. The implementation ensures that if AI is added to the session, the AI will never block a human opponent from entering the session. The AI “only” acts as fill.

We wanted players to be able to practice online and early in the design phase it was considered to add a stand alone online practice mode. We ended up making the lobby support practicing online.

Once a session has been launched by the host it will be in “waiting for players” state and in this state all players are able to drive around the track.

During testing, we found that players often chose to stay in “waiting for players” state and simply practice, work on setups and do “cat and mouse” sessions and of course discuss these elements using the communicator.

The host dictates when to change to the race session, so these online practice sessions can last as long as wanted.

When setting up a session, the host can choose between a ranked or an unranked race, and configuration of the races offers the exact same options as when setting up an offline race against the AI.

RACE Pro offers online races of up to 75 laps and as little as 2 laps, so there should be something for both those in for a quick racing fix and those with a need for an endurance style racing experience.

Do you have any special plans to support the RACE Pro community? I’m thinking leaderboards, tournaments, websites, challenges, opportunities for RACE Pro racers to line up on the grid with the Simbin team…?
DS: In addition to the games website, there are quite a few online communities based around our PC releases and many of these have geared up for the release of RACE Pro. They all look forward to welcoming their new racing fan colleagues and I am sure that RACE Pro players will be able to find a good community to be part of.

RACE Pro has leader board support.

As for SimBin staffers racing the public and media, this is something we have done before with our PC releases and this is something we will aim to repeat with RACE Pro.

What’s in the future for the RACE Pro series on Xbox 360?
DS: The immediate future might see some really cool DLC content coming RACE Pro’s way!

The long term future very much depends on how well the game is received and how well it does in stores.

And finally, what do you see in the future for racing videogames? Can they keep getting more realistic or has a ceiling been reached? How can you keep gamers interested?
DS: How do we measure realism?

For example, is our tyre model more realistic than our competitors? It could actually be that our tyre model uses less parameters and therefore seems less complex. A realistic tyre simulation is run on a massive computer and to think that a tyre model in a racing game is anything near a realistic tyre simulation is plain silly.

The ability to choose what parameters to simulate and how to simulate them defines how realistic a game will feel. The combinations of what to simulate and how to do so are endless, and I do not for a second think that anyone has found the magic combination. We are getting closer, but there is still lots to be learned and lots of new approaches to explore. I view this as a welcome challenge for all of us in the industry.

What type of racing games this gives us in the future is for the future to tell, I for one can not wait to see what the future has in store for all us racing game fans!

Race Pro Goes Gold, Shipping on the 20th

2009-01-30T20:42:00.000Z

NEW YORK, NY – January 30, 2009 – Atari today announced that RACE Pro is in the final straight and heading for the finish line with development on the ultra realistic racing game now complete. Coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, RACE Pro brings gamers closer than ever to the real thrill of the race track. Developed by renowned award-winning game developer SimBin, a leading creator of PC racing simulators, RACE Pro brings SimBin's formidable skill and know-how to Xbox 360 for the very first time. The title ships in North America on February 17th and launches across Europe on February 20th 2009.

RACE Pro recreates a breathtaking reality giving gamers the ultimate racing simulation experience, all powered by Lizard, SimBin's own physics engine. With precision physics and handling, racers will feel every bend and burst of acceleration along with every emotion from pre-race tension in the pit lanes to the exhilaration of capturing the checker flag. RACE Pro provides unrivalled realism and deep immersion into the racing world through ultra realistic car models and official FIA championships and tracks. Putting players in the driving seats of their simulated racing careers, racers will have the opportunity to work their way up the leader boards through intense training and winning key races. RACE Pro has something for everyone, allowing players of all levels to pick up and play, while offering challenging tracks and advanced modes for the more experienced players.

The wealth of cars in RACE Pro ranges from 200 to over 1000 horse power, encompassing a host of championships including WTCC (World Touring Car Championship), Formula 3000 and Formula BMW. GT cars from manufacturers including Aston Martin and Saleen take their place on the grid as well as production cars such as the Audi R8 and Dodge Viper SRT10. In addition, RACE Pro is exclusively bringing all the WTCC cars from manufacturers BMW, Chevrolet and Seat to Xbox 360 for the very first time. For a blast of accessible fun, the Mini Cooper Challenge invites players of all abilities to take the wheel.

Gamers and racing fans alike will experience the thrill of racing these powerful cars on 13 real life tracks covering all continents, of which Macau, Porto and Pau are exclusive to RACE Pro, and US tracks Laguna Seca and Road America are brand new to SimBin fans.

Online play via Xbox LIVE online entertainment network and system Link support lets up to 12 players take on equally high-powered opponents and test their skills to the limit to reach the finish line ahead of the pack. For friends closer to home, the brand new 'Hot Seat' feature puts players in the driving seat for a limited amount of time before passing the controller to the next player and so on, demanding exceptionally quick reactions and precision racing from even the most seasoned drivers.

Nothing gets closer to racing than RACE Pro, the ultra real racing simulation game exclusive to Xbox 360, shipping in North America on February 17th and available in Europe on February 20th 2009.

Race Pro slips 1 week

2009-01-26T22:14:00.002Z

Race Pro has slipped by a week from the 13th of Feb to now the 20th of Feb. I got a feeling thats the last delay we will see, they gotta be confident if they have only delayed it for a Week ...

There is still some controversy as to wether the US will get the game the same time as Europe, there are rumours saying that it has slipped to April over there.

I am on the fence as to wether I am happy about this, on one hand I dont want friends to miss out playing the game, but then I can see why this may have happened as Europe is Simbin's biggest market (Look at how the US Market killed the "Race Driver" series)

My HDD Hits a Snag ....

2009-01-25T02:28:00.002Z

I have only had a small HDD in my Laptop (80Gb) which seemed fine for a while as anything I was downloading was being put onto Disks so not taking up much space , Well that was fine until I started not having time to burn DVD's ... My HDD soon clogged up with Data and it was becoming an issue to the point that I needed an External HDD...

I finally brought one about a month ago , A Maxtor 500Gb which seems a far cry from my 80Gb, I also got a free 2Gb Pen Drive at the same time as part of the offer, so alls been well I've been filling it with more Movies, Pictures and Music ... And heres where I hit the snag, The 360 doesn't recognise the HDD as it doesn't run as a flash drive ... Grr ...

Would it not be easy for Microsoft to add a functinality to let the 360 see external HDD's ? Although this issue bugged me at first I have a work around by using the pen drive when, although it takes away the issue of it not recognising the HDD it adds another step to the process of copying files onto the Pen Drive

What am I playing ........

2009-01-23T23:40:00.002Z

Listening to at the moment - Manian - Welcome to the Club

I am playing Need For Speed Undercover. Yeah its got its issues (Stuttering/ frame rates) BUT when you progress in the Story line you get out into the open and out of the city which helps a lot with the Frame Rate dropping, EA have also announced that their will be a patch for this and other issues with the game.

It is a very enjoyable game, I got it when it was on sale and im happy with the purchase, I would have even paid full price for it, really good game !

iPhone - Still going strong still using it for a lot of Music and Podcasts, Started adding Videos onto it aswell and am enjoying them on the screen on the move. I have found an AWESOME Application that pulls your friends pictures from Facebook and adds them to your Contacts to make use of the Photo area without actually having to take a picture of every single friend

NVQ- NVQ Is going well I have had my work sent off for verification so we shall see if it coomes back as a pass or if there is a little more I need to do on it... Then I can move onto the next Level :D

Major Nelson Achievement Boosting !

2009-01-22T22:46:00.003Z

Mr Major Nelson ... You have been caught ... 2 Fallouts ! Shame on you ... E sort him out :D

Sony take an Epic Fail !

2009-01-09T01:17:00.003Z

WOW What an EPIC Fail by Sony !

Sony decided to try and jump on the price comparison bandwagon and show why their rediculous price is justified ...

They stated :

The Xbox 360 requires additional money, multiple upgrades and additional external devices, putting a burden on the wallet and adds clutter to the entertainment center. And the Wii's lack of enhanced features comes at the expense of a comprehensive entertainment solution. So as PS3 continues to evolve without the need for additional parts or expenses, expect the competition to continue peddling add-ons in an effort to keep up with the Jones'.

Now OK, you have a point that the 360 doesnt come with some stuff but to say that it "Requires" additional money ... That's pushing the boundaries !

They also decided to take the Arcade system that is the "Basic" console and in no way can be compared with the PS3 ...

So lts bring this into what it should be compared as ...

PS3 - $399

360 - Pro 60Gb - $299
Wireless Adaptor - Not needed but ok - $100
Hard Drive ... Included Dumb Sony !
Online Gaming Service $50 (OPTIONAL but there is a reason you pay for it, Have you actually tried your PSN Sony ?)
Blu-Ray Gaming/Movies ... Blu-Ray is NO advantage in the gaming market ...
HDMI - Lose Sony ALL 3 SKU's come with HDMI

so in fact the 360 would be $450 ...

But then is wouldn't, who would use the Wireless Adaptor, we already know Wireless Internt is crap for gaming

And the $50 for LIVE, Yeah we pay that for the reason of having an Awesome online service

LIVE Activity for week of December 29th

2009-01-07T00:28:00.001Z

LIVE Activity for week of December 29th

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 CoD: World at War
2 Halo 3
3 Gears of War 2
4 Call of Duty 4
5 Left 4 Dead
6 Guitar Hero World Tour
7 GTA IV
8 Fallout 3
9 Madden NFL 09
10 Fable II

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
1 Castle Crashers
2 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
3 Worms
4 Puzzle Arcade
5 UNO®
6 A Kingdom for Keflings
7 Banjo-Kazooie
8 N+
9 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
10 Braid

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
3 Fable
4 Counter-Strike
5 Conker: Live Reloaded
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Star Wars: Battlefront
8 Doom 3
9 Burnout 3
10 Call of Duty 3

Top Community Games NEW! (Full Versions purchased)
1 Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp
2 Word Soup
3 Fireplace
4 CarneyVale Showtime
5 Weapon of Choice
6 EZMuze Break and House edition
7 Dr. Popper
8 Machiavelli's Ascent
9 sin(Surfing)
10 Snowmans Dilemma

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade and Community Games, full versions purchased during the week.

Top 20 Games of 2008

2009-01-07T00:27:00.001Z

The Top 20 LIVE Games of 2008

Last year was a great year to be an Xbox 360 gamer as is evident by the quality of titles that Xbox LIVE members were playing. After a few days of number crunching, here are the top games for 2008 based on Xbox Live connectivity.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1	Halo 3
2	Call of Duty 4
3	GTA IV
4	Gears of War 2
5	Gears of War
6	CoD: World at War
7	Guitar Hero III
8	Battlefield: Bad Company Demo
9	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
10	Rock Band
11	Fable II
12	Mirror's Edge Demo
13	Madden NFL 09
14	BF: Bad Company
15	Rainbow Six Vegas 2
16	UNO
17	Castle Crashers
18	COD: World at War Multiplayer Beta
19	Forza Motorsport 2
20	Too Human - Demo

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)

1	Castle Crashers
2	Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
3	Braid
4	A Kingdom for Keflings
5	UNO
6	Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
7	Fable II Pub Games
8	Duke Nukem 3D
9	Bionic Commando: Rearmed
10	Worms
11	SOULCALIBUR
12	Portal: Still Alive
13	DOOM
14	1942: Joint Strike
15	Bomberman Live
16	MEGA MAN 9
17	N+
18	Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
19	Marble Blast Ultra
20	Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1	Halo 2
2	Fable
3	Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
4	Counter-Strike
5	Fable: Lost Chapters
6	Doom 3
7	Conker: Live Reloaded
8	Splinter Cell Chaos
9	SW: KOTOR
10	SW: Republic Commando
11	Star Wars: Battlefront
12	Burnout 3
13	Guilty Gear XX #Reload
14	Gauntlet Seven Sorrows
15	Call of Duty 3
16	Ninja Gaiden Black
17	Crimson Skies
18	MechAssault 2
19	Call of Duty 2
20	Rainbow Six 3

2009 Formula 1 car debuts detailed ...

2009-01-06T23:02:00.002Z

With th notable absnce of anything relating to a Honda car, althogh it is in development a buyr is still to be found ...

January 12 Ferrari

January 15 Toyota

January 16 McLaren

January 19 Renault

January 19 Williams

January 20 BMW

February 2 Red Bull

TBC Toro Rosso & Force India

Microsoft (And the world) expecting a PS3 price cut

2009-01-06T21:13:00.002Z

Well after the 360 trounced the PS3 in sales last year we expect the reason is the price point ... When you look at the price you can get the 360 for £163 but you are still looking at a whpping £287 for a PS3. Thats a whopping £124 difference ... And it gets worse if you go for the Arcade you are going to save another £39 (The Arcade costs a mere £124).

So you can actually buy an Arcade AND a Premium for the price of a PS3, When you look at these figures you can see why it is clear that the PS3 is in a losing battle with itself.

Aaron Greenburg from Microsft has also commented on ths saying that Microsoft expct Sony to drop the price in the coming months : "We absolutely expect the PS3 Price drop to happen in the next couple of months. We’re frankly surprised it’s taken this long. I would expect they’d have to move on price, sooner than later, for sure."

The only question is when, could it be as soon as this week at CES or could Sony wait til E309 later this year?

Turn 10 accidentally confirmed as Working on Forza 3

2009-01-05T20:34:00.004Z

Turn 10 recently announced that they were working on their "next big thing" which we all thought was either the next installment of the Forza franchise or jumping over to build PGR5 after Bizzare got snapped up by Activision.

Well it seems a Devlopment Partner has let slip that they are working on Forza 3 along with Turn 10

Forza Central found that Kaarbo Design created lots of the graphics for the Original Forza and listed Forza 3 as another title they hav worked on ... Although they have now removed the entry from their site ... It was up long enuogh for these screen shots !

Zetes ...

2009-01-04T23:19:00.003Z

Removed by request ...

Moto GP 2009 Calendar

2009-01-04T22:31:00.000Z

12 April Losail Circuit | Qatar

GRAND PRIX OF QATAR

26 April Motegi | Japan

GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN

03 May Jerez | Spain

GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA

17 May Le Mans | France

GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE

31 May Mugello | Italy

GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA

14 June Circuit de Catalunya | Catalunya

GRAN PREMI DE CATALUNYA

27 June Assen | Netherlands

TT ASSEN

05 July Laguna Seca | United States

U.S. GRAND PRIX

19 July Sachsenring | Germany

MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX DEUTSCHLAND

26 July Donington Park | Great Britain

BRITISH GRAND PRIX

16 August Automotodrom Brno | Czech Republic

GRAND PRIX CESKE REPUBLIKY

30 August Indianapolis | Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS GRAND PRIX

06 September Misano | San Marino

GP DI SAN MARINO E DELLA RIVIERA DI RIMINI

20 September Balatonring | Hungary

GRAND PRIX OF HUNGARY

04 October Estoril | Portugal

GRANDE PREMIO DE PORTUGAL

18 October Phillip Island | Australia

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

25 October Sepang Circuit | Malaysia

MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

08 November Comunitat Valenciana | Valencia

GRAN PREMIO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA

F1 2009 Calendar

2009-01-04T22:29:00.000Z

March 29 Australia
April 5 Malaysia
April 19 China
April 26 Bahrain
May 10 Spain
May 24 Monaco
June 7 Turkey
June 21 Great Britain
July 12 Germany
July 26 Hungary
Aug 23 Europe (Valencia)
Aug 30 Belgium
Sept 13 Italy
Sept 27 Singapore
Oct 4 Japan
Oct 18 Brazil
Nov 1 Abu Dhabi*

* subject to circuit approval

TBH I cannot wait to see the new cars on the track, Lets hope BBC do a good coverage !

I guess the Race is off ...

2009-01-04T01:32:00.002Z

A while back i challenged Darce to a race, A race with no ending ... Who could get the most Gamerscore ... For a wee while it looked like I was losing and lagging behind Darce a LOT ... But all of a sudden I got serious and have pulled (At the time of writing) a 3,381 lead on Darcy :D

So this is a little Call out to Darcy ... Catch up lol :D

Why do some people even bother ! Part 2 of the onslaught !

2008-12-31T00:16:00.002Z

Ok so I have now been doing some "Research" on this , and by research I mean about 10 mins of Reading, Modder Extrordinare Ben Heck had the same problem when making the 360 Laptop that the CPU Heatsink was too tall so being a proper modder and having some brains Ben reworked a new Heatsink at half the size and added some fans to help the cooling ...

Now from the "Pics" of the "Modded PS3 360" you can see the Heat sync is too big ... Easy use Ben's method and you have just made room to fit in the DVD Drive above the CPU.

Now the Modder that did the slot loading 360 (Coincidentally from the Ben Heck Forums) used an iMac slot loading DVD Drive then replaced the innards of the 360 drive to make it work with the 360, this methor actually means the DVD drive will overall be thinner in any case, it was then just a case of making a transistor board to recognise everything...

So we have made room for the DVD Drive to sit where the PS3's original one would, so that is sorted, Now Ben has put the USB's in various places whilst making the Laptops/Portable 360's SO ... We know we can move the USB's to the bottom left of the Face to fit in with where there are already slots for the PS3 ... Now I was thinking you could put the Memory Card slots to the left hole that would be left by the card readers (Obviously this would mean it would need an older 40GB Case to have the lift up door (Or you could just make your own ... )) this would mean the Memory Card slots are kept hidden to keep the PS3's clean look ...

So we have moved the Memory Card Slots, the DVD Drive the USB's all we need to do now is put the HDD on, now I would be making the unit as a Horizontally placed unit thus meaning that you wuld be able to add an external HDD Drive that is removeable like the 360 is now (If It was a vertical unit the HDD would then sit on the bottom so not good). I would dis-assemble the left side case of the PS3 and re-make it to fit an xbox 360 HDD onto the side of it.

To Finish off you will be looking at the Fans you have 2 or 3 new fans to compensate for the reworked Heat sink, I would then add 2 or 3 bigger fans on the back (Where they would normally sit) to make the air flow a little better I would also see if I can add some fans to the right hand side of the case to pull in some air ...

Now I have thought and written this in about 15 mins, to call your "Mod" succesful and the "First PS360" you need to have it looking good, I myself would be ashamed of that as a "Mod" !

This tempts me to go out buy a PS3 case and make a PS360 with my spare 360 that actually works how it should but I feel I lack the neccesary knowledge/ability to do it ...

Why do some people even bother !

2008-12-30T21:51:00.004Z

I've only just came across this and havent even bothered to read it due to the sheer stupidity of the Pictures !

Someone has decided to fit a 360 inside a PS3 case good Idea would look cool if done properly, unfortunatley this guy clearly doesnt have a clue !!!

He has by the looks of the photo's gouged out what hes needed to to fit in the 360 and just chucked it all in.

Now im a relative n00b to Modding but you would surely work with the existing outlets, I.e I would move the DVD Drive to the right so it would work with the Slot loading PS3, this would then find out how the slot loading 360 dvd drive was made and modify the drive so it works as a PS3 would.

You then would need to jiggle the way the innards are done so that is all fits within the case with the HDD clearly fitting into the empty space you have made from moving the DVD Drive, Better still ! Why not make a new case end and modify it so that you can add a HDD like yoou can on a 360 ! This means that you remove the HDD as and when you want , Move the Memry Card slots into where the Card reader slot opening is on the PS3, This stuff isn't impossible we have seen Ben Heck do multiple case mods with various layouts so we know it can be done ...

We need t get these noobs off the streets !

Full and undignified "Mod" can be found here !

Need For Speed : Undercover , should be called Need for Speed : Stutt Stutt Stutter !

2008-12-30T00:08:00.003Z

I dont know how they could release this game in it's current state, you get a little action going on the screen and the framerate hits about 3fps ! This wouldnt be a problem on normal games but unfortunatled with Need for Speed the clue is in the title you will be travelling pretty fast this leads to LOTS of Framerate Drops ! Aaah well still a good story as far as Ive got into it thus far.

Who's going to be the Next Victim ...

2008-12-30T00:05:00.002Z

Well Wollies is all but gone, Zavvi joined the Administration list along with Zavvi ...

With Analysts predicting up to 10 more Big High Street chains are going to go bust. This isn't good for the economy nor for us as a nation if we are losing this many companies what are peple going to do for jobs !

iPhone + Movies + Me = WTF !

2008-12-30T00:00:00.002Z

So here I was this time last night trying to find a converter to put some Movies on my Phone, All well and good I set out to find a converter. No Problem found one pretty much instantly ...

Then comes the hold up ... I mistakenly converted as Mpeg 2 ... the iPhone uses Mpeg4 (Big Doh !) so I then convert in .Mov (Mpeg4 option within) Oh no, my phone wont have any of that ... So third time lucky I get the thing to work :D

On the subject of my Phone ... I think I need to upgrade to a 16 Gig, 8 Gig is good but I want more !

Codies in a tough position

2008-12-12T01:06:00.002Z

Now this is the news of the month, Honda have pulled out of F1 that is confirmed, no more Honda in F1 again ...

BUT what reason has Toyota got to stick around? Honda were their main competitors on track and from the same country/region, they haven't got the pace to run with the big boys but are ahead of the back runner cars, so they are In my opinion stuck in no mans land ... Where does this leave them, well I along with others feel they will use Honda as an excuse to leave the sport aswell.

This leaves the whole field in a Big predicament, although the contract details are sketchy/undisclosed at best the common theme is there have to be 16 cars willing to race at the start of a race weekend otherwise mr Bernie and his big wigs wont have a race on their hands, no we are at 18 cars on the grid at the moment with the departure of Honda, if Toyota pull out aswell we would be on the cusp of a meltdown of F1.

This then leaves Codemasters in a VERY awkard position... Have they just brought the rights off Sony to a dead horse ?

iPhone Vs. Blackberry Touch

2008-12-12T00:50:00.005Z

So my manager thought it would be a good idea to get a Blackberry Touch, and obviously with me having the iPhone there would be a comparison war coming up ...

Well we had this debate with both phones side to side and the outcome was only going one way ...

The iPhone won hands down ...

So the Touch has Wireless Email ... That is one plus over the iPhone for Hotmail users but with 3G coverage, getting to "Hotmail.com" is quick enough to combat this.

The iPhone has a FULL Web Browser, The Touch seems to have some sort of wierd web browsing I had back on an old Nokia, no pictures just text that you click to get to the next block of text to scroll through.

The Touch trumps the iPhone on Mega Pixels for the camera the Touch weighs in with 3.2 and the iPhone with only 2.0, this seemed pointless when we took a picture of the same thing using the 2 phones and the iPhone version came out much clearer.

The "Media Player" n the Touch seemed "Clunky" to use and didnt seem to flow with the layout this coubled with only 1Gb of memory on board that could be expanded via a Micro SD slot seemed a Bit outdated and surpising as they could have easily fitted 8Gb into the phone.

The thing that the Touch absolutely trounces the iPhone on is the MMS service although depending on how many pictures you want to send/receive this could go either way.

After being called a "Blackberry Touch" you would have thought they would have nailed the Touch screen ... Wrong, for some reason when in the menu you touch the Icon you want to access but this means nothing, you then need to press the whole screen in to access the sub menu, this whole process feels slow and sluggish

After about a month with the phone my manager has now came to the decision that he no longer likes the phone as it seems sluggish especially within the menu. What phone should he have got? Well in my opinion, he's missed the boat on the iPhones superiority over anything at the moment.

2008-10-20T22:17:00.003+01:00

So these are some messages I got from Chaosgreen over the last couple days...

Sorry for the bad spelling some people cannot spell for the life of them !

Just so that you get the back of this story, Back on Moto GP 06 Chaos was glitching the game and times, I blocked him as it was wrong, that was 2 years ago.

On SBK someone found a way of jumping a corner and getting a better time, I simply followed on what EVERYONE else was doing, simply cause I hit the top of the scoreboard for a long time before Joe and Pistol took it to the extreme and started to draft to get faster times on it aswell.

1, dont worry pommie shit u cant beat me
2,sorry cripple u know if u dont cheat u cant win 4fact
3, poor pommie xbla is dead
4, buy cable
5, wait im playing all year u better hope u can kick me
6, bullshit every pom 99% lags u can tell leaderboards bye xbla uk
7, ill make sure your wont in top 50 12 months i fill the board with bann xbla
8, fuck upoms forza gp sbk poms cheat
9, u wish i taught u dont u remember . mate 5 sec head start i taught mav woo rasher rubens the faggot
10, dsl cable half casts cant afford it not my problem . dont say you are better than me dont u are the best 4 fact u cheated 2 get top 10
11, mate u know eng barstards stole my tag
12, green punk smart arse you will see it soon
13, i could not give 2 shits u bastards cheat and get noobs 2 join while giving prizes 2 your mates . u slow connection down
14, mate dont play dumb with me . 5sec head start :)
15, im surpised u havent blocked me u must wanna race me
16, mate motogp3 reidy ronin laggy fucks even red eye mate i taught u all
17, very smart mate im playing get your mates 2 kick me
18, u are a record
19, no mate race fair n square:)
20, feel my wraith ..... haha
21, yes mate im older and smarter and faster
22, no u chickens wouldnt play i had 2 host every1
23, u might be ugly not a gremlin
24,no u are daz sorry 2 hear im upset im clearin the score boards
25, u off top 10
26, and forza pg3
27,no ihad sbk noob i did not cheat
28, not every1 ive got pride cheater
29, cut corners good way 2 go though life. and say your better .
30, joker
31, bullshit mate tell yourself that.
32, i taught u ill finish u.
33, 2 b continued
34, daz u shit head its chaos green69 punk im claiming my spot . your adsl2 con even though 20 gig runs at half speed u fuck times up on perpose see u soon tell your english mates ill wipe them leaderboard .not every1 cuts corners only faggot children.
35, u racist little fuck
36, cant uremember yous were 2 scared of me thats why you blocked me.
37, u fucken sheep grow balls cheaters
38, niggas dont play cricket
39, bullshit
40, chaos i got blocked fuckin in 06
41, u are and dont say otherwise ill stickup 4 aussies
42, bullshit queensland lags dickhead city people dont.
43, bullshit yous did have class but the socalled fame has got u.
44, only teaching u a lession. 4 blockingme.
45, this is not finished. cheater
46, mate fuckin noob
47, ill teach u class have your 5 gear setup ready im not fucking around in 1st person anymore.punk
48, forza u cheated 03 06 07 08 it stops here bigben2
49, dont be scared i cant get yous fierd but ill make yous look stupid.
50, sunset yous quailfy cheat bye extra runup and cutting corner then in race yous race proparly.
51, all tournements
52,dont start do i have 2 teach u everything . fact yous ran out of data allowence and prey that u get 1 lap .

So after reading all those whos the one that looks stupid?

XBLA dont get people in to make certain people win...

he states Im a Racist yet he uses words like "Pomme" and "Nigga" actively, I merely stated a fact that Australians lag online to most of the world ... He's trying to make out that its only the "English" that lag...

He states that I have "Cheated" on Forza 03 , 06 , 07 , 08

Forza you cant cheat on, GP3, 06, and 07 I have NEVER "Cheated" as he puts it. And I cant see how I can "Cheat" on 08 as 08 isnt out until Thursday ...

He keeps going back to the Internet connection aswell. I dont have crap Internet, im using Cable on a 10 meg connection... plenty fast enough :)