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Head-to-head racing with Blur, Need for Speed: Shift, Split/Second, and Forza 3
Are racing games the new first-person shooter? Revving up for release and shown off at E3 with tires smoking were Disney's Split/Second, Blur from Activision, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, and EA's Need for Speed: Shift. They range from hyper-realistic to arcadey, so chances are you'll find something that's right up your alley among these four. But which one will you choose? We spoke to all four developers and asked them the same questions to see how they'd stack up, and you can check out the results after the break.
Forza 3 Limited Edition comes with 'VIP Membership' status
If you're willing to drop bundles of real-life cash for a bit of virtual notoriety, Turn 10 has got a deal that should tickle your unusual fancy. The U.S. Gamestop-exclusive limited edition bundle for Forza Motorsport 3 will hit store shelves in October, selling at $79.99, and giving its purchasers a 2GB USB dongle, a few extra cars, a dashboard theme and a "Forza Motorsport VIP Membership."What does this exclusive title give you? According to the Gamestop listing, the benefits of being a Very Important Person include "special treatment within the online Auction House, Community Storefront and on the Forzamotorsport.net forums," as well as five additional exclusive vehicles. The type of "special treatment" offered is still unknown, but our money's on virtual sensual footrubs.
Turn 10 on Forza 3: 'No game competes with us'
Forza Motorsport 3 game director Dan Greenwalt is proud of his game. More specifically, he believes that Forza 3 has surpassed all of the competition, most notably Gran Turismo. When asked how Forza is positioned against other racing stalwarts like Need for Speed and Gran Turismo, Greenwalt did not mince words. "I'm in this industry because of Gran Turismo, let's just be frank," said Greenwalt. He then explained that Gran Turismo inspired his first "stressful" car purchase, a Mitsubishi 3000GT, saying that is was "a great car in that game, and I thought 'Oh my God, if I'm ever going to have a car, that's the car that I want.'" Then things got ugly."So, props to Kazunori Yamauchi-san and the PS1 team," said Greenwalt. "That said," he continued, "I feel that he's passed us the baton. Perhaps he hasn't meant to, but we have taken the genre to new levels and they've stopped evolving the genre. So again, tremendous respect to him, but I'd say the differentiator is they're old school." He conclued, "The emperor's naked, and I don't want to, you know, I don't want to slap him around, but no game competes [with] us right now."A bold claim to make, especially considering that neither Forza 3 nor Gran Turismo 5 have actually released yet. Whenever they do, we're hoping for a good rumble, Sharks vs Jets style.
Celebrate Forza 3 by getting a free car in Forza 2
Turn 10 Studios is celebrating the announcement of Forza Motorsport 3 this week by offering up a free car to Forza 2 players who reply to their blog with their Xbox Live gamertag attached. All you have to do is follow the cryptic, Da Vinci code-like instructions buried in their FAQ to link your gamertag, leave a comment on their post, and you'll get a free customized Audi S4 to drive around. At least until the new game comes out in October.
Forza Motorsport 3 will ship on two discs
In an interview with Joystiq, Forza Motorsport 3 content director John Wendl of Turn 10, confirmed the upcoming racer would ship on two discs. As rumors last year noted, the core game will come on the game's first disc while the second will be reserved for other content -- such as vehicles and maps. "It is going to ship on two discs," Wendl said. "Disc one is the full experience, even disc one is bigger than any other racing game out there. Disc two includes a lot of extra cars, even a handful of tracks." When asked if the second disc would act as a data transfer, downloading the additional content to the hard drive for use with the first disc, Wendl told us that was "exactly right." While Turn 10 assures all gamers will be able to enjoy the full Forza 3 experience, we now have confirmation that not all gamers will be able to enjoy all 400 vehicles promised at the Microsoft press briefing.%Gallery-65065%
Forza 3 trailer is less of the Forza you love
We get it: Nice cars and tight racing action keep race fans coming back to the Forza franchise, and Forza 3 will likely keep that tradition going. But, when you release a trailer for a game -- one which is Microsoft's only racing franchise -- you should probably have some actual game footage in there. A professional skaterboarder's opinons on the franchise are incredibly interesting, but give us what we came to see: Sweet automobiles hugging turns harder than Joystiq at a teddy bear factory.
Forza 3 game guide gets the green flag from Amazon.de
Amazon.de (Germany) may have jumped the gun by listing a Forza Motorsport 3 strategy guide and becoming the latest entry in a laundry list of development-related rumors for the racing sequel.According to the listing, the 192-page guide is produced by Prima Games (the same company behind guides for the first two Forza titles) and will ship on September 30, 2009. The listing isn't confirmation that Microsoft is developing a new title in the Forza series, but if the long rumored title does exist, we'd expect Microsoft to wave the green flag during its E3 media briefing on June 1.[Via VG247]
Turn 10 hilariously shows off its new logo: Forza Watersports
You see that image above, friends (#1)? That was the image revealed last week to PortalXbox.com.br during a briefing in São Paulo, Brazil, teasing the assuredly to-be-announced at E3 2009 Forza 3, developed by Turn 10 Studios. It seems as though Turn 10 likes having a little bit of fun with its game reveals though, as the developer has released the full logo (#3), now with more silliness. Through the magic of Twitter, Turn 10 linked its followers to "the logo of the new game [it's] working on," found below in the gallery. What's weirder is a little poking around in Turn 10's conversations with others on Twitter reveals another image (#2), though clearer, and this time sans "watersports." Looks an awful lot like what could be a Forza 3 logo to us. One thing's for sure: If this game ends up to be for real, we're going to have an awful lot of egg on our face to wash off. Let's hope that's not the case!%Gallery-51574%
Rumor: Forza 3 making an appearance at E3 2009
(click to embiggen) At this point, after "supposed" artwork was leaked and the franchise's publisher, Microsoft, circulated a survey inquiring about the game, you'd think the company would just up and announce Forza 3 already. Not so, however, as Microsoft's also notoriously cagey about the game's "possible" existence within its own doors! As you can see in the video embedded after the break (and in the less than beautiful screen grab above), Microsoft hides a logo for Forza even when showing the game to its own employees a group of Xbox community members from PortalXbox.com.br during a recent, camera-laden meeting in Brazil. The crowd audibly cheers "Forza!" when the logo appears and the man in charge goes on to speak about his love for past entries in the franchise -- never mentioning "Forza 3" by name, mind you. All we get after this is a banner marked "AGUARDEM," meaning "coming soon."Will we see more of the game at E3 2009? Our money's on "Yeah, we'll probably see it then." Oh, and hey, Portuguese-speaking readers, feel free to drop us a tip with the fully translated transcript when you get a second. Thanks!UPDATE: Reader Daniel Gomes has informed us that the event was actually the "National Forum on April 25th in São Paulo" for PortalXbox.com.br, "the largest Xbox community in Brazil." Good to know!UPDATE 2: Apparently the YouTube clip we embedded after the break got pulled. Luckily, we had already downloaded the video! Feel free to check it out, still after the break!
Rumor: Forza 3 races to a Christmas 2009 release
Microsoft's currently unannounced Forza Motorsport 3 will allegedly cross the developer finish line just in time for Christmas 2009, reports VG247.Official acknowledgment of the game's existence is hopefully not too far off, as leaked assets and details, regarding the game's 400 cars and multiple discs, were already racing around the rumor mill since last year. If it's really penciled in for a holiday release, don't be too amazed if Microsoft talks up Forza 3 at GDC or June's E3 at the latest.
Forza 3 artwork all but confirms game's existence
Kaarbo Designs, a company sub-contract by Microsoft Game Studios to create menu assets for all previous Forza Motorsport titles, has gotten a bit ahead of themselves in terms of revealing the project they just finished. That project being Forza Motorsport 3.Yes sir, listed under their website's clients section are a few Forza 3 posters (now removed, but preserved by Forzacentral) that sorta prove that the yet to be officially announced racing title is real and in development by Turn 10. You can even sneak a peek at the threequel's logo on the upper left of each poster. Interestingly enough, Kaarbo mentions that the asset posters (galleried below) are not their templetes, "are only samples and are not to be used" in any Forza title. They're still pretty, though, so check 'em out below.%Gallery-40595%[Via TeamXbox]
Rumorang: Forza 3 'core game' will be on one disc
Last week we reported that Forza 3's sheer glut of content may mean the game will span two discs -- a feat not performed in console racing titles since Gran Turismo 2 back in 1999. Fears of frequent disc swapping have been tentatively belayed, however. The Angry Pixel reports that only one disc will hold the "core game" content, presumably with the second disc holding additional, non-integral features. This possible scenario comes from a source at Dhruva Interactive, an India-based game developer contracted to deliver 3D assets for Forza 3. The source also states that more news on the anticipated racing title is coming "fairly soon," so we'll hopefully get to the bottom of this "2 discs 1 game" rumor in the near future.
Rumor: Forza 3 'core game' fits on one disc
According to the ANGRY pixel and their "inside-man", Forza Motorsport 3's rumored multiple discs are true, but that the "core game" will fit on one disc. Whatever that means ...We're told that Indian asset developer Dhruva Interactive has been commissioned to create 3D assets for Forza 3 (they've previously worked on both Forza titles as well as PGR3 and PGR4), mentioning that they are hard at work churning out some 400 pretty racecar models. Using his insider Dhruva knowledge, the "inside-man" commented saying that "one way or the other, the core game will be shipped on a single disc. Content won't be sacrificed... fans will be pleasantly surprised for what's in store." So, we're even more confused to how many discs Forza 3 will be spread across and what content will be on each. Hopefully we won't have to disc swap mid race.
Intellisponse Survey Rumor Roundup
'OMG Megaton' is a phrase often uttered by fanboys everywhere. Rarely, however, is it done with any sort of sincerity. After yesterday's massive leak of Intellisponse Survey info, we think it's safe to use the phrase with complete and utter confidence: OMG MEGATON!!!!111LOLZ1! Seriously, there is so much information being disseminated that people are actually starting to mock up fake survey pages in an attempt to grab the spotlight. Here we have gathered up all the rumors -- they are just that, by the way: rumors -- that we've posted so far as well as some that Joystiq posted while we foolishly slept.Of particular interest, note the video above, which reportedly comes from an as yet unreleased Silicon Knights game entitled Crucible: The Evil Within. Looks like Too Human set in a more traditional fantasy realm, which is an idea we fully support. 'Avatars' are Microsoft's take on Mii's? First video of Silicon Knight's Crucible: The Evil Within Forza 3 will have 2 discs, 400 cars, more Guitar Hero 4 costs $179.99 w/ upgraded instruments 'Lips' is MS response to SingStar? Powers & Titans - multiplayer superhero game for 360, PS3, PC Spider-Man vs. Marvel Zombies creeping to Wii, 360, PS3 Tony Hawk to get board peripheral on 360, PS3; new Spider-Man to use Wii Fit board Ultimate Band coming to 360, PS3, compat with Rock Band instruments; new trailer for Wii Xbox Live getting massively competitive social games - Jeopardy, Millionaire, etc. Possible COD5 box arts
Survey: Forza 3 to require 2 DVDs, 'over 400 cars and 100 tracks'
Despite Metal Gear Solid 4's teasing about the limitations of the DVD format, developers are already feeling the gigabyte crunch. Take Microsoft's own Forza 3 project (What? You didn't think they were working on another one?) which, according to the recently mined Xbox survey, won't be able to squeeze into a single DVD: "due to the number of cars and tracks included in the Forza 3 game, it will be sold as a 2-disc set."Of course, the drawbacks of having multiple discs can be mitigated by handling the extra data intelligently, reducing the need to swap discs repeatedly, so we'll focus on the second part of that equation: one-hundred tracks? Seriously?
Rumor: Forza 3 will have 2 discs, 400 cars, more
We know there is a certain section of the readership that hates our guts for posting rumors, but frankly, we really don't much care. We do our best to show exactly where rumors come from, and always leave it to you to make the decision about their truthfulness for yourselves. This next one came from the same survey page that the "Xbox Avatar" rumor came from, and has all sorts of goodies in it. The page states that Forza 3 will ship on two discs, have some sort of "assist system", will be loaded to the brim with content (400 cars, 100 tracks, etc) and will have car deformation. Really though, the biggest news here is the possible hint (if the survey page is to be believed) that the game was constrained by the limitations of the DVD format ...
