codemasters
Latest
Dirt 3's Party Mode revealed, features three multiplayer mini-games
If you're intrigued by Codemasters' upcoming rally racer Dirt 3, but find yourself turned off by all the ... um, rally racing, the developer recently revealed a multiplayer-oriented "Party Mode" which might just float your boat. The mode will feature three distinctly non-racing mini-games, including: "Invasion," in which players drive around an open lot, crashing into cardboard robots while avoiding cardboard skyscrapers. We anticipate this will be harder than it sounds, as some skyscrapers seem to resemble giant robots nowadays. "Outbreak," which sees one player "infected" with some sort of automotive ailment, symbolized by their car turning bright green. The player can spread the disease to others by colliding with them, and the last healthy player wins the pot. "Transporter," a capture-the-flag title where players must grab randomly-spawning flags and return them to their home base, avoiding their fellow, flag-snatching drivers. Jason Statham appears to be regrettably absent.
GameStop lists $300 Dirt 3/RC Car bundle
Dirt 3? Try Dirt 3 ... hundred. GameStop is listing an extravagant bundle for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Codemasters' rally racer that includes the game and a remote-controlled, 1/16 scale replica of the Ken Block Gymkhana Fiesta. The site offers the same May 24 release date as the normal, virtual-car-only version. At $299.99, you'd be unlikely to indulge the temptation to drive this RC car anywhere near actual dirt, but you could have some totally sweet races in your house between this and the Black Ops car. And we imagine you have plenty of floor space in your huge house for those races, if you can afford both of these bundles.
Find a little bit of Lord of the Rings Online all across Europe
If you're a player of Lord of the Rings Online on the European servers, Codemasters has a very simple request for you -- find Middle-earth. And before you get in your head to try to be a tricksy hobbitses by just logging in, you should understand a bit more context. The European player community is being encouraged to take part in a new contest to find Tolkien's setting all around, looking for the parts of the real world that most closely resemble Middle-earth in feel and appearance. Running from April 7th to April 20th, the contest asks players to find a location that reminds them of a place within the game's setting, take a photo, and submit it to Codemasters with a description and an explanation. The best entries will win a variety of goodies, including Siege of Mirkwood hoodies and a variety of in-game prizes. Lord of the Rings Online was in no small part inspired by the landscape of Europe, so players should find plenty of opportunities to find the fantastic right in their own backyards.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River floats downriver to US release in June
IGN reports that Codemasters' deadly serious military shooter, Operation Flashpoint: Red River, has been delayed in the US. The release has moved by two months, with a new planned launch date of June 7. The European release remains slated for April 26.
Dirt 3 trailer previews the wicked dangerous Group B Rally
Rally racing is already an inconceivably dangerous sport -- but the now-forbidden "Group B" league once took things to new levels of speed and fatality. It might be illegal in the meatspace, but in Dirt 3 the spirit of Group B is alive and kicking, as seen in this trailer.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River trailer is deadly serious
We have no idea what it's like to be a Marine -- our flabby, unattractive mass you'd call "a body" is hardly built to, like, run and stuff. Thankfully for us, we can sit back and play" as the Marines depicted in this Operation Flashpoint: Red River media assault.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River preview: With a little help from my friends
The first time we saw Operation Flashpoint: Red River in action, it was clear that the game was trying to expand the appeal of this traditionally "realistic" military shooter series. Played alone, as we did in December, the game still requires a fair amount of tactical squad micromanagement, but Codemasters encourages players to experience the ten-stage campaign, along with the separate co-op mode called "Fireteam Engagements," with a group of three friends. During a recent press event, I did just that (with a trio of Codemasters reps in place of my best buds), playing through the eighth stage of the campaign; a convoy mission where your squad is tasked with clearing out various checkpoints across a vast field leading up to a hillside castle assault. Once I got my settings in order (no inverted look, aim assist off, crosshairs on, thank you very much), I found the real draw of Red River: just going into battle with your buddies. %Gallery-118917%
Turbine upgrades LotRO's compromised account reimbursement policy
Account security is a worrysome topic in Lord of the Rings Online these days, especially following a reported rise in hacks and thefts among the playerbase. A couple months ago Codemasters implemented a stronger policy to help players recover lost property, a direction that Turbine followed yesterday when it revised its compromised account reimbursement policy. Sapience announced on the LotRO forums that this policy is significantly updated and expanded from the old one. Now when a player's account is hacked, Turbine gives a seven-day window to report the issue, during which the company can restore "most" of the lost items and compensate players for items that cannot be replaced. This, however, is not a true rollback and does not cover accounts compromised before February 24th. Turbine also reassured players that the studio is making it much tougher for unauthorized intruders to delete or sell rare items like raid gear, which should add another layer of protection from losing one's goods.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River begins in April
Flashpoint newsflash: Codemasters has announced the release dates for its next big shooter, Operation Flashpoint: Red River. Virtual troops will begin hitting the e-ground on April 21 in EMEA territories, and April 26 in North America. Despite CEO Rod Cousens' intent to keep Codies' games away from other "big shooters," that date sets Red River right between Portal 2 and Duke Nukem Forever. After the break, watch a new trailer that presents the game from the perspective of one "auto-rifleman" whose accent, unfortunately, does little to sell the realism of the game.
The Road to Mordor: Creating your roadmap
I wish to preface this week's column by saying that I'm not advocating just one way to play a game. I think it's equally valid to explore at your own pace, team up as a duo, maximize TP revenue, or set whatever goals you like and pursue them. But after leveling one character to the cap and playing several others, I've begun to develop a roadmap, if you will, that helps guide my progress somewhat efficiently. It's this roadmap that I want to share with you today. The thing is, for all I love about Lord of the Rings Online, the game is definitely littered with timesinks of epic proportions. It already takes a long, long time to get your character up to 65 and through the two expansions, and that's only going to increase as the game grows. There are a lot of distractions and unnecessary grinds (such as virtues you will never use) that can bog you down too long and perhaps dishearten you. So when I created a Minstrel in LotRO a little while back, I decided to map out his progress from level 1 through 65 by creating a broad framework -- an outline, really -- that serves to keep me on track so I don't have to backtrack as much later on to get these goals done. I have a very "two birds with one stone" mentality, so if I'm doing one task in a zone, I'd rather be accomplishing two or three at the same time. So for example, if I'm grinding out a deed, I'd rather do it at level at which I'm getting XP than 20 levels later when I'm not (although the latter has its merits for rapid deed completion). Hit the jump and I'll give you the rundown of how to eliminate some of the confusion and speed bumps of leveling.
Dirt 3 kicks up dust on May 24
Date 3 has been officially dirted by Codemasters ... wait, no, Dirt 3 has been officially dated. Codies' latest rally racer will be splashing mud on virtual bystanders on May 24, a date that, according to Eurogamer, is worldwide. This fits in perfectly with CEO Rod Cousens' announced plan to launch the game in the second quarter of the year, avoiding the "congested period when everyone's putting out their shooters." To mark the announcement, the publisher sent out all of two new screens of European cars that will need to be washed very soon.%Gallery-115702%
Codemasters unveils Lord of the Rings Online hacked account program
With great playerbase numbers comes great security responsibility. Wait, no. That's not the movie metaphor we're looking for. How about keep it secret, keep it safe! That's more like it, but unfortunately for some Lord of the Rings Online fans, the secret (and the safe) parts are being compromised as the free-to-play title sees a rise in hacked accounts to go along with its expanding user numbers. All hope is not lost, however, as Codemasters (LotRO's European publisher) has introduced a new Hacked Account Restart Program designed to assist victims and speed them back onto the road to Mordor. The program has a few prerequisites, among them player support eligibility and GM verification of the actual account owner. Claims must also be filed within seven days of the security breach, and reimbursement methods will vary at Codemasters' discretion. You can read the official announcement on the Codemasters website, and you'll also want to check out Customer Service Manager Sincilbanks' blog entry on the subject.
The Road to Mordor: Hacked!
"My kinship had just finished an instance run about a week-and-a-half ago and was in the process of reloading back into the world when I got the message that I was being disconnected because I had just logged into the Brandywine server. Huh? Suspecting the worst, I immediately hit up the Turbine Account page and changed my password then re-logged back into the game, which would boot the hacker offline just like I had been booted minutes earlier. "I was lucky and did that before the hacker had time to switch servers to where my active characters are. Other kinmates have not been so lucky." So goes the frightening tale of Pumping Irony's Scott, who shares this in the hopes that others may avoid a similar scare. Unfortunately, it seems as though stories such as these are becoming more and more common in Lord of the Rings Online, where the worst threat to your quest may not be the eye of Sauron but the malicious intent of hackers gutting your account while you're offline. Today we're going to step off the path for a temporary side trail into the gloomy undergrowth of account security and an MMO under siege.
The Road to Mordor: A year in Middle-earth
What a difference a year makes, eh? One year ago, and you didn't have to put up with me yammering at you every Friday like a hyperactive badger with a personality disorder. One year ago, and we weren't free-to-play-anything, Turbine was its own company, the festivals were nowhere near as cool as they are today, and shrews freely roamed the land without fear of reprisal. So in my last Road to Mordor (of the year, stop rejoicing over there!), I thought it'd be great to look back at the wild rollercoaster that was 2010 in Lord of the Rings Online. I also thought I'd get an easy column out of all this, but that was before I had to read through 1,337 posts and my eyeballs began to lose pressure. January Stuff happened. Let's move on.
Dirt 3's Gymkhana, presented by Ken Block
Ken Block's Gymkhana antics are well documented, but when Dirt 3 launches next year, it'll be new to franchise vets. Thus, Block and Codemasters have provided a primer video where the pro driver not only gives some background on Gymkhana's rise to prominence but, more importantly, its inclusion in Dirt 3.
The Perfect Ten: Most controversial MMO stories of 2010
Well, this is it, folks. The end of the year. A time of reflection, of massive weight gain and of lists. Man, we like our lists, do we not? Fortunately, at Perfect Ten Industries, we've been excelling in lists for months now. Frankly, we're just getting warmed up! While 2010 may not have been much to write home about in terms of newly launched MMOs, there was more than enough controversy to keep the discussion brewing for months. MMOs are big business, and when every move you make is closely scrutinized by millions of gamers, there's no room to slip up unless you like forum hyenas pouncing all over you, snapping and snarling at your faulty flesh. So let's take a jaunt down our top 10 list of the most controversial stories of 2010 on Massively, keeping in mind that it was devilishly hard just to keep this list to 10 at all. What's a week without being riled up about pixels and polygons, after all?
New Dirt 3 trailer does dozens of donuts
The newest trailer for Codemasters' Dirt 3 isn't just a nice little piece of car enthusiast eye candy -- it's also a wonderful tool for pranks. All you have to do is find a susceptible youngster, show them the video, and say, "That's pretty much what a driver's license exam is like." Boom. Pranked.
Bodycount preview: Paint it something other than Black
Last time we saw Codemasters' FPS Bodycount was back at E3, when creative director Stuart Black declared Lady Gaga as one of the game's influences. Cut to six months later and Black has left the company, and the game's been delayed to next summer. So how's Bodycount doing? Not as bad as you might think. It turns out Black's leaving Codemasters wasn't completely unexpected. "We'd been talking about it for a while," Andy Wilson, the game's director, told us at a recent press event. "He had it in his mind -- there'd been some hints -- and we started talking about it more shortly after E3. It's a personal decision with him -- it's certainly not something to do with us or anything that was happening on the project. It was just his time to go." [Ed.'s note: Black claims otherwise, telling GameSpot in a recent interview that "it was clear that Codemasters were unable, or unwilling, to provide the support needed to realize the vision I had for Bodycount."] So Black moved on, but Bodycount, Wilson assured, is "still going to be the game that it was going to be at the beginning." %Gallery-110342%
Operation Flashpoint: Red River preview
The Operation Flashpoint franchise has, for better and for worse, never been a fully "accessible" series. Its focus on realism is both what has earned its fanbase, and arguably what has prevented it from reaching Call of Duty or Medal of Honor notoriety. Codemasters' latest iteration, Red River, attempts the difficult task of continuing to offer "realistic" gameplay, whilst wooing the casual Modern Warfare gamer. It's a balancing act that forerunner Dragon Rising didn't quite realize. That hasn't stopped Codemasters from trying. Red River's new stylized visuals make an immediate and effective statement: this is not the same Operation Flashpoint of yesteryear. As with Codemasters' other FPS, Bodycount, the team is going for a "J.J. Abrams-inspired" feel. The team wants you to feel like you're viewing the world from a helmet cam and, as such, bright lights will blind you, colors will be slightly distorted, and should you get hit you'll experience Kane & Lynch 2-style visual glitching. The tactical military genre doesn't really lend itself well to such an artistic decision, and it was hard for me to decide if it made the game memorable, tacky, or both. The balance between realism and entertainment is further evident in the narrative crafted for Red River. This new tale sends you into Tajikistan, a (real) country that borders Afghanistan and China. In the "it could happen" fiction of this world, the military has chased insurgents out of Afghanistan into Tajikistan, and the army must do its best not only to stop these forces, but maintain goodwill in a newly destabilized country. China's PLA, focused on ensuring the war does not seep into its borders, joins the assault, creating a conflict that quickly gets messy. Having the American military go directly against the Chinese army, whilst fighting guerrilla insurgents, is at once absurd, terrifying and exciting.%Gallery-98981%
World of Warcraft will reign for another 20 years according to industry analysts
With all of the recent focus on World of Warcraft following its latest expansion, it's no surprise that the industry leader is at the center of another round of "What will topple WoW?" discussions. In an article on Eurogamer, industry analysts and developers lend their thoughts as to what made World of Warcraft so dang popular to begin with, and what it will take -- if anything -- for another game to beat its popularity, subscription numbers and cultural footprint. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter declared that nothing will top the title for at least 20 years due to an insurmountable lead, although this became debated by the other participants. Cryptic's Jack Emmert thinks WoW will be "chipped away at" instead of toppled. Age of Conan's Craig Morrison thinks that nobody can consciously plan to overcome WoW's lead saying, "You don't topple a cultural phenomenon. But you can join one." GamersFirst's Bjorn Book-Larsson doesn't think there's a need for WoW to be toppled due to the size of the market. Codemasters' Dave Solari imagines that the winning formula "would have mass market appeal, with instant accessibility, would work on all platforms, particularly mobile, be incredibly viral and social -- like a feature-rich FarmVille." Undead Labs' Jeff Strain thinks that MMO studios should be looking at it a different way: "They should instead be striving to achieve the same level of success with their own game ideas." Some even speculate that Blizzard is the only studio capable of besting its own game, perhaps with its second MMO that's due to be announced in 2012. Head on over to Eurogamer for the full discussion.
