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Humble Weekly Bundle revs up with Joe Danger 2, Dirt 3
Start your engines, race fans - the latest Humble Weekly Bundle collects a handful of PC racing games, with Codemasters' Dirt 3 available as an incentive for supporters who pay $9 or more for the package. All bundle buyers receive copies of motorbike stunt sim Urban Trial Freestyle, offroad racer WRC Powerslide, and top-down driving game Real World Racing. Pitch in $6 or more and you'll also get Dirt Showdown and Hello Games' Joe Danger 2: The Movie. A customer-chosen portion of proceeds benefit the SpecialEffect and Save the Children charities. Humble Weekly's Racing bundle will be available through November 13. [Image: Hello Games]
Humble Weekly Codemasters sale: Overlord, Operation Flashpoint
The Humble Weekly Sale is Codemasters crazy, offering four games (and one piece of DLC) from the studio's backlog for any price you want, plus three more games for $6 or more. The "pay anything" games are Overlord (and the Raising Hell DLC), Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Rise of the Argonauts. The $6 or more games are Dirt Showdown, Dirt 3 and Overlord 2. All games are PC and on Steam. The charity that you can send all your money to this time around is Special Effect, a UK organization that helps people with all kinds of disabilities play video games. Keep in mind that some of these games use Games for Windows Live, a service that is quickly becoming extinct. Dirt 3's GFWL systems are replaced with Steamworks, but Codemasters has no comment about its plans for both Operation Flashpoint games in this week's bundle.
Double Fine, Codemasters, former president Rubin, more seeking payment from THQ
THQ may be no more, but several parties have filed claims against the defunct video game publisher. The Kurtzman Carson Consultancy group shows Double Fine, Codemasters and even individual former executives Jason Kay and Jason Rubin are seeking financial compensation for unpaid obligations from THQDouble Fine (PDF link) is looking for $595,000, claiming THQ offered up Stacking and Costume Quest as free PlayStation Plus downloads without Double Fine's knowledge, and that none of the PS Plus revenue was shared. Codemasters (PDF link) is looking for an exact $1,002,714.25, seeking reimbursement for unpaid royalties and storing quantities of Bodycount, Dirt 3 and F1 2011 discs in a warehouse somewhere. Kay (PDF link) and Rubin (PDF link) are seeking $2.1 million each for failed "employment obligations." The two claim unpaid vacation time, sick leave and severance.THQ's final assets were auctioned off for nearly $7 million earlier this week, including Darksiders, Homeworld and the Drawn to Life series. The results of the first auction were posted in January, facilitating the transfer of ownership for Saints Row 4, Homefront, Company of Heroes 2 and more.
Dirt 3 Complete Edition enters the race March 20
The Dirt 3 Complete Edition officially launches March 20 in North America, running (or racing) $40 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows. The Complete Edition contains more than $30 of additional content, which by our calculations means you're getting a 5,000 percent increase in value. Again, that's by our calculations, and we never said we were very good at mathing.
Codemasters giving Dirt 3 a Complete Edition
Codemasters has announced that it's releasing a "Complete Edition" of Dirt 3, due out sometime this March for Windows, Xbox 360, and the PS3. The $39.99 release will include the full game, 12 new tracks in two different new locations and lots of new cars and liveries to play around with.The two new tracks run through the snowy mountain roads of the Alps and some urban streets in Shibuya, Tokyo, and the new cars include the BMW M3 Rally, the Ford Escort Mk II and the Mini Cooper S Gymkhana, in addition to a slew of others. You can see a few shots of the game below, and read the entire press release after the break.%Gallery-147123%
AMD Eyefinity eyes-on, prepare to fall for landscape goodness (video)
Sure we've seen it before, but we'd be remiss if we didn't share what we stumbled upon at AMD's Fusion Zone at IDF 2011. Laying before you is a 5 x 1 landscape Eyefinity setup, powered by an upcoming unreleased 8-core FX CPU paired with a single Radeon HD 6990. For those of you keeping score at home, that's four displays connected via mini-DisplayPort and the fifth over DVI. Not much more to say, so peep the gallery below or hop past the break for a video of the bodacious rig running Dirt 3. Myriam Joire contributed to this report. %Gallery-134018%
Zumba Fitness endures ninth week atop UK charts, no sweat
If you came here expecting not to see the Zumba Fitness lady's beautifully shaven armpits for another week ... sorry, buddy. In its ninth consecutive week leading the class on Chart-Track's All Formats chart (with 12 total #1 appearances), Zumba Fitness dropped seven percent in sales. This week's top ten is a shuffle of all the usual suspects. Disney's Lego Pirates of the Caribbean went up one spot into second, thanks to price promotions, and Cars 2 kept the parking break on in third. The big mover last week in the top 40 was Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, up 60 percent from 39th place to 13th, thanks to the recent 3DS hardware drop. It remains the only 3DS exclusive in the Top 40 and, according to Chart-Track, outsold the next biggest 3DS title five to one. Check out the UK Top Ten after the break.
Zumba Fitness is unstoppable in eighth week atop UK charts
Zumba Fitness. Its name should cause perspiration, an elevated heart rate and total fear in any competitor on Chart-Track's UK all formats chart. In its eighth week in the top spot, the game saw a 16 percent increase in sales and outsold the next four titles combined. Those four consist of Dirt 3, Cars 2, Just Dance 2: Extra Songs and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. Although Zumba's eight week run is... impressive? Yeah, let's say impressive. It still has a long way to go before defeating Who Wants To Be A Millionaire's 18 weeks and Wii Fit's 16-week reign. No new releases entered the Top 40 last week. Now, to find a crowbar to help detach this collective facepalm.
Zumba Fitness spends fifth week atop UK charts, Harry Potter fizzles
The unstoppable Zumba Fitness won't let go of the spotlight, holding the top spot on Chart-Track's UK all-formats chart for a fifth week in a row. Despite a 24 percent drop in sales, the dance-ercise title celebrates its eighth time holding the crown since the Wii version launched in March. Stupefy simulator Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiered in seventh place. Chart-Track notes it's the lowest sales performance ever for a Harry Potter game. Thanks to "significant" price promotion, EA Sport Active 2 sales shot up 338 percent, sweatin' its way back into the top ten in eighth place. Check out the full UK top ten after the break.
Zumba Fitness tops UK charts for fourth week in a row
For a fourth consecutive week, Zumba Fitness maintained its spot atop Chart-Track's UK all-formats chart. The title has danced its way to the gold seven times since the Wii version launched in March. Another fitness game that's making moves on the charts is THQ's UFC Personal Trainer, which debuted at #22 a couple weeks back, but is now close to punching into the top ten at #13. No new releases broke the Top 40 last week, so the top ten is full of the usual suspects, many which benefited from price promotions. Such was the case with Dirt 3, which raced into second, with a 28 percent increase in sales. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the tie-in title to the summer blockbuster, transformed that extra exposure into a 10 percent increase in sales, placing it in third. Autobots can roll out past the break for the UK top ten.
Dirt 3 Monte Carlo DLC now available worldwide
Codemasters probably had no idea the accidental synergy it was creating, dropping the Monte Carlo DLC for Dirt 3 the same week that the soon-to-be hit romantic comedy of the same name was arriving in theaters, but here we are. Unfortunately, Selena Gomez isn't a new rallycross driver in the upcoming pack, and as far as we know, there isn't any rallycross in the film. What a waste! Regardless, the $10 pack is now available on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 via their respective digital storefronts, and on PC via the Games for Windows Marketplace. It comprises eight new tracks set in the miniscule Mediterranean monarchy of Monaco (specifically Monte Carlo, of course). If, like us, you don't have a summer villa in the DLC's lavish setting, you may want to take a peek at the maps in action before purchasing the pack -- for that, we suggest heading into our gallery below.%Gallery-127363%
Codemasters informs users of website breach
Last Friday, some malevolent entity got into codemasters.com, and obtained access to information on the Dirt 3 code redemption page, the E Store, and the CodeM database. The publisher sent out an email today warning users about the site's code having been mastered. The hacker was able to access information including customer names, addresses, and email addresses (but not payment information), and passwords, along with Xbox Live Gamertags and IP addresses. Codemasters shut its site down immediately upon detecting the intrusion. A new website will launch later this year, with Codemasters planning to redirect to its Facebook page in the meantime. "Whilst we do not have confirmation that any of this data was downloaded onto an external device," Codies said in the email to users, "we have to assume that, as access was gained, all of these details were compromised and/or stolen." You can read the full email after the break ... right after you change your password anywhere that you had been using the same one you used on the Codies site. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
LA Noire guilty of being UK sales winner for third week in a row
L.A. Noire, despite a 56 percent drop in sales this past week, remained the top game in the UK, according to Chart-Track's All Formats chart. With little in the way of competition, Rockstar's crime procedural, which debuted as the UK's fastest-selling new IP two weeks ago, maintained its position atop a list of the usual suspects. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean caught the trade winds and sailed back into second, while Dirt 3 lost some ground and slipped one spot into third. Sims 3: Generations, the fourth expansion pack for the series and the only game that wasn't previously playing musical chairs in the UK top ten, premiered in tenth. The only other debut that made it into the Top 40 was the Bethesda published Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Despite receiving (at least in the States) what feels like little promotion, InXile's decent game still managed to come out swinging a sword in 14th place. Check out the full UK top ten after the break.
Dirt 3's Colin McRae charity DLC released, proceeds go to good cause
Codemasters has announced the first DLC for Dirt 3, and says that all proceeds from the sale will go to charity. The Colin McRae Vision Charity Pack is now available for the Xbox Live and Games for Windows versions of the game (for 160 Microsoft points / $2), and allows players to drive a Ford Escort Mk II with five different liveries. The PS3 version will be available as soon as the PlayStation Store returns. This was the car famously driven by Colin McRae, the original namesake of the Dirt series who died in 2007. All proceeds from the pack will go to the Colin McRae Vision Charity, which raises funds for worthwhile causes around the world in McRae's name. Codemasters says that this is the first of a few weeks' worth of DLC packs. Each will feature more cars and new tracks going forward.
Dirt 3 debuts in second on UK charts, LA Noire still tops
L.A. Noire, which premiered as the UK's fastest-selling new IP, maintained its top position on Chart-Track's UK All Formats chart this past week. Dirt 3, the only new competitor to race into the top ten, had to settle for second. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean lost some wind in its sails and fell to third, with Brink rounding out the top five. Zumba Fitness maintained fourth, with sales up 19 percent last week. It's like Zumba Fitness was infused with that Just Dance "staying power" magic -- and as it happens, Just Dance 2, despite not being in the top ten, has been hanging around close by (at No. 11). Price promotions helped give sales boosts to some of the top ten remainders. Check those out after the break.
Dirt 3's 'VIP Pass' can't be disabled for PS3 owners
WB and Netherrealm earned some goodwill from PS3 Mortal Kombat owners recently, by disabling the "Kombat Pass" and allowing players to fight online without redeeming the one-time-use code in the PlayStation Store (which is down). Unfortunately, such a concession won't be possible for Dirt 3. "We've looked into doing something similar for Dirt 3 but it's not technically possible," a Codemasters rep told Eurogamer. "It's hard-coded into the game." Removing the VIP pass requirement would involve a patch, the publisher explained, which would likely take longer to push through than it will take for the Store to come back online. An alternate solution to this problem (though not for Dirt 3, since it's already out) would be to cut out Online Pass schemes in general. We wonder if anyone has suggested that.
Dirt 3 slow-motion slides into release with launch trailer
This Dirt 3 launch trailer doesn't bother getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes this sequel so excellent. Not that it has to when it can simply flaunt the game's stunning good looks.
THQ takes on distribution of four Codemasters releases this year
THQ announced today that, through its THQ Partners unit, it would be handling the North American distribution of four of Codemasters 2011 releases. In fact, THQ Partners actually began its task today, with the release of Dirt 3 into the retail channel. The deal also encompasses distribution of Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Bodycount and F1 2011. The new Operation Flashpoint hits June 7, with Bodycount set for "later this summer." Financial details of the deal weren't disclosed, but it has been confirmed that Codies will continue to handle the marketing of all four titles in-house.
Trophies reveal mounds of Dirt 3 DLC
According to the DiRT 3 Trophies discovered by PS3Trophies.org, the upcoming rally racer has several downloadable content packs planned. All in all, Trophies have revealed four different DLC packs, including the "Mud and Guts" and "Power and Glory" car packs as well as the Monte Carlo and X Games Asia track packs, each with four additional trophies. Release date and pricing for the packs has yet to be revealed. PS3 Trophies tend to mirror Xbox Achievements for the same titles, making the DLC a likely bet for the Xbox 360 version as well.
Dirt 3 review: Pep rally
Dirt 3 really, really wants you to love rally racing as much as it does. It wants you to love the speed, the grit, and the cheers of the crowd just barely audible over the roar of your engine. It also wants you to love how difficult the sport is, how tough it is to keep your off-road vehicle on the road in muddy terrain. It's a good thing that it does, because it doesn't find any qualms with dropping you right in the middle of its world of drifts, revs, and ... zombies?%Gallery-99276%
