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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.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier obtains top UK sales position
Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier had the best premiere of the franchise this past week in the UK. Five installments in (the first in 2001), Ghost Recon: Future Soldier saw its best week one sales of the series, but Chart-Track does note the previous game had a staggered release across formats. Max Payne 3 sales dropped 51 percent in its second week, but the pill-popping hero's dive -- like everything dramatic he does -- was done in slow motion, leaving him in second place. Capcom's "love it or hate it" Dragon's Dogma debuted in third. Other new titles this week in the top 40 include Mario Tennis Open and Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock at 11 and 34, respectively. Now, put on a fez, fix that bow-tie and check out the UK top ten after the break. It's what's cool.%Gallery-149219%
Dirt Showdown multiplayer demo(lition) available today
The demo for Dirt Showdown will be alive and kicking up dust on Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN today, Codemasters has announced. The demo includes the single-player mode's 8 Ball race, which runs by San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and the multiplayer Rampage mode. Rampage is an eight-player demolition derby where points are earned for crashes and take-outs.The Dirt Showdown demo also offers the first taste of RaceNet, a free online tracking and comparison extension for Codemasters racing games. Those who sign up for RaceNet get some special perks when the full game launches on May 25, including $20,000 of in-game currency. Yes, 20 big ones. Either that's an awesome bonus, or Dirt Showdown operates in a universe where everyone is a millionaire.
Dirt Showdown shows up May 24 in Europe, May 29 in North America
DiRT Showdown, Codemasters' spinoff about spinning out, will crash wildly into retail starting May 24. Codemasters announced regional release dates for the Xbox 360/PS3/PC racer today, with that May 24 date kicking off the release in mainland Europe.A UK release will follow on May 25. The game will then drive across the Atlantic in time for a May 29 release in North America. A demo will be released worldwide May 1, featuring both single-player and multiplayer wreckin'. The release is the first from the new "Codemasters Racing" label, and will be the first game to use "RaceNet," an online hub for Codies racers. You'll be able to join up for the demo, and track your progress against friends.Along with the date announcement came some rare news: Dirt Showdown will be sold at GAME, which, along with Gamestation (and Walmart in North America), will offer an exclusive "Hoonigan" edition of the game with some in-game bonuses ... like Monster Energy liveries for some of the cars. Free advertising with your game!
Warner Bros. to distribute Codemasters games in 2012
British developer/publisher Codemasters has left THQ Partners, who handled its distribution in the Americas during 2011, in favor of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, who will now take care of distribution, sales and marketing for all of Codemasters' 2012 releases in North and South America, including Dirt Showdown and F1 2012.Fake eyewitness accounts report seeing THQ Publishing outside of Codemasters' bedroom window, holding a ghetto blaster above its head that was said to be playing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. We have, however, received conflicting reports that a freshly embittered THQ Publishing has opened a record shop and hired a young and enthusiastic Jack Black to work behind the counter.
Dirt Showdown is about driving cars into other cars
Take all that serious business about driving you learned in the Dirt rallycross games and throw it out the window. Actually, throw it through the damn window, as smashing stuff is pretty much par for the course in Dirt Showdown. We're pretty sure that's all you do in it, actually.
Buckle up, this Dirt Showdown trailer may give you whiplash
If there's one thing we'd have to say the Dirt series has been missing, it's demolition derby -- cars crashing into cars crashing into cars. Another thing: so many pyrotechnics. Dirt Showdown realizes this and offers a taste of both in the latest trailer.
Dirt Showdown ditches rally for arcade-style events
If you lamented Dirt 3's decorum and its increased focus on the rally discipline, Codemasters has a flashy alternative in Dirt Showdown, coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2012. Gamespot has the first details on the spinoff, which eschews racing for a trio of arcade-style modes and a plethora of pyrotechnics. Dirt Showdown features "Hoonigan events," in which you perform driving stunts within compounds around the world (similar to Dirt 3's gymkhana challenges). You'll also find a crunchy ode to collisions in the demolition derby events, alongside some more straightforward (minus those devilish hairpin turns) racing modes. You won't find point-to-point style dashes through lush foliage and arid landscapes here -- though Gamespot notes they'll "return with a renewed focus on simulation in Dirt 4." The preview claims that Showdown has an answer to Need for Speed's Autolog, allowing racers to challenge and monitor each other's performance online. A "mission-based" mode provides the foundation for much of these social challenges. It seems the game's style and tone, compared to Dirt 3, is perhaps best captured in the "King of the Ring" gametype, which sees all participating cars racing to a central point and then disintegrating into a shiny cloud of wrecked bits. And to think, we used to be so impressed when those triangles came flying off the cars in PlayStation's Destruction Derby.
