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Forza Horizon dev diary races against the world
Forza Horizon takes things off the track into the wilds of Colorado, where for the first time in the series players will have to deal with traffic, sometimes even at night. Just for fun, we like to imagine that every SUV on the road is full of nuns on their way to nun school.
Taking the road less traveled in Forza Horizon
Forza Horizon marks the franchise's first foray into an open-world setting. It's hinged on a fictional racing festival in Colorado, where anyone can show up with their ride and chase the kind of immortality known only to Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. Playground Games, a new outfit composed of former Bizarre Creations and Codemasters folks, is developing the game under supervision of longtime Forza custodian Turn 10 Studios.Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt equates Forza Horizon to Coachella or Bonnaroo, a grassroots festival celebrating the culture and style of its particular scene. The Horizon festival provides the vehicle (sorry!) for gameplay, a smattering of different race types and challenges wrapped in a diverse campaign.%Gallery-163548%
Forza Horizon collector's edition, pre-order goodies revealed
Forza Horizon hooks up early adopters with a code for a free whip, instantly available in Forza Motorsport 4: the 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392. If you pre-order Forza Horizon at a participating US retailer and don't own Forza Motorsport 4, you can also select from one of four exclusive cars to download and use in Forza Horizon on launch day, October 23: a 2012 Aston Martin Virage, 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia, or a 2010 Nissan 350Z.Should you decide to pre-order, you'll have the option of Forza Horizon's standard package (stick shift, cloth seats, AM/FM radio) or you can opt into the more limited edition package. Forza Horizon's collector's edition includes a steelbook case, and VIP membership branding you as a special player in the community and granting access to exclusive DLC and in-game events. VIPs will be able to download a special five-car DLC pack on day one, additional liveries and a progress token that instantly unlocks more advanced cars in career mode.%Gallery-160186%
Fame is always just over the Forza Horizon
Ralph Fulton of Playground Games was very insistent that Forza Horizon is not, in fact, an arcade racing game. It may take place in an open-world version of Colorado, may be free from traditional Forza career modes and may feature a youth-focused licensed soundtrack (read: dubstep), but the actual driving is built on Forza's physics engine.The problem with arcade-style racing games, according to Fulton, is that the appeal of racing different vehicles is lost due to the fact that all cars have to handle roughly the same in order to preserve an "arcade" feel. By using Forza's existing physics engine, Playground Games hopes to circumnavigate this problem and preserve the series' pedigree for for automotive accuracy.That being said, the only car featured in the demonstration I saw was the 2013 SRT Viper, and as it was a hands-off demonstration, I was unable to compare its handling with my experience driving similar cars in previous Forza games. What I can say, is that the Viper did more than its fair share of drifting around Colorado's mountain roads, and that it racked up wicked popularity points doing so. See, in Forza Horizon, you're not just driving around for the hell of it. You're driving to get famous.%Gallery-157065%
Forza Horizon to feature voice-activated Kinect GPS
Forza Horizon's take on Kinect integration will be a bit more utilitarian than the dynamic head tracking seen in Forza 4, allowing players to use voice commands to activate the game's GPS system and find their way through Horizon's open-world version of Colorado."We received two recurring feedback points while we were looking at this game," Playground Games' design director Ralph Fulton told us during E3. "The first one is really simple, people said 'This world so big, I found it really easy to get lost.' The second is kind of related to that, people said 'Sometimes I forget where I'm going, or what I want to do next.'"Forza Horizon's solution to this problem is a voice-activated GPS system that the player can use to find specific locations, such as the game's eponymous Horizon Festival ("GPS, Festival, Autoshow"), as well as ask more generic questions ("Where's my next race? Where's my nearest event?"). Once the Kinect registers the player's request, Forza's familiar line of green arrows extends from the underbelly of the vehicle, guiding the player to their destination.
Here's the first Forza Horizon screenshot
Back when Forza Horizon was first officially announced by Microsoft and Playground Games back in March, all we had to gaze upon was a montage of desperately pretty cars and people, living the kind of life you'd expect someone with that kind of a car to live.Now, though, we've got our first real look at the game in the form of the screenshot above, which features the 2013 SRT Dodge Viper, some rocks, an extremely flat American highway and the same vignette framing we've come to expect from Forza in-game screenshots. Granted, this is but a single image, but from where we're sitting it sure does look a hell of a lot like a Forza game, which is reassuring considering that this is Playground Games' first spin behind the franchise's wheel.%Gallery-155619%
Forza Horizon spun off by Playground Games
The developers at Playground Games are about to experience the worst thing about developing a new game in Microsoft's Forza racing franchise. Once you announce it, you have to gradually withstand the pun-heavy headlines that result. Forza Horizon really is a spin-off, though.Set to launch in Fall 2012, when Forza Motorsport proper takes a break, Forza Horizon aims to adjust the tone of the franchise and inject some new, Turn 10-approved talent into the development pipeline. Microsoft has yet to share much on the game beyond a live-action trailer, which hints at a more playful, festival atmosphere for racing, but was quick to point at the pedigree of Playground Games.The company was founded during 2009 in England's Leamington Spa, starting with veteran developers from Codemasters (Dirt) and encompassing talent from as far back as Psygnosis. Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenwalt describes the announcement as a new "wing" for the Forza series. You may have seen it leaking over the weekend, at which point it was more of a huge spoiler.
