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PS3 Xmas freebie: Gran Turismo HD Concept
Unlike Nintendo's $5 (or 500 Wii Points) Christmas treats and more like their free Wii web browser, Sony's poised to really spread that holiday cheer with a holiday freebie. As promised, Gran Turismo HD -- recently re-imagined as a technology demo and not a full title -- will hit the PlayStation Store on December 24th (that's Christmas Eve) for the eminently reasonable price of $0 (or 0 Wii Points). Today, they've announced that offer applies to North America as well as Japan. Thanks, Sony!The important info: one track (the Eiger Nordwand course), two game modes ("Time Trial" and "Drift Trial"), ten cars (with 10 additional "tuned" variations unlockable), and the much vaunted 1080p. Of course, the only online action you're going to be getting is downloading the game from the PlayStation Store. Like Kaz said, "For the genuine implementation of 'Online Car Life Simulation', please wait for Gran Turismo 5."
Dubious rumor: Gran Turismo HD to ship without cars or tracks
Clearly, it's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of. In fact, the mere suggestion that a premier racing game would be released without vehicles or courses (arguably two of the most important elements in such a game) is so beyond what is defined as "ridiculous", things like tap dancing unicorns and flying kangaroos can actually gaze at said suggestion through a telescope. That reason alone is worth marking this story as a rumor, though it's certainly not the only one. If we're to believe the forum-posted translation of the latest interview in Famitsu, Kazunori Yamauchi has big plans in store for his beloved automotive franchise -- big plans composed of teeny tiny transactions.Gran Turismo HD will supposedly see release in two versions. The first, entitled Gran Turismo HD: Premium, amounts to nothing more than a demo of, you guessed it, Gran Turismo 5. The 30 included cars and two undoubtedly exciting tracks are rendered in pristine PS3 glory and are meant to give you a solid idea of what Yamauchi and friends are putting together for a full release in 2008. Two more tracks and 30 extra cars can be purchased and downloaded for this version. If you prefer purchasing a full game instead of an extended prologue, perhaps Gran Turismo HD: Classic would be more your speed. Or perhaps not.Though the Classic moniker may stem from the fact that you're getting a high resolution PS2 game, you may distinctly recall the original game actually giving you hundreds upon hundreds of cars for your $50. Not so with this version. Every car and every track may be purchased and downloaded from Sony's online network. The interview mentions a price of 50-100 yen per vehicle ($0.43 - $0.85) and 200 - 500 yen per track ($1.71 - $4.26). Being generous and sticking to the low end of the scale results in $408 spent if you want all 750 cars and all 50 tracks (roughly what you got in Gran Turismo 4). Moving up on the scale approaches values that surpass what you paid for the PS3 (newsflash: a lot) to begin with.Is any of this true? 1UP's Luke Smith points to a more utopian quote (his version actually gives you one car!) by Sony's Phil Harrison that seems to match up with this story: "Imagine Gran Turismo shipping on a disc with one car and one track. And then you can browse, online, a dynamic circuit of vehicles that's growing every day because either the car manufacturers are adding new vehicles or we're adding new vehicles. And you can see a specific-type car that's being called up and say, 'I think I'll play with that one. Let me download and play it.'" Seems more likely that the quote created the story. Until Sony confirms (unlikely) or denies it later this week, consider this an entertaining vilification of the microtransaction and nothing more.
Gran Turismo Mobile shoved aside for PS3 dev
Devil May Cry for the PSP made a brief reappearance today, as did Gran Turismo 4 Mobile. The "indefinitely delayed" game was pushed aside so that the development team can finish their work on the PlayStation 3 follow-up in the Gran Turismo series. Once they're done with that (and who knows how long that'll take?), the development team expects to move onto finishing the PSP game.Sadly, it appears that the game probably could've been released much earlier: "We've reached the stage where a GT4 equivalent runs on the PSP hardware," Polyphony Digital commented to Eurogamer. While the PSP doesn't suffer from a lack of racing titles, it's disappointing to see one of Sony's premiere development studios simply abandoning work on the handheld.[Via PSP Vault]
