Publisher Codemasters took over the game license for the Formula 1 racing league in 2008 but today they announced that they will finally release a PC game based on the league this September. The game itself is titled F1 2010 and will be the first Formula 1 based game released for the PC platform in eight years.

As with their last few racing games, Codemasters will use their own in-house EGO engine as the graphical basis for F1 2010. There will be several gameplay modes in the title including the promise of an extensive Career mode. F1 2010 will also have features like an extensive car damage model, weather effects and more.

Last January at CES 2010, PC gaming controller maker Razer announced a partnership with Sixense to release a motion sensor-based PC game controller. A prototype of the device was demoed at CES using Valve's first person shooter Left 4 Dead 2. Now Razer has announced that the SDK for their still unreleased PC motion controller is now available for free download via Steam.

The download is available under the "Tools" section of Steam and is labeled "Sixense TrueMotion SDK." Razer says the tools can be used by game developers to adapt their own games to work with their upcoming product with "virtually no knowledge of the inner workings of the controller." Razer stated in their press release they were able to work with Valve to get their controller to work with Left 4 Dead 2 in less than two weeks with the tools. Valve's Greg Coomer states, "Together with Razer and Sixense, we are designing new, more enjoyable gameplay mechanics in Left 4 Dead 2, as well as future Valve titles." There's still no word on when the actual controller will be released.

[Via email press release]

Here's a story that got away from us but we are just catching up to reporting on it. A few days ago, the first English language beta testing began for Need For Speed World, the upcoming online persistant racing game from Electronic Arts. The game, previously known as Need For Speed World Online, will be inviting people to try out the beta in special events in the coming weeks and months ahead of the game's official launch later in 2010.

PC gamers will also get a chance to put their own stamp for the in-game version of a Porsche 959 for the game's launch. Details about how this will work will be revealed later.

With the announcement that Valve would bring its line-up of games and its Steam download service to the Mac, there seems to be a resurgance of interest in releasing games for Apple's machines. The truth is that Apple doesn't seem to have much interest in gaming on their Macs and laptops (gaming for the iPhone and iPod touch is another matter) but if Steam is successful on the Mac that could change.

Right at the moment the big game on the PC is Battlefield Bad Company 2. The Universal Gaming Database web site contacted developer Digital Illusions to see if they had any plans to port their first person shooter for Apple's machines. The encouraging response was, "We're currently investigating the possibility of making BFBC2 available on Mac."

Command & Conquer has had quite the convoluted and bizarre history. With three separate timelines at this point, things can get a little confusing. After all, it's been 15 years since the original's release, and there has been 7 core games and 15 expansion packs. It's not exactly an easy canon to get into. Thankfully, we've got a handy guide to the twisting corridors of Command & Conquer's story just in time for the final entry in the long-running Tiberian series. Since the campaigns in most of the games are mutually contradictory, we will be describing the events of both campaigns while pointing out which is canon.

The PC port of Modern Warfare 2 has been highly successful for developer Infinity Ward and folks have awaiting when the promised downloadable map packs would be released. Tonight, it was revealed, as previously announced, that the Xbox 360 version of the hit first person shooter would get first crack at the first downloadable map pack. A teaser site for the DLC (with the image to the right; don't ask) states the Xbox 360 release date for the pack will be March 30.

And what about the PC version? Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling "tweeted" that the DLC for our platform will be released sometime later but would not give a specific date. Also not known is if PC owners of the game will have to pay for their map packs. Previous Call of Duty games have allowed PC players to gain access to extra official map packs for free via patches.

Valve's announcement earlier this week that they are porting their games library to the Mac extends to Team Fortress 2 and today the game's official web site has posted up a quick Q&A answering fans' most asked questions about the move. Yes if you own the PC version of the multiplayer shooter the Mac version is free to download. Yes, Mac and PC TF2 players can play online against each other. Yes, the Mac port runs natively on OS X.

But the real reason we mention this small update is the new Saxton Hale comic book cover that accompanies the Q&A. Any excuse to show off the man's man in a new way is aces for us. So check out the larger cover art at the web site if you are man enough.

The 2010 edition of the Game Developers Conference has just started in San Fransisco but the dates for the 2011 event have apparently already been set. Our sister site Joystiq reports that GDC 2011 will be held from February 28-March 4. As usual, the show will be held in and around the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.

This year's event began today, a Tuesday, and will end on a Saturday instead of its normal Monday-Friday time period due to previous scheduling conflicts with the Moscone Center. There will be no such conflicts in 2011 as GDC will return to its usual Monday-Friday time period.

The team at the DRM-free PC gaming download site GoG.com are taking a bit of a break from adding new games owned and/or developed by Activision with their newest entry. Today they have added the underwater action shooter game AquaNox which was first released in 2001 from developer Massive Development (not to be confused with Massive Entertainment who made the Ground Control and World in Conflict games).

AquaNox is actually a sequel to 1997's Archimedean Dynasty and was noted at the time for its then advanced graphical effects. Nvidia used the game as a showcase for its GeForce 3 graphics chip which had support for transform and lighting effects. You can now download and purchase AquaNox for $5.99.

We all love stuff for free and today players of Mass Effect 2 got something for nothing with a new weapon that players of BioWare's hit sci-fi RPG can download on the game's Cerberus Network. If you love weapons like Quake's lightning gun you might enjoy the new Arc Projector.

The new handheld weapon can not only fire off a lighrning bolt to its target but an unseen ion laser can target nearby enemies to be hit by the same lightning bolt as well. We are still awaiting another new free download for the game, which will adds a new vehicle and five new missions. That should be available for download in late March.

The Unreal Development Kit (UDK) beta, a free-to-use version of the Unreal Engine 3 development tools, has been updated with the latest updates and improvements. Continue reading after the jump for a complete list of changes and visit the official website for more information.

Download Unreal Development Kit March 2010 Beta (548 MB)
Check out all Unreal Development Kit related Downloads

If you want to check out an RTS game that uses deception and trickery as a key part of its gameplay, R.U.S.E. may be for you. Today the open beta of the game from developer Eugen Systems and publisher Ubisoft launched today via Steam. Anyone with a Steam account can now download the beta test for the WWII themed game which has six factions (US, USSR, UK, France, Germany and Italy) and seven multiplayer maps which can be played in a variety of modes. There's no word on when the open beta will end.

In related news, Ubisoft has now confirmed June 8 for R.U.S.E's release date in the US. Previously the publisher stated the game would be coming out on June 3.

Yes, technically doing almost anything by boat is considered sailing, but that description doesn't exactly fit here. This latest stunt video for Just Cause 2 shows off more of the game's open world versatility and at the same time revealing the player's incredible multitasking skills. Just Cause 2 releases on March 23 and the playable demo can be downloaded here.

Download HD Just Cause 2 'Rocket Launcher Jump' Stunt Trailer (108 MB)
Download the Just Cause 2 Demo (1.04 GB)
Check out all Just Cause 2 downloads
Read All You Need to Know: Just Cause 2

As is the case with many PC game titles nowadays, Blizzard's upcoming sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II will be getting an automatic patch for the first day of its release. VG247.com chatter with Blizzard's lead designer Dustin Browder who confirmed the news but added that they will make the Day 1 patch as small as possible. He states, "That's our biggest concern with the patch: to make sure it's the tiniest thing we can make it so it's really quick once you install the game."

The chat also goes over some other topics such as what Blizzard is learning from the current multiplayer beta for StarCraft II, if the single player campaign is done (it isn't) how long the single player campaign will be (20 hours or more) and other things.

It looks like the problems with the Battlefield Bad Company 2 official online servers that started this weekend have crept up again today. There was some downtime earlier today on the servers for EA's recent first person shooter that the game's official blog site said, "was caused by a routing issue outside of EA's control." That issue has since been fixed.

However the blog also states that there will be some scheduled downtime for the game's official servers tomorrow. The downtime is scheduled to begin at 12 midnight Pacific time (that 3 am Wednesday for the Eastern time zone). There's no word yet on how long the downtime will last but developer Digital Illusions suggests following their official Twitter page for more info.