Driving

While most PC developers dread the thought of their games being pirated on torrent web sites, one game developer actually sent a build of their game to pirates site deliberately. Gamesindusty.biz reports that's exactly what happened to Trials 2: Second Edition, the 2008 released racing game from developer RedLynx.

The developer's CEO Tero Virtala said the version of the game they made available to pirate sites lacked the online leaderboards of the full version. His hope was that the pirates would like the game enough to pay for the full version. So far 150,000 copies of the full version have been sold and Virtala states, "When we compare that hacked version with those who have access to leaderboards and are accessing our servers they match. So at least people have not cracked out leaderboards yet."

In Split/Second, a racing game being developed by Blackrock Studio and published by Disney, players will be able to trigger massive events to crush the competition. Racers will have to extra alert to avoid these events, but they'll also have to be careful not to get caught in their own traps. Split/Second is scheduled to release in 2010.

Download HD Split Second Trailer #2 (92 MB)
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The PC port of DiRT 2 will be one of the first games to support DirectX 11, making it "the best looking racing game that has ever existed." Judging by the tech demo shown above, it's hard to argue with that. The DiRT 2 tech video demonstrates extensive use of Tessellation, which is "implemented on the GPU to calculate a smoother curved surface resulting in more graphically detailed images, including more lifelike characters." It also compares the DX11 look to DirectX 9.0c.

However, players will need to upgrade to Windows 7 (DX11 for Vista will be released at a future unspecified date) and ATI is currently the only manufacturer to have DX11 cards available. Players will have some time to save up and take advantage of these features, since DiRT 2 for the PC won't be releasing until December.

The official DiRT 2 for PC trailer can be seen after the jump.

Download HD DiRT 2 DirectX 11 Tech Video (98 MB)
Download HD DiRT 2 PC Trailer (65 MB)
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Electronic Arts' Need For Speed racing game franchise has been one of the publishers' tentpoles. Today EA announced that the franchise has now sold over 100 million units since it began with the first Need for Speed game in 1994. 15 games in the series have been released including this year's PC entry Need For Speed Shift which have created a total of $2.7 billion in revenues for EA over the years.

The press release annoucing this achievement goes over a number of the milestones the series has achieved including players racing over 279 billion miles in the games themselves.and creating 17 trillion user-generated car customization. EA's next announced game is Need For Speed World Online, a free-to-play online game that is scheduled to launch in 2010. While not officially announced it's known that Criterion Games, developer of the Burnout series, is now working on a new Need For Speed game.

GameTap's latest update to their PC game subscription service is a timely one. It's Trackmania United Forever, the racing-puzzle game from French developer Nadeo.Now people who subscribe to GameTap's premium service can download and play the game as much as they want. The game also supports being run on 64-bit operating systems. GameTap recently revealed plans to add more support for 64-bit games in the coming weeks. Nadeo recently announced plans to release Trackmania 2 and a few days ago Ubisoft announced they would be acquiring Nadeo.

Also this week, the action title Total Overdose continues to be available in GameTap's free subscription service tier until October 22.

This trailer for Blur demonstrates the different powerups that available to players to use against one another and gain the upper-hand. What sets this apart from previous videos is the quick look at four-player split screen multiplayer at the end. It is unknown at this time whether that feature will be included in the PC version. Blur is expected to release in 2010.

Download HD Blur Trailer (32 MB)
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This patch for GRID updates the game to v1.3. It includes a number of bug fixes and game enhancements. A list of changes is shown after the jump. The GRID demo can be downloaded here.

Download Race Driver: GRID v1.3 Patch (196 MB)
Download the GRID Demo (892 MB)
Check out all GRID downloads

"The RACE On demo has two game modes: in 'Racing Event' mode players must complete a whole weekend of racing, including training, qualifiers and the race itself, whereas the objective in 'Time Attack' is to achieve the fastest lap around a circuit."

In RACE On, "players can race on the circuits in 39 meticulously reproduced vehicles that are available in over 450 designs. 27 variants of 21 racing tracks guarantee hours of gaming fun. Apart from Imola and Okayama, glamorous raceways such as Laguna Seca, Road America, Sturup and Karlskoga also feature on the impressive list of tracks.

A realistic physics engine and a dynamic weather system that can change during a race, provides a totally authentic race atmosphere. Compulsory pit stops in the STCC races add an extra tactical component to the already exhilarating gameplay experience."

The full game is scheduled to release on October 22nd. System requirements are shown after the jump.

Download RACE On Demo (665 MB)

Even though the Steam service is the biggest signal downloadable source for full PC games, some recent major PC game titles still haven't shown up (Wolfenstein, anyone?). Electronic Arts has now offered six more of their PC games via Steam today. The list includes some older titles and a couple of more recent releases

The most recent game on the list is Need For Speed Shift which is on sale for its full $49.99 price. Other more recent games include Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising and The Godfather II. Older games include Battlefield 2 (including the recent 1.50 patch and the now free mini-expansions), The Godfather and Medal of Honor Airborne, the latter two of which are on sale for just $9.99 each.

This patch for the PC version of Need for Speed SHIFT adds two new features to the game: LAN (Local Area Network) play, enhancing the multiplayer experience and Mouse Support, providing full menu navigation through the game using your PC mouse. The patch is available in North American and European versions. The demo can be downloaded here.

Download Need for Speed SHIFT Patch #1 [NA] (13 MB)
Download Need for Speed SHIFT Patch #1 [EU] (13 MB)
Download Need for Speed SHIFT Demo (1.13 GB)
Check out all Need for Speed SHIFT downloads

Even at this late date in the fall season, it looks like publishers still consider their release schedule to be fluid. Today Activision announced that they have delayed their racing-action game Blur from the fall 2009 release schedule. Originally set for a November 6 release date, the Bizarre Creations-developed game will now be coming out sometime in 2010.

The official reason is that the publisher wants to "give the development team more time to enhance the game's innovative and distinctive online multiplayer gameplay." Activision says their current financial outlook is unchanged even with this rather last minute shift in in their release schedule. Their financial outlook for the calendar year 2009 is still solid thanks to higher than expected demand for their FPS Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Nadeo's series of TrackMania games for the PC are highly popular around the world, both in their paid and free versions. The combo of racing game with track editing and puzzle elements makes it a very unique racing game franchise. Now it appears that Nadeo is ready to move Trackmania to the next level with the surprise reveal today of TrackMania 2.

The reveal was made at the Paris Games Festival with a presentation that included two videos. A person managed to stick his camera up to record the presentation (yes, it isn't that good in terms of visual quality) that first showed TrackMania 2's new easy-to-use track editor. Already you can tell that the graphics will be far better than the rather simplistic look of the first games in the series. The second video showed actual gameplay and . . . wow. It looks pretty spectacular to see a game that's on a par with the best looking racing games show cars doing huge jumps and tricks on the road. It sounds like Nadeo is looking at a 2010 release for the game.

[Via Blue's News]

A couple of weekend sales slipped through the cracks on Friday. Thankfully we are there to go through those cracks and expose them to the world. Shall we?

• GoGamer.com has put a number of current and older PC games on sale until 3 am ET on Tuesday. They include Need for Speed Shift for 30 percent off its normal price, Wolfenstein for 40 percent off its normal price and Heroes Over Europe for 40 percent off as well.
• GoG.com has put three of its strategy games (Celtic Kings: Rage of War, Original War and Haegemonia Gold Edition) on sale for 25 percent off their normal price until 11:50 pm ET on Monday.

This is the playable demo for Need for Speed SHIFT. Minimum system requirements can be seen after the jump.

"Need for Speed SHIFT delivers the true driver's experience with a stunning cockpit view, deep career mode and amazing car roster. You will be thrust into the loud, intense, and athletic experience of racing a car from the driver's perspective through the combination of perception based G-forces, the hyper reality of the cockpit view, and the all-new brutally disorienting crash dynamic. Prove your skill on two tracks – London River and the world famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps using one of 4 unlocked cars. Collect enough stars while you race to unlock the ultimate in performance, the Pagani Zonda F."

Download Need for Speed SHIFT Demo (1.13 GB)
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