Driving

This is the official launch trailer for Fuel, which was released for the PC platform this week by publisher Codemasters. The trailer shows off a little more than a minute of the the off-road racing features in this new game from French developer Asobo Studios.

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A Wild West shooter and a open world driving game are the highlights in the new PC game released this week:

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood: Developer Techland and publisher Ubisoft team up again on this sequel to the 2007 Western shooter. Play as one of two of the McCall brothers as they try to find the lost gold of Juarez while engaging in some six shooter firefights.

You have raced against AI opponents and raced against other players in offline and online multiplayer matches. Now racing sim game developer SimBin has announced plans to supposedly take the racing genre to the next level. Today they announced that they are taking beta sign-ups for an unnamed title that they claim will allow gamers to race against "professional drivers who, at that very same moment, will be driving real GT cars on a real race track."

Little has been revealed on exactly how this will work but SimBin said the technology for such a feature is being created by a company called iOpener. 5,000 people will be brought in to beta test the new game but there's no word yet on when that will begin.

This trailer demonstrates the "Driver Profiling" feature found in Need for Speed SHIFT. The Driver Profile keeps track of the different maneuvers players perform and rewards them with achievements in accordance with their driving styles. Aggressive drivers get rewarded for drafting and trading paint while perfectionists who perform clean passes and excellent cornering will get style achievements. The game will take these characteristics into consideration and tailor-make the racing career based on the player's personal driving style. Need for Speed SHIFT is expected to release in the fall.

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Electronic Arts is aiming to revive their Need For Speed franchise this fall with the release of their more racing sim oriented game Need For Speed Shift. Today EA put out a press release taking about one of the game's more interesting features, the driver profile.

Basically EA claims the driver profile will give each player a unique experience based on how he or she drives in the game. The profile is generated while playing with several factors including their success on the track, profile points earns while accomplishing specific things (passing other cars, taking out opponants, etc) receiving badges (the game's version of achievements) and their personality (whether a driver is aggressive or precise). With all of this info the game creates specific challenges and even unlocks cars and custom options for their driver. We are all for making a game feel different every time we play so hopefully this new feature will deliver on that promise.

"Competitors in Split/Second don't just collide with other vehicles to knock them from the track -- they can also trigger explosive events that drastically alter the dynamics of the race. Players must use strategy and pinpoint timing to derail opponents, tactically alter the track or create entirely new routes."

Download HD Split Second E3 2009 Trailer (181 MB)
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There were a ton of racing games shown at E3 2009 last week but an exec at Electronic Arts thinks their new Need For Speed Shift installment is looking better than many of the others. Videogamer.com quotes Patrick Soderlund, who is the senior vice president of EA Games Europe, says Activison's rival racer Blur " . . . to me is completely underwhelming. I don't understand what's up with that game to be honest. That's an official statement."

Not every racing game gets slammed by Soderlund. He praises Disney Interactive's entry Split/Second, saying, "I think Split/Second looks great. I'm going to have a good time playing that."

Are you ready for another off-road racing game? The German-based game publisher Black Inc hopes you are with the announcement this week of Fireburst, a game that is destinted to be hot, hot, HOT! (sorry, got carried away there). Created by the development team at exDream, the title is due for release in late 2009.

No screenshots have been released yet but the game is an Unreal Engine 3 based title and the title is not just a metaphor. The press release claims that gamers can "make a rival's car explode with a burst of fire." A wide variety of vehicles is promised along with 20 tracks that will have "shortcuts and alternative routes." Let's hope the screenshots burn our monitors up . . . or not.

Even though Electronic Arts already has two PC Need for Speed games in the pipeline (the racing sim Need For Speed Shift and the free-to-play MMO Need For Speed Online) two separate sources have confirmed that the publisher is also letting the Burnout team at Criterion Games take a crack at the long running racing game franchise.

EA's COO John Pleasants mentioned the news during today's William Blair 29th Annual Growth Stock Conference and Kotaku chatted with EA CEO John Riccitiello who also confirmed the news. Riccitiello said folks shouldn't expect a Burnout-NFS merger, saying only " . . . the team doing it is working on a revolutionary take on Need for Speed." There's no word on when the game will be released.

This fairly straightforward trailer for the Rally Car racing game, DiRT 2, lists all the features players can look forward to in the game. DiRT 2 lets players live the life of a racer in addition to providing a realistic Rally Car experience. The game is expected to release in September.

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CD Projekt's GoG.com web site continues to update even while E3 is going on. The site that offers DRM-free game download has added two new games to their site. One game went up late last week. It's Celtic Kings: Rage of War, the 2002 released historical RTS game from developer Haemimont Games (currently working on Tropico 3). You can purchase and download the title for $5.99.

Added to GoG.com today is MegaRace 3, the 2001 released futuristic racing game from developer Cryo Interactive and featuring the cynical commentary of race reporter "Lance Boyle". This game is also available to purchase and download for $5.99.

For their weekend sales dealie, the Steam PC gaming download service has put a ton of games on sale. Let's get to them:

• The racing games Trials 2 and Monster Trucks Nitro have been put in a bundle and are being sold this weekend for just $4.50, an 85 percent cut in their normal price.
• Also for this weekend only all 15 games from casual game developer MumboJumbo are on sale for 50 percent off. In fact you can download Luxor 2 and 7 Wonders II for just 99 cents.
• Flock, the recent Capcom downloadable game, is on sale for 50 percent off this weekend. A new update has also added 12 Steam achievements to the game.
• From now until June 5 you can get Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell: Double Agent for 50 percent off their normal Steam price.
• The classic super hero RPGs Freedom Force and Freedom Force Vs The Third Reich (developed by Irrational Games before they turned into 2K Boston) are now available on Steam. You can buy either game or both in a bundle for 10 percent off their normal price.
• And remember, Unreal Tournament III can be played for free this weekend and the price of the game and of the Unreal game collection are 50 percent off from now until June 7.

The Need for Speed series will be diverging from underground street racing in Need for Speed Shift. Although players will still be driving high-performance sports cars, they'll set up to compete in a professional racing circuit. The game is scheduled to release this fall on September 17th in Europe and September 22nd in North America.

Download Need for Speed Shift 'Reveal' Trailer (57 MB)
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For the past couple of weeks we have been giving out our wish lists of games that we would like to see at E3 2009 next week. We have gone over the FPS titles, the action games and the RPG-MMO titles. Today we conclude our pre-E3 2009 feature with a list of other PC games titles we would like to check out including a couple that were revealed after we started our series.

But that's not all we have planned. Tune back in tomorrow for yet another special pre-E3 feature that we think you will like a lot.

Click on the image to continue reading Countdown to E3 - The Other Games We Want To See.

This Burnout Paradise trailer features Big Surf Island, the next downloadable content expansion pack coming out this summer. As seen here, Big Surf Island will include spectacular jumps and stunts for players to drive through. The actual size of the map rivals that of the Paradise City downtown area. Big Surf Island will be available to players on June 11 via the Burnout Store, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.

Download HD Burnout Paradise 'Big Surf Island' Trailer (52 MB)
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