f1-2010 posts

Codemasters' newest racing sim game franchise will get a second installment in September. MCV reports that F1 2011 will be released on September 23 for the PC and other platforms. Since that's on a Friday it's likely that the game will be released in the US a few days earlier or later.

Codemasters first released its first PC Formula 1-based racing game, F1 2010, last fall. Despite some issues with the game's AI that were fixed via patches later (along with post launch support for DirectX 11 graphics) MCV reports that the game was the most successful in Codemasters' history

With five days to go before the BIG DAY, the Steam PC game download holiday sales event has now gone live. This is the third annual event and it's usually the biggest sale of the year for Valve's download service as nearly all the game in its library have at least some kind of price cut from now until January 2. In addition there are publisher game bundles and indie game packs that save you even more money. Mac gamers are not excluded; over 125 Mac titles are on sale as well.

There are simply too many deals to go over in this one news post but we will mention the price cuts that are in place from now until 1 pm Eastern time on Tuesday. That includes the launch of the promised Oddboxx bundle of the four Oddworld games, including two that are new to the PC platform.

F1 2010 - $19.99
Super Meat Boy - $3.75
Titan Quest Gold Edition - $4.99
Battlefield Bad Company 2 - $6.79
The Oddboxx - $12.49
Deus Ex/Deus Ex Invisible War - $2.49
Peggle/Peggle Nights - $6.99
Lego Batman - $4.99
F.E.A.R/F.E.A.R. 2 - $9.99
Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition - $20.09
All Prince of Persia games - 75 percent off
Portal - $3.74 or $2.25 if you own Half-Life 2

F1 2010 (shown above) was released less than two months ago but the official Formula 1 racing simulation from developer-publisher Codemasters already has a sequel in the works. MCV reports that F1 2011, due out sometime in, well, 2011, will have some major changes compared to this year's versions.

At least that's the word from Codemasters' CEO Rod Cousens who stated that the next incarnation of the game would "definitely not be a few new tracks and a few new drivers." In addition to the main game, Cousens stated that Codemasters would also release a Formula 1-based browser game along with a version made for "very young kids".

Thursday brings us some quick and dirty PC game sales that will last for the rest of the weekend. We will post even more sales on Friday but for now check out what's on our docket:

• Steam has put two games on sale this weekend. One is the 2009 fantasy RPG Risen which gets a 50 percent price cut to just $14.99. The other is for F1 2010, the more recent racing simulation. You can get the game for $26.79, a 33 percent savings. Both sales end Monday.
• On the last weekend before it switches from a client to a web-based store, Games For Windows has the indie game Osmos for just $2.49, a 75 percent price cut, until Monday.

This patch updates the Formula One racing game F1 2010 to v1.01 and addresses a number of bug fixes and gameplay adjustments. A full list of changes can be found after the jump.

Download F1 2010 v1.01 Patch (24 MB)

The first big patch for developer/publisher Codemasters' recent driving simulation F1 2010 is close to being released. The patch for the game will fix a number of issues including some AI bugs that were causing some AI drivers to have some "unrealistic finishing positions" in some races.

In a post on the game's message board, it was revealed that the patch will also have some additional PC specific features added. These will include support for some DirectX 11 graphical effects, a replay save and playback feature, support for AMD's Eyefinity multi-monitor features, better performance from PCs with multi-core processors and more. There is no specific release date for the patch.

[Via Eurogamer]

Last month F1 2010 was released by its developer and publisher Codemasters. However the racing simulation has been the subject of heavy criticism since its release by a number of players who have accused the game's AI of "cheating". The game's official message board is full of complaints from players about AI race times that are inaccurate, odd pit stops and more.

On Thursday Codemasters posted up a lengthy post on the game's message boards that goes over the AI issues. While the developer stated that it is looking into the issues reported by players and will release a patch that will deal with some of them it also defended the game's AI, saying, "The AI system implemented in F1 2010 is very complex, and is certainly not scripted in any way. Every AI driver is trained with a series of race behaviours such as overtaking, defending a position and slipstreaming etc." The post goes into detail on specific AI issues brought up by players with Codemasters saying, "We have already made significant advances against some of the issues thanks to those of you who have contributed a clear and comprehensive account of problems."

The release last week of Civilization V was expected to be a major event for PC gamers and as expected the turn-based strategy game stayed on top of Steam's weekly top 10 best selling PC games for the week. In second place comes a surprise entry: F1 2010, the new Formula 1 racing sim game from Codemasters. In third place comes Serious Sam Gold Edition collecting both the original and HD versions of the first two games in the shooter series.

The full list is as follows:

1. Civilization V - Firaxis Games/2K Games
2. F1 2010 - Codemasters
3. Serious Sam Gold Edition - Croteam/Devolver Digital
4. Darksiders - Vigil Games/THQ
5. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix
6. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - Digital Illusions/EA
7. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
8. Garry's Mod - Facepunch Studios
9. R.U.S.E. - Eugen/Ubisoft
10. Dead Rising 2 - Blue Castle Games/Capcom

Codemasters has some serious racing clout, and the launch of their newest racing title just furthers its influence. F1 2010 is out on the market today, and those looking for a Formula 1 game will no doubt be ecstatic. This launch trailer shows off more of the tracks, gameplay, and art of the game, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. If you want some more racing goodies, give this trailer a peek. Otherwise, it's safe to skim or completely skip, depending on your preference.

Wow. Who ordered all the news in the past couple of days? It's like there was some huge game-related event that's happening this weekend that serves as an excuse for developers to announce new games ... oh wait.

• Steam has Cossacks: Back to War on sale for 20 percent off. You can also pre-order F1 2010 via Steam and get 10 percent off.
• Steam also has patch updates for Team Fortress 2, The Settlers 7, and Puzzle Dimension.
• Steam is letting folks pre-load R.U.S.E.
• If you are going to PAX Prime you can get some exclusive Penny Arcade A30 headsets from Astro Gaming.
• The IndieCade games festival has named its finalists for the indie games festival in October.
• Is Valve getting ready to port its games to Linux. It sure seems so.