Nascar Thunder 2004 e la EA si propongono di diventare i leader del mercato made in USA? Scopriamolo assieme pardendo dalla recensione che Gamesdomain ha effettuato sulla versione Xbox:

NASCAR Thunder 2004 takes a step forward with a few new game modes and an interesting rival/buddy system, but the uneven graphics and performance hurt it. And on Xbox, as with all EA Sports games, the situation is worsened with no online play. Ultimately, die-hard NASCAR fans will definitely enjoy the game, but if you already own last year's, you won't be missing much by sitting out the 2004 season.

Interessati? Allora il link per il testo completo è questo!

La Codemasters si sta preparando al lancio di Toca Race Driver 2 e per farlo ha pubblicato la press release di questo loro ultimo titolo:

Codemasters, creators of genre-leading motorsport video games, will once again drive racing gaming forward with Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator. Designed as the definitive racing game experience, the game will launch winter 2004 for Xbox and PC, complete with Xbox Liveâ„¢ and PC online functionality.

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Race Driver 2 will provide petrol head gamers with the most diverse range of challenging motorsports ever seen in one game. Over 30 global championships will be featured, with players competing in events including GT Sports Car Racing, Street Racing, Rally, DTM, V8 Supercars, Global GT Lights, Rally Cross, Formula Ford, Open Wheel Grand Prix and Classic Car Racing.

The title is Codemasters’ most ambitious motorsport project to date with heavy investment in officially licensed content including cars, tracks and championships. Race Driver 2 will deliver an incredible selection of aspirational cars. 35 of the world's most powerful racing and street cars will be fully simulated – including Aston Martin (V12 Vanquish, DB7 and DB5), Jaguar (XJ220, XKR and E-Type), Ford (Mustang Cobra R, Ford GT, GT90, F150 Lightning Pick-up, Falcon BA), Holden Commodore VY, Mitsubishi 3000 GT, Mitsubishi EVO 7, Subaru Impreza WRX, ABT-Audi TT-R, Opel Astra V8 Coupe and AMG-Mercedes CLK.

The all new championship structure features 56 racing circuits from around the world including Laguna Seca, Surfers Paradise, Euro Speedway, Donington Park, Kyalami and Road America and new exotic locations from Miami to Tokyo.

It's on these world famous circuits that Race Driver 2 will demonstrate its completely new physics model, deformation damage system, graphics engine and AI.

Codemasters’ key racing studio is creating the title with Gavin Raeburn, producer of the TOCA games, leading development and production:
“Race Driver 2 will be our most ferocious motorsport game yet, with the gameplay distilling the pure adrenaline of the different styles of racing.
“A vast collection of real motorsports, real rules and real racing cars will combine with our most advanced and intuitive handling model to date. Every physical nuance of each vehicle type is accurately modelled, from tyre deformation when cornering to the centrifugal engine forces and complex aerodynamics.â€

“Visually, it's going to be stunning. Our new rendering engine features complex dynamic lighting, perspective mapped shadows, multipass textures, procedural standing grass and a host of post production techniques including true motion blur, depth of field and iris effects – all at a rock steady 60fps.â€

Race Driver 2 continues the pioneering use of cinematic plot in racing games with the whole narrative being played out completely from the first person perspective. You see what the lead character sees and you create your own history.

Race Driver 2's high-detail cinematics will follow the player and a band of race drivers competing globally with high-tension eliminator consequences. The 'reality TV' style eliminator story captures the competitive intrigue of 12 drivers battling their way to win the ultimate racing experience: a drive as a Masters Grand Prix professional. Visually the cinematics will be triple the detail of Pro Race Driver with characters created from over 12,000 polygons.

From the game's core development team, which began work on the title in summer 2002, the full Race Driver 2 team now has over 40 of Codemasters' finest motorsport game engineers on the project.

Race Driver 2 will launch in winter 2004 for Xbox and PC complete with online play functionality for both formats.

Volete gestire in modo totale i server di Nascar Racing 2003? Allora siete "obbligati" a scaricare la nuova versione (per ora ancora in fase beta) dei DeMONS tool, ora arrivati alla 3a versione. L'ultima release presenta:

Per il download visitate questa pagina!

Il portale di IGN PC ha pubblicato una completa ed esauriente recensione del nuovo Nascar Thunder 2004: il titolo EA Sports viene premiato con un voto finale di 8,5.

Now about that Papyrus game that we still have out there...Did EA finally produce a product worth shelving that game for? I won't go that far. Not yet. It's definitely better in almost every way than it was last year, but there are still AI issues to work out, the need to support large fields online, including AI drivers where desired, better force feedback and a re-vamped audio. All that said, the actual driving is getting quite good and believable, and dicing with the other cars feels just right. I would say that if EA can patch some of the AI holes and get the spotter calling the race in real-time, it becomes a photo finish on the track. Online will probably require another year or two.

La Codemasters ha rilasciato i primi quattro screenshots che mostrano il nuovo Race Driver 2: Ultimate Racing Simulator, titolo che sarà disponibile nel 2004 prima per la console XBox ed in seguito anche per PC. Come prime immagini, sono davvero notevoli...

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Il sito di IGN PC ha pubblicato un ricco articolo di approfondimento dedicato al prossimo Need for Speed Underground, analizzando le varie possibilità di customizzazione offerte dal prossimo titolo della Electronic Arts.

When we think of Need for Speed, we think of fast, exotic cars, and the police. And why shouldn't we? The series has made a name for itself with exactly those things. But, as all good things do, that has all come to an end. With Need for Speed Underground, the latest iteration of the popular series, the game has taken the road less traveled and pretty much ditched the game mechanics that made it popular in the first place...

Il sito di Nextgame ha pubblicato una esauriente anteprima dedicata al nuovo Outrun 2 della Atari, seguito di quel mitico Outrun del 1986 che ha fatto la storia degli arcade di guida:

Mentre Ridge Racer abbandona le sale giochi per sfidare Gran Turismo, Sega torna alle origini con OutRun 2. Una mossa del genere dimostra grande coraggio e può anche rivelarsi pericolosa (gli incassi non sono certo una sicurezza, oggi, in sala giochi) ma potrebbe segnare, davvero, una grande rinascita per il genere arcade. La produzione affidata a Yu Suzuki si annuncia in grado di ripercorrere i successi dell'originale, appoggiandosi a un hardware senza troppe incognite a livello di grafica, sonoro e potenza poligonale (si chiama Xbox il genitore della scheda Chihiro)...