This morning I saw a demo of a very early build for "Split/Second," the new racing title by Black Rock Studio, the developers behind last year's "Pure." Global brand manager Mitch Powers showed me the game, and called it an "action-arcade street racing game set in the world of a primetime reality TV show." While that description sounds unwieldy, the HUD for the game was simple: all the information the player needed (rank, score, number of laps) was displayed on the bumper of the player's vehicle.

"We're investigating different ways of showcasing the HUD without putting to much on screen, really keeping it minimal," Powers said, adding that this was far from the final product. When I asked if he thought other racing games' HUDs were too cluttered, he said, "I think games in general can have too much stuff in their HUD. We're always looking at innovative ways to incorporate important information into the HUD, or at least give gamers the option [to see what they want]. If I want to see it, I'll see it. But I don't want it to be persistent if i don't want to see it. In 'Split/Second,' we really want to showcase the blockbuster action that's happening within the race; we don't want to cover it up with HUD elements."

How much do you want in your HUD? Do you think less is more?

"Split/Second" is slated for release on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 early next year.

A couple of days ago we reported here at Multiplayer about the plethora of new details an Activision rep revealed about his company's 2009 line-up at the Massive Incorporated advertising up-front. That event a first-of-its-kind gaming publisher showcase designed to excite advertisers to buy in-game ads through Massive.

One of the details we and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal reported was that Activision's 2009 racing game -- code-named "Racer 2009" -- was described as "Mario Kart meets Forza." Neither Croal nor I reported what was meant by that, and I've seen confusion about that description in various Internet reactions to the news.

I checked my notes and this is how that amalgamation was explained: Read more...

In only half a year, iPhone games have already come a long way and every time I'm shown a new batch, they continue to impress me.

At a brief iPhone event held by Apple this week in San Francisco, the company showcased a number of upcoming applications and games, including Electronic Arts' "Need For Speed Undercover."

This mobile "Need For Speed" is the best looking 3D iPhone game I've seen. The visuals are somewhere between DS and a PSP, leaning towards the latter. EA has also learned from other iPhone racers and modified accelerometer controls so you don't have to tilt the phone 90-degrees to make the car move.

Plus, price. The PSP version costs $39.99, the DS version is $29.99. The iPhone one isn't as full-featured -- there are fewer cars and there's not an open-world to explore -- but $9.99 is a heck of a lot more tempting.

The iPhone version arrives in December. Are you going to download it?

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Sure, since "MotorStorm: Pacific Rift" is a racing title, you could do the normal thing and, you know, race in it.

But for our "must-do" list feature, game director Nigel Kershaw let us know of a few other fun (and often humorous) things you can do in the game. For instance...

1) Punch Fest - Play a split-screen race with just a field of bikes, and see who can land the most successful punches on your opponents. Guaranteed to ferment hatred and aggression even amongst a group of nuns.

2) Barrel Roll - See if you can flip your vehicle through 360 degrees and land it again. No reason, just for the hell of it. It's harder than it looks but it can be done; my record is three in a race.

3) Pulitzer Prize - Use photo mode to take a peek at some of the little Easter eggs waiting around the tracks. Can you spot the bunch of developers in their pants on Riptide? Or find the assortment of giant inflatables, or even the Ark of the Covenant? Read more...

"Pure" is an off-road, trick-oriented ATV racer, but you wouldn't know it from the title.

Most racing games attempt to be descriptive about their content in the title, but "Pure" is the opposite. It tells you nothing about the game itself.

That sounds like a risk, so I asked "Pure" game designer Chris Bowles how they came up with the name.

"We arrived at the name 'Pure' after to trying to describe the feelings we were having when playing the game, pure fun, pure excitement, pure adrenaline and it became apparent that we were using the word 'Pure' quite a lot," he explained.

There must have been names they tossed aside, right?

"Another one we had toyed with was 'Vertigo Rush,'" he said, "which was what we called the feeling when you went over one of the very big jumps in 'Pure' and the ground falls away to reveal a 200 ft drop and stunning views 40k into the distance. We still refer to these moments as 'Vertigo Rush' but the game, as you know, is called 'Pure.'"

If you were in charge of naming "Pure," what would you have called it?

At an Electronic Arts event in New York yesterday I got my first chance to ride a motorcycle in "Burnout Paradise." What I sampled is the hit racing game's second major free update, formerly called Davis, but now called Burnout Bikes. It's slated for release in the next couple of months.

But how in the world do motorcycles work in the T-rated crash-heavy realm of "Burnout"?

First of all, don't expect motorcycles to be smashed to bits. Read more...

MTV Multiplayer revealed the existence of "Fatal Inertia EX."

Last night, I finally played Koei's PlayStation Network-exclusive futuristic racer. A racer that was supposed to be a PlayStation 3 launch title, except it launched on Xbox 360 first.

Koei Canada has spent the last few months tweaking "Fatal Inertia" for its downloadable relaunch on its original hardware destination.

Will it be worth the $29.99 that Koei is asking? Well, that depends on something…

Read more...

Racers aren't my thing. I played two hours of "Gran Turismo 5: Prologue" because I wanted to hear a new Weezer track. But once in a great while, an arcade racer will suck me in. "SSX" did years and years ago and so did "Ridge Racers" on PSP.

So for me to report that I'm genuinely excited about a racing game means something. And that's exactly how I felt after a half hour demo of Disney and Blackrock Studio's "Pure."

The game is as described: "SSX"-meets-ATV. I haven't touched an ATV racing game that wasn't forced on me to review, but I would happily play this one.

Read more...

Last month, we got to see "Speed Racer" on the Wii in action and learned that it's a cross between "F-Zero" and "WipEout." Even though no Wii Wheel was present, we did get some answers about how it works with the third-party title. But forget about us -- take a look at "Speed Racer" yourself and see what you think of the very first gameplay video.

"Speed Racer" on the Wii hits stores May 6.

What happens when the speed of "F-Zero" meets the crashes of "Burnout" and is wrapped in the eye-popping colors of "WipEout?" You get the latest movie based spin-off game "Speed Racer."

The Wachowski Brothers-produced movie hits theaters this May. "Speed Racer" the game will hit Wiis and DSs right around the same time, courtesy of WB Games. (The PS2 version will coincide with the DVD release later this year). The game is also the first third-party title to be compatible with the Wii Wheel.

After spending a little time with the game, it's hard not to compare it to some of the more classic racing franchises.

Read more...