Race Driver: GRID the all-new exhilarating racing experience from Codemasters Studios, recently launched in the U.S. and throughout Europe to critical acclaim, is to be fully localised for release in Japan later this year, Codemasters announced today.

One of the highest rated racing videogames of recent years, Race Driver: GRID already features Japanese specific content, including Drift and Touge race events and locations that include Tokyo Shibuya, Yokohama and Haruna.

The Playstation 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft editions of game will now be adapted to include Japanese speech and text throughout in readiness for its arrival in the market this winter.

“As Codemasters continues to gain significant ground in the global videogame business, the release of Race Driver: GRID in Japan will also see the arrival of the Codemasters brand as a publishing label in the market,” said Rod Cousens, CEO, Codemasters. “We have pursued options in the market for some time and this announcement is but a first indication of our ambitions in that market.”

On release, the Japanese edition of Race Driver: GRID will come complete with a full copy of the flagship off-road racer, Colin McRae: DiRT. The dual offering is expected to be well received; earlier Race Driver and Colin McRae titles have enjoyed success in the market when published under licence.

“The recent success of key western titles in Japan is indicative of the current trend where Japanese gamers are not only more aware of popular western gaming brands but actively seeking them out,” continued Cousens. “With Race Driver: GRID set to be fully localised and arrive bundled with Colin McRae: DIRT, it is an opportune time for Codemasters to enjoy brand success in Japan.”

Codemasters has secured the exclusive video game rights to Formula 1 it was announced today. In a worldwide licensing agreement with Formula One Administration Limited, Codemasters will develop a new generation of the multi-million selling F1 game franchise across multiple platforms.

“Formula 1 is ambitious in expanding its reach with more circuits planned beyond recent additions in the Middle East and China. It is also ambitious in expanding its reach via technology. The digital communities that computer and video gaming creates will play a key role in further growing the Formula 1 audience and connecting them globally,” said Rod Cousens, chief executive officer, Codemasters.

“As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with Formula 1 is the jewel in Codemasters’ racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion. Formula 1 has gone with the best, the segment leader. It has gone to the home of the EGO Engine for quality; it has gone to the company that can host Formula 1 Online, to the company that is streaking away from the pack.”

“Codemasters’ success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge,” said Chris Deering, chairman, Codemasters. “The combination of Formula 1’s new momentum of expansion and Codemasters’ contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen.”

The worldwide deal provides Codemasters with rights to feature all Grand Prix circuits, Formula 1 teams, cars, and driver likenesses.

The FIA Formula One World Championship games will be developed using the evolution of the award-winning EGO Game Technology Engine, Codemasters’ highly versatile cross-platform middleware technology. Its advanced graphics and physics technology brings an unmatched cinematic quality and realism to interactive entertainment.

The EGO Engine is currently being deployed in the creation of Race Driver: GRID, the latest in Codemasters Studio’s international circuit-based racing series. Set to be a landmark release when it launches on May 30th, Race Driver: GRID was recently hailed as “The driving game of the summer” by BBC Top Gear magazine.

The estimated price of the F1 licence is at over $75 million.

A brand new BMW 3-Series car will be the ultimate champion’s reward as Codemasters today revealed an incredible pan-European fastest lap challenge to mark the launch of the Race Driver: GRID™ playable demo for home consoles.

The demo is now available to download from Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and is available later today from the PlayStation Network for the PS3 system.

For the game that’s all about the race, the Race Driver: GRID™ playable demo delivers intense competition right from the off as gamers compete in single-player GRID World events, 12-player online races and then prove their worth in the white-knuckle Time Trial competition, which is home to the fastest lap challenge. Pitting all console players against each other, it’s the Time Trial results that will see one race driver getting the keys to the BMW.

With a BMW 3-Series car up for grabs, the competition is sure to be fierce from the start, so download the demo and then get revved up for the full aggressive wheel-to-wheel Race Driver: GRID experience, coming May 30th for Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 system and Games for Windows; a Nintendo DS™ edition of the game is set to launch in June.

Capcom has confirmed that they have secured the exclusive worldwide rights to publish official videogames and peripherals for the motorcycle racing championship MotoGP through 2012. The exclusive four year license covers all console formats including PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC.

MotoGP is the world’s premier motorcycling championship consisting of 18 Grand Prix races hosted around the globe. It features top motorcycle manufacturers such as Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, Kawasaki, KTM and Aprilia, who provide machinery for the world’s best riders, including reigning World Champion Casey Stoner from Australia, American Nicky Hayden, Italy’s Valentino Rossi, and Spain’s Dani Pedrosa. The 2008 line up also includes Japan’s Shinya Nakano, plus newcomers for the new season, such as 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and last year’s World Superbike Champion, James Toseland, from the UK.

“We are very excited to have signed this long term agreement with Dorna Sports, which for the first time grants one publisher worldwide multi-platform rights to the adrenaline fuelled world of MotoGP,” said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom’s consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe. “We feel this move to a single publisher will greatly benefit our ability to develop titles that deliver more authenticity and excitement to the consumer.”

If you’ve finished reading the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue car list posted a couple of days ago it’s now time for new cars for the Xbox 360 owners.

The downloadable pack released on March 19 includes 13 cars and will cost 400 Microsoft points.

The cars are:
2008 Audi S5
2007 Audi TT Coupe S-Line
1971 BMW 3.0 CSL E09
2008 BMW E92 M3
1989 Ferrari F40 Competizione
1996 Ferrari F50 GT
2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
2007 Maserati GranTurismo
2006 Maserati MC12 Corsa
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
2008 Porsche 911 GT2 (997)
2007 Peugeot #1 Peugeot 207 Super 2000

EA’s demo of Burnout Paradise is now available for download at the Playstation Store and on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Discover jumps, billboards and smashable targets all over Motor City, Big Surf Beach and Ocean View in search of the fastest Burnout Route in the Hunter Cavalry car. Also, attempt your shot at a race and check out the all-new Stunt Run mode. If you’re online, invite up to three friends into your game and connect with them instantly using the EasyDrive online system. Once online, players can work cooperatively to complete three FreeBurn challenges or simply smash each other up and grab their Burnout Mugshots with the PLAYSTATION®Eye and Xbox LIVE™ Vision cameras.

The development team at Criterion pushes the boundaries to make each Burnout game stands on its own – reinventing the franchise with every iteration. The Paradise experience is all about freedom and exploration. The game has been designed to embrace speed, freedom, social online play and spectacular crashing, but now with all new modes, a completely open world and events at every intersection.

So make action your middle name and take to the streets of Paradise City.

When the coin-ops were starting to die out during the nineties there was one game that resisted: SEGA Rally. Even to this day it’s not impossible to still find the cabinets around, insert your money, grab the steering wheel and show once and for all who’s the king of the forest.

The launch of this new game creates a nostalgic warmth, but also a fair bit of nervousness. Any sort of ideas you might have that the original arcade game hasn’t been honoured at once feel unjustified when you start to steer the insanely sliding rally cars in the same crazy pace you did years ago. Just like before this isn’t rally against the clock but head-to-head and metal-against-metal. With thirty tracks in five different setting there is entertainment to be had for a long time. The biggest new addition to the concept are the deformable terrain. The cars leave tyre tracks in the roads and since the courses are driven for several laps the roads get incredibly bumpy and in its places really hard to drive during the last lap. A feature that works really good and means that no laps will be the same.

SEGA Rally in its 2007 clothes is a perfect game when you’re in the mood for some crazy non-serious driving.

SEGA Rally (or SEGA Rally Revo as it’s called in North America) arrived today in the mail box and I booted it up for some quick races.

It’s all very clear just by looking at the title screen that SEGA are staying true to the classic original. It’s all very arcadey, almost to the point where you want to insert coins. Today’s debut boot of the game resulted in two quick races:

1. Safari.
I chose the Peugeot 306 and the first Safari stage. It’s apparantly the easiest of the stages. The first thing I realises was that the car was incredibly edgy and was twitching left right as soon as you were even considering moving the analog stick. My first two laps were a bit like a drunken driver but I became faster and faster while bouncing on the deformed tracks and splashing through water. Ended up third after a pretty damn splendid last lap.

2. Arctic
Snow. You can’t really beat it when it comes to rallying. And in SEGA Rally you even get to plough it, leaving deep tyre tracks in the road which makes every lap a bit different and a bit more shaky. After the three icy laps I got third here as well after a much more stable race.

The nervous steering does take some getting used to, but once I started going forward instead of just counter-steering wildly I started to feel that this could be the arcade racer (or rallier) that I’ve been looking for.

Stay tuned for a small, but proper, review.

In May 2008 Milestone and Black Bean will release SBK -08 Superbike World Championship for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC and PSP.

The new game, developed by Italian racing veterans Milestone, is the official WSBK game and will feature new enhancements for the next-gen consoles. Milestone was originally called Graffiti and released the highly acclaimed PC racing game Screamer in 1995. In 1996 the company followed up the success with Screamer 2 and later Screamer Rally. The Superbike World Championship game series was started in 1999 and SBK -08 will be the sixth game from Milestone with these two-wheelers.

FlatOut Ultimate Carnage has now gone gold and is set for release for Xbox 360 on June 22nd. The game is being developed by the Finnish company Bugbear Entertainment for Empire Interactive. Commenting on the completion of the game, Empire European Marketing Manager, Rob Noble said, “It’s done! All the hard work is over and FlatOut Ultimate Carnage is ready to hit the primetime and to take its rightful place as the number one destruction racer on the market. This is one game you need to check out for its amazing action, spectacular visuals and just superb action racing!”

Building on the success of FlatOut 2, including multiple Racing Game of the Year awards and its status as an Xbox Live multi-player favourite, European support is focused on Xbox 360 websites and Xbox live marketplace.

“The media is tightly targeted towards 360 specialist websites for front-of-site rich media advertising. Xbox 360 gamers will see the ads more than two million times. This will include video footage of the destruction racing and invite people to enter competitions to win the chance to drive FlatOut Racing Experiences. The video trailer is now on Marketplace, the downloadable playable demo will be next and www.flatoutgame is designed to deliver the feel of the chaotic destruction in FlatOut with video, 3D screens, music and a special focus on the new Deathmatch Derby mode” added Noble.

Exceeding the already high expectations set for the game, FlatOut Ultimate Carnage has been hailed by the Specialist Gaming media as one of the best looking and technologically advanced racing games on the Xbox 360 platform. “Wow, no seriously WOW!” wrote Xbox 360 World. “We’ve played it and we’re very, very hot for it. Beautiful” said Games Radar. “…set to take the 360 by storm” according to 360 Gamer and “…this really can’t be beaten” from Gamesmaster.