Need For Speed, Burnout, DiRT Showdown, Innovation: Thrown In The Trash

So anyway, Electronic Arts's creep continues to expand throughout the Orlando region as they had a big announcement in the FIEA building early on Friday morning (damn you EA for making me wake up so early).  This included news cameras, University of Central Florida guys, and even Florida Governor Rick Scott who made an appearance (I shook his hand while the petty lib gamers stood way in the back).  But whatever you think of politicians, we can all agree on one thing and that is Electronic Arts sucks.

EA is opening up an "Innovation Lab" right down the hall from the FIEA headquarters (we're housed in the same building as some other arty-farty UCF programs).  EA and innovation...two words that sound awkward together, huh?  Innovation for what--new Madden touchdown celebrations?  The small studio (with desks for 20 employees) had some nice digs though.  EDIT: If you're curious, here's a Joystiq article on the new studio.

But nevertheless, EA is slowly creeping up on us.  They plan on building even more studios across from us where the demolished Amway Center once stood.  Sorry, EA, but a couple of fancy buildings and IKEA furniture isn't going to make us like you even more.  Money can't buy friends, but a focus on true quality and respect for the individual (BOTH employees and consumers) does, plain and simple.  BTW, EA's stocks are going down, I love it, cocky EA taking a hit for once.

But I'm not talking about EA anymore.  God forbid I actually have to mention the letter "E" followed by an "A" ever again.  They wouldn't bother me so much if A. the games industry still had some credibility left (i.e. the Japanese games industry--Sega in particular--was still competitive and not everything revolved around cinematics/production value/uber-violence instead of solid gameplay) and B. if I weren't trapped in Electronic Arts Land down here in Orlando, FL.  Seriously, why doesn't EA open up a theme park already?  Might as well at the rate of "innovations" they've made in the "entertainment" industry.

BUT IT GETS EVEN BETTER!!!  I feel bad for the Need for Speed series--I really do.  You could call it decent up through the Underground series but now, it's a joke.  Since Black Box did such a crap job turning NFS into a movie (see Undercover & The Run), Criterion is now in charge of any future iterations for some unknown period of time.  In other words, NFS is now Burnout with a different name.

What happened here?  Why couldn't EA just let Criterion make Burnout games?  Were they that obsessed with that fetish-ized name "Need for Speed" that they needed to recycle not just the same name but also the same subtitles (Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted)?  Can't they keep the Burnout name so I can more easily identify Criterion's dreck?  Oh, and that NFS movie?  They're seriously going to make it now.  I have no expectations for this "summer blockbuster flick."  If they have that Razor Callahan dude, then maybe it'll be entertaining but I doubt it.  Lord Have Mercy on the Need for Speed brand since it's now a circus act for everyone to mock & ridicule (you heard it from me a while back!).

But hey, at least Forza is now Need for Speed!  You know, Forza Horizon looks like the old-school Need for Speeds but it still irks me somewhat.  However, as gaming evolution would have it, I wouldn't be surprised if in 5-10 years Forza turned into a crashing arcade racer too.  All modern-day racing series start out great.  Then they eventually...Burnout.  YYYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Anyway, one more racing game before I call it quits.  This is Dirt Showdown.  I saw this on Giant Bomb's quick plays and what the hell, let's check it out.

The first thing that grinds my gears is the Twitter hashtag you see RIGHT THERE AT THE TITLE SCREEN.  WHY IS THIS NECESSARY???  ARE WE SO EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA THAT WE NEED TO STICK IN EVERY ONE OF OUR GAMES IN SOME WAY???  Putting that aside, the rest of the game's not shocking.  The color hues are still screwed up enough to make me nauseous.  The racing looks okay but the Miami track they chose is this incredibly confined strip of road that barely does racing justice at all.  The Gymkhana/Tony Hawk "complete these goals" levels are okay, I guess.  Needs more pyrotechnics and "bro-sif" Ken Block stuff I guess.  Oh, and there's demolition derbies too.  The wrecks are incredibly tame which is guess is nice but any wrecking mini-games (ripped right out of Big Bumpin) come off as very plain.  In other words, I'm not offended by this game but I'm underwhelmed just looking at it.

I assume DiRT Showdown didn't sell well at all.  Can you blame 'em?  This isn't rally racing like we know it (play Sega Rally instead, you bastards).  I've mentioned this conundrum several times but here goes again.  A lot of racing games have come out recently that have bombed in terms of sales and/or quality--Split/Second, Motorstorm, Blur, Dirt Showdown, Sonic Riders (G-D Kinect), Fuel, Grid, the "bad" Need for Speeds, et. al.  Even though I don't really like many of these games in terms of style, gameplay, or some other reason altogether, am I still somehow obligated to buy them because I'm a racing game fan?  Or should I sit back and watch as our beloved racing genre continues to flail like a fish out of water?  Will the failure of mainstream racing games result in even fewer ones being made in the future?

A lot of racing games can't do straight-up traditional racing well so they coat it with all this fancy crap that seems to fail.  We only have one hope left and that is Sonic All-Stars Racing 2.  If this game bombs, then we're finished.  I have no faith in a future run by Burnouts--err, Need for Speeds, wannabe-poser racing sims like Forza, and Mario Karts.  It's a mess.  At least Sonic All-Stars 2 looks okay so far but the whole Danica thing is awkward.  Just stay tuned for more details and pray for Sumo to deliver in spades.  Amen.

Forza On The Horizon...(Open-World Racing!!)

I'll just cut to the chase now--my E3 "pick" for favorite game goes to Lego City.  I like it--it's colorful, happy fun and if it has vehicles in it, it'll be awesome.  Everything else was uber-violent or made by Nintendo.

There's one problem though...it's only for Wii U.  Rofl.  What am I going to play now...oh God no don't say it--

So here's Forza Horizon again.  I think my preliminary analysis was a bit harsh, but what else can you say?  That's how I genuinely felt upon seeing the news.  Forza has gone from a "serious" sim racer to a exaggerated speed festival with a bunch of things that are ripped right out the NFS formula.

Here's a Jalopnik article I will be referring to.  FYI, Jalopnik does a lot of promos with Forza--some of the DLC has the word "Jalopnik" written right on it.  So a Jalopnik blogger talks to some game boss producer or something at the Forza booth and we learn some things:


Microsoft is calling Forza Horizon an "action racing" game, and that underscores the big conceptual difference between it and Forza 4. Where Forza 4 is more of a racing simulator, this is more of an arcade-ish game.

I just think it's absurd that you need to tack on the phrase "action" to a racing game.  Isn't the racing itself action on its own?  Will this game add other action stuff like being able to get out of the car and run from cops?  Oh wait, someone did that already and it sucked.


He's the one who told me you'll be able to race a '70s Boss Mustang against a WWII P51 Mustang fighter. Sold.

Um, how can a car compete with a plane anyway?  Maybe in a drag race or a Amazing Race contest (get to the bus station locker first and win a million dollars), sure, but otherwise, the plane can just fly above the track and the car can't.  So that's fair.  You can't even pilot the plane (I assume) so what's the point?  This smells like one of those selling point story mode things that devs drop in the game to hype up interest.  Take NFS: the Run: Jack flips the police car over on the train tracks and busts out just in time.  And Jack dodges falling boulders along the mountainside.  They are story/campaign-related things that mean jack (pun intended) once you've played though it a few times.  It's cinematics & production value, that's all.  Very little to do with actual gameplay.


The lighting is dramatically more varied, with a low sun in the sky giving everything a striking golden cast, and your cars' lights actually work.

I must say that I applaud the Forza team for bringing out a lot of contrast in the environment.  That is a GOOD thing.  However, the lighting has me worried quite a bit.  Just looking at the screens (including the first one above), it looks a lot like they tweaked the hue values somewhat.  Games tend to do that nowadays, particularly the orange/teal hue in every damn action movie that's supposed to add "zing" to their visuals.  While Forza Horizon doesn't go to that extreme, it seems like they baked in too much yellow/orange lighting...enough to irk me just enough to bring this point up.

At least Forza Horizon doesn't exhibit the same dreary visuals you see from games like GRID or DiRT.  That would be terrible.

From what I saw, at times Forza Horizon seems to exhibit this phony lighting that is more obnoxious than anything.  I'll have to sit through even more gameplay first.  Wait until the game's release.  Whatever, we'll see how the game's final product looks first.

BTW, I'm glad that this game will have night driving for the first time.  Took you guys five games to get around to it, huh?  In the meantime, Gran Turismo had night driving from the start (see Special Stage Route 5).  Forza sucks.


The physics are tweaked just a bit, with your car feeling a bit more lively than in Forza 4, a bit more inclined to drama.

I think this is a good thing.  If it captures the little details that make games like Daytona or Outrun so fun to drive (responsive handling, car trembles at high speed, etc.), then that might be a saving grace.  But they said the same stuff in just about every other damn arcade racer (NFS comes to mind, again...) so I'm not holding my breath.


There's many more objects in the environment, guard rails and signs and fences, and they can all be effectively destroyed by some sloppy driving. And that's fun.

Oh noes guys, they're encouraging reckless driving!!  Weave in out and out of traffic.  Run from cops (think they would put up with these shenanigans?)  The true racing pastime.


The basic premise is you're attending a festival, and your goal is to become King of the festival by gathering fans. You do that by winning races, risky driving, stunts, special challenges and events.

Seriously, I hate this crap.  For some reason, a "festival" in the middle of Colorado reminds me of Woodstock with cars (or the original Motorstorm)--bunch of wannabe losers listening to bad dubstep, getting wasted on energy drinks and wrecking cars.  I think these things detract from the actual reason we play driving games which is TO RACE CARS.

Anyone played Need for Speed: ProStreet?  I did for the achievement points (beat every race)...it was average despite not having the open world exploration and police chases.  But the whole "race show" stuff was more of a hindrance than anything.  Plus, it has a "story mode"--your name is Ryan Cooper and you race to take down all the pro racers and become "King of the Racing Universe" presumably because your ride was stolen and/or someone pissed in your Corn Flakes.  But because you're stuck with that very name, half the race announcers affectionately call you by the nickname "Coop."  And trust me--I muted the announcer in no time.

Speaking of which, this open-world crap is a double-edged sword.  Some of my favorite games are the PS2 era Grand Theft Auto games.  I especially loved Vice City and San Andreas because they had a cool vibe, lots of cars, and a great soundtrack.

The Hotring Racer...one of my favorite cars in GTA.  I had the cheat code to spawn one memorized in the past.

Now when you're cruisin' around city/wilderness, it's kind of fun.  But the actual bonafide racing in the game SUCKED.  GTA wasn't a game built for traditional racing.  The city wasn't specifically designed to carve out race tracks.  It's like some producers dropped a few nodes across the city and said "go drive through them in order, good luck."

Even other open-world racers like Need for Speed or Burnout just aren't that great for racing.  It's like they'll carve out a path through the city and place a bunch of glowing barriers to block off roads off the beaten path--you can't go through them but the traffic can.  And the city is laden with all sorts of scenery such that it obfuscates any sort of "racing line" whatsoever so you're acting in a reactionary fashion--see some arrows just forcibly turn in that direction.  It doesn't seem well-polished for a true racing experience.  Not to mention that little "shortcuts" like side roads & ramps also take away from the experience since it becomes more of a game of memorization than one of actual skill.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Speaking of which, there's always the Little Rascals...which demonstrates how stupid urban racing can be at times.  They take a "shortcut" off the beaten path which includes driving through a grocery store parking lot (and knocking pedestrians 10 feet into the air).  Whatever, this is stupid and I can't believe I'm posting it but I don't care:

I think the game that did city racing the best was Project Gotham Racing.  Technically, you can say so since since there are modes that remove the barriers and permit free-roam around the city.  As for the artificial race courses, they are designed in a matter that makes it clearly obvious which way to go...clear visuals and signs tell you exactly where to go.  This also applies to Sega racers like Daytona & Outrun 2...


If you see it, you can drive to it. Well, maybe not some of the mountaintops, but still. You can drive into the Rockies, then look down off the side of the mountain and see the festival below. The map is full and huge and there's many miles of road to discover.

 This is also interesting as well.  Again, the entire game takes place in Colorado.  While the game exhibits forests, canyons, and lakes across limitless draw distance, that's all you really see the whole game.  Even though the game is beautiful, I think driving around in the woods can get a tad bit old after a while.  But what do I know--I need to see the final map first.  Let's hope there is more scenery like that in OutRun 2 (the definitive standard for...well...pretty much everything.

Outrun 2 doesn't showcase the fanciest lighting or textures there is (the game is now 8 years old), but it's simple, colorful style makes for good, clean fun.


There's a LOT of cars. I can't give a number now, but it's huge selection. All road cars this time, no pure race cars like in Forza. They're an eclectic mix, cars you'd take to a festival.

Damn, no Formula 1 cars.  :(  You  think by now Forza would have 'em but it's too late for that.


...BTW, one more thing.  I was looking at the comments for this Jalopnik article and the racing diehards aren't very impressed either:

BtheD19, Formula J treble World Champion
"The basic premise is you're attending a festival, and your goal is to become King of the festival by gathering fans. You do that by winning races, risky driving, stunts, special challenges and events."

And this is why I hate arcade "racing" games. Pass the GT5, I've got lap times to set.

Rattleface Blouses @BtheD19, Formula J treble World Champion
Yup, that's where I lost almost any interest in this game. It's takes after Dirt 2's brotastic environments.


Glad to see there's others out there who are a bit uneasy with this new Forza as well but the knock on arcade racers is a bit uncalled for.  But the Sega Racing Nation still exists out there cause a couple of comments later, someone says this:

Dreamcaster @BtheD19, Formula J treble World Champion

Arcade racing games, when done right, are freakin' amazing. Play any Sega racer and you'll see it. 

I love this guy.  No homo.  Though none of the sim racing aficianados have replied.  Who cares...reading the comments section of any major blog/news site is a good source of brain cancer.  Just don't do it.


...I really don't know what else to say about Forza Horizon.  It looks better than the incredibly generic Burnout--I mean Need for Speed: Most Wanted (the 2012 one).  Seriously, I don't feel like commenting on the new NFS since it looks like Burnout w/ Facebook functionality.  No use complaining anymore because A. we don't know what the final product will look like and B. it's also tailored for casuals so if you're outside the intended demographic then deal with it.  Dumb games are dumb--I'm outta here, dudes.

Sega Rally UK Appreciation Hour, F-Zero, Depressing Racing Games

Here's some assorted racing game stories just for you:

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Sega Rally Online Arcade has been out for a couple of days and there's only two reviews I know of: GameSpot (7.0) and Eurogamer (8.0).  There's really no need to criticize these reviews because there's not much to say about such a small game.  Gamespot quotes "The sun is always shining in the world of Sega Rally," which is a good thing since bright, saturated environments is a given in (most) Sega games.  Eurogamer quotes, "After this and the oh-so-excellent OutRun, let's have Daytona Online Arcade, yeah?" so at least it's nice to know there's Daytona fans in higher places.  Overall, main demerits are lack of content and no online ranking systems.

It is weird how Eurogamer is more flattering towards Sega...because most of the Sega racing diehards (I know of anyway) come out of the UK.  Well, their review is good.  I like how the writer has a more personal relationship with Sega Rally outside of the Xbox 360 so that's great to hear.

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Another racing game story that you may have missed--some people at Total Video Games have tracked down ex-Amusement Vision employees at a Mario & Sonic at the London Olympics.  They got one comment out of producer Osamu Ohashi who said, "It might happen, if someone comes up with a brilliant idea that would make both Nintendo and SEGA happy..."

Now saying "might" or "I want to" just doesn't cut the mustard anymore--it really doesn't.  Yu Suzuki might work on Shenmue 3.  Yuji Naka wants to work on Dreamcast 2.  Mark Fisher (of Sega Racing Studio) said "maybe" to a new Daytona game.  Well, better to say that than an outright "no" as to not hurt your fanbase or stick your foot in your mouth should the opposite happen.  So expect ambiguous BS from your devs from now on!!!

But I do think there will be another F-Zero for this new Nintendo "Cafe" console.  And sadly, Sega & Nagoshi-San will put more effort into one of Nintendo's IP's rather than any of Sega's racing IP's.  I hope I'm wrong, but with Nagoshi running around touting that new Binary Domain game, I really question that man's sanity...

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Hey, guess what game's making a comeback?  Carmageddon.  Yeah.  A site will release an announcement on June 1.  The site is hosted by Square-Enix Europe--I mean, really?  SQUARE ENIX???  Wouldn't you like to see THEM make a new Carmageddon game?  Holy crap, that would be the end of racing games, hence the game's title.  So there you go, a new Carmageddon, I'm stoked and you should be, jk rofl.

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Also, please be sure to check out my friend Dave's blog post right here on dark-colored racing games.  He makes a good point that a lot of these racing sims like GRID and DiRT are just trying to depress you with dingy hues.  EDIT: DiRT 3 averages 9.0 on review sites, therefore engraving this idea into devs that crap "realistic" hues are good.  NEWS FLASH: If you're trying to go for "realism," then don't cause real life is "depressing" enough as it is having to get out of bed and get to work in a world full of turmoil and death.  Remember our Kotaku friend Mr. EnigmaNemesis who recently called us "color fanboys?"  Isn't the world a great place to live?  EDIT: DiRT has some color, I know.  Not as much as Sega though.

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One last thing is that I added a "Fan Stuff" label so go looking for fan stuff now!!!