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Evil Avatar
08-19-2008, 12:17 PM
Following up DIRT and GRID, Codemasters has turned racing into a four-letter word, announcing their newest high speed Xbox 360, PS3 and PC speedster, FUEL.

Set to revolutionise multi-terrain racing with the largest environment ever created in race gaming, Codemasters today announced signing the worldwide publishing rights to FUEL from Asobo Studios. Promising a truly next generation addition to the racing genre, FUEL is in development at Asobo Studios in Bordeaux, France, for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Games For Windows LIVE and due to release in 2009.

Born of Asobo Studios’ cutting-edge proprietary engine, the result of over four years in development, FUEL will present players with an astonishing no-boundaries playfield that’s over 5,000 square miles (14,000+ km²) in size. Creating the ultimate competitive go-anywhere racing experience, FUEL will have players competing across wildly different terrain and executing spectacular death-defying stunts as they race dozens of varied two and four-wheeled rides and explore this epic world on an unprecedented scale.

FUEL is set in an alternate present in which whole swathes of the globe have been ravaged by the effects of climate change brought on by decades of environmental abuse. Here oil prices have rocketed and yet a new breed of racing junkie takes to the wastelands, pitting their grungy home-tuned vehicles against each other in an all-new extreme sport as they compete to win fuel supplies. To triumph means travelling the wastelands to challenge the best; from the tsunami-wrecked pacific coast through the Nevada wastelands, including the Grand Canyon, up treacherous snow-capped mountains, thick forests, arid deserts, abandoned lakeside resorts and much more.

Bringing this vast, open ended landscape to life is a dynamic weather system with full day and night transitions, brilliant sunshine, torrential rain and everything in between, plus destructive tornados, sandstorms, thunderstorms, lightning strikes, and blizzards requiring mid-race strategy changes.

“FUEL raises the bar in terms of scale and exhilaration for racing games. We begin with the largest racing environment to appear in gaming – ever. With our accelerated effects of climate change and dynamic weather system we add an extra dimension that change races on-the-fly and constantly presents new challenges to players,” said Sebastian Wloch, Chief Executive Officer, Asobo Studios.

“Player choice lies at the heart of FUEL’s action-packed races and with a huge range of vehicles, packs of up to 16 vehicles speeding across diverse terrain and a no-boundaries, no-limits approach to racing, means players have never had so much freedom to conquer the wilderness and take the chequered flag.”

Complete with the ability to go online to explore this massive world and compete in hundreds of multiplayer challenges, FUEL is coming in 2009 for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, Xbox 360 and Games For Windows.Mad Max racing?

alienchild
08-19-2008, 12:20 PM
... at least it starts with F and U, so I was half right after reading the headline.

Demo_Boy
08-19-2008, 12:49 PM
I guess this new tech raises the question of: how big is big enough?
Test drive unlimited had a huge landmass and mostly generic looking environments. There was no centralized start point for players seeking competition.
With this new game, you've got an even bigger, likely more generic landmass.
Thought experiment:
Given a 5-7 minute event and cars able to go ~200kph how many square kilometers of terrain do you need?
If its a straight line (which is pretty poor reuse for a race course) then you are looking at 24.5 km strip. If you put 500 meters of terrain on either side of the strip youve got 24.5 km x1 km total space needed per race.
Lets say theres 100 unique race events with zero overlap. Thats 2450 km^2.
Requirements for a racing game are ~1/6th of the space offered by this tech.
So 5/6th of the level dressing they are going to do will never be seen by players.
Wouldn't you rather have 6 times the level dressing for the content you _do_ see?
I guess they could use airplanes (prop planes) instead then you are going up to 3 times faster and need to see more terrain on either side of the "race line"...

Froggy
08-19-2008, 01:06 PM
The 2010 Codemasters release: BOOB.

NationalKato
08-19-2008, 01:08 PM
Sounds like a potential competitor to Motorstorm.

Windsong
08-19-2008, 01:35 PM
FUEL is set in an alternate present in which whole swathes of the globe have been ravaged by the effects of climate change brought on by decades of environmental abuse.

Stopped reading right about there.

This just in..EROSION is happening in Europe! Ye gods! Run to the hills! :rolleyes:

Emabulator
08-19-2008, 01:38 PM
FUEL is set in an alternate present in which whole swathes of the globe have been ravaged by the effects of climate change brought on by decades of environmental abuse.A global warming game featuring gas guzzlers? Maybe they can get Al Gore to fly in on a private jet and give them a few pointers.

karak
08-19-2008, 01:38 PM
Awesome.
Baja
This
Pure.
Some good racing games coming

agentgray
08-19-2008, 01:51 PM
Whew!

For a moment there I thought Codemasters was starting the release the same game each year only with different skins.

JockoIsWacko
08-19-2008, 02:09 PM
Did anyone really like DIRT or GRID?

I, for one, found the controls to be too difficult and unrealistic, and the lighting was too dark to see.

But then again, maybe I'm just..........................................




OLD. :rolleyes:

karak
08-19-2008, 02:17 PM
Did anyone really like DIRT or GRID?

I, for one, found the controls to be too difficult and unrealistic, and the lighting was too dark to see.

But then again, maybe I'm just..........................................




OLD. :rolleyes:

F*cking loved them. I still play Dirt once or twice a week and Grid more. But I am a race fan and enjoy everything from GT to Dirt to Rally Championship. In my life there is always room for speed baby!

DSSJ
08-20-2008, 12:03 AM
This sounds a bit like Smugglers Run for the PS2.

I hope they can make the area not too generic and deliver a good physics engine.