Revvin

I think far too many people get blinded by the real world locations and weapons and think of it as being more tactical than a futuristic enviroment. All of those games you mention can be played as run and gun it just depends on the group you play with. I'm not saying you run and gun because you might find a group of friends who will play it tacticaly but you can also play any other FPS tactically if you so wish such as Halo 3 as I found last night planning attacks with players over the built in voice comms.

Yes I started out with Wolfenstein and played just about every FPS going and they all lend features from one another, there has been no massive evolutions unless you count game styles such as the original CTF mod for Quake perhaps or game styles brought into Unreal Tournament. Yes underground inside bases does give you deja vu that is one dissapointing aspect. I bought Halo 3 yesterday but don't want to play single play until I've played through the others, fortunately the multiplayer aspect is great fun. It has really grabbed my attention after getting a little burnt out with the FPS genre, fortunately Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2 has got me playing again though. Some gamers have criticised the graphics, one Sony fnaboy site has dubbed it Halo 2.5 and I think thats a little unfair. I think the graphics are definately next gen and the maps have nice detail to them especially the forest type outdoors maps which feel very organic.

I just got an email from Sony as I own a PSP offering their new 'Continuous Play' scheme whereby you can pay a monthly fee of £2.49 a month for the PSP or PS2 or £4.99 for the PS3 and even if you are outside of the warranty period and you break your console accidentally they will courier you a 'remanufactured unit' (I guess thats Sony-speak for a refurb unit) within 48hrs. I've read the FAQ and it seems a good idea especially if you are outside of the usual manufacturers warranty, I wonder if Microsoft will do something similar as I dread the thought of my third console breaking down and while I don't use it every day I don't like the idea of being without it for a month or more as some users have apparently been when returning a console with the RROD. Link to the offer: http://www.continuousplay.co.uk/Faq.aspx#q5

Wow read this post quickly guys the Microsoft blackhawks are hovering. As quickly as it took me to cut and paste the same topic onto the Xbox forums and return here my thread on the Xbox UK forums was deleted and an email hastily sent containing to following abrubt message:

There is a new car pack to download on the Xbox Live Marketplace for Forza Motorsport 2. The pack costs 400 MS points and contains the following new vehicles: 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi 2006 Audi R10 (#8 Audi Sport Team Joest) Prototype 2006 Dodge Challenger Concept 2006 Honda Civic Si Coupe 2007 Honda Civic Type-R 2006 Lamborghini Miura Concept 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997) 2007 Saturn Sky Red Line 2007 SEAT Leon Supercup The 2007 SEAT Cupra is also available for download free of charge. You can read more about this pack and the cars at the official Forza 2 web-site here.

Reviews so far are coming out very well for it, as with most stuff I buy it for the multiplayer aspect and that does look good in Halo 3 although I never got a chance to play the BETA, in some ways I'm kinda glad as it won't spoil it for me. I'm playing through the original Halo I had bundled with my original Xbox and its aged quite well which was a surprise as I remember playing through Half-Life again just before Half-Life 2 arrived and it seemed far more dated.

Do try the demo, apart from team Fortress 2 its all I've been playing! (and still no good lol) There is AI support in multiplayer, this is from the official site: I don't know, no mention of price for Steam and it seems that the Steam release will follow the boxed release, perhaps the regular publishers want a bite at the cherry first. I don't know which one to get, the exchange rate for the $ vs the £ is really good so games on Steam cost half as much after the conversion is done. Play.com has the boxed version which is being distributed by Atari over here for a very reasonable £24.99 as oppossed to £34.99 RRP.

Its not a bad looking car and handles ok but of course you can tune the beejesus out of it to make it a little more exhilerating :) No I don't believe there is because you have to pay though the XBOX Live service to download the pack. I've not known any content that has allowed you to download it to some other media then install onto a 360 not connected to the net.

When did this happen?? man I was watching it thinking "nah thats a tame crash" as I watched the guy slide across the floor and then saw the second racer plough into his bike, was he ok afterwards?

BBC News link His helicopter crashed near Lanark on Saturday afternoon, it is believed his 5 yr old son was also in the hekicopter along with two other people. There has been no formal ID been made yet but it looks bad :(

He brought rallying into the spotlight in the UK and was known worldwide to gamers through the rally games bearing his name. RIP :(

Simbin has released a playable demo (multiplayer capable too - up to 24 players) of their new racing sim 'RACE 07'. Race 07 includes cars from both the 2006 and 2007 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) as well as a retro 1987 WTCC series and open wheel cars from the Formula BMW and Formula 3000 championships. There will also be 'Radical' sports cars, Caterhams and Mini's racing on 32 real tracks from around the world. You can read more at the official web-site here. The demo includes the following features: • Alternative action camera for a greater sense of speed from cockpit • Helmet cam view for open cockpit cars • New driver animations with helmet visor Tear Off effects. • New dynamic weather effects for helmet visors and windshields • Customized skin support • Multiplayer with up to 24 opponents, or fill up the field with AI cars. You can download the 504mb demo here. You can also view a promo video here.

There has been an update for the demo, just restart Steam and it should auto update. Changelog: Custom skins - Enabled Custom skin support - Added ingame reload of custom skin (CTRL-F5), the skin can be reloaded ingame without need to load the game again to check changes to skin. Templates can be found here: http://www.race-game.org/race07/down...ntemplates.htm Custom skins guide can be found from: \Steam\SteamApps\Your Account name\race 07 demo\CustomSkins Dedicated server - Enabled Anderstorp and F3000 in dedicated server - Fixed driving aids limiting on dedicated server Physics - F3000 increased engine braking - Slighty less understeery default setup for BMW 320si E90

Yeah I like skin support, not sure how it works online yet , i.e if its like LFS where you automatically download skins but it is nice to race in your own colours (of course mine are nowhere near the standard of yours lol) This is especially true in the demo, I've just come out of an online race against a field full of identical SEAT's and BMW's. In LFS if you joined a server for a few races you'd get to know the drivers who were around your level of speed and be able to keep an eye out for them on the track by looking for their custom colours, far more immersive that labels above cars. On a positive note the multiplay seems smooth though the practice session on the RSC server was dominated by one driver for all the wrong reasons - he drove up then reversed back down the pitlane at speed wrecking everything in sight thought fortunately he was booted for qualifying. Perhaps one day the online sim racers of the world will remember that the race is not won on the first corner, but then perhaps this will be my downfall as I'm not the fastest guy in town either and the first corner melee is where I usually make up a few places as I sit back and watch them spin out :)

I too can understand why some would be against it if they have had issues but I feel its the same kind of emotive topic as Starforce (another CP I personally have had no issues with) but just like those topics you'll get fanboys from another community making a big deal of it when you know they never plan on playing the game anyway. FWIW I too really like Steam, it took me a while to get over the no hard copy hang up and maybe I'm still not fully over it but not having to change disc is great and the Steam platform continues to improve with stuff like the frinds list and in game messaging. Modders have GTR2 and rFactor so its nice to have a game like RACE where you can log on and race without multiplayer mismatches. Also with a strict list of tracks you have a chance to master a few of them instead of in games like rFactor where you have so many tracks its hard to get to grips with unless you join a league and even then you have updates to those tracks rendering hot lapping void. I'll still download mods for rFactor and GTR2 but I'm looking forward to RACE 07 for its own qualities (I wish they would do a linux dedicated server though :) )

So far I like what I've seen. The cars feel more realistic to me over last years offering, graphically its improved a little. I'm not sure about the helmet cam yet as I've not had enough time using it until I sort out my TrackIR. The AI between the cars though is like chalk and cheese, the WTCC's seem ok but the F3000's speed out of the pit and will ram you and on the first bend at Brands Hatch they almost always go off on their out lap LOL. I'm sure this will be fixed for the full version though. I'm a little dissapointed by some of the negativity on RSC, not about the game itself really but its getting bad comments based solely on a persons dislike for STEAM or the lack of being able to mod aside from car skins. RACE was never going to be a fully moddable game and STEAM has been a part of RACE since its first release last year. I've had not issues with Steam and like the fact that with RACE I can fire it up, go online and join a multiplayer server without the usual mismatches you get with GTR2 or rFactor.

Whatever option you take whether its the usual file download or through Steam you still have to run Steam anyway for the multiplayer aspect.

Skin templates for all the cars that will appear in the full version can be found here: http://www.race-game.org/race07/download/skintemplates.htm

The Porsche Carrera Cup mod for rFactor has been widely regarded as one of the best available for the sim. The GSMF team worked with real drivers and teams to get the handling as close to the real car as possible and matched it with very nice 3d models and textures. They have just released the 2007 version of their mod which includes the new 997 GT3 Cup car in liveries from 4 series which use this car including Germany, Australia, the Asia Cup and the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. You can download this mod from rFactor Central here: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=PCC%202007

I think its a great mod and deserving of its place in the HoF

The 'Hidden Fronts' map pack for Gears of War is now free to download on the Xbox Live marketplace, it was originally sold for 800 MS Points.

Glad to help, now you take it easy on that brain :D

It looks like this mod is going down a storm with rFactor players, its already made it into the rFactor Central Hall of Fame.

Negative image version to make it look more like an x-ray

Title says it all really, just waiting for it to download to try out.