I'm going to tell you a secret. My favourite racing series of this generation has been neither Gran Turismo nor Forza. It's been Codemaster's Dirt series. A new game in the franchise should be cause for joy, then, but, well. Hrm.

The next game isn't Dirt 4. It is, as GameSpot describes it, "an arcade-style spin-off that takes the extreme-sports elements of Dirt 2, mixes in the Gymkhana events from Dirt 3, and then throws in some Destruction Derby action for good measure."

Handling has been changed to make the thing feel more arcade-like, there's online multiplayer but also two-player splitscreen as well.

So it's Dirt, but it's not Dirt.

That's all the information we have, aside from the fact it's available on PC, PS3 and 360 in May. Presumably as a downloadable title, given the timeframe.

Dirt Showdown [GameSpot]

Do violent video games cause aggressive behavior? According to a recent report published in the journal Psychology of Violence, the competitive aspect of gaming is more likely to generate aggro than mere violence. All this from a bunch of university students, some video games, and some hot sauce. Science is an amazing thing.

In the report The Effect of Video Game Competition and Violence on Aggressive Behavior: Which Characteristic Has the Greatest Influence?, researchers at Brock University in Canada mix a proven method for determining aggression — Lieberman's Hot Sauce Paradigm — with a different way to characterize violent and non-violent games. Rather than simply measuring the amount of violence, Paul J. C. Adachi and Teena Willoughby further separated games by the level of competition.

Here's how it worked. A series of students were told they were participating in two different studies, one to study eye tracking while playing video games, the other a food study. In the first experiment the participants were asked to play two games: bloody hack and slasher Conan and Codemasters' open world racer Fuel, both for the Xbox 360. The games were chosen during a previous study, in which they were measured similar in terms of pacing, competitiveness, and difficulty. After a brief play session, participants were then asked to create a dish using hot sauce for an imaginary test subject that had indicated distaste for hot and spicy foods.

That's the Hot Sauce Paradigm. The hotter the sauce is made, the more aggression is displayed. It's also fun at parties.

The results of the first experiment showed no difference in the level of aggressiveness, despite one game being violent and the other not.

So a second experiment was conducted, this time adding Mortal Kombat Vs. DC and Marble Blast Ultra and replacing Conan with Valve's co-op shooter Left 4 Dead. This made for two violent and two non-violent games, one competitive and one not.

Using the same Hot Sauce Paradigm, the researches noticed a strong increase in aggression from those that played the competitive games, while those that played the non-competitive games went easier on the sauce.

The researchers' conclusion?

Some researchers believe that they have already shown that violent video games are a risk factor for aggressive behavior and that this effect stems from the violent content in the games . On the contrary, results from the present study indicate that video game competitiveness, not violent content, is responsible for elevating aggressive behavior in the short-term. The present findings lead to a new direction in video game and aggression research and should encourage researchers to continue to critically examine this issue.

Now that makes a whole lot more sense, doesn't it?

Now our course of action is clear. We have to make sure no one ever plays Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe or Fuel ever again. It's a long row to hoe, but we're just the Joes to hoe it.

Video game competitiveness, not violence, spurs aggression, study suggests [The Washington Post]

Aside from making us all hungry, commenter FortWaba shares with us the supplies he needs to make it through a video game all-nighter. What food and drink fuels your power-gaming sessions? Bring enough to share in today;s Speak Up on Kotaku.

Some people use strategy guides, some use music, some go it alone...

I just need this to beat a game in one night. Deus Ex, I'm coming, honey.

We've seen plenty of games trying to achieve photographic realism, but how often do we come across attempts to make real life look more like a game? The folks over at Codemasters have done just that, with their latest tie-in video for last month's racing title Dirt 3.

Shot using a tilt-shift lens, this video of Ken Block whizzing around London's Battersea Power Station has the appearance of having been miniaturized or computer-generated.

Dirt 3 is currently out on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Darksiders II. Tekken: Wii Successor.Assassin's Creed. Dirt. Ghost Recon: Online. Aliens: Colonial Marines. These are some of the hardcore games coming to Wii U—which Nintendo showed off in its E3 press event.

Jump to about two minutes in to see the "Wii U" games in action. Why the quotation marks? Because as Nintendo honcho Reggie Fils-Aime pointed out, these aren't actually Wii U games, but their Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts.

Ah, Monaco. A charming Principality, famous for its azure harbors, Grace Kelly and...car rallies. Lots and lots of car rallies. The folks over at Codemasters would like to invite you to this car-racing paradise in their newest gameplay trailer for Dirt 3, giving a glimpse of the title's Rallycross, Gymkhana and Head 2 Head stages.

It's unlikely I'll ever make it to Monte Carlo in this lifetime, so my thanks to Dirt 3 for this virtual substitution.

Dirt 3 due out Tuesday, will also include a single-use code to enable online access - a growing trend, if not the new norm, in console games with heavy online components. The "VIP Pass" also comes with a set of five vehicles, and it's free in retail copies. If you get a used copy of the game and the code doesn't work, you'll have to pay Codemasters to get one over Xbox Live or PSN. [MCV]

Eyebrows were raised last night when a version of Dirt 3 was shown off costing $300. Well, turns out there may be a justification for that. Provided you like remote control cars.

The R/C car shipping with this version of the game is not a cobbled-together piece of crap minted just for the game's promotional circus. It's an actual, professional R/C car, made by Traxxas, an actual, professional R/C car company for enthusiasts.

With a few modifications, the thing can do 50 miles per hour. It's also 4WD, waterproof, and on the street costs $550.

So the $240 you're paying for it in the Dirt 3 edition is a...bargain? Sort of? OK, not really, but if you haven't owned an R/C car since you were a kid and feel like seeing how far they've come, then this may be your best shot at getting a good car on the "cheap".

Here's a novel concept: digital delivery store Direct2Drive is trialling an offer whereby PC gamers can download and rent a game.

It works like this: you download the entire game from D2D, and pay $5 for five hours of playtime. If at the end of that time you want to buy the game, you pay the difference from its retail price. We're unsure as to what happens if you decline that offer - presumably the game is "locked" - but we'll check with D2D to find out.

Neat idea. Sadly, only four games are currently being offered as part of the deal (Silent Hill: Homecoming, Grid, FEAR and Divinity 2), all of them older games that you should be able to buy in full for not much more than the renting price, especially if competitor Steam is having a sale.

Apply it to recent, full-price games, though, and this becomes a great idea. An asking price of $40-50 for a PC game can be steep if it doesn't have a demo, so having the chance to try before you buy could help a lot of uncertain gamers out.

UPDATE - Reader Lorne points out that streaming service OnLive - if you can get it - has a similar deal, only because it's streaming you're not downloading the entire thing to your HDD, you're just downloading whatever's needed for the stream.

D2D's [D2D, via Shacknews][image: Getty]

You know, for all the Gran Turismos and Forzas and Need For Speeds of the past couple of years, my favourite racing game over that time has actually been Dirt 2. So, yeah, Dirt 3 is of interest.

OK, it's eXtrEme sPOrts angle can get a little tiresome at times, but few racing games look as good as Dirt 2, even fewer are as fun or as raw to drive, and none sound as good. Seriously, if you have a surround system, you owe it to yourself to play Dirt 2, where you'll swear you can hear each individual piece of dirt pinging off your car door.

Dirt 3 will be focusing a little less on the strange street races of the second game and a little more on "traditional" dirt rallies. Which you wouldn't get from this trailer, as a car skids under trucks and around flagpoles all in the name of hoots and hollers.

It'll be out next year on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.