Codemasters, the makers of many zoom ’em ups, apparently want more power under their hood. They purchased the entirety of Slightly Mad Studios, developers of the Project Cars and Need For Speed: Shift games, this week to the tune of 23 million. The entirety of Slightly Mad’s 150-person team will reportedly join the company.

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Slightly Mad Studios, the makers of honk ’em ups including Project Cars and Need For Speed: Shift, have announced plans to launch a games console of their very own. Less than one week into 2019, we already have a strong contender for Gaming Folly Of The Year. Unlike the Ouya, the last big attempt to establish a new player in the console market, this is to be a big, fancy, expensive console like yer PlayBoxes and Xstations. What does this have to do with PC gaming? Well… I hope this daft plan doesn’t drag down a studio who make pretty deece games and employ 160-odd people.

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My 2018 prediction: the demo is coming back, baby, back. With so many games to choose from, and so many big names that haven’t chart-topped with the expected ease, The Man will pursue new ways of making people crave his output. By new ways, I mean old ways. Free, limited demonstration editions of videogames: they are the future.

Earlier this week, Bethesda offered a belated Wolfenstein 2 trial, and now Project CARS 2 has also embraced the promotional techniques of yesteryear. There’s now a three car/one track demo available for the hyper-realistic, ultro-graphics racer. (more…)

Slightly Mad Studios flashed the starting lights for their racing game Project CARS 2 [official site] yesterday, sending it roaring into the night and onto Steam. Stirling Matheson celebrated it (with some reservations) in our Project CARS 2 review, and I know I’ll certainly trust the racing opinions of someone with a name like Stirling Matheson. (more…)

Project Cars 2 [official site] threw me into so many different racing disciplines that I needed copious amounts of tea to reflect and recover. I got a taste of the game a few weeks ago and found it satisfying, but now that I ve spent some time with the full version, due for release this week, I m fully on board, in spite of a few significant flaws. Containing so many options and disciplines risks making it a jack of all trades, but there’s enough quality in the fundamentals to make the whole thing worth your while.

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I’ve taken some flak for how much I like the first Project Cars. No, it’s not iRacing, but iRacing also doesn’t have AI that is ready to start a race at precisely 1:33 AM on a Tuesday night, pause halfway through because the popcorn started popping and the pan needs to be jiggled, and then resume after a light snack. I’m busy, and often the last thing I want to add to my gaming is scheduling.

The first game was a solid experience with a good simulation, and it had a ton of options that allowed you to play in pretty much any way. Oh, and it was bloody beautiful. Project Cars 2 [official site] is an evolutionary step forward. It’s much the same game, but the issues present in the first are getting some serious attention paid to them, and it all really comes down to better tire physics. (more…)