“I’m Paul Page… from Papyrus… this is Indycar Racing 2!” – the immortal words uttered at the start of 1993 classic Indycar Racing 2, one of my favourite-ever games and the last one I owned to run in DOS – something which now seems frankly rather silly. Ten years and many games later, Papyrus developed the acclaimed Nascar Racing 2003, before the company folded. The Phoenixes (… … [Read more...]
Where is the safety car?
Who led more laps of the 2006 Australian Grand Prix than everyone except winner Fernando Alonso? Who led for a third of the 2007 Grand Prix of Japan at Fuji despite not actually driving a Formula One car? Bernd Mayländer – that’s who. And yes, I did just steal those facts off Wikipedia. I’m lazy, ok? For many years, since the introduction of safety cars into top-level … [Read more...]
The demise of the two-player split screen
I've had some great gaming memories over the years - completing Metal Gear Solid, blowing up my sister in Bomberman, winning the Champions' League on Pro Evolution Soccer, failing to complete Metal Gear Solid II, defeating Dr Robotnik (who is this Eggman these days?) and spending hours and hours racing against my friends in various guises. Lotus II, Domark's F1, the original … [Read more...]
Awaiting Codemasters F1 2010
Hey everyone - great news! Codemasters’ F1 2010 has a release date! Bad news! It’s scheduled for exactly the same day at Gran Turismo 5. I may have to take a week off on September 24th. Or two weeks. Or just give up my job, especially if my long-standing virtual racing dream is realised… and it just might be. I fear you sense the inevitable explanation of what this dream is … [Read more...]
Gran Turismo 5 can’t come soon enough…
So another month, another delay. Gran Turismo 5 is now officially late. I am one peed-off Playstation owner. I pre-ordered my copy last summer when I read rumours of a release before christmas. Then it got put back to March. Now it's been put back to September 2010 at the earliest - and I'm not happy. Here’s why: I'm a sim racer. I can't stand arcadey car handling. Ridge … [Read more...]