Test Drive brand acquired by Bigben Interactive

[Penfold]

Let's hope they don't give this to the team that made their last few WRC games. I think I read WRC6 (2016) reviewed so poorly it was secretly pulled from the PS4 online store for a time.

 

Yaaaaay, new Test Drive... oh nevermind.

[Eudemon]

Good job Myk. Making sure the real important stuff is known, is essential.

 

Holy crap it's Penfold! You living the TDU life for real yet squire?

[Penfold]

Holy crap it's Penfold! You living the TDU life for real yet squire?

 

Not quite, see enough cars though :lol:.

[Eudemon]

Good to see you again, always nice to see the old faces... well names sneaking in and saying hello. Been brilliant catching your pics on Top Gear and hunting out the copyright text on your Flickr additions at times also.

 

Where you currently scoping out these days and do you still have old faithful orange?

[mau92]

Yaaaaay, new Test Drive... oh nevermind.

 

Look who's back!

[calster17]

 

Hope for the best, expect the mediocre.

I used to be such a cheery chap when It came to games. :lol:

 

 

If they can get the balance of a good sized map, nice choice of cars and handling that's somewhat okay then it'll be good.

[CLR-GTR]

And that raises a question for me: for a studio that usually only makes WRC games once every while when it's about cars... how can they get more funding for licensing of cars than Atari? It was disappointing already to have 103 cars of which 20+ were divided over club-exclusives, pre-orders and DLC in TDU2... how will they ever get that sorted out?

[Automotive Gaming]

And that raises a question for me: for a studio that usually only makes WRC games once every while when it's about cars... how can they get more funding for licensing of cars than Atari? It was disappointing already to have 103 cars of which 20+ were divided over club-exclusives, pre-orders and DLC in TDU2... how will they ever get that sorted out?

 

Big Ben/Kylotonn WRC titles even had a smaller car selection compared to Milestone latest WRC titles.

[superhyper]

Could it be that they're co-operating with another company with more funds? :mhmm:

[Eudemon]

There always looking for investors and with the TDU name it could bring some in or it could make it worthwhile to some other team to split the cost on a new TDU. It's going to be interesting seeing how this project takes shape that's for certain.

[Andreas¹]

*waits*

[The Compensator]

*waits*

 

R.I.P.

[Loek]

Me as someone who has spend five years actually really enjoying TDU2 can't ever get disappointed by this I guess...?

 

Speaking of which, Forza Horizon starts to show its downsides to me. It lacks something. Something that even TDU2 had.

I've been daydreaming about what Forza would look like with some TDU2 features. TDU2 was a terrible racing game but it was complete. You buy your car from a dealer after being able to fully check it out, test drive it, and store it in an actual house. Then, walk around in your house to hang the pictures you've made of your V12 Q7 upon the biggest mountain peak in the game, on your wall in your house. After that you put a location in the GPS that actually pops up in the interior infotainment screen, so you can visit the car wash to clean the car, etc. What I probably miss most is standard car features like GPS screens, indicators or working robo-roofs.

Why is this all relevant? Because it made the cars feel like you own them. They're al yours because you chose them, test drove them, specced them in exactly the way you wanted them.

 

Not that I will be liked by using TDU2 as an example to improve Forza, but we got to appreciate the few good things that it had, as an addition to the current best OWRG, in my opinion.

After all, if the most terrible racing game could get it, why can't the best one get it, too?

[Stories]

in this french article we can see,

 

"Petite nuance cependant, ce contrat ne concerne que les jeux à venir, Atari conservant les droits des opus sortis jusqu'à présent."

"Small contract though, this contract concerns only games to come, Atari retaining the rights of the opus released so far."

http://m.jeuxactu.com/bigben-interactive-rachete-la-licence-test-drive-a-atari-107207.htm

 

it seems to say that TDU will become a new game by BigBen, and there will probably not the rights to continue the TDUseries like they was before (no Ibiza and no Hawai maps probably) if I understood

[CarMadMike]

I interpret that as them still being allowed to release a Test Drive Unlimited 3 though, but yeah, no rights to Oahu or Ibiza. (Oh noooo, no Ibiza...... said no one).

[Eudemon]

Yeah it's for future TEST DRIVE titles, the previous releases and the TDU games are still Atari's. I don't think there's nothing stopping Bigben from putting in O'ahu or Ibiza either unless Atari have stipulated that or something? :oook: It will have to be from scratch though if they do.

[Stories]

welldone, it seems to be a new game, nothing same than the original Eden game/Atari then, only the name was bought in these conditions if we interpret it well

 

so if someone buy the old Eden/Atari concept/license, it will can't be named "Test Drive Unlimited" then, it seems a strange business :para:

[Eudemon]

Exactly. I believe they could call their new game Test Drive Unlimited 3 but not make it out to be a reboot like NFS did by using the Most Wanted title again for example.

[superhyper]

Me as someone who has spend five years actually really enjoying TDU2 can't ever get disappointed by this I guess...?

 

Speaking of which, Forza Horizon starts to show its downsides to me. It lacks something. Something that even TDU2 had.

I've been daydreaming about what Forza would look like with some TDU2 features. TDU2 was a terrible racing game but it was complete. You buy your car from a dealer after being able to fully check it out, test drive it, and store it in an actual house. Then, walk around in your house to hang the pictures you've made of your V12 Q7 upon the biggest mountain peak in the game, on your wall in your house. After that you put a location in the GPS that actually pops up in the interior infotainment screen, so you can visit the car wash to clean the car, etc. What I probably miss most is standard car features like GPS screens, indicators or working robo-roofs.

Why is this all relevant? Because it made the cars feel like you own them. They're al yours because you chose them, test drove them, specced them in exactly the way you wanted them.

 

Not that I will be liked by using TDU2 as an example to improve Forza, but we got to appreciate the few good things that it had, as an addition to the current best OWRG, in my opinion.

After all, if the most terrible racing game could get it, why can't the best one get it, too?

 

I'm 100% with you. While we have got many fun open-world racers after TDU(&2), none of them had the same feeling of actually living that life and buying + owning those cars.

[Eudemon]

That is the thing though between all of those that have come: they all do things better and worse than one another and none have been able to gel it all together.

 

-- TDU had the experiencing the rich life done well

-- Midnight Club LA had impressive customisation (I want to change the profile and brand of my tyres again damnit!)

-- NFS has the cool police chases

-- TDU 2 added weather and functioning roofs

-- Forza Horizon brought on some stunning visuals, decent handling and nice sounds

 

Now if only we could get the sum of all of those parts into one game eh? :nuts:

[mau92]

I think that no game could catch up with TDU it's because, the latter in its time, offered something the others didn't, or offered in a way we haven't experienced before.

- Did we have open world games? Yes, every single NFS since UG2 was. Were they based situated in real locations? Not that I can remember (At least until FH came)

- Did we have street racing? Yes, pretty much every NFS since NFS1

- Did we have a big selection of luxury cars ? Yes, Gran Turismo and Forza

- Did all the cars had cockpits modelled? Not in Gran Turismo, afaik

- Could we change clothes, do missions, transport misterious packages, super models or exclusive cars? Nope, maybe in GTA.

 

And I could go on with many more, but as Lookie said, TDU actually let you feel like the car was yours and live like a rich guy who doesn't have to worry about money. You could go to the dealer, spec your car, choose rims, choose colors and drive off, straight to your house. And oh, the GPS in the infotainment system, I'm bored of reading "///M" or "AMG" or "Jaguar" or whatever it is, why can't we have this today? Okay, TDU didn't have digital tacho/speedo...

 

Exactly. I believe they could call their new game Test Drive Unlimited 3 but not make it out to be a reboot like NFS did by using the Most Wanted title again for example.

 

Well, they can call it... Test Drive "Unchained" or anything that suggests it's an open world racer :P

[Eudemon]

Two of the things I really liked about TDU was how the rear view in the cars was the rear view. It still makes me laugh thinking how looking behind you in the Maserati MC12 shows you nothing but a carbon fibre backing. And second was the way you could look around the interior of the cars even so much as being able to look up the sky or glance through the sunroof of many vehicles. One of a handful of games where if you hear a plane above, you can actually look up at it.

 

I bet a number of you when doing laps round the race track tilted your view to see the plane taking off at the airport at some point. :D

 

I enjoy little details like that. :nuts:

[Loek]

I interpret that as them still being allowed to release a Test Drive Unlimited 3 though, but yeah, no rights to Oahu or Ibiza. (Oh noooo, no Ibiza...... said no one).

Well, if you get rid of Ibiza, I can't take my pills anymore.... :D

 

maybe this is the moment in which we finally get a OWRG settled in Dubai? I'm all for it.

[superhyper]

Two of the things I really liked about TDU was how the rear view in the cars was the rear view. It still makes me laugh thinking how looking behind you in the Maserati MC12 shows you nothing but a carbon fibre backing. And second was the way you could look around the interior of the cars even so much as being able to look up the sky or glance through the sunroof of many vehicles. One of a handful of games where if you hear a plane above, you can actually look up at it.

 

I bet a number of you when doing laps round the race track tilted your view to see the plane taking off at the airport at some point. :D

 

I enjoy little details like that. :nuts:

 

Now I REALLY want to play some TDU :bsad:

[Ozzmcom]

Two of the things I really liked about TDU was how the rear view in the cars was the rear view. It still makes me laugh thinking how looking behind you in the Maserati MC12 shows you nothing but a carbon fibre backing. And second was the way you could look around the interior of the cars even so much as being able to look up the sky or glance through the sunroof of many vehicles. One of a handful of games where if you hear a plane above, you can actually look up at it.

 

I bet a number of you when doing laps round the race track tilted your view to see the plane taking off at the airport at some point. :D

 

I enjoy little details like that. :nuts:

 

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