Eudemon

The Crew Passes 12 Million Players Over 12 million players have test driven open world racer The Crew, Ubisoft have revealed. More than two years after its release, players are still jumping on and exploring the vast replica of the USA that is the game’s world. Needless to say, the team are delighted at this achievement, and keeping in line with this ‘12’ milestone, the official Ubisoft blog roped in 12 members from developer Ivory Tower, to say a little something. We’ve only chosen a few but you can view all at the source link below. Every time I realise how strong and growing our community is, I can’t help but get emotional. Releasing The Crew was a childhood dream come true: building a whole universe dedicated to exploration, competition, adventure, and creating glorious moments with friends or solo, behind the wheel of our favourite rides. I’ve never thought this vision would strike a chord with so many and I am always thankful to see how more and more players connect to this world, filling it with their own challenges and creations. One of them is a screenshot I’ve been using as a wallpaper on my smartphone for over a year now (see pic). It represents everything I like about The Crew: the call of the road, the fact that the destination doesn’t really matter as long as you’re enjoying the journey. And really, ours has just begun! – Stéphane “Fergus” Beley, Game Director We live in hope that the “ours has just begun”, is a hint to a possible sequel, that could see a reveal at this year’s E3. The Lead Game Designer isn’t afraid to admit that he has been beaten by many a player, but even with that revelation there is no bitterness held, as still they share a nice little tip for how to perform a better drift. From low-key road trips on country roads to exhilarating chases across the most iconic cities, I’ve lived countless adventures at your side these past two years. And even if I’ve designed a lot of challenges and missions in The Crew, I have to admit I’ve been whipped pretty badly by some of you in PVP! I still have a couple of aces up my sleeve, though, and today I’ll give away one of them: when you want to drift, just hold A & B at the same time – That’s called power drifting, and that’s my gift to all those who keep challenging us, helping us deliver the best experience possible, and giving us the ambition to always go one step further than expected. After all, this is your game too! – Paul Narducci, Lead Game Designer Depending on how you prefer your handling in a game like this – you will either love, or not have fond feelings for this next one: A few days ago, I went to a huge event and found myself in the middle of a crowd of 400,000 people. Being able to see and be part of the human tide was both impressive and humbling. Then it hit me: there are 30 times as many The Crew players! The rush of emotion I got was overwhelming – thank you all so much! You have no idea how inspiring you are. Fun fact: I used to tweak the vehicles’ handling on what we called “the Branchu Loop”, north-west of Monument Valley. Then I noticed you guys were using Observatory Dash as a training mission, so I’ve taken up using it as a test-drive spot – and still do! – Sylvain Branchu, Vehicle Handling Designer Post-release support has been quite something for this game, with the update to the engine, introducing weather, and of course the photo mode. These were all something the community asked for, and incredibly, they got it! Being big fans of the latter ourselves, it was nice to see that there is passion in the team for it too. Like a lot of our players, I’m a big fan of our Photo Mode. Between my everyday job and a burning passion for nice pictures, I’ve quickly become a real screenshot machine! So here are some tips for the amateur photographers out there: take the fuzziness into account before capturing, it’ll help you get more realistic pics. For tight close-ups, don’t zoom in right away. First, set the focal length to a minimum, then choose your angle, set the focus to your liking, and shoot. Don’t forget to send us the result – here’s one of my personal creations! – Aurèle Gannat, Game Designer This last one, displays the feelings many players have for a game like this, as in how it is all about the freedom given to the player to play the game how they want to. That's what gives this title and those like it, longevity. They are the game that people will jump back on during bouts of playing others, as there is just not really anything else like it that allows the passing of time to be done in such a manner. (except for going for a real drive of course) I was really into the Artic Monkeys’ AM album when I started working on The Crew, and especially the song “Do I Wanna Know”, which is part of the game’s soundtrack. To me, it feels like the spirit of that song has soaked the whole game’s DNA: it’s the perfect road-trip track, the kind you want to turn all the way up while watching the scenery go by, goofing around with friends, or showing off in your favourite ride. It’s really touching to see how players share this kind of connection to the game, giving meaning to even the smallest details. It makes us all part of this big community. – Lucie Dugand, Level Designer Well done to all those behind and involved with the game, it’s been a wild run the last years, and we wouldn’t mind seeing even more of it, in the future! [via UbiBlog]

Gran Turismo Sport Porsche Footage Polyphony Digital have released the first official gameplay footage of Porsche in Gran Turismo Sport, and as you would expect, it looks unbelievably good. It is crazy to think that despite the series being almost 20 years old, this is the very first time Porsche has properly been seen in an official capacity in a GT game. The footage is made up of a pair of 991-gen Porsche 911 GT3 RS chasing one another around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and is taken from what appears to be the game's illustrious replay mode. It begins with us having a look at the car selection screen, where it can be seen that scrolling through the available body colours, also changes the wheel colour. Next, it’s out onto the track and sitting behind the wheel of the car itself, as a brief stint in the cockpit view takes up the first part of the on-track action. In this segment we get a good look at the high detail of the interiors. It wouldn’t be GT without those incredible replay angles that can be easily mistaken for real life at times, and this first showing of Porsche delivers in that aspect with some short, but truly stunning scenes! You get a sense that we are meant to be checking out the sound of these cars too throughout this, and even though strides have been made in this area, there is still that waspy computerised sound gnawing at your ears in the higher rev ranges in my opinion. (I like authentic sound in my games!) For many this won’t matter which is a shame actually, as if more people cared about it, maybe we would see GT excel in this department to the level that they do in the visuals. Maybe in GT7 huh?

Assetto Corsa Console Private Lobbies Delay The wait for the Assetto Corsa console update that will at long last bring custom lobbies, has unfortunately received another delay. Kunos Simulazioni shared the news, and their sorrow, at not being able to get the update out before the end of April as they had hoped on their official social media channels over the weekend. To help ease the upset however, they did provide a few screens of the feature in action and some of the many settings ardent players will be able to use, when it does eventually land. [gallery type=rectangular" link="file" size="seven-post-image" ids="6828,6829,6830] Console players of the game shouldn’t be too bothered with this latest push back as let’s be honest, a lengthy wait is not unexpected in the console scene. We would hazard a guess that May will be the month it will actually become available but we wouldn’t bet a chicken dinner on it.