Eudemon

Source: Gamezone.com Ford’s Mark Bentley Talks Licensing; Explains How Cars Get Into Games by Louis Bedigian “We're involved with all the major titles: Test Drive Unlimited, Need For Speed, Forza, Project Gotham, Gran Turismo.” In between laps in Test Drive Unlimited and laps in the real Shelby Cobra concept at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center, Mark Bentley (Licensing Manager, Ford Motor Company) took a few moments to tell us about Ford’s involvement with games. "I license Ford vehicles into toys, video games and collectibles,” he said. “One of the better parts of my jobs is working on video games. We’re involved with all the major titles: Test Drive Unlimited, Need for Speed, Forza, Project Gotham, Gran Turismo (last year). We’re really excited about our relationship with Atari, and we think the game is really revolutionary. It combines lifestyle and racing into one cool package. It’s going to bring a whole set of new customers into the racing genre.” To make certain that the cars look as good as their real-life counterparts, Mark says that they review early game footage and screenshots. “We review all specs, screenshots – front, rear, side. All around, and interior. We’re always looking to make sure the game portrays our cars as accurately as possible. But if we do our job up front, that shouldn’t be an issue. ‘Cause we provide them with all the data they need. CAD data, drawings, photographs – anything they need to make it as realistic as possible. That either eliminates or highly reduces the incidence of error in terms of the way our cars are portrayed on-screen. “And we know that there are different levels of games in terms of the way the cars are finished off. If it’s a budget title, you’re probably not going to get that level of definition that you would in an A-title. Like an Atari game or an EA game.” How does Ford decide which games to be a part of? Do you go to the game companies, or do they go to you? When does the relationship begin? Mark Bentley: Generally speaking, the game companies come to us. We have a very specific set of guidelines we follow for participation in games. If the game title meets those guidelines, then we work out a contract, we just have to negotiate the details of that contract, and then go forward and supply them with whatever they need to incorporate the cars into the game. I’ll give you an example: we supply CAD data, we supply photos, we supply technical information. We will support them for recording the sound notes of the exhaust, of engines revving, of acceleration and deceleration. Depending on how technical the game is and how much realism they want to bring into the game, we actually partner with them from the beginning of the relationship and all the way through to launch. In cases where we really feel special about a game, like Atari’s game [Test Drive Unlimited], we go forward and help to promote them. What are some of the guidelines that you require a publisher/developer to follow? MB: We can’t have explosions. Rollovers – we generally don’t like to see rollovers. We know it does happen, but [we want it to be] minimal, if at all. No gratuitous sex, violence, obscene language. Pedestrians cannot be hit by a car. We’re always very safety-conscious. We will allow pedestrians on the course provided that they are not able to be hit. Provided that they vanish out of the way, what have you. Our cars can’t be put in any bad light, you know, where they’re out to do bad things to people. How do you feel about body damage? It seems like car companies don’t want their cars to be scratched in a game. I understand that, but at the same time, based on the crash tests you show on TV, have you ever considered including an element like that in the game? MB: Yes. We are probably more liberal than people think on damage now. In Test Drive Unlimited the cars receive very little damage. But you’ll find it in other games. For example, Need for Speed Carbon – you’ll see a lot more damage. The only thing we will not allow is for the passenger cabin to be compromised where someone could be physically injured. Now, they could be theoretically injured in a crash where the front end is bunched up and the passenger cabin is still intact. But the goal at all times it to promote safety, and making sure that Ford vehicles don’t get portrayed in an unsafe way. But we are not against damage-modelling in games. We do realism in a game, and we think that makes the game more real. Speaking of EA, in the Madden series they have Ford Field – I would assume you’re somewhat involved with that…? MB: No, we have not advergamed [advertised in games]. Right now Ford isn’t really active in the advergaming business. Not to say that we wouldn’t be, but we’re still more traditional in our print and online medias. We are looking at video games as a way to connect with younger customers. Our cars are the stars, as we say, in our games. But if it makes sense to have the Ford oval on a sign somewhere, on a track…but the financial equation has to make sense. Are there any other titles that Ford is getting their cars into? MB: We have our own series, a title that started out as Ford Racing. We had Ford Racing 2 and Ford Racing 3, and now we’re introducing Ford Bold Moves Street Racing, which is a title being released by Eidos on September 19th. That’s a partnership that we’ve had with Empire Interactive out of the UK, who has developed the series for us over the last five years. What cars are going to be in Need For Speed Carbon? MB: I don’t have the list in front of me, but you’ll see the new Shelby GT500, the Ford GT, the Mustang GT, and I believe a vintage Mustang. And you’ll be able to tweak these cars to your liking? MB: Yes. Need For Speed is about customization. It’s about street tuning, and a lot of kits and all that. You said you’re involved with getting Ford cars into toys, games and collectibles. Are you also involved with getting Ford cars into movies? MB: No, we have a whole brand entertainment office that does all that. They worked with Mission: Impossible 3, the movie Cars, and other types of movies too, if there’s any need for our products. A lot of times the movie companies are looking for an automotive partner for various scenes. You know, they’ll wreck cars – James Bond, Aston Martin. We are a long-running partner with Sony Pictures for James Bond. We partnered with them for the upcoming Casino Royale. Aston Martin, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, will have a presence in that movie. Thank you for your time. Source: Gamezone.com

Make sure you zoom right into the person you are connecting to and also try and make them either stay still as this has the greatest chance of success. Then once you are together 'lock' together so that you can go as far as possible without losing people. Also don't meet at busy spots, meet at quiet areas like the viewpoints shown on your paper map and what to do beforehand is if you all wish to cruise the city then bookmark the audi dealer but meet at the quiet spot. You see bookmarks can be jumped to without leaving the session so you meet up at quiet spot, lock to each other then say "Ok guys Jump to Audi in the City" and wahla ! You're all there. :D Note jumping to a person usually works first time but can take 2 or 3 tries. Also make sure the person with the best connection is the one you jump to first as this seems to improve connectivity.

Thanks Hybrid, yeah it hasn't been too fun this week at all, I'm just waiting for the third thing to happen as of course good things come in threes ! :( As people keep telling me though, things happen for a reason, even the bad so lets see what happens in the near future. I promise to have the site up and running by the end of this month though.

It doesn't open up to the public until 14:15 local time so 13:15 UK time. :) Of course it could be closed until then for as Hybrid says; Private testing.

This was recently added to youtube and I really enjoyed watching it so thought I would post it here also: Driving in TDU

Very nice images Celt.

Sorry guys a lot has happened this past week (like my dad being made redundant, myself having to pay for a new quick release passport for my brother as he lost his or it was stolen (whatever) AND pay for a plane ticket so the little git can fly over from Spain before this weekend otherwise he ends up kicked out of his apartment and on the streets because he has no money !!!) with which I can only give before the end of this month as the time for the site. I hate doing this to you guys and it makes myself look bad but I know it will be done for the end of the month, all things permitting of course.

Hmm in my experience this results in flame threads or petty insults as well as multiple posting of the same topic or question as searching and bringing up an old thread is actually better than having 5 threads all the same. I don't think this is one we really will support but if people want it then post the reasons why as tbh I can't really think of any reasons why it's a good thing.

Wow never knew we had quite a few Aussies here. Good luck with the cruise guys !

Excellent, I see you were kind and used proper mafia language Enos. lol What is that danish guy saying and nice job on the ME-412. Did you actually block him or was he just be annoying or did he take part kind of thing ?

Wow that is great ! Quality pics RD1, it's funny to see those cars together like that and see that we have indeed started something fun. Looks like you had fun setting the pics up also. lol Oh you forgot one thing though, the Mafia wear suits when they drive. :D lol

Sorry I had to ! :D

That was really good and well done.

Downloading now, really want to try that Assassinate the VIP.

They are compressed slightly yes but should retain most of their quality, just make sure to upload from your computer and make sure the image is of the highest quality to begin with. To keep the quality at it's highest link to an image rather than upload to the board also.

Mr and Ms are now at your service. :D

Re: One Million Hits !! Just checked the stats and we hit 1,000,000 hits yesterday and are averaging a good 60-70,000 hits a day. Activity has jumped up almost double this month and the site is now getting a fair hit also. Back to work !

You can acquire a hefty fine by hitting cars getting the badges up then letting them drop then repeating but that can take an age. What I did to get $4.5m was my infamous traffic light glitch, if anyone is here from atari eu boards you know what I'm on about and also of course the TDU Mix video I did also. It took me about 5mins to get that fine I was on 1 badge and there was a bunch of traffic about, I ricocheted off the light, into a truck, which then propelled me off the roof into a jeep, bounced forward into a car and got stuck in it for a split second then as the game realised what was happening it rocketed me out like a bowling ball and I strike'd with 3 other cars and then the fine showed up as $4.5m and I was like: :omg:

Does the PSN have a profile page type thing at all ?

Hehe it would be cool if the Mafia escorted him. :D

That was lucky.

Re: TDU Central Good selection of people and I'm sure it will grow, cheers guys for setting it up. :D

Ooh that is pretty cool, nice work on the banner and I like the text also.

Yeah you will need to signup in order to send Inu a PM.

*psst* It's Inuyasha, he goes a bit ape if you put a 'y' in front of the 'u'. lol