Nascarbuc

The Crew is Ubisoft's Next-Gen Racing Game - E3 Newsroom - GameSpot Video McInnis has been throwing out a few numbers off the top of his head: 500sq km, 10k miles of roads, 2 hours to drive from coast to coast. Not sure which ones make sense (Once burnt - Horizon - twice shy), but the road network looks incredibly dense. I'm worried by the lack of a cockpit view, but the game will still be in development for many months so it's too early to be disappointed. EDIT: The Guardian says 5K sq km, a good few hours to drive from NYC to LA, and NYC is roughly the size of GTA IV's Liberty City. The Crew – preview | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Yeah, I can't wait. Knowing that Ubisoft decided to attach their name to the project makes me giddy. Unlike what happened at Infogrames and later at Atari, the IT team has everything it needs to make the game - whatever it turns out to be - they wanted to make. No money issues, history between Ubi and key IT players, creative and technical input from Ubi's other studios... I'm feeling pretty confident.

Ivory Tower employees have left quite a few clues on their Linkedin pages and some even on their personal blogs. Hugues Poncet Lead Artist vehicles - Technical vehicles Artist - Ubisoft Ivory-Tower March 2008 – Present (5 years) Lyon Area, France francois BEUDIN 3D Car Artist Ivory Tower 2010 – Present (3 years) Lionel BILLAULT Vehicle Artist Ivory Tower January 2009 – Present (4 years 2 months)Lyon, France I guess one could safely assume that cars will play a role in IT's new game. Charles Bensoussan (Game designer at Ivory Tower): Currently working on an AAA new IP undisclosed project > Conceive solo & multiplayer gamebricks > Define needs for our engine mission editor > Prototype coop mission using an in-house mission graph script tool Grégory Joerger Game Designer/Lead Level Designer Ivory Tower March 2009 – March 2011 (2 years 1 month) Worked on a AAA multiplayer racing game. As Game Designer : ... Short stories ... Loic Lacote Lead Mission Programmer Ivory Tower July 2012 – Present (8 months) Senior Game Programmer Ivory Tower August 2009 – July 2012 (3 years) Short stories, Missions, co-op... hmmmmmm. Franck Maestre (Also Online Technical Director at Ubisoft, worked on AC3's multiplayer side) Lead Programmer - Online Ivory Tower January 2008 – March 2011 (3 years 3 months)Lyon Area, France Game: Unannounced Next gen title Design and programming of an hybrid MMO / P2P , client and backend architecture. Ludovic Balsan, currently at IT, confirms the multi/p2p architecture. Peter Connelly Audio Lead Ubisoft November 2011 – November 2012 (1 year 1 month)Lyon Area, France Audio Lead on undisclosed AAA and game changing IP Serkan Hassan Lead Designer Ivory Tower July 2011 – Present (1 year 8 months)Lyon Area, France Working in a lead design capacity on an unannounced AAA console & PC project. Interestingly, IT added a team member with a solid background in mmo games with combat elements in 2012, about the time Ubisoft got involved. Older, two employees who left IT in 2009: Yves Mesnard Artist Ivory Tower February 2008 – January 2009 (1 year) Artist at Ivory Tower in preproduction for a MMO racing game. And finally, Vincent Blaschke gives us a clue regarding the project's codename at the time : Vincent Blaschke 3D Freelance artist Ivory Tower April 2009 – May 2009 (2 months)Lyon Area, France Modeling/Texturing next-gen in-game props on "route66" for IVORY TOWER. I remember that another IT employee gave away the Route66 title as well, but that page isn't available at this time. Also unavailable was a blog featuring a couple renders that fit perfectly a game titled 'route 66'. Sadly, I couldn't access Hugues Poncet's portfolio anymore. There were a lot of vintage muscle cars and hotrods in both civilian racing and post-apocalyptic, weapon-equipped mode that perfectly fit the 'Route 66/Knights' speculation. Based on those renders from two of IT's artists, the 'route 66' was looking like it was going to be a TDU meets Interstate 76 kind of game. Now there's something interesting about that: Several of Eden now Ivory Tower key players had been working on a project that they were very keen on. The project was titled Knights and you can see artwork about it here: http://www.benoitboucher.fr/site/knight.html A rough translation of the description would go something like this: "Knights is a car game set in a post-apocalyptic universe and follows a scenarized structure alternating ferocious car combat and strategic missions. After a year in pre-production the project was unfortunately abandoned. you can also find more info about Knights, Boris Mellet's attachment to the project and his stated dedication to revive the project at some point in time, on his blog at sofidp.free.fr. Only speculation of course, but I can't really see Ubisoft getting involved in a niche like racing unless the game brings a lot more to the table in terms of innovation and originality.

@Rollingtheboy You would have a point if the tools were meant to be used by only a handful of mature, business-friendly modders. I haven't been focusing exclusively on the French modding scene for the past 4 years so I noticed what was happening in the larger community responsible for the overwhelming majority of mods: modders were always trying to outdo each other. The new modders would do cars already released by the most notorious modders just to see how they measured up. Then in turn the more experienced ones would do in just a few days the exact same car it took a 'rising star' weeks to finish, just to show who's boss. It happened all the time. You think they won't have a field day going head to head with pro designers? Rubbing Eden's nose into how much better Forza 3/4 look and whatnot? You can expect at least 3 different versions of each and every car Eden will release. And that's not counting the Russian kids who invariably steal mods, touch them slightly and release them under their own name. @DJey You're making valid points. I can't really find much to disagree with, again I can only somewhat enjoy the game myself because of modding! It would be hypocritical of me to slam modders or anyone else. My only real point of contention would be this: "If there are official addons packs WITH QUALITY, why would this prevent them to be sold ?" Because modders lift off models of similar or even higher quality and offer them for free. Eden's budget is a fraction of Turn 10/Slightly Mad's. I mean both are owned by multi-billion dollar corporations while Eden is owned by a small outfit that's been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for over a decade. So if Eden spends a great deal of its small budget on getting high quality cars made, and modders flood the market with free cars of similar or higher quality, who's gonna buy Eden's cars? Gamers aren't a kind and understanding bunch as a whole. I always think I hate Atari/Eden more than anything in the world until I read a bunch of brutal comments attacking Atari for basically not having Microsoft or EA's kind of market cap. Then I remember that what I hate more than anything is people who bully David because Goliath is so much stronger and cooler. Even among console players, having to buy a half-dozen cars when PC gamers get the same ones and tons of other great cars for free might just alienate those who haven't yet had enough. But hey It's just speculation on my part. Let the chips fall where they may. And yeah it's true that when I get caught up on the devil's advocate side part of me tends to forget that Atari & Eden made their beds. PS: salut a toi! Mais je ne suis pas DE Nice - crois moi les locaux ne ratent jamais une occasion de te le rappeler.

@iLLusion TDU 2 is a major disappointment and an insult to TDU 1 fans. From what I gather Atari wanted a pure arcade fun game while Eden wanted to stay as close to TDU 1 as possible and pushed back against the publisher's vision. This game is the result of two conflicting visions, poor executive decisions, budget cuts that have forced the departure of essential talent while preventing the recruitment of fresh talent for many years. The game failed to attract a large enough number of casual players and it alienated the loyal hardcore crowd. Dude... I can't play the game without cursing them, and the cam hack that enables seat adjustment and TrackIR support is the only reason I didn't uninstall that mess soon after release. The reason I still play it today is because hackers found a way to decrypt cpr files, allowing me to tinker with the weather, time cycle and AI drivers. Otherwise I'd stick with games with a much better driving model like... Crash Time 4. So don't think for a second that I'm against modding and hacking. But here's the thing. We aren't privy to what's going on at Atari and Eden. The only things that are currently known are: - On release day, TDU 2 producer Olivier Raffard informs a local website of Eden's plans to release hardcore mode after release, as DLC. Explains Eden's understanding that while they need to make the game accessible to a large number of players they also understand that they will need to push content that satisfies the loyal, hardcore players in the long run. - Launch is a disaster, bringing Atari to slash Eden's workforce down to 30 employees. - Eden management, in a Q&A with Gamasutra, explain that they are in a conflict with Atari over severance pay for fired employees, but they also ask for TDU 2's sales figures because they believe the game can be a strong seller in the long run. What does that tell us? That Atari wanted to pull the plug and Eden managed to convince them to keep the game afloat. No need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. - With only 30 employees left, and another project in the works, things can't happen overnight. It took them long enough to release DLC 1. - DLC will include bikes and auction centers among other, currently unknown things. I don't care about either but what that tells me is that their priority is to bring back major TDU 1 features. This is the situation as of today: we don't know what's what. We can only speculate. As I'm typing this, Atari's stock is taking a beating like it has for weeks now. The company's ability to keep operating could be in question in a matter of weeks. Rumors of a takeover have become more persitent, so a new owner could be announced tomorrow morning and Eden's shutdown the next day. But, I can't help but think that they have spent years on this game and even though they were down to just 30 guys they still believe in the title and want to improve it. Again, things won't happen overnight, if they even happen at all. In spite of all the rage a lot of us feel, me included, I think they should get a chance to redeem themselves. There is a possibility they care about the game and are working hard with limited resources to improve it so we shouldn't be trying to sabotage their effort. If I'm wrong and they prove that they don't give two s..ts about players then I hope they all get fired and never find a job in that industry ever again. @Ozzmcom 90% of players are happy with the handling. Handling sucks for us FFB wheel users because of poor wheel support & FFB and the lack of a true HC mode. The Eden team have not made a statement vis-a-vis what makes the handling suck for us. I'm supporting DJey too, I just wish he'd hold on to a tool that can endanger the game's future. I'd rather Eden try and then let modder try if Eden fail rather than cause Eden to fail and then find out modders can't do anything to solve our problems. Then we're screwed. And finally I'm not slagging off modders. Without a handful of guys like Tool831 there wouldn't have been a TDU community and consequently no TDU 2. But there is a reality: modders face none of the economic constraints that Atari/Eden face. Atari can't just lift off cars from other games and convert them to TDU 2. It's not a hobby for them, it's their livelihood. @ScoobSTi That's exactly how I feel about the whole thing. I also hope the threat of killing off their potential DLC revenue will help Eden realize they have to get off their pedestal and communicate more directly with the community.

I wish you'd keep the TDU2 repacker under wrap until Eden release the addon cars they already had made - like the Rabcat models, officially drop support for the game, or shut down. Otherwise it's gonna hurt their ability to keep development going. Each car cost them over $20k to have made and you know modders are going to focus on the same cars just to stick it to them. Atari/Eden can't compete with teenagers who can just steal and convert stuff in their spare time at no cost and without consequences. At the very least it can kill any potential revenue from the PC platform, endangering its support. It could even hurt DLC sales on consoles. EA sells 2-3 million copies of each of its racing games before they even get out of bed. They only release PC versions for pocket money. Atari/Eden don't have that luxury. Every sale counts for the game having a chance to survive. A BNK repacker won't bring decent wheel support or FFB. Eden's next couple DLCs might. At least we know they worked on a HC mode and planned to release it as DLC. They knew they had to focus on hardcore players in the long run. So please let them release a couple DLCs before deciding if it's worth releasing a repacker.

No problem. It's weird that there's nothing on either tdu2.fr or the official forums though. Things should become interesting in the next 2 hours though.

All isn't lost. Diablo and possibly tdu2.fr's webmaster said that at first, very very few people would get in, and Eden would add more soon, logically when their servers have proven stable enough.

Does anyone have a reliable source saying GTA V will be at E3? Because the closest I've found so far is an analyst who believes Rockstar will announce the game before E3 but nothing about the actual game being shown at the conference.

You will find the answer on this large and detailed map: http://img24.imageshack.us/i/tdu2oxm1.jpg/ My question: Is TrackIR still supported (PC version) ?

Nothing is cast in stone, rather it is implied in the reviews I've read so far. I'm a sucker for total freedom so the ability to walk, and do just about anything one can do in GTA4 or Far Cry 2 (okay... short of killing people or destroying property) is a huge want for me. I agree with the lack of pedestrians, it seems to be the next frontier. It used to be damages, but now that car manufacturers have more or less had to resign themselves to the idea that their babies could be scratched virtually, now they'll have to be convinced their brand wont suffer when little Timmy runs over virtual people. Add the technological challenge and the drain on computing resources to the equation, and I don't expect this feature for a few years. And I've found myself driving in really dead places, like the northeast of France in August, or parts of rural Italy on Sundays, so a lifeless rural mediterranean island doesn't bother me much.

One review mentioned additional Islands as possible DLCs and Eden's boss clearly said they are going to keep working on improving the game for as long as it is profitable. Given TDU 1's longevity it's safe to assume the game will evolve for at least 2 years. Now for the kicker: Eden is primarily Atari's R&D dept. They're the ones in charge of evolving internal development techs so I wouldn't be surprised if they used TDU2 to test different concept or tools, like Bethesda did with Fallout 3 DLCs. If the community demands new playgrounds Eden will have to devise a way to travel between them. Bike handling is their priority so they'll work on solving this problem first but after that I don't think anything's off the table.

You should go back and read the full sentence. Based on this preview and the previous ones it is almost certain that the walking will be restricted to designated areas (dealerships, malls, race spots etc...). I hope to be wrong but I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.

It's not unreasonable to think we might end up with jet skis and whatnot in the future. Eden have said they're in it for the long haul, this time and will work on expanding the game in whatever direction and for however long the community wants. Bikes have been mentioned as possible DLCs, as well as islands. So, who knows...

Driv3r was released a long time ago, you could get out of the car and walk around the open world. It was clumsy but enjoyable. More recently, Far Cry 2 has improved the model and you could seamlessly get in and out of the vehicle, open the map or your inventory without getting out of character. Needless to say, immersion freaks like myself loved it and I'm thrilled Eden has worked in that direction. It"s one of the things I asked for without expecting anything like it for a couple generations if at all. One caveat though. It remains to be seen whether we can walk anywhere or just in the designated areas mentioned already (malls, car dealerships and race starts). I don't think we should assume we can just drive anywhere, stop the car, get out and go for a walk... yet.