I was lucky enough to be given a key for the Blur multiplayer beta developed by Bizarre Creations; who brought us the Project Gotham Series. From first impressions, as far as racing games go, the multiplayer is pretty solid, and I’ve managed several games in each of the modes available. In my opinion the 4 -20 players is the best of these.

2 – 10 and 4 – 20 player racing are both the same apart from more cars, of these I preferred the 4 – 20 player mode as there was a lot more going on, it was harder and a lot more chaotic. The only destruction derby I have managed to play I found a bit dull, I was also disappointed with the high speed racing as you are limited to driving either a Renault Clio and what looks to be a 1950’s style American Ford pickup truck in the beta; this meant the races were quite boring as 19 people were all driving yellow Clio’s.

Cars are unlocked through gaining fans, to do this you have to place preferably in the top three in races as well as successfully using power–ups and driving well. On average I was gaining about 1,000 fans a race, so every few races you do well in sees you gain a level, however in the beta you are capped at level 10, which considering how quickly you can get to level 10 I found a slightly disappointing.

After obtaining level 3 you unlock a mod shop, which allows you to get more fans among other things, but not to upgrade your car, which was very strange for a racing game. They allowed you to gain more fans, cause more damage and obtain a free power-up when they are activated in the race, without having to actually pick your first one up.

The tracks really aren’t much to write home about either although they do have a couple of alternative routes, which mainly consist of do I turn left at the rock or go right, neither of the routes differing in length. At the moment there is a vote to decide which of two races you take part in, races last either 2 or 3 laps, with circuits in:

Tokyo
Spain
American Wasteland
LA Docks

Out of the four circuits I would say the American Wasteland has the most variation with many different routes. However the Camaro seems to struggle on part of the track, there was just a complete loss of power which should have been cured with a downshift, but wasn’t. A lot of the time I felt that the cars were not handling like I would expect them to, a little more traction in some places was needed.

Some of the power-ups were a little below par, and far too many were short range; I think shunt has the longest range of them all. Meaning that if the lead gets too far away, your only hope is to pick up as many shunts as you can, as all the other power-ups are practically useless in such a situation, however there is also the shock power-up that will always attack the player in front of you, no matter how far away, these are not as common to pick up though. Power-ups can be fired backwards by pulling the LS down however there are only two power-ups that fire forward.

In the full game there will be 50 ranks to gain in multiplayer, as well as more cars, tracks and mods which will provide hours of fun for those that buy the game. As far as the beta has gone it’s got a pretty solid multiplayer with a couple of modes, but it's hard to judge the game on all I have been able to try out.

I give it 3/5 good multiplayer but don't get your hopes up.

The race that took place last weekend was a shambles, there was very little overtaking and nothing really outstanding happened. The FIA and his royal Berniness need to realise that while pit stops can be quite dangerous they were the best part of F1.

It is my opinion that maybe they should not freeze the engines at all, I know and understand in the past that there have been parts of the car that they have outlawed and I think that is ok, but what they need to look at is being able to get the cars to follow easier. How is that supposed to happen if they don’t do something about aerodynamics and engine power?

I know it’s a step backward but looking at how close racing was in the late 80’s early 90’s maybe they should change the rules back to what was in force then? After watching the classic GP’s on TV I really believe that it could actually be the best step forward.

Anyway on to the race I think that HRT should be the proudest team in the paddock at the moment as 1 month ago they didn’t really have anything and their can ran for the first time about 1 week ago and yet they had better in race reliability than Virgin, now I know by the other teams standards that is nothing but for them it is nothing short of a miracle, and I really hope they can keep it up through the season. On the other hand though Chandhok did have an accident on lap two so who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t , but even that performance was pretty amazing since his first ever F1 lap was completed in session 1 of qualifying.

Michael Schumacher’s return to the sport pretty much went unnoticed having done very little in the race, but given the current regulations that is pretty understandable, however I was surprised that he was out qualified my team mate Nico Rosberg, a man I believe could be world champion in a future season.

I think that the three new teams have a lot of work to do by Australia in 9 days time but I do expect them to only improve throughout the season, hopefully with a regulation change which nearly everyone has asked for I may get more to write about in the coming races.

Get a sneak peak into the production behind the new F1 2010 game out this September, find out what they have chosen to highlight as important aspects of the game from this new outing onto the HD consoles, developed by Codemasters' Guildford Studio.

It's been a week since Yazuka 3 hit the shelves in the UK, and Yakuza 4 was only just released today in Japan, but Yakuza 5 has already been announced as in development, currently referred to as ‘Project K’ the game was announced at a Yakuza 4 press conference held in Tokyo recently.

The details on the new title are sketchy at the time, and little has been unveiled other than a trailer at the conference touching on the story, whether Kazuma Kiryu is making a return is unclear, however if the story is as thrilling as the others in the series, there will be nothing to worry about.

We at Gamercast are extremely thrilled at this news, and hope above all hopes that this may possibly see Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 see the Western shores, after the scandal over cutting Yakuza 3 somewhat, we are not very hopeful. But if we can’t have Shenmue, the epic tale of Kazuma Kiryu is the best long running tale out there! Thanks Sega for sticking to your guns, but please, please release it over here!

Only 4 months after its initial release, Bioware’s critically acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins has had its first expansion Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, which is to be released at both retail, and available via download. Out this Friday you assume the role of a Grey Warden Commander, where you are entrusted with rebuilding the order of the Grey Wardens after having slain the Archdemon, however you also need to discover how the darkspawn have managed to survive, despite your previous efforts.

Brought to us by the same team that created the original, Awakening introduces Amaranthine, a dark and dangerous new area of the world to explore; you are tasked with unravelling the secrets of the darkspawn, facing new creatures such as the Inferno Golem and the Spectral Dragon.
Much like between Mass Effect 1 and 2, players of Awakening will have the option to import their character from Dragon Age: Origins, or start a new character that will benefit from the new customisation tools that can be used to alter your heroes and party, plus the chance to re-spec their attributes. Awakening features an increased level cap, new spells, abilities, items and specialisations, not to mention five new party members.

Dragon Age: Origins Awakening is out 19th March and is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC at a retail of £29.99. Dragon Age: Origins is required to play the expansion. You can view a trailer of the expansion here

This week Gamercast had the opportunity for a hands-on experience with the first Formula One title to hit the HD market. In short, we were very impressed, read on for the specifics of how Codemasters have succeeded in what looks to be the most impressive Formula One game of all time.

From what we've seen and heard, F1 2010 has the potential to be the best and most difficult Formula One game to date, and is set to include the full 13 team grid and all 26 drivers. Pit stops are included but without refuelling, there will however be an emphasis of getting the speed of the car down to an appropriate level when entering the pit lane, failure to do so will result in running into your mechanics; something that we haven't seen since '97 if I remember correctly.

With the sub title of “Be the Driver, Live the Life”, Codemasters have decided to give players a chance to get behind the scenes of the F1 world, this includes carrying out press conferences and interviews, which become more frequent as your reputation increases.

Another new addition is the “Drivers room”; where your agent sits, who informs you of teams interested in you, and how you are faring in the season; so basically she is the replacement for the cold emails and text messages you got in F106. Each room is themed around the team you drive for, we caught a glimpse of the Force India room; having the logo across the doors and the colour scheme on various objects, which adds a nice touch, and its the closest most of us will get to these trailers.

Codemasters have decided to bring Formula One to a more realistic level of play; there is a lot more emphasis of experiencing play through the driver rather than the car. For instance in previous games there was a speed difference between each team but no real difference between drivers, this year, all that should change with their new AI system. If a driver is known to be good at a certain circuit there will be a noticeable change in his performance at that track, all cars are also promised to be much more reactive to the players presence and will try to block passing manoeuvres.

The new weather system is extremely dynamic; focusing on the condition on individual 30cm pieces of track instead of 'it’s this wet all the way around', this will allow for a constantly evolving track, which will also bring strategies such as cooling down your tyres in puddles of water if needed.

As well as the wet tyre there will of course be prime and option tyres for all races and these are promised to suffer realistic tyre degradation, first by getting blisters and marbles, then delaminating and finally failing altogether. There will also be the addition of having to look after your engine during a race, although, as you are limited through the FIA's 8 engine rule, you will be unable to run your engine on full tilt, therefore boosting your engine too much during the season will have a negative effect. The possibility of changing engine settings and wing setting from the steering wheel was also mentioned, although sounds slightly technical for most gamers to be worrying about.

Another feature will be that you can now take on car upgrades and carry out Research and Development, while this was only touched upon it was revealed that how you did in a season would affect the amount of upgrades available to you during the winter, what wasn’t explained was if this would be affecting your current team or roll over onto prospective teams if you are to move after a season. From the amount of new features Codemasters hope to add to the game which differ so greatly from any previous Formula One title, they seem to have taken over the license with fantastic enthusiasm, this is not your average F1 game, this is the future of Formula One games.

I was lucky enough to get a hands-on with a 3 lap race around Monza in Mark Webber’s Red Bull from 2009, unfortunately everything we saw featured only from the 2009 season, however 2010 drivers and cars will be featured in the final game.

The first thing that was apparent, -apart from the fact that everyone was really bad at the game- was the damage; in previous incarnations damage would have your car lose the whole front wings, in F1 2010 if you lose a front wing and it gets hit there will be bits of carbon fibre flying everywhere, this debris will even hang around, however in some cases people were having collisions with very little visible damage however the game is still at an early stage.

For my final lap of the three I turned on a heavy downpour, this was brilliant, the spray looked extremely realistic and because the other drivers were unable to instantly change tyres -like I did- the AI were suddenly unable to stay on the road. At the moment the game is a bit too real, and I locked up the brakes into nearly every corner I went into, constantly pulling off 360 spins, I think I would of preferred it however if I had been given a joypad to play it with rather than a steering wheel and some pedals.

The graphics are polished, every detail in the cars and drivers are perfect, the weather effects are beautiful, and the game plays very realistically. The game that we got to experience was just the tip-of-the-iceberg, and it looks extremely promising for racing and Formula One fans, I cannot wait to get my hands on the finished product this September!

This week while representing Gamercast I had the opportunity for a hands-on experience with the first Formula One title to hit the HD market. In short, we were very impressed, read on for the specifics of how Codemasters have succeded in what looks to be the most impressive Formula One game of all time.

From what I've seen and heard, F1 2010 has the potential to be the best and most difficult F1 game to date, set to include the full 13 team grid and all 26 drivers, pit stops are included but without refuelling, there will however be an emphasis of getting the speed of the car down to an appropriate level when entering the pit lane, failure to do so will result in running into your mechanics; something that we haven't seen since '97 if I remember correctly.

With the sub title of “Be the Driver, Live the Life”, Codemasters have decided to give players a chance to get behind the scenes of the F1 world, this includes carrying out press conferences and interviews, which become more frequent as your reputation increases.

Another new addition is the “Drivers room”; where your agent sits, who informs you of teams interested in you, and how you are fairing in the season; so basically she is the replacement for the cold emails and text messages you got in F106. Each room is themed around the team you drive for, we caught a glimpse of the Force India room; having the logo across the doors and the colour scheme on various objects, which adds a nice touch, and its the closest most of us will get to these trailers.

Codemasters have decided to bring F1 to a more realistic level of play; there is a lot more emphasis of experiencing play through the driver rather than the car. For instance in previous games there was a speed difference between each team but no real difference between drivers, this year, all that should change with their new AI system. If a driver is known to be good at a certain circuit there will be a noticeable change in his performance at that track, all cars are also promised to be much more reactive to the players presence and will try to block passing manoeuvres.

The new weather system is extremley dynamic; focusing on the condition on individual 30cm pieces of track instead of 'it’s this wet all the way around', this will allow for a constantly evolving track, which will also bring strategies such as cooling down your tyres in puddles of water if needed.

As well as the wet tyre there will of course be prime and option tyres for all races and these are promised to suffer realistic tyre degradation, first by getting blisters and marbles, then delaminating and finally failing altogether. There will also be the addition of having to look after your engine during a race, although, as you are limited through the FIA's 8 engine rule, you will be unable to run your engine on full tilt, therefore boosting your engine too much during the season will have a negative effect. The possibility of changing engine settings and wing setting from the steering wheel was also mentioned, although sounds slightly technical for most gamers to be worrying about.

Another feature will be that you can now take on car upgrades and carry out Research and Development, while this was only touched upon it was revealed that how you did in a season would affect the amount of upgrades available to you during the winter, what wasn’t explained was if this would be affecting your current team or roll over onto prospective teams if you are to move after a season. From the amount of new features Codemasters hope to add to the game which differ so greatly from any previous Formula One title, they seem to have taken over the license with fantastic enthusiasm, this is not your average F1 game, this is the future of Formula One games.

I was lucky enough to get a hands-on with a 3 lap race around Monza in Mark Webber’s Red Bull from 2009, unfortunately everything we saw featured only from the 2009 season, however 2010 drivers and cars will be featured in the final game.

The first thing that was apparent, -apart from the fact that everyone was really bad at the game- was the damage; in previous incarnations damage would have your car lose the whole front wings, in F1 2010 if you lose a front wing and it gets hit there will be bits of carbon fibre flying everywhere, this debris will even hang around, however in some cases people were having collisions with very little visible damage however the game is still at an early stage.

For my final lap of the three I turned on a heavy downpour, this was brilliant, the spray looked extremley realstic and because the other drivers were unable to instantly change tyres -like I did- the AI were suddenley unable to stay on the road. At the moment the game is a bit too real, and I locked up the brakes into nearly every corner I went into, constantly pulling off 360 spins, I think I would of preferred it however if I had been given a joypad to play it with rather than a steering wheel and some pedals.

The graphics are polished, every detail in the cars and drivers are perfect, the weather effects are beautiful, and the game plays very realistically. The game that we got to experience was just the tip-of-the-iceburg, and it looks extremley promising for racing and Formula One fans, I cannot wait to get my hands on the finished product this September!

From the developers of the award-winning Mafia comes Mafia II, a beautifully crafted look into the dark and unforgiving world of the Mob. Expanding upon the original hit that captivated more than 2 million gamers around the world, 2K Czech takes players deeper into the Mafia with a mature and exciting experience that will immerse players like never before.

From the developers of the award-winning Mafia comes Mafia II, a beautifully crafted look into the dark and unforgiving world of the Mob. Expanding upon the original hit that captivated more than 2 million gamers around the world, 2K Czech takes players deeper into the Mafia with a mature and exciting experience that will immerse players like never before.

Super Street Fighter IV, the ultimate vision of Street Fighter, will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in Spring 2010. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Street Fighter IV will further redefine the fighting game genre with classic 2D Street Fighter fighting action, a host of new and returning characters, more advanced online gameplay, enhanced ultra combo system and more.