Today sees the retail release of Forza Motrsport 3 for the Xbox 360. Its first and foremost a car racing simulator but theres so much to it. Its simultaneously a complex and simple game from Turn 10 Studios which really shows the evolution of the genre and tries to push it further. A lot of eyes are on this one. Some are worried they simplified it too much, making things too easy. Others worry that its too hardcore and inaccessible to all but the extreme car enthusiast. continue…

This week sees the release of Shadow Complex for the Xbox Live Arcade developed by Chair Entertainment with help from Epic Games (since it uses the Unreal Engine 3 after all.) It’s been highly anticipated for a while now and is part of the much-promoted Xbox Live “Summer of Arcade” avalanche of top tier releases. Its been a relatively dry year for game releases, with downloadable games generally being the most interesting things out there as most retail titles have been waiting for Q4 or have been delayed until 2010. With such a lack of fresh meat, theres lots of room for a game like Shadow Complex to strut it’s stuff. We’ve already seen the multi-player-only Battlefield 1943 gain huge sales in this industry climate. Now its Shadow Complex’s turn to attempt the same with a purely single player experience. continue…

Getafe Footbal Club have new kits. No surprises there. They are corporately sponsored and branded. No surprises there. They are designed so that when shirt-over-face celebrations occur, the Burger King mascot’s face becomes prominently displayedas festivities ensure. Surprise!

Who doesn’t love Wallace & Gromit? Nobody worth knowing, thats who. Their claymation adventures are charming fun and they are back with more, this time as episodic games in the spirit of the classic point-and-click adventure games equally beloved by all. It seems like a winning combination and now they’re inaugural escapade, Fright of the Bumblebees, has landed on Xbox Live Arcade by Telltale games. continue…

Jack Schluze and Matt Webb’s design consultancy in London has produced Here & There (seen above) which visualizes Manhatan simultaneously as a map in bird’s eye view and as a projection at eye level view. They invert the curvature of the earth to create a horizonless view. It seems pretty effective in visualizing the environment both. Thankfully they aren’t silent about it too. If you check out their Blog they go in to detail to explain their influences and what they were thinking. They even go so far as to offer prints for sale.

[Schulze & Webb]
[Here & There]