In a world where Michael Bay has an unlimited budget and a reality-TV show of his own, he might come up with something like Split/Second from Disney Interactive Studios, developed by Black Rock Studio. Indeed that’s loosely the premise of the game.  You are a contestant on a television show in which you race against other drivers on a sacrificial race track which is one part urban recreation and two parts obstacle course and all demolition zone. The result is a classic arcade racer feel set in the middle of what can often feel like a war-zone. continue…

This Columbian white gold, silver or platinum  ring encrusted with Andean Emeralds is the official ring of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It’s a bargain, costing between $2500 and $250 000 a piecem featuring miniature bejeweled stadiums and soccer balls.  The platinum rings are selling for a quarter million, featuring 220 emeralds. Theres only seven of these being made. Theres thirty three white gold versions for $70 000 having only thirty six emeralds and a few South African Diamonds tossed in for good measure. The World Cup MVP gets a ring for free but only one of the mid-ranged white gold ones.  Sucks to be him.

[Reuters]

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…

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!

Shaun White Snowboarding has just dropped in a shelf-filling seven flavors (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2 and PC.) With home video game consoles the Wii is in many ways the runt of the pack, lacking the raw horsepower of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 (both powered by the award-winning Assassin’s Creed engine). Usually with large multiplatform games like this, the Wii version ends up being a crippled and relatively neglected cousin of the other larger versions.

With this title the Canadian developers at Ubisoft Montreal rethought that typical move and instead made a custom game variant for the Wii, compensating for the shortcomings of the console by capitalizing on the unique possibilities the hardware has to offer. Shaun White Snowboarding – Road Trip is not just an attempt to cram a large power-hungry game in to a small and relatively weak console but instead a differentiated stylized experience which shows both consumers and other developers that with a little creativity you can make multiplatform games which take advantage of what each platform uniquely has to offer. continue…