DiRT 2 to feature X Games stages

By Ellie Gibson Published 23 July, 2009

Block! Mirra! Tanner! Faust! Pastrana!

Codemasters has signed a deal with ESPN to put X Games stages in Colin McRae: DiRT 2.

The stages will be titled X Games America, X Games Europe and X Games Asia. They'll feature official branding and "infuse added realism by bringing the series’ unique action sports atmosphere to the game". Before you can compete in the X Games events you'll need to complete specific achievements in World Tour mode.

Well-known faces such as Ken Block, Dave Mirra and Tanner Faust will appear in the game, along with X Games 14 Rally Car Racing gold medallist Travis Pastrana.

Each even will consist of two knockout rounds - quarters and semis - followed by a fanl. Locations will include London, Tokyo and LA.

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will be released for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS and PSP on 11th September, with a PC version to follow.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • JayeM #1 3 years ago

    Doesn't belong.

  • LukehMuse #2 3 years ago

    Really don't like the direction this game is going in... :/

  • myiagros #3 3 years ago

    what's a fanl??

  • JimWest #4 3 years ago

    @LukehMuse

    What direction is that? Like Colin's latter career did by getting involved in the X Games, as well as WRC.

  • brappbrap #5 3 years ago

    Rally cars shooting down a half pipe busting backflips!
    Sign me up!

    Or.... Colin McRae on a skateboard doing gnarly grinds!

    Alternatively..... Why not do a proper rally game with one car on a track at a time against nature and the clock, y'know... like what proper rallying is like?

  • FaceInTheCrowd #6 3 years ago

    ive no problem them putting xgames in dirt2,i know its to help sell game across the pond,but how about some love for euorpe codies,give us some ice racing.Have a look at RSC2 to see how its done :)

  • Spooke #7 3 years ago

    He he he I didn't know the Rally Championship was full of junkies! awesome!

    On a more serious note, Codemasters have clearly illustrated they don't give a flying fuck what European gamers want, it's all about impressing Americans now.

  • oreillymj #8 3 years ago

    In the words of James May COCK!!

  • jack_klugman #9 3 years ago

    Who is James May Cock?

  • YobRenoops #10 3 years ago

    It just makes it sound wank. But I imagine our ameri-friends will like it.

    +1 for Ice racing however.

  • themorganator #11 3 years ago

    If it doesn't centrally pivot like the previous crap that was Dirt and Grid, I'll play it. I'm more interested on how it plays on the 360 wheel.

  • andromeda #12 3 years ago

    SWELL

    *facepalm

  • laudy #13 3 years ago

    @ farticus

    I wholeheartedly agree. They've obviously listened to folk that enjoy the experience of competing against the clock across various terrain, and paid no attention whatsoever. It's just about trying to shift copies in the US. Trouble is, americans can't be bothered with proper rally, unless of course your focus can "grind a rail" in an NPC car park.

    I wanted this game, I really did, now I do not. There's a reason baseball games don't do so well over here...unless, of course, they introduce third umpires, tea and field positions at long-off, mid-on and deep square leg...sorry about the tangent but uncle sam should not interfere with games such as this.

  • Grievous1976 #14 3 years ago

    1 word. NAFFORAMA!

  • PapaSmurf630 #15 3 years ago

    I'm not an American but I think it sounds bloody brilliant.

    You guys are making it sound like they're scrapping the rally part of it all together...it's still there!! Just with other stuff bolted on which I think sounds great. The more, the better if you ask me. Now I think it's time everyone jumps off the bandwagon until the game actually comes out ;)

  • Spekingur #16 3 years ago

    X-Games are getting more and more popular and I see no reason not to include it in DiRT 2. That just means that we are getting more features :D

    I would love to see something like this in DiRT.

    Also, I really wish MS would try and get Rallisport Challenge and Motocross Madness made again.

  • LukehMuse #17 3 years ago

    @JimWest

    I can understands that but I was just a fan of the traditional rallying games that the CM series provided is all, but I suppose what can you do when you lose stuff like the WRC license? Go into other areas such as the X games that McRae took part in.

    It's just personal preference rather than criticisng the game anyways.

  • brappbrap #18 3 years ago

    @ Spekingur
    RE: That youtube link

    I think that'd make a pretty terrible game....
    I can't think of an example right now, but I can see myself playing a driving game where i need to get over the crest of a hill, but I... just... can't quite... make it. And then my car falls down the hill and i have to get out and run round and round until I can find somewhere my character can climb.

    Yeah, it would be like that except over and over and over and over. And there wouldn't even be any getting out and running around.

  • Helios_CM #19 3 years ago

    Traditional rally still features very heavily in the game, and only a couple of days ago we released a gameplay video from the Croatia rally stage. The video is viewable on Eurogamer at [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/dirt-2s-croatia-track ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/videos/dirt-2s-...[/link]

    We're going to be elaborating further on the rally content in the game in further updates so please don't fret too much if you are a fan of traditional rally, as DiRT 2 will more than cater for this discipline!

  • Fatnick #20 3 years ago

    Hi Helios,

    Here's a question: If I just pretend all of the Xgames bollocks doesn't exist, do I lose out on Much?

    I liked the fact that you could basically get through the entire career by focusing on the Rally, Hill Climb and Crossover events.

  • FaceInTheCrowd #21 3 years ago

    @redstanza

    i think there 'motorstorm' type of game might have been FUEL.tried the demo and the words a bit pants comes to mind.

  • Norgy #22 3 years ago

    If they are using Ken Block why not put some Gymkhana in the game, that would be better than X-Game stages and would also appeal to a broad audience me thinks.

    http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=BkNzkutTi...

  • JensonJet #23 3 years ago

    Codemasters made their money from rally fans, and now we're being shown the two-fingered salute as they drive past in their whatever cars they drive in X-sports!! "We've had your money, thanks for supporting us and helping grow our business, now we're going to do whatever the Americans want to play".

    I think the most honourable thing Codemasters should do is to offer the Colin McRae rally franchise to a developer who actually cares about rallying and won't sell out to an American audience! 'Honourable' is probably a strange concept to a company that effectively stole the 'Operation Flashpoint' name from another developer (sorry, did I say stole, I meant purchased!). Clearly McRae's name is used in a hope that some of the fans from old will be duped into buying it, like last time. I've bought all but one of the previous McRae games, and absolutely loved them. I guess nothing lasts forever, and it's time to move on and forget about the past. X-games now, maybe monster trucks in the next version, then move into something equally as interesting... racing vacuum cleaners perhaps!! If Codemasters are so desperate to make money, why not release Colin McRae 5 on Xbox Live. Release it around the same time as Dirt and then while the kids can compare graphics, Codemasters can compare sales (and profits), and the rest of us finally have a half decent rally game on the 360!

  • SAH1977 #24 3 years ago

    So long as DIRT 2 has a handfull of rally stage's and rallycross track's, and most importantly at least semi-sim handling for those that want it, I'll be happy.

    I don't care for X Games, but they do use rally car's, so it can be considered a rally super-special stage.

  • Nephirion #25 3 years ago

    Prefer original Colin tbh

  • tachometer #26 3 years ago

    I personally preferred the original colin games with Nicky Grist giving pace notes. The English pace notes in Dirt were poorly timed making the rally sections impossible leaving the only playable sections as the trucks/buggies etc. which were poorly physicced.

    Please get Nicky back to make professional pace notes and don't just hire some dude cause he's on MTV or something

  • Spekingur #27 3 years ago

    @brappbrap: Perhaps. I think you need to exprience it first hand though, for real. The engines in those 'climbers' are very powerful and make a very satisfying grunt sound - both for drivers and onlookers. The video doesn't really do it justice. The tracks are most of the time longer than the video shows and are more about precision since you need to cross between the white-painted tires or points are taken away.

    I'd also like to say that I really like FUEL. It is huge! I would really like to see an MMO that's as big as that. Driving from one corner of the map to the other (through multiple smaller maps) will take hours.

    So I shall hold of any judgement weither including X-Games in DiRT2 is bad or good until I actually play it.

  • MrMud #28 3 years ago

    Why cant they just have rally stages and skip all the crap?

    The rally tracks were BY FAR the most fun parts of the original DiRT.

  • woodyrulesok #29 3 years ago

    I felt that the rally sections of CM_Dirt were too diluted with all the other guff in there (they would probably make a game in their own right but I'm interested in rallying), so I'm not holding out any hope for Drit2.
    As Helios mentioned, the rallying is just one discipline in this game and I take that as proof that this is NOT a rally game any more.
    I think we have to just except that this is a different type of game from the McRea games we loved before and hope that sooner rather than later someone makes a new WRC game. Until then well have to put up with busting some rad moves on the halfpipe.
    sigh.

  • MrMud #30 3 years ago

    Yea I mean the problem isnt that the Rallying in this game wont be satisfying (it probably will be) its that with so much effort being spent on other stuff there just wont be alot of it.

    I would rather have 20 rally tracks than 10 rally tracks and 50 other tracks.
    Edited by 1 at 24/07/09 @ 08:57

  • coojam #31 3 years ago

    You guys get that this is "in addition to" rather than "instead of" rally? I really enjoyed stuff like the Raid tracks in the original Dirt so the more variety the better... that way people can take and leave what they want/don't want