Joy Ride now a Natal launch game?

By Oli Welsh Published 7 June, 2010

No longer free-to-play, retail source says.

It's rumoured that Microsoft's casual racing game Joy Ride is to be reborn as a launch title for the Natal motion controller.

That's according to a "senior retail source", speaking to CVG, who said it had been "completely reworked into a bigger, richer game than before".

The original plan for Joy Ride to be a free-to-play game has been binned, said the source. But the source didn't know if it would still be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive or appear in the shops.

"The hope for us is that it will be a boxed release - we're still in the dark on that one - but it's definitely for Natal and will definitely be here for launch," CVG's source said.

"They're putting the final touches to it now. The biggest thing for us is that it just works with Natal's racing controls. We're reliably informed it's very intuitive."

Joy Ride, developed by BigPark, was announced at Microsoft's E3 conference last year as a free-to-play Live Arcade game featuring micro-transactions, and starring gamers' own Avatars. It was originally due out before the end of 2009.

It's been missing in action since then, barring a brief confirmation from Microsoft that it had moved to 2010.

Last week, Joy Ride's listing disappeared from Xbox.com, prompting Microsoft to say that it would "bring BigPark's vision to life in 2010".

The unveiling will apparently be at Microsoft's Natal curtain-raiser on Sunday evening in LA. We'll be there.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 2 years ago

    Presumably Microsoft saw Modnation Racers and decided they wanted a clone of it. I can see why, MNR is awesome.

  • irve77 #2 2 years ago

    i think they thought why give something away for free when you can sell it for lots of dosh !

    the buggers.

    still i don't have gold so it wouldn't have been free to the likes of me anyways

  • Doctor_What #3 2 years ago

    Natal racing controls? Oh come on... We want to see these things working already!

    Roll on E3 so we can stop speculating as much about all this stuff and finally see some near-final games.

  • Stratix #4 2 years ago

    How many people who play Mario Kart prefer to use the steering wheel for serious races? Right.

    Who prefers to use a controller? Thought so.

    I love my Xbox, but I just can't see this as being as good as Modnation, with or without controller support.

    Prove me wrong M$, prove me wrong.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #5 2 years ago

    How many people who play Mario Kart prefer to use the steering wheel for serious races?

    Ah, but how many people who play Mario Kart prefer to use the steering wheel for fun races? All of them, in my experience, and 'fun' was what we were (constantly) told Wii was all about during its launch hype.

    One thing this article doesn't cover is that Joy Ride is supposed to be a level editing and sharing experience as much as it is a racing game. And I'm just as interested in the use of the capabilities of Natal for that.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #6 2 years ago

    @Stratix
    I always play MK with the wheel, and so do most of my friends, TBH. Different strokes, isn't it? I find it weird to play with the controller now.

    I was looking forward to this as a freebie, but I'm now very intrigued to see it as a Natal launch title.

  • richardiox #7 2 years ago

    "That's according to a "senior retail source", speaking to CVG, who said it had been "completely shoehorned into a Natal launch title".

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #8 2 years ago

    Isn't the Natal Show a technology free event, so those of us who aren't going in person still wont have seen anything.

  • makeamazing #9 2 years ago

    We're reliably informed it's very intuitive

    Well there not going to say its crap and laggy are they.

  • Rubarack #10 2 years ago

    I guess they've figured out that Natal is slightly cheaper than a kidney, so when people have sold there's to pay for it they'll have some money burning in their pockets.

  • kangarootoo #11 2 years ago

    "How many people who play Mario Kart prefer to use the steering wheel for serious races"

    What is a serious race? Is it one where nobody speaks, smiles or blinks and coughing can get you thrown out for distracting the other racers?

  • RodHull #12 2 years ago

    Why make it a paid game? Keeping it free to play would make people more likely to join in the Natal fun.