Project Gotham Racing 3

Don't expect a new Project Gotham Racing game any time soon.

Until I dug it out again earlier this week, I had completely forgotten that one of my favourite things in Project Gotham Racing 3 is the loading screens. Each one highlights a move that will earn Kudos, the in-game driving points that make PGR stand out from other racers, but for some reason the local descriptions for each activity are just dumped onto the same screen. This means that I got to spend many happy hours passing the time between races by reciting terms like 'drafting' in a range of languages. Rebufo. Aspiration. Scia. Windschatten.

The game industry often forgets how important £40 is to gamers, the developer behind racing game series Project Gotham Racing and Blur has said.

In a brand new episode of Eurogamer Asks, the three studios formed from Bizarre Creations' ashes have talked to Eurogamer TV about their experience of Activision's controversial cull.

Searching Liverpool for the ghosts of Gotham's past.

Project Gotham Racing and Blur lead designer Gareth Wilson has found a new home at Sumo Digital - maker of OutRun Online Arcade and SEGA All-Stars Racing.

PGR, Geometry Wars, Blur dev closes.

A pair of scientists from Huddersfield University have discovered that racing games cause more agitation and aggression in players than shooters.

Score one for the "driving games are all the same" crowd: Sony's been caught using a Project Gotham Racing 3 graphic to promote Gran Turismo HD Concept, apparently unaware of its mistake.

Microsoft may not be cutting the price of the premium Xbox 360 this Christmas (well, not yet anyway), but those of you holding off buying one might be swayed by a new bundle announced today.

Still playing PGR3? Fancy one of those spangly PGR3 faceplates, but didn't win one in last month's competition? Never mind - here's another chance.

Those of you still obsessed with PGR3 ought to turn your attention to Xbox Live Marketplace when you next quit in disgust at some punk ramming you into the first corner - Bizarre Creations' latest add-on, the Style Pack, is now available.

Bizarre Creations is planning to release another 12-car downloadable content pack for Project Gotham Racing 3 in the near future.

Good news for PGR3 fans: Bizarre and Microsoft have released some new free content. Yep that's "free" and not "two quid for some wheels" or something.

As promised, Bizarre Creations has released the PGR3 "Speed Pack" over Xbox Live Marketplace - giving you the chance to try out 12 new cars "and some cool gameplay enhancements".

A teaser trailer on the official Project Gotham 3 tournament website has revealed details of the first downloadable content for the game.

Microsoft's announced a PGR3 global tournament to take place over the next two months on Xbox 360 - culminating in a showdown for the world's top racers at the Lamborghini factory in Italy in June.

Unsurprisingly given the brilliance of the first three Project Gotham Racing games (and MSR on the Dreamcast, forgetto-men), developer Bizarre Creations says it'd be "daft not to do another one".

Gareth Wilson and Ben Ward from Bizarre Creations will be online playing Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox 360 next Wednesday from 6pm to 8pm GMT, Microsoft's announced, giving you the chance to sock it to the developers.

Those of you with Xbox 360s and PGR3 who've done all the important stuff and are looking for ways to extend the life of the game (in other words: you're waiting to find out what PHASE 2 of the PGR 100 actually is) can find an hour's worth of respite online on Thursday evening - dashing the driving brains of Mercury Music Prize winning DJ Roni Size against the kerb.

Microsoft's offering Xbox 360 owners the chance to win shiny-sounding PGR3-themed black consoles as part of a range of events to pick out a "PGR 100" group of the top racers.

If you've got an Xbox 360 but don't already own a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3, get yourself up the Xbox Live Marketplace right now - where you can download a free demo.

I used to live down a road that curved left, banana-like round to my house at the end. To get onto it you had to do a 90-degree right turn. What I used to do when I drove in was lock the steering hard right to enter, and then see how far I could get up the road as the steering wheel unravelled itself before the indicator registered the straightening and clicked off. Until it did that, it sounded like Kudos-clicking. That's about as close as I've ever come to PGR in real life.

(I'm going to die alone, aren't I?)

Anyway, PGR was always a brilliant idea. When it comes to that warning about not using these driving techniques in real-life that devs whack on the front of racing games these days, it lurks somewhere in the gap between Ridge Racer's "because you will die" allusions and GT's "because nobody's this good". When you clamp the accelerator and fishtail the back of the car and then wrestle it straight, it isn't just forgiving, it actually awards you points. Applying this to exiting tight turns and using a model that rewards sharp braking and traction loss was inspired.

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Microsoft has refused to confirm rumours that flagship title Project Gotham Racing 3 won't run at 720p - but they're not exactly denying it, either.

A shiny new 3D screenshot for forthcoming Xbox 360 title Project Gotham Racing 3 is now available for download.

The room goes quiet for a second. Some cynical git (yours truly) decides to ask about the frame rate. Design manager Gareth Wilson takes the question. "This version's running at 30 frames per second. We're aiming for 60." Does he think they'll hit it? "We'll see how we go. It's all about timings. If we had four months we could get it running at 60. It's whether we've got the time." With precious time to reflect even on that, the conversation lurches in another direction.

Fed up with cardboard cut-out spectators cropping up in every racing game since the year dot? It seems that Project Gotham Racing 3 developer Bizarre Creations is too, having created a spectator system for its forthcoming Xbox 360 title that's capable of displaying 35,000 individuals at once.

A 3D screenshot from forthcoming Xbox 360 title Project Gotham Racing 3 is now available for download.

Rumours are abounding that Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 3 might not make it as an Xbox 360 launch title after all.

At the European Game Developers Conference last week, associate producer Chris Pickford was asked how long the game had been in development and replied: "We're up to about month 19-20, something like that. It's a two year project."

So if you do the maths, that could of course imply that we won't see PGR3 on the shelves until Christmas at the earliest... And the 360 is famously rumoured to be launching in November. Hmm.

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Speaking at the Xbox Summit in Japan on Friday, Bizarre Creations' Nick Davies showed off some more of Project Gotham Racing 3 and spoke of just how much prettier and more involved the game's likely to be.

A post by site administrator Chris Pickford over on the Bizarre Creations forums has revealed that there's no guarantee Xbox 360 title Project Gotham Racing 3 will run at 60 frames per second.

Project Gotham Racing developer Bizarre Creations has announced plans to get your motor running with an extensive range of online tournaments for Xbox 360 launch title PGR3.

According to the studio's official website, there will be "A big mix of tournaments, ranging from events where tens of thousands can qualify down to elite events where only the top 32 best qualifiers get through to the knockout stage."

You'll be able to watch the grand finals on Gotham TV, Bizarre's new Xbox Live broadcast channel - read all about it here. The overall winner will earn the title of ultimate Gotham Hero, and maybe even a proper prize.

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Bizarre Creations has hit back at critics who claimed that a screenshot from Project Gotham 3 released last week couldn't possibly be the real deal. You can see the pic in question here.

Bizarre Creations has revealed more details of Gotham TV, a new feature designed to enhance online play for Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox 360.

Now that Project Gotham Racing 3 has officially been announced as an Xbox 360 title, and shown off briefly at the Xbox 360 press conference in LA, developer Bizarre Creations has revealed more details of what we can expect from the game in an interview with the official Xbox site.

According to Bizarre MD Martyn Chudley, PGR3 marks a signficant leap forward for the series in terms of more than just visuals. “There have been things that we've wanted to do in the past, but have never had the chance, as the hardware wasn't up to it,” he says.

“But now we can really let our imaginations take us where we want to go.”

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