MotoGP 3 due in late 2005
With more and better everything, and Climax still handling assembly.
Snaking through the flotsam and news-um of an average Thursday morning, MotoGP 3 (sorry, MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3) has thundered past us and onto release schedules. Publisher THQ hasn't been very forthcoming with specific details, but we do know that Climax - developer of the first two critically acclaimed titles - remains in charge, and that it's due out worldwide between July and the end of September 2005.
We're also clear on the formats - it remains an Xbox exclusive on the console front, with a matching PC version. Xbox Live support seems a certainty after the success of the first two titles online - the original MotoGP was arguably one of the first real reasons to bother with a Starter Kit, in fact.
THQ is also talking up "photo-realistic race tracks", "more real tracks, riders and equipment than ever before", as well as a "brand new mode", although we find it hard to get excited on the basis of these comments alone. Nevertheless, the prospect of another MotoGP title is exciting, and the fact that THQ is bucking the growing trend of rushing out annual updates with this franchise is as good a reason as any to give them the benefit of the doubt and keep an eye on the biker in the rear-view.