Evolution Studios were today celebrating the news that their Playstation 3 off-road racer, Motorstorm has reached Number One spot in the Japanese, US and European charts...
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That's right, folks. Yet another US-based business analyst has chucked his hat into the ring, this time predicting that the Xbox 360 will be the next-gen consoles market leader. Sigh. You know, what we'd really like to do is get all these guys together in a room, lock the door, shout 'FIGHT' through the letterbox and retire to a safe distance...

The controversial soothsayer in this instance is one Bill Kreher of A.G. Edwards financial consultants. In a recent interview with Next Generation Bill has even taken the brave/foolish step to quantify Microsoft's dominance of the American market, stating that the Xbox 360's "first mover advantage" will see the console attain a 38% share by 2009. Well, if the Xbox 360 really does have, as Bill reckons, a five million headstart over the PS3 in the USA he's probably not a mile off! In the meantime the Wii will have a 34% slice of the pie, leaving just 28% for the PS3. Ouch!
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Here's some info on the kind of things that you will be able to pick up on the PSN come April.

If you've already managed to take your games through their paces by then, you'll be able to add some more flavour by downloading different sets of battle dress for your four playable Genji characters. Or if that doesn't grab you, you can always opt for the school uniform¿

There will also the option to customise your car and download a special race event for Ridge Racer, two new playable maps for Resistance: Fall of Man and any PS3 owner playing MotorStorm online will receive Time Trial Mode automatically ¿ you won't even need to download this one from the Store.

Phew, anyone would think that European think launch day was just around the corner¿

Press release follows -

Want more from your PLAYSTATION 3? Just download it!
Enhance your PLAYSTATION 3 games at PLAYSTATION Network

- PLAYSTATION Network to feature downloadable extras for PLAYSTATION 3

- Genji: Days of the Blade and Ridge Racer 7 packs available at launch

- New packs to be added regularly ¿ check online for your favourites

On the 23rd March, PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3) will launch with a stunning lineup of titles. Games like Resistance: Fall of Man, MotorStorm, Genji: Days of the Blade and Ridge Racer7 are set to turn the gaming world on its head. Now, thanks to PLAYSTATION®Network1 (PSN), the interactive, evolving space which opens the door to a new world of exciting entertainment opportunities, you can enhance your favourite PS3 games with downloadable extras for the ultimate gaming experience.

PSN will launch simultaneously with PS3, and, on the first day, two downloadable packs containing extra content for Ridge Racer 7 and Genji: Days of the Blade will be available in the PLAYSTATION®Store. More downloadable packs will become available in April and May, including ad...
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First we hear about friends list for MotorStorm from IGN, and now we hear about a time trial mode from ThreeSpeach. Here's what they had to say:

Any PS3 owner playing MotorStorm online will receive Time Trial Mode automatically ¿ you won't even need to download this one from the PLAYSTATION Store. Take any vehicle out on the track of your choice and go hell for leather to lay down the quickest lap time. You can race against ghost vehicles of your previous efforts, other players' times and the best attempts from the MotorStorm development team ¿ and then upload your best times to the global online rankings. In addition, more tracks, vehicles and game modes will be available later in the month, and thereafter on a regular basis.

Coming soon to a PS3 near you!
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Though Evolution Studios' off-road racer MotorStorm has only been out for a couple of weeks, there are already plans to make additions to it. Starting Friday, March 23, Sony will release a brand new in-game Buddy List to coincide with the European launch date.
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Every new console that arrives is always welcomed with midnight launches and news coverage but from Oxford street.

Today i recieve a phonecall from the local GAME store where i pre ordered my PS3 (perry barr) birmingham and recieve a major shock.

The manager tells me the bundles and prices then tells me that the store and one stop have teamed up to midnight launch the PS3 with a BANG!

For pre ordered customers only, they would be invited in the store at 11pm to view all the prices, bundles, deals, acessories and view trailers for PS3 games before midnight. The staff will be on the floor chatting PS3 to everyone and once it hits midnight the consoles are sellable.

He said 'as gamers we've never really experienced the buzz of a midnight launch so what better way to experience it than with the PS3'

Motorstorm was the game that was going to be on the screens and blaring out of the speakers along with competitions for goodies.

He sounded extremelly enthusiastic over the phone and the buzz around the store was eletric when i walked in later that day.

What is your local store doing for launch?
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Still reporting news [post event] from GDC, PSU has some great information to share with everyone.

"Proceeding the Phil Harrison Keynote last week, PSU ran into a few guys from Evolution Studios, whom all were wearing Motorstorm attire. After a little chit-chat about the keynote speech and thoughts on Sony's recent announcements, we began to ask questions about Motorstorm and what Evolution Studios had next on their list.

"Motorstorm 2!" was the reply and its been in development for quite some time. Outside of announcing the title, the developers wouldn't divulge into any other details, other than its being built on a revamped version of the original Motorstorm Engine."
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When MotorStorm was first unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2005, it demonstrated a new level of detail for racing environments and gave us some idea of what we could look forward to on next-generation hardware. The dirt tracks that populate the game take their cue from the famous Monument Valley in Utah, North America. With a mix of dirt surfaces, sweeping canyons, and rock formations, the immense area should be a familiar sight to people who have seen such films as Back to the Future III and Thelma & Louise. While it was also featured in Namco's first Tekken game, this area hasn't been used so extensively as a backdrop for a game, let alone modelled in as much detail, as it is in MotorStorm.
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Gamespot.com were shown some Downloadable Content for Motorstorm. Article includes exclusive video footage of the new modes.

"It's fair to say that after it was unveiled at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2005, MotorStorm was one of the most anticipated titles for Sony's PlayStation 3. The end result didn't quite live up to our high expectations, but some of the criticisms leveled at the game appear to be addressed by a series of downloads that are due for release in the coming months. With new multiplayer modes and new tracks already nearing completion, we made the journey to Evolution Studios' headquarters in the north of England to become the first in world to see some of this new content in action.

Many of the negative points made about MotorStorm revolved around the game's multiplayer mode, which lacked variety beyond the single-race mode. While that in itself was fun enough, and the game was more than capable of allowing 12 players from across the world to hit the dirt, it lacked the depth of the majority of its contemporaries. While split-screen multiplayer remains off the cards because of technical issues, Evolution plans to appease the online community with a number of new modes, two of which we saw on our visit. The eliminator mode should be familiar to players of such games as Burnout Revenge, where the car in last position is forced to retire at periodic intervals. The tried-and-tested time trial mode will also be making an appearance."
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Evolution's ballsy off-roader leads the PS3 launch-day race, but has it been worth the wait?

There are so many crashes in MotorStorm it wouldn't surprise us if the Department for Transport started using clips of spectacular smashes for its next road safety campaign. 'Driving too fast off cliffs can KILL', the ad might say. 'Smashing into a 50-ton boulder at 30mph will leave a nasty scrape on your paintwork; at 100mph you'll DIE' could be another slogan. Only you won't cark it. Sure, you'll likely lose a few precious seconds and the battle for first place will become more of an uphill struggle, but moments after your dune buggy explodes in a shower of body panels and flaming engine parts you're back in the hot-seat and the race is on once more.
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