Xbox 360 Previews

Good though it was, F1 Championship Edition on PS3 was a bit sterile off the track. Codemasters' aim with F1 2010 is for you to be the driver and live the life.

Sure, DiRT 2 had the trailer and GRID had a decent enough agent who talked you through things, but the idea here is that it's way more interactive and as seamless as possible.

But the changes aren't just cosmetic. Everything here promises to be better than any other F1

If you've ever played Race Driver GRID (and you should have done), you'll know how the perfect balance between arcade gaming and hardcore simulation can be achieved. Like its Codemasters stablemate, F1 2010 deftly plucks the cherries from both gameplay styles to deliver an experience that's immediately accessible, but features plenty of depth for hardcore race fans. The result is an F1 game that's not only a great simulation, but an absolute blast to play.

In recent years, most Formula 1 games have been Sony-published affairs, and while many were worthwhile racers, it was difficult to find exciting off-the-track features, or significant year-over-year improvements. Following last year's release of F1 2009 on Wii and PSP, Codemasters is set to redefine the Formula 1 experience with F1 2010 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, offering a racing package that comprises everything a famous F1 driver encounters in his career.

While the megaton simulation racing games tend to take massive breaks between their releases (Gran Turismo and Forza), the F1 series has been carving out a sizeable niche for itself. The annual series has been providing racing fans with smaller annual improvements as opposed to the huge 4-year upgrades from the more well-known games. Granted, it’s all about F1 racing, which the NASCAR-dominated US is less familiar with, but true gearheads might find a lot to...

Formula One in real life is finally exciting again. Sure, Vettel is winning everything in sight, but the new rules and overtaking systems have, if nothing else, at least made the races exciting to watch. That's worked out very nicely for Codemasters, who rode the crest of the wave last year with F1 2010 and are now sitting pretty to deliver a super-sequel. They were showing off the game on Xbox 360, 3DS and PlayStation Vita in London, and we played them all so there's a page about each right here. Engines on? OK, let's go. 

F1 2011 is a serious game for serious racing gamers and serious F1 fans. We’re not going to try and convince you otherwise, because this serious image is exactly what Codemasters Birmingham is going for. But as austere as the game seems, there’s something irresistibly fun about the prospect of piloting these bleeding edge 1000 Horsepower Titans.

Peter Molyneux is full of apologies. First, he apologises for kicking off our day's events slightly tardily, and for having put on a few pounds since we last met. "I've just given up smoking," he says, shovelling a mint into his mouth.

The third thing the Lionhead boss was sorry for was the current state of the Fable 2 code he was about to show us. Clearly, the game's still a little way from being retail ready, even though the white

1) Partaking in sexual intercourse outside of wedlock can get you an STD, and condoms are available for purchase in the game (however rare). No, seriously.

2) The game tracks the in-game location of every single player who is playing. This information is then filtered down to your XBL friends, who appear as glowing orbs (Molyneux hinted at the potential for filtering by geographical location and other conditions, but this is not