CODEMASTERS acquire F1 Racing License from FOM (merged)

[MS7XWDC]

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/05/09/codemasters-win-f1-gaming-licence/


Codemasters win F1 gaming licence

 

[F1KimiFreak]

ah someone just showed me this ! really good news but im still not 100% sure till its official release from both players sony/bernie.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

ah someone just showed me this ! really good news but im still not 100% sure till its official release from both players sony/bernie.

If it isn't, and the contracts have not been signed, Kaz just lost a ton of leverage in his negotiations with Bernie by listing it as a "Key Title" for success.

 

[Lee]

Hmmm you see, I was starting to get kinda intrested in EA doing it. EA know how to do a career-based sports game (Your Tiger Woods, Maddens, hell even NASCAR), something that Sony has kinda scrapped in with over the past couple of installments on F1.

 

[F1KimiFreak]

Still found the sony game better then the EA games.

 

[amar212]

So, that's it.

New computer game deal for F1

Formula One is to have its first official computer game in more than two years next season following the capture of a new official licencing deal with British gaming company Codemasters, autosport.com can reveal.

With Sony having published the most recent official F1 game last summer, based on the 2006 season and available only on PlayStation consoles, Codemasters' deal will see F1 return to a multiformat platform for the first time in many years.

The game is set to be available on all major home consoles, as well as handheld and PC gaming formats.

After weeks of discussion between Codemasters and Formula One Administration, it is anticipated that the company will produce the first game next year, based on the 2009 F1 season. This will be the first game that Lewis Hamilton will appear in.

Rod Cousens, chief executive officers of Codemasters, said: "Formula One is ambitious in expanding its reach with more circuits planned beyond recent additions in the Middle East and China. It is also ambitious in expanding its reach via technology.

"The digital communities that computer and video gaming creates will play a key role in further growing the F1 audience and connecting them globally.

"As a world-leading creator of driving games, this alliance with F1 is the jewel in Codemasters' racing crown and creates an undisputed segment champion."

Chris Denning, chairman of Codemasters, added: "Codemasters' success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge.

"The combination of F1's new momentum of expansion and Codemasters' contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen."

Codemasters Studios has already begun preparations for the major task of creating the new game, by strengthening their team with personnel from the now defunct Sega Racing Studio.

There are 350 people working on the project, which will be based on the EGO Engine that Codemasters has put to good use on the Colin McRae: DIRT and soon-to-be-released Race Driver: GRID titles.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67228

***ENDS

Great news indeed.

 

[TheMoose]

There are 350 people working on the project, which will be based on the EGO Engine that Codemasters has put to good use on the Colin McRae: DIRT and soon-to-be-released Race Driver: GRID titles.

I'm glad there will be a new F1 game (NEXT YEAR) But by Codemasters...not so great!
Dirt is fun but the physics suck compared to GT5P or F1 CE.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

It could be worse... EA could have gotten the license!

Still, considering the arcade like physics of both DiRT and GRiD, I'm certainly on the fence. On the other hand, I also really like playing DiRT and the demo for GRiD is fun. I just don't think that style of game translates well for a realistic F1 game. So hopefully they'll start from scratch as far as a new game engine. In terms of getting a wider audience, thus more support for future titles, multi-platform games are great. However, I'm also some what concerned over the possible compromises they'll have to make in order to make it a multi-platform release.

As they say... only time will tell.


Hopefully Codemasters will pay close attention to the many things that work well in F1CE and try and incorporate them into their game.

 

[F1KimiFreak]

Happy EA did not get it, Codemaster is beter then but stil i find GRiD not so good, hopefully they will tune the gameengine a lot but i do think they will use the same one.

Good its multiplatform now and hopefully they will release a managing game also

 

[legroom]

I'm glad there will be a new F1 game (NEXT YEAR) But by Codemasters...not so great!
Dirt is fun but the physics suck compared to GT5P or F1 CE.

Just remember that Codies have got the experience and know how to make a good racing game.
Think back to the the original TOCA games on PS1.

Whilst the game will use an EGO based engine, there's still a significant amount of tweaking that can be done to ensure improvements over DiRT and GRID. You must remember that GRID hasn't even been released yet and judgement can never be made solely on a pre production demo.

Now that i've said all that i hope Codemasters don't let us all down!

One positive is the fact that regardless of whether the games any good or not, we can be pretty certain that we wont have to listen to the 🤬 that is James Allen on commentary duty!

 

[slicecom]

Before the GRID demo came out yesterday, I would have been overjoyed that Codemasters got the license... now I'm not so sure. They've officially destroyed the Race Driver series. It's too arcady for sim fans now and still not arcady enough for arcade fans.

 

[Biggles]

I have only played the DiRT demo & just downloaded the GRiD demo: they both strike me as being almost unplayable with a wheel. The handling is so twitchy/pivoty, I feel like I'm getting motion sick!

Even though Codemasters made decent racing/sims in the past, their recent efforts are aimed at a completely different market.

 

[flubbachany]

Hopefully it won't be too arcadey. Codemasters has been pumping out arcade racers recently.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Well, if there's one thing they do right, it's to have a direct channel between themselves and their costumers. I've been following the CodeM GRiD forum for a while now and just noticed that they already opened -today - a new forum for their future F1 game.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1014


It is not always easy, especially when the news you have to give aren't great, as you can see in the GRiD forum about the delay in the PC Demo

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278957


But I think they are right in having these official forums. I just wish PD acted the same way ...

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[Muzaffar]

I think I just puked out what I have eaten so far....

This is all wrong!!!!! I demand them to bring back Liverpool Studios and made F1 games!!!! Hell, even let EA made the goddamn game instead of CM. At least EA had some experience making F1 games! I just think this is all totally wrong. Not saying that I hate CM's game, its just that, for a big motorsport like F1 have a video game made by a totally different type of game maker to make an Official F1 game. I just have a bad feeling how the game is gonna turn up. I always had problem with CM's driving physics since the first TOCA game, and until now, it still doesn't change much. Feels like it doesn't fit in any category. Its not a sim racer or even an arcade racer, just feels weird if you know what I mean.......

But I really wished the game would be handled by at least some company which really knows what does the F1 prestige means to them. Call up any of the many PC sim makers and they could do a 110% job that could very match any other console sim out there! Companies like Image Space Incorporated, SIMBIN Simulations, Blimey! Games and LFS would almost make the game 10x as good as the add ons in their current games! 👍

 

[slicecom]

I always had problem with CM's driving physics since the first TOCA game, and until now, it still doesn't change much. Feels like it doesn't fit in any category. Its not a sim racer or even an arcade racer, just feels weird if you know what I mean.......

I know EXACTLY what you mean, and share your concern. I already made a post in their forum about it.

 

[Sting]

Great news, but 2009 SEASON!?! Meh, we're not that far into the 08 season, they should start straight away!

 

[Pupik]

(Merged both threads; oldest posts from older thread go first.)

 

[GT4 genius]

Good idea merging the threads. Anyway I'm a bit like most of you, not to sure if this is good or bad. I dont like the idea of using the Dirt or Grid engine (although I havent played either) but then I'm possibly the only one slightly glad that SL didnt get it again, they seemed to completely neglect a lot of important things such as safety cars, weather predictions and the full rules of the real sport. But I am worried about the physics and having to compromise for other consoles although maybe with a wider market F1 may become more popular.

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[Robin]

This is going to be Grid with F1 cars.... Not bad.... couldn't be any worse than EA's handling of the license!

Plus it wont suck on PS3..... but I would have preferred Studio Liverpool to do it again...

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I'm possibly the only one slightly glad that SL didnt get it again, they seemed to completely neglect a lot of important things such as safety cars, weather predictions and the full rules of the real sport.

I've never understood the desire for safety cars in video games, as it's only a random event required to clean up after a crash that often ruins a race by wiping out the efforts of the cars that were leading. I know, I know, NASCAR fans love to bunch up the cars with yellow flags, but it's so arbitrary.

That said, F1CE does have local yellows... which you won't find in any driving game from Codemaster, and come to think of it, not any other console driving games that I can think of. Besides the local yellows, F1CE also uses all of the following F1 regulation conditional flags:

• Green
• Blue
• Red & Yellow
• Black w/orange dot
• Half Black/Half White
• Black Flag

(explanations of all of these are in your F1CE manual)

F1CE has far more optional penalties then any other console racing games, let alone F1 games.

Besides the obvious ones like cutting across the track and speeding in pit lane, you can also get penalized for crossing over the lane marker when exiting the pits. Sure, it's penalty system isn't perfect... nor is the FIA's either.

F1Ce brought us interactive pit stops, both crash damage and mechanical failures (something Codemasters does do a very good job at at least!), one of the best wet weather simulation of any driving game I've played, and a lot of custom race options and set-ups, allowing us to create the kind of racing situation we wanted at any given time.

No, F1CE isn't perfect, no game is, but in my opinion it's far better than most driving games, and certainly one of the best F1 games to date.

Remember, Codemasters has never even made an F1 game before, let alone feature all of the criteria you listed in any of their games.

I certainly hope your faith in Codemasters is well placed, but based on what Studio Liverpool has already delivered, they have a great deal to live up to.

 

[Biggles]

did you go to the "Advanced Wheel" tuning area ? you can alter the way your wheel reacts !!

Yeah, I've played around with it a bit - it's actually one of the impressive things that Codies do: giving you a lot of "tuning" options. But there's just something weird about the handling of the cars (just like in DiRT). It's a while since I've played more arcade-based racers, but I used to play them with a controller - there's just something odd about arcade-handling with a wheel. I'm sure that with time I would get used to it, but at the minute it's making me feel (literally) a little sick.

No, F1CE isn't perfect, no game is, but in my opinion it's far better than most driving games, and certainly one of the best F1 games to date.

Remember, Codemasters has never even made an F1 game before, let alone feature all of the criteria you listed in any of their games.

I certainly hope your faith in Codemasters is well placed, but based on what Studio Liverpool has already delivered, they have a great deal to live up to.

I'm 100% with Digital on this: what Studio Liverpool did (with, I imagine, relatively limited resources) was deliver a game that works in all the important ways. Yeah, the graphics aren't as good as GT5P's, the damage isn't as spectacular as DiRT/GRiD, the replays are poor compared to GRiD/DiRT or GT5P. Even the basic physics aren't nearly as in depth & detailed as GT5P's. But overall the game just WORKS & delivers a convincing & exciting F1 gaming experience.

My suspicion is that Codies will again deliver the sizzle without the steak: a game that looks great in the trailers, but just doesn't play that well...

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[jaspery]

Ecclestone wanted more than 15m for the licence yearly. Makes it unviable for Sony financially. Would probably make it a 30m+ game for Sony for a game that sells less than a million. Codemasters developing it on several platforms have no such worries.

 

[jaspery]

Reading the thread dont forget F1:CE was a launch title!. A superb effort adding in that fact.

 

[VNAF Ace]

Since Sony has lost the F1 license, does this mean PD will have to take F1 cars such as the Ferrari F2007 out of GT5?

 

[MS7XWDC]

 

[V1P3R]

I'm sooo... confused. I thought EA had it. I guess I'm glad Codemasters has it now.