F1 2018 - Dev Diary 3: Car Simulation

F1 2018 - Dev Diary 3: Car Simulation

 

F1® 2018 – More Than Just A Game

Latest Developer Diary Focuses On The Most Authentic F1 Car Simulation yet

SYDNEY, 10^th August 2018 - Codemasters® has today released the third part in a series of developer diaries for F1® 2018, the official videogame of the 2018 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™, detailing how the new game boasts the most authentic F1® car handling simulation ever seen in the franchise.

The third of the four part series, which is available to watch now at www.youtube.com/formula1game, reveals that F1® 2018’s car simulation and handling has significantly advanced this year, with revamped suspension and chassis physics, the addition of real world F1® data for unprecedented accuracy, new “tyre carcass” temperature for the first time, as well as manual deployment of the ERS system. The ultimate result of these enhancements is that the gamer can experience the pure sensation of the tyres tearing into the track surface, and therefore giving a realistic and relatable feeling of grip, under all wear, compounds and weather conditions.

“I believe F1® 2018 is a massive step up, because we’ve introduced so many more simulation aspects that I believe will be very well received by all the players,” commented David Greco, Senior Car Handling Designer on F1® 2018. “To choose which one is the most important and advanced is quite hard, but I would probably say it is the expanded system which enables us to simulate the tyre temperature more realistically than we have ever done before.”

He continued: “This year, the way the car feels, with the ‘Force Feedback’, and how it all works together, we are very close to what I want from a simulator. In over 20 years of my career between sim racing and real motorsport, I have always come across questions like: ‘one title is more simulator than another title, because it’s very difficult to drive?’ With my real motorsport experience, I can say that real racing cars are made to have a lot of grip. To me, a simulator is not how easy it is to drive or how easy to make it spin. To me, a simulation is how many real-life, physical components we simulate, and especially this year, there are not many features that I can think of that we don’t simulate. To just call it a game to me is not enough anymore.”

F1® 2018 features all the official teams, the drivers and all 21 circuits of the thrilling 2018 season, including Circuit Paul Ricard and the Hockenheimring. As well as the current season’s offerings the game includes 20 iconic cars from the history of the sport. F1® 2018 will release onto PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X and Windows PC (via Steam) worldwide on Friday 24^th August 2018.

Watch the Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer

Watch the Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer

We’re thrilled to share the Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video, shot entirely from in-game footage in 4k.

Watch the Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video

Captured entirely from in-game footage, watch this introduction to Red Dead Redemption 2's gameplay in 4K.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming October 26, 2018 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems.

Players can pre-order here.

NZIFF 2018 - Festival director Bill Gosden's exit interview

NZIFF 2018 - Festival director Bill Gosden's exit interview

Hey Bill, how are you?
Basking in the success of our final day in Auckland, notably the near perfect performance by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Peter Scholes. Carl Davis’s score is notoriously difficult – full of explosions, lightning bolts and sudden tempo changes that have to be meticulously synchronised with the picture. I doubt it has ever been performed better. And the digitisation of the 2013 restoration looked glorious on the Civic screen.


How's your festival been?
Busy as always, but buoyed by crowds and lots of good feedback about the movies.

We're moving into extra time in Auckland - and of course, Animation Now - what's the feeling about how this year has gone?
Records have been broken. We are very happy. 

You've kicked off Wellington too - and off out to the regions as well, what are the films that have seen plenty of bums on seats here that people shouldn't miss?
Shoplifters, Three Identical Strangers, McQueen, Leave No Trace are four big hits with seats still available almost everywhere else.

Shoplifters

A lot of the "outer" regions have been busy to full in Auckland - the expansion plan's worked well hasn't it?
Yep. Unfortunately there’s not a cinema on the North Shore with the capacity of the Hollywood in Avondale.

What's been the film you wish more people would have seen?
Leto. 

Leto

What's the 50th been like for you? The poster gallery is something quite beautiful and the clippings are pretty insightful as well - have you had time to reflect?
Yes. I’ve thought long and often about the myriad people who have been such a crucial part of the festival over the years I have been involved. Many are still very much with the festival,  notably Roger Horrocks from the founding committee, and projectionists Don Howie,  Dennis Keith and Bruce Blakeley.

What's been the best Auckland moment?
Final Night. As an elated audience left The General a new one arrived for Sign O’ The Times.

What's been the best - and worst - piece of feedback you've had up here?
Best: lots of love for the festival.  Worst: People complaining that we did not show Three Identical Strangers often enough.

When do we get a coffee table book of the pre-film announcement boards? 
When we can clear publication rights on all the imagery.

Has the diversity this year in terms of retro films as well seen more bums on seats?
Big audiences for Monterey Pop, Orlando, The Swimming Pool and Wings of Desire.  And audiences for the other films, while not huge, seemed appreciative. Liquid Sky was the most divisive, though the accusation that it takes gender warfare lightly seems like a misreading of the era to someone like me who was there. 

What's been the one film you wished you'd seen with audiences but Q&As like this dragged you away?
Burning. But I can see it in Wellington. Yay.

Which are the films that have been box office successes?
Leave No Trace, McQueen, Shoplifters, Three Identical Strangers, Celia, Yellow is Forbidden, Burning, Birds of Passage, Cold War, The Guilty.

Three Identical Strangers

Do you have any plans to reinstate the Autumn Events?
Hoping so.

Just finally, now Auckland's done, what's the one thing you're looking forward to doing most - away from film of course?
Sunshine.

And even more finally now, what plans for year 51?
Support from Creative New Zealand this year enabled us to run a filmmakers’ workshop with Debra Granik, so I am hoping we can build on that. I would always love to expand the Live Cinema programme.

BlacKkKlansman: Film Review

BlacKkKlansman: Film Review

Cast: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, James Badge Dale
Director: Spike Lee

As much a blaxploitation piece cum shaggy dog story as a "Is that really true?" story, BlacKkKlansman is as exaggerated a story piece as it is unsubtle.

Director Spike Lee shines in large swathes of the film, but the final 4 minutes, which chooses to insert real life Charlottesville footage into proceedings, shows how cancerous the insertion of real-life footage is proving to be in dramas and documentaries.

BlacKkKlansman is the story of a rookie Colorado Springs cop, Ron Stallworth (Washington, in a mesmerising and yet grounded turn) who in the 1970s wanted to join the police force. After being subjected to a rather degrading interview, Stallworth finds himself working the evidence room, but pushes his bosses to join other divisions.

That's granted and he's sent undercover to a Black Power meeting on a surveillance job. It's here that he meets Laura Harrier's Patrice and finds himself going deeper into the movement than he expected as he wrestles with the idea that he can change their world outlook from within.

However, things get spookier for Stallworth when jokingly one day he decides to call the Ku Klux Klan and gets co-opted in. But, he can't attend meetings so he sends Detective Flip Zimmerman as his body double (Driver, in a suitably stoic turn) - but things get more complicated the longer the ruse goes on...

"Dis joint based on some real fo'sure shit" is Lee's opening gambit - and once past the use of Gone With The Wind and Alec Baldwin's weirdly out of place ranting, BlacKkKlansman becomes a film that feels like Superfly got mixed in with the DNA of a buddy cop movie and a undercover cop falling in love film that you've seen a million times before.

However, that's also where Lee's ability to subvert your expectations works best - he shuns the cliched and presents a film that crackles with contemporary commentary (Make America Great, America would never elect someone like that are lines mentioned a few times in throwaway lines) and seethes with indignation when it should.

Which is why it's a shame that later in proceedings, this black humour film where no one is really laughing drops the ball in favour of less subtle forms of visual protest. A sequence involving Harry Belafonte recounting a real life racist situation as he addresses Black Power activists and the aforementioned Charlottesville footage feel like a hammer being used to crack a nut.

Perhaps there's an argument stating that desperate times resort to desperate measures, but it's infinitely irritating to see a master craftsman like Lee stepping back from letting his work do the talking.

It's the only thing which derails Lee's BlacKkKlansman - perhaps if he'd been reined in a little, the glorious dialogue, utterly ludicrous reality and the subtleties would have been more powerful; instead, the over-egging leaves a bad taste in your mouth, a feeling that Lee's vitriol has got the better of his creative edges.

Washington is mightily impressive, imbuing Stallworth with both heart, indignation and naivete; equally Driver's turn shows why his dependable performances are becoming the most important assets he brings to films he's in.

Sure, there are shocks throughout, and rightly so, but Lee never presents the KKK as anything other than inept, crippled by their bigotry and sidelined by their stupidity of belief.

Ultimately, for the most part, BlacKkKlansman is a film that ripples with unease, humour and gallows jokes in a mix that proves potent. It's just a shame that the hammer - nut approach employed at the end makes you feel like it's less Fight The Power, more Shout the Power down and then keep doing so.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Video Vignettes

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Video Vignettes

EIDOS-MONTRÉAL SHOWCASES NEW SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER VIGNETTES

New Video Series Highlights Key Gameplay Elements

Square Enix®, Eidos-Montréal™, and Crystal Dynamics® have launched a new video series for Shadow of the Tomb Raider™, with each video focusing on a key feature of the game.

Serving as a tantalizing preview of the new gameplay coming in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the series showcases elements such as combat, environments, tombs, traversal techniques, and more. 

The latest entry in the series, “Combat Tactics,” spotlights the wide range of guerrilla techniques Lara has at her disposal as she races to stop the Maya apocalypse. Lara can strike suddenly and disappear like the jaguar, perch in the jungle canopy and wait until the perfect moment to take down a foe, use mud as camouflage, instill fear in her enemies, and more.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be available on the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC/Steam® on September 14^th. Fans can also pre-order to play the game early on September 12^th.

Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video Friday August 10th

Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video Friday August 10th

Watch the Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video this Friday, August 10th at 0100AM AEST on rockstargames.com and at the official Rockstar Games YouTubechannel.

PES 2019 Demo launches today

PES 2019 Demo launches today

PLAYERS CAN NOW FEEL “THE POWER OF FOOTBALL” AS

PES 2019 DEMO LAUNCHES TODAY

Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. has today released its demo version of PES 2019. Fans now have the chance to sample the new features, modes and unparalleled gameplay ahead of its official August 30th launch on PlayStation®4, Xbox One™, and PC via Steam.

Exhibition match, offline CO-OP mode, and an online quick match mode, are available to play in one of two stadiums, FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou or FC Schalke 04’s VELTINS-Arena. Fans can pick from a selection of 12 teams including Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona and Inter Milan, plus national sides, Argentina and France.

PES 2019 continues to build on the renowned football simulation series with a raft of new features and improvements. New features include Visible Fatigue, impacting performance and behaviour; new shooting mechanics and improved ball physics; ‘Enlighten’ software for true-to-life visual effects and, for the first time, 4K HDR across all platforms.

PES 2019 will feature more licensed clubs and leagues than ever before, with myClub receiving the biggest overhaul to date, featuring a new card design system. FC Barcelona star and global ambassador Philippe Coutinho will be featured on this year’s cover, while a special David Beckham edition featuring a present-day version of one of England’s all-time greatest footballers will also be available.

“We are very excited to finally be able to share the PES 2019 demo with our fans,” commented Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director Brand & Business Development at Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. “The demo features some of the world’s greatest teams and most high-profile players, and while this is only an introduction to the new game, we believe that this edition of PES will capture the hearts and minds of players who want to experience a game that is more true-to-life than ever before.”

PES 2019 will be available on PlayStation®4, Xbox One™, and PC STEAM, on August 30th. PES 2019 will be available in two physical editions, with new global ambassador Phillippe Coutinho on the front cover of the standard edition and David Beckham on a special edition which gives fans the opportunity to unlock myClub bonuses. Also available at launch will be a digital-only Legend edition that will include even more content for myClub!

To pre-order PES 2019, please visit: https://www.konami.com/wepes/2019/