Codemasters has confirmed that Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will feature eight-player online races. The number's a step down from their last racing game, but according to game design manager Ralph Fulton, it's not because of some technical limitation. Eight's just the right number.
Speaking at a Codemasters press event in London, Fulton stressed that while DiRT 2 will still be using the same engine that powered last year's Grid, the racing in DiRT 2 is a totally different beast.
In our extensive play-testing of Dirt 2, both internally and external focus tests, we found that these types of cars on these types of tracks, 12 players just gets a little crowded, and made crashing a bit too prevalent. That takes away crucially a lot of the fun of multiplayer competition.
We've found in our extensive testing that eight is the magic number and eight players is the sweet spot.Our PR guys are always on at us to have bigger numbers than the last game but in this instance smaller is better.
Fulton also gave out a few details about a special Colin McRae memorial event that will be unlocked at the end of the game:
At the end of the game, when the player has competed in world tours, when he has won the X Games of America, we think the fitting finale to the game is what we're calling the McRae Memorial Challenge.
This is a special one-off three stage rally in which the player will compete against Colin's own family, Jimmy and Alister McRae, and a host of as yet unannounced motor sports superstars. We'll be revealing a list of their names closer to our release date
Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is slated for a September release. The game will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS and PSP.
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