[PS3] Modnation Racers

[patsu]

Patch 1.02 available this Wednesday:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010...1-02-releases-august-4th-brings-improvements/

This Wednesday, August 4th at 2:00am (Pacific Time), the ModNation Racers Title Update 1.02 goes live improving many of the issues the community has been concerned about.

Load Time Improvements
While there are still loads, you will see decreases in load times throughout the game.

New “Casual” Difficulty Mode
We’ve added a “casual” difficulty setting in the options screen.

Challenge friends in XP Series
We’ve added the ability to invite your friends to XP Races & Series.

No more “Hot Lap” Cheaters
We fixed a bug that allowed players to cut the track and post unbeatable times in Hot Lap.

Get into Online Races Quicker
Along with improved load times, we’ve removed the online game room from the ModSpot so you can get into the race faster.

Improved Server Stability
We’ve addressed issues to improve intermittent disconnects that players were experiencing.

Three Challenges now more attainable
We wanted to provide you challenges, but didn’t want to sacrifice fun. We found 3 challenges that proved extremely difficult and changed the conditions to complete them. This includes:
* Devastator takedown on Wild Run
* Devastator takedown on Modobahn
* Sideswipe 3 opponents on the cliff side on Fracture

The Tin Bucket Unlocked!
Finally this is an item is unlocked and available to everyone by default.

Collector Card Improvement
Now see all player creations in their entirety.

Glad to see the load time addressed. Will check it out when I get home.

 

[tha_con]

Once I get my games back from a friend I'll dive into this. If anyone is up for a beat down, er, race, I'm game

 

[Arwin]

Ah, so it's getting time to order this game then.

 

[patsu]

I'd recommend the game to anyone who's vaguely interested in karting. The editors are intuitive and fun to use too. The load time didn't bother me much, but I'm a patient guy. Hope to see how big the improvement is. I had more problems with the difficulty level, but it's getting fixed also. So I feel happy to support them.

 

[patsu]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/09/28/modnation-racers-over-300000-race-tracks-now-for-39-99/

Today we are happy to announce we are offering ModNation Racers PS3 and PSP to the masses at new lower price points!

...

ModNation Racers PS3 will now be available at $39.99 (MSRP), and ModNation Racers PSP will be available for $19.99 (MSRP) at both retail and on the PlayStation Network!

 

[Arwin]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/10/11/modnation-monday-family-guy-drives-modnation/

Some guys from the Family Guy team design some characters and talk back in the comments.

 

[patsu]

Free Modnation Racer Stunt Parts Pack for two weeks!:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/10/21/modnation-racers-free-dlc-and-double-xp-week/

On October 26th, we’re going to be giving you the first taste of some track-enhancing goodness with a FREE parts pack. The Stunt Pack is the first of more Packs to come, and each one features a group of new parts to make the already amazing tracks out there even better. If you’ve ever wondered how we can add to and improve upon the hundreds of thousands of amazing tracks that are already out there, these Packs are the answer, and the first one is free for TWO WEEKS!

Included in the Stunt Pack are 14 parts listed below.

Stunt Pack
Scene Props
Double Decker Bus
Interactive Truck
Interactive Truck Trailer Mini Ramp
Dynamic Props
K-Wrecks
Wide Stunt Ramp
Thin Stunt Ramp
Thin Rail Stunt Ramp
Tilting Platform
Flaming Skull Ring
Flaming Pendulum Chopper
Track Props
Stunt Trailer
Tire Stack
Glass Plate
Flaming Fence

MNR Halloween themed creations contest

Submit your original Halloween themed Karts, Mods, and Tracks here for a chance to win a free Mod and Kart. The winner’s creations will be showcased in November’s first ModNation Monday blog.

...
MNR Creations of the Week

 

[Arwin]

I sold a copy of Modnation Racers - almost two, as two father/son pairs were there with their kids and both kids were looking for a racing game, but there was only one copy of Modnation Racers there (told him to get the demoes for Modnation and Split-Second (this was a little older kid who mostly plays by himself, and who, according to his father, doesn't particularly like challenging games).

When I explained about the course creation and character creation, and the option to download those that others created, it turned out the father thought that you had to pay to go on PSN. OMG.

 

[whome0]

I sold a copy of Modnation Racers...When I explained about the course creation and character creation, and the option to download those that others created, it turned out the father thought that you had to pay to go on PSN. OMG.

Is it some kind of a state of mind standard think paying for online gaming connection is mandatory. Where do they get all those crazy ideas I made a visit to a family see about once a year. They had earlier bought Wii for their 9y old kid. I told them it has wlan you can go online, it was a new piece of information. Maybe nextgen is all online this-and-that taken granted.

 

[Arwin]

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/04/20/playstation-plus-mid-month-update/

"20% discount on the awesome racing BD title coming new to the Store: Modnation Racers"

So apparently Modnation Racers is getting a fully DD version? Very curious about the price - if it is a good price, I think I may finally be getting it.

EDIT: price will apparently be £24.99, before discount. That looks good, for less than 30 euro I'll get the DD version.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Finally got to see the game at a friend's place ! I love the track creation too. So simple and so easy . I think the star of the toolset is the autopopulate feature ! Its because of that feature that I had really fun track ready in 5 mins. I just drew the track, set a few scenic items on mountains and done ! The game presenta playable fun track to enjoy immeditately. Then I added a few of the stunt Fire wheels around jump pads and off we went pushing each other around in the track !

Later I created a fantasy track in the desert theme ! We haven't played the SP yet so do not have many options for decorating the tracks yet.

We noticed there are around 1.4 GBs of updates avaialable, I think 7 in number. Do they include any free DLC or tracks n items? Cos its too huge to be just fixes. We would rather just keep playing if they don't contain new items. Can anyone confirm this?

We

 

[Arwin]

From the looks of the newly created tracks which seem to look nothing like the initial theme sets, I reckon they are mostly new stuff for creation, like stuff to put into your tracks.

Anyway, I've been on the fense for this game for a long time, but now I'm starting to get interested again thanks to the Vita version, which seems to be rather amazing. It's creation/editing features are even better - you can just draw a new track with your finger on the touch-screen, auto-populate, and voila! A new track in 30 seconds or so. Crazy.

Also, the load-times seem much better, while you can still do everything the PS3 version can, including access the already 500.000 tracks created in the PS3 version. I saw a 10 minute demo yesterday of what I reckon is a betatest-version from late december, and so far it seems rather impressive. This game is now high on my list of Vita games to get, and seems to be a much more fitting 'next-gen' replacement of my first PSP game Ridge Racer than the Vita version of Ridge Racer.

Perhaps we can just change the title to [PS3/Vita] Modnation Racers, as the games are for a large part identical. The Vita version does have a new campaign with new tracks, and stuff like improved handling (better and more drift control, more forgiving colisions etc.) and of course touch support throughout it's user interface.

 

[Gradthrawn]

From the looks of the newly created tracks which seem to look nothing like the initial theme sets, I reckon they are mostly new stuff for creation, like stuff to put into your tracks.

Anyway, I've been on the fense for this game for a long time, but now I'm starting to get interested again thanks to the Vita version, which seems to be rather amazing. It's creation/editing features are even better - you can just draw a new track with your finger on the touch-screen, auto-populate, and voila! A new track in 30 seconds or so. Crazy.

Also, the load-times seem much better, while you can still do everything the PS3 version can, including access the already 500.000 tracks created in the PS3 version. I saw a 10 minute demo yesterday of what I reckon is a betatest-version from late december, and so far it seems rather impressive. This game is now high on my list of Vita games to get, and seems to be a much more fitting 'next-gen' replacement of my first PSP game Ridge Racer than the Vita version of Ridge Racer.

Perhaps we can just change the title to [PS3/Vita] Modnation Racers, as the games are for a large part identical. The Vita version does have a new campaign with new tracks, and stuff like improved handling (better and more drift control, more forgiving colisions etc.) and of course touch support throughout it's user interface.

Any mention of cross-platform play like WipeOut?

 

[Arwin]

Any mention of cross-platform play like WipeOut?

I would currently rule it out based on the Vita version having an improved (= different) driving model. They'd have to confirm changing the driving model for the PS3 version before that actually becomes likely. And if the load-times are as much improved on the Vita version as it seems, then one PS3 participant could significantly slow down online races.

 

[Arwin]

Fun (though slightly pointless) new feature added to Modnation Racers Vita:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/01/16/modnation-racers-road-trip-mod-postcards/

Getting pummeled in the comments for lack of online racing though!

 

[Acert93]

Fun (though slightly pointless) new feature added to Modnation Racers Vita:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/01/16/modnation-racers-road-trip-mod-postcards/

Getting pummeled in the comments for lack of online racing though!

Any chance they will delay it to get online MP in?

 

[Arwin]

Dunno. How many 'normal' people use that anyway? Personally though I'd expect it to happen eventually, probably to draw attention to the game again during a Vita dry spell (if it ever gets one). The game already offers an insane amount of content and features, and I'm pretty curious about the async multiplayer stuff myself. Having online in there too would be cool, but also insanely ambitious for a launch title which has editors for everything.

Also, I reckon with a PS3 version already out there people would expect Wipeout style mixed online, but the Vita version has a tweaked driving model and much better lead-times apparently, so that holds it back there. So perhaps if the PS3 version gets another patch and/or Wipeout has had its time in the spotlights.

Personally I would consider selling the current package cheaper and then release online racing later as DLC, but I'd really liketo know how important online racing really is in this title. No question though that for most of the hardcore that will get the Vita early it will matter, but those were perhaps getting Wipeout first anyway.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Fun (though slightly pointless) new feature added to Modnation Racers Vita:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/01/16/modnation-racers-road-trip-mod-postcards/

Getting pummeled in the comments for lack of online racing though!

Whoa, didn't realize it didn't have any online play. I just assumed it did since it had a track editor (and sharer?). Seems to be a silly omission, IMO. In fact, I'm shocked they're not including that given the platform they're launching on and the "connected" message SCE seems to be pushing.

EDIT

Single player and editor had better be solid, very well executed, experiences if they're omitting MP.

 

[Arwin]

Whoa, didn't realize it didn't have any online play. I just assumed it did since it had a track editor (and sharer?). Seems to be a silly omission, IMO. In fact, I'm shocked they're not including that given the platform they're launching on and the "connected" message SCE seems to be pushing.

EDIT

Single player and editor had better be solid, very well executed, experiences if they're omitting MP.

Note that it's not like they don't have any online multiplayer, just not any 'live' ones. They apparently decided to try and get the maximum out of the asynchronous multiplayer features that fit with the gameplay feed that each game on the Vita can have. Compare it to Rivals mode in Forza 4, or AutoLog in NFS, etc.

But since they already have local multiplayer, it seems likely that adding onlnie multiplayer is going to be relatively easy. They probably have other reasons, as I speculated before.

EDIT: how convenient, they just posted a blog on this:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/01/23/online-features-in-modnation-racers-road-trip-for-ps-vita/

 

[patsu]

Yes, I watched GAF raged on when the "No infrastructure mode" news broke. ^_^

It looks like they built a beefy adhoc mode. If they really want to go there, they should take the adhoc network platform to Playstation Suite. It would be more fruitful and fun to have iOS, Android and Playstation users all play together.

If their concern is "Only 1% of Modnation PSP users go online last time", then I think they need to look into the specific issues. e.g., One Gaffer mentioned that it could be because of the rampant PSP cheating (due to the broken system security).