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Driving - Gaming Life

Cops Blame Driving Games For Crap Young Drivers

November 23rd 2008 12:10


In a way, I can see it... I mean teens play driving games and action video games more often than strategy and role-playing games. It only makes sense that driving can affect how teens drive in the real world.

I mean, when I started to learn how to drive, I had been Need For Speed on the Xbox, and it was by far my favorite game that we had, and it was one of tow different driving games that we had. Well, anyway, when I first started to learn how to drive, every time I cam close to hitting something, my thoughts were centered around the game and how many points I would have gained for coming close but not hitting the pole. It's actually a little funny now, but not at the time.


There are many studies where some of the results lean towards video games having a negative impact on younger drivers becuase it tend to increase their complacency and their indulgence in risky behaviors on the road.

In many driving games, you race and crash, then with a few buttons you and your car are both good to go to continue driving. This just isn't how it works in the real work, which is understood by drivers, even new, young drivers, but the driving video games still are thought to increase the chance of risky behaviors.

What do you think?



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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Other, Driving
   


EA Sports: Nascar 09

June 18th 2008 15:10
Released in June 2008 in the U.S. Nascar 09 is probably the newest driving game created for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Now, although I'm not much of a racing fan, I love me some driving games. It's so different than sitting in your living room and watching however many cars race in a circle trying to win. All the drivers and cars blend together, and it can be hard to tell who's who and what's what, but when you're in the driver's seat, and you're the one in control, you get a whole new respect for racing. Granted, of course you're not in danger in your house racing in comparison to on the track, but you get the idea.




It's actually pretty hard to simulate the drama and excitement of real NASCAR into a video game, and Electronic Arts has struggled to do it, but personally, I think they've done a great job making fun and entertaining sports games. Yes, the cars tend to look the same and the characters are sort of blended together, but people love NASCAR as it's truly an American sport.

EA took the basics from NASCAR 08 and added a few new features that actually don't add too much to the game. It may sound like I'm downplaying a racing game, a style of gaming that I actually love, but one can must give you all that is encompassed in the game.

The one big difference between NASCAR 08 and NASCAR 09 is that Jeff Gordon helps you through the game, either encouraging you to sign with a new sponsor or consoling you when your team boots you for underperforming.



Once Gordon has you started, you're off to racing in the Nationwide,, Craftsman Truck or Sprint Cup series. You can play in the career mode where you start out in the beginning of the race season and build your reputation as you go along the way. Once you gain a good reputation, you'll open up sponsorship options and deals so that you can begin earning money. Although, there's no use for the money, the sponsorship deals really don't have a function in the game, but they add to the gameplay.

What you want to earn are the performance points, not necessarily the cash from your sponsor. Rack up the points by racing in the Sprint Driver Challenges, so that you can test your skills at pit entry, drafting, speed maintenance, hitting your racing line, and avoiding wrecks. There are 77 tests that you want t compete in.

The performance points can be separated into the speedway, superspeedway, short track, and road course, and within each of these categories there are areas for detailed upgrades. Although, the system is simple and bare-bones, it won't affect your individual vehicle, but your overall garage.

There are two basic difficulity levels- normal and pro- that allows you to tailor your racing experience. Pro mode lets you tweak your car controls, and normal mode lets locks the controls to a pre-set control. You get a more arcade simulation in normal mode than in pro mode.



My favorite aspect of NASCAR 09 is the paint shop that lets you custom your car in the in-game paint shop. You can make a new school design or an old school design, it's up to you how you want to custom your car. The actual paint shop is a very detailed and tedious aspect that a lot of gamers won't even use this feature. You have to download a template and import it into the professional image editing system in order to actually create your design. You may want to just download a third-party design from the EA website and downloading that to your console, but only the people you play online will be able to see it. To everyone else your car will just be a basic gray.

Other than image, NASCAR 09 includes a number of racing preferences. For example you can turn on either black flags which make racing in normal mode a tad difficult, yellow flags that turn caution on, or no caution flags at all.

If you barely tap the bumper of the care in front of you, you'll get black flagged, meaning you'll have to roll slowly through the pit while the race continues without you. This is something that you can't skip.



NASCAR 09 doesn't have all the details that make for a great racing game. I mean the crashes are basic and nothing spectacular. For most racing games the crashes and collisions are the excitement point, so this sort of makes the game drag a bit, but hey if that's not your thing and you really just want to race, then by all means go for it.

When you're in third person view, the driver's hands don't move on the steering wheel. There are also a few perspective problems when in third person view, as well.

If single player mode is a little dull, try playing with a friend, as multiplayer mode (online only) eases the dullness. You can choose tracks, damage, flag rules, and more. Basically, you get to customize the race and all of it's specifications.



For the most part, NASCAR 09 is not the game for hardcore race gamers, but it can serve as entertaining on some level. There's just nothing special about this particular game that struck my fancy. Sorry to those who were interested in the game. I will admit, though, it is worth a first try, but I'd suggest renting the game before you buy it, just so that you're not out $50.
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GRID Cheats

June 6th 2008 15:49
GRID was released on June 3rd. If you've already purchased or pre-ordered your game, you may be interested in checking out cheats are available. Currently, there are only a few cheats, but I will continue to update this as more cheats and tips for GRID are released.



Below, you'll find cheats for GRID on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions of the game.

Xbox 360 Cheats

Livery Codes
On the main menu, go to Options, Bonus Codes, Enter Codes, and enter the following codes in the space on the screen.

TUN58396 : All drift cars
MUS59279 : All muscle cars
F93857372 : Buchbinder 320si Livery
M38572343 : Free Pagani Zonda R
P47203845 : Play.com Livery
G29782655 : Unlock a BMW 320si for Use in Grid World and Raceday. Locked to Gamestation Livery

PlayStation 3 Cheats

Bonus Livery Cars
In order to unlock the exclusivePlay.com livery from the main menu, go to Options, Bonus Codes, Enter Code, and enter the following code in the space on the screen.

P47203845 : Aston Martin DBR9 play.com Livery
F93857372 : BMW 320si Buchbinder Livery
M38572343 : Pagani Zonda Micromania Livery
MUS59279 : Unlocks all stage#1 muscle cars
G29782655 : WTCC Spec BMW 320si Gamestation Livery



PC Cheats

Bonus Cars
To unlock the bonus cars from the main menu, go to Options, Bonus Codes, Enter Code, and enter the following code in the space on the screen. These may work for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

TUN58396 : All drift cars
MUS59279 : All muscle cars
P47203845 : Aston Martin DBR9 Play.com
G29782655 : BMW 320si Gamestation
M38572343 : PAGANI ZONDA Micromania
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Xbox GRID Achievements

June 4th 2008 19:31
The US has been the most recent country to see GRID released, as Japan and Europe has been playing the game since May 30th. GRID will be released in Europe on June 12th.

Like any other Xbox version video game, there are tons of achievements that you can earn to up your gamerscore. The more achievements that you earn, the more experienced you appear to other LIVE gamers.

So, check out the following achievements for GRID.



1st and 2nd at Global (25): Get a 2-1 at Global Level
Airborne (15): Get the car airborne for at least 1 second
Back To Front (10): Cross the finish line in 1st place while in reverse
Beat Codies (30): Beat the developer or anyone who has beaten the developer in online play
Car Wreck (5): Cause massive damage to your car
City Slicker (20): Race in all cities
Combo King (20): Get a 50x Drift Multiplayer
Corporate Power (10): Fill all of your sponsor slots
Driver for Hire (10): Race for a team from all regions
Filthy Rich (25): Earn enough to cash buy a brand new Lamborghini Murcielago GTR
First Wheels (5): Buy your 1st car
First Win! (10): Win your 1st race
First Xbox LIVE Win (10): Win your 1st ranked LIVE race
Five Xbox LIVE Wins (30): Win at least 5 ranked LIVE races
Flashback & Win (5): Use the Flashback feature and win the race
Full Rep (10): Earn the full reputation available on the Extreme difficulty
Gentleman Driver (30): Win an entire GRID World Event without making contact with another car
Global License (20): Unlock your Global License
Globe Hopper (30): Race at every location
Gotta Drive 'Em All (30): Drive all of the cars
Hard Charger (20): Win a 12 car race starting from the back of the Grid
Head 2 Head (30): Win your 1st Head 2 Head race
High Mileage (30): Drive at least 750 miles in one car
Hire & Fire (10): Hire a new teammate with a higher rank than your current rank
Hot Lap (20): Beat the original lap record on any track
Keep Drifting (10): Drift your car for at least 5 seconds



Keep Rolling (10): Roll your car at least 20 times
Last Man Standing (20): Be the last survivor of a single player Demolition Derby
Le Mans Legend (30): Win a Le Mans 24 Hour race on Pro
Le Mans Rookie (15): Complete your 1st Le Mans 24 hour race
Long Haul (40): Drive a total of 1,000 miles
New Kid on the Block (5): Complete your 1st race
Online Elite (30): Obtain the 'Elite' rank in LIVE game mode.
Online Legend (50): Obtain the 'Legend' rank in LIVE game mode.
Power Seller (25): Sell a car for more than you paid
Record Breaker (10): Complete a lap of Okatama Grand Circuit in under 90 seconds
Road Block (10): Be involved in a 3 car pile-up
Seasoned Pro (30): Win all of the Event Trophies
Short Haul (30): Drive a total of 500 miles
Speed Demon (10): Reach 200mph in any car in during a GRID World race
Spin & Win (10): Complete a 360º spin and win the race
Stick Shift (10): Win a race using manual transmission
Sunday Drivers (30): Finish a race at least one lap ahead of everyone else while in field in the GRID World or during Race Day
Team Win (20): Take your team to win its 1st Event
Top of Team Leaderboard (35): Get your t eam ranked top on the Team Leaderboard
Top of the Tree (35): Get ranked on the top of the Driver Leaderboard
Touge King (20): Win a Touge Event on Extreme difficulty
When Will I Be Famous? (20): Get onto the Hall of Fame Leaderboard
Winning Streak (15): Win all races in any Event
You Again? (20): Lap an opponent in a 12 car GRID World race


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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Achievements, Driving, Xbox 360
   


Mario Kart Wii

May 24th 2008 15:15
Mario Kart Wii was released in April 2008 to Japan, Europe, Australia, and the United States. The game brings back Mario and his friends and their racing machines back. Since the release cheats have been released to help you further yourself in the game; in a way it takes out the fun, but the cheats for Mario Kart Wii can be helpful.

This time there are 3 different control styles and steering with the Wii wheel, which is included with the video game.



The game is ranked 8.2 on Game Rankings, which is a decent score. It's passing!

You can play with 8 different classic characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Toad. Plus, you can customize characters and race with them behind the wheel.

Mario Kart Wii will include 16 new courses and 16 classic courses from previous Mario Kart games. For the first time ever, players have the option of racing with either karts or motorbikes. Players can also hit the road as their personalized Mii caricatures in addition to the handful of classic Nintendo characters found in the game. True to the series, the game features tons of racing, plenty of power-ups and oodles of objects for players to use to slow down other drivers.



Game Features:
• Wii Wheel: Wii Remote will act as a steering wheel to give you the natural, more fun and enjoyable, racing experience.

• Worldwide Racing: At one time you can have three of your friends playing locally or can challenge up to 11 friends worldwide with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on any track or mode.

• Mario Kart Channel: A new channel "Mario Kart Channel" will be available on the Wii Menu. You can check rankings, complete tournaments, see when your friends are plaing, and more.

• New Wheels and Courses: You get to choose between classic or new tracks and arenas. You can also race the kart or the new motorbikes, which feature tricks and cool techniques.

• Mii Characters: You can create one of the classic Nintendo characters or make your own Mii character to race. If you have multiple Mii characters, you can race one and have the rest in the stands, cheering you on.


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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Review, Driving, Nintendo Wii
   




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