If there's one main problem for developers of annually released sports simulations, it's that of variety. After all, if last year's attempt at transforming a wellknown activity into a believable videogame was even half-decent – and you can be sure that the studio said this was the case upon release – then there shouldn't be all that much that can be improved. The upshot of this is that the yearly editions of games like FIFA and Virtua Tennis end up being identical apart from some graphical refinements, a refresh of a licence and a few tweaks to the physics engine. It's the nature of the beast, of course, but you'll have to excuse TPCG if they approach such titles with a little bit of cynicism.
The bad news then, is that, from name alone, you'd expect SBK08 to be precisely that sort of videogame. We've already had SBK07 and it's all too easy to expect another dose of exactly the same. Yet thanks to Milanese developer Milestone and its genuine love of motorsport, it looks like this could be one of the few exceptions. The guys on the team are massive Superbike enthusiasts.
Koku Gamer writes: "Motorbike games have always had a very different audience to those who prefer car based racing games. When you look at it it is easy to see why. Car racing games usually just involve going as fast as you can in the fastest car in order to win and it may shock gamers to know that this theory cannot be applied to all racing games. Read on"
DSmooth and Codemonkey pump out another great episode this week. From the scant new releases to loads of listener feedback the episode in jammed to the gills.
Along the way, they discuss a boatload of Wii news, including AMD bragging about having one of its chips inside the console and Nintendo raising the MSRP of the Wii in England. That's not to say there's no Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 news, such as Sony crying foul over a health ad starring a PS3 controller. Sit back and enjoy the trip.
GamingShogun.com writes, "SBK: Superbike World Championship has left the factory and is on its way to retail stores across North America. The game is a Sony-exclusive, being released only on their Playstation 3 and PSP systems. It features both arcade and simulation options to fully customize the experience for the gamer as well as stunning visuals..."
I reviewed it two months ago for a UK website on PSP, it was dreadful. No idea what the PC version is like.