Tomorrow is the official launch date of EA and Firemonkey's Real Racing 3, and GameTrailers has scored the exclusive launch trailer for this occasion. Real Racing 3 is taking a bold step into the world of freemium, and EA is taking a gamble by disgruntling a huge majority of its hardcore fanbase for a chance to reach the much, much wider casual mobile gaming audience. Only time will tell how that move will pan out, but one thing I think everyone can agree on is that Real Racing 3 is a stunning visual masterpiece on mobile.
Unless EA has something else planned, then Real Racing 3 should be hitting the US App Store tonight at 11pm EST along with all this week's other new releases. It's possible they might manually "flip the switch" to set it live at a different time, but we'll be sure to post and let you know when it's officially out in the US. You can also check out the discussion thread in our forums, which is filled with lots of talk about the freemium pay model but also is filled with impressions from people who have been playing Real Racing 3 since its soft launch earlier this month. Expect a whole lot more on Real Racing 3 in the very near future.
It looks like The Firemonkeys are giving people in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada a early Valentines Day present with the release of Real Racing 3 in these international territories. We've already got a thread going for the game on our forums, and if you're resourceful enough to Google instructions on how to create an iTunes account in one of these three regions, you can be playing Real Racing 3right now. Being a "New Zealander," I already snagged the game, and despite all the comment rage over the game being free to play- It knocks it out of the park from an initial impressions standpoint.
In fact, Real Racing 3 is the only iOS game in recent memory that has invoked an audible "holy sh*t" from me the first time the actual in-game graphics make an appearance. It immediately throws you into a race, with visuals that are pushing the boundaries of unbelievable for mobile devices against real people pulled from Game Center. Ridiculously impressive.
We'll be plowing through the game today, so expect a full-fledged TA Plays in the not too distant future where we'll try to explore everything the game has to offer- Including its controversial payment system. Stay tuned for that, and the official US launch on the 28th.
Earlier today, we broke down what the free to play model in Real Racing 3 is going to be like. Love it or hate it, it's there, but I think Firemonkeys have done a pretty good job at keeping the freemium aspects out of your face, and won't be limiting your ability to play with hard paywalls. Shockingly, I even found myself somewhat liking managing all the different repair and upgrade systems in a sim-game kind of way. Of course, I was playing a development build of Real Racing 3 with everything already unlocked and a limitless amount of in-game currencies, so I'll have to reserve final judgement for when I am able to play through my own, fresh retail copy of the game. I'm hopeful, though.
But hey let's talk about something else for a change, eh? Like the actual game itself. In the simplest terms, Real Racing 3 is everything you know and love about the series but improved in every possible way. Foremost is the game's visuals. The Real Racing franchise has always been on the bleeding edge of technology, and this third entry takes things beyond what even I thought was possible. This is quite simply the most visually impressive mobile game I've ever seen. So with that, let's jump straight into a video of the game in action.
In this first video of Real Racing 3, I let lead designer Ptolemy Oberin take the wheel to give me a demonstration. He is much better at this game than I am, so that seemed like a good idea. In it you can see Ptolemy peruse his collection of cars, pick a V8-specific muscle car race (I'm told he is fond of the Shelby GT 500), and then complete a full 3-lap race. During the race you can see all the different camera angle options in action, including the impressive interior camera with real-time rearview mirror. The race that follows takes a more exotic turn with the Lamborghini Murcielago on the Silverstone course in England. It's a bit longer course, and Ptolemy dominates the majority of it, so I cut it short after the first lap. Check it out.
The fact that the developer dominated the latter portions of that race brings up an interesting thing about Real Racing 3. As has been talked about before, the game uses something Firemonkeys has branded Time Shifted Multiplayer. It collects the data from other players' performances and then bases the AI opponents around that data. It's sort of like racing another person's "ghost" data, but that data actually has a dynamic AI that mimics that player's tendencies and can react to the game in real-time as you play against them. It pulls that data for all the AI opponents from a mixture of strangers as well as friends through Game Center or Facebook, and it even stores this data locally so you can race against those players' times offline if you wish.
Since Real Racing 3 isn't out yet, there's a pretty small player pool of data to pull from, and yesterday many of the lap times being recorded were from fumbling journalists like myself who were just playing the game for the first time, and weren't breaking any records or anything. This AI difficulty will constantly be scaling to fit your own style and skill level. So as you improve at the game and get into situations where you're dominating the competition, next time around the game will pull data from players with better scores for you to compete with. It seems to work really well, and should scale to all manner of player skills from the extremely casual to the hardcore.
In this next video, I jump into Real Racing 3 on one of the demo iPad 3 units. The game runs like a dream on the powerful iPhone 5 in the video above, and I was curious how it would behave on the iPad 3 which many believe is underpowered for what it needs to be capable of. Well, it runs pretty darn smooth, actually. There were definitely some stutters here and there, but overall it looked and played great. Firemonkeys has tried hard to support devices as far back as is feasible, with the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 being their target low-end devices. Following release they may even be able to get the game working on older hardware, but no guarantees.
Back to the video, here I jump into a race with a production-level sports car, the Nissan 350Z, and take it through an entire lap using the interior camera view. This camera is easily the most interesting and detailed, but also the hardest one for me to use. Following that I give my Nissan a quick paint job and add some upgrades so you can see how that works, then I jump into a more exotic race with a McLaren F1. That particular race is knockout style, where every 20 seconds the person who is in last place gets eliminated from the race. Miraculously, I managed to outlast my opponents.
Some of the more back-of-the-box features in Real Racing 3 include things like 46 real-world licensed cars, more than double the amount that shipped with Real Racing 2, as well as real-world licensed courses and locations. On top of that there are already plans for more of both to be added via free updates during the game's lifespan. There are also a whopping 900+ racing events of various types, including the knockout style one from the video, head-to-head races, drag races, and more. Oh so much more. This game should keep you busy for ages.
We'll get into even more of the nitty gritty of Real Racing 3 as its February 28th release date approaches, but from my few hours of hands-on time this week I came away really impressed with what I saw, and perhaps more importantly, I'm absolutely dying to play some more.
EA and Firemonkey's Real Racing 3 is one of the most – if not the most – highly-anticipated titles in recent memory. With its intended late February release window fast approaching, the developers have begun dishing out more details about the game, like a specific release date of February 28th and – along with a deafening boom of outrage – the fact that Real Racing 3will be a freemium title.
On Monday I was able to get my hands on the finished product at a Real Racing 3 demo event in San Francisco, and while we'll be talking more about the game itself and showing you some hands-on video, I thought I'd address just how the free-to-play model works and hopefully put to rest some of the concerns (or merely just confirm them) from those who have expressed dismay at the business model of Real Racing 3.
The way it works is pretty simple, and similar to many other titles. There are two currencies in the game, the first of which is a general dollar currency that is dished out pretty liberally during the normal course of play. The amount earned feels tuned just like pretty much any other racing game, giving you enough to purchase upgrades, make repairs, and buy better vehicles as you naturally progress through the massive campaign.
The freemium catch is that all of those actions – repairs, upgrades and new cars – are set to varying levels of cooldown timers, the length of which are determined by what exactly you're trying to do. For example, repairing your broken taillights after a race because some jerk rear-ended you might take roughly a minute. If you have multiple repairs like that to make, then the time is combined together, and in a typical race all of your repairs to a particular vehicle shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. I even played a race and specifically banged up my car as much as possible, and repairing all of the severe damage at once gave me a wait time of about 20 minutes.
You can even forego repairing your vehicle at all after a race, and the game lets you know when any damage or general wear gets to the point that it negatively affects your car's performance. You'll also face wait times when installing upgrades or unlocking new cars, both of which seem to take longer as more advanced upgrades and vehicles become available.
The remedy to impatience, if you haven't guessed already, is the second, premium currency of gold coins. These can be used to instantly end the wait times, and although there isn't any specific calculation at play, in my experience it felt roughly like one gold coin per each minute left on a timer in order to end it early. Gold coins aren't dished out quite as liberally as the dollar currency, but you do earn a good amount for achieving certain milestones in the game like leveling up your driver profile or completing a series of races.
And that's pretty much it. Depending on your feelings about freemium models, this may sound completely tolerable or completely awful. What I think is key is that there should be very few times in Real Racing 3 where you'll hit a hard, game-stopping paywall. And if you do, the wait times seem to be within reason. With more than 900(!) events and nearly 50 vehicles, there's almost always going to be something to do even if you're waiting for some repairs or upgrades to gestate.
The only time I can imagine where you might be stuck not being able to play at all is in the very beginning when you only have one vehicle. If your sole car is loaded up with wait times, there's nothing really to do but stick it out or cough up some premium currency to zap past the timers. Once you have multiple cars though, if one is tied up with wait times you can just choose another from your garage and go complete events with that one. The timers will continue to tick away in the background and the game will let you know with a quick popup, either while in menus or following a race, when any of your timers have completed.
Once you get several cars under your belt the timers don't even feel obtrusive, and as crazy as it sounds, it even felt like it added a nice sense of management that you'd get from keeping tabs on all the systems in a game like SimCity. It feels like things are constantly moving and happening, and to my own surprise it was actually satisfying. It helps that the cooldowns attempt to emulate real situations – repairs and new parts take time, as does ordering a new car and having it delivered. All part of simulating the life of a professional racer, I'd imagine.
I understand the trepidation over a beloved series like Real Racing going free-to-play. It's a business model which has many benefits but has also been abused enough times in the past that people feel the need to approach with caution. It is what it is – a free game built around timers. But freemium is a trend that isn't going away any time soon, and is even making its way to the console and PC space. It would make sense to make peace with it on some level lest you be skipping a huge chunk of games in the near future.
To that extent, Real Racing 3 feels like it has its heart in the right place. Firemonkeys wants you to play their game which they have dedicated almost two years of their life to. The freemium aspects feel largely unobtrusive in my experience so far, and Real Racing 3 is even more fun and impressive than its predecessors in practically every way. You'll be able to judge that for yourself – for free – when it launches later this month.
EA is doing some preview events today for the upcoming Real Racing 3 and both Jared and his magnificent beard will be (hopefully) getting some hands on time later this evening. In the meantime though, many details are leaking out from all over the place. First we got word that Firemonkeys is releasing the game on the 28th, which I can only assume was intentional as a birthday present to me. Now, Bloomberg is reporting that Real Racing 3 will be free to play. It's not that surprising, especially following the incredibly reasonable logic laid out by 148apps' Jeff Scott in that the App Store is just in a state where people are now incredibly reluctant to even spend 99¢, much less the "premium" price asked for the previous Real Racing titles.
I have a feeling the comments of this story are going to be legendary, so, I'm going to return to my fallout shelter now to weather the storm.
UPDATE: Firemonkeys Sam just posted the following to our forums:
Today we announced Real Racing 3 will be free. And yes, Real Racing 3 was designed from the ground up to be a free to play experience. We are so excited about this game and wanted it to be accessible to everyone so we didn’t want there to be any barriers to entry. This accessibility is also what drives the awesome new Time Shifted Multiplayer feature, in that you can play competitive multiplayer with anyone any time, and they don't need to be online with you at the same time.
At launch we have 46 licensed vehicles covering 3 classes, a 22 car grid, real world tracks, 8 varied event types and 900+ events. This means hundreds of hours of gameplay for free making this one of the most expansive games ever on mobile. We plan to continue to add more free and exciting content with every update.
Buckle up: Real Racing 3 is coming to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad this coming February 28. Interestingly, the Android version of the game is also expected to hit the same day across Google Play and the Amazon Appstore. So, there's that.
If you're not in the loop, Real Racing 3 certainly has the look of a next-level racing simulation game -- real cars, accurate physics, photorealistic tracks, and online multiplayer, this thing appears to have it all. No wonder it's one of our users' most anticipated games of 2013.
We'll be going hands-on with it soon, so stay tuned if you're thinking about clicking the download button as soon as possible on the 28th.
If you're pumped for Real Racing 3, check out the video we've embedded below. In it, the folks behind the racing game detail the game's time-shifted multiplayer component, which is an interesting asynchronous spin on the standard "Ghost" mode. In brief, time-shifted multiplayer fills every event you compete in with your friends' ghosts. Then, it puts an AI that behaves like your friends behind those ghosts, making matches a bit more dynamic than they would be otherwise.
It also lets you play against people who might have posted their best score weeks ago, and it'll blast out push notifications if someone crushes your time. Neat, right?
Real Racing 3 is scheduled to hit later this month.
We've been crazy excited for Real Racing 3 ever since Firemonkeys first revealed the title last August, and our hearts sank when it looked like the game was set to launch last month but it turned out to be just a tiny error. While Real Racing 3 was originally slated for release in 2012, Firemonkeys didn't dare rush their baby out the door if it wasn't ready and it turned out they needed just a couple of extra months to ensure the game could be the best that it could be. Disappointing, but the right move for sure.
Well it looks like that extra time is paying off as this latest Developer Diary for Real Racing 3, which shows some in-game footage that looks absolutely stunning. In the video, internationally recognized Nicest Guy Ever Rob Murray of Firemonkeys talks about the process of creating a track from scratch for the game. Real Racing 3 will feature real-world licensed cars and racetracks, but Murray and company thought about what it would be like if there was a track created right from the streets of their own home city of Melbourne, Australia. Check it out.
It's pretty interesting to see the process behind making a track like the Melbourne one. Since it's not based on a real-world course, there's no already available data about the terrain, which forced the team to do all the legwork themselves. That's got to be even more satisfying when you see something like that finally come to life in the game. Real Racing 3 is still set to hit sometime in "late February" and for me and I'm sure many of you that time just can't come soon enough.
Gentlemen, start your speculation. As of this writing, the EA Asia web site for Real Racing 3 is listing the game as "OUT NOW." Now, who knows if this is just a simple error on EA's part or if they're gearing up for some sort of launch this week, but we're so hungry for this game that I'm totally willing to get excited about random text on a web site.
My finely tuned witching stick and tinfoil hat has had me suspecting for quite a while that we'd see a surprise pre-holiday release of Real Racing 3. I mean, when you think about it, it makes too much sense. Previous years have indicated that EA has nearly complete control of the App Store during the holidays, and Apple has featured Real Racing 3 at so many keynotes and press events now I imagine Firemonkeys basically has carte blanche when it comes to some massive featuring whenever the game is released.
And really, if you've got practically guaranteed Editor's Choice, is there a better time to release a game than over the holidays, where your massive banner is the first thing little Jimmy sees when he loads up the App Store on his brand new iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch this Christmas? Of course we've yet to hear anything from Firemonkeys about the game's release, and it hasn't popped up on any of the various international App Stores yet... But, it's still fun to hope.
With the iTunes freeze only a few days away, we'll know fairly soon whether this is the case or not. It's also 6:30 AM in Australia right now, so, in actuality, we might only have a few hours to daydream about a impending Real Racing 3 release before Firemonkeys shoot the idea down.
Thanks, Mike!
Update: Aaaaand official word from EA comes down-
Our goal for Real Racing 3 is to create an experience that resets the bar for racing games on mobile, and we wanted to take some extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing Real Racing 3 and all its new features such as Time Shifted Multiplayer, plus dozens of new cars and tracks, by the end of February.
Over the coming weeks, you'll see a lot of "hey, this game has received iPhone 5 wide-screen support" posts. It's the nature of the beast, a byproduct of a yearly release cycle that developers need to keep up with as enthusiasts like us ditch their older, slower phones in favor of The Hot New Thing.
Most of the new, super-anticipated games coming down the pipes will see support at launch. In fact, most of the games on our radar have already thrown out images of their games running in 16:9. It's exciting stuff if you've got an iPhone 5 and a burning desire to see more games in widescreen.
If you're wondering what your soon-to-be favorites apps will look like in 16:9, we've got your back. Below, we've rounded up some of the most exciting games we could find that'll roll out with iPhone 5 support and have included images because pictures are a heck of a lot more exciting than words.
Real Racing 3
On Apple devices, Real Racing games sorta do the same thing that the Gran Turismo or Forza franchises do for the PlayStation or Xbox. They're showpieces that demonstrate the power of the Next Big Thing. As such, we don't expect Real Racing 3 to disappoint in the tech department. It'll show off the wider, awesomer screen of the iPhone 5 and dazzle with shaders, lighting and that kind of stuff.
We've seen the next Real Racing a couple of times. Most recently, we caught it at the iPhone 5 event, where that screenshot was released and details about the game's exciting asynchronous multiplayer-slash-ghost mode were released.
Real Racing 3 is due out later this year.
Year Walk
Year Walk is the next game from Beat Sneak Bandit creator Simogo. Due to hit later this winter, it's billed as a "2D adventure about folklore, strange creatures, and a bit of the occult." Judging by the game's trailer, it's something of a horror game, which is a tantalizing creative direction for any touch-based title.
Year Walk also looks superb, and it'll take advantage of the wider iPhone 5 screen, as you can see from the image above. As we've covered before, in the game, you'll be able to interact with all the world's creatures and objects, via a first-person perspective. This taller screen should make Year Walk pop, considering.
Coaster Crazy
It's been too long since we've seen a game about roller coasters, so we're totally into Coaster Crazy, the next title from Frontier Developments. In the game, you'll be tasked with building roller coasters in an effort to appease your theme park's enthusiasts. We hear the game's finger-tracing mechanic for building is going to be sharp, and it'll be an iPhone 5-ready game when it hits later this winter.
Another neat thing? Apparently, Frontier is working on a multiplayer component that'll let people download each other's tracks. We can't wait until you can get hands-on with our upcoming TouchArcade Ride of Doom (TM).
Tiny Thief
Tiny Thief was the pleasant surprise that came from our visit to GDC this year. In the game, you play as the world's tiniest thief and are charged with stealing various items like, say, diamonds, and other treasures. Since the thief doesn't have the means to physically protect himself, he has to hide in wardrobes and barrels and create catastrophic distractions that play out a little like a Rube Goldberg construct.
Thief was originally envisioned as an iPad title, but it is coming to iPhone and iPhone 5. In the iPhone version, you'll be able to zoom into the environment to see the action in a closer viewing angle, creator 5 Ants tells us.
Tiny Thief is coming soon.
Hatchi 2
Portable Pixels' virtual pet simulation game, Hatchi, was great. Its super lo-fi look in combination with its simplistic feeding, bathing, and evolution mechanics definitely got us thinking about our days spent with a Tamagotchi, and how much better a game like that is served on a portable device that can do stuff like, say, make a phone call. Or text the pizza man.
Well, Hatchi is going through a bit of a transformation itself. Portable Pixels is in the middle of creating a fully realized sequel that won't lean so heavily on nostalgia. As you've seen in the images, the next Hatchi, which will be iPhone 5-ready, will have actual visuals and, we're guessing, some much more complex mechanics.
No word on release just yet, but it's probably safe to assume "soon-ish."
Wimp
We're stoked about Flexile Studios Wimp. Starring a cutesy character wrapped in a ball of ooze, it's a physics-based puzzle platformer that appears to take puzzles seriously, as indicated in its teaser trailer. In the game, you'll move around boxes and play with weight, stick to surfaces, and even get lit on fire -- you know, all the normal puzzle game stuff.
While all that stuff is cool, we're more stoked about Wimp's iPhone 5 support. Most of these kinds of games will get locked into 4:3 forever for creative reasons, as creators want to control absolutely everything players can see and do. But Wimp will come out of gate with widescreen, and seems like it'll use the screen area quite well. We'll see for sure when it hits later this month.
iPhone 5's taller screen opens up a lot of possibilities for games coming down the pipe, as the increased real estate can provide more room for virtual buttons and more room for outstanding visuals and technical wizardry. We'll keep you in the loop as creators debut support, and chances are that we'll add a few more games to this list as the day goes on.
Have fun with the new iPhone, eh? And look forward to the future.
The iPhone 5 is taller, faster, and an actual real thing, Apple revealed this afternoon at its much-anticipated event. And to our delight, Fire Monkeys' Real Racing 3 shared some of the spotlight, giving people in the audience a practical glimpse at the power of the device's new A6 processor and the look of an app in wide-screen 16:9.
On-stage, Rob Murray from EA called Real Racing 3 "full console quality," and the photos we've seen backs that up. This thing looks beautiful, and it's rocking at least one exciting feature, courtesy the A6: rear-view mirrors that actually project what's going on behind you in a race.
Details on the game's features are still slim, but one other cool thing came from the event. According to Murray, Real Racing 3 will have asynchronous multiplayer, which we expect, in practice, to work basically work like time trial ghosts. Neat!
Firemonkeys' Rob Murray just announcedReal Racing 3 at the EA Summer Showcase press conference, and in the process, showed off a really awesome looking trailer. Well, that trailer just hit YouTube. Give it a look:
I wish we had more details on the game, but, it's coming this year... So, hopefully, we won't have to wait too long.
If you're unfamiliar with the Real Racing series, and you own an iPhone, I've really got to wonder what in the world you've been up to these past few years. The original Real Racing [$0.99 / $0.99 (HD)] knocked our socks off when it was first released in 2009, and Real Racing 2 [$0.99 / $0.99 (HD)] continued the tradition a little over a year and a half later. Since then, Real Racing 2 has been on the cutting edge of iOS technology, and was among the first games to support 1080p out on the iPad 2 as well as being one of the first off the line to take advantage of the iPhone 4S. So, there's very good reason to get excited for the just announced Real Racing 3.
Rob Murray took the stage, and showed off this screenshot:
He then went on to show off a video of the game (which we'll post as soon as we get our hands on it) and mention the game will have real tracks such as Leguna Seca, real cars with Porsche, Audi, and Dodge. It'll even have 22 cars in each race.
