Midnight Club 3 - WHERE'S THE HYPE?

[Scorch]

Seriously, there's literally no hype around here or on the net for it. At all. NONE. My bro told me that they're same day'ing it, so most EB's should have it tonight (Monday) night.. from what i've heard, there's only one review of it, and that's by DUB magazine, so yeah, you think they're going to be a little bias?

What's the deal? No one care about racing games? Everyone too busy playing GT4 or waiting for Forza?

The soundtrack for MC3 is huge and diverse..

# 7L & Esoteric featuring Celph Titled - "Murder-Death-Kill"
# Apathy - "Drive It Like I Stole It"
# Aquasky - "Spectre"
# Ash - "Meltdown"
# Aztec Mystic - "Aguila"
# B. Calloway - "Direct Maniac"
# Baby A.K.A. Birdman featuring Lil' Wayne - "Shyne On"
# Beenie Man - "King Of The Dancehall"
# Beenie Man - "Miss L.A.P."
# Beenie Man featuring Ms. Thing - "Dude"
# Beenie Man featuring So Solid Crew - "Yagga Yo"
# Big Tymers - "Get Your Roll On"
# Big Tymers featuring Lac, Stone, Mikkey - "Put That S**t Up"
# Buddy Klein - "Let's Go"
# Bump J - "On The Run"
# Calyx - "Get Myself To You"
# Calyx - "Illusions"
# Calyx - "Just You"
# Calyx - "The Leader"
# Calyx - "Are You Ready"
# Calyx - "Chasing Shadows"
# Calyx - "Collision Course"
# Calyx & Ill Skillz - "Thru Your Eyes"
# Culture Shock - "Vega"
# Dark Energy - "Sunshine"
# D-Block - "I Dare You"
# Deep Blue - "The Helicopter Tune"
# Dom & Keaton - "Archaeon"
# Dom & Roland - "Imagination VIP"
# Dom & Roland - "Soundwall VIP"
# E-Sassin - "Interface"
# Fabolous - "Gangsta"
# Fabolous - "Keepin' It Gangsta"
# Fabolous - "Real Talk (123)"
# Fabolous featuring Thara - "Ghetto"
# Fat Joe - "Safe 2 Say (The Incredible)"
# Fix - "Flash"
# Fix - "Bite Before You Bark"
# Future Prophecies - "Final Fantasy"
# Hundred Reasons - "Stories With Unhappy Endings"
# Idlewild - "A Modern Way Of Letting Go"
# Jean Grae - "Going Crazy"
# Jean Grae - "Hater's Anthem"
# Jean Grae - "You Don't Want It"
# Jimmy Eat World - "Pain"
# Kasabian - "Club Foot"
# Knights Of The Jaguar - "Jaguar"
# Lady Saw - "Strip Tease"
# Lil' Wayne - "Go D.J."
# Los Hermanos - "Quetzal"
# M. Pizzini, R. Ousley. - "Westside Switching"
# M.I.A. - "Denang"
# M.I.A. - "Fire Fire"
# Mannie Fresh - "Real Big"
# Marilyn Manson - "Rock Is Dead"
# Mash Out Posse - "Robbin' Hoodz"
# Mr. De' - "The Zoo"
# Mr. De' - "Throw"
# Mr. Vegas featuring Wayne Anthony - "Pull Up"
# Nine Inch Nails - "The Hand That Feeds"
# Noisia - "Believe"
# Noisia - "Cold Veins"
# Omni Trio - "Renegade Snares"
# Outerspace - "151"
# Peaches featuring Iggy Pop - "Kick It"
# Petey Pablo - "Freek-A-Leek"
# Pilot To Gunner - "Barrio Superstarrio"
# Pitbull featuring Piccallo - "Dammit Man"
# Queens Of The Stone Age - "Little Sister"
# Roy Jones, Jr. featuring Magic & Choppa - "Body Head Anthem"
# Sean Paul - "Like Glue"
# Slim Thug - "Like A Boss"
# Suburban Knight - "Night Strike"
# Suburban Knight - "Nocturbulous"
# Suburban Knight - "The Warning"
# Supernatural featuring Wildchild of the Lootpack - "Victory"
# T.I. - "U Don't Know Me"
# T.I. - "ASAP"
# Tek Brothers - "Funktion"
# The Explosion - "No Revolution"
# The Game featuring 50 Cent - "How We Do"
# The Martian - "Lost Transmission"
# The Martian - "Sex In Zero Gravity"
# The Martian - "Share Your Feelings"
# The Martian - "Stardancer"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Flight Deck"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Cornbread"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Deep South"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Disco 2001"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Epish"
# The Ratt Pakk - "Spaced Out"
# Trick Daddy featuring Khia & Tampa Tony - "Jump On It"
# Twista - "Overnight Celebrity"
# Twista featuring Anthony Hamilton - "Sunshine"
# Twista featuring T.I. & Liffy Stokes - "Like A 24"
# Two Culture Clash featuring General Degree - "…And Dance"
# Two Culture Clash featuring Ward 21 - "This Anuh Rampin'"
# Underground Resistance - "Hi-Tech Jazz"
# Underground Resistance - "Jupiter Jazz"
# Underground Resistance - "Amazon"
#Unwritten Law - "F.I.G.H.T."
# Uptight Sound System - "Righteous Dub"
#Ying Yang Twins - "Hanh!"

95% of that is shitty rap music, but I would get it just because the NIN song is on there.

Anyways, what's with the lack of hype?

[Eclipse]

No idea...But i noticed the very few commercials dont even have in game footage or energy to them. Wonder if theres something up with this title.

[Scorch]

No idea...But i noticed the very few commercials dont even have in game footage or energy to them. Wonder if theres something up with this title.

Not that i've heard of. I saw a bit of footage over at Gamespot a second ago and it looked nice.. it actually looked faster than Burnout 3 with more customization. Apparently in the new Game Informer, they give it a 9.5, which is great.. I just don't understand why there's no hype..

[mtxbass1]

My only guess as to why there is no hype could be from the numerous delays this title has suffered. Days became months, and now that it's finally coming out it's kinda like, "eh, who cares really?". I pray this has custom soundtracks for Xbox.

[slipkornotpsu]

My only guess as to why there is no hype could be from the numerous delays this title has suffered. Days became months, and now that it's finally coming out it's kinda like, "eh, who cares really?". I pray this has custom soundtracks for Xbox.

Yeah I totally agree, I think the long and constant delays have caused this game major damage. I was hyped for it a long tima ago back when it was to come out around the time NFSU 2 came out, but not now. I love the second Midnight Club so I might rent this one sometime.

[cdeener]

Well, Scorch here in Detroit the ground swell of hype toward seeing our city on the game has basically had everyone here pre-ordering the hell out of this game. I know at my local gamestop they have pre-ordered out almost the whole first shipment of the game on Xbox and PS2. Here in Detroit they even dedicated five articles to the game in the Detroit Free Press on Sunday. Two of the articles deal with the Techno influence that Detroit has on the soundtrack which I won't post because I don't really care to know who the artist are. But I did post the articles that actually dealt with the making of the game.

Put to stay on topic you would be correct. There haven't been any ads or commericals of note to speak of and the game is suppose to come out Tuesday.

I will post each of the articles so that you don't have to waste time clicking on links.

[greydemise]

It's Got Freek A Leek!!!!

[cdeener]

A DIGITAL DETROIT: 'Midnight Club 3' takes street-racing gamers through a city of hot muscle cars, cool techno and tweaked landmarks

April 10, 2005

You're at the wheel of a brightly painted Pontiac flying down Woodward at 100 m.p.h., your tires screaming as they spin through drifting snow.

Only it's not actually a Pontiac -- it's a digital car that reacts like a real one. And as you take a closer look at the view through your digital windshield, you see the streets of downtown Detroit make some unusual, unexpected turns.

You're in the Detroit imagined by "Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition," the newest installment of one of the top-selling series of video games about street racing. It's the first time the Motor City -- one of just three locations depicted in the game, along with Atlanta and San Diego -- has been featured so prominently in a high-profile title.

Why did Detroit get chosen? In part, it's thanks to the city's underground techno scene -- talented musical artists and local movers and shakers who helped developer Rockstar Games see the (tail)lights about street racing in Detroit.

When "Midnight Club 3" arrives in stores Tuesday, gamers will discover a landscape that's as fanciful as the tricked-out cars driving through it, putting new twists on familiar landmarks to give players a whole lot of places to gun their motors.

Want to meet the people who made it happen? Hop in for a ride.

[cdeener]

How the game adapted Detroit's streets

April 10, 2005

BY HEATHER NEWMAN
FREE PRESS TECHNOLOGY WRITER

I drive through downtown Detroit a lot, and though I've hit the accelerator every now and then to make a yellow light, I've never imagined what it would be like to turn from Woodward onto Jefferson going more than 100 m.p.h.

But thanks to the video game designers who created "Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition," Rockstar Games' upcoming ode to street racing, I've now got a sense of what that rush would be like. Let me put it this way: Don't try it in real life.

In fact, you simply can't do in real life what you can do on the streets of Detroit in "Midnight Club 3." When the game's creators decided to set part of "MC3" in the Motor City, they soon realized the street configuration laid out by Judge Augustus Woodward nearly 200 years ago just wouldn't make an exciting racing game in the 21st Century.

So some intersections are incredibly familiar, but then suddenly take a right where there should be a left, or go up and over instead of down and under. The "MC3" Detroit isn't a slavish re-creation of the real thing, but rather a collage of the city's most memorable images altered ever so carefully to create an adrenaline-filled racing experience.

"That was one of the early goals, to make it the fastest game, hands down," said Rockstar spokesman Chris Carro, who was one of several Rockstar managers who gave me an exclusive early look at "MC3" and its vision of Detroit late last month at the company's New York headquarters.

"MC3" -- the third in a hugely popular series put out by Rockstar, perhaps best known for "Grand Theft Auto" and its sequels -- puts Detroit into the game like no A-list title has in recent memory.

"We started thinking about cities that not only represented street racing, but American car culture as well -- and everyone agreed that Detroit was essential," said Jay Panek, producer of "MC3" for Rockstar San Diego, the development studio. "Everyone associates Detroit with this country's love affair with what they drive."

Panek said the developers were also attracted to the Motor City's mix of urban areas, industrial districts, highways, neighborhoods -- and the city's climate. "Detroit has variable weather, something we wanted to incorporate into the game," he said. "Detroit is the only city in 'Midnight Club 3' where you can race in the snow."

If you're concerned with what the Rockstar brand means for Detroit's image, breathe easy. "MC3" isn't a clone of the controversial "Grand Theft Auto": There's no shooting, no ladies of the night, no organized crime or gang warfare.

Instead, "MC3" is purely about street racing, taking virtual version of real-life cars -- a first for the series, which until now wasn't able to convince manufacturers to let a game depict actual models -- and tricking them out with real-life parts to race on mostly real-life city streets.

And that's where the almost-accurate picture of Detroit comes in. The city map is a rough sketch of the real thing, with major areas -- River Rouge, Greektown, the waterfront -- largely intact.

But if you've ever tried to drive down Brush at 25, let alone 75, you know the game's creators couldn't accurately reproduce the city and still let you drive at the blistering speeds "MC3" encourages.

So Detroiters who play "MC3" have to put some of their driving habits aside when they sit down with their controllers. You'll be driving along, thinking, "Hey, I know where this is, I'm on 75 just up from Comerica Park," and suddenly the road zooms up and over another on a bridge that doesn't exist in the real world. There's a huge jump in Greektown, one on the waterfront and another that launches you over the People Mover. The underpass under Cobo Hall for the Lodge is in the game, but it twists back into town instead of rocketing to the suburbs.

You'll see real-life billboards in the game, but the names of familiar businesses were tweaked when Rockstar didn't get licenses to use their real names, spokesman Devin Bennett said. (Don't be surprised, for example, to find something called the Top Theater just about where you'd expect to see the Fox on the real Woodward.)

"Gameplay is key, so we don't try to replicate a city street for street," Panek said. "Real cities aren't laid out for racing at 200-plus m.p.h. We get the flavor of each city and mix it with our needs for racing."

The development team who worked on the project put in real-life time on Detroit's streets, taking pictures, driving the streets, taking notes, getting a feel for the city's vibe.

"Detroit is a big city that we needed to see from all sides, day and night," Panek said. "We started with downtown, knowing that this area of the city would be the focal point. From there, we envisioned how people would race through the main streets and highways to get to the other districts, like the waterfront or Highland Park, and filmed these areas. Of course we shot all key landmarks, like Comerica Park and so on. We took literally thousands of photos and dozens of hours of video."

Once they had the reference material, they divided the city up into chunks that would look different, to help players figure out where they were even if Detroit wasn't their hometown. They made lists of all the landscape accessories they'd need for each district -- light poles, storefronts -- and laid out the road network. Then they used 3D design tools to lay out the roads and plunk in the accessories. With the structure in place, artists added lights and textures, the skins that go over the shapes to make a building look like a historic townhouse or a gleaming glass office building.

Finally, the design team started laying out the races, and programmers started working on the code that would make the whole thing move.

The final portrait they painted is an impressionist view, a picture that captures the city's broad strokes without a wealth of detail. The roads are wider, because you have to be able to scream down them with your tricked-out vehicles. The turns are broader, in most cases, for the same reason. And no, there are no potholes.

Spaced around the city, as in the last version of "Midnight Club," are strategically placed "hookmen" who challenge you to race for cash and to unlock new stuff in the game. But there are also coordinated races and tournaments, new to the series. And you can plot your own races, soaring through the city to set checkpoints, which is actually a very nice way to tour the virtual Detroit.

The game itself is fairly straightforward. You pick out a car (more models become available to you as the game goes on), trick it out with the parts you can afford in your starting bundle of cash and hit the streets.

Because both the cars and the parts are actual models, visiting the Detroit garage is an interesting experience. You can take a Cadillac Escalade, for example, and slap on bumpers, grills, rims, tint and a paint job so that it looks exactly like the Escalade in your neighbor's driveway -- or maybe the Escalade you wish were in yours.

Rockstar expects that'll add to the feeling of realism in the game -- as real as it can get, anyway, with the nitro-fueled speeds and abilities your cars earn as you level up.

From the time I spent with the game, it's going to be a lot of fun to take a car you're familiar with, make it look like something special and then take it for a dream cruise through the streets of the almost real-life Detroit.

[riggy469]

I read on either IGN or Gamespot that it does use custom soundtracks. I think they realized what their big mistake was in MC2 (which was a great game but suffered a bit without custom soundtracks)

[cdeener]

The real deal

April 10, 2005

BY HEATHER NEWMAN
FREE PRESS TECHNOLOGY WRITER

When video games feature real-life cars -- and not all racing games actually use the real thing -- they typically feature a mix of models, from little bitty cars to get you started (like, say, a Ford Focus) to posh foreign racing muscle (the Ferrari category).

But when Rockstar Games decided to set a big chunk of "Midnight Club 3" in Detroit, it decided that some true Detroit muscle was in order. So the list of licensed cars in the game is a wildly different collection than you might expect for a modern racing game.

Sure, the newer stuff is there, though not always your standard choices: You'll find, for example, the Cadillac Escalade EXT and Chrysler's 300c sedan. (Don't look for that Ford Focus, however. No Ford cars are included.)

But more interesting are the off-the-wall classics that Rockstar popped in as choices.

There are, for instance, not one but two Pontiac GTOs -- both the 1968 and the 1970 model (also called the Judge). A 1970 Chevy El Camino SS is in the mix, complete with authentic aftermarket parts to add on. A 1969 Dodge Charger RT-SE 440 is one of the few non-GM cars in the Classic/Muscle category.

More high-end Detroit metal is in the mix as well, including the Dodge Viper GTS/R, the Chevy Corvette Z06 and (if you stretch that Detroit definition to include Chrysler's parent company) a nice selection of Mercedes racers.

"We definitely put more classic and muscle cars in the game because of Detroit," said Jay Panek, producer for "Midnight Club 3" at Rockstar San Diego, the developers of the title. "The history of Detroit had to be represented, not just the new models. There's just something about rolling through Greektown in a 1964 Chevy Impala that's so satisfying."

The classic cars handle differently from the modern ones, of course, especially when driven on digital versions of Detroit's icy roads. Those muscle cars gun and roar just as you'd expect, their tails wagging around turns.

This is the first entry in the "Midnight Club" series to include real cars. "We never had licensed vehicles before because the manufacturers wouldn't allow us to damage the cars the way we want to," Panek said. "With enough games under our belts, the manufacturers realized that having their cars get damaged in the game wasn't a negative thing. It was a way for people to get more involved in the game and fall in love with their vehicles more."

[gmzone]

I've always enjoyed the Midnight Club series. I own the 2nd title, and I'm looking forward to the new one, especially the PSP version(I expect it to be a bit watered down, but still enjoyable).

[epobirs]

It's being advertised about every five minutes on G4. I'm already sick of the sight of the damn thing. No hype? I want the thing to ship already so the ad campaign will end.

[Scahom1]

It'll sell.

[Ozzkev55]

Who wants to head up the clan?
if no takers then i suggest Mr. Anderson(i would suggest myself but i already head up the ghost recon 2 clan)

[Kain Vincent]

Check out clubstop.com, I mean gamestop.com (http://www.gamestop.com/) for the hype.

[doubledown]

I'm picking it up.....I was swayed by the Detroit inclusion also. Never played a Midnight Club game either. Hopefully GameRush has it today....yeah.

[Ozzkev55]

The Official Clan Leader For The Possible(not definete) MC3 CAG Clan, is........

MR.ANDERSON

[Mr. Anderson]

Ah, the proverbial w00t w00t.

[RelentlessRolento]

meh, too many car games in my opinion, but for people who like em, this is probably a goofd game since most of the midnight clubs turned out pretty good (not in my opinion).

[FriskyTanuki]

meh, too many car games in my opinion, but for people who like em, this is probably a goofd game since most of the midnight clubs turned out pretty good (not in my opinion).

What do you mean by car games? This is a standard racing game that uses real cars, and the previous games have been pretty fun.

[Mr. Anderson]

What do you mean by car games? This is a standard racing game that uses really cars, and the previous games have been pretty fun.

What's a really car? ;)

[FriskyTanuki]

What's a really car? ;)

It should be "real"

[RelentlessRolento]

What do you mean by car games? This is a standard racing game that uses real cars, and the previous games have been pretty fun.


whoops! i said "goofd game" i meant to say "good game" my bad :(

I did say it was good, but I never really cared at all for car games as long as the cars dont get beat up or explode (add shallow statement here by me).

[DigitalSpace]

I like what I've heard about MC 3, and a while ago I was considering paying full price for it, but since then I've changed my mind. If it goes on sale somewhere for around $30 or so a few months down the road I'll get it then.