Midnight GT Primary Racer

Midnight GT Primary Racer

PC Version (Midnight Club III)

Price: US$29.99

Midnight GT Professional Racing, PC

Price: $39.99

Midnight, Texas

This year, Midway has one of the most highly anticipated titles in the category. You won’t have to be a gamer to know it, and it’s also the second game in the Speedball series, which continues to grow in popularity. This Midway title throws in 24 cars and locations to race on, and lets you take a seat in the driver’s seat and start racing the life of an urban spelunker. We tried it out at San Diego Comic-Con in a couple of hours. There were enough people at the show and we just got to see a preview of the game in action.

Midnight GT will keep the action fast and frantic, but it’s easy to miss the driving model. So, as far as we’re concerned, we’ll make sure to include more cars this time around. Then, like other games in the racing genre, Midway will bring in some new features, like the ability to buy vehicles at a garage or use a secret menu that will let you get a better grip on the road. While you’re at it, if you’re ready for some race action, you can take your driver’s seat and start your own self-driving race. We actually had to be near the garage for several hours just to realize we had to make the mistake of just saying “we’re not going to [put] the brakes on that.” The in-game story will follow a young guy who’s dragged into a race that puts him in a drift. Midway wants this to be one of the longer driving experiences we’ll get with Driver 3, so we’ll hopefully have a bit more time with the story.

GS: You've said before that you'll be able to "engage in a little bit" in the single-player game. Could you give us some examples? How much of the game will be about racing or trucking?

DH: It’s more than just racing; it’s about building an entire underground community of people that you can play in your garage. They’ll all work together to form the crime scene of the game, and we’ll also have all these different characters, all of whom you can create for your car, you can select, choose, and form your own online community.

GS: You've been making it clear that you'll be able to create racing events in the game, and you're using the same engine as Driver 2. Will you have some racing events in Driver 3?

DH: Yes, we will have racing events in the game. We're also developing some very cool driving events, and we'll also be running multiplayer challenges against other players online. We've always wanted to do multiplayer games, and now it just expands that game.

GS: But this is not another racing game. What kind of racing game would you like to see to use that technology in Driver 3?

DH: We are also developing a number of racing events, including one with a flying bug, and two other kinds of events, including an extreme race, which will be completely completely different from the other racing games on the market. We have a number of other racing events in development that are specifically designed to make this game unique and unique, which we'll reveal later.

GS: Driver 3 was released in November 2005, so do you see yourself going in the same direction?

DH: In the year ahead, I'm happy to say we are doing something that we haven't done in the past. We have the resources and the timing to start a new game--the right amount of time to create and polish a new game. We are also very happy to be working with Take-Two Interactive and Gathering of Developers.

GS: Are you considering taking a sequel to Driver 2 or a spin-off?

DH: Yes, it's something we are very much considering. We are definitely going to continue to work with Take-Two. We are already looking at all the possibilities with Grand Theft Auto III, but in addition, we have some interesting things we're interested in exploring.

GS: Can you briefly describe your planned open-world role-playing game. Can you elaborate on what kind of objectives you're going for, and what sort of gameplay elements will we see in the game?

DH: There will be a variety of quests in our game. Players will be able to go do side-quests, do street races, try to go to local businesses, and have a great time. One thing I can really stress about is that there is no actual character development.