NASCAR The Game: Inside Line

[cdj]

The sequel to NASCAR The Game 2011 has been officially announced.

Hop in the driver’s seat, buckle up and start your engines because Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and leading independent racing game developer Eutechnyx are pleased to announce NASCAR® The Game™: Inside Line. Bringing the true NASCAR experience to consoles, the game will allow players to race with the top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, teams and cars, as well as feature all 23 officially licensed racetracks. NASCAR The Game: Inside Line is planned to launch Fall 2012 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the Wii™ system from Nintendo.

“We set out to reinvent NASCAR gaming last year with NASCAR® The Game™ 2011 – and we’re very proud of it. With our continued enhancements to that game, and our very passionate fans helping guide us, we have an amazing platform to go to the next level with NASCAR The Game: Inside Line,” said Dave Thompson, Executive Producer at Eutechnyx. “We’ve added a new in-depth career mode and robust online features that include realistic race weekends, and now aspiring drivers can rise up through the ranks, attract sponsors, and upgrade their car’s components in the quest to be the Sprint Cup Series Champion.”

“The collaboration between Activision and Eutechnyx produced last year’s hugely successful NASCAR game experience,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President, Activision Publishing. “NASCAR The Game: Inside Line builds on that platform and adds a number of innovative, cutting edge features that will give fans and gamers alike the chance to participate in the sport like never before.”

They have been releasing plenty of screens over the last few weeks/months and they can be viewed here (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416120325075452.93911.154803441207143&type=3) and here (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.359531997400952.82825.154803441207143&type=3).

[SmoothPancakes]

I'm going to be waiting to see gameplay video. The last NASCAR game I ever played and owned was NASCAR 2001 on the PS2, so I would love to FINALLY have a new and modern NASCAR game. Only issue for me was the horror stories I heard about the gameplay, the bugs and the glitches when the game was first released, I never bought it. Even with this game, I'm going to wait until sometime after release to make sure it's stable and nothing horribly wrong with it before I consider buying it.

[JBHuskers]

I was going to bust out the first one last weekend, but never got around to it and now it's packed away for the move.

[cdj]

Here's some of the 'most common questions on Twitter (http://forums.nascarthegame.com/threads/186-The-Most-Common-Questions-Asked-On-Twitter-about-NASCAR-The-Game-Inside-Line)' regarding the game:

Q. Is Nationwide or Trucks in the game?
A. The amount of time and effort that goes in to licensing, sourcing, producing and the approval process per car is huge. We just don't have the ability to do that for all 3 series, so we decide to concentrate our efforts on the Sprint Cup Series and get that 100% right.

Q. Is the lag, bubble and surging fixed online?
A. The online code has been completely re-written and the issues that plagued NTG 11 are not in NTG:IL. The online experience is a significantly better one.

Q. Can you drive the car in pit road and under caution?
A. This feature is on our "if we get time list" as we know it's important to quite a few of you.

Q. Can you DNF?
A. Yes.

Q. When you run out of fuel will you coast to a stop?
A. Yes.

Q. Is there a split screen or online season mode?
A. Unfortunately we've just not had the time to include those specific modes this time around. To be clear, you can still play split screen.

Q. Can you practice and qualify online?
A. Yes, you can.

Q. Are the non points events in the game such as the All Star Race and The Duels?
A. Yes. In Career Mode you get to take part in all the non points events.

Q. Are there real world sponsor stickers in the paint booth?
A. Yes, lots so you can make some really cool looking paint schemes.

Q. Can we upload custom paint schemes from the PC in to the game.
A. Unfortunately this isn't possible. However, the paint booth has been through a major overhaul to make it even more user friendly including adding mirror mode functionality.

Don't forget, if you question isn't answered above then Tweet me and I'll do my best to get back to you @DaveT_ETX

[cdj]

Tune into the NASCAR.com Live Video Conference today (5/24) at 1pm ET for the NASCAR The Game: Inside Line 'Drive for the Cover' Announcement, where all will be revealed! (http://forums.nascarthegame.com/threads/372-Watch-the-Drive-for-the-Cover-Announcement-Thurs-1pm-ET-NASCAR-com)

It appears that the game will have a 32-driver bracket for fans to vote and determine the cover athlete.




Also, here is the game description from GameStop:

Product Details: NASCAR The Game: Inside Line blows open the adrenaline-fuelled world of stock car racing, thrusting you right into the heart of the world's best motor sports racing series. Whether you compete as yourself or a favorite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, it's you against the other official NASCAR teams and manufacturers. It's the only game that gives you the ultimate NASCAR experience with officially licensed cars, teams, drivers, tracks, rules and events. Will you let the pros rattle your cage, or will you show them what legends are truly made of?

NASCAR The Game: Inside Line isn't just a game, it's the full NASCAR Sprint Cup race weekend experience. Will your qualification time get you up the field enough to make a real challenge when the green flag drops? Your career spans multiple seasons via the games progressive career mode and includes practice, qualifying and the full race whether in one-player or multi-player modes, including the improved online experience for up to 16 players. Take the wheel in thrilling real-life race moments, reliving the moves of actual NASCAR drivers from the 2012-2013 race seasons. Telemetry data collected from the tracks is used to create in-game challenges that are more than mere simulations, they are recreations of NASCAR's most gripping real-life moments for you to experience first-hand. This is your chance to rewind, relive and rewrite NASCAR history.

With NASCAR The Game: Inside Line you get:
- The Inside Line on the full NASCAR Sprint Cup Series experience.
- The Inside Line on a full multi-season career - from Rookie to selecting sponsors.
- The Inside Line on the race weekend experience - from practice, qualification and the race.
- The Inside Line from the biggest names in sport including; Darrell Waltrip, Mike Joy, Ray Evernham, and Ty Norris

GameStop currently lists a November 6 release date for the game but it is expected to moved up.

[psusnoop]

Good stuff, this will be a birthday present for the boy this year. We watch and play Nascar games on the wii currently but I'm actually really looking forward to this.

[cdj]

Drive for the Cover Announcement Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WuqRFypY2to


Today's Press Conference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5U3EPBG_FCY


Voting underway for the cover here (http://www.nascarthegame.com/vote) - not surprisingly, it is a Facebook app.

[JBHuskers]

Sounds like they are listening....hope they implement all the things the community wants to make it a good racing game.

And I hope Dale Jr. wins the cover vote :up:

[psusnoop]

Sounds like they are listening....hope they implement all the things the community wants to make it a good racing game.

And I hope Dale Jr. wins the cover vote :up:

This completely!!

[CLW]

This game was so....... AWFUL last time I'll take a wait and see approach this year and wait a month or so post release before biting the bullet on this one. Might even just rent it from GameFly.

[cdj]

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be the game's cover athlete (http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-sports/2012/08/21/guess-whos-on-cover-of-nascar-video-game/).

The face of NASCAR’s new video game also happens to be the face of NASCAR.

But that might not be the primary reason that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a natural choice as the cover star of NASCAR The Game: Inside Line.

“Even though I drive cars for a living, it’s fun to do it with a reset button,” Earnhardt told USA TODAY Sports about his avid interest in video gaming. “It’s definitely not foreign to me, and you can see me just as easily picking up a controller and playing. It’s comfortable and something I’ll be able to speak intelligently about if I was in a room full of gamers. I think it’s a good fit.”

After a one-year hiatus from the video game market in 2010 (EA Sports produced several Sprint Cup seasonal games prior to that), NASCAR returned last year with an Activision-licensed product, but it didn’t feature a driver on the cover.

Earnhardt was chosen as the game’s primary ambassador via an online poll that drew more than 750,000 votes through heavy promotion in social media. He will be the focus of a marketing campaign launching next month before the game’s November release.

“You have a guy who is a gamer himself as well as being our most popular driver, so to have the real credibility and relevance that he provides, it’s great for our fan base and for gamers,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief marketing officer. “I think it worked very well for us to have him on the cover.”

The graying of its fan base has become a factor as NASCAR has wrestled with an erosion in popularity the past few years evidenced through TV ratings and attendance. Phelps said the video game dovetails with the sport’s digital-oriented strategy of appealing to Millennials who are obsessed with consuming content via iPads and smartphones. Phelps said NASCAR recently has been meeting with its tracks to improve its WiFi and cellphone service during race weekends with a hope for significant changes by 2014.

“Because of the data and telemetry that spins off the cars, the ability to create a more meaningful experience even relative to other sporting events is enormous for us,” Phelps said. “Doing more social media by getting data to smartphones and iPads, we believe will change the at-track race experience. We’re making progress, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

The video game also will have an enhanced level of fan engagement with online features for PlayStation and Xbox 360. Earnhardt, who spent several hours Monday playing an NCAA football game on his Xbox and has estimated he played 200 hours of Battlefield 3 during the offseason, called it “a new chapter” as an alluring quality for attracting a younger demographic.

“It’s where the fans from 20 years from now will come from, and I think this is an awesome platform to do it,” Earnhardt said. “It’s family entertainment. You can do it from the comfort of your own couch, the sanctity of your own home. It’s an online community that opens you up to a whole new realm of possibilities to race against people and share experiences and build relationships and friendships. I think it’s a great way for the sport to connect to the younger fans.”

Through the online iRacing.com game, Earnhardt met one of the developers of NASCAR The Game: Inside Line and has corresponded with him about its progress. Though he hadn’t played the 2012 version of the game yet, Earnhardt said its features (such as a career mode, spotter feedback and detailed crash impacts) should be an improvement over last year’s model.

“Every year, a game has to have a new addition that sets it apart from the last one,” Earnhardt said. “It’s been interesting to watch how they’re building the game because they’re in Europe developing a game for America’s most popular form of motor sports. They did a good job on the first (edition), though some of the language got lost in translation. Now that they have so much more time under their belt, this should be tons better, just from their overall learning more about the sport.”

Earnhardt, who is enjoying one of his best seasons on the track, isn’t worried about a cover jinx heading into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“That was more of an EA (Sports) thing, a Madden thing,” he said with a laugh. “Hopefully now that we’re on a new developer, Activision will bring me a lot of luck, right?”

[JeffHCross]

Calling Dale Jr a gamer is an understatement. He was playing NASCAR Racing back in the day online ... one of the first, along with Denny Hamlin (I believe) to legitimize it as a form of practice.

[JBHuskers]

Calling Dale Jr a gamer is an understatement. He was playing NASCAR Racing back in the day online ... one of the first, along with Denny Hamlin (I believe) to legitimize it as a form of practice.

:nod:

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[cdj]

https://twitpic.com/show/large/amhd0k

[JBHuskers]

:up:

[baseballplyrmvp]

is there gonna be a built in line of code that only allows dale jr to win once every 4 years? :D

[psusnoop]

I'm a JR fan easy there MVP :D just messing.

He probably wouldn't have to win another race to be the cover of any Nascar game.

[JBHuskers]

I'm a JR fan easy there MVP :D just messing.

He probably wouldn't have to win another race to be the cover of any Nascar game.

:+1:

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[baseballplyrmvp]

dale jr is even more overrated than what notre dame is in the preseason football polls every year. :D

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs3/2294207_o.gif

[JBHuskers]

dale jr is even more overrated than what notre dame is in the preseason football polls every year. :D

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs3/2294207_o.gif

He's not overrated. No one is calling him a great driver or one of the best, he's just the most popular. However he is in contention this year.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[cdj]

There's more DLC on the way.


Activision and Eutechnyx have announced new downloadable content for NASCAR The Game: Inside Line that will include NASCAR’s new “Gen 6″ race cars.

Gamers will be able to race the Chevy SS, the Toyota Camry, and the Ford Fusion. The cars in the game have been modeled so that they look like their real-life counterparts.

Eutechnyx says in the release that players can purchase individual paint schemes for their favorite driver through the in-game ticket currency feature or through the Inside Line Highlights Pack (which can be purchased through Playstation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace). If you have the Highlights Pack already, you will receive the cars/schemes when they are released.

The “Gen 6″ DLC will be available in mid-February, which will coincide with the Daytona 500.

Link (http://startnparkblog.com/?p=19689)

[JeffHCross]

The “Gen 6″ DLC will be available in mid-February, which will coincide with the Daytona 500 debut of the Gen 6 cars.Fixed. Lol.

[CLW]

so is this game any good? last year it was awful and i really regretted my purchase.

[cdj]

so is this game any good? last year it was awful and i really regretted my purchase.

No clue. I've been aiming to pick it up if it drops to $20 or so, but that has yet to happen.

[JBHuskers]

Unless they do an update for the start of the season, a lot of the cars will already be outdated.

[JeffHCross]

Unless they do an update for the start of the season, a lot of the cars will already be outdated.I believe that's what they're talking about in cdj's post that mentions micro transactions.

[psusnoop]

No clue. I've been aiming to pick it up if it drops to $20 or so, but that has yet to happen.


Once it drops I'll be buying this too, my son loves Nascar and I enjoy it too.