It was just announced that Codemasters, the guys behind games like DiRT2 and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, have sold off 50% of their business to an Indian firm called Reliance Big Entertainment. The guys in charge of the Codemasters investment will be Reliance’s gaming division entitled Zapak Digital Entertainment. If you’re not familiar with them don’t fret, I wasn’t at first either, but they are apparantly one of the largest gaming companies in India, specializing in things like MMOs, physical distribution and gaming cafes.

There’s no telling what will come out of this partnership but let’s hope it’s in Codemasters’ favor.

via cvg

It’s been quite some time since Dirt 2 was released so it would only make sense that Codemasters was working on a sequel. However, up until now we didn’t hear anything about it. Now, Codemaster’s VP Gavin Cheshire sat down for an interview with Edge and said the following, “there’s some really great stuff coming from Birmingham that’s going into Dirt 3.” As you can see, he didn’t even really announce it he just casually mentioned it like we all already knew it was coming.

So, any bets on when Dirt 3 will be released?

via vg247

First we heard that DiRT2 2 would pay homage to the late-and-great Colin McCrae, then we heard that the PC version would be getting delayed due to DirectX 11 implementation and now we know the official console release date.

Codemasters has let us know the DiRT 2 will be released for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP on September 18th in the US, Septmber 8th in Europe and September 10th in the UK.

via Joystiq

Usually delays are pretty bad and frowned upon by the fans, especially if other platforms sees the release on time. However, rally fans might be interested and appreciate the wait for DIRT 2, which is delayed until December. The delay will be spent on implementing new Direct X 11 technology in the game, which will make it look a lot better and play smoother (at least that’s what DX11 is supposed to do).

Racing fans everywhere mourned the death of the great Colin McRae after his unfortunate helicopter accident back in 2007. Furthermore it left fans of the popular DiRT series wondering if the franchise would push on.

Well, despite the tragic death, 2008 rolled around and DiRT 2 was announced still sporting the Colin McRae branding. The game’s title isn’t the only appearance Colin McRae will be making as according to MTV Multiplayer, there will be some other subtle and not-so-subtle acknoledgements in his memory.

Apparantly, a large chunk of the game will have players working to qualify for a Colin McRae Memorial Cup. Additionally, Codemaster’s Mark Turosz was quoted to have said “You’ll hear other drivers talking about him. He’s the central figure in the narrative.”

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is set to hit shelves for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in September of this year.

Codemasters today announced that off-road racing sequel DIRT 2 will be released this September. The company is yet, however, to provide a real look at the game, passing out ‘concept’ screenshots to the press.

The game will use the latest version of the EGO engine, which has powered recent titles from the publisher, including Race Driver GRID. DIRT 2 features a World Tour mode and fully-featured multiplayer support with social features across multiple racing disciplines.

DIRT 2 is being developed for the usual suspects – PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 – as well as less powerful platforms – Wii, PSP and DS.

Codemasters has finally disclosed first details of DiRT 2, the sequel to the 2007 off-road racer. Expected next year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, the game will focus on improving the original with enhancements to the graphics, physics, single-player career and multiplayer modes.

The game will honor and take inspiration from legendary driver Colin McRae, focusing on his late career. It will make use of an evolved version of the EGO engine that powered the first game as well as GRID; in fact, the studio has now tweaked the engine to get more out of the console hardware.

DiRT 2 will see extended replay features and a single-player career mode featuring real racing personalities, including Travis Pastrana and Ken Block.