Where the news at?

If you have been wondering why no news has been coming out of AutoGaming, well it’s because this site has now merged with one of my new developments, lvl2 Gamer. This has been a long and hard decision, but it’s the only route that best fits my real life schedule.

First of all, lvl2 Gamer is a gaming blog that covers all the aspects in the gaming world, it’s like this site, but just with a wider scope (the gaming world). It will be run by not just me, but a group of writers, so we can hopefully deliver news around the clock and in a timely manner.

So what is gonna happen to AutoGaming? Well I have decided to not post here anymore, however I will leave the news posts as is so people who need to refer to older links can do so. However, work will be dedicated to the forums as we rename the site into the AutoGaming Forums. It will be the new centre piece, where racing fans can come together to discuss anything in the racing game world.

Now here are my reasons as to why I can no longer maintain this site.

• Massive Fluctuation In News/Traffic - Since my site covers mostly console gaming, there are periods (usually up to months when there is no gaming news because of how the industry works in coordination with game releases and game events). This results in a loss of viewers, since you basically need to feed relevant news to viewers all the time to keep them locked in. No one is going to come to a site over and over if there is no news.
• Personal Life Catching Up - The advantage with my new site is that there will be a team of writers who can post stuff around the clock. However with this site, getting writers was a tough challenge and I ended up having to live on my PC to stay up to date with racing news. Posting news just minutes too late can mean the difference of getting 5000 visits or just 50 visits. Since I have important things in real life to attend to (home, job, etc.) it gets harder now to maintain the site and keep up to date. As you all can see, it’s already showing up with news being posted days late.
• Same Great News, New Location - The world is not lost, because I will be covering racing news as best as possible on the new site, so once the Genre system is online, you can bookmark that page for the latest and greatest racing news out there.
• Server Costs - With our limited number of viewers, we started to run into a period where we made barely any money, and with the economic situation we face today, shelling out personal savings is actually not the best thing for me, since I have other expenses to attend to first.

The decision is final, and the transition basically happens today, so I would like to hear what you all think of the plans.

In the mean time, check out the site as well, at www.lvl2gamer.com

After seeing the article on HipHopGamer about the “confirmation” of Gran Turismo for the PSP, I had to do some investigating. I would have not really paid too much attention if it were another site, but considering the poor track record attached to stories emanating from this site, verification was needed.

After a call to the SCEA (which took quite some time), an unnamed official has stated that the source mentioned in HHG’s story is not official in any way, so whether GT comes to the PSP or not, we should take it from a more official and valid source.

When asked about the prospects of a GT game coming to the PSP however, he chose to remain tight lipped about it.

If we remember recently, Gran Turismo was planned for the PSP at one time, and there are rumours once again, mainly from VG247, that it may actually be headed there finally. So, in the end, it may actually come to the PSP (odds are in favour), but we shouldn’t get too hyped over a rumour/speculation that was posted as “supposed news”.

6 Gamers are prepping to set a new world gaming record by playing 24 straight hours of Burnout Paradise.

The folks at Ready Up! will be heading to the Esc Gaming Centre in Scotland on the 18th of April (tomorrow) to play the mind blowing 24 hours on the Xbox 360 in front of the Guinness World Record judges.

You can also keep up to date with their progress through the day by following them on Twitter.

The event is a charitable one, where some funding shall be headed to the Games Aid organization in the UK.

We wish them the best of luck.

Criterion Games has announced that the Cops and Robbers premium DLC for Burnout Paradise should go live on Thursday April 30th. Here is an interesting quote as well.

“I caught up with the Paradise City Police Chief, and he confirmed the impending arrival of ’significant police reinforcements’ to ‘crackdown on any illegal activity around Paradise City’.

Stay tuned to this channel to find out the hottest details.” - Doug The Newsreader

Here is yet another great screen shot from rFactor 2. Things seem to be shaping up well, so hopefully we can see lots more in the future.

Hello guys, AutoGaming is once again in need of staff to help out, since I am not always available to post news. The offerings are as follows.

News Author
Looking for someone knowledgeable in the simulation aspect of racing (following games such as SimBin, ISI, iRacing and other titles). This person’s duty would be to cover the latest releases (mods, other addons, game information, etc.) about these games in a timely manner. More details will follow once you contact us.

Podcaster
Looking for someone who knows a bit about the racing game scene, and is capable of carrying on proper conversations in the podcast (our radio show), mainly about….racing games. Also the person must be able to speak English properly.

We also would like to encourage our female viewers to apply, since we want to mix things up a bit and keep the floor open to a wider variety of people.

Unfortunately we will not be paying for these jobs since our budget is very small. We barely break even, so I guess this would be volunteer work basically. Hope that doesn’t discourage you though.

If you are interested, send me a direct e-mail to bradley@autogaming.net. Looking forward to the applications

Here is the trailer for the new add-on DLC for Burnout Paradise called Cops and Robbers. Don’t forget to hit the HQ button to see it in it’s full fidelity.

Here are two interesting interviews from the officials at EA. The first one, called  “A Look Under The Hood” was conducted with Executive Producer Michael Mann, to get an idea of what is to come with regards to NFS: Shift.

Read more

Brad runs the show alone tonight as mcroddi enjoys some Easter food. The show is pretty short as Brad runs down the news, and then gives a small rant about virtual racing clans. Will be back at full steam next week.

Games covered include:

• Gran Turismo 5
• RACE On
• Simbin’s Jakob

Listen to the episode here.

Rockstar has announced 2 more vehicle packs which are bound for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The details are as follows.

South Central Vehicle Pack 1 (240 Points / $2.99) - April 16th, 2009
South Central Vehicle Pack 1 adds some extra class to your garage with 3 new high-performance vehicles, the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL 65 AMG, the 2008 Audi S5, and the 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT.

Features the following 3 vehicles:

• 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL 65 AMG (Luxury)
• 2008 Audi S5 (Luxury)
• 2009 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT (Tuner)

South Central Vehicle Pack 2 (240 Points / $2.99) - April 23rd, 2009
South Central Vehicle Pack 2 brings power and status, featuring the 2008 Cadillac XLR V, the 2008 Lancer Evolution X, the 2007 Aston Martin DB9 and the free 2008 Ducati 1098 R.

Features the following 4 vehicles:

• 2008 Cadillac XLR V (Luxury)
• 2008 Lancer Evolution X (Tuner)
• 2007 Aston Martin DB9 (Exotic)
• 2008 Ducati 1098 R (Motorcycle)

Thanks to Firecatman for the tip.