Codemasters announced in a statement that “[a]fter three years of service, 2008’s Race Driver: GRID‘s online play service has been discontinued for the PS3 and PC editions of the game. This follows the decision by a third party provider to decline the offer of an extended contract to continue online play on these platforms.”

The Xbox 360 version of the game is currently unaffected.

Three years isn’t really that long. I have to wonder if LAN multiplayer will be patched in at some point, or at least the ability for PC players to start their own servers. It would be a nice consideration, given that this is a fairly niche title.

If a player elects to become VIP, s/he will have unlimited access to all premium content, receive priority server access (line jumping anyone?), 5 character slots, a shared bank slot (handy, that), and a monthly allotment of points to spend in the LOTRO store.

For VIP access, you’ll need to shell out $15 a month.

The new free-to-play model will launch with the LOTRO store on September 10. For more information on the tiered packages (and the game itself), check out LOTRO’s website.

Turbine’s pricing model will allow players to download and play the game for free, but expansions, quest packs, items and account services will all be provided à la carte. If you want all of that content included in your game, you can join the VIP program for unlimited access to all of the game’s content for one price.

This new model directly mimics the one used by popular Facebook games, which allow players to buy items they think they need. No word yet on whether or not players who have already pre-paid a few months in advance will be automatically enrolled in the VIP program, but one would definitely hope so.

If you want a sneak peek of the new version, you can sign up for a beta test of the new version at http://www.lotro.com. The beta starts on June 16.

Here are the details of the free-to-play update, straight from a press release this morning:

Free means Free! – Players will download LOTRO by visiting www.lotro.com and join with millions of other adventurers as they explore the most complete and authentic recreation of Middle-earth ever created and participate in LOTRO’s award-winning epic story up to level 50 for free.

Visit the new LOTRO Store! – The LOTRO Store is loaded with thousands of convenience items as well as expansion packs, premium content, additional character slots, potions, character customization and more! The LOTRO Store is seamlessly integrated into the game and lets the player identify new and exciting ways to enhance and customize their experience using points which can be purchased in the store or earned through gameplay.

Be a LOTRO VIP! – Players who elect to become a LOTRO VIP will have unlimited access to all premium content, receive priority server access, 5 character slots, a shared bank slot, and a monthly allotment of points to spend in the new LOTRO Store.

If you are a subscriber to the game, will you continue to pay for access for the VIP perks?

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, published and developed by the British team, Codemasters is a highly realistic, tactical first person shooter. The plot takes place in an alternate timeline in 2011 where the U.S. is at war with China, due to negotiations with Russia. Despite it’s fictional storyline, the game is a pragmatic representation of a modern war in terms of atmosphere and combat.

Rating: M for Mature (PEGI: 18)
Genre: Tactical Shooter
Publisher: Codemasters
Release Date: October 6th, 2009

RENT

The rendering is a bit poorly done for a next gen title, with flat, heavily pixilated foliage and washed out colors. Several aspects of the environment don’t look particular realistic, and the game is frequently colored in chromatic grays, making it hard to spot targets from a far off distance, with noticeable screen tearing. However, the maps are quite large and the draw distance in the game is immense. The game’s presentation is at least interesting and fits the mood of the game, with black and white stills explaining the events leading up to game’s beginning.

Our first mission in offline Campaign mode opens with a squad based objective to destroy a Radar Satellite. The difficulty of the game is immediately apparent when first engaging enemies. Simply running and gunning like you would in more traditional, console based shooters will quickly get you killed, head shots automatically meaning death. Players will be required to take a very strategic, tactical approach to excel at this game, whether online or off. You start out with an MK16 Mod Assault Rifle, a few grenades and a combat knife, however default weapons will change from mission to mission. Injuries are shown by color and location depending on the severity of the wound, along with what part of the body on the player icon in the top left hand corner. Wounds can be dressed for yourself, or for a team mate, which may prove difficult while playing with the AI, as the erratic behavior of CPU team mates will have you chasing them around for extended periods of time before they actually let you heal them.

The second mission with the task of blowing up the Sunburn, a radar site, by sneaking your way toward it and destroying it via detonator. The flow of the story is somewhat vague, and other than main and secondary (optional) objectives not much as will be explained as you move through check points, which save your progress. As objectives become more difficult to complete, players will have to rely on giving tactical orders to their team, finding new ammo (which is extremely limited) and weapons from enemies. Players might find themselves frustrated with the game’s unpolished game mechanics, in addition to it’s difficulty. I would sometimes experience the “body twitching” glitch in which downed soldiers convulse comically, thus dispelling the serious tone of the game. Targeting is a bit buggy and could use some work as well, as shots fired feel a bit off at times.

Mission three requires your team to secure a beach head and defend a fort for a set amount of time. This part was actually pretty fun and engaging as you get swarmed by enemies and need to position yourself and spend your ammunition carefully. I can’t stress enough, ammo is extremely sparse, making the game feel reminiscent of older, PC based war simulators. Multi-player should at least be fairly enjoyable for those looking to play a game of this variety. Up to four players can clear the Campaign mode together, while a standard online match is comprised of 16 vs. 16. Although with only four maps initially available, even people who enjoy the game might find themselves bored quickly.

All in all, unless you are looking for a throw back to older war simulators initially only found on the PC, this game may not be the game for you. The replay value severely trails behind other games Flashpoint competes against, while still lacking a polished combat engine and depth of content and weapon variety.

A review copy was provided by Codemasters and does not effect the outcome of this review.

Contest:
Thanks to the nice folks at Codemasters, we’re also able to give away some cool prizes.  I have three pretty awesome Operation Flashpoint branded messenger bags ready for a good home.  To get in the running for one of these bags just leave a comment on this review.  However, to win, you must be a registered member of GamingAngels.com!  I’ll be choosing three winners at random next Wednesday at 5pm CST.  Good luck!

Codemasters has announced the Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising PC demo today. Gamers can find information on downloading the demo and how to play the first mission at www.flashpointgame.com in the “Public Affairs” section. The title is currently out on the 360, PS3 and the PC.

In additional support/celebration for the game, Codemasters will also be providing premium avatar items on Xbox Live Marketplace. The avatar items range from military themed clothing, t-shirts, baseball caps, camo suits, and Special Forces tactical clothing.

When you’re done with the demo, enter our Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising swag contest!

How do you enter? Simple! Just email your name, mailing address & phone number with “Operation Flashpoint Swag” in the title to pr-at-gamingangels.com

The contest closes at 12pm Pacific on Friday November 20th and is limited to US residents.

Make sure you check out Operation Flashpoint, which is available on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for entering. The contest is now closed and the winners have been notified. Stay tuned for more chances to win!

Ashes Cricket

UK Gamers are still buying and playing Ashes Cricket 2009 from Codemasters to keep it in the top spot this week. Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit are in the second and third slots just waiting for Ashes Cricket to falter. Ubisoft’s Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood moved up from seventh to fourth place while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 continues to drop ending in 5th place.

Madden NFL 10 may be a big hit in the US, but it enters at the eighth spot in the countdown. Also bad news for EA as Fight Night Round 4 has the largest drop from 4 to 12.

EA Sports is keep EA in the charts with the most games on the chart (6).

Operation Flashpoint

Recently we were invited to get a hands on with Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising by Codemasters. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is the newest iteration in the popular pc series. Now heading to Xbox 360, PC, and Playstation 3, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has new features that will appeal to new and old fans.

The game itself is tactical squad based. Gamers can go through the entire campaign as single player controlling three other players and giving commands or team up with three other friends.

The maps they showed us were huge. Codemasters has set the goal for Operation Flashpoint to be the “largest sandbox shooter” out there.

The game takes place in 2011 on an island off of Russia that is rich with oil. China had previously attacked Russia and has taken control of the island so Russia turns to the United States for help.

There are over 60 weapons in the game and they’ll sound real in the game. Codemasters recorded all the shots from firing ranges to make sure they got the exact sounds.

There are three modes to the game: assisted, normal, and hardcore. Assisted has cues and a full HUD and as you pick tougher levels, the HUD goes away. The video released today showcases the developers talking about the hardcore mode.

After the demo we got to play through a level. Honestly, I had them put me on God status so I couldn’t die. For those looking for a challenge, this game is it. It’s pretty difficult. There is no waiting for your HUD to clear up to regain health. Once you are hurt you have to use the medic or that’s it. A headshot can and will get you down as well.

Operation Flashpoint is a title for gamers looking for hardcore strategy and combat. Gamers will need skill and patience to not just run in. Because there will be consequences for that. Operation Flashpoint heads to retails stores on October 6.

Here is Executive Producer Sion Lenton talking about Hardcore mode:
“We take all of the HUD off, there’s nothing there at all, no cross hair, no compass, you’re all on your own other than a map. This is about as hardcore as it gets,” explains Executive Producer Sion Lenton. “I think the hardest thing that we set out to achieve, that I’m certainly most proud of, is putting the fear back into first person shooters, getting that element of tension as you’re creeping through the woods, not knowing where the next shot’s going to come from.“

Wii Sports Resort has fallen from the number one spot for game sales in the UK to a UK Sport. Ashes Cricket 2009 by Codemasters has grabbed the top spot.

Ashes Cricket is a cricket series played between England and Australia. It’s a huge rivalry game which dates back to 1882.

Wii Fit and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 drop a spot while Fight Night Round 4 holds it’s ground. Disney’s new 3D animated film, G-Force entered the countdown at the number 9 spot. While another movie title, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen takes a nose dive from 6 to 16.

This week EA Games takes the leading publisher in the UK rights with 6 games in the top 20. Nothing new for EA entered the countdown, but the EA Sports titles seem to be holding strong.