Test Drive Unlimited 2 to get free apology DLC

Atari has revealed it will release free DLC for Test Drive Unlimited 2 in order to "thank" users for "continued support and feedback" as the game launches with a "number of issues".

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While some crude, loutish companies apologise for game bugs over Twitter or in forum posts, Test Drive Unlimited 2 developer Eden and publisher Atari have taken the civilised route of addressing the racer's "issues" in an open letter and offering a free downloadable content pack.

"Thank you for your continued support and feedback," opens the letter addressed to "the TDU2 community," going on to say that players have "been amazing and helped us quickly identify a number of issues." As a token of appreciation, the 'Exploration Pack' DLC pack, which contains the Lancia Stratos version Rallye and 1969 Dodge Charger cars, will be released for free. Previous TDU2 DLC cars have cost $1 each.

Of course, thanks and free DLC mean little if the problems are not addressed. Fixes for issues including saved game corruption and online stability have already been deployed to the PC edition and will go live on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation versions once approved, the letter notes.

Here's Atari and Eden's open letter in full:

To the TDU2 community,

Thank you for your continued support and feedback. Our community has been amazing and helped us quickly identify a number of issues, which we have made significant progress in addressing in the upcoming patches.

"It's possible Guerrilla Games doubted their ability to..."

We really appreciate your patience in this matter and we would like to announce that we will be making the first premium DLC for the game free for everybody as a way of saying thank you.

The Exploration Pack contains new wrecks to be discovered that unlock the Lancia Stratos version Rallye and 1969 Dodge Charger.

We now have fixes for all of the following issues that have already gone live on PC and will follow shortly once patches are approved by Microsoft and Sony, respectively.

Issues Fixed:

  • Logging into the game has been improved

  • Once into the game the online network experience is now much more stable in all areas

  • Save games no longer corrupt

  • Existing corrupted save games will be repaired in many cases

  • Friends lists are now populated

  • Invites now work correctly

  • Clubs have been brought back online

  • Exploits to gain money have been fixed

  • Casino access has been improved

  • Players will no longer lose money because of the Casino bug

The team spends a great deal of time looking at community feedback, so please keep posting your comments to the official TDU2 forums and we look forward to seeing you in Ibiza.

Sincerely,

The TDU2 Development Team

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 23, 2011 8:00 PM

    Comment on Test Drive Unlimited 2 to get free, apology DLC, by Alice O'Connor.

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:05 PM

      This makes it seem like if I comment here, I'll get free, apology DLC.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:10 PM

        Comment on Test Drive Unlimited 2 to get free apology DLC by Alice O'Connor? OK.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:16 PM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:17 PM

        Yes but the DLC is by Alice O'Connor and to be frank her coding skills are a bit suspect

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:06 PM

      I keep wanting to reply with "no" to these.

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:11 PM

      These should open in a new tab like other links, in my opinion.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:12 PM

        Interesting idea. I'll pass it along to the team.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:18 PM

        Oh definitely that'd make it awesome. And I agree with the 'teaser' sentence like dirge describes below.

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        February 24, 2011 6:20 AM

        You know you can do that with a middle mouse click right?

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 2:00 PM

        No, it should be my decision whether to open in a new tab or not.

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:11 PM

      I love Alice O'Connor comments

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:13 PM

      what

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:14 PM

      I'm liking this

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:15 PM

      it really needs to just post the first sentence of the article or something.

    • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      February 23, 2011 8:15 PM

      Hi Shacknews! I love your site! :D :D :D :D

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 9:03 PM

        Hi DM7! A/S/L/M/H?

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:16 PM

      So are they forcing us to comment under this root now? I'd have a hard time believing this was the reply button if I was a new user.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:17 PM

        its so weird

      • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        February 23, 2011 8:18 PM

        Hey, it works to keep the outsiders in a pen. :>

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:19 PM

        yeah the way it's presented in the news articles could use a bit of work

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:20 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:24 PM

        Not sure I agree there, I don't want it cluttering up the chatty with huge news posts. Having the title as the link gives enough info about what it is, and if you're interested in the content then click on the link. Also if you were reading an article and clicked its comments, you'd have the article content on the page twice if you put it in the root post.

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 8:37 PM

        And they should repost the root post as a comment under the story in the black box. Just post the replies and give them a reply button. Redrawing the black comment box from the chatty looks so broken.

        • reply
          February 23, 2011 8:38 PM

          gah! *shouldn't

        • reply
          February 23, 2011 8:55 PM

          I personally like this design; however, it's also tied to the link between chatty and comments. So, it sort of has to be this way.

          We could always change chatty to all white. You folks seem to LOVE white. /sarcasm

          • reply
            February 23, 2011 8:58 PM

            I'm obviously no web coder. But what is stopping you from re-drawing the comments however you want under the news stories?

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 9:59 PM

        Awful, awful, awful

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        February 24, 2011 6:19 AM

        No, news posts get too big for that. The layout of the root post needs some improvement though.

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:22 PM

      i'm really enjoying this game, I think I put about 15-20 hours into it so far; game is gorgeous, the social aspect is goofy, but overall it's a fun game

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:24 PM

      so we have to comment to get the dlc?

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:36 PM

      i was hoping newshack would get us new staff too

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 8:45 PM

      no u

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 9:01 PM

      woah, coolest comment system ever

      • reply
        February 23, 2011 9:44 PM

        Hmm. Should the individual thread of comments on the article page itself be truncated?

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 1:32 PM

        yeah this is pretty cool I dig it

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 10:00 PM

      lol, the black chatty section on the bottom of the new news pages sticks out like dog's balls

    • reply
      February 23, 2011 10:04 PM

      who's this new Shacknews guy? he only registered today, i think he's a spammer

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 1:41 AM

        Next think you know he'll be trying to sell us Nicke trainers and Oaklie sunglasses :(

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 1:51 AM

        some sort of character account

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 6:10 AM

          YOU KILL THA JOE YOU MAKE SOME MO Terry Tate

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 4:04 AM

      So to make up for releasing a bad game, they are going to give us more of the same bad game?

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 4:43 AM

      Dodob needs to make a script to pull in the article inline.

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 4:45 AM

      I have nothing :(

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 5:54 AM

      NO U!!

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 5:55 AM

      We need a filter to turn this shit off in the chatty.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 5:58 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 6:12 AM

        That would go against the point of including this. In short, not happening as far as I know.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:02 AM

        How is this shit?
        It's a great idea that bridges the 2 main parts of Shacknews (the news / the community).
        Just scroll past it like you would for a tranny thread or some other crap.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 7:25 AM

          He bookmarks the tranny posts. I know I do.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 7:59 AM

          So you're from the front page huh?

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:12 AM

        Man you people are nuts...

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:19 AM

        You are high as a kite, this is a great change. Soon as they add a portion of the news content into the comment thread, it'll be golden.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:49 AM

        Personally I like it. It invites more GAMING discussion on a GAMING website.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 8:17 AM

          I can't have gaming getting in the way of kokujin story time and relationship threads!

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:52 AM

        Right now it's dumb because people comment on the redesign everytime one of these posts is made. In the future though, I imagine it will become a point of discussion about a game, just like any other thread about a game.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:53 AM

        how is this any worse than some of the other drivel people post? like your post.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 7:55 AM

          All aboard the hate train! Woo woo!

          It's not like I said it should be totally removed. There's nothing wrong with having the option, but whatever.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 7:59 AM

        [deleted]

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 8:00 AM

        i love this feature. I never ever visited the front page before, this is awesome to bring the front page to me

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 8:00 AM

        I actually like it. Now we won't have disconnected threads in the chatty about articles on the front page. It's nothing but good.

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        February 24, 2011 8:04 AM

        We need a filter to turn you off in the chatty. >:(

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 8:08 AM

        If you look closely at the parent thread, you will see this little x. That x collapses the thread so you don't have to read it. Strange that they would put this feature there, i know. But it's perfect for when you don't read a thread.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 8:13 AM

        We need a whine filter so badly right now.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 1:37 PM

        I love that the front page stuff is now included in the chatty. Completely awesome. Great idea years ago, good idea now.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 2:05 PM

          Agreed! It's a great change and very smart from the perspective of getting people commenting and involved in news articles.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 1:49 PM

        "this shit" hahahahaha wow just wow

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 5:57 AM

      What's to apologise for? But free DLC is good!

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 6:11 AM

        The entire game!

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 7:55 AM

          Hah :-) I didn;t think it was that bad but, yeah OK

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 6:05 AM

      HELLO FRONT PAGERS! We come in peace!

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 6:14 AM

      Okay very funny guys but has anybody actually played this game? 'Cause I played the beta and it wasn't nearly this bad.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 6:54 AM

        I've been liking it for the most part. I'm not a hardcore driving sim enthusiast tho. I didn't purchase any of the DLC either, so most of the problems with the game didn't affect me.

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 7:10 AM

          What do you think of that "leveling" system they use? Is it for hardcore players only or can you just sorta grind it out?

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            February 24, 2011 11:12 AM

            I don't mind it because one of my favorite things to do in open world games is a lot of exploration. Your Discovery level is heavily dependent on how much you have explored each map area, and within each map area, the amount you have explored/discovered in that area affects the level of upgrades that are available at the tuner shops. I can see how this might annoy people who just want to focus on the races, but TDU isn't really made for people who don't enjoy cruising around just to explore.

            Although doing the Solar Crown competitions does expose you to a few key locations, like the racing schools, used car garage, and a few of the car dealerships and will get you some decent money, it will still leave most of each map area unexplored. So if you want to get access to higher tuning levels, you need to spend time cruising around increasing the percentage of the roads you have discovered and doing the other single-player challenges, looking for the wrecks and getting the pictures the photographer needs.

            They have been having issues with their servers which has made multiplayer and community feature functionality unreliable, but it does seem to be getting a bit better each day, so they really are working hard to fix things. You are honestly better off doing the single-player part of the game first anyway so that you'll have access to better cars when you do multiplayer challenges and instant challenges.

            • reply
              February 24, 2011 11:50 AM

              Yeah, I've been more concerned about getting money than the leveling process so far. I do like that each part of the game contributes to your overall level (exploration, races, social, etc.), but for the most part I haven't cared since I've been more focused on earning enough to get a car I've had my eye on.

              That said, I've probably only put about 10 or 15 hours in so far, and haven't even touched the Hawaii island, so it could all fall apart later in the game.

              • reply
                February 24, 2011 11:57 AM

                Interesting stuff. That actually sounds like what I was hoping for.

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 11:59 AM

        just stick with all-wheel-drive cars and you will be fine :P

        • reply
          February 24, 2011 1:19 PM

          Are there physics or control problems that AWD cars solve?

          • reply
            February 24, 2011 1:27 PM

            Not really. The only reason to use AWD cars is that the GPS navigation system doesn't differentiate between pavement and dirt roads, so it will tell you to take your 500k exotic offroad and down a mountain path. This isn't a big deal except in instant challenges, where you might challenge another guy while on pavement, and the random checkpoints end up going to a dirt track. Then, whoever has the car that is faster on dirt will probably win, because the asphalt cars move so slow on dirt that the guy in the slightly faster car will never lose control or have to brake, so the slower car can't win.

          • reply
            February 24, 2011 2:16 PM

            it's a bit challenging in controlling RWD cars, say with a GTI, but if you are in a TTS it's like driving on rails

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        February 24, 2011 1:24 PM

        I really like it. I am a big fan of open world games though. I don't really care about driving physics (I've never driven a car at 100+mph before (well, I've done it a couple of times on empty stretches of straight highways while on road trips, but this hardly counts), and I don't watch any kind of racing, so I have no preconceptions for how the cars should handle at those speeds, so I can't tell you how the physics are.

        The races are fun (if not a bit easy most of the time), I've never been unable to connect to the server, and I've not experienced any major bugs. The world is huge and both islands look pretty good. You can also customize your avatar and buy houses and such. I like those things too.

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 7:15 AM

      what if we have a chatty thread that discusses something before the news article goes up? is there a way to link that thread to the story too?

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 7:31 AM

      Hello, bot.

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 12:20 PM

      This seems like a wonderful way to comment...

    • reply
      February 24, 2011 12:45 PM

      Who are all these people?!?!

      • reply
        February 24, 2011 12:47 PM

        My gawd, SHACKNEWS is flooding the chatty!

    • reply
      April 19, 2011 11:24 AM

      atari why would you make us pay for anything you dopes no motorcycles and i have to use 800 gamer points to play in a casino that you put in the game if your going to do that crap make the game 20 bux then we can decide what we want to buy or not buy your rapping us more than my mortgage company jerks!!

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