Codemasters has announced that it has secured a license to create Formula One racing games, after Sony recently opted not to renew its deal. With the new license, Codemasters plans to develop a new F1 game franchise for multiple platforms including PC, with the first title expected in 2009. The deal is a multi-year one, Codemasters confirmed to Shacknews.

News that Codemasters has picked up the license does not come as much of a surprise, considering the company's considerable racing game expertise (Colin McRae Rally series, TOCA Touring Car series, the upcoming Race Driver: GRID), its recent acquisition of Sega Racing Studio, and the fact that the company's headquarters are in Europe, where the sport is much more popular than in North America.

"Codemasters' success and recent innovations in the racing game space makes the company more than appropriately tuned for the challenge," said Codemasters chairman Chris Deering, adding, "The combination of Formula 1's new momentum of expansion and Codemasters' contemporary technology and past experience is the breaking of a new dawn for the sport, on the track and on the HD game screen."

UK publisher Codemasters today revealed that it has purchased Sega's UK Racing Studio. Previous owner Sega recently announced its intent to close the studio, citing a mandate to ensure each branch remained profitable.

The sole game to be developed and released by Sega Racing Studio was Sega Rally Revo (PC, PS3, X360, PSP) in 2007. The acquisition provides the company with the opportunity to work on such well-received Codemasters racing franchises as Colin McRae and Race Driver.

"In seizing this opportunity, we have created additional resources to escalate our plans in the racing segment," stated Codemasters chief executive Rod Cousens. "We hope to welcome more than 40 people to the company.

"We have enjoyed the full co-operation of our friends at Sega in making this happen," he continued. "It is good business for Codemasters, an exciting prospect and there will be more to come as we are not content to stand still."

Publisher Codemasters has unveiled the first retail expansion pack for Turbine's Tolkein-inspired PC MMO, The Lord of the Rings Online. A smattering of concept art accompanied the announcement.

Titled Mines of Moria and marking the start of the game's second volume, the expansion is expected to arrive this fall. Across its six books, players will be able to help release Durin's Bane, battle the Watcher, and aid Galadriel.

Alongside with new environments and foes, it will raise the level cap to 60, sport a new item forging system, and introduce two new classes: the Rune-keeper and the Warden.

"The Mines of Moria is one of the most epic settings in all of fantasy fiction," said Turbine CEO and president Jim Crowley. "No one delivers more quality content than Turbine and with our journey into Moria, we will raise the bar even higher."

Once expected to arrive in November, publisher Codemasters has released three batches of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version of Triumph Studios' sadistic action-strategy title Overlord (PC, X360).

Priced at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the Raising Hell DLC contains new single-player content and levels. The 400 Microsoft Point ($5) Challenge Pack adds seven new multiplayer maps and the legendary difficulty for single-player.

Available free of charge, the Split-Screen Multiplayer Pack brings offline split-screen mutliplayer to the game, along with a new multiplayer map. All three packs are currently available from the online Xbox Live Marketplace.

European owners of the PC version, meanwhile, can obtain the content from Metaboli. No details on an eventual North American release of the PC content were provided.

Codemasters has announced it will handle the North American and European publishing duties of NetDevil's PC space-action MMO Jumpgate Evolution. Expected to arrive later this year, the title will be published under the company's Codemasters Online label.

Announced in June 2007, Jumpgate Evolution marks NetDevil's attempt to modernize and update its long-running Jumpgate MMO with new graphics, a new user interface, AI tweaks and other modifications. To provide a visual element to the news, the companies sent along four new screenshots of pretty space things.

"Jumpgate brings something new and fresh to the online persistent space," explained Codemasters Online VP David Solari. "The all-action approach and thrilling, twitch-based space combat really sets it apart from other MMOs in the market and we are very much looking forward to releasing this space epic in late 2008."

Update: Peggle is indeed headed to Xbox Live Arcade and is tentatively slated for a Q2 release, a PopCap representative has confirmed to Shacknews.

Original Story: PopCap's ultra-addictive and mega-colorful casual gaming sensation Peggle is on its way to the Xbox 360, according a listing on the Entertainment Software Rating Board web site.

Though not officially confirmed, the title is expected to be a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game, as past PopCap Xbox 360 releases, such as Zuma, have been. It has been assigned an "E for Everyone" rating.

Previously released on PC, Mac, and the iPod, the Pachinko-like skill-based offerings of Peggle have won over many a cold-hearted gamer despite its... Read more

The arrival of Kuju Sheffield's much-anticipated update to Sensible World of Soccer (X360) this week was marred by nonfunctional online play, causing Microsoft to pull the game from Xbox Live Marketplace. Publisher Codemasters and Microsoft have made a fixed version of the title available, and it's now available again for download on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Users in Codemaster's online forums have confirmed that the online play is indeed working. Any users who downloaded the buggy version of the game can redownload the title free of charge after deleting the original.

Once rumored as a summer release, fans excited for the online-enabled Xbox 360 version of Codemasters' Sensible World of Soccer (X360) had to wait until last night for the game to actually arrive. Unfortunately, a bug in the game disabling arguably the most important feature--online play--has caused Microsoft to pull the game from Xbox Live Marketplace.

"This game has been pulled. I'll post an update when it is available again," writes the ever-vigilant Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb on his Microsoft-sanctioned blog. "In the meantime, if you downloaded this busted version, please delete it and when the new one is available you’ll be able to downloaded (sic) it again (at no charge if ... Read more

Codemasters has pulled back the curtain on Emergency Mayhem for Wii, a mission-based mini-game title due out next spring.

Built around chaos and rescue and described by the company as having "a decidedly slapstick nature," the game's situations are said to border on ludricious. One mini-game has players preventing a jailbreak by correcting positioning a trampoline, another has them herding penguins.

Along with the 30 missions of the single-player campaign, up to four players can play together in the game's multiplayer mode.

Codemasters Guildford is preparing an original "character-driven action title" known as Project Strike Team, reports European gaming publication Develop.

Currently in an extremely early stage--the studio is still hiring and hashing out exactly how to transfer Codemasters Southam's concepts to gameplay--the title uses an advanced version of the company's NEON technology, which powered the off-road racer DiRT (PC, PS3, X360).

"A lot has already been done on the groundwork, but I think that’s a great benefit for the new team--they can now come in with some set parameters but start adding to it in their own way," said Guildford studio head Aidrian Bolton. "People are excited to try something genuinely new."

No platforms were specifically mentioned, though the game is likely to release on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 when it hits in 2009.

Publisher Codemasters has released the latest trailer from Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Spark Unlimited's alternate history shooter set in a Germany-occupied USA.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty hits PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 early next year.

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A new Overlord patch has been released, updating the PC version of the game to v1.4. The 76mb download adds split screen support to the game, and allows people with the regular Overlord to play against people who own the Overlord: Raising Hell boxset. ... Read more

Update: New screenshots of the various upcoming titles have been added, including new pictures of Rez HD and N+.

Original Story: There will be no new Xbox Live Arcade release this week due to the launch of the Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, Microsoft has announced. The initiative, which permanently lowers the price of popular XBLA games, begins tomorrow alongside the debut of the fall system update.

Included in the program are Marble Blast Ultra, Small Arms, and Zuma Deluxe, which previously sold for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and will now sell for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). Lumines Live! and Bankshot Billiards 2, both formerly 1200 Microsot Points ($15) represent the program's 800 Microsoft Point ($10) pricing level.

In addition to XBLA Hits, the fall system update adds a number of new capabilities to the system, including Xvid and DivX video codec support.

However, the company did provide the following list of XBLA games, all of which are due out "in the coming weeks." Only the specific release date of Sensible... Read more

Announced earlier this year as Race Driver One, Codemasters has renamed its upcoming on-road racing title GRID for North American audiences and Race Driver: GRID for those in Europe.

Due out on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in mid-2008, GRID has players racing through various real-life locales in the United States, Europe, and Japan while sustaining realistic damage to their vehicles.

The latest evolution of Codemaster's TOCA Tour Driving and TOCA Race Driver franchises is being developed at Codemasters Studios by the team that handled the off-road rally effort Colin McRae: DiRT (PC, PS3, X360) and uses an enhanced version of DiRT's Neon game engine.

"This is not a game about collecting cars or spending all of your time in the front-end tuning suspension settings or designing liveries," noted chief game designer Ralph Fulton. "We want to make racing exciting again."

Announced long ago as an Xbox Live Arcade title and rumored to be released this past summer, the launch date for Sensible World of Soccer has finally been confirmed by Microsoft and Codemasters. The online-enabled port of Sensible Software's 1994 Amiga followup to Sensible Soccer will come to the download service December 19 in North America and Europe.

Like many Xbox Live Arcade updates, the game can be played in both classic and enhanced graphical modes and features HD visuals. And of course, footballers can battle it out online in two-player team vs. team matches.

Codemasters has released screenshots and a new trailer for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the alternate reality World War 2 shooter in development at Spark Unlimited (Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Legend: The Box). Turning Point will ship for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 early next year.

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Three batches of downloadable content for Triumph Studios' goblin-commanding simulator Overlord will hit Xbox Live Marketplace in November, publisher Codemasters announced today.

Along with the previously announced split-screen mode, which will be offered free of charge, the game will also receive the single-player expansion pack Raising Hell and the new multiplayer maps of Challenge Mode. No pricing was announced for the latter two items, though Codemasters was quite clear that they would be sold at a premium.

The publisher anticipates the new content to be available to owners of the PC version next year.

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Valve has announced that Codemasters is the latest publisher to put part of its game library on Steam. Available right away is the Mercury Steam horror action game Clive Barker's Jericho, with the fantasy action adventure game Overlord from Triumph Studios and off-road racer DiRT following later this month.

Future games from Codemasters will be on Steam day and date with their retail release. The agreement only covers new and future games, older Codemasters titles will not find their way onto Steam for the time being.

"With major new content in the portfolio, Codemasters continues to expand its publishing and distribution reach," said Peter Chan, Director, Business Development, Codemasters. "As the industry's leading online platform for digital delivery of PC entertainment, Steam is a natural addition to the suite of leading platforms Codemasters is targeting with its leading new and recent releases."

GameTap, the Turner Broadcasting-owned PC digital distribution platform, will celebrate the addition of its 1,000th game on November 15. With the milestone less than a month away, the lead-up will be marked by a number of high profile game releases for paying members.

Subscribers will gain access to Mercury Steam's creepy shooter Clive Barker's Jericho (PC, PS3, X360) on October 23, the same day it hits retail. The conclusion to the current season of Cyan Worlds' episodic series Myst Online: Uru Live (PC) follows November 1, with the second season of Telltale Games' episode-based adventure franchise Sam & Max (PC) beginning November 8.

Along with its new and original games, GameTap will continue adding older PC and console titles to its lineup each week. Codemasters' ... Read more

Industry print publication Game Developer has released its 2007 list of Top 20 Publishers in video games, and the top slot has changed for the first time in the history of the annual feature, with third-party industry heavyweight Electronic Arts ceding the #1 crown to first-party manufacturer Nintendo. The title is the latest in a seemingly unending string of good news for the Kyoto-based hardware giant, which recently saw its stock hit a record high.

EA moved down to #2, with Activision coming in at #3, Ubisoft moving up to #4, and THQ rounding out the top five. Take-Two Interactive and Sega of America took the next two slots. As far as the other first-party publishers, Sony Computer Entertainment came in at #8, one slot above Microsoft Game Studios. Fans of niche Japanese gaming will be pleased to know that Atlus has joined the Top 20 for the first time at #18, while ailing Atari has dropped off.

Game Developer publisher CMP Game Group compiled its list by considering detailed responses from over 300 members of the game publishing community, as well as sales and review data, release portfolios, and employee pay.

A full list of the Top 20 Publishers follows. The full 100-page report is available for purchase from Game Developer Research, with a summary in the October 2007 issue of Game Developer. ... Read more