Dirt 3 details revealed

Codemasters is pooling its resources to ensure that the next instalment in its highly successful Dirt franchise will trump last year’s smash hit, Dirt 2.

Due to be re-released on June 9th, Dirt 2 has sold more than 1.7 million units worldwide since its launch back in September. It is the fastest and best-selling game in the series.

Codemasters reports that the game significantly expanded the franchise’s audience, and the firm will build on this for Dirt 3 in order to drive the series’ appeal even further.

We know from the stats we can pull from Dirt.net that a major proportion of players are more casual than ever,” said Codemasters’ brand manager Edward Newby-Robson.

The racing studio is already well underway with the next project and continues to develop the EGO engine and push in-house technology to bring new consumer benefits.

Some features which have as yet not been seen in a Codemasters Rally Studio game will make a welcome return and, of course, it wouldn’t be a Codies game without some new surprises.

Both the brand and development teams have taken great pains to understand our racing community to ensure that future Dirt titles are built with them in mind, whilst keeping the mainstream appeal that the broader range of consumers demand.”

Newby-Robson went on to add that the next instalment in the Dirt franchise could borrow technology from upcoming racer Formula One 2010, thanks to the EGO engine that powers all of Codemasters’ biggest titles.

The nature of a unified engine means features developed for one franchise will benefit others, so you’ll be seeing the dynamic effects in Formula One 2010 in future racing titles,” he said.

This sharing and some healthy competition between studios means players will reap the rewards in the next iteration of the Dirt franchise, with even more extreme environment conditions.”

The Platinum version of Dirt 2 will be released for PS3 on June 9th.