By Jim Rossignol on August 12th, 2011 at 6:56 am.
Nadeo’s excitable racing-game sequel, Trackmania 2, will arrive next month, Ubisoft have announced. Pre-ordering types will be able to get their hands on it before then, however, because the beta – which is accessed via pre-ordering – will start on August 17th. Pre-orders cost $24.99 or £19.99. UPDATE: abhishek notes in the comments below that Nadeo have said the game is “unconfirmed” for Steam, and any news on that will come “later”. A bit of an odd decision there, but it seems to be due to Nadeo’s own launch of Maniaplanet and their own updating software system – a topic which seems to be causing a fair bit of upset for PC titles not making it onto Steam of late.
Anyway, it’s been too long, Trackmania. I can’t wait to go hurtling around your impossible racetracks.
12/08/2011 at 07:05 PleasingFungus says:
But is there still time for a delay?
12/08/2011 at 07:06 Jim Rossignol says:
It’d be rude if there weren’t.
12/08/2011 at 10:55 Asskicker says:
You are talking about a ubisoft release here… *rolls eyes*
12/08/2011 at 07:10 Commander Gun says:
I choose $24,99…
Can’t resist the sidetopic here, but lot of games are happy to do the stupid $=€ thing (of pounds, at the moment 20 pounds is worth $32,30), which these days is more annoying than ever as the dollar isn’t exactly high. Don’t know if there was any succes with your ‘Internet has no oceans so release at the same day’ petition, but the currency conversion thing might be a nice follow up!
Anyway, very tempted to buy this one, even although that means learning how to drive again as i’m very used to the stadiumcar now :)
12/08/2011 at 07:50 PunisherPlummer says:
just be glad you dont live in australia, is all im saying.
*to back that up, civ 5 is $79.95 AUD and $49.95 USD on steam. And last week our exchange was 1-1.10*
12/08/2011 at 10:57 SavageD says:
@PunisherPlummer
I don’t remember the last time I bought a game from a retail Aus store. Far too many good online shops in the UK with an ‘international focus’ to be voluntarily handing over extra cash locally. I do feel for the retailer though as it’s not their fault, since their hand is forced by the distributors/publishers.
Given the choice between one game locally, or two imported, the choice is easy.
12/08/2011 at 12:33 lamzor says:
this is what i hate the most when it comes to digital retail. i also posted on their forums, asking whether the price will be 23eur..
trackmania2 is pretty cheap tho. most unfair are the expensive titles.
for example BF3 on origin is 59.99eur, at game.co.uk its 38eur with shipping.
59.99eur is 85$. i wonder, how many americans would pay 85$ for BF3 on origin?
for this i love gog.com, where i can use $ prices also with my VISA/MC issued in europe.
12/08/2011 at 07:10 DSR says:
Hmm… Not sure if want.
I enjoyed the earlier games. Especially Trackmania: Sunrise and Trackmania: Unlimited.
But after recent BS with all that paranoid Ubisoft I’m not feeling like PREordering. Even though I’d like to try beta for myself.
12/08/2011 at 07:24 abhishek says:
Jim you missed what I assume will be a fairly controversial talking point. It won’t be available on Steam at launch, and possibly not at all…
http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic.php?f=207&t=2913&start=20#p44341
12/08/2011 at 07:28 Jim Rossignol says:
Is that controversial? I’ll mention it anyway.
12/08/2011 at 09:02 patricij says:
Not everything ought to be on Steam…Seriously, this STEAM worship/laziness “one DD rule them” all is getting boring…
12/08/2011 at 09:15 Gnoupi says:
To be honest, if a game has a correct “auto-updating” system, and an easy way to reinstall, I can do without steam.
But it’s mostly this what I like in it. I even bought again Borderlands on Steam, because I was tired of running after the patches (and the cd).
12/08/2011 at 09:49 Milky1985 says:
Even if you don;t like it , the reasoning from nadeo about why no steam seems quite clear and actually makes sense.
Its not like the EA thign where they have gvien bland overreaching broad arguments about “connecting with the users” in a way to seemingly hide why they are doing it. Nadeo are being honest, they have even admitted its because they want to link everything through there own system, and have said that they will try to see if they can do it with steam
I don’t mind this and respect the developer for saying so, see EA , stop hdiing behind marketing BS and actually tell the sodding truth and people don’t mind so much.
12/08/2011 at 11:30 neems says:
Well trackMania United is on Steam, and that has auto updaters and an ‘online platform’. Hopefully they can sort something out.
Worth noting that it’s the online beta, so be prepared for hundreds of people racing round custom maps that make no goddamn sense and have zero signposting.
12/08/2011 at 14:14 Ravious says:
Nadeo (the devs) have been remarkably open and honest throughout this upcoming release. I do hope it gets on Steam, if nothing else to tap a huge audience that is aware of Trackmania (since that’s on Steam). Yet, I worry from the accountant’s standpoint.
If Maniaplanet sells “chapters” directly to the users will Steam bar all Maniaplanet games? Is it enough that people can buy the “chapters” from Steam and Maniaplanet?
I feel that is an issue they can’t really discuss.
12/08/2011 at 07:43 Esoteric says:
It will be delayed. I’m sure they want to keep their track record 100% for the season.
12/08/2011 at 09:40 Calneon says:
As long as the beta is not delayed, at least we will have something playable if they do delay the release :).
12/08/2011 at 08:24 Scatterbrainpaul says:
A 6:56 am post. What the hell is up with that
12/08/2011 at 09:52 patricij says:
timed auto-posting… I usually get mine posted at 8.00 AM and try to see me up at 8AM in the morning…
12/08/2011 at 08:25 Optimaximal says:
So, bets on UbiDRM on top of Maniaplanet?
12/08/2011 at 09:22 Gnoupi says:
There won’t be UbiDRM on it : http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic.php?f=208&t=2914#p44265 (approximate translation here: http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic.php?p=44353#p44353 )
A rough and short summary would be that their Maniaplanet system will anyway be based on a network connection, so it is required for many parts of the game (like United). But there won’t be any extra layer of DRM over that.
12/08/2011 at 08:50 JohnnyK says:
Am I missing something, or is there actually no place to preorder yet?
Of course I might just be blind, but I think I tried every link on maniaplanet.com and trackmania.com; it says “Coming soon” on the main trackmania.com-page, but I thought that referred to the beta and not the preorder option.
12/08/2011 at 09:20 ZIGS says:
I too, am wondering this. One would expect the pre-orders to start before the beta but I can’t see it anywhere
12/08/2011 at 11:31 neems says:
Pre-orders from August 17th apparently, same day that the beta goes live.
12/08/2011 at 08:53 Christian says:
I’ll just join in:
But will it have Ubisoft’s fantastic DRM? We want that, right? Gamers like DRM, because whatever that Diablo 3-guy said. Because gaming without DRM these days is like sex without a condom.
Also, will it have Ubisoft’s UPlay-thing that they did with AC?
12/08/2011 at 09:29 Gnoupi says:
No.
12/08/2011 at 09:04 Milky1985 says:
So whens the last minute delay, I know its PC only but its also ubisoft an d they have said it will be out by september, so in 2 weeks time there will be a months delay methinks!
To stop piracy of course.
12/08/2011 at 09:20 Gnoupi says:
–reply fail–
12/08/2011 at 10:28 Flukie says:
There won’t be a delay since they arn’t releasing on consoles.
Seriously they do that because they think you will buy on consoles during the period between because everyone on PC was just waiting to pirate it anyway because its impossible to pirate on consoles… Oh wait.
Bleh looking forward to this just because I enjoy racing games and other ones in the series but Ubisoft don’t deserve Nadeo as a developer although I wish them all the best.
12/08/2011 at 10:52 Lyon says:
What’s happening with this Canyon only malarkey? Are they releasing the other stages as DLC?
12/08/2011 at 11:33 neems says:
Yes apparently other environments will be released seperately (not sure if they will be DLC or standalone); rumour has it that Nadeo are also working on other genres that will come under the ‘Mania’ umbrella. So possibly FPSes and RPGs with built in editors and online connectivity.
12/08/2011 at 14:17 Ravious says:
They are going to be releasing standalone games through the Maniaplanet platform.
So, the next game or “chapter” in Maniaplanet is supposedly going to be Shootmania:Storm (~Feb, ’12), but you won’t need to own Canyon to buy it. After that Trackmania^2:Valley is coming… and again don’t need to own Canyon for that.
The one thing is that Nadeo has hinted that they are interested in allowing the blocks to bleed together. So a Shootmania map could occur on a Trackmania track… that’s likely very blue sky at this point though.
12/08/2011 at 12:12 slpk says:
I don’t get this whole “can’t have it’s own updater on Steam” thing. Doesn’t Champions Online, for example, do exactly that? I play it. They have very frequent updates which all happen within the games’ own client. It downloads and patches everything after the real games starts, while Steam thinks the game is already in progress.
12/08/2011 at 15:34 ArtVandelay says:
Test Drive Unlimited 2 does this too. It has its own launcher that updates the game. The DLC is only available on the Atari website but there is no stand alone application – only the launcher for that particular game.
12/08/2011 at 12:23 MeestaNob says:
Awesome, another company trying to re-invent the wheel.
Christ.
12/08/2011 at 18:13 Pointless Puppies says:
Has there been any word on game performance? Because even with my GTX 460 the game can lag horribly on many Stadium tracks for no real reason if I turn up the settings.