Trackmania Nations ESWC free to download [Updated]
by Jennie Lees 
{ Jan 30th 2006 at 8:30AM }
If you've ever wanted to flirt with
competitive gaming, now's your chance. The 2006 Electronic Sports World
Cup has commissioned a special edition of Trackmania, Trackmania Nations ESWC, which will feature
in this year's competition with a $40,000 prize.This is apparently the first time a game has been created especially for the competition, and it's being offered free for anyone in the world to download and try their hand at. Even if you're not a veteran Trackmania player, you've nothing to lose. It's an interesting move, and will doubtless be popular--perhaps further genres will be forthcoming in future years if this experiment succeeds.
[via Eurogamer]
[Update: It appears that despite being a free game this has Starforce copy protection built in -- labelled by some as 'malware', Starforce installs hidden device drivers on your system. More information, including removal details.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean McBride @ Feb 8th 2006 12:55PM
So, here at school we've installed Trackmania Nations numerous times. It doesn't ALWAYS install Starforce. Only SOMETIMES. It seems to install Starforce as well if you have any emulated drives (i.e. are using DaemonTools or Alcohol), but we haven't been able to confirm this. Anyway, if it DOES install it on your computer, just go to the glop site and follow the instructions for removal. The game will still play, and it's totally awesome.
mark @ Feb 25th 2006 12:42PM
the ppl dis'in starforce need 2 do the homwork first
starforce ran a compotition with a large cash offering for anybody who could prove there was a problem. also ubisoft have spent thousands investigating the software and found nothing. the results are there for anyone 2c on the ubisoft forums. and if uc the list of games with starforce protectin u would have 2 seriously limit ur gameplaying
btw greatgame lots and lots of fun
Alkemyst @ Apr 18th 2006 8:04PM
i just built a new PC with fresh winxp-pro install re-installed trackmania nation eswc(wich i love to play) and then by chance when looking for more info on the game on google seeing boycott starforce & TMN-ESWC linked with it.
What a joke seeing as the free game does not even need it in any way as i have downloaded the starforce removel sw and TMN-ESWC works just fine with out DarkForce.
Dan Choi @ Jan 30th 2006 8:43AM
Those elevations and jumps look interesting all right (along with the ability to customize your racer with the country of your choice)... anyone try this out yet?
Viktor @ Jan 30th 2006 8:55AM
Nope and i wont try it cuz its protected by starforce. But if you dont care about that im sure its a fun game.
Rich @ Jan 30th 2006 9:31AM
it's actually quite good - much harder than the other trackmanias.
and you shouldn't let starforce protection stop you from playing the best racing game for gamers that's ever been made
oh and if you win the race then it plays your national anthem
"god save the queen"
Sagan @ Jan 30th 2006 10:34AM
Trackmania is one of the best racing series ever. It always gets high scores from reviewers but sells poorly.
The gameplay is somehow similar to the island maps from TM: Sunrise, but you need to use the breaks more to make it harder. We played this game the whole weekend and it was great. The abilities of customization don't go as far as in TM: Sunrise, at least with the ingame editor. The level editor also isn't as powerful as in TM: Sunrise, but still allows for a huge amount of variety.
Olivier @ Jan 30th 2006 2:40PM
I was just about to suggest this type of game be offered for free via XBox Live ARcade for Xbox 360 but then I noticed the Nvidia banner in the logo so no go for XBOX..
Anybody know if America's Army will ever be available for XBLA?
Tom @ Jan 30th 2006 3:32PM
I love the Trackmania games. I have them all. There's really no excuse to NOT play this - it's FREE. What more do you want? Well, apart from getting rid of Starforce that is...
Michael the Great @ Jan 30th 2006 6:14PM
TrackMania Nations contains malware!!!!!
go to http://www.glop.org/starforce/ it's on their game list!
Bad Joystiq! Don't tell people to download malware!!!!
mirateck @ Jan 31st 2006 12:55AM
are you guys insane? this game contains a trojan horse malware program that automatically installs itself on host computers without user knowledge!!!
you should be telling gamers to AVOID this program!
jennie @ Jan 31st 2006 4:05AM
Any of you have more information on this "trojan horse malware"? Starforce is a copy protection method, not a trojan. It's seen by some as too invasive, but it's stretching the definition of malware a little. From Boycott Starforce:
"Starforce has received criticism for installing its own device driver onto computers. The Starforce drivers are often linked to system instability and computer crashes. If these problems occur, the end-user would be unware as to the cause of the problem, and would be helpless to solve the problem."
http://www.glop.org/starforce/
Joystiq commenters, you seem more clued up on this than I--if it really is an extremely nasty trojan, let's have some proof!
It also seems ironic that a free program would include copy protection.
h0mi @ Jan 31st 2006 2:14PM
The "malware" isn't on this free version but on the full version for sale.