Bizarre Creations' Ged Talbot admitted that the developer's long-running, Xbox (and Xbox 360) exclusive racing series Project Gotham Racing was beginning to lose its sizzle, according to an interview with CVG. Talbot explained, "By the time we got to PGR4 I certainly felt that the time was right to move on and do different things." That's a desire the developer will be fulfilling with its upcoming "Mario Kart meets Forza" racer, Blur -- a project Talbot calls "a breath of fresh air."

Yes, they're breaking up the monotony of their worn out racing franchise, and rejuvenating their stagnant creative juices by generating a totally new ... racing franchise. Bold!

Gallery: Blur

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A tipster informs us that Microsoft has announced a new batch of Platinum Hits for Singapore. The new titles include Project Gotham Racing 4, Forza Motorsport 2, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, Halo 3 and Lost Odyssey. The new hits all appear to sport the new packaging that was spotted last week. All the games, incidentally, are priced at SGD $39.90 (USD $26).

It's worth noting that all of these games, aside from Forza 2, have yet to become Platinum Hits in North America. Granted, each region has different titles in the value range, but we'd say it's a safe bet that at least PGR4 and Halo 3 should make the cut on this side of the pond. Hopefully the redesigned packaging is a sign that Microsoft will announce new titles soon. Stay tuned.

[Thanks, Cylus]

Microsoft has announced that Halo 3, Mass Effect and Project Gotham Racing 4 will soon join the Xbox 360 Classics range in EMEA regions. The three will join the Classics club March 20, when they will see their prices reduced to a mere £19.99. This is normally the part of the post where we would tell you a little something about each title, giving you important information to help you make the best purchasing decision. Chances are you've probably heard of all of these by now but who are we to argue with tradition?

One of them has cars and the other two have lots of aliens and shooting. The last two might sound similar, but only one of them has really long elevator rides.

In solidarity with the embattled auto industry's ongoing fire sale, Project Gotham Racing 4's Premium Challenge Pack DLC is now available for purchase on the XBLM for 240 as part of Microsoft's Deal of the Week program.

The discount begins today and will be offered through Sunday, March 15. As always, Deal of the Week offers are only available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

[Thanks, Lightsout565]

Every year (well, at least since being banned from E3) the grand minions of GameStop Corp. descend upon the dessert oasis that is Las Vegas, Nevada -- with a Capital X -- to become better informed about their retail products, so as to make professional recommendations to their far less knowledgeable customer base. With a few cleverly placed posers, 1UP has infiltrated the sore-thumbed masses of regional managers who have traveled great distances to earn bragging rights over the adolescents who, in turn, loiter inside their finely vacuumed establishments. Finally, some payoff for another hard year of underachievement (remember kids, these are just rumors):

• A trailer for a new Indiana Jones game (could it be?) will premiere next week ... after everyone's returned home to Nowheresville.
• 60 GB Xbox 360 hard drive will be $99 with 3 months of Xbox Live and an ethernet cable; or 12 months of Xbox Live for $70 and a copy of PGR4. Decisions, decisions...
• Animal Crossing: City Folk will be bundled with the Wii Speak "community mic" and sold for $70. (And after this, Nintendo will be done with peripherals. Promise. *Crosses fingers behind back.*)
  
• GBA's Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories will get a surprise port to ... (wait for it) ... PS2! [Update: As several commenters point out, a Chain of Memories port remake has been available in Japan since March 2007.]

Visit 1UP for the full range of oohs and ahs. Bet you wish you'd forgone that degree and stuck it out at the strip mall, huh? Just imagine: You could be there. Right. Now.

[Image credit: dougward]

Microsoft is running an interesting deal for Canadian fanboys, where they're giving customers a free game for purchasing at least $100 in 360 accessories. Suh-weet!

This mail-in offer (again, only available in Canada) gives customers the choice of receiving Halo 3, Lost Odyssey, PGR4 or Viva Pinata Party Animals for FREE as long as receipt proof can be supplied proving that $100 in accessories were purchased between June 17th and July 1st, 2008. And by accessories, we mean pretty much every accessory known to exist including controllers, Vision camera, wireless adapter, 120GB HDD and the Messenger Kit. That means if you are already in the market for high priced 360 accessories like the 120GB HDD or wireless adapter, you pretty much score a free game with your purchase. Hit the "source" link below (warning, it is a PDF link) to read all offer details.

[Thanks, Cody Chateauvert]

Each week, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.

This week for Points>Life we're taking a look at four achievements in Project Gotham Racing 4. Each achievement is a puzzle that needs to be solved, and we've gone ahead and solved them for you. Looking for a fun street racing title and need a few extra points in your pocket? Take a stab at PGR4!

In order to successfully complete these achievements you'll need to make sure your settings are all correct. So, jump inside for all the details.

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Downloadable content is a prized nugget we all not-so-secretly hope awaits us after taking any game home, but like the midday sun on a carton of fresh milk, it also has us spoiled. However, with Bizarre Creations now parking its ride in Activision's garage, the developer stated that it's closing the books on last year's Project Gotham Racing 4, adding that it will not be releasing any more new content for the stylish Xbox 360 racer.

According to a recent post on Bizarre Creation's official forums by a dev calling himself "Ben," the studio has washed its hands of the game. "Bizarre Creations won't be adding anything more to PGR4 in the future," he wrote. "We've completed the hand-over to Microsoft, so any further add-ons will come from them and not us I'm afraid." The news probably wouldn't sting so much had the last update not been so incredibly cool, leaving us now waiting to see what else the British studio has up its racing sleeves.

Bizarre Creations' own Ben Ward hopped onto the official Project Gotham Racing 4 forums to address questions regarding any planned PGR4 DLC. And, sadly, we got an answer that we weren't prepared to hear.

Ward informed everyone that Bizarre has handed the PGR4 "reigns" over to Microsoft and confirmed that "you won't see any more PGR4 DLC from Bizarre Creations". Though, Ward did leave a minuscule possibility of future PGR4 DLC being released, but it would have to come from Microsoft. Poor PGR4 DLC, we barely knew you but the time we shared was and forever will be some of the best gaming moments of our life ... rest peacefully.

[Via ConsoleTECH]

Don't get your panties in an excitement bundle, we are not doing a surprise Super Halo 3 / PGR4 Qee Giveaway today as Friday was indeed the last day of our eight day giveaway. Sorry guys. But we just wanted to inform you that Kenny was Friday's lucky winner and will be doubling his Qee collection in the process. We also wanted to thank all of you, our loyal X3F readers, for supporting the site and giveaways by entering each and every day. Hopefully we can give out oodles and oodles of free swag in the months to come. We should also send one final (and ginormous) thank you to the crew over at Toy2r for being overly generous with their Qee donations and support as well. Jump on over to their site and see what (smashing monkey) goodies you can find. Thanks everyone!

Update: Bummer, this giveaway is over. To see who won and to enter a new giveaway, make your way over here.

Today, the fifth day of our Super Halo 3 / PGR4 Qee Giveaway, we offer yet another Qee and another congrats message to yesterday's big winner. So, Jazz, congratulations on winning a spiffy PGR4 Qee that'll one day ride shotgun with you in your new 2009 Nissan GT-R.

For the second day in a row, we're giving out yet another PGR4 Qee thanks to the sincerely sincere folks over at Toy2r. And by now, you should know the drill. We'll be awarding a PGR4 Qee to one randomly chosen fanboy who follows the directions below. You should also know that this giveaway ends TODAY at 5:00PM eastern, so get your entry in soon'ish ... and here's how:

• Today we're feeling a bit lazy, so we're allowing you to be lazy as well. To enter into today's PGR4 Qee giveaway all we want you to give us is ONE random word. Yup, that's it. So, to enter today's giveaway, we want you to comment on this post with one word, any word.
• One comment per person. Multiple comments by the same user will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until later today, Tuesday, March 4th at 5:00PM eastern. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
• On Wednesday, March 5th we'll randomly choose and announce one winner.
• One lucky winner will receive one PGR4 Qee valued at $20.

Another big thank you goes out to Toy2r for allowing us to give out the Qee goods and if you need the official rules, make a jump here.

Update: This giveaway has ended. To see who won and a to enter a new giveaway, click your way over here.

Continuing our Super Halo 3 / PGR4 Qee Giveaway, we'd like to congratulate pandlcg on winning yesterday's green Halo 3 Qee. We learned a lot about our readers and that they are expert monkey impersonators. Who would have thought?

Anyway, onward to today's giveaway. Toy2R's gracious giving is allowing us to give out a very rare and ultra sleek blue Halo 3 Qee today (the little dude on the far right). W00t, w00t! And just like yesterday, the one lucky (and totally random) fanboy who successfully completes the entry rules below will be one blue Halo 3 Qee richer. Remember though, this giveaway wraps up TODAY at 5:00PM eastern, so be sure to enter the giveaway fun by ...

• Today's blue Halo 3 Qee made us think about the ongoing struggle between red and blue. We want to know which side you are on and why you chose to ally yourself with them. So, what is it? Red or blue? Comment on this post today with your answer.
• One comment per person. Multiple comments by the same user will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until later today, Thursday, February 28th at 5:00PM eastern. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
• On Friday, we'll randomly choose and announce one winner.
• One winner will receive one blue Halo 3 Qee valued at $20.

Good luck to all on today's second Qee giveaway as we sign off and thank Toy2R for donating such adorable prizes. And if you need them, official giveaway rules can be read here.

Update: This giveaway has closed. To see who won and to enter another giveaway, simply go here.

Fanswag Weekly is back once again and this round we're prepared to give out the goods for an entire week. Yes sir, a week long giveaway full of prizes, happiness and a whole bunch of Qee. The overly generous and amazing crew over at Toy2R sent us a box full of limited edition, rare and promotional Halo 3 and PGR4 Qee to giveaway. And wouldn't you know that we're giving away one Halo 3 or PGR4 Qee every day from now through next week (excluding the weekend). Yeah, we're awesome. And to kick off the fun, we're giving away a green Halo 3 Qee to one lucky fanboy who can read the instructions below, complete said instructions and enter TODAY from now through 5:00PM eastern. So, let's get to it ...

• Since the Halo 3 Qee are actually monkey Qees painted to look like a Spartan (no joke, they even have monkey ears), comment on this post today with your best monkey impersonation.
• One comment per person. Multiple comments by the same user will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until later today, Wednesday, February 27th at 5:00PM eastern. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
• On Thursday, we'll randomly choose and announce one winner.
• One winner will receive a green Halo 3 Qee valued at $20.

Again, we'll be giving away a new Qee everyday from now through next week, so keep your eyes glued to X3F and be sure to get your entries in by 5:00PM eastern. We also have to send another giant thank you to our friends over at Toy2R for their Qee generosity. Official giveaway rules can be read right here.

Just a reminder for Bizarre fans that today, racing out of the XBLM gates, is a pair of previously revealed Project Gotham Racing 4 DLC downloads including some paid and some free goods. First up we have a 400 Microsoft point Premium Challenge Pack which includes an additional seven new cars, three new bikes, a new World Challenge Mode that adds 20 new chapters, a new Tourist Mode and ten additional achievements. It's what we'd call DLC that's "packed full of fun". The other piece of PGR4 DLC is the free Challenge Pack which is comprised of a 2007 Peugeot Flux racer, the new Tourist Mode and the Cat and Mouse Mode that didn't quite make the cut last time free DLC was offered. Both packs are available for download off the XBLM right this moment, just be sure to buckle up and watch for deer. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you on Valentine's Day.