As far as gifting video games goes, racing games are easy. You generally know if your loved one is a racing fan, and if they owned an Xbox 360 and hadn't picked up a game in the past few months, then the gift for them was pretty obvious - Forza Motorsport 3. Turn 10 took a moment during its holiday weekend to let fans know via Twitter just how much fresh meat was being introduced to the popular racing title.

Merry Christmas Forza faithfuls! We saw a huge jump in users this week and over the past day or so, we added approx 1 new user per second!

One user per second? That's like 60 users per minute, or 360 users an hour. If they kept up that pace for an entire year, that would be 3,153,600 users in a year!

Of course they won't keep up that pace. I was just having fun with Windows calculator. I've been on vacation far too long.

More than a million racing fans snapped up copies of Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 3 during its first month at retail, with players logging more than 6.6 million man hours playing online. Those man hours (as opposed to dog hours - dogs can't drive) were spent in more than 64 million connected sessions covering approximately 590 million miles of track.

In other words, a lot of people have been playing Forza 3.

And perhaps a good portion of those million people will be picking up the Hot Holidays car pack, available today, featuring ten of of the world's most anticipated race cars of 2009 and 2010. Cars like the new Ferrari 458 Italia and the latest Nissan GT-R Spec V. Cars like this:

1. 2010 Ferrari 599XX
2. 2010 Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
3. 2010 Lamborghini LP6700-4 SV
4. 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo
5. 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia
6. 2010 Jaguar XFR
7. 2010 Audi S4
8. 2009 Aston Martin #007 AMR Lola
9. 2009 Audi #2 Sport Team Joest R15 TDI
10. 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V

Yes sir, that is definitely a list of cars, all of which can be yours today for 400 Microsoft points. Just make sure to save some points for January 12th, when Turn 10 releases another pack to coincide with the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Pick through the list to decide which games to give and get and leave a comment to point out any you would add that we didn't review.

And don't forget, this is more reference material than it is suggestion. Just because it's on the list doesn't mean we're saying you should get it.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Third-person hip-hop shooter
Subject Matter: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand tells the unintentionally(?) amusing tale of rapper 50 Cent as he struggles to reclaim his diamond encrusted skull from a Middle Eastern bad guy. He's assisted by his G Unit hangers on and some laughably outlandish moments.
Value: An adequately long adventure, made seemingly longer by endlessly looping 50 Cent songs. There are much better games to give this holiday season.
Buy it for: someone as a gag. Or a die hard 50 Cent fan fresh from a six month coma.
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Axel & Pixel
Price: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Adventure
Subject Matter: A point and click adventure game about a man and his dog escaping a dream world with small doses of action.
Value: Axel & Pixel is a good couple of hours worth of relaxing adventure gaming, with a few action / racing segments tossed in to keep things interesting. It's very simply, extremely easy, and once you are done there isn't much reason to go back through it.
Buy it for: Adventure game fans and older parents, to show them that consoles have something for them too.
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Assassin's Creed II

Price: $59.99
Rating: M
Genre: Free-running platforming adventure game
Subject Matter: Assassinations and conspiracy spent mostly in 15th century Renaissance Italy.
Value: Lots more content than the first game had, probably lasting gamers at least double the time they spent with the first Assassin's Creed.
Buy it for: People who were let down by the first game, people who like history, beautiful scenery, dynamic platforming, solving mysteries and games that might be the Game of the Year.
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Batman: Arkham Asylum
Price:$59.99
Rating: T
Genre: Action/Adventure
Subject Matter: Join one of comic books' most iconic heroes on an adventure in Gotham City's insane asylum, where The Joker is on the loose.
Value: With character ability customization, bonus challenge maps and tons of riddles courtesy of The Riddler, Arkham Asylum offers at least three playthroughs' worth of fun.
Buy it for: Batman fans and anybody jonesing for a Mark Hamill voice over fix.
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The Beatles: Rock Band
Price: The stand-alone game sells for $59.99, the Limited Edition Premium Bundle sell for $249.99, the Rickenbacker 325 Standalone Guitar and the Gretsch Duo Jet Standalone Guitar sells for $99.99.
Rating: Teen
Genre: Rhythm music game
Subject Matter: The Beatles: Rock Band is a musical journey through the history of one of the world's most popular bands.
Value: For those new to the Rock Band phenomenon and fans of The Beatles, this 45-track game is well worth a purchase because this is the only way you'll play The Beatles music in a Rock Band game. If you're not into the band, give this a pass.
Buy it for: huge Beatles fans.
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Borderlands

Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person shooter RPG
Subject Matter: Borderlands targets the loot-hungry region of the brain, offering four classes with which to stalk the planet Pandora, shoot things and level up, acquiring cool guns, sweet armor and totally rad superpowers. As role-playing games go, it's shallow, but offers a constant stream of junk food gaming.
Value: Seeing all that Borderlands has to offer could take hundreds of hours. But the real value comes in the form of being able to play with friends on Xbox Live or via splitscreen.
Buy it for: the loot glutton with an itchy trigger finger and a history of playing Diablo.
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Brutal Legend
Price: $59.99 Rating: Mature
Genre: Action Adventure
Subject Matter: Brutal Legend is a heavy metal-themed action game that combines racing, shooting, real-time strategy, and hack and slash into one slightly disjointed mix.
Value: Brutal Legend is a game from Tim Schafer, one of gaming's greatest comedy minds, and the absurd humor carries the game a long way. It's the story of a roadie who gets transported to a heavy metal world where he must raise an army to free the oppressed inhabitants. There's plenty to do, though the odd mix of genres might be too much for some players.
Buy it for: Anyone with a strong affection for heavy metal music or sa twisted sense of humor.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Price: $59.99 to $149.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person military shooter
Subject Matter: Lead a team of elite commandoes in Modern Warfare 2 as they try to prevent a Russian invasion and global thermonuclear war. Then take the action online, going head to head against other well-armed gamers. It's loud, violent and a hell of a lot of fun to play.
Value: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's single-player storyline may be short, but the package more than makes up for it with ample cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. Near endless replayability will be stoked with future downloadable content.
Buy it for: the Michael Bay action movie fan who likes his shooters bombastic and nearly devoid of a comprehensible story, one who doesn't shy away from ultra-violent fare.
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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Price: $39.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person shooter
Subject Matter: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a Civil War era first-person shooter.
Value: With an engaging story, wide open maps and plenty of mulitplayer options, this game will take up quite a bit of your time.
Buy it for: First-person shooter enthusiasts, fans of the Wild West and Civil War buffs.
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DJ Hero
Price: $119.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Rhythm
Subject Matter: DJ Hero is a rhythm game featuring a replica DJ turntable so players can mix and scratch to the beat of original music mash-ups.
Value: DJ Hero features upwards fo 100 different DJ-driven mash-ups featuring songs from the 70's on up to present-day hits. Unlike the latest Guitar Hero or Rock Band games, however, it's only good for one or two players, so the party element just isn't there. The innovative turntable-based gameplay makes it a breath of fresh air in the currently band-centric music genre, but it certainly isn't as social.
Buy it for: Fans of eclectic music mixes and lonely Guitar Hero fans.
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Dragon Age: Origins
Price: $49.99
Rating:Mature
Genre: Roleplaying
Subject Matter: An epic action roleplaying game set in a world besieged by evil inside and out.
Value: Dragon Age: Origins packs more than 100 hours of gameplay into this action RPG, with branching story paths that encourage multiple play throughs in order to experience it all. BioWare designed the game so it can be played by RPG gamers of any skill level, but mature content and strong sexual situations mean you might want to keep it in the high teens.
Buy it for: Anyone who has ever conversationally mentioned hit points.
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Fairytale Fights

Price: $59.99
Rating: M
Genre: Action
Subject Matter: A quartet of cutesy fairytale characters set out to regain their fame by beating the beejesus out of other cutesy things.
Value: With two-player cooperative play and a four player battle royal mode, you can really let out you violent side in buckets of cartoony blood.
Buy it for: People who need a healthy way to blow off steam after a bad day at work. Just don't be standing next to them if the game happens to crash and they need an immediate alternative.
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Fallout 3: Broken Steel

Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: M
Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game
Subject Matter: Fallout 3 expansion involving missions with a high-powered fighting force.
Value: High because it extends the level cap to Fallout 3, changes the game's ending and allows the adventure to be played infinitely once the story has "ended"
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans who want to play more; essential for anyone getting any Fallout 3 downloadable content
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Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

Price: $10.00 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: Mature
Genre: Still a post-apocalyptic RPG
Subject Matter: It's Fallout 3 in space!
Value: Mothership Zeta gives the Fallout 3 player an entire spaceship to explore and make their own, some futuristic new weapons, and tacks a good five hours onto the regular campaign, making it a relatively fair value for your money.
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans.
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Fallout 3: Point Lookout

Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: M
Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game
Subject Matter: Fallout 3 in microcosm, set on a spooky island.
Value: Tons of content, and widely seen as the Fallout 3 downloadable content that best shares the strengths of the base game.
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans.
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FIFA Soccer 2010

Price: $49.99
Rating: E
Genre: Round-Ball Football
Subject Matter: The best football game on the market.
Value: Almost endless. There are so many leagues and cups, and such a deep singleplayer experience, that it can be played to death until FIFA 11 is released. And that's before we even get to the 10v10 multiplayer…
Buy it for: Anyone who has even a passing interest in the world game.
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Fight Night Round 4

Price: $59.99
Rating: T
Genre: Boxing
Subject Matter: Boxing
Value: Tons of fighters, good online options and no real competition.
Buy it for: Boxing fans or people looking for a fighting-based game that has longer-lasting fights.
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Forza Motorsport 3

Price: $59.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Driving simulation
Subject Matter: Forza Motorsport 3 takes the driving simulation in a new direction, making it easier than ever to get into a car, upgrade it, tune it and take if for a spin. For more advance driving game fans, there's plenty of hardcore driving simulation to enjoy as well.
Value: Hundreds of cars, dozens of tracks, thousands of upgrade possibilities and an increasing amount of user-generated content available via the game's storefront, all purchased with in-game credits, not real money, make Forza Motorsport 3 a great driving value.
Buy it for: the Xbox 360 owner who likes to go fast.
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Gears of War 2: Dark Corners

Price: 1200 Microsoft Points (about $15)
Rating: Mature
Genre: Third-person tactical shooter
Subject Matter: This downloadable add-on for Gears of War 2 lets players run through The Road to Ruin, a campaign level original cut from the game.
Value: With a new single-player level, seven new multiplayer maps and director's commentary, you can't go wrong for $15.
Buy it for: Owners and fans of the original Gears of War 2.
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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Price: $49.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action
Subject Matter: A arcade-style shooter loosely based on the live-action G.I. Joe movie.
Value: G.I. Joe is a movie tie-in strangely reminiscent of Konami's Contra series. One or two players take control of their favorite Joes from the movie and take on Cobra across multiple levels of run-and-gun action. There are a few unlockables catering to fans of the old cartoon series, but other than that this is strictly a movie-lover's affair.
Buy it for: Really, really big fans of the G.I. Joe live-action movie.
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Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Price: $20 if downloaded through Xbox Live Arcade (requires a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV) or $39.95 if purchased as one half of the Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City disc (GTA IV not required; Episodes disc also includes the similarly-sized first GTA IV expansion, Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned.)
Rating: M
Genre: Open world, third-person shooter.
Subject Matter: Over-the-top modern crime drama set in a fictional New York City.
Value: Offers more content per dollar than just about anything else downloadable on the Xbox 360, a 13-hour-plus campaign, numerous side activities and returning multiplayer challenges similar to what was offered with GTA IV.
Buy it for: People who thought GTA IV was too tame and wished their lead character would be asked to parachute off skyscrapers, steal subway cars (with a helicopter), dance in a nightclub and cross paths with the last two protagonists in the GTA IV saga.
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Guitar Hero 5

Price: $59.99 for the game, $99.99 with a guitar controller included
Rating: Teen
Genre: Music/Rythym
Subject Matter: It's Guitar Hero. You play a quintet of color-coordinated "notes" as they scroll downscreen to a new selection of music.
Value: Guitar Hero 5 offers a great suite of single and multiplayer modes, the most robust options yet for the series. What it doesn't offer is the series' most attractive soundtrack, despite an 85 song strong line up. Good for the new Guitar Hero gamer, but that money may be better spent on downloadable songs.
Buy it for: for Guitar Hero noobs who have extremely eclectic taste in music.
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Halo 3: ODST

Price: $59.99
Rating: M
Genre: First-person shooter
Subject Matter: Daytime sci-fi military action interspersed with noir-inspired nighttime sleuthing.
Value: Varies depending on one's Halo experience. A seven-hour campaign and the offline Firefight mode can be played with up to four players and is all-new, but only three of the game's 24 multiplayer maps haven't been sold — and possibly purchased by the prospective ODST consumer — before.
Buy it for: Halo fans who either never bought Halo 3's bonus maps or wouldn't spend $60 of their own for ODST because they did.
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The King of Fighters XII

Price: $59.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Fighting
Subject Matter: SNK Playmore's latest entry in its King of Fighter series is a return to its roots with 2D fighting and hand-drawn graphics.
Value: The game feels largely unfinished — though, the parts which are done should please the hardcore fans.
Buy it for: Die-hard SNK fighting game fans.
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Left 4 Dead 2

Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person horror shooter
Subject Matter: Four Survivors fight their way through a gory zombie apocalypse in the Southeastern United States, decapitating, dismembering and generally destroying every walking dead human in their path. Cooperative multiplayer is at the core of the Left 4 Dead 2 experience.
Value: Left 4 Dead 2 is a multiplayer game with a massive amount of replayability, but requires cooperative gameplay and reliable friends to fully enjoy. There's very little here for the lone, single-player gamer, so make sure that Live subscription is all paid up.
Buy it for: the grown-up Xbox Live Gold subscriber who believes there's no "I" in team and may be disappointed with the body count in Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3 ODST.
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Lucidity

Price: 800 Points
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Platform/Puzzle
Subject Matter: Little girl Sofi wanders through her dreams, looking for her lost Nana.
Value: While the puzzle gameplay element is average, the art style is superb.
Buy it for: Tim Burton fans.
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Mad Catz Modern Warfare 2 Throat Communicator

Price: $29.99
Rating: NA
Genre: NA
Subject Matter: This throat communicator is meant to replace the need for a standard Xbox 360 microphone.
Value: The throat communicator does a great job of cutting down on room noise for your friends and feels pretty comfortable. If those things are important to you, you should pick this up.
Buy it for: Modern Warfare 2 enthusiasts, online gamers and friends who play in noisy settings.
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Madden NFL 10
Price: $59.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: The only video game licensed by the NFL, covering the current season.
Value: For the first time on the current console generation, Madden earns its must-own status among sports gamers. The fine-tuned action is slightly slower, creating greater big play potential on both sides of the ball.
Buy it for: Any sports gamer who doesn't yet have it. Madden is a no-brainer gift that any sports fan will enjoy.
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Marvel VS. Capcom 2

Price: $15.00
Rating: Teen
Genre: Fighting
Subject Matter: Marvel characters. Capcom characters. Fighting.
Value: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 contains one of the largest roster in fighting game history, with 56 Marvel and Capcom characters to choose from. The sheer amount of variety plus online multiplayer makes this one downloadable title well worth the price.
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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Price: $59.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action RPG
Subject Matter: Tons of Marvel heroes take on tons of Marvel villains
Value: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 may not quite live up to the thrill of the original, but it is a more cohesive package overall, with a storyline ripped from Marvel's Civil War storyline and a good dozen hours of heroic fun for 1-4 players.
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Mass Effect: Pinnacle Station

Price: $5 (requires a copy of Mass Effect)
Rating: M
Genre: Bonus missions for third-person shooter/role-playing game
Subject Matter: Mass Effect gets a battle simulator to allow goal-based shooting challenges.
Value: High for those looking for something new in the original Mass Effect while awaiting the January sequel; low for people looking for what made the first game popular.
Buy it for: Mass Effect completists, though you'll only be able to buy them download points for this game or give them a small check.
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Mini Ninjas

Price: $49.99
Rating: E
Genre: Juvenile Bush Disguise/Phantom Removal
Subject Matter: Play as one of a band of adorable child ninjas on a quest to kill a bad guy and free the adorable little forest animals.
Value: A somewhat short singleplayer game, but the ability to play as one of several ninjas means there's plenty of replay value.
Buy it for: Anyone. Everyone. Kids will love the straight-forward combat, adults will find there's a great stealth and combat system lurking under the hood.
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Modern Warfare 2 Combat Controller Camo

Price: $49.99
Rating: N/A
Genre: N/A
Subject Matter: This wired controller features programmable buttons, better triggers and a Modern Warfare 2 theme.
Value: It's a bit pricey, but if you're a big fan of the game and like the idea of programmable buttons, it's probably worth the $50.
Buy it for: Fans of Modern Warfare 2.
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NBA 2K10
Price: $59.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: NBA 2K10 celebrates the 10th anniversary of 2K Sports' best-in-class basketball simulation.
Value: NBA 2K10 offers a much more varied set of gameplay modes, both single- and multiplayer, than its challenger NBA Live 10. Its season simulation lacks the aspect of playing in this year's league but is deeper in all other regards. My Player, in which you create and control one player on his journey from prospect to all-star, is tough but a rewarding experience.
Buy it for: Serious basketball fans with some exposure to the sport in real life, either as a player or a devoted fan.
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NBA Live 10
Price: $59.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: NBA Live 10 is EA Sports' current title covering pro basketball's upcoming season.
Value: EA Sports has poured a ton of effort into resurrecting the franchise. New controls enabling you to move players off the ball on offense and defense are easy to learn and a real plus. Dynamic DNA allows you to run your season simulation as if it were taking place among current league events in real life.
Buy it for: Basketball fans who prefer singleplayer sports gaming, want a very accurate league simulation, and an easy-to-comprehend control set.
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NCAA Football 10
Price: $59.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: The tradition and pageantry of college football's 115 teams, plus any schools you might choose to create.
Value: NCAA Football 10 is the deepest simulation of a sport, on and off the field, of any currently available sports title.
Buy it for: Any sports nut with a serious helping of school pride or leftover nostalgia for college days gone by.
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NHL 2K10
Price: $39.99
Rating: Everyone 10+
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: NHL 2K10 is 2K Sports' current title covering professional hockey's latest season.
Value: NHL 2K10 is still a runner-up to EA's NHL 10, but it is not without merit. It features the same robust multiplayer package as its NBA cousin. The action's a little arcadey, but it also is the only NHL title with the league's popular outdoor classic venues.
Buy it for: A casual-to-moderate hockey fan who enjoys lots of scoring action.
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Pro Evolution Soccer 2010

Price: $59.99
Rating: E
Genre: Sports
Subject Matter: Football title encompassing international and club tournaments, manager modes and online play.
Value: Pro Evo's "Master League", a time-devouring game mode incorporating RPG and strategy elements, is the one area fans remain devoted to this series ahead of its rival, EA Sports' FIFA.
Buy it for: Football fans who like to not only play a good game, but also roll up their sleeves and get lost in a sea of statistics and growth charts.
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Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Realistic military first-person shooter
Subject Matter: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a relatively open-world tactical shooter that has players trying to take the fictional island of Skira from China.
Value: Plagued with problems this shooter doesn't deliver much for the premium price you pay.
Buy it for: hardcore fans of realistic shooters that offer no chance for mistakes or do-overs.
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Resident Evil 5

Price: $39.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Survival Horror meets third-person shooter
Subject Matter: The latest iteration in the famed survival horror game ditches a bit of the slow pacing and fear for a bit more of an action feel.
Value: A worthy addition to anyone's library, but perhaps not the sort of game you'll keep around after it's completed.
Buy it for: fans of Resident Evil and those interested in the premise of the franchise but not in the steady pacing of the gameplay.
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South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Rating: Mature
Genre: Tower Defense
Subject Matter: South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! has the South Park kids big towers to fend off enemies that range from gnomes to old people in an 11 mission campaign.
Buy it for: Fans of South Park, fans of tower defense games, and fans of both.
Value: The game features unlockable characters and challenging maps (especially the later levels), co-op and online. There are also unlockable clips from the show.
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Street Fighter IV

Price: $29.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Fighter
Subject Matter: The next iteration in the storied and fabulous fighter brings with it a dynamic new look and a death grip on classic mechanics.
Value: Packed with playable characters both old and new and a mechanic that is timeless, the online play and in-room versus mode make this a great deal..
Buy it for: fighting fans, Street Fighter fans.
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Tekken 6
Price: $59.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Fighter
Subject Matter: Once you've mastered the moves of your favorite character, Tekken 6's 3D fights are all about timing and tactics.
Value: With 40 playable characters and a seemingly endless single-player campaign, Tekken 6 is a good deal for fans of the franchise willing to put up with some online issues.
Buy it for: fighting fans, Tekken fans, and maybe as a taste of something different for Street Fighter IV fans.
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Trials HD

Price: 1200 Points
Rating: Teen
Genre: Racing/Puzzle
Subject Matter: Trials HD is a twist on motorbike racing: Players must navigate trick courses and tricky in-game physics as fast as they can.
Value: The game features over 50 tracks and seemingly simple, yet deep game play — offering replay value as your skills continue to get better and better. A level editor lets players make their own courses. It's the Excite Bike of the 21st Century.
Buy it for: Those who want more from their racing games than speed.
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WET
Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Third-person acrobatic shooter.
Subject Matter: Rubi Malone is a leather-pants wearing, wall-running, pole-spinning death machine. She can shoot two shotguns while flipping through the air, slide under tables to hamstring and gut with her sword, and regains health by swigging liquor.
Value: The single-player only game has a sizable campaign, fantastic music and troubled controls and camera work. It's sort of a mixed bag.
Buy it for: fans of Kill Bill and fast-paced action noire games.
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Wolfenstein

Price: $59.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Subject Matter: World War II First-Person Shooter with Occult Tendencies
Value: While Wolfenstein is an excellent first-person shooter from a technical standpoint, the story is a bit far-fetched and the multiplayer is disappointing, especially in the face of games like Modern Warfare 2.
Buy it for: First-person shooter fans looking for a little something different.
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WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010
Price: $59.99
Rating: T
Genre: Pro wrestling
Subject Matter: WWE wrestling, with deep customization options allowing players to create and share their own characters, moves and — the big new addition — storylines.
Value: High value for those who will take advantage of the online play and content creation/sharing.
Buy it for: WWE fans, even those who don't like current WWE programming, since those disgruntled fans can create the WWE of their own liking using the game's deep editors.
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Players can download the "Hyundai Genesis Coupe Car Pack" for free today, adding three different versions of the 300-horsepower Genesis Coupe to their car rosters. The pack includes the Rhys Millen Racing Red Bull Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the HKS Genesis Coupe, and a unique Forza Motorsport 3 Genesis Coupe. I'd say it's a coupe coup, if I was much cornier than I already am.

Following up the free DLC in December is a paid "Hot Holidays Car Pack", featuring a selection of 2010's most eagerly anticipated super and purpose-built race cars. Turn 10 will be slowly revealing the content of the pack leading up to the December 8th release, but it will definitely include the new Ferrari 458 Italia, with the 2010 Audi S4 accompanying the pack as a free sample. Keep an eye on Forzamotorsport.net to see what 400 Microsoft points will net you come next month.

Sure, it has pretty much everything one would expect from a serious driving game, ensuring that the passionate Forza community who prefers the sim side of things is catered to. Forza 3 offers over 400 real world cars, more than 100 tracks on which to race them and impressive physics modeling that simulates some of the world's most coveted rides. And while players can enjoy Forza 3 with a traditional progression, starting small, improving their skills and purchasing better and faster cars, almost everything is available to you from the start.

Now that we've kicked Forza 3's tires—and peeled out with them—would we recommend you get behind the wheel?

Loved
From Arcade To Sim: Look, I'm kind of a driving game lightweight, not the type who would label myself a fan of simulations of almost any sort. I don't have a passion for cars, don't own a driving wheel controller and almost always play using a camera that follows behind the car. Thankfully, catering to my sim phobia, I was given the option from the beginning to play Forza Motorsport 3 according to my preference, effectively putting the game into arcade mode. This toggled on a number of driving assists, including auto-braking, full suggested driving and braking lines, traction control and an inconsequential damage model. Easy. However, as time went on, I became comfortable with Forza 3's handling, learning how to brake on my own, eventually becoming disgusted with my reliance on driving lines and automatic anti-lock braking hand-holding. After just a few hours, I'd turned off many of those assists, then more later on, letting me swim near the deeper end of driving simulation. For serious sim fans, the option to turn on manual shifting (with clutch!) and tire wear is easily accessed from many menus, letting you play the game as you wish.

Bring That Corner Back: One of the most helpful features in Forza Motorsport 3, the option to rewind a race a few seconds at a time, letting one correct one's mistakes, was also the one instrumental to me learning how to drive properly. Had I not had the opportunity to attempt a problematic corner again and again and again, without having to revisit the entire race, I'd have quickly lost the desire to compete. Rewind is a wonderful feature, a welcome addition to a simulation driving game that eases the frustration of that one botched chicane. Granted, rewind can't be used in multiplayer games, so drivers can't rely on it to fix every little mistake in Forza 3.

Power Leveling & Sweet Loot Drops: "Just one more race," I'd find myself saying while playing through Forza 3's rich single-player career mode. The constant allure of leveling your driver via the accumulation of experience points and the free cars gifted to you as you progress makes for a surprisingly addictive experience. Action RPG-like almost. Season-long race events interspersed with hundreds of shorter driving challenges ensures that there's plenty of variety, letting the player experience new tracks, new cars or simply become more familiar with the vehicle of their choice. There's some nice variety here, even if you'll revisit many tracks over the course of 220 available events.

The View From The Inside: Normally, I wouldn't have experienced Forza 3's wonderful in-car cockpit view, playing as I normally do. But after having done so to secure one of the game's achievements, I find myself opting for the cockpit view over everything else, feeling like I had a better feel for the road, an option made more palatable by the beautifully modeled interiors of each car.

Simple, Classic, Beautiful: The presentation here is top notch, with clean, crisp, well-designed menus making it easy to navigate Forza Motorsport 3's many modes and its collection of hundreds of cars. With the exception of a few exclusions—I would always assume I could tune, repaint or upgrade my car from the My Cars section—getting around (in the menus) is easy. Oh, right. The cars look stunning too, with plenty of options to take photos of each or just generally lust over them.

Quick Upgrade: Apologies for belaboring the point, but being somewhat behind the curve on how transmissions, differentials and other car upgrades work can make upgrading a car from stock to A-class race competitive is a little beyond me. Fortunately for the car un-enthusiast like me, the Quick Upgrade option, available when entering races, makes getting your car up to spec a one button affair. Of course, if you want to delve deeper into how brakes, wheel widths and intakes improve the various aspects of your car, Forza 3 lets you do that too. Me? I like pressing the A button and watching credits disappear.

Let's Shop: One of Forza Motorsports 3's biggest innovations is the addition of a virtual storefront, letting players sell cars, designs, vinyls, tuning set ups and more. Since I'm not much of a content generator myself, i rely on the idle time of others to help me customize and expand my car library. Buying and bidding on items is easy and intuitive, thanks to the well designed storefront. Categories for each, including Turn 10 picks and popular downloads, help the cream rise, making sure you can marvel at the excruciating work others put into their creations.

Hated
Wait... You Lost Me At Tuning: Given Forza Motorsport 3's easing into the simulation space—auto upgrades, driving assists, free cars!—I was a little disappointed to not see the same attention paid to the games tuning portions. Yes, these sections are simple to muck with, offering mostly clear explanations of what each tuning characteristic does, and Turn 10 offers a handy benchmarking option, but I was hoping for some suggested tuning options. Fortunately, the community appears to be picking up the slack.

As you might have gathered, I am not the driving sim authority capable of deeming whether Forza Motorsport 3 is the "definitive" racing game of this generation. What I can tell you is that the game, including its single-player Season Play mode and its ample online multiplayer modes, are incredibly fun to play, whether you prefer to keep the accelerator jammed or watch telemetry data tell you just how mangled your 10,000 credit tire upgrade has become over the course of a 34 lap endurance race.

This is a beautiful, broad package, one that was surprising in its most personally important aspect—how fun Forza 3 was to play. It may or may not be definitive, but Forza 3 is a must have for the Xbox 360 owning driving enthusiast. And maybe even the casual Sunday driver.

Forza Motorsport 3 was developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 on October 27. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through three seasons of career mode, played multiple online multiplayer races of each type.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

But for those of you who consider 400 "a nice start," developer Turn 10 Studios has revealed the official list of each and every car that will appear in Forza 3. It's a list so long that it spans two DVDs. Hell, it goes beyond that with five limited to the collector's edition of the game, five for the Forza Motorsport VIP Membership Car pack and six only for those who pre-order.

That full list begins... in 3... 2... 1...

The Cars of Disc 1:

2008 Acura #15 Lowe's Fernandez ARX-01b
2008 Acura #26 Andretti-Green Racing ARX-01b
2002 Acura #42 Realtime Racing NSX
2008 Acura #66 de Ferran Mortorsports ARX-01b
2009 Acura #66 de Ferran Mortorsports ARX-02a
2005 Acura NSX
2002 Acura RSX Type-S
2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
2009 Alfa Romeo Brera Italia Independent
2008 Alfa Romeo Mito
2006 Aston Martin #007 Aston Martin Racing DBR9
2008 Aston Martin #008 Bell Motorsports DBR9
2008 Aston Martin #009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9
2005 Aston Martin DB9 Coupe
2003 Audi #1 Champion RS 6
2008 Audi #2 Audi Sport North America R10 TDI
2006 Audi #2 FSI Champion Racing R8
2006 Audi #8 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI
2008 Audi A4 Touring Car
2009 Audi Q7 V12 TDI
2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
2006 Audi RS 4
2003 Audi RS 6
2000 Audi S4
2004 Audi S4
2007 Audi S5
1983 Audi Sport Quattro
2004 Audi TT Coupe 3.2 quattro
2007 Audi TT Coupe S-Line
2004 Bentley Continental GT
2009 BMW Motorsport 135i Coupe
1971 BMW Motorsport 3.0 CSL
2001 BMW Motorsport #6 Prototype Technology Group M3-GTR
2009 BMW Motorsport #92 Rahal Letterman Racing M3 GT2
1997 BMW Motorsport M3 E36
2005 BMW Motorsport M3 E46 Coupe
1991 BMW Motorsport M3 E30
2008 BMW Motorsport M3 E92
2002 BMW Motorsport M3-GTR
2009 BMW Motorsport M5 E60
2009 BMW Motorsport X5 xDrive48i
2008 BMW Motorsport Z4 M Coupe
2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4
2008 Cadillac #8 Remington Shaving CTS-V
2009 Cadillac CTS-V
2004 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C5.R
2005 Chevrolet #31 Whelen Engineering Corvette Z06
2006 Chevrolet #4 Corvette Racing C6.R
2007 Chevrolet #4 Corvette Racing C6.R
2003 Chevrolet #50 Corvette Racing C5.R
2003 Chevrolet #73 3R-Racing Corvette Z06
2005 Chevrolet #99 Tiger Racing Corvette Z06
2009 Chevrolet Aveo5 LT
2002 Chevrolet Camaro 35th Anniversary SS
1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS
1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe
1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS-454
2005 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe
2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2008 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Stock Car
2008 Chrysler 300C SRT-8
2006 Chrysler Crossfire SRT6
2009 Citroen C4 VTS
2002 Dodge #1 Team Zakspeed Viper GTS-R
2008 Dodge #11 Primetime Racing Group Viper Competition Coupe
2008 Dodge #2 Mopar Viper Competition Coupe
2004 Dodge #22 3R-Racing Viper Competition Coupe
2003 Dodge #23 Magellan Financial Viper Competition Coupe
1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi
2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
2006 Dodge Charger SRT8
2008 Dodge Charger Stock Car
2006 Dodge Ram SRT-10
2003 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe
2003 Dodge Viper SRT10
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
2005 Ferrari #11 Larbre Competition 550 Maranello GTS
1964 Ferrari 250 GTO
1998 Ferrari #30 MOMO Doran Racing F333 SP
1967 Ferrari 330 P4
1994 Ferrari F355 Berlinetta
1995 Ferrari F355 Challenge
1999 Ferrari 360 Modena
2003 Ferrari Challenge Stradale
1991 Ferrari 512 TR
2002 Ferrari 575M Maranello
2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
2004 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
2006 Ferrari #62 Risi Competizione F430GT
2008 Ferrari #71 Tafel Racing F430GT
2003 Ferrari #88 Veloqx / Prodrive Racing 550 Maranello
2008 Ferrari #90 Farnbacher Racing F430GT
2009 Ferrari California
1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT
2002 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
1987 Ferrari F40
1989 Ferrari F40 Competizione
2004 Ferrari F430
1995 Ferrari F50
1996 Ferrari F50 GT
2005 Ferrari FXX
1984 Ferrari GTO
2010 Fiat 500 Abarth SS
2009 Ford #1 TeamVodafone FG Falcon
2004 Ford #10 Tiger Racing Mustang
2009 Ford #25 Britek Motorsport FG Falcon
2009 Ford #5 Ford Performance Racing FG Falcon
2009 Ford #9 Stone Brothers Racing FG Falcon
2009 Ford Fiesta Zetec S
2009 Ford Focus RS
2006 Ford Focus ST
2003 Ford Focus SVT
2008 Ford Fusion Stock Car
2005 Ford Ford GT
1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429
2000 Ford Mustang Cobra R
1993 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R
1985 Ford RS200 Evolution
2009 Holden #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE
2009 Holden #33 Garry Rogers Team Commodore VE
2009 Holden #39 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE
2009 Holden #51 Sprint Gas Racing Commodore VE
2005 Honda #18 TAKATA DOME NSX
2005 Honda #8 ARTA NSX
2004 Honda Mugen Civic Type-R
2006 Honda Civic Si Coupe
2007 Honda Civic Type-R
1991 Honda CR-X SiR
2009 Honda Fit Sport
2002 Honda Mugen Integra Type-R
2000 Honda Integra Type-R
2002 Honda Integra Type-R
1992 Honda NSX-R
2005 Honda NSX-R GT
2003 Honda S2000
2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
2003 Hyundai Tuscani Elisa
2008 Infiniti G37 Coupe Sport
2009 Jaguar XKR-S
2008 Koenigsegg CCGT
1988 Lamborghini Countach LP5000 QV
1999 Lamborghini Diablo GTR
1997 Lamborghini Diablo SV
2005 Lamborghini Gallardo
2006 Lamborghini Miura Concept
2005 Lamborghini Murcielago
2007 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640
2008 Lamborghini Reventon
2003 Lexus IS300
2006 Lexus IS350
2009 Lexus IS F
2002 Lexus SC430
2005 Lotus Elise 111S
2009 Lotus Evora
2006 Lotus Exige Cup 240
2008 Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged
2005 Maserati #15 JMB Racing MC12
2008 Maserati GranTurismo
2004 Maserati MC12
2009 Mazda #16 Dyson Racing B09/86
2009 Mazda Mazdaspeed 3
1994 Mazda Miata
2007 Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe
2001 Mazda Mazdaspeed Roadster
1997 Mazda RX-7
2002 Mazda RX-7 Spirit R Type-A
2004 Mazda RX-8 Mazdaspeed
1997 McLaren #43 Team BMW Motorsport McLaren F1 GTR
1997 McLaren F1 GT
2009 Mercedes A200 Turbo Coupe
2004 Mercedes C32 AMG
2009 Mercedes C-Class Touring Car
2009 Mercedes ML 63 AMG
2009 Mercedes SL 65 AMG Black Series
2005 Mercedes SLR
2003 MINI Cooper S
2009 MINI John Cooper Works

carlist_4
2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
2006 Mitsubishi HKS Time Attack Evolution
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR
1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI GSR
2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
2008 Nissan #12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R
2003 Nissan #12 CALSONIC SKYLINE
2008 Nissan #23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R
2008 Nissan #24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R
2008 Nissan #3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA GT-R
2010 Nissan 370Z
1970 Nissan Datsun 510
2003 Nissan Fairlady Z
1994 Nissan Fairlady Z Version S Twin Turbo
2007 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
1992 Nissan Silvia CLUB K's
1994 Nissan Silvia K's
2000 Nissan Silvia Spec-R
1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
1997 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec
2002 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II
2002 Nissan MINE'S R34 Skyline GT-R
2000 Nissan Top Secret D1-Spec S15
2009 Nissan Versa SL
2004 Opel Speedster Turbo
2003 Pagani #17 Carsport America Zonda GR
1999 Pagani Zonda C12
2002 Panoz #50 Panoz Motor Sports LMP-01
2005 Panoz #51 Panoz Esperante GTLM
2005 Panoz Esperante GTLM
2004 Peugeot 206 RC
2007 Peugeot 207 RC
2007 Peugeot 207 Super 2000
2007 Peugeot #8 Peugeot Sport 908
2009 Peugeot #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
1968 Chrysler Plymouth Barracuda Formula-S
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Ram Air
1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455
1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA
2008 Porsche #16 Dyson Racing RS Spyder Evo
1987 Porsche #17 Racing Porsche AG 962c
2008 Porsche #2 Gruppe Orange Racing 911 GT3 Cup
1998 Porsche #26 Porsche AG 911 GT1-98
2005 Porsche #31 Peterson-White Lightning 911 GT3-RSR
2008 Porsche #45 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2005 Porsche #5 XBOX 360 911 GT3-RSR
2005 Porsche #55 Applied Materials 911 GT3 Cup
2005 Porsche #66 AXA Racing 911 GT3 Cup
2008 Porsche #7 Penske Racing RS Spyder Evo
2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2006 Porsche #82 Red Bull 911 GT3 Cup
1995 Porsche 911 GT2
1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3
1970 Porsche 914/6
1989 Porsche 944 Turbo
1987 Porsche 959
1998 Porsche 911 GT1
2004 Porsche 911 GT3 (996)
2008 Porsche 911 GT2 (997)
2007 Porsche 911 GT3 (997)
2007 Porsche 911 Turbo (997)
2003 Porsche Boxster S
2003 Porsche Carrera GT
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS
2009 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S
2006 Porsche Cayman S
1980 Renault 5 Turbo
2003 Renault Sport Clio V6 RS
2007 Renault Clio Renaultsport 197
2009 Renault Twingo Renault Sport Cup
2008 Saab 9-3 Turbo X
2002 Saleen #11 Graham Nash Motorsport S7R
2003 Saleen #2 Konrad Motorsports S7R
2006 Saleen S281 E
2008 Saleen S331 Supercab
2004 Saleen S7
2006 Saturn ION Red Line
2007 Saturn Sky Red Line
2005 Scion tC
2009 Scion xD
2009 SEAT Ibiza Cupra
2007 SEAT Leon Cupra
2007 SEAT Leon Supercup
2007 Ford Shelby GT500
1968 Shelby Mustang GT-500KR
2003 Subaru #77 CUSCO SUBARU ADVAN IMPREZA
2006 Subaru Impreza S204
2004 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2008 Lexus #25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430
2008 Lexus #36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430
2008 Lexus #6 ENEOS SC430
2004 Toyota Altezza RS200
2003 Toyota Celica SS-I
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205
1984 Toyota Celica Supra
2002 Toyota MR-S
1985 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT Apex
1998 Toyota Supra RZ
2008 Toyota Yaris S
2005 TVR Sagaris
2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR
2009 Vauxhall Corsa VXR
2004 Vauxhall VX220 Turbo
2009 Volvo C30 R-Design
2004 Volvo S60 R
2003 Volkswagen Bora VR6
1995 Volkswagen Corrado VR6
2006 Volkswagen Golf GTi
2010 Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk6
1992 Volkswagen Golf Gti 16v Mk2
2003 Volkswagen Golf R32
1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI
2008 Volkswagen Scirocco GT
2008 Volkswagen Touareg R50

The Cars of Disc 2:

2003 Honda #16 G'ZOX NSX
2004 Honda Civic Type-R
1999 Honda Civic Si Coupe
1994 Honda Civic 1.5 VTi
1995 Honda CR-X Del Sol SiR
2005 Honda NSX-R
2000 Honda Prelude SiR
2005 Mazda Axela Sport 23S
2001 Mazda Mazdaspeed Familia
1990 Mazda Savanna RX-7
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS
1998 Mitsubishi FTO GP Version R
1997 Mitsubishi GTO
2003 Nissan #23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R
1997 Nissan #23 Nissan Motorsports R390
2003 Nissan #3 HASEMISPORT ENDLESS Z
1998 Nissan #32 NISSAN R390 GT1
2005 Nissan #46 Dream Cube's ADVAN Z
1969 Nissan Fairlady Z 432
1998 Nissan R390
2003 Nissan Skyline Coupe 350GT
1993 Nissan MINE'S R32 Skyline GT-R
1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi
2005 Subaru Legacy B4 2.0 GT
1969 Toyota 2000GT
2006 Toyota #25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SUPRA
1999 Toyota #3 Toyota Motorsports GT-ONE TS020
2004 Toyota #35 Yellow Hat YMS Supra
2005 Toyota #36 OPEN INTERFACE TOM'S SUPRA
2005 Toyota #6 EXXON Superflo Supra
1995 Toyota MR2 GT
1995 Toyota Tom's T020 MR2
2002 Toyota Tom's W123 MR-S
2002 Toyota Soarer 430SCV
1992 Toyota Supra 2.0 GT Twin Turbo
1998 Toyota Top Secret 0-300 Supra
2001 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish
2002 Audi #1 Champion S4 Competition
2001 Audi #4 Johansson Motorsport R8
2004 Audi #5 Audi Sport Japan Team Goh R8
2004 Audi #8 Audi ABT TT-R
2008 Audi R8
2003 Bentley #7 Team Bentley Speed 8
1999 BMW Motorsport #15 BMW Motorsport V12 LMR
2005 BMW Motorsport #2 BMW Motorsport M3-GTR
1998 Ferrari #12 Risi Competizione F333 SP
2003 Ferrari #72 Team Alphand Aventures 550 Maranello GTS
1961 Jaguar E-type S1
1993 Jaguar XJ220
2002 Koenigsegg CC8S
1992 Lancia Delta Integrale EVO
1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale
1989 Lotus Carlton
1972 Lotus Elan Sprint
2002 Lotus Esprit V8
2005 Maserati #35 Risi Competizione MC12
2005 Maserati #9 Vitaphone Racing Team MC12
2006 Maserati GranSport
1997 McLaren #41 Team McLaren F1 GTR
1998 McLaren #41 Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren F1 GTR
1954 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing Coupe
2003 Mercedes CLK55 AMG Coupe
1998 Mercedes AMG Mercedes CLK GTR
2003 Opel #5 OPC Team Phoenix Astra V8
2007 Peugeot #1 Peugeot 207 Super 2000
1993 Peugeot #3 Peugeot Talbot Sport 905 EVO 1C
2005 Porsche #3 Lechner Racing School Team 1 911 GT3 Cup
1998 Porsche #5 Zakspeed Racing 911 GT1-98
2002 Saab 9-3 Aero
2003 SEAT Leon Cupra R
1998 TVR Cerbera Speed 12
2001 TVR Tuscan S
2005 Vauxhall Monaro VXR
2004 Volvo #24 At-Speed S60 R
2004 Volkswagen Beetle
2001 Acura Integra Type-R
1997 Acura NSX
1987 Buick Regal GNX
2004 Cadillac #16 Team Cadillac CTS-V
2002 Cadillac #6 Team Cadillac Northstar LMP-02
2004 Cadillac CTS-V
1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
1970 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser GT
2003 Dodge #126 Team Zakspeed Viper GTS-R
2000 Dodge #57 Carsport Holland Viper GTS-R
2000 Dodge #91 Viper Team Oreca GTS-R
2003 Dodge SRT4
1996 Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo
1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR
1998 Chrysler Eagle Talon TSi Turbo
1966 Ford GT40 MkII
2005 Ford Mustang GT
2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe
2003 Panoz #11 JML Team Panoz LMP-01
2006 Panoz #81 Team LNT Panoz Esperante GTLM
2004 Pontiac GTO
1968 Pontiac GTO Hardtop
2001 Saleen #26 Konrad Motorsports S7R
2000 Saleen S281
1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C
1999 Shelby Series 1

Exclusive Cars Limited Collector's Edition Cars:

2005 Acura Forza Motorsport NSX
2005 Aston Martin Forza Motorsport DB9 Coupe
2010 Audi Forza Motorsport R8 5.2 FSI quattro
2008 Dodge Xbox 360 Charger Stock Car
2003 Nissan Forza Motorsport Fairlady Z

Forza Motorsport VIP Membership Car pack:

2008 Aston Martin DBS
2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
2007 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)

Exclusive Preorder Cars:

2009 BMW Motorsport Walmart M5 E60
2009 BMW Motorsport GameStop M5 E60
2009 BMW Motorsport GAME M3 E92
2009 BMW Motorsport MicroMania M5 E60
2008 Mitsubishi GameStation Lancer Evolution X GSR
2010 Audi R8 5.2 Community Edition

The Official Forza Motorsport 3 Car List [Official Site]

With the October 27th launch of Forza 3 just around the corner, Turn 10 and Microsoft are gearing up to release the full list of cars and tracks for the game over at Forzamotorsport.net. Not content with the ridiculous number of rides included in the game, Turn 10 has hand-picked 10 classic cars, bundled them up with two new tracks, and created the Motorsports Legends Car Pack. The pack includes such vintage racers as the '60 Chevrolet Corvette, '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R, and the '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, along with the Benchmark High Speed Ring and Sidewinder Proving Ground tracks.

The Motorsports Legends Car Pack will be available on launch day, with a special code inside every new copy of Forza 3 allowing the purchaser to pick up the pack for free. Check out the full list of included cars below.

· '65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
· '64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
· '81 BMW M1
· '60 Chevrolet Corvette
· '69 Dodge Charger
· '57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
· '80 Fiat 131 Abarth
· '67 Lamborghini Miura P400
· '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
· '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

The only thing I could really tell you about Ferraris is the fact that I will never own one. It's not because I couldn't afford one (I couldn't), but rather I couldn't afford the worry of owning one. No one is going to steal my broken 1996 Nissan Sentra, and if they did they wouldn't get far.

These new screens represent just a selection of the Ferraris showing up in Forza Motorsport 3, with more showing up each day this week at Forzamotorsport.net, with "surprises" in store for those who keep up with the latest updates there. Oooo, surprises!

Forza 3 has gone gold, and to mark the occasion, Microsoft and Turn 10 have announced that a demo for the game will be hitting Xbox Live on September 24th, giving players over a month to familiarize themselves with the game in advance of the October 27th release date. The demo features five cars ready to race on the Camino Viejo track in the mountains of Spain.

The five cars playable in the demo are:

2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
2009 Ferrari California
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
2009 Mini John Cooper Works

All five can be driven in full cockpit view, with rollover, damage, and the game's new rewind feature firmly in place. The demo also supports online leaderboards, so you can start bragging a little bit earlier.

Says one tipster wit: "Not the first time Gran Turismo used Forza art ..."

Thanks to Anonymous GameStopper #1, #2 and #3 for the pics. Three different pictures, I'd say this must be rumor-confirmed territory, right? Right?! So run down there and ask to reserve it. It beats asking if they have Battletoads.

As racing franchises continue down a diminishing road of more, with detailed engine tuning, real world physics, realistic damage modeling and road wear, they often leave all but the most devoted fans of their games and autophiles in the dust.

But not increasing the realism, not giving what car fanatics need to get the full experience of driving and driving fast, often leads to bland diversions stripped of any right to be considered a simulation.

With Forza 3, developers Turn 10 Studios hope to make something for everyone. Instead of trying to blend the best of both worlds, the game makers have added so many options, so many helping hands that a gamer can create their own experience.

But how can that translate to the diverse world of online gaming? How can Mario Kart fans play Forza 3 in a way that requires little more than gas and steering online with those who expect an intimate knowledge of gear ratios and part selections from their drivers?

The issue of balancing the experience for hardcore and casual gamers in the same environment is solving a problem created by the developers themselves, said Korey Krauskopf, producer for Forza 3.

That long-tail of niche game development is more about trying to differentiate yourself in a crowded genre, than trying to satisfy gamers, Krauskopf said.

"I think that's more about developers trying to be different, not an indictment of the user," he said. "I think it's that game companies are making their games more specialized.

"We want to serve those who already enjoy our games and invite more in."

The problem, he says, is that people hear that a game like Forza is a "hardcore game" and to many that simply means hard to play.

That's why in Forza 3 the developers layered on assists, like auto-braking and one-button driving, he said. And why the game includes plenty of help for auto-tuning a car, if a player doesn't want to do it themselves.

For online gaming, tells Kotaku, Forza 3 features an incredibly elaborate race rules editor.

While the game will ship with a dozen or so pre-created race modes, everything about them, from the number of laps to start delays and what sort of assists a player can be using, can be changed.

"We have a whole bunch of options that just cascade," Krauskopf said. "There are pages and pages of options they can set to make the race exactly how you want it to be."

Krauskopf likens it to the ability first-person shooter fans have to manipulate the online game rules for Halo 3, but with much more control.

For example, most racing games allow players to choose a track, the car classes and the number of laps. In Forza 3, a gamer can take that basic race and choose to change the rules of how a winner is determined.

Krauskopf explains:
*First they could section everyone into two teams, one team will win.

*They could then decide that a specific person from each team must cross the finish line to determine who wins (we'll call this person the "mouse"), the rest of the players are just there to provide interference to the other team, or protection for their own team (we'll call them "cats").

*Then they could create still deeper challenges by limiting teams to specific car classes, tunings, assists, or upgrades.

*If they want to make things more interesting they can stagger the roll-off times from the start line giving some a head start.

*If the players want to be super specific about their race, they can limit the mice to D-class, front wheel drive European hatchbacks and the cats to all wheel drive turbocharged V10s.

"This results in players running in packs on a track, trying to protect their team's "mouse" and see it safely across the finish line first while trying keep the other team's mouse away from the finish line," Krauskopf said. "A very different type of race!"

The game's online modes have more than 100 rule types to tweak giving players an almost limitless ability to customize the way they want to play, he said.

Krauskopf says that the team expects once the game ships and gets into the hands of enthusiastic gamers they will begin to see far more creative combinations of the rules used to create modes they've never imagined.

Since these personalized race modes can only be saved locally, Krauskopf expects that some gamers will make a name for themselves as popular hosts for their custom races. He added that they are considering one day perhaps allowing gamers to save modes online, but right now have no plans to include that option.

Forza 3 will still include all of the Live support Forza 2 had as well. Other new additions to online play include a new party system that allows gamers to hop into one room and then jump from race to race together.

The team has also worked to blur the line between the game's offline and online modes when it comes to a player's career.

"As people are playing online they are still earning experience points and getting rewarded for in-game credit," he said.

Finally, the game will feature a robust set of leaderboards that will take into account how assisted a driver is when racing, so those hardcore fans can steal easily identify "clean" and skilled drivers from those who win with the help of the game.

"We are going to certify score boards, showing you who use assists, and which are totally clean times," Krauskopf said. "Thats how we serve the people who are our real loyal fan base."

And what about all of those casual racers who might flood into Forza's online racing world when Forza 3 hits?

"If you have someone who really wants to race as realistic as you can get he is going to set up a lobby with restrictions, saying we're going to outlaw one button driving and stock car and only allow cars that have been tuned. "

The challenge, he says, is that the team wants to make sure that the detail and depth is there for those who want to dig into it, but obscured from those who may be put off by it.

"We face challenges," he said. "Educating users who think that Mario Kart is quick to use and fun to play and Forza is for hardcore people, so no you can't have a good time playing it."

Krauskopf respects what Nintendo is doing with demo mode, a mode Shigeru Miyamoto first confirmed to Kotaku at E3 was coming to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which allows a game to essentially play itself.

"What Nintendo is doing with Demo Mode is interesting," he said. "You are building a feature that allows anyone to play the game, but you don't get that badge of honor if you use it."

It's, essentially, a more extreme version of what Turn 10 is doing with Forza 3 online play.

"We are giving everyone the ability to enjoy the game," he said. "But not taking anything away from our fan base."

"We've got this clean look based on the look of a car brochure," said Forza Motorsport 3 director Dan Greenawalt. "We call it car porn.

But Forza 3 is more than just 400 cars from 50 manufacturers and 100 tracks, it's developer Turn 10's attempt to bridge the gap between racing sim and arcade racer without leaving anyone behind.

"Our goal is to turn gamers into car lovers and car lovers into gamers," Greenawalt said. "To deliver approachable and thrilling gameplay."

That's a tricky proposition when you have one group of gamers that worry over the nuance of car physics and handling, dismissing any game that doesn't match the real world, and another group that feels lost in a game that is too real, instead opting for arcade fun.

Turn-10's solution is to have a robust selection of assists which can be turned on or off on the fly. At its easiest, Forza 3 even brakes for you, leaving the gamer to hold down the gas and keep the car on the green line which shows the best approach to every turn. At its hardest, Forza 3 mimics the behavior of every vehicle, given each it's own distinct physics and feel.

The Xbox 360 exclusive also features a new rewind button. At any point you can press the back button on your controller and go back in the race five seconds. There are no limits to when or how often you use this feature in a race. It's there, Greenawalt said, so perfectionists don't have to restart an entire race after one small mistake.

And for both the hardcore and arcade race fans there are the graphics and the spectacular damage modeling.

"Part of our perfectionism is how we capture the cars," Greenawalt said. "We are car freaks, we want to capture that, we want to show these cars off, we want to worship them."

Forza Motorsport 3 features ten times more polygons in each car model and four times the texture resolution than found in Forza 2 he said. The game delivers these astonishing realistic graphics while calculating physics at 360 frames per a second.

"Our new graphics engine pushes the 360 in new ways, ways it has never been pushed before," Greenawalt said.

To create the setting for the game's tracks, like the three set in Montserrat, Spain that were being shown at E3, Turn 10 take thousands of photographs at the scene, including aerial shots. The team also worked to meticulously capture the cockpit of every car included in the game.

Damage modeling for the cars, all of the cars, is also carefully detailed. And in Forza 3, all 400 cars now include the ability to completely roll over in a race, something no racing game has ever tried before, Greenawalt said.

Getting permission from the 50 manufacturers for this unheard of level of damage modeling was a matter of talking to each individually.

"We go to a manufacturer and say we're a sim and as a sim, cars roll over," Greenawalt said.

Greenawalt also mentioned that Forza Motorsport 3 has a "strategic partnership" with Audi.

"We saw the brands meshing really, really well," he said. "You will hear a lot more about that in three months."

I'm not a big racing fan. I play racing sims, and occasionally enjoy them, but they're certainly not my bread and butter. The same holds true for real life cars.

But when Turn 10 Studios ended their presentation on stage by loading up a video they created using Forza Motorsport 3's in-game video editor I was blown away.

The fact that everything happening on screen had to be actually done in-game is unbelievable, never mind the graphics.

Later, when I cornered the Turn 10 guys at Microsoft's after party, I asked them just how long it took to put that together. About a month, they said.

The game attracts such a hardcore fanbase that the developers built in the ability to play the game on three consoles so you can use three monitors to simulate a full windshield.

To take things one step further, Turn Ten put together a rig that included three monitors, high end controllers and full motion control. The result, we were warned, can cause vomiting.

Turn 10's competition Polyphony Digital may take issue with that, should it ever get Gran Turismo 5 out the door, but looking at new screens of Forza 3 in action, the "real driving simulator" folks at least have to agree that the Xbox 360 racing game looks damn good.

Forza Motorsport 3 packs in more than 400 "fully customizable and tunable" cars from 50 manufacturers and 100-plus real world tracks, which are big numbers. New locations include the Montserrat region in Spain, the rugged Amalfi Coast in Italy and the American Southwest.

Also new is the single-player season mode, which puts players through "a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift and Timed Events." Another big number! Better yet, here's a big helping of screens.

The latest non-confirmation of an impending Forza 3 comes from the German version of Amazon, with the online retailer listing the Forza Motorsport 3: Prima's Official Game Guide for a September 30th release. Typically, those books tend to ship just prior to the game hitting stores, so an October release (in Germany, at least) could be likely.

Yes, that's not exactly hard evidence of the third Forza Motorsport landing later this year, but one more potential tiny leak that may turn into a torrent of confirmation at next month's E3.

Forza Motorsport 3: Prima's Official Game Guide [Amazon.de via VG247]

German racing wheel maker Fanatec says its new Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel controller, the one built with Forza 3 in mind, has entered pre-production and will be shown at E3 next month, hinting that it will be tied to the next Turn 10 Studios racer.

What's more interesting is why the wheel appears to have been slower in getting to production.

"It took a little bit longer than expected but Microsoft wanted us to support a new feature for Forza 3," writes Fanatec company rep Thomas Jackermeier. Wonder what that could be?

While the game hasn't yet been officially announced, its existence was not-so-subtly hinted at recently.

PWTS Pre-production started [Fanatec - thanks, Martin!]

It's starting to look like Microsoft and developer Turn 10 Studios will have something to show soon, more than likely at this year's E3 expo. The forthcoming racing game's logo was teased at a recent Xbox 360 showing in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a subtle, hype-generating mention that was spied by CVG. Unfortunately, that video appears to have been removed by the user.

Based on the presentation, it looks like Forza Motorsport 3 will show up some time in 2009, as the title appears on Microsoft's publishing slate alongside games like Bungie's Halo ODST.

When the game was unexpectedly revealed last year, internal documents touted features like 400 vehicles, 100 tracks, car deformation and an "assist system." Rumored to spread across two discs, Forza 3 would be the biggest entry in the series in size and scope.

Forza 3: First official glimpse [CVG]

We questioned the possibility of Forza 3 being distributed on more than one disc. Our source was quick to comment that “one way or the other, the core game will be shipped on a single disc. Content won’t be sacrificed … fans will be pleasantly surprised for what’s in store.”

Angry Pixel went snooping around Dhruva Interactive, a Bangalore-based developer that's worked on Forza in the past, as well as Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4, so presumably the unnamed source is from there. There was the obligatory "more to come fairly soon" (which means E3) but no other details.

Forza 3 is Coming, Sans Disc-Swapping [The Angry Pixel, via Gamer Center Online]