F1 Stalls On Starting Grid

Original Story [17/03/09]

It was only a short time ago that we had a quick peek at Codemaster’s F1 game, but now there is news that the game may be pushed back until next year.  The story is carried in the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine UK, that the game will not meet it’s expected release window later this year and will now be released at some point during 2010.

Personally I’m not a big fan of a sport which sometimes seems as fixed as wrestling, and where the best cars always get the podium finishes, but plenty of people are big fans so this news is a bit of a blow. Furthermore I find it incredibly strange that the game isn’t ready for next weeks start of the F1 season in Melbourne. I’m sure the licence holder will be pretty pissed off with Codies, which is why they are reportedly rushing the release of the PSP & Wii versions.

Is it time to award the franchise to EA or 2K who never fail with the annual production cycle?

Via GamesWire.

Update [17/03/09]

A post on the Codemaster’s forum may have given us hope that all is not lost for a 2009 release.

“We have a planned press announcement to be released soon confirming dates for all skus, hence the lack of info on this forum. There have been no delays and our dates are as they were when we finished our detailed design and planning dev phase some time ago.”

The F1 circus arrives in Melbourne for the season’s curtain raiser next week and excitement will be at fever pitch, so expect the press release to land sometime around then, hopefully it is good news for PS3 owners.

Update 2 [23/04/09]

Today it has been confirmed that my initial post on 17/03 was correct; an F1 game will be released on the Wii & PSP towards the end of this year, whilst a PS3 & 360 version will be hitting the shelves in time for the 2010 season.