2PM Is The New Half Eleven. Drink It Up

That guy up there?  He’s happy. He’s glowing like an over sugared breakfast cereal and covered in a red and orange aura.  Who wouldn’t be happy in those circumstances?

Us?  Not so much.  You see, this news was meant to go live at 2PM today.  14:00.  But it didn’t: it appeared a few hours earlier on a couple of websites and spread like wildfire, despite the embargo at the top of the emailed press release.  It happens, but there’s no prize for sticking to such industry-wide deadlines nowadays other than the promise of the appearance of Embargo Fish.

Yes.  He’s there, just below, and he’s not happy.

The story?  Oh, something about the next Formula 1 game. I mean, we love Formula 1 here at TheSixthAxis – not just the videogame, but the sport, the culture. And we’ve supported the last game considerably through dedicated tournaments at considerable personal and financial expense. But that’s fine.  Bitterness, like respect and a little ‘awww’, is saved for Embargo Fish.

So, it gives us great pleasure to reveal, considerably later than everyone else like some tardy blog from the 90’s, that the next Codemasters produced title will hit shelves on September 23rd.  There.  We said it.  Excited?  No, you’ve probably already got your pre-order in.

The game is in development at Codemasters Birmingham for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with special handheld versions for the 3DS and Sony’s NGP due out later, but apparently designed to “take advantage of the new platforms’ unique capabilities.”

In the new edition, the press release tells us that “players will be challenged to ‘Be the driver, live the life, go compete’, with wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements on and off track and vastly extended competitive and co-operative multiplayer components.”

F1 2011 will feature all of the official teams, drivers and circuits including current champion Sebastian Vettel, the Indian Grand Prix at Delhi’s Jaypee International Race Circuit and the return of the iconic Nürburgring to the calendar.

In addition, Codemasters will be running a special promo which will give gamers the chance to play the game ahead of its release, and star in development diary videos.  All you have to do is ask a question about the game on a video that will be uploaded to YouTube.  Details here.

What’s next for Embargo Fish?  Where will he appear?  Only time will tell.