If you were beginning to think that Formula One games were starting to lose their spunk, there's some good news for you. Colin McRae's DIRT (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) and Race Driver: GRID (PS3, PSP, Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PC) creators Codemasters have secured an official licensing deal with the F1 Administration to develop games based on the world's most popular motorsport. A grand prix of details follow after the jump.

If you missed the rumbling on your old PlayStation games, next week is the week when the sad longing comes to an end. The new DualShock 3 is good to go, and it'll allow you to shake and bake with blasts like Devil May Cry 4. We've got the list of compatible titles, plus word on the fate of SIXAXIS. Hit the jump and find out more.

Sony Computer Entertainment America's recently unveiled another new set of wheels being prepped for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: The Scuderia Ferrari F2007. It's fast enough, it seems, that SCEA's Taku Imasaki has described it as the game's "God Mode." More details regarding this topic are in the full article.

Last January, EA Sports announced that they will be releasing a new boxing game, titled Facebreaker. It seems this is just the first of three new original games. Peter Moore also reveals that, contrary to rumors, EA Sports will not pick up the license to Sony's Formula One. Details in the full article.

UK-based daily tabloid The Sun is now reporting that Electronic Arts has just stroke a deal with Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton amounting to a whopping five million GBP or roughly around US$ 10.40 million. The publication added that the driver will be featured on "Xbox and PlayStations around the world next year."

The last we looked, the Formula One video game franchise is owned by Sony with the PlayStation 3 title F1 Championship Edition being the latest iteration. However, there have been some buzz before hinting that EA Sports has got its eyes once more on the franchise.

To refresh your memories, EA Sports was supposed to do Formula One 2006. However, Sony entered the picture in the middle of production and development was ultimately continued by SCE Studio Liverpool. If The Sun's report is accurate, this only means that Sony has finally lost its F1 exclusivity.

Both EA and Sony has yet to make comments regarding the matter. Until they do, we're tabbing this one under rumor.

A few days ago, UK's Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM) announced that it would soon be offering up free monthly Blu-ray demo discs to go with their magazine. We will be updating that news bit today, as we announce the first four game demos making it to the disc: Virtua Tennis 3, Resistance: Fall Of Man, Formula One Championship Edition and Genji: Days Of The Blade. We imagine the guys trying to save space for other downloadable goodies (like PSOne games?) will find this news most welcome.

No word yet on what other goodies the demo disc will carry, although our previous report states that the disc will also carry movie trailers.  We advise readers to wait for further updates. OPM's Blu-Ray demo disc will debut alongside issue 7 of the magazine's current volume  on June 1, with an expected mag price of £ 5.99 (US$ 12).

We've been enjoying our copy of the Formula One Championship Edition video game for a little over a month now and we were impressed with the realism. So what's new with this fast and realistic racer? We found a video over at GameTrailers featuring the developers at Sony Computer Entertainment Studios Liverpool.

They talked about the development of Formula One Championship Edition and "upgrading" it from the PS2 to the PS3. The graphics were a large factor in the immersive gameplay, like the reflections and driving at insane speeds in the rain. They also discussed the difficulty settings (love those training lines) to make the PS3 game appeal to basically everyone.

Check out the video and hear what the Formula One Championship Edition devs have to say about this awesome PlayStation 3 title.

Formula One cars are considered to be among the highest class of auto racing. Its design and specs were made specifically to achieve one thing: to race at dangerously high break-neck speed. This is probably one of the reasons why the video game series of the same name has been very successful and the latest installment, F1 Championship, is no exception.

Anyway, we have for you today a video clip that will make you go gaga over the game. Actually, we had a similar clip the last time around but these two are very much different from one another. We mentioned that the one controlling the first clip has skills that are nothing short of being remarkable. Likewise, the one driving this car is remarkable as well - remarkably bad.

More than the skills, we'd like for you to look at the graphics and physics engine employed in the game. The crashes look astonishing and... Well, just take a look at the video yourself as we don't want to spoil your fun. F1 Championship has been released in Japan and is coming to Europe and North America this March.

SCEA's Formula One Championship Edition sure had a great rally on the first day of its Japanese release. Selling a reported 8,000 copies on day one alone, there's no doubt in our heads that this one's all set to cruise around the PS3 titles fave list in no time.

But while we're still waiting for the green light here in the West, let us refresh your memories with the key features of the game, and then some, with a few updated ones.

• The 2006 Season – Featuring all the official cars, circuits, drivers and teams of the 2006 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including SCUDERIA TORRO ROSSO, SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM and MIDLAND F1 RACING.
• Next Generation Experience – high definition visuals, full surround sound, extensive circuit details and lighting effects, progressive dirt and car damage, all thanks to the PS3's Blu-ray technology..
• Wireless Motion Sensing Technology - Gamers can opt to drive the vehicles in Formula One Championship Edition by simply moving the SIXAXIS controller.
• Race Online – bring your racing skills online and race your friends at speeds over 200 mph. Complete online feature set includes stat tracking and leaderboards.
• True Realism – Feel the buzz of the paddock and the excitement of race day with authentic pre-race car preparations. Warm up your tires and get ready for the race with the parade lap.
• Live Action Racing – Experience the real pressure of a GRAND PRIX race thanks to unexpected collisions and race incidents.
• Introduction of the Safety Car – Choose the correct race strategy when the safety car is out: will you make an early pit stop to avoid being stuck in the traffic?

Keep it posted here for more updates on the game.

More screens at the Full Article!

Sony must be popping champagne corks as we speak. Their release of Formula One Championship Edition 2006 in Japan last December 28 was a major hit. Their green light of a release date got their game zooming ahead without any hiccups nor bumps on the road. Enterbrain just calculated the numbers, and it's estimated that the game was able to sell 8,000 copies on day one.

Seems like Japan is turning more and more into racing fans. Not just long ago, MotorStorm claimed the top spot in their sales charts. And now, they've got Formula One selling like pancakes sushi. Will the champagne overflow its success onto North America though? Well, until the game is released in Western shores next year, we can only guess. The numbers are promising though, so keep that checkered flag on the ready.