Greetings from United Front Games, in Vancouver British Columbia. We’re really excited to finally be able to talk to you about ModNation Racers. It’s rare as developers that you get the opportunity to make the game you’ve always dreamt of creating, but that’s the fantastic situation that we’re in. We wanted to make a game that had the pick up and play accessibility of a kart game, with the depth and handling of a classic racer. So, we made ModNation Racers, a fresh take on a classic kart racing game that empowers you, the player, to personalize the entire game.
Vinyl art & collector toys were an inspiration for us as we set out to create a game about creativity and self expression. It was in this spirit of creativity that we developed our character, kart and track editors. We wanted to give the user the ability to make whatever they wanted, but do so in a way that felt like playing and not working. For example, you just drive and the track is created behind you, so it’s intuitive and fun.
An expression that came up early in development was “anonymity to superstardom”, which is exactly how we want the user to feel. You create your ideal character, kart or track, then upload and share it with the world. Next thing you know, you’re ranked as one of the top designers in the ModNation community!
In the coming months, we’ll be able to share a lot more information with you.
(Average: 4.78 out of 5)
134 Comments
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1
PSN_Tokeio | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
My most wanted game of E309. It’s going to be a long wait :|
2
nYcFrEeWiLL82 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
1st! yets..this game looks fun..hopefull it will have other features than just racing..:p
3
DonnyG | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 am
Not a huge fan of kart racers or racing games in general but this looks pretty fantastic. The track creation seemed so easy. I can’t wait to see more.
4
scorpio182 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
Very interested… LBP in race format. I love it… When im playing LBP with my nephews we always look for car based levels.
5
nYcFrEeWiLL82 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
psn_Tokeio..u punk..u took my 1st comment place..>:P
6
adolson | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 am
Was the name “LittleBigRacer” taken? :)
7
jimmy903 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 am
This game looks like it is going to be crazy amounts of fun.
When can we expect ModNation to hit retail?
8
Letters2Kay | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
This was a pleasent surprise yesterday. Looks like a lot of fun! I’m sure the kids and I will spend a lot of time racing and creating with this title. Blew MS’ little Kart racer away and sent it home crying to its mommy… ;) Nice work.
9
ye11owpharmacy | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 am
I’m keeping an eye on this game, love the kid robot looking characters.
10
Letters2Kay | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
@ nYcFrEeWiLL82
So don’t post “first” anymore. Nobody wants to see that and no one cares.
11
Rman5K | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
I am very excited about this game. I hope it is just as good as LBP… A game I am happy to play by myself… yet can play with my young kids as well. I hope that the wait is not too long!!!!!!
12
ErickRN | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 am
It looks great hopefully it gets a great success like LBP.
13
stlthriot | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
The track/level creation looks absolutely amazing and fun! Makes me think how much more smoothly it could be in LPB… :)
The graphics look fun and hopefully there are a variety of weapons, with more added in later I am sure!
Oh, and will this be a PSN game or will it ship on a blu-ray?
14
TakiFuGu | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Move over Mario Kart! Here comes ModNation Racers. The create your own level tech was incredible. It’s even simpler then LBP.
15
SpeedRacer1955 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am
Looks like a great casual game for adults and kids to enjoy together. I like the fact that the track editor is so simple as driving your “Kart” around the world and it lays down the track behind you. Then adding scenery is just as simple as point and paint.
This is a definite get for me…
16
Netweb | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am
nice demonstration… i want a beta from this!! :D
17
Stinkinmushroom | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 am
Loved the demo on stage, but didn’t really show all the potential i guess. You guys should have showed some mario kart tracks lol.
Can’t wait for this game & see all the possibilities :)
18
hoofrog | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 am
I am very interested in this title. Curious to know the amount of customization of the carts though.
19
zombie_56 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 am
is this going to be a psn game?
20
wedgehog | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:12 am
Will there be split-screen (i.e. local multiplayer?)
21
fan1310 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
looks awesome! Can’t wait for this game!
22
Janos2615 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
I am very excited for this game!!!
Looks like it will be a ton of fun!
23
DeathGazer | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
This was definitely one of the highlights of the Sony conference.
Game looks fun and super innovative.
24
GamerMoney | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:16 am
ready to mod i am
25
Stinkinmushroom | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
Also, is there going to be more than road and ‘dirt’ as materials for tracks? Can we put snow, water, sand, grass and stuff like that? And will it change the way you drive?
26
mastrofallz | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 am
This game looks great. It looks easy to create, and I loved how he made the rivers so high, haha. This game is going to be awesome.
27
Canuck4Life | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 am
Wow… this game looks amazing! Definitely my most wanted game from E3 this year!
Keep up the great work… I can’t wait to try out the game when it’s released!
28
spunnups | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:19 am
My favorite games of E3 in order: God of War 3 demo, Uncharted 2 Demo, and ModNation Racers Demo. This is going to be amazing, I just hope the weapons are fair and have variety, and I also hope sliding around the track doesn’t get too tedious. Please have these guys on the Blog, I have a few questions for them!
29
HawkEyes1 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Wow another game for a kid! LMAO! Pathetic coming from Sony omg you people suck lol..Get a clue games for Retro people as well..I can definitely see why your becoming a turn off Sony..Zzzzz
30
Cerberus_Hunter | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Is this coming out on Blu-ray or PSN or both?
31
CLINTHOBO | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 am
Looks very cool. This reminds me of one of my favorite games when I was a kid was Racing Destruction Set. I hope this game allows you to mess with gravity ;)
32
PHIBALNATION | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Hawkeyes1 give it a chance man, I thought the same thing about little big planet, and it surprised me.
33
Jeigh | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
One thing I’m really not clear on is is this a disc-based game or a PSN release? I supposed the same ambiguity was present with LittleBigPlanet so you’re off to a good start.
34
LoneStranger | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Can’t wait. This game is going to be awesome. I hope there are more precision-based controls so that we can try to recreate things from real environments as best as possible.
What about banking or camber on the tracks? Will that be possible?
35
TLSBill | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
What are the odds of releasing the builder before the game(in a beta or the like)?
Then we can build a ton of tracks to be ready when launch happens, much like what LBP did!
I can’t wait to re-create some local tracks in the game! (Willow Springs, CA Speedway, etc…)
36
RurouniSaiya-jin | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 am
I don’t know about anyone else but I’m really looking forward to this one. It looks really good.
37
Phoenix8387 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
This game is looking awesome. I never realized the PS3 was lacking a cart racing game until I saw the presentation… and it blew me away!
The game looks insanely fun to play and with how quickly you created that awesome track during the presentation, it’s hard to imagine the unique and immaginative tracks that the Ps3 community will come up with.
38
Venias | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
I was amazed when I saw the creation tools live during the Press Conference. Sony delivers.
39
ROLO_ONFIRE | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
I was greatly surprised by this game on yesterday’s conference. Hopefully it plays great as almost every Mario Kart clone sucks.
The course creator rocks btw!
40
Spyda8012 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 am
I cant wait to make a Laguna Seca track in this game
41
ROLO_ONFIRE | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 am
it would be awesome if it included Sony characters super-deformed: Kratos, Drake, Hale, the dude from Infamous, various Sackboys, someone from hot shots golf, Nariko, etc.
42
Vengeful-Chaos | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:39 am
I wasn’t quite into LBP it looked awesome and the beta was fun it just didn’t seem like my cup of tea. But this game seems to be right up my alley with the racing and the creation of the levels. The selling point of this game was not monkey butler, not the creation of the levels but the weapons! That’s right i’m a huge twisted metal fan so anything involving cars (karts in this case) and weapons is a must for me. So the fact that you can customize the characters and levels is just a huge plus. One thing that I don’t think was shown or I might of missed, are the karts customizable as well?
Oh and the two gentlemen presenting the game did a fantastic job in properly showing the game and adding humor to the presentation. I don’t need to see anymore info I am sold.
43
DANO69 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:40 am
I agree with ya HawkEyes…Enough with the kiddy games Sony. Give the majority of PS3 owners more adult oriented content.
And when is the DAY 1 press conference video going to be put on the store…I want to see ZIPPER’S M.A.G.NIFECENT FAILURE in HD. You Tube doesn’t do it justice.
44
Xoonaka | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
I think you guys need to work on diversifying the art some. The environments are way too realistic to garner the same charm as LBP did. Every track seems like it’s going to look the same.
I’m also not sold on the avatar and car graphics…. but at least they’re stylized. Hopefully I see some permutation I think doesn’t look like some Microsoft Avatar rip off.
LBP’s magic was more then just the PCS mantra. It was the entire presentation. Hope you guys are up to it.
45
GGCAN | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
This was one of those games that really surprised me when they showed it at E3.
Very impressive and I’m pretty sure it will do well.
Thanks for the post Dan.
46
Anubis80 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
From what I heard this is just a racing form of LBP. I think thats great. Its something that is needed. I plan to buy this. I loved LBP cuz you could be so creative and since you can do track creations and stuff here I have to say its a must buy.
2 questions.
1. Release date?
2. Price?
47
ThreeLeggedFreak | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
This looks like it could be fun, please add additional camera angles, the camera seems to close to the driver for my taste
48
Darkos87 | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
It looks fun and cutesy, but i think it’s going to be limited to just being a racing game… it depends whether you’ll be able to add moving obstacles etc on it… and as long as you don’t charge us for introducing new items?
49
XechaTigs | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
I thought I heard someone say at E3 that this would be released early 2010, but when do you think we can expect a demo?
50
Sponge-worthy | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 am
Great surprise at E3. I have been looking for a stand-out cart racing game for a long time, and this just might be it. Hopefully, the game/track designs will be just as bizzare as LBP…the on-stage demo looked a little bland compared to what you can find in Mario Cart, for example.
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