ModNation Racers: Road Trip – No Luck Necessary

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ModNation Racers: Road Trip – No Luck Necessary

When I first started dating my wonderful wife, her mother asked how I was at playing board games. Puzzled (*chuckle*) my wife answered “why?” Come to find out you can tell a lot about one’s character from playing board games and gauging their reactions / attitudes to the games twists and turns. This somehow predicts their “potential spousal aptitude.” I did not know that.

Yippee!…

  • Land on blue … you win! (good luck)
  • Roll an eight … you lose! (bad luck)
  • Flip a card … “move back two spaces” … start over! (no luck at all)

Pure luck dictating the outcome of a game? Narts to that!

Needless to say I’m not a fan of board games but I do now have a wonderful wife and kids and “a” mother-in-law. Who cares Mark?… (point taken, I’ll move on.)

So here are but a few of the many reasons I enjoy playing the fun (and FAIR!) ModNation Racers: Road Trip – less luck, more skill!

ModNation Racers: Road Trip for PS Vita

Chooseable Weapons: Weapon classes are distinguished by their item pod color. This means I get to choose what weapons I want to use when and where I want to use them. If I find it necessary I can also “cash-in” any weapon I posses to convert into boost with a simple touch your weapon icon. Cha-ching! That was me coming from out of nowhere!

Personalized / Balanced Matchmaking: With my frail ego the last thing I need is to compete against players soooooo much better than me that I get chills from the winds they produce whizzing by me. ModNation Racers: Road Trip’s matchmaking system searches for those closest to my (we’ll call it) ability to place me in some winnable heats. I love that!

Defensible Weapons: YES! Not only will I receive audible clues (can be toggled off) of incoming attacks but I’ll have the advantage of a visible “lock-on” reticule over my mod’s icon on the status bar helping me time my protective shield. This means on my long plane flights I’ll finally have a fighting chance to defend myself in races. Trust me, the person sitting next to you in coach does NOT want to hear the increasing, whirling, crescendo of your warning tone. Go figure – (they must be boardgame lovers).

Amnesty Shield: Have you ever experienced that gut feeling that right as you’re about to let loose your level three hydras that the kart behind you is about to do the same thing to you? Problem solved! The new Amnesty Shield feature protects you from any similar weapon launched from an opponent until your devastation has been imposed. Pretty fair I say.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Amnesty Shield

Refined / Controlled Drifting And Braking: I like my racing straight up. Literally. That’s how I roll.
Some enjoy “snaking” or frenetically “zig-zagging” down the track to build up their boost meter. ModNation Racers: Road Trip refinements allow much more controlled, subtle yet powerful drifting, This means I’ll always be moving forward on the track instead of constantly battling the under and over-steering issue present in most racing games. I think you will notice and enjoy the difference too.

Race Assist: Although I may not have a need for racing assistance it’s good to know it’s there for others to use. I know my mother-in-law is going to need all the help she can get when I deliver her a new Vita and ModNation Racers: Road Trip for her upcoming birthday. I’ll show you “mom”! muwahahaha!

ModNation Racers For PS3

ModNation Grand Prix Final Results: Epic Racing From Epic Racers!

Congratulations to PSN ID: maverick—07— for his outstanding win in the recent MNR Grand Prix! In true ModNation fashion the competition was fierce but racers lived up to all expectations as fair, fun and friendly racers. Congrats to all 60+ competitors!

PS Vita: ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Grand Prix Results

Double XP Next Week!
Get those racin’ and creatin’ appendages warmed up because Monday, January 30th – Sunday, February 5th is Double XP week in the Nation! Enjoy!

This Week’s Top Tracks: Best of PSN ID: jefferzone

PS Vita: ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Top Tracks

Become A Hot Lap Judge For A Week
Next week we will put your (and mine!*) tracks though the ultimate proving grounds… the opinions of your peers! That’s right, Hot Lap Tracks will be chosen by the MNR community (with our “guidance”) for the following week’s Hot Lap Tracks seating. If you are interested in becoming a Hot Lap judge look for more details on our Official Facebook page.

Creations of the Week: Best of PSN ID: BabyNeedShoes

PS Vita: ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Creations of the Week

Hot Lap Tracks of the Week: Castle Krashenburn by OnePoppa

ModNation Racers: Road Trip - Track of the Week

Monday: CITY the port street v1.2 by inosan0518
Tuesday: Garden of Aggression by D_W_inc
Wednesday: Fortress of Mithras by punishthem420
Thursday: VacationNation1v2 by anaximperator
Friday: The Scenic Route by Meepcow
Saturday: Castle Krashenburn by OnePoppa
Sunday: Eden’s Skyway by John31269

Have a great week everyone!
Mark (PSN ID: ModNationSD)

* against my better judgment (and current absence of consistent psychotherapy) I have decided to place my newest track into the fray to see if it is truly worthy of a Hot Lap choice. Be kind!

Comments are closed.

48 Comments

7 Author Replies

  • LOVE the “choosable weapons” idea…kind of an expansion on the Defense/Offense weapon pickups in Wipeout 2048. I’m pumped to pick this one up on the 22nd with my new Vita!

  • whaaaaaaaaaaat??

    and hot lap judge?

  • “Personalized / Balanced Matchmaking” is there matchmaking now or is this in reference to the ghosts?

  • “Personalized / Balanced Matchmaking: With my frail ego the last thing I need is to compete against players soooooo much better than me that I get chills from the winds they produce whizzing by me. ModNation Racers: Road Trip’s matchmaking system searches for those closest to my (we’ll call it) ability to place me in some winnable heats. I love that!”

    Did you guys change your mind on online multiplayer play or are we talking ghost replays here???

  • “Personalized / Balanced Matchmaking: With my frail ego the last thing I need is to compete against players soooooo much better than me that I get chills from the winds they produce whizzing by me. ModNation Racers: Road Trip’s matchmaking system searches for those closest to my (we’ll call it) ability to place me in some winnable heats. I love that!”

    I’d say this is an online head-to-head reference, personally. I suppose it could be related to ghosts, but then the game is just choosing ghosts it knows are ahead of and behind your best times, which is kind of just a setup, rather than matchmaking based on average course times for H2H matchups.

    What say you, Mr. Wilson…

  • The description sounds exactly like what they were saying about ghosts last week:

    “2. Continual Match-Making, Ghosts and Time Trials
    Where ModNation Racers for the PS3 automatically matches gamers against one of the most difficult lap times in the community, ModNation Racers: Road Trip instead matches you against other gamers’ Ghosts who have set times which are competitive to yours. This continual match-making and the shorter play time of a single lap competition makes for a fun and constantly challenging online gaming experience. For those of us who are competitive with our friends, we can select a filter to race against friends’ ghosts.”

    You notice they’re staying completely away from mentioning online. I’m sure they’re just hoping the backlash just goes away and people stop talking about it…

    You can post as many of these articles about all the fabulous features of Road Trip as you want. It still remains that no online = no buy.

  • “January 30th – Sunday, January 5th”

    How does that work? Blog articles seem to be full of typos this time around.

  • Wow, now I’ve seen everything. Post #7 WAS some guy reporting that you’d made a mistake on the double XP dates.

    I would have expected a “Whoops, fixed, thanks for the heads up.” reply to him, but instead you fix the blog and simply deleted his post. Way to go.

    Again…wow.

  • Wow, that all sounds great! I’m still not buying your game until it has online racing. Announce that and the screaming in my head will reduce so that I can hear all about the other cool features you have built into this offline racer.

    • Hi URBETTER,

      Last week’s ModNation Monday blog by Erich Waas // Director, Product Development shed some light onto this issue. You can read his comments starting on #64. Hope that helps with the screaming and I hope URBETTER soon! :)

      Mark

  • “Wow, that all sounds great! I’m still not buying your game until it has online racing. Announce that and the screaming in my head will reduce so that I can hear all about the other cool features you have built into this offline racer.”

    This is exactly the way I feel. Just scanning all the text, I would love to care but as long as there is no Online multiplayer… well, I simply do not care.

    I’m sure this is an awesome game, I have been wanting to buy this since I first saw it on E3 last year but right now… no, fix the MP, not for me but for your own sake. How about the reviews, Im sure they will be pretty harsh on this game considering it does not feature MP-online, its a absolut must in 2012 even on a handheld. Im planing to play my Vita mostly at home, not on the road.

    And also, I do not care to compete against my friends best time (ghost) I want realtime racing!

  • The post has been returned so we’ll just assume it was initially deleted in error.

  • well all sound great but you guys already know what we want so until you say something about it i will be holding off $ , i know you guys have a budget for the game but since you guys didnt include head to head online racing you know what could have made me buy the game without it ? an early access to little big planet online multiplayer demo , i mean i understand the budget but i think sony is missing a golden opportunity to make the vita the connected online handheld to own , you guys should start thinking about releasing multiplayer demos , multiplayer betas on the system , it has full psn integration , not like the psp oh man trying to play some games with my nephew and younger brother online on the psp was a pain in the a.. , anyways i’ll be waiting on that announcement , good luck guys .

  • “anyways i’ll be waiting on that announcement”

    Same here, still waiting on the head-to-head multiplayer info… Until I hear there will be least 6 player multiplayer for the Vita, I won’t be buying Modnation even though I had it preordered because I assumed it had multiplayer!

  • no online?! what a great fail!

  • I can’t say I DON’T want these features. Really, they sound great!

    …but not having online really kills the excitement for me. Announce an online racing mode for this game, and I’m sold!

  • NO ONLINE = NO BUY

    Mario Kart supports online play.. This is ridiculous…

    THIS IS A MULTIPLAYER CENTRIC GAME!!!!!

  • To be honest, the section on “Personalized / Balanced Matchmaking” is extremely misleading for people who have not been following every piece of news for this game. If this had been the first bit of news I had seen for MnR, I would assume you were describing real-time, head-to-head online play.

    • Hi xKOROSHIYAx,

      You make a good point there. I was very intentional to describe the feature as is but without previous week’s context I can see it could taken otherwise. Thank you for your input!

      Mark

  • O wow still no online so who cares about ur modes we the micheal of the world want to battle that what we live for hear about new game what gamers look for if they can battle games release what gamers look for what kind of online play does it have now many people they can battle so what does this game have no of that so there for stupid AI there is no excitement there boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  • This game could’ve sold millions if it had online racing… Many of us would’ve bought it day 1 and it would’ve gotten great reviews and great reviews help game sales (Mario Kart)… Especially on a new gaming device where people try to invest in the best and most enjoyable game (based on reviews)

    but instead this game is going to get trashed by reviewers because someone thought NOT HAVING ONLINE in a MULTIPLAYER CENTRIC GAME is cool.

    Even if they patching and introduce online racing later on it wouldn’t help AT ALL since the reviews won’t change its scores… I’m guessing it will get 5s & 6s

    Dead on Arrival

  • @19 This is probably one of those games that SONY will not allow to be reviewed until the actual release to insure some ‘blind’ sales.

  • Hey Mark
    Welcome back
    Last week Erich mentioned that the MNR PS3 DLC track packs would be going on sale in the “near future”
    Just wanted to get an idea of when that might be. Thanks

  • “ModNation Racers: Road Trip’s matchmaking system searches for those closest to my (we’ll call it) ability to place me in some winnable heats.”

    Racing heats in the real world are usually many racers going at each other. So are there many “ghost” players at the same time, or is it just 1 ghost per race?

  • after last week I’m thinking of getting this again, BUT please answer this because it’s a worry I’ve been noticing and havent been replied to and It is actually a important thing to me.
    I’ve noticed it’s only 4 players local multiplayer right, and all demonstration videos only show 4 racers and on top of that every picture shows 4 racers. Are you guys telling me now that it isn’t 12 or 8 players, Nor atleast 6 (tho 8 is perfect)?
    Please answer. It`s important for me to know

    • from last weeks blog…

      5. Ad-Hoc Play: It’s ModNation Party Time!
      For those racers looking for that head-to-head experience with your friends, Ad-Hoc play is where it’s at. Up to four gamers can race simultaneously on any San Diego Studio track or choose from over 500,000 user created tracks from the ModNation Racers community.

  • Mark,
    I just wanted to let you know that I’m also eagerly waiting on the reduced prices on the DLC on MNR for PS3.

    Road Trip seems incomplete without head-to-head multiplayer, however, I would still buy it if either the price is reduced or this missing feature was included later.

  • Last Saturday, I finally got to go hands-on with the PS Vita and Modnation Racers + Little Deviants. Modnation Racers looks as stunning as the PS3 version and it was fun for the short time that I got to play it.

  • @Kchow23
    please tell me if you seen any confirmation that more then 4 racers can be on the track at once, because 4 is ridiculously to low for me and i already hate 6 cuz i think thats to small

  • How many AI opponets do you race against?

  • Hello Mark, This game looks great. Does it have a release date for Japan?

  • ^that is my question, thanks for the reply tho btw. but it wasn’t the answer i was looking for i just ment everything was leading to show you can only have 3 ai and a racer in a race aka 4 racers on a track whether your on career mode or not

  • When does the PS Vita PSN Store open up to US accounts?

  • the matchmaking feature sounds a lot like online matches even though they say it won’t be available

  • https://share.blog.us.playstation.com/ideas/2012/01/20/modnation-racers-road-trip-ps-vita/
    Online head-to-head would greatly increase the sales for this game. Im not saying it would be a bad game without it, but it definately adds a whole lot to the replay value just like LBP and MNR for Ps3. Without online I probably would’ve traded them in a long time ago.

  • I hope Modnation Racers DLC prices for the theme packs (like the Artic theme) goes on sale (I just don’t like spending $10 on a theme pack) ;)

  • I didn’t even know there was a Grand Prix. Not like I woulda entered or anything, I’m not into Maniac Level Competition. :D

    I was burned out on that back in the days of that other (unlucky! :D) kart racer with the blue shells, and everyone had to learn how to snake drift for speed boosts throughout the whole stupid race to stay competitive. Gets pretty old after a while.

  • Hi Mark,

    What is going on with hotlap this week? I was surprised yesterday to see my track from Sunday still up there, but figured it was probably due to your chosen track for Monday having been unpublished. However today it’s still up and I know for a fact that DW_Inc’s ‘Gardens Of Aggression’ is published and available for all, so what gives?

  • Mark wilson is saying in cryptic words… The online against other real players is coming as a patch. There are legal reasons why it cant be said outloud, I am for one am thankfull this patch is coming. Think about it we get:

    1) a NEW Modnation Racers game. 2) Brand New tracks. 3) New creative modes to play in. 4) New weapons to use as well as old. 5) Fun ways to use the camera for modnation postcards. 6) Modnation Racing on the go.
    7) Create tracks with touch using front and back screen to speed up track creation.
    8) Have access to All the tracks created in Modnation Racers PS3.
    9) Create Modcars and Modcharacters faster with touch
    10) Getting this game at launch day to give us time to create amazing tracks ready for….
    11) Down the NEAR road with a patch that only requires an update we get Online play and a new mode to share our New tracks and play with our friends!! :)
    Part 1

  • Part 2

    We need to support this game at launch with our purchase choice. WE the FANS have to meet them half way by buying this game. Making this game is not free. They did not lazily make this game. I believe they put A LOT of effort to creating this game for the FANS. They just ran out of time to get online perfected by launch. They want online play to run SMOOTH to give you the best racing experience with your fiends and racing rivals. They just need more time to test it.

    Thank you ,Mark Wilson and Eric Waas and the ENTIRE Modnation Team

    Catrik007

    • Thank you Catrik007 for the very kinds words

      We really are proud of the game and know players will love it when they get it in their hands. Our community means everything to us and we do all we can to give them a great game. Stay positive!

      Mark

  • @35/36

    Sorry, ‘looking at’, and ‘something being researched’ does not equal the guarantee of an online patch.

    There’s obviously some sort of problem incorporating online multiplayer. If it was something simple that they could just patch in, it would already be in the game.

    Your little story about how they ran out of time, etc., is just that, a story.

    If they do patch it, great – until then no purchase. Why support an unfinished half-assed rushed game?

  • I am really late to the Modnation Party. Bought the digital version not too long ago and haven’t got a chance to play it. I would have sooner but too many great games out and not enough hours in the day.

    • You’re not late to the party because ModNation is a new party every day and things ain’t slowing down yet!

      Welcome!

  • great

  • Until Multiplayer is added Im afraid this title is not going to get full market price from me. Ive allready postponed my Vita pre-order as this was going to be my release title. No multiplay no-buy for me.

    I admit all the new added features are a delight, but its the challenge of playing head-on with another indiviual that is the real challenge. Bots/Shadows/Ghosts….whatever you want to call em lack instinct… so replaying a track is simple to catchup and defeat. no challenge when you can duplicate another indivuals pre-recorded actions, albiet with a few choice modifications of our own, made up on the fly.

    Get your Portable ID!

  • @TUSTIN1
    honestly, I don’t really want to get till they add that, but that doesn’t mean it’s a half assed game nore did they rush it, Online patches are that simple also, problem is adding online Takes Time. my only worry now is I’ve never seen more then 3 AI on a track making me think no matter what the games max player count is 4 and if that’s the case I hope the Sonic & Sega All-Star racing 2 rumor is true because then I’ll just get that, love the first one on ps3

  • Great!!

  • I absolutely can’t wait for this game.

  • Without online and with no story like the PS3 version I don’t really care much about this game anymore. The story on PS3 gave the ModNation Racers universe character and charm. Without the a story, MNR as a series is just a generic slab of creation tools, wrapped up in an offline kart racer.

    It may seem like something small, but the story of MNR was part of why I enjoyed it. It really added the character needed, because the Mods themselves are not as grabbing or endearing as say, Sackboy.

  • Hello Erich or Mark, I have a very important question that many other people and I are wondering. How many racers can you compete against in the single player mode. You already stated that ad hoc limit is four, but how many A.I. can you compete against?

  • wait wait i had the 1st post and ask if it had multip[layer so u gus erased my post

  • Hi Mark, thanks for the post and your continual responses it is much appreciated. Can you comment on whether or not an online multiplayer patch is still being discussed, any updates? If so do you think the patch could be confirmed/guaranteed before the game’s launch?

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