About Steve Melton

We’ve got to clear out the queue. We have tons of great tracks waiting in the wings to showcase, so we’re periodically going to run Trials Tuesday on Thursdays as well. So here you have it, five more tracks to dig your tires into: three trials, two skill games. As always you can find these tracks by entering Track Central, selecting Get Tracks, then pressing X to search. Enter the gamertag below to find the track. Be aware that the search is case sensitive.

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Whine, whine, whine. That’s all my friends do when they come over to my house to game. I hear stuff like “I can’t see anything!” or “I could actually win a match if we were on my TV.” Whatever, I thought. I still kick their trash when we’re playing online, so why would an HDTV matter? (By the way, that’s not my TV) Then I started playing the first Mass Effect. Having conversations with NPCs was nigh impossible. I had to sit just a few feet from the TV, and that’s saying something because I have great vision. The text was just too small. I couldn’t read HUD values, bios, or pretty much any other text, either. Still, I dismissed it and played through.

I’m a tightwad when it comes to money. When you have a wife and two kids, a mortgage, bills, etc. you will be too. My philosophy has been not to replace a TV if it ain’t broken. To my chagrin both of my TVs are stubbornly resilient. I’ve had ‘offers’ from two brothers-in-law and several friends to sabotage a TV just so I can pick up something that’s HD. Still I resist. Why should I spend money on something I don’t need? Or do I?

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Trials Evolution is about to celebrate two weeks since its release, and as expected the really great tracks are starting to surface. There were so many that we’ve upped our showcase this week to five tracks: three trials tracks, one supercross, and a skill game. As always you can find these tracks by entering Track Central, selecting Get Tracks, then pressing X to search. Enter the gamertag below to find the track. Be aware that the search is case sensitive.

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Today’s Most Wanted is our first downloadable content article. As such it has a slightly different format.

The world has been bitten by the Trials Evolution bug. Over 100,000 players saddled up in the first day, and close to 350,000 after just one week. It shattered sales records on Xbox Live Arcade. DLC has been promised. Though we’re more than satisfied with the game’s default content and the endless supply available via Track Central we’re still itching for more. But what are they going to put in? We’ve got some ideas, and even a name: the Nitro Pack, inspired from RedLynx’s own Monster Trucks Nitro.

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When browsing the Highest Rated categories in Trials Evolution‘s Track Central users would often find sub-par tracks amidst truly great ones, often with great tracks getting bumped from the …
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We’re coming up on a week since Trials Evolution‘s release, and in that short time the community has already dished out several great tracks. We featured one, “AMA Supercross 4P” by sVVa eXTR3MZ yesterday in our preview. Today we’ve got even more great tracks. Hit the jump to find today’s gems, and if you’ve found a great user track post the name of it along with the author’s gamertag in the comments below.

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Racedrome Offroad was developed by Rendercode Games. It was released on March 27, 2012 for 80 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Rendercode Games has a history of 80 MSP hits. Concept Car Series 2010 and Avatar Racedrome were both solid releases, and we were really pleased with 2011’s Avatar Karting. Though we don’t do much in the way of XBLIG reviews any more we were more than happy to take their newest title, Racedrome Offroad, for a spin around the track. As the follow up to Avatar Racedrome the game moves things indoors and trades old Grand Prix-inspired cars for a set of wheels akin to dune buggy. Tracks are tight and varied, and two player versus is offered.

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Tomorrow we’re re-launching our Trials Tuesday. Today we’re giving you a sneak peek at our revamped format and how to get the best tracks available. Each week we’ll feature 2-4 custom tracks or skill games we think need to be on every player’s hard drive. For the aspiring creators, here’s what we look at when seeking potential Trials Tuesday feature candidates:

• Does it play well? We look at whether the checkpoints set up correctly, if it works for 2-3 different bikes, and if it feels like some thought was put into it.
• Is it unique? It can be hard to sift through the ho-hum levels, particularly in the Skill Games category where every other level is a incredibly minor change on the Icarus Factor or Hill Climb defaults. That’s not to say we don’t look at those, but rest assured if all you’ve done is add one extra ramp you won’t be featured.
• Are the medals set up well? In other words, are bronze, silver, and gold realistically attainable and spread out well?
• Is it quality? Are you someone who spent time giving your track or skill game pizazz with things like explosions, physics hinges and the like? Bonus points if so.
• Does it have a decent name? Tracks named “Test” or “Dave’s Aw3sUm Track!!1!11” need not apply.

And that’s really it. Long story short we’re looking for the best of the best. To submit your level for feature simply reply in the comments with your level name and gamertag so we can search for it. YouTube videos (if they are HD) are welcome, but we can record them if necessary (and if you’re a featured track). Hit the jump for our first featured track, available as a sneak peek.

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Bang Bang Racing is a tight-grouped racing game. You’ll need every edge to slip yourself out of the pack and into the lead. For just that reason Digital Reality …
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