ModNation Racers is the newest installment to PlayStation’s innovative Play, Create and Share genre. ModNation Racers is a thoroughly fresh take on classic kart racing that empowers the player to personalize their entire game. Players can express themselves by creating their own Mod character, styling their own racing kart and even building – in just minutes – an imaginative track that can be shared with the rest of the PlayStation community via the free PlayStation Network service. The easy-to-use editing studio tools make this creative process accessible to players of all levels. Not feeling creative? ModNation Racers presents a humorous story with a wealth of pre-made characters, karts, tracks and challenges for all players.

Players can express themselves in ModNation Racers by designing an imaginative Mod character and crafting a cool kart that insures a stylish drive around the track. Additionally, players are given simple and accessible tools to create any track they can dream up. They can spend mere minutes designing a circuit or hours perfecting it with the same tools the developers used to design the pre-made tracks. To start creating, players simply drive their kart and watch the track created in real-time behind them. They can add hairpin turns, rickety bridges or other elements to the race track, or even include environmental components like a stunning sunset, full mountain ranges and more.

Once players are happy with their track designs, Mod character or tricked-out kart, they can share and race these creations with the rest of the world online via PSN. Furthermore, players can download others’ unlocked creations, mod them, and then re-upload to the ModNation Racers community. ModNation Racers gives players the ability to rate and comment on others’ creations, and see how their track ranks within the community. With all this accessible editing and re-editing, players will have access to a constantly changing array of user generated characters, karts and tracks. Sophisticated social networking components, filters and leaderboards ensure the community’s best and favorite creations rise to the top and are easy to find.

There are some things on the HUD worth noticing. On the left side of the screen is the “Prop Thermometer.” As you start placing props, this gauge will start to fill up. It’s a quick visual representation of where you stand while you’re placing props, so you don’t get caught unaware if you’re not quite finished populating your track! The other important HUD element to note is the prop panel on the right side of the screen. This panel can be expanded by pressing the Circle button, which brings out a large, categorized prop menu, so you can browse through the props and categories with ease!

After finishing up the terrain, I like to populate all the track obstacles first, so I can get a feel for how the track will race. In this part of the track, I’ve placed some interactive track obstacles for the racers to contend with. Each interactive obstacle can have their “Dynamic Options” edited. That means you can adjust the speed at which the obstacle occurs, the frequency, trajectory, the initial delay, and so forth. If you want to make the obstacles easy to navigate, crank down the values. Want to test the skills of the people playing your track? Crank those values up!

Here’s a section of the track that has a tunnel built, with a kart launcher guarded by some “Wanderers.” These particular wanderers have their “Dynamic Options” set to stay in one place and jump up and down. I’ve got to get my timing just right to sneak under them to hit the kart launcher, which I have set up as a shortcut. If I mess up on my timing, those wanderers will explode my kart and I will have wasted precious time re-spawning. You can set up endless scenarios such as these, as you create a track that you can publish to the world and show everyone your track building prowess!

In these pictures I’ve started to populate the beach area of my track with buildings, boats and some signs. I’ve also changed the track surface to a cobblestone pavement with red brick run-offs. You’ll also notice I changed the racing style fence to a lamppost and chain style of fence. The combinations are limitless when customizing the track to your needs! Each theme boasts their own style of pavements, run-offs, fences, buildings, trees, rocks, plants, wall rides, skies… You name it!

PS3 Key Features:

• Customized Karting Experience – Whether the player is a race car driver, a newcomer to videogames or an aspiring game developer, they can show their talents off in ModNation Racers. The power of creation is in the player’s hands.
• Accessible Creation Tools – ModNation Racers includes easy creation tools in the Track Studio, Character Studio and Kart Studio that allow the player to design something comprehensive and fun in a matter of minutes. Players can invest minimal time and enjoy basic creating, or they can invest more time and make sure every lake, mountain, banked turn and power-up is placed perfectly.
• Classic Kart Racing Action – ModNation Racers delivers exceptional kart handling and physics technology on PS3 that makes for fast and fun racing. Players can drift their karts around corners, boost for more speed, attack opponents with weapons and interact with the world around them.
• Story Campaign – The humorous story of ModNation Racers sees the player rise up to become an elite racer. The narrative, tutorials, challenges, and rewards reveal all the key features.
• Game Modes – In addition to the Story Campaign, other single and multiplayer player modes will let players show off their skills in varied challenges with their favorite characters and karts.
• Extensive PlayStation Network Options – Features include matchmaking, detailed stats and leaderboards, Friends List management, communication tools, etc.
• Vinyl Art Style – Inspired by urban vinyl art, ModNation Racers sports a stylish and attractive look and design for young and old players alike.
• User-Generated Content – User generated content in ModNation Racers will keep this karting world fresh and alive so that every race is a new and fun experience.
• Vote for the Best – Players can participate in the karting community in ModNation Racers by voting on any creation as they view it and race it
• Attacking and Offensive Driving – Winning the race is only half of the fun! Players can use combat-like racing strategies to attack other karts with an array of dramatic weapons. For those interested in focusing solely on racing, ModNation Racers has a Pure Race mode.
• Trophy Support – ModNation Karting supports a host of fun and challenging trophies to collect along the way.