FNG Logo created by Nick Serr

02 May 2011

TrackMania 2 Canyon/ManiaPlanet - Closed Beta slated for July 2011

TrackMania² Canyon

Ubisoft announced on 26 April 2011 that TrackMania2 Canyon and ManiaPlanet will be available as a closed beta beginning in July!

I can't quote, but I've been talking with NADEO some, trying to determine if TrackMania2 will be integrated with the dreaded Ubisoft "Online Services Platform" (OSP).  It doesn't sound like it will; but don't quote me.

Now, it's starting to sound like ManiaPlanet is going to be an always connected thing... as it's basically the social nucleus of the Mania games (TrackMania, and soon to be ShootMania and QuestMania); but I don't know if that means we won't be able to play TrackMania on a computer without an internet connection.  Hopefully that's not the case.  NADEO is a freakin' awesome company, and I'm quite confident if they have their way, they'll allow offline play like the past TrackMania games have done.

I'm not sure how they'll choose the lucky people to participate in the closed beta; but I sure hope we have a chance to be a part of the closed beta!

Sidenote: I will confirm with NADEO whether this is called "TrackMania 2" or "TrackMania Squared"  I keep seeing it listed both ways; but it would be nice to know for sure...  :)

3 comments:

Tim Schoch said...

I go back to MCM1. In MCM2, at the end, I was Axle.I played Unleashed from the start, made a few tracks, left. Still haul out MCM2 now and again. Man, I lost all my skills.

Today I came across your 2007 rant. Very nice. It inspired me. I'm going to check out TrackMania this afternoon. Any tips on where to start?

If I get up to speed, I'd like to join any action that might be going on. Feel free to reach out.

Thanks for you blogs.

Tim

That One Guy said...

@Tim:
Nice to see you here! We'd love to get you introduced to TrackMania and have you join us for some fun racing.

I would love to run MCM2 with you sometime too (I think I still have a machine that runs it.) :)

Do get started, visit:
http://www.trackmania.com/
or hit Steam and look for:
TrackMania Nations Forever.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/11020/

That is the free version of the game and is as fully-functional as the pay-for game (TrackMania United Forever)... Racing, Track Editor, Car Painter, Replay Editor.

The difference between it and the pay-for version is that it only has one environment.

TrackMania United Forever has seven environments with different physics for each car and different track blocks/scenery for each.

TrackMania United Forever can be bought on Steam or elsewhere too.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/7200/

Let us know when you're hooked up; we'd love to race with you.

That One Guy said...

@Tim:
Email me...
that one guy at that one place dot net

(no spaces)