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Fatal Inertia slamming 360s in September

[UPDATE] Koei's long-delayed sci-fi racer speeding onto Microsoft's console on 9/11; PS3 version on hold due to "middleware issues."

Every good physicist knows that objects in motion retain their heading unless acted upon by some external force. So it's not without some tinge of irony that Koei's Fatal Inertia has has taken a particularly convoluted path to release. Initially revealed during 2005's Tokyo Game Show, Fatal Inertia was quickly positioned as the first definitive launch title for the PlayStation 3's spring 2006 launch in September 2005.

First delayed alongside the PS3, Fatal Inertia was again bumped to a broader 2006 release window when the game was left off the PlayStation 3's Japanese launch lineup. Changing course once more, Koei revealed in November 2006 that the game would be joined by an Xbox 360 version.

In January 2007, forces again conspired against Fatal Inertia, and the PS3 version was bumped to April in the US, promptly followed by the Xbox 360 version, so that the publisher could "release them all at the same time." Then this March, both versions were again delayed to a Q3 2007 release.

Today, the publisher sends word its futuristic combat racer finally has a firm North American release date of September 11. However, said date only applies for the 360 version of the game. Conspicuously absent from today's announcement was a release date for the PS3 edition of the game, which was once thought of as exclusive to Sony's console.

[UPDATE] Speaking with GameSpot, a rep for Koei explained that the PS3 version of Fatal Inertia is on hold due to game-engine problems. "It's purely a middleware issue," the rep said, underlining the publisher's commitment to the PS3 platform. "We've always supported Sony and will continue to do so."

Developed by Koei's Canada studio, Fatal Inertia features single- and multiplayer racing over eight racing series and six racing environments, as well as vehicle-customization options. It is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older and will retail for $59.99.

160 Comments

  • ChiefFreeman

    Posted Oct 29, 2011 3:43 pm GMT

    what a piece of poop this game turned out to be.

  • Titanicles

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 4:38 am GMT

    I didn't like the game (I played the demo) but I do find this funny.

  • haynsey123

    Posted Aug 9, 2007 3:10 am GMT

    yeah looks poor keep it 360 give me the original and best wipeout thanks.

  • kaven_rulz

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 9:16 pm GMT

    whoa...the ps3 is really losing ALOT of games to 360,dam u gotta up ur pace to catch up with microsoft now sony.

  • senjutsu

    Posted Jul 6, 2007 8:44 pm GMT

    fatal error...

    The game looked good, a bit like the episode 1 racer game with a little extra, lol. Anyway, I'll sadly plya GTA4 to wait for this big title, lol (joke)

  • rocky2k32000

    Posted Jul 4, 2007 2:40 pm GMT

    fatal inertia? more like fatal ****. gimme wipeout please..

  • GohanSSJZ

    Posted Jul 4, 2007 10:25 am GMT

    The PS3 definetly lost a lot of ground, and they will need some strong titles and a drop in price to compete properly, but none of it should get people to bash each other for it so much. I don't own a PS3, and won't for quite a while (big price drop and some sweet games would do it for me), and while i love the 360 (minus the hardware problems...), i love my Wii, NDS, Xbox, PS2 and PSP aswell, they all offer me something i want, and i know the PS3 offers something i want aswell, just not enough to buy one right now.

    But in the end it's just about the games, and wether it has Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft on it, simply doesn't matter, games are games, and that's what it's all about.

  • GrimBee

    Posted Jul 4, 2007 8:06 am GMT

    Its amazing, when the 360 was first released - its first christmas was quite poor. But the next christmas (last year) was amazing - gears of war and many others.

    The ps3, on its 2nd christmas (like the 360 last year) has not achieved games like this. I would imagine the ps3's 3rd christmas (the 360's upcomming christmas) to be nothing short of amazing...

    But seeming as every christmas the 360 has gotten better and better - it seems that the ps3 is going to be playing catch-up. games getting the release earlier on the 360, more people to sell those games too...

    I mean, when rockstar releases gta4 this fall - what console will sell more copies? the 360 with its 12million users, or the ps3 with its 4 million users?
    I think developers will be surprised how well the 360 does at just selling games.
    Ps3 seriously needs to concentrate on inviting more people to the console, otherwise the trend (which this game has followed) will continue for the ps3.

  • MC_Raptor

    Posted Jul 4, 2007 2:38 am GMT

    So what if its released on 9/11! It's just a date, bad things happen every day, it's no worse than whats going on in the world.

    p.s. This game looks sick!!!!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 4:40 pm GMT

    I wonder if anybody thinks a game about high speed flying vehicles crashing into things being released on 9/11 is an awful idea. Somebody's media whore of an angry mom is bound to claim loss as a result of this games strategically designed release date.

  • sancezz

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 3:36 pm GMT

    lol, ps3 gets shafted again. ouch.

  • GohanSSJZ

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 1:37 pm GMT

    With all this crap from both sides about which is better, i have to wonder... do you all even play games, or are you just busy bashing it's other... i mean really, who gives a damn, so be a real gamer, stop caring and just buy the machine that offers YOU the best expierence, and stop trying to convince others what THEIR expierence should be like.

  • marcod1

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 1:08 pm GMT

    UK

    What do you have against MicroSoft I wonder????

  • thekey

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 1:06 pm GMT

    ChaosXeno I think your confused. You forget that the 360 elite is bulit with true "1080P".

  • nevershort

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 12:33 pm GMT

    Lost one exclusive only to gain another... (check todays news headlines on GS)...

  • mwa

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 11:47 am GMT

    well if anything this is more proof that the PS3 is overly difficult to develop for

  • AliasUK

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 11:02 am GMT

    I'd forgotten about Fatal Inertia :-| Whoops. Ah well. And I agree with Bufta. Although I like the Xbox 360 (hated the Xbox) and am currently writing this on a PC using Windows, I detest Microsoft. So I bought a PS3! I too miss Sega kevy619, bring on the Sega Ubercast!!

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 10:20 am GMT

    Honestly though, 2007 will be the year of the xbox 360. Grand Theft Auto 4, Halo 3, and Mass Effect all in one holiday season. Even the upcoming Bioshock, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Lost Oddysey, Too Human, PGR 4 and ace combat 6, its just so many great looking games in one year.

  • cameron_love

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 10:04 am GMT

    I have read a quote from Koei to another magazine who said they have indefinately suspended it for PS3 simply because they cannot get to grips with the issues and hope that they will either get support from the people that creat Unreal Engine or from Sony themselves, or they publish other titles and learn more from it to return to it. At present they dont intend to release a PS3 version at all and have no intention of diverting extra resources towards it in the forseeable future. Sega have also made concerns that some technologies (although not stating what) are totaly ineffective in their use on the PS3 whereas they are much more workable on a 360 and Wii platform. They too, along with Namco have decided to concentrate on Wii and 360 only for the foreseeable future and should releases on the 360 prove incredibly successful commercially, they will then attempt to port it to the PS3, but only if it is a success on other platforms first as they do not believe at present there is the market or the need to divert huge resources attempting to make something work on the PS3 without guarentee of success commercially.

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 10:01 am GMT

    nobody wants a complete monopoly, but i think sony is far from out of the picture. Personally i was never a big nintendo fan, I miss sega .

  • Bufta

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:59 am GMT

    Microsoft are just buying everyone off. I for one dont want a world where one company MS rules all the PC's and all the consoles. This is why i make a point of not buying any Xbox multiplatform games. Just to do my bit against them.

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:51 am GMT

    "Bufta This is getting worrying PS3 is getting everything late allowing microsoft to gain a foothold. I bet MS are throwing buckets of cash at developers to make sure that the the red light 360 gets the game first."
    ya it is starting to happen, ace combat 6, Beautiful Katarami, eternal sonata, rainbow 6 vegas, dead rising, lost planet, now this game. Microsoft is really starting to get third party support.

  • Bufta

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:43 am GMT

    This is getting worrying PS3 is getting everything late allowing microsoft to gain a foothold. I bet MS are throwing buckets of cash at developers to make sure that the the red light 360 gets the game first.

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:40 am GMT

    sorry man, its just that the sony pr gets on my nerves. To be fair, so does microsoft charging so much for every micro transaction. That and the fact alot of xbox 360s are defective. I cant even play halo 2 online anymore without buying the new maps, i wasnt very happy about that.

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:40 am GMT

    Who cares, just give me the next Wipeout. That's all I need.

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:35 am GMT

    "nope, thats untrue and the reason for it is because of the architechture of the ps3. Slow disk read speeds, not enough bandwidth, you cant drive 500 miles an hour when the speed limit is only 200 miles an hour."

    Well then I'll leave you to your expert opinion. As I said earlier, I am just an amateur, which never got the chance to work with the cell. And i'm not interested in getting into an argument. If you have more trustworthy sources or personal experience those claims, than you don't need to ask me how can a system be more powerful while harder to develop for. Peace

  • BigDaveyDogz

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:08 am GMT

    The PS3 may very well be more powerful then the 360, but companies want to make money and make money now. They don't want to waste time figuring out how to optimize the PS3's capabilities while a game can look just as nice on the 360 and be pumped out quicker. Like they say in the mafia: Its nothing personal...just business.

  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:04 am GMT

    Of course they will always "support Sony"...it's just more difficult to support a platform without good tools, as evidenced by this game's progress. Something tells me the "free" online element of the PS3 has been causing them the most problems.

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 9:03 am GMT

    "@kevy619 developers havent even taken the xbox 360 to its limits yet, its irrelevant if the ps3 is more powerful right now. "

    VERY TRUE. And as I was saying, it may be that they will never bother to take PS3 to higher limits. It may remain one of those undiscovered jewels. It may remain irelevant forever. It will probably come down to wether or not you want a blu ray player with your console...

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:59 am GMT

    developers havent even taken the xbox 360 to its limits yet, its irrelevant if the ps3 is more powerful right now.

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:58 am GMT

    "@kevy619 naw, put it this way. They are both like having a car that can go 500 miles per hour but the tires can only handle 200 miles an hour. Overly simplifiied but true."

    Naw. More its' more like PS3 it's a rocket which can go 500 miles per hour but most drivers are not used to driving rockets so they just get in a safe car even if that's only 200 miles per hour.

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:50 am GMT

    "
    how does having more power make it harder for developers do the same thing as a machine with lower power. Please explain that to me, it doesnt make any sense.
    "

    I am not a computer engineer. And I don't prented to be. I do have a comp sci degree. But I never worked with Cell. So all i can share with you is my amateurish opinion based on what I read around. I try to strip it down of BS and fanboism as much as I can. There are different CPU architectures out there. For example, there is the x86 which has been around for a long time. And more recently there is the X64. And then there are others like IA64. Each architecture differs in its strenghts and weakeness. Thus for example when IA64 came out it was thought to replace x86. At the same number of Mhz, IA64 can do the things which x86 can do, A LOT FASTER. However, IA64 was expensive, incompatible with the previous hardware, and required developers to "think" different.

    My understanding is that Cell is in the same boat. IBM and Sony have put a lot of R&D into the architecture. And now they got something they are really proud of in terms of hardware. It may very well be "the future". However, it seems that developers have to invest a considerable amount of resources in order to use this power. It's a big gamble. If games start to take advantage of the power, a lot of the 360 fanboys will go purchase a PS3. The difference in graphics may prove really big. ()

    However, if games continue to be multiplatform, and developers continue to take the 360 as the standard for "next gen" graphics, the gamble will not pay off.

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:43 am GMT

    kevy619 - They're both an unbelievable pain in the rear to develop for?

    As to Fatal Inertia, I wonder if Microsoft actually paid for this timed exclusive? The game was in development for the PS3 well before it was even announced on 360. Just seems strange...

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:38 am GMT

    what does the ps3 and a quad core processor pc have in common? Bonus points to the first correct answer.

  • kevy619

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:32 am GMT

    the 360 can output 1080p

  • nev70

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:32 am GMT

    Ahhh all the poor Sony fans " the game was going to be crap anyhow" , the games quality is side issue this shows that Sony is slowly losing its grasp on exclusives (last years E3 it was a Sony exclusive )and the NA market its certainly not going to dominate the market as it did last gen .A good business decision to bang it out on the 360 as well , they have just trebled there consumer base.How many exclusives have Sony lost now , i'm losing count ?

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:21 am GMT

    @thekey "What makes my head spin is how can anyone think that having a CPU thats 256 MB and a GPU at 256 MB(of RAM locked in NOT unified) not being a problem for game developers? "

    CPU and GPU power are not measured in MB. That's memory dude. Anyways... what makes the system powerful is this (from http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2007/06/the_neverending_race_for_faste.php):
    "IBM unveiled the world's fastest computer this week, the BBC reports. Blue Gene/P is three times faster than what is thought to be the fastest known computer -- Blue Gene/L, another IBM computer.

    Blue Gene/P, which will go online later this year at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, comes packed with 1 petaflop, or the capability of processing 1,000 trillion calculations per second (100,000 times faster than a PC).

    Oh, and what makes all these computers so fast? It's the same processor technology found in the just-released PlayStation 3 game that your kids use.
    "

    So, to deny that PS3 is powerful it's just stupid. Sony is not BSing when it comes to that. However that power, does make the system harder to aproach.

  • decebal

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:15 am GMT

    GREAT! Now, more gamers can "ENJOY" it. LOL.

  • aznfool07

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 7:59 am GMT

    Personally I thought Fatal Inertia was the most boring game I ever saw on the PS3. No one is hyping it. I don't think anyone should hype this game. Lemmings can brag about how PS3 lost this game to 360 but this game doesn't look that fun =/.

  • potatoesman

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 6:14 am GMT

    sony is getting raped left right and centre . cant be denied

  • Thornscar

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 6:10 am GMT

    lol most games wont even go higher than 720P anyways. And upscaling your DVD's to your PS3 is something completly diffrent and has no relevance to the 360 upscaling. The 360 does infact go to 1080I now, and good luck telling the diffrence from 1080I to 1080P I can't? Maybe if your lucky they will find a way to upscale Resistance fall of man to play like Gears of War or Halo.

  • wizard_levy

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 6:01 am GMT

    now here comes the ****storm of especulation

  • ChaosXeno

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 5:27 am GMT

    lol the key 360 can only do true 720p and it upscales to 1080i. Please don't confuse upscaling with TRUE HD its a huge difference. I could upscale my dvds on my ps3 but it won't make it look better than something ment for true hd.

  • thekey

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 4:51 am GMT

    "I'm really confused as to why Motorstorm and Madden max out at 720P, when every single game I've played on the 360 goes up to 1080I. Considering the power that Sony claims for the system, I just don't understand the limitations on framerate, or resolution. Either way, both systems have problems right now, so I don't see any point in the continued fanboy attacks either way. 360's die really fast, and PS3 isn't performing the way it should, so it should be a close race to second, behind the Wii. That one still makes my head spin.lol"

    What makes my head spin is how can anyone think that having a CPU thats 256 MB and a GPU at 256 MB(of RAM locked in NOT unified) not being a problem for game developers? All this and yet people thing the PS3 is the most powerful console. And then sony claims to have the most powerful system, yet they don't give developers helpful tools to help them tap into the cell processor? Then wonder why games like Madden 08 can run @ 60 FPS on it. And why games like this one(Fatal Interia) don't work properly. Thats what has my head spining.

  • gurux2k

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 3:40 am GMT

    According to THIS, KOIE says the PS3 version is delayed indefinitely.

    One of Koei's once PS3 exclusive games now seems to be headed to the 360 exclusively. Today, Koei released some screenshots and announced that their futuristic racer Fatal Inertia will hit retailers September 11th on the Xbox 360 console. But oddly enough developer Koei didn't mention any PS3 release date for the game. Surely it was a PR mistake, how could they forget about the PS3 version to which it was once exclusive to? Well, the Wired Blog crew contacted Koei to get an official response about the status of the PS3 version. Koei responsed by stating that the PS3 version is "delayed indefinitely" due to "progress of the game engine for PS3". Interesting enough, seeing that Fatal Inertia uses the Unreal Engine 3. No matter, September 11th is the street date on the 360 and that's all that matters.

  • Zkeptik

    Posted Jul 3, 2007 3:04 am GMT

    If they DID cancel the PS3 version, would they tell us at this point? No, I don't think they would. I have a PS3 and that was one of the titles I was looking forward to on that system. Luckily I also have the 360. Perhaps this will give Microsoft a window (pun intended) to charge for add-ons through the Marketplace that the later release of the PS3 version will have included for free? Only time will tell.

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    • Publisher(s): Koei
    • Genre: Driving
    • Release: Sep 11, 2007 (US)
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