Pacific Rift drifts to October 28

Take-Two's Midnight Club: LA Remix has been circling the lot, looking for a parking space for some time now. Confident that it had found "a more favorable market window," Take-Two said last week that it would be delaying the Rockstar San Diego-developed street racer until October 21. Although no cause was given for the move, it has been speculated that Take-Two was attempting to bypass Sony's PlayStation 3-exclusive MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, which retailers had pegged for an early October outing.

It now appears as if Take-Two may need to once again rethink its race strategy. Sony revealed today by way of its official blog that MotorStorm: Pacific Rift has been primed for an October 28 release on the PlayStation 3, one week after Midnight Club: LA Remix zips onto the PS3 and Xbox 360. As part of today's announcement, Sony said that a demo for the game would be available to those who preorder through GameStop. Although the promo is billed as a "retailer exclusive," gamers can get access to the Pacific Rift demo as part of the September issue of Sony's Qore digital magazine.

Whereas the first MotorStorm had players flinging mud through rugged canyons and navigating arid, mountainous terrain, Pacific Rift transports players to a verdant, tropical paradise. The Evolution Studios-developed racer includes 16 all-new tracks, and players will have access to all of the vehicles from the original game, as well as the newly introduced monster-truck class. Sony expects to roll out new cars and tracks as downloadable content after the game is released.

Multiplayer gaming will also play a prominent role in Pacific Rift, and Sony is promising 20-player online races as well as four-player split-screen bouts. The game will also support trophies, Sony's persistent achievement system unveiled in June. For more on Pacific Rift, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.