Hi everyone,
My name is James Grieve and I am the Technical Director on ModNation Racers here at United Front Games in Vancouver, Canada. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you in preparation for the unleashing of the ModNation Racers European Public Beta.
As a lot of you may have heard, the response to the North American beta has been amazing. With tens of thousands of creations published and almost 100,000 online races run, the team here has been amazed at how people have taken to the game. The creativity of players’ creations just blew us away … there was stuff in there even we had never thought of doing 
We have also received a ton of useful feedback from players, and likewise we hope to hear from all of you. The team is hard at work finishing the game now, and a lot of that feedback is being listened to and addressed. One of the key focuses of the beta has been online stability and load testing. The data we have gathered has been very useful in this regard and the European data will be even more so. We have already used some of this data to tweak our server configurations, so hopefully things should be running nice and smooth. We’re continuing our frame rate optimisations and load time improvements, and these will be ready for the final game.
One thing we were disappointed in was that we weren’t able to release the European Public Beta simultaneously with the North American version. Because of this, we have decided to open up a couple of new tracks and we hope you really like them. They will give you a taste for a little more of what the ModNation Racers experience will have to offer and hopefully they make up for the wait
I also just heard that the Public Beta will be released in Australia and New Zealand as well. Although I’ve been in Vancouver for a few years now, I am still an Australian at heart, so I am very happy all my compatriots will be able to join in the fun
Anyway, remember to log in to PSN January 21 to get in line for the download. We look forward to being even more surprised by all the creative and exciting stuff that goes on and hope everyone in Europe has a great time in ModNation!
James
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131 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:33 pm by V_Ben
woo
been looking forward to this beta 
2
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:33 pm by vicheous
Great! Hope i get it…
3
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:34 pm by luimneachred
Fingers crossed…will be keeping an eye on PSN all day lol
4
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:35 pm by Noz_UK
Woo Hoo, cant wait for this game =0)
5
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:36 pm by GameRider
Yeah! Thanks for that James Grieve and I’m really looking forward to the European BETA.
I’ll be logged the whole day tommarrow and trying to get that awesome Beta. We’ll see us online!
6
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:37 pm by DANTHEMAN121
kl kl been looking forward to this one. hope it will have game launching in playstation home n content when the full game comes out.
can’t wait
7
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:38 pm by Nyoro-n
I heard it will be some kind of open beta but only for the first Xk people who download the game. Will official Sony beta testers receive a beta key by mail as always or will we have to “compete” with everyone in order to download our beta trial first?
8
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:38 pm by ssaannttii
One question. The North American Beta stuff was deleted from the servers, right?
I made the second most downloaded mod in the Beta… the Helghast mod.
9
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:38 pm by MikeyS1711
Will the store be updated at its normal time of around 5 – 5:30 (at least I think that is normal time)
10
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:43 pm by Alcest-Wizard
i WANT it! xD
11
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:45 pm by Carnivius_Prime
I hope the store updates before I have my evening karate class or I’ll likely miss this. Quite keen to give it a go. Will be checking for it.
12
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 6:46 pm by Gam3roff
I just can’t wait ’till tomorrow…
13
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:03 pm by mango1234
Thank You James!!!
This game is a childhood dream come true… I spent most of my early years designing my own race tracks and these old ideas can now become a reality thanks to you guys…
I plan to recreate Oulton Park (real track located in cheshire, england)and give it a bit of an epic twist
Right… Time to have a search in my old doodle books
14
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:07 pm by zAppr
So this european beta is sort of an “open beta” but it’s availability on the psn store is limited?
15
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:28 pm by VitalogyPJ
@14 Yes, only 100.000 lucky guys will have it.
16
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:33 pm by djreplay
And i won’t be able to get in because my launch PS3 just kicked the bucket(YLOD), sent it off to be repaired but that will take 3 weeks. I’ve ordered a slim but i don’t think it will arrive in time. I couldn’t be more p****d off at the moment, unless my PSP packed up.
17
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:44 pm by BlackCanary
I want this Game so bad….
18
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:44 pm by Bonyman
I was hoping to be off 2moro for this but i have to work.
Oh well, i’ll just take it out on the traffic on the way home !
19
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 7:53 pm by ChrisEngdahl
What time will it be in the store?
I’m not in all day so it would be good to know what time it will be there…
I’m on GMS +1
20
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:06 pm by Saber_IV
I’ll be checking the store constantly to see if it’s on there!
21
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:08 pm by djreplay
store updates at around 4 o’clock GMT
22
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:09 pm by sasapac
i can’t wait for this game, i will get for sure
23
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:11 pm by GuttermouthSIN
Awesome, I hope I manage to get in.
24
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:24 pm by devels
i’m dying to get in this game.. so bad it hurts.. deep inside.. I Think I might be In Love <3
25
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:28 pm by GekooktEi
I’m so glad the beta releases at the normal Store updating time, because otherwise I’d be too late because of school.
Cheers guys, I WILL be one of the first 100K. Aren’t you afraid of server overload by the way, when millions of every-free-thing-wanting gamers will storm the Store?
26
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:32 pm by Arion87
Will this be available for South Africa as well? What time tomorrow (in GMT) will the store be updated?
27
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:46 pm by FamilyGuyFan52
Sigh… I was mega hyped for this but sadly have to go do England tommorow for my granddads funeral. I’ll just have to wait for the full game.
28
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 8:59 pm by Andrefpvs
James, were you the one who did the E3 presentation?
I say this because I remember this line from your co-worker:
“You have to excuse my friend, he’s Australian”
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:49 pm by James Grieve
Ha, you busted me
That was me up there on stage. It was a huge honour that Sony had us up there to demo our game and it was a great experience!
29
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 9:19 pm by vonhammer
“And i won’t be able to get in because my launch PS3 just kicked the bucket(YLOD), sent it off to be repaired but that will take 3 weeks.”
It should only take 2 days for the replacement,I’ve had 2 replacement,both within 48 hours of calling.
30
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 9:23 pm by machine3
Thanks !!!
^^
31
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 9:26 pm by PenguinGlen
I’ll be logged in all day frequently checking the store to see if it’s been added. I’m thinking that there’s a chance that it might be released before the usual store update… guess we’ll find out.
I’ll be gutted if I’m the 100,001st person.
32
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 9:32 pm by xKillerMonkeyx
Wooo hope i snatch one before everyone esle, would love to know a timeframe as i cant really stay in ALL day but
33
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:17 pm by scottscorpion
where does it say its only 100,000 downloads of this?
34
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:21 pm by seanoc1
@33: In the beta announcement the other week. Only the first 100,000 downloads will get in.
35
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:27 pm by George_Robo
So what time does the store usually get updated? Morning or afternoon (UK Time).
Thanks
36
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:36 pm by ramthx
mmmmmm wonder how many people are going to get caught out with this one i would set your alarms for 12.01 or stay up i just have a feeling it wont be done at the same time as the normal update
37
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:36 pm by BloodEye
What time does the store update usually? I don’t want to miss out on this!
38
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:52 pm by QuietlyWrong
Hold on… The original blog entry about the European Beta said 22nd… Don’t tell me I’ve taken Friday off work for nothing…
39
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 10:54 pm by George_Robo
@QuietlyWrong Its activated on the 22nd, you download on the 21st
40
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:11 pm by niked
great! hope to see some improvement whit this beta!
41
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:12 pm by QuietlyWrong
Ah well – can’t get Thurs off anyway. If the store updates late I’m in with a chance and will have a whole day to try it… Right. How best to delay Mr Kebby…?
42
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:12 pm by Anon_of_cro
So where is it? 0:12 of the 21st I see no beta…
43
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:15 pm by George_Robo
@Anon_of_cro Where do you live? Its only 11:15 in the UK
44
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:16 pm by Anon_of_cro
Ah yes you’re right… Croatia.
45
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:19 pm by dutchguy1982
Whoa.. almost forgot! Gonna try this in half an hour.. and if not.. tomorrow morning.. here’s hoping
46
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:22 pm by ik00R
meeeh…. what time is it? gmt? was on psstore at 00:01, 00:02…… and so on but on cet
47
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:25 pm by Anon_of_cro
We’re all guessing GMT +0 but thats just guessing…
48
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:29 pm by ik00R
Anon_of_cro yea seems so… so i take a beer and wait like 30mins now
49
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:40 pm by FamilyGuyFan52
if they update the store at midnight that would be legendary, not getting hopes up though. 20 mins to go
50
Posted on 20 January, 2010 at 11:54 pm by ik00R
imma stay up until it’s there!
Anon are you in cro?
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