Namco Bandai’s announced Test Drive Unlimited 2 has now entered into the beta phase.

The publisher says it’s entered into a closed beta for PC, with participants picked “based on their knowledge of the racing genre, passion for video games, and gaming system requirements”.

More users will be added to the test soon, according to NBP.

Applications for a beta test opened up before the beginning of the summer on the game’s website, and was first confirmed by game director Alain Jarniou to VG247 at a pre-E3 event in Spain in May.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 launches on PS3, 360 and PC in Q1 2011.

Atari has confirmed to VG247 that it won’t be shutting down Test Drive Unlimited 1′s online servers.

The news comes via Atari’s parent company in Europe, Namco Bandai Partners.

It was rumoured yesterday that the game’s servers would shut down next year following the release of Test Drive Unlimited 2 in September.

“I can confirm that Atari will not be shutting down the servers,” a rep told us.

And there you go.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 releases in Europe on September 24 for PS3, 360 and PC.

According to Playfront, Atari’s set to shut down servers for Test Drive Unlimited 1 next year.

The machine-translated text makes it very unclear where the news comes from, but seems to suggest retail packaging for the original denotes the shut down.

There’s no official word from Atari or its European parent company Namco Bandai Partners yet, but we’ve shot an email off.

The original TDU launched in 2006 for Xbox 360 and PC, with launches on PSP and PS2 soon after.

The game’s location was Oahau, Hawaii, which returns for Test Drive Unlimited 2, alongside the debut of Ibiza.

TDU2 hits PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on September 21 and 26 in North America and Europe, respectively.

Watch the newest trailer for it here.

Namco’s released a brand new environment trailer of Test Drive Unlimited 2. Get it after the break.

The video shows off the Eden racer’s two locations, Ibiza and Hawaii.

Hawaii, back from the first game, was announced at Namco Bandai’s pre-E3 event in Barcelona back in May.

You can travel between the two via the airports on both islands, as well as using a yacht, as told to us by game director Alan Jarniou.

It’s cracking stuff. Watch it below, thanks to IGN.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 releases for PS3, 360 and PC on September 21 in the US, and September 24 in the UK.

Atari’s put live sign-ups for the online beta of Test Drive Unlimited 2. Go, go, go!

You need to be an Atari member to sign up, but once done, you can sign-up for the beta. It isn’t immediately known what the platforms will be as of yet.

We’ve just tried signing up for it, but it looks like you won’t get a response immediately.

A TDU2 beta was first confirmed by game director Alain Jarniou during an interview with VG247 at a Namco Bandai event in Barcelona two weeks ago.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 will release on September 21 in the US for PC, 360 and PS3, with a UK date unknown as of yet, but we’ll ask Namco on that tomorrow morning.

Namco Bandai has said that there’s a schedule in place for Test Drive Unlimited 2 DLC, and that it will be “shaped by the fans”.

That’s according to a post over CVG.

So, once the game is out, start yakking away on the forums so that your voice will be heard.

It was also revealed today that Hawaii Island from the first game returns alongside the already revealed Ibiza Island.

You will also be able to explore car manufacturers that made it into the game, and get out of your car for the first time in the series.

The game will also get an open Beta later this year.

Our very own Johnny Cullen is in Barcelona as we type, getting all this lovely information for you, so expect to hear more later.

Meanwhile, check out VG247′s interview with director Alain Jarniou from Eden Studios, where he answers the questions that YOU asked.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is out this fall for 360, PS3 and PC

Eden Studios confirmed to VG247 in Spain today that bikes are to be included in the game but you won’t be playing with them at launch.

“Yeah, there will be bikes in TDU2, but not for the day one version,” said director Alain Jarniou.

“We completely remade the car handling, because we were not 100 percent pleased with the first one. We have many, many questions about the fact that it’s not arcade or not a simulation. So we decided to start from the beginning, and we now have a new handling for the cars, and we want to, of course, [do the same] for the bikes.

“We need some time to make it.”

There’s no date on when the bike DLC will be added. The game’s out this autumn, so “next year” might be a safe bet.

Eden’s splashed a ton of detail on the racer in Barcelona over the past 24 hours. Get more here, and a full interview with Alain here.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 director Alain Jarniou has confirmed to VG247 that the free-roaming racer will have an open beta this year.

The developer couldn’t be specific on platforms and timing for the test as details are still being nailed, but said a beta would be a better way for users to experience the game before it ships this fall.

“Right now, the plan is to have an open beta of TDU2,” said the team chief.

“The difficulty of having a demo for a game like this is the fact it’s a huge island, and a huge amount of data. It’s not the best way to show the game. So yeah, for now the plan’s an open beta.”

Jarniou said that “technical aspects” prevented him from giving specific details as yet, but platforms for the test would be communicated “soon”.

The game’s out on PC, 360 and PS3 this autumn, and is being shown at a Spanish Namco event today. Get details here and a full interview with Alain here.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is hot. It’s hot today. It’s hot because it’s being shown in Spain at a Namco event and a lot of you really want to play it.

It’s hot because it’s to include 600km of new roads on Hawaii as well as having a whole new island in Ibiza. It’s hot because you’ll be able to get out of the car and talk to other players. It’s hot because it has a fucking yacht you can put a car in. Hot.

We asked you for questions to ask the dev team today, and Johnny’s just done the job. Hit the link. Answering is director Alain Jarniou from Eden Studios.

VG247: The first one’s from lindblum_resident. Is the game’s soundtrack going to be influenced by location? For instance, will Ibiza have dance music?

Alain Jarniou: Yeah, exactly. We have a radio station called Ariba on Ibiza, and on Hawaii it’s called Kaluha Radio. So yes, we have something that’s more Hawaiian, and Hawaiian’s more American. On Ibiza it’s more like techno, dance music.

Just to clarify, you were in the demo yesterday?

Alain Jarniou: Yeah.

I heard REDACTED playing in the background? And REDACTED?

Alain Jarniou: Those tracks are not signed yet. The music is still in negotiations. We have some tracks, but not all the tracks we’re using in there. We’re still waiting for signing.

Another question from a reader. This one’s from Ruckus. He says the first TDU had bikes, so he’s asking if there’s going to be bikes in the sequel.

Alain Jarniou: Yeah, there will be bikes in TDU2, but not for the day one version. As we said in the demo yesterday, we completely remade the car handling, because we were not 100 percent pleased with the first one. We have many, many questions about the fact that it’s not arcade or not a simulation. So we decided to start from the beginning, and we now have a new handling for the cars, and we want to, of course, [do the same] for the bikes. We need some time to make it.

G1GAHURTZ asks if wheel support has been improved. He says that when you’re using the 360 wireless racing wheel it’s hard to keep the car in a straight line in the first game.

Alain Jarniou: Yeah, definitely, yeah. The team is working on it and we have serious people on it. It will be better.

He also says you should turn up the sensitivity on the onboard FPS camera.

Alain Jarniou: We’ve done a retake on the cameras, because cameras are very important for the handling feeling and driving experience. So yes, we’ve retuned that.

Gon asks how much DLC support there’ll be for the game.

Alain Jarniou: We mainly redesigned the game engine to support any updates, any DLC. We’ll have cars, the same as the first one, but we can have new game modes and things like that. It’s very large.

dfar80 asks if NPC passengers reward you much better than just coupons for shops?

Alain Jarniou: Yes.

FearNo1 asks if the game will ship with Arcade and Hardcore driving modes.

Alain Jarniou: No. This time we don’t want the dynamics of the car handling to be classified in one category. It’s easy to learn, hard to master. You know that principal? Some cars are quite picky to drive, and some cars are very easy. You have this kind of difficulty aspect on the cars. The hardcore aspects will be possible in the fact that you can choose your driving “helps”. But there’s no “hardcore” or “normal” game.

It was confirmed yesterday that Hawaii will be in the game as well. Need4SpeedX asks if any more islands will be added as DLC.

Alain Jarniou: It’s something that’s possible. Honestly, it’s a huge [amount of] work to make a new island, so we will see what the community [does]. If people like Test Drive and plays, and we have a lot of feedback saying people want a new island, that’s definitely possible.

Various readers have asked if there’ll be custom soundtrack support for the game. The 360 version had it last time. Do you have plans for the same for all three platforms this time?

Alain Jarniou: Yes. It’s more of a technical matter.

I’m going to ask you for more clarification on the yacht. Truth be told, that came as a bit of a shock to me. I didn’t expect to see a yacht. Can you clarify why that’s in the game? Will you be able to sail around in it?

Alain Jarniou: The yacht is what we imagine is the top-end house in Test Drive. You know that you have to go to the airport to travel between the islands? You can also travel between the two on your yacht. So yes, it’s another way to change between the islands.

Another one from dfar80. You said yesterday that you can get out of the car and have a social experience. To what extent does that addition impact the game in single-player?

Alain Jarniou: You can only get out of car in specific places. You can’t get out of the car everywhere. When you’re driving and free-riding with other players, you can’t go outside the cars, because of the problems we get with people crashing into other people, and so on. So when you’re at home in your garage, or when you’re at the start line of a race, instead of having a menu and a lobby, you have literally a place where you can speak with other friends, and so on. But you’re in a bubble: trolls can’t come through and crash into people.

Final question, this one from poultee: will there be a demo?

Alain Jarniou: Right now, the plan is to have an open beta of TDU2. The difficulty of having a demo for a game like this is the fact it’s a huge island, and a huge amount of data. It’s not the best way to show the game. So yeah, for now the plan’s an open beta.

Any platforms for the beta?

Alain Jarniou: For now it’s more a matter of technical aspects, so I can’t really answer the question. We’ll communicate on this soon.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is out this fall for 360, PS3 and PC.

Yachts and a return to Hawaii is all well and good, but what else would you like to know on Test Drive Unlimited 2? Step right up!

I’m currently sitting in a Barcelona hotel room at a pre-E3 event from Namco Bandai. Everything else seen from the firm is under embargo until May 24, but everything on TDU2 is good to go already.

If you have any burning questions for developer Eden Games, now’s the time to get them in. Get your Qs in below in comments.

I’ll ask the best of the lot to the dev tomorrow.  Final call for questions will be 1pm BST, which is midday in Spain.

For the record, the game looks absolutely awesome. If you liked the first TDU, chances are you’re probably going to love this.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 releases this fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Eden Studios confirmed at a Namco event in Barcelona today that the Hawaii setting from the first Test Drive Unlimited is to be included in the sequel, although you’ll be experiencing it “as you’ve never have before”.

But that’s not the best bit. Sounds as though the developer’s taken the concept of a “free-roaming” game literally: you’re going to be able to get out of the car this time.

Johnny Cullen’s in Spain with Namco, and was one of attendant press that saw Eden showing off open-space racer TDU2 today. The studio said that a fully revamped Hawaii will be joining the already-announced Ibiza as a massive area in the game.

Players will start on Ibiza, with the island’s airport becoming unlocked at a certain point in the game, giving you access to Hawaii.

More then 600km of new asphalt and off-road network has been added to Hawaii, as well as completely new missions and challenges. Reading from a fact sheet in his hotel room just now, Cullen said Eden’s thinks you’ll “experience the Hawaiian island as you’ve never have before.”

Hawaii aside, Eden dropped a proper bombshell in Spain today, saying there’s a whole new “out-of-car mode” where you can walk around and interact with others players. You couldn’t leave the car in the first game. Apparently every aspect of your avatar is customisable, from hair and skin to clothes.

The game is “always live with automatic content updates and seamless online-offline integration,” said Namco today.

“New content, challenges and feature will integrate dynamically into gameplay as the world evolves over time.”

And you can buy a yacht. I didn’t quite understand this bit. Cullen was just shouting, “You can drive your car into your yacht,” into his laptop microphone. Whatever: you can buy a yacht.

Other feature additions include motion blur, car damage and a “completely new handling model,” apparently.

It’s out this fall for 360, PS3 and PC.

Johnny’s interviewing Eden tomorrow. If you’ve got any questions for the team, stick them in the comments below.

Namco Bandai’s released a new trailer of Test Drive Unlimited. Get it after the break.

The trailer shows off the depth and scale of Ibiza, the game’s location, as well as some of the social aspects in the game. You can even have plastic surgery now, if you wish.

And unlike the last game, there’s now off-road racing, which is always a good thing in our books.

Get the trailer below, courtesy of GT.

TDU2′s out this fall for PS3, 360 and PC.

Atari’s released the first trailer of Test Drive Unlimited 2. If you ever wanted to know what it’s like to drive fast cars in Ibiza, now’s your chance.

Get it below from IGN. There’s also some new screens of the racer here, and a full preview of the game here.

It’s looking good, kids. The racing fans can’t should be absolutely getting pumped for this.

TDU2 releases this fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 details have dropped in the latest issue of GameReactor, confirming the game will take place on the Spanish party island of Ibiza. Big-fish-little-fish inclusion is unconfirmed at this time.

The magazine also mentions the sequel is 2.5 times bigger then the original, has added SUVs to the mix and now has a proper 24-hour day-night cycle.

Apparently the racer has a new co-op mode, where one person gets to be the driver while the other reads the map.

Developer Eden Studios added a damage model to the game as well.

TDU2 was announced earlier this month for a release on PC, PS3 and 360. No date yet for it.

Thanks, AGB.

Atari’s announced Test Drive Unlimited 2.

The game will appear on 360, PC and PS3. Eden Studios, who developed the first title, will also create the sequel.

The big key talking point is that the racer will have M.O.O.R, or Massively Open Online Racing, constantly keeping the offline and online worlds kept together and “always live”.

As well as features from the previous game, like buying property and clothes shopping (naturally), the game will also feature day and night cycles and more.

First shots and PR are below. The official website‘s also opened up as well, but there ain’t much there, if we’re honest.

Mar 3, 2010 2:45:00 AM

NEW YORK, March 3 /PRNewswire/ — Atari, SA, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, and much-acclaimed developer Eden Games, are proud to announce the newest installment in the legendary racing franchise with Test Drive® Unlimited 2 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC coming Fall 2010. Â

Test Drive Unlimited 2 expands on the traditional racing experience providing gamers with M.O.O.R.®: Massively Open Online Racing®; immersing drivers in a persistent online environment and revolutionizing multiplayer racing communities as players compete, team up, and share their achievements and creations online.  Unlike any other driving game, TDU2 blends the open world experience with realistic vehicles and performance dynamics and for the first time, TDU2 features vehicle damage, weather effects, day and night cycles, and a brand new island to explore.

The first Test Drive® Unlimited innovated the racing genre with an immersive online and offline experience – over 1 million players created online accounts.  Test Drive Unlimited 2 blends the single player and multiplayer experiences seamlessly, creating a dynamic world of unique content and challenges.  Test Drive Unlimited 2 is “always live,” with automatic updates and seamless online/offline integration.  A revamped single player narrative mode can be played offline or as part of the multiplayer experience.

“After the highly successful Test Drive Unlimited which redefined the genre with massively open online racing, Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be an innovative evolution in racing games, expanding its unparalleled multiplayer experience and immersing players in a world full of new online content and lifestyle customization.” said Jeff Lapin, CEO of Atari, SA. “The game fits squarely into our strategy of moving online and generating new revenue streams while maintaining our current retail business.”

Test Drive Unlimited 2 puts the world’s most desirable vehicles in the players hands. Â These ultra-limited edition masterpieces are flawlessly replicated with Eden’s finely tuned driving technology. Â Players define their online persona through the customization of their vehicles, and the acquisition of property, clothing and all the accoutrements of a luxurious car-based lifestyle. Â The challenge comes to life with the most expansive and comprehensive multiplayer offering on the console and the ultimate refinement of the core Test Drive driving experience. Â All-new race types, vehicle classes, environmental challenges, locations and much more push this epic franchise to new levels of performance and luxury.

For more information on Test Drive Unlimited 2 please visit www.testdriveunlimited2.com or log on to www.atari.com.

A ton of concept art, supposedly from Test Drive Unlimited 2, has popped up in this forum.

Is it real? We’ll have an ask. The game’s never been officially announced. The Eden-developed, Atari-published 360 and PC original was released in 2007.

Via Gamersyde. Thanks, DrDamn.

Atari put out a release schedule this afternoon confirming the PS3 version of Alone in the Dark for a November release.

That’s it, pretty much. You probably already know if you’re going to buy this or not.