Xbox Gaming in South Africa

By now Codemasters has built a pretty solid reputation for delivering the goods when it comes to offroad racing, from the early days of the more serious Colin McRae titles to the more mainstream stylings of the DiRT franchise, so it can only be good news for motorsport fans when the next release in the series is already being called "the biggest rally game ever made" by chief designer Matt Horsman.

According to the latest issue of EDGE magazine (via Eurogamer), DiRT 3 will bring "snow and ice, dynamic weather, YouTube uploads, fierce rides and epic tracks, splitscreen support, party modes, an open-world playground and more real-life sponsors and stars than ever."

DiRT 3 looks set to be the full package, with Codemasters revealing that the latest iteration will feature more locations, more events (including Gymkhana-styled events), more cars, basically more everything, than any of the previous games in the series. How much more? Well, try over 50 cars from the best of the last 5 decades of offroad racing, and no less than double the track content of DiRT 2, for starters.

Those of you who, like me, have been aching for a touch more of the classic Colin McRae rally action will also be pleased to hear that we can expect a return to form in DiRT 3, with Codemasters confirming "more traditional point to point rally in DiRT 3," along with new rally stages in Kenya, Norway and Monaco.

DiRT 3 is set to release on the Xbox 360 sometime in 2011.