Activision's CEO already said Blur could be the Call of Duty of racing games, but it's the four varied references to shooters in Edge magazine's cover story on the game that drive that home.

From a "business perspective" it's not hard to see why Activision would hope that the first racing game Bizarre Creations makes since the publisher acquired the Project Gotham Racing development studio would have a Call of Duty impact.

But did you know that Blur seems to be drawing some creative inspiration from some top shooters?

The cover story of Edge magazine's June issue elaborates on the Mario-Kart-Meets-Forza design and the Facebook influence on Blur. But what caught my eye were the references to shooters.

Here, in a discussion about how the power-ups strewn on the track can affect gameplay: "The perfect lap is not apex to apex, it's about decisions: I need this, I can go and collect it, then I can use that. We're building up a story that the player is putting through in his mind, very similar to the process that a seasoned FPS player will do - they have a path they follow, picking up this weapon, using it, and then going to collect armour. We're hoping people will start to generate that sort of racing line through our game, as opposed to car control per se." - Martyn Chudley, creative director of Blur development studio Bizarre Creations

Here, in the context of how one race in the game's single-player campaign is designed to make the player fail the first time: "Shooters have been doing this for ages, but nothing like it seems to happen in racing games - you just go for first, restart, retry. In shooters there's a big robot you can't kill until you get the gun." Co-lead designer Gareth Wilson

Here: "It's clear that Bizarre has been very carefully watching Bungie's work with the freedom it has granted users to make their own gametypes and share them online in Halo 2 and 3." - The Edge article's author

And here, your direct Call of Duty reference: "Bizarre originally named Blur's power-ups 'perks' because they were all about empowering the player in a similar manner to COD4's Perks. Early ideas included the ability to see through cars." - The Edge article's author

Remember, Bizarre Creations hasn't just made racing games before. The studio is responsible for score-based third-person shooter The Club and the twin-stick arcade Geometry Wars games.

Coming later this year from Activision, it seems, is the feeling that there's an FPS in your racing game.

Much more on Blur can be found in Edge's cover story, which isn't online but is on newsstands in the U.K.

Source OPEN ME

hearing alot about this game theres also another game called Split Second which is similar to this im just wondering if they will use licensed cars b/c Split Second doesnt

Awesome stuff! I want a new 'Need for Speed Underground' because man did I love that game on my friends Xbox 1.

Squilliam said: Awesome stuff! I want a new 'Need for Speed Underground' because man did I love that game on my friends Xbox 1.

yeah NFS underground 1,2 and most wanted were one of the best racing games for me last gen to bad NFS now has gone Sim with there latest Shift and there undercover game was nothing like Most Wanted it was a bad sequel of it hope this game turns out well

BHR-3 said: Squilliam said: Awesome stuff! I want a new 'Need for Speed Underground' because man did I love that game on my friends Xbox 1.   yeah NFS underground 1,2 and most wanted were one of the best racing games for me last gen to bad NFS now has gone Sim with there latest Shift and there undercover game was nothing like Most Wanted it was a bad sequel of it hope this game turns out well

Don't make hate on me for this people, but MAN I loved the game on the big Xbox 1 controllers... those deep triggers on the drag races were total heaven! Im probably one of the few people that loved the big controllers. The current Xbox 360 controllers are nothing like then XB1 OC for sexcellence.

Some More Info

IGN reports that although Bizarre Creations and Activision have both remained silent on the matter, French gaming magazine Joypad has published some information on the game in its latest issue. Apparently, the game, Blur will deviate from the standard racing experience adding weapons and armor for the vehicles. We hear there will be mines and shields, and a host of other weapons. What we don’t know is whether there will be dual machine guns mounted on the cars’ hoods.

Also, the collision technology is said to be stepped up which allows cars to crumple under the collisions and get damaged as per the attacks. Environments in the game will include those based on locations from London, New York, Tokyo, LA, San Francisco and more. Right now there’s not much to go on with Activision and Bizarre Creations being very tight-lipped, but we expect a little more about the game, come E3.

i even found some pics and in fact unlike Split Second Blur will have licensed cars even muscle cars from the 60s awseme news on this games gets better and better every time i search for it

Finally, remember to finish that Blur is due on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC this fall.

From the makers of PGR?

Ouch for MS, just losing this team.

Could possibly be a contender with GT5 also, if its as big as they are claiming.