Codemasters today announced Colin McRae: DiRT 2, the sequel to their 2007 best-selling off-road racer. In development at Codemasters Studios for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, as well as Wii, DS and PSP in 2009, the game will honor the life of the rally legend, Colin McRae, who consulted on the series for over ten years before dying in a tragic helicopter accident.

“Colin McRae was all about the speed, the excitement and the entertainment of rally driving. Even when we first worked with him over ten years ago, he captured a freedom and a spirit that enthralled rally fans.” said Gavin Raeburn, senior executive producer at Codemasters Studios. “Later his showmanship shone through in events such as the X-games, the Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions. He could do things with a car that no one else would and that’s where we’re taking the series with new events at the extreme edge of rally and autosport. It will be a great tribute to an incredible champion.”

The sequel will feature a roster of contemporary off-road events as well as real-life racing personalities and officially licensed rally cars and off-road vehicles. It will be powered by the third generation of the EGO engine which benefits from tuned-up car-handling physics system and new damage engine effects. It will also show two times more detail than its predecessor.

Codemasters has released three ‘target’ visuals and confirmation that the original’s shitty multiplayer will be fixed in the sequel.

Following word yesterday that Monumental had acquired a stake in 50 Cent game developer Swordfish Studios, Codemasters today announced that it has reached an agreement with Activision Blizzard to take over the aforementioned Birmingham-based games development house.

Under the terms of the agreement, the studio’s development team will be integrated and managed as part of Codemasters’ network of studios. Their job will be to create original content using Codemasters’ proprietary EGO engine, which currently powers Race Driver: GRID and Colin McRae: DIRT, among others.

“We are committed to growing our studio operations across multiple facilities and increasing the internal capability of Codemasters’ creative resource,” said Gavin Cheshire, VP, Codemasters Studios. “There is a strong heritage and a compatible skill set, which has enabled us to fast track growth plans and allows for ease of management. Codemasters has ramped up as a UK games development powerhouse with a scalable support infrastructure that allows for rapid deployment of the highly versatile EGO Engine.”

Beta signups for upcoming elite space combat MMO Jumpgate Evolution has been going well for Codemasters and NetDevil, who jointly announced that over 150,000 testers have signed up for the game. If you are interested, signups are still open.

The full game is set to go live sometime in 2009, with a closed beta due to go live soon.

Codemasters Online sends word that their popular subscription-free MMORPG ArchLord has opened a new hardcore PvP server to cope with increasing demand for the game.

The server will exclusively focus on PvP combat for both new and existing players alike. To celebrate the launch of “Cyripus”, the company is running a number of in-game events to challenge players. This includes various in-game leveling contests to being the actual ArchLord. Prizes will be given away, too.

Ed Relf, Director, Marketing, Codemasters Online commented, “This is a hugely significant development for ArchLord. The new server has been brought online to cope with the massively increasing demand for the game. We are still attracting tens of thousands of new players each week and with almost ¾ million players now registered, there’s never been a better time to play this great free-to-play MMO.”

The recently released Race Driver: Grid playable demo has been downloaded over one million times, says Codemasters. The demo was launched on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 8.

They are currently having a competition using the demo to give players the chance to win a brand new BMW 3 Series car. All one has to do is beat the Fastest Final Lap Challenge for a shot at the car. The final date for playing is May 23.

The city is falling apart, and it is up to you to put it back together! Codemasters has announced Emergency Mayhem, a disaster game that puts the player at the helm of the three emergency services in a race against time to hold together Crisis City. Exclusive to the Wii, the game will feature driving sequences with arcade mini-games, letting players control police, fire service or the paramedics as they dash around the city from one emergency to another.

There will be over 30 missions in the game, having the player rescuing people from burning buildings, defusing bombs and more. Interestingly, emergencies will be of a slapstick nature, as crazy situations will have banana-hurling monkeys, using a trampoline to bounce escaping prisoners back into custody and even more.

In Emergency Mayhem time is your enemy, relentlessly counting down as you take charge of a fire truck, ambulance, or police car to speed through the city’s eight different districts to the next emergency. Have you got the nerves necessary to beat the clock and save the city? Find shortcuts, such as making use of the city’s underground railways lines and even sewers, to get there on time and save the day.

When you reach the scene of the emergency play switches to one of over 30 mini-games which take unique advantage of the Wii Remote to solve crazy crises. Using the Wii Remote, you’ll have to pump the to practice CPR, point it to direct water from a powerful hose, mimic a wrench to bring bursting water-hydrants under control and aim it to fire tranquiliser darts into on-the-rampage monkeys!

Emergency Mayhem is due out during Q2 2008. More information and media can be found on the game’s website.

European gaming publication Develop reports that Codemasters Guildford is working on an original “character-driven action title” dubbed Project Strike Team.

Apparently, the game is still in its early stages and so the studio is still working out on how to transfer its concepts into gameplay. The title will use an advanced version of the company’s NEON technology, which was recently used to power DiRT.

Though no platforms were specifically mentioned, one can look forward to the game only on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The latest trailer for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is now available, showing off the upcoming alternate history shooter set up in Nazi-occupied USA. The game is due out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 early next year.

The latest publisher to join the Steam bandwagon is Codemasters, who have made sure to release Clive Barker’s Jericho on almost every digital download service… ever. Their participation in Valve’s service will also see the release of Overlord and DIRT later this month.

Future games from the publisher will be on Steam day and date with their retail release. However, their agreement does not extend to past games, so do not expect to see older Codemasters games on the service anytime soon.

Another squad member video from Clive Barker’s Jericho has been released. This time it focuses on Cole, who is described as a “reality hacker”.

Turning more books into video games is Codemasters, who announced a deal with The Templar Company that will see them creating a series of games based on the 14-million selling ‘Ology series of books.

The deal will see best sellers Dragonology, Wizardology and Pirateology realized as games for the Wii and DS. The Wii versions will be focused on action gaming, while the DS versions will feature explorative gameplay in the form of an interactive book.

Dragonology is the first title in the series and is expected to launch during the second half of 2008.

A new movie from Clive Barker’s Jericho has been released. It profiles Lt. Abagail Black from the upcoming horror-shooter, detailing her weapons and supernatural power.

Word comes from Codemasters Online that the first world leader in ArchLord has been crowned after almost one year after the game commenced. During this time players have waged war across this free MMORPG for the title of the all-encompassing ruler within the game.

Ed Relf, Director of Marketing at the company said, “We are ecstatic to finally crown our very first all-ruling ArchLord! The crowning of the ArchLord marks another milestone in the games ongoing development as we look to continue to grow the game.” The game’s first all-ruling ArchLord - named Icecube - will now rule for one month, with a new challenge for the next ArchLord beginning later next month.

The game previously followed a subscription model, but had gained popularity after it switched to a free-to-play business model. This switch increased the population of the world by over 500% within a week.

IGA Worldwide, the largest independent in-game advertising network has announced a 3-year partnership with Codemasters, one that will see them delivering both dynamic and static advertisements into the publisher’s upcoming titles, including the recently released Colin McRae Rally DiRT.

“We are very pleased to be extending our partnership with Codemasters,” said Justin Townsend, CEO, IGA Worldwide. “The company’s dominance in the racing genre is one of the most relevant and important for advertisers, with a very high concentration of the valuable 18-34 male demographic. Codemasters has consistently proven itself as one of the most advanced producers of world class racing and action games and its future portfolio will be no exception.”

The ad agency already reaches 10 million users worldwide, promoting products from Intel, T-Mobile, MTV, FHM, Paramount, Amazon and many more leading products.

The full title for Operation Flashpoint 2 has been revealed - Dragon Rising. Codemasters has revealed this through a teaser trailer for the game coming straight out of the Leipzig Games Convention. Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising is set to hit major consoles and PC sometime next year. You can view the trailer embedded below: