“'Dirt 2' delivers jaw-dropping car racing graphics - Morning Sun” plus 3 more

'Dirt 2' delivers jaw-dropping car racing graphics - Morning Sun
"Dirt 2' racing game delivers - Asbury Park Press
Williams County: TAKING A BEATING - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
On this family road trip, mom's a really big wheel - The Miami Herald

'Dirt 2' delivers jaw-dropping car racing graphics - Morning Sun

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 04:53 AM PDT

By RON HARRIS
Associated Press Writer

(AP Photo/Codemasters) In this video game image released by Codemasters, a scene from "Dirt 2," is shown.

The latest driving title, "Dirt 2," represents a changing of the guard for the genre. The torch is being passed from driving legends like rally race legend Colin McRae to a new breed of ESPN "X Game" types.

On this title, with its jaw-dropping graphics and solid race physics, it works like a charm. The big names are young upstarts like Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra, who are no strangers to speed. So it's a good fit.

The races are fast and off-road, or at least off intended roads. I played the Xbox 360 version ($60). "Dirt 2" is also available for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

In one of my first races, I went for the "Baja" series and climbed behind the wheel of a Dodge Power Wagon. Puddles of water hid behind patches of tall grass, and it took a few retries to remember them and avoid spinning out of control.

Eventually I bested a field that included Mirra in the two-lap race, which earned me $66,000 for my career, some new dashboard items and auto accessories. One nice touch: The bobblehead skull I won has wacky eyes that roll around when I banked hard into turns.

Where "Dirt 2" leaves the competition behind is in the graphics department. Eye-popping detail and 3-D menus make every twist and turn enjoyable. From the maps and fast-food trash strewn around my touring RV to the loose gravel kicked up on a crusty Croatian outback during a race, I've rarely seen better attention to detail in a racing game.

The car handling is exceptional throughout all the difficulty modes. There was a great feel I got for the virtual roads, and the learning curve was challenging, but fair.

Races are planned from inside the RV, and the globe-trotting took me from Baja to London to Croatia to Tokyo in the early competitions.

Hats off to the folks at Codemasters Studios for perfecting two very important features in "Dirt 2" — instant restarts and thoroughly enjoyable replays. The restarts are addictive, and they allowed me to improve without watching boring cut scenes while waiting for the green light.

Race replays are a feature I usually ignore, but here the fast-forward is slick and I could pause and stop on a dime to gaze at the turn I missed, and why. I could also toggle the viewing angles on the replay to put myself on the side of the road or in the driver's seat.

Other race types include "Gate Crasher," in which I drove a Subaru Impreza STI Group N and bashed through as many yellow barriers as possible in the allotted time. Each barrier bashed earned me a few more seconds on the countdown clock and a better score.

There are also races called "Throwdowns," one-on-one affairs against featured drivers. I took on Jayde Taylor in Morocco in a throwdown.

I lost to her a dozen times in a row, but she still rewarded me by becoming my friend, which hopefully means she'll give me some driving tips later on.

"Dirt 2" is the best driving title I've played in years. Buckle up, it's a raucous ride.

Game is rated "T'' for Teen and contains some suggestive themes.

Four out of four stars.

On the Net:

http://www.dirt2game.com

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"Dirt 2' racing game delivers - Asbury Park Press

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 01:04 AM PDT

On this title, with its jaw-dropping graphics and solid race physics, it works like a charm. The big names are young upstarts like Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra, who are no strangers to speed. So it's a good fit.

The races are fast and off-road, or at least off intended roads. I played the Xbox 360 version ($60). "Dirt 2" is also available for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

In one of my first races, I went for the "Baja" series and climbed behind the wheel of a Dodge Power Wagon. Puddles of water hid behind patches of tall grass, and it took a few retries to remember them and avoid spinning out of control.

Eventually I bested a field that included Mirra in the two-lap race, which earned me $66,000 for my career, some new dashboard items and auto accessories. One nice touch: The bobblehead skull I won has wacky eyes that roll around when I banked hard into turns.

Where "Dirt 2" leaves the competition behind is in the graphics department. Eye-popping detail and 3-D menus make every twist and turn enjoyable. From the maps and fast-food trash strewn around my touring RV to the loose gravel kicked up on a crusty Croatian outback during a race, I've rarely seen better attention to detail in a racing game.

The car handling is exceptional throughout all the difficulty modes. There was a great feel I got for the virtual roads, and the learning curve was challenging, but fair.

Races are planned from inside the RV, and the globe-trotting took me from Baja to London to Croatia to Tokyo in the early competitions.

Hats off to the folks at Codemasters Studios for perfecting two very important features in "Dirt 2" instant restarts and thoroughly enjoyable replays. The restarts are addictive, and they allowed me to improve without watching boring cut scenes while waiting for the green light.

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Williams County: TAKING A BEATING - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 12:00 AM PDT

Edon, Ohio, used to be called Mudsock because pedestrians walking its wet, unpaved streets sometimes would sink to their socks.

Now the economy of this village of about 900 and the rest of Williams County is stuck in the mud as well.

Ohio had the seventh-worst unemployment in the United States in July. And Williams County has had the worst unemployment of Ohio's 88 counties since April. In July, the rate was 17.5 percent. August numbers are due Tuesday.

Standing behind the mechanical cash register in Mudsock Mercantile, lifelong Edon resident Bruce Kannel said he hasn't seen things this bad in his 65 years.

"I imagine in the Depression it was hit hard, but I haven't seen it as bad as this," Kannel said.

Mudsock Mercantile, with its hardwood floors, pesticide smell, shelves of hardware and antique toys, was owned by Kannel's family from 1944 until 1962 – a time when the village economy boomed, Kannel says.

After retiring this year from Spangler Candy Co. in Bryan, the county seat, Kannel works part time at Mudsock Mercantile and fills in on a postal route when the man who normally makes deliveries is ill.

Mudsock Mercantile is open, as is Edon State Bank across Michigan Street and several other businesses. But they're punctuated by buildings that have been vacant for years and seem likely to remain so.

"The main industry in town is Metaldyne," Kannel said Sept. 10. "If anything happens to that, it's really going to hurt the town."

He was referring to an auto parts plant that's being sold in bankruptcy court by Metaldyne Corp. Four days later, Metaldyne announced it was laying off 50 of its 171 Edon employees.

The horrors of the longest recession in 76 years have shown a stubborn persistence in Williams County.

Unemployment rates went higher in the RV hub of LaGrange and Elkhart counties in Indiana. But they've been the scene of two visits by President Obama, and by June and July unemployment in both counties was below that of Williams County's.

RV plants in northeast Indiana have been bought out of bankruptcy and have begun to rehire workers and again make their products. But a Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. travel trailer plant in Edgerton, eight miles south of Edon, closed in March, putting 175 workers on the street. It remains closed, awaiting a buyer.

Even though it draws customers for cut-rate items such as 50-cent loaves of bread, the Buckeye Flee Market in Edgerton is feeling the bite. Owners Joyce and Paul Collins estimate that business this year is off 25 percent to 30 percent.

"Our Fridays and Saturdays are not like they were," Joyce Collins said.

It's hard to find somebody who thinks the Williams County economy is going to come back quickly.

"We can't just say that by thinking positive, everything is going to straighten out," said Mike Long, mayor of Montpelier, a village of 4,320 10 miles north on Edon. "Hopefully, things are going to get better, but you have to have sustained, positive growth."

As mayor, Long has seen a 4 percent to 5 percent slump in village revenue. But as the owner of a skating rink, an ice cream stand and a fitness center, he has seen much greater losses.

"They took a huge hit," Long said, estimating that revenue dropped 70 percent in 2008.

Now he says things are gradually improving.

"It's going to be a long, slow ride on that," Long said.

Family-owned Spangler Candy Co. – maker of the familiar Dum Dum Pops and other candies – in Bryan has been a mainstay of the Williams County economy for generations. CEO Dean Spangler said his business has been growing, possibly because its products are relatively inexpensive.

"I almost feel embarrassed telling people that," Spangler said. "But we've been doing basic blocking and tackling for a long time."

The 420-member workforce typically stays on for a long time once hired, but in July, Spangler advertised jobs. It got 600 applications in one day for 10 open positions, Dean Spangler said.

Williams County – and the rest of northwest Ohio – suffers in part from the convulsions in the auto industry over the past year and a half, Spangler said. Neighboring Defiance County is home to General Motors Co.'s Defiance Foundry, and Williams County and Defiance County possess numerous parts makers.

Spangler hopes the government bailout of GM and Chrysler Group LLC will help the area's economic fortunes.

"The thing you worry about is, does Detroit have it together and will this work?" Spangler asked.

For Daniel Tarr, 46, it's already been a long wait. He was laid off in July 2008 from a parts supplier, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics LP in Montpelier.

Now he's living at the Sanctuary homeless shelter in Bryan.

"I just keep looking every day," Tarr said. "I don't ever remember it being this bad."

Around the corner at the offices of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the unemployed trickle in, looking for jobs.

"It's pretty sad. We haven't had any job orders come in for quite a while," a worker there said, referring to notices of available jobs. She declined to give her name because it's against department policy for non-managers to talk to the media.

But Susan Jackson, who runs the office, confirmed demand for services has increased. Most dramatically, Williams County has seen a 50 percent increase in demand for food stamps over the past two years, Jackson said.

"We're trying really hard to get people back to work," Jackson said.

April Handsone, 19, is trying really hard to get back to work. The West Unity resident was in the office after being laid off from auto-parts maker CK Technologies LLC in Montpelier this year.

She said she'd take anything, including fast food or baby-sitting.

"You can't be picky around here," Handsone said. "A paycheck is a paycheck."

mschladen@jg.net

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On this family road trip, mom's a really big wheel - The Miami Herald

Posted: 19 Sep 2009 09:58 PM PDT

Sit on a Big Wheel with half of your belongings tied to the back of it, your bed sitting on your head and your kids standing on the sides clutching you around the neck.

Then have somebody push you down the side of a mountain. For extra kicks, have them periodically fling a frying pan or cutting board at you and make noises that sound like gunfire.

Now you know what it feels like to drive an RV for the first time.

The good news is, at some point in a 1,803-mile trip, it does get better -- and actually fun.

I came up with the notion of renting a motorhome to tour the classic Grand Circle in the Southwestern United States soon after hearing about Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea six-part documentary, which begins airing on PBS Sept. 27.

Driving an RV to seven of those parks may not have been my best idea, but the rationale was that it would be a reasonably priced one, and easier than pitching a tent every day or two. And considering that we did this during one of the worst monsoon seasons in recent history, it would turn out to be drier, as well.

``So why not a RV?'' I thought. I'd never driven one, but -- and isn't this a question that should always set off mental alarms? -- how hard could it be?

The answer: harder than it looks when you're flying by one that's chugging along at 10 mph uphill.

We picked up our 31-foot Four Winds Chateau from Camping World outside Denver just as a light rain began. In my part of Denver, people regularly leave syringes on the sidewalk, so I was reluctant to have the neighbors see that I was headed out for a very long trip -- not to mention that the thought of driving down narrow downtown streets gave me stomach cramps -- so I unloaded our stuff from a friend's truck in the parking lot.

HELPFUL HINTS

Camping World personnel did a great job of running through all of the crucial information about this cozy home on wheels, things such as ``close the propane valve and turn off the refrigerator when you gas up'' (or you could be blown to kingdom come) and ``here's the switch to flip when you blow a fuse'' (or your children will wish evil visited upon you because the TV won't work).

But when you're standing in a vehicle approaching the size of a Taco Bell and you are 5-foot-2, it all starts to sound like the teacher in the ``Peanuts'' cartoon: ``Wah-wah-woh-wah-wah?'' It's hard to know which of these bits of wisdom will be needed later, but rest assured -- it will be the thing you cannot remember, and someone will be bleeding.

We don't recall if they discussed that not all of the cupboards inside the RV are created equal, but soon after we pulled out in what was now approaching a severe thunderstorm, we found this to be true. I ran over the curb, which released a bunch of pots and pans down onto my daughters, which made us all scream. I was so rattled I then mistakenly thought I'd driven onto the offramp to Interstate 70, which made me scream again, and then just as I realized we were OK, I nearly got us sideswiped by a semi-trailer barreling down the highway.

Then the hail started.

I would have pulled over, but I didn't know where to go after that -- I was on a stretch of highway where there really was no better choice than to just drive very, very slowly. So I did. People running to get out of the rain passed us.

That night we survived the hail, sleet, my panic attack inside the Eisenhower Tunnel when a convoy of tractor-trailers almost pushed us against the wall, my attempt to burn the brakes out on my first 8 percent grade (``Mommy, what's that smell?'' Lower gear! Lower gear!), a palm hematoma from smacking (and breaking) the side mirror in the hail, and a kamikaze raccoon seemingly sent to test my stated goal of never, ever swerving (he survived, and I did not swerve).