Back at Leipzig we gave you a first look at FUEL and honestly it's really hard not to be completely stoked about it. Every time we get new images for the game I want to go get into my car - drive to Oklahoma - and go chase tornadoes. The game will include other weather effects such as thunderstorms, sandstorms, snowstorms. In the end FUEL is starting to look like Motorstorm on crack.

In the United Kingdom, Atari, Codemasters and three other game companies are going to court to demand GBP300 from 25,000 file-sharers, reports The Times of London. Apparently, file-sharing got really obnoxious recently — 691,000 downloads of Operation Flashpoint by Codemasters in one week alone. So the five have asked the court to demand internet service providers turn over information on all 25,000 accused of breaking the law. Those users will get notices inviting them to pay up or face prosecution, and the first 500 to ignore it get sued.

Asked about it in an interview with Eurogamer, EA Sports boss Peter Moore called that practice a bad idea. "I'm not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer," he said. "Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers."

Moore went on:

"Yes, we've got to find solutions," Moore continued. "We absolutely should crack down on piracy. People put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into their content and deserve to get paid for it. It's absolutely wrong, it is stealing.

"But at the same time I think there are better solutions than chasing people for money. I'm not sure what they are, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

"If we learned anything from the music business, they just don't win any friends by suing their consumers. Speaking personally, I think our industry does not want to fall foul of what happened with music."

I'm sure it's a lot easier for Moore to say that when his bottom line is waaaaaaay better than Atari's, or these other five. Still, it stands to reason EA titles are swapped around too, although to what extent — and what EA's threshold of pain is — I don't know. Yet Moore says he's not aware of any EA plans to join these five and "chase down consumers."

Moore Warns Against Suing File-Sharers [Eurogamer]
Computer Games Industry Threat to Downloaders: "Pay Up or We'll Sue" [The Times of London via Eurogamer]

A few days ago we told you about FUEL, the new racing game Codemasters announced at Leipzig. Today you get to see what it looks like in all of its glory. It kind of has the Motorstorm feel to it, but with a really cool climate twist and an insane 5,000 square mile playing area.

You know, we didn’t post the last bunch of Operation Flashpoint 2 screens we came across, because they were taking the piss. Too much Photoshop, not enough polygons. This latest batch, however, are a little better. There’s still plenty of shopping on show, but you can now see the slightly jaggy bits at the edge of the soldier’s uniforms, proving at least that it’s some kind of in-game videogame model and not some artist’s impression of an in-game videogame soldier.

Fans of the console Evil 'em-up Overlord have already been primed for the upcoming Overlord II. Suppose they find themselves in the Outside World, though — is the DS game Overlord: Minions going to scratch the itch for a bit of handheld Overlordin'?

If the early demo on show at the Games Convention is anything to go by, the answer is 'sorta'. Codemasters are first and foremost concentrating on making a solid DS game and then trying to cram as much Overlord into the thing as possible.

As such, the game is now entirely stylus-based with your supply of willing minions whittled down to just four - each of which has a special area of expertise. With a greater emphasis on puzzle solving the game looks to be veering towards Lemmings territory.

Not that there is anything wrong with Lemmings (we'll ignore the various shonky attempts at 3Ding that classic puzzler) but let's hope Codemasters don't lose that tasty Overlord flavour. Good for them for not just settling on a nice safe conversion, though.

Overlord Minions (Nintendo DS) [1Up]

Developer Codemasters is unveiling multi-plat title FUEL at the Leipzig GC. What's FUEL? It's a racing game, so big that it deserves ALL CAPS. It's hailed to have the "largest racing environment to appear in gaming — ever." The game supposedly has a 5,000 square-mile playing area with "no boundaries". Up to 16-players race it out in D.I.Y. cars through places like Nevada's Grand Canyon. The game boasts a full day-and-day cycle and even features a weather system with tornados, thunderstorms, snowstorms and sandstorms. Hope it looks and plays as promising as it sounds.

Codemasters unveils FUEL [Eurogamer]

Codemasters are to release a sequel to their 2007 minion-wrangling game Overlord that will pit the player-controlled title character and his chaotic army against an uptight, by-the-book Empire.

The original game challenged you to be either evil or really evil. This, apparently, was just not flippin' evil enough to satisfy developers Triumph.

Game director Lennart Sas told Eurogamer, "Now the choices are between lawful evil and chaotic evil, which usually translates to either enslaving the population or all-out scorched earth."

Major changes to the game include minions with proper names and personalities as opposed to just random flunkys. This will establish "relationships between master and underling" which frankly sounds a bit pervy. And evil. Definitely evil.

Codemasters unveils Overlord II [Eurogamer]