Microsoft is currently dealing with two burgeoning controversies surrounding the hit driving sequel Forza Motorsport 2. First up, several news sites are alleging that the company (or developer, Turn 10) deleted a huge thread on the official Forza site in which hundreds of users were reporting problems with the game crashing their consoles.
GameRush quoted from one of the 900 posts in an article last week:
"Add me to the list. Mine freezes up about once per hour also, although its been getting worse. Console is well ventilated and in horizontal position. I've had the freezing problem and the "To play this disc please insert into an XBOX 360 console" problem. It occurs at the start up screen, in the menus, in the races... every part of the game. Like most people on here, Forza is the only game that I've had this problem with. When it freezes up I get a clicking sound from the console like a CD player skipping. Its frustrating cause I'm really addicted to the game....when it works."
The game's community manager, Che Chou, later claimed, via his 'Pitpass Report' on the official website, that the problems were only affecting a small minority of Forza 2 owners, and that the thread hadn't been deleted, it had been moved to a moderator-only area of the site for, 'preservation and investigation'.
Have you had any problems with the game?
Also, being discussed quite widely on the blogosphere are the Forza owners who are using the game's custom paint job feature to create racist designs, before proffering their vehicles on the site's auction area. 360-Gamer has a story detailing one example - a Mercedes 300SL bearing a swastika and 'white power' logo. Turn 10, is apparently closing offending auctions and has made an 'abuse claim form' available on the site.
This, of course, is an inevitable element of the user-gen revolution, and will doubtless become more common as the new consoles make it easier to create and distribute custom content through mainstream channels.
