Earlier tonight, Turn 10 Studios and Hyundai teamed up to drop a free car pack for Forza Motorsport 4, featuring Hyundai’s latest success, the Veloster.  The Veloster is a fun hatchback that has a quirky 3-door design that is its signature. The naturally aspirated version was unleashed upon our streets earlier in 2011, but just yesterday at the Detroit Auto Show, Hyundai revealed the 2013 Veloster Turbo, packing almost an extra 60hp over the original. Now what does this mean for the racers in Forza Motorsport 4? A car pack of 2 cars:

• 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo – not only do you get to race it on the track, but you also get it in Autovista mode so you can ogle it
• 2011 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster – 2800lbs, 500hp, all-wheel drive, some straightaways, lots of sideways!

Naturally, we have the link for you as well, so you can go queue it up right this second!

On a personal note, I’m super excited about this, because I’ve had my eyes locked on the Veloster as a potential very near-future purchase!

A few days before most of us get to open their presents, we’ve got a nice early treat for you all! Below we have an interview with Edg3,  music producer, who has taken to using samples from some of our favorite video games in his tracks. Everett is also a good friend to both myself and Donski, and is one of the main reasons why we’ve been listening to more and more Dubstep in the last half a year.

Hit the jump to read the interview!

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to chat with us! Let’s start out with the basics: who are you, where are you from and what’s your stage name?

I am Everett Gresham, a nerd born in New Jersey (now living in Seattle), and my less evil alter ego is “Edg3″ an electronic music producer and DJ.

When did you realize you were musically inclined?

I’ve always loved music, but I would have to say around the age of 16 is when I really started wanting to make my own.

How did you get started producing electronic music?

When I first heard electronic music I fell in love. After about a year of being an avid listener I decided to try and produce my own. I started by emailing local club DJs and radio personalities and asking for any pointers or direction. I never got a single reply, so I took to the internet. Like I mentioned earlier I am a complete nerd, and my background with computers really helped. I found a little free drum sequencer called Hammer Head and started messing around. From there I purchased Sony’s Acid Pro and just kept learning new software and trying new things.

Edg3 - Gears of War by Edg3

Who were your biggest influences when you started producing music? Who are your biggest influences now?

The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Moby, and Orbital were all huge initial influence. Currently, I have to credit Excision, Deadmau5, Datsik, Cyberoptics, Dodge & Fuski, and lately I have been in love with Knife Party which actually formed via two members of Pendulum, another one of my favorites.

For anyone that may be unfamiliar with Dubstep, give us an insider’s definition as to what it is.

The awesome thing about Dubstep is that it’s really undefined. It is a relatively new genre and it seems to be transforming every year or so. My style of music is more aggressive than the chill laid back origins of the genre, but when it comes down to it, the sub bass holds all of the different styles together and the snare or clap is what drives the beat. Most tracks are produced in a half time around 140 bpm, and contain copious amounts of bass.

Dubstep hasn’t been in the public spotlight all that long, but it’s blown up recently. What is it about Dubstep that made it go so mainstream so fast?

Honestly I think it can be attributed to the genre being so young compared to anything else. People are hearing something fresh and foreign to them. That combined with the in-your-face style bass lines and already popular hip hop style beats makes for a mean new kid in town.

What are your favorite artists? Any new up & coming / undiscovered talents you know of, other than yourself of course?

Current favorites are hard to list, so many great artists. Datsik, Excision, Knife Party, Bare, Cyberoptics, Dodge & Fuski, Deadmau5, and on and on. As far as upcoming guys, I’d have to say Torus and Dark Elixir are really blowing up. They are a bit more aggressive than my current style, be warned.

One of your signature sounds is that you infuse your tracks with samples from video games. Why’d you start doing this, and is this a trend you plan to continue with?

Video games are a HUGE influence for me. I feel like I kind of owe the gaming industry to be honest. Around age five I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that kept me cooped up in the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania for over a year. Being a sick little guy very weak from chemotherapy and other treatments I was physically stuck in bed. I specifically remember a nurse wheeling in a NES system on a TV cart. This changed my life forever. I was no longer a sick kid. I was whatever I wanted to be! That Is why I still play a ton of games and they often creep into my music, or inspire a whole track.

I certainly do plan on using video game samples in future tracks. Sadly, copyright issues are a big grey area and limit where I can offer those tracks. One of my life goals is to create music for a video game or trailer.

Edg3 - Smooth Jazz by Edg3

Is there any particular reason that you’ve featured the games that you have so far?

In Smooth Jazz I sampled a section of Portal 2 because I LOVE that game, and as soon as I heard the “3, 2, 1″ I knew I wanted to use that in a build up. More recently I used samples from the Gears of War series in a track I shockingly named “Gears of War.” I chose this game because of its dark gritty nature. It really seemed to just explode the energy level for me personally.

What games are you considering next for your music? What games in 2012 are you looking forward to?

I would love to do a Saints Row or Dead Space track. I’m really looking forward to Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3, Borderlands 2 and continuing to play my SWTOR character.

For anyone looking to try their hand at producing/making music, how would you recommend getting started?

Find a digital audio workstation (DAW) you like (FL Studio, Ableton, Reason, etc) and start messing around. YouTube is priceless. I learned SO much from video tutorials. It is pretty intimidating at first, but if you keep reading and learning it will eventually make sense. I promise!

Any last words or shout outs?

Big shout outs to my friends Zilla, Stone, Avery, Glenn, Bill, Josh, Nick, E, Prez, Chaply, Bats, Esko, Dario, Donski, and Andy B. Huge thank you to my awesome girlfriend Jonika for dealing with me sitting in my home studio for countless hours. Without those people my quality of life would drop tremendously.
A huge WHATAP *HIGH FIVE* to all of my Twitter followers and Facebook fans. I love giving you new music and interacting daily! You all KICK ASS!

Finally, a huge thanks to Everett for unleashing Edg3 and taking the time to for this interview with us! We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did, and that it wubs that inner-dubstep in you!

A big thanks to Donski for his help with the interview!

Earlier today, the team at Namco Bandai was pleased to announced that the demo for Ace Combat Assault Horizon has been downloaded over 1.2 million times! This number is split across both Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, but still quite a feat when considering the genre of the game. Additionally, the team was also excited to announce that the entire Ace Combat series (I’ve been playing it since Ace Combat 2 on the original PlayStation) has surpassed the 10 million units sold mark worldwide! To celebrate these milestones, they’ve released the trailer we that we’ve embedded for you below! Now go chase the missile lock!

This morning, Turn 10 Studios released a ViDoc (thanks for the term Bungie) about the making of the Bernese Alps track in Forza Motorsport 4. The team recounts their experiences of the multi-location European trip for research purposes (right, who believes that?!), and all the sights they experienced while they were at the Alps.

They also go into some details of how they designed the track, what the new lighting engine means for the realism of the track, and even how they had to create a back-story for the track, since it’s not actual racetrack. Finally, there’s a little preview of a Ferrari 458 Italia going for a rip around the track; not enough tire smoke for my liking though.

Personally, I am curious to see whether the team managed to squeeze in the iconic Matterhorn  into the background of the track. After all, the Pennine Alps are relatively close to the Bernese Alps, and if it’s a made up track, then why not?

In case it’s not already ingrained in your head, Forza Motorsport 4 is out on October 11th in North America.

Earlier today, EA and BlackBox Studios revealed the “Limited Edition” of Need for Speed: The Run.  As with all EA Limited Editions of late, this will be available to all gamers (while supplies last of course) that buy the game new off store shelves. However, if you pick up the game used, there’s a high likelihood that the code to redeem the Limited Edition will have been used, so you’ll miss out on it; this is done to encourage new purchases of the game.

Now, on to the Limited Edition itself: it’ll give you access to 5 extra challenges in the game, but more importantly, you’ll also get access to 3 new cars:

• The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – the fastest production Camaro ever built
• The 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S – of which you’ll see barely anything of yet, because Porsche hasn’t even shown it on IRL roads
• The 2012 Lamborghini Aventador – Lamborghini’s latest beast, with a menacing 700HP powerplant

I’ll be honest and say I’m itching to get my hands on the Aventador and put it’s power down on the tarmac.

NFS The Run is due out on November 15th. Go race for your life!

Late last night, Namco Bandai flew in and dropped off the official box art for Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.  Assault Horizon is the next game in the long-running Ace Combat series, and is due out on October 11th of this year. Get to it Aces!

If you want to know more about Assault Horizon, you can hit them up on both Facebook and Twitter.

Earlier today, Bethesda released some new screenshots and information of two new DLC districts coming to BRINK. They’re due out on August 3rd, and you better jump on them in the first 2 weeks, because they’ll only be free for the first 2 weeks. Presumably after that, they’ll jump up in price to 400 or 800 Microsoft Points. The DLC will also include some new abilities, new outfits, and weapon attachment, along with a raised level cap of 24.

Agents of Change will allow players to explore and do battle in the futuristic underwater Labs facility as well as the iconic spire housing the island’s wealthy elite, Founders’ Tower.

If you’re interested in taking a sneak-peek at your upcoming battle royale playground, we’ve posted all the screenshots on our Facebook page.

To be honest, I’m a bit skeptical, as I’m not fond of a steering wheel for racing, but I’m willing to give this a try to see how well it actually works. From Below are all the press shots as well as some pictures from Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 4 event at E3 of the wheel in action!

The Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel is expected to be available in early October, and you can bet I’ll be letting you know what I think of it when I get my hands on it!

[Xbox 360 Wireless Speed Wheel set by Major Nelson]

[E3 2011 Day 2 set by Brad Bretz]

Earlier this morning, Namco Bandai sent us a new trailer for Ace Combat Assault Horizons.  This one is almost overdue now, considering the previous iteration, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation came out in 2007!

Thankfully, it seems they’ve used their time wisely as not only does the trailer show off quite a lot of story elements and gameplay, but also shows off destructible buildings and even flying a helicopter and shooting from it’s side turret!  Previously, buildings were only destroyable and would get damaged, but would not crumble.

The Ace Combat series also happens to be my favorite flight combat simulator, despite the fact that are so few of them.

All throughout the day today we’ve seen impressive trailers and footage of games that will be hitting our 360s this holiday season. Of course, there are always ones that get us super excited and others that just cool their own flame. Battlefield has never been known to just fly by the wayside, which is it stomps down into the former.  These two trailers will definitely whet your appetite for bullets, shrapnel, destruction and a whole whack of explosions! The first trailer shows off some multiplayer action while the second shows off just what the Frostbite 2 engine can do! Now, less reading, more watching and drooling!