3 New NFS titles announced. Now with 100% less rice and 90% more sim!

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Before you go saying, "Oh this is going to be just like Pro Street or this is just a copy of GRiD", at least there will be no more stupid body kits or hip hop music. Also this is being co developed by the people who made the extremely awesome and realistic GTR/2/Legends for the PC. I think that if this game actually has good physics and ditches the common NFS blights and leans more towards games like GRiD and Gran Turismo and hopefully GTR it will turn out to be a great driving sim. This would be the perfect way to tie a lot of GT fans over until GT 5 comes out.

Anyways more to the point.

Here is a link to a lengthy but informative Gamespot article.

Here is a copy of the Eurogamer article that broke the story:

Need for Speed: Shift will launch on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP this autumn - as will Need for Speed: Nitro on Wii and DS. Need for Speed: World Online will be released to the Asian online PC market this summer, before heading West in the winter.

Need for Speed: Shift will be made by Slightly Mad Studios of GT Legends and GTR 2 fame, with help from EA Black Box producer Michael Mann and EA Games Europe bigwig Patrick Soderlund. Shift focuses on simulation racing - not just the realistic movement of cars, but also driver behaviour. This, EA marketing boss Keith Munro told Eurogamer, is what will set the game apart. Also, less baggy jeans and hip-hop. "The urban underground was a manifestation of style in some past Need for Speed games for sure, but Shift focuses less on these style cues and more on mirroring the driver experience, that athleticism of being in a wickedly-intense race, and what it really feels like to be behind the wheel," Munro told us. A flashy 3D HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia and G-force will help achieve this. There's a cockpit view that lets players freely look around using the right thumbstick, too. Munro reckons serious car enthusiasts will "love" Shift, and that mainstream racers will also get on board. He's quite excited. "Need for Speed Shift is amazing and I think it will blow people away," said Munro. "The tech behind that game, the details that only a team with such racing pedigree could accomplish, and the ability to make you feel the intensity of a race is unprecedented. I can't wait for our fans to begin experiencing it!"

And, he added: "Regarding any new Need for Speed girls I can't comment, but I'll definitely mark down one enthusiastic vote for Josie Maran." Steady on.

Need for Speed: Nitro will be created by EA Montreal. Fast and fun arcade racing tops the bill, and will be matched by vibrant and eye-catching visuals, we're told. "Need for Speed Nitro on the Wii and DS will not be a Mario Kart clone - Nintendo already does an excellent job with that," said Munro. "Instead, we are evolving the arcade racer with a fresh and unique visual style that is very Need for Speed. The game will be rich and deep and will appeal to experienced arcade racers as well as casual players." "What you'll see is that Nitro in no way resembles any other previous Need for Speed title," he added. Specific details are scarce, and apparently it's "still too early" to talk about multiplayer plans for the Wii and DS game.

Need for Speed: World Online (ok basically NFS World Online = Test Drive Unlimited) is the 'Play 4 Free' wild-card, and will be co-developed by series regular Black Box and EA's online studio in Singapore. Released to Asia first, this online PC game will let players pick and customise their choice of licensed vehicles and take on the rest of the world - well, Asia, before heading West after a thumbs-up there. "This is not so much a proof of concept - it is a full-fledged launch in a market that we are very ambitious toward," explained Munro. "This Play 4 Free action racing game will give Need for Speed fans the most licensed cars, parts and game modes ever in Need for Speed's history. "Players will prove their racing supremacy through the sophisticated online matchmaking features and fully customise their profile and their ride. "Once Need for Speed World Online has been successfully deployed in Asia, we will expand the game's reach by offering the service to PC gamers around the world," he said. Drawing inspiration from Battlefield Heroes and the free FIFA online games, World Online will no doubt adopt a micro-transaction model, but that's Munro has said he will discuss in the future.
 
What! Are you serious? Well I guess to each his own. I mean I liked customizing my cars to but by rice I mean all the stupid stuff like neon lights, overly MASSIVE wings, double wide body kits for a Honda Civic, stupid decals etc. I made my cars look like race cars or at least classy street cars. I thought NFS was about going really fast and the overall sense of driving like a lunatic.
 
here we go again, if this fails, nfs is done FOREVER!!! i want the rice, thats what made nfs special for me :D

Wow, I never thought I'd see that, I'd always thought at least some of this generation's gamers would have at least played Hot Pursuit 2 and preferred it. Guess not then.

I hope they manage to do it and improve Need for Speed's reputation, but of course I'm doubtful...very doubtful. EA is still EA.
I also have to question the reasoning behind this, I mean, I don't want EA to continualy pump out crap, but I wonder what changed their minds from selling to a market they dominated to a market they will have a hard time breaking into. Have Midnight Club and Juiced taken all the sales recently or something?
 
But it is being co developed by Blimey games (now Slightly Mad Studios) who made GTR2 which was an amazing game when it came out and still holds up pretty well to today's standards. I do agree that since EA is making it will get nerfed but lets not forget that EA is getting better (Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Battlefield Bad Company, and Mirrors Edge are four great examples).
 
But it is being co developed by Blimey games (now Slightly Mad Studios) who made GTR2 which was an amazing game when it came out and still holds up pretty well to today's standards. I do agree that since EA is making it will get nerfed but lets not forget that EA is getting better (Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Battlefield Bad Company, and Mirrors Edge are four great examples).

In your opinion they are, I wasn't particularly interested with any of those titles, I did look into Burnout (was a fan of the first 2 games) and Mirrors Edge but in the end both were disappointingly lacking, in the case of Mirrors Edge it just felt it was designed wrong. But thats sort of off topic.

Naturally, it will be better if EA aren't personally making it, and I do agree EA have started to improve but I don't think I'll start putting any faith in anything with EA on the box for another 10 years at least. I will wait and see what the game is like when it comes out but I'm not going to hold my breath.
 
By listing those games I was basically saying they were a lot better than EA's previous endeavors not necessarily that they are great games. For those that like their respective genres the games I listed are all pretty well accepted. What I am saying is that I think EA recognizes that they are not putting out quality products and now they are trying to do something about it. How long it will take for the whole company to get on track is anybodies guess but at least there is a glimmer of hope.
 
They would have to do a complete 360 degree turnaround in order for me to even think about renting it , let alone buying it.NFS needs to get back to it's original grass roots racing style and drop all of the "rice" and turn it back into "race",maybe then I'll consider it.
 
In the PS2 section? It would seem that it belongs in Racing General. Considering it does come out for the PS2.
 
In the PS2 section? It would seem that it belongs in Racing General. Considering it does come out for the PS2.

Yeah, at the moment it is. But I think I've I read correctly the other day that they plan on moving the whole Need For Speed section to Gaming in General.
 
I was wondering where my thread had gone, I thought the ps3 section was the right one for it? seems I either duplicate threads or post them in the wrong sections these days, I'll go back and hide in the FC section LOL
 
Ok, Ea is trying to go the right way but come on launch date for fall 2009 just makes me think that this will be rushed which just kills any possibility of the new NFS game being any good, and now they tell me they want to do 3, right as if 1 bad game a year wasn't enough, anyway NFS used to be a series I really liked so I'll keep an eye on it and hope I'm very wrong wouldn't hold my breath though.
 
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