Wow! theres alot of info in that Kikizo interview, cheers Berca, I've dug out some of the key points in that interview as a quick referance, some of it may seem out of context so I'll include the interview questions as well.
Kikizo: What's this new engine called, and whose is it?
the guys at Slightly Mad, really it's their engine, they're an external developer and they had a beautiful technology for racing, and they're credited with many members of the GTR and GTR2 franchise.
Kikizo: We've heard this was actually going to be a GTR game released by EA as a GTR game, and then EA felt NFS needed to go into a different direction so it suddenly became a NFS game? Was it developed originally as a different game? Or has that always been the idea?
Well you know, having Slightly Mad Studios on our side and seeing what their tech could do, it certainly just became a really easy win for us, seeing that they had a simulation racing engine, an enthusiasm for that kind of racing... at the time I believe
Kikizo: Again just one last question on this NFS / GTR handover, has taking on the NFS name altered the product? Has there been a trade-off because of the changes to its name?
I guess you just have to abandon the GTR element because what SMS have done is create the next NFS, the only thing I know about what they were doing before was a Ferrari game... but I can offer some answer to that question: SMS have built from their engine and when you have a solid tech platform, all you need is assets because they have their tool pipeline worked out.
Its got a simulation-based physics model which is scaleable, and at one end of the spectrum, is very hardcore non-assisted simulation physics, and at the other end we've been working on SMS to scale back their physics simulator in order to account for that basic NFS fan that loves the experience of car customisation and online competitive racing, but needs a much more controlled physics simulator.
Kikizo: With all of this activity on screen what frame rate are you expecting to achieve?
the render thread's running at 30 frames. Whereas the physics and AI threads are running at a full 120hz,
16 cars on the track fully modelled, fully damaged, fully physically affected
Kikizo: What can we expect in terms of car tuning? Many arcade players can't be bothered with that but some fans are going to thrive on it?
It's something that our fan base really looks forward to, and you get performance tuning in a deeper and far more complex way than we've ever done with NFS, thanks to the enthusiasm of SMS. So not only is their engine pushing times of day but its also pushing weather effects which then affect the surface conditions, requiring that you use a bit more strategy in things like tyres, pressure, aero, down force, suspension and all around general tunes on your car.
Kikizo: You're going to have a wide range of cars, what cars can we expect to see?
this year we have classic era Nissan's and Datsun's and beyond that what we get is many F1 style tracks, so you can expect to see some very exciting announcements. There's functioning pit stops too, and while in today the pits tend to be functional but not really purposeful, you'll certainly see some game modes potentially being announced which take advantage of that element of racing.
Kikizo: Cheating is one thing that's a big concern to us, grass cuts, wall rides, glitch shifting, those sorts of elements?
It's a gameplay balancing issue that we're currently doing, you see some cues for cutting tracks and losing time, we certainly have to balance that stuff. Wall riding counter measures for online multi-player is always something we're exploring, we're exposing those exploits and producing counter measures - you've seen disqualification for going the wrong way in the race today.
OK theres alot more stuff cramed in that interview and even more of the usual PR bumf to disregard LOL Anyway heres a few more pics that have surfaced!
I too miss NFS of old. NFS 1, and 2 were great for their car stats and history. Porsche Unleased was great for its ability to not repair the cars for the next race. Hot Pursuit 1 and 2 were just plain fun. Underground though,
(The green car ahead is a 350Z, so they must be all modified to a similar level).
). The game is looking very good, just can't wait to play it with my own hands to really see if it's good or not.
