EA unveils new Need for Speed trio

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Jan 30th 2009 7:30AM

It seems EA's long-idling racing franchise isn't destined for the scrap heap at all, as the publisher has unveiled three new Need for Speed titles across several platforms. In an interview with Gamespot, EA's veep of marketing, Kevin Munro, insists that "the new brand strategy around three specific genres will keep the game fresh and players entertained." This refreshing and oh-so-entertaining trio of titles includes:

Need for Speed: Shift (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP) -- A "hardcore racing simulation" overseen by Black Box executive producer Michael Mann, and Patrick Soderlund, the co-founder of DICE and current senior vice president of EA Games Europe. External developer Slightly Mad Studios will be responsible for putting a realistic spin on the franchise.
Need for Speed: Nitro (Wii, DS) -- As you might expect, this one will feature a "unique visual style," courtesy of EA Montreal. Nitro promises to take full advantage of the unique controls on offer for both platforms, but without sacrificing depth. According to Munro, "We do not want to fall into the trap of creating a 'Need for Speed Lite.'"
Need for Speed: World Online (PC) -- Jointly developed by Black Box and EA ~~Shanghai~~ Singapore, this free-to-play online racer is set to launch in Asia this Summer, with a North American release slated for next Winter.

You can look for Shift and Nitro on North American shelves sometime during Fall 2009.

Update: Uploaded three screens (Shift, Nitro and World Online) and added source link to press release. Corrected development information for World Online.

Source

Tags: Black-Box, DS, EA, EA-Montreal, EA-Shanghai, Electronic-Arts, Microsoft, Need-for-Speed, Need-For-Speed-Nitro, Need-For-Speed-Shift, need-for-speed-world, Need-For-Speed-World-Online, NFS, Nintendo, Slightly-Mad-Studios, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (87)

Meh, NFS is a dead franchise. I know it sounds nostalgic for me to say this, but unless they go back to the NFS Hot Pursuit days, it will never be resuscitated.

I concur. Hot pursuit was the best, followed IMO by Most wanted. The story in most wanted was gay, but the racing was tight.

MW was pretty much an urban spin on Hot Pursuit and it was okay. But I remember I totaled my Hot Pursuit 2 disc for my PS2 and it doesn't play anymore. I bought it as a greatest hit too! Best $20 I'll ever spend.

It's a shame about NFS:Shift; should be fairly hanicapped by having to be developed for the inferior 360 alongside those other platforms.

Naturally Nitro will be the superior version.

Funny Hot Pursuit or NFS III was the last NFS game I bought.

Probably is because they have dicking around in the last installments using the “Fast and Furious” Theme like in Underground or just ripped off other racing games like Forza.

NFS devs seem to have an identity crisis but I’ll gladly remind them you they were. They used to do a lot of cool stuff back when EA didn’t look like as the videogame equivalent of MS.

NFS games were arcade racing games that became somehow the standard of racing games for all the cool stuff they did but as every game that becomes the standard it suddenly stops being popular because everyone and their grandma take the same formula and start improving it making look old. What they need to do is Improve the graphics, add new stuff and return to the NFS III levels that were super crazy but really awesome in other words screw realism and go for the unthinkable.

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!!

I totally I agree. I drove Need for Speed Hot Pursuit into the ground when I had it. It was, and still is, my most favorite racing game ever. If EA can bring NFS back to the Hot Pursuit days like you said, there would finally be another racing game to compete against Burnout's 'arcade' market. Here's to hoping for the best.

Well, it certainly lost the popularity it had in the olden days but I wouldn't say it's dead. There are still plenty of people who enjoy racing simulators.
This may sound a little naive but I think their problem is that they released way too many identical racing games (Most Wanted, Carbon, ProStreet, Undercover) with little or no innovation and people just stopped caring. "Oh, just another NFS game" . . . is what comes to my mind when I see announcements like this.

I see that EA is, once again, using the word "simulation" to disguise just another "game." None of their racing "simulations" have ever met even the slightest meaning of the word. Console games are just that..."games" When you avoid realistic track physics, vehicle setups and handling and real damage models, then you should stop trying to sell your crap as a simulation. Go ahead and fool the teenage Grand Theft crowd...they'll buy anything, but real racing enthusiest laugh at their "games".

Hot Pursuit 2 was amazing.

Let`s wait for more details, but it`s potentially good news. The Wii can benefit a lot from a new, good, racing game

dunno... this "full advantage of the unique controls" scares me more than comforts...

Why? Both racing games I've played that used Wii motion controls for steering worked great. (Mario Kart and Excite Truck)

Mario Kart is AWFUL when you use the steering wheel style controls.

It's a million times better with the nunchuck+analog.

@Vcize: Its just another way to say "I suck with the WiiWheel"

Considering Burnout has abandoned Nintendo, this could be as close as I get to it.

I'm tempted to buy a 360 premium now that they are cheaper than the wii, but I barely have enough time to play the wii games I want, nevermind the 360 on top of that, and not sure if I can justify a 2nd home console system at the moment still.

funny how Vcize and i couldn't be more opposed in that sentiment. There's different strokes for different folks and all, but still...

@TracerBullet Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, if they are as bad as I think they will be, I will NEVER buy another NFS game.

Well, if it happens to be something in the slighest close to that... monumental assnine idea that is Nascar Kart... count me on at the NFS Boycott

Wow I have to say the graphics are pretty nice on the new NFS game. I hope the new one ends up good, but I can be almost sure it won't if they keep doing annually churned out sequels.

or that pic could be a pre rendered cut scene

I'm going with Rohan. This looks like a cleverly made pre-rendered shot that is just a target image to what they are aiming for.

pre-rendered? psh obviously its a wii screenshot...

All I care about is that INTERIORS ARE BACK! They've been gone since.... god what was it? NFS II? Games like Gran Turismo 5 are starting to render them now, and I think either Forza or PGR has them too, so why NFS haven't had the "interior" view in recent years always baffled me.

Yeah you're probably right, I wasn't even really thinking. That is kind of the standard for racing game graphics now though, so if the game's graphics didn't at least similar to this by the time the game came out I don't think it will get as much respect.

Hopefully Shift will be able to regain the franchise's lost fame!

Hmmm, an attempt to steal GRiD's spotlight maybe?

Whats? EA, they wan'ts the preciouss...back EA! The precious is ours!

*shifty eyes*

i was thinking that too! it sure as hell looks like a screenshot from it

NOT SURE IF WANT

pretty much sums it up 1+

Looks very GRIDish, but claims to be a hardcore simulation so can't be up against the arcade fun that is GRID.

Ugh, 1/10 for sure.(You know what i'm talking about.

I was just thinking about getting a new sim pc game last night when I get a new computer. Will probably go with simbin though. I like that they are taking a crack at the motorcity online thing again though. It was way ahead of its time.

NFS should stick at what it does best, exotic car, locales and cop chases. I'm not interested in those new NFS franchises, I'll stick with Burnout, Midnight and whatever else new racing franchises come out this year.

"NFS is a dead franchise"

Except that this is from the guys who did GT Legends & GTR2, which were both stellar games. I can't wait!

that definitely makes things interesting. at first i was thinking "bah another mediocre nfs game," but knowing who was involved in this project will have me keeping my eye on it.

ah shit, i was hoping NFS had died :(

Need for Speed: Shift (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP) -- A "hardcore racing simulation"

The last couple of NFS installments have been plagued with bugs and mediocrity, I don't think making the next game a Hardcore Racing Simulator is a good idea considering the game would target the same audience as Gran Turismo and Forza.

The ridiculous amount of detail and polish that goes into those games is enough to make 3 NFSs (O_o)

in the case of GT5 that would be... 200 NFS games... O.O (give or take a few)

I don't even need to see or play the next NFS game, to know that it will suck compared to GranTurismo and Forza. Even if they have the greatest development team ever, it is not possible to produce something as good in the short amount of time and money they have. EA is obviously just counting on the brand selling copies.

Well considering how below expectations NFS: Undercover's sales were, I'm surprised EA isn't trying to appeal to the masses by instead making a more arcade-y NFS rather than the controller crushing, TV breaking hardcore simulation genre.

"Racing Simulator"? What? I don't play NFS because I want a simulator! I want to bomb corners at 70!

Well, I'm guessing the Wii version will be more arcadey than the PS3 one will, in which case I'll end up getting the Wii version.

I really hope they return to their roots. Need for Speed II SE is still my favorite in the francise. I loved it when you could sail through the air and drive a school bus in a T Rex amusement park....priceless.

I am glad, either way, that they whole "street" phase is gone. God that whole Underground bit totally ruined the series for me. I hope this is better than the last one, which while I liked the theme just felt a little funny in its control.

...in short I got really tired of rain covered city streets.

If this is like ProStreet, count me out. I'd gladly take another Most Wanted or Undercover, though. The racing in those games is still pretty fun despite the awful story.

ProStreet was a perfect balance of arcade and sim, I thought. If it's like that, I'm down.

You can see how there is such a difference in views here. I, and others posting, could not stand the undercover and Most Wanted titles - while you like them. Seems to me that the folks making these games just can't win.

I know that the last one I really liked was NFS Underground 2. It was just a simple fun game to me.

I have enjoyed every single game in the NFS series up to ProStreet. Maybe I just didn't give it a fair shake, but really just didn't enjoy any time I spent with it. I'll have to revisit and see if I still feel the same way.

And yeah, it sucks that EA can't find a balance here to please everyone. ProStreet did sell well for them, so i can understand why they want to point the ship in that direction. I've always equated NFS with a more arcade-y feel, so maybe that's why I've like the other games in the series. (Underground 2 being my favoritest)

Though, if they do push this new title in the direction of Forza and Gran Turismo, I'm cool with that. I'm sure there will be a bit more meat to the framework than just selecting races from a menu, so I look forward to see what their offering will be like.

Ok what is EA's problem giving the fans what they want?. Everyone I know loved Hot Pursuit and Porsche Unleashed. Give us another real NFS Hot Pursuit PLEASE!!!

NFS was this game with long open roads and beautiful environments, with exciting cop chases. But then the top dogs at EA with their infinite stupidity, started derailing the series with the Underground games. And completely ruined it with Pro Street.

They had a winning concept already, why in the world did they copy Midnight Club and TR Unlimited.. What EA produced was worse and alienated they alienated the real fans. I can't help but think that some marketing guy at EA watched TV, and noticed that Pimp my Ride and Fast And Furious was hip.. So they forced the developers to produce crap, as that is what they figured would sell..

Oh and I LOL at the thought of NFS Racing Simulator, who in their right mind thinks they actually are going to produce something better than GranTurismo, Grid, Forza or PGR.

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EA unveils new Need for Speed trio

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