Developer Black Box's nitro button must be worn down to a nub. The studio announced today that its upcoming Need for Speed sequel, Undercover, will ship this November, pulling up to the starting line well before the 2009 release previously mentioned by EA CEO John Riccitiello.

In development for every platform under the sun (yes, even mobile phones), Need for Speed Undercover will also sport what Black Box describes as "big-budget live-action sequences" starring Balls of Fury and Mission Impossible III actress, Maggie Q, as a federal agent who recruits drivers to take down a criminal syndicate. While recent Need for Speed racers have all but siphoned our tanks of what enthusiasm we once had for the series, those who care can look forward to race with Ms. Q in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.

Proving that not all in-game advertising is used solely for evil, the Scottish government plans to spend £10,000 on virtual billboards to discourage drunk driving, the BBC reports today. The campaign will place anti-drunk driving messages in Xbox 360 racing games like Need for Speed: Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 4, and sports titles like Pro Evolution Soccer 2008.

The Scottish government is elated that the campaign will be going forward, as it believes that video games are a great way of reaching younger audiences. We couldn't agree more, and think that this is one of the smartest uses for ad dollars we've seen in a while. Kudos to the Safer Scotland campaign.

Now, this is just plain weird. Apparently, folks in the UK don't have enough to bet on, so they turn to the gaming industry. Bookie Paddy Power is reporting that a lot of money is riding on what game emerges as the number one seller throughout this holiday season, with the total stake coming to about 11,000 GBP. That just boggles our mind.

But, this isn't the first year this has been going down. They started accepting bets on gaming sales charts starting back in 2003, where it didn't receive many takers. Then, it had only seen 60 bets as which game would emerge on top, with this year seeing a whopping increase in popularity to 650 bets. Oh, and the favored game to come out on top is EA's Need for Speed ProStreet.

Current top odds are as follows:

• 8/11: Need for Speed ProStreet
• 2/1: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
• 5/1: The Simpsons Game
• 8/1: FIFA Soccer 08
• 8/1: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• 12/1: The Golden Compass
• 18/1: Super Mario Galaxy
• 20/1: Assassin's Creed
• 20/1: High School Musical: Sing It!

Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

I guess it could be said that my favorite game genres are rhythm and racing. My racing wheels, bongos, dance mats, drum kit, and guitar collection stand as testament to that being fact. So, while brainstorming new uses for my Guitar Hero III Wii Guitar, it struck me that racing might be the peanut butter to the guitar's chocolate.

Yeah, I'm sure that doesn't make any sense to you, as I got the 'WTF face' plenty of times when explaining my plan to friends. But read on and I'll tell you how to shred. How to shred down NFS ProStreet.

Boobs have long been the marketing companion for guy stuff, like fast cars. So it seemed a natural choice for EA (or more likely, a contracted third-party ad firm) to feature a pair of scantily clad models posed with a Ferrari to promote Need for Speed: ProStreet (rated 3+ in Europe). That "scantily" is hereby defined as sans tops is admittedly risqué for games promotion, but the ads only appeared on UK tabloid The Sun's softcore site Page 3. Today, EA issued a statement of regret about the images, explaining that the promotion had "slipped through the proper EA approval process." As a result, the ads have been removed from the site (but not from the murky bowels of the internet).

So what's the cost? Perhaps longer 'exposure' could have helped ProStreet topple Assassin's Creed from the charts. We'll never know.

[Update: full censored image has been moved to accommodate 'work surfers' -- view it after the jump.]

[Update: This giveaway is now closed and our winner has been chosen. Check your inbox (and spam box), you might be the winner.]

Hooray for Fanswag! This week we're giving away EA's latest racer, Need for Speed Pro Street. We've got a brand new, sealed copy just for one lucky reader. If you'd like to see yourself in the driver's seat, simply follow the instructions below.

• Need for Speed Pro Street, as you might expect, is very speedy. Leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite high speed activity. You can leave one comment per calendar day (Eastern Time).
  
• Be sure you only leave one comment per day. Posters of multiple comments during the same day will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until Friday, November 16, 12:00 Noon, Eastern Time. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only
  
• On Friday, we'll pick one winner via a random drawing
• One winner will receive a copy of Need for Speed Pro Street, worth $60.

You'll notice that we've allowed one entry per day again. Be sure to enter all three days to maximize your chance to win.

With all of these realistic racers like Forza and Gran Turismo, sometimes you long for Need for Speed, something a little more relaxed, something that makes you feel ... a little more like Vin Diesel. So imagine our dismay when the demo for this year's entry, Need for Speed: ProStreet featured markedly less neon than we have grown accustomed to and a statistically insignificant amount of Brooke Burke. This doesn't even make us feel like Paul Walker!

Sure, what's included in the new Xbox Live demo does look pretty good. And there's damage to the cars, which everybody likes. And hey, at least our old friend nitro is still there. You know what? On second thought, we're starting to feel balder already.

That's what they say. Publishing monolith EA has announced that four of its Cider-powered Mac OS X titles are now available to purchase on Apple's online store today. The initial burst looks to satisfy a variety of Intel Mac gamers, including those who are partial to waging futuristic war (Battlefield 2142!), owning totally sick rides (Need for Speed Carbon!), casting ex-crucio-ting spells (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!) and, uh, waging even more futuristic war (Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars!).

The games will also materialize on minimalistic shelves within Apple retail stores, with Potter and Need For Speed arriving on Tuesday, 21 August. Battlefield 2142 and Tiberium Wars should arrive the following week on 28 August. Though the tardy titles, namely Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and Madden NFL 08, were promised to arrive on the same day as other systems at WWDC, you can now expect their respective balls to come crashing through the "September/October window."

Starting September 1st, EA will officially shut down servers for the following online-enabled PSP titles:

• FIFA Soccer 06
• FIFA World Cup 2006
• Fight Night Round 3
• Madden NFL 06
• NBA Live 06

In addition, Need for Speed Most Wanted will go offline starting November 1st. It looks like those of you that need an online racing fix might need to consider an alternative (like Test Drive Unlimited?). Unfortunately, it's commonplace for games to lose online support after a few years. Considering EA's love of making their franchises annual, it seems like they're really urging you to buy a new version of one of their products.

[Via PlayStation boards]

"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm modeling a car for Need For Speed: Pro Street, what does it look like?"
"I just stepped out for lunch... I was using this workstation for the The Sims team."
"The the sims? You got a stuttering problem there? You nervous about something?"
"No, I was referring to the team working on The Sims. This is our computer."
"Really? I don't see your name on it."

Well, obstinate fictional employee, there soon will be! EA is planning to reorganize its business in the coming months into four primary and distinctly labeled groups, each equipped with dedicated studio and publishing teams. The labels are as follows:

• EA Games: Home to the likes of Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Spore, Command & Conquer and the EA Partners publishing business.
• The Sims: If a game features a nonsense dialect, emotion gauges and a mechanical imitation of your own life, it'll come from this team.
• EA Casual Entertainment: A group dedicated to easily accessible titles for the non-gaming folk. Franchises like Harry Potter and Boogie fall under this label, as does EA's online casual game service, Pogo.com.
• EA Sports: What could this section be working on? Answers on a postcard.

EA notes that all four labels will be supported by two new groups, namely Central Development Services, a technology group overseeing operations and EA's online platform, and Global Publishing, the marketing muscle and distribution, uh... diaphragm.

While the whole street racing genre has gotten as dry as that meatloaf we tried to call supper (the oven simply refused to let it come out until the timer went off -- the timer happened to be the smoke alarm), EA is attempting to jump start the genre with their latest Need For Speed title: ProStreet. Game Informer has the details -- we'll make it much quicker to read.

• More emphasis on car performance and your skill at driving the cars than crazy crashes and cheesy live-action sequences (which will still exist, of course).
• The game has been in development for 16 months! That means they've probably already started on another NFS title due out in 2008. Just speculation.
• All races thus far are scheduled to take place in broad daylight.
• No police, either. The emphasis isn't on getting "caught" but on keeping your car clean of damage. Which there will be a lot of.
  
• About damage ... it's not going to be a punishment. They want you to see it -- damage is "cool". Personally, that's lame. If we smash our hood, we should have a faulty horn to amuse ourselves with at least. Or a broken axle means ... well ... it means you've got to cough up a bit of scratch to keep that ride.
• The customization system in the game will allow you to do "whatever you want" with the cars. Not to resell online or anything, but to make something you're genuinely proud to drive.
• Sixaxis controls will be toyed with. Expect it to be an option you can turn off, though!

It honestly seems like they've got just as much going for them as the upcoming title skate does. Similar customization claims, departures from games with similar premises and Electronic Arts. We'll file this game in the "potential" cabinet. Where do you all stand?

And you thought you'd be off the hook with street racing games for a while, huh? There is a difference between this ProStreet iteration of Need for Speed and other street racing games, though. Imagine this: a driving simulation, but for street racing. Yes, it's like Gran Turismo meets The Fast and The Furious. Is this a good idea? We aren't sure because we've never actually experienced a game like that before. The culture of street racing and focusing on your vehicles performance permeate from this game like ... well, like gas fumes.

The game itself, taking place in a multitude of locations with a multitude of cars, actually looks good. Yep, EA is making a game that seems like effort was put into this year's edition of any given franchise. So, let's get this straight: a realistic street-racing simulation with car damage and a complete move away from prior NFS titles? Yeah, it's surprising, but don't let our loss of words keep you from checking out the first screenshots. What do you think? Could this actually work?

EA has revealed that they intend on bringing forth a new game into this wonderful world, which is a new installment in their racing franchise Need for Speed (surprise!). Titled Need for Speed ProStreet, the game is going to focus mostly on street racing, but according to EA will feature more customization options for players. EA says we'll get our hands on the game come Fall 2007, but in the meantime we'll have to settle for the teaser trailer after the break.

Remember the Need for Speed teaser that was released just over week ago? The one that told us to check NeedForSpeed.com on May 31? Guess what? It's May 31, and EA has officially announced ... a Need For Speed game (imagine that). The new game, subtitled Pro Street, focuses on players becoming the world's greatest street racer. The press release mentions fully customizable cars that you can fully tweak and tune for maximum performance. It also gives us a few tiny details about the damage system, noting that "every dent, every scratch and every crumpled body panel is a battle scar, proof of your commitment and competitive mettle." The game is also slated to have a "revolutionary online mode," though no concrete details are given. Need For Speed: Pro Street is scheduled to release this November. Watch the (slightly) extended trailer above and check out the screenshot gallery below.

A new trailer has popped up for the next incarnation of Need for Speed. At the moment, the game goes without any subtitles, leaving us unable to properly identify it. The trailer shows off a real purdy car which subsequently explodes, and really, what more do you need from a video game? The trailer concludes with a quick blurb directing viewers to check out NeedforSpeed.com on May 31st. Impatient people that we are, we decided to check it out now, and were sadly greeted with the website for Need for Speed: Carbon. Sigh ... guess we'll have to wait.