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Criterion-developed Need for Speed coming 'next year'

by Christopher Grant { Nov 9th 2009 at 8:10PM }

"In recent years, we failed to put adequate resources behind the franchise and, as a result, quality suffered," EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said of the Need for Speed franchise, currently in the midst of a reboot with the well received Need for Speed: Shift, the recently released Need for Speed: Nitro, and the we're-not-sure-that's-going-to-work Need for Speed: World Online. But there's a fourth post-reboot Need for Speed title in development at Criterion Games, the devs behind the excellent Burnout series.

Removing any doubt that the series will miss an opportunity for annual exploitation (again, the massively multilpayer online racing of World Online doesn't count!) Gibeau said "Next year's Need for Speed has been under development now for some time at our award-winning Criterion Studio." We're not sure what type of Need for Speed Criterion is creating, but we wouldn't be surprised if it was heavy on the crashing.

Need for Speed: Nitro's Class A cars revealed

by David Hinkle { Oct 29th 2009 at 4:15PM }

Click image to vroom into our gallery

Despite being an arcade racer, Need for Speed: Nitro will boast some very real rides when it releases next month. The latest update from EA focuses on some of the higher-end automobiles you'll be able to get behind the virtual wheel of -- including a Mustang, Charger and a Corvette. There are even a couple of Audis and the Lamborghini above, if you prefer to zip around in something you could probably never afford in real life. Hit up the gallery below to check 'em all out.

Gallery: Need for Speed NITRO

Need for Speed: Nitro trailer heads down to Rio

by David Hinkle { Oct 21st 2009 at 3:15PM }

We always thought Rio was only good as a backdrop for gritty crime dramas or a place to shop for gigantic Jesus statues. Alas, the tropical climate is also very suitable for street racing -- at least, according to this new trailer for EA's arcade racer, Need for Speed: Nitro. The racing looks intense enough and it seems EA did a good job getting the sense of speed aspect down. However, even though EA is willing to take a risk on the platform, we hope the company is prepared should Nitro suffer the same fate as our beloved Dead Space Girl.

Need for Speed series sells 100m copies, earns $2.7b life-to-date

by David Hinkle { Oct 21st 2009 at 2:30PM }

Yep, EA has announced the Need for Speed series has raced past the 100 million sold mark -- thanks to recent sales of Need for Speed: Shift -- and earned $2.7 billion in life-to-date sales, cementing its status as the best-selling racing brand in gaming. Just because it's sold the most doesn't necessarily mean it's the best franchise in terms of quality, however -- so we cooked up the graph you see above!

There are a couple of things to keep in mind as you follow the red line's progress:

First of all, we didn't include cell phone entries and tried to focus on the main entries in the franchise
The general quality of the series seems to be high, yet starts to dip after the release of Underground 2 in 2004; Shift seems to have brought the series back from the brink of critical mediocrity

EA's focus now is on rebooting the franchise -- the first step was to release a new hardcore sim racer in Need for Speed: Shift. The next move is to release Need for Speed Nitro, an arcade racer for the Wii and DS market, and follow that with Need for Speed World Online, a free-to-play PC racer for the casual audience.

Need for Speed Nitro rushes to retail in early November

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Oct 19th 2009 at 12:01PM }

Need for Speed Nitro, the graffiti-laced second entry in EA's "fresh" Need for Speed trio, has pulled out of the garage sooner than expected. Promising a mixture of "the franchise's trademark attitude, sense of speed and addictive gameplay," the colorful Nitro has gone gold, with both Wii and DS versions now set to ship on November 3 in North America and November 6 in Europe.

Capitalizing on its Unique Art Style, the game will drape in-game vehicles with skins designed by popular "lifestyle brands," including Upper Playground, tokidoki, and i am 8-bit. You'd be right in calling it a product of marketing, but it's preferable to the alternative conjured up by the Dante's Inferno promotional team: in-game vehicles draped in human skins.

Gallery: Need for Speed NITRO

Need for Speed: Shift demo drifts to Xbox Live, PSN on Thursday

by David Hinkle { Sep 29th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Attention, race fans: EA's Need for Speed: Shift will have a demo ready for a qualifying run this Thursday, October 1. The demo features two tracks (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and London River) as well as five different vehicles to master:

BMW M3 (E46)
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
2006 Lotus Elise 111R
2008 Nissan GT-R
2006 Pagani Zonda F (unlockable)

As for that last car, you'll need to excel on the two courses and earn enough points to unlock it. And remember: The demo is not limited to Blur developers, so feel free to make with the loading down!

Rumor: Handful of 250GB PS3 bundles heading to Europe

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 21st 2009 at 12:50PM }

This morning, Joystiq received two images, from an alleged Norwegian GameStop employee, in which multiple PlayStation 3 250GB game bundle SKUs are visibly on display. In one image, claimed to be an internal email to all Norwegian GameStop employees, instructions on the difference between the rumored 250GB PS3 bundles and the current 120GB PS3 are found. The email "there is no difference" aside from storage space and posits four possible "PS3 250GB" bundles: One paired with "NFS" (presumably Need for Speed: Shift); another with "FIFA" (presumably FIFA 10); a third with Uncharted 2; and the final one with Assassin's Creed 2.

In the second image, our anonymous tipster supposedly snapped what looks to be the familiar GameStop clerk inventory screen, albeit with commands in Norwegian. It suggests yet another 250GB PS3 bundle, this time with "Ratchet" (presumably Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time) attached. If we're to trust these images, the bundles will be priced at 3799 kr ($644.16), a 500 kr ($84.78) increase from the current price of a 120GB PS3 Slim at Norwegian GameStops. No release dates are given.

We were told last week by Sony of America that an image of an Uncharted 2 PS3 250GB bundle was a "complete fabrication," and as such we've contacted Sony of America as well as Sony of Europe for comment on these images. We'll update this post as we hear more.

Gallery: GameStop Norway PS3 250GB Bundle Images

NFS: Shift demo on PC now, 360 and PS3 in October

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 18th 2009 at 5:40PM }

Electronic Arts has announced that a demo for Need for Speed: Shift is now available for PC. You can grab the demo from Big Download right here. The demo offers five different cars, including the BMW M3 (E46), the 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10, the 2006 Lotus Elise 111R, the 2008 Nissan GT-R. The fifth car, the 2006 Pagani Zonda F is included in the demo as an unlockable.

While the demo is currently confined to the PC, take heart, console owners. A demo is scheduled to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 in early October.

Gallery: Need for Speed SHIFT

Need for Speed: Shift video highlights Car Battle mode

by David Hinkle { Sep 9th 2009 at 9:15PM }

We've been following the last quarter-mile of Need for Speed: Shift's race to release and this latest video should delight those of you with 40 weight oil in your veins. The video focuses on the Car Battle mode, which pits two racers against each other to settle the dispute of who has the better auto. Of course this doesn't apply if your car has a Mr. Fusion. In that case, you automatically win.

Designers give Need for Speed Nitro cars a fresh coat of paint

by JC Fletcher { Aug 13th 2009 at 4:31PM }

EA has partnered with three "lifestyle brands" to create art assets for the Wii/DS racer Need for Speed Nitro. Upper Playground, tokidoki, and i am 8-bit will contribute custom skins for in-game vehicles, as well as a set of over 140 "brushes" that players can use to customize their cars. After the break, see a video demonstrating some of the customization options! Examples of the art groups' skins can be seen in the gallery below. i am 8-bit's cars don't look terribly ... 8-bit, but we love tokidoki's Lamborghini Gallardo, which is now some kind of Day-Glo land shark.

Using creative texture work to offer a distinctive look is one of the smartest things EA could do for a Wii or DS game in a genre that is so often used as a graphical showcase.

Gallery: Need for Speed Nitro art cars (Wii, DS)

NFS: Shift 'Driver's Experience' video profiles begin this Friday night

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 30th 2009 at 10:00PM }

The folks at EA dropped a teaser video on us today (seen above) for Need for Speed: Shift's tie-in video series, "The Driver's Experience." Premiering this Friday evening/Saturday morning on YouTube -- and likely here, dearest readers -- the show is said to profile various race car drivers associated with the game.

More specifically, it will focus on the experience of speeding around places like the Nürburgring. A personal look into the human face behind those who drive multi-million dollar sponsored race cars sounds like a hoot, but we're not sure how much it'll effect our need to play the final product over those other perfectly competent (and proven) racing sims. We'll just have to tune in on Friday at midnight (EST) to find out.

Gallery: Need for Speed SHIFT

Need for Speed Nitro boosts into stores Nov. 17

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 22nd 2009 at 9:45AM }

EA is ready to take Need for Speed Nitro out of the garage and onto the road on November 17th. The Wii- and DS-exclusive title is designed to offer "fun and intense competition for every type of gamer." This wouldn't be the first time a more casual approach reinvigorated a franchise.

Nitro, like upcoming scarefest Dead Space Extraction, is part of EA's ongoing effort to establish some big hits on Nintendo's console. Other titles from the test lab, like EA Sports Active and the Tiger Woods 10, have already proven to be quite successful. Let's see if EA can keep up the Wii streak!

Gallery: Need for Speed NITRO

Shift your gaze toward this new Need for Speed trailer

by David Hinkle { Jun 17th 2009 at 12:15PM }

The latest trailer for Need for Speed: Shift not only provides us with footage of beautiful cars in motion (including the game's cover star, the BMW M3 GT2), but also gives a bit more insight into the Driver Profile feature. The Driver Profile is something EA hopes will help the game stand out, with the goal being to shape how other drivers perceive you, according to your style of driving. Considering our basic driving abilities, we expect competitors to be in a constant state of mirth.

Hands-on: Need for Speed Shift

by Kevin Kelly { Jun 11th 2009 at 5:45PM }

Racing games have become increasingly dense over the past few years, with users able to modify the smallest details on their cars in an effort to shave seconds off their lap times. The whole genre has become increasingly immersive as well, to a point that has seen developers rebel against realism and create arcade-style games like Split/Second and Blur.

That's even carried over to the hyperrealistic racing games like Need for Speed: Shift, which lead designer Andy Tutor calls "A return to basics. You know how movies are rebooting with things like Batman Begins? That's what we're doing with Shift." While those are exciting words to hear, once you slip behind the controls of Shift, you'll see that it really is a definite shift (see what we did there?) for the title. Thankfully, Maggie Q is nowhere in sight.

Gallery: Need for Speed SHIFT

Continued →

Report: Battlefield 3, Criterion-developed Need for Speed underway

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jun 10th 2009 at 4:15PM }

During a William Blair Growth Stock Conference presentation, EA's COO (John Pleasants, FYI) noted the existence of two unannounced titles -- neither of them particularly surprising if you've been keeping up on your spurious internet rumors. The first, Battlefield 3, is said to be in good shape and, even better, in good hands over at developer DICE. Unfortunately, it appears fans of frenzied first-person shootery will have to wait until the next fiscal year before returning to the field.

According to G4TV's Patrick Klepek, the second title is yet another Need for Speed game, this one developed by the team behind Burnout. Pleasants allegedly praised the team for being "online-centric and notably high-quality game developers that we have out at Criterion." There's little else to go on at the moment, but we're certainly intrigued by the collision of those two racing franchises. There will be collisions, right?

Source -- Need for Speed
Source -- Battlefield 3