NFS Series shifting gears

[Oyeve]

http://apnews.excite.com/artic...0090130/D961J1F00.html

Jan 30, 11:49 AM (ET)

By DERRIK J. LANG

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Electronic Arts is steering the popular "Need for Speed" franchise in a new direction.

The video game publisher announced plans Friday to spin off the 15-year-old racing series into three driving games on different platforms. The new games will speed into three separate genres - simulation, action and arcade racing.

"It's all about crafting different games for different audiences," said Keith Munro, EA marketing vice president. "The 'Need for Speed' brand is quite powerful. It has great recognition, even outside of gaming. When we talked to consumers about what the brand meant to them, we realized that it could be stretched to new limits on different platforms."

The new games, expected to be released later this year, are "Need for Speed Shift," a first-person racing simulation for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; "Need for Speed World Online," a multiplayer action-driving game for the PC; and "Need for Speed Nitro," an arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for the Nintendo Wii and DS.


"In the past, our 'Need for Speed' games have done very well on all platforms," Munro said. "We just think we can do better with this new plan. We actually have the opportunity to devote an entirely new studio and development team to the creation of a from-the-ground-up Nintendo-only 'Need for Speed' game. We didn't have those resources available before."

Munro said EA Black Box, the Canadian developer that created every previous "Need for Speed" game, has been collaborating with developer Slightly Mad Studios on "Need for Speed Shift" and EA Singapore on "Need for Speed World Online." He also said Black Box is continuing to work on a new action driving game, despite recent companywide layoffs.

"They will still be very much involved in the development of 'Need for Speed' products," Munro said. "Over the years, we've asked the Black Box team to deliver a new 'Need for Speed' game every year. We've gone to a couple of new studios to deliver next fall's games to inject freshness into the category and give the Black Box team time to retrench."

The new games have been in development for two years. The original "Need for Speed" was released in 1994 for the 3DO, PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn systems. The most recent game, "Need for Speed Undercover," was released last November for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii and PC.

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[R Nilla]

Four new NFS games in development--I can't wait for these quality titles to appear; you know they will all be awesome.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: R Nilla
Four new NFS games in development--I can't wait for these quality titles to appear; you know they will all be awesome.

The should have just stuck with the older working formula. HP, Underground and whatever specialty, like Porsche Unleashed. Anyhoot, should be interesting.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: R Nilla
Four new NFS games in development--I can't wait for these quality titles to appear; you know they will all be awesome.

The should have just stuck with the older working formula. HP, Underground and whatever specialty, like Porsche Unleashed. Anyhoot, should be interesting.

Yeah, Most Wanted and Porsche Unleashed were the two most recent ones that I enjoyed. The rest since then have been too mediocre. Most Wanted was fun to set some music to and just drive around forever while the cops try to catch you.

 

[sswingle]

I have been enjoying Undercover.

I think they are shooting themselves in the foot by doing it this way. Why limit your sales by making a game for only 1 console

 

[jdport]

As long as they do each of the 4 types of game right, I think it's a great idea. One problem with the NFS series has always been that they just couldn't please everybody.. some wanted it more "realistic".. .some wanted it more "fun" and didn't care about physics... if they make the games right, they can now satisfy all the different types of gamers with their own "type" of game.

I enjoy both sims and arcade racing games in different ways.... I'm not entirely sure what they mean by "action" racing...

 

[purbeast0]

Some more info including 1 screen shot of NFS: Shift.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
http://apnews.excite.com/artic...0090130/D961J1F00.html
...

"They will still be very much involved in the development of 'Need for Speed' products," Munro said. "Over the years, we've asked the Black Box team to deliver a new 'Need for Speed' game every year. We've gone to a couple of new studios to deliver next fall's games to inject freshness into the category and give the Black Box team time to retrench."

...

This is the problem right here. Quit releasing these less than decent games every year. Take some time and make a good one.

 

[EvilComputer92]

Every NFS game since Most Wanted has been garbage.

 

[iamwiz82]

EA had an MMORPG racing simulation called Motor City Online that could have been gold, but they never fixed it's problems.

 

[oznerol]

SHIFTING GEARS! I JUST GO IT! IT'S A CAR GAME! HAAHAHAHA!!111one!!

 

[raystorm]

NFS: Shift could potentially be great given the devs pedigree (Slightly Mad Studios). The devs for Shift made the excellent GTR2 and GT Legends on pc and it looks like the ultra lame ricer theme is gone for a more realistic sim style game. Thank god.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
EA had an MMORPG racing simulation called Motor City Online that could have been gold, but they never fixed it's problems.

That was a cool concept. I was in the beta but wasn't enough of a gear head to really get into it.

 

[DannyLove]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: Oyeve
http://apnews.excite.com/artic...0090130/D961J1F00.html
...

"They will still be very much involved in the development of 'Need for Speed' products," Munro said. "Over the years, we've asked the Black Box team to deliver a new 'Need for Speed' game every year. We've gone to a couple of new studios to deliver next fall's games to inject freshness into the category and give the Black Box team time to retrench."

...

This is the problem right here. Quit releasing these less than decent games every year. Take some time and make a good one.

Agreed! The ONLY NFS games I enjoyed was NFS: Hot Pursuit (AWESOME back in the day), and the Porche one, only because it is Porche

 

[vi edit]

The only NFS game I really enjoyed was the very first one. I remember tweaking some boot disks to no end to get that to run on an old 486DX2 66Mhz. I think it was even endorsed by Motortrend and had reviews for each car in there.

At the time it was the most photorealistic graphics I had seen in a game, it had real interiors, sounds, and the controls were the best I had played in a car game.

Everything after that short of Porche Unleashed was just an over the top arcade game that offered little in the way of "realism".

EA needs to look at the success and longevity of games like Gran Turismo and Forza and be reminded that shoveling out crap every 12 months isn't always the best game plan.

 

[shortylickens]

Test Drive Unlimited is my overall favorite.
Which of these new games will most likely make me happy?

 

[AstroManLuca]

You know, if they were to just take Most Wanted, change the scenery and the story a bit, maybe add a few new race types, but keep the cop chases and update the graphics and game mechanics, I bet it'd do pretty well. It was a good game and a refreshed version would be a hit.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
http://apnews.excite.com/artic...0090130/D961J1F00.html

Jan 30, 11:49 AM (ET)

By DERRIK J. LANG

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Electronic Arts is steering the popular "Need for Speed" franchise in a new direction.

The video game publisher announced plans Friday to spin off the 15-year-old racing series into three driving games on different platforms. The new games will speed into three separate genres - simulation, action and arcade racing.

"It's all about milking gamers for as much money possible with as little true effort as possible on our end," said Keith Munro, EA marketing vice president. "The 'Need for Speed' brand is quite powerful. It has great recognition, even outside of gaming. When we talked to consumers about what the brand meant to them, we realized that it could be stretched to new limits on different platforms."

The new games, expected to be released later this year, are "Need for Speed Shift," a first-person racing simulation for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; "Need for Speed World Online," a multiplayer action-driving game for the PC; and "Need for Speed Nitro," an arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for the Nintendo Wii and DS.


"In the past, our 'Need for Speed' games have done very well on all platforms," Munro said. "We just think we can do better with this new plan. We actually have the opportunity to devote an entirely new studio and development team to the creation of a from-the-ground-up Nintendo-only 'Need for Speed' game. We didn't have those resources available before."

Munro said EA Black Box, the Canadian developer that created every previous "Need for Speed" game, has been collaborating with developer Slightly Mad Studios on "Need for Speed Shift" and EA Singapore on "Need for Speed World Online." He also said Black Box is continuing to work on a new action driving game, despite recent companywide layoffs.

"They will still be very much involved in the development of 'Need for Speed' products," Munro said. "Over the years, we've asked the Black Box team to deliver a new 'Need for Speed' game every year. We've gone to a couple of new studios to deliver next fall's games to inject freshness into the category and give the Black Box team time to retrench."

The new games have been in development for two years. The original "Need for Speed" was released in 1994 for the 3DO, PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn systems. The most recent game, "Need for Speed Undercover," was released last November for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii and PC.

---

fixed

 

[BassBomb]

NFS has failed since Porsche Unleashed.
HP2 was horrid on PC but great on console thats when the disparity occured for me.
UG2 was an improved UG.
Most Wanted was not bad.... the rest after are just..... horrible

Note I have been a die hard NFS fan since NFS2, 2000+poster on NFSCars.net from 2002 and up, I made cars even for NFS:HS..
I think the franchise needs to not release a game each year and rework what they are doing from the ground up.

 

[thilanliyan]

Hopefully Slightly Mad studios doesn't neuter Shift...hopefully there's a hardcore sim setting.