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Need for Speed's Autolog app available now
EA and Activision both have been making a push lately for add-on iOS apps for their biggest console properties: Activision's been pushing a Call of Duty Elite app, and EA's got one related to Medal of Honor Warfare as well. And here comes EA again with another app dedicated to a big console franchise. The Need for Speed series of racing games has a stat-tracking system called Autolog, and there's now a dedicated iOS app to browse and follow up on stats and awards earned with that system. By downloading the free app, you can browse through your friends lists and see what everyone is up to, check out your own profiles and see whatever stats or awards you've earned, hear about Need for Speed news, and even check out a map from the latest game, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, that's been all annotated with stat and other in-game information. It's pretty impressive: EA and the developers at Criterion have been building out the Autolog service quite a bit over the past few years, and this app provides a pretty direct line right into everything that the service is tracking. Very cool indeed. I expect even more tie-in apps like this in the future -- online services like this are a big driver for these big publishers' console games lately, and releasing iOS apps is just one more way for big fans of the series to engage with the games and the franchises.
Criterion tracks a lot of things with Autolog
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is playable on the show floor here at E3 (and we'll have a full preview later on this week), but what interested us most about the demo here is what's up above. There's a circle of eight screens running the game in EA's booth, and above that is a little leaderboard that's constantly updating with the Autolog stats of those racing below. EA used some Need for Speed (and Criterion) specific terms for player names, so "Paradise," "Undrgrnd," and "Need4Spd" are all players. The level of granularity is really shocking: Criterion is tracking everything from "Speed Points" earned (which is the main leaderboard stat being tracked during the demo) to whether a player is crashing or racing, and even their speed or if they're using boost at any given moment. All of this is being tracked in real-time, and it's then being pumped into a dynamic web page (you can just barely see the browser URL at the top). This is a setup specifically for this E3 installation – obviously, you won't usually be watching a web page while playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted. But this little leaderboard does show just how much information Criterion is keeping track of with Autolog in the game. Every single element of your racing will be watched and number crunched in real time.
Need for Speed: The Run preview: Getting back behind the wheel
"You're not trying to get first, you're trying to make up ground," Need for Speed: The Run producer Alex Grimbley explained to me during a demo session in midtown Manhattan last week. Rather than putting priority on being the absolute first during individual races, The Run focuses on an overall place in a cross-country race, amounting to roughly 200 miles of in-game track spread across the US. And yes, it'll allow you to go back to individual areas and work on improving track times. "Get to 101st by the time you make it here, get to 50th by the time you make it to Chicago, get to the top 10 by the time you make it to New York ... so this is a different take on a sprint race," Grimbley continued.%Gallery-129279%
Shift 2 featurette pits two pros in an Autolog showdown
Having already proven his absolute comprehension of the sweet science of Shift 2: Unleashed, pro racer Tommy Milner now faces an even greater challenge: besting Irish driver Darren McNamara using the game's Autolog feature. Can he preserve his honor? For America?
Shift 2 Unleashed's Autolog, loyalty bonuses detailed
As you may already know, Shift 2 Unleashed will incorporate Autolog, the competition-between-friends system introduced by Criterion in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit; however, it's not just a quick port job. Autolog in Shift 2 Unleashed is far more robust and delivers loads more information to players. Also, the UI is more intuitive, which was the biggest issue this writer had with the offering in Hot Pursuit. The way it works is largely the same: at any time, you can press a button and be presented with your Autolog, which will list track times for your friends and recommend courses for you to take them down in -- that's old hat. Producer Jesse Abney says Autolog is now "Need for Speed DNA" -- it'll be in every Need for Speed game from here on out. Its feature set is now enhanced to not only provide track times for unique events, but will now also segregate data based on quick race tracks, race types, automotive disciplines and will even document times on individual segments of a particular track. So it's going beyond "hey this is the time your friend got on this race, now beat it" seen in Hot Pursuit. Finally, we were also told about a new loyalty incentive program for Need for Speed gamers. Those who played Hot Pursuit will gain access to two extra cars: the Pagani Cinque Roadster racer and Lamborghini Reventon police car. Racers will gain access to these cars when they log into Shift 2 using the same EA account they used in Hot Pursuit, following input of their Online Pass code.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit limited time demo coming Oct. 26
We've got a need -- a need for temporarily available demos of racing games that'll be available publicly in a few weeks, anyway. EA's bringin' it, with a Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit demo that will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network from tomorrow until November 9 (the demo goes live on PSN in Europe on the 27th). The publisher didn't explain the reason for the demo's temporary availability, instead focusing on the details of the forthcoming trial. Both "Dark Horse" and "Roadster's Reborn" game modes will be included. The former is the standard cops and robbers/cat and mouse scenario, while the latter offers ghost car time trials to compete against. The game's "autolog" social networking feature plays heavily into the second game mode, only unlocking after players add friends into their "Need for Speed friends list." We look forward to reevaluating our "friends" once it becomes impossible to beat some of their track times.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit dev diary introduces Autolog
In Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, there's an in-game social suite called Autolog. It allows players to compare progress and connect through various features -- actually, the people who created it would do a better job describing it, so head past the break for a brief video overview.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit trailer challenges your relationships
We take warning screens very seriously. That's why we've preemptively removed Hinkle from our friends list. We wouldn't wanna risk any "hard feelings" if he went and wrecked our Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit records. It's better this way, Dave.
