need for speed
Latest
Shift 2 Unleashed preview: The new look of racing sims
Now that the dust has started to settle around Gran Turismo 5, EA is pulling off the sheet on its Need for Speed: Shift sequel. Simply Shift 2 Unleashed -- no "Need for Speed" in the title -- the racer represents returning developer Slightly Mad Studios' continuing effort to make players feel like they're actually driving some of the world's most powerful cars. %Gallery-108443%
Nokia X7-00 spotted feeding its Need for Speed in the wild (video)
Firstly, let's be absolutely clear that we don't know this is Nokia's X7, but given the polished, entertainment-centric design (it has four speakers, apparently), we're inclined to believe that it's the real deal. Its screen looks to be the same 4-inch affair as on Nokia's E7, it's running the latest Symbian OS (formerly known as Symbian^3), and pictures of its rear reveal an 8 megapixel camera. The last detail of import, naturally, is the reassurance that comes from knowing that this supposed X7 can crunch through Need for Speed quite nicely. Jump past the break to see it on video. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: The video's been thrown into private mode pretty quickly. Let us know if you find any copies of it floating about the interwebs. Update 2: Thanks to the lightning-fast gang at Mobile Bulgaria, we've got a new copy of the video up past the break. We've also spotted that this handset has four homescreens rather than the three available on currently released Symbian handsets. A newer version of the software? Might well be.
Shift 2 Unleashed loses 'Need for Speed' and adds Hot Pursuit's Autolog
What better day to announce a new entry in a long-standing franchise than the release date for what is, arguably, the best installment in the series to date. Today, on Need for Speed Hot Pursuit's big day, EA has stolen some of that thunder by announcing Shift 2 Unleashed, the sequel to last year's simulation-style installment. In doing so, EA has dropped the "Need for Speed" half of the title (though the debut trailer, found after the break, still puts the game squarely in the NFS series, even using Hot Pursuit's n-shaped logo). In its place is Autolog, the excellent, always-connected enhancement that Burnout-dev Criterion brought to Hot Pursuit. EA calls it the "next generation" of the stats-driven friendship killer -- though, with less than half a year between both iterations, let's say we're skeptical of that claim. The game is being built by racing veterans, and Shift developers, Slightly Mad Studios for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. This morning's press release says to expect the game in "spring 2011," which is pretty close to the previously reported Q1 2011 window. So, are you more of a Hot Pursuit or a Shift 2 kind of gamer?
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit review: More than satisfies the need
It's been a good year to be a fan of arcade-style racing games, with Blur and Split/Second neck-and-neck in the race to be the year's best. Unfortunately for them, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit from Burnout Paradise creator Criterion Games just took first place. For the reboot of this Need for Speed sub-series, which saw two installments across PS1 and PS2, Criterion has created a racer that not only lives up to expectations of thrilling speed and pristine visuals but blows past them with a cops-and-robbers career mode.%Gallery-107062%
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit trailer tours Seacrest County
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit wants you to believe Seacrest County is a "driver's paradise," but we feel this latest trailer ignores the best thing Seacrest has to offer: Señor Guapo's Bakery on Alameda boulevard. Seriously, don't visit just to drive around, go have the churro of your life.
Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7: your Xbox isn't in your phone yet, but we're getting there
We just spent some serious, and we mean serious time with Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7. Just like your Xbox, this is sort of an amalgamation of "the place you go to play games" and "the place you go to ping and taunt your friends who also play games." Unfortunately, it seems there's a bit of a disconnect between phone-based scores and records and Xbox achievements -- they all add up to the same gamerscore, but you can't easily there are separate charts to pull up your most recent Halo exploits to show off on your mobile, for instance. Luckily, that still puts Microsoft in a better position than any other mobile games platform (until Apple can get Game Center to stop sucking, at least). Being able to message and challenge friends all from the same "hub" where you keep your games is great, and being able to view your avatar and the avatars of friends (you can even play dress-up with your own) is nice gravy on top. Of course, what really matters is the games, right? Luckily, Microsoft has a pretty strong launch lineup, with some of the regulars like EA's The Sims 3 and Need for Speed, along with some exclusives like Rocket Riot and the hotly anticipated The Harvest. The good news? Games look and play great, just like you might expect from an iPhone or Android level capacitive touchscreen platform, with The Harvest as an obvious and very important standout in complexity and polish. The bad news? Everything takes forever to load (our rough estimate is about three minutes to start playing in The Harvest), and when you don't have any multitasking, that's a really bad thing. Check out some of the Xbox Live hub and capabilities after the break, along with some games, and make up your own mind.
Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup
With thousands of developers churning out thousands of apps, we've no doubt exploring the Marketplace is going to be a full-time job for at least a day or two after you nab your Windows Phone 7 device this fall -- but with all the hullabaloo today, we thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight a few that Microsoft and its partners have been talking about recently. Dig in!
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit trailer captured [update: demo on October 26]
The latest trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit provides lots of footage of implausibly fancy police cars chasing similarly precious private-owned vehicles, for what most be the most serious speeding citation the Seacrest County police can offer. If they have to get a helicopter on you for speeding, that's going to be a rather pricey ticket. This trailer also gives some attention to Hot Pursuit's "Autolog" feature, which helps connect players to one another, and displays a bunch of stats about your friends' performance. In case you thought you were doing well! Update: as noted in the video, a demo will be available October 26. We're following up with EA about the timing of the demo release for each platform.
Need for Speed World shifts to free-to-play model, as user base passes 1 million milestone
EA has announced that Need For Speed World, its MMO racer, has surpassed one million registered players since going live on July 27. With this milestone comes word that the game will soon be adding a co-op pursuit mode and expanded customization options (in addition to the already-promised new gameworld areas). Oh, and it's gone completely free-to-play. Originally free only up to level 10 -- requiring a $20 investment for the "full" experience -- Need For Speed World has removed its base cost, although the purchase of items, power-ups, car rentals and other premium content will remain an option under the F2P model.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit gameplay footage will get your heart racing
This freshly released gameplay trailer for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit from Burnout vets Criterion Games has us in a hot pursuit of a controller with which we can play more of this blistering-fast racer. The footage features cops versus racers in both day and night settings, the latter we're pretty sure was put in the game just to show off the police car lights bathing passing cars and scenery in their red and blue beams. The video begins and ends with a peek at the game's "Autolog" player vs. player challenge system. There are also some shots that'll be familiar with anyone who played Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 in the PS2 era, including roadblocks, spike strips (dropped from helicopters!) and the cops calling in high-performance backup when their cruisers just aren't getting the job done. It looks fast-tastic. Now, if only November 16 could get here faster.
Palm Pixi shows off 3D gaming chops with webOS 1.4.5 release (video)
What with all the "battery optimization" excitement, we nearly forgot that Sprint's new webOS 1.4.5 update doesn't just empower the Pre; it also finally brings PDK'd OpenGL and SDL support to the Palm Pixi. On the off chance you don't speak developer lingo, that's short for 3D apps and games, and as it turns out the pint-sized Pixi doesn't play the latter half-badly. PreCentral fired up a copy of Need For Speed: Undercover on the freshly-upgraded handset immediately above, and found the game perfectly playable with "decent" framerates and only slightly sub-par load times. Watch their spiffy Nissan turn tricks right after the break, and pray companies get cracking on some Unreal Engine 3 apps soon.
Need for Speed: Shift 2 crossing finish line in early 2011
Another Need for Speed game entering the world is, at this point, less like the birth of a child and more like locating a new star. Sure, we're going to name it, but there's no need to Skype your Gram-Gram about it. It is in this spirit that we soberly yet respectfully report that a new star, NFS-2332, has been discovered in an EA financial report. It's being commonly referred to as Need for Speed: Shift 2 by scientists, and it's slated to crash into Earth between January and March of 2011, as rumored early last month. (Sorry, we didn't consider how horrifying that would sound when we started the analogy). Though we can assume the sequel will keep to the simmier aspects of its predecessor, we know diddly else about the title at the moment. Here's hoping an ongoing EA earnings call sheds some light.
Need for Speed World pulls up to the starting line on July 27
Anxious to envelop yourself in your Maserati's splendor and hit some hairpin turns at 100mph? Well, you can do that later. Now we want to tell you about this video game. EA has announced that its MMO experiment, Need for Speed World, will be available for download on July 27 -- a week later than initially expected. Those who pre-ordered the Need for Speed World Starter Pack -- a $20 primer that gives players $20 in SpeedBoost (in-game currency), full access up to level 50 and some power-ups including Nitrous and Traffic Magnet -- get a week's head start and can play Need for Speed World starting today. Those who pre-ordered get further incentive in exclusive cars, double experience points, driver name reservation and permanent VIP status. Racers looking for a free taste of the game will be able to download a special trial version (that unlocks all game modes and provides free play up to level ten) here as of July 27.
Need For Speed World takes off July 27th
Fast cars. Expensive gas. Gaudy spinners. Fuzzy dice. A lead foot. Radar detectors. EA is set to provide all of these and more when Need for Speed World launches next week. A release date of July 27 has been announced, and will be available via digital download for all hot rod enthusiasts. Of course, if you can't wait to settle into the driver's seat, you can get into the game today by pre-ordering the Need for Speed World Starter Pack. Apart from the benefit of early access, pre-orders will get their hands on exclusive cars, be fueled with double XP, and have the ever-so-elite "VIP" tag added to their driver profile from now on. The Starter Pack also includes an allowance of NFSW's in-game currency for a shopping trip if one so desires. A trial of the game will become available next week as well, offering a free sample of NFSW up through level 10 to any and all who mosey by. EA is obviously crossing its fingers that NFSW will go the distance and not break down on the side of the road like Motor City Online, but so far, things are looking up for this title.
Behind the wheel with Need For Speed World
Vroom vroom! I want to tell you to warm up your engines and place your hands at 10 and 2, because Need For Speed World is just about ready to burn some asphalt and squeal some rubber. Too bad I couldn't car-metaphor my way out of a wet paper bag. But I can tell you this: EA's free-to-play racing MMO is awesome fun. And it's almost here. I sat down Wednesday with Adam King, EA product manager, and a copy of NFSW, which opens July 20 with a pre-order head start before going fully live July 27. King gave me a chance to look under the engine, punch the tires and take the game for a twirl -- car metaphors, agh! -- so follow me past the jump for my impressions of the game, plus some hints about what to expect in the first major content update.
Need For Speed World races its last warm-up lap in a stress test
Need For Speed World is preparing for starting flag! Today and tomorrow, the developers of this highly anticipated action MMO are rounding the final lap with a stress test. And you are invited! This free-to-play action-racing persistent world closed its beta last week with high marks among fans, and, per the norm, developers need to test the server capacity. The race to stress EA's servers begins July 13th at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT), and the checkered flag flies on July 14th at 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT). To celebrate this special event, all rental restrictions have been lifted. That means even at level 1 you can rent any car you would like. This is your chance to test drive that Porsche that you could only ogle during beta testing. As an added bonus, each player will receive 8000 SpeedBoost power-ups. Also, if you are one of the top five racers in the Community Sprint Race Competition for car tiers 1, 2 and 3, the starter pack is yours for free. This packaged upgrade to your account sells for $19.95 in the EA Store and allows you to progress beyond level 10 and obtain a Toyota Corolla AE86. Drive on over to world.needforspeed.com now for your last chance to feed your Need For Speed before the game's official launch!
Need for Speed: Shift 2, Black Box-developed NFS both hinted for 2011
A pair of LinkedIn profiles suggests that at least two Need for Speed titles will be released next year. According to the profile page of programmer Chris Mcclure, he was at NFS: Shift developer Sightly Mad Studios from August 2009 – February 2010 where he "worked on new open world technology but also worked on Need For Speed Shift too." Cleverly, Mcclure altered this statement today from "... but also worked on Need For Speed Shift 2" after his apparent reveal was spotted by superannuation (and preserved by Google's cache). The original Shift was released in September 2009, and if Mcclure is covering his tracks, then a sequel was likely underway as work on the first game wrapped, which would allow roughly the minimum development time necessary to release Shift 2 some time during the first quarter of 2011. Recall that in February, during an earnings call, EA dated a Need for Speed game for that period. COO John Schappert described the unnamed iteration as "another big driving simulation" (Conference Call Script [PDF]). "Need For Speed: Shift 2" would be a good fit for that description and time frame.
Need For Speed open beta starts July 2nd
Ready to get your race on? We are too, and luckily Electronic Arts is dropping the hammer on the Need For Speed World open beta test beginning tomorrow, July 2nd. The open beta will run through the holiday weekend and conclude on July 5th. If you haven't signed up for the beta yet, you can do so (and get automatic access) simply by registering on the official website. In addition, veterans of the closed beta test (which powered down last night) will not have their accounts wiped for the open beta period. Finally, Massively readers who have previously received beta keys are eligible to continue participating. New to the online racing scene? Be sure to check out our Need For Speed World coverage from E3.
TUAW's Daily App: SimCity
I probably don't need to explain SimCity to you; it's one of the most classic PC games of all time, and Electronic Arts released it for the iPhone a while go. It's the same game you've played before; you can mark out zones in your city, draw out roads and buildings, and slowly build up your population as a mayor, keeping your people happy, supplied with utilities, and within reasonable distance of work and play. So, why are we spotlighting it today? Along with most of EA's iPhone titles, its price has dropped down to just 99 cents. So, if you haven't picked it up yet, now's the time to do so (and it'll give you something to play on your brand new iPhone this week). Other titles to check out at just a buck, if you haven't gotten them yet, include Need for Speed, Command and Conquer, FIFA 10, Madden 10, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and the classic Dragon's Lair. Just think, buying them all will set you back $7, the same price as the full Rock Band title.
E3 2010: Your complete Massively coverage roundup
The 2010 edition of the gaming nirvana known as E3 has come and gone, and Massively was there to bring you three days of exclusives, firsts, and hands-on impressions for all your favorite MMORPG titles, studios, and developers. This year's Expo saw plenty of news and announcements regarding highly anticipated games, as well as plenty of information on assorted titles large and small. We thought it best to collate our coverage into a complete and concise roundup post for your viewing pleasure, so read along after the cut to make sure you didn't miss anything. You can also check out all of our E3 galleries along the way.
