Year long NFS project completed!!! 56k beware

[Gavh2]

I started this project towards the end of last year. Basically I own original copies of all the NFS games (well this is debatable) and I wanted to be able to display them all as a collection. I came up with the idea to create single DVD covers for each one. That way they are all uniform etc.

Admittedly I'm a bit of a perfectionist so using the scans from MobyGames.com was just not going to cut it!!! I had to "restore" scanned covers that I scanned and ones I found on the net from their web size to 300dpi. As you can image, quality of scans on the net is very low so I had my work cut out for me! Text always came out terrible so in most cases I had to retype it all (well mostly plain text such as the disclaimers etc.)! I did my best to stay faithful to the original covers. In some cases I could not use the screenshots from the scans as they were just too low quality so I had to use my own. I called it "The Collection", naturally, and kept the design simple so that I can add onto it as I get more of the series... Below I'll give a run down of each cover

This was quite easy to restore. The difficult part was getting the screenshots. I eventually bought a box of the game from a buddy and used the screenshots from there.



Without a doubt the most difficult. Only scan I could get was from MobyGames.com. The front cover was restored and then I created the rear cover from scratch!



I had to translate everything from German as that was the only language I could get a scan of. Unfortunately the screenshots are not original.



Screenshots from an EA classics cover scan. Don’t even get me started on having to retype the rear text in all those different languages!!!



Here I had to Photoshop the text out of the rear cover and redo it all. Screenshots are original at least



The front was very easy to do as I got a nice size scan of it. The back was 80% redone as the scan I had was not at all good due to the printing being very poor!



Pretty easy. Scan, Photoshop nice and redo text on the back...One time!!!



Same as previous cover...



Ditto...



The images used here were actually photographs I took. Our scanner was just not giving me the coulour rendition I needed.



By now the printing of covers is very nice so this one was easy!!! Just had to use part of a Wii cover for the top of the front and had to Photoshop the sides of rear wider...



This is how they should look when displayed, pretty cool I think



And a Photoshop of what they will look like....



100% crops from NFS3 and ProStreet. Just to give an idea of the size of my covers...


I should add this did not take me a solid year, HAHA I did it during my last year of studies when I had (and felt like) the time to do it. Just want to say THANKS to all the people who helped me out! Some on this site and others from others sites who supplied me with help and scans of covers I could not find. Comments welcome

[fasttasf]

Great job! Brings back lots of memory...

[bashderq]

I really do admire your dedication and skills, but is this endorsed by EA in anyway?
Also are you going to include the covers of the limited edition games like Most Wanted: Black Edition? I know that there's not much difference in game content between it and the normal version, but I think the special edition cover looks better.

[Gavh2]

I really do admire your dedication and skills, but is this endorsed by EA in anyway?
Also are you going to include the covers of the limited edition games like Most Wanted: Black Edition? I know that there's not much difference in game content between it and the normal version, but I think the special edition cover looks better.

Endorsed by EA? No unfortunately not. I did email them asking about boxart and if there was any way I could get my hands on the digital artwork!! HAHA talk about a long shot!! As you can imagine I got 0 reply...

About the limited editions. Seems like they are in limited supply!! I am struggling to get my hands on a copy of the MW Black edition. Iv'e advertised online and in the local classifieds but I get no response. I'd love to own NFS1 SE and NFS2 SE as well!!! If I did then I would definetly include them in my collection. I am also looking for Motorcity... Not sure if I'd add V-Rally to the collection because as memory serves me it was an Infrogames titles and not EA.
Having Carbon Collectors edition in the mix is a bit odd ball so either I get the SE editions or I get the normal Carbon version and ditch the CE edition from the collection. Idealy I want to own ALL of them, Normal, SE the works

[Pabl0z]

Very nice job Gavh!
Congrats

[alexL]

pretty awsome man! is road challenge euro or something cuz i have high stakes

[GT3x24x7]

Gavh, you are completely insane.

[Gavh2]

pretty awsome man! is road challenge euro or something cuz i have high stakes

Thanks Yeah I think it is. Here in South Africa we got Road challenge in two versions, one with the Ferrari on the front and one with a SLK on the front but the disk had the Ferrari on it so I went for that cover. Seems like the same thing with Porshe 2000 and Porsche Unleashed...

Gavh, you are completely insane.

Yeah, every time I come in here and scroll down all the covers I question my sanity!

[TurboK20EKHatch]

I always thought it was NFS: Porsche Unleashed?? At least that's what the cover of my box shows.. or did they do different versions of the box??

*edit* Never mind, read the post just befor mine and saw the answer haha.

[Andre_online]

I miss those years of HP2 and High Stakes!!!!!!!!! How nostalgic!! Nice job man!

[VG_Speed]

Hi Gavh2!

First of all, congratulations on an awesome work! Also, I enjoyed reading your post "For The Die Hard Fans"!

I happen to have the MW Black Edition, which I bought in Singapore, during the World Cyber Games 2005, a day before the World Release!

If you want it, just drop me a Private Message and I think I can get you that scan, with the number of dpi's of your choice!

Cya and congrats again on some great stuff!

Rogério Barroso aka VGSpeedPro

[TheStig]

very nicely done, love the way you did it.
To bad you did use the Most wanted Black edition cover (but then I think you have the normal one and not the US black edition.

From what country (region) is that version of NFS Road Challenge, cause the european version of Road Challenge has a Mercedes SLK on it and the Japanese version (also called High Stakes like in the US) has a Skyline on the cover.
But I never seen the cover with a 550 Maranello on it.

But like I said, very good job

[Gavh2]

First of all, congratulations on an awesome work! Also, I enjoyed reading your post "For The Die Hard Fans"!

I happen to have the MW Black Edition, which I bought in Singapore, during the World Cyber Games 2005, a day before the World Release!

Thanks VG_Speed! Glad you like it I'd love a scan of that cover! I did all the scans at 400dpi. I would then work them down to 300dpi in Photoshop. So if you could do a front and back scan for me that would be awesome! Do you still have the box it came in? Is there a difference between the box cover and the DVD case cover? Carbon Collectors edition had a rear cover design on the box but not on the dvd cover... If you can do the scans for me I'll send you the full res file when it's done, for your efforts! hehe for what it worth

very nicely done, love the way you did it.
To bad you did use the Most wanted Black edition cover (but then I think you have the normal one and not the US black edition.

From what country (region) is that version of NFS Road Challenge, cause the european version of Road Challenge has a Mercedes SLK on it and the Japanese version (also called High Stakes like in the US) has a Skyline on the cover.
But I never seen the cover with a 550 Maranello on it.

But like I said, very good job

Thanks Stig I'm assuming you meant to say, "To bad you didn't use the Most wanted Black edition cover"...?? Yeah if I could get my hands on a copy I would buy it in a heartbeat but sadly I just cant find a copy. Idealy it's what I wanted to use. I'll find one one day, I hope!

Road Challenge is actually the European version. Have a look at the link below and you will see the different boxarts for the different countries (below it is my EA classics version of the game. Got it just for the CD and manuals really). Seems US and Canada had the High Stakes game. I know the European versions had both SLK and 550 on the covers but, I chose to go with the 550 on the cover because all the road challenge cd's had the 550 on the them... Seems like here in South Africa we get all the European stuff. I have to admit, I prefer the High Stakes version. To me it embodies more NFS in the look of the cover and the name etc.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/need-for- ... /cover-art



A short story. I had the original copy of Road challenge but our CD rom actually heated the CD up so much that when I was done playng with it and I put it back in the jewel case I heard a funny sound as I closed the case. When I opened it I found that the CD had cracked!!! I was so angry when it would no longer work that I dumped the lot, manuals and all. Looking back on that now I'm kicking myself! Yeah back then I was young Hehe

[VG_Speed]

Hi!

Ok! Will do them as soon as I can. I will then ask you where you want me to send them!

I will also check both covers. Still, the Asian and American MW versions were all on CD, if I am not mistaken (the Black Box is double size CD/DVD Box), although the Black Box Extras came in a DVD. Only the European MW version was on DVD. I will check this also!

Cya!

Rogério

[Gavh2]

Hi!

Look our for my PM