Talk about NFS - SHIFT

[An Exotic Classic]

I've got some Information:_________________________________________________________________

EA has now announed **three** new games to be released this year.


According to EA, "Need For Speed Shift" is for racers to develop realistic races. "Shift" will release this year for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable and PC . while Need for Speed: Nitro makes for the for Wiiâ„¢ and Nintendo DSâ„¢.

Need For Speed: Shift Made by Slightly Mad Studios ( "GT Legends" and "GTR 2") in collaboration with the Executive Producer Michael Mann of Black Box and Senior Vice President Patrick Soderlund from EA Games Europe develops.

(link to this article: http://itsmadh.blogspot.com/2009/02/nfs ... eview.html)

Q & A

Given the upheaval surrounding Black Box, many gamers have been pondering the fate of the Electronic Arts' subsidiary's signature series. Today, EA announced that one of the partially shuttered Canadian operation's franchises, Need for Speed, will continue to be developed.



Need for Speed: Shift

Indeed, not only will the street-racing series carry on, it will be expanded and split into three different franchises. The first, Need for Speed: Shift, is a hardcore racing simulation in the works for the PC, PSP, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios, in collaboration with executive producer Michael Mann at Black Box and EA Games Europe senior vice president--and Digital Illusions CE cofounder--Patrick Soderlund. Slightly Mad Studios was founded earlier this month by former GT Legends developer Ian Bell.

The second NFS franchise to rise from Black Box's ashes is Need for Speed Nitro (working title), an arcade racer being crafted by the Boogie-makers at EA Montreal. Set for release exclusively on Nintendo's Wii and DS, the game will sport a "unique visual style" and, like Need for Speed Shift, will sport many real-world automotive licenses. Also like Shift, it will ship in North American this fall.

Finally, six years after EA shut down its first car-based massively multiplayer game, Motor City Online, the publisher is backing the auto MMOG genre out of the garage again. Jointly developed by Black Box and EA Shanghai, Need for Speed World Online is a PC-only, free-to-play game set to launch in Asia this coming summer. A North American release is scheduled for "winter 2009," which could potentially mean an early 2010 release.

With NFS being challenged for racing gamers' dollars by Microsoft's Forza Motorsport, Take-Two's Midnight Club, and EA's own Burnout series, why did the publisher decide to mix up its winning formula so drastically? Keith Munro, Electronic Arts' vice president of marketing, laid down some informational rubber with GameSpot in an exclusive interview.

GS: Need for Speed Undercover performed below expectations, selling less than 940,000 units in the US according to NPD. That's about half the 2.1 million units ProStreet sold since 2007, one third Need for Speed Carbon's nearly 3.1 million units, and just a fraction of Need for Speed Most Wanted's 3.9 million units and Need for Speed Underground 2's 4.5 million units. What makes EA think it can turn it around?

Keith Munro: We need to compare apples to apples over a similar time frame, and in fact, globally Need for Speed Undercover sales are comparable to ProStreet on a week-to-date basis. That's pretty impressive, especially given the economic environment and the heavy competition we saw last fall. As we move forward with the franchise, we are confident that the new brand strategy around three specific genres will keep the game fresh and players entertained. As the market leader in the racing category, we are talking with gamers on a regular basis.

For years, we've understood that even though our flagship action-driving games, such as Undercover, Carbon, and Most Wanted, have tremendous appeal, there are still lots of other players who craved something different. Our new Need for Speed development strategy has us building different racing experiences for different players, reflecting their needs and wants from this category. This is really about putting consumers first and continuing to provide the best racing experiences for them on all platforms.

GS: Will the three series be annual franchises like NFS is currently?

KM: We're listening to players and will deliver the games on a schedule that makes the most sense for the franchise. Currently, players demand a new Need for Speed property in the market each year.

GS: Will EA be expanding or shrinking the NFS development team as a result of these changes? If the former, which studios will be expanding, and will they be getting staff from other EA studios which are being streamlined?

KM: We are expanding, and this means growth in studios that are new to Need for Speed. We are focusing on creating quality experiences across multiple racing genres; as such, we are using studios to develop games suited to their specific strengths. Need for Speed Shift is an authentic simulation racer, and is being built in the UK by a collaborative team.

EA Montreal has a strong track record in developing for Nintendo platforms. This team is bringing a new visual style to the game, as well as a distinctly "Need for Speed" take on racing as they evolve the arcade-racing genre.

Black Box is still playing a large role in the development of Need for Speed Shift and Need for Speed World Online. Also, we wanted to give the team at Black Box an extended development window so that their next Need for Speed action game could really blow the doors off the category.

NFS SHIFT
GS: Shift development is being overseen by EA Games SVP Europe Patrick Soderlund and EA Black Box's Michael Mann--where is it being developed?

KM: Shift is being developed in the UK by a collaborative team including Slightly Mad Studios, senior vice president Patrick Soderlund from EA Games Europe, and exec producer Mike Mann from Black Box. Slightly Mad Studios includes developers that worked on highly acclaimed PC simulation racing titles GT Legends and GTR 2.

GS: You say the game is "built by racers for racers." Does that mean this game will be EA's Gran Turismo or Forza?

KM: There are a couple of levels to this. First, we have a number of people working on Shift that have real racing and motorsport backgrounds. We'll get into more details on this later, but as an example, Patrick Soderlund is a driver and part of the racing team that recently competed in the 4th edition of the Toyo Tires 24H Dubai 2009, the first major race event of the year. His team ranked 5th in this high-profile race. He is very passionate about and committed to bringing the on-the-track experience to players around the world.

Second, regarding other games in the sim racing genre. We see Shift joining the ranks of the world's top simulation racing games with authentic cars and tracks, but it definitely offers its own signature look and feel. Shift represents the true driver's experience. Traditional simulation driving games tend to focus on replicating a car's performance, Shift moves beyond that by combining a player's unique driving style with accurately modeled cars to really drive home what it feels like to be behind the wheel.

We're also bringing the built-by-racers authenticity via core technology. Need for Speed is renowned for capturing speed and a unique style of racing. Shift continues that through an all-new sophisticated visual interface. For example, there is a three-dimensional HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia, and G-forces. The depth of field also adjusts based on the speed of the car; so when the car is traveling at high speeds, the perspective will shift to the distance, putting the car/cockpit out of focus.

(to see full Q&A: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6203924.html}

MORE SCREENSHOTS:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2rnJrscBxQ[/youtube]

[Porsche-AG]

LOL at youtube-embed-phail.

I don't think there's much, if anything, new in the article (someone can verify, I only just skimmed over it and looked at the posted date) but the video does have some new pictures in it that show more of the quite stunning racetracks the game has.

[topsy kret1]

i think it's going to be one of the best NFS games on the market. the graphics are stunning with detail to match. blury vision upon impact? it's pretty appearent that Slightly Mad is slightly genious.

[korge]

i think it's going to be one of the best NFS games on the market. the graphics are stunning with detail to match. blury vision upon impact? it's pretty appearent that Slightly Mad is slightly genious.

Yeah, shame if it is the best NFS game ever, Black Box may need to get gutted of garbage game designers.

[Nitrodemon McLaren]

Agreed. If this turns out to be so great, maybe Slightly Mad Studios should be in charge of the NFS series. Of course, EA might try to buy out Slightly Mad like they have with other studios such as Black Box Games or their infamous attempt to buy out Take-Two Interactive.

[korge]

Lets not forget Westwood. >_>

[topsy kret1]

me + Slightly Mad = FRIENDS!!!!! i want them to finish the game but i want to play it!!!!

[Kaerar]

Looks like SHIFT could possibly be the game that turns about EA's NFS franchise. It is blatantly targeted at the Forza/GRID crowd and tbh that's a bloody good idea. GRID while being fun, was also a let down for me as it wasn't as accomplished as it thought it was, plus the cornering for keyboards was borked compared to joypads or wheels. Just meant to get round certain corners you needed to handbrake which is ridiculous.

I hope SHIFT can build on the base that GRID laid. Just please oh please don't make NFS13 = shiznit.

[topsy kret1]

there is a possibility of shift being....not up to par. all games have this possibility before release (obviously) 'cause no one has played it. we'll all see soon enough. i hope.

[Nitrocide]

What I personally think is that they should have not made it a Need for Speed game. I think that they should have started a completely new series if this is the route EA want to take. Fans of games such as Gran Turismo, Forza and Grid are probably not going to be interested in this game due to the games' former target audience and the bad reputation NFS games have got recently.

I do think that this is going to be an amazing game. I loved Prostreet, it was actually one of my favourite NFS games. So i think I'll like this too.

[donaldgladden]

Grip Runner Decals= Prostreet 2 with a new name imo

[Nitrodemon McLaren]

What I personally think is that they should have not made it a Need for Speed game. I think that they should have started a completely new series if this is the route EA want to take. Fans of games such as Gran Turismo, Forza and Grid are probably not going to be interested in this game due to the games' former target audience and the bad reputation NFS games have got recently.

I do think that this is going to be an amazing game. I loved Prostreet, it was actually one of my favourite NFS games. So i think I'll like this too.

From what I can see, I think EA are trying to make Need for Speed a universal racing franchise.

By that I mean, include games from different genres of racing creating a massive library of racing games for everyone to enjoy.

Or they want to make money by adding the "Need for Speed" name on a racing simulator.

[topsy kret1]

Fans of games such as Gran Turismo, Forza and Grid are probably not going to be interested in this game due to the games' former target audience and the bad reputation NFS games have got recently.

its possible but who knows for sure? they could be testing if that same target audience would let EA try a more Forza-like game. if the sales are bad then they will know to pull away from games like Forza. but let's be honest: NO MORE COPS!! i can't drive 1,000 feet in Undercover without getting "reports of a wanted suspect on I-5". im sick of it

[arabnight]

but let's be honest: NO MORE COPS!! i can't drive 1,000 feet in Undercover without getting "reports of a wanted suspect on I-5". im sick of it [/quote]

yah but a lot of people love that just being chased by cops. it does get annoying as hell when you just want to drive. i actually try to drive normal to on the streets which never work either.

[Strafer]

Teaser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYouNWaAeSg

[peterfaj]

The brief parts where you actually saw the driving look great.

[Andre_online]

I'm beginning to think that there'll only be one camera view for this game, and that's the driver's position.

[prince1142003]

I'm beginning to think that I'll only be using one camera view for this game, and that's the driver's position.

Regardless of whether there are other camera views. I might use those for picture taking, but not for racing.

Shift makes me want to revert to my childhood self and bang on things and hold my breath in hopes that it comes out earlier.

[Andre_online]

Shift makes me want to revert to my childhood self and bang on things and hold my breath in hopes that it comes out earlier.

I didn't know you had such 'wet' dreams when you were young.

Anyways, the gameplay does look very promising indeed. It's such a reminiscent of Grid.

[arabnight]

it does want me to feel like im a kid waittin for that great nfs game. I also watched the trailer and it sounds like they are puttin good codes in for brining out the feel of each car on its own way.
He also made it sound like the driver seat is the only way to drive it wont be to bad but not everyone like driving inside, but since everything works like how they say you can still see the cars comin in close on your side or rear.

[korge]

Agreed, while first person is nice (as shown in grid) i tend to get sick of it after a while. Ill be mad if Shift doesnt have bumper or 3rd person cam.

[arabnight]

i doubt they would only put one cam view that's just bad thinking and bad gaming.
2nd'ly i think they just showing cot pit view so much is because they want to stress how much work they done to it. every key works, every mirror, works, every light, and so on.
From what i hear also it got head bobbing action when you hit something or hard turns.

over all i think its gona be great.

[Andre_online]

G-forces are something which has never implemented in any NFS games I've played before. This is gonna be interesting indeed.

[arabnight]

i know what you mean. i think it will be a good game to play before GT5 come out.

[silencestorm]

I like the direction EA is taking with this game I just hope It don’t turn out to be another crap-ness of theirs as they being doing with their latest titles. It will be nice if they could combine the customization options of underground 1 & 2 with this game (w/ auto-sculpt), as well as change of day and night and change of weather, that would be very nice.


I started playing NFS games since the underground series started a few years back.. I fell in love with the 1st game then came underground 2 also a great game that I love to this day. However most wanted, carbon, and undercover did not exactly made me feel the same. I hope SHIFT will be EA`s redemption from another crappy title.


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