Yet another Need for speed game

[RichardWhitely]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/revamped-nfs-series-launches-this-year

Need for Speed: Shift will be made by Slightly Mad Studios of GT Legends and GTR 2 fame, with help from EA Black Box producer Michael Mann and EA Games Europe bigwig Patrick Soderlund.

Shift focuses on simulation racing - not just the realistic movement of cars, but also driver behaviour. This, EA marketing boss Keith Munro told Eurogamer, is what will set the game apart. Also, less baggy jeans and hip-hop.

"The urban underground was a manifestation of style in some past Need for Speed games for sure, but Shift focuses less on these style cues and more on mirroring the driver experience, that athleticism of being in a wickedly-intense race, and what it really feels like to be behind the wheel," Munro told us.

A flashy 3D HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia and G-force will help achieve this. There's a cockpit view that lets players freely look around using the right thumbstick, too.

Munro reckons serious car enthusiasts will "love" Shift, and that mainstream racers will also get on board. He's quite excited.

"Need for Speed Shift is amazing and I think it will blow people away," said Munro. "The tech behind that game, the details that only a team with such racing pedigree could accomplish, and the ability to make you feel the intensity of a race is unprecedented. I can't wait for our fans to begin experiencing it!"

[|fury|]

sounds promising

[Undergrid]

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, damnit No. 

The number of racing games with "realistic" handling (read can't stear worth shit) is getting unreal.  I like the recent NFS games (even though they are EA, shudder) because they arn't realistic.

I foresee the franchise taking a dive to be just another simulator game.

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, damnit No. 

[rover]

nfs should be about pimping the cars and blasting about at 300mph hitting walls and just bouncing off them    not watching some AI head bobbing about because theres in game g-force. im on the side of UG i think this version will kill nfs more than prostreet did.

[RichardWhitely]

Yeah, I like underground, Midnight club:la came close, but theres a huge imbalance between classes of cars in multiplayer with Midnight Club:LA. If someone came along with their big class A monster and everyone else was in class C and the player who had spent all their money pimping and getting the class A and had no money to get a class C car would just beat everyone else.

What Midnight club: la should have done is just had an "open" multiplayer mode where you can pick any car you wanted and that way it would be much better as races would be a lot more even as everyone could pick the same class of car quite easily.

Anyway, getting back to the point, yes NFS is going down the simulator route. Every new racing game thats coming is going down the same route it seems

[|fury|]

the original need for speed game was generally realistic and it was hugely successful. It was a real step up in driving games at the time and was a real gosh-wow game when it launched on the 3DO (came out for pc later, directx 1!)

pimping was only brought in with nfs:underground

realistic(ish) driving games don't have to be difficult to play, unless your reactions are completely shit 

[Undergrid]

the original need for speed game was generally realistic and it was hugely successful. It was a real step up in driving games at the time and was a real gosh-wow game when it launched on the 3DO (came out for pc later, directx 1!)

pimping was only brought in with nfs:underground

realistic(ish) driving games don't have to be difficult to play, unless your reactions are completely shit 

Was it? NFS games were, IFAIK, never very popular untill the arcade gameplay of Underground and I certainly didn't rate them.  The problem here is two fold. 

1) People like the arcade gameplay, shit reflexes or not, its fun.  I want to drive round the corners at 200mph bounce of a wall and keep going.

2) There are a lot of games out there that do "simulator" driving, and knowing EA most of them (will) do it better.

Either way, I still predict the end of the decent games in the franchise, knowing EA they'll keep release crud anyway...

[|fury|]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Need_for_Speed

was a great game and gfx were top-notch for the day

[rover]

the original need for speed game was generally realistic and it was hugely successful. It was a real step up in driving games at the time and was a real gosh-wow game when it launched on the 3DO (came out for pc later, directx 1!)

pimping was only brought in with nfs:underground

realistic(ish) driving games don't have to be difficult to play, unless your reactions are completely shit 

you have seen me playing forza2 so you know how bad my reactions are