Need For Speed: Shift, Need For Speed: Nitro şi Need For Speed: World Online sunt trei noi titluri din binecunoscuta serie de racing, anunţate de Electronic Arts pentru Eurogamer. Anunţul vine în ciuda concedierilor masive din cadrul studioului Black Box, care a dezvoltat Need For Speed: Undercover şi a cărui închidere a făcut pe mulţi să se întrebe dacă Electronic Arts nu vrea să pună lacăt seriei Need For Speed.
Primul din cele trei noi titluri, Need For Speed: Shift, va fi un simulator de curse, atât din punctul de vedere al comportamentului maşinii, cât şi din prisma şoferului. Jocul va fi singurul din cele 3 care va fi destinat segmentului hardcore şi va fi fidel ideii de simulator, conţinând mai puţine detalii "eye-candy". Need For Speed: Shift este produs de Slightly Mad Studios, cu aportul lui Michael Mann, producător Black Box, şi al lui Patrick Soderlund de la EA Games Europe.
Need For Speed: Nitro va fi un arcade "rapid şi furios", dezvoltat de EA Montreal şi destinat jucătorilor casual. Titlul se pare că va fi disponibil doar pentru Wii şi Nintendo DS. Jocul "va înnota" în ideea de eye-candy şi va fi complet diferit de orice alt titlu al seriei Need For Speed.
În fine, Need For Speed: World Online va putea fi jucat gratuit (Play 4 Free) şi va permite jucătorilor să se întreacă între ei cu vehicole alese pe gusturile lor. Jocul va fi produs de studioul EA din Singapore, cu aportul lui Black Box. Este posibil ca World Online să se bazeze pe microtranzacţii, dar Electronic Arts nu a confirmat acest fapt.
Compania susţine că toate cele trei titluri vor fi lansate în decursul acestui an.
Gamespot also has posted an interview with Keith Munro, Electronic Arts' vice president of marketing:
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 players 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 travelling at high speeds the perspective will shift to the distance putting the car/cockpit out of focus.
And we're bringing a brand new perspective to the action with a cockpit view. This view highlights the authenticity and lavish detail on the vehicles and provides a more realistic and immersive vantage point of the action. This 'first-person mode' also comes with a free-look camera on the right thumbstick so the player can really appreciate their surroundings and also get the low-down on their on-track competition.
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