Need for Speed Series

A new trailer video for Need for Speed Payback sees the expected deluge of E3 racing game coverage getting underway a little early.

Electronic Arts has shown off the first trailer for the next NFS game. Titled Need For Speed Payback, it launches November 10 worldwide.

A surprise blog post on the official series website has revealed the first tidbits of information on Need for Speed 2017.

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo is set to be a big one for the racing genre. Electronic Arts is the first major third-party to tip its hand, lining up a pre-E3 event that will include a raft of upcoming titles, including the latest installment in the Need For Speed series.

Electronic Arts’s third quarter fiscal 2017 earnings call was yesterday (link to the full document here), and buried between the various sports and shooting titles was a reference to the upcoming Need For Speed title, and when players can expect it.

This week’s Deals With Gold offers on the Xbox Store focus heavily on our genre of choice. With Forza Horizon 3 garnering the lion’s share of attention for the franchise right now, Microsoft is offering substantial deals on most of the older Forza games and DLC in the lineup, while 2015’s Need For Speed is also available for a fraction of its original price.

Need For Speed’s DLC support has come to an end. In the 7th post on the ‘Under The Hood’ blog, Ghost Games confirm last month’s Speedlist update will be the last content-based support for the game.

The new monthly update for NFS is due to go live tomorrow bringing all-new competitive multiplayer playlists, ‘Prestige Events’ and the return of the Speedwall Speed Run/Drift Corners seen in Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 for all 3 platforms.

Revealed yesterday the Nissan GT-R 2017 is an absolute beauty. Slightly tweaking the iconic design of previous models, the new bodykit and vastly improved interior has car fanatics drooling. Those wondering about the vehicle’s digital debut need worry no more – EA’s Need for Speed has the honors of putting the latest GT-R in player hands around the world.

The updates keep on coming! Detailed earlier this week, the latest in the line of Need For Speed’s free content updates showed up this morning on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, weighing in at roughly 1gb for either camp.

Following the accidental Need for Speed leak by EA’s Twitter earlier this week, Ghost has dropped full patch notes on what to expect from March’s update – aptly named ‘Hot Rods’.

A premature tweet from EA’s UK Twitter account has unveiled an interesting addition coming soon to NFS 2015’s roster – a hot rod!

NFS2015’s philosophy from the get-go was to provide a fully customizable street racing experience where you crafted the exact machine of your dreams through in-depth tuning and livery options to rule the streets. Although for the most part NFS was a step in the right direction at launch it still lacked in some fundamental areas that fans were disappointed to see omitted. With the latest ‘Showcase’ update launching today (~1.4GB), Ghost have targeted the most requested areas of customization and ways of showing off your ride.

Ghost Games weren’t kidding around about injecting the new Need For Speed with considerable fan service. Whatever your opinion may be on the arcade racer (see GTPlanet’s here), there’s no arguing that the franchise is one of the most well-known in the business. Spanning over two decades, with twenty-two (and counting) titles under its belt, there is a considerable history for the developers to draw from. With the Legends Update, that’s precisely what they’ve done.

Need For Speed launched at the beginning of the month to generally favourable reviews. In GTPlanet’s own review, the game’s limited customization features and the AI rubber-banding were two of the standout criticisms. The first patch, released last week, specifically addresses both of those issues, as well as adding more content to the game, free of charge.

Need For Speed is a racing touchstone for a lot of people. Up there with Mario Kart and Gran Turismo, it is a name that crosses boundaries, recognizable to not only the driving-obsessed, but also those that don’t consider video games “their thing”. It even has the necessary cachet to attract Hollywood, delivering a movie last year starring Jesse Pinkman (a move the GT franchise looks likely to follow).

As I announced a few weeks ago, Electronic Arts invited GTPlanet to a “community day” event for their latest driving game, Shift 2: Unleashed. I took them up on the offer, and I’m eager to share my impressions of the game. There’s a lot of eyes on Shift 2 after the series’ first title, billed as a realistic simulator, was highly criticized by “sim racers” for its too-friendly physics. According to EA’s marketing, these issues have been addressed, going so far as to call it “the most realistic racer ever”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnn41vo7A9k