need-for-speed-shift posts

Shift 2 Unleashed is due out later this quarter and this week publisher Electronic Arts is slowly revealing more info on the racing sim division of the Need For Speed series. The game's official web site has now revealed that it will feature cars from Chevrolet, Toyota and Lamborghini. It also revealed four different track settings including being able to drive through the streets and around the landmarks of London.

Meanwhile our sister site Joystiq has more info on the game's updated Autolog feature which was first introduced in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. In addition people who own Criterion's recent arcade racer will be able to access two extra cars in Shift 2 Unleashed (the Pagani Cinque Roadster racer and Lamborghini Reventon police car).

It's been only a couple of months since it was officially announced but today publisher Electronic Arts gave us a release date for its latest racing game Shift 2 Unleashed. The "racing sim" branch of EA's Need For Speed franchise will be released on March 29 for North American gamers. Europeans will get access to the game a little earlier; it comes out on March 24 or March 25 across the pond (depending on which country in Europe you live in). The sim game comes once again from developer Slightly Mad Studios.

Don't forget that pre-orders get access to the Limited Edition version with 40 extra events in the game along with three exclusive cars (the Nissan Silvia spec.R Aero (S15), the Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV, and the Lamborghini Murciélago LP640).

With Need For Speed Hot Pursuit now officially in stores, publisher Electronic Arts finally announced what has been know for a while now; a second game in the Need For Speed Shift racing sim series is in the works. The second game dumps the "Need For Speed" part of the title and is now called Shift 2 Unleashed.

Due for release in the spring of 2011 from developer Slightly Mad Studios, the game will feature a revamped graphisl engine as well as what EA is calling an "innovative helmet camera view simulating the physical experience of driving at 200mph." It will also feature Autolog, the social networking system that is now a part of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. You can check out the trailer for the game when you check out the bonus content in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit.

The next Need For Speed game is due out in two week with the release of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit but publisher Electronic Arts already has plans for the next installment of the "arcade" division of its long time racing franchise. In a chat with Eurogamer today, EA's Patrick Soderlund said that the game would be developed by its Canada-based Black Box studio but no other details were announced. Criterion's next project after completing Need For Speed Hoit Pursuit has not yet been announced.

And what about Need For Speed Shift, the racing simulation game that was released in the fall of 2009? Soderlund stated, " ... when the market permits and when we feel ready, we'll come up with Shift versions as well." Need For Speed Shift 2 had been previously announced as coming out in the first quarter of 2011 but there's been no recent updates as to the status of that game.

The PC game download sites are starting up the post-Labor Day sales a little early this week with Direct2Drive, Steam and GamersGate all holding mid-week sales:

• Direct2Drive has two titles on sale until Wednesday. CitiesXL is on sale for $19.95 while Tropico 3 Absolute Power has a price cut today to just $9.95.
• Steam has put Puzzle Quest 2 on sale from now until Thursday $13.39, which is 33 percent off its normal price.
• GamersGate has put three Electronic Arts games on sale until Wednesday. Both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space are priced at just $7.98 while Need For Speed Shift is on sale for $14.97.

Electronic Arts clearly loves the Need For Speed driving-racing game franchise. The publisher recently launched the online-only PC racing game Need For Speed World and in November developer Criterion Games will take the franchise back to its cop-driver roots with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Today as part of its financial press release, Electronic Arts revealed a new release schedule for its upcoming games and one of its titles due for release in the first calendar quarter of 2011 is Need For Speed Shift 2. This would be the sequel to the more racing sim-style of game that was first released for the PC in the fall of 2009. UK-based developer Slightly Mad Studios was the primary team behind the first Shift game (shown in the above screenshot) but there's no official word if it will be involved in the making of the sequel.

With the driving-themed MMO Need For Speed World scheduled for its official launch next week, the folks at Stardock have put several of the previous Need For Speed PC games from publisher Electronic Arts on sale via its Impulse PC game download service this weekend.

The most recent game in the series, Need For Speed Shift, is now on sale for just $14.99. Two more games, Need for Speed Undercover and Need For Speed ProStreet, are on sale this weekend on Impulse for just $4.99 each. Other games on sale via Impulse this weekend include Timeshift for $9.99 and Age of Booty for $4.99.

Electronic Arts is having a love affair with the Need For Speed franchise these days. Later this month the publisher will launch the racing MMO Need For Speed World and in November developer Criterion releases the arcade-themed open world driving game Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. But even more future projects in the franchise could be deep in development.

A LinkedIn profile for a former programmer at developer Slightly Mad Studios, Chris McClure, indicates he word on Need For Speed Shift 2 before leaving the developer earlier this year. Slightly Mad developed the first Shift game which was a more sim-like racing title that was released to solid reviews last fall. Another LinkedIn profile from writer Rees Savidis stated he "helped to develop the fiction and characters for the 2011 instalment in the AAA "Need For Speed" franchise." It's unknown of this is for Shift 2 or yet another future game in the Need For Speed series.

[Via superannuation]

Thursday must be a day for gearheads at Steam. The PC game download service continues its EA week of sales with a trio of racing games that have had their prices cut for today only. From now until 1 pm Eastern time on Friday you can get two of the Need For Speed titles plus a Burnout game at low prices.

The most recent game, Need For Speed Shift, gets a 25 percent price cut today to $22.49 while the previous game, Need For Speed Undercover, is on sale for 50 percent off at $4.99. Burnout Paradise is also on sale for 75 percent off at $7.49.

On the evening of March 26th, NVIDIA's GeForce General Manager Drew Henry officially announced the launch of the cutting edge GeForce GTX 470 and 480 video cards in front of packed crowd at PAX East in Boston. The 400 series ushers in the next generation of PC gaming as the company's most powerful graphics cards to date. The GPU includes 3 billion transistors, which equals four Intel Quad Core i7 processors, which gives a clear indication of the kind of might this card packs. What it comes down to for gamers is a chance, in Drew Henry's words, to "blow some sh#t up." When summed up, gamers can expect the GTX 480 to double the performance output of the GTX 285, NVIDIA's previous top-of-the line GPU, for many games. According to the chart shown at the presentation, there will be at least a 50% boost in performance for most games, including recent ones like Battlefield Bad Company 2. In any case, players will be free to dial up to detail levels to their most extreme levels without worrying about a single particle effect or lighting and shadow feature to hinder performance. In addition to blowing stuff up, the 400 series motto invites you to "Crank that sh#t up!"