need-for-speed-world posts

Another day, another revelation from Valve that its Team Fortress 2 in-game store can really generate a lot of money.

• Steam has new automatic updates for Painkiller Resurrection and a small update for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
• Valve's Doug Lombardi says, "We are not done with Gordon Freeman's adventures". We certainly hope not.
• A new gameplay mode has been added to the racing MMO Need For Speed World.
• (Not) Shocking news 1: Treyarch is hiring people to work on Call of Duty games.
• (Not) Shocking news 2: The next Call of Duty game could be officially revealed in April.
• AMD has released new versions of its Radeon Catalyst graphics card drivers.

While PC owners of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit may not be getting the full post-release game experience, there's always the free-to-play online racing game Need For Speed World that was first launched last July. Today Electronic Arts announced that the game has sign up over 3 million users since its launch.

The game has also received constant updates with new cars and content since its launch. This week the game added a new feature: night racing. Players now have the option to switch the game's enviroments to look like they are driving at midnight. The game also added a new Porsche 911 car in the game's store with a cool "snowflake" paint design.

It makes sense for there to be some kind of crossover between Electronic Arts' many different Need For Speed games. The release this past week of the latest game in the driving series, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit is an example of that. If you bought the Criterion Games-developed title and if you use the same EA Online account for that game that you used in Need For Speed Shift., Criterion's last game Burnount Paradise and Need For Speed World, you can get 500 extra Bounty Points from each game to use in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit.

That's not all. Owners of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit can also get a free 3-day rental in Need For Speed World of a cop-themed Audi R8 (shown above). The deal also incldues some exclusive cop vinyls that can placed on any car in your Need For Speed World virtual garage.

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit may be coming out next week but Electronic Arts' persistent racing game Need For Speed World is also getting a major new feature update at the same time. The game's official web site has announced a major feature update that will go live on Tuesday that it's calling Version 5.

This update adds what EA is calling Performance Customization to the game. Part of the update is a new tuning system that will let players increase or decrease their car's speed by adding parts in six categories (engine, forced induction, transmission, suspension, brakes and tires). The game's official web site has more info on how this update will work.

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.

Last July Electronic Arts launched Need For Speed World, the persistant online-online racing game. At the time players were able to play the game for free up to the game's 10th level but had to pay $20 to gain access to the rest of the game's content. Today EA revealed that the free level cap has been lifted. That means "anyone will be able to race all the way through to Level 50 and will have full access to the entire World, all Events and Game Modes, both present and future."

People who purchased the Starter Pack before today will be getting an extra bonus in the form of free seven-day in-game rentals to three cars (BMW M3 GTR, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and the Audi R8 4.2 FSI Quattro). More content will be added to Need For Speed World in the coming weeks including new cars, a new co-op pursuit mode and more. EA also announced today that over 1 million players have registered to play Need For Speed Online.

It was a fairly slow day for news aside from the surprise Torchlight II announcement. But as we have hinted before it's the calm before the storm begins.

• If you live in Canada you can order a pizza from Pizza Hut and get a chance to win Need For Speed World starter packs.
• More rumors of a new Syndicate game hit the nets. EA should just announce this game already.
• The Mac version of Gratuitous Space Battles is now available.
• Power of Defense is now on Steam for 10 percent off.
• A new Steam patch for Disciples III is now available.
• Impulse has Victoria: Complete on sale for 50 percent off until August 12, the release date of the sequel Victoria 2.

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.

Once again the summer doldrums continue to hit the PC game release calendar. A new driving themed MMO game gets its official launch this week. Also a surprise free game is due for its release later today from one of the biggest PC game developers.

Need For Speed World: Electronic Arts makes its second attempt to make a driving themed MMO game world (remember Motor City Online?) with this title. Players can race online using an array of super fast licenced sports cars. While the game is free to play up to a point, players will have to pay for a $19.99 starter pack to be able to race through all of the game's tracks and levels. Buying the starter pack gets you in the game starting on July 20. Everybody else gets to play on July 27.

While Electronic Arts preps for the official launch of its racing-themed MMO Need for Speed World next week (July 20 to be exact) it is giving folks one final chance to play the game online before it goes live. From now until 8 pm Eastern time on Wednesday EA is hold its final stress test for the game.

People will be able to rent any car they want from level 1 during the stress test period and EA is also giving players an extra 8000 in SpeedBoost. There are also some in-game races planned with the winners getting a pre-release starter pack for the final version of the game. You can still get the pre-release starter pack from several retailers or directly from EA for $19.99,