Need For Speed reaches 100 million units sold mark

Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed franchise has surpassed 100 million units sold life to date, according to its own internal sales figures. The newest release, Need for Speed SHIFT, managed to push the franchise over that mark, making it the best-selling racing brand in the world, says EA. EA says that, life-to-date, the Need for Speed series has generated over $2.7 billion in sales as well.

Since its launch in 1994 on the PlayStation, there have been 15 Need for Speed titles released across more than 14 platforms in over 60 countries around the world. The game franchise has been released in 22 languages and players have generated over 17 trillion user-generated vehicle customizations and raced 79 billion miles of virtual roads and race tracks.

This year there are three titles being launched under the Need for Speed franchise: Need for Speed SHIFT (available now), Need for Speed NITRO, and Need for Speed World Online .

Need for Speed NITRO gold

Electronic Arts announced that Need for Speed NITRO has gone gold and will be in stores early, arriving to retailers on November 3rd in North America and on November 6th in Europe. Developed specifically for the Wii and Nintendo DS, Need for Speed NITRO brings arcade racing to Nintendo’s platforms. Besides a NFS branded arcade racing experience for Nintendo platform owners, the game features a soundtrack with such artists as k-os, Placebo and Crystal Method.

EA says that NFS NITRO give high-speed racing to all types of gamers with unique gameplay, accessible controls, and competitive multiplayer events. We’ll soon see whether or not this Nintendo exclusive NFS is the real deal or just a throw-away product to cash in on the Wii and DS’ success.

Need for Speed SHIFT demo Oct. 1

Electronic Arts announced that the demo for Need for Speed SHIFT will be available for download on October 1 on PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE. The demo gives players a chance to see how SHIFT delivers on the Need for Speed promise of speed, adrenaline and precision racing. The demo will feature
the BMW M3 (E46), 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10, 2006 Lotus Elise 111R, 2008 Nissan GT-R and the 2006 Pagani Zonda F (unlockable).

find out more and download the PC demo by visiting www.needforspeed.com.

Need for Speed SHIFT is at retail for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP, mobile and coming soon on the iPhone.

Hot tracks for Need for Speed SHIFT

Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed SHIFT hits retail stores in North America on September 15 (in stores across Europe on September 17, 2009) and when it does it will feature a soundtrack filled with hip hop and rock artists including Kanye West, The Prodigy, Kasabian, and MSTRKRFT. EA says that each song was hand selected to provide a pounding score that matches the intensity and bone-crushing power of this year’s Need for Speed. While that certainly is hyperbole, there are a decent selection of tunes in the game made possible with the help of EA Trax, which handles EA’s music licensing deals.

The complete soundtrack is listed below by author and song. To hear samplings of each song, visit www.ea.com/eatrax.

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Need for Speed SHIFT driver profile details

Electronic Arts revealed first details on the new driver profile system in Need for Speed SHIFT. Extending through the single player career and online multiplayer modes, driver profile gives each player a unique game experience based on the way each player drives on the track.

Driver profile is a tailor-made career mode based on four key game play components: personality (driving style dictates whether you are and aggressive or precise driver), success (whether you finish races and land at the top of the pile at the finish line), profile points (earned for just about every maneuver you perform on the track) and badges (icons that represent various in-game achievements). As a player’s driver profile develops through the course of the game, it creates rivalries, triggers specific challenges and unlocks vehicles and customization options.

During this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, EA invited attendees to participate in a Need for Speed SHIFT Hero Car Competition that showcased the driver profile. Competitors raced around the Autopolis track in the BMW M3 GT2 hero car generating the highest number of driver profile points. The winner of the Need for Speed SHIFT Hero Car Competition, Mitchell Francis, from Los Angeles won a brand new 2009 BMW M3 Coupe.

EA is making a big deal about driver profiles, but is it a gimmick or will it truly impact the overall gameplay? We’ll have to wait and see.

Need for Speed SHIFT is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios in collaboration with Black Box and Patrick Soderlund. Slightly Mad Studios includes developers and designers that worked on GT Legends and GTR 2. The PSP version is being developed by EA’s Bright Light studio.

The game is scheduled to ship in Europe on September 17 and in North America on September 22 on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PSP.

Need For Speed - The Event

Today at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Electronic Arts announced Need for Speed Live, a festival and competition that celebrates car culture - and of course, EA’s popular racing franchise. This first-time event will be open to the public and will be hosted next summer at the Brands Hatch Circuit located near London, England. The weekend-long experience will be showcase of entertainment, videogames, music, car shows and displays designed to appeal to fans of racing games, fans of exotic cars and motorsports enthusiasts.

Need for Speed Live will invite the world’s top drifters and time attack cars from across Europe, North America and Japan to gather in one location to compete in a battle of the continents. Need for Speed Live will also include demonstrations by some of the world’s most famous race and exotic cars in a manufacturer time attack exhibition.

More Need For Speed Undercover Details

EA’s Black Box studio revealed new details about the latest action racing game in the Need For Speed series, Need for Speed Undercover. Need for Speed Undercover will let players race through speedways, dodge cops and chase down rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an International crime syndicate - in other words, the latest game finally returns to its roots. The new game brings back the series’ trademark police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ - a technology that generates racing moves at 180 miles per hour during highway battles.

Other promised features include an open-world environment featuring over 80 miles of roads, an enormous highway system where combat driving will unfold, high-speeds, high-stakes chase sequences, a new A.I. mechanic that will provide realistic and high-energy action driving, aggressive and intelligent cops whose sole purpose is to take down the player quickly, deep car customization, real-world damage and realistic driving physics, and some of the hottest licensed cars on the market including the Audi R8, BMW M6 and Lexus IS-F.

Need for Speed Undercover is being developed by Black Box in Vancouver, B.C., and will be in stores in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21. The game will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PlayStation 2, DS, PSP, PC and mobile.