NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT

Acum vă puteţi face o idee despre cum va arăta jocul Need for Speed Shift . Primul teaser/trailer a fost lansat şi oferă deja o senzaţie de deja-vu celor care au jucat GRID. Diferenţe există însă şi nu cred ca putem vorbi de pe-acum de o clonă a jocului lansat în vara anului trecut. Odată cu apariţia primului trailer aflăm şi data de lansare pentru NFS Shift, aceasta fiind 17 septembrie pentru Europa. Americanii vor primi jocul cinci zile mai târziu.Au apărut primele imagini din NFS Shift , următorul titlul din seria Need for Speed de la Electronic Arts. Aşa cum anunţam la începutul anului, jocul se va axa pe realism şi, după o absenţă îndelungată, revine perspectiva de condus din interiorul maşinii. Din mai multe puncte de vedere, Shift o ia pe urmele lui NFS ProStreet, jucătorii fiind implicaţi în curse pe circuit închis.

În imaginile de mai jos puteţi admira Audi-uri RS4 şi Porsche-uri GT2 modificate în stil DTM. Pentru final a fost păstrată o Pagani Zonda F modificată pentru circuit. Pentru cei care poate şi-au pierdut încrederea în seria de jocuri NFS trebuie spus că studioul care se ocupă de Shift este Slightly Mad şi se laudă cu titluri precum GT Legends şi GTR. Vă lăsăm în compania imaginilor din NFS Shift care, nouă cel puţin, ni s-au părut promiţătoare.

After a long stint as an arcade racer, Need for Speed is heading into
simulation territory with Need for Speed: Shift. Announced in January
as part of a three-game announcement that includes Need for Speed:
Nitro and Need for Speed World Online, Shift takes a new, more
realistic approach to racing and will be going head-to-head against
seasoned pros Gran Turismo and Forza for the attention of serious
racing fans. Thankfully it looks like the franchise is in good hands, with
London-based Slightly Mad Studios (formerly Blimey Games) heading up
development duties. According to Shift's producer, Suzy Wallace,
Slightly Mad is SimBin--the team behind the high-scoring GTR FIA
Racing, GTR 2, and GT Legends games--in everything but name after most
of the original team left to form their new studio, and the team is
working closely with EA Black Box executive producer Michael Mann and
EA Games Europe senior vice president Patrick Soderlund (cofounder of
DICE) to ensure that Shift, currently in a pre-alpha build, meets the
franchise's standards.
One of the immediately obvious innovations in Shift is the way it tries
to simulate crashes; the development team is trying to re-create the
jarring, often fear-filled experience. In addition to motion blur,
you'll experience some violent camera shake--not too dissimilar to an
onboard camera during crash replays--and you'll also experience
temporary vision blur after crashes. This is accompanied by the typical
audio effects involved in a high-speed collision, but also additional
sound effects from your driver, such as a stress-induced spike in heart
rate and even a sharp gasp of breath before impact. Lots of other small
effects have gone into making Shift feel as realistic as possible,
including tunnel vision at high speeds, subtle reflections coming off
the windshield, and heat haze emitted from engines.
Shift is all about your experience as a race driver. The action
will take place on existing, licensed racetracks, on new racetracks
created for Shift, and on street circuits. There is no open-road racing
this time around, and we were promised you won't be pursued by the
police or have to take part in old-fashioned street races. Instead,
Shift will feature 15 real-world locations in addition to fictitious
tracks. We got a chance to see the Brands Hatch Race Circuit in Kent
and a new London street circuit. The Brands Hatch course looks to be a
faithful re-creation of the ex-Formula One racetrack, with a mix of
long straights, sweeping curves, sharp corners, and hairpin turns
offering variety throughout. Zipping around it with an Audi RS4 was a
great introduction.
The London circuit is even more formidable than the
purpose-built track, with the streets throwing in some particularly
tight turns, all re-created in impressive detail. The location is
instantly recognisable for anyone who has visited London. The circuit
runs through the Thames' South Bank and the Victoria Embankment to the
north, with dozens of famous landmarks flying past you, including the
London Eye, County Hall, Houses of Parliament, and the Blackfriars and
Westminster bridges. Shift has a dynamic weather condition, and this
course looked brilliant at sunset. However, there's no word on whether
you will be able to change the time of day manually or if there will be
night races.
Unlike in some simulation racers, in Shift the focus is more on
the driving experience than on amassing a sizable car collection,
although it's unconfirmed if all of the vehicles in the game will be
unlocked from the beginning. What is certain is that Shift will offer
some exotic and highly tuned models, including the Porsche 997 GT 2,
the Audi RS4, the Lotus Elise 111R, the Shelby Terlingua (a highly
modified Ford Mustang made specifically for the Need for Speed series),
the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and the Pagani Zonda F. The game will
feature more than 70 different cars in total, including hatches,
classics, and exotic imports, and while we didn't get to see all of
these, we did manage to get behind the wheel of the RS4 and the
Terlingua and found them to look, sound, and feel incredibly authentic
and true to life, complete with full race-day liveries. In fact, the
car models looked so good that we almost found ourselves wanting to
look more at the cars than at the road in front of us. In addition to
creating realistic visuals, Slightly Mad is going for realistically
performing cars, forgoing the rubber-band catch-up of arcade racers for
damage modelling, with penalties to your car's physics, performance,
and appearance should you hit too many obstacles in your way. The
environments are also promised to be realistic, with animated crowds,
race marshals, and LCD screens helping to re-create the race-day
atmosphere.












After a long stint as an arcade racer, Need for Speed is heading into
simulation territory with Need for Speed: Shift. Announced in January
as part of a three-game announcement that includes Need for Speed:
Nitro and Need for Speed World Online, Shift takes a new, more
realistic approach to racing and will be going head-to-head against
seasoned pros Gran Turismo and Forza for the attention of serious
racing fans. Thankfully it looks like the franchise is in good hands, with
London-based Slightly Mad Studios (formerly Blimey Games) heading up
development duties. According to Shift's producer, Suzy Wallace,
Slightly Mad is SimBin--the team behind the high-scoring GTR FIA
Racing, GTR 2, and GT Legends games--in everything but name after most
of the original team left to form their new studio, and the team is
working closely with EA Black Box executive producer Michael Mann and
EA Games Europe senior vice president Patrick Soderlund (cofounder of
DICE) to ensure that Shift, currently in a pre-alpha build, meets the
franchise's standards.


NFS: Shift features some immaculately detailed cars.

One of the immediately obvious innovations in Shift is the way it
tries to simulate crashes; the development team is trying to re-create
the jarring, often fear-filled experience. In addition to motion blur,
you'll experience some violent camera shake--not too dissimilar to an
onboard camera during crash replays--and you'll also experience
temporary vision blur after crashes. This is accompanied by the typical
audio effects involved in a high-speed collision, but also additional
sound effects from your driver, such as a stress-induced spike in heart
rate and even a sharp gasp of breath before impact. Lots of other small
effects have gone into making Shift feel as realistic as possible,
including tunnel vision at high speeds, subtle reflections coming off
the windshield, and heat haze emitted from engines.
Shift is all about your experience as a race driver. The action
will take place on existing, licensed racetracks, on new racetracks
created for Shift, and on street circuits. There is no open-road racing
this time around, and we were promised you won't be pursued by the
police or have to take part in old-fashioned street races. Instead,
Shift will feature 15 real-world locations in addition to fictitious
tracks. We got a chance to see the Brands Hatch Race Circuit in Kent
and a new London street circuit. The Brands Hatch course looks to be a
faithful re-creation of the ex-Formula One racetrack, with a mix of
long straights, sweeping curves, sharp corners, and hairpin turns
offering variety throughout. Zipping around it with an Audi RS4 was a
great introduction.
The London circuit is even more formidable than the
purpose-built track, with the streets throwing in some particularly
tight turns, all re-created in impressive detail. The location is
instantly recognisable for anyone who has visited London. The circuit
runs through the Thames' South Bank and the Victoria Embankment to the
north, with dozens of famous landmarks flying past you, including the
London Eye, County Hall, Houses of Parliament, and the Blackfriars and
Westminster bridges. Shift has a dynamic weather condition, and this
course looked brilliant at sunset. However, there's no word on whether
you will be able to change the time of day manually or if there will be
night races.
Unlike in some simulation racers, in Shift the focus is more on
the driving experience than on amassing a sizable car collection,
although it's unconfirmed if all of the vehicles in the game will be
unlocked from the beginning. What is certain is that Shift will offer
some exotic and highly tuned models, including the Porsche 997 GT 2,
the Audi RS4, the Lotus Elise 111R, the Shelby Terlingua (a highly
modified Ford Mustang made specifically for the Need for Speed series),
the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, and the Pagani Zonda F. The game will
feature more than 70 different cars in total, including hatches,
classics, and exotic imports, and while we didn't get to see all of
these, we did manage to get behind the wheel of the RS4 and the
Terlingua and found them to look, sound, and feel incredibly authentic
and true to life, complete with full race-day liveries. In fact, the
car models looked so good that we almost found ourselves wanting to
look more at the cars than at the road in front of us. In addition to
creating realistic visuals, Slightly Mad is going for realistically
performing cars, forgoing the rubber-band catch-up of arcade racers for
damage modelling, with penalties to your car's physics, performance,
and appearance should you hit too many obstacles in your way. The
environments are also promised to be realistic, with animated crowds,
race marshals, and LCD screens helping to re-create the race-day
atmosphere.


Over 70 vehicles will be available to drive, all with realistic damage modelling.

If you fancy an in-cockpit, first-person view, you'll be pleased to
know that the insides of the cars look as meticulous as the outsides,
with highly detailed dashboards, driver animations, and even full
working instruments.