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| NFS U: THX certified |
Saturday, 04.10.2003 |
 Recently THX Ltd. announced the creation of a new sound and visual certification standard for videogame development environments. Electronic Arts is the first company to develop and publish THX Certified Games using these standards. The first games will be 'SSX 3', 'The Lord of The Rings', 'The Return of The King', 'Medal of Honor Rising Sun', 'Need For Speed Underground' and 'James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing'.
"With sound and image quality becoming such critical elements to the success of video game titles, the environments that games are created in must be built to the highest possible technical standards," said Joseph Vogel, vice president of business development at THX. "THX performance standards provide the optimal environment for sound recording, mixing and image texturizing. They ensure that the vision of EA’s art directors, visual artists and audio mixers is captured and faithfully delivered to consumers and gaming enthusiasts."
THX was established in 1983 by George Lucas to ensure that the entertainment consumer experienced films as the director intended. Since then, THX has played an integral role in the evolution of audio and video standards, defining optimal performance for the world's premiere hardware manufacturers and recording and presentation venue designers. Today, THX Certification assures the finest sound and picture quality for cinemas, mixing studios, home theatres, DVDs, multimedia products, and luxury automotive vehicles. Until last year THX was a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., but it has been spun off as an independent company on June 2002.
 THX Ltd.
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| Info: EA Trax |
Friday, 13.06.2003 |
 EA Trax is a partnership between Electronic Arts and major music labels. With EA Trax they want to support the artists and the game. The artists get a wider audience and the games a good music. Also the upcoming Need for Speed Underground will feature music from this initiative.
Coming off its successful inaugural year, EA™ TRAX is a series of promotional partnerships between EA and major music labels that represents a breakthrough for people who love games and music. Launched in August 2002 with Madden NFL™ 2003, EA TRAX allows gamers to hear songs from new and established artists specifically picked for each game. Labels will also use the games to launch hot new acts and develop audiences for emerging artists. Thus far, EA TRAX can claim the first-ever RIAA certified platinum videogame soundtrack and the most successful videogame soundtrack of all time soundtrack for NBA LIVE 2003, that featured songs by Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, and Just Blaze to name a few, among its early successes.
Record labels partner with EA because they understand videogames are a powerful channel for exposing new music to a large core of young opinion leaders. Record companies also realize the valuable demographics of gaming; its “cool” factor; the buzz and the size of the interactive entertainment industry have put videogames at the center of mainstream entertainment. Hence, they allow EA to have early access to cutting edge music for their games, thus giving artists a new interactive platform for debuting new music. Some of the artists EA TRAX helped break are Good Charlotte, Queens of the Stone Age, Fabolous and Nappy Roots, to name a few.
Artists are definitely feeling the impact of having their songs be part of EA TRAX. Good Charlotte’s Kevin Mitchell recalls comments he got last fall when Madden NFL 2003 was first launched, “At first, when people asked me what band I was in, I’d say ‘Good Charlotte’, and they'd say, ‘Oh, from Madden.’"
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| NFS 7: Short Preview at IGN |
Sunday, 11.05.2003 |
 The onlinemagazine IGN wrote a short preview about Need for Speed Underground, which is based moreless on the fact sheet, which EA release some days ago. On the other hand it is quite interesting to read:
It had to happen -- EA has seen the light and seen what kind of numbers import-tuning racers can come up with. The Gran Turismo series is one such example and we don't need to mention anything else. The next Need for Speed won't be a trip through exotica, we know this so far, but instead it'll be an illegal street racing romp with some of the best rides around. That's something we really like the sound of.
NFS 7 Preview @ IGN
NFS 7: Screenshots
NFS 7: Fact Sheet
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| NFS 6: Martinshorn |
Saturday, 16.11.2002 |
 Who already downloaded some cars for Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 from our cars section, may be interested in this small hack Jey Bee created. With this small file the normal american police siren will be replaced by the german "Martinshorn".
Only drawback: "Because the american siren is a 2 channel sound, I had to do the Martinshorn also 2-channel, so that it changes in the game (normal and fast) *sorry*"
NFS 6: Hacks
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| NFS 7: Will there be NFS 7? |
Wednesday, 13.11.2002 |
The last week Cadillac, the EA represantative posted shortly after the patch announcement a post where he talks about NFS 7, the history of Onlinegaming and why games are developed more on consoles, although pc games will never go away:
"Initial reports indicate the sales of this title are pretty good overseas in areas like Austrailia and Europe (no surprise). In addition, there is a warm reception in Far East territories like Korea and especially Japan.
Will sales figures meet expectation? Hard to say? Will it meet the standard set by High Stakes or Porsche Unleashed (both platinum sellers to date)? One can only guess. Depending on how well HP2 does through the holiday season will drive how much additional energies will be placed in it. I certainly don't want to raise expectations but these are the factors that are considered in this business and further development with it. This was certainly the case with HS and PU.
I've been told that the NFS franchise is still alive and well. In fact, NFS VII (7) is in the late stages of design now. It occurred to me earlier that it's become confusing trying to associate names of the NFS games with numbers so let's set the record right here. I'm sure those of you who have followed the series will know more of the titles than I so this open to correction:
NFS - The Original - 1
NFS II - 2
NFS Hot Pursuit - 3
NFS: High Stakes - 4
NFS: Poresche Unleashed - 5
NFS: Hot Pursuit II - 6
NFS: ~insert title here~ - 7
I think I've leaked the title names in the past but as I've also mentioned in the past, these things (especially at this stage) are highly subject to change. We'll have to see what materializes.
Without soundling like I am babbling too much it appears to me that the interests of the franchise and what made it become so popular a property to us (EA) in the past has once again started to drive (pun intended) the direction of the game. Allow me to elaborate:
HS was the first client-server multiplayer effort within the racing titles at EA. Many, many lessons were learned about producing the online portion of HS and eventually PU. It ended up being a pretty engaging entertainment option for racing online. That's when I started. Using was was learned in NFS 4 and 5, MCO was conceived. Since it was not clear that an online, persisent racing title would work, it was NOT inlcuded in the NFS franchise and did not get the name altough the ties are undeniable. The studios that produced NFS 4 and 5 learned that producing and maintaining a PSW (Persistent State World) racing game was difficult and expensive.
Enter an increasing popularity in consoles.
As a distributor and successful producer of console games, we (EA) had to give homage to this platform. Margins in the market are high. The level of flawlessness expected from a finished product are much higher than PC but once achieved, the rest is relative gravy. A convenient multiplayer option for PC when you try to to incorporate the same console theories is not client-server, but matchmaker service (a la GameSpy).
So here we are today. What's next? Well... you may already see that writing on the wall - PS2 (PS3, 4, etc?), X-Box, Game Cube, etc. ONLINE. The network adaptors are already out for these. PC gaming will never go away however.
I am sure EA will be there. I will be..."
Thread @ Needforbetterspeed.net
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| NFS 6: Gamespot Review (PC) |
Wednesday, 23.10.2002 |
The onlinemagazine Gamespot wrote a review about the pc version of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (released on October 30th).
Compared with the ps2 cousin the PC version is not that good. The handling of the cars has been criticized, which should be only "arcade-like", and it should be better in the ps2 version. Also the graphics of the cars and the engine sounds turned out to be lower quality than the on the PS2. On the other hand the music has been praised very much...no wonder with interprets from Bush to Uncle Kracker.
It's not as good as the PS2 version, but Hot Pursuit II certainly isn't a bad game.
It's somewhat disappointing and certainly confusing to see such a stark difference between Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit II for the PC and the PlayStation 2. The latter game is easily one of the best games in the series, whereas the sluggish controls, floaty cars, and average graphics of the former game make it simply passable. To be clear, Hot Pursuit II for the PC is still a good game with very competent execution of its general gameplay mechanics. In fact, with 66 different missions, a multiplayer mode that features the infamous Need for Speed "pack," and a good selection of licensed cars, Hot Pursuit II is a worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in an arcade-style racing game. It's not nearly as impressive as the PlayStation 2 game, but it does mark the return of the Need for Speed series on the PC after a three-year absence, which has to count for something.
(Thanks to our affiliate NFSUnlimited)
Gamespot Review
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| NFS 6: 4 new Movies |
Thursday, 05.09.2002 |
 IGN and our affiliate ND4SPDWorld have released two movies each.
Those from IGN were made at the ECTS in London, and honestly they are not very good, because you can only see a blurred movie with a strange sound.
ND4SPDWorld whereas could test the early Alpha-Version of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2, and in both two big movies you can see the Hot Pursuit Mode and the new mode "Be the Cop"!
NFS 6: Movies<br>
ND4SPDWorld (Source)
IGN.com (Source)
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| 1 new Addon-Car |
Wednesday, 05.09.2001 |
 Because of not enough time today there's just 1 new Addon-Car: The Porsche GT3 Targa 4WD! With its removed car-windows and slightly sounded windows it gets an elegant sportive look.
Download the car in the
 Cars-Section |
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| New Car |
Thursday, 01.02.2001 |
 Now we have a new car: The Porsche 959 TRoof! It was on my harddisk for a long time, and after some time I forgot it. ;-) But the author Kuddel uploaded it through our Upload-Scriptagain, and here it is!
This car has got many new details: blue lights, sounded windows, a transparent roof, new performance, new wheels and louvers, and an installation-program. A great car!
Cars-Section |
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