NFSUnlimited.net

There are four routes I see open...

IF YOU GIVE US ANOTHER CUSTOMIZATION GAME...

1. GIVE US OPTIONS! Give us more than ever. Neon, head/tail lights, chop top, maybe even Buick fender vents! Give us total customization, but leave the reputation/visual rating meter on the shelf, thank you very much.

2. GIVE US A BIG, BIG CITY! Bigger than we could ever imagine. Maybe even a huge environment containing large cities and smaller towns, as well as some twistier country roads.

3. GIVE US SOME BETTER CARS! There are six cars I want to see in another car customization game. They are the '32 Ford coupe ("deuce coupe"), the '57 Chevrolet Bel Air, the '69 Chevrolet Nova SS396, the '93 Ford Mustang Cobra, the '95 Toyota MR2 Turbo, and the '04 Acura NSX (I almost think the early '90s version looks better properly modded though). They've put so many legends into these games, but have always those out (with the exception of the MR2, which looks best with the CF Altezza lights that aren't in Carbon).

IF YOU GIVE US AN OLD SCHOOL GAME...

1. CUT OUT THE AVERAGE JOE CARS! I mean, come on. A Civic CX? In an old school NFS, if it can't go from 0 to 60 MPH in LESS THAN eight seconds flat, forget it.

2. MAKE THE TRACKS INTERESTING! Give us some longer, twistier courses than ever before, in new places like Italy (which was admittedly featured once before with Raceway in HS).

3. MAKE THE COPS COOLER! Cop chases should be MW-style. There were things that made them less than enjoyable in pre-MW games.

4. ASIDE FROM THAT, USE HP2'S GRAPHICS AND PHYSICS MODEL! Those were almost perfect - one of the only problems with HP2's graphics was that they were a bit shadowy in places, especially on the car select screen.


IF YOU GIVE US A RALLY RACING GAME...

Bet you never thought about a rally game in the main NFS lineup.

1. GIVE US SELECTION! While the Evo and STi are naturals for a game like this, give us a Jeep Wrangler and a mid 70's Chevy pickup too.

2. GIVE US GOOD TRACKS! I know of a couple decent tracks for a game like this, and they're both within 100 miles of my home. They're called Burma Road and Hatcher's Pass.

IF YOU GIVE US A HARDCORE OFFROAD GAME...

I bet you REALLY never thought of this. I really don't have many suggestions on this one.

I agree on the big city thing and better cars.

They should make a city that's bigger than Los Angeles from MC:LA. And I'd LOVE to see a vehicle similar to the 2006 Lamborghini Miura concept.

HP2's physics and graphics = epic FAIL, especially the physics. UG2's were the best of any recent NFS game (or any at all), although the quality of the rest of the game is more debatable. ProStreet's graphics were the best when they didn't cause uber-FPS-issues.

Actually, HP2's graphics were far more detailed than those of other NFS games, and the physics are semi-realistic with trying awkwardly to blend arcade and simulation like ProStreet does. ProStreets next gen graphics are sweet but on the PS2 they give up a lot to HP2.

I don't need a big city, instead I demand more landscape variety. Pre-UG1 was all about exotic places: desert, tropical beach, snowy mountains, caves...

Another serious issue is AI rivals. They should be way faster, smarter and more aggressive than usual. Cops are, so why can't racers? And if you crash them, they should lose control and spin as cops and traffic cars do.

Well, the big city thing would be fun. I have several cool ideas based on High Stakes tracks

Lucky 13 wrote:ProStreets next gen graphics are sweet but on the PS2 they give up a lot to HP2.

Well, duh. You're using an outdated console. You can't expect games developed for newer technologies to look the same on older consoles. Just the fact that you're even getting the game on console should be enough for you.

And, as far as the original post goes, here are my thoughts (which I've expressed before).

1. Regardless of what EA does, I think more than 3 years between games is necessary. At least one year should be allowed to elapse before EA even starts planning another NFS game so that the market reaction to the last game can be gauged and incorporated into the next game. Currently, it feels like EA has worked responses from previos games into new games as an afterthought. That needs to stop if EA is going to satisfy its customers.

2. Options are a good thing. But to me, that should not be the focus of an NFS game. This is why I think EA is on the right track with splitting the NFS franchise into 3 different games targeted towards 3 different fanbases: sim, tuner, and w/e the other one is. There's no satisfying everyone, so 3 different games seems like a good idea.

3. Big cities mean more coding. They also mean more variety. You try putting those two things together and make a game's installation and memory footprint smaller. I think I'd prefer a better designed smaller city over a badly designed big city.

Smaller city = game gets boring faster. Also, I don't consider the PS2 that "outdated", especially since not everyone has $200+ to spend on a new console (especially PS3s that cost $500 >_<)

The technology on the PS2 is outdated, whether you want to accept it or not. Yeah, I agree the PS3 is expensive, but the XBox360 isn't that much. Besides, you're living in denial if you seriously think that games made for PS3 hardware will look anything remotely same on their PS2 ports.

Lucky 13 wrote:Smaller city = game gets boring faster. Also, I don't consider the PS2 that "outdated", especially since not everyone has $200+ to spend on a new console (especially PS3s that cost $500 >_<)

Technology is changing man (or should I say moved on).. You don't expect us to use Pentium 3 until today, do you?

Once the price of a *NEW* PS3 drops below $200, then they can start short-shafting the PS2. Also, according to me the PS2 NFS graphics ranking is as follows:

1: HP2
2: UG2
3: MW
4: UG
5: C
6: PS

So they've been going downhill overall. A lot of the decline happened before most people knew Sony was working on the PS3. EA is just getting lazy, at least to some degree.

Man you should be glad people still make games for it.
They quit making games for the original xbox soon after then 360 came out, if I am not mistaken MW was the last game on the xbox which was also the first NFS game on the 360.

The PS2 version of HP2 was the best version of HP2 in general, it was way better then the PC version and other consoles.
That was because it was build by a completely different team.

But with newer games you simply CAN'T expect to get the same level of detail and size of the world as you do with a PS3 or 360.
If the PS2 version was just as good as the PS3... why would anyone buy a PS3... for it's ability to play blue-ray? I don't think so.

If you are waiting for the PS3 to drop below 200... you can now start saving $5 a month and maybe if you reach 200 the PS3 will be $200 and the PS4 will be out soon.

The PS4 is a big matter of debate.

(BTW, the last Xbox Classic game was Madden NFL 09 released in August 2008)

Most people think it'll be out by 2011 or 2012. (so do I, the latter)

However I think Sony had this plan to skip a generation by giving the PS3 a lifespan of 10 years. If so, we won't be expecting anything new until 2016 or 2017...

I myself have a PS2 and I don't plan on getting a next-gen console anytime soon. (for reasons I will not state)

Other than that, I have a PC, of course. The PS2, however is the most-played and best selling console of all time. (the Xbox Classic also being more played than the PS3)

The PS2 is, however slowly dying. With the seventh generation overshadowing all previous ones and all the hype surrounding the 8th gen., obviously. CoD: WaW sucked on the PS2. I didn't expect it to be THAT good, but not THAT bad either.

The only series that still lives on for the PS2 is Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero: Metallica, Tomb Raider Underworld and Ghostbusters: The Video Game are the last decent games that are going to come out for PS2 this year. By 2010, the PS2 might suddenly die out completely.

God of War II is its swansong, it seems. Back on the Xbox, Microsoft really rushed with the 360. The Xbox had gained popularity especially because of Xbox Live. But when the 360 was released in November 2005, it was buggy but then again completely overshadowed the Xbox Classic.

And this ends my post...

Well fine, you guys all have high income, I do not. I know there's more price cut room in the PS3's price, Sony is being greedy. Although, I may just sang one from a friend if I can get him a DVD player. He only bought his PS3 for movies.

Why would he want a PS3 to watch movies? I'd be better off watching movies on my PC.

As for price range, the Xbox 360 Pro seems to the best console if you want a lower price. If you're a hardcore gamer though, you'd probably get a PS3... or a 360 Elite.

In general (thanks to poll data based on consumer reports), People buy PS3s for bluray and they buy 360s for gaming.

I dont blame them. The choice and selection is much fewer for the PS3, not to mention the graphics look similar now.

I have really got to come up with that DVD player now. It just might work...

If you haven't got one yet then you should really wait for the next gen of consoles IMO because the graphics of the 7th gen (wii,x360 and PS3) are really falling behind PC gaming.

ha ha ha n00btard

please work out how to do the graphics well across all consoles, i mean ign or something gave undercover on ps3 a slighty lower score than the 360 version for slightly worse graphics. And on wii the graphics were just embarrising - to me it looked worse than the ps2 graphics and comparable to that of NFS porsche unleashed.

Agree with the bigger city, trash the average cars! Its a game, I want to race cars I cant in real life!
And yeah, it needs lot and lots and lots of options, I want performance tuning decent, but MASSIVE optical tuning, carbon and all. Say carbon, with parts of U1 & 2 and better autosculpt!
I want awesome graphics, awesome physics and maybe even hollywood style explosions when I crash(Okay, explosions might be a bit over the top, but nonetheless I want to be impressed when ramming a wall @ 300Km/h!)
I want police helis and INTELLIGENT cops.

I want the impossible

EA need to do what they did with Shift. Over and over again. Forget about the rubbish custom culture, they need to develop more games that are more realistic. Candy paint? Who are you kidding?

just that if the game is going to be tuner culture thingy, then either exclude the exotics or remove tuning functions for them other than color change...
because if they dont do that then it will end up like always: exotics are:
best in the game.
people dont know how to tune them=baww
and it makes online pointless because you just see that damn lamborghini/audi/whatever all the time...

ElvenAvenger wrote:just that if the game is going to be tuner culture thingy, then either exclude the exotics or remove tuning functions for them other than color change...
because if they dont do that then it will end up like always: exotics are:
best in the game.
people dont know how to tune them=baww
and it makes online pointless because you just see that damn lamborghini/audi/whatever all the time...

I agree. No point in having something overpowered become impossible to catch.

On the hand of online, though, it was like that with:

Underground 1:
Everyone only used either a Mitsubishi Lancer ES, a Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec, or a Mazda RX-7 Type RS. Everything else was smut.

Underground 2:
Nissan 180SX for Drags, Volkswagen Golf GTi (a front-wheel hatch of all things) for drift, and whatever for circuits, Street X, and URLs (which is a rarity). Again, f**k every other car, these are the best.

Safe to say that unless EA reforms the online system and takes out every single trainer-using n00bf**k, this crap will continue until the release of the very last Need for Speed.

i don't know about the Lancer ES being good in Underground, but from what i heard<and tested in singleplayer> RX-7 just owns nearly everything and everywhere. Skyline GT-R was overpicked by noobs(NOT ALWAYS) because it was in fast and furious 2 i think. it had great acceleration but after it reached its max speed , the RX-7 would start getting really fast.
UG2: Corolla. at beginning seemed to be worst, in the end you could tune it to be faster than every other car, and its handling allowed it to take corners at overkill speeds.
@ the online system reforming, they should:
check what is the TOP SPEED possible in the game, with fastest car, and if there is speedbreaker, CHECK if there is a glitch to increase max speed with this, and every other things, downhill, or whatever, and then disconnect anyone who gets over that speed.(would require EA to have a good testing team, which is , again, impossible.) and do the same to every possible thing they could cheat. game progress VS amount of cars /parts unlocked, car currently using, ETC. this is the only way. that way we wont get tards with speed trainers, infinite nos trainers, unlockers, whatever else destroying the online experience for those who play honestly.

Better yet, have a tuning system like Gran Turismo (excluding the racing tires) and reform the online system. It may not guarantee anything, but it's worth a try.