Yet another NFSU2 related Interview.

This time it is from 1UP. They asked Chuck Osieja questions about EA's upcoming blockbuster, Need For Speed Underground. Read it [url=http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1614328,00.asp]here[/url]
Some of the juicy bits I picked out were:

[quote]1UP: Do you plan to expand the precision and variety of the customization system in Underground 2? In the first game, developing your car is mostly linear -- you gain reputation, you buy each level of upgrade, but you don't develop individual performance as much as individual appearance. So do you want to add more detail in that area, or do you want to avoid making the nuts and bolts of customization too complex?

Osieja: No, definitely. In the focus testing we did after Underground 1, that was the second most popular bit of feedback. That ranked number two behind interest in an open world. People wanted to be able to performance-tune their car -- they loved all the visual customization, but they felt like there wasn't enough ability to get under the hood.

What's interesting about that is that, I think when we developed Underground 1, we expected it to appeal to a more casual racing fan, an arcade racing fan as opposed to a simulation racing fan. What we found is that I think we hit a nerve with gamers, we found something that everyone wanted to do, they were excited about the experience.

The guys that are gearheads wanted more, though, they wanted to get in there and tune the nuts and bolts. Now, that's not me, personally, so we haven't taken out the simplicity for those who want it. We still have kits and packages for performance. But you can also buy individual parts, and besides buying individual parts, you can go in there and tune the settings and level of performance on those parts. And then you can save those out as presets. So if I want to build a Miata, for example, that's a great drift car, I can build that and save it as a preset. And then when I go into a drag race, I can have a different setup for that car and have a whole different set of performance enhancements for that particular race style.

Not only can you have multiple cars in Underground 2, you can do as much or as little tuning as you want to the car. It's really robust, it's really deep, and there are more than 20 different areas of the car that you can change performance characteristics in. Another thing we do this year that we didn't do last year is that if you put on a visual modification that would affect your performance in the real world, it'll have an effect on performance now. So if you put a spoiler on your car, you'll be able to tune the spoiler angle and gain additional downforce
[/quote]

What? did i hear correctly? did Chuck just say there would be Performance Enhancing Visual Mods?


[quote]1UP: Are you looking at compatibility between the online mode in the different versions, PS2, Xbox, and PC?

Osieja: Definitely not on Xbox. We're currently deciding whether we want to do cross-platform multiplayer between PS2 and PC again. For us, it was neat that we were the first game to do it, we got pretty good feedback, but there's always issues with cheating and modification in the PC version.

Our biggest thing this year, though, is that we're going on Xbox Live. Every review I see, every negative thing I saw, usually tied into the fact that there was no Xbox Live. I mean, I don't make that decision, so it's nice that we could come to an agreement with them. And anything extra we develop for Xbox Live will be available on the PS2 and PC as well, so we've got some technologies we've built that will go across all three version.

Another online feature, which we haven't been talking about much yet, is that we will do LAN play for PC, which we didn't do last year. The European territories really clamored for that -- in Germany, they really love the LAN play. And you'll be able to play any of the modes, including the new modes, online as well as offline. What we're most excited about is being able to get online together and play in this open world -- explore the world, get in Outrun races, set up tracks, have the ability to race in this large environment online.[/quote]

Uh oh. Looks like EA is might do that PC vs PS2 online thing But the good side is that LAN will now be enabled and Free Roam online is there.

[quote]1UP: You mentioned the addition of audio upgrades in the sequel -- is that mainly just cosmetic, or is that going to actually open new audio options for the player?

Osieja: It's actually tied to a couple of new modes of play in the game, so it's not just...well, first, it is a cosmetic thing. I mean, everything in Underground, a lot of the reason people play it is because they can build their dream car. But instead of just making it cosmetic, we want to make it feed back to gameplay. So we've designed an entire mode around the ability to have some of these cool upgrades, including audio and some others we're announcing pretty soon. It's not just fluff.

When we designed Underground, and when we designed Underground 2, we wanted to make sure that when you add customizations, it always plays back into the gameplay experience. So there's always a reason to do it, some way it helps you to get through the game.

See, when we did the first Hot Pursuit, we put cops in. That's an entire mode that the game's built around -- cops are not just an afterthought, something we threw in there, we spent a lot of time developing the AI and planning how they're going to react to you, and even more so in Hot Pursuit 2. What we found is that after we shipped, all the competition started throwing in cops, and guess what? It doesn't mean anything.

It's the same with performance tuning, and visual tuning. Now that Underground 1 has shipped, a lot of our competitors are coming out and saying "billions of combinations, trillions of combinations" of stuff you can do to you car, but the question is how that pays off in gameplay terms. What we take very seriously, and it's the reason we don't have cops in Underground -- I mean, people always ask us why we don't have cops in Underground -- is that it's an entire game unto itself if you want to make it really good. It's the same with customization. To have it in the game is one thing, but to have it in the game where it makes a difference and feeds back into the experience is a whole different issue.[/quote]

Yes we all no that theres no cops and this is EA's pitiful excuse on why there isnt any cops. But they mentioned a mode where all the audio upgrades and other "Rice" mods u have bought become part of the actual gameplay. Hmmmm....Maybe theres a show off mode?

Nfsunlimited News Reporter
~Mike

[size=75]Source: [url=http://1up.com]1UP[/url][/size]