Need For Speed Rivals - Nov. 19

[Blu Ian]

Need for Speed Rivals floors it to Xbox One, PS4 'later this year', and current-gen consoles Nov. 19

Recently renamed developer Ghost Games and the fellow racing fanatics at Criterion Games have banded together for Need for Speed Rivals: a new game that represents the franchise's first drift into the next-gen console world (which is not to be confused with the 2005 handheld spinoff).

Powered by Frostbite 3, Rivals aims to utilize the power of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to give players "the freedom to seamlessly go from single player to co-op to multiplayer" when it releases "later this year." [Update: EA has updated the Rivals press release, removing its original mention of a next-gen November launch. The story has been updated to reflect those changes.]

Need for Speed Rivals transports players to the fictitious Redview County, an open-world environment where players can take on the role as either street racer or police officer. Like Most Wanted before it, racers aim to become the most infamous person behind the wheel, while cops attempt to work together to drive the area's high-risk inhabitants off the road. Players can personalize the experience with custom license plates, paint, liveries decals and rims, and performance upgrades.

Current-generation consoles will also join the rivalry – powered by its own version of Frostbite 3 – on November 19. Though it was not mentioned in the press release announcing Need for Speed Rivals, Ghost Games executive producer Marcus Nilsson confirmed to Joystiq a PC version is also in the works. No release date for that version was revealed. Beyond ushering in another installment of the racing series, Ghost and Criterion's mission is to put Frostbite 3's next-gen ability on center stage – an engine not built from the ground up, but an enhanced iteration of DICE's previous platform.

"What's really great with the Frostbite 3 framework is that it's really scalable," Nilsson said of the engine's ability to perform on current-generation consoles. "Battlefield 3 was built on Frostbite 2, but with really high capabilities. Going to Frostbite 3, it's not like it's a brand new engine. We've been developing that engine," Nilsson adds. Noting how EA's latest internal engine of choice has become an iterative component throughout development, Nilsson added his team has "had an engine from day one to start building upon."

Utilizing an evolved engine is "very essential to having to build the high-quality games that people see," Nilsson said, because "it takes less time to use this engine, for instance, than it took to use Frostbite 1 or Frostbite 2."


When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, EA was one of its biggest supporters, offering a slew of games at and around launch. Familiar titles made the 'next-gen' jump, including Madden and FIFA – two franchises promised for the impending Xbox One and PlayStation 4 era. EA's 2005 launch offerings, however, were woefully lacking in features and instead focused on graphical fidelity. Will Rivals – across current- and next-gen platforms – offer the same, fully-featured experience?

"The simple answer to that question is no," Nilsson said. Though he wouldn't specify any content potentially removed from next-gen versions, the former DICE executive producer noted "the next-gen consoles will have different capabilities and in some aspects, a different feature-set." Other than the enhanced graphical fidelity – including new weather effects – and an increase in online player counts on next-gen platforms, no specific differences in content were revealed. Nilsson did confirm, however, that the size of the world will be the same across all platforms.

The major difference between the current- and next-gen versions of Rivals, according to Nilsson, is one of developer philosophy. "It's a mindset of how you think about how people will play these games. To me, visuals are great – absolutely – but unless you can use that power to play that game differently, then we failed." To ensure success under this philosophy, Ghost and Criterion are "pushing" a feature called AllDrive, which allows friends to enter and exit each other's worlds seamlessly and "on-the-fly."

"AllDrive is fundamentally a way for us to destroy the line between playing alone and playing with friends. Destroying the line between single-player and multiplayer," Nilsson said, before offering a use case scenario for the system. "Imagine you're playing Rivals, you're driving your car as a cop chasing someone. You're going through your progression, collecting points and then I join and we're friends, so we'll be put in the same world." Though the world is "pretty big" and each player can complete single-player tasks, they exist within the same environment and the "two experiences can merge."

If each player enters separate pursuits at different points in the world and eventually come across each other on the same road, Rivals transitions into a co-op state. "The game recognizes that now we're playing together and changes the scoring and changes the objectives for you, to acknowledge that you're now playing co-op," Nilsson adds. Depending on the amount of people you encounter or chose to play with, the game will adjust by providing new variations to play the game. "That to me is really a new mindset and where I think we wouldn't have gone to unless we started thinking along the lines of the next-generation."


Autolog's information overload approach from Most Wanted will change in Need for Speed Rivals

AllDrive, however, is not exclusive to Xbox One and PS4. "AllDrive will feature on current-gen and next-gen but there will be differences," Nilsson added, explaining the next-gen's ability to include more online players and "some ways of interacting with that game from different devices." The producer further clarified – citing the Xbox One's second-screen SmartGlass app – the team's intention to build players "different ways to interact with the game instead of just sitting in front of a TV."

Nilsson said he could not go into greater detail and could not tell us what side of the fence the game's PC version will fall on.

Criterion's social tracking system Autolog returns for Rivals, though Nilsson revealed the teams have decided to "move it back a notch," saying it was maybe taken "a little too far" by comparing too many elements in Need for Speed Most Wanted. "There's also great possibilities through Autolog to build something far bigger than what we've seen [in Most Wanted and NFS: Hot Pursuit]," the executive producer teased.

We anticipate seeing more revolving around the world of Need for Speed Rivals at E3 2013, next month.

Need for Speed Rivals Teaser Trailer (Official) - YouTube

[RaijinUT]

Please give us a real online versus mode like NFS: Hot Pursuit and the busted party system of NFS: Most Wanted.

[i007spectre]

So sweat tech was big in sports games this generation, next generation it will be sweat tech in racing games.

[Blu Lemmy]

Originally Posted by RaijinUT

Please give us a real online versus mode like NFS: Hot Pursuit and the busted party system of NFS: Most Wanted.

That would be great, I hated the online mode in NFS Most wanted so we need a return to form...

I'll pick this up on the PS4

[BlackLightShark009]

For sure i will get this on PS4! Unless it ends up being real bad of course

[Groo The Perverted]

No Criterion = No purchase when it comes to NFS games. Didn't care for any of the Shifts, and The Run was ehhh...so so

[Hayabusa85]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

No Criterion = No purchase when it comes to NFS games. Didn't care for any of the Shifts, and The Run was ehhh...so so

Ghost are a new studio D.I.C.E. started. D.I.C.E. have an impressive racing track record including arguably one of the best ever in Rallisport Challenge 2 so you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss this one.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by i007spectre

So sweat tech was big in sports games this generation, next generation it will be sweat tech in racing games.

I suppose if that's what they're using, it's fine BUT it's meant to simulate water beading after a long, gruelling and loving detailing job has been carried out with the most fantastic carnuba wax the world has to offer to make the supercars super shiny

I love how the water beading is being simulated as it's very life like

Also, if these next gen racers can match those bullshots, i'm in car heaven

[Havok83]

Ugh! Can EA please let Criterion go back to making Burnout games.

[i007spectre]

I really wish they would show off some footage of a race on a nice sunny day. All the videos I have seen are after it has rained.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by i007spectre

I really wish they would show off some footage of a race on a nice sunny day. All the videos I have seen are after it has rained.

I have yet to see a video demonstrating any graphical power resemblance to those picture above.

[RaijinUT]

New trailer that shows off some of the customization features & some gameplay that looks very Hot Pursuitish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0FqsvRrkOY

[i007spectre]

Thanks for that video, barely any rain in it.

[Elandyll]

Good news for future PS4 owners of NFS: Rivals, and maybe some balm for people that will need a racer at (near) launch?

http://kotaku.com/need-for-speed-riv...-it-1447871333

Need for Speed Rivals Looks Amazing Whether You Play It on PC or PS4

For one moment, the gap between playing a game on PC and on console seemed razor-thin. I played Need for Speed Rivals on both PC and PS4 and the two versions of EA’s upcoming racing game were virtually indistinguishable. What I saw was impressive no matter what machine it was running on.

There are caveats, of course. The footage above was captured from a hands-on demo I played when EA brought Rivals to town last week. It’s from a PC build of the game that was running side-by-side with PS4 builds. (Note that I’m not the one behind the wheel there. The driving in the clip is being done by EA’s Marcus Nilsson. I am in the session, though, playing on PC with a PS4 controller under the Rivals_Whisky username.) There was no Xbox One version on hand at the demo session. And you should keep in mind that specs for the PC version weren't available and I have no way of knowing if Rivals was running on Ultra settings.

For the most part, though, the two looked essentially the same. Take in the videos in this post and you’ll see the kinds of reflective surfaces, chaotic particle effects and dynamic lighting that serve as hallmarks of cutting-edge game-making. The team making the game is made up of creators from the DICE and Criterion shops, meaning that they’ve worked on Battlefield and Burnout games in the past.

But it’s easy to point to visual sizzle as evidence of improvement. What’s really next-gen about Rivals? Nilsson—who’s heading up the Ghost Games dev studio making the game—told me that it was Rivals’ AllDrive feature, which lets players seamlessly drop in and out of each other’s games. While features like this have been in NFS games before, Nilsson says that AllDrive as part of a rising trend for next-gen games that blur the line between single-player and multiplayer. Rivals, he said, sits alongside games like Titanfall and Destiny in how it presents an open world with dynamic challenges that be handled solo or with co-op partners. “We thought about how we want to play games in the future and this is where we wound up. It’s delivering all sorts of unexpected experiences, which are a different kind of fun.”

Need for Speed Rivals did feel wild and unpredictable when I played with members of the Ghost Games team. We took on the role of cops and just jumped in open-world play with a single , for example, were yelling at each other to cut off a racer who was pulling away.
Regarding the PS4 version of the game, Nilsson says that the controller’s Share button will pull footage from the session you’re playing in. (This functionality wasn’t live in the version of the game I played.) Rivals won’t be using the DualShock 4’s touchpad, though, as Nilsson said that the developers wanted to “use what makes sense” when it came to the console’s available features.

Watch the short cutscene after one of the pursuits above and you’ll see an ominous tone from the police side of the game’s split narrative. When I mentioned that to Nilsson, he said part of the storytelling challenge that the team has been tackling has been to craft motivations and a backdrop where all of the game’s over-the-top racing action fits into a particular logic. “It’s a little bit darker and it’s a deliberate choice to go and see how far we can take that,” Nilsson said.


Shiny graphics. Darker tone. A high-speed playground where friends can join you as they please. Will this mix be enough to rev players up for Need for Speed Rivals? Hard to say, but my time with the game has taken it from ‘not paying attention’ to ‘definitely waiting for this one’ category.

[Derb]

Is this game still launch?

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by Derb

Is this game still launch?

The official release date on (almost) all platforms is November 19th (PS3, 360, PC). EA delayed it on PS4 for 3 days
to coincide with the Xbox One release (November 22nd).

7 days later for PS4 is still considered launch though.

P.S: I didn't post the Polygon article because I think it's probably a clickbait (saying that the PS4 version is even better than the PC one). Feel free to look it up for those interested

[Derb]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

The official release date on (almost) all platforms is November 19th (PS3, 360, PC). EA delayed it on PS4 for 3 days
to coincide with the Xbox One release (November 22nd).

7 days later for PS4 is still considered launch though.

Thanks El

I'm really excited to play a next-gen NFS.. Especially on the DS4.

[Grim Reaper]

http://www.nextgenupdate.com/news/ne...on-ps4-than-pc

Need for Speed: Rivals more visually impressive on PS4 than PC

Polygon discovers NFS: Rivals looks best on PS4 and is made for single-player.



The folks over at Polygon recently received some hands on time with Ghost Games’ upcoming racer, Need for Speed: Rivals, on the PlayStation 4. It is apparently more visually impressive, albeit slightly more buggy than the PC version of the game.

The game looks better on Sony’s next-gen console than it did on the PC, which is an unusual trait considering the graphics cards available for the PC gaming world. The problems the Polygon team encountered had to do with things such as the world failing to load, though developer Ghost Games assured that they would have these issues fixed by the time launch day comes around.

After the play-test, Polygon had the chance to interview Ghost Games Executive Producer, Mark Nilsson. He said:

First and foremost, this game is made to be able to [be] played alone — the AI's really capable, [and the game has] scaling systems. There's a lot of people, Need for Speed consumers, that want to play alone, and there's a very capable game to play alone out there that they can do.

So the upcoming Need for Speed: Rivals doesn’t require you to be playing online, always a good thing in many gamers eyes. Though one could argue that playing with some good friends is even more fun than going at it solo. Nilsson added:

I do think that this game becomes a lot more fun when you do play with friends. It's an easier proposition to give it a chance in this game than it was in, for instance, Most Wanted, where you had to press the multiplayer button.

Nilsson also spoke on Rivals’ features, such as the gradual progression system for both racers and cops. The system will allow the player to unlock new cars and abilities as they earn speed points and rank up through 20 levels in total. Low level players who run into a roadblock can call in some help from a friend who is a higher level, thus ensuring they can rank up to take on more challenges ahead. Nilsson continued:

It is really a lot more fun because of the, kind of, controlled chaos and the unexpected [gameplay] that AllDrive brings. When you mix people together [...] you can take educated choices that make my game experience more interesting. So I think the human element is really giving you a lot more flavor in the experience.

All in all Need for Speed: Rivals is shaping up to be an incredible racing experience that fans of the genre and series can look forward to.

Need for Speed: Rivals will be released for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 19th. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will be released on November 22nd. Do you have an addiction to racing games?

[Havok83]

that's pretty stupid of them to delay the PS4 version and not have it launch along side the other consoles. They really should just have had it launch when the PS4 does

[Groo The Perverted]

Before I buy this I have to know how the controls/handling is. If it's like Criterion's Hot Pursuit or Most Wanted (or Please Lord Burnout Paradise), then that's good.

If it's the more simulator style of GT or NFS Shift series, then it's a no go at any price, as I suck at those and cannot steer the cars worth a shit.