Need for Speed Shift is one of those games that’s easy to get addicted to, especially if you start playing it on a console like the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3. However, the downside to enjoying a game so much is that it builds ridiculously high expectations for the game to live up to. Suppose Electronic Arts decides to make a version for the iPad, how much of a letdown would it be if the graphics and the gameplay were significantly altered and you end up playing with boxed cars racing in straight line race tracks? Fortunately, none of that happened when EA did release an iPad version of Shift, and contrary to our fears, the game has certainly exceeded our expectations.
Among the new features you’ll find in the iPad version include eight new cars, a couple of additional tracks, and even a more personable style of play that, we’re not ashamed to say, is borderline addicting.
A couple of weeks ago, we chanced upon some still photos of Electronic Art’s new trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, featuring a scintillating car chase between a renegade Pagani Zonda Cinque and a law enforcement-issued Lamborghini Murcielago along the breathtaking roads of the Italian Alps.
Guess what, the live action video trailer has just been released, and true to the expectations we’ve set for the vid, the trailer is nothing short of mesmerizing. Two of the most powerful supercars on the planet twisting, turning, and drifting on the mountain-side roads of the Italian Alps is the stuff legends are made of. Heck, even a police helicopter joins in on the fun, making this police chase all the more amazing.
The whole trailer was shot to promote the Need for Speed franchise’s new video game, Hot Pursuit, and if this trailer is our only basis on whether to buy the game or not, then consider us scooping up a copy the soonest chance we get.
Now that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is about a week away from being released, Electronic Arts is putting together the final pieces of their marketing campaign in an effort to drum up more interest in the game. This time around, they’ve tapped the assistance of a man who has been in the headlines recently for outing himself as The Stig in the hit BBC show Top Gear: Ben Collins.
The video shows Collins playing the familiar role of runaway villain in a Porsche 911 GT3 being chased down by music group Roll Deep in the role of high-flying cops driving the wheels off of a Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago.
While Collins hasn’t enamored himself with a lot of people with how he handled the whole Top Gear/Stig scandal, he played his part in the commercial like a driver who knows what he’s doing in a Porsche 911 GT3, continuously evading the clutches of Roll Deep in the Lamborghinis using the driving skills that has made him one of the more famous – or infamous – drivers in the world. In the end, the collective might and guile of the Lamborghinis prove to be too much even for the former Stig to handle after getting caught in the unenviable position of being surrounded by probably the world’s most awesome set of police cars.
We know that the anticipation surrounding Gran Turismo 5 is on a level all its own, but this new commercial for NFS: Hot Pursuit is bound to convert a number of people to buying this game first, instead of the highly-touted GT5.
It took a few months of prep work and development, but now – finally – Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s 1969 Ford Mustang RTR-X is ready for its full close-up at SEMA.
The car, which was born out of a collaboration between Gittin Jr., Mustang RTR, and Need for Speed, is the perfect case of an iconic car being given a state-of-the-art refresher. Powered by a 5.0-liter Ford V8 engine, the ’69 Mustang was given a dose of modern technology, including a Kinsler Individual Throttle Body Injection System, a MoTeC M800 ECU, a Ford Racing Boss 301 R1 six-speed transmission, and a set of Falken RT615-K racing tires. Add all these new parts to an iconic Mustang body and you have a car that transcends both time and taste buds.
UPDATE 11/07/2011: The Ford Mustang RTR-X by Vaughn Gittin Jr. was such a hit at the 2010 SEMA Show, that it made its second appearance at the 2011 SEMA Auto Show. Check out our live images from the event in th egallery provided!
The official trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was recently filmed somewhere in Italy and it features just about the most awesome – an expensive – fake car chase we’ve ever seen.
To build cache for the brand, NFS decided to go all-out with the two vehicular protagonists, opting for two cars that are undoubtedly two of the most sought-after supercars this side of the solar system: the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and the Pagani Zonda Cinque.
The folks over at Teamspeed managed to scoop up photos of the filming of the trailer where the law enforcement decaled Murcielago giving chase to the Zonda Cinque along a sweeping mountains of Italy. And they even managed to commission a helicopter to aid the Murcielago in chasing the Zonda. Awesome.
There are also photos of the two supercars being prepared for the shoot similar to how celebrities are made-up before filming. Apparently, the Zonda Cinque that’s being chased by the Murcielago police supercar is actually a Zonda F underneath all that make-up. Why they specifically had to have a Zonda Cinque instead of a Zonda F, we don’t know.
Unlike a racing game (Cough...GT5) that seems to have perfected the art of delaying its long awaited release, Electronic Arts’ doesn’t have that problem. As a matter of fact, they’ve just released a new explainer video for the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit game’s Dark Horse mode.
Essentially described as ‘cop mode’, the Dark Horse mode allows gamers the opportunity to fine-tune their skills in the art of chase downs to prevent those naughty racers from crossing the finish line. Short of saying, this explainer video is like a NFS version of cop chase training, complete with drifting, flipping race cars, car crashes, and, of course, explosions.
Who knows, after watching this video, you might end up being so addicted to this game that you forget all about that other console racing game that’s “supposed” to make it’s debut this holiday season.
Or maybe not. But, hey, this game is still a pretty good way to relive all those childhood fantasies of being a cop on a breathtaking car chase.
