Need for Speed Shift: Huge Interview

We put our expert racing man Alan Boiston against Need for Speed producer and EA veteran Jesse Abney, for this detailed, revealing look into the game and the series' future.

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As we looked around and analyzed the genre we realised people have beautifully modelled cars; some have interiors many have drivers that move, but nobody is building a model for what the race car driver is really going through. So: physical forces, the sound, the independent movement of the head versus the movement of the chassis of the car. By modelling these elements with a dynamic camera system, with a dynamic visual effects system and with the audio system, you have a whole package of concert that works to deliver everything this driver is experiencing, moment to moment in the race.

Kikizo: Again just one last question on this NFS / GTR handover, has taking on the NFS name altered the product? Has there been a trade-off because of the changes to its name?

Jesse: I guess you just have to abandon the GTR element because what SMS have done is create the next NFS, the only thing I know about what they were doing before was a Ferrari game... but I can offer some answer to that question: SMS have built from their engine and when you have a solid tech platform, all you need is assets because they have their tool pipeline worked out. So then they start creating WTCC styled cars, the modelled interiors of Porshes and Nissans and the Zonda here today, the Audis that we've shown in our trailer... and they put them in and it becomes any game you want it to be. Its got a simulation-based physics model which is scaleable, and at one end of the spectrum, is very hardcore non-assisted simulation physics, and at the other end we've been working on SMS to scale back their physics simulator in order to account for that basic NFS fan that loves the experience of car customisation and online competitive racing, but needs a much more controlled physics simulator.

So through the user interface, exposing hooks within the physics engine, we're able to turn on a myriad of assists for a much a much more forgiving racing model and allow players that wouldn't normally pick up a simulation game to play NFS Shift in a much more light-hearted way than they would within a sterile simulation game. Keep in mind that while we land squarely in that simulation sub genre its an authentic racing experience; its really the 'catchphrase'... Famitsu asked me for a line, and it was something Patrick said that rang with me - we really don't want to be a sim game; this isn't about simulation this is about an authentic racing. and fun experience. So for me simulation games aren't always fun but Shift is an authentic racing game which, for me, is fun!

Kikizo: So is it two new Need For Speeds or three, that we're expect to see within the next years time frame?

Jesse: Yeah well recent announcements of the franchise were that we would diversify to a point, that we would satisfy the interests of three sub-genres within the racing category and those are action, arcade and simulation and Shift represents the entry simulation, much like Pro Street did, and Porsche Unleashed did before that. On the Wii we are focusing on arcade first with Nitro. The action open world offering is World Online that we've announced for closed beta, which we are launching later in the year in the North America and further into next year for Europe which will be a massively multiplayer, online open world experience that will live on in online space.

Kikizo: Is all this something you view as a franchise reboot? Is it one brought about by recent events - I mean last year's NFS was probably one of the weakest ever, do you guys view it like that internally?

Jesse: Well for the record we absolutely don't view last years as one of the worst ones ever because it had a lot of merit to it, potentially the best UI ever developed in a NFS speed title, something I worked on for 18 months. A reboot is absolutely a good analogy but it really is more about focused and intentional business, and the intentional business of a racing franchise that is 13 or 14 years old, that has the potential to sell millions of units but in recent years has confused and fractured its own fan base. So it's through the ability to focus on any given segment that we are trying to revitalise and refresh the franchise and really bring a new understanding of what NFS means to automotive racing.

Kikizo: Where would you say this leaves Burnout, given the Need For Speed's new, broader positioning - and the fact that Nitro on Wii actually looks very Burnout-like?

Jesse: In assessment of the current racing category we never once competed with Burnout in our minds, Burnout has always been an action arcade racer and its modes have always been unique to that style. Everybody speculates about the future of one over the other, Burnout has always been a critical darling but whose sales don't match NFS, while NFS is hated and despised for it size and its goliath mainstream fanbase; critics hate it, so its quite a converse dynamic at play.

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