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Michaelz
Level 8: The Take-Down
Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 764
Location: UK: In the loo having a poo
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AlexJ
On a short leash!
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 246
Location: Australia? wtf?
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 Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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hey that actually looks pretty cool  |
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Pacific
Level 8: The Take-Down
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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I seriously doubt it will be out at christmas id say more like spring/summer next year.  |
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Michaelz
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Location: UK: In the loo having a poo
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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no november actually
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Pacific
Level 8: The Take-Down
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well excuse me micheal!  |
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James
3run
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Need for Speed Underground 1 had it's release date moved forward, so you can probably expect a good release date from that company.
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Michaelz
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 10:41 am Post subject: |
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NFSU 2 sounds so good!!!! trust me there is too much to read just skim throughn it
| Quote: | GameSpy: Online, will PC gamers be able to compete against racers playing on the Xbox or PS2 this year?
Wiebe: Last year, Need for Speed Underground broke new territory being one of the first games to feature PC-vs.-console gaming. Overall, this was a huge success, but not without cost. One of the areas this had a direct impact on was our ability to patch certain online areas of the PC product due to the connectivity with the consoles. Any major patch released would have resulted in breaking the connectivity between the PC and the console community, as they'd be running different versions of the game. Because of these issues, we thought it best to go a more traditional route this year and keep each community separate. Online was a huge hit in Underground, and with the added online features going into Underground 2, we're predicting the online community to be even bigger this year.
GameSpy: What was the most frequently requested feature that NFSU fans asked for that you included in NFSU2?
Wiebe: LAN play was the most requested feature for Underground 2, and we feel we've exceeded that expectation by a large margin. The new LAN mode we've implemented this year will actually allow players to host their own LAN community server, meaning all computers hooked into the LAN will be able to connect to the master computer, which will act in a similar fashion to the online lobby. This essentially means there can be hundreds of players all hooked into one master server. All players connecting to the master server will be able to chat with each other, view tuned cars, and create/join games at will. We anticipate this feature will be immensely popular in many of the Internet café's around the world and will also work well for the average home gamer.
GameSpy: Can you explain a bit about NFSU2's "Open World" concept, and how it will play?
Wiebe: We're essentially going to be dropping the player in a new city, a "tuner city" called Bayview, where they will begin playing their way through the story and deciding the outcome as they play. To give an example, when a player first starts the game, they land in the airport where they are given a loaner car, and are then instructed that the owner of the car is waiting for them at a local car lot. Here's a moment of choice. The player has this insanely tricked-out car that doesn't belong to them, they see the car lot on their map, but they also notice a couple races along the way. Should the player choose to jump into a race with someone else's car? (This could run the risk of angering the owner.) Or, should they proceed to meet the owner at the car lot as they have been instructed?
The entire game is developed around freedom of choice; the player will have a huge open world to explore, which will help them uncover all kinds of hidden rewards. There's no pre-determined path for the player to follow. They can jump into a few circuit races right off the bat or try their hand at some drag racing, or maybe just drive around looking for a graphics shop someone informed them about earlier. Either way, it's completely up to the player on what kind of racing experience they're looking for.
GameSpy: Why did you decide to go to an "Open World" concept rather than the ladder-like race campaign progression that's the standard for NFSU games?
Wiebe: As mentioned earlier, Underground 2 has been designed to provide freedom of choice; standard progression ladders simply didn't fit in with our overall goal. Once players select to start their career they will be presented with a story that will set the stage for the new city, and then get dropped off at the airport, where they are free to decide the outcome of their career. Driving around the huge world looking for races brings so much more life to the game than returning to a menu interface after every race. The open world really makes you feel like you're becoming part of the tuning culture.
GameSpy: What was the most popular new feature in the first Underground, and how are you improving it for the sequel?
Wiebe: The most obvious feature that really helped set Need for Speed Underground apart from other racing titles was the ability to custom tune your car from both a performance and visual standpoint. We flagged this area to once again be one of our top priorities in Underground 2. In essence, we've completely blown out the tuning beyond what any of us thought possible. There are so many parts to choose from this year we actually had to break the custom tuning down in different shops, which actually fit within the scheme of the open world quite nicely. The game now features physical stores in the world, each carrying a very selective stock.
For example, if a player drives to a body shop they will be able to work on the exterior look of their car by swapping bumpers, side skirts, headlight covers, etc. The car specialty shops will focus more on the interior of the car, dealing with trunk audio, hydraulics, neon lights, and other cool features. If performance tuning is your thing, then take your tricked-out car to the test track and fiddle with the performance settings for each part. There is something here for everyone.
GameSpy: Is there anything that fans didn't like in the first game that's being eliminated or getting overhauled in the sequel?
Wiebe: The area we received quite a bit of feedback from in the Underground fan base was regarding only owning one car through the career mode. That, and being forced to trade cars as they progressed through the career because the higher performance cars were unlocked late in the game. We've been able to tackle this issue in Need for Speed Underground 2 by introducing players to their own garage, where they can not only store up to five cars of their choice, but can also store any and all parts purchased for those cars, swapping parts at will. Each part, whether performance or visual, is bought for a specific car, thus, if a player bought a front bumper for their Mustang, they won't have the option to then remove the bumper and put it on an Escalade. We're really trying to keep things as realistic as possible, while balancing that out with fun, arcade-style driving. We feel the combination of realism and arcade racing has really blended well together making a very deep and rewarding gameplay experience.
GameSpy: Will players be able tweak their cars differently in NFSU2?
Wiebe: Not only will players be able to own multiple vehicles in career mode, they will also have a special Dyno performance-tuning track at their disposal. Need for Speed Underground 2 will not only feature the ability to custom tune your cars specifically for each game mode, but will also allow real-time tuning. This means that while driving your car around a corner in the test track you can actually pause the game, adjust your suspension, and resume taking the corner with the new settings. Players can also run their car in the Dyno and get a readout on how their car is handling after they make adjustments. The Dyno will compare the player's car against the last time it was tuned to allow players to track whether the changes they've made are better or worse than before.
GameSpy: In the previous game, you seemed to accumulate a lot of money really quickly, but you never had much to buy for your car because of how slowly new gadgets got unlocked. How are you changing that in NFSU2?
Wiebe: One of the areas we felt we could really improve on this year is how we handled the economy. Last year we wanted to ensure that players always had enough money to buy any part they wanted, mainly to promote tuning the car and providing players with enough money to freely sample different part combinations until they found something that worked well. This year we've been actively seeking input from the community and an overwhelming majority of Underground players stated they'd rather have a more balanced economy and live with any tuning mismatches/mistakes they make throughout their career. To that end we've greatly reduced the amount of money the player wins, which means every part purchased will have to be considered carefully.
GameSpy: What new graphic enhancements are you adding to the engine and are there any specific enhancements that only PC players will get to see?
Wiebe: PC players are in for a real treat this year as the graphics engine has received some pretty amazing optimizations. We dedicated a team early on to deal with graphics enhancements as well as concentrate our efforts on any compatibility issues encountered with various video cards/audio cards etc. The end result is incredible, the PC looks absolutely amazing; the frame really accentuates the feeling of speed and the additions to the graphics engine really makes this game stand out.
GameSpy: You're adding weather to the game -- will that affect car handling and road slickness and other gameplay elements, or will it be a purely graphic effect?
Wiebe: Weather effects will most certainly impact the performance of all cars on the road. Not only will the rain droplets smear on the camera as the player is driving, it will also make the roads slicker, causing your tires to break traction around corners. There are also areas in the world where rain will begin forming puddles over time and can cause the car to hydroplane if they hit them at a bad angle. Rain even goes so far as to impact the way traffic cars react. Traffic will sometimes drive a bit slower in the rain and there is also a higher chance of witnessing traffic accidents.
GameSpy: Is the weather system random and/or changeable, or will it always be raining in the same section of city?
Wiebe: The weather effects are completely random. Some players may start their career during a sunset on a calm evening, while others may jump in and be immediately stuck in a torrential downpour. As players progress through the career they may notice early signs that rain may be coming as the wind will slowly being picking up, the sky will darken, and the trees overhead will begin to sway more violently. This is just one of the many subtle features added to the game to make the city feel truly alive.
GameSpy: While not everybody enjoyed the "Drift" races, you're again including them in NFSU2. How have you altered and expanded the gaming mode?
Wiebe: The number one complaint from the Underground players about drift racing was that the opponent scoring system felt cheap. Many players expressed concern that as they were drifting around the track, the opponents' scores would generally increment up based closely to what the player was scoring. The largest issue was that once the player crossed the finish line the opponents' scores would perform one last updated move, which meant the user felt like they had no control over whether they won or lost the race. After evaluating the feedback (and attending several drift events ourselves), we came to the conclusion that drifting alone wasn't the way to go. This year we've expanded drift mode by allowing the player to drift against real opponents, meaning all drift competitors are now in the race together. The addition of real-time drift opponents adds an entirely new dynamic to drifting. To avoid losing points the player must now pay close attention to the other cars on the track and drive a little more predictably to avoid being hit themselves.
GameSpy: Have you made the "tuning" aspect of the game more elaborate? If so, what areas of the car are now tunable and what new parts can you buy?
Wiebe: The performance tuning in the game has been completely blown out featuring over 20 different tunable areas of the car and a massive amount of brand names to choose from. As players purchase better parts for their cars, they will have the ability to tune those settings in greater detail. Obviously, a suspension upgrade purchased for $2,000 dollars isn't going to be nearly as tunable as a suspension upgrade that costs $10,000 dollars. Once the player has enough tunable parts on their car we encourage them to go to the performance tuning / Dyno to set their car up. We realize tuning performance parts can be an intimidating and daunting task to non-gearheads like me, which is why we've spent a considerable amount of time making it as intuitive as possible, as well as addig helpful tips and suggestions for every single tunable category in the game.
GameSpy: Do you have finer control over the look of your car and are there cool new aesthetic parts like lighting effects, spoilers and new hoods to look forward to?
Wiebe: To be perfectly honest, you wouldn't believe how many parts there are in the game this year. One of the decisions we had to make early on was how to balance our resources between making parts and making cars. On one hand having more cars is great, however, given that once a few performance and visual parts have been applied it no longer really felt like the car that was purchased. This was really the largest factor in our decision to focus sixty percent of our resources towards parts and the other forty towards cars. This year we've also introduced animating parts on the cars, players can now enjoy opening/closing hoods, doors, and trunks as well as some very special customization options for each.
GameSpy: Do visual improvements affect your car's speed or handling this time?
Wiebe: Bumpers, spoilers, side skirts, and wide-body kits give your car more aerodynamic downforce this year, resulting in more grip and better handling. Now players will have to choose their visual parts not only on simple looks, but also how they impact the overall handling of the car as well.
GameSpy: Will there be a full-blown and more elaborate storyline in the sequel?
Wiebe: We've been actively working on blending the story for this year's game to feed into the open world, "real-life" feeling of Underground racing. While the story won't be the main focus of the game, it will help set the stage at certain points in the career and explain why things are happening. The general feedback from Underground players was that they really didn't care too much about having a detailed story; they just wanted more races, more cars, and more parts. It's a bit of a balancing act to introduce a small, but still relevant story without dictating or taking away from the overall racing experience of the game, however, the new art direction we've taken for this year's FMVs is quite fresh and should catch everyone's attention.
GameSpy: While we're on the subject, can you tell us anything about the story, as well as what part Brooke Burke plays in the game?
Wiebe: I really don't want to give too much away as it could potentially ruin the overall experience of the game, especially since the story's primarily linked to a very special game mode we haven't announced yet. However, I can tell you that Brooke Burke's character "Rachel" plays a huge role in the game. Rachel is Samantha's cousin (for those that don't know Samantha was the main character from Underground 1), and she's going to be the player's guide to how the tuner culture in Bayview works. Rachel is essentially "the girl in the know" in Bayview; there's not a single race going on that she doesn't have access to.
GameSpy: Will NFSU2 have more hills and jumps this time?
Wiebe: With the open world concept, each region of the city had to be designed based on how it would appear in real life, to keep the setting realistic. Each region in the game will feature a different driving challenge: the downtown core will highlight some great high-speed roads and a very complex highway system that spans the entire city. The upper-class region will challenge the most advanced racers with incredible elevation changes and hairpin corners and will also feature some breathtaking views of the city below. The other sections of the city will also provide different challenges for the players to both learn and overcome as they gain more experience.
GameSpy: What about shortcuts? The last game had a few, but they were fairly obvious and easy to take. Will you have more hidden areas and secrets?
Wiebe: The Underground 2 world has so many secret areas to discover I personally haven't even found them all yet. There are hidden shortcuts that are not highlighted on the players map; there are hidden amounts of money the player will have to discover by exploring the world. Players will be able to find helpful game tips in special areas of the world as well as discover where all of the hidden tuner shops are located.
GameSpy: What new car manufacturers and models should we expect to see in this year's game?
Wiebe: Players can expect to find many familiar faces from Underground 1, as well as some very welcome new additions to the roster including the Infinity G35, Lexus iS300, Mazda RX-8, Mitsubishi 3000GT, and EVO VIII to name a few. We will also be diving a bit deeper into the domestic cars by introducing the 2005 Ford Mustang GT and Pontiac GTO, as well as a few others that must remain unnamed for the moment. Need for Speed Underground 2 will also break some new and exciting ground by featuring SUV's, namely the Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator, and the Hummer H2. You should see the possibilities in tricking out the stereo systems in a SUV -- it's a blast.
GameSpy: Can you explain how you've altered the "style points" system and how that will affect a player's NOS (nitrous oxide) allotment?
Wiebe: The new nitrous system we call "Race Breaker" is designed to create an equal balanced playing field for the various types of drivers that play racing games. Through our market research, we discovered three very distinct types of drivers. First, the technical drivers will essentially brake before a corner, accelerate through the apex of the turn, getting the most amount of speed around every corner and consequently achieving great lap times. Second, there are the kamikaze drivers that use anything and everything to help them round a corner, typically using walls, trees, even other cars to their advantage. These types of drivers will rarely let their foot off the gas. Finally, there are the bad drivers. They simply can't drive and, well, we can't really help them out too much.
As for the first two styles, we found it was a bit of a problem trying to even the A.I. so that both racer types would have a challenging and enjoyable experience, thus the Race Breaker was born. The Race Breaker is designed to award players that drive with style in races. Players that power slide through a corner rather than taking a more technical approach will be awarded with extra Nitrous, helping them catch back up to the other racers. The style points will always favor the more stylish driver, but even technical drivers will receive some rewards as they beat lap times, gain positions in the race or avoid accidents. The more nitrous a player accumulates the faster it is and longer it lasts, this feature adds an entirely new strategy to when and where players use their nitrous in a race because, as the name suggests, it really can make or break a race. |
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James
3run
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 3756
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| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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I see that you edited your first post with a huge image (which i changed to a link because it was too big) - is that gameplay footage or from some sort of a pre-rendered cutscene?
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Michaelz
Level 8: The Take-Down
Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 764
Location: UK: In the loo having a poo
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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yeah it's gameplay footage alright 
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James
3run
Joined: 19 May 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, looks almost as good as Burnout 3  
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Michaelz
Level 8: The Take-Down
Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 764
Location: UK: In the loo having a poo
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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almost... 
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thamkeng
Level 6: The Experiment
Joined: 03 Oct 2004
Posts: 128
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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This might be the racing game i have been looking forward to getting forever! I keep geting these average ones, but this one sounds great!
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Michaelz
Level 8: The Take-Down
Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 764
Location: UK: In the loo having a poo
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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wicked do u have broadband, if so i could play u online.
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