Need for Speed Reboot Announced By Electronic Arts

[Conrad Zimmerman]

Need for Speed Reboot Announced By Electronic Arts

Street racing series to return after two-year break

Electronic Arts has revealed a new Need for Speed game, which the publisher refers to as a "full reboot" of the franchise. The game, which will simply be titled "Need for Speed," is currently in development by EA subsidiary Ghost Games, the same studio responsible for the most recent major entry in the franchise, Need for Speed Rivals.

A teaser trailer has been released with the announcement, with fast, shaky cam cuts of urban street racing complete with police involvement. The video concludes by announcing the first full trailer will be released June 15, the same date as the Electronic Arts E3 press conference.

The title is in development for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles and is planned for release in Fall 2015.

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Need for Speed will be the 19th installment of the franchise on PC, which saw annual releases from 2002 to 2013. Last year, it was reported an unannounced title in the series being developed by Ghost Games UK had been put on hold following studio-wide layoffs [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131902-].


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[The Great JT]

Well I'm sure that will please...um...someone.

 

[Dying_Jester]

Um...Maybe it's because I haven't paid attention to the series since Carbon but I really am going to just ask...

What is there to reboot? Has there been an on-going story between games or what?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Is "reboot" now shorthand for "cannot be arsed to come up with a new title name?"
None of the NFS's had any connecting story. Each plot was just 'generic undercover cop goes and street races all the stereotypes of street racers and...oh for god's sake just race already!'

Edit: There's probably betrayal in there too, because of course there has to be.

EditedEdit: Ok...if they go through with this, can I please suggest they change that american female voice over that introduces you in almost every game with that cool sexy "hey babe, you wanna play some racing? look at this city we got for you to squeal your manly rubber all over. Yeah ill be back to tongue your earhole through this whole sensual experience."
Anything different would be appreciated. A german barmaid, Pavarotti, A scouse fish wife. An.y...thing.

 

[Scrythe]

How do you reboot a racing game? How do you reboot a franchise that doesn't have an overlaying arc? How do you reboot Need For Speed, if they've already done drastic redesigns from game to game?

Do they think that the word "reboot" comes with some kind of unwritten expectation to simply just ignore all of the previous iterations? Would that even matter for this series?

 

[circularlogic88]

So then...by reboot, do they mean that it somehow ties into their lukewarm film of the same name? Will there be an ongoing story from game to game? Will there be dialog trees to unlock courses and cars? I'm really confused with how you reboot a racing game other than just by simply make the title the same as the first in the series.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

So long as it continues to be facebook with cars I won't give a toss.

At least until they do a HD re-release of Most Wanted(the good one not the shit one).

 

[Objectable]

Please let there be FMV cutscenes. PLEASE!

 

[Dead Metal]

Need For Speed reboot... I can't wait for the Madden and Fifa Football reboots.

 

[Bindal]

So, Reboot means in this case "being too lazy to come up with a proper sub-title and too egoistic to just stick a number on it" or "wanting to forget all previous installments and try to refuse their existence" as there is nothing to reboot in a series of unrelated games. What's next, a 'Reboot' of Pong? Counter-Strike? Tropico? Final Fantasy?
...
Actually, knowing Squear Enix, the last one is probably happening within the next two or three years.

Oh god, its bad enough for movies to do it.
But now they are rebooting Games?
Kill the trend before it starts!

Mortal Kombat, Thief, XCOM, Doom (twice now), Tomb Raider (one soft, one full),...
Living under a rock in the past decade?

 

[RealRT]

How in the fuck do you reboot a series that never had a continuity in the first place (alright, alright, I know somebody will point out that Underground 1 and 2 and also Most Wanted and Carbon were connected to each other, but nevertheless).

 

[halobolola]

I bet it uses frostbite, so the physics will be awful. It won't Beat NFS Carbon.

 

[MonsterCrit]

Um...Maybe it's because I haven't paid attention to the series since Carbon but I really am going to just ask...

What is there to reboot? Has there been an on-going story between games or what?

This seems to be the question. It'd be like Rebooting FInal fantasy. I'm wondering if Reboot is just the new 'it' buzzword in these marketing meetings nowadays.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

Unless there are some big changes, like it's in the future or takes place on Cybertron, then the only reason to call the new NFS a reboot is so they can get headlines and people talking about it, in which case mission successful (no such thing as bad publicity, remember?).

 

[Bindal]

(no such thing as bad publicity, remember?)

Except there is. If the publicity is "this is screwing people over, avoid at all cost" then people won't suddenly do that very thing out of curiosity - they'll stay the hell away from it.

 

[EHKOS]

Cool. Let me know when I can put speakers in the trunk again, maybe I'll care. Maybe it's because I spent my birthday money on Pro Street, maybe it's because the new MW was shite and EA broke Criterion's neck, but I've barely seen any gameplay of the newer ones. NFS was meant to be off the track.

 

[fat american]

(no such thing as bad publicity, remember?)

Except there is. If the publicity is "this is screwing people over, avoid at all cost" then people won't suddenly do that very thing out of curiosity - they'll stay the hell away from it.

How is them "rebooting" the franchise screwing people over? It's a little asinine seeing as there was never a continuous franchise to be rebooted, but I don't think they're doing customers a disservice by doing so.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

How do you reboot a racing game? How do you reboot a franchise that doesn't have an overlaying arc? How do you reboot Need For Speed, if they've already done drastic redesigns from game to game?

Do they think that the word "reboot" comes with some kind of unwritten expectation to simply just ignore all of the previous iterations? Would that even matter for this series?

Maybe it's the new EA hot strategy running on the success of the Battlefront[It's-a-reboot-not-a-sequel-so-you-can't-compare-it-to-Battlefront2] announcements, And they've now decided that if they just call every single game they release a 'reboot' no one can criticize their work by looking to previous versions.

Less content than previous games? Don't worry, it's a reboot!
Less game-modes? Don't worry, it's a reboot!
Previously free gameplay being sold as DLC/Microtransaction? Reboot!
More bugs? Reboot!
More Expensive? Reboot!

It's all of the brand recognition with none of the quality requirements!

 

[Diablo2000]

Well I'm sure that will please...um...someone.

If it's close to Underground 2, damn I will be pleased. Very much so...

But how does one reboot a series of stand alone games anyway?