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New Need for Speed in development at Criterion Games; Need for Speed Heat cross-play update launches June 9


NFS-Heat-Cross-Play_06-08-20.jpg


The next Need for Speed title is in development at Criterion Games, and the November 2019-released Need for Speed Heat will be updated on June 9 to add cross-play support across all available platforms, Electronic Arts announced.

While further information regarding the new title was not announced, Criterion Games general manager Matt Webster teased that Electronic Arts will have “more Need for Speed and Steam announcements” (the latter is in reference to Electronic Arts’ recent batch of Steam releases) at EA Play Live 2020, which will air on June 18 at 4:00 p.m. PT / 7:00 p.m. ET via EA.com.

Full Statement:

To the Need for Speed community,

Hello, Matt Webster here, general manager of Criterion Games. First, I wanted to let you all know how excited our team here in Guildford is to be back in the driver’s seat of development for Need for Speed. As you’ll know we have real history with racing and with Need for Speed. We’re focused on bringing Criterion’s unique point of view, unparalleled game feel, and high quality innovations that will chart a new future for this wonderful series of games.

I also wanted to share with you a glimpse of the road ahead, with our first checkpoint approaching quickly. The team has been hard at work to deliver an exciting feature to Need for Speed Heat, which will be in players’ hands tomorrow!

At Criterion, we’ve always believed that games are better with friends. We don’t want your platform of choice to be a barrier for that experience. So we’re thrilled to let you all know that on June 9, Need for Speed Heat will be the first Electronic Arts title to offer cross-play, meaning that players—regardless of their platform—can jump into Palm City together as one, united community.

Once you’ve installed the update (see full update notes here, including some other fixes, too), you can opt in to race players across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. You can search for your friends who are playing on any of the above systems, given they’ve opted in for cross-play as well, inside the Find Players menu. Then, go to the new EA Friends tab in the Party Menu to see who’s online to play with.

As we at Criterion shift gears into the future with full focus on developing the next Need for Speed game, this will be the final update for Need for Speed Heat. Since the launch of Need for Speed Heat and as players continue to tear it up in Palm City, we’re listening to what you love about this experience, and what you all believe could be even better. With these insights, we have a terrific foundation to create the most expressive, most socially connected, action-packed game yet for Need for Speed fans and beyond.

As more players join the global Need for Speed community, we also want to provide more options in how the series can be discovered. On June 16, Need for Speed Heat drops into the EA Access and Origin Access Basic Vault, giving all subscribers the opportunity to enter Palm City.

Another step to connect our players and games on more platforms is the recent release of Need for Speed Heat on Steam, alongside 2016’s Need for Speed and Need for Speed Rivals. Keep an eye out at EA Play Live on June 18 for more Need for Speed and Steam announcements. Cross-play will work across PC via Origin and Steam, PS4, Xbox One, and subscribers.

You’ll know from our past history that we want to bring players together however we can. With this announcement and what we’re working on for the future, we’re focused on uniting the wider Need for Speed community—so that you can play, race and compete with all of your friends.

We can’t wait to share more details about Need for Speed down the road. Until then, stay safe, and play together!

—Matt
 

Kuranghi

Member

*hugs Fran* I know mate, I bought an HDMI Xbox 360 recently literally just so I can play Burnout Revenge and Black :lollipop_crying:

I have Burnout 3: Takedown as well but I want to 100% Burnout Revenge first before playing it, which maybe never happen cause I'm can't even finish some of the races let alone come first lol I can drive more caustiously and finish easily but then I don't win. Don't get me started on the some of the time trials *flashbacks of the Italian-themed tracks*

You wanna come over for a Burnout-hang-out? If you prefer Burnout 1, 2 or Paradise more then I support that too, we've got to band together, we're a dying breed us Burnout-lovers.

hug edit - *adds Chunk to the hug*
 
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Kuranghi

Member
*hugs Fran* I know mate, I bought an HDMI Xbox 360 recently literally just so I can play Burnout Revenge and Black :lollipop_crying:

I have Burnout 3: Takedown as well but I want to 100% Burnout Revenge first before playing it, which maybe never happen cause I'm can't even finish some of the races let alone come first lol I can drive more caustiously and finish easily but then I don't win. Don't get me started on the some of the time trials *flashbacks of the Italian-themed tracks*

You wanna come over for a Burnout-hang-out? If you prefer Burnout 1, 2 or Paradise more then I support that too, we've got to band together, we're a dying breed us Burnout-lovers.

Funny side note, its the Gears of War 3 Ltd Ed. Xbox 360 and it actually emits noises when you turn it on/off and open/close the disc drive, it sounds like its broken to me lol:




SX360SGEAR3C_l.jpg


I was like, fuck sake the internals are grinding!
 
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SUPERGGK

Member
I don't really get why they try to make every NFS entry so different from the previous one. I mean they have so many great games in this franchise like the NFS most wanted, NFS underground and NFS hot pursuit. Why not make a game similar to those games in design and just evolve the graphics and gameplay. Why trying to do so many different things with each entry without giving it proper time and attention. It is just ruining the brand at this point.

And bring the burnout series back for fuck sake or atleast remaster them on current gen. Paradise is not enough. They should remake or remaster burnout 3 and revenge too.
 

jaysius

Banned
I want NFS Underground back, give me awful soundtrack that earworms so deep in my brain I start liking it, give me riced out silly cars, give me silly gimmick escapes like knocking over a gas stations awning to escape police.

Fuck it just "remaster" NFS Underground 1 or 2.
 

"First, I wanted to let you all know how excited our team here in Guildford is to be back in the driver’s seat of development for Need for Speed," Webster road. "As you'll know we have real history with racing and with Need for Speed. We're focused on bringing Criterion's unique point of view, unparalleled game feel, and high quality innovations that will chart a new future for this wonderful series of games."
 
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CamHostage

Member
For those feeling like this news sounds vaguely familiar, Criterion did announce it was taking over Need for Speed back in February. The news today is primarily about NFS Heat getting cross-play (and a Steam release,) though they did say that NFS will make an appearance at EA Play on the 18th so maybe this new game will debut there, plus it is good that Criterion reannounced their new project since February 2020 was, by my calendar, approx 700 lifetimes ago...


(Ghost Games was mostly dissolved as part of the transition.)

Neither news bit says yet the good stuff of what type of NFS this new one will be, what platforms it is being made for, or when it is planned for release.
 
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Rudius

Member
All I want is a classic Need for Speed, a true successor to the PS2 version of Hot Pursuit 2: no open world, circuits at exotic locations around the world, fast exotic and classic cars, no customization, no nitro, no loot boxes, cops, classic progression. All that made for next generation platforms, with a high budget, large development time, 60 fps.

A man can dream...
 

Quasicat

Member
I have not been following cross-play at all. Is this now pretty standard with new releases? I’m excited the EA is doing this and am hoping the online component for Mass Effect gets cross-play at some point.

Does this seem like a one-off thing, or is this now normal with certain companies?
 

Blond

Banned
Funny side note, its the Gears of War 3 Ltd Ed. Xbox 360 and it actually emits noises when you turn it on/off and open/close the disc drive, it sounds like its broken to me lol:




SX360SGEAR3C_l.jpg


I was like, fuck sake the internals are grinding!


Lol it does the same thing but a bit less uhhh whatever that is... On the X1X gears edition lol
 
Sounds like a new Need for Speed game will be announced for PS5/XSX at EA Play. Whether it's a launch title or not remains to be seen.
Doubt it. They now make NFS games on a 2 year cycle, Heat came out last year so I dont think we will be getting any NFS before winter holidays 2021.
 
Doubt it. They now make NFS games on a 2 year cycle, Heat came out last year so I dont think we will be getting any NFS before winter holidays 2021.

You might be right, but a game announcement could still come in I think. There is no way Xbox Series X and PS5 is launching without a 3rd party racing game. Whether its Need for Speed or not remains to be seen
 
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HEAT was a dissapointment in a way that it was just boring and that soundtrack was TRASH! What worried me was before its release, EA announced that would be the new formula for future NFS titles. I hope after all the comments they decided to not go in that direction. Just forget about this "deep" story and make an awesome arcade racer. Imagine you have something as beautiful as Driveclub...make it and call it NFS, focus on the basics; great driving, high speed racing and pumping OST. Also they cant do story characters for shit, they look so bad graphically, just throw that away and focus on being an awesome arcade racer like Driveclub was.
 
FINALLY, we'll actually have another good NFS.

Whenever Criterion is in charge, they always make excellent NFS entries - Hot Pursuit (2010) and Most Wanted (2012) were incredible games. It's only when EA makes their other studies produce new entries in between Criterion releases, you get mediocre games. With Criterion back at the helm I can't wait to see what they actually cook up, especially with next-gen consoles in the horizon.
 
HEAT was a dissapointment in a way that it was just boring and that soundtrack was TRASH! What worried me was before its release, EA announced that would be the new formula for future NFS titles. I hope after all the comments they decided to not go in that direction. Just forget about this "deep" story and make an awesome arcade racer. Imagine you have something as beautiful as Driveclub...make it and call it NFS, focus on the basics; great driving, high speed racing and pumping OST. Also they cant do story characters for shit, they look so bad graphically, just throw that away and focus on being an awesome arcade racer like Driveclub was.

Really? I actually heard it was one of the better Need for Speeds this generation compared to like Payback and the one before. Also, the city looks fun to me. I haven't played but might give it a go if its cheapo.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
I thought Heat was better than the last 4 or 5 NFS titles. World was fun, but the soundtrack is terrible, especially at daytime.
 
Really? I actually heard it was one of the better Need for Speeds this generation compared to like Payback and the one before. Also, the city looks fun to me. I haven't played but might give it a go if its cheapo.

Its not a bad game and miles better than Payback. But they keep forcing this narrative storytelling, its just cringe, trying too hard to appeal to the young kids. But as a whole package I really dont want them to contiunue this direction. Problem is, once they got out in the open world, theyll never go back to single race tracks. HEAT especially during daytime felt very samey. All races are 3 laps, theres no variety like before ok go from point A to B, then do a no damage run etc. I donno how to explain it, its very pedestrian and safe. I actually enjoyed NFS 2015 but IMO the last really good NFS was Hot Pursuit 2010. The world was huge and beautiful, soundtrack to fit everyones taste and there was not a single boring track on there. Cops were badass too.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Its hitting EA Access on the 16th. Ill throw em $5 and give it a shot.
Came in to see if they announced when it was going to be on EA Access. thanks for the info. Been waiting on this since I burned up my 10 hour trial.
 
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