Two weeks ago, newly-founded Slightly Mad Studios announced the take-over of financially troubled Blimey! Games, creators of the GTR series and GT Legends.
Now, it seems like the new studio has secured an important deal, even though it might not be exactly what the sim community was hoping for. Slightly Mad Studios will be working on Need for Speed: Shift, the newest title of the NfS series.
Since the latest Need for Speed titles received less favorable reviews, Electronic Arts is reinventing the series by launching new titles aimed at a certain audience, both simulation drivers and casual gamers. Shift will be focusing on simulation racing, including realistic car movement and behaviour.
EA promises to keep the hip-hop, tuning and gangster stuff to a minimum, below is a first screenshot of the new title. At first glance, this could have been taken from Race Driver GRID. Even though it does not scream simulation right away, a game like GRID with realistic physics would surely be a breath of fresh air. Still, it is somewhat doubtful if EA will be giving the Slightly Mad guys enough freedom to make a real simulation.
Along with the announcement, the new Slightly Mad Studios Website has gone live. Need for Speed: Shift will be released in fall 2009 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable and the PC.
tigeraid
January 30th, 2009 at 19:59
I’ll believe that when I see it.
Maybe the hip-hop gangster crap fad is finally over though.
Bram
January 30th, 2009 at 20:53
It’s good to see the company somewhat secure, but its a shame we lost them to the arcade side.
stabiz
January 30th, 2009 at 20:55
No it isnt, I will bet my testicles on it. Remember that GRID was hailed as über-realistic pre release. I guess it is, if its simulating hover crafts with F1 turn in.
This will be yet another sofa-racer with shiny rims and Snoop Doggy Dogg replay music.
JimmyB
January 30th, 2009 at 21:04
Well, I wouldn’t be so sure. The NFS name alone is definitely a turn-off though, no doubt about it. I guess the proof will be in the pudding.
One things for sure though – I’d of loved to see GTR3 on that engine, yowza.
The Lonely
January 30th, 2009 at 21:17
Remember the shot of what I think was Monaco on the old Blimey website, for the ferrari sim. This looks very similar, I guess they may have adapted what they have already for this. Or I might be adding 2 and 2 and getting 5
tigeraid
January 30th, 2009 at 21:17
I’d even accept it if it played like one of the first three Need for Speed games with modern graphics/sounds/vehicles. Those games were never accurate, but they were still fun in an arcady way. Remember Porsche Unleashed? I enjoyed it, for what it was.
GeraArg
January 30th, 2009 at 21:34
If it is not a simulator, I hope it is an arcade-like Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed, this game is one of the most fun I played
maxs
January 30th, 2009 at 21:39
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
-eRNIe-
January 30th, 2009 at 22:39
yes i agree, NFS Porsche was one of the best parts of the serie. Car handling was more realistic than arcade-like and really fun to play.
Uff
January 30th, 2009 at 23:04
This will bring back my interest for the NFS series! What a great change they did! I’m really curious to see if EA will let SMS do the game in “their” way or if they will ask them to realize a sort of compromise.
Well, let’s wait and see: by now I take this as a good news! :D
ForzaBarca88
January 31st, 2009 at 02:22
Thank god, ProStreet and Undercover were a joke.
I’ll give this game a chance for sure though, it sounds a lot like a reinvention of Porsche Unleashed. Not expecting it to be on the same realism level as ISI’s old f1 series for EA though.
hypertek
January 31st, 2009 at 03:00
goo back to the oldschool need for speed games!! back to teh exotics and highway racing with cops. that was fun.
I dont like the gangsta street racing themes, i feel it stereotypes the import cars very badly *me being a import car tuning enthusiest*, i hate seeing that image the underground series has gave it.
tarnakman
January 31st, 2009 at 03:11
after guitar hero, here comes the pseudo sims.. get your gamepad ready to rumble and press X to move the car foward.
i would love to see blimey! do something nice with it.. but as long as it’s published by EA, keep your hopes low.
but who knows.. Blimey! hasn’t disappointed yet.
fpol
January 31st, 2009 at 05:05
Until i see otherwise, the development group formerly known as SBDT has finally lost me :(
Sad development for the sim community, but hey, I’m glad jobs were saved in the current environment. Maybe one day the old SBDT will rise from the ashes…
Vkt
January 31st, 2009 at 05:28
EA.. u know… GRID graphics and SIM (REAL SIM) physics = TOTAL KICK A$$
lets see what happen…
Drake
January 31st, 2009 at 07:03
After Most Wanted they’ve all been crap. Carbon was awful. It had constant CTDs that EA knew about from the eleventy thousand posts on their forum, they just didn’t give a damn. Hopefully this new studio will be able to bring back the glory days of NFS. I just hope EA doesn’t end up castrating them.
hypertek
January 31st, 2009 at 08:26
need for speed games are just like the tomb raider games.. the developers keep making them all the time just to pay the bills.. but none of those games have any epic value to them…. then you get the rare games that come out once in a while *like say, gran turismo, and adventure games like GTA, that end up being super epic.
JimmyB
January 31st, 2009 at 14:42
To be honest I wouldn’t even mind if this ends up being a kind of semi-sim. I expect realistic handling, but I’m sure there’s been a few compromises made along the way.
I just hope the Ferrari title sees the light of day. Imagine a full-blown sim with those visuals!