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| NEED FOR SPEED |
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Need for Speed (NFS) is a series of racing video games. The premise of the game involves racing in sport cars. Several exotic models are presented in this series.
NFS is the all time favourite game for sports lovers. Every release of this game brings something exciting for the users.
EVOLUTION OF NEED FOR SPEED
Need for Speed evolved in a small gaming studio Distinctive Software, Inc. (DSI), also trade-named as Unlimited Software, Inc. (USI). In 1991, DSI was purchased by Electronic Arts, and became EA Canada. The company began developing the NFS series in late 1992 and continued to develop and expand the Need For Speed franchise for many years.
PLAYING MODE OF NEED FOR SPEED
Single player / Multiplayer game play
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| Need for Speed - The Series |
All the way through 1994 to 2007, Electronic Arts has been bringing exhilarating releases of N4S one after another.
Almost all of the N4S releases have been absolutely blockbuster.
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| Need for Speed: ProStreet |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, and Wii as well as the PlayStation 2 Nintendo DS, PSP, PC and mobile |
United States October 31, 2007
Other markets November 2007
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| Need For Speed ProStreet is the latest release of NFS series. EA published a short trailer of NFS ProStreet on May 21, 2007 until it was officially announced on May 31, 2007. Every car in NFS ProStreet is unique and highly desirable. NFS ProStreet presents excellent graphics giving more photo realistic feel. It will also be the first Need for Speed game to include damage modelling. The new damage system is said to be very accurate. |
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| Need for Speed: Carbon |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3,
Xbox 360, Wii, PS2,
XB, GCN, PSP, GBA, NDS, Mobile
Media:
CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Wii Optical Disc, UMD, GCN Game Disc, GBA Cartridge, NDS Game Card
System requirements:
Windows 2000/Windows XP, 1.7 Ghz CPU or equivalent, 512Mb of RAM or more, DirectX 9 compatible graphics card (ATI Radeon 8500 or greater; NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti or greater) |
GameCube, Nintendo:
2006
DS, GBA:
2006
Xbox:
2006
PSP:
2006,
2007
PC, PS2 & Xbox 360:
2006
PS3:
2006,
2007
Wii:
2006
Mac OS X:
2007 |
N4S Carbon is somewhat improved version of N4S Most Wanted. It features almost all the same cars. There are some new cars like the Audi Le Mans Quattro, Chevrolet's Chevelle SS, the Chrysler 300C SRT 8, and the Toyota MR2. The game is shorter and easier than its forerunners.
N4S: Carbon Collector's Edition features 4 exclusive cars, 10 pre-tuned cars, 6 new races, 3 unique challenge events, 10 unique vinyls and a Bonus DVD showing the making of N4S Carbon and all the cars used in the game.
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| Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| Handhelds |
2006
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| Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City is a Carbon release for handhelds featuring free-roam world. It was released for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable. NFS carbon acquires similar gameplay as NFS Carbon. The location is similar to the console and PC versions of Most Wanted. |
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| Need for Speed: Most Wanted |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Windows, Xbox 360, PS2, XB, GCN, PSP, GBA, NDS, Mobile
CD, DVD, UMD, GCN Game Disc, GBA Cartridge, NDS Game Card
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Win, PS2, XB, GCN:
United States November 15, 2005
Europe November 24, 2005
Xbox 360:
United States November 22, 2005
Europe December 2, 2005
Mobile phone:
United States December 21, 2005
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| Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City is a Carbon release for handhelds featuring free-roam world. It was released for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable. NFS carbon acquires similar gameplay as NFS Carbon. The location is similar to the console and PC ports of Most Wanted. |
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| Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| PlayStation Portable |
2005 |
| Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 is a PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted. Most Wanted: 5-1-0 features an addition of "Tuner Takedown" and a "Be The Cop" mode not featured in NFS MS. It lacks many elements of its other console and PC counterparts, like cut scenes, a storyline and a free roam mode. |
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| Need for Speed: Underground Rivals |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| PlayStation Portable |
Japan February 2005
United States March 2005
Europe September 2005
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| Need for Speed: Underground Rivals is a PlayStation Portable release of NFS series. Need for speed Rivals offers a little more features than previous releases. The game's soundtrack features both new songs and existing songs from past Need for Speed games. NFS Rivals features several American muscle cars, including those not featured in previous NFS Underground releases. |
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| Need for Speed: Underground 2 |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, GBA, NDS, Mobile
CD, DVD, GCN Game Disc, GBA Cartridge, NDS Game Card
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United States November 15, 2004
Europe November 18, 2004
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| Need 4 Speed Underground 2 offers great performance upgrades for the vehicles. You can buy and tune individual components of vehicles in real-time. NFS Underground 2 offers 4 new variations of races have been provided in Underground 2. One racing mode Knockout competitions was dropped in this release. |
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| Need for Speed Underground |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, GBA
CD, DVD, GCN Game Disc, GBA Cartridge
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United States November 17, 2003
Europe November 28, 2003
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| Need for Speed: Underground is a reformulated and different release to the other N4S games. N4SU provides career mode featuring a storyline and a garage mode that allows players to fully customize their cars.The races are featured at night, and the story line of the game makes it the best game so far. One can experience the speed like never before. NFSU had good sales although there were repetitive tracks, rubberband AI, and lack of an online feature in the GameCube and Xbox versions. |
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| Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows
System requirements for Windows: Pentium III 450Mhz, 128MB RAM, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, 16MB DirectX 8.1 compatible 3D card, and 1.2GB of hard-disk space.
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October 2, 2002
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| Need 4 speed Hot Pursuit 2 features the style and gameplay of NFS 3. The game emphasizes on the-top tracks featuring lengthy shortcuts and evading the police. The game play is significantly improved while some other modes are suffered. This game stresses more on racing than the police pursuits. |
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| Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed/ Porsche 2000 /Porsche |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| PlayStation, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance |
March 24, 2000 (PlayStation)
March 24, 2000 (Microsoft Windows)
March 15, 2004 (Game Boy Advance)
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| Need for speed Porsche Unleashed is a unique addition to previous NFS releases. The game features only Porsches cars while the game play of Porsche Unleashed remains largely the same. MFS PU features good graphics and realistic feel of car handling. Although the game inherits police chases but this feature is only offered in the Factory Driver mode. NFS PU features four modes of play. You can select between Singleplayer, Multiplayer, Evolution, or Factory Driver. The game has a stunning lighting and color displays. |
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| Need for Speed: High Stakes/Road Challenge |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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| Microsoft Windows, PlayStation |
March 24, 1999 (PlayStation)
June 20, 1999 (Microsoft Windows)
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| Need for Speed: High Stakes/Road Challenge was released in the summer of 1999. It retains standard races and police pursuits. The game features a new form of tournament (High Stakes), and two pursuit modes (Getaway and Time Trap). It is also the last game in the Need for Speed series in which two players can play simultaneously on the same computer. The PlayStation version of the NFS HS/RC has improved gameplay, improved AI and new tracks. There are many downloads for high stakes made by players, such as cars, tracks and utilities. High Stakes offers new features but is too similar to NFS III as it contains all its tracks. |
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| Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Microsoft Windows
PlayStation |
Microsoft Windows:
United States September 27, 1998
Japan June 18, 1998
Europe September 27, 1998
PlayStation:
United States March 25, 1998
Japan March 25, 1998
Europe Late March, 1998 |
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit has proved to be the ground-breaking game of N4S series. The game has police and a Hot Pursuit mode. The game has a stunning visuals, great game play and pure excitement.
In contrst to the original NFS, N4S HP allows more police cars to chase a racer. The game has improved AI and nine tracks (including one bonus track). The PlayStation version of Hot Pursuit features five additional bonus tracks, all set in fantastic locations. |
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| Need for Speed II |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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Windows
PlayStation |
April 12, 1997 (Win)
November 17, 1997 (PS)
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Need for Speed II was released in 1997. Many fans were disappointed by this game because this release nullifies the effect of realism in The Need for Speed to arcade-like gameplay. Need for Speed II features several exotic cars of that time. The game also removed police pursuits introduced in the previous releases. The game also supports network play. NFS2 is the first playstation game that supports NeGcon controller, Dual Analog and the DualShock controllers.
Need for Speed II: Special Edition
The special edition of NFS 2 includes one extra track, 4 extra cars, a new driving style called wild, and support for 3D acceleration using the 3Dfx chipset. NFS2 SE has an advanced 3D engine that brings the excitement of driving cars in a realistic way. |
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| The Need For Speed |
| Supported Platforms & Media |
Release dates |
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3DO, DOS
PlayStation
Sega Saturn |
1994 (3DO)
1995 (DOS)
1996 (PS, Sat)
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Need for Speed took two years to be released. The game was renowned for its realistic environment and audio and video commentaries. Electronic Arts teamed up with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behavior in a more realistic way.
The most popular theme all the way through the series is the police cars pursue. This release also features an opponent who mocks the player if he is arrested or loses. The game also contains precise vehicle data.
The Need for Speed: Special Edition
N4S Special Edition was released only on a PC CD-ROM containing DOS and Windows 95. The Windows 95 version supports DirectX 2 and TCP/IP networking. This release includes two new tracks and various enhancements in the game engine.
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| REFERENCES |
| All information regarding this article has been collected from various resources. |
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