NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT, WORLD ONLINE, NITRO

This year ELECCTRONIC ARTS trowing three NEED FOR SPEEDS in the gaming world. First time in NFS history, three games have been releasing in the same year. NFS SHIFT, NFS WORLD ONLINE and NFS NITRO. Although EA is releasing three games in one year but the interesting thing is the difference between them. Each aimed at a different audience.

Need For Speed: Shift, which will be similar to past games, though with a heavier emphasis on simulation. One of the ways that it will attempt to do this is via an in-depth cockpit view mode and some sort of new crash mechanic. The game is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios and will be hitting the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and PlayStation Portable.

The latest Need for Speed games always had pretty girls on the cover, on your side during the story or at least at the starting line at the beginning of the race. If we can believe an article on Speedhunters the model Michelle Cifuentes will be a new Need for Speed girl!

Need For Speed: Nitro, which is being developed by EA Montreal, will feature much more arcade-style racing. The game is being developed for both the Nintendo Wii and DS, and will feature some in-depth car customization in addition to arcade racing features like boost. It also will feature another NFS staple: cops that will chase you down a la Hot Pursuit. EA is hoping the game will appeal to new players and genre fans alike.

The third game will be another attempt by EA to enter the free-to-play space. Need For Speed: World Online is similar to Battlefield Heroes, and will be a free-to-play PC title but with optional paid microtransactions as well. Other than the payment model, details for World Online are slim. The game will launch in Asia first, and if successful, will be released in other markets soon after. It is being co-developed by EA Black Box and EA Singapore.

With another trio of titles, it's clear that EA has no plans to take a step back and slow dow, as Activision attempted to do with the Tony Hawk series. At least the franchise is now seeing some diversity, and hopefully each game will bring something new and interesting to the racing genre. No release dates have been announced yet, but all 3 titles are expected to hit sometime in 2009.