Topic: Need for Speed Most Wanted U: It's deserves your purchase!

[ShyGuy]

Two videos came out today that impressed me so much, I needed to make a thread. Criterion decided to put some effort into their port of NFS to the Wii U.

- It's got PC assests so better textures
- The expanded Wii U memory allows for a tweaked draw distance and lighting.
- New asymmetric gameplay mode, allowing for a second player to tweak game settings on the fly during the race. The video shows the player avoiding collisions by turning off traffic and also switching from day to night on the fly.

Criterion avoided Nintendo hardware since Burnout 2, but they really have stepped up here in spite of EA's apparent sour attitude towards the Wii U. Support their hardwork! Be a Kairon! Buy good third party games!

[Adrock]

I really don't want to give EA my money... I know that's counterproductive considering this is supposedly a great release, but EA have been such dicks.

[ShyGuy]

It's been a tumultuous time for developers and publishers!

Ubisoft was doing great until the stupid Rayman delay.
EA has been mediocre at best, but Criterion is stepping up with NFS MWU!
Gearbox apparently pulled a bait and switch with Aliens vs Colonial Marines, but I don't know if we can blame Sega.

[ShyGuy]

'Nother video!

[Enner]

Ah, Alex Ward from Criterion Games must be on press duty as all these videos are from outlets based in San Francisco, CA.

I did notice some pop-in and frame rate dips in the videos so that is discouraging. Though, the other versions have similar issues.


EDIT: After finishing the single-player portion of the game on my PC, any performance issues I had watching the videos would be preferable to how the PC version performed for me. Ugh.

[alegoicoe]

If by the time it releases the game is polished and working properly, I'll probably get it.

[EasyCure]

I think this will be the first retail release that I download instead. I can see myself playing it, I just don't see myself picking it off the shelf of games, ya know what I mean? Among the other games I'm currently playing, this would be at the bottom of the pile. However, if it's just sitting there on the Home screen, I can see myself choosing it over whatever I had loaded in the disk slot, just for change of pace.

Does that make sense?

[alegoicoe]

I think this will be the first retail release that I download instead. I can see myself playing it, I just don't see myself picking it off the shelf of games, ya know what I mean? Among the other games I'm currently playing, this would be at the bottom of the pile. However, if it's just sitting there on the Home screen, I can see myself choosing it over whatever I had loaded in the disk slot, just for change of pace.

Does that make sense?

Makes perfect sense. From my point of view; at least I get to race around a bit instead of checking Miiverse everytime I boot up the system cause at this point I have nothing else to do with it. I already beat NSMBU a dozen times and Zombi U twice, and I am not paying for overpriced games that I can get for 1/4 off the retail asking price.

[Kytim89]

Perhaps EA could put Criterion on track to help port over a Dead Space collection for the Wii U by the end of the year?

[alegoicoe]

^I highly doubt EA would be so nice as to put one of their best studios to work on porting games over to Wii U. NFS I understand, I mean they made the game, but porting over Dead Space, no way. Specially with the Nintendo vs EA feud that has been brewing since last year.

[UltraClayton]

I kind of doubt it will come to the eShop. If I recall, EA said something a while ago about being hesitant to bring their games to the eShop and they will probably just stick to physical copies for a while.

[TJ Spyke]

I kind of doubt it will come to the eShop. If I recall, EA said something a while ago about being hesitant to bring their games to the eShop and they will probably just stick to physical copies for a while.

Both Madden NFL 13 and FIFA Soccer 13 are on the eShop.

[Caterkiller]

I'm noticing elsewhere the vibe for this game is generally positive and the trend seems to be that many people are getting it. Ok I'm in. First realistic racer ever.

[alegoicoe]

I'm noticing elsewhere the vibe for this game is generally positive and the trend seems to be that many people are getting it. Ok I'm in. First realistic racer ever.

Good, I believe playing this game online should be fun, al least it was one of the prominent features back when it released on the ps3/360.

[UltraClayton]

Both Madden NFL 13 and FIFA Soccer 13 are on the eShop.

Lol, guess it just goes to show I should get a Wii U first, talk later.

[bustin98]

I'm noticing elsewhere the vibe for this game is generally positive and the trend seems to be that many people are getting it. Ok I'm in. First realistic racer ever.

This is not a realistic racer. It has the look of a 'realistic' environment, but it will play as an arcade racer, with slides,  boosts, high speed, and takedowns. Gran Turismo this is not. And I love it for it.

[azeke]

Is there some gameplay reason why this doesn't have splitscreen?

It's because it's open world?

[Caterkiller]

I'm noticing elsewhere the vibe for this game is generally positive and the trend seems to be that many people are getting it. Ok I'm in. First realistic racer ever.

This is not a realistic racer. It has the look of a 'realistic' environment, but it will play as an arcade racer, with slides,  boosts, high speed, and takedowns. Gran Turismo this is not. And I love it for it.

 

Oops I knew that, what I meant was my first racer where everything wasn't a cartoon.

[Louieturkey]

I'm noticing elsewhere the vibe for this game is generally positive and the trend seems to be that many people are getting it. Ok I'm in. First realistic racer ever.

This is not a realistic racer. It has the look of a 'realistic' environment, but it will play as an arcade racer, with slides,  boosts, high speed, and takedowns. Gran Turismo this is not. And I love it for it.

 

Oops I knew that, what I meant was my first racer where everything wasn't a cartoon.

I think you'll enjoy it.  It's basically the spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise and that game was awesome.  This one should be just as fun just with a lot more cops involved.

[Enner]

Is there some gameplay reason why this doesn't have splitscreen?

It's because it's open world?

That might be it. Then again, Criterion developed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for 2010. That game is based around sprint races and could have had split-screen multiplayer but didn't. They may be sacrificing split-screen support to improve graphical quality.

A Digital Foundry article on the game has some choice quotes:

(On the CPU)
"When they first looked at the specs on paper a lot of developers said, 'Well, you know this is a bit lightweight' and they walked away. I think a lot of people have been premature about it in a lot of ways because while it is a lower clock-speed, it punches above its weight in a lot of other areas," he explains.

"So, I think you've got one group of people who walked away, you've got some other people who just dived in and tried and thought, 'Ah... it's not kind of there,' but not many people have done what we've done, which is to sit down and look at where it's weaker and why, but also see where it's stronger and leverage that. It's a different kind of chip and it's not fair to look at its clock-speed and other consoles' clock-speed and compare them as numbers that are relevant. It's not a relevant comparison to make when you have processors that are so divergent. It's apples and oranges."

(Final thoughts)
"The Wii U has had a bit of a bad rap - people have said it's not as powerful as 360, this, that and the other. That, by and large, has been based on apples to oranges comparisons that don't really hold water. Hopefully we'll go some way to proving that wrong," he says.

"Nintendo don't speak about that, it's not their core focus at all but they did their 'Iwata Asks' about the hardware and it talks consistently about how they got to keep it quiet with low power consumption, and they totally did that... but what they haven't really championed is how they delivered something that could do this as well [he points to the 50-inch Panasonic playing host to Most Wanted U]... It's possible. It's work. You have to think about it and put time and craft and effort and whatever else into it but you have to do that for everything that's worth doing in this business... I think people should either go all-in or not bother."

Much love to Criterion. I'm still a bit better that Burnout 3: Takedown never came to the Gamecube, but it's only a tiny bit.

[ShyGuy]

Yeah,  Burnout 3 for the Xbox was amazing.

[alegoicoe]

Yeah,  Burnout 3 for the Xbox was amazing.

Personally I think Burnout 3 was the high point of the series. Paradise was good, but too big and much of the same.

[Stogi]

That game did have split screen and probably the best maps too.

[Do_What]

I didn't even realize this game was coming to Wii U. I hope it sells well, I would buy it, if not for the fact that I already own the PC version and have played it through to as complete as I ever want to.

[Kairon]

I'll be a Kairon! Oh.. wait... I guess I already sort of am...

But I am PUMPED over the idea of Miiverse integration and the off-TV Play. I honestly have never been big into Arcade racers and have NEVER played a game in this franchise or maybe even genre before. This'll be fun. If I end up not getting Monster Hunter Ultimate this March, Need For Speed will be to blame.