PlayStation.Blog » need for speed the run

Need for Speed The Run Out Now, 24 Hour Marathon Friday

Coulter Mulligan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:50:02 +0000

Hey guys – Need for Speed The Run is out! Finally you can take to the streets as Jack and race for your life across the United States. Of course, you can also start competing with your friends via Autolog. Speaking of Autolog, it makes its return and is much improved from the previous iteration. You’ll be able to track your entire career and compare your times against your friends as you continue to play and compete.

Oh, and let’s not forget that the multiplayer is absolutely awesome. You can create your own playlist of races to play with your friends, or you can jump straight into a race in progress! As you keep playing you’ll be leveling up and earning access to vehicles, upgrades, and abilities, giving you plenty of reasons to stick with it and get an edge over your friends.

And as you most likely know, we have a very special treat for PS3 owners. The following seven cars are exclusive to PS3 owners in North America! You get seven amazing supercars just for being you! Here’s the full list

Couple that with the cars you get with the Limited Edition—the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Porsche 911 Carrera S, and Lamborghini Aventador—and you’ve got some of the best cars in the game right from the start. Not a bad deal!

To celebrate the launch of Need for Speed The Run, our community and Dev teams will be playing The Run for 24 hours straight starting this Friday during our “Up All Night” event. When you get the game, I advise you get some practice in — when the time comes, you’ll be ready to take them down!

Enjoy, and let us know what you think of the game!

Need for Speed The Run: PS3-Only Supercars Revealed, Michael Bay Trailer

Coulter Mulligan — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:34:58 +0000

We’re days away from the release of Need for Speed The Run, the illicit cross-country race from San Francisco to New York in the fastest cars on the planet. Jack (played by Hollywood actor Sean Faris) finds himself racing against 200 other racers in pursuit of a $25 million cash prize.

Speaking of Hollywood, if PlayStation fans haven’t seen the new trailer directed by Michael Bay, definitely take a look right now:

Seriously cool, huh? In true Michael Bay form, it’s jam-packed with action and explosions. What’s really neat is that Bay actually took time to get his hands on the game, and talk with our creative team for inspiration.

If you’ve already pre-ordered the Limited Edition of the game, then you’re entitled to some really slick cars, including the Lamborghini Aventador.

But PS3 players get another bonus: seven supercars! Today, exclusively on the PlayStation.Blog, we are revealing two of these seven cars with in-game screenshots and specs. Which one is your favorite?

Lexus LFA

Lexus enters the world of 200mph supercars with the LFA. Helping push it over the 200mph barrier is a 4.8L V10 and a carbon fiber frame to minimizing weight. The engine can go from idle to redline in 0.6 seconds, forcing Lexus engineers to use a digital display because the needle wasn’t fast enough. In Need for Speed The Run, hear what is described as “the roar of an angel” as the Lexus LFA battles it out with the fastest supercars in the world.

Porsche Carrera GT

With an engine originally designed to be an endurance racing prototype, the Porsche Carrera GT is a 200mph bullet. Production ran from 2004-2006, but the mid-engine V10 is hardly forgotten. Boasting 604hp, 15-inch brakes and an automated spoiler that adjusts above 70mph, the Carrera GT is as beautiful in its design as it is in its sound. In The Run, you’ll find yourself turning up the volume just so you can hear the incredible whine coming from the dual exhaust pipes.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
Hennessey Venom GT
GUMPERT apollo s
Lamborghini Countach QV5000
Koenigsegg Agera R
Lexus LFA
Porsche Carrera GT

The Run was developed on PlayStation, and these cars are going to look spectacular. Who wouldn’t want to start with some of the fastest cars on the planet right off the bat?

Remember, Need for Speed The Run is out next Tuesday, November 15th, so pre-order now.

Need for Speed The Run Demo Hits PSN Tomorrow

Coulter Mulligan — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:00:29 +0000

As PlayStation fans should already know, Need for Speed The Run is an illicit high-stakes cross-country race from San Francisco to New York. You’ll be playing as Jack, who is a marked man and his only way out is to battle other 200 racers for a sweet $25 million dollar prize.

Starting October 18th, PS3 owners can get their hands on The Run demo on the PlayStation Store! Featuring the monster Lamborghini LP550-2 Valentino Balboni and the brand-new Porsche Carrera S, the demo will let you open them up in two locations set in the US. (As a side note, don’t forget that if you live in the US, Canada or the UK, you can win the new Carrera S in real life just by logging into your EA account!)

Desert Hills will have you jockeying for position through the sweeping Nevada highways, while Independence Pass presents an entirely different challenge. An avalanche bears down on your Lambo (or Porsche) as you dice it up against an Audi R8, avoiding falling boulders and the onslaught of snow that’s right on your rear bumper. At that point it’s not so much about winning as it is surviving!

All of your times are tracked using Need For Speed’s Autolog feature, allowing you to challenge your PSN friends and beat their times.

Lastly, just by pre-ordering the game on PS3, you automatically get seven exclusive supercars to use! These aren’t just throwaway cars either. PlayStation players will get the following beasts in their garage:

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
Hennessey Venom GT
GUMPERT apollo s
Lamborghini Countach QV5000
Koenigsegg Agera R
Lexus LFA
Porsche Carrera GT

Not a bad list, eh? Download the demo on PS3 October 18th, and get the full game on November 15th!

Need for Speed: The Run – 200 Racers, One Avalanche

Rey Gutierrez — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:52:45 +0000

You may recognize Executive Producer Jason DeLong on Need for Speed: The Run from our live E3 show, which we streamed live from our PlayStation booth earlier this year. Interactive cinemas, fast cars and loud tunes propelled The Run at E3, but all along EA Black Box was quietly scheming to reveal more at gamescom.

In my play session, I chased after a pearl white Laborghini Aventador down a treacherous mountain road on Independence Pass in Colorado. Then it happened: I found myself staring at an oncoming avalanche from behind the wheel of my car, plowing and drifting through chaos while I sat comfortably in a dark room at EA’s show floor. I couldn’t help but smile after my demo session with Need for Speed: The Run, knowing that I finally got to play a true-to-form Michael-Bay-inspired Hollywood action racer on my PS3.

I got a few minutes with DeLong and picked his brain about a retaining the authenticity and how the high-tech Frostbite rendering engine opens up new storytelling vistas for this action racer.

Hands on with Need For Speed: The Run

Sid Shuman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:44:41 +0000

Need for Speed: The Run is the boldest departure for a series known for its laser-like focus on fast cars and tight driving mechanics. For the first time in Need for Speed history, you’re not a nameless, faceless driver; You play as an actual person named Jack. And Jack is facing tough times. “He’s a marked man,” explained Product Manager Darin Perfonic in a hands-on showcase last week. “He’s got serious problems with some guys who want him dead.”

Those “guys” are actually wiseguys — the Mafia. And Jack’s last, best hope for survival lies in entering The Run, a sprawling 3,000-mile cross-country race from San Francisco to New York City. With a cool $25 million for a first-place finish, The Run represents Jack’s last chance for salvation before the goodfellas find him and settle Jack’s debts — permanently. “Imagine a Michael Bay summer action-driving movie and that you get to play it,” Perfonic elaborated. “That’s our vision. We want to create a playable summer blockbuster.”

Sitting behind the wheel of The Run, I was struck by the game’s gleaming graphical fidelity and huge draw distances. The graphics are based on the Frostbite engine, better known as the rendering technology that powers the Battlefield series. “Frostbite allows us to iterate really quickly and to create a lot of environment depth,” Perfonic noted. “It’s also allowing us to make the biggest Need for Speed game ever — more than 300 kilometers of track.”

The cross-country theme and new tech also lends The Run some welcome visual variety, with tracks ranging from the heavily populated downtown urban settings of San Francisco and Chicago to the lush valleys of Yosemite, the imposing mountains of Colorado, and the sprawling plains of the Midwest. You won’t only be battling fellow racers and the mob, but also the elements. In The Run, environmental hazards such as dust storms and blizzards are just as dangerous as an aggressive competitor.

With The Run’s emphasis on cross-country pack racing, you’ll begin the game dead last in the race and slowly work your way through the pack as you approach the final showdown in New York City. Each state in the game tasks you with passing a certain milestone. “If you don’t make the cut, you’re out of The Run,” Perfonic added ominously. “It’s a new element we haven’t had in the series before, and it pushes you forward in the game.” When you win races and completing challenges, you’ll earn XP that you can use to access new cars, new challenges and other rewards.

The Run includes another first for the venerable Need for Speed series: the ability to leave your car. “You can’t get out of the car whenever you want,” Perfonic clarified, “but the narrative will force you into certain situations and you’ll have to advance the story.” The out-of-car sequences help provide some context for why you’re switching cars mid-race — especially once the mob catches up with you in Chicago. “You’ll drive multiple cars. The fiction drives what vehicle you’ll commandeer,” Perfonic explained.

My play session was set early in the game on the outskirts of Las Vegas, a dusty desert track riddled with dirt-road shortcuts. Based on my hands-on experience, the racing physics felt like a hybrid of NFS: Hot Pursuit and NFS: Shift, with the arcadey accessibility of the former and the weightier vehicles of the latter.

After my hands-on time was over, I was left with many, many more questions. Will the racing extend from cars to other vehicles such as motorcycles? “You’ll have to wait and see!” Perfonic teased. Perfonic did confirm that multiplayer will be a major focus and that the social-media-infused Autolog feature will make a return from NFS: Hot Pursuit.

E3 Replay: Need for Speed: The Run Unbuckles the Seatbelt

Rey Gutierrez — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:00:13 +0000

Sid, Jeff and I have this recurring debate on how to keep a gaming franchise fresh and new over multiple iterations. We’ve discussed everything from and removing the football from Madden to taking BioShock out of the deep blue sea (oh wait.) These may sound like little more than preposterous game pitches, but with the latest iteration of Need for Speed, it seams like the dev team at EA eavesdropped on one of our many heated debates. Need for Speed: The Run takes the driver out of the car and into the underbelly of the city streets.

Executive Producer Jason Delong joined us on our E3 livestream and presented a radically different vision for Need for Speed — one in which you’re not always behind the wheel. I’ve always been a huge fan of all things fast, and Need for Speed has been a long time favorite racing franchise of mine, so when Jason walked us through The Run, I was skeptical at first — but by the end, I was sold on the newest Need for Speed.

Check out the video above for a full in-depth walk-through.