It has been 16 years since the first Need for Speed series was launched, and I still have very fond memories playing it on an old DOS PC. It has been a long time and I thought it would be very fitting with the most recent release, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, to take a Sunday drive through the old neighborhood where we grew up and finally heading back home to where we are at now.
Today EA hosted its Investors Day, and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson talked about the company's dedication to generative AI.
He's so excited to layoff more employees for FAKE STUPIDITY computer programing to replace them.
Hopefully EA takes a nosedive just like Ubisoft is currently doing. Lack of money is the only thing that can hurt them and possibly change them.
Knowing EA, I think they're more likely to sell their games cheaper or make Access the only way to play their titles than change course. They seem committed to destroying their labour force.
And the sad part here is that the proof of concept is there, where games can be made using AI.
I hate to say it, but those working in the gaming industry might be cooked. And unfortunately, I'm doubting most people will care as long as they get games they want. EA would absolutely dangle Dead Space 4 or a new Burnout in front of us, developed with AI. I wouldn't take it, but I think most fans would.
If AI does a better job then yeah why not? Though, I have massive doubts it will. If developers aren't willing to put effort in their games then they shouldn't be surprised that they're replaceable.
Damn, a new Burnout, don't even bring that up. It hurts just to read those words.
The indie scene is massive theses days, but the big budget scene is mostly trash. I wouldn't mind to see these big publishers suffer or crumble away.
But that can only happen when the casual gamer stops buying yearly roster updates or whatever garbage is marketed to them on TV.
CantThinkOfAUsername,
I disagree. I don't believe the developers are at fault here. I would think those people don't like what EA is doing, but it's EA and they have tremendous power in the industry. Not everyone has the leadership qualities to peel off and form their own company. Add to the fact that falling out of grace with EA might just be an industry kiss of death. These people don't have any power, so I really don't agree with saying they're not willing to put in the effort.
Hopefully, the only people who're going to be replaced by an AI are Andrew Wilson and his top management goons.
Of course it is. EA has been lazy for years. Profiting for investors and themselves without putting in the work. Having AI write code or build graphics for them just makes them even more lazy.
I'd laugh if those same investors built "executive code" and got rid of EA's CEO and board of directors and replaced them with AI.
Today Electronic Arts hosted its Investors Day and its executives shared what's next for the Battlefield franchise.
ohh god, here we go!
This is exactly why the gaming industry is failing. It's now an industry of suits "trying to find the fun".
...I'll help you out a little, If you're trying to find it, then it's not fun and neither are you. move on!
I disagree, tbh. I definitely wouldn't classify Vince Zampella as a soulless suit. It's kind of an acknowledgement that Battlefield fell off which is why they had to bring him in in the first place. He's probably the best shot EA has of making this franchise fun again.
From a software development perspective, what I read in the article of Zampella's approach of being able to easily playtest and iterate from early on in development is a good thing. That's likely a big part of why his COD games and Titanfall were so fun.
Calling Zampella a suit lol! People like Zampella are the half suits if you will, they bridge the gap between art and business. Suits don't care how fun a game is, they only care about profit margins.
It's people like you that's ruining the gaming platform, negativity already before it's even dropped
20 years ago, Bungie used to have the motto "making games we want to play", if the devs are having fun it's a good sign it's going to be an enjoyable experience. If the devs are worried about shareholders, quotas, fitting in with current trends and trying to make a small percentage of the population happy, it's not an encouraging sign.
Honestly, get them to sit down and play Bad Company 2 together.
If they can't see why that had the magic, they shouldn't be game developers.
It's been three decades since 'Need for Speed' dropped. Here's why the 1994 version of the game is still awesome and why it changed everything.
"nobody ever really learned how to drive from a racing game."
Jann Mardenborough exists, my guy.
Yeah. Besides that ridiculous statement in the article, I really didn't like the first game at all. Cars controlled like bricks. It was only until N4S 2 was when it started to feel better. N4S 3 was when I really got into the series. Hot Pursuit was the shit for home console racing. I mean, it's on my phone like right now with Duck Station and ePSXe depending on which emulator I want to use. The disc is in a drawer and the PS1 in the closet but I had to reminisce every now and then on how fun it still is.
But then it turned into the Fast and the Furious nonsense of EA copying whatever was popular at the time including the music. Also by then, I was boycotting this shitty company for their industry practices of destroying developers and buying up licenses. I mean look, Criterion was purchased to kill competition, acquire the Renderware Engine and gain the Burnout series, then tasked what's left of Criterion into making N4S. Pure bullshit move.
But I did enjoy the series and EA before they turned evil and greedy.
I was literally about to say this. And GT taught me how to drive literally when Gran Turismo came out, being able to drive my GTR to the movie premier was a whole life 360 moment. Damn near cried, shit was unreal.
If I remember right I started with NFS: Pink Slip, but my favorite was NFS: Hot Pursuit2 on PS2. My friend and I would race for hours, the sound track was banging with Uncle Cracker song Fever For The Flavor.
NFS: HP2 was great. Although I had an Xbox and remember feeling distinctly disappointed once I realised the PS2 store demo of it was a totally different game to the game I had purchased for Xbox.
Yea my co worker had an Xbox and a copy of the game, but racing him was different as the courses looked way better on the Xbox than PS2. Seemed like about three races were different since the Xbox was more powerful so sectioned off parts of some tracks were fully raceable breaking through stone walls to access short cuts.
For me, it was the very 1st "Road & Track Presents: The Need For Speed that got me hooked into semi-realistic racing game! Before that, most of the racing games were all very, well, game-ly, like F-Zero, Outrun, Daytona Racing, etc. The R&T Need for speed was one of the 1st game that tried to use real car spec for a more realistic (relatively speaking) driving experience. I also raced with a friend online, using 56K modem!!!
I did not like the early Need for Speed games at all. The series got me at Underground and I have been a fan since. Unfortunately EA sucks major eggs when it comes to consistent quality.
Carbon, Underground 1 and 2, Most Wanted and Heat are among my top racing games ever.
The Run, Payback, Undercover, Unbound and 2015 were all hot garbage to me.
You know the old saying...
If you need half naked girls to sell the product, then it isn't worth the purchase.
Sums up NFS really... Most Wanted was ok but everything else is paff!
Was hoping to see some screens of these chicks. Dislike
where did the babes go?
Naaah, NFS:HP2 is still by far one of the best racing games ever. NFS:U was alright, but after that, NFS went downhill.
GT5 may take the crown as my personal best racing game ever soon enough though because it's... amazing O_O
And holy crap, NFS2:SE!!! I still have the disk for that on PC XD. Soo awesome! :)