First info and screens on Need for Speed: Underground DS

[ArrogantBastard]

New screens and details on EA's upcoming dual-screen racer.

January 25, 2005 - When the Nintendo DS was creeping up on its November 21, 2004 launch date, Electronic Arts was one of the first companies to stand by the system and announce a handful of titles, both for the system's debut as well as its future library. One of the games the company revealed it was developing was a dual-screen version of its Need for Speed Underground series, though the company didn't reveal, at least at the time, what would be unique to this edition of the franchise. Need for Speed Underground DS is slowly approaching its expected Spring 2005 release date, and now EA's ready to take the tarp off this promising racer.

For the Nintendo DS version of the series, Electronic Arts has recruited the skills of Pocketeers, the development studio previously responsible for the two Need for Speed Underground titles for the Game Boy Advance. The team has already proven itself with, at the very least, amazing 3D graphic engines on hardware that was never meant to pull 3D off...at all. With the Nintendo DS hardware, however, Pocketeers has a lot more capabilities under the hood to work with, so we're expecting some impressive things out of the visuals that Need for Speed Underground DS will push. The early screenshots offered up by Electronic Arts already show sharper car models and texture work on the environments, but we'll have to wait and see the game in motion before we make a final assessment on the team's grasp of the DS' capabilities.

As for utilizing the other components of the Nintendo DS system, Need for Speed Underground will utilize both screens for multiple features. During races, the lower-screen will, not surprisingly, be used for track maps. Its touch-sensitive feature will also come into play when players need to kick in their car's nitrous for a massive boost of speed. But Need for Speed Underground has always been about personal expression and customization, and the Nintendo DS' touch-screen will come into play here to put custom decals on their rides. The development team has incorporated a paint program that enables decal artists to create whatever their minds can conceive for true vehicular personality. Anything you can draw with the stylus can be slapped on specific locations of your car's exterior.

Of course, wireless play is obviously a huge draw for the Nintendo DS version of Need for Speed Underground. Though Electronic Arts hasn't confirmed the feature yet, we're expecting that the game will require a copy of the game for each player that wants to enter the race; it certainly would be killer to have Game Share mode a la Ridge Racer DS for single cartridge multiplayer, the game looks far too complex to make this feature a reality this early in the Nintendo DS' life. Fingers crossed, though.

Electronic Arts is expected to make an official announcement regarding Need for Speed Underground DS later this week. In the meantime, have a look at some exclusive screenshots by hitting the media links below.

Link to the article: http://ds.ign.com/articles/582/582623p1.html

I'm surprised how the game looks right now, and that's saying a lot with what we've seen with the Ridge Racer DS and the Asphalt Urban GT-whateveritsnameis. Not only does it look good, but they're actually making the touchscreen more useful than just pointing and prodding around.

I'm really looking forward to this.

[zer0eight]

Bastard,

I played the DS for a short while, unfortunately I was not that impressed by the system. While I am not generally a graphics junkie, I think the N64 type of graphics have aged to much for use in 3d games these days. While the DS has a good price point, the only portable that seems kinda intresting to me is the Sony PSP. To bad it is expensive as hell. Nintendo should of made a more powerful gameboy advance with one screen twice the size of the original. That would of been cool!

zer0eight

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Nintendo should of made a more powerful gameboy advance with one screen twice the size of the original. That would of been cool!

zer0eight

They had to differentiate themselves from Sony or be crushed. I too have been saying since the beginning of time that they should've made one big screen.

[Stormwatch]

Oh wow, another Need for Speed. *yawns*

Who else dislikes the way racing games are nowadays? Just two or three cars around you. Bleh. Remember good old Daytona USA, with 40 cars on the track? Now that's how you make a badass racing game!