Author Archives: Texhnolith

It’s officially summer, which loosely translated, means driving with the top down, enjoying the sun and evading the police! It also means road trips, so it’s a good thing we’re only mere months away from Need for Speed The Run! To get you in the mood for that epic race across the country, we’re offering discounts across tons of EA Racing DLC and a new digital bundle for Burnout Paradise.

Whether you’re outrunning cops in Hot Pursuit or creating spectacular crashes in Burnout Paradise, the Summer of Speed DLC discounts on the PSN Store can breathe new life into your favorite racing games and help you catch up on the ones you missed because we’re discounting add-ons for the following games:

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Armed & Dangerous $3.99
Lamborghini Untamed $3.99
Porsche Unleashed $3.99
Super Sports Pack $3.99
Three For All Bundle $10.99

Need for Speed SHIFT
Exotic Racing Series $2.99

Burnout Paradise
Big Surf Island $2.99
Boost Specials Collection $1.99
Cops And Robbers $1.99
Legendary Cars Collection $1.99
Party Pack $1.99
Time Savers Pack $1.99
Toy Collection $1.99

Need for Speed: Undercover
Boss Car Bundle $1.99
Collector’s Edition Upgrade $2.99
Exotic Car Bundle $1.99
Muscle Car Bundle $1.99
Tuner Car Bundle $1.99
Ultimate Performance Bundle $1.99
Ultimate Visual Bundle $1.99

Need for Speed: ProStreet
Collector’s Edition Upgrade $2.99
Extender Pack Premium Car Bundle #1 $1.99
Extender Pack Premium Car Bundle #2 $1.99
Muscle Car Bundle $1.99
Sport Car Bundle $1.99
Tuner Car Bundle $1.99
Ultimate Performance Bundle $2.99

Lastly, for those who haven’t bought Burnout Paradise, you’ll see a new “Burnout Paradise Full Game Plus” bundle in the PSN Store. The bundle includes the full digital game with the Boost Specials and Time Savers DLC packs.

Remember, the Burnout Paradise digital bundle and racing game DLC discounts are currently only available on the PSN in North America.

The Run is going to feature different types of races, and we’ll be revealing those in the coming weeks. That being said, there is a lot we can already tell you from the videos we’ve released. Throughout The Run you’ll be faced with an array of gameplay experiences, and some were revealed in our E3 demo.

DEATH FROM ABOVE

When we titled our trailer “Death From Above,” we meant it. Whether you’re dodging bullets on foot, or in the car, staying in the spotlight of the helicopter too long means certain death for you. Your job is to avoid the spotlight as much as possible while simultaneously trying to get out of Chicago alive. It’s worth noting that when you watch our demo video, not only is it pre-alpha, but we’ve dialed the damage down quite a bit to allow the people that played the game at E3 to complete the level on their first try.

In the demo, we wanted to show you three different experiences that you’ll have within The Run. While the game is unquestionably a racing game at heart, the Chicago level gives a great idea of other challenges you will endure in your race to New York.

The demo starts you in an 800hp Mustang Super Snake, then switches you to an out-of-car sequence, and in the end you find yourself evading a chopper while trying to navigate the streets of Chicago in a cop car that you had to steal when the mob t-boned your Shelby. In doing so, you’ll find in this segment you’re not so much focused on crossing the finish line first as you are trying to escape with your life and get back into the race. This rewards the player who is more technical and strategic with his driving, as opposed to one focused on straight-line speed who would otherwise be taken out by the helicopter.

OUT-OF-CAR SEQUENCES

In the past, story-based Need for Speed games would have edge-of-your-seat races, with plot cut-scenes in-between where you would just put down the controller and watch. With The Run, we want to change that and keep you at the edge of your seat for the ENTIRE experience, whether you’re driving at 200mph, or discovering the next plot twist. To put it simply, we want you to play the story rather than watch the story.

Furthermore, you’ll notice that the out-of-car moments are also an excellent new mechanic for something quite traditional in racing games—changing your car. If you’re in an illicit cross-country race and your car gets taken out by the mob, or you lose a tire, one option is to quickly steal another and get right back into The Run.

THE CORE OF THE RUN

This is a true Need for Speed game. There is no doubt about it. You’ll be driving the world’s hottest cars as fast as you can while we tie it in to an action-movie, white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat-at-all-times experience.

We are changing the way we look at racing games. It’s not always about a 3-2-1 start and seeing who can reach the finish line first.

Over the next few months, we’re going to bring you a bunch of great Need for Speed The Run stuff, and while we wouldn’t want to reveal it all at once, we wanted to check in with you guys on some of the things we revealed at E3.

For one, the story. The E3 demo, Death From Above, dropped you right in the middle of the action on the streets and rooftops of Chicago, but that’s like reading only a few pages in the middle of a novel. So, here’s a bit of the set-up. Everything begins when Jack gets himself into some very serious trouble, and the only way to solve his problem is to enter and win an illicit, 150-driver race form San Francisco to New York.

In Chicago, where the demo takes place, you (as Jack) are only 800 miles from NYC. Jack is aware that the mob is involved, but in the streets of Chicago, he realizes just how invested they are in keeping him from finishing the race. You’ll also notice that since you’re in the later stages of an illicit race, a lot of law enforcement is trying to bring your Run to an end.

In designing the game, we explored the possibility of free-roam, but decided that in The Run, the ultimate goal is to get from San Francisco to New York City as fast as possible, which means you keep going at all times, rather than exploring the city or stopping for lunch. That’s why the out-of-car scenes, while revealing the story, are all about keeping you immersed in the action, getting you to your next car, and getting you back to top speed as quickly as possible.