If you’re eager to try out the new direction of the Need for Speed franchise, then you may possibly have an early chance, so long as you plan to play on a console. Publisher, EA has announced a closed beta for the upcoming reboot, simply titled Need for Speed, and you can sign up for the beta here: http://www.needforspeed.com/en_GB/beta-sign-up. Be advised that you will need an EA Account set up first, and, naturally, not everyone who signs up will get selected for the beta.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the beta is only being offered for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This ties into a second bit of news regarding the anticipated racing game, and it’s not so good for PC gamers. Need for Speed has suffered a lengthy delay on PC, and the PC version of the game now won’t arrive before Spring 2016. There’s no word on whether a PC beta will come later, or won’t be offered at all.
The reason for the delay, which was confirmed directly by developer, Ghost Games on their personal blog, is primarily due to the desire for an uncapped framerate, and enhanced game performance on PC over consoles. Apparently, the studio had a choice of either forcing parity with the console versions, or giving the PC version an added technical boost, though ensuring that those with high-end rigs can have the optimal Need for Speed experience meant that the game wouldn’t be ready for almost another six months on the PC platform. Given the game’s highly ambitious online architecture, that also played a big part in development demands for an uncapped framerate, especially after EA ran into trouble with the online DRM mandates of their SimCity reboot from 2013, which frequently disconnected and was mostly unplayable for weeks after launch, due to the servers not being able to manage the high traffic.
Fortunately, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Need for Speed are still on schedule for November 3rd of this year. Ghost Games also promises that any content updates applied to the console versions after launch will be included automatically with the PC version’s launch next year.
Keep racing to Eggplante for all news and updates on Need for Speed.