Surprise! We're still here, and not just here - we have a whole year's worth of content coming to you! NFS turns 30 this year, and with that huge legacy, we couldn't stand idle. However, this year will be a bit different from the previous one. Because here's the thing—the NFS legacy signifies different things to each and every one of you. Some of you were there at the start of it all on Road and Track. Some of you will remember taking on the Eastsiders in Olympic City or smashing your way through the Blacklist in Rockport. Or you might have started playing more recently. Hustling by day and risking it all by night in Palm City. No matter your memory, we all have a shared love of NFS, and we want to build new memories over the next 12 months.

But, we'll be honest and admit we can't build everything everyone wants right now, but we can decide together what NFS should be in the future. Our vision is that through our second year of live service, you can, for the first time, begin to play the ultimate NFS experience in one place. Your feedback and gameplay will help shape the future of this iconic franchise. As you play, we will be listening, observing and reacting to the things you want to see and those you don't. It's an approach that we're calling Kaizen.

Put the pedal to the metal this GFN Thursday as Forza Motorsport leads 23 new games in the cloud. Plus, Acer's Predator Connect 6E is the newest addition to the GeForce NOW Recommended program, with easy cloud gaming quality-of-service (QoS) settings built in to give Ultimate members the best streaming experience.

No Breaks, No Limits, No Downloads
Take the pole position thanks to the cloud. Turn 10 Studios' Forza Motorsport joins the GeForce NOW library this week. The realistic racing sim features over 500 realistically rendered cars across 20 dynamic and world-famous tracks, each with dynamic time-of-day, weather and driving conditions, so no two laps will ever be the same. Unlock more than 800 performance upgrades and outbuild the competition, either online or against new, highly competitive AI racers in the single-player Builders Cup Career Mode. Stream every turn at GeForce quality on nearly any device and max out image quality thanks to the cloud. Ultimate members can get in gear at up to 4K resolution and at up to 120 frames per second for the most realistic driving experience.

Hi Everyone, today I'd like to share that the talented team at Criterion Games will be joining EA Entertainment. Criterion has a rich history in gaming, having worked on Battlefield, Battlefront, Burnout, and of course, Need for Speed. I'm thrilled to have a studio with such pedigree join the studios I oversee. As we've said before, we're all-in on Battlefield. Today, Criterion is added to our world-class Battlefield studios dedicated to ushering in a new era for the franchise.

The majority of the team will be working alongside DICE, Ripple Effect, and Ridgeline that are led by Byron Beede, GM of Battlefield. Criterion's experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe. There is no better studio to join us on this journey and I couldn't be more excited.

NVIDIA DLSS 3 is available now in 40 games, and is coming to more games this year. Today, The First Descendant joins that ever-expanding list of upcoming DLSS 3 games, ensuring GeForce RTX gamers receive the definitive experience the second it launches.

This week, Gord and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre launch with DLSS 2, accelerating frame rates for all GeForce RTX gamers, and Achilles: Legends Untold is available now.

Microsoft has revealed the next set of titles that will be coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC, Cloud, and Xbox Series X/S. The list includes Need for Speed Unbound, The Bookwalker, Bramble: The Mountain King and FIST: Forged in Shadow Torch, and several other titles.

Xbox Game Pass will also be getting new DLCs and game updates, new Ultimate Perks, and new Xbox Game Pass Quests. There is also a list of games that will be leaving the Xbox Game Pass on June 30th.

Intel Graphics today released the latest version of its Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.4090 beta comes with launch-day optimization for "Forspoken." The company also fixed a couple of issues with this release. For Arc "Alchemist" discrete GPUs, an application freeze issue with "A Plague Tale: Requiem" has been fixed. Box corruptions noticed in "Need for Speed: Unbound," have also been fixed. For Intel Core processors with Xe LP-based iGPUs, a screenspace corruption issue with NFS: Unbound has been fixed; besides an intermittent application crash with Total War: Warhammer III in DirectX 11 mode, and color corruption in Battlefield: 2042. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4090 beta

Need for Speed Unbound (NFS Unbound), the latest entry to the popular genre-defining race sim by EA that launched today, unearthed a problem with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 "Ada" graphics card that cannot be fixed by simply updating the drivers or the game. This is a world-first—never before has a game required a VBIOS update to work around problems.

According to EA, the title exhibits a display flashing/blinking issue on machines powered by the RTX 4090, which requires a firmware update (i.e. video BIOS update). Luckily, this doesn't involve putting your RTX 4090 through a nerve-racking NVFlash manual BIOS update process (not that there's any risk with most RTX 4090 cards shipping with dual-BIOS). NVIDIA has released a fully-automated Firmware Update Tool that can be run from within Windows, which easily updates the video BIOS of the RTX 4090. We confirmed that it is in fact the video BIOS that is being updated (by comparing the VBIOS dumps before and after using the tool).Update Dec 3rd: EA Support has just updated their support recommendation from graphics card VBIOS update to a motherboard BIOS update. "After testing, we've found a solution is to upgrade the motherboard BIOS. Please refer to your motherboard manufacturer's support page to obtain the latest system BIOS," the updated recommendation reads.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Codemasters for 604 pence (approximately US$8.37) in cash for each ordinary share of Codemasters with an implied enterprise value of US$1.2 billion.

The combination of Electronic Arts and Codemasters marks an exciting new era in racing game entertainment. Bringing together two of the most passionate, creative and talented game developer and publishing organizations in the industry will enable further growth and continued success for a stable of the most powerful and popular racing brands in the world, including Formula 1, Need for Speed, DIRT, DiRT Rally/WRC, GRID, Project CARS, Real Racing and more. With this critically acclaimed portfolio, Electronic Arts and Codemasters will be positioned to bring fans a regular cadence of new and exciting racing content, in addition to reaching across more platforms and more regions of the world.

Electronic Arts has reportedly expressed interest in taking over UK-based game developer Codemasters, the studio behind the official Formula One-licensed F1 series; DiRT series, and other hit motorsports franchises. EA comes from the legacy of Need for Speed, and is possibly eyeing the prestige of the F1 license that comes with Codemasters, besides the studios innovations and expertise with race simulation. In doing so, EA has gatecrashed the £725 million take-over bid by Take-Two Interactive, announced in November 2020. EA will reportedly formalize and disclose its competing bid for Codemasters later today (December 14, 2020), which is naturally expected to be higher than that of Take-Two.

UPDATE: EA really swung out of the gates with a baton made of stylishly compacted bills, and took the prize home. The company has announced it has reached an agreement with Codemasters' Board of Directors to purchase the company for $1.2 billion.

Feel the thrill of the chase and the rush of escape in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, coming to Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 6, and to Nintendo Switch on November 13! Ten years ago, Criterion Games released their critically acclaimed franchise debut Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. It introduced NFS and racing fans to the winding, open roads of Seacrest County, Criterion's renowned feel for breakneck speed and gameplay, and the innovative Autolog system, empowering true social competition between friends.

Ever since, we've heard so many stories about the triumphant moments and heated rivalries Autolog fostered. Some of which run very, very deep. Unleash a savage sense of speed both as an outlaw and a cop in this timeless racing experience updated for today's platforms. Get cross-platform multiplayer and Autolog, enhanced visuals, all main DLC delivered at launch, and much more. It's time to reignite the pursuit.

EA via its EA play event has teased next-gen graphics and gameplay from upcoming titles on its publishing label. The games showcase work in progress for next-generation games that seem to be set in three well-known franchises, with Motive, who has just recently developed Star Wars Squadron in conjunction with Lucasfilm, seemingly presenting the only new IP.

From Criterion, a new Need for Speed game is teased, with particular emphasis being put on both detail level on cars and reflections, as well as the absence of any loading times granted by next-gen hardware. Bioware's showcase seems like a tease for Dragon Age 4 - there is a distinct fantasy look to the video, and I believe I've seen those red colors in previous entries' red lyrium crystals. DICE, of course, showcased a new Battlefield game, which exceptional fidelity on character models, and what seems like truly epic battles with hundreds of soldiers on-screen at the same time. Lastly, Motive seems to be developing a physics-based game where environment interactivity is key. Models used seem like a mash-up between fantasy, sci-fi and modern-day, so it's difficult to pen exactly what we're looking at. Catch the video teaser after the break.

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. launched the first wave of 25+ EA games on Steam, with more on the way. Starting today, players can explore BioWare 's award-winning Role-Playing Games - Dragon Age : Inquisition and Dragon Age II, experience high-speed, white-knuckle driving action in Need for Speed Heat, Need for Speed: Rivals and Need for Speed (2016) and battle it out in the wacky, fun and over-the-top shooter, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. A selection of the bold and innovative games from EA's indie development partners like Unravel, Unravel II, Fe and Sea of Solitude will also become available. Additionally, these games and many others will be available as part of an EA Access subscription on Steam that will launch to players later this summer.

"We want to make it easy to play the games you love, wherever you want to play. Delivering games to the Steam community is an important step in achieving this goal," said Mike Blank, SVP, Strategic Growth. "Not only are we excited to have our games on Steam, but we look forward to bringing them even more value when our subscription becomes available in the Summer."

Ghost Games, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) studio, today announced Need for Speed Heat, the ultimate street racer versus cop fantasy. The game deepens and expands everything Need for Speed fans love - expressive customization, authentic urban car culture, and an immersive narrative that pulls you into the game. Watch the announce trailer here.

"Our fans have been clear that they want more cars, more customization, and more challenges, and we're tuning up on every aspect. From your character's style to your car's performance and your driving style, we're fuelling everyone's creativity with this new game."

Canadian electronic music producer and mau5trap label head deadmau5 is one of the most prominent fixtures in the international dance scene of the last decade, instantly recognizable with his signature oversized mau5 head. Known for his live sets and highly produced stage set-ups, he is also an avid video gamer - contributing to soundtracks for Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed, and more.

The EVGA x deadmau5 project was sparked by a tweet posted by deadmau5 asking his community where he could get a quality gaming PC to use while traveling. EVGA reached out and suggested building a mITX PC with the EVGA Hadron chassis. Both sides further discussed the case and EVGA offered to build a gaming PC using its EVGA Hadron air and hardware.

Denuvo may be one of the most controversial DRM systems out there - even though all of them are, in some level. However, the Austria-based company has developed that which is likely the most successful anti-piracy measure in recent times - despite news of its death. As we covered almost two months ago, piracy scene groups were claiming to have already figured out Denuvo, and hailed their cracking routines as being developing in such a way that (...) Denuvo protected games will continue to get cracked faster and faster." The new methods no longer involve reverse-engineering a game's executable to strip a game of its DRM software; now "[piracy] scene groups have found a way to get past [Denuvo's] encryption and keygen files in just a day. They do not crack Denuvo, they simply keygen it, so Denuvo thinks nothing is wrong on the pirated version."

However, news of Denuvo's death were an exaggeration, it would seem. The company's latest DRM version, launched with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed origins, has eluded circumvention of its protection mechanisms - though in this case, there's an added layer of security, VMProtect, that works in conjunction with Denuvo's solution to make life harder for would-be crackers. Perhaps more telling, then, are the other games that make sole use of Denuvo's tech and still haven't been cracked. Such is the case for Sonic Forces, Injustice 2, Football Manager 2018, Need for Speed Payback and Star Wars Battlefront 2. After all is said and done, it's always just a matter of time before protection mechanisms get bypassed. But Denuvo always has just aimed for a "protection window", anyway, and it seems the company is back to guaranteeing it.

Following the launch of Need for Speed Payback, we've been working on addressing feedback by making changes to the progression system and other aspects of the game. These range from decreasing the amount of time for parts to refresh within the tune-up shops to the way events, bait crates and roaming racers work. Players in Ranked Speedlists will also notice an increased amount of parts being paid out. Win the Speedlist and you're guaranteed a new part, while simply participating means you get more chances of receiving an item of your own. We've already pushed a number of these updates live and will continue to listen to our players to make Need for Speed Payback the best experience possible.

Soon players will see a client-side patch going live and will benefit from a range of updates including improved game performance, multiple fixes to improve stability and tune-up shops stocking a higher quality selection of parts.

Today, Ghost Games and Electronic Arts Inc. announced Need for Speed Payback, one of the world's bestselling video game franchises, is available worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Origin for PC. With deeper customization, a diverse open world and blockbuster action moments never-before seen in the franchise, Need for Speed Payback delivers an edge-of-your-seat experience that will have players living out their ultimate action driving fantasy.

"Two years ago, we reinvigorated the franchise by listening to what our fans wanted and built a game that returned to the Need for Speed core tenets- fast cars, deep customization, and epic cop chases. With Need for Speed Payback, we've raised the bar by adding Hollywood-style, adrenaline-fueled action, a huge open world, even more customization options, and a narrative that drives gameplay forward," said Executive Producer Marcus Nilsson. "We're excited to deliver a new driving experience that not only delivers everything our players love about the series but also pushes the boundaries of what they've come to expect from the genre."

Electronics Arts announced that pre-ordered copies of its upcoming flagship motorsport simulator "Need for Speed: Payback" will feature exclusive graphics effects not found on copies bought after its release. The pre-order page for the game lists out benefits for paying for the game before reading or watching a single review from a neutral source; including "the platinum car pack," a selection of exclusive vehicles, and a curious-looking "exclusive tire smoke."

While giving away bonus content, a tiny headstart in the game with more in-game currency or items, isn't new to pre-orders, this is one of the first times that a big production title is presenting exclusive graphics effects, the tire smoke color in this case, that otherwise won't be available even on machines with the most powerful hardware, or the most powerful consoles. If successful, this model could lure more gamers toward pre-orders of untested and unproven games.

NVIDIA has today made available a new graphics card driver, the WHQL-certified GeForce 331.82. This fresh build is claimed to offer the 'best possible gaming experience' in Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and Need for Speed: Rivals, and includes fixes, as well tweaks to boost performance in various games.

According to NVIDIA this driver increases SLI performance (when running at 4K resolutions) by as much as 50% in key titles like Metro: Last Light, Crysis 3, and Battlefield 4. The GeForce 331.82 supports the GeForce 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 Series cards and the ION and ION LE GPUs.

Download: Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 32-bit / Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 64-bit / Windows XP 32-bit / Windows XP 64-bit

Make trouble for the cops, for your friends or just for fun! Electronic Arts Inc. and Criterion Games today announced that the latest entry in the critically-acclaimed Need for Speed franchise, Need for Speed Most Wanted, is now available at retail stores and on Origin.com in North America.

After shattering franchise records with a total of 43 award nominations and winning the prestigious Best Racing Game award at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), from the E3 Game Critics, Need for Speed Most Wanted is poised for global success. In Spain, Official PlayStation Magazine awarded Most Wanted with a 9.4/10 and called it, "the best online multiplayer experience ever." Game Informer, in North America, gave Most Wanted a 9/10 and described the action as an "exhilarating experience." Edge Magazine, in the UK, also awarded Most Wanted a 9/10 and credited the game for setting a "new standard in open world driving games."

With more than 9.3 million registered users and partnerships now with 21 different publishers, Origin, the direct-to-consumer gaming platform from Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) has quickly become one of the industry's leading online game services in just over two quarters since launch.

Origin announced today that seven more publishers have agreed to offer their games for purchase and download. Led by Remedy Entertainment who will bring Alan Wake to Origin, additional publishers include Focus Home Interactive, Iceberg Interactive, Strategy First, Macro Games, Selectsoft and Legendo Entertainment. These publishers join 14 previously announced Origin partners, including Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ, Capcom, Trion Worlds and Robot Entertainment.

If you're buying an Electronic Arts game, be prepared for the Online Pass that came with it to have already expired. This was the recent experience of a NeoGAF member who bought a brand new copy of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit from Amazon, only to find that he got an error message saying that the code was either incorrect or no longer valid. Gaming website Joystick picked up on this and asked an EA advisor about this situation. It turns out that it's EA's corporate policy to have some of these codes expire, but that no one should be faced with this, as a rule. However, if they are, then they can get a new one for free, by either downloading it or getting it from EA directly. Checking the EULA shows that at the moment, there is only one game with this restriction. It's only Dragon Age 2 (packaged) which has a time-limited an Online Pass code and that it expires on March 31, 2012:

NVIDIA today released a new BETA version of its GeForce driver suite. What makes the new GeForce 285.38 BETA important is its timing, and what it brings to the table. Recently, EA/DICE released an open-beta of the highly anticipated AAA title, Battlefield 3, and gamers are already sharpening their skills ahead of its market release.

The new GeForce BETA drivers are said to increase performance of Battlefield 3 beta by up to 38%, add SLI profiles for the game, and add several stability fixes and image-quality improvements for the game. In essence, Battlefield 3 beta is at the center of GeForce 285.38 BETA. Apart from Battlefield 3, the drivers add SLI profiles for Dead Island, Diablo III, Dragon Age 2, Need for Speed: The Run, and Saints Row: The Third; and fix a stability issue with Crysis 2 (DirectX 9).

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 285.38 BETA

NVIDIA today released version 197.13 of its GeForce system software. The suite includes drivers for all NVIDIA GeForce GPUs and IGPs since GeForce 6 series, NVIDIA ION platform, as well as system software for NVIDIA PhysX, NVIDIA 3D Vision technology, and drivers for the on-chip HDMI audio which the latest GeForce GPUs are shipping with. The WHQL-signed driver includes PhysX 9.10.0129 system software, updated HDMI audio driver to version 1.0.9.1, application-specific performance increments for several games, notably the following:

• Up to 13% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with a single GPU, up to 30% performance increase in Crysis: Warhead with SLI technology
• Up to 13% performance increase in H.A.W.X with single GPU, up to 15% performance increase in H.A.W.X with SLI technology
• Up to 30% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with single GPU, up to 28% performance increase in Left 4 Dead with SLI technology

SLI profiles are added for the following applications: Assassin Creed II, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Command and Conquer 4: Tiberium Twilight, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Zombie Driver. SLI support is improved for: Metro 2033, Supreme Commander 2, Unigine, and World of Warcraft
- Ambient Occlusion support for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Need for Speed: Shift, Resident Evil 5, RUSE, and Street Fighter IV. Anti Aliasing can now be overridden for Mass Effect 2. As always, a number of new and existing bugs were fixed. For more information, refer to the Release Notes documents for Windows 7/Vista, Windows XP.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 197.13 WHQL

A little over two weeks after releasing its previous 190.62 WHQL version of its GeForce drivers, NVIDIA released its brand new GeForce 191.07 driver suite, signed by Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). The suite provides driver and system software support for all current NVIDIA GeForce graphics products, GeForce 6-series and above. This release is aimed for provide application-specific performance enhancements, numerous bug-fixes related to the drivers, and included software, and improved game support for NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU technology. As listed by the company, important changes are as follows. For a broader list of changes, please refer to the Release Notes document (for Windows 7, Vista, and XP):

• Adds support for OpenGL 3.2 for GeForce 8, 9, 100, and 200-series GPUs and ION GPUs.
• Accelerates performance in several gaming applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with version 191.07 drivers vs. version 190.62 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  o Up to 12% performance increase in ARMA 2
  o Up to 8% performance increase in Batman: Arkham Asylum with GPU PhysX enabled
  o Up to 50% performance increase in Call of Juarez: Blood in Bound with SLI enabled
  o Up to 14% performance increase in Fallout 3 (indoor scenes) with antialiasing enabled
  o Up to 10% performance increase in Far Cry 2 (DX9 version) with antialiasing enabled
  o Up to 34% performance increase in Prototype with antialiasing enabled
• Adds SLI support for Aion, Darkfall, Dawn of Magic 2: Time of Shadows, Dreamkiller, Fuel, Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, Need for Speed: Shift and more.
• Includes numerous bug fixes, including the following key fix (additional bug fixes can be found in the release notes on the documentation tab): For graphics cards supporting multiple clock states, 3D clocks correctly return to 2D clocks after exiting a 3D application.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 191.07 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit