Tag Archives: Jesse Abney

Some awesome new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit footage has popped up today, courtesy of the Jimmy Fallon show.

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A Need for Speed: Shift demo will release at some point this summer, producer Jesse Abney has told GameTrailers in an interview.

The tester will include a sample of driver advancement, the developer said, but didn’t offer any information on date or platform.

Thanks, Blue.

Need for Speed: Shift producer Jesse Abney would like to work with Criterion on Need for Speed projects.

“You know, Criterion’s got a great heritage in racing games, and I think they would be a great team to work with on that stuff, certainly from a personal opinion,” he said, talking in London last week.

“There’s always question about how does Burnout exist, and vice versa. We’ll be hoping for the best in the future.”

Criterion, as you’re all well aware, has been beavering away on Burnout Paradise DLC for the past year. Future projects are unannounced.

Need for Speed: Shift releases for PC, PS3, 360 and PSP this autumn.

Need for Speed: Shift is obviously gunning for realism. You’d kind of expect the Slightly Mad title, then, to have Gran Turismo in its sights. Apparently not. Shift is going to be about “fun,” not “driving in a straight line,” producer Jesse Abney told VG247 in London last week.

“We don’t pretend to compete with Gran Turismo for technological achievement as well as what I would call a ‘driving simulator’,” said the developer. “That’s not the fun angle we’re going after.”

“We’re going after… what it means to be in a race, in a grid of hard competitors who will battle for position, and who will make the organic nature of the race more about performing at that level and less about the challenge of driving in a straight line.”

Despite wanting to offer something different to GT, however, Abney said Shift is paying close attention to Polyphony’s work.

“For us we look at games like GT, Forza 2 and GRiD as the high water mark,” he added.

Shift ships this autumn for PS3, 360, PC and PSP.