Need For Speed:UnderCover

To no one's surprise, EA is set to release the next installment in the Need for Speed franchise later this year in the form of Need for Speed: Undercover. In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that the title is in development from one of EA Vancouver's two NFS teams. He also hinted that its inspiration comes from movies like The Transporter, though we'll have to wait and see what he means by that.

The single previous Need for Speed team was split into two last year to allow each of the two teams more time to create yearly updates for the franchise. Rather than giving one team only 12 months to create the next installment, each team would now have a full two years, with the teams trading release years, obviously. Being that the team was only split last year, the Undercover team will only have a little over 16 months to create the title, but the extra breathing room must certainly welcome in any case.

In the interview, Riccitiello also discussed his disappointment with last year's Need for Speed ProStreet, and said that the reason for splitting the team into to two was to help insure that future titles would actually be a worthy experience.

No consoles were specified for Undercover, but given the franchise's history, we'd expect to see it hit every major system.

Release Date - Late 2008 (i.e Nov.)

Trailers are also posted (see labels)