RACING IN MIND

Dad asks a question to his young son, “Beta, when I was of your age, I was the top athlete in my town. I got the best sportsman of the year award from my college and I also captained my college team in cricket. But you barely know anything about games. I don’t know where the future of our country is going too.” And almost immediately pops the answer: “Dad, I have finished almost all the NFS series, I have represented my college in all India FIFA challenge, have almost played and finished tens of EA games, one of the largest game developers in the world, have also been nominated to be paid for game reviewing during development stages by a gaming industry in India. Now dad, isn’t that hep??” Yes when we talk about conformist games and sports generation X would only consider about cricket, football, badminton and swimming as the things to do. Like many others dads, if someone asks my dad if your child is good at playing something he would minimally shove off by saying,” no, he is always on his laptop, slaughtering time.” But with the changing times gaming has almost taken a new facet in west as has it stretched its wings in the east. Thanks to EA, ubisoft, Nintendo, Sega, Konami any many more world has almost found a new definition to games and sports.

Available in its variations of racing, shooting, simulation, strategy, puzzle and RPG; gaming has taken the central arena amongst us. Hot favourites though have always remained an individual pick and have also culminated as per mindsets, shifting age and changing comrades. Among the ones which of course me and my folks like to play is the series of racing video games NFS. Although I have tried my hands in fifa, halo, crysis, cs, and few strategy games nothing seems to muse me more than N F S.

Need for speed is the world leader among car racing games available on PC. Developed by EA Black Box, Criterion games and Slightly Mad Studios NFS in its NEED FOR SPEED form hit the world gaming market under Electronics Arts as their publisher on Aug 1994 and since then it was no looking back for them.  The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races. In Japan, the series was released as Over Drivin. After the release of Need for Speed: High Stakes, it adopted the western name. After the launch of Need for Speed: Underground, the series had an integrated car body customization into game play.

Now the tussle with the cars is not just a game any more to the mobs that go almost gaga behind this game. NFS has developed into for its fans a way of living. Have thirty minutes to kill, muse, enjoy or beat the heat need for speed gives you a chance to race in its in numerous career events to become the ultimate road racer. Full with HD display, car customization, world renowned racing sites, cars as sleek as Vauxhall, Lamborghini and Mc laren, road maps, rear view mirror, car mechanics similar to racing cars and filled with complementary music by Bush, buzz horn etc. NFS provides you the real time driving experience. And the icing on the cake, it gives you the option to drift and drag (optimized from fast and the furious). And with all these features filled with a headphone and high def graphics, fingers on the keypad the experience is no less than driving on the true roads. Almost the same hormones, same muscles fire as if you are racing the car on the track.

Originally the series took place in international settings, such as race tracks in Australia, Europe, and Africa among other settings. Beginning with Underground, the series has taken place in fictional metropolitan cities. The first game featured traffic on "head to head" game mode and on later games traffic can be toggled on and off at the options screen. Starting with Underground, traffic is a fixed obstacle added during a race.

Owing to the popularity which it achieved right from the first release of need for speed, it went on to launch almost 17 series of races in the past 17 years, NFS 2, NFS underground, NFS carbon, NFS pro street, NFS nitro among the famous and widely accepted ones.

In the past one and a half decades of its existence (released much before computer could even become a household commodity in India) NFS has sprung, spun, flown, laughed, and cried with its fans. Today people love getting hooked to it. As for people like us who feed upon this game, NFS has become one of our basic building blocks while for those who have not tried their hands on it, you have only deprived yourself the thrill of being a virtual Schumi, Alonso or a Button...