Skip to main content

EA to Host Live Need for Speed Event

EA to Host Live Need for Speed Event

Having already entwined the Need for Speed series closely with the real-life automotive scene last week with the launch of the Nissan 370Z in Need for Speed, EA edged even closer on Wednesday by announcing a real-life race event to bear the NFS name. Need for Speed Live will take place near London and feature racers from around the world.

The company envisions the event as part festival and part competition, with a dash of gasoline thrown in for good measure. It should take place (pending negotiations) at Brands Hatch Circuit on June 26, 27, and 28.

Besides the expected showcase of videogames and music in displays, Live will feature on-track drift demonstrations and a challenge that will pit the cars of different manufacturers against each other in a race to beat the clock. (Top Gear, anyone?)

More details will be available as EA posts them on NeedForSpeedLive.com.

Nick Mokey
As Digital Trends’ Managing Editor, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team delivering definitive reviews, enlightening…
Final Xbox Live Gold games include a free hidden gem worth downloading
Blue Fire's main character runs on a wall.

Microsoft revealed the final two games that will be available for free as part of the Games with Gold program for Xbox Live Gold. The service isn't really going out with a bang, but one of the games is a solid Souls-inspired indie platformer that's worth a download as Games with Gold's swan song.

The two games Microsoft will give away are Level 91 Entertainment's Inertial Drift and Robi Studios' Blue Fire. Inertial Drift is a vibrant, neon-infused arcade racer with unique twin-stick controls that players have to master in order to steer and drift properly. Racing game fans should get a kick out of it, but the game to really care about in this final batch is Blue Fire.
Blue Fire is a 3D platformer, but it takes more inspiration from the likes of Dark Souls and Hollow Knight than Super Mario 64. While it's a pretty fast-paced platformer with a satisfying dash move at its core, it makes players platform through pretty dark and moody settings that interconnect like Dark Souls areas do. The game also sometimes places emphasis on combat, which is usually a bad sign in platformers, fights can actually sometimes be pretty tough and satisfying in Blue Fire.  

Read more
Your Xbox Live Gold subscription will turn into Xbox Game Pass Core this September
Xbox Game Pass Core's logo over a library of games.

Microsoft finally made the decision to move on from its monthly online-access subscription service Xbox Live Gold. On September 14, Xbox Live Gold will transform into Xbox Game Pass Core, with current Gold subscribers automatically gaining a Game Pass Core subscription.

An Xbox Live subscription tied to online play has existed in some form since Xbox Live launched in 2002, but Xbox Live Gold as we now know it truly came into form in July 2013 when Microsoft started the Games with Gold program that gave subscribers free games each month in addition to that online access. Although Microsoft rolled back some online restrictions in 2021, Games with Gold continues to this day. That will all end when Game Pass Core launches.

Read more
3 big things I need to see from the next PlayStation Showcase
Peter and Miles from Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

It’s that time of the year again when industry insiders are teasing that a big PlayStation Showcase will happen around June. A third-party focused State of Play happened in 2022, but now Video Games Chronicle’s Andy Robinson and Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb are both suggesting that a more first-party oriented "Showcase" could be on the way sometime during the next month, potentially during the week of May 25.
PlayStation has had a rough start to 2023, with console exclusive Forspoken garnering mixed reviews, the PlayStation VR2 impressing critics while underperforming in sales, and The Last of Us Part 1’s PC port being broken at launch. With only Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 confirmed to be on the horizon for 2023, Sony has a lot to prove during its next showcase. There are three specific things I need to see from Sony if that PlayStation Showcase does come to fruition.
Give PSVR2 purpose
The PlayStation VR2 is an impressive piece of virtual reality technology, but it lacks killer apps outside of Horizon: Call of the Mountain. New game releases for the headset have been slow since its February 2022 launch, which is likely why the $550 headset has underperformed. Sony has opted to mainly relegate PSVR2 to State of Plays or PlayStation Blog posts, but it needs to revitalize excitement for the platform by giving some of its games a spotlight in a big PlayStation Showcase.

Hopefully, there’s more on the way in terms of new AAA VR exclusives from first-party studios, as well as much-demanded ports like Half-Life: Alyx. Already announced PSVR2 games like Journey to Foundation and Synapse could also use release dates. A PlayStation Showcase is the perfect time for Sony to put out a clear road map for PSVR2’s future game library, just as the September 2021 PlayStation did for PS5. Give me a reason to strap on that headset yet again.
Flesh out the system’s 2023 exclusives lineup
PS5 needs a strong lineup for this fall as well. With the exception of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, things look pretty barren for PS5 this year after the launch of Final Fantasy XVI. Several previously announced PS5 games still lack concrete release dates and could arrive in the second half of this year. It’d be nice to get a clearer picture of Sony’s PS5 game lineup for the rest of the year; hopefully, it includes titles like Stellar Blade, the Silent Hill 2 remake, Lost Soul Aside, Death Stranding 2, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Read more