Electronic Arts revealed today that the Need for Speed franchises has surpassed 100 Million units sold worldwide – making the Need for Speed franchise the best-selling racing brand in the gaming history. Along with that, the publisher also revealed that the franchise has generated a total of 2.7 billion in sales.

“Few video game franchises ever reach the 100M units mark, so this is a huge honor. We have millions of fans to thank for driving us to this milestone,” said Frank Gibeau, president, EA Games Label. “With the launch of Need for Speed Shift and the upcoming release of Need for Speed Nitro, we hope to continue to deliver the most entertaining, action-packed racing experiences.”

EA also noted that if Need for Speed boxes were laid out end-to-end, it would span 173,609 football fields. With that said, in all, the Need for Speed brand brought us 15 titles for over 14 platforms, which were released in 22 languages in more than 60 countries.

Rush to your nearest console because Electronic Arts has revealed today that the Need for Speed: SHIFT demo is available for download via the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace right now.

The demo will give players the chance to sample this year’s most intense authentic racing game by pushing one of four cars, including the BMW M3, 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10, and 2008 Nissan GT-R, to its limits on the world-famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and the tight city circuit of London River. Players that dominate each track and collect enough stars will also unlock the ultimate racing machine; the Pagani Zonda F.

Today, Electronic Arts detailed the Drift mode for its upcoming title, Need For Speed: Shift, in which players are required to toggle the brakes while constantly adjusting the steering to maintain drifts through the corner – exactly like the drifters in real life. Details are as follow:

• Need for Speed: Shift delivers the most authentic drift experience ever seen in a video game
  • World champion drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. put in over 100 hours with SMS to ensure accuracy and realism
  • Players will be required to toggle the throttle and brakes while constantly adjusting the steering to maintain drifts through the corner – exactly like drifters in real life
  • Real world physics ensue the car behaves exactly as it should
    • Vehicle set-up (horsepower, suspension etc.) dramatically impacts a player’s technique and overall style

• Driver profile extends to drift
  • As in all racing, setting the right line is critical. Clipping points are set on the track to ensure the player achieves the perfect line and maximizes profile points
  • Drift related badges

• Accessibility is key
  • Entry level players can use the amateur setting to help them learn the basics of drifting and ramp up the difficulty as they progress
  • Conversely, experienced drivers can use the pro setting and experience the most realistic drift experience ever in a video game.

If you were wondering if Burnout and Need For Speed were going to merge to make one total new kind of video game, they aren’t, John Riccitiello told Kotaku during E3. However, he did say something about the Burnout developers working on a new Need for Speed title.

When being asked if EA is planning to merge Burnout and Need For Speed together, Riccitiello told Kotaku NO but he did confrim that the Burnout team at EA’s Criterion Games, led by Alex Ward, were working on the next Need for Speed title.

“Alex is one of the people in the industry I would analogize to the great filmmakers, etc..” Riccitiello said. “He is a true creative visionary. We had a great fight about what the next Need For Speed would be like. Of course, he gets to win because it’s his call. It’s not that I’m without an opinion on it.”

However, that still sounded like a possible merger NFS-Burnout.

“I don’t think you can fold Burnout into Need for Speed, because a lot of people like Burnout,” he said. “We don’t have a plan right now for a separate major launch on Burnout, because the team doing it is working on a revolutionary take on Need for Speed. I don’t know, if Paramount, in addition to owning Star Trek owned Star Wars, which isn’t the way it is, I don’t think you’d merge them.”

In past years, the ‘Need of Speed’ series hasn’t really been to up to speed because, really, after Pro-Street no one was willing to take another chance with a game from the ‘Need for Speed’ series. Which had led to the problematic sales of the recently released Need for Speed title, Undercover, getting some negative scores from many publications.

But, today, Electronic Arts has announced that’s plans to steer the popular ‘Need for Speed’ series in a new direction. But, not by only announcing one new Need for Speed title, but by announcing three new games.

And they are, ‘Need for Speed Shift,’ a first-person racing simulation for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; ‘Need for Speed World Online,’ a multiplayer action-driving game for the PC; and ‘Need for Speed Nitro,’ an arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for both the Nintendo system.

“It’s all about crafting different games for different audiences,” said Keith Munro, EA marketing vice president. “The ‘Need for Speed’ brand is quite powerful. It has great recognition, even outside of gaming. When we talked to consumers about what the brand meant to them, we realized that it could be stretched to new limits on different platforms.”

['Need for Speed' franchise is shifting gears via AP]

Before you start reading please take note that the story has been updated below.

Independently, Black Box Studio was a great studio that produced many great games for one of the industry dominant publishers, EA – which is also a developer. There was a rumor going around that the company had plans to close Black Box Studios because they were having some financial problems.

Now, Black box Studio, responsible for the Need for Speed and the Skate franchises, has officially been given the boot. It was said that the games that EA released this holiday, like Mirrors Edge, Dead Space and Need of Speed, didn’t sell as well as they planned.

“Shutting down the studio is part of EA’s restructuring plan that hopes to save them US$ 120 million in annual costs. Part of the plan is to reduce their overall workforce by 10%, or 1,000 people.” said the press release. There was no word given on if the studios upcoming game Skate 2 has been affected.

[EA has officially closed Need for Speed Studio Black Box via Slice Gaming]

Updated: We had a chance to speak to an EA spokesperson and according to them, “Black box studios is not closed. It is going to relocate to [EA's] Burnaby facility in June 2009.”

According to GlobeAndMail, EA has decided to cancel the construction of their new gaming development studio in Vancouver, mainly because of slow holiday sales and the decline of the general economy.

“These are challenging times, they’re uncertain times for our industry and across the board,” EA spokesman Colin Macrae told The Globe and Mail. “We continue to be firmly rooted in Vancouver.”

The video game maker still operates two studios in the Vancouver area; the company’s Black Box studio is located in downtown Vancouver, while its sister studio EA Canada operates out of nearby Burnaby.

The new unnamed studio was to be housed in a 20,000-square-foot facility in the city’s Yaletown district, and would have provided the company with new development space to accommodate its Vancouver staff. Although planning for the new studio began about a year ago, Mr. Macrae said the company has already leased the space to a new tenant.

The twelfth installment of the popular racing video game series Need for Speed has been shown at the Games Conventions in Asia. And according to John Doyle, the producer of the latest Need for Speed game, EA would not be releasing a demo. He told GamingIndians that EA would not be releasing a demo of the game since they wanted to concentrate on the game rather than spend time on the demo. Need For Speed: Undercover is expected to hit in the month of November on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS2, Wii, DS and PSP.

Black Box studio has revealed some new details for their upcoming game, Need for Speed: Undercover, the details are as stated from the press release: Need for Speed: Undercover has players racing through speedways, dodging cops and chasing rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an International crime syndicate. The new game heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ — a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles.

“Need for Speed Undercover puts you at the center of a big-budget Hollywood movie with all of the drama, action and dazzling chase scenes, right on your gaming console. The unique Heroic Driving Engine will give you ultimate control over the hottest cars and push you to use every ounce of skill to outrun the law and take down criminal adversaries,”-Executive Producer Bill Harrison

Black Box, a studio apart of EA, today announced that Need for Speed Undercover is scheduled for release this holiday season. But, in the games recently release teaser trailer it showed a November 18th release date, which counts as the holiday season. Along with this announcement Black Box studios also revealed that Maggie Q will play as a lead character in the live-action sequences in the story mode.

“Need for Speed Undercover features a deep and engaging story of spectacular Hollywood-style live-action that will transport players into the fictional world of the Tri-City Bay Area,” said Bill Harrison, Need for Speed Undercover Executive Producer. “Working with talent the calibre of Maggie Q allows us to deliver an unparalleled level of storytelling that will keep players engaged in between 180-mile-an-hour races.”

Maggie Q, who has starred in Mission Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard, plays Federal Agent Chase Linh, a seductive handler who recruits and guides players as they go undercover to stop a racing circuit. Players will take on dangerous jobs and compete races in order to infiltrate and takedown a ruthless international crime syndicate.

“I’ve always been a fan of racing games and working on Need for Speed Undercover was an amazing experience,” said Maggie Q. “I was so impressed by the scope and quality of the overall production that goes into a videogame these days. It was like any other day on a Hollywood set; I felt right at home. The Black Box team is doing tremendous work here and I can’t wait to see the final game.”

According to Dark Zero, in the trailer for Need for Speed: Undercover Christina Milian makes an appearance, which pretty much confirms that she’ll be this years poster-girl for the game, also actress Maggie Q also appears in the trailer too. The trailer ends by confirming a release date for the game, Novemeber 18th, the release date was also shown on the game’s official website.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello stated that Undercover takes inspiration from action films such as The Transporter to tell the games story. John Doyle, from EA Black Box also hinted that the game will have a “Most Wanted-ish” sandbox style of gameplay.

EA games has revealed the next charter in the Need For Speed series entitled, Need for Speed: Undercover. By the sound of the game the first thing that may come to mind is that the games about a cop that goes “Undercover” to try and stop a underground racing circuit but, it’s not my place to give details about any games at this point.

Anyway, the game is being developed by one of EA Vancouver’s two Need of Speed teams. The Need for Speed team was split into two teams giving each team more time to give yearly updates for the franchise. Instead of having one team only 12 months to create the next installment, giving each team a full two years to work on the game.

It was hinted that the game could be inspired by movies, somewhat like “The Transporter.” With all these facts in mind this game may turn in to a worthy competitor for the Burnout series?

[Need for Speed: Undercover Coming via IGN]