I wonder if the number of LFS players online will take a hit when Need For Speed - Pro Street is released.

My guess... no.

Doubt it. Tons of people coming FROM the Need For Speed series, to LFS. Ever since Porsche 2000 the NFS games went downhill. Got into the flashy ricer cars and parts, shiny as hell graphics that raped your PC, so I said Eff that and remembered LFS that i sampled back in the days of S1.

If anything, Pro Street will bring more people over to LFS, because quite a few gamers are hoping it's a somewhat realistic game, that actually takes SOME skill to play. I doubt they will be satisfied as the NFS games have never been known for 'amazing' physics.

All in all, the Pro Street release will be good for the LFS community, not bad.
~Bryan~

No, why?, because pro street is RUBBISH, I like a GOOD arcade racer as much as the next man, but pro street is awful.

I didn't mean to imply there would be any permanent effect in online play, just a few days hit if there are a significant number of NFS fans, although Pro-Streets demo isn't that well done. Obviously it's not a competing product, and won't affect sales of LFS. I was truly curious how many "closet" arcade racers there are here. One thing going for the NFS series is the graphics and sounds. The physics may not be realistic, but my analogy to this is first person shooters, which aren't realistic. The game that most impressed me was the original Tomb Raider and there wasn't a lot of reality in this game.

I think a few here already know I've played the NFS series since NFS2, and will end up buying Pro Street, inspite of the not so hot demo. Recently I haven't spent much time online with any one game. With so many games out there I'm having more fun with casual offline hot lapping with a variety of games.

They promised to make it more realistic. Maybe it is compared to Carbon i don't know. I can't even play it on my pc, so i can stay in my closet playing LFS

From what i've heared it's not very realistic. Cars with 400 HP still slow down when you take a corner. It looks nice, maybe i'll buy an Xbox someday and then arcaderacers can be fun.

Quote from marzman :

Cars with 400 HP still slow down when you take a corner.

That's a big complaint of mine and others in regards to the demo. The promise is that the real game, with the assists off won't do this. However NFS6 - Hot Pursuit 2, had the very same annoying issue, excessive slowing down of cars when cornering. I'm hoping that they don't repeat the same mistake.

It's obviously a deliberate choice by the game designers. In Carbon, if a muscle car oversteers, it gets slowed down in normal race mode, but the slow down doesn't occur at all when running in drift mode. In fact, on the other rediculous extreme, the Viper drifts at 200mph in the start of a particular downhill canyon drift with some very large radius turns.

I tried the demo with a buddy in the weekend, and that made one thing sure - I`m never going to try that game again. It was horrible!

not even going to waste my time looking at their site let alone get the demo of "pro street" - street racing is illegal for a good reason. need for speed owe me money for insurance premiums.
edit: bit of a rant there, sorry, its the morning

Quote from JeffR :

That's a big complaint of mine and others in regards to the demo. The promise is that the real game, with the assists off won't do this. However NFS6 - Hot Pursuit 2, had the very same annoying issue, excessive slowing down of cars when cornering. I'm hoping that they don't repeat the same mistake.

I just find it intrusive that the traction control/stability control/ABS/whatever stays on even if you turn them off, at least in the demo. They force the power cut if you floor it mid-corner... Not very exciting.

I think NFS6's problem is its excessive steering damping, which rendered steering wheels completely useless in that game. Waste of good car models... Carbon and Most Wanted obviously have pivot point physics, while the Undergrounds seem to have 4 points.

Porsche Unleashed is still the best NFS, no doubt. I fired it up yesterday and gosh running through Auvergne is a great experience.

Yes LFS will take a small hit. Just as it does when a new FPS comes out, or a new strategy game or a new flight sim.

People can only play one game at once, and sometimes it's LFS that get's put on the back seat. It's not as though they're never coming back, and it's not as though LFS becomes weaker for it.

I won't play it. I'd quite like to play some of the latest console games, but I can't be bothered to spend PC money on a console I'll only use when I'm drunk. The old argument "PC's are so expensive, get a console. They are simpler too" has fallen by the wayside.

(I would like a Wii though). Stop laughing at the back. Bloody double entendres...

Wii sucks, end of story.
Get Ps3 if you are going to use money on a console.

Last arcade racer I played was RACE07 at a pal's place - was sort-of fun vs the AI but they could of done with better graphics, perhaps they can learn from this NFS, if they want a full-blown arcade experience that's the way to go. Or Motorhead - man I loved that game. Actually, what I am really waiting for is the remake of Deathtrack - last decent vehicular combat race game I played was Hi-Octane and that used hovercrafts.
If you're going to go arcade, might as well go all out.

Quote from tristancliffe :

I'd quite like to play some of the latest console games, but I can't be bothered to spend PC money on a console I'll only use when I'm drunk. The old argument "PC's are so expensive, get a console. They are simpler too" has fallen by the wayside.

I've never been a console fan but lately I've been thinking of buying one - either a PS3 or XBox360. I've moved into a smaller house last week and I don't have the space to setup my pc properly so I can't use that to play games anymore, and some of the new console games do look very appealing. Also, one advantage I think consoles have over pc's is that you buy a game and you can be certain that it will run on your console. You don't have to worry about your cpu/graphics card/RAM memory being good enough to run the game properly, don't have to fiddle around with a bunch of settings to get a few extra fps out of your machine etc... You put the game in and it will (should) run as intended. There's no need to invest money in a console after purchase in order to keep it up to date with the latest developments in games.

I'm still not sure whether I should go with the ps3 or the Xbox360, though First I was inclined to buy the ps3, but lately I've been leaning more towards the xbox because overall the graphics seem to be a bit better on that one, and it has more games so far.

Quote from The Very End :

Wii sucks, end of story.
Get Ps3 if you are going to use money on a console.

This statement is most ridiculous.

PS3 doesn't have anything on it that interests me.

Wii looks like fun, with the wavy controllers and silly games. Much more entertaining.

Also a Wii is a sensible console price. A PS3 or an Xbox costs the same as a PC (although for the money the PC would be a LOT quicker). You will still need to upgrade it every 3 or 4 years, just like now. And I can't afford to do that with a PC AND a console-PC. But a Wii might just fit the bill. Imagine how much fun drunken tennis on a Wii would be (with breakables moved out of the way).

Sadly the number of games worth playing on the Wii right now are a little limited, unless you're happy with the crap party games that have been the mainstay of it so far. Although that said I am thinking of picking up EA Playground (I feel dirty just saying it) because I think 4-player dodgeball could be funny while drunk New Mario is looking good and Brawl will hopefully turn out to be great fun online - we shall see.

I'd be lost without my 360 though, and I was totally opposed to the big consoles for a long time. But having a unified online system where everyone is only limited by skill rather than hardware has been great so far. Good graphics I can take or leave, but the 360 really shines online. And of course it has the best selection of games out of the entire 8th generation.

On the topic of arcade racers. Sometimes I like them. Burnout and Flatout can both be great fun because of the carnage. But when it comes to actually racing to win I don't like arcade handling at all.

Quote from tristancliffe :

A PS3 or an Xbox costs the same as a PC (although for the money the PC would be a LOT quicker).

Really? What are the prices of both consoles and a good pc where you live? Over here the consoles are about half the price of a high to very high end pc. The basic ps3 (smaller HD and no Blue Ray player) is now for sale here for € 399. You barely get a new cpu for that money, let alone a whole pc.

I do like my Xbox360, however, it was free, so that does sway me a little bit.

Would I pay £200 for one?, after playing Forza 2 for a week, I probably would say yes, on a HD 32" LCD tv, Forza looks amazing, plus it plays VERY well and has some very believeable physics......

Quote from AndroidXP :

This statement is most ridiculous.

Ok - I agree that the controller is o.k enough. But my point is that the console Wii, has little power, compared to the others now. It`s not capeable with the graphics the games on Ps3 and xbox360 can have.

And look on the games that have been made for Wii now. I can only think of one game that is worth having on it, and that`s Zelda.

I belive that the only use a Wii can do is when you have a party, and everyone are drunken and tries to do some fancy stuff with the controller.

Quote from obsolum :

Really? What are the prices of both consoles and a good pc where you live? Over here the consoles are about half the price of a high to very high end pc. The basic ps3 (smaller HD and no Blue Ray player) is now for sale here for € 399. You barely get a new cpu for that money, let alone a whole pc.

Twas a bit of an exaggeration. Sorry.

Quote from The Very End :

Ok - I agree that the controller is o.k enough. But my point is that the console Wii, has little power, compared to the others now. It`s not capeable with the graphics the games on Ps3 and xbox360 can have.

And look on the games that have been made for Wii now. I can only think of one game that is worth having on it, and that`s Zelda.

I belive that the only use a Wii can do is when you have a party, and everyone are drunken and tries to do some fancy stuff with the controller.

I don't really care for graphics. I much prefer gameplay. I've had a PS2 since they came out, and virtually no game has been very good. I quite liked Metal Gear, and I like the GTA series, as they were story over graphics/bling etc.

The wii is very much like that. Representational graphics, but the controller opens up a whole new world of fun!

Anyway, I won't be buying any console right now, as I have other priorities for what little bread I earn. LFS is my long term girlfriend (as it were), whilst Tiberium Wars is keeping me happy when I want a quick blast

Zelda, Resi 4 and Godfather: Blackhand are about all the current titles worth picking up. The new Metroid got good reports as well.

But Godfather really excels when it comes to use of the motion controls. Whether you like the story or not, there's something disturbingly satisfying about perfoming the required movements to break someone's neck, strangle them or beat their head off a desk until they give you the info you need

Quote from tristancliffe :

... Bloody double entendres...

wii is number 1. hows that?

It'll take a hit, all the demo racers will be gone for a while. Then in 3 hours they'll be back because it's so easy to beat.

First off, if you don't see me online, it's because I just finished running LOTA's GTR season and I'm now taking an LFS break back to flying. Has nothing to do with arcade racing .

Quote from tristancliffe :

Imagine how much fun drunken tennis on a Wii would be (with breakables moved out of the way).

Literally, fights breaking out over NHL Hockey 93 played in drunken states on the Sega Genesis. I can't imagine how it would be with actual needed arm movements swinging around with a Wii .

Quote from obsolum :

Really? What are the prices of both consoles and a good pc where you live? Over here the consoles are about half the price of a high to very high end pc. The basic ps3 (smaller HD and no Blue Ray player) is now for sale here for € 399. You barely get a new cpu for that money, let alone a whole pc.

€ 399 for just a cpu? That's around $600 USD? I paid $550 for my entire PC, including monitor and printer. Add $50 for my graphics card and I play LFS and FS9 quite well, quite good looking, at 80+ frames for either. A console game is around the same price, sure, but you have a hard time doing anything without the non-included display . There's another $3-400. Now we are talking $900 for a console, much more than my perfectly fine PC.

I'm wondering, can you print from a game console? Surf the web? Work with your digital photos from your camera? Email? Do your online banking? Burn CDs and DVDs? Type up your resume for the job you are looking into? So much more you can do with a PC, and so much less expensive.