Two new series entries are on Xbox LIVE today for you to try in advance.

The Kinect-exclusive Dance Central 2 is one of these — the sequel to the peripheral’s breakout hit offers more music, simultaneous multiplayer and new dance crews. You can add it to your queue here.

Also on the Marketplace is the demo for Need for Speed: The Run, where you’ll find yourself racing through the Desert Hills of Nevada, and you’re not trying to get to Vegas. The race will extend through Independence Pass where you’re attempting to beat both a rival…and the clock. Download that one here.

Today, we’ve got Electronic Arts’ projections for Fiscal Year 2011. This’ll give you a better idea of when some of your favorite EA titles will be hitting store shelves. Of course, we can’t take this as complete fact, since things can change, but it’s a good guideline to get you started.

In the first quarter, we’ve got:

• Skate 3
• Green Day: Rock Band
• All Points Bulletin (PC)
• FIFA World Cup: South Africa
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour titles

For the second quarter:

• Need for Speed World (PC only, a social networking game)
• NCAA Football 11
• FIFA Online
• NHL 11
• MySims SkyHeroes

The third quarter:

• Medal of Honor
• Crysis 2
• Need for Speed (TBA)
• A TBA EA Partners game
• EA Sports MMA
• FIFA Manager 11
• NBA Jam
• NBA Live 11
• EA Sports Active 2.0 (Likely the one we saw with both Wii and PS3 peripherals) and another title that is TBA
• Family Game Night 3
• Littlest Pet Shop 3 Biggest Stars
• Monopoly Streets
• Harry Potter TBA (Deathly Hallows?)
• Another “EA Play” game
• The Sims 3 (Consoles/handhelds)

The fourth quarter is a little light after that action-packed third quarter:

• Dead Space 2
• A TBA Dragon Age title for consoles, handhelds, and PC
• Bulletstorm
• A TBA Need for Speed title
• A TBA Sims title

So, does any of that get you hyped about this year’s holiday season? You’re going to have a lot to choose from…

The Ferrari might be one of the sexiest cars out there and now you’ll be able to drive one…virtually of course. Ferrari is coming back to the Need for Speed franchise as DLC for Shift. Starting February 18th, for $10 the DLC has 10 Ferrari cars which include the ultra rare F50 GT.

The DLC adds cars and 46 new challenges designed specifically for Ferrari cards. Complete all the challenges and you can earn an additional 125 gamerpoints.

Here is a list of the Ferraris that are part of the DLC:

1. 1996 Ferrari F50 GT
2. 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider
3. 2005 Ferrari FXX
4. 2005 Ferrari Superamerica
5. 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
6. 2006 Ferrari F430 Challenge (Online/Quick event only)
7. 2006 Ferrari F430 GTC (Online/Quick event only)
8. 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
9. 2008 Ferrari California
10. 2008 Ferrari 16M Scuderia Spider

BUY

Need For Speed is a hit franchise better known for it’s street racing-police chasing shenanigans, but EA’s new Need For Speed: Shift is a hair pin turn in a totally different direction! Fans will remember their last title, Need For Speed: Pro Street, concentrating on track racing with street cars; well Shift takes the franchise to the track once again. Instead of climbing a black list, you’ll be competing in a series of track races and climbing the Tiers to get to the “Need For Speed World Tour”.

So what’s new? Shift has found several ways to engage their fans with new cars (nearly 70), new tracks (over 15), several new race types, an insightful way of leveling up, and what the developers call “True Driver’s Experience”.

Starting off in the game, you are welcome to a pretty good selection of cars in the Tier 1 group. 22 to be exact! The best cars you’ll find in Tier 1 are the BMWs and Audis for their horse power, and ability to contend with cars in Tier 2 races. Tier 2 isn’t lacking either with a hefty selection of M Series BMWs, your choice of the EVO 9 and EVO 10, and a Lotus Elise (which is surprisingly slow even after the highest upgrades). Tier 3 and 4 is a smorgasbord of Porsche, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, and lots of exotic German and Italian luxury sports cars. The C6 Z06, Audi R8 TDI, and Nissan GT-R SpecV are some of the best in show for Tier 3. As for Tier 4, it’s a very close match up between the $1.2 million Bugatti Veyron, and the $1.1 million Pagani Zonda R. Both have maxed out acceleration and the Veyron has the upper hand in top speed, but it’s the Zonda that may take the cake of “best car in the game” with maxed out handling, great breaking, and a top speed that’s not lacking either. This series has arrived in a totally different class than it’s previous titles, and it definitely shows with the cars!

All cars are upgradeable through the game’s pre-set stage and body kits. These kits make your car faster, lighter, and more aerodynamic. On the upside having only one kit to chose from makes for easy and quick shopping for gamers unwilling to mess around in a virtual car parts store, but for others having no choice is a bad trade-off. Unfortunately, if you care about your car’s look, you will eventually have to make the choice of whether or not you want to throw a large wing or wide body kit on your car to make it better, or keep your car’s nice clean look. Adding on to the inconvenience, trying to see said body kits in the upgrades preview window may be a tad bit difficult with all the menu screens in front of your car. Good thing if you sell your car you’ll get all your money back (including upgrades) if you don’t like it!

As for tracks, you will be swerving around on some actual real world renditions, like Laguna Seca and Road America, as well as some that NFSS threw in of their own to test you, like downtown Tokyo, scenic London River, and insane Hazyview Eight! There’s 18 tracks with over 50 different renditions, making your selection seem endless! In Quick Race and online, you can even chose the time of day- dusk, dawn, or midday- for your track!

There’s several different race types in the game that can retain even the most ADD gamers’ attention! Surprisingly, you won’t even get to drive your own car in a great deal of them! For example, in the Manufacturer’s Competition every driver will be put in the exact same car; with an even playing field, it will take some skill to come in first. In Car Battles, you will get the choice of driving one of two rival cars and duke it out in a game of Leader and Follower. This race is best out of 3; in the first 2 races each driver will take turns starting in front. The driver that finishes first or takes a 5 second lead wins. If a winner isn’t determined by the second race, the third race will start the drivers side by side, the rules to winning the race are the same- cross the finish line first or gain a 5 second lead.

Though most race types are fun and engaging, there’s one that may send some controllers flying into the wall, and that one is Drifting! This is another race type that gives you a loner car to drive, but the car they give you seem to be tweaked to fly into walls at the tap of the joystick. Of course the directions are simple: insanely throw your car around a curb, use your handbrake to control speed, and whip your steering wheel in the opposite direction to control your angle! But, NO! The game says this is wrong, and insists on every slight movement sending your car in the opposite direction. Of course you can get used to these mechanics, but that’s if you haven’t already given up on trying. Yet and still, this one race type doesn’t detract from the other events like Time Attack and Eliminator races that keep the game challenging , yet enjoyable!

Don’t think NFS has gone completely soft. Though Shift has gone all simulator on us, the game doesn’t just shine the light on safe driving. Shift has a leveling system that rewards drivers for their Precision and Aggression. You’ll get points for staying on track, mastering corners, and politely passing other drivers as well as spinning your opponents out into the gravel! Everything you do on the track is reflected in your Driver Profile and reflected in your emblem that evolves as your level increases. This is a direct representation of your driving style, which will show to anyone you play online.

Every race has specific challenges to complete, similar to “milestones” in Need For Speed: Most Wanted; complete the objectives, and earn stars which help unlock higher Tiers for advancement of your career. These challenges keep the races fun, and keeps Shift from being just an ordinary, mundane racing simulator. Some of the stars are down right difficult to achieve, so there will be many-a-time gamers will go back to Tiers trying to acquire their long lost gold stamp of approval. Along with points, you will also earn badges, which are in game rewards for miscellaneous achievements around the track. After every level gained, up until Shift’s level 50 cap, you will earn sponsorship cash, unlock several goodies like cars, garage slots, and vinyls to customize your car; and get invited to higher tier events where you’ll be able to drive cars you can’t even afford yet!

The best feature on Need For Speed: Shift is what the developers call “True Driver’s Experience”. The developers at Slightly Mad Studios wanted to create a simulator that virtually makes the players feel like they’re in the seat of a race car going 150mph. From the moment you press the gas petal and take off in a race, the inside of your cockpit becomes blurry, creating a feeling of tunnel vision. The blur of scenes around the track as you accelerate give you the feeling of a race car driver being stuck to their seat from G-forces! Experienced best from the incredible inside-view, every bump and thud and ram is made even more intense when you crash! The moment your car smashes into an object, you’re immediately thrown into a daze, your breath gets heavy, your eyes can’t focus and the world around you is fuzzy until you regain your bearings and get back on track. Slightly Mad Studios definitely gave this new effect the right name! The “True Driver’s Experience” is what really puts this game on the map to be recognized as a racing simulator, and not just a racing game.

All that’s good, but how’s the game online? Multiplayer was surprisingly entertaining, and a much needed diversion when you get tired of playing AI. Unlike some games, Need For Speed: Shift’s matchmaking doesn’t differentiate between a player’s level, so you may wind up in a game lobby of players ranging from 11 to 50. With this game being so popular, for a good reason, it’s pretty easy joining and hosting matches; the game menu is simple and straight forward as well. There’s two modes in multiplayer, Versus and Driver Duel. You have access to the maps you’ve unlocked through Career mode, and the choices of racing, drifting, and even time attack in Versus. You aren’t earning stars during these races, but if you end up on the podium, you will earn cash! If you go to Driver Duel, you will be in a 1v1 match of Leader and Follower, but unlike Car Battles, you both will be driving the same randomly selected cars and working your way up several stages in a ladder to win the Championship. If you were worried about lag, rest assured that in most matches, it wasn’t even noticeable!

Overall the Need For Speed series has come a tremendous way by making this game! Need for Speed: Shift is both in-depth and fun for all levels of gamers, and has brought to the table a new and exciting experience that is unmatched by any other racing game out there! By reinventing themselves, but managing to keep to their roots, Need For Speed has created yet another favorite that fans and new comers alike will be playing for a long time!

Electronic Arts Logo

Best Buy and EA are going on tour together to various colleges to talk about Games, Gear & Gadgets. G3 will be for the next three weeks and go to 10 major colleges and universities.

“The G3 Tour will be featuring many of the hottest new Wii fall titles. EA titles on tour will be: The Beatles: Rock Band, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Madden NFL 10, EA Sports Active, Need for Speed: Nitro, Grand Slam Tennis, Dead Space Extraction, My Sims Agents and Littlest Pet Shop Friends. Capcom will be offering up some zombie shooting action with Resident Evil: The Dark Chronicles. Ubisoft will be showcasing the exciting new Just Dance game. Activision will have newly released DJ Hero and Namco will be featuring the ever popular Tekken 6 at the Best Buy Gamers Lounge. Dell is also showcasing a unique Dell PC Experience and hosting gameplay of the new CrimeCraft game from THQ. ”

The Best Buy G3 College Tour starts today and runs through November 14. The event is free to attend and to see if it’s coming to your college go to gameulive.com

Need for Speed franchise has surpassed 100M units sold life to date. That’s alot of you out there racing cars in any of the Need for Speed franchise titles. The latest in the series is Need for Speed Shift.

“Few videogame 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.”

Here’s some cool trivia if you ever need random video game trivia:
1) Need for Speed franchise has included actors, models & Musicians including:
Brooke Burke (Wild On), Christina Milian (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half Men), Josie Maran (Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and actress), Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III), Kanye West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Prodigy

2) The franchise has sold more games than all new passenger cars sales in the US since 1994

3) If Need for Speed boxes were laid out end-to-end it would span 173,609 football fields.

How about that?

Waiting in line, I passed the time talking to people around me. One of those people happened to be Assistant Producer Anouk Bachman! Incredibly generous with her time, she explained the development process for Nitro and what the team hoped to achieve with the game. During our impromptu interview,she led me over to the Wii Wheels and gave me a general walkthrough of the features available. Anouk touched on how the team was given carte blanche in creating a game specifically for the Wii, but at the same time, faced incredible pressure to live up to the Need for Speed franchise.

Rather than porting games over to the Wii, she clarified that the development team worked diligently to make sure the game worked with the console. Instead of shoving a game down a Wii’s processor, Nitro is specifically geared to utilize and maximize the console’s features. Anouk pointed out that Nitro is carving its own path amongst the usual shovelware in the Wii library to stand out as a true gem. She acknowledged the immense popularity of Mario Kart, and that it would have been easy to copy that successful formula. However, the team wanted to strike out on their own and create a fun game that is distinctly Need for Speed. And I got a hands-on demonstration. I took control of the wheel and never looked back. It’s extremely intuitive, and using the wheel makes the game much more engaging.
The most important factor for a console geared towards the casual market is how fun the game can be. Let me tell you: It’s mucho fun. I picked up on the drifting aspect fairly quickly and zoomed through my first race, placing 2nd. Granted, I played an easier mode with city cars. It’s not too easy, but it’s not terribly hard that you’ll feel frustrated and chuck your controls at the television. For the more competitive gamers with a hardcore streak in them, there are more challenging modes available.
Another fun component of Nitro is the ability to customize the vehicle. I think I enjoyed this part the most. The level of customization available is awesome! Sure, there’s the usual selection of car models and colors. But there’s more! One neat aspect is the ability to deck out the car with licensed decals. Mine was a pink VW Bus with tokidoki characters and designs. Yeah, that’s right! A pink VW Bus with a mean tokidoki front. That’s how I roll!

Nitro is definitely a game that was meant for the Wii: accessible to all. It’s easy to pick up the controller and get started on a race right away. Get your engines ready. Need for Speed: Nitro will be released on the Wii November 17, 2009.

Need for Speed Shift

Need for Speed Shift is the latest in the Need for Speed franchise and the team wants you to get a sneak peek.

Need for Speed Shift, developed by Slightly Mad Studios is one of the more authentic driving experiences players can have. There is an all new crash mechanic and you’ll feel like you are going fast.

We have two passes to give away to our GamingAngels readers to attend an exclusive event and try out Need for Speed Shift for yourself!

Here are some of the details:
1) You have to be in New York. The event will be near Manhatten, NYC.
2) You have to be available to attend the event the evening of Thursday August 27,2009.
3) Finish the following quote:
“I feel the need…”

You’ll be attending the event with our editor StealthySlyth! These events are always fun! Good luck to everyone who enters! We’ll be picking the winner this Wednesday!

UPDATE: We have our winners! Congrats to killervirusb and lostdecoy! You’ll be going to the exclusive Need for Speed event with Stealthyslyth. Please email PR@GamingAngels.com with your information by tomorrow so we can get you on the list!

Need for Speed Nitro

EA is partnering with people that know art and style for Need for Speed Nitro on the Wii. Tokidoki, Upper Playground, and i am 8-bit created exclusive in-game car designs and artwork for the title.

The tokidoki brand is one that most of us are familiar with. The brand has colorful, high-energy artistic style and tends to have a “cuteness” to it.

Upper Playground is a cutting edge, San Francisco brand that puts graffiti art on t-shirts, hats and hoddies.

i am 8-bit is an artistic collective of over 100 artists that create art based on their favorite video game characters.

“tokidoki, Upper Playground and i am 8-bit create art with distinct and cutting edge personalities,” said Gil Rimmer, Art Director, EA Montreal. “With Need for Speed NITRO, we wanted to give players a variety of ways to customize their vehicles, introducing vivid and fresh urban art styles that have never been seen in racing games before.”

Need for Speed Nitro is shipping on November 17,2009.

Need for Speed

EA just sent over the new Need for Speed teaser that features the top drivers explaining how they worked with the dev team at Slightly Mad Studios. The hope is to make Shift more realistic than ever before.

If you are a big fan of Need for Speed series, you’ll have to check out the NFS Youtube home page takeover on Saturday, August 1. They’ll be taking over the home page to show new exclusive video, four full length trailers, new car reveals, four new drivers and any other surprising news they can throw at you.