Test driving 'Need For Speed: Shift'

Maybe going for that top-speed achievement was a bad idea. Entering lap two of a second-tier race, my driver tries to snag a star by topping 115 mph.

The good news is the driver reaches the mark. The bad news is not recognizing the driver line is bright red, signalling that the car is going way to fast. My car spins on a sharp turn and slams into the wall, shaking the cockpit violently, cracking the windshield and blurring my vision for a couple seconds before I collect myself and hop back on track.

Need For Speed: Shift is an interesting racing title, since it's the series' first attempt at creating a realistic racing experience. Based on a few hours of testing out the myriad of cars and tracks, it's a pretty exhilarating game.

The highlight of Shift is easily the cockpit view, perhaps the best in-car perspective of any racing game. But it's more than just the spectacular crashes that help achieve a sense of thrill as you're speeding past opposing drivers. When players hit maximum speeds, the car begins to shake, as if they're on the verge of losing total control. Spinouts and bumps from opposing vehicles pack more punch when players notice the inside of their cars shake and rattle.

After a test run that establishes your skill set, players move to the first tier and kick off their racing career. As you move up the ranks, you'll unlock tougher tracks and challenges as well as more powerful cars such as Lamborghinis.

During each race, players earn experience points that determine whether they're an aggressive or precise driver. Aggressive tactics include trading paint, spinning out rival drivers and drafting, while precision moves include following the racing line and taking corners cleanly. Certain tactics that are repeatedly executed are rewarded through badges that decorate a driver's profile.

Players can also snag stars based on how they finish as well as achieving certain milestones, such as passing a point threshold or spinning out 4 opponents, for example. These stars will unlock the higher-level tiers and additional events.

The aggressive vs. precision dynamic works well as long as drivers are right in the middle of the pack. Most aggression points are earned by interacting with opposing vehicles. If players get too far ahead, it's tougher to earn those points, so don't be surprised if you end up as a precise driver through most of the game.

The events are pretty diverse as well, especially once more tiers open up. Some require players to battle a car one-on-one, while others task drivers with posting the best lap time. However, the drifting events feel really frustrating. The controls are confusing, and the game doesn't effectively lay out how to complete these challenges.

Shift seems to lack some depth when it comes to vehicle and track variety. Players choose between 70 different cars and over 50 tracks. Compare that to Forza Motorsport 3, out later this month, which touts 400 cars and 100 tracks; or Gran Turismo 4, which packs a whopping 700 vehicles.

So far, Need For Speed: Shift feels invigorating behind the wheel, but could use some extra options to feel more like a robust racing simulation.

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Sony's new PSP set to go

Sony's new PSP Go is a lighter, sleeker version of its PlayStation Portable video game system -- an evolutionary step-up model that the electronics maker hopes will appeal to download-happy consumers.

That's because -- unlike other PSPs (starting at $169) and portable rivals such as the Nintendo DS, which play both downloadable titles and disc-based games -- the $249 WiFi and Bluetooth-ready PSP Go plays only downloaded games, movies and music. "It's all digital," says Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing and the PlayStation Network for Sony Computer Entertainment America. "It allows people to get their content exclusively off of the PlayStation Network and that is something we are seeing great traction with. People are very comfortable getting content digitally."

Weighing less than 6 ounces, the PSP Go is 40% lighter and 50% smaller than the original PSP. Its 16 Gigabytes of built-in memory can be expanded with Memory Stick Micro cards for additional storage. Users can download games wirelessly or via PC or the PlayStation 3, then transferred using a proprietary USB cable.

Sony is expanding its PlayStation Network store offerings to include more than 225 games including new titles such as Gran Turismo. Also available: 2,300 movies and 13,300 TV episodes.

Even though Sony has sold more than 15 million PSPs since it launched in the U.S. in March 2005, this new model could be ahead of its time, says Jesse Divnich of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. "Ten or 15 years from now we are going to look at the PSP Go as that first product to really introduce the core gaming market to digital distribution," he said. "The big unanswered question is how long is it going to perform longterm and are consumers ready to go completely digital?"

Sony has no plans to provide backward compatibility to PSP owners' current UMD-based games for the PSP Go. Regardless, Dille thinks the PSP Go will have appeal for hard-core gamers and gadget lovers. "We hear a lot from people who say that that 'aha moment' really comes when you get the device in your hands. You see how slick it is, you can see the button configuration. People are commenting that it just feels right," he said. "It is designed for the digital consumer."

"The PSP Go is designed to energize the PSP platform and fits in nicely to the PlayStation 3 ecosystem, as well," Dille said. "The (PlayStation) Network, as well, ties the two experiences together in a way competitors aren't offering. If you have got a PSP and you have got a PS3, you are able to connect the two in ways that very cool, whether it's remote play and accessing your content from your PS3 hard drive from the hard drive to turning on your PS3 from your hotel room or your office and initiating a download so it is waiting when you when you get back to your room. These are things the Network is making possible, enhancing the experience on the PS3 and the PSP platforms."

In addition to Gran Turismo, other key games set to be available on the PlayStation Network on Thursday, include: MotorStorm Arctic Edge, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe, Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Madden NFL 10, Soulcaliber : Broken Destiny, Beaterator, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Daxter, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas,Tetris and Fieldrunners.

On other Sony news:

-- Selected upcoming Blu-ray Disc movies will include digital copies for PSPs on the disc, starting Nov. 10 with Godzilla (the Matthew Broderick remake not the Toho original) and The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Future selected releases will include the digital copies; this new feature eliminates the need to include digital copies on additional discs. "This makes the Blu-ray Disc format more attractive and more marketable and will help drive Blu-ray sales because the inherent value in that Blu-ray product just became increased significantly because got an extra use out of that disc," Dille said. "And it also helps us push the PSP format in a way that increases the PlayStation content, increases our distribution (and) makes it more visible to consumers."

-- PlayStation 3 sales are up since the arrival of the PS3 slim model in Sept. 1. "We have been up 300% since the launch of the PS3 120 GB model on Sept. 1," Dille said. Worldwide, the company has sold more than 1 million of the new model in three weeks, he said, citing developments announced last week at the Tokyo Game Show by Sony Computer president and CEO Kaz Hirai. "It's a fantastic response to the new form factor and a fantastic response to the new price point," he said. "We really thought for many months that this was moment in time that was going to provide the catalyst to the PS3 business that consumers were waiting for and that we have been waiting for. It's not just a price point, but it's the adoption of this great new form factor as well."

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