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Need for Speed™ Unbound News

With Need for Speed devs working on Battlefield, EA's beloved car culture site Speedhunters seems to have shut off its engine

If you've played a Need For Speed game in the last decade, odds are you've seen plenty of cars with Speedhunters stickers slapped somewhere amid whatever delightfully tacky livery their driver's decided to rock. Now, though, it looks like the EA-owned car culture site has gone dormant, with reports claiming it might have been shut down.


This news comes as development of NFS at EA is on a hiatus, with devs at Criterion having been drafted in to help deliver the next Battlefield, though exec Vince Zampella has hinted that there are still plans for the racing series going forwards.


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Need for Speed is effectively on hold while Criterion musters entirely around Battlefield, but EA assures players the racer will return in 'new and interesting ways'




Need for Speed fans are in for a long wait before getting behind the wheel of a new game from the series. Developer Criterion Games, which has handled EA's venerable racer for years, has now shifted entirely over to work on EA's next Battlefield title. In a statement to Eurogamer, Battlefield's three-star general Vince Zampella explained that "The Need for Speed team at Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield."..
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NFS Unbound – Vol. 8 Dynamic Catch-Up Pack



Make up for lost time with Need for Speed™ Unbound – Vol. 8 Dynamic Catch-Up Pack. Get instant access to 45 tiers of Vol. 8 Speed Pass content including the Lotus Evija ‘23, and instant access to 30 additional tiers of premium content for Vol. 8 Premium Speed Pass owners (included in the Ultimate Collection).



Did you miss the Porsche 959 S ‘87 from the Vol. 8 Premium Speed Pass? Get instant access to this awesome car, its three bodykits, and a Cop Car variant for use in Hot Pursuit with the Porsche 959 S ‘87 car set.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2856200/Need_for_Speed_Unbound__Vol_8_Dynamic_CatchUp_Pack/

Need for Speed™ Unbound Vol. 9.0.2 Patch Notes

Looks like Race(zor) X has his hands tied in Lakeshore right now, so he won't be interrupting us this time… just as well, as we need to tell you about how the 30? 20? 10? 5? “Giga Chads” have been hard at work still, in order to bring you the best experience possible for Vol 9*. We hope you enjoy Lockdown, because we do too and playing it daily means that like you, we want better!
So here comes the improved Lockdown and much more…
Happy Holidays and we wish you many successful extractions!
- Team Kaizen


[h2]Highlighted improvements and fixes[/h2]

[h3]Contract usability and display improvements[/h3]
  • Automatically expand Contracts tab at the start of a round
  • Ensure that local player is always at the bottom of the Squad List to improve display and updates for Contracts
  • Enabled Contract notification updates in the HUD to allow for better tracking of Contract progress
  • Fixed and improved multiple Contracts where descriptions were misleading and some notifications were not updating correctly
  • Fixed Contracts Pop Up to differentiate progress between local player and contributed progress from Crew members, like Linkups
  • Made Contract complete progress clearer in the Contracts selection menu
  • Fixed multiple Racer X Challenges not tracking correctly


[h3]Map and Mini Map Improvements[/h3]
  • Fixed Lockup icon on mini map to ensure it has a backing
  • Fixed Truck icon on mini map to stop it being semi transparent
  • Made sure that rival players in Hot Rides are docked to the mini map and show with correct icon
  • Made sure that server messages are using the correct iconography for rivals
  • Fixed sizing of icons on Mini map to improve consistency and clarity. Rivals are no longer massive
  • Most Wanted overlay is now highlighted for rival players on the mini map
  • Improved look of the Lockdown zone on main map and mini map. Making it clearer when in the zone and imminent zone areas
  • Rivals in Hot Rides are now discoverable and highlighted on the main map



[h3]Fixes and improvements to in session routing and notifications[/h3]
  • Fixed issues when routing to Truck would not update correctly from phone widget and would not display route to truck
  • Fixed routing to players on bikes or Hot Rides not updating with live position
  • Fixed routing to Truck from the map not updating with live position
  • Fixed Truck Extraction notification not showing on the HUD when players exit from the map
  • Fixed incorrect distances being displayed for party members routing to Extraction Truck
  • Fixed a bug where the Critical Health state was skipped when being Wrecked or Busted, meaning players should now have more of a chance to get to a gas station before being eliminated
  • Critical Health phone and routing to gas station messages and now displayed in Green to differentiate them from Truck notifications


[h3]Matchmaking Improvements[/h3]
  • Added kick for players who take too long to load into Lockdown sessions, keeping others queuing
  • Handle backfilled party members becoming the new host correctly so they can continue on the backfill flow, which leads to stuck lobbies
  • Extraction Session Lobby Improvements to allow more players into games and improve wait times loading into gameplay
  • Stopped party members from being able to quit after party leader starts matchmaking, leading to bad things in matchmaking and players hanging in zombie lobbies


[h3]Other notable improvements and fixes[/h3]
  • Ensure that the last player on a Crew now drops all their loot before being downed
  • Ensure that loot items remain in the world during overtime period
  • Improved loot dropping from downed players so it remains near their vehicle and not lost down the road
  • Implemented VO cool down on Racer X at Lockups to stop that Ding Dong going chap chap chap, all the time!
  • Added the Jacked and Impounded details to the Lockdown Garage to highlight and make the current status of vehicle clearer
  • Fixed an issue where extracting the same Blacklist vehicle would keep the vehicle and not convert to cash. Causing bloat in vehicle inventory
  • Added rewards message after races so players can see how much cash they earned
  • Fixed Heat level 5 UI getting stuck after leaving the zone and escaping
  • Fixed inconsistencies with Jacked vehicle tiers being displayed as Tier B late onto the round when they are in fact S and S+
  • ESF has been updated to provide immunity against roadblock spike strips
  • Fixed vehicle repaired messages when passing through gas stations
  • Increased the rate of Extraction Truck spawns late into the session
  • Fixed an issue in the Squad List that highlighted Crew members collecting cash and not the local player
  • Increased cap on owned vehicles from 200 to 250 to help those players with issues because they don’t know their inventory is full. May result in slightly increased load times for players with very high inventory values.
  • Added a fix to help recover inventory issues and not being able to play the game. Note this is one use case we finally were able to reproduce in the dev environment. We are truly sorry for players still getting errors, and we will keep trying to find solutions.
  • Multiple crash fixes for clients and server


NEED HELP?
We got you. Hit up Answers HQ, where you can report bugs or issues for a member of the team to check out.
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Also don’t forget to check out community-run subreddit or Discord channel to join the Need for Speed community.

*Requires NFS Unbound (sold separately) and all game updates.

Need for Speed Unbound - Volume 9 Out Now

Ride or die with your crew in Vol. 9: Prepare for Lockdown*. Break into Lockups using NFS's first motorbike and claim the Hot rides inside. Also. drive the new fully customizable Subaru Impreza WRX STI ’99 and Honda Integra Type R ’98.

With Vol. 9 comes your single ticket to the premium content in Need for Speed Unbound: the Vol. 9 Premium Speed Pass**.

The Premium Speed Pass immediately grants the new Honda Integra Type R ‘98, and opens up access to its bodykits plus two Custom versions of the new Vol. 9 cars. You will also be able to gain access to ""30 Years of NFS""-inspired customizations and over 30 content tiers.





https://store.steampowered.com/app/1846380/Need_for_Speed_Unbound/

"*Requires NFS Unbound (sold separately) and all game updates to play.

**Premium Speed Pass Content requires Premium Speed Pass and Need for Speed Unbound (sold separately) and all game updates. Requires gameplay to unlock. You must log in before the end of Volume 9 to claim your reward. Failure to log in and claim during this period will result in forfeiting the reward."