Need for Speed: Most Wanted headed to Wii U in 2013

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   October 31st, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

One of the most anticipated racing games of the year Need for Speed: Most Wanted will be arriving on the Wii U sometime next year, confirmed Electronic Arts (EA).

The 19^th title in the immensely popular racing video game franchise will be releasing today in the North American region for multiple platforms, which include Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Android and iOS.

Announced during EA’s press conference at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 4, 2012, the remake of the 2005 Need for Speed game was only headed towards the already existing platforms.

The Nintendo fans were disappointed after EA revealed no plans of releasing the game for Nintendo’s next-generation console.

However, it was only a few days back that a representative of the publisher confirmed during an interview with Polygon that the fast-paced action is in the works for the upcoming console, though no specific release date has been specified as yet.

“We are very excited to deliver Need for Speed: Most Wanted on more platforms and to more gamers,” said the EA representative. “Starting Oct. 30, Most Wanted will be available on X360, PS3, PS Vita, Android and iOS. Then in 2013, Nintendo fans will be able to experience what it means to be Most Wanted amongst their friends on the Wii U.”

The Need for Speed titles following the 2005 release have struggled to make much of an impact, with the publisher trying out various studios with the developing duties over the years.

However, the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 developed by Criterion Games was the only decent title in the franchise and thus EA has entrusted the studio with the franchise yet again, this time giving the team more control of how to handle the brand.

Known among the racing video game fans for its Burnout franchise, there are high expectations from Criterion Games by both the publisher as well as the gamers.

The initial reaction to the gameplay videos released over the internet has been quite positive, with some notable additions made to the Need for Speed: Most Wanted remake.

Those who had experienced the speed in 2005 will find some similarities between the two games, which can hardly be considered a disappointment since the former was as close to a perfect as a racing game could get.

There is a lot of debate going on over various forums regarding the synergy of the Need for Speed: Most Wanted gameplay and controls with Wii U’s GamePad, which is a tablet controller.

Similar concerns had been raised in the past by the first-person shooter developers, who were of the opinion that such games would not work well with the Wii U GamePad and thus demanded for a conventional controller, which led to the revelation of Wii U Pro Controller at Nintendo’s press conference at E3 earlier this year.