Since I'm bored and don't really feel like playing games or complain about the GameTrailers.com community, I figure that I just might as well talk about  my experience with Need for Speed.

While I was trying to get rid of the various trojans that infected my computer after trying to install custom themes (me being a Vista user still), I decided to play a little bit of NFS Underground Rivals while my anit-virus software was doing it's thing for hours. It's been one of those launch titles for the PSP that I've been wanting since it came out, and I was pretty satisfied with it first plying it months ago. I like it more than one of the WipeOut PSP games, which felt too floaty for my liking. It really feel like a Need for Speed Underground game because of the look and style that the console Underground games have, though it helps that the soundtrack is pretty much copied and pasted from Underground 2 with bands like My Chemical Romance and No Warning thrown in. In short, it's a fun game of which is something that I can just pick up and play from where ever I left off months ago.
 
Need for Speed Most Wanted was another fun Need for Speed game that I played on two different consoles. I first played it around the original release of the last generation of consoles, the PS2 in my case. Coming from Underground 2, it thought it was awesome mainly because the cop chases were new to me (not knowing about Hot Pursuit 2 at the time). But thee were two things that have always bummed me out about it: no cars from Nissan (the Skyline and 350Z being my favorites from the underground games), and a lowered emphasis on customization. But I got over that, and after trading in the PS2 version years ago, I bought the 360 version early this year. At this point I vaguely remember how the PS2 version looked (aside from it being in 4:3), but the 360 version looks great and I was amazed all over again from not only the graphical update, but also from the nostalgia from playing the PS2 version to completion. I've yet to complete the 360 version, but I feel a little compelled to right now.
 
Another Need for Speed title that I feel like repurchasing for my 360 and playing is Need for Speed Carbon. I remember playing it as if it was a mixture of Underground 2 and Most Wanted. The look from Underground 2 was back and looked great to me. I have a love for that type of scenery. I always liked just driving around at night on the highway and downtown. The police from Most Wanted were back, though that's about it. I remember this really long encounter with them in in Carbon, but there were a lot more of them in Most Wanted, and they were more epic as well. The territory aspect of the game was an interesting edition, though thinking back on it i wish it was more frantic in the sense that my conquered territories were being attacked more often, as if I was playing Risk I guess. I remember the canyon races to be more frustrating than fun for the typical skill based reasons. I was frustrating when I would fail at a critical moment in a race by not turning or braking well enough, but it was fun when I won after retrying the course four of five times. It wasn't my favorite part about Carbon, but it's something that I'd like the experience again after years of not playing it. In conclusion, Carbon was good if not just an okay Need for Speed game, but I'd like to have an updated experience with it.
 
Sometime after that game, I stopped following the Need for Speed games. I was looking at the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the Wii at the time, being 2007 I guess. I noticed Pro Street and was kinda interested because of my love for the series. But after a few reviews said that it sucked I lost interest. And a year later, Undercover was announced. I was hoping that it was going to be better than Pro Street according to reviews, but it turned out to suck even harder apparently. By that time, I joined the NFS is dead bandwagon and was apprehensive about Shift when that was announced. I was thinking that it was going to suck compared to Forza 3, but then I saw the footage and was amazed. First person driving wasn't new to me since it was in Far Cry 2, my not knowing about the other games that did it, but the cockpit in Shift looked stunning seeing it in videos online. I was impressed, I wanted to play it, and I finally got a hold of the demo around Easter this year and got to experience it first hand. And my opinion of Shift changed again. It looked as well at it played; it was great and I would like to play more of it sometime.
 
Now a days I'm looking forward to getting a PS3 (for a number of reasons), so I've held off on buying Carbon and Shift for the 360. And now that Criterion's game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is coming out in November, that will be another game to add to my wish list in addition to the other games that are coming out over the next four months or so. So hopefully I'll have a PS3 as a Christmas gift (I'd buy it right now if I had a job), and I'll sort out what games to get for what system. In the meanwhile, I'll play some Most Wanted and Underground Rivals when the mood strikes me, to pass the time until getting the new console.

When you get Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and your PS3 we should play some time.