What you are about to read are the events leading up to and through the 2 day event held by Electronic Arts to help give community sites like Xbox Solution a better feel for what they have in store for gamers with the upcoming Xbox 360 game release of Need For Speed Most Wanted. We have another write up that is just a Hands On Preview of Need for Speed Most Wanted on the Xbox 360; but I wanted everyone to get a feeling of what was involved in this special two day event.

If you don’t feel like reading this you don’t need to and can head right over to our Hands On Preview, but it should serve to really give you an idea of the experience that everyone that attended the EA Need for Speed Community Event had over these two days. Not to mention, the really cool pictures, especially the one where I was trying to scoff a black Xbox 360 debug unit.

Thursday Early Morning Around 1:00 AM

While going over my check list and hoping I did not forget anything important like my passport, electronic ticket or other contact info, I was also thinking about the event. I hardly ever sleep when I am going on a long trip the next day. It’s just one of those strange quirks about me. My MSN goes off and I know it has to be Jason. He wished me a safe trip. After the talk, I also thought about what exactly I would be able to ask during the event. Jon, our host from EA, had sent me the name of someone sharing the four hour trip from Chicago to Vancouver . I checked my e-mail to find there was a reply from this person. I wanted to make sure to meet up with the person since Jon had taken the time to introduce us. Since I had to head to the airport in just a few hours, I decided not to sleep. I will spare you the boring details.

I knew I could take a nap on the plane to catch up on sleep.

Thursday Morning 7:00 AM

You know it never fails about flying; I don’t care if it’s in the US or going outside of the country. The ticket clearly stated to arrive 2-1/2 hours before the flight. It took a whole twenty minutes, if that, to get checked in and to go through the security screening. I grabbed a coke and the newspaper and found a seat, not tough at this time of day. I dressed for the flight thinking, of course, I would have plenty of time before we all met in the hotel lobby at 3:30 PM PST time. I did not look like a bum, but anyone who has flown and had a long flight knows by the time you land you want to be able to freshen up.

I opened the newspaper and the first thing I saw was more on the major announcement regarding the 360 system and the 2 bundles. It was an interesting read, but I had other things on my mind. So I glanced at the rest of the newspaper trying to make the time go by a bit faster. I noticed they had just posted the flights and checked and so far the two flights were on time. Everything was looking great so I kept hoping there would be no sudden changes or surprises along the way.

Boarding Time to Chicago!

I get on the plan and store my onboard bag. The flight was a short one since it was only a 2 hour trip. Due to the time change, I would actually gain an hour. So the flight fills up rather quickly and since everyone was on board, we actually left about 10 minutes earlier! The trip was smooth and the pilot informed us we would arrive in Chicago about 25 minutes ahead of schedule. This meant I had more time to kill before the 11:45 AM flight to Vancouver. We land in Chicago, the sun is out and not a rain cloud to be seen. Again, everything looked perfect.

Chicago Airport

If you have ever flown to Chicago, you know the airport is huge. I took the shuttle over to the right terminal and by then the sunny day started to grow a bit darker. Since I have flown out of there a few times previously, I know that sudden storms are not uncommon. I get to my gate and still have a good 2 hours to kill. I look at the flight screen and there it is: delayed by 15 minutes. No big deal. The flight of the person I was to meet there was also delayed. So I grabbed a sandwich and another coke and waited.

Looking outside, the sky was getting darker by each minute so I thought well just do not worry and we will take off. Since it was an international flight, I had already filled out the needed customs forms and waited. We then hear that we can board the plane. The wait seemed to fly by (no pun intend). We get our take off instructions and the little movie about safety, which always helps me feel better knowing what could go wrong and that my seat could be used as a floatation device. We hear the pilot come on and give us the normal greeting. He then comes back and says we are ready for take off. Then it happened, we stopped moving.

The pilot tells us there is a bad storm and we could turn to channel 9 for more information. Long story short, they wanted all flights heading for the Far East to leave and we were in the second line to take off. Two hours later we finally take off and head for Vancouver. There was no way I was not going to be late but there was nothing I could do. I later was informed a tornado had touched down and we had to wait it out.

Arrived in Vancouver 2 Hours and 30 Minutes Late

Okay, we are now in Vancouver . It’s sunny and it’s 2-1/2 hours late. Now the fun part; customs and the Q&A part of the flying experience was about to begin. I get to the window, answer the questions and got my little stamp allowing me into their country. I go to the baggage claim, grab my bag and go to grab a taxi. As I waited for a taxi, a young guy is standing there talking to his mom about EA. It turned out that he was heading to the event as well, so we shared a taxi.

When phoning Jon for instructions since we were late, he tells us to head straight to the restaurant after checking in. The others just got their meal. Luckily, the place was only about five minutes away. We arrive and Kat greets us as the taxi pulls up. We get to our table and start trying to remember everyone’s names. The dinner was really nice and we were told we were heading back to EA for some hands-on time with the game and some special things they had planed.

EA Studios Downtown Vancouver

This is the smaller studio of the two and it’s huge. We get signed in and Jon tells the security guard that this is the Need for Speed Most Wanted Community group. We get in the elevator and then a quick tour. We were told where we could take pictures and where not to. So when you see the photos, some had to be taken by Jon for security reasons. We got a chance to see each work station and they have a pretty cool policy as far as work schedules and being able to customize their areas. After the tour, we are shown to the main conference room where we spent most of the time. Each station had a large TV, an Xbox “debug” kit and a controller. Jon and Justin tell us to get a feel for the game and we start to play it.

This was the newest build of the Xbox version trying hard to prove Justin wrong about the cops A.I. — I just had to test it out.
This was the newest build of the Xbox version trying hard to prove Justin wrong about the cops A.I. — I just had to test it out.

The game was impressive even on the Xbox. While playing, Justin came around and was explaining a few things to us. He tried to explain a year or more of work and condense it into the time we had there. After about an hour or so, we were then shown a few movies. As each team member left, another would pop in and talk for awhile. Our first night was all to lead us into the main day where we were told we would play the 360 version and they had a few surprises for us.

Jon sort of chuckled and we then had a few refreshments, talked a bit and went outside on the patio for a few pictures. We then headed back to the hotel. On the way back I finally meet the person I was supposed to meet in Chicago. He had more delays than any of us and was just glad to be there and safe. The ride to the hotel was in a decked out custom bus. It looked like something “Pimp my Ride” created. Jon told us we had the night to ourselves and the bus would be there around 8:30 AM the next day.

In case your wondering who Jon is he is the last guy on the end — the good looking black dude as he says.
In case your wondering who Jon is he is the last guy on the end — the good looking black dude as he says.

Friday

We visited EAX first. This is the largest studio around and lives up to that name. No cameras were allowed. We were shown where they make the Hockey games and other areas. The outside patio is where you see the Soccer field. We then needed to get back to the other studio for a long day of testing the game and Q&A sessions. I can’t go into every Q&A or section but they really allowed us to ask anything and even asked us for input. We then were told a few changes were made to the schedule. One of the changes was that we were given the chance to play the PSP version that has not been seen by anyone outside the team making it. We were then shown the PC version. Next, we were also shown the power of the Xbox 360.

Hey Jon said everything is on us, I tried to take him up on his word. I may have made it out of the room if I was lucky! No really it was just a chance to say I really got to handle the unit. It's very light and man it looks sweet.
Hey Jon said “everything is on us,” I tried to take him up on his word. I may have made it out of the room if I was lucky! No really it was just a chance to say I really got to handle the unit. It’s very light and man it looks sweet.

The art director Habib could hit a few keys and add a new filter to change the shadows and look. He could even change the time of day and the sun’s position on the fly. It really looked like he was copying and pasting a scene. When he hit the right buttons, everything ran like it was already in the game. He also talked about his Hollywood career and talked about working with Lucas on the first and second movie of the new prequels. He had also worked on several other movies and his knowledge was very impressive. We were told time was up and we had to move on to the next part of the event.

Habib showing off the new interfaces of the 360 and the cool features the Xbox 360 Debug kits offers.
Habib showing off the new interfaces of the 360 and the cool features the Xbox 360 Debug kits offers.

I hope to have an interview with him later on in the next week or two. The rest of the day they asked for our thoughts on every aspect of the game. I just wanted to give you an idea of just how much time was given to us and I will also have a separate write-up on the PSP version at PSP Solution. The hands-on preview will also shed more light on the game.

Friday Night After the Event

Jon, Kat, Justin and I along with a few of the others who attended the event went out to a billiard room for drinks and a chance to decompress all that we saw. During the entire event, Jon and the whole EA Staff really went out of their way to make it interesting and fun. Yes, we got to play the 360 and see a lot of very cool things. I have to say I was never treated so well and had the chance to ask or suggest things with the developers.

They really took everything we had to offer seriously. Jon especially went out of his way to get us additional photos and anything else he could to make it special. It was an event I will never forget. Now that you have an idea of the format, hopefully, when you are reading the hands-on preview, it will make more sense.

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Written by Rich Reed, XBS Head Writer and Product Specialist.  

Filed under: Editorials

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