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Need for Speed: Shift 2 confirmed

Out next year.

Yet another Need for Speed game is in the works.

Need for Speed: Shift 2 is due out for consoles and PC between the beginning of January and the end of March next year, EA confirmed last night.

No further details were offered.

Shift 2 is the sequel to Slightly Mad Studios' 2009 simulation racer Need for Speed: Shift, which Eurogamer awarded a solid 7/10.

It joins Criterion's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, due out on 16th November this year, and massively multiplayer PC game Need for Speed World in the triumvirate of Need for Speed games to be released by the end of EA's 2011 financial year.

Shift 2's confirmation comes as no surprise. In February EA said yet another Need for Speed game will be released at some point during its fourth quarter. Now we know what the US company was on about.

And only last month a developer's online CV mentioned the game.

Senior programmer Chris Mcclure's profile on LinkedIn said he worked on Need for Speed: SHIFT 2 while at UK developer Slightly Mad Studios – so we can assume the sequel is indeed in development at Slightly Mad.

The long-running racing series had sold more than 100 million units since its launch in 1994, and has generated over $2.7 billion in sales. Need for Speed: SHIFT shifted over four million units.