Need for Speed PSP to go online News

EA Canada's Larry LaPierre has confirmed that the PSP version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted will feature an online mode - but that the PS2 version won't.

Speaking to US website GameSpot, LaPierre said: "From the initial stages of development, there are many features on the drawing board that we want to put in the game in an ideal situation. We have to ask ourselves for every feature in the game, 'Will it meet our high standard of quality, and how will it affect the overall experience experience of the game?'

"In this case, we made a conscious decision to ship the PS2 game without online gameplay, because we were not able to meet that highest standard of quality we had hoped for in this online feature."

LaPierre did confirm that the PSP version - titled Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 - will have a two player online mode, however, and that there will be online modes in the PC, Xbox and Xbox 360 versions.

He denied that the decision was taken because the online play in previous PS2 NFS games hasn't been up to scratch, or because Xbox Live is a better service than, er, whatever the PS2 one is called, telling GameSpot: "I think both console systems have a great online community and great online gameplay. It was our decision, from a software standpoint, to pull the online gameplay from the PS2. Our decision was not based on the hardware."

So what of NFS 360, currently down as a console launch title? Well, LaPierre said the online experience will be "Very similar between platforms," adding: "If there was a feature that we were implementing on next gen, the current-gen team took it upon themselves to find a way to make it work for current gen.

"However, the two versions are not compatible online, as the content is not exactly the same between the two. Next-gen can obviously handle a much greater amount of detail in the worlds and traffic.

"It became unrealistic to have them share the same track experience without degrading the next-gen experience, which we felt was inappropriate," he added.

You can read the full interview on Gamespot.