NFS Carbon details, shots

Having trailed the game in several forms already - as part of E3 showreels, in a new trailer released yesterday and in recent US magazine previews - EA has now officially pulled back the veil on Need For Speed: Carbon.

The next game in the multi-million-selling racing game series is due out on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, DS, GBA, PSP and PC (phew) this autumn, and you can check out some of the first screenshots elsewhere on the site.

As reported earlier this week, NFS: Carbon involves capturing various city territories block by block with your crew of racing pals, and then moving out of the city to California's Carbon Canyon - an infamous destination for dedicated petrolheads - which also has plenty of race-space to conquer.

"We pride ourselves on our ability to reinvent the franchise and continually uncover new and exciting trends in car culture," says Larry LaPierre, executive producer. "Canyon Racing is a real test of a driver's skill and we think it provides a fantastic game play opportunity to lean into."

EA's promising to deliver "the next generation of customisation" allowing you to design and tweak cars using something the publisher refers to as "Autosculpt technology". Well, it had to have a name.

Check out our previous coverage for more details. NFS: Carbon is being developed by EA Black Box (responsible for both Need For Speed Underground games and Hot Pursuit 2, among others) and should be released later this year. Hopefully we'll be able to bring you more following EA's annual Hot Summer Nights event next month.