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Actress Emmanuelle Vaugier to Star in Need For Speed: Carbon

by Evan Burchfield - July 11, 2006, 6:09 pm EDT
Total comments: 16

The gripping role of "the hero's ex-girlfriend" confirms that feminism is dead at EA.

EA ANNOUNCES EMMANUELLE VAUGIER TO STAR IN NEED FOR SPEED™ CARBON

Popular Actress to Play Central Role in Storyline

Redwood City, Calif. – July 11th, 2006 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that actress Emmanuelle Vaugier will star in Need for Speed™ Carbon this fall. Developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia, Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of adrenaline-filled street racing and challenges players to face the ultimate test of driving skill on treacherous canyon roads.

An emerging young Hollywood talent, Vaugier has a recurring role on the CBS hit sitcom Two and a Half Men. She has also recently starred in the films Saw 2 and 40 Days and 40 Nights, and was selected to Maxim’s annual top 100 females list in May. In Need for Speed Carbon, Emmanuelle stars as Nikki, the ex-girlfriend of the hero who has returned to town to face his mysterious past.

“Being able to work in a videogame for the first time and working with the Need For Speed Carbon team at EA has been a great experience for me. This is a game that evolves the racing genre, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it", Vaugier said. “Playing the role of Nikki allows me to take a completely fresh approach to acting and push the boundaries of the creative process."

David Footman, who has worked on such Hollywood blockbuster films as The Day After Tomorrow, X-Men, X-Men 3, iRobot, and Fantastic Four, was the director for the green screen video shoot with Vaugier. The full motion video shoot in Need for Speed Carbon processes live actors to look computer generated while maintaining their performances and facial expressions.

Need for Speed Carbon will be available for Xbox 360™, PlayStation®3, and Wii™ as well as the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox® videogame system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™, Game Boy® Advance, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, PC, and mobile.

Talkback

NinGurl69 *hugglesJuly 11, 2006

I feel a vision coming...

The Wii version is a port of the GameCube version is a port of the Ps2 version is a port of the Xbox version and will FLOP.

ArtimusJuly 11, 2006

Ugh. No wonder production prices are so ridiculous.

Waste. Of. Money.

Slow news day huh?

Seriously though, I'm not wuite so eager to rule out some sort of artistic sensibility behind this development... at least not until I buy this game and find out what all the hubbub is about.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

ShyGuyJuly 11, 2006

That's the actress who played Lex Luthor's wife in Smallville.

couchmonkeyJuly 12, 2006

It's a racing game buttwads, it doesn't need a story!

Infernal MonkeyJuly 12, 2006

I was really hoping this would finally go back to the roots of NFS. You know, a game that's fun to play. Not another addition to the extremely depressing wastelands of Most Wanted and the endless wet city roads at night in Underground.

Ian SaneJuly 12, 2006

Nobody spins bullsh!t better than actors playing fluff roles. I'd like to see more actors not take their obviously non-serious roles so seriously. Just say something like "I've never been in a videogame before. It was a lot of fun." But no you always get "I feel my character in Scary Movie 8 is a torturted soul screaming out for acceptance in a world that doesn't understand them. It was very cathartic playing this role." Jean Claude Van-Damme gained huge points in my eyes when his description of one of his roles was "Eh, it's an action movie." Damn straight.

UltimatePartyBearJuly 12, 2006

As I've seen in /usr/games/fortune occasionally:

"Because he's a character who's looking for his own identity, an interesting role for an actor." --Dolph Lundgren, "actor"

Jean Claude Van Damme scored big points from me because he likes to move it, move it.

But I mean, I haven't played the NFSU games and I guess that if you say they suck, then they really do suck, but I know that I was quite impressed when they I saw how they integrate in-game graphics with real lief actors filmed against green screen.

For example, watch the cinematics sequences over at IGN.

And GameTrailers.com has some interviews with the game's artistic director amongst its many clips, which show how they accomplished that artistic flair: green screen and altering the real actors footage to create an almost digitally re-painted effect that jives with the in-game computer graphics.

I'm not enamored with the hollywoodization of games, but I am impressed with this particularly stylish interation. (note: I do not condone its bad acting though)

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

KDR_11kJuly 12, 2006

Typical EA style: "We can't think of any new features so let's get some celebrity endorsement".

Did you not read my post appreciating the art direction on Most Wanted?

But anyways, get your facts straight. It's not about celebrities, it's about sex.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Shin GallonJuly 12, 2006

Expecting innovation from EA is like expecting gold to randomly drop from the sky: Sure, it's POSSIBLE, but extremely highly unlikely.
That being said, Burnout is way better than NFS anyway.

KDR_11kJuly 13, 2006

Trip Hawkins: "EA will not make any unnecessary games. We will only make games that break new ground, that are unlike what has been before".

Ian SaneJuly 13, 2006

Trip actually said that? F*ck not even Nintendo during their absolute peak managed to achieve that.

KDR_11kJuly 13, 2006

During their early life EA was a forerunner of innovation. I don't know the exact wording but I think that Trip indeed said that.

RennyJuly 13, 2006

A more recent quote from EA, by Larry Probst. "Our goal is to become the greatest entertainment company ever."
Thank you, CNN, for making the Business 2.0 archive free again.

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