PAX 2010: Take a Look at Need for Speed's Autolog System

Do you like a little competition among friends? Sure. Nothing is better at souring a long-standing friendship like a + 0.17 completion time on a racetrack.  Criterion Games know this well and have added something called Autolog to the latest rendition of Need for Speed to make it even easier than ever to break up friendships over such transgressions.  The system works fairly simply.  Whenever you play, the Autolog system is keeping track of all your scores and logging them onto a main server.  When your friends log on they are told if you beat their times or basically did better then them at all.  They are then asked if they want to send you a metaphoric glove-slap to the face by sending a live challenge over the glorious internets.

Of course, Autolog doesn't just break up friendships. It brings people together too!  Like hot, angry make-up sex, the system will also give you recommendations based on what races your friends have been choosing so that you can get together with them to play.  Like a dating site for racing nerds, or "Amazon Recommends" for people who don't waste money on useless crap.  It's nothing less then a fantastic idea, and the fact that NFS is looking sexy as fuck doesn't hurt either.

Autolog brings score based competition to the forefront of the multiplayer experience in much the same way that Geometry Wars 2 has done.  And there is nothing better then getting angry at your friends within the first few moments of turning on a video game, and nothing makes you try harder than the promise of rubbing it in their face when you win.

Check out the video below which shows a bit of the Autolog at the beginning. Then go play some Geometry Wars and call your friend incessantly at 4am after you beat their score.