Need For Speed Underground 2 goes gold

Electronic Arts today announced that Need For Speed Underground 2 has gone gold and is expected to ship to retail stores on November 15. The title will speed onto the Playstation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, and Game Boy Advance. Gamers will once again be submerged in the "Fast and Furious-esque tuner culture" and the dangerous underground sport of street racing as they attempt to win races and money with style.

The biggest change in NFSU2 is the Grand Theft Auto-like city where it is set. The free-roaming (but nonviolent) metropolis consists of five interconnected neighborhoods, each with its own look and feel. As one would expect from a custom-car game, car performance can be tweaked to suit each driver's preference, from gear ratio to suspension. Coupled with the several hundreds of visual options, NFSU2 lets gamers encounter all sorts of unique cars when they play in the game's online mode. Riding shotgun will be former Wild On hostess Brooke Burke, who plays a race organizer that shows gamers the ropes in the single-player campaign. Additionally, the radio will blast music from Snoop Dogg, Chingy, Capone, and others.

For those of you who can't wait to get behind the wheel, Spike TV will be airing the NFSU2 World Launch Party on November 11, 2004, at 11:00pm EST. Need for Speed Underground 2 is rated "E" for Everyone and carries an MSRP of $49.99. GameSpot took the game for a spin, so come along for the ride in our feature preview.