Sit down and hang on, because Need for Speed SHIFT is in stores now and ready to take you for the most thrilling ride you can go on without leaving your living room.

Accolades are pouring in from the gaming press, with IGN.com giving SHIFT a 9.0/10 score and the Editors’ Choice Award, calling it “a glorious return to greatness,” and The Official Xbox Magazine giving the game a 9/10, saying SHIFT is “..Literally the first time a videogame has ever made me think ‘Holy crap.. maybe I should slow down.’”

Need for Speed SHIFT is first-person driving. Feel the power of a McLaren F1 from inside the cockpit with the new in-car perspective that IGN says makes the driving experience “so close to the real thing.”

Strap yourself in to feel the G-force and see the 3-D HUD of the True Drivers’ Experience and tailor the game to your driving style solo and online with the new Driver Profile, which evaluates your performance from race-to-race and impacts which cars you can unlock and how you evolve throughout your driving career.

Hit another car or a wall at high speeds and you’ll be knocked around and disoriented by the Dynamic Crash Effect system.

You may not be adventurous enough to install a high-flow exhaust or drop a turbo into your own Nissan 350Z, but with SHIFT’s total customization system, you can create the Fairlady Z from hell and race it against your friends at home or online.

SHIFT has 72 photo-real high-performance cars and 19 beautifully rendered tracks you can race more than 50 different ways, including Laguna Seca and Willow Springs.

If you’ve ever wanted to tear up some blacktop in a snarling supercar, SHIFT has you covered with the Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Gallardo and Pagani Zonda F just three of your options for motoring madness.

Need for Speed SHIFT is available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, PSP, Mobile and iPhone and is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios in collaboration with Black Box and senior vice president Patrick Soderlund at EA Games Europe.

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