Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has confirmed that the next installment in the NFS racing series will be entitled Need for Speed Undercover.

Unlike Pro Street which was subject to a crunching year-long dev cycle, Undercover will benefit from 24 months in development time, with the workload being split between two teams rather than one. Riccitiello says the game will take cues from action films like The Transporter and promises a “richer storyline.”

Furthermore, Riccitiello admitted that EA was “torturing” its team in Vancouver over the development of ProStreet, simply due to the short dev cycle. Twelve months was not enough time to deliver an innovative, quality product, Riccitiello rightfully admits:

We were torturing a very talented group of people up in Vancouver, which makes it harder to be as innovative every year. So, I think we are going to get better from here.

I thought it [Pro Street] was an okay game, in terms of gameplay. It’s not good.

But who wanted Pro Street? It was a sort of made up, put numbers on the side of your car and pretend to drive your Ferrari where? Or your Porsche where?

Need for Speed Undercover is currently scheduled for a late 2008 release. Platforms have yet to be announced.

New Need for Speed game unveiled [Eurogamer]

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