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[Private Wheels] Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998)
Need for Speed III was released the very next year after its predecessor, and the game’s primary achievements were: a) keeping up with technological advancements in computer graphics; b) saving the series from downfall by correcting the Need for Speed II’s mistakes. The game was highly praised, and the franchise was saved. Again I’d argue…
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[Private Wheels] Need for Speed II (1997)
After the significant success of the debut, the sophomore game in the series, Need for Speed II, was released in 1997 to a somewhat mixed reception. Several technical aspects of the game can be conceived as problematic from the gameplay perspective, but I’d argue that the game’s primary weak point is of symbolic nature. Need…
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[Private Wheels] The Need for Speed (1994)
Atomized individualism, hierarchal status, Darwinian competition, and petty rebellion—the symbolic realm of a private vehicle, a direct metaphor for neoliberalism. And like neoliberalism, a car is also a prison. But I’m straying away—a car as a prison is less relevant for this text because believe it or not, this article is about videogames.