I got a newsletter from Nzone that had a link to NSF shift demo, a couple days before the comercial release.... Downloaded "wow 1.13 GB" installed and attempted to run the new demo.. First issue, skipping/repeating and stuttering sound and freezing intro video's.. before I even get to the main menu.... Finally got to the main menu and started configuring the graphics settings.. I had to exit and restart the demo for the graphics settings to take.. Exiting the demo resulted in long and boring promo video, with lots of sound stuttering, and freezing.. I had to constantly tap the esc key to get through the promo video. Once I got the game restarted, the sound issues returned apon reloading.. Got past the promo video by tapping escape hundreds of times.. Made it through the main menu, selected a car, then selected a race location.. Once the race started, I got booted out of the game with an error message saying something like, "the memory could not be read"

After searching for possible solutions, like updating drivers, checking the minimum hardware specs etc.. I found dozens of pages of posts, all about people having similar issues, with the full version "paid for product" as well as the demo..

All the promo vids and comercials are super hyped up about "the most realistic this and that" I guess it's OK to make these claims if nobody can actually run the game..

I've heard about this one, and was tempted to look into it, after my experience with Undercover, and then hearing about these issues, I'm not so inclined into looking into it...

I skipped needforspeed undercover, last one I bought was NFS pro-street, and had some issues getting it to work, but finally was able to configure the graphics "lower settings" to keep from having texture issues.. I read that they added a controller input settings page on SHIFT; to set the deadzones and sensitivity.. This was one of my biggest issues with pro-street, I couldn't get the controls setup to use my analog game pad or wheel/pedals combo.. I had to use the gamepad, with driver assists on, and difficulty set to LOW, to even be competative in the races.. Anything else would result in the steering input going from dead center to full lock, acting like brakes, even using the keyboard and tapping technique wasn't suitable for competition.. There was some good suggestions for setting controller input/deadzones and sensitivity for analog game pads, this was one reason I got the demo.. I wanted to see if they delt with the input issues for the PC version.. I have read through some of the suggestions to fixing the audio stuttering, most of which are to disable direct sound, some of the graphics issues require editing an xml file, and running the game as administrator, with some other less secure software settings in XP... I don't want to have to compramise my computers security, or disable hardware audio, or reduce the graphics settings, for a pair of 8800gts graphics cards... They really need to work out the issues on PC hardware that meets and exceedes the minimum specs, so that we can run the game out of the box.. As it stands, it appears to be an Unmarketable, defective product that was not properly tested for use on standard/current PC gaming hardware. The one thing I noticed in the minimum PC specs is a requirement to have windows XP service pack 3.. I can't find any technical white papers discribing exactly why service pack 3 is needed and I don't see any major differences in Direct-x or D3D that would be effected by having either service pack 3 or 2.. I don't have service pack 3, but I see that people who DO have service pack 3 installed, are still having the same issues, including stuttering audio, black screens, and crashes with memory read exceptions.

Yeah, Pro-Street was a fail IMO. I didn't like the layout of the game, it was a bad diversion from the normal NFS. I've not had any issues with NFS before Undercover when I had graphics/stuttering issues. But i mainly solved those...unless they get their act together...I won't be getting any more of their games.

Think they are focused on console titles now.

Well, after trying the suggestions, I am pressented with the following:
No more stuttering audio, however.. I still get the memory cannot be read error.. The graphics look like crap for some reason and the game won't run past the incar starting sequence. Just before the race starts, the error pops up; have tried re-installing drivers, updating physics drivers, disabling audio hardware etc.... One more thing to try regarding editing the graphics settings file before I totaly give up on this.. If the graphics do not look better even after the xml stuff.. I'm putting this demo in the recycle bin. I have a good graphics card, 8800gts 640MB, and can play COD4 maxed everything at 1024x768 and get 91fps... This game starts up with what looks like NO anti-alliasing, poor texture quality too.. check out the screen cap..