"Need For Speed World," EA's upcoming racing MMO, is currently accepting beta-testing applications

EA recently unveiled its upcoming racing MMO, Need For Speed World, at the company's EA Showcase in London [via Massively.com]. Aptly named after the popular Need For Speed racing-sim franchise, Need For Speed World will feature a persistent world for gamers to race each other, including plenty of Web 2.0 integration with Facebook and other social media. According to the official Need For Speed World site, EA is already accepting up to 20,000 applicants for the MMO's beta-testing phase; interested gamers can sign up here. Strangely, the publisher isn't pushing a multi-platform release for Need For Speed World; the MMO will be PC-exclusive.

Last week EA released a handful of in-game screenshots and wallpapers, which you can check out at this link. Scheduled for release sometime in the second quarter of 2010, Need For Speed World will join a sparse lineup of similar "massively multiplayer online racing games," or MMORGs. The Trackmania series is another popular online racing-sim, but Need For Speed World promises to include RPG-like progression and other MMO-styled elements that transcend the usual multiplayer racing genre. News site Hexus Gaming scored a video interview with Jean-Charles Gaudechon, Lead Producer of Need For Speed World, at the recent EA Showcase; check out the video here [via MMORPG.com]. For more info about the MMO, visit the media section of the official site and stay tuned to ZAM.com for more news as it's released.