EA have announced plans to release three different versions of their waning-in-popularity street racer, Need for Speed, for this year’s iteration, with a particular focus on the casual market.

The first announced title, Need for Speed: Shift, is to be released on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP, and will be a much more hardcore racing simulation game, as veterans of that genre aid and oversee development of the title, including Ian Bell, co-founder of SimBin, the studio who created GTR 2 and GT Legends, both of which were heavy on the simulation, rather than arcade style racing.

The second announced title is Need for Speed: Nitro to be released on the Wii and DS. Not much else is known about this game, other than it is said to have a unique visual style, and can probably be assumed to target casual players.

The third Need for Speed title is Need for Speed: World Online, a free-to-play racer in development at EA’s Black Box and EA Singapore, which will target the Asian market primarily, releasing there in the summer, while a North American release will follow in the winter.

Despite the news that EA’s Black Box will see redundancies, the studio is still seemingly working at full tilt, as a marketing executive at EA, Keith Munro, confirms a fourth Need for Speed title on the way:

“Black Box is currently working on a future action title in the franchise. This isn’t about quantity, this is about crafting different games for different audiences and their unique tastes in the driving category.”

Look forward to an all new Need for Speed later this year.