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by NuyoRiquena on 11.17.10

People crowded Avalon to get a glimpse of celebs, cars, and girls in Hollywood courtesy of Jon Heier of 360Junkies.com (c)

The end of a year typically brings holiday festivities full of good will, and Electronic Arts decided it wanted to close out the year with hot new titles and blockbuster parties. For the latest title, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, a nationwide tour hit the largest cities in the United States and featured hands-on game time, incredible music, and guest lists with an abundance of celebs.

Rob Kardashian, second from left, poses with the "Need for Speed" girls.

The Los Angeles event was the last stop on the tour and coincided with the release of the game. It was held at the very posh Avalon in Hollywood. Though it doesn't take much in LA for people (drivers, especially) to stop traffic in an effort to see "what's happening," it was most definitely warranted if you were driving down Vine. Custom Lamborghinis and the obligatory scantily clad promo models dressed in form-fitting racing costumes gave attendees plenty to look at before entering the nightclub. 

Once inside, Polite in Public gave our narcissism an outlet in the spirit of fun and Facebooking, the music loud with bass that created earthquake-like vibrations, and the colossal protected VIP and media sections had both a great view and a great bar. Perfection. We were given the opportunity to play the game, and although my stint was quite short given my propensity for crashing, it was a fun game to watch.

I think racing games should be played with a steering wheel in an arcade cab so I can really get into the driving. Controllers are entirely too sensitive — or I am too aggressive. The crash scenes were my favorite graphically, so my lack of skill turned out to be a bonus for me, in a cinematic sense. No bullsh!t; I won't play the game because I will never get far enough to give a full review, but I know someone at Nfamous is already excitedly planning to give the title the respect it deserves given the amount of work EA put into making the title look amazing.

The music was nonstop all night and included a set from DJ Mayer Hawthorne and a performance by Chiddy Bang. Admittedly, I didn't particularly care for either one of the performances, but I loved the drummer, Xaphoon Jones. There was a highlight, a glimpse, when they freestyled about random topics given to them by the audience, which included Need for Speed, Spaghetti-Ohs, weed, Lakers, and of course, oranges. 

Kevin Dillon, left, plays Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed Hot Pursuit" while Jerry Ferrara looks on.

When I wasn't staring at the game, I was busy staring at the celebrities. Some of those celebs included Greg Grunberg, Bob Guiney, Mike Epps, Nick Grosvenor, Isaiah Mustafa, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, and Playboy Playmate Jenna Bentley. A couple of my favorites showed up and created a bit of a frenzy — Rob Kardashian and Chris Brown.

Chris Brown plays Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed Hot Pursuit."

EA's goal was obviously to overload all of our senses for the night, and it was a success.

Greg Grunberg (left) and Bob Guiney arrive on the red carpet.                 Isaiah Mustafa (Old Spice Guy!) arrives on the red carpet.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is available now for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. See the official site for details.

*Special thanks to Jon Heier of 360Junkies.com for being our [unofficial] photographer. Great job!