All the way back in March, Alex Ward, Creative Director at Criterion Games, talked about how he had an idea for something called Burnout Vs. Road Rash. Obviously, nothing came of it, but today, Alex was quite active on his Twitter account, talking about how Criterion put “bikes into [Burnout Paradise] as a sort of test to crack the camera/handling. Turned out well.” He also reminded everyone of how he feels “the concept should be Burnout Versus Road Rash for a truly great game.”
Speaking specifically of a new Road Rash game, Ward revealed that while Criterion never started it, EA North West (previously Studio 33, who were previously a part of Psygnosis, who worked on Destruction Derby Raw and Destruction Derby Arenas) “tried it years back.” He continued by saying that “we gave them the Paradise codebase,” but the “project was sub par and NFSU lite,” so “it got cancelled.”
After Alex talked about how “twenty odd years past the seminal 3DO version of the game it would have to be something very special to do it all justice,” someone said they’d love to see him get the chance. Alex replied to this with, “We have the chance whenever we want to. We’re working on something far better anyway.”
Just what might that be? Well, it won’t be a new Burnout as “nothing is in development” and introducing those “insane crashes and crazy sense of speed” into Need for Speed is, as Alex explains, “Not possible. I am no longer working on the NFS franchise. After 13 years of car games it’s time for a change.”
When someone remarked how they thought Criterion was working on the new Need for Speed, Alex cleared up that “some Criterion staff are helping out, mostly art staff. Some of us moved out to do…something else.” When can we expect that something else? “Not any time soon.”
Now, I know what some of you are thinking, but it isn’t BLACK 2, with Alex saying a few months ago, “No Black 2 either folks. Volumes to tell on that topic, but will save that for when I get a book deal…”
What do you hope Criterion is working? Let us know in the comments below.
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- Ken Levine “Still Working on the Matchmaking” of the BioShock PS Vita Deal, Shuhei Yoshida has Some Fun With it
- Ken Levine on DLC Release Pressure: “I Could Say, F*ck it, Let’s Cut Half of it so we can Get it out Sooner”
- Analyst Firm has Call of Duty: Ghosts as the Most Pre-Ordered Game Since E3 2013, Killzone: Shadow Fall #1 PS4 Exclusive
