Criterion Steps Away from Burnout

Criterion Games teased viewers at EA’s 2014 E3 press conference with a hint at their new IP being published by EA. The company, known for the Burnout arcade racing series, seems to have gone off track a bit and decided to take on pretty much any type of vehicle they could think of.

The brief video hinted at everything from ATVs to helicopters, wing suits, boats and jet skis. While the decision to step away from cars might seem odd, the Burnout games have always been a more extreme racing title than most games out there, and it seems that desire to convey that kind of speed and danger has translated into this newest, as of yet unnamed, game.

Criterion said that a major part of their inspiration were the first-person videos taken while performing extreme sports. The action-cam footage that has been appearing all over YouTube caused them to want to get that feeling into a game. As a result, Criterion stated that you would always be in first-person view in the new game. They want to make sure the player feels like they are actually controlling the vehicle, so you will always see your hands gripping the handlebars or grabbing the stick. While the early graphics used in the video aren’t too impressive, you could tell that they were currently focusing on conveying the right feelings while controlling the vehicles. I’m sure the final product will be a far cry from the "Prototype Gameplay" footage seen in the video.

Interestingly enough, the video that was played talked a bit about how the studio rearranged their office. They seem to have gone to a much more agile development process and made their various teams much more dynamic and fluid. The video claims that no one has a permanent desk and people move around to work with who they need to. This is not a new practice and it is something seen in a lot of programming shops, but it’s not something I’ve heard used too often in video games. The developers claim that one advantage to this new structure is that they can quickly tweak the game as they need to. Part of the video explained that they would sit around and play a part of the game, talk about what needs to be adjusted, and in a few short minutes those changes would be applied for everyone to play again. We'll just have to watch and wait as this new title develops.