Obviously EA published both the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises, but the news is that Criterion has been assigned to a yet unnamed NFS game.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/696411/Criterion-Developing-Need-For-Speed-Game.html

I don't know if it's been clarified as to whether this new NFS game would exist alongside a new Burnout game, or if the two franchises will essentially merge into one. Hopefully it just means that Burnout games as we know and love them - whether you prefer Paradise or Revenge - aren't finished.

All I care about is that Criterion is still making racing games. From that point on, they can call it whatever they like.

For the NFS series, that's good news as it's the first time in forever that EA seems to actually care. But the original premise of NFS was "real cars, real roads, real fast", so I hope that's not thrown out the window.

I wish for something along the lines of the original NFS games. Something inspired that focuses on diverse cars and environments, and does not force a story about a rival who stole or wrecked your ride and some babe to guide you through rotoscoped cut scenes. That got old pretty fast... and Criterion deserve to stay above it. They are among few who could revive the NFS series, so I hope they're given the freedom to do so.

On the other hand, I hope it's not the end of Burnout as we know it. Surely it would be hard to top Paradise - maybe even taking a new hardware generation before it could take it further - but there are some things that can be done with fake cars that real car makers aren't too happy to permit. Such as totalling them in slo-mo.

Or it could just mean that EA wants to include Burnout in the NFS portfolio to help sell other NFS games, given that NFS suffered from far too much suckage over the years.

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Whoohoo! New Wheel Achievements!

Criterion should be allowed whatever freedom with game development that desire, I hope the two series just merge. Need for Speed: Burnout.

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I currently have E74.

I guess I'm one of the only ones that looked at this as potentially bad news more than potentially good news.

Obviously there isn't enough known to really know one way or the other, but it'll either be:

1) New Burnout game and new NFS game, developed simultaneously

2) New Burnout game under NFS badging

3) New NFS game, no new Burnout (end of franchise)

4) New NFS game then new Burnout game, meaning 3-4 years for new Burnout

For Burnout fans, only 1 & 2 could be any good, but without any real announcement about a new Burnout (despite some unsubstantiated internet rumours) I'd say the best option (1) is the least likely.

The way that Paradise has been paraded around as a showing of Natal makes me think we should expect some Natal-related functionality from this Need for Speed. I'm looking forward to Natal, and I'm sure Criterion will do some fun things with it.

 ApollosEpiphany wrote:

The way that Paradise has been paraded around as a showing of Natal makes me think we should expect some Natal-related functionality from this Need for Speed. I'm looking forward to Natal, and I'm sure Criterion will do some fun things with it.

The demo of Natal using Paradise though seemed like kind of a rushed effort, especially since pretty much all of the "controls" demonstrated would be frustrating for anyone who's ever actually driven a car.

As long as I don't need new peripherals and can use standard controls, I'm fine. When I want forced motion controls that are often not intuitive in the context of the game, I'll play my Wii.

 EvoSero wrote:

 ApollosEpiphany wrote:

The way that Paradise has been paraded around as a showing of Natal makes me think we should expect some Natal-related functionality from this Need for Speed. I'm looking forward to Natal, and I'm sure Criterion will do some fun things with it.

The demo of Natal using Paradise though seemed like kind of a rushed effort, especially since pretty much all of the "controls" demonstrated would be frustrating for anyone who's ever actually driven a car.

As long as I don't need new peripherals and can use standard controls, I'm fine. When I want forced motion controls that are often not intuitive in the context of the game, I'll play my Wii.

Yeah, I know what you mean. The moment a favorite franchise of mine REQUIRES Natal in some unnecessary and unintuitive way, is when I will be very angry. But, you know how Criterion used the Vision Camera for fun in Paradise? It'd be neat if they just threw in a couple of bonus features if you happen to own Natal, too.

Is this NFS Shift? Or what?

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BROOKLYN RAGE!!!!!!

 Pure Ratchet wrote:

Is this NFS Shift? Or what?

Nah, Shift has nothing to do with Criterion.

The Criterion-made NFS is apparently due out in 2010, but with the more-realistic Shift out now, and the arcade NFS Nitro out on Wii in November, I'm assuming late 2010.

Apparently though, NFS and Burnout are not merging, but who knows with EA.

 EvoSero wrote:

 Pure Ratchet wrote:

Is this NFS Shift? Or what?

Nah, Shift has nothing to do with Criterion.

The Criterion-made NFS is apparently due out in 2010, but with the more-realistic Shift out now, and the arcade NFS Nitro out on Wii in November, I'm assuming late 2010.

Apparently though, NFS and Burnout are not merging, but who knows with EA.

Oh, ok. Though it would be fun to have a mix of NFS and Burnout.

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BROOKLYN RAGE!!!!!!