Ben-DutkaSplit/Second was damn good. We expect the same goodness from Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit .
But what's the connection? Well, in name at least, it's an interesting factoid: speaking in this month's issue of GamesTM (as cited by GamerZines ), Criterion Games designer Craig Sullivan said the team approached EA eight years ago to develop a "stunt racing game" called "Need for Speed: Split Second." So what happened? Well, EA was none too happy about the developers walking away from a sequel to the C64 classic Skate or Die , which had been a secret project at the time. Said Criterion's Alex Ward:
"We called a meeting with the EA guys, told them we were walking away and they went mad, threatening to sue us, put us out of business… there was a lot of anger and frustration. Then we got a call from the Need For Speed guys and they said 'we can't work with you guys any more; you just walked away and there's a shame on your company, so we can't talk to you'.
I remember coming back to my desk and there was a folder on my desktop called EA and I just clicked delete. We learned a lot about how a game should be made."
Did anybody laugh out loud at that last bit? It all worked out, of course, as Criterion was given the opportunity to produce a Burnout title, and everything snowballed from there. We're willing to bet they're good buddies with EA after the success of the Burnout franchise and now, EA is publishing their new title, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit . Speaking of the latter, you'll be able to "race or chase" on November 19; the new NFS will be available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC.
Always interesting to learn more about some history, though, right?
Related Game(s): Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Oh, so they also made Skate?
It's a shame though, who knows what Criterion would have done for the NFS franchise back then.
But now they're actually doing NFS.
I've been known to delete/burn a few folders/pictures/houses after a bad argument/breakup too.
…and for those of you wondering, no, prison food doesn't taste that bad.
Prison food is better than high school food. 😀
The only part of jail that sucks is having to sober up after getting arrested. Waking up next to some guys is not good!
PS. DUI's suck!
@Hezzron: you forgot deleting faces.
@Yak: lol that sucks, lucky me never fell asleep visiting the big house
Ok, that's friggin' hilarious. Wish I could go to work on Monday and delete a bunch of folders. That'd be awesome… and productive.
Burnout: Hot Pursuit
EA. . . Such little girls.
I would've renamed the folder to 'Electronic Farts' 😛
FYI the first two Burnout Titles were published by Acclaim (in 2001 and 2002). At this time Criterion had to shop their titles around to publishers. The studio was purchased in 2004 by EA.
What's a C64? Did you mean N64? Besides that, quite interesting. Now I'm just imagining a Split/Second sequel with Criterion at the helm.
Peace.
Commodore 64 (C64)
Probably before your day my friend, real old school!
Ahh thank you. I have heard of it, but yeah… before my time indeed.
C64. Not before my day…although I never had one, I had an Acorn BBC Micro.
8-bit home computer. Based on a variant of the venerable 6502 running at a stunning 1 MHz (which was actually about half the speed of my humble BBC Micro which ran at 2MHz) and had a whopping 64KB of RAM.
It was a very popular home computer back in the day. Amazingly, considering the difference in specification, Commodore was also behind the Amiga just a few years later.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 8/28/2010 6:11:54 PM
Lawless,
As Highlander & Frostface already pointed out, the C64 started out as a computer.
And you could play gaming cassettes on it(yes, they used cassettes before cartridges for gaming….way back in the era of us "old School'ers").
But later on, C64 also spun off a gaming system too, though it was "ill-fated" & problematic from it's very start.
Anyway, if you're still interesting in a good read on some of our gaming's history, here's everything you'd ever want to know about the C64….
Images of C64's, it's games & tons of assorted accessories…(click on pic's to zoom in)
(Note that as each model was upgraded, Commodore designated it an alphabetical letter to it, C64A, etc….
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1280&bih=822&q=Commodore+64&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
All about the C64:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
C64 GS(gaming system):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64_Games_System
BTW, I never got a C64. Instead, I dabbled around with the "Texas Instruments" computer instead. ($99 back then)
Anybody remember Electra Glide from EA on C64? No.. just me? Damn I'm old.
Load "*",8,1
lmao
Well, as much as I like the Criterion guys, I do know that Alex Ward is prone to acting out of temper on occasion (aren't we all?). So I'm not sure we can just blame EA for their earlier differences. Not to mention that if you are working on a project with someone and walk out mid project, they are kinda entitles to be a tad peeved. I'll just say I'm glad that they were able to reconcile to the point where EA purchased Criterion. They've made some good games together, let's hope their partnership continues to be fruitful.
It definitely is interesting to learn some history behind gaming. Like all other fields in business, when money is at stake, greed will threaten to overtake the "weak".
Just remake most wanted!!! with stunning graphics and maybe some new cars nd then I shall be a happy bunny. Oh and the quote was epic.
wow, that just seems a little coincidental that it has the same name, and same style as black rocks split second velocity.
looking forward to hot pursuit though, ive been screaming for a sequel for years and finally EA have listened!
so……. maybe, we can have a BLACK sequel now?
black has left THQ, so once criterion finishes this i dont see why we cant have a BLACK sequel.
Yeah as if the industry needs another mediocre shooter….
mediocre?
so thats why it was called gun porn?
rrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhttttttttt……………
I just picked up Split Second online for $29, suuweet.
The demo sold me and I needed something to play with my 5 yo nephew.