Tag Archives: need for speed

Criterion Games’ Alex Ward Moving On From Racing Titles

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criterion gamesCriterion games’ boss Alex Ward took to Twitter earlier and announced that he would be moving on from racing titles and said, ‘it’s time to make something new.’ After the rumour of a new ‘unannounced racing title’ spread like wild-fire to be quashed later by Ward himself, it appears there’s no longer room for another racing title in Criterion Games’ repertoire for the moment.

In a string of tweets, Ward said: “Here is what I want folks to know. Some folks are eternally disappointed. Nothing I can do about that. So many tweets asking for new Burnout [and] equally many tweets asking for a new NFS game from us. Also Road Rash. Whilst I love all of those games, I am personally not doing any.

“After over a decade of making racing games it’s time to make something new. It is early days thus I have nothing to “announce” or talk about. I am proud of all of the Burnout games. When it feels right we will make another one. We are creative people.”

Criterion Developing ‘Unannounced Racing Title’ For 2013

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burnout_paradiseRumours are afloat that Criterion Games – who brought Need For Speed and Burnout titles to the Wii and Wii U – are developing a ‘unannounced racing title’ slated for release sometime this year. The project has already been listed on various Criterion’s employers professional LinkedIn accounts, listed under ‘EA games for 2013′, but whether we’re looking at a new IP or a sequel to another franchise is still uncorroborated.

Last October, Criterion confirmed a return to the Burnout franchise would be a possibility, but creative director Alex Ward dismissed rumours that there would a sequel to Burnout Paradise. Yesterday, he tweeted saying: “Another #epic day working with an #epic team on something #amazing.” With so much speculation, confirmation of the unannounced title shouldn’t be too far off.

Need For Speed Most Wanted Wii U Won’t Receive Future DLC

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Alex Ward, the Creative Director of Criterion Games, has explained to fans on Twitter that the company has no plans to bring future downloadable content to the Wii U version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. The first DLC pack is already included in the Wii U version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, but Ward clarified that there are ‘No plans at present’ for future DLC.

Future Need For Speed Games For Wii U Should Be Released Same Time As Other Consoles

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Alex Ward, Criterion Games Vice President, has once again explained just how excited he is about Nintendo’s latest console, Wii U. Ward says that future Need for Speed titles should be released simultaneously on Wii U along with the other platforms now that the developers are more acquainted with the hardware. He concluded the interview by saying that the Wii U has got him back into Nintendo platforms.

“We’ll see how the online audience on the Wii U is going to develop. I think for a lot of consumers out of the box, it’ll be that around-the-TV experience that Nintendo tends to do very, very well.”

Future iterations of Need for Speed on Wii U should see a same-day release as the other consoles, Ward told me, since the studio now knows the hardware. “Fantastic hardware [the Wii U], I love it. It really got me back into Nintendo software.

Thanks, Mike S

 

Burnout & Need For Speed Developer Praises Both The Wii U And Nintendo

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Online gaming publication Kotaku recently got the chance to speak to Alex Ward, the Creative Director of Criterion Games. It turns out Ward is very fond of the Wii U and thinks that Wii U owners deserve the best version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which is why they have used the PC graphics assets in the Wii U game and included Miiverse support. Here’s Wards thoughts on both Need for Speed: Most Wanted on Wii U and the Wii U itself.

“Well this is our first game on the hardware. We wanted to go back to like we used to be. If you know we’re doing the game, you know we’ve looked at the hardware and said, ‘What’s the best damned thing we can do on that?’ We’re going to support everything we can. We support MiiVerse fully, online play.”

“Everyone wants to talk about this and that on the hardware, and it’s not as interesting to me. What’s really important is what we’re doing with the player experience. The games I’m playing on Wii U—Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U—what Nintendo [does], they just deliver excellent gameplay. It’s probably one of the big problems in the industry at the moment. Everyone—you guys—like to talk about specs and this and that. We’ve got to get back to just playing the game. And that’s what this game is about. It’s about a simple, fun experience. It’s not about 10,000,000 polygons and who does this and who does that.”

 

Joystiq Confirms Need For Speed: Most Wanted On Wii U Is The Definitive Console Experience

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Alex Ward, the Creative Director of Criterion Games, recently sat down with online gaming publication Joystiq to discuss Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the Wii U. Ward explained that the game didn’t make launch as the team were unaware of Nintendo’s online plan with Wii U. He went on to say that online is an integral experience in Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Joystiq says that after playing the game relentlessly on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 it was instantly noticeable that the Wii U version was technically the more impressive game, with a much longer draw distance and a better frame rate. Here’s what Joystiq had to say.

The extra time was not spent in vain, something that became obvious once Most Wanted was up and running on a television. The Wii U port pulls in the PC assets and immediately sports a much longer draw distance and better frame rate than its console cousins. Having played my fair share of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, the work that went into this Wii U version was clear – and not just in graphical fidelity, either.

Thanks, Mike S

Need For Speed Most Wanted Wii U Release Date Announced

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EA has confirmed that Need for Speed Most Wanted will be released on Wii U on March 19th in the US and Friday March 21st across Europe. EA says there’s three new features that set this game apart from the already cheap Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. The first feature is you can play the game entirely on the Wii U GamePad. The second feature is the ability to a play a new co-op mode where tablet players can mess with an interactive map “to provide control and navigation assistance”. The third feature allows you to use the touchscreen to unlock new items, and switch and mod cars without pausing the game.

Criterion Isn’t Talking About Need For Speed Most Wanted 2 Wii U At The Moment

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Leanne Loombe, one of the Need for Speed Most Wanted producers on the team at Criterion has explained to NZ Gamer that they aren’t willing to speak about the inevitable Wii U version of Need for Speed Most Wanted 2 at the moment. We’ve seen lots of indications that the game is coming to Wii U, but Criterion just haven’t confirmed it.

As to a Wii U version? Rather than state “No, there is no Wii U version planned”, Leanne replied to my query about it with the rather more interestingly phrased “No, we’re not talking about Wii U at the moment”…

Need For Speed Most Wanted Sequel Developed By Criterion

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EA has revealed that a sequel to Need for Speed Most Wanted is in development and it’s being developed by the team over at Criterion. EA teased the first screenshot on their Facebook page and promised that more information about the game will be announced during their E3 press conference on June 4th at 1PM PST.