14 DAY TRIAL // Need for Speed seems poised for a second Golden Age. The series, which captured the hearts of casual racing interested players with the Porsche based title and then with the cops and robbers mechanics inserted into the Hot Pursuit title, has this year returned to its racing roots, after a couple of disappointing releases focused on the underground scene, with the very aptly titled Shift. Electronic Arts is offering a Need for Speed: Nitro, a game aimed more at casual players, and an MMO based on the franchise, which is in the works and initially slated for release in South East Asia.
But the big change for the series might actually take place in 2010, when Electronic Arts wants to release a Need for Speed videogame that is being developed by Criterion, the studio behind the success of the Burnout series, which hit it big with Paradise and its insane, adrenalin driven sequences. Confirmation that the game is slated for 2010 comes from Frank Gibeau, the president of the EA Games label. Until now, the team at Criterion has not shown fans any images and has not released any concepts related to the new racing title.
John Riccitiello, the head of EA, has said at E3 that there are no plans to merge the Burnout and the Need for Speed franchises any time soon, but that the team at Criterion is working on a new game in the latter one. He told Kotaku that “I don't think you can fold Burnout into Need for Speed, because a lot of people like Burnout. We don't have a plan right now for a separate major launch on Burnout, because the team doing it is working on a revolutionary take on Need for Speed. I don't know, if Paramount, in addition to owning Star Trek owned Star Wars, which isn't the way it is, I don't think you'd merge them”.