- Criterion Games
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Criterion Games 
Type Subsidiary of Electronic Arts Industry Video game industry Founded 1993 Headquarters Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom Products RenderWare
Burnout series (2001-present)
Black (2006)
Need for Speed series (2009-2010)Owner(s) Electronic Arts Parent Electronic Arts Website http://www.criteriongames.com/ Criterion Games (officially called Criterion Software) is a Guildford, England based British video game developer. It is best known for its work on the award-winning, multi-platform Burnout series, the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox (also on the Xbox 360's Xbox Classics download service) first-person shooter Black.
Criterion Software Ltd was created in 1993 to commercialise 3D graphics rendering technology. It was set up by David Lau-Kee and Adam Billyard within Canon's European Research Lab, before being spun out as a majority Canon-owned startup. Criterion Software was a technology company specialising in the development of the RenderWare family of middleware technology, including graphics, AI, audio and physics components. Originally Criterion Games was a division within Criterion Software, set up to develop games, using the Renderware engine, which would act as show cases as to what was possible with the platform. RenderWare is used in such games as Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which are developed by Rockstar Games, and the successful Burnout series, developed in-house by Criterion Games.
In August 2004, Electronic Arts announced they had acquired Criterion Games and Criterion Software for a rumoured £40 million, taking into account the purchase price and existing debt. This was followed by the release of Black, a first-person shooter set in Eastern Europe, to which they applied the action movie sensibilities characteristic of the Burnout series.
After the purchase, both Criterion and EA declared that RenderWare would continue to be made available to third party customers. However, some clients decided it was too risky to rely on technology owned by a competitor. EA has since withdrawn RenderWare from the commercial middleware market, although it is increasingly used by their internal developers.
In the summer of 2006, the company closed its Derby satellite office, making all of its programmers and support staff redundant. In early March 2007, EA combined its Chertsey-based UK development studio and Criterion Games into a new building in central Guildford. Integration of the teams did not occur and the location now houses two very separate development studios: Criterion Games and EA Bright Light. Despite being housed in the same building, Criterion Games still acts entirely independently from the rest of the EA workforce located at Guildford, in fact the only similarity being the use a small number of shared facilities (entrance, cafeteria & gym for example). Access to Criterion Games is through a further 2nd set of locked doors, after the main building security, requiring special passes to access.
On 14th June 2010, Criterion announced that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit[1] was set for release in November 2010 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The software utilises a new game engine named Chameleon.[2]
Games developed
Name Year Platforms Scorched Planet 1996 Microsoft Windows Sub Culture 1997 Microsoft Windows Redline Racer 1998 Microsoft Windows Trickstyle 1999 Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing 1999 Dreamcast Deep Fighter 2000 Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows Burnout 2001 PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube AirBlade 2002 PlayStation 2 Burnout 2: Point of Impact 2002 PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube Burnout 3: Takedown 2004 PlayStation 2, Xbox Burnout Revenge 2005 PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 Black 2006 PlayStation 2, Xbox Burnout Paradise 2008 PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 Burnout Crash![3] 2011 PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade References
- ^ "Criterion's Upcoming Need For Speed Game". http://criteriongames.com/NFS/index.php.
- ^ "Tech Interview: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit". Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-needforspeed-tech-interview?page=2.
- ^ "New Burnout Game in Development". IGN. 2011-04-02. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1159198p1.html. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
External links
Video games developed by Criterion Games Burnout series Other games Scorched Planet · Sub Culture · Redline Racer · TrickStyle · Deep Fighter · Suzuki Alstare Racing · Airblade · Black · Need for Speed: Hot PursuitCategories:- Companies based in Surrey
- Companies established in 1993
- Electronic Arts
- Guildford
- Video game companies of the United Kingdom
- Video game developers
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
