Criterion's Director of Design, Alex Ward, the man responsible for Burnout and Black has outlined the unique selling point (USP) in Burnout 5 which is, unsurprisingly, amazingly realistic car crashes!
Ward tells Newsweek in an interview this week that, “The first crash you see on PlayStation 3 has got to go way beyond everything you've ever seen, beyond anything that we've ever done because every time we put our game out, people say, 'It's the best crashes ever in a game.' We've got to go beyond that now."
While Burnout 5 is in development for both Xbox 360 and PS3, Ward makes no attempt to hide the team’s allegiance to PlayStation, noting, “At heart, my guys, the Burnout guys, we're kind of specialists on the Sony system. Because it was always that way on Burnout.”
Ward adds, “There's a lot of negativity everywhere now on PlayStation. And it's just 'cause people haven't got it, haven't seen it. People forget the astonishing stuff Sony have done, not just in the business, but the great software they've brought to us, the great hardware they've brought to us.”
The effectiveness of the Burnout 5 crash is all about what Ward calls "verisimilitude" in a nod to the new Superman movie, “If you didn't believe Superman was real, then you wouldn't believe the story, and you wouldn't understand the end of the film where he has to rewind the earth to save Lois Lane…our verisimilitude is on car crashing. If you don't believe the crash is real, then it's not going to frighten you. Because in Burnout, you see a crash 5,000 times, right? You play through the game and you crash, crash, crash, crash. We think the audience has become desensitized to that.”
What do you think? Has playing too much Burnout desensitized you? Are you going to use the word "verisimilitude" in conversation from now on? Let us know in the forum.
Ward tells Newsweek in an interview this week that, “The first crash you see on PlayStation 3 has got to go way beyond everything you've ever seen, beyond anything that we've ever done because every time we put our game out, people say, 'It's the best crashes ever in a game.' We've got to go beyond that now."
While Burnout 5 is in development for both Xbox 360 and PS3, Ward makes no attempt to hide the team’s allegiance to PlayStation, noting, “At heart, my guys, the Burnout guys, we're kind of specialists on the Sony system. Because it was always that way on Burnout.”
Ward adds, “There's a lot of negativity everywhere now on PlayStation. And it's just 'cause people haven't got it, haven't seen it. People forget the astonishing stuff Sony have done, not just in the business, but the great software they've brought to us, the great hardware they've brought to us.”
The effectiveness of the Burnout 5 crash is all about what Ward calls "verisimilitude" in a nod to the new Superman movie, “If you didn't believe Superman was real, then you wouldn't believe the story, and you wouldn't understand the end of the film where he has to rewind the earth to save Lois Lane…our verisimilitude is on car crashing. If you don't believe the crash is real, then it's not going to frighten you. Because in Burnout, you see a crash 5,000 times, right? You play through the game and you crash, crash, crash, crash. We think the audience has become desensitized to that.”
What do you think? Has playing too much Burnout desensitized you? Are you going to use the word "verisimilitude" in conversation from now on? Let us know in the forum.
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Comments
mrAnthony 14 Dec 2006 14:08
1/3
ive used the word verisimilitude lots of times in conversations, mainly cos one of my old lecturers liked to use it loads
DoctorDee 14 Dec 2006 14:38
2/3
"amazingly realistic car crashes!"
I've been in my share of car crashes. This comes from always owning very fast carss, and usually driving far faster than my skill (which is not inconsiderable) and the road conditions would dictate, often on extremely cheap tyres.
I even took Tim to the brink of falling off a motorway bridge onto the traffic below once.
And in my experience, realistic car crashes feature rapid decelleration, a dull cronking sound, and a sickening feeling that your insurance premium just went orbital.
No sparks, no somersaults, no explosions.
I doubt Burnout 5 is going to capture that.
I've been in my share of car crashes. This comes from always owning very fast carss, and usually driving far faster than my skill (which is not inconsiderable) and the road conditions would dictate, often on extremely cheap tyres.
I even took Tim to the brink of falling off a motorway bridge onto the traffic below once.
And in my experience, realistic car crashes feature rapid decelleration, a dull cronking sound, and a sickening feeling that your insurance premium just went orbital.
No sparks, no somersaults, no explosions.
I doubt Burnout 5 is going to capture that.
SCiARA 14 Dec 2006 15:00
3/3
In real crashes I also get an instant urge to pull the third party out of their cars and getting them to bite the curb...
Burnout makes me laugh
Burnout makes me laugh