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35-473: The game introduced a new class-based Grand Prix on which the player must progress, and, in an aesthetic change, Rage Racer had darker colors and visuals. The game received a positive critical reception, with its graphics and gameplay praised, although received criticism for its crash mechanics, relatively drab visual style and shortage of tracks. Its impact was limited due to being not as groundbreaking as its predecessors, but nevertheless it sold well. Rage Racer

70-514: A bad game, we've just seen it all before (and before that even)." Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot criticized it for failing to improve upon the unrealistic crashes seen in previous installments, though he nonetheless described it as "an outstanding sequel". Next Generation re-reviewed the game three months later, saying, " Rage Racer has all the classic elements of Namco's series - the pounding techno music, cheesy but encouraging vocal soundbites, slick power slides - but it ultimately leaves you with

105-538: A demo game, CyberStreet , while fully-fledged games were developed by companies like 47Tek. Meanwhile, competitor Argonaut Software developed full games—including FX Fighter and Alien Odyssey –to showcase its BRender technology. In response, Criterion Software hired new staff in 1995 to establish a dedicated game development division . To support this expansion, Criterion Software moved to new offices within Guildford in late 1995. The division, Criterion Studios ,

140-458: A different attribute (e.g., handling, acceleration, speed). All manufacturers offer a 'standard' car and a 'secret' car, which is locked until the top racing class has been reached. Rage Racer also offers a truck as an unlockable vehicle. All of the 'standard' cars can be upgraded, in several stages of increasing cost. The racing is separated into five numbered classes, named 'Class 1' through to 'Class 5'. The player has three attempts to place in

175-432: A lack of improvement over the previous games in what the reviewers saw as key areas. For example, a Next Generation critic summed up, " Ridge Racer games have never been deficient in gameplay or graphics, and Rage Racer is the best of the lot, but this third incarnation still lacks the depth and replay value that can only be satisfied by finally knuckling down and giving players more tracks." IGN concluded, "It's not

210-518: A new game engine named Chameleon. On 1 June 2012, Electronic Arts announced Criterion's second Need for Speed title, Need for Speed: Most Wanted , which was released on 30 October 2012. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Criterion Games announced that it had taken sole ownership of the Need for Speed franchise . On 28 April 2013, Alex Ward announced via Twitter that the studio is planning to steer away from its tradition of developing racing games and

245-452: A potential F-Zero game on the Wii U. Alex Ward also noted on Twitter that Criterion was also offered the opportunity to work on the first Forza , Mad Max , a Vauxhall only racer, a Command & Conquer first-person shooter and a Gone in 60 Seconds game. In 2018, EA announced that Battlefield V would have a battle royale mode and would be developed by Criterion. Following

280-414: A series of races in first place while avoiding opponents. Each race is made of three laps that must be completed under a time limit; finishing a lap adds a few extra seconds to the timer. The new tracks contain various side roads, but some of them take more time than others to complete a full lap of the track. Like Ridge Racer 2 , Rave Racer also featured a new soundtrack. A Microsoft Windows version

315-545: Is instead focusing on other genres for future projects. On 13 September 2013, Criterion elected to cut its staff numbers to 17 people total, as 80% (70 people) of the studio moved over to Ghost Games UK to work with Need for Speed games. On 3 January 2014, it was announced that Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry left Criterion to found a new studio, Three Fields Entertainment . Their first game Dangerous Golf , slated for release in May 2016, combined ideas from Burnout and Black and

350-503: Is to lead them through a spiritual successor to Burnout . At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014 , the company announced a new racing project. However, the project was cancelled as Criterion is now focusing on providing additional support to other EA studios in creating future Star Wars games. Criterion worked on Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission , a new virtual reality mission for Star Wars Battlefront ;

385-613: The Burnout and Need for Speed series of racing games . As of April 2017, Criterion Games employ approximately 90 people. David Lau-Kee, the founder and leader of Canon Inc. 's European research arm, established Criterion Software as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon in December 1993 and assumed the managing director role for it. At the time, Canon was seeking to establish a multimedia tool development business, while Lau-Kee had been working on interactive 2D image processing techniques and

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420-661: The Namco development team, Nobuhisa Mikoda ( Rage Racer game designer and project director) admitted that the game was "somewhat off series and aimed to pursue enjoyment in shift controlling". Rage Racer 's introduction introduced "mascot girl" Reiko Nagase . Composed by Tetsukazu Nakanishi and Hiroshi Okubo , it marked the beginning of Namco's new primary sound team after their former members began working with other companies doing production on games such as Street Fighter EX (1996) and Driving Emotion Type-S (2000). The former had previously worked on Ridge Racer Revolution . The game

455-408: The ability to play the original two, various handling changes, force feedback steering, and improved car and racetrack graphics. Rave Racer was a critical and commercial success; it would be the last major arcade Ridge Racer title as Namco would continue the series on home consoles with Rage Racer (1996) and R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998). Players control a racecar in an attempt to complete

490-415: The company closed its Derby satellite office, making all of its programmers and support staff redundant. In early March 2007, Electronic Arts 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 housed two very separate development studios: Criterion Games and EA Bright Light before Bright Light

525-402: The company would return to do additional work for the 2017 sequel . In June 2015, news site Nintendo Life revealed that in early 2011 Nintendo of Europe approached Criterion to work on a pitch for a new F-Zero game which they hoped to unveil at E3 that same year alongside the then-unreleased Wii U console, and potentially release the game during the console's launch period. However,

560-440: The controls. He also praised the fast-paced music and graphical touches. Concluding that "despite only four courses, one of which is a rehash, this racer kicks", he gave it four out of five stars. In 1996, Next Generation listed the game at number 94 in their "Top 100 Games of All Time", citing a force-feedback steering wheel, loud speakers, a huge monitor, and a link to up to seven other units. In 2023, Time Extension ranked

595-414: The developer was unable to handle the pitch as, at the time, they devoted much of their resources into the development of Need for Speed: Most Wanted for multiple platforms. The site was tipped by an anonymous, yet "reliable" source, but they had confirmed this information when Criterion co-founder Alex Ward (who left the company in 2014) admitted that Nintendo of Europe did indeed approach the company for

630-639: The game ninth on their "Best Ridge Racer Games" list. Criterion Games Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford . Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of the studio's titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed. Notable games developed by Criterion include entries in

665-470: The game were sold to Acclaim Entertainment , while Criterion Studios retained the intellectual property to the brand and technology. Acclaim published Burnout (2000) and its sequel, Burnout 2: Point of Impact (2002), which accumulated around 2 million sales. Despite this, Acclaim lacked the resources to market them in the United States, its home territory, leading to poor sales in the country. At

700-540: The most popular dedicated arcade game of September 1995. It went on to be the highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1996 in Japan. A critic for Next Generation remarked that while the game makes few changes from its predecessors, those changes are important enough to make it a dramatic improvement. He found the more accurate and responsive control particularly pleasing, saying it allows players to pull off more impressive maneuvers and race without having to compensate for

735-547: The release of the mode (later revealed to be called Firestorm), development was halted soon after with the mode considered a failure by fans. In 2020, Criterion was announced to return as the main developer of the Need for Speed series, but work on the title was put on hold as Criterion was assigned to do additional work, including vehicular gameplay, on the next Battlefield game in March 2021. The aforementioned game, Battlefield 2042 ,

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770-479: The same time, Criterion Studios (now named Criterion Games) was frequently approached by Electronic Arts (EA), which eventually signed with Criterion Games for the third release in the series, Burnout 3: Takedown (2004). In July 2004, EA announced that it had reached an agreement with Canon's European arm, Canon Europe, to acquire all of the Criterion Software group, including Criterion Games. The deal

805-518: The top three of each class's events, before progressing to the next class. When the player has completed the five 'Normal GP' events, the 'Extra GP' is unlocked. This allows the player to race the same classes on reversed courses. As well as unlocking the Extra GP, the player receives 999,999,999 e.g. in Normal GP - more than enough to purchase all of the cars and upgrade them to Grade 5. In an interview with

840-510: The track and car count, before concluding: "The pick-up-and-play experience of the original remains, only now there is more longevity because of the incentive to progress through the classes and upgrade to the fastest cars." Alex Ward, creator of Criterion Games 's Burnout series, said in a 2004 interview that he thought Rage Racer was the best title in the Ridge Racer series. He added: "Although Phanto Mile [from R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 ]

875-497: The uneasy feeling of déjà vu. Sure, it's a good series, but let's see something new next time." Kraig Kujawa and Dean Hager of Electronic Gaming Monthly both described Rage Racer as a dramatic improvement over the original Ridge Racer . GamePro concluded that "Once you get over the game's initial lull, you will have plenty to rage about with this cool new Racer." Official UK PlayStation Magazine said that Namco had succeeded in developing their game even further, and praised

910-442: Was established in January 1996 and announced the month thereafter, at the time employing 25 people. The headcount expanded to around 35 by October. RenderWare was thereafter gradually retooled as a game development programme, with its third iteration, released in 2000, first providing full game engine capabilities. The first game to use this version was Burnout , which Criterion Studios developed in tandem. Publishing rights to

945-463: Was finalised on 19 October 2004, with EA paying US$ 68 million . After the purchase, both Criterion and Electronic Arts 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. Electronic Arts has since withdrawn RenderWare from the commercial middleware market, although remnants are still used by internal developers. In mid-2006,

980-430: Was followed by a sequel, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 in 1998. Visually the game takes graphical cues from Rave Racer , Ridge Racer 's arcade successor, with a more realistic and darker color scheme. The game utilises a credits system, the first in the series, whereby the player tries to earn credits by winning races, which can be used to buy and upgrade cars. Cars from four manufacturers can be purchased, each favoring

1015-440: Was looking to extend this to 3D image processing and, in turn, "out-and-out" 3D graphics. Adam Billyard, who served as its chief technology officer , is also credited as a co-founder. Criterion Software's 3D texture mapping and rendering programme, RenderWare , was first released in 1993 as a software library for the C programming language and was adopted by 800 companies worldwide by October 1996. The firm also provided

1050-440: Was originally under development for NEC 's PowerVR graphics processor , and was demonstrated in early 1996. However the game was cancelled, thus no games in the Ridge Racer series were released for PCs until Unbounded in 2012. A PlayStation version was announced later in 1996, but it too was cancelled. A standalone game, Rage Racer was instead produced for the console. In Japan, Game Machine listed Rave Racer as

1085-411: Was released on 19 November 2021. In May 2022, EA merged Codemasters subsidiary Codemasters Cheshire into Criterion Games to support efforts on the Need for Speed series as the two companies were already working together on a new title in the series for months. On 6 October 2022, the project was revealed to be Need for Speed Unbound , which utilises DICE 's proprietary Frostbite engine. Unbound

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1120-504: Was released on 2 December 2022, following which five senior members of Criterion announced their departures from the studio, including the current studio GM, Matt Webster. They created Fuse Games in 2023 While Criterion was originally placed within EA Sports following EA's restructuring in early 2023, EA moved Criterion into EA Entertainment in September 2023 as to support the development of

1155-470: Was shut permanently in 2011. In November 2007, co-founder and CEO David Lau-Kee made the decision to leave Electronic Arts to concentrate on advisory activities within the games industry. Adam Billyard also left Electronic Arts as CTO of EATech in 2007 to pursue other projects. On 14 June 2010, Criterion announced that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was set for release in November 2010. The software utilises

1190-826: Was strong, it doesn't beat the Extreme Oval from Rage Racer". Rage Racer was a runner-up for "Racing Game of the Year" (behind Diddy Kong Racing ) at Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s 1997 Editors' Choice Awards. Rave Racer Rave Racer is a 1995 arcade racing video game from Namco . It is the third title in the Ridge Racer series and the follow-up to Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer 2 . Rave Racer runs on Namco System 22 hardware, and could be played by two people per cabinet for up to eight players total when up to four of them were linked together. Compared to Ridge Racer 2 , Rave Racer adds two new tracks as well as

1225-462: Was unveiled at the August 1996 Tokyo Game Show , at which point it had yet to be titled. Reviews for Rage Racer were positive, though generally mild. Critics widely approved of the use of more photo-realistic visuals than the previous games in the series, though some complained that they were comparatively drab and lacking in color. Comments on the game varied widely, but criticisms tended to focus on

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