EA, Criterion Confirm Burnout 5

Major publisher Electronic Arts has confirmed that crash-centric racing title Burnout 5 is in development for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at series creator Criterion, and is due to debut in 2007. Interestingly, Burnout 5 will be opening up the game world to a Grand Theft Auto-style 'sandbox' experience, according to an official EA statement, since the game "...gives players license to wreak havoc in Paradise City, the ultimate seamless racing battleground, with a massive infrastructure of traffic-heavy roads to abuse." The announcement explains: "Gone is the need to jump in and out of menus and aimlessly search for fun like many open world games; in Burnout 5, every inch of the world is built to deliver heart-stopping Burnout-style gameplay. Every intersection is a potential crash junction and every alleyway is an opportunity to rack up moving violations." "Burnout 5 is a complete reinvention of the series, built from the ground up for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360," said Alex Ward, director of game design at Criterion Games. "To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from top to bottom." The game follows current-gen debut of Burnout Revenge in late 2005 and Xbox 360 SKU debut in early 2006 - Burnout 5 will ship in 2007 under the EA(TM) brand and will again be developed by the EA-owned Criterion Games, based in Guildford, UK.