How much do you know about Criterion Games?  And how do you fancy working for them?  Let’s give an insight.

About the Studio

In August 2004, the highly acclaimed Criterion Games joined forces with Electronic Arts. Criterion is a multi-award winning developer, best known for the hit Burnout series:

• Burnout on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Cube
• Burnout 2: Point of Impact on PlayStation 2 and Xbox
• Burnout 3: Takedownon PlayStation 2 and Xbox
• Burnout: Revengeon PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360
• Burnout Paradiseon PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

Criterion also developed the acclaimed first-person-shooter – BLACK- for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

So how would you like to work for Criterion Games?  What ‘character type’ do they employ?  Well Criterion are recruiting, particularly for Contractors.

Criterion is amongst the best game studios in the world with a world class team of game makers at its heart. To be a part of this talented team you need to be passionate about games and committed to being the best in the world at what you do. You need to know what matters to the people who play our games and be passionate about surpassing their, and our, expectations.

About Contracting

Criterion Games have a world class team of full-time employees, and occasionally permanent opportunities arise, but there is also a need to boost their team with the very best in contracted and outsourced staff – giving them the flexibility to quickly ramp projects up when they move from pre-production into production and to seek out the very best skills for their game.

As a contractor, you will earn a very competitive day-rate salary.

Criterion Games is a great Studio to work in, they work hard to manage the work/life balance that is often under scrutiny in the industry – it is possible to make 90 + metacritic games and still have fun as well as a social or family life!

Take a look at www.jobs.ea.com and apply if you have what it takes.

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Thanks to all those who emailed me direct about our blog on the future of online gaming.  As I booted up Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island over the weekend, to again hammer down the ski jump, (you gotta try it), it really made me think about Criterion Games’ online strategy and how they have been the industry pioneers and led the charge online and introduced innovatory new business models. 

Burnout Paradise shipped in January 2008….yes 2008!  But we are still playing the game 18 months on—that is remarkable and testament to some revolutionary ideas by Criterion and their building of a loyal community.  How many games in your collection are you playing 18 months after release?  Pioneering means taking risks, going out on a limb and sticking to a vision…..hence this story is so fascinating as many of the new ideas discussed below are now accepted norms in the industry.   Funny how innovation quickly turns into the accepted norm isn’t it!

At the time of release Burnout Paradise was critically acclaimed and was a revolutionary title, especially the way it introduced the seamless integration of online racing into the game with no need for laborious online menus and waiting around in stark cold lobbies.  But as we all know in gaming, shelf life is limited and competitors flatter by imitation and seek to drive the market on….the market is savage in moving onto the next great big game.   Some games have shelf lives of 2 months, some have a longer tail.  Criterion wanted to change this perception of shelf life and keep gamers in their world.  This would have fundamental changes to their strategy, especially retail strategy.  With a booming play and trade / pre-owned market, Criterion also sought to ensure that gamers wanted to keep their game in their consoles and not trade in 2+ months later. 

Criterion were the first to recognise the changing times.  They wanted to build and engage their community of gamers.  And engage is the key word.  Direct communication, 2 way between gamers/fans with the game developers.  Not only to share game experiences but listen and understand what the fans wanted.  How they were playing the game.  What they enjoyed.  And then building Paradise up and around their wishes and the creative ideas from the team.  In a time when Social Networks were really taking off, Criterion were the first in the industry to recognise the importance of community and engagement.

Criterion first set out to understand how people were playing their game.  This involved complex telemetry, allowing them to see what gamers were doing, how they were engaging with Burnout Paradise.  Were they completing licenses?  How many licenses did they get through?  How long were they spending online?  Where on the map were people enjoying spending their time?  How many people were 8 player racing?  How many online challenges were being completed?  How hard was the game?  What times were being posted?  What were the favourite modes?  What times of day were people playing?  This in depth analysis really allowed Criterion to understand their market and what gamers were enjoying in Paradise City.

So Criterion now had the data to understand what their gamers were doing and their goal was to build a loyal community, which seamlessly could interact directly with Criterion.  They identified that to build a community they needed to build loyalty and trust with their gamers.  This led them to embark on releasing FREE DLC.  At the time some industry commentators questioned why Criterion was releasing FREE content to gamers when they could monetarise it.  Some thought it crazy not to charge for DLC.  As pioneers, Criterion ‘got’ that to build loyal communities, loyalty was a 2-way street.  Hence they embarked on releasing not just bug fixing and slight enhancement DLC, but game changing DLC for free, including, in their 2nd DLC release 70+ new freeburn challenges, 3 freeburn online modes and a new 1st of new liveries from online competition winners.  This DLC was followed up by the first time inclusion of bikes into Burnout and a new day/night cycle, with dynamic weather.  They were the first, in September 2008, to introduce online DLC for Trophies for the PS3 for a game released prior to trophies.  This was all FREE game changing content, which the community went wild for….but all this was building loyalty and Paradise City was still conjested with racers months after release….

The community lapped this up.  FREE DLCenhanced the game but ensured that the shelf life of the game was being extended.  Few copies were to be found in the pre-owned market as people held on to their copies to continue playing the game.  But critically Criterion recognised that DLC was only 1 part of building a loyal community.  They had the vision that direct engagement and communication was critical.  Hence they took a number of steps.  They devised a fresh web site www.criteriongames.com  This became THE portal that fans could get deeper information about the game.  Blog style news and exclusive announcements were seen first on this site.  Again, this was another milestone in their philosophy.  Rather than follow the traditional PR route of a press release or media interview to announce new features, Criterion said NO…our fans must know first and hence they communicated directly to them on any fresh news….and the media sites fed off CriterionGames.com for their news feed.  Again a shift in the way things have traditionally been done in gaming.

Continuing this direct communication, Criterion introduced a ‘live news feed’ into the Console games in July 2008.  This was cool for gamers as again the team released news but they introduced competitions for gamers via the online calendar.  All devised to engage and keep people coming back.  This was the foundation to Criterion Games Network, where early in 2009, the game on PS3 boots immediately to a browser that has a personalised player web page at the start, thus allowing gamers even more news and the ability to communicate with their friends and compare achievements and stats.

Continuing this unparalleled access to news and development, Crash TV was a vital player.  Born initially as an iTunes podcast, the game team quickly moved to a video pod cast which was fun, fresh and unmissable.  Hence, TheWebsterHoff, IslandPete, SargeSullivan, CrashTVJez were born.  These alter egos for key team developers added a fresh feel to communication and was critically fun…..games are entertaining and so should the way we communicate about them was Criterion’s mantra.

As Twitter took off, Criterion were again in at the start with their own Twitter feeds and gamers in the world of Burnout Paradise were feeling part of a well developed community where they could engage with each other, share ideas, share experiences, compete and importantly do all this with the developers of the game.  Which other developers can claim to have such relationships and 2 way access with their fans?

With a developed community, Criterion now released monetarised DLC….DLC the fans wanted, nay demanded.  Burnout Party, with 8-player pass the pad gameplay challenges, the great way to spend an evening, especially back from a night out with friends.  Legendary Cars, with Criterion paying homage to classic cars, which fans lapped up.  Toy Cars….cute cars in Paradise…which had real muscle and speed, again another new dimension for gamers.  That leads us to Cops & Robbers, a favorite of mine, where gamers could chase as the Police or be chased as robbers, again enriching online gaming and a real fan favourite.  What can be more appealing than the classic movie police chase scene….

That leads us up to today with a whole new island.  Big Surf Island.  Criterion, with all the telemetry data at their disposal, knew what gamers enjoyed doing and what would appeal to them.  They heard from gamers over their blog site, via Twitter, via the game, what gamers wanted in a new island.  And they delivered.

All industry pioneering.  All impressive.  But Criterion were not finished yet!  They recognised that an Online Shop was needed.  Gamers are more likely to buy content online—when they are enjoying the in-game experience.  Hence gamers could access Burnout’s online store, in-game, and purchase DLC to enhance their enjoyment of the game.  Simple, easy and instantly accessible…key to retail transactions.

So credit to Criterion.  Many of their ideas are now imitated, (the sincerest form of flattery), many are now taken for industry norms.  But they deserve our credit.  Pioneers, for going out on a limb, taking risks, going where others had never been but sticking to their vision..they have demonstrated the way forward in online gaming, building a community and extending the life of a game…..it will certainly be interesting to see the next creative ideas from their visionary creative team.

Oh…and yes they are recruiting……….. www.jobs.ea.com   As they say….only the best need apply.

EArl

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Burnout Paradise is a game that keeps on giving.  Last week Big Surf Island DLC came out.  Have you had a chance to explore the Island.  My favourite is the big ski jump—if you haven’t found that yet, search today.  It is the biggest jump in the game and is phenomenal.

There is a great feature on Eurogamer this week and their Digital Foundry section.  Richard Parr, Technical Director for Criterion Games and Alex Fry, Senior Engineer, give an insight into Burnout Technology over the years.   

As some developers talk about maxing out the limits of the power of the Xbox 360 and PS3, Parr & Fry believe that:  “It’s nothing new, you hear it all the time… we’ve maxed out, we’re the best,” says Fry dismissively. “That’s proof that you’re not the best,” Parr chimes in. “It means you’re out of ideas.” “You always find new ways to do things, the constraints lift. Not just with a new console generation but with every game you do,” adds Fry. “Whether it’s a sequel or whether it’s a new game, you learn to do things differently… better. The constraints go away because you learn. While it’s nice to say you’ve maxed something out, there’s not really any point.”

Click here for the full interview on Eurogamer:  http://tinyurl.com/mq5ncq

EArl

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Film & Games Careers:  Your choice

Career choice is not easy.  Global Head of Talent Brand, Matthew Jeffery, provides us with an insight into the tough choice many face…working in film or games.

Let me know your views on what he has to say.

EArl

Opinion Piece: Matthew Jeffery…….’Career Choice: Working in games or film’?

Look back a few years.  Gaming was seen as the awkward cousin of film.  Like the spotty geek sitting at the corner of the school disco, waiting to be asked to dance.  Film & film production was seen as the career destination of choice for top creative talent, the hot mover of the disco.  People in film looked at the games industry and were frustrated that they could not bring their creative spark across into the industry without being limited by the technology at their disposal.  Working on a PS2 or Xbox, challenged creative talent but not in ways they wanted as memory limitations really curtailed what they could bring to the party.  Work in film on cutting VFX productions or come into gaming with block text & graphics.  Easy choice.  Fast forward that to today and how things have changed.

Just consider for one minute how far the games industry has come and the innovations that we have already seen.  Look back to the 1970′s when gamers were feasting on the likes of Pong, Space Invaders and Pacman, simple games visually but albeit with fun gameplay.  Now fast forward to today when we look forward to graphical tour de force games like Crysis 2, NFS Shift and Dante’s Inferno.  That’s a stunning achievement and testament to how far the games industry has come.  But this is not just about visuals.  Games are interactive, running in real time, with complex AI, physics engines all running online for millions of gamers to play and enjoy….but more of that later!

Only last week the games industry had another WOW moment with the announcement of Project Natal by Microsoft.  The idea of playing games with no controllers but based on body scanning technology that records your movement in real time and comprises of voice recognition technology.  That’s a WOW moment.  Imagine playing football with no controller or driving a car hands free…all now stunning realisations about to be brought to the market.  Watching the promo video by Peter Molyneux of Milo was also stunning.  Imagine a computer character that you can interact with, that can identify basic emotions and hold conversation with you.  WOW.  Now imagine working on that technology, making new games incorporating it?  Now that’s a fun, creative and intellectual challenge…..and imagine the possibilities of what this technology can create.  And this is only one form of technological advancement in gaming, not even mentioning the new games in development with real 3d! 

Let’s contrast that briefly with film.  There are many WOW moments across the history of film.  Who can forget Ray Harryhausen’s ‘Clash of the Titans’ and the stop go motion of those beasts from the deep; ‘Tron’ with the first incorporation of CG…the stunning lightcycle chases; the inspiring effects from ‘Star Wars’ and those mesmerising space battles; ’Terminator 2′ and the liquid nitrogen effects of the Terminator chasing Arnie through the hospital and morphing through the iron bars..then getting his gun stuck; Spielberg’s classic, ‘Jurassic Park’, with Dinosaurs that really did feel real; ‘Toy Story’ the first full length CG animated feature, to this day still stunning.  All WOW moments that had us on the edge of our cinema seats in awe and mouthing ’How did they do that’?

But in some ways, the immense trickery and visual brilliance of the VFX houses have anaesthetised audiences, as we are now used to their brilliance.  In fact we come to expect it.  Take ‘Transformers’, a superb film.  But seeing Megatron or Optimus Prime transform is mightily impressive, but we are used to grand VFX and we expect to see it and almost demand more and more effects when we watch a film.  Hence, currently, the WOW effects in film feel like they have hit the pause button. 

Interaction is a huge bonus for the games industry.  In film the film director takes you on a journey, they take you through a roller coaster of emotions, all on their linear ride.  They control what you see.  In games, YOU control, what you see, what you do, how you interact, the camera angles.  Developers are even happy to provide you with the tools to create your own games, like Spore and Sony Classics like LittleBigPlanet.  This all involves a lot of technical challenges for creative talent. 

So when you sit down to make that career choice, think of the future….think of how much you want to be challenged in your career and where the games industry has come from and where it could be in another 20 years!  Who knows.  Virtual Reality?  Full 3D?  Neural Gaming?  What we do know that we will have great fun pushing the limits of technology to their limits and beyond as we continue to entertain millions of people.  One final thought to leave this discussion on…………….

Burnout Paradise sees the release of Big Surf Island DLC this week…that’s a whole brand new island for the game.  Now consider this.  Criterion Games, the developers behind this game, are recruiting now, take a look at www.jobs.ea.com  Think of the technical challenges they face behind this game including; running the game at 60 frames per second, real time physics, full car deformation & splintering, taking the game online, with 8 gamers racing together, lag free.  Wowsers, that some challenges and that is just scraping the surface.

Captured your attention?  Join us in a career in gaming…………………..

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Burnout Paradise, a year on from release, just gets better and better.  How many games can you name that have kept you engaged for so long?  Well, the latest DLC is out and its the Superb ‘Cops & Robbers’.  Available now on the PSN Store and Xbox Live.  And coming soon will be the next big download…..a new Island…Big Surf Island.

Cops & Robbers is a frantic online game for between 2 – 8 players.  Gold has gone missing in Paradise City.  First up, choose your side.  Are you a Cop or a Robber?  Then help your team recover the stolen gold and get it back to base.   What follows is just a blast—-mayhem…awesome car chases. 

Played it yet?……tell EArl your views…..are you a cop or a robber?

Still thinking about buying the DLC?  Take a look at this video….

© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.