EA has told CVG that it is "very cognisant" of the opportunities presented by its back catalogue of classic IP, including Road Rash, Burnout and Bullfrog franchises such as Populous and Magic Carpet.
Rumours have long existed that the likes of Road Rash and Bullfrog's Syndicate have been remade on the publisher's watch, but nothing has ever been confirmed.
EA has ploughed a rich furrow of new IP in the last few years, internally producing the likes of Dead Space, Dragon Age, Mirror's Edge and Army Of Two. Meanwhile, it has unleashed the likes of Left 4 Dead, Crysis and the upcoming Shadows Of The Damned via its EA Partners programme.
"Absolutely not. I worked on Desert Strike and Road Rash back in the day on Sega Genesis so trust me I'm familiar with the IP history."
On the potential of remakes, he added: "When looking at a new bet, a new investment to make we always look at whether we should create a new IP, bring one back or have something in active growth right now that we can double down on.
"So we constantly look at ways to grow the recent category of titles like Burnout, Need for Speed, Road Rash are constantly things we think about. It's the same thing with the old Bullfrog IPs like Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Powermonger, Magic Carpet, I can go on. So we do look at that stuff and are very cognisant of our past.
"The key thing for us is, if we do bring [any of those] back, the game has got to be good. I don't know about you but when I look back at GoldenEye, I think of it as this amazing game and the you go and play it and are like, 'Oh. Really?'. From our perspective we have to manage that element which makes things look nicer in the rear view mirror compared to what you have to do now in the modern day.
"Production values and game mechanics are very different than what you see on some of those IPs but trust me, it's a part of the asset of our company to have 25 years of IP and you'll see them come back in different ways at different times."
EA and Crytek's Crysis 2 is on sale this week for 360, PS3 and PC. Check out our review through here.
Comments
32 comments so far...
humanhand on 24 Mar '11 said:
Road Rash used to be one of my favorite games...
Squall5005 on 24 Mar '11 said:
Shave the 'Magic Carpet' and you'll get a 'Road Rash'
Thank you and goodnight
RustySpoon80 on 24 Mar '11 said:
Yes Please
WHERESMYMONKEY on 24 Mar '11 said:
As much as i'd like to see modern versions of the bullfrog games. Without the involvement of Peter Molyneux I think something would feel a little off.
I would love to see a new Dessert Strike though. Sparkly HD remakes in the same style would be ace.
ricflair on 24 Mar '11 said:
I was playing Deser/Jungle Strike not so long ago. It's painfully clunky at times, but the bones of a great game.
Some of these just scream out of XBLA/PSN remakes.
rick on 24 Mar '11 said:
Oh man there are so many great old skool games that would be great to see/play again.
I loved the Desert strike and jungle strike games. If I recall they were kind of open world helicopter games.
Who remembers these
Turrican 2
Another world
Flashback
Rick dangerous
James Pond - Robocod
Xenon II Megablast
Shadow of the beast 2
ricflair on 24 Mar '11 said:
Turrican 2 was amazing, I bloody loved that game. I've often thought about getting Mega Turrican or the SNES version, but I don't think they were the same.
Rick Danerous 2 was better (from memory), I thought Another World and Flashback were OK (although I had an early copied version of Flashback that was released in France before the English version) but mainly about the graphics/animation.
I got Shadow of the Beast 2 with my Amiga (Screen Gems pack), I think psygnosis who made it are now Sony Liverpool of Wipeout, Destruction Derby fame?!?
Either way, I think there are so many amazing Amiga games that never made it to console, they've been overlooked. The only Bitmap Bros game you see about now is Speedball. But there was Gods, Xenon 1 & 2, Chaos Engine 1 & 2, Magic Pockets, Cadaver...
And I'm also not sure the Bullfrog games will be the same without PM.
benedictm on 24 Mar '11 said:
Original Populous on iPad please
WHERESMYMONKEY on 24 Mar '11 said:
Godz and Chaos Engine were class. I often wonder what a modern day valhalla or heimdall would be like.
@benedictm - I thought you already could get Populous for iOS. If not i know you can get it on the ds.
snips10 on 24 Mar '11 said:
Sometimes I can still sit here and humm some of the music from Turrican 2. Best soundtrack in any game IMO.
Not sure if it was EA, but I'd love the see Meglomania remade. Absolute classic.
murph_77 on 24 Mar '11 said:
I would love to see a new Road Rash and Desert Strike. They could make Desert Strike like the Apache mission in Medal of Honour with all the proper sounds etc.
capsule_toy on 24 Mar '11 said:
I'd love a new Populous, but I think it'd turn out like Ubisoft's Project Dust. Magic Carpet however? There's almost nothing like it, still. Gimmie!!
Hopefully, if they did a Road Rash, it'd be very much like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvHz2u-33Y4
ParmaViolet on 24 Mar '11 said:
I'd love a new Road Rash. It was one of my favourite games - I remember a friend finishing the first track in under a minute with the special nitrus bike (Start + Up, Up at the loading screen).
They could really do something good with the 'Strike' series. They'd work in so many ways.
For some reason, I wouldn't mind seeing Ecstatica brought back - mainly because I never got too far into it back then. Does anyone remember that? - I remember this pig monster that used to punch you if you got too close and the main character constantly saying 'But....there's nothing here. No, no, no'.
McShave 07 on 24 Mar '11 said:
I love some of the games mentioned here, mainly Turrican 2/Flashback.
But if we're talking about bullfrog, I think of only one game SYNDICATE, GOD I'm getting excited just imagining a new one.
Taus on 24 Mar '11 said:
Played and completed Roadrash on 3DO one summer when I was not much older than a lad. Best version, one of my favorite games, still rank that as one of the highlights of my gaming history
Happy days, sun shining, off for summer holidays, no work, no mortgage, just playing Roadrash for a couple of hours before getting on my bike to hang out with mates
ParmaViolet on 24 Mar '11 said:
The 3DO version had music by Soundgarden on it ('Kickstand' was one of the songs, I believe).
Unfortunately, my memories of that sort of age was getting hugely frustrated with Thunder Blade on the Master System and collecting Garbage Pail Kid cards.
wesser22 on 24 Mar '11 said:
Good lord a revamped Theme Hospital would me happy in the rude places! Syndicate is one game that could really benefit from second look. Cant believe some of these ridiculousy good IP's have been lying dormant for so long
plightstar on 24 Mar '11 said:
I would be happy with a new Road Rash and just imagine the world would call out for a new Dungeon Keeper or Populous. I think people would even be happy with HD remakes, even without creating new games.
Laughlyn on 24 Mar '11 said:
I could see a new Road Rash taking a similar template to Hot Pursuit, over top weaponry, stupid fast courses, fast bikes. Me n a fe wmates were discussing Syndicate just a coupel of weeks ago too.
I'd still liek to see a return to a more underground based need for speed game, i miss teh ridiculous customization and crazy vinyl designs u could make on the older games
Tinseltopia on 24 Mar '11 said:
To this day I still play Populous: The Beginning. Please remake that game instead of the crappy original populous. Populous:TB was Epic, best bullfrog game ever - People are still playing it online
humanhand on 24 Mar '11 said:
Or Road Rash kind of copy cat'ing Twisted Metal....
ricflair on 24 Mar '11 said:
Parma, I f**king love you!
I've been trying and trying and trying to remember the name of that game for ages! I've calmed down now. When my Dad got a Pentium 90 for his office, I got Magic Carpet, Actua Soccer ("There's nothing Virtua about Actua" - what a tag line!), System Shock and Ecstatica. It was like my eyes deceived me, I couldn't believe that I could have graphics like this at home.
ParmaViolet on 24 Mar '11 said:
Our set-up was similar. We had things like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, 7th Guest, Syndicate, Unreal and stuff like that. For some reason, Ecstatica has always stuck in my mind, despite being told that it just wasn't very good. The cover was very cool, though - it had a pretty mean looking werewolf on it - I never actually got to see any werewolves in the game, I could never get past that damn pig that kept punching me.
Did you get any further into the game? - was it any good?
ricflair on 24 Mar '11 said:
I know I completed it and loved it, but to be honest I can't remember anything specific about it, beyond the werewolf!
My main memory of Actua Soccer was Barry Davies commentary - 'He must've got shares in a paint company!' whne you hit the post!
KK-Headcharge78 on 24 Mar '11 said:
The Road Rashes were deadly, I remember whacking in the big chunky cartridge with the yellow knobble into the old Megadrive and spending hours doing the insanely long later levels where you would fly off the screen at high jumps and as much time cattle-prodding opponents as trying to avoid the mad cows beside the road- good times. Wasn't it Rusty Cage and that song from Paw 'Jessie' in one of the Road Rashes?
Along with Populus and Desert Strike I would love to see a new version of Road Rash, take inspiration from Mad Max, Smokey and the bandit and Hitcher for a state to state smash fest
As someone mentioned Desert Stike in the guise of the Apache MOH mission would be cool.
Also I don't think anyone mentioned James Pond, imagine that now, just weird
ParmaViolet on 24 Mar '11 said:
I clearly remember Barry Davies commentary in Actua Soccer. We used to use the Dutch team and put on De Kock and a player called Vallicx (sp?) - basically, it sounded like he was saying 'the c**k' and 'b******s'. We were very immature, but I have to admit that I did chuckle a bit when I remembered it.
I also recall there being a video of the games creation. We used to think that was pretty funny too - you had Chris Woods saying that it 'was a dream come true' to be doing the mo-cap and this really annoying bloke that was responsible for the awful music.
In fact, I'm pretty sure they made the Actua Soccer games purely for our personal amusement. In Actua Soccer 2, we created a team of midgets which all had my older brothers name, then we created this tall lanky player that was also named after him. All of these players were awful, so we gave them a half-decent striker and called him 'Anus'.
Oh, how we laughed.
rick on 24 Mar '11 said:
Yep I mention James Pond - Robocod, 'twas a great game.
Remember Magic Pockets? It had a Betty Boo song on it and was on a kids tv show for a time. Lol
Laughlyn on 24 Mar '11 said:
I always thought a new Skitchin game could work too (road rash on roller skates)and it'd be interesting to see how they do an updated version. I also just wanna be able to zap peopel with a cattleprod when they hook onto your car
Barca Azul on 24 Mar '11 said:
I had forgot them, but probably as well.
Talking of great retro games, Id love to see Oceans, Run the Gauntlet, based on a TV program for the Amiga re made. It was quality!
KippDynamite on 25 Mar '11 said:
Oh man, as a kid I loved me some Road Rash and Road Rash 64. I played a few years ago and still love smacking a guy with a pipe wrench.
I'm pretty sure Road Rash came out about 4 years earlier, actually . . .
johnafirth on 25 Mar '11 said:
Didn't Sony just shut them down? Pretty sad ending for the creators of Lemmings.
dotted on 1 Apr '11 said:
If anyone is interested in revisiting the old Bullfrog games, here are a few projects you should check out
Theme Hospital clone: CorsixTH
Dungeon Keeper 1 clone: KeeperFX
Fanmade Dungeon Keeper spiritual succesor: War for the Overworld
Both CorsixTH and KeeperFX are fully playable, WFTO hasn't been released yet unfortunately