Eidos announces Crash 'n' Burn

Climax Brighton is developing a new driving game called Crash 'n' Burn, due out on PS2 and Xbox this autumn with online support for up to 16 players. The game will make an appearance on publisher Eidos' stand at E3 between May 12th and 14th, which probably explains the lack of screenshots. All we have for now is a rather fetching image [left], which could potentially be a screenshot but has almost certainly felt the warm hand of a Photoshop maestro slide over its supple bodywork.

Although you've literally read all the details we have on Climax's new project, Managing Director Tony Beckwith also made it clear today that the developer views this as a chance to get away from what he describes as a "very predictable and conservative" driving genre. "We've been able to use the technology and expertise gained from driving games like the MotoGP series to allow us to focus strongly on gameplay, and we think the results are going to resonate with gamers," he said in a statement today. "Creating a new brand has given us the opportunity to understand what made us love vehicle-based games in the first place."

Of course, regular industry spotters will already about Eidos' Crash 'n' Burn, which was recently mentioned along with a slew of previously unannounced titles thanks to a rather poorly concealed corporate slideshow that found its way into the public domain following Eidos' mid-year financial report last month. Other titles mentioned by the document were Tomb Raider 7, Hitman 4, a Deus Ex action game, a Commandos tactical shooter, Backyard Wrestling 2 and another piece of new IP, 25 to Life, of which we'd imagine there's more to come.