Criterion Software has today announced that Lionhead Studios has chosen to employ its RenderWare middleware technology to support the timely development and delivery of The Movies on current console platforms. By opting for RenderWare, the Lionhead team will free up additional time to spend on perfecting the gameplay and integrating creative features that would otherwise be spent on technical development.

　　"The Movies is a hugely exciting project for us, and porting onto consoles within a fairly tight timescale is an enormous challenge," said Tim Rance, technical director, Lionhead. "We decided early on that we would need to short-circuit the time required to tackle the technical challenges of developing all the necessary rendering technology from scratch. We chose RenderWare to help take away the pain that is so often experienced throughout the development cycle and to ensure that we deliver the conversion on time. RenderWare Graphics is well-established, high-quality, proven technology that will allow efficient porting for the game--it was the best choice."

　　Criterion's RenderWare technology has been employed in the development of a number of successful games recently, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Pro Evolution Soccer 2, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and Criterion's own Burnout 2: Point of Impact.

　　The PC and console versions of The Movies are all scheduled for release in 2004, although no specific dates have been announced at this time. For more information, check out our previous coverage of the game.