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The Road Rash that could have been...

by: Jeremy -
More On: Road Rash
 ...and maybe still might be?  Let's hope so.  One of EA's oldest franchises which has long gone ignored is the classic Road Rash.  The classic racing slugfest hasn't been seen in more than 10 years, though that last iteration was ported to the Gameboy Advance in 2004.  Personally, I was a huge fan of the series in its infancy on the Sega Genesis.  The Road Rash series could make a huge comeback with the current focus on online, multiplayer gaming.  As it turns out, here are leaks and hints all over the internet that the concept of a new Road Rash isn't that far fetched.  

First off, freelance artist Ross Dearsley posted some sketches on his personal blog back in late 2007, showing off some character concepts he had drawn up for a modernization of the Road Rash series.  The art design looks like something along the line of what EA Big would produce if they got their hands on the game, similar to the SSX style we have seen many times before.  Add those sketches, shown below, to the existence of a Youtube video (also shown below) put online in early 2007 by user kevmc34 showing what he claims was a preliminary animation demo he created for an early concept of a new Road Rash, that was pitched to Electronic Arts.  Even in the early, conceptual stage shown in the video, this game looks PHENOMENAL.  EA, please be smart about this and put this into the hands of the fine folks at Criterion with instruction to create an online Road Rash with RPG like elements and sit back and enjoy the cash flow... This would have been HUGE... in my personal opinion of course.