Sometimes help comes from the most unlikely sources, and we had to do a double take when we heard that DICE was helping Criterion with the latest Need for Speed title called Hot Pursuit. The pairing adds additional manpower to both EA-owned studios and leads some abilities that that were new for both sides.

While DICE is known primarily for its FPS Battlefield titles working on a racer was something new for them; but not for Criterion who has been working on racing titles for a long time, so long, in fact, that many consider Criterion the gold standard of racing studio developers.

DICE supplied about 15 to 25 members that were primarily assigned to work on the artistic elements of the game. These DICE artists primarily worked on the environments that appear in the game. Criterion is said to have wanted such a diverse mix of environments for the game that DICE was able to use the experience they had in delivering everything from desert, mountain and tropical environments to add to the experience for the player while the story takes place.

While Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a new title for Criterion, it is said that the open world environment in the game is about four times as big as what we saw in Criterion’s last release, which was Burnout Paradise, that many racing fans claim was one of the largest and most unique environments seen in a racer game to date.

According to what we are hearing, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is still slated to arrive in November in time to find a place under the tree for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii. The Wii conversion is being handled by Exient. Some have been asking if the name shares anything with the Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit title that EA released for the PC and first generation PlayStation; and the answer to this question is “No.” While it carries a similar name, it does not share anything from that release.