NaturalMotion Preps for Game Development with Backbreaking Football Title

While commonly cited for its Euphoria animation engine used in upcoming games like LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, NaturalMotion is now using the technology to internally develop its own game. The appropriately titled Backbreaker will use the Euphoria engine to portray a more natural football experience in the area of helmet-splitting tackles.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. "Backbreaker is the first football game with truly interactive tackles," said NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil. "By utilizing our motion synthesis engine, Euphoria, players will never make the same tackle twice." The developers say the gameplay will be more along the lines of Midway's Blitz series, presumably without the drug use and other debauchery of recent installments, than EA's Madden Football. NaturalMotion released several screenshots and a trailer for the title, expected to retail on unspecified "next-generation" consoles in 2008.