Crispy Gamer News

To show its continued support for Burnout Paradise through 2009, developer Criterion revealed yet another downloadable content pack in the works for the game today. Two weeks ago the company announced the Burnout Paradise Party Pack and last week the Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars Pack was detailed. This week Criterion reveals the Burnout Paradise Toy Cars Pack, offering players special edition Burnout collectibles.

Details on this unique DLC will be released soon on www.criteriongames.com but for now you can take a look at the screenshot on the left. The new DLC packs will be released sometime in Spring 2009.

Sure, it was fun when Criterion Games brought motorcycles to Burnout Paradise, but what’s left for the studio bring to the popular racing game? How about flying time machines?

That’s right. In a post on the Criterion website, the developer unveiled the first of four new cars found in the upcoming “Legendary Cars Pack” downloadable content. The car, dubbed the “Jansen 88 Special” immediately brings to mind the classic modified DeLorean used by Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy. Oh, and by triggering the 88 Special’s boost, players will leave behind the infamous flaming tire tracks from the movie. As if that wasn’t enough, yes … this car can fly too. Well, it can hover at least, but you get the idea.
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Criterion Games dished out some details today on its upcoming update to the hit Burnout Paradise, titled Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box. The Ultimate Box will be a special edition retail release that includes the original Burnout Paradise game, plus the previously-released Burnout Paradise Cagney and Burnout Paradise Bikes content updates. Also included in The Ultimate Box will be the brand new Burnout Paradise Party content. Burnout Paradise Party is an offline multiplayer mode designed to allow up to eight friends to “pass-the-pad” in dozens of Burnout challenges. For players that already own Burnout Paradise, Burnout Paradise Party will be sold separately as downloadable content.
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Why, oh why, can’t they just leave us the f**k alone? They harass us on network television, assail us in email, and call us incessantly on the phone.. and now they remind us in our video games that there is an election going on. sure, it’s a big election year with tons of big issues to deal with but can we just have one sacred place to get away from it all? Nope.

See, when money is to be made, companies like EA have space to sell in their games. EA has put up billboards featuring presidential candidate Barack Obama in several of its top sports games like Madden NFL 09 and popular games like Burnout Paradise. EA spokesperson Holly Rockwood would not say how much the ads cost, but said that they are running on the Xbox Live versions of the game through Nov. 3. They began earlier this month - according to an Associated Press report.

“It reaches an audience that is typically hard to reach—young males, roughly 18 to 34,” said Rockwood. “That’s very appealing to our advertisers.”

Rockwood declined to say how much revenue the company generates from selling ad space in its games, but chances are like network and Cable Television, the camp is paying a low cost rate that conforms to national election laws.

While some may see this development as “exciting,” “a breath of fresh air,” or very tech savvy on Obama’s part, I see it as just another way for game companies to monetize something we have already paid for. We paid for the game already and we pay a subscription fee to Xbox Live, so why should we be forced to see any ads - let alone political ads that some of us are trying to get away from in the first place?

Kudos to Obama for finding new ways to reach voters, but shame on EA for re-monetizing a product we’ve spent our dollars on. It’s this kind of behavior that caused the Boston Tea Party, folks.

Source: breitbart.com

Criterion announced that the free downloadable Burnout: Paradise bike pack will be out on September 18. The bike pack brings lots of new features into the game including the option to pick from 2 motorcycles (male or female characters) and start on a whole new progression to earn your Bike License. Also included are 38 new against-the-clock race events , a new in-game 24 hr day / night cycle that impacts traffic density and available events, new dynamic weather, 70 more Freeburn Challenges , 70 more co-operative challenges and a whole lot more.

Look for this freebie to hit PlayStation Store next week.

Criterion has been talking about bringing bikes into Burnout: Paradise for awhile, and today via its official site, it has revealed some interesting details about it and the upcoming FREE Bikes Pack which will make it all possible. The Bike Pack adds another 9-10 hours of gameplay with another 70 Challenges.

Half of these new challenges are regular Freeburn Challenges, while the other half are timed, multipart challenges. Criterion also says that the this pack will offer a “fresh new map of the city, filled with the bike equivalent of Burning Routes.” The new pack is also the first time that bikes have been introduced into a Burnout game – a real challenge considering that the game has fined tuned to work with .

Besides being a challenge for the development team, Criterion says that this free pack is a major milestone for them because each new pack they create raises the bar for them and the game. The next bit of content will be trophies for the PS3 version of the game. It sounds like the Bike Pack will soon be ready for prime -time - according to the post, today the game is being tested and the team has moved on to other things, so stay tuned.

Read more about it www.criteriongames.com.

Criterion Games announced that the Burnout Paradise will be available for digital download on PlayStation Network for $29.99 this Fall. The downloadable version of Burnout Paradise will incorporate all of the recent updates that Criterion Games has delivered directly to consumers. Hey, the option will be there if you want it at least..

The game is currently available at retail for the PS3 and Xbox 360 for $29.99.