Crispy Gamer News

Let’s give credit where credit is due. Criterion Games has done a lot for its fans. The Burnout Paradise developer has been hard at work squeezing as much fun as they can into the popular racing game via downloadable content. Even more surprising, this content has been made available to fans for free. But as the old saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.”

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any updates on Criterion’s planned “Big Surf Island” downloadable content for Burnout Paradise. On Friday, though, that changed with a posting on the Criterion website. The devs outlined special features on Big Surf Island, including the Taylor J Towers (named after the son of a Burnout contest winner), and the multilayer bridge connecting the island to the rest of Paradise City.

All that goodness, though, will come with a price tag attached this time around. Despite earlier claims that Big Surf Island would be available as a free download, plans have apparently since changed:

“We’d mentioned in a previous podcast that this would be free content, but we can now confirm that it will be premium paid-for content.

Here’s why. We never expected to create anything this ambitious for the island, but as it progressed we got more and more excited about what it could become. (In fact, that’s the story of all our Downloadable Content.)

Big Surf is the culmination of everything we learned creating Paradise City, and we want it to bring you a truly spectacular new experience – the highlight of a year of incredible premium content. Burnout already delivers incredible value for money – literally hundreds of hours of gameplay with your original disk or PSN purchase, plus more with the free Cagney Pack and free Burnout Paradise Bikes.

We want Burnout Paradise players to experience the greatest support ever seen in a console game. We’re transforming not just Burnout Paradise, but the whole Burnout franchise through DLC, and we appreciate the support we know you guys will give us for our paid content. We think it’s worth it.”

No word yet on when the new content will be available, nor how much fans will have to pay for a ticket to Big Surf Island.

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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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.

In this day and age of downloads and patches, it’’s not surprising to have an update added to a console game not long after its retail release. What is surprising though is when a company releases an update for a demo. Electronic Arts and Criterion are doing just that, announcing a new update for the current demo of the highly anticipated Burnout Paradise title.

The new patch ups the number of available online competitors from four to eight in multiplayer, and also adds 13 new Freeburn challenges. The revised demo comes hot on the heels of some sharp consumer criticism and an equally harsh response from the developer. Alex Ward, Creative Director at Criterion had said in a statement, The demo was made after work on Paradise was completed, so no, we won”t be using Internet ”feedback” to tune the game.