Burnout Paradise

[BigJohnBoy]

I lost interest in the Burnout games when Burnout 3 came out as it just didn't feel the same. The pinnacle was Burnout 2 for me.

Perfect game.

[Leon Retro]

I lost interest in the Burnout games when Burnout 3 came out as it just didn't feel the same. The pinnacle was Burnout 2 for me.

Perfect game.

Yep.. Burnout2 felt like a top quality Japanese arcade experience, whereas BO3 onwards became very Americanised; like your typical EA style franchise.

Paradise is sooo American in style, I wonder if Criterion made it, or EA in America?

I have nothing against Americans( love a lot of their culture ) .. but I preferred Burnout when it was influenced by Japanese design style, rather than what it has become.

Oh well, all the moaning in the world won't change things. EA own Burnout, and EA are American

[MikeRox]

Burnout has never been particularly Japanese. No amount of romantasising about how Japanese is better and BO1 and 2 were aces therefore must be Japanese style will ever change that. I don't really get why everything has to be ripped apart into "this feels this, that feels that" regarding development origin. Many of those "Japanese style" games are and always have been European, you know... the territory that is never brought up in all these types of discussions despite it being the territory most of us are from.

What makes it Japanese as opposed to British? Bright clean visuals? Thats a British trait traceable back to the pre NES days, good gameplay? British games have had that before the Japanese became the heavy weights too... how about great music? Oooooh they had that too.

Critereon took Burnout in the direction they wanted to take it. I still think the 3rd and Revenge are the better ones, though I do miss the combo chaining from Burnout 2. I'd love a HD Burnout Legends release. The great thing about Burnout is, even on it's 5th home console iteration (from Critereon) it's still a completely different experience with each title.

It's clear it was always intended to feel very "Americanised" though. Any links you find to Japan are purely coincidental and likely as a trait of Acclaim being in financial **** and so not able to afford licenced soundtracks for what was an unknown quantity, and then what was one of their last releases (Burnout 2) before going down the crapper.

[edit] if this comes across aggressive it's not meant to

[Family Fry]

Right details of the third software update for Paradise codenamed 'Cagney' have been released on criterions website at

http://www.criteriongames.com/article.php?artID=114

They are going to include 3 new online freeburn modes including the classic.....

Online Road Rage, RED VS BLUE is back!

? This is an 8-player online team event.
? At the start, everyone chooses their team (red or blue).
? One team of "runners" has to drive to a checkpoint then the finish ? they can only see one checkpoint ahead.
? The other team has to take them down. These guys can see the checkpoint and finish and choose whether to wait and ambush in key locations, shortcut to the action if they get left behind or just follow the pack and cause chaos.

Glad that is making it's way back into Paradise, free roaming would suit this down to a T.

[Leon Retro]

Burnout has never been particularly Japanese. No amount of romantasising about how Japanese is better and BO1 and 2 were aces therefore must be Japanese style will ever change that. I don't really get why everything has to be ripped apart into "this feels this, that feels that" regarding development origin. Many of those "Japanese style" games are and always have been European, you know... the territory that is never brought up in all these types of discussions despite it being the territory most of us are from.

What makes it Japanese as opposed to British? Bright clean visuals? Thats a British trait traceable back to the pre NES days, good gameplay? British games have had that before the Japanese became the heavy weights too... how about great music? Oooooh they had that too.

Critereon took Burnout in the direction they wanted to take it. I still think the 3rd and Revenge are the better ones, though I do miss the combo chaining from Burnout 2. I'd love a HD Burnout Legends release. The great thing about Burnout is, even on it's 5th home console iteration (from Critereon) it's still a completely different experience with each title.

It's clear it was always intended to feel very "Americanised" though. Any links you find to Japan are purely coincidental and likely as a trait of Acclaim being in financial **** and so not able to afford licenced soundtracks for what was an unknown quantity, and then what was one of their last releases (Burnout 2) before going down the crapper.

[edit] if this comes across aggressive it's not meant to

Burnout1 felt like a Japanese coin-op. It had the sort of vibe you'd expect from Namco, Sega, or some other Japanese arcade dev.

I remember EDGE interviewing Criterion in 2001, and they commented that they were big fans of Outrun. It was clear that they intended for Burnout to feel very Japanese in vibe and style.

The Japanese element comes from the arcade look & feel. The way the visuals are sharp, clean, and vibrant.

There wasn't any over-the-top voice-over guy, or an American feel to it.

Burnout2 did have more of an American setting, but it was still like a Japanese coin-op, in the way that it was very vibrant and stylish.

Race along the course with the Airport, and tell me the dev isn't a big fan of Scud Race.

Burnout3 did become very EA in style. The way that it become more brash, gritty, and American in vibe, made me feel like it was like an EA Street title.

That is a fact, and the series has become more in line with what EA desire it to be, with every edition. Paradise is very very West Coast America, in its look & tone etc....

It doesn't really matter, because it's all history now, but I'd like to see a dev return to the orignal formula seen in BO1&2. It's strange that Sega & Namco haven't created a good street racing title.

[RoughOutline]

I rented this last week, and I have to say I'm glad I did. I actually wasn't very sure of the demo, but I was hoping a rental could prove me wrong. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I think turning the game into an open world like Test Drive Unlimited is what put me off. Although I enjoyed TDU, I just don't think it works as well in Burnout Paradise.

If I were to buy another Burnout game, I'd only do so if they were to scrap the open world, but I doubt that'll happen.

[Family Fry]

OH MAMMA
Quote from Criterion blog...
"where we cover bikes, planes and night-time in Paradise City"

PLANES!?!?!?!

But bikes though YUM YUM



They are REALLY going to work with DLC on this game!
Apparently they are also working on a Day to Night cycle in the game.

4 Major Updates are due over next few months, Bikes will be part of the Davis update so we have to wait.

"Bogart" Will be available Today.

http://www.criteriongames.com/comingsoon/bogart.php

"Cagney" will be available at the end of May.

http://www.criteriongames.com/comingsoon/cagney.php

"Davis" will follow sometime in August.

http://www.criteriongames.com/comingsoon/davis.php

"Eastwood" will be next in Fall.

http://www.criteriongames.com/comingsoon/eastwood.php

[[nothing]]

Blimey. They really are trying to add a lot of new stuff. Kudos to them, they could have just made us wait and stuck really new things like bikes into the next installment.

Also, didn't realise they were going to stick whole new cities and stuff into the DLC (videos in the Eastwood section), which is awesome.

[JP]

According to that site Bogart is PS3 only this week due to "frame rate issues" on the 360.

It's only been put back until the beginning of May though so it's not too bad.

[Dezm0nd]

Man, I feel like I am missing out with all this planned DLC. Give it a year and i'll buy this again and jump back in

[JP]

Not sure if it's been posted elsewhere but...

360 Bogart is online now!

The revised Bogart software update for Burnout Paradise is now live!
This will auto-download for online connected players as they start the game. Big thanks to Microsoft for going flat out to bring this fix to 360 players.

[EvilBoris]

Didn't the fix get recalled already?
This might be the replacement now

[Family Fry]

Yeah it says above, The revised Bogart.
It's good to see a company actually testing thier stuff before launching it onto the world and destroying all of mankind.

[JP]

Criterion Games Announces Date for Cagney Software Update

Today, we're able to finally unveil the release date for the Cagney software update!

This is our 3rd and most ambitious software update yet! It will be available for free at 09:00am UK time on Thursday 10th July '08.

If you've missed the stories we've run so far, you can hit the Cagney tab at the top of this page and see all our Cagney blog entries in one place or check out the following summary of features:

3 New Freeburn Game Modes:

? Road Rage
8-player team event. One team must race through a series of Paradise City checkpoints. The other team must stop them.
Cue incredible chases and battling through the city, tons of voice communication as players co-ordinate their efforts.

? Stunt Run (vs)
Pull stunts to score points - hit barriers, billboards and ramps; ace barrel rolls, flat spins and massive airtime to score big. Everybody competes to simultaneously reach the biggest total. Hit your rivals to kill their scores and gain multipliers.

? Marked Man
A player is selected at random and everyone gangs up to take them down. The Marked Man scores for reaching the end point intact and taking anyone down along the way.

70 New Freeburn Challenges
? 70 new timed multi-part Freeburn Challenges
? Leaderboards for these challenges that log your best time (as well as those people who did it with you)

Vehicles
? Hunter Olympus
? A secret Criterion Car!

New liveries
? Rossolini Tempesta Dream
? Two fan-created liveries ? the Oval Steel Racer and Inferno Hippie Van
? A secret Criterion livery!

Ranked Race Changes
? Too much to report in this blog entry but click here for the full breakdown!

Custom Soundtracks
? Custom Soundtrack support on PS3

Other high-priority fixes and updates
? If you're in a 3 or more player challenge and a player drops out, the remaining players can still complete it (subject to it being a challenge that can handle this!)
? "Previously" section on the search games list now displays Challenges, Today's Best and Freeburn game modes, making it loads easier to decide which game you want to join
? You can now view Leaderboards and Options in an online game
? You can now mute other online players in the show players screen
? You can now mute yourself if you have a PS3 Eye/Eye toy
? We've increased time-out for online races, and if all players complete the races within the timer, then you go straight to results
? The Airfield has been changed to help with the drivability of the area and make it a little easier to complete the hoop challenges
? Online cars now show damage - roll up to the start in a half-destroyed Hunter Cavalry and everyone else will see it!
? Added a stronger display message if you rule all of Todays Best
? The Easy Drive menu & Challenges page now loops from top to bottom
? Fixed the navigation system so that it takes into account the next check point in a race
? Fixed traffic not reappearing in Freeburn after a no-traffic race
? Fixed online races using Lawrence Road - it's been reporting finish distances with a little inaccuracy
? Revised 30+ car resets following crashes
? All new sound effects added for Easy Drive
? Driving backwards in Road Rage now ends the event as it does in Marked Man
? Option to invert camera axis for the look around camera on right stick
? Online player information made accurate on the instance a player goes through a checkpoint in races
? If you set VOIP mix to zero it is now saved correctly
? 1080i support for "almost HD" sets
? Improved the Standard Definition rendering on PS3
? New highlight to show the player in Today's Best
? Easy Drive fades out if it's unused for 20 seconds
? Boost chaining no longer possible by drifting in open areas

Criterion Games (09/06/08)

[Fader209]

"Boost chaining no longer possible by drifting in open areas"

Uh oh, no more cheating!