burnout-paradise posts

The OnLive streaming PC gaming service is in a closed beta test at the moment and we assume anyone who is accepted into the beta has to abide by a non-disclosure agreement. However, it looks like the author of an OnLive beta article at PC Percepective got around that issue ("a friend of a friend of a friend passed to me their login information"). We don't think that the OnLive company execs will be pleased about that.

In any case, the article goes over the author's experience with the beta, which he admits may be colored by the fact that his location may not be optimal for testing the technology. As we expected, the results are mixed. Streaming slower paced games on your PC like Burnout Paradise and H.A.W.X. seem to work decently with some slight graphics problems. However, shooters like Unreal Tournament 3 had both major image and latency issues running on the beta system. In addition, the current beta requires you to play games with a hard wired connection to the net and there's just one resolution that's officially supported for gameplay.

Of course all of this info comes from a system that's still in closed beta, so improvements are bound to be made before OnLive officially goes live. We don't think that will likely happen for a while, but in the meantime, you can check out some OnLive video from the beta after the jump.

[Via Engadget]

Yep, it's time for yet another Steam sales post. Their ongoing holiday sale still has six days to go but today their one-day sale has some super low prices on five games. In fact all but one of them are priced below $10 each. The one exception is The Orange Box. Valve's collection of all the current Half-Life 2 games plus Team Fortress 2 and Portal is now just $14.99.

The other games on sale for the next 23 hours are Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box for $7.49, Killing Floor and Space Siege for $4.99 each and Prey for a mere $2.25.

Criterion Games made their first PC game in Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. While the developer didn't offer the Big Surf Island DLC for PC players to purchase after the game's release they did over other downloadable content for their open world driving game. But in a new post on the Criterion web site they also reveal other DLC plans that for one reason or another didn't make it.

Among the plans discussed and discarded were adding planes and helicopters to the game (they would not work in the city the designers created) having underground areas of the city to drive in, motorcycles versus cars gameplay modes (cars would always wreck motorcycles) and even wild suggestions like time travel and racing on the Moon. This last suggestion was even prototyped with Criterion saying, "The actual surface of the real Moon was modelled and it was drive-able. Lunar Challenges would have been totally unexpected - as would have been zero gravity Takedowns and Challenges." Maybe for the next Burnout game?

This trailer is for the Burnout Paradise Cops N Robbers vehicle pack expected to release on console networks and the Burnout Store sometime in the near future. As seen in this video, cops never had cars look this good.

Download HD Burnout Paradise Cops N Robbers Trailer (53 MB)
Check out all Burnout Paradise downloads

This patch updates Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box for the PC to v1.100 and unlocks content such as the Legendary, Toy and Boost Specials vehicles for purchase. The new content can be purchased from within the game once the patch is applied.

Download Burnout Paradise v1.100 Patch (106 MB)
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Valve has already put Unreal Tournament III on sale until March 15 and let folks play the full game for free this weekend. However their regular Steam weekend update is still in play and today they have put 2D Boy's terrific puzzle title World of Goo on sale for just $4.99. That's 66 percent off its normal price of $14.99 on Steam.

That's not all the Steam news today. The official Criterion Games web site has posted up word that their racing game Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will soon appear on Steam. The racing game was released in full by publisher EA last month in a trial version. You can download the full trial game right here at Big Download.

The Burnout series has been tearing up the streets on console systems for a long while, but it finally makes a PC debut with Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. This version includes the original Burnout Paradise that released on consoles last year with a boatload of extras. In addition to improved graphics, there are new vehicles (such as motorcycles), new game modes and an offline party mode. Plowing full speed down the streets of Paradise City has its unexpected bumps, but this could be one of the best driving games available right now.

Criterion Games's first foray into PC games was released earlier this month with Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. At the time, Criterion announced that they were planning to add even more content to the game via paid add-ons. However it looks like PC owners will have to wait while console owners get first crack at the content.

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners will be able to download and purchase the Legendary Cars pack on Thursday. The pack comes with four new vehicles that look more than vaguely like certain famous movie and TV cars. However, Criterion has posted up a note on their site that says, "We'll be back with PC release information soon, but expect the Legendary Cars to be available to you guys in about a month." Oh well.

Last week Criterion Games released the PC version of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. This is the first PC game from the developer, as it collects all of the content of the 2008 console arcade racing game with the later free downloadable expansions and the new Party Pack multiplayer mode.

The release of The Ultimate Box will not be the end of Criterion's plans for the game. They plan to release a number of paid DLC packs in the next several months. While there is no specific confirmation yet on if any of these expansions will be made available for the PC, Criterion is working on three car packs for the game that will add a number of new vehicles to the streets of Paradise City. The Legendary Cars Pack has cars that look more than a little familiar while the Toy Cars pack will let you drive minuature cars on the streets. The Boost Specials will add two more extra fast moving cars.

Criterion also plans to add an all-new driving area to the game, Surf Island, and just this past weekend announced their plans for the new Cops and Robbers mode, which sounds on the surface to be an awful lot like the Need For Speed series. Again, Criterion has not yet announced when any of these content upgrades will be available, how much they will cost and if they will be made available for PC owners.

This trial version of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box allows you to explore the streets of Paradise City with a few cars from the full game. It also has access to online servers where players can compete in different races and challenges. A key can be purchased from within the trial, which unlocks the rest of the game.

Download Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box Trial (2.92 GB)
Check out all Burnout Pardise: The Ultimate Box downloads