burnout-paradise posts

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

Criterion Games has just released the PC version of their arcade racing game Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (and Big Download will have the full free time-limited version of the game available for download later today). However the game's new in-game news network is apparently dealing with some launch day problems.

According to the Criterion Games web site, some PC players are "....having trouble accessing the Criterion Games Network (our in-game browser pages)." Criterion states, "...we're also attempting to resolve this and will post as soon as we have progress to report. We hope to get this working in time to bring you news of a new pack for 2009 tomorrow." This issue apparently doesn't affect actually playing the game itself

Dust hasn't even had a chance to settle on Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, but there's already a small patch available. The patch updates the game to the latest version, but no notes are available at this time.

This relatively straightforward trailer shows off some of the moves and stunts you'll be able pull off in Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. The Ultimate Box will be a major step up from the original Burnout Paradise by featuring all-new vehicles and features. The game is expected to release for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year.

Download Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box Trailer (11 MB)

PC owners who have been waiting for their port of Burnout Paradise can now rest easy, Electronic Arts has announced that the PC version of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will be released to stores in the US on Feb. 5. Previous plans to release the game as a retail product for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the US have now changed; only the new Party gameplay mode will be released as a premimum download for previous console owners (the console versions will still be released to retail stores in Europe).

As we have mentioned before the PC port of Burnout Paradise, developed by Criterion Games, will contain all of the content of the original 2008 open world racing game along with all of the previous downloadable content and the new Party multiplayer gameplay mode. It's supposed to have PC-specific features such as "multiple monitor displays support, ultra high resolution graphics, motion blur, soft shadow effects and more."

It's currently unknown if PC owners will be able to download the planned future content for the game that its console owners have been promised. Also the previously promised free full trial of the PC version was not mentioned in today's press release.

In the past week we have been going over the many PC games that are due out in 2009. Today we end our preview feature with a look at a number of other games due out next year. These include adventure titles, racing games, sim titles and downloadable games and extra content. We've also added a couple of games that we should have placed in previous installments of this feature. One of the games on this list, The Sims 3, is likely to be one of the biggest selling games, console or PC, in 2009.

If you haven't yet seen our previous installments you can check out the links below. Just a reminder: many of the articles have exclusive new screenshots from many of 2009's upcoming PC game titles:

Action-FPS Titles Part 1
Action-FPS Titles Part 2
Strategy-RTS Games
RPG-MMO Games

Click on the image above to continue reading 2009 PC Games Preview: Other Games

The folks at Criterion Games have been working on their first ever PC port of one of their Burnout racing games and this week on their official web site they revealed a very interesting plan for the PC version of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. Simply put, PC owners will be able to play the full game..for free.

Yep, Criterion Games will allow anyone to play the full version of Burnout Paradise for free "...for a limited period." There's no word on how much time will be allocated for the free trial but Criterion and publisher Electronic Arts plans to distribute the free trial both online and via disk in February. Once the limited trial period ends, people can upgrade to the full paid version via an in-game store. Criterion has also release new screenshots from the PC version including an image of their in-game store interface.

There hasn't been a lot of news about Burnout: Paradise for the PC lately but today its developer Criterion Games made the announcement that the PC port of their arcade racing game would finally be heading to stores in February 2009. Not only that, but the PC port would also be renamed as Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box.

This version of the racing game will contain not just the full game all of the downloadable updates that have previously been made available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. These updates include new challenges, gameplay modes and the new motorcycle additions. The Ultimate Box will also contain an upcoming update called Burnout Paradise Party where up to eight people share a controller and take part in mini-challenges offline.

The stereotype of older drivers being more dangerous on the road has apparently gotten the Allstate insurance company to try something unusual to make sure it's fine to insure these older drivers. According to a new Associated Press story (via CNN), the company has started a trial program involving these older drivers playing games.

No, they won't be playing a version of Burnout Paradise. Rather these games have been custom made by a company called Posit Science and designed to improve visual alertness. 100,000 drivers age 50 to 75 will be given a chance by Allstate to play these games in Pennsylvania. Their scores will be compared to a control group of folks who don't play the game. If this trial is successful Allstate will expand this program to other parts of the US.