What’s next for Burnout Paradise?

Phew! Another big week, here at Criterion Games, but it’s great to be back on the blog! Today, we made the first of a series of announcements calling out our 2009 Burnout Paradise content.

So first up, we’re talking about the in-game browser for the PLAYSTATION 3. We always like to embrace the great hardware innovations for PlayStation. We’re using the browser to bring you closer to your friends and also to get you the latest news on what we’re working on – it’s like having criteriongames.com inside the game.

We’ll bring you all the latest on this PlayStation-exclusive feature over the coming weeks, but for now all you need to know is it’s called Burnout Paradise Network and it’ll be ready in Feb ’09.

Next up let’s talk Burnout Paradise Party Pack.

Burnout’s an awesome social game, but the action’s all online. With Party, we wanted to create something for when all the players are in one place – gathered around a single screen.
Fans of the classic Crash Mode from Burnout 2: Point of Impact will know that this is not the first time we’ve done something like this. And we hope the response to Party is as warm as it was for Crash mode.

So, if you like to get together and play games, it’s time to break out the drinks, party hats and balloons!

Now you can enjoy Burnout Paradise in a completely new way.

1. Get together with up to 7 friends and gather round your PLAYSTATION 3. Here you can see some of the Burnout team lining up for a little Halloween-themed fun. You can see the full session in our latest Crash TV video podcast – it’s The Halloween Special!

2. Start Burnout Paradise and get the Party Pack update from the Store

3. Pause to admire the excellent new Party Edition visuals and atmosphere! We’ve overhauled not just the presentation screens but also the in-game visuals, which are now brighter and more colourful in recognition of Burnout’s new party theme.

4. Select 8-player party and get ready for the action. If you’ve got the PlayStation Eye add your picture now.

5. It’s pass-the-pad, so you’ll only need one controller to play, no matter how many players are involved!

6. The game selects a player at random and drops them into Paradise with a simple, fun challenge to complete.

Land a barrel roll!

Survive racing oncoming traffic!

Race a circuit of the dirt track in the best possible time!

There are 3 types of challenge to take on – Stunt, Speed and Skill. Stunt involves jumps and tricks. Speed features quick time trials and timed challenges. Skill includes racing through oncoming traffic and drifting your car.

7. Pick up the winner and run around cheering / commiserate the loser

8. Give it another go! Don’t forget, there are extra trophies and achievements available within this pack, as well as a stack of other enhancements.

You’ll be able to purchase this awesome premium Burnout Paradise content from February 2009, but if you haven’t got Burnout Paradise already, there’s never been a better time to buy.

We announced today that we’re bringing all the 2008 innovations as well as Party to something we’re calling Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. It’s a new packaged game that’ll be available in Feb 2009!

Look out for more soon – either here on the awesome PlayStation Blog, back home on the Criterion Games Web site and in our video podcast – Crash TV.