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A Downloadable Paradise. Also? Bikes.

In addition to adding motorcycles, Criterion is working on a way for people to get Burnout Paradise without having to leave the house. Devious.

I felt sort of like a chump for making a beeline for Burnout Paradise at EA's media event today. Here I am, surrounded by games that won't come out for months, and I make a beeline for a game that I've already sunk like 150 hours of playtime into. But make no mistake, this wasn't some nostalgia trip. EA was showing off the next free downloadable update for the game. Formerly codenamed Davis, this update is now better known as Burnout Bikes, and it will add motorcycles and plenty of things to do while riding them.

Poppin' wheelies.
Poppin' wheelies.
This is, of course, the first time that motorcycles have entered the Burnout world. While bikes don't have any sort of boost meter, that's OK because they're wicked fast, especially if you lean forward and tuck. Leaning back will, naturally, let you pop wheelies. When you crash a bike, the rider almost immediately disappears, which is the only way to keep the game's E10+ rating intact. Burnout's never been about grisly human violence, so this doesn't seem out of line at all. The bikes bang up a bit, but don't fly apart like their four-wheeled counterparts when you crash.

Having played the game a lot, the bikes felt different, but not too crazy. They're controllable and seem to fit right in. There will be some new single-player stuff to do on bikes, as well as additional timed challenges to perform online on bikes.

This update will also bring the moon to Paradise City by way of a new day/night cycle. There will be multiple settings for the cycle. You can set it to match up with the actual time in your area or set it up on an accelerated cycle, which goes through 24 hours in 24 minutes. At different times of day, the traffic patterns will change, and things will generally thin out at night, giving you fewer on-road obstacles to worry about. Time Road Rules, which track how fast you can get from one end of a road to another, have been broken up into daytime records and nighttime records to prevent the daytime scores from becoming totally irrelevant.

It seems like a sound update and, hey, you can't beat the price. In addition to showing this, EA also announced that the game is coming to the PlayStation Network this Fall. That means the game will be totally downloadable for $29.99. This will be the same experience that players with a disc have, and it will incorporate all the free updates that have been released so far. It sounds like the download will be under 2GB.

As a guy who plays a lot of games both for work-related purposes and because, you know, I like them, I tend to move on from one game to the next pretty quickly. Burnout Paradise was already a game that stuck with me quite a bit the way it was initially released, and these free updates have kept me thinking about Burnout all year. Expect more news on Burnout Paradise--specifically the first public showing of the PC release--to come out of Leipzig later this month.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

53 Comments

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Hector

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Edited By Hector
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gamer_152

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Edited By gamer_152  Moderator

I was more than a little worried about how the addition of bikes to Burnout Paradise would affect the world of Paradise City when I first heard about it, but it looks like the bikes along with everything else in this update appear to stand up soundly. A very good job on Criterion's part... Now if only they could pay me to play the game, everything would be perfect.

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Dryker

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Edited By Dryker

This sounds pretty sweet. I was pretty stoked about Burnout Paradise and really enjoyed the Demo, but there was so much good stuff out that I never picked it up. Again I find myself in a quandry. Burnout Paradise is sounding even better now and if these downloads are free, I can hardly begin to imagine the downloads they would actually charge for. Just too much good stuff and not enough time to play 'em.

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sandtroll

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Edited By sandtroll

If downloadable games are $20 cheaper than the disc versions, I wouldn't care about not being able to sell them after I'm done...

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carolynp

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Edited By carolynp

The updates are exciting and have really given this game some staying power. I've just recently gotten back into it in a big way, and it's still totally thrilling.

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The_Icon

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Edited By The_Icon

This is huge, as this is the first full featured Blu-ray/DVD- 9 title going online. And PS3 with cheap HDD shouldn't be any kind of problem with it.

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Canberra

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Edited By Canberra

im thinking planes next

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ocdog45

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Edited By ocdog45

Criterion really has committed to the game. wish other companies would do this, make the value of the game stand out. not many games are wroth $60, and this one is $30 now.

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Jackel2072

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Edited By Jackel2072

Yeah im going to buy it when it comes out to PSN. that sounds real good!

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FesteringNeon

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Edited By FesteringNeon

^^ @ IncredibleBulk92 - Or you could just sell the 360 and buy a PS3 :)

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IncredibleBulk92

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Edited By IncredibleBulk92

I really hope that the Xbox 360 adds a section for larger downloadable games.  The XBLA is great, but if I could download Burnout for the same price as I could buy it for I'd be far more inclined to buy it on the marketplace.  I'm starting to hate the huge amount of space that all the game boxes I have takes up.  If I could download a new game before it hits store shelves and the instant it hits 12.01 on release day be able to play it, that would be awesome.

They could make it a separate section of the marketplace.   Of course the problem then is that it would kinda get confusing for people to have the, marketplace, XBLA, XBVM, Xbox Originals and whatever they'd call the new thing.

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AllanIceman

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Edited By AllanIceman

I am definitely going to buy this game.

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TheVilrak

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Edited By TheVilrak

This game is indeed awesome, i picked it up preowned in a sale and been playing all week, working towards that elite license :D

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FesteringNeon

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Edited By FesteringNeon

Being able to download the game to the HDD, kinda makes this tempting.

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Illmatic

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Edited By Illmatic

All this Burnout talk from you guys has me wanting to buy this after I finish Lost Odyssey.

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falconer

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Edited By falconer

@ TheWorlf619

They said that the only update we would be paying for were bikes (actual bikes, not the content), but those are now free as well.

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PLWolf

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Edited By PLWolf

I love Burnout: Paradise and the way Criterion has been supporting it with free content is just amazing. I believe they said the only update we will end up paying for is when they open up the island. That's cool with me, because the free stuff has been fantastic and massive all at the same time. Love it.

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MetalGearSunny

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Edited By MetalGearSunny

Burnout rocks and I can't wait for the Motorcycles!

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TheCounselor

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Edited By TheCounselor

I think I might grab it again on the PSN for the new content, and the ability to play it off the hard drive.  The main reason I rarely play my copy of the 360 version anymore is that I no longer play it for days at a time, but I would totally boot it up once a week or so if it was on my hard drive.

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Venatio

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Edited By Venatio

Criterion is great, their PS3 support is also great and Burnout is amazing

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falconer

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Edited By falconer

@ Jimbo N

There will be overcast and fog coming in the next update, Bikes Pack, out next month. Please check the Burnout Paradise page here for any and all current information.

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jimbo_n

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Edited By jimbo_n

what about weather? I think I heard something about weather effects.

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Johnny5

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Edited By Johnny5

I can't wait to finally play Burnout paradise. I need to get a console lol

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Sharpshooter

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Edited By Sharpshooter

Criterion Games leading the way. Can't wait to see someone try and rip them off and fail.

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falconer

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Edited By falconer

Hey guys, check out the Burnout Paradise page on giantbomb for all the latest information. I edit the page as soon as I hear of it.

@ kratos

Planes in Paradise is not a rumor, they're currently in the alpha phase at Criterion.

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get2sammyb

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Edited By get2sammyb

I too need to get this game. The post release support is absolutely brilliant. I'll definitely be picking a copy of this up be it from PSN or a store.

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kratos

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Edited By kratos

Then after that there adding a island and some substantial rumor said that planes a coming too.

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buttmonk3y

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Edited By buttmonk3y

Just brought this myself, not really a fan of racers... but i love this game.

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Sekoku

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Edited By Sekoku

Real time Day/Night cycle based on my area?

So fucking awesome. I love you Criterion. I love you, Paradise. Thank you for not being Revenge, which made me lose faith in the series. Did EA learn their lesson from polls and stop mucking up shit with Criterion? Because Paradise is near my love of 3 (which is held in high-regard with me as one of my favorite games) and these updates (while not adding too much) are still awesome.
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deactivated-5d7c31174a7f0

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Damn I'm looking forward to Burnout.

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calf_exercises

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Edited By calf_exercises

man, I saw this game for half price the other day, I should totally get it

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Blitzer

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Edited By Blitzer

I totally bought this game because of you guys talking about it in the bombcast a few weeks ago. Enjoying every minute of it!

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zoozilla

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Edited By zoozilla

Wow.  If Burnout gets bikes into the mix, how is Midnight Club going to stand out now?

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radion_null

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Edited By radion_null

I am somewhat surprised Burnout will be downloadable off of PSN.  I expected this on PC through something like Steam but not this soon on a console.  More developers should do this with their games, at least with the titles that are old and battling for retail space with newer titles at your local store.

Jeff, you trading in your PS3 copy of Paradise to DL it ?   Just curious.

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Zinc

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Edited By Zinc

So gald I bought this game.  Gota love Criterion.

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Relys

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Edited By Relys

I bought this game two weeks ago. The community support is amazing.

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SoSerious

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Edited By SoSerious

Not going to be downloadable on the 360?

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Trilogy

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Edited By Trilogy

Never got around to buying this game. Looks i might be picking it up to hold me off till midnight club LA comes out.

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ironscimitar

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Edited By ironscimitar

Is there a Dev of the Year award?  If so, Criterion deserves 4 of these.

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Shakezula84

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Edited By Shakezula84

This is one of the few games that I go back too, but making it a PSN download makes me want to buy it and trade in my hard copy. Just being able to load it up without having to take out the game I'm currently playing.

And these constant updates. This is how games should be done.

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albedos_shadow

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Edited By albedos_shadow

And so Gamestop's demise begins.

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Dizzyhippos

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Edited By Dizzyhippos

any word on when the update is coming?

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wrecks

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Edited By wrecks
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xruntime

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Edited By xruntime

I've never played this game. Most of my racing game experience has been Need for Speed.

Anyone else nostalgic for that awesome world of NSFU2? I just loved traveling through all the mini towns and stuff.

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marbig

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Edited By marbig

Sounds great! Was hoping for some new achievements though.

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koopi

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Edited By koopi

There are no humans in the cars, why have they implemented humans all of a sudden? :D Ah well, it probably looks dumb to see bikes go around without people on them anyway ...

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McPlated

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Edited By McPlated

Every bit of news about this game just wants me to buy it that much more.

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AndrewB

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Edited By AndrewB

I would be excited for the PC release if I didn't feel the game would control so much better with a gamepad, and I lack a high quality PC gamepad. I'm still holding off a while longer on buying it for the 360.... probably sometime around the next really good sale I can find. I know the game is already pretty cheap now, but I'm not confident enough in open world gameplay to want to throw away any unnecessary cash.

I don't know where to stand on this new content, either. It *is* free, so I have nothing to worry about, but I still don't see how motorcycles could transfer into a Burnout game without it feeling like something other than a Burnout game. I suppose I have to applaud Criterion, though, since by all means they could have held back on this add-on and finagled it into an all new Burnout: Motorcycles spinoff for another $60, but are instead tossing it in to their existing game. Of course, this is also to their advantage, since some new content might entice those who haven't bought this game yet to take the plunge, netting them a whole lot more cash in the process.

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piecat

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Edited By piecat

I can't wait until bikes. They seem like a lot of fun

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Aaron_G

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Edited By Aaron_G

I need to get this game. Putting motorcycles in the game is awesome.