Burnout Paradise

[Deebs]

The demo is only a matter of days away, well Thursday.

Woop!! Burnout is the best racing franchise for me and I cannot wait to get back into the groove on the PS3.

Electronic Arts-owned game developer Criterion Studios has always had a vision of what they wanted their best-selling Burnout franchise to be, but before PLAYSTATION®3, the team was never able to bring this vision to gamers. Alex Ward, Creative Director at Criterion Studios, was showcasing the PS3™ version of Burnout Paradise at EA's Redwood Shores Studio Showcase. He said the new game is making the most of the technology under the hood of the PS3™ system.

"We're using the Cell in a number of different ways," said Ward. "We have Cell-dedicated SPUs for physics, deformation and streaming. This game has much better physics and deformation than we've ever had before—all in real-time. We're using Cell for a very fast and efficient streaming system that's given us a very high fidelity world that runs at 60 frames per second, which has never been done before. We built the game from the ground up for PLAYSTATION®3. We want to lead on this system. We see this as Burnout 1 for us and we want to make huge leaps on this system."

Criterion knows PlayStation® well. The developer has created middleware for each of Sony Computer Entertainment's platforms. Ward said the studio really understands the PlayStation philosophy, especially when it comes to online. Burnout Paradise was built for online gameplay for up to eight players at a time.

"We want to get as many people as possible playing Burnout Paradise online," said Ward. "PLAYSTATION®Network is a free and open system and it allows us to bring our vision of online gameplay to the world without restrictions. It's allowing us to do whatever we want."

"We reject the PC paradigm that's dominated online gameplay for a long time," said Ward. "If you grew up playing console games, this mysterious, black ops world of lobbies and clans doesn't apply to a driving game. It works for Warhawk™, which is a great online experience, but not for our game."

At its core, Burnout Paradise is a customized experience that each individual player can tailor to his or her own preferences. Every aspect of the game is open. Essentially, Criterion has created a massive open world with a fleet of different vehicles and given the players the keys.

"PLAYSTATION®3 really inspired us to push the boundaries of what we thought the next gen Burnout game should be about," said Ward. "It inspired us to make a game that was totally free and open. We believe the player can do whatever you want and whenever you want. There were a lot of constraints with the last generation of hardware. Now the camera can be anywhere, the car can be anywhere and the traffic can build up to any level. The hardware is at the control of the player rather than leading the player down a specific path. We have 120 unique starting points in the world. If you want to race at any time you pull up to a light and hit the bottom triggers. If you want to go into Showtime (the newly renamed Crash mode re-invented for the open world) at any point, you just hit the top two triggers."

When players enter the 720p high-definition streets of Paradise--a virtual city inspired by real locations like Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago—there are no menus or maps or levels to play through. In fact, a gamer can just drive around endlessly, taking in the diverse range of locales in the city, itself, as well as in its suburbs and outskirts.

Ward said the game is so different that even the guys making it think we must have lost our minds because it's not like anything else that's out there.

There's plenty to do in Paradise City with roughly 250 miles of open road. The game offers five different modes, each of which offers a huge number of challenges. Ward said the modes in this gamer are more emergent. Some modes, like Road Rage, have new twists as players can now take out their frustration in an open world rather than the closed tracks of previous Burnout games.

"There are lots of jumps and shortcuts to find as you drive around," said Ward. "If you want to just have fun, we have Freeburn Challenges. If there are two of you, there's a long list of things to do for two players. If a third friend joins, you're looking at a different list. This goes all the way up to eight players and each layer has unique challenges. We want to encourage everybody to spend time playing with their friends online."

Players can also create the start point and end point and all the specifics of any race—checkpoints, traffic, and incorporate boost rules from any of the previous games (Burnout—build up boost to use it, Burnout 2—chain the boosts together, Burnout 3—Takedowns will build up boosts). It's even possible to compete against friends when they're not online. In the Road Rules mode, every road sign in the game is named and has high scores attached to them for best time and best crash.

"If the road sign is red it means one of your friends has beaten you on a time or crash, so you can compete against them from different time zones," said Ward. "If I beat one of your times, the sign turns silver and if you beat a friend's crash score the sign turns gold. When you sign back into the game, it will tell you who's beaten your scores, so the challenges never end."

Ward said this is the first game to incorporate every aspect of PS3™ system's functionality. Burnout Paradise uses the new PLAYSTATION®Eye. When a gamer takes out an opposing player the camera captures his or her reaction. Gamers can then store these pictures and view them back on the Photo Browser of the PLAYSTATION®3.

"We believe in using all of the PlayStation® peripherals, including the motion-sensing feature of the SIXAXIS™ wireless controller," said Ward. "You can drive the game with it. In Showtimes, you not only steer the car with the SIXAXIS™ wireless controller, but you can maneuver it from a 360-degree perspective to create rolls and spectacular crashes.

Ward said Criterion has learned a lot working on this hardware and he believes the studio is going to be one of the world's leading teams in pushing on PLAYSTATION®3

"The jumps we made on PlayStation®2 from the first Burnout to the fourth game, you can see some of the leaps we plan on making with PLAYSTATION®3," said Ward. "This is really just a start for us."

 

[ST^]

Best box art ever tbh!

 

[Starman]

WoW talk about PS3 pimpage

 

[Wonk]

the 360 demo is getting released aswell afaik.

 

[KevinUK]

We all know Deebs will be playing this on his 360 really.
Can't wait!

 

[cHodAX]

Got to agree, Burnout rocks, just a shame the last few games have been on the poor side.

 

[Yaka]

if its out on 360 then i'll prolly get it on 360, i have about 5 peeps on my ps3 freinds lists, deebs,ttd,ch3t,clowneh,whipped while my 360 list is preety huge where games with mp are concerned its 360 over ps3 atm

 

[Ch3tan]

Where did my sodding post go?

Bah.


Can't wait, my fave game series this. But 360 it is, for the same reasons as Yaks.

 

[Starman]

Heh there is a conspiracy afoot!

 

[Ch3tan]

Well I ordered my 360 copy today.

Anyone know when the demos are hitting Live and PSN?

 

[Deebs]

PSN is due this Thursday, not sure when Live appears.

I decided a long time ago never to buy a MS XB360 console game, my reason was simple, just before I bought my 360 MS stated there will never be a need for HDMI or a larger harddrive in a games console they make. Fine, I bought a 360 knowing a new version would not be released as MS said so.

6 months later they released the Elite that had the 2 things I wanted most. Fuck em, it is that simple. I only ever buy PS3 stuff now, and no, before anyone starts, this is the first Sony console I have ever owned, and secondly, I have always been PRO MS in the past, but they shafted me.

Oh look over there, UT3 is asking to be imported.....

 

[Deebs]

Two new videos, not sure on the wrecking mode (the first video), that just looks like a shit idea, but still, racing rocks!

Gameplay of Burnout Paradise - Gamersyde

 

[yaruar]

PSN is due this Thursday, not sure when Live appears.

Sweet baby jesus, this makes me all tingly in the trousers!

This is the reason i talked the wife into buying me a PS3 for xmas and then convinced her that i need it early just for the demo... It's just annoying that the actual release is after the end of my paternity leave.. I wonder if i can get her to cross her legs a few weeks to extend it.......

 

[Stimpy]

This is actually one of the few games that was developed on the PS3 and ported to the 360 so it might actually be slighty better for once instead of alot worse, anyway PS3 purchase for me

 

[Deebs]

Guys,

Just seen it demoed here on the PS3, if you love Burnout you will not be disappointed. Was gobsmacked and blown away!

 

[yaruar]

Guys,

Just seen it demoed here on the PS3, if you love Burnout you will not be disappointed. Was gobsmacked and blown away!

it's just a shame that most of my burnout playing mates bought 360's so i won't be able to race them, unless they decide at some point to make a platform independant server, now that would be spiffing.

 

[Deebs]

it's just a shame that most of my burnout playing mates bought 360's so i won't be able to race them, unless they decide at some point to make a platform independant server, now that would be spiffing.

Not sure how likely that is considering that XBL is completely controlled by Microsoft and they say what content is on there and how systems interact.

Would be good aye but the people I want to race with all have PS3's so for me it is not a problem.

 

[Wonk]

bah, cant fucking wait for the demo. It's today

I've secretly played Burnout: Revenge on live meanwhile. I love the multiplayer modes.

 

[Aada]

Is the PS3 version a shoddy game though? because from what i've been reading it seems any game that isn't a PS3 exclusive turns out to be shite aka Orange Box/Madden/PES8

 

[yaruar]

Is the PS3 version a shoddy game though? because from what i've been reading it seems any game that isn't a PS3 exclusive turns out to be shite aka Orange Box/Madden/PES8

early reports say the ps3 version is the best one as it's being optimised for the ps3, especially with the physics, unlike a lot of the games they are just porting over it's being written primarily for the ps3 frist.

 

[Stimpy]

Yeah all the demo's they have been giving have been on the PS3, so PS3 is the lead platform for once on a game, anyway the demo is out now on XBL weighing in at 835mb, PS3 demo should be up at about 5pm.

 

[KevinUK]

The demo is ace! I created a match and within 2 secs 3 people had joined and we were chasing eachother to crash! I have the xbox camera, its nice to see it used for when you get taken out by an opponent, they get a pic of your angry face

 

[cHodAX]

I have the xbox camera, its nice to see it used for when you get taken out by an opponent, they get a pic of your angry face

Or me cracking one off with my right hand and driving with my left hand!

 

[Wonk]

I dont like it not enough action for me.

 

[KevinUK]

Well im guessing in the final game you can get into action at any traffic lights. How do you choose the sort of event though? I'll play it more later and try to find out.

 

[Deebs]

You press the bottom two triggers and the events at that junction/point will be explained.

 

[Ch3tan]

I can't find the demo on PSN?

 

[yaruar]

I can't find the demo on PSN?

same here, they clearly hate us

 

[Billargh]

Is there any way to speed up the "fux you crashed, 30 seconds slow mo instant replay!" every time you crash in free roam? >:X

 

[Starman]

Hmm can't say I'm overly impressed tbh just seems like Need for Speed like crashes now