Burnout Paradise - News

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Over the course of this year, Criterion (based in Guildford, UK) will be releasing phenomenal content, both free and paid for, for Burnout Paradise.

I'll be keeping you up to speed with the latest news from the Criterion site, and also bringing you some exclusive gossip and guides!

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Here's some great news for Burnout Paradise players in Standard Definition

Here's AlexF to talk you through the changes we've made to increase graphical detail for standard def players.

"You all know that our big upcoming software update codenamed Cagney will feature 1080i support on PS3… but it will now also feature improved SD picture quality as well!

"For those of you who want details (we know you love the details) … the 360 version always renders internally at 720p and uses the free hardware scalar to provide SD support.

"On PS3 we have to do software scaling and when Paradise shipped we didn’t have the memory available to mimic the 360 behaviour, so went to great lengths to antialias the SD version an alternative way.

"Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that thanks to a combination of the extra memory in the latest SDK and a refactor of our graphics memory management, Cagney now renders SD internally at 720p just like on 360 and even though we’re doing an extra software scaling pass at the end (which the HD version does not need to do!) it still runs at our trademark 60fps.

"Here’s a “before and after” comparison in 480p. If you click through to our Flickr site, you can check these in a higher res. This first image is the current SD picture, it’s heavily antialiased as you’d expect.

"But look at the Cagney version here and you can see that it has more detail (e.g. the Junk Yard sign is more readable, there's an aerial on the car and the middle building, the grass is sharper) yet it's less flickery when you play it."

And here are some zoomed images for before:

And after:

You can see the difference in the these screenshots, but you can't really feel the impact until you play. If you know Burnout, you know it moves fast – a little extra detail goes a long, long way.

Big thanks to AlexF and his crew of hardware specialists for wringing this extra performance out of the hardware.

New Paradise Drives from the team at Criterion Games

We've already shown you the 7 winners of the Paradise Drives Competition. Now we can reveal the other 10 checkpoint races that will be available as Paradise Drives in our big software update codenamed Cagney.

Of course there's nothing stopping you from trying any of these now by creating them as Custom Drives (in fact we've already seen many routes almost identical to these being used in some of the lobbies we regularly race in).

Barnstorming

The shortcut through the barn is only one way to get onto ‘Lewis’. Anyone taking the railway will have to deal with potential head on collisions with racers taking the more conventional route.

Drag Club

The original Paradise Drive from this start junction ended at the ‘Country Club’. This new route requires the racers to drift that bend then race back along ‘Lambert’ to the ‘Naval Yard’.

Knot in Hill

Snaking through the traffic on ‘Hamilton’ is just the start of this route. Getting onto ‘Hubbard’ is particularly difficult when there are more than two racers together. From ‘Hubbard’ to the finish should be fairly straight forward but always proves tense with racers resorting to crazy traffic avoiding manoeuvres.

Lasso

‘Chubb’ or ‘Nelson’ the choice is yours at the start. However there is only one jump of the cliff and failure to land this will cost you plenty of time. You will visit the ‘Lone Stallion Ranch’ twice in this route; remember being there first at the finish is what counts.

Scenic Route

‘7th’ is straight so should be easy, however those who take more risks will be able to keep their boost burning longer and stay ahead. Even if you have been leading for the entire race the approach to the finish is strewn with danger, not least the jump from the dam onto ‘Casey’.

Side Splitter

This route is already very popular online and is a great, easy to navigate tour of ‘Downtown’ and ‘Palm Bay’.

Times Trial

The pillars of the El-Train are a great takedown opportunity near the start. Being first into the short cut through the shopping centre onto ‘Andersen’ usually means you will win this race.

Underwater

Use the dirt ramps in the middle of ‘Nelson’ to score some vertical takedowns on unsuspecting rivals then head into the winding tunnels of ‘Geldard’. Navigating the shortcuts, bends, and junction at the end of ‘Hans’ is key to winning.
Finally we couldn’t help but make some improvements to the two existing Paradise Drive checkpoint routes.

Around Paradise

Same route with fewer checkpoints - what’s your fastest time Around Paradise?

Lake Loop

A new start location results in a complete loop of the lake. The race might be a bit longer now but there are a lot less checkpoints.

Images from this article can be found by hitting this link.

Enjoy!

Check out the Burnout Paradise profiles section now live on criteriongames.com

We posted earlier this week in response to Gravter's question:

"What happened to the old burnout.ea.com site? I loved being able to see my stats online and seeing if I still owned my 'blocks'. Is this gonna be back someday?"

We'll be adding much more to this awesome feature in the future, but in the meantime, we've just re-activated the profile analyser.

Look out for the banner to the right on our main page and input your PSN ID or Gamertag, select your system (PS3 or Xbox 360) and hit return.

We then display a stack of game info ranging from World Rank to Total Miles Driven.

You'll also notice that we've created links for all the players in our leaderboard in the top 10 banners here on our main page, so you can easily link through and find out a bit more about how these guys got there.

Look out for more on this and a the triumphant return of "Rules the Roads" soon...

Burnout Paradise new software update codenamed Bogart is now live on Xbox 360

Good news for Xbox 360 Burnout fans – the latest software update (codenamed Bogart) is now live.

For the full list of our changes hit this link or head over to the Paradise forum and let us have any feedback.

Xbox 360 Bogart frame rate issue

We're aware there are some framerate issues with yesterday's Bogart update on some Xbox 360s.

This relates specifically to the frame rate in streaming zones and does not seem to be an issue on all machines.

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback on the forums.

We're doing everything we can to resolve this as quickly as possible and will post further info on a solution as soon as we have it.

[Thunderstorm025]

If the update is on 360 then what about PS3?

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Originally Posted by Thunderstorm025

If the update is on 360 then what about PS3?

The guys at XBOX released the update early.
The PS3 update will be released on-time, on Thursday.

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Crash FM Podcast #28

Another classic episode for your listening pleasure in which the guys discuss the new freeburn modes, answer some emails, review a review of our game and reach out over the pond. Enjoy!

You can download Podcast 28 by hitting this link!

[Nutter]

Originally Posted by simmoves

The guys at XBOX released the update early.
The PS3 update will be released on-time, on Thursday.

XBOX seem to rush things. I don't know why?
Can't wait for 1080i resolution!!!

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

BarryW fastest play-through time beaten!

We posted on the 19th March to report that BarryW (Criterion test team legend) had aced his way to 100% completion in just 19 hours 45 minutes and 56 seconds.

Hit this link to check out the original story.

This weekend, Toxicburner smashed that record with a staggering 19 hours, 15 minutes, 7 second play-through. That's a full 30 minutes and 49 seconds faster than BarryW!

Here's a shot of Barry just after we broke the news.

Awesome skills, Toxicburner, the world's fastest Paradise player.

And a word of warning – Barry's already resolved to give it another and take back the title. We feel it's only a matter of time...

New elite forum poster

If you're spending time in the forums, you'll see that some of our community have their names in bold.

These are the people that we trust to speak for us – they have a track record for posting with authority and a ton of common sense or they've really helped us out on something in the game – we're grateful for the support they provide.

Today, we're adding Nickpledge to the elite users group for finding a particularly fiendish exploit relating to an invincible car in Freeburn.

Fixing this will make the game more robust and dependable and ultimately better fun for everyone. Big thanks to Nickpledge for his help on this.

And as mentioned in Crash FM 27, we're looking at some interesting ways to reward these guys in the game as well. Keep an eye out in Paradise City for some secret unlocks that will be awarded exclusively to our elite posters!

CRASH FM Podcast #29 - recording Wed 23rd at 1500 BST

This week, the CRASH FM Podcast #29 is being recorded on WEDNESDAY 23rd at 1500 BST.

We'll be replying to your letters, bringing you the latest Paradise news and running a live game on PlayStation 3.

If you're available to join us online on Wednesday , plug in your PlayStation Eye, put on a ridiculous hat and send us your PSN in to the mailbag.

Bogart software update Xbox 360 – quick update!

After identifying some frame rate issues with the Xbox 360 Bogart software update over the weekend, we’ve been busy working on a fix. Thanks to everyone in the community, who's helped us pin this down.

Firstly we’d like to make it clear that the problem only affects some Xbox 360s. PS3 users are completely unaffected.

Our plan is to reverse the patch that went out on Friday and then to get a fixed version out as quickly as humanly possible. We therefore have 2 updates ready to roll:

The 1st update will revert Burnout Paradise back to the game that shipped on the disc.

The 2nd update will be a fixed version of Bogart.

We're talking to Microsoft to see how quickly they can get these changes out. We expect that as soon as USA wakes up we'll hear back – obviously we'll post concrete dates and times here on criteriongames.com as soon as we receive them.

As ever, please keep reporting any issues in our forums so we can monitor Burnout Paradise as our community sees it.

The Cagney Update - making ranked races better

We're always trying to improving the ranked race experience, so we've made a stack of changes to improve this as part of our upcoming Cagney software update.

Some players will always look for ways to exploit the game. Here's the easiest way to cheat:

1. Create complex routes that only you know, and then start the race quickly to ensure your rivals don’t get the chance to preview the course.

2. Lock everyone into 5 rounds for maximum points.

3. And if you're really devious, host Paradise Drive routes but then change them at the last minute before launching the event.

This is a real pain for players just looking for a good, fair race, so we've made a bunch of changes that'll go live as part of our Cagney software update.

Custom Routes are no longer featured in competition races
You can choose from a 40 predefined Paradise Drives that we’ve sanctioned – 7 came from fans, 10 more came from the team. They're all great routes – we hope you enjoy them!

Sanctioned Routes have their own Time Leaderboards
The new routes each have their own leaderboard, so you can all see who’s the fastest per route. Now, it’s now not just about winning a race, you can now measure your finish time against everyone else's.

Traffic can no longer be switched off in competition races
For the sanctioned routes, we've optimized the traffic density for great racing, so there's no need to switch it off.

No more ‘rounds’ in competition racing
Most 5-round races don’t end with the same number of players that started. Many players disconnect, when they feel like there's no chance of winning, so we've got rid of the concept of rounds.

Now, you can't get locked into a 5 round race without knowing where the races are going and you can select a car that suits the race and your driving style. It also means the scoring system reacts after every race, so it's quicker and if you do disconnect, you only lose your results for the race you were on.

Cars can be grouped by Boost Rating
If you're hosting, you can limit the cars available based on the Boost Speed of the car. Limiting to Boost Level 3 cars, for example, still gives you 10 massively varied cars but they'll all be pretty closely matched for great racing. (We’ve also fixed a few anomalies in the car groupings and changed the order so it's easier to check out the cars in the select screen). This adds a ton of variety to the racing and we'll see a much wider range of cars used – not just the PCPD!

Car Select now appears after the Race Route has been selected
Switching to single races also allows us to make sure everyone gets to see the route before the car select. The host can't make sure they're the only one who knows the route, and now everyone gets a chance to choose an appropriate car.

The host can't kick other players any more
Hosts are kicking players in ranked games to ensure they can win. Pointless and irritating. So we’ve stopped it. The downside to this is that there's no way to kick an abusive player, although if you're hosting, you can just quit the session. In the future we'll have a simple vote system that allows the host to vote to kick someone - they'll still need a majority decision from the remaining players for the kick to activate.

Grid position is based on player ranking
In the past, the very first grid was set randomly – clearly this doesn’t make sense. Now, the grid's based on ranking with the highest ranked player at the back.

Full Boost Bars
We've made it so that all cars have full boost off the grid. Now, the race can get going quicker and with the higher ranked players at the back of the grid, lower ranked players benefit from a small advantage.

Rank and Ranking Points are displayed in game
We’ve added your rank and ranking points to the player list on Today’s Best. This will update periodically if races are run so you can see how everyone's points and rank have changed whilst in the game.

New map icons differentiate the Start and Finish points
Simple change but one that makes a real difference. We’ve seen players making poor route choices, because this wasn't clear, so we've fixed it.

Overall these changes add up to a much sharper ranked race experience.

The racing's better, we’ve removed the ability to exploit, we’ve added clearer ranking changes and the addition of leaderboards gives a completely new way for you to compete. Now it’s not just about scoring from a win, it’s about racing to become the fastest on a route. Real Competition.

Bogart software update Xbox 360 – latest

Still no concrete dates for our solution to the framerate issue affecting some Xbox 360 players with the recently deployed Bogart update.

West coast USA is now awake, and we're working closely with Microsoft to see how quickly we can resolve this hard disk streaming issue.

We're extremely proud that Burnout has always run at a fluid 60 frames per second. Very few games have achieved this level of blistering performance on 360 and PS3.

We feel the speed of the experience demands a lightning fast frame rate, and the glitching in the recent update is unacceptable to us. We're doing everything we can to resolve this as quickly as possible.

We'll post again as soon as there is progress to report. We appreciate your patience.

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

CRASH FM Podcast #29 in LIVE VIDEO Tomorrow

We're always trying to step things up at criteriongames.com, so tomorrow, for the very first time, we're broadcasting Podcast#29 in LIVE VIDEO at 1500 BST.

We'll be answering your questions and hosting a live game on PlayStation 3.

So, if you want to check it out - here's the link to our Live Podcast page - we'll be on the air at 1500BST!

The audio version of the podcast will also be available via the usual links.

Freeburn Game Mode Preview

We had a great session today with the new Freeburn Challenges – Marked Man, Road Rage and Stunt Run. These are all part of the Cagney update.

If you missed our announcement of these modes, hit this link to check out the original blog entry.

We're constantly play-testing these modes and making changes to improve them. We shot some footage as we played, so you could check out the highlights, so here's your first chance to take a look and let us know what you think.

Like we've said here before, we're transforming the experience you can have in Paradise City, and these modes (the first of many) really open the game up to extended play.


Marked Man

This gives you a clear indication of how easy it is to set these modes up in the game. You just push right on the D-Pad, pick them from the Easy Drive menu and you're off.

The footage shows how everyone just cruises the city while a Marked Man is selected. Once the selection's made, all the action starts – in this case you're seeing the action from the perspective of the Marked Man.

It shows IainA making a break for the relative safety of a hiding position round the back of Angus Wharf. He's constantly checking his rear-view camera to see how close his rivals are and he does a pretty good job of evading them, before finally missing a simple jump and getting schooled by christina!



Road Rage

Here, you can see players selecting which team they'll be on through the Easy Drive. As with any game there's lots of debate over teams, so we'll just skip straight to the action.

We're going to track to the action from IainA's screen again. He's picked to be on the red team – these guys are trying to eliminate all the blue team players, before they can get through a set of checkpoints. While IainA can see all the checkpoints, the blue team can only see one checkpoint ahead. In this sequence, you can see IainA picking off a blue team player right on the checkpoint, getting taken down by team-mate britney, eliminating christina and finally the end of the game.



You can also clearly see headline events like players reaching checkpoints called out on-screen and the player display showing the blue team's distance from to the next checkpoint.

Stunt Run

We're in-car with GarryC as he pursues kylie down the South Bay Expressway. You'll see him land a classy first jump, before stacking it, as everyone crowds into the jumps area.



Everyone's scores update in real-time on the display, so you can see Fish1 top the scores with 2 million plus. What you don't quite see in this sequence is Fish1 getting taken down right at the end after accumulating all his score in a single combo and dropping down to last place.

We'll record another session with these modes soon, and look forward to bringing you some news on Freeburn Challenges tomorrow.

[SDB101]

marked man and road rage look intense! i'm favouriting those ones (shame i can't do stunt runs )

[Thunderstorm025]

More news i found...

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Paradise City Cop Cars get sirens as part of the "Cagney" update

You asked for it!

As announced in this week's streamed version of Crash FM you'll be able to switch on the sirens for the cop cars after downloading the "Cagney" software update.

That means the Hunter Citizen Cop Car and everybody's favourite ranked racing car – the Krieger PCPD Special.

Watch for a future announcement, we have big plans for these awesome vehicles.

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More news from the awesome "Cagney" update


Here's an update from the Paradise Audio Team.

In addition to a load of sound for all the new content, the team's been flat out refining and improving the sounds of all the your favourite cars in Paradise City.

We just wanted to bring out the personalities of the cars a little more strongly.

Here are a few examples:

KRIEGER PIONEER
we've got a pimped out DJ bass audio filter from the standard view but switch to in-car and everything crisps up as you get closer to the speakers.

ROSSOLINI LM CLASSIC
This one's got stacks of raw distortion – a true classic race car.

KRIEGER 616 SPORT
Check out the awesome whining transmission – rally style.

JANSEN P12
A fizzing, airy Induction system for the "Pocket Rocket".

KITANO TOUGE SPORT
Crank this one up to top speed to experience the fast, high-pitched spinning turbo effect.

KRIEGER UBERSCHALL 8
Chain boosts to trigger a sonic boom.



We're looking forward to bringing you a big update on the sounds for these cars, a little closer to the release of the "Cagney" update.

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[Anyone4Buttons]

All this new stuff, seems so simple, but oh so nice!

[Spidery Yoda]

Originally Posted by Thunderstorm025

KRIEGER UBERSCHALL 8
Chain boosts to trigger a sonic boom.

That is awesome. Might make me start using the car.

[SDB101]

Don't. It is the spinniest car i've driven (cars i haven't: all carbon cars bar the gt, the krieger wrx and the pcpd special