The Latest Burnout / Criterion News

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Yeah, that's a pretty good idea for a Freeburn Challenge.
Here's mine:

Smash N' Crash
Meet on the South Bay Expressway Bridge.
Then, get a total of 240 Traffic Checks all over Paradise City.

[Thunderstorm025]

good idea

[the poloman]

just another question sorry do we pay for this upcoming update or is that a different one? i cant remember, thanks

[Thunderstorm025]

its the davis update with the bikes and night that we pay 4

[Thunderstorm025]

oh and matt u did post that idea 2 criteron right?

[the poloman]

oh right thanks so we get all this stuff for free thats great!!

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Yeah, Cagney, which doesn't feature the bikes, night-time to Paradise City, or the new Island, is completely free of charge.

And Yes, I did post it to Criterion!

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

We're progressing well with development of our PC Burnout Paradise here at Criterion Games. If you want a little more detail on how we're getting on, tune into tomorrow's Crash TV, where our production lead – San – will be talking us through the latest.

In the meantime, here's a post with some new detail on the graphics for the PC game:

"We're just implementing Ambient Occlusion (AO).

"If you're not familiar with this term, it's an effect that uses soft shadows to add extra depth. Enclosed spaces naturally receive less light than open spaces and look darker – that helps us to see how close objects are to each other.

"Some games already use AO but most rely on artists to build this into the environment. For Burnout this would be a nightmare, because we like smash things up and move them around a lot! For this reason, we've implemented a dynamic AO system that affects fast-moving and destructible objects!

"Here are a couple of shots to illustrate the effect in action. Click on the image to see large scale at our Flickr location.

1) You can tell how close the building overhang and lamp post are to each other, because they cast AO on each other but not the brick wall which is further away.
2) The plant growing out of the old tire becomes more substantial.
3) The fan is clearly deep inside the box because it’s darker. The corrugated wall has real depth.
4) Even objects far away gain a level of depth...the ladder is clearly close to the water tower.
5) A wall that looks flat but isn’t gains depth as dark corners become apparent.
6) Even the grass looks like it’s got substance and depth as it darkens the ground."

Source: Criterion Games - Article - New PC images - SSAO implemented

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Wow!

What a response to our Freeburn Challenges competition!

Either Burnout fans love Freeburn Challenges or everybody just wants their own hotel in Paradise City! We think it's the former, because the telemetry shows most players hanging out in Freeburn.

We've had a mountain of entries through since we set this up yesterday.

We'll call out the some of the highlights over the next week, but so far, we've been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of ideas through.

This looks like being our most popular competition yet.

Source: Criterion Games - Article - Freeburn Challenges Competition

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Here's a follow-up to the Downtown Showtime Showdown that we set up this week.

We've created a location that people can go to add their scores for everyone to see.

Just hit this link and fill in your highest scores…we'll combine these and check against the game telemetry at the end of the week.

What we didn't realise when we set this up was just how huge the scores from Magnitude_V1 were already.

Magnitude_V1's coming in at a grand total of 2,245,274,400 combined for 4th Street, Angus Wharf, Harber St and King Ave.

That'll take some beating!

Source: Criterion Games - Article - Downtown Showtime Showdown

[Maxen13]

The AO looks amazing! From the article picture, the 'Junk Yard' sign is clearer without the AO, but on Flickr it is obviously way better with the dynamic system!

Thank you Matt for posting this!
Maxen13

PS Sorry I haven't been on earlier today, this was my first opportunity...

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Quick update - we've just recorded episode #35 of the CRASH FM Podcast and are busy editing it now.

Having looked at the numbers we've decided NOT to continue using USTREAM to broadcast live and in low quality. Instead, episode #35 will be made available in BOTH audio and video form on iTunes.

We'll post as soon as this is up.

Topics covered this week:

• An update on the Cagney update's progress through final testing.
• The latest on the PC version.
• What's happening to Road Rules.
• News from the community, letters and postcards.

Source: Criterion Games - Article - CRASH FM Podcast #35 breaking out today

[Maxen13]

Thank you, Matt- keeping us updated as always.
Also, is there any indication as to the exact/approximate time that it will be released?

Maxen13

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Not that I know of, unfortunately.
For all the latest info, keep it pegged to Crash FM.

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Some staggering scores coming through for this competition with dbc9mx leading the way with a combined total of $11,714,518,880 damage, but Magnitude_V1 looks determined to reel him in over the weekend!

Here are a couple of things we wanted to make clear before the weekend.

1. Historic high-scores will count. We're not pulling highest scores from just this week's telemetry…we're validating all-time highest scores. We'll accept photo evidence from anyone, but we'll still check the scores online.

2. We're also extending this contest by a week, since everyone's just now starting to get involved. If you fancy your chances against the current Showtime kings, get crashing now! We'll name the last remaining hotel on the new island location that will be part of the Eastwood downloadable content after the winner of this contest.

And by sheer coincidence, we'll be meeting up face-to-face with current leader dbc9mx next Friday – he's visiting Criterion Games. If he's still the champ then, I guess he can give us some feedback on the design of his hotel!

Source: Criterion Games - Article - Downtown Showtime Showdown Latest - Time Extended!

[Maxen13]

Cool. That's good for anyone who didn't already know about this competition!

Maxen13

[the poloman]

new adverts around paradise city for people in the uk vauxhall are advertising their vxr cars, they should put them in the game

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

Criterion today announced that "Cagney", Burnout Paradise's second update will be available July 10th at precisely 10:00am.

For more information, hit this link.
Criterion Games Announces Date for Cagney Software Update

[the poloman]

niice! suppose it is close to the end of june cant wait

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

You can now access the Crash TV podcast in video form on iTunes.

We're aware that there's compression issue that's causing the podcast to jump every few seconds. We'll look to resolve this and re-upload over this week.

You'll have to bear with us - we're new to this broadcast business! If Crash TV was running on the Playstation 3, you KNOW we'd have it locked at 60 frames-per-second in hi-definition!

While we build Crash TV into a show format that's worthy of the amazing game content we're telling you about, we'll keep improving it week-by-week.

As always, you're feedback to the mailbag and the forums will be welcomed.

Source: Criterion Games - Article - Crash TV Now Available on iTunes

[tomtom23]

Originally Posted by Matt@Sim_Moves

Hey guys!

Due to me fracturing a bone in my finger, I won't be able to update as frequently.


-------

I have created this thread so it doesn't clutter up the Burnout forum, and you can find all Burnout related news in one place.

hey man thats nothin i frackured my humoros bone(funny bone) in 1970 and 10 yrs later i now have arthirtist in it , and some days the pain is very hard to bare.

[Matt@Sim_Moves]

I know it's nothing, but I have a reputation, and job to provide these Burnout forums with the latest news from Criterion Games.