PSN Thursday: Bowled over by Burnout Paradise
by Ross Miller 
{ Dec 13th 2007 at 7:00PM }
PlayStation 3 owners finally have something they can gloat about: not only do they get a demo for Burnout Paradise, but they also get it a week before any Xbox 360 owners using the free Silver membership. Today's PSN update also includes new Rock Band DLC as well as new bowlers for last week's High Velocity Bowling, costing one Washington apiece.If you don't want to worry about unlocking Need for Speed Pro Street, you can spare yourself the gameplay for a meager $2.49 to $9.99. Full update list after the break.
Demos:
- Burnout Paradise (free)
- High Velocity Bowling Bowler 1 ($0.99)
- High Velocity Bowling Bowler 2 ($0.99)
- Need for Speed ProStreet unlockables (various)
- Rock Band DLC
- GT Awards at SEMA (free)
- Burnout "Stunt Run" trailer (free)
- Tony Hawk's Proving Ground - Tony's Skater Story trailer (free)
- Ratchet BTS - Art (free)
- Cloverfield trailer (free)
- Untraceable trailer (free)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Obie @ Dec 13th 2007 7:17PM
Good for them, gotta cut them some slack sometime.
copa @ Dec 13th 2007 7:20PM
Microsoft is freaking brilliant. If you choose not to pay for their online service, you get to wait a week for the demo, while your PS3 brethren (who also chose to pay nothing) get to play it the whole time.
Great competitive differentiator there, guys.
Other great crippleware suggestions:
XBox Live Silver members get downscaled to 480i.
XBox Live Silver members get an hourly nag warning to upgrade to Gold.
XBox Live Silver members are limited to 3 hours play daily with the new Family Timer(tm) technology.
Norm @ Dec 13th 2007 7:33PM
That sounds annoying as hell. Glad I have a gold membership.
Matt B @ Dec 14th 2007 9:55AM
Glad I don't have a 360!
Cam @ Jan 26th 2008 7:44AM
wat r u on bout, i had live silver for months, and I never got anything like that???
MooseMuffin @ Dec 13th 2007 7:41PM
Quick impressions of the burnout demo (360, in case anyone cares) is that this game sucks. Why couldn't they have given us a prettier burnout 3? This whole free roaming stuff is boring as hell, and the worst part is that if you want to replay an event, you have to drive all the way back to it. SSX3 did this free roaming thing too, but it also had a menu that you could use to pick your events the old way, in case you just wanted to get on with it.
waynski1457 @ Dec 13th 2007 8:09PM
i completely agree. it reminded me most of NFS: Underground 2 when that added free roaming and hasnt been the same since...
Zootittles @ Dec 14th 2007 9:15AM
That's too bad. Ah well. I guess I'll go back to playing Burnout 2.
zlionsfan @ Dec 14th 2007 3:06PM
Oh yes, SSX 3, the last game in that series before it all went to hell.
I don't mind the idea of free roaming as long as there's also an option for immediate travel. Don't most games that involve travel do it that way? (Oblivion and TDU come to mind.)
Also, is there anyone who didn't cover I Fought The Law? (I picked up that and Rockaway Beach on my 360.)
dinx2582 @ Dec 13th 2007 7:44PM
Oh cmon, this extra week crap is stupid. All you have to do is create a new Live Profile and they give you a free month of Gold on the spot. Worst-case scenario: you have to set up a new throw-away e-mail address.
REAL TOUGH, MICROSOFT.
Obie @ Dec 13th 2007 7:44PM
Tell me about it. XBL gold members get to pay for the service, and yet every dashboard blade is littered with ads...and we have yet to get any dedicated servers in our games.
CB @ Dec 13th 2007 7:53PM
With ads removed, it'll make for a cleaner looking dashboard. I'm thinking that the only reason they haven't made big changes to the dashboard besides replacing one block of text with another are the ads.
ScottyGEE32 @ Dec 13th 2007 8:02PM
That's the one benefit of being an Australian with a 360 (in comparison to your very large xbox live service over there) I suppose...I don't get ads...and if there is one kind of ad, its for some cheap MS Australian promotion.
I sign in with my American account to get some exclusive demo/xbla game and I nearly vomit at how bad it is over there.
Leobebes @ Dec 13th 2007 8:09PM
Littered with ads? I only notice one ad on the couple of the blades. Also they are not even that big. Sounds like you might be exaggerating a bit. I spent $5.00 on candy today, friggin candy! If someone asked me what would rather spend $5.00 on candy or a month of xbox live I would take the live sub. Putting things in perspective here guys.
Obie @ Dec 13th 2007 9:38PM
Sorry Major Nelson...I mean...Leobebes.
Seriously, "the games" blade is the worst.
The main blade has space for both XBLA and Demos on the front, instead they pasted an ad there and then burries both 4 layers in that get bogged by slow load times by the undefragged HD.
DemonGSides @ Dec 13th 2007 10:15PM
Obie, stop your bitching.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Dec 13th 2007 8:41PM
Woot. Gonna get me the punk pack.
Also get on Burnout on PS3 tonight. I played it on 360 this morning and it's great. The friend invites and such are great and I'm told identical on PS3. However, if the PS3 one doesn't have voice chat I'm gonna be pissed.
MosquitoControl @ Dec 13th 2007 10:09PM
So boring. Feels so limited. The only moderately interesting thing is the crashes, and with no replay they're over quickly. No incentive for them - they're mistakes.
Swing and a miss.
Xopher @ Dec 14th 2007 9:37AM
I played the demo last night, I would like to say that my personal favourite was Burnout Revenge, this one seems to want to be need for speed. If I want to play burnout I think that I would be more likely to throw in the Burnout Revenge in my PS2 and rock that. How come all the burnouts that came out after that one aren't fun for me. Anybody else feel the same? Course it is just a demo but free roam? i didn't like having to fix my car while cruising around in free roam either. Oh ya and again there was no hitting cars from behind to send them flying into the oncoming. You want me to play something on a PS3 comeout with Burnout Revenge2 with some newer boards better cars and more big fire and explosions.
Matt B @ Dec 14th 2007 10:13AM
My family and I are having a blast with High Velocity Bowling!!
Burnout is OK, I guess.
umm....hello??? @ Dec 14th 2007 2:18PM
...not sure how this turned into a 360 dash commentation section, but I am happy with XBL. am hoping it will become free in the future though (especially since they do have ads).
I WILL say that XBL marketplace is MUCH easier to navigate than the PSN Store. I really wish that the PSN Store was setup like their XMB Media Bar--I think it'd be much easier to find things and navigate than their current setup.
@Xopher
Agree. BurnoutRevenge is (IMO) the best in the series. Haven't had a chance to play the Paradise demo yet, though. I do like the other games in the series, but Revenge is by far the most played at my house.