Burnout demo boosted with 8-player support, new challenges

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 4th 2008 at 10:29AM }

Still not convinced Burnout Paradise was "THE best demo released" last year? Criterion has rubbed some grease on frontman Alex Ward's heaping helping of self-praise by doubling the maximum number of online players (from 4 to 8) and adding 13 new Freeburn Challenges. So does this mean that Burnout is now the best demo of 2008? Quick! Somebody give these guys an award!

(Note: The multiplayer boost will take effect on servers between today and Jan. 14th. The demo is available on PSN and Xbox Live.)

Tags: burnout, burnout-paradise, burnout-paradise-demo, BurnoutParadise, criterion, ea, psn, xbl

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

PhoenixSS @ Jan 4th 2008 10:36AM

Hmm... I find it interesting that they are rebuffing their demo. I usually play a demo for about a maximum of 15 minutes unless it's extremely engaging. I played the burnout demo for about that long before realizing how much trouble it was to drive ALL the way back to the starting point to repeat a challenge.

Not that it's a bad game by any means, but it seems like a lot of effort for a demo. Just... release the game. Let us download it. YOU KNOW IT'S FINISHED JUST LET US HAVE IT... /froth at the mouth

John @ Jan 4th 2008 10:38AM

Do I need to re-download, or will the demo update itself when I open it again?

rivaldi22 @ Jan 4th 2008 10:47AM

Hopefully the latter.

But who knows, for the BEST DEMO EVER, we might be expected to re-download the entire thing.

PhoenixSS @ Jan 4th 2008 10:53AM

Chances are it will update like any game would. Next time you fire up the demo a blade will pop out with a "There is currently an update available" message and you'll be able to just update and begin playing.

FoxHoundADAM @ Jan 4th 2008 10:47AM

Is one of the new challenges the new version of the Crash Junction, I forget what they call it now.

JodyAnthony (death by snoo-snoo) @ Jan 4th 2008 10:49AM

sweet, i've been loving the demo so far. i just wish i didnt have to sit through that video intro every time i fired it up.

rothgar @ Jan 4th 2008 11:13AM

That intro video is what stopped me from playing the demo more than 2 times.

GRANTED @ Jan 4th 2008 10:51AM

if you downloaded the demo for the challenges then you are missing a lot. once i got in, i hit right on control pad and got into and online freeburn. 2 hours later i was still exchanging takedowns with 3 other people online. everyone was laughing their asses off.

all they need to do to make this game awesome (and sell) is to include a deathmatch-type scenario where the first person to reach X takedowns wins.

another idea:
tag. first person to reach 10 mins as tagged loses, the one with the least time wins.

but basically, they should have concentrated on the online aspect of this game. let me do the challenges against actual people. because now, all there is is this stupid "get to the top of the parking lot" game and a contest to see who can drive against traffic the longest.

baby sea tuna @ Jan 4th 2008 10:52AM

Cool. I think this might be the first thing I actually d/l from PSN.

arrrgh @ Jan 4th 2008 10:56AM

This game is pure fun. Not much depth, or variety, but hole hell is it ever a blast to play. And the online multi is well integrated and easy to initiate. Beautiful game.

Will @ Jan 4th 2008 11:01AM

I still love that box art.

Greyseal @ Jan 4th 2008 11:03AM

I must be the only one who thought the demo sucked. I'm looking forward to the game, but the demo was a frustrating tease. Seeing as 95% of the intersections were't actually available to play, it would have been nice if they could have indicated the functional ones on the map. I spent an hour driving around getting annoyed.

Neon Jebus @ Jan 4th 2008 11:14AM

You weren't the only one. I thought it was okay but it also didn't really feel like Burnout to me. If they had called it a different name I might have liked it for what it was but I wanted to play what I've grown to know and love as Burnout.

Rename it Burnout: Not Burnout

Al @ Jan 4th 2008 11:33AM

I thought the demo sucked as well. It lost everything that made burnout what it was. I agree with Neon Jebus. I probably would have liked the game more if it went by a different name. It just doesn't have the burnout feel to it anymore. Freeburn should be an option. The races just do not feel the same anymore either once your in the race.

badarsemother3k @ Jan 4th 2008 4:12PM

I haven't truly enjoyed the series since Burnout 3. They act like they have to make major changes with each new game but all that did was change what made Burnout so different. I wouldn't bother supporting that twat Alex Ward or EA anyway.

Warlord @ Jan 4th 2008 11:32AM

If the argument they give us that they won't let you instantly restart the race is because they don't want a load screen, do what they did in Burnout: Revenge for the (sorry, can't remember the game mode) mode that has you try to deal as much monetary damage possible did when restarting. It sped backwards until the start in a kind of sepia tone (right?) until it was at the start. It doesn't look like a load screen, but allows a quick restart also.

mastafool @ Jan 4th 2008 11:33AM

Agreed, this game does not feel like Burnout. Althogh its a pretty good game, I can't believe they took out the traditional "Crash Mode". I really hope the new one is as good or better.

To me this feels like Midtown Maddness + Burnout = Burnout Paradise. And I wish Microsoft would please make a new Midtown Maddness game. Tag and capture the gold were the best Xbox Live modes for any racing game.

Robobagins @ Jan 4th 2008 12:02PM

I don't know why folks don't love this. I've easily spent 12hrs online with this already, not to mention I had a friend come over and monopolize my console for 3hrs with this.

This is a must buy for me the moment I see it used.

jaybird1905 @ Jan 4th 2008 12:26PM

Ha!

Please, for the love of God, tell me someone in the marketing department bitch-slapped Alex Ward across his smug, condescending face. His "Merry Christmas" response was a kick in the balls to Burnout fans and gamers alike.

"The demo was made AFTER work on Paradise was completed, so no, we won't be using internet 'feedback' to tune the game."

Looks like they used that unheard of thing called "feedback" to tune the demo though.

"Everyone breathe, relax, and remember, it's only a demo - we think we made THE best demo released all year - you don't see many other games getting an online enabled demo up on both systems before launch."

If you made the best demo, why do you need to up the multi-player limit and add new challenges? Was the BEST not good enough?

Seriously. This game is turning into a fucking joke. If I wanted to play GTA again, I would. At least I can run over a few hookers and get my money back.

arrrgh @ Jan 4th 2008 12:54PM

lighten up francis

Psykoboy2 @ Jan 4th 2008 12:55PM

I'll chalk that up to just being uninformed, cause not many places covered the info too well, but it was known since a day or two after the demo released that it would be updated as the release date got closer:

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1152324#post1152324

This wasn't something done out of reaction to the demo, it was already planned from the beginning. An interesting hint has been in the demo from day one: You could look at the challenges on a menu screen and see the ones listed for 5, 6, 7, & 8 players...all of them within the limits of what the demo offered.

jaybird1905 @ Jan 4th 2008 1:00PM

Regardless, the demo is garbage and the Burnout franchise is ruined.

wickedpheonix @ Jan 4th 2008 1:02PM

The only thing really wrong with Ward's comment is when he said that feedback would not be used to improve the game - yes, the game had already gone gold but there is such a thing as patches over XBL.

As for:
"If you made the best demo, why do you need to up the multi-player limit and add new challenges? Was the BEST not good enough?"
They already said that they would be putting new content into the demo before release (also supposedly some new cars for closer to release day) so that people will keep playing it through the release date, keep coming back to the game. The demo was released early so that people would see some Burnout action before release, and the game will be released late because Criterion/EA wanted to avoid the over-crowded holiday season.

The demo was the best DEMO of the year for sure. Seriously, how many other games had that level of content for a demo? I know I've put at least 10 hours of gameplay into the demo (I've had less time put into full $60 games) and I can't wait to see how much play I'm going to put into the actual game - with 75 different cars that all supposedly feel distinctly different this game is going to give a serious run for its money.

T2 @ Jan 4th 2008 2:12PM

I could be wrong, but I thought Joystiq was going for sarcasm when they said best demo.

The demo, did indeed suck in my opinion. But maybe I'll try again with this new version. I've always enjoyed Burnout, but this latest one didn't really impress me with their initial demo.