Burnout Paradise: Second update detailed, dated April 24

by Christopher Grant { Apr 9th 2008 at 2:28PM }

After perusing the lengthy list of fixes and "game experience enhancements" contained in Criterion's second update for Burnout Paradise – codenamed: Bogart – we're not sure how to respond. Should we applaud the new age of connected consoles, where increasingly sophisticated games can (and are!) patched and tweaked, smoothing out the ragged edges until all that remains is a shiny, smooth pebble? Or decry the now all-too-common practice of ship first, patch later? Reality is probably somewhere in between, so we're happy that Criterion is making the effort with an already very well received game.

The update includes everything from from "high priority" fixes to the "top 10 problems" identified by users. Fixes seem to be concentrated on online functionality and some interesting balancing tweaks; for example, Criterion explains, "We fixed Head-on Takedowns as these seemed generally unfair and unrealistic. Unfair low speed Takedowns have now been eradicated." Bogart pulls into the XBL and PSN filling stations on April 24, about seven weeks after the first patch.

Tags: Burnout-Paradise, Criterion, EA

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 9th 2008 2:32PM

Burnour Pair of Dice...

I want to pick this game... it's still $60?

Tiptup300 @ Apr 9th 2008 3:34PM

fernandos is just sore because his precious Wii doesn't support title updates.

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Apr 9th 2008 5:12PM

Why would he whine about that? He's a Wii60 gamer.

He doesn't pretend his Wii is bigger than yours, he just says that Sony sucks balls, which is the essence of trolling.

John McPoop @ Apr 9th 2008 8:00PM

Hey Fernando why don't you save your $60.00 and buy yourself a fucking clue ... Oh yeah last check Gran Turismo Prologue was around 900,000 + copies sold not counting PSN purchases ...

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 9th 2008 8:16PM

Why is everyone attacking me?

I really want to buy this game... I just ask if the price is stil 60 dlls.

Dont know why I get attacked on this one.

Tiptup300 @ Apr 9th 2008 8:40PM

Fernando, there's a Firefox plugin out that automatically down votes everything you type. Well, it just kinda seems that way...

riggs @ Apr 9th 2008 2:36PM

dude stop bogarting

Fady Ibrahim @ Apr 9th 2008 2:52PM

Well, I think that the ship first, patch later mentality might make some sense but is completely not true. Back in the day, only PC games were patched and updated (sometimes with gamer feedback). Console games were plagued by, what you get...is what you'll always get unless a Game of the Year edition came out with fixes and updates. Patches, and often ones, are great, although they do sometimes introduce new issues; but I wouldn't have it any other way personally since game developers are humans too...they can never make a 100% perfect game without glitches...unless its pong haha.

riggs @ Apr 9th 2008 3:04PM

my pong had balancing issues.

FOXHOUND @ Apr 9th 2008 2:56PM

Now... I don't want to get anyone fired for this; but what's the damned point of having testers & QA for a game if they miss blatently obvious faults with the game?

Sorry, I think I'm still bitter from talk/typing about that frackin' SONIC THE HEDGEHOG game in the other article. >_

bobartig @ Apr 9th 2008 3:14PM

QA only makes the game as good as development wants it to be. Production specifies what to test and how it should function, and QA makes sure that those criterion are met. QA doesn't typically say 'this feature is unbalanced, or unfun, or this UI is frustrating', unless they are specifically asked for feedback, and even then, production might say, 'thanks for the feedback, we like it this way." So, it just isn't their job. Its up to producers to fine-tune features and designers to make sure that the mechanics are well made.

In fact, when a game ships with bugs, its usually not because QA didn't find them. In the last stages of the game, directors and producers decide which bugs are necessary to fix, and which are 'known shippable', that is, the bug isn't too bad, or its likely impact (based on user path and reproduction rates) is low enough that the potential risk introduced by trying to fix it makes it not worth addressing. Most games ship with HUNDREDS of known bugs that QA finds, and development doesn't deem worthy to fix, and that is just how the game industry works.

From TFA, it sounds like a lot of these changes were requests and balance tweaks, none of which fall under the scope of QA testing.

creid @ Apr 9th 2008 4:21PM

It would be a real stretch to call them "blatently obvious faults."

FOXHOUND @ Apr 9th 2008 5:37PM

Apologies & retractions around --- I should've clarified. I meant gaming in general as of current; not BURNOUT PARADISE directly.

Ranus Studios @ Apr 9th 2008 3:13PM

Would that I cared about playing online. Maybe this "unfair low speed" fix will make a difference, though.

dark_inchworm @ Apr 9th 2008 3:15PM

Other high priority issues that have been fixed:
* Instances where Barrel rolls were not registering correctly in Stunt Run.

NOW I can do a barrel roll!

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 3:56PM

Happened to me. Maddening.

AcidMonkey @ Apr 9th 2008 3:25PM

I love this game, but I suck at it online. I hope this helps me lol.

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 3:58PM

Criterion said last week that this would be out the 24th. Monday (the 7th)'s podcast said it was progressing through Sony's qualification faster than expected and it might show up sooner than they thought. They implied it would be ready this week!

Cutty @ Apr 9th 2008 4:18PM

But no arrow indicator or scrolling map? The biggest fault with Burnout Paradise is that it's 'too open', meaning that it's all to easy to miss turns or go the wrong way because the map doesn't follow you and there is little-to-no indication of how to reach your destination.

Alex @ Apr 9th 2008 4:28PM

I wish that the flashing signs that tell you to turn would start flashing BEFORE you passed the corner, and I wish you could place pointers on your map. Then it would be one billion % better.

Mike @ Apr 9th 2008 5:34PM

re:But no arrow indicator or scrolling map? The biggest fault with Burnout Paradise is that it's 'too open', meaning that it's all to easy to miss turns or go the wrong way because the map doesn't follow you and there is little-to-no indication of how to reach your destination.

Exactly why I didn't purchase this title. That and the ads.

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 6:34PM

The map does scroll, and the the street signs do flash before you reach the corner*.

Additionally, the street signs have different sounds for left and right so you don't even have to look up to tell which way to turn.

*street signs don't flash before the corner if you are running a race and there is a numbered race marker at the corner. It works fine on all other corners. I wish they would fix this bug.

Cutty @ Apr 9th 2008 6:37PM

Sorry, I should have been more clear. By scroll I meant rotate. When you're driving at 150MPH you don't have time to decide that when your arrow is pointing left, you have to drive right to make it point downwards. =D

why not the LS2LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 11:47PM

Sometimes I wish it rotated too. I think that having it as it is makes it easier to memorize the map, because North is always up. In that view, if you know you want to go NW (the 8 race destinations are at the cardinal points), you can see which direction is NW.

But other times I fall victim to what you say, so I wish it rotated then. All in all, you really need to learn the map to do well and then that corner map doesn't matter as much.

ill trooper @ Apr 9th 2008 4:58PM

This game shipped completely playable, and it's excellent. This is NOT a case of 'Ship now, Fix later' as seems to be the gist of this post. In the past, the things 'wrong' with Burnout Paradise would have been accepted at face value and lived with - not called fatal flaws as implied here. There are games that fit the bill of 'Ship now, Fix later' far more easily than Burnout Paradise.

The fixes here represent how things are now, and the upside in internet-based patching: a good game gets some enhancements (new levels/areas and vehicles) and fixes via the internet. "You want perfection? We can tweak the game and give it to you." I have little problem with this sort of patch.

I will agree with Cutty's sentiment, however - this game lacks the 'Jump in and RACE with your friends online' aspect that the previous Burnout games have had - Pity the poor blighter who just started playing, it's so open that it's very easy to make a wrong turn, or simply make a 'slightly wrong' turn, and lose a race within the first 10 seconds while your friends, who know the city better, dash off in the distance - It really could have used a 'closed course' mode like the old games, with the old red-arrow invisible barriers, to allow for straight-up decision-free racin'.

Christopher Grant @ Apr 9th 2008 5:24PM

Not what I meant at all:
"Reality is probably somewhere in between, so we're happy that Criterion is making the effort with an already very well received game."

ThinkingOf @ Apr 9th 2008 6:29PM

first off, i began to see myself agreeing with you. then you oost me totally at the end. what are you getting at exactly?

@lost idiot. learn the city, thats the point of the openness, dork. "i got lost in the first 10 seconds of a race, yet my friends WHOM KNOW THE CITY FAIRLY WELL", see how stupid the comment went right there? want closed play, goback to the ps2/xbox burnouts and stay outta my server, please.
i appluad criterion for their efforts in making such a great game, and then making it better. thanks you criterion, thanks alot.

ill trooper @ Apr 9th 2008 6:34PM

Yeah, I was just referring to the 'bandwagon' effect, and the attitude of say, Foxhound's first sentence in relation to Burnout Paradise - which I see he's clarified.

umm....hello??? @ Apr 9th 2008 6:26PM

crap...I can't even remember if I dl'd the first patch yet...ah well, at least they're paying attention to the gamers.

why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 6:36PM

First patch was PS3 only and came out the day the game came out. The thing fixed didn't affect 360 so it wasn't patched.

ill trooper @ Apr 9th 2008 7:03PM

Oh, my.

Dear ThinkingOf:

Maybe I didn't make myself clear: I like the game as it is. I didn't mention 'getting lost' in the first ten seconds of a race, but I did mention 'losing in the first ten seconds.' It's hard to recover from a wrong turn in this game. The issue I have with playing online with friends of mine who purchased the game a few weeks later than I did is this: they simply don't know the intricacies of the the city as well as I do, and in turn, I don't know the city as well as another friend of ours, who easily finishes 10 seconds ahead of all of us. I'm sure I would get destroyed playing with strangers who live and breathe games like this.

"Practice More!" you no doubt will type (seems there's no "in-between" on the internet), but the point is, no one in my group wants to play the race mode anymore - the addictive 'try again!' aspect is incredibly small for heavily-trounced beginners, so I suggested a closed-course MODE, an OPTION than could be turned on.

Well, no real concern if you don't agree. We all are allowed opinions on this.

By the way, is there really a problem with the sentence "know the city better?" I doubt you'd try correcting my grammar but couldn't be bothered to put together a cohesive paragraph, correctly spell words like 'lost' and makes up others like 'alot.' Or would you? Nah.