Burnout Paradise To Introduce Motorcycles, Night, General Bad Assness

Criterion has just announced a major addition to Burnout Paradise. Planned for their "Davis" update this August, the download will include motorcycles (a first for Burnout) along with "their own game modes, challenges and even some new locations tailored to fit their unique performance and handing characteristics." From that statement we're assuming that cars and bikes will not race side-by-side, but you can take it as you will.

In addition, the Davis update will bring night time driving to the game—adding a bit of realism to freely racing around public streets without getting constantly arrested and frisked. Here's the full Criterion announcement:

Results of the Commenter Selection

We had the commenter derby, and here are the eight selected:

Atheist Jew, Manji Kengo, iamcool388, HawaiianActor, Maldron, PQ Crash, Gambia, enewtabie

I still need to hear from:

Balance_in_life, Spoony Bard, Pezdispenser, Ra on the A-Team, excel_excel

If anyone knows those guys, tell them to email me at owenATkotakuDOTcom, pronto. Please do NOT email me impersonating any of them.

Thanks to all who participated, you'll see the result of this on Saturday, and everyone will get to participate in some way.

Owen Good
Associate Weekend Editor

We need some Kotaku commenters to participate in a weekend post that I'd like to explain more about in an e-mail offline, so as not to spoil the surprise. It'll be a lot of fun, I promise.

First things first, if you are any of the commenters listed below, send me a PRIVATE message to my commenter page with the best e-mail to reach you, and be prepared to reply to it sometime this evening.

However, if your name is NOT in the list below, you can still get in on this. Wait until 8 pm Crecente Time (10 pm Eastern, 7 pm Pacific) Then, beginning at 8 pm, the first EIGHT people to send a PRIVATE message to me, with their emails will be included in the project.

Don't send a public message unless you want your email exposed to the population at large.

The 16 commenters who need to reach me:
Gundam-RX-78-2
Shindokie: Read My Messages
Balance_in_life
Dead_Red_Eyes
Scazza
Aethyr
InsidiousTuna
Spoony Bard
Mr.SithNinja
Archaotic
Pezdispenser
NeoAkira
ShaggE
Ra on the A-Team
excel_excel
Cruithne

The rest of you: Wait until 10 pm US Eastern, 8 pm Crecente, then fire away.

Owen Good
Associate Weekend Editor

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition To Reach Everything And Everyone

Bethesda has gone ahead and officially confirmed the Collector's Edition of Fallout 3 that leaked last week. But they added a good-news-cherry-on-top to fans. The Collector's Edition will be available for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, and it will be available worldwide without retailer restrictions. While Bethesda still hasn't announced a price, GameStop reckons it'll run you $80 on the consoles and $70 on PCs. Will GamStop be right? Will the Dynamic Duo escape the treacherous tank filled with half-opened, M-rated games? Tune-in soon to find out! Same Kotaku time. Same Kotaku channel.

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition Confirmed for Worldwide, Non-exclusive Release [Shacknews]

Today, Harmonix has officially announced the first album that will hit the Rock Band store: Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance. Arriving April 22/24 on Xbox 360/PS3, this10-track album will cost $14.99 with individual tracks being offered for $1.99 apiece. Then in May, The Cars' self-titled record will become the second full-album release from Rock Band. The Pixies' Doolittle will follow in June.

While this is precisely the news that all Rock Band fans have been waiting to hear, it raises a ton of new questions. Is $14.99 the new standard album price? And how often can we expect new albums? Luckily, we had the chance to discuss the announcement with Harmonix's CEO Alex Rigopulos, who was more than happy to answer all of our fanboy questions. We posted an abridged, cleaned (sans-Mark's-question-stuttering-and-boring-parts) Q&A after the jump.

Ubisoft Announces Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

LucasArts Names New President

Ubisoft Announces Emergency Heroes for Wii

Today Ubisoft has announced Emergency Heroes, an arcade-style, Crazy Taxi-esque driving game that will be released on the Nintendo Wii this May. Featuring 16 "next-generation" rescue vehicles, 1 or 2 players can race through an open city, causing whatever carnage necessary to save someone's life. It could be fun. Enjoy the small gallery, then hit the jump to learn how you can be an EMT hero.

THQ and 2XL Games have just announced the "most realistic off-road racing experience to date," called BAJA. Slated for this August on the Xbox 360 and PS3, it sounds like a response to Motorstorm, featuring 40 vehicles in eight classes driving 100 square miles of terrain in a cross between off-road simulation and arcade racer. But unlike Motorstorm, there will be a focus on car upgrades and accessories, plus BAJA will feature 4-player split-screen gameplay.

Here are the full details:

Sponsors Thanks

Like that, another week has come to an end. We are so sad we are going to cry. Right now? We are weeping. If only we had tissues or a dry hanky. We don't! But we have Sponsors and Sponsors have shirts with sleeves that we can use to wipe our puffy eyes. For that, we thank them! This week, Kotaku's salty tears were dried by American Apparel, CDC Games, SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, Insecticide, Rockstar Games, Turning Point and Unscrew America.

Interested in advertising with Kotaku? Click here to find out more.

Mister Slime (DS) Coming In April

While it's been rumored for a US release next month, SouthPeak Games' Mr. Slime has been officially announced to hit Nintendo DSs all over America in April. A rehash of the 2D sidescroller, players use the stylus to pull a very elastic Mr. Slime around levels. While it's not the most monstrous, AAA release to hit the platform to date, the game seems to take advantage of some of the DS's more trademarked moves. Looks like fun despite its distinct lack of headshots or pantsu.

DualShock 3 Dated For US

We have more word from retailer conference Destination PlayStation: the DualShock 3—you know, that DualShock we've been waiting for since the PS3's launch—has gotten a US release date.

Set to launch April 15th for $54.99, it's slated to coincide with the release of GT5 Prologue. Oh yes, feel those engines roar through your controller and make your SIXAXIS-wielding friends envious...like they're just playing a video game or something.

UPDATE: Sony has confirmed all of this information. Press release on the jump.

World In Conflict Slated For Consoles This Fall

Good news, console RTSers! Sierra/Massive Entertainment's acclaimed post-Cold War real-time strategy title World in Conflict is spreading from the PC to the Xbox 360 and PS3. Expected to launch fall 2008, these console versions won't just be a port of the original World in Conflict, instead including extra "new content" planned for both the singleplayer campaign and online multiplayer.

For existing PC players, this new content will come in the form of an add-on. Potential pricing has not been discussed. As for me, I just feel lucky that I'm no longer forced to own a PC to play a lot of games formerly reserved for the platform, even if the authenticity of experience isn't always duplicated.

Microsoft Announcing Something For Japan Next Week?

According to several steps of online translation, Microsoft is teasing an announcement happening next week in Japan on an Inside Xbox Japan video. We know nothing of what could be coming, maybe a game, accessory, or a giant robot to defend against lizard attacks. And with Ash fast asleep, we haven't been able to properly poke around for the video in question. All we really do know is that the original Xbox launched on Feb 22 in the country, meaning the time line almost works out to an anniversary type of celebration. And, of course, GDC is next week.

Grote aankondiging voor Japan volgende week? [XboxOnly via N4G]

Can you just not wait to play Grand Theft Auto IV? Well then we have just the thing for you. The game? No, no. Even better. The website about the game. Oh yes, my friends. The GTAIV website is up and running. The interactive Flash map of Liberty City looks like an interesting interface, but from my 3 minutes of hands-on, I'm not so sure all the bugs have been ironed out just yet. I tried slapping that bitch around but it didn't help...and now our monitor is all flickery.

Welcome to Liberty City [Rockstar]

Sponsors Thanks

There is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Bummer that Kotaku Tower doesn't have a dish washer. We better get scrubbing! If only we had someone to roll up their sleeves and get dishpan hands with us. We do: Our Sponsors. For that, we thank them. This week, our dishware was kept clean by In Bruges, King of Kong, TiVo and Toshiba. Next week, paper plates!

Interested in advertising with Kotaku? Click here to find out more.

Futuremark To Create Its Own Benchmarks

File this whole post under "kinda neat." Futuremark is a company that creates benchmarking software you see challenging video cards in all those hardware benchmark shootouts. And you've probably even heard of their famous testing program, 3DMark.

Now Futuremark has founded Futuremark Games Studio, a company that will create original IPs running their own engines. The whole setup reminds us of those comics when Superman and Lex Luthor have to team up, and then eventually it gets steamy.

Futuremark Enters Gaming Space with New Studio [gamedaily]

GameStrata Launches Today, Tracks Your Stats