Burnout Paradise was originally envisioned as a series of islands all connected to Paradise City through bridges (or potentially boats!), but something changed after the game was released that shifted Criterion's focus on DLC. Criterion figured Stunt Run and Ranked Racing would be the online modes everyone would be playing, but instead, players flocked to the Free Burn Challenges, so the developers shifted gears accordingly, scrapping the idea of multiple islands filled with different game types, including one marked up like an F1 course. Drat.

The other scrapped plans are even more interesting. They envisioned boats racing from island to island, planes and helicopters flying overhead, and cars versus motorcycles ala Road Rash. They considered a network of underground racing areas, and time portals that would temporarily warp you to the Old West. But by far the most out-of-this-world idea was Burnout on the moon.

Again, completely true. Someone on the team said that 'players want the moon on a stick when it comes to DLC' We thought that was funny and thought we'd do it. The actual surface of the real Moon was modeled and it was drive-able. Lunar Challenges would have been totally unexpected - as would have been zero gravity Takedowns and Challenges.

The idea was that we would have built a rocket pad on Big Surf. If you reached a certain Rank, or completed a number of specific challenges, you could drive there, press a button and the rocket would launch. Destination - Moon! (Now that would have beaten downloadable car liveries any day!)

Agreed! Check out the link below for more on Criterion's overly ambitious DLC plans, and imagine what might have been.

"Take A Look At What You Could Have Won..." [Criterion Games via inc gamers]

After a year of driving around Paradise City, the prospect of new places to play is immensely inviting. The 45 new billboards and 75 new Smashes shouldn't take too long to complete, but the insane jumps and new areas to explore should keep players occupied long after they've earned their Island license.

Hearkening back to Burnout titles of old, the Cops and Robbers add-on pits two teams of players against each other, both vying for control of a load of stolen gold bars. The goal is to obtain the bars and return them to your team's base by any means necessary, which in Burnout generally means lots and lots of crashing. To help make the crashing more interesting, Criterion also provides 35 new police vehicles; re-skinned and slightly remodeled versions of 33 of the game's already existing rides.

Is the Cops and Robbers pack worth your $10 or 800 Microsoft points, or is Criterion getting away with highway robbery?

Loved
The Paradise City Gold Rush: Cops and Robbers pits two teams against each other as they vie for control of a large pile of gold bricks. The goal is to get the booty to your team's headquarters and score a point while the opposing team attempts to take you out and grab the loot for themselves. The whole affair plays out like a sporting event, complete with the requisite trash-talk. With the gold carrier slowed by the weight of precious metals, teamwork is essential to winning the day. All in all, an excellent addition to Burnout Paradise's online game modes.

The International House Of Cop Cars: Cops and Robbers introduces more than 30 police vehicles to Burnout Paradise's constantly growing stable of vehicles. While each new car is a modified version of an existing vehicle, the modifications are much more than simple re-skinning. Each car gets a unique police car makeover, with custom graphics and light placement that makes sense based on each model. Criterion went as far as to give the cars different sirens based on their real-life inspiration's country of origin. With fans readily paying $8 for the four vehicles in the Legendary Cars pack, $10 for 33 modified vehicles seems like a no-brainer.

Hated
A Distinct Lack Of Variety: The entertainment value of the Cops and Robbers game mode starts to fade quickly after your first few rounds, once you realize that there just aren't enough variables to the formula. The gold spawns in the same handful of spaces, and the bases for the two teams are always the same. Sure, Burnout Paradise has plenty of ways to get to the same place, but in the end you're still getting to the same place. It's one of the limitations of a game play mode that calls out for more maps being added to a game that only really has one.

Of course you aren't meant to spend your time online in Burnout Paradise only playing the Cops and Robbers mode, so the lack of variety isn't as much of a problem as it could be. I liken online in Burnout Paradise to a group of kids playing on the playground, and Cops and Robbers is just another game those kids can play when they aren't just running around aimlessly, bumping into things and falling over.

With a new way to play and 33 new police cars to play with, Burnout Paradise's Cops and Robbers pack is the right amount of new content for the right price. I'd say it was a steal, but even I have more self-respect than that.

Burnout Paradise Cops and Robbers was developed by Criterion Games. Released on April 30th for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Retails for $9.99 or 800 Microsoft points. Played multiple rounds across multiple online sessions.

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The next batch of paid downloadable content for Burnout Paradise drops on April 30th, with the Cops and Robbers pack adding an all-new freeburn mode to the game. Cops will chase robbers through the streets of Paradise City, with nearly all of the cars in the game receiving a special police makeover. Some are pretty standard, while a few, as seen in the video below, take on a distinctly international flavor.

No word on price yet, so just start hording your Microsoft points and PlayStation 3 real money points now so you're ready for the April 30th release.

So does the possibility of driving KITT from Knight Rider the Carson Nighthawk, the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard the Cavalry Bootlegger, the ECTO-1 from Ghostbusters the Manhattan Spirit, and Doc Brown's DeLorean from Back to the Future the 88 Special.

All four nods to classic film cars in the "Legendary Cars" pack will cost you money as of February 19th. That's some amount of money, as far as we know.

Thanks for the heads up, Sergio!

Criterion is brief with the details, writing on the official PlayStation blog that it's "keeping the gameplay under wraps for the moment" on the premium pack, opting to tease Burnout fans with pretty pictures. The Cops and Robbers add-on will apparently follow the rest of the planned Burnout Paradise content slated for this year, which includes Legendary and Toy Cars.

The most recent, the Burnout Paradise Party Pack, was just released. Go on and look at some pretty things.

Burnout Paradise - the Party Pack! [PlayStation.blog]

With all of the updates Criterion has delivered since the game initially launched, Burnout Paradise has slowly morphed from a nice game that I enjoyed somewhat into a title that I believe everyone should own. They've really done an amazing job of supporting the title, setting the bar for post-release support for console games.

If you've still not hopped on the bandwagon and crashed it into another bandwagon, look for the full version with all the bells and whistles to hit stores early next month for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and now PC.

Burnout Paradise saves are locked to your profile. We had hoped to use this to retroactively award trophies, but we discovered during testing that this is not possible. You will therefore require a fresh game-save to receive trophies in Burnout Paradise. If you're familiar with PS3 trophies already, you'll recognise that this works in the same way as all other games that have added trophy support post-release.

Just goes to show, you really shouldn't announce good news until good news actually exists.

Burnout Paradise Trophy Pack is Live Today [Criterion Blog]

I still don't see any information on how big this download is. Should be interesting to see what size of a chunk this eats on your PS3 hard disk.

Burnout Paradise - full game OUT THIS THURSDAY on the PlayStation Store [Criterion Games - Thanks CitizenInsane27]

The PSN edition — downloadable from the PlayStation Store — will come with all the recent patches and updates and will be able to download the 'Year Of Paradise' DLC that adds new vehicles (including motorcycles) and game modes.

The DLC will also bring a live news page containing updates about new content and multiplayer events.

Burnout Paradise should arrive this Autumn for $29.99.

Burnout Paradise [Criterion Games]

Best part? "Trophies will be retroactive, so, if you’ve achieved something today, the day the update arrives (not Cagney, we want to emphasise) that will be reflected in your Trophies," Phipps writes in the posts comments. Nice!

Trophies, Timed Challenges for Burnout Paradise [PlayStation.blog - thanks, Tw3nty0ne!]

I finally bought the game this weekend ($40 at Walmart) and I must say I am not disappointed with my purchase. A whole lot of game for a rather nice price, and with August bringing the addition of motorcycles to the game it only gets better.

Criterion Games Announces Date for Cagney Software Update [The Criterion Games Blog]

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:

Criterion Games announces motorbikes in Burnout Paradise!

This is the biggest news in Burnout history!

For the first time, we'll let you loose in a Burnout game on motorbikes!

And because we're dedicated to bringing you game-changing new Burnout Paradise content all year, bikes will feature their own game modes, challenges and even some new locations tailored to fit their unique performance and handing characteristics.

The other big news relating to bikes is that we've introduced night-time to Burnout Paradise for the first time.

We wanted to clear the traffic out a little to give you the chance to learn how to ride in safety, and we've always wanted to cruise the streets of Paradise City with incredible night-time visuals.

We expect to ship bikes as part of our Davis software update, due for release sometime in August.

As always, we're bringing you the hot news from Criterion Games as it happens. Hit the site soon for more news and the first high-definition bike footage.

Criterion Games announces custom soundtracks for Burnout Paradise on PlayStation 3 [The Criterion Games Blog]

Three new FreeBurn game modes unveiled for the Cagney Update!!! [The Criterion Games Blog]

So does this means that all new Burnout Paradise maps will come free so that all users can partake in the multiplayer? No, but it's a good sign that Criterion may focus their paid DLC on individual items like cars rather than collectively shared add-ons like maps. We'll see how this unfolds, but so far, so good.

GT Concept,s new livery OH YEH ITS SWEET [Criterion via Shacknews][image]

We opened a dialogue with Microsoft to attempt to discover a possible solution and all possible technical options were investigated to retain the seamless freedom of Burnout without requiring the HDD. Unfortunately a solution was not available and we decided together that it would be in the best interests of the Burnout community if we require the HDD for full online play.

XBOX 360 HDD/ONLINE STATEMENT [Criterion via N4G]

Ward assures concerned fans that "Burnout has always and will always be about evolution. We're quite open about this, and we've said it many times and in many interviews so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone really. Just because we do something in one game never means it may or will come back in another." The full, surprisingly frank rant is worth the read.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND SOME DEMO QUESTIONS ANSWERED... [Criterion Games - thanks, Aaron!]