Three new Burnout modes unveiled ... to maintain interest given GTA4

[datter]

From Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=132507);

Three new Burnout modes unveiled

Criterion has revealed three new modes for Burnout Paradise that'll be released as part of the forthcoming "Cagney" update.

First up is Online Stunt Run - a maximum of eight players compete for the highest score within a two minute time limit. In Online Marked Man, one player picked at random must reach their target without getting hit.
The third mode is Online Road Rage, where one team tries to reach checkpoints while the other gets on with the takedowns. For full details on all the new modes, visit Criterion's website.

"This is just the start - we aim to bring you many new Freeburn game modes covering different themes and play styles," says Criterion. "Over the next 12 months, we're going to transform the Burnout Paradise you know and love into the Burnout Paradise you only ever dreamed of!" The one with a restart option?

There's no word on when the Cagney update will be released yet. Bogart, however, which will feature various "gameplay experience enhancements", is out on April 24th.


Feels a lot like they're already feeling the GTA4 squeeze and are trying to stay relevant.

[BobJustBob]

Not really.

[datter]

No really. I'd be interested to see how many players are online in Paradise on April 29th.

[Wholly Schmidt]

No really. I'd be interested to see how many players are online in Paradise on April 29th.
But adding some racing modes isn't going to change that, and I don't think anyone believes it will. The people that were going to devote their time to GTA are going to anyway; this doesn't seem like a desperate move or anything, especially when you consider it's just one of several updates.

[Warpstorm]

No really. I'd be interested to see how many players are online in Paradise on April 29th.

Does it really matter? It's not like they charge by the minute. EA already has the money from most people who were interested in Burnout by now.

[forgeforsaken]

Really a lot of this content should have been there at launch. If these modes were there I think I would have played it a lot more online. Road Rage and Marked Man were always a weird absence.

[Kael]

You guys are so negative. This is a company supporting their product after launch with significant gameplay improvements. This is on top of what is already an excellent game. Which is exactly what want all gaming companies would do.

But a company does it and we think they have alterior motives (besides wanting to create the best game possible). We should applauding their efforts, not critise them.

[datter]

ulterior... and yes this sort of stuff should have been there at launch, and while new content is good I wonder if there would be all this talk of it just now if GTA4 wasn't coming out in 2 weeks.

GTA4 will totally take a bite out of any Burnout interest. Not only is it newer and shinier, it provides everything Burnout does, plus. You can race around Burnout with 8 friends and have a great time. Or, in two weeks you can race around in Liberty City with 16 friends... plus get out of the cars and shoot each other, plus, plus plus.

There is no way the Burnout people don't see this "community drain" hence the recent announcements.

[forgeforsaken]

Really, why weren't these modes included at the get go? They were in SP. It was pretty apparent early on that the multiplayer modes provided were a bit lacking and wasn't really going to have legs.

[Rorschach]

Burnout isn't an MMO and Criterion has gone on record that these updates are going to be free. So there's no revenue stream from existing users, and no money lost if the people who bought Burnout all go play GTAIV in two weeks.

I'm starting to look forward to June when we can stop injecting GTA into every god damn thread on this board.

[Papageno]

Really, the upcoming Burnout update is going to be free? How'd they get that past Microsoft on the 360 (I thought MS was adamantly opposed to free expansions).

[forgeforsaken]

Really, the upcoming Burnout update is going to be free? How'd they get that past Microsoft on the 360 (I thought MS was adamantly opposed to free expansions).

The trick is to have the title be multiplatform. MS is on record saying they wont charge for something that is free on another platform.

[Kael]

Really, why weren't these modes included at the get go? They were in SP. It was pretty apparent early on that the multiplayer modes provided were a bit lacking and wasn't really going to have legs.

This is the catch 22 that I feel like gamers always place developers in. No matter what they do its not good enough. Release additional material after launch and charge for it and they are gouging. Release additional material for free and they should have had it from day one. Dont release any additional material and they arent supporting their game.

No matter what they do we berate them for it.

I am excited about GTA4. But in my opinion Burnout Paradise was a great game. Reviews and friends seem to share that opinion. GTA4 may be a better game, it may outsell burnout (thats probably a given at this point). But I dont think that does anything to change the fact that Burnout was a great game.

Its multiplayer in particular was excellent in allowing player to build their own races, perform group challenges and just drive around and crash each other. GTA4 may be better, if so more power to them. But Burnout's multiplayer mode was one of its core strengths in the reviews that covered the game, I wouldn't call it "lacking".

[datter]

...there's no revenue stream from existing users, and no money lost if the people who bought Burnout all go play GTAIV in two weeks.

So there is no motivation to keep people playing the game once everyone who was going to buy it, has bought it? If that's what you're saying I'd be interested to hear your opinion as to why any they would release free DLC at all then.

[Drastic]

I'm starting to look forward to June when we can stop injecting GTA into every god damn thread on this board.
I'm going to bet several quatloos on late May as the GTA4 backlash/so-done-with-that swing point.

[Rock8man]

So there is no motivation to keep people playing the game once everyone who was going to buy it, has bought it? If that's what you're saying I'd be interested to hear your opinion as to why any they would release free DLC at all then.

One reason is to attract new buyers. If there are people out there who weren't sure about Burnout Paradise, or were turned off by the demo, hearing about all the free content updates and post-release support can sometimes encourage people to buy the game once it becomes a "Greatest Hits" or equivalent. I know it encourages me to get the "Greatest Hits" versions of games when I hear about post-release support.

[datter]

Yes, new buyers... keep interest up, and reinvigorate a title that's been out for a bit especially in light of GTA4 (hence the timing) which say what you will, stands to gobble up a lot of Paradise interest.

If I hadn't bought Paradise back when it was released and I was looking for a drivey, open city type game now I'd certainly be waiting for GTA4. Free addons for Burnout coming out now might make me stop and reconsider it... but in the end it's not strong enough, DLC included to outweigh a decision to wait for GTA which seems able to provide everything Burnout does plus a great deal more.

All that, plus the hype and the newness of the thing and you'd better believe Burnout's free DLC stuff is in response to GTA4. It's weak, but it's all they've got at this point.

[fuzzyslug]

So there's no revenue stream from existing users, and no money lost if the people who bought Burnout all go play GTAIV in two weeks.

This is incorrect, particularly the latter part.

Folks like Epic, who are famous for offering free add-on content, often state that the biggest reason to do so is a desire to extend the life of the game. If people trade Burnout in to finance their GTA purchase, that's a lot of potential income lost.

Their is a potential for gain from existing users as well. It helps to introduce current users to the idea of downloadable content without a direct expense and keeps them playing. If I stop playing Burnout, it's rather unlikely I'll buy downloadable content when they start charging for it.

[forgeforsaken]

This is the catch 22 that I feel like gamers always place developers in. No matter what they do its not good enough. Release additional material after launch and charge for it and they are gouging. Release additional material for free and they should have had it from day one. Dont release any additional material and they arent supporting their game.

I don't feel this really applies in this case or some others. This isn't a matter of releasing new game modes, this is releasing game modes that were in SP that everyone wondered at launch why they weren't in MP. Yes it's great that they finally added them, but it's not like they came up with new modes to play and added those. This isn't like Gears adding Annex mode for instance.


Its multiplayer in particular was excellent in allowing player to build their own races, perform group challenges and just drive around and crash each other. GTA4 may be better, if so more power to them. But Burnout's multiplayer mode was one of its core strengths in the reviews that covered the game, I wouldn't call it "lacking". Oh I definitely think it was a bit lacking. There really wasn't that much competitive content. You could race, or try and top someones street stat, but that was about it. Everything else basically required working towards the same goal. For a series that made its name on competive activities I definitely would call the MP lacking at launch.

[Rorschach]

I'm not saying there isn't a business reason for supporting your game with free updates. There obviously is since games is a business. What I'm saying is Criterion talking about those updates because they think GTA is a direct competitor and need to counter is a bit farfetched. They've got the new modes working in dev (as mentioned on the podcast) so the schedule is solid, and that's more likely the cause of the timing.

I haven't played GTA IV. So I can't say if it does what Burnout does but better. But if you want to know my wild-ass and uninformed opinion I'd say the focus of Burnout to be only a game about driving fast, racing, and crashing in an open world will be better then the driving fast, racing, and crashing parts of GTA IV which is only one part of what that game is about.

[rrmorton]

I just want a simple RESTART RACE menu option for Elite mode.

[Bahimiron]

So will "Cagney" include the new island to race on, or do we get to wait for "Lacey" for that?

[Rorschach]

Cagney has a new island (first of 3) and the new online race modes. Bogart (which is mostly bugfixes) goes live next week so my guess is it'll be a couple of weeks before Cagney drops.

[BobJustBob]

GTA4 will totally take a bite out of any Burnout interest. Not only is it newer and shinier, it provides everything Burnout does, plus.

GTA4 has Road Rage? Sweet!

[MythicalMino]

i played the demo....and I just really didn't see much about it. What is the draw of this game? It did look pretty, though....

Chris

[Bahimiron]

i played the demo....and I just really didn't see much about it. What is the draw of this game? It did look pretty, though....

Bad demo. Great game.

[BobJustBob]

Great demo. Great game.

[bago]

Using add in content to prevent trade in. Now that's sneaky. I like it.

[Bahimiron]

Great demo. Great game.

Oh, that Bob!

[Rock8man]

Oh, that Bob!

Yeah, especially since his reaction to the demo wasn't exactly positive when it came out. So not only did the full game change his opinion of the game, it retroactively changed his opinion of the demo too! :)

I agree with Bob on the game. I also had a similar reaction to the demo as Bob, but the full game won me over too.

[MythicalMino]

what can you do in the full game, though? What makes this game so "great"? I have thought about picking it up, but the demo really turned me away from the game....

Chris

[Rorschach]

Have you played a Burnout game before?

[forgeforsaken]

Have you played a Burnout game before?

Does it matter? I'd say Paradise is pretty different from the old Burnouts.

[Lorini]

Does it matter? I'd say Paradise is pretty different from the old Burnouts.

But the core game is the same. You race around with the ability to run into cars and have fun things happen. I never played the demo though, being a huge Burnout fan. As long as it wasn't utter shit I knew I was buying it.

[RickH]

The demo feels limited and does a bad job of conveying the size of the game world and the constant accessibility of something to do in that world. The full game is much more impressive.

If the demo left you wondering if it was something you'd like, try a rental.

[forgeforsaken]

But the core game is the same. You race around with the ability to run into cars and have fun things happen. I never played the demo though, being a huge Burnout fan. As long as it wasn't utter shit I knew I was buying it.

Racing through an open city is pretty different than racing on a closed circuit though. Crash mode is gone replaced with the rather different Showtime mode. Even Road Rage feels completely different when applied to an open city v. a closed circuit. Note none of this is a judgment of which is better, just that they are different. Flatout:UC on the 360 felt more like a classic Burnout game than Paradise does IMO.

[Rorschach]

Sure, but I was looking for context. Explaining the differences between open world vs. closed track Burnout is different from starting from square one and explaining what Burnout is about.

The questions was what makes Burnout Paradise "great" and I was trying to clarify if there was an implied "compared to the last Burnout game" or not.

[MythicalMino]

no...i have never played a burnout game....just the paradise demo....

[RickH]

Flatout:UC on the 360 felt more like a classic Burnout game than Paradise does IMO.

If you mean the pre-takedown era, yeah. Except Flatout feels much slower than any Burnout game.

[datter]

If you mean the pre-takedown era, yeah. Except Flatout feels much slower than any Burnout game.

I don't think that's a bad thing although as I am (apparently) old, this is an unsurprising sentiment.

[BobJustBob]

Yeah, especially since his reaction to the demo wasn't exactly positive when it came out. So not only did the full game change his opinion of the game, it retroactively changed his opinion of the demo too! :)

Nuh uh! I tried to search but apparently I never really commented on my reaction to the demo. Where, sir, do you get your information?