When Criterion said they wanted to redefine the face of multiplayer game, and offer a constantly expanding experience like nothing seen before, they weren't kidding.

And the best part? Most of it is free.

All changes that directly alter gameplay will be entirely free, and simply added to the game through patches. Only content such as downloadable cars and skins will cost money.

The main highlights of the Cagney update involve new additions to the online Freeburn mode; multiplayer versions of Road Rage, Marked Man and Stunt Run will be implemented.

Future updates aim to be even more expansive, offering a night time setting, motorbikes, and even new locations.

And yes, those will be free as well.

Can you tell I'm excited about this?!

Check below for a full list of the changes that will be included in the Cagney update on July 10th.

3 New Freeburn Game Modes:

• Road Rage
8-player team event. One team must race through a series of Paradise City checkpoints. The other team must stop them.
Cue incredible chases and battling through the city, tons of voice communication as players co-ordinate their efforts.

• Stunt Run (vs)

Pull stunts to score points - hit barriers, billboards and ramps; ace barrel rolls, flat spins and massive airtime to score big. Everybody competes to simultaneously - hit your rivals to kill their scores and gain multipliers.

• Marked Man

A player is selected at random and everyone gangs up to take them down. The Marked Man scores for reaching the end point intact and taking anyone down along the way.

70 New Freeburn Challenges
• 70 new timed multi-part Freeburn Challenges
• Leaderboards for these challenges that log your best time (as well as those people who did it with you)

Vehicles
• Hunter Olympus
• A secret Criterion Car!

New liveries
• Rossolini Tempesta Dream
• Two fan-created liveries – the Oval Steel Racer and Inferno Hippie Van
• A secret Criterion livery!

Ranked Race Changes

We're always trying to improving the ranked race experience, so we've made a stack of changes to improve this as part of our upcoming Cagney software update.

Some players will always look for ways to exploit the game. Here's the easiest way to cheat:

1. Create complex routes that only you know, and then start the race quickly to ensure your rivals don’t get the chance to preview the course.

2. Lock everyone into 5 rounds for maximum points.

3. And if you're really devious, host Paradise Drive routes but then change them at the last minute before launching the event.

This is a real pain for players just looking for a good, fair race, so we've made a bunch of changes that'll go live as part of our Cagney software update.

Custom Routes are no longer featured in competition races
You can choose from 40 predefined Paradise Drives that we’ve sanctioned – 7 came from fans, 10 more came from the team. They're all great routes – we hope you enjoy them!

Sanctioned Routes have their own Time Leaderboards
The new routes each have their own leaderboard, so you can all see who’s the fastest per route. Now, it’s now not just about winning a race, you can now measure your finish time against everyone else's.

Traffic can no longer be switched off in competition races
For the sanctioned routes, we've optimized the traffic density for great racing, so there's no need to switch it off.

No more ‘rounds’ in competition racing
Most 5-round races don’t end with the same number of players that started. Many players disconnect, when they feel like there's no chance of winning, so we've got rid of the concept of rounds.

Now, you can't get locked into a 5 round race without knowing where the races are going and you can select a car that suits the race and your driving style. It also means the scoring system reacts after every race, so it's quicker and if you do disconnect, you only lose your results for the race you were on.

Cars can be grouped by Boost Rating
If you're hosting, you can limit the cars available based on the Boost Speed of the car. Limiting to Boost Level 3 cars, for example, still gives you 10 massively varied cars but they'll all be pretty closely matched for great racing. (We’ve also fixed a few anomalies in the car groupings and changed the order so it's easier to check out the cars in the select screen). This adds a ton of variety to the racing and we'll see a much wider range of cars used – not just the PCPD!

Car Select now appears after the Race Route has been selected
Switching to single races also allows us to make sure everyone gets to see the route before the car select. The host can't make sure they're the only one who knows the route, and now everyone gets a chance to choose an appropriate car.

The host can't kick other players any more
Hosts are kicking players in ranked games to ensure they can win. Pointless and irritating. So we’ve stopped it. The downside to this is that there's no way to kick an abusive player, although if you're hosting, you can just quit the session. In the future we'll have a simple vote system that allows the host to vote to kick someone - they'll still need a majority decision from the remaining players for the kick to activate.

Grid position is based on player ranking
In the past, the very first grid was set randomly – clearly this doesn’t make sense. Now, the grid's based on ranking with the highest ranked player at the back.

Full Boost Bars
We've made it so that all cars have full boost off the grid. Now, the race can get going quicker and with the higher ranked players at the back of the grid, lower ranked players benefit from a small advantage.

Rank and Ranking Points are displayed in game
We’ve added your rank and ranking points to the player list on Today’s Best. This will update periodically if races are run so you can see how everyone's points and rank have changed whilst in the game.

New map icons differentiate the Start and Finish points
Simple change but one that makes a real difference. We’ve seen players making poor route choices, because this wasn't clear, so we've fixed it.

Custom Soundtracks
• Custom Soundtrack support on PS3

Other high-priority fixes and updates

• If you're in a 3 or more player challenge and a player drops out, the remaining players can still complete it (subject to it being a challenge that can handle this!)
• "Previously" section on the search games list now displays Challenges, Today’s Best and Freeburn game modes, making it loads easier to decide which game you want to join
• You can now view Leaderboards and Options in an online game
• You can now mute other online players in the show players screen
• You can now mute yourself if you have a PS3 Eye/Eye toy
• We've increased time-out for online races, and if all players complete the races within the timer, then you go straight to results
• The Airfield has been changed to help with the drivability of the area and make it a little easier to complete the hoop challenges
• Online cars now show damage - roll up to the start in a half-destroyed Hunter Cavalry and everyone else will see it!
• Added an stronger display message if you rule all of Todays Best
• The Easy Drive menu & Challenges page now loops from top to bottom
• Fixed the navigation system so that it takes into account the next check point in a race
• Fixed traffic not reappearing in Freeburn after a no-traffic race
• Fixed online races using Lawrence Road; it’s been reporting finish distances with a little inaccuracy
• Revised 30+ car resets following crashes
• All new sound effects added for Easy Drive
• Driving backwards in Road Rage now ends the event as it does in Marked Man
• Option to invert camera axis for the look around camera on right stick
• Online player information made accurate on the instance a player goes through a checkpoint in races
• If you set VOIP mix to zero it is now saved correctly
• 1080i support for "almost HD" sets
• Improved the Standard Definition rendering on PS3
• New highlight to show the player in Today’s Best
• Easy Drive fades out if it’s unused for 20 seconds
• Boost chaining no longer possible by drifting in open areas

Tags : Burnout : Burnout Paradise : Cagney : Criterion Games : electronic arts : Freeburn : july : Marked Man : Patches : PlayStation 3 : Road Rage : Update : Xbox 360

Comments

By: Dragonsoul

On: 09:12 Jun 9th, 2008
Offline

This sounds like the quite the extensive game. I like the Stunt Run; must be delightfully fun. What system is this for?

By: Dragonfly

Video Game Chat Member Avatar

On: 04:34 Jun 10th, 2008
Offline

Dragonsoul;50792

This sounds like the quite the extensive game. I like the Stunt Run; must be delightfully fun. What system is this for?

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, though the 360 version has a stronger online infrastructure thanks to Xbox Live.

Burnout Paradise is definately something special. I'd suggest checking out a few trailers for it if you have the time.

Nothing of this scale has ever been done on a console game; a constantly growing experience with no additions and extensions to gameplay entire for free. I bought the game about six months ago, and it still sees itself going into my disc tray on a regular basis.