Criterion has answered some questions about the demo...

it's a shame really that Alex had to defend the demo, but the backlash was fierce and I still don't think people "get it" and they probably wont until they get the full game. I Love the Demo tho, its a nice taste of Paradise and I can't wait to be able to go everywhere and unlock more cars!

--- The Original and the Best ---

Criterion have also put up a DJ Atomika Guide to the demo.

http://www.criteriongames.com/burnout/paradise/demo/atomikasguide/

--- The Original and the Best ---

It's hardly a 'shame' in my book when one of the developers takes the time to correct a lot of incorrect information that's floating around.

As I wrote on our website yesterday, I personally don't believe that it's possible to even create a demo that captures the full flavour of Burnout Paradise. It's such a big game and it's very uncoventional so making comparisons to other games is difficult.

Whenever we speak up online it's seen negatively. Now that IS a shame, because we are just speaking our openly, honestly, and positively. I don't understand the negativity personally - but maybe that is what makes the more 'tabloid' side of the net get excited.

We'll be actively supporting the game up to and after launch, hopefully for most of the year.

People with any questions will be able to post on our forthcoming forums, or browse our FAQ's. We'll be putting up some detailed 'how to' video's that show off different parts of the game and we'll do some commentaries on them so you can hear why we did some of the stuff that way we did it.

I just read the first review of the game in the UK Official Magazine. Nice cover too I thought. But a review in a specialist magazine is no substitute for US going through the game in as much detail as we can think of.

We had a lot of fun during the year making the game. It was fun when you and Kristian came to visit for the weekend. I just found the pictures on my laptop yesterday so will put them up on www.criteriongames.com when I get back to work in the New Year. We like our community for Burnout and we enjoy reading all of the letters we get and seeing what you guys write on the site. Maybe we might just tempt some of you away from your beloved 'Revenge' with the new game after all??!!

We will do another 'community' type day again soon and maybe more of you can come and visit this time?

So it's a very exciting year ahead for Burnout.

Again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you

Alex

I think the thing we should all remember is that we here and on the xbox forums only represent a small subset of the games userbase, granted we are probably more fervent fans of the series but it's probably safe to say that we are not representative of the games userbase. The backlash on the forums is more dissapointment that they are not getting what theywanted. Almost all of  the press stuff seems very positive - and they are all judging the full build, not just the demo.

50 Hurtz

I think it's cool that you and the rest of the team tell us about the game, I only meant it's a shame that so many Revege Racers dislike the demo so much, and were all quite vocal in attacking the demo. The FAQ does answer a few questions people have, and the Atomika guide explains things nicely. I think Paradise is just too BIG a game for any kind of demo to do it justice! I really like the demo tho, and have finally gotten Stunt Run down! (not brilliantly, but at least I can do a flat spin now!)

Xandu and I both LOVE Paradise and can't wait to explore the whole city again!

--- The Original and the Best ---

HA! I am to awesome to need a guide!

Heres an example of the way that everything can be seen in a different way, "Feeling cornered, Criterion lashed out with THIS. "

50 Hurtz

Cheers Alex, In my humble opinion, Paradise rocks a fat one.

The people who are slgging it off are mainly lap whores and rank junkies, and I have played with most of them, and I can guarantee that 99% of them will buy the game and love it.

You only need to study the full map to see how many possibilities there are for online gameplay, I for one am waiting with baited breathe for the release.

Being a big burnout fan and being one of the first online on takedown and putting many many hours in and loving them all, I would love to come to your computer game factory and see how things are done, so if you have a spare invite for your next “community” day, it would be a great honour to meet the people who have kept me indoors for the last 10 years.

And if you want any of these nasty men who are dissing your game, kneecapping, just give me a shout, and I will go visit them in the wee small hours.

Merry Christmas & Happy new year to all burnoutaholics. May the boost be with you..

my dog ate my disc.

Ultimately, I just see all of this as a reflection of the increasingly 'tabloid' world we live in.

Games journalism just isn't what it used to be. I think the rise of the internet put an end to that.

Throughout this project it seemed that whatever we said it would up getting twisted and misreported. That is ultimately why we decided to start our podcast and invite questions from players all over the world.

It won't solve everything overnight, but at least it's a start.

In the decade or so I've been in this business, I've only ever met a handful of games journalists or Editors who were actually as into games and gaming as I was. Often, a lot of them were frustrated music or film journalists, just getting by whilst waiting for the job they really wanted to do.

So naturally we would be frustrated when people came to interview us or write about our games and we'd soon find out thed had never played ANY of the other titles, didn't even own the console the game was being made for, and didn't play online.

The first day we showed Burnout 3 to the world, the writer arrived and told us he'd been playing GTAIII the night before to practice. Nice, not even a bit of Point of Impact then..?

We had a lot of fun when Kristian and Tammy came to visit.  It was great for the team to meet players who knew the software in detail and had spent as many hours playing Revenge as we had working on it.

So we accept that whatever we do, whenever we put ourselves out there, we're going to be equally praised and equally attacked for it. But it's something we just have to do.

A good example is the 'controversial' topic of traffic checking. (In reality, it's only a controversy to people on the internet who may feel in some way connected to what we do at work - to us, it's just a game feature we put in one of the games)

We release Revenge. It's a big seller. We're really happy with the game. Internet pipes up 'omg - traffic checking is awful.'

We show Paradise for the first time. Big reaction. Internet pipes up 'omg - no traffic checking, why oh why!'

Again, all we do in the office is laugh a lot about it. Some of our favourite office catchphrases come from stuff we found on the net. We're pleased to have such a never ending stream of comedy material on tap as it makes life much more fun.

But over the years we have met some great writers in the industry who genuinely understand the game and have played it a lot. They are the people we try and spend the most time with.

At one point during the year we did show Paradise to someone who congratulated us on inventing traffic checking and saw it as a great evolution from Revenge.

So, in 2008 we will continue to speak to you guys, the fans, the players, the people who play the game, enjoy it, and want to know more about it.

We hope you look forward to exploring Paradise next month!

Alex

I was mainly disappointed in the demo because I was expecting some sort of online race in there... was kinda hoping that I'd be able to spend a couple of weeks with friends tearing up the streets. Exploring the city was fun for a while, but it wasn't long before I went back to playing COD4 and Revenge again.

I know there'll be a lot more to do in the full game, and I'm looking forward to it for sure... but the demo was still a bit boring. If the demo included even just one online race/road rage event, I think the demo definitely would have done the game justice. That's just me though.

I don't really care though, I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks so I haven't had much time to jump on the Xbox and play the demo anyway. Hope the full game turns out good.

So Paradise is a very different Burnout to those that have come before it.

The online component of the game is revoultionary, particularly with regards to how seamless the experience is.

We wanted the demo to showcase something very important - and that's Freeburn Challenges.  The demo hints at the new sort of social, fun, free and co-operative online component to the game.  This time, it's much more about having fun with your friends than simple competitive car racing, which is something the last two games did, and did very successfully.

Again, the game is a very different Burnout so it would have a mistake to make a traditional demo for it, one single race from A to B, with no exploration (we would have had to put chevrons up to prevent this) and an online competitive race.

Whilst many fans would have enjoyed this, the demo would NOT have been a representation of the full game. It would have simply been 'more of the same' and I cannot stress this enough, the new game is definitely not more of the same.

What's much more exciting is that around half a million people have downloaded the demo already -a HUGE number in such a short time. Online numbers are high,  which means that most people who are downloading the demo are also going online.

There is a large part of the audience out there who have yet to experience a Burnout game. They might have heard of it but they haven't ever purchased the game. Maybe they have a fixed view of what the game is - a simple crashing game and maybe they are more loyal to games such as Gran Turismo, Project Gotham Racing, or Need for Speed.

Like any game developers, we strive to seek the largest audience for our work. We believe we've made a great game and we want as many people as possible to experience it.

So the demo showcases the new stuff we've brought to the game and hopefully people will respond to that.

As to online racing, yes it would have been nice, but the online editing and race creation system is a pretty big part of the game and we didn't want to give that away for free. If we had put a cut down part of it into the demo, again, it would not have been representative of the extent of the options available in the full game.

So, just thought I'd take some time out of Boxing Day to answer the question that was raised in one of the earlier posts. Even if you disagree with me and the decisions that the team have made, at least respect us for taking time to be open and honest and answer the questions that are posed.

Alex, I wouldn't normally bug you about such things...you come here and give us your time and honesty seemingly without the protective layer of PR and spin speak.

I love that. It's awesome and I wish more people in the dev community would do such things.

So, here's the bugging you part of the post - I'm one of the hosts of a weekly podcast done for Evil Avatar and on one of our shows recently we talked a good bit about the demo. Anyway, I've been talking to someone in PR at EA to try and get some of you guys at Criterion on the show as the release date gets closer and hopefully when you guys do start doing the interviews for the game over here in the states that you'll consider coming on our little show.

Regardless, thanks for Burnout...and thanks for the demo as well as coming here to talk to us.

The Burnout team, saw one thing you guys forgot, the social aspect of the game, it’s a great place to just 'dick' around until the room fills up. The internet news/social nattering is huge among the Burnout Community, old faces and new ones, are having a say, and a lot of people are watching, some are loving it, others as just upset (as its new or it's not Revenge, or a game of your choice in some comments made, lol) and some are just being very rude, about this game, and to the maker's, from Criterion and the distributers EA. But driving about in Paradise, where people talk about the 'news', then their real lives, and your all having a chilled time, and playing around doing their own thing, then the host draws the crowd (‘erm, no avoid the politics) back with a challenge, race, road rage, or some are Showtimeing, and will be at it for a while, I assume you can Showtime for as long as you want, as long as the boost meter is full, so they will be doing it for an hour, or more, and telling us the progress, while we race/rage, and the millions they have racked up. There are 8 people in the room, Burnout World, online space, playing the same game, but doing different things, and instantlyish being able to join anyone, off your friends list is going to be fun, room hopping, and hosting is going to be fun, lots of options, way more than another Burnout game, and within a month, people are going to be making Burnout game variants, similar to Halo 3, (I just like grinding on the rail, near the beach front barrel jumps, it's not part of the game, but it's something to do while waiting for a race/rage, ok Challenge at the mo’, or for someone coming back from the loo, using the phone, etc). I made a comment, that the game, well several while playing this demo, one being, it's like THP8, as well as other games, it's how a human mind relates to stuff, to feel at ease when presented with something new, after the time of being on it, and doing everything I can on the demo, and even inventing stuff, that I-88 race was my idea (another marmite issue, but I work with what I had at the time), but happy to share the praise with the owners of this site, I love them both, and I love this game (demo, but I do have an imagination and information, to understand what is coming in the full game, but not from those two, did you brain wash them?). I have issues with it and stated them elsewhere, but mostly on this site, but I do get it, and others will get it, and it will be big, some will not like it, and try their best to say so, good, maybe someone will make another game for me to try. The industry is still quite small for that to happen, but at the same time it’s huge, and money be an important factor, there is a lot of it to be had! Games take a while to make, not like movies, TV or radio, (though some can go into production hell and take ‘forever’), or playing a game, listening to a podcast, writing on a forum, and it costs money, time and effort to do all those things. But creating a game for everyone to play and still keep the old school at the same time, or not, takes balls, and implementing new technological advances and other stuff (that Xandu will list at a later date, good luck with that ‘Du, lol), takes guts, balls and crazy stuff, and a skin as thick as Superman.  Some have called me a fan boy (but said with undertone, which makes me feel odd), and the reason being because I have played all the games, and did well at them, write about them, defend them and the people who are also fans. Yes I am a fan boy, reason for joining the site, but the Original Fan Boy, maybe Fan Guy, it sounds better, is Alex Ward. He created, made and sold, and has a fan base, well he and his team, who saw a vision, and did it, they say this game is what they originally wanted to do from the start, enjoy their vision, as well as their other visions/versions, that is why you bought them in the first place, or maybe rented, lol.

Alex's comment, about reaching a larger audience, is the point of making the game in the first place, to spread love for type of game, this one with a history of high quality, uniqueness, and evolution, behind it and in front of it, (read Xandu's history of the games, when he writes the Paradise one, lol), the advances in Burnout Paradise will have a list longer than the others. With a community, people are going to have expectations, and most will be quashed, as all dreams are, if you focus on the past. This demo, is a taste of what is to come, and the ideas of this game will spread, and has, and will shake up what Next-Gen really means, games will be getting to the point, of understanding a vision built in someone’s mind, and playing it, changing it, and using given tools to take it elsewhere, Halo 3’s Foundry Tools and video making is huge, Burnout Paradise is Huge, it’s like the Citizen Kane of Burnout (I understand that movie too and it was not just about the Sled, Rose Bud, but filmmaking at the time), but the choice of what you do, is a gift on top of that.

Alex you managed to write in such a short space, what I have being trying to say in my other comments/blogs since the demo, came out. My use of the English Language with the art of writing is still an effort but worthwhile as I am learning, and I know that some of the stuff I have said is not really shiny and super praise, but I do enjoy the Criterions Creations (I am a Burnoutaholic after all), I don’t know if people will still get it (or what I write), until the game has come out and has been played for more than a 8 hour stretch, the average game play night, with friends. The Audience will grow, is audience the right word, game player seems to be right but even that meaning has changed, as it’s more about playing the game as well as it’s being interactive with the social network, that the game has been provided on, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, etc.

Anyway Alex, why are you making a comment on the Burnoutaholics site on Boxing Day, you should be playing all the games you have not had a chance to play, since the birth of Paradise? (Why am I replying, because I wanted to, I’m having an interesting ‘by myself’ induced, Xmas and enjoying it.) And on some of your other forum stuff, spelling mistakes, not good, you will make Atomika make a joke about you. Get a better spell checker, lol.

Again Thank You Alex and the Criterion team and all the others, that bring us this game, for all your hard work, I have enjoyed the demo and look forward to playing the Actual around the end of January. Maybe see you and the gang online and see if I can beat you on some stuff and learn something new, that I have not worked out yet. Till then, play some games, and enjoy the good food, possible drink and laugh at the hate and enjoy the good.

Ps I assume that some member only content will be coming to the site soon, I do understand that you have your own site to fill, but some ‘Burnoutaholics only’ would be a nice boost to the figures, and gain more interest to the game?

Patience is something I taught myself, so I never know when it's going to run out?

Covered the good and bad, enjoyed it, but your sound fell as the show went on, check your levels and mic placement, lol, especially after a break in 'play'. Another thing i noticed in the demo was everyone had different traffic cars, similar traffic patterns, but blue cars instead of red, cars that were buses, vans that were taxi's etc, which brings in the reason, why some stuff can be checked and others are buses disguised as cars, which means near misses are a whole new ball game of risk? Or just a demo error/lag connection, who knows?

Patience is something I taught myself, so I never know when it's going to run out?

Nice read young man, And can i just reiterate about the social aspect that Mr SUFFER hit on,

Playing the demo with friends has shown me that a lobby system wont be missed, Cause the entire game is a lobby, Race when you wanna race, crash when you wanna crash, or just chill out parked up somewhere. its the hosts choice to make the game as intense or chilled as he likes, Me n SUFFER and a couple of others were flatspinning for england the other night, then just taking a break watching the others just doing there thang on the beachfront. 

Everytime I play i see new aspects of the game arising and a multitude of possibilities to be played to death. Roll on late January.

my dog ate my disc.

Yeah i was one who not like the demo, and also a "lap whore" (which is irrelavent) i was just really dissapointed about how long it took the car to get up to its top speed,  the way the car handled it felt like you guys are trying to change burnout to a mix between burnout and NFS or something. I could not find very much potential anywhere in the demo for good racing, i am just hoping that in the real game there will be more classic burnout roads to drive constant high speeds for virtually forever.

One thing that definately made me think less of paradise is the lack of a speedometer. That was something that i have always used in burnout, it has made burnout more fun for me, and i was devestated to find out it is not in burnout 5.