For over a year Criterion had provided players with free and paid content in the form of bikes, Trophies, multiplayer modes, legendary cars and Big Surf Island. This content provided countless hours of replay value and was a great example of how building a loyal community can keep a game going strong for a long time.

It is time for the annual, er, weekly Playstation Store update, this one comes with some sport-related goodness in addition to some unexpected Valentine’s presents for the love struck gamers out there.

The highlights of this update include 3 on 3 NHL Arcade for $10, along with the full version of…

Criterion Games is known for delivering frequent updates to it’s smash hit <i>Burnout Paradise. Since its release we’ve seen Trophies, motorcycles, day/night cycles and even an update to the menus style.

The next free update will comes to us on February 6, 2009, along with the not so free Burnout Paradise Party Pack. This free update isn’t as massive as the previous ones but it does address some in-game issues and adds the highly requested restart option that was left out of Burnout Paradise since its release.

The first change we’ll notice on PS3 or PC is the…

Ok, so, here’s the unhappy truth. The economy is in the toilet, lots of folks are tightening their proverbial belts, and gamers can be a pretty expensive bunch to buy gifts for. But here’s the good news – with a little resourcefulness, you can make your gamer (or yourself) a very happy camper without blowing the holiday budget. In our handy guide to gifting gamers on the cheap, we’ve compiled some of the best under-$30 goodies for players.

Space Invaders Extreme (DS or PSP, $20 or less) – this little retro fantastic gem was budget priced at $20 the day it came out, so finding this one for even cheaper shouldn’t be a problem.

Just three weeks after its launch for digital distribution via the Playstation Store, Burnout Paradise has been downloaded 20,000 times at $30. That’s $600,000 both EA and Sony get to see and retailers don’t. The report comes via an earnings call that was picked up by Joystiq who quoted EA CEO, John Riccitiello saying:

In the future we see slower growth in the basic packaged goods business, and higher margins, greater growth and reduced cyclicality [sic] with these new direct-to-consumer businesses.

With these numbers in such a short time frame, it’s not hard to see why…

Ads in games are commonplace, and when these games have internet options, these ads can often change. So when Barack Obama ads started appearing in Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360, it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise. And yet, people are treating it like it is. The image above, taken by Dragunov765 and now famous across the internet, clearly displays one of the Obama ads in game. The ad shows Obama’s face, informs players about early voting and provides his website’s address…

The next massive update to Burnout Paradise will be released next Thursday (September 18, 2008) on PSN and Xbox Live. This update will bring motorcycles to Paradise City and will mark the first time bikes have ever been in a Burnout game. Unlike the cars, the purpose behind Burnout‘s bikes is not to witness outrageous crashes. Bikes will introduce a whole new element of speed with an emphasis on style and control. If you do crash, the rider will fly off the screen without showing them flailing about on the pavement.

Initially there will be two motorcycles to choose from with…

A few years ago, the Red Hot Chilly Peppers’ music video for “I dream of Californication” featured surreal video game environments in which the band members appeared as game characters. The video seemed pretty innovative and cutting edge at that time. Rapper Wyclef Jean’s latest music video Fast Cash is just as impressive, featuring Burnout Paradise footage along with the PS3 and PSP game systems…

EA showcased crash-tastic racer Burnout Paradise recently (July 11, 2007), as part of the company’s impressive E3 lineup. The Criterion studios developed title is slated for PS3 and Xbox 360 releases, and features a huge open world in which players trigger events and races naturally, through his/her actions. The damage system – a mainstay of more »