We haven’t seen a Burnout game since 2008, which may have made some people believe EA and Criterion Games had forgotten about the series. Well, the two companies haven’t. They’ve just been looking to take it in a new direction. You’ll see for yourself next month, when Burnout Crash! makes its debut.

Apparently, Burnout Crash! is being described in a pinball-gameshow style action game in the press releases, which sounds a little unorthodox and out there to me. But, it could also have a lot of potential…

At EA’s GamesCom 2010 press event, more details about Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit became available.

As is becoming the industry standard with highly anticipated titles, Hot Pursuit will have a limited edition version. Unlike most limited editions, this one will cost the same as regular versions.

The Need for Speed franchise has been sorely lacking in that “wow” factor in its last several installments. Electronic Arts realized as much and brought Criterion, the developers of Burnout, on board to revamp the racer. At its E3 2010 press event, EA gave us the biggest glimpse yet of Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit.

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…