Burnout Crash! has already confused and warped our perception of Matchbox cars on the Xbox 360 and PS3 and now it’s setting its headlights in the direction of iOS. EA announced Burnout Crash! will make its way to the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch this holiday season. We can add this bit of information to the already towering stack of Apple news that has built up throughout the day.

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…

Burnout Crash! was first discovered thanks to a posting on the Australian classification website back in April. The description of the game gave us time to get used to the fact that the newest title in the Burnout franchise would be nothing like we’d expect. Burnout Crash! may be modeled after the classic Crash Mode from Burnout 3, but its visual style has been scaled way back.

Criterion Games may be to racing games what Rockstar Games is to the open-world sandbox genre. Several new racing/car combat games came out this year, most notably a May 2010 trio that failed to catch on. Some of the blame for those games’ problems was placed on Rockstar hit Red Dead Redemption, which also released in May.

Earlier this month, EA tried to get 1 million YouTube views of the launch trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. In return for this feat, three free downloadable cars would be given to the adoring public for free. The challenge ended on December 12 and we all failed. The trailer only got up to around 660,000 views. Fear not, EA appreciates the effort and is giving away the cars anyway.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit‘s retail sales numbers have been released one day after NPD published the monthly sales data for videogames and consoles. Hot Pursuit was included in many sales that were held before, on and after Black Friday. Even now, you can buy NFS: Hot Pursuit for $39.99 in stores. These sales may have helped to increase the total sales numbers for the game. According to Gamasutra, Doug Creutz, an analyst for Cowen & Company, revealed Hot Pursuit sold 417,000 retail copies in November.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit puts a lot of emphasis on social interaction through its Autolog system. You and your friends will always know who’s the king of the road every time you boot up the game. Criterion will also be releasing an Autolog iPhone app soon that will further expand the social aspects of the game. While we wait for that to happen, we can all join together to make EA put out free DLC for Hot Pursuit.

Criterion Games, you got your social media in my racing game. I already love you for it. After I entered the Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit demo, it told me one of my friends was playing. That entitled me to unlock a special race in the demo, as well as trying to beat his time. Social media hits such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars have shown the only thing we love more than playing games is telling our friends about it. Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit contains the Autolog, an in-game form of social media that tells us how fast our friends are driving. Once the full game is released, we’ll learn who the “most wanted” speeders are through the Autolog. We’ll also know which cops are the best at catching them.

Burnout Paradise was a massive game. Paradise City gave you miles of virtual road to race on at your leisure. You can spend your time power-sliding through construction sites downtown, or go for a relaxing drive through the countryside. Criterion’s latest game, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, takes what we love about Paradise City, and quadruples the size.

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.