After the world was turned over three weeks ago and the PS3 version of Burnout Paradise was updated with Cagney the first of the major free updates to this already stellar game hits the 360. Now no matter which version you’re playing you’re getting an even better game, for free.

Three cheers for Criterion, one of our most under appreciated developers.

[Major Nelson] but hit the jump for the full details from Criterion’s site as they were listed for the PS3. Continue Reading »

That’s the only thing I can think of that explains the insane pace of Burnout Paradise updates planned this year. The full details are on the Criterion blog. They’re not kidding when they call it “a year of Paradise”.

I posted earlier on the first update, the not-yet-released Bogart patch, set to squish some annoying bugs and exploits (which we may see on Live and PSN as early as tomorrow). Also in the pipe is are the Cagney, Davis and Eastwood updates, due end-of-June, August, and “Fall” respectively.

I’m going to be succinct here in what each update has announced, since you really ought to go to the main site for the gory details, but here’s the ADD version.

Cagney – 70 new freeburn challenges; some extra multiplayer modes; new leaderboards for co-op; a Live Updates page with a whole calendar/event interface ripped right out of Mac OS X’s Dashboard; the Hunter Olympus vehicle; 1080i support on PS3, new support for SD players; bug-fix for Avril Lavigne content on PS3 shipping disc (i.e Custom Soundtrack support)

Davis – motorbikes (!), night racing

Eastwood – geographic expansion outside Paradise City

I’m fairly certain that the Bogart and Cagney updates will be free – the former certainly will, but no official word on any of that yet.

My hat is off to these guys, the updates look fantastic and I’ll be there day one to download these.