British developer Criterion Games is staffing up for the next entry in “the world’s number one, multi award winning, arcade racing franchise” according to recent job listings for a senior VFX engineer and cinematic cut scene artist that were posted on EA’s Career Opportunities website.

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Criterion Games released Burnout Crash! this week on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Network, injecting a few more doses of Burnout’s fan-favourite ‘Crash Mode’ into our lives with the team’s explosive downloadable action-puzzle game, only this time played from a different perspective.

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Earlier this year the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) in the US provided a rating and description for something called ‘Burnout Crash!’ which included talk of a “top-down perspective” game that allowed players to drive “’cartoony’ vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, vans, buses) into busy intersections,” with threats including “oversized airplanes, tornadoes, lobster monsters, and UFOs.”

… Lobster monsters!

Now today at EA’s ‘Summer Showcase’ event, this title has been confirmed to be in development at Burnout racing franchise originators, Criterion Games, but despite the release of a batch of screenshots, the existence of the lobster monsters is sadly yet to be announced.

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Burnout Paradise is the latest in the series of car-smashing, slow-mo wreckage racing games. This much you know. Did you know, however, that you’ll be able to buy and download the full version of Burnout Paradise through the PlayStation Network later this year?

If you missed it the first time, you’ll be able to get Burnout Paradise for $29.99, including all of the updates Criterion have thus far released for the game, as well as support for PlayStation Trophies (Achievement-like rewards), all through PSN. This is a great sign of things to come as far as digital distribution goes, and only enforces Criterion’s ‘Year of Paradise’ campaign - their mission to support the game completely with new, free content.

If you can’t wait, however, Paradise is still available on PS3 and Xbox 360 as a disc-based game, but that format is *so* 2008.

Criterion Games has stamped a 10th of July date on its Burnout Paradise Cagney Update. The free update will be released for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

The update will introduce three new Freeburn game modes including an eight player team event called Road Rage, Stunt Run (vs), and Marked Man. There will also be 70 new timed Freeburn Challenges along with leaderboards as well as a Hunter Olympus and secret Criterion Car, new liveries, custom soundtracks for the PS3 version and various bug fixes.

Head over to Criterion Games’ website for a full list of the features that Cagney will include or check out our review of Burnout Paradise.

Criterion Games has unveiled three new modes for Burnout Paradise. The new game modes will be released as part of the Cagney update.

Online Stunt Run allows 8 players to simultaneously compete for the highest score within 2 minutes. The mode features an on-screen display as well as multipliers and eliminated players can still exact revenge.

Online Road Rage is an 8 player online team event. Players will either be on the team of runners (teams can only see one checkpoint ahead but must get to the checkpoint then the finish) or the team that has to take them down (teams can see the checkpoint and finish, choosing to ambush, take a shortcut or follow the pack).

Online Marked Man sees a marked man being randomly chosen every 90 seconds. Earn points for surviving if you are marked or taking down the marked man. The player who is the Marked Man can’t see attacking players on the map, has a slower car and does not get boost. Each session consists of roughly 10 – 12 minutes of game play depending on how many players are involved.

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Bogart is the next download for Burnout Paradise and Criterion Games has confirmed that it will be available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on the 24th of April.

The download will fix the top ten problems that players reported as well as enhancing the game experience and fixing various high priority issues.

Head over to Criterion Games’ website for a list of exactly what the download will do.

Criterion promises to transform Paradise

Hot on the heels of Criterion Games’ announcement that the PS3 version of Burnout Paradise will support 1080i, the developer has promised to “transform Paradise over the coming year.”

A post on Criterion’s blog explained “You may have noticed us referring to our future new content by codenames. Just to clarify – you’ll see them in this order ‘Cagney,’ then ‘Davis’ and then ‘Eastwood’.”

According to Criterion, “what we’re working on now goes way beyond conventional content updates, so we figured the usual 1.1, 1.2 version numbers didn’t do it justice.”

The developer also promised not to hold anything back on the blog, to tell gamers what they are making and why. Don’t forget to send them your feedback and read El33tonline’s Burnout Paradise review.