In our second "Playing in the Dark' column for the U.K. magazine Edge, which appeared under the title "Halo 3.0: From Bungie's Lips to Phil Harrison's Ears," we explored the parallels between the approaches to user-created content in Halo 3 and LittleBigPlanet. Of the latter, we wrote:

The slogan for LittleBigPlanet is 'Play, Create, Share', and it captures not only precisely the right elements of where games must go in the future, it lists them in the correct evolutionary order. Because if the act of creation itself isn’t playful, if it isn’t entertaining, then only the most motivated of people will bother to actually make anything....From Media Molecule, I’m hoping that the company will release expansions that offer two other perspectives--top-down and isometric--thereby turning LittleBigPlanet into the complete 2-D game creation tool.

From the first moment we laid eyes on LittleBigPlanet, we've been mildly obsessed about where Media Molecule could and should take its inspired game. So when the developers let journalists go hands on at the E3 Media Festival and we got to see how easy, intuitive and powerful their tools were--right down to its bolt-based system for adding simple physics to the various objects that users could build--it dawned on us that Media Molecule was in the process of building the ultimate side-scrolling construction kit, a belief that was furthered when rumors began to circulate that the creators were also developing a system for enemy behaviors that users could integrate into their level designs. So we said to ourselves, if LittleBigPlanet can do all of this for side-scrollers, how difficult would it be for Media Molecule's engine to support the two other 2-D game perspectives: top-down and isometric?

  Burnout Paradise, by Criterion Studios and Electronic Arts 

As we said in our brief preview of Burnout Paradise, we're rather enjoying its fresh take on the racing genre. When we interviewed Criterion Studios creative director Alex Ward following the game's award for Best Racing Game from the Game Critics Association, he told us, "It's the first open world game we know of that runs at sixty [frames per second.]" Having achieved this goal without stinting in any way on the graphics, Criterion joins Infinity Ward as the third party developers which have extracted the most from the tricky-to-program Playstation 3. With the demo for PS3 and Xbox 360 going live today, we once again contacted Electronic Arts and Criterion to find out what gamers should expect from the demo and the finished title, which arrives in stores on January 22nd. Producer Nick Channon answered our questions via email; here's what he had to say:

The great thing about the demo is that we have packed loads of gameplay into a small area of the map. As such, users will be able to get a real feel for the game by exploring the open world, playing a great new game mode called Stunt Run, and also have the ability to connect online. It was really important for us to give a real flavor of playing Burnout Paradise and the demo really does that.

When did Criterion begin work on it?

We started work on it about 3 months ago and have put as much effort into getting the demo right as we have the main game.

The structure of an open world racing game, as implemented in Burnout Paradise, is very different from the event-by-event approach found in traditional racing titles. What kind of feedback did you get about the various aspects of Burnout Paradise's open world structure, and how did that evolve the design of the game?

  Burnout Paradise, by Criterion Studios and Electronic Arts

We respect Gran Turismo. We've enjoyed Ridge Racer, Midnight Club and Need For Speed. But when it comes to racing franchises, there's only one that's ever seeped into our dreams, and that's Burnout. If Burnout 3: Takedown was, as one writer aptly described it, "Tekken with cars," then based on our ongoing experiences with near-final code, Burnout Paradise would have to be the Grand Theft Auto of driving, so carefully has Criterion Studios built the game to become the first game to truly get open world racing right. Need to repair your car or get a new paint job? Just drive through the appropriate building. Looking to add a new car to your collection? Spot it on the open road, hunt it down, take it out, then swing by a junkyard to pick it up. Ready to jump into a racing or stunt event? Pull up to an intersection and hit both the gas and the brake to get your competition on. This is truly open world racing done right, running at a blistering 60 frames per second and spit polished within an inch of its life to boot.

As excited as we are about the game, we suspect that the Burnout Paradise will nevertheless be somewhat polarizing. Traditionalists may find it difficult to to accept the go-anywhere, do-anything freedom which has replaced the event-by-event structure that typifies the majority of racing games; it certainly took us a good half-hour or so before we could finally let go of what had been and open ourselves up to what could be. Nowhere is this more true than Paradise's Showtime Mode, which has taken the place of the much-loved Crash Mode from previous Burnouts. Rather than being a separate mode as it had been in the past, Criterion has integrated it right into the open world of Paradise City; at any time, you just hit R1 + L1 on the PS3 (for Xbox 360, it's the two bumpers) to trigger Showtime, where as long as you have boost, you can detonate your vehicle and propel it into other cars. Each car you hit adds a dollar value to your damage total and boost to your meter, while buses serve as damage multipliers. Your mission is to keep the chain of collisions going for as long as you possibly can.

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