Burnout Paradise requires HDD, EA explains why
As some of you may have noticed, particularly the Core and Arcade owners, Criterion’s adrenaline-filled racer Burnout Paradise requires the Xbox 360 Hard-Drive to burn the rubber online against other players. It’s certainly a shock, as we don’t recall the developer ever making mention of this simple yet pesky requirement. While EA hasn’t revealed why this has been kept secret for so long, it has provided an explanation as to why the HDD is needed for online play.
In an email to a sharp-eyed customer, EA’s technical support said the following:
I understand that you are currently having issues with the requirements for Burnout Paradise. I apologize for your situation, and the inconvenience that this causes you.
The hard drive is needed to store temporary data when playing online as the data transferred from one console to another requires storage space greater than what the memory card can contain.
Looks like the Core and Arcade users are getting the shaft and there’s no solution to rectify the problem, other than dropping $90 on an HDD (or $180 for the 120GB one). We feel for you!
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: QJ.NET
EA can go fuck themselves! Why do you people keep supporting there shit products!
Personally I don’t know why anyone would buy a 360 without a HDD anyway…
This is exactly what I was thinking Colby. People should just spend the extra money and buy it with the HDD.
That’s besides the point. The fact is that people DO own 360’s without a HDD, and game developers should cater to that. EA haven’t exactly done themselves any favours by doing this.
I disagree. The games are being held back by not being able to require an HDD. The majority of people have an HDD anyway.
That may well be the case but the basic fact is that M$ compromised the design of the system when opting for a no hard drive version and now we are stuck with it. I’m sure I remember them saying that there would never be games where a HD was a requirement. What a surprise that we now find it is.
not everyone can afford that extra hundred bucks, especially younger kids… and especially in countries that arent as wealthy as the US and europe
Europe is a continent.
People buy it that way because it’s available. MS should have never sold any units w/o the HDD, IMO. I thought that was the primary feature that made the original xbox better than the PS2.
EA no longer gets my money, no matter what the game.
Because the game requires a HDD? I guess Microsoft don’t get your money either because Crackdown required a HDD for online. It looks like you can’t buy anymore 360 games then, since MS get a cut of each title (regardless of who it is published by).
Hey dipstick…do you see where I said “no matter what the game”? That indicates my statement has nothing to do with this game or the HDD. I quit buying EA games more than a year ago (closer to two years now). Not for one single reason, or two…but for many reasons.
Don’t waste too much time concerning yourself with either of my 360’s or their HDD’s.
Okay, so i guess you missed out on Half Life 2 - an EA published title. I guess you’ll also miss out on the Mass Effect sequel. I guess you’ll also miss out on any Crysis sequels/ports. Any Battlefield games. Mercenaries 2. Or even any Ubisoft games, since EA own 20% of them.
You’ll find outside of EA’s sports division, a lot of games are developed by second party studios and merely published by EA. You’ll really miss out on a lot of top grade titles being so unbelievably narrow minded. You’re not going to stop EA making money alone, why even try?
Obviously I can’t stop EA on my own. On the other hand, it’s obvious that EA isn’t going to get better on their own. They need some incentive from us, the gamers….and the consumers…to pay attention to the market they are supplying.
If you’re happy with a company that doesn’t listen to your input, that’s fine, you have the right to support them as long as you want….but I am willing to sacrifce my enjoyment of the few games they make which are still worth playing in an effort to get them to listen and perhaps change some of their tactics.
I also like knowing that my money is not helping them acquire every studio that might be worth a damn.
You’re welcome!
the 360 is worthless without an hdd so i dont see why you would get one without it
well yeah the 360 is worthless…that is without its hard drive. thats what is going to kill the system in the future. yeah im a true fan but that fact is games are going to require it and the fact that ALL ps3s have them is going to be a huge selling point for the gamers and the developers
It can’t be that big of a selling point - the PS3 requires 5Gb of installed data in Devil May Cry just to run the game the same as the 360 version.
is that because the 360 has more ram than the ps3? idk i wasnt intending my other post to mean that people buy it cause the hard drive, honestly i wouldnt think people would even know the difference or really care, they just care about the price. that is everyday people not gamers, and its those everyday people who buy the harddriveless 360s
Because the disk drive is quicker, caching isn’t required as often.
Who cares… why do people keep harping on this? While there may be a few people without HDDs still it’s time to get one. I’d rather see the developers cater to the people who have hard drives which is a big majority of 360 owners.
well since the xbox 360 also comes without it, it’s pretty f*cking stupid that criterion didn’t even mention it.
the fact that microsoft offers a 360 without a HDD is pretty f*cking stupid too though
You people who are down on EA are hilarious, they will eventually own half the games out there, if they don’t already.
Their not going anywhere for a long time, and if you dont want to spend your $$$ on their game…..thats your prerogative, but there is tons of other gamers to take your spot.
“You people who are down on EA are hilarious, they will eventually own half the games out there, if they don’t already.”
yeah. wow that’s funny. why don’t we bury half your food in shit and see how funny you think that is.
“is tons of other gamers to take your spot”
I fully understand that to be the situation. Idiots are everywhere.
i just checked the eb games website, and they clearly state that the game requires a hard drive to get online.
personally, i think if you are online, and don’t have a hard drive, you are seriously missing out. and if you are not online, then it does not affect you.
besides, although i too loathe ea, this game happens to be fantastic, and warrants a purchase of an hd just for this. i wish m$ had never released a core system, and all games could cache data and run smoother with an hd.
ea should have made this little caviat a little more public though. people are going to get pissed about this.
Sorry - but it’s written ON THE BACK OF THE BOX. Anyone who doesn’t notice this deserves to be disappointed.
Let me also tell you - Crackdown required a HDD to play the online co-op, yet you didn’t get on EA’s back? Why is this EA’s fault? Criterion make the game, EA merely publish it.
if you dont have a hardrive dont play games
A little bit of this thing we call “reading the friggin box” would prepare most people for that news. It’s as lot to ask for, I know.
Also, go ahead and spring for a drive. You’re missing out on way too much.
agreed with p-niiice
read the dam box people
got this game coming to me from gamefly
heard good things about it
Honestly who cares about core gamers anyway? they arent even real gamers if they didnt think the HDD was worth a lil extra cash or think it was really needed. Hell i have my original 20 GB just sitting in a box doing nothing since i upgraded to the larger one. Upgrade or just stick with ur PS2
I dont think you can say that, since I bought a core Xbox, because for me, the pro at that time was too expensive, I simply couldnt pay for it back then, thats why I bought one, 2 months later (When it got available) I bought a 20GB HD and now I have a 120GB HD, so its not all about being cheap you know…
Besides that, they SHOULD put it on the box bigger in cases like this, because even for core gamers, live is pretty important as its one of the main features of the xbox 360, and one of the reasons for one to buy a xbox360 instead of (for example) a PS fuckin’ 3
“now tell me again how it is that Xbox is better then PS3″
Erm. It has better games and a lot more of them and this is coming from someone who works for a PS3 affiliated company. The only reason that the PS3 has a HDD by default is because they impose a slow BD drive on everyone who buys one, whether they need it or not. So, you got the PS3 way behind schedule and for a high price because Sony dictated that you were buying into the HD format war and then had to make up for it by forcing you to install your games on to the HDD.
Well done.
Fool.
P.s.
Ooooooh. Look at my shiny PS3. It’s soooo powerful and amazing, shame there’s fuck all games worth playing on it. Fuck it, I’ll go buy a bluray film, oh yeah, that’s exactly what Sony want me to do.
The boy makes a valid point.
blu ray looks like a pile of dog shit anyway its picture doesnt compare to hd the only blu ray i have seen that san compare o the picture of hd is casino royale but thats because they payed microsoft so they could use the vc1 encoding instead of their gay one the only reason i would buy blu ray is because the sound is a bit better then hd
BluRay is HD. The pictures are comparable… and so far, it looks like BluRay is the better format overall. There’s no use arguing over it to support MS, because MS just doesn’t care. If HD-DVD loses, they’ll release a BluRay attachment, and the 360 will still be the best console on the market.
Heh, that’s why it’s pointless to argue for the PS3 by saying it plays BluRay… the 360 may, too, if BluRay wins. And it’d still wind up being cheaper than a PS3. Sony has invested in a format far more heavily than MS has.
Bluray does not look like a pile of dog shit. Now that it uses VC1 it’s the same as HD-DVD.
I am not defending Bluray because I would rather see the more affordable HD-DVD prosper due to my disliking of Sonys’ business practices.
Also, I believe that part of the reason MS supports HD-DVD is to throw a spanner into the works of HD format to allow them to sneak online delivery of media through without anyone noticing.
I am still completely baffled by the fact that people own 360’s without hard drives. You really can’t complain if you don’t have one by now. It just means you’re a huge idiot. Have fun with your arcade games.
I’d have to agree! $50 for a 512 memory card, $80 for a 20gig drive, you have to be pretty simple not to be able to do the math. Cards are only good for taking your account to another machine.
if all you want to do is take your account over someones house then you can always just recover your profile there. unless you want to use your saved files, then youll have to spend 50 usds
what the hell has this news got to do with a ps3 ?
its about EA and burnout 3 go back to your hole fanboys and girls
Fact #1 : EA are a crap publisher of games (in particular their tired annual sports rehashes. Tiger Woods being a particularly bad offender with code from 06 being left in 07 for all to see). Fact #2 : Burnout Paradise is probably one of the greatest fun racing games I’ve ever played. Fact #3 : It states on the back of the box “hard drive required” for all to see. Fact #4 : People who would buy an XBox without a HDD must be incredibly dumb. Get your hand in your pocket and cough up some dough for the HDD. What’s the point of an XBox without an HDD? Particularly when you can now download so many arcade games, xbox originals and movie content. Wake up and smell the coffee, Memory Card boys and girls!
Movies? what movies?! no movies in the Netherlands :O!
So the parents who buy a 360 arcade for their child and because they don’t know better buy the arcade, are idiots because of it? That’s overly harsh.
Not harsh at all. You reap your reward. You buy an XBox 360 without a hard drive, you suffer the consequences. Cause and effect as the Merovingian would say. Call me harsh, but I have no sympathy for someone who doesn’t take the time to look into a product especially when it comes with a ÂŁ300 price tag. If you want to buy a console for your kids, get a Wii. 360 is for the grown ups. Woo-hoo!
ea is shit… but burnout is pretty good… ea shouldn’t have to explain themselves with the hdd if it is clearly marked on the back of the box (which it is)…
and i also think that the non-hdd 360’s are a waste of time… really we should blame microsoft for doing it in the first place…
if microsoft had put hard drives on all consoles then people wouldn’t be blowing up at EA over this crap
I think that a game should not be required to run without an HDD as this means that those with an HDD ultimately suffer.
Also, as much as I agree and see EA as being the evil empire of gaming they are actually doing exactly what is necassary to turn a profit. You take whatever is most popular and you keep releasing tie-ins and updates until every last dollar has been wrung from it’s sorry corpse and then you move on to the next cash cow.
This is ideal for business and share holders but it sucks for gamers and developers who want originality and true belief in what they are making.
It’s not exactly likely that a company that is making a fortune every day is going to start listening to the minority of people who want them to stop raping imagination for cash.
I’m not in any way siding with EA, I’m just saying it how it is. If anything, being a company like Nintendo, Capcom (until recently) or Q Entertainment do not have the kind of certainty of making a profit as EA do.
Also, EA purchased Criterion well after the Burnout franchise began and although they force them to release updates on an almost annual basis I believe there is still a certain amount of the original feel there in the series to make it acceptable.
Just because EA own Dice I am not about to boycot the Battlefield series (PC). I would be losin so much as a gamer.
If you’re going to boycott anything then make it shit games such as NFS or the next Fifa game. Maybe EA will listen and plough more money into innovation when they see that is what people want.
It’s all about sales trends with huge corporations like that.
Ok first off as has been said most 360 owners have a hard drive, but second this only effects online play and the massive massive majority of online players have a HDD. it probably does us a big favour by keeping the under 18’s off who are mostly really annoying online anyway.
I have to agree that EA are tossers but and its a big BUT, Burnout is brill and to not own it would be just cutting your nose off to spite you face, of course not everyone will like it but the people who do will know what I meen. Also to what has been mentioned, no Mercs2 no Battlefield and many more is what you would have to suffer to boycot EA, sadly they have got us by the NUTS.
They may have you by the nuts, but they don’t have me because I will not let them. They do make a few games that I’d like to play, but I’m willing to do without. Some things are more important than my ability to play every game that hits the shelves.
Some of you will eventually realize that your choices do influence the market. Others will conitune to purchase everything thrown their way. I will do what makes me happy for the long term. Instant gratification isn’t the answer.
And…
Speaking of EA and DICE…I sure miss the RalliSport series.
Good shout FF I do miss rallisport needs to come back, as for all EA I would never buy every game that is released by them I do however buy the good ones and wouldn’t want to miss out just because they are not mine or many others favorite company.
I don’t see why Microso0ft even released a 360 without the hard drive. Yes, they want to make it cheaper so more people will buy it, but a 360 without a hard drive is useless; you can’t download TV shows and movies, you can’t play some games that require a lot of save space (Oblivion, for example), and you can’t download the hundreds of available Arcade games. That puny little 256 MB Memory Card won’t amount to anything.
I asked a clerk at Best Buy whether the 256 MB Card can hold a sufficient amount of data, and he said no. Games like Oblivion require up to 1 GB of data for saving, and those Arcade games take up to 50 MB of data, so that puny little 256 MB Card is worthless.
Do yourself a favor, Microsoft, put a 20 GB hard drive in the Arcade, and up the Premium to 60 or 80 GB. That way everyone is gahappy
I asked a clerk at Best Buy whether the 256 MB Card can hold a sufficient amount of data, and he said no. Games like Oblivion require up to 1 GB of data for saving, and those Arcade games take up to 50 MB of data, so that puny little 256 MB Card is worthless.
Do yourself a favor, Microsoft, put a 20 GB hard drive in the Arcade, and up the Premium to 60 or 80 GB. That way everyone is happy
It’s too late to do that. There still will be models without a HDD to accomidate.
I’m sorry, but accomodate what precisely? A cupboard perhaps? That’s where it’ll end up without an HDD. Would make a perfect door stop too without an HDD.