Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box will be arriving on the PC in February 2009 and will be coming with an amazing demo. The whole game will be playable in a trial period, while the extent of the trial period has not been confirmed yet, it is most certainly a great way to get people to check out the game. This sentence from the Criterion news post really strikes a cord with me;

When the full game’s released in Feb ’09, we want all our PC players to be sure it runs perfectly on their system, before they commit to buying it. We also love the game and feel confident that if you try it, you’ll want to sign up for more!

Moreover, this will not just be a single-player demo, it will include the multiplayer component of the game, Freeburn which will let you compete in challenges with up to 8-players in all. Finally the demo will come with the Burnout Store, which along with a whole load of wonderful stuff will allow you to easily upgrade to the full game.

Now the whole issue of demos has become more and more prevalent over recent months, many pirates claim that they do what they do so they can get a taste for the game and see if it runs on their machine. With this trial version of the game, well their defence will just be blown out of the water. It will also mean that people get to really see what the game is all about before making that choice about whether or not to purchase.

This is a great move from Criterion, I have quietly been watching what they do with the console versions of Burnout, and they are doing things in a really positive manner. I personally am really looking forward to their ethos transferring onto the PC, and a cracking game coming along as well sure doesn’t hurt things.