"Ultimate": Burnout Paradise in Feb '09

One of the consolation games I played most regularly in the past year was Burnout Paradise. It's a freeform racing game across a wide-open, pedestrian-devoid urbanscape. A little like GTA4 without people, and with far better crash happenings, it entranced me for many hours. I found myself consistently entertained by the absurd cross-city racing, and the dynamic way in which you smashed violently into automobiles and immovable objects alike. It is a game that would probably be described as "hi-octane" on the cover of a magazine, and would worry your mother by becoming a source of endless vehicular-collision amusements. Look at those automobiles bend and shatter in slow-motion!

Yes. The game is heading for the personal computer platform in February 2009, and it's the "ultimate" pack, including most of the previously released Burnout Paradise content, including bikes. After the jump: an horrendous car-wreck compilation movie.

What would JG Ballard say? Ooh, I've gone a bit James Spader.