I would like…if I may, to take you on a strange journey.

A journey to a land called Xbox Live.

I’ve had my Xbox 360 for nearly four years now, and of those four, three have been spent online through Xbox Live. Those three years were kind of like being on safari, and I know that may seem like a weird analogy, but stick with me. Actually, you know what? Don’t. That was a shitty analogy. Xbox Live is more like an insane asylum. An insane asylum where a few of the inmates are actually rather intelligent, but you can’t hear them over the sound of crazy Joe Bastard yelling like an animal and smashing his lunch tray over his head.

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Criterion, the creators behind the Burnout series, have been nothing but awesome so far. Not only did they deliver on their promises for Burnout Paradise on the first go – a massive free-roaming city with hundreds of secrets and thousands of car-wrecking possibilities – but they’ve been spoiling us with free downloadable content that any other game developer would be forcing us to pay through the nose for.  While we’ve been enjoying that, we can’t help but feel guilty about it. Thankfully they’ve given us an opportunity to give back to them what little we could, with the very first purchasable downloadable content pack that they’re busting out, and even then it’s literally a steal.

Presenting: the Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island DLC pack!

What’s the big deal about Big Surf Island, anyway? Well for one, it’s a huge island that connects to Paradise City, and its emphasis is letting you grab the biggest amount of air possible with your car via its ridiculously-awesome jumps. Here’s the statement from Criterion themselves:

Big Surf is the culmination of everything we learned creating Paradise City, and we want it to bring you a truly spectacular new experience – the highlight of a year of incredible premium content. Burnout already delivers incredible value for money – literally hundreds of hours of gameplay with your original disk or PSN purchase, plus more with the free Cagney Pack and free Burnout Paradise Bikes.

Awesome, Criterion. Why can’t other game developers be like you?