Burnout goes double gold with new PSP, console editions

The newest versions of one of gaming's most popular racing franchises are that much closer to reaching the retail finish line. Electronic Arts today announced that the two latest Burnout games have rolled out of the garage and crashed into the factory for production. Both Burnout Revenge, set for release on the Xbox and PlayStation 2, and Burnout Legends, the franchise's portable debut, are scheduled to hit store shelves on September 13.

Though revenge is a dish best served cold, developer Criterion Games prefers to serve it in a heaping pile of twisted metal. Burnout Revenge, the follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed Burnout 3: Takedown, borrows much from Takedown's formula, including the return of crash mode and crashbreakers, and there are several new features designed to turn more than a few vehicles into scrap.

Computer-controlled traffic goes from impeding nuisance to instrument of destruction with the new traffic-checking feature. Though its name may make it seem like a freeway report from a news chopper during rush hour, traffic checking owes more to ice hockey than radio news reports. Cars can now be strategically nudged--OK, launched--into other cars to create spectacular wrecks in effect.

Burnout Legends for the PSP recaps the franchise for the portable market, offering several modes from past Burnout games rather than a clear-cut original game. The game borrows race, time attack, road rage, pursuit, and crash modes, as well as multiplayer modes that use the PSP's wireless connectivity. Burnout Legends for the DS is expected to be available in November.

Burnout Revenge and Burnout Legends are both rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and older and will both retail for $49.99.