It’s not often that games are actually designed to dramatically increase instances of crashing on the system, but that’s the desired effect of Electronic Arts and Criterion Games’ newly announced PC edition of Burnout Paradise. Originally released earlier this year for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Burnout Paradise will arrive on the PC with a few after-market enhancements. For the series’ first test-drive outside the world of handhelds and consoles, Criterion is expanding the game’s multiplayer modes and adding “enhanced online features and community-driven content.” In a webcast on Criterion’s official Web site, developers assured console gamers that the PC edition would not impact the release schedule for the already announced updates to the console versions of the game. A series of updates scheduled through the fall will add night driving, motorcycles, new locations, and more to the game. Burnout Paradise has not been rated for the PC, but the console editions received an E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. No release date has been announced for the game.

Codemasters is certainly no stranger to the racing genre, having produced rally and touring car franchises such as DiRT and GRID, the latter of which is due out in Europe on May 30 (June 3 in North America). However, Codies obviously isn’t content with merely having those two racing games in its virtual garage, as the publisher has just announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Formula One Administration. The Pfirst game to come out of this agreement will be released on “home console, handheld and PC gaming formats” in 2009, and is expected to be based on next season’s roster. The game is being developed with the developer’s own EGO engine, the same one being used in GRID. Prior to this agreement, Sony Computer Entertainment had held the rights, with its first game being Formula One on the original PlayStation in 1996, and culminating in Formula One Championship Edition, which arrived at the European launch of PlayStation 3. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.