"...I'm talking about my Xbox 360, and I solved it, I need to buy a TWO HUNDRED ******* DOLLAR HARD DRIVE! SO I CAN PAY TO GO ONLINE TO PLAY WITH ******** TWELVE YEAR-OLDS! So I'm prolly going to return my 360 and do something more useful with my money, like throwing it off a bridge"

-- gamer LordD2, posting on Electronic Arts' support forums for "Burnout Paradise"

Burnout ParadiseXbox 360 Core or Arcade unit owners who picked up "Burnout Paradise" last week found a surprise waiting for them upon connecting to Xbox Live, if they weren't careful enough to scope the back of the box ahead of time.

You know that streaming, seamless, revolutionary open-world gameplay that's one of "Burnout Paradise"'s biggest bullet points?

Access denied; without a hard drive, "Burnout Paradise's" online play is crippled. Players without the extra hardware can compare high scores, but they can't share the roads of Paradise City for online Freeburn play.

Technically, this is mentioned on the box. But, is a note on the back of the box enough? We've reached out to both Microsoft and Electronic Arts for some additional commentary. When we hear back, we'll let you know.

But first we've got some stuff to show you, facts to consider before anyone else starts pointing fingers and who the "Burnout" bad guy is.

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Civilization RevolutionThese days, if a publisher's not actively working on something Wii related, stockholders are asking why. With Wii's momentum showing no signs of slowing, would a company actually cancel an in-development Wii title?

2K Games (and by association, their owners at Take-Two Interactive) did that last week, when IGN revealed revealed the console version of Sid Meier's strategy series, "Civilization Revolution," was no longer coming to Wii, but still on for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS.

What they didn't announce was why they were canceling it, so Multiplayer got in touch with Firaxis Programmer Scott Lewis to figure out what happened.

Here's the official line that 2K Games dropped to the media last week:

"Development for the Wii version of Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution is currently on hold. We are focusing our attention on creating the best possible Civilization experience for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS platforms."

There has to be more to the story, though, right?

In a world of rapidly rising development costs, canning a potential money maker isn't done on a whim. I've kicked off my new career at Multiplayer by catching up with a developer who is finishing up work on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, to learn why Sid Meier's opus won't have any waggle functionality in 2008.Read on for his response.
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