Word has come from Criterion that, from today until January 14, the number of players that can join an online session of Burnout Paradise will be doubled from four to eight. Along with this, there are 13 new Freeburn challenges, including three in the five, six and seven player games, and four challenges in the eight player games. Well, what are you waiting for?

[Criterion]

Last bit of ‘07 retrospection (well, probably). Here’s a look at what other gaming sites chose as their PS3 Game of the Year…

IGN
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

GameSpot
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

PS3 Fanboy
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

PS3 Fanboy – Readers’ Vote
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

GameTrailers
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

GameSpy
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Kotaku – Readers’ Vote
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

DPad
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare swept the board, then… along with a few entries for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

So the Games Developers Conference looms in February, with inventor/futurist Ray Kurzweil lined up to offer the keynote speech.

“Bringing the future to life today has always been at the heart of the game industry, so it’s essential to have our vision refreshed by one of our greatest living thinkers,” said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference, to Develop mag.

“As a technology inventor and prophetic visionary, Ray Kurzweil is that rare individual who can inspire the next evolutionary step forward in what games can do.”

We’ll have more on GDC in due course. Meantime, get more info here.

Hullo all. Maybe you’ve been busy over Christmas. Maybe you’ve been sat around on your backside eating mince pies. Either way, if you haven’t been keeping up with PlayStation news, here’s a round up of stories.

December 22: Criterion Respond To Burnout Demo Criticism
We loved the Burnout Paradise demo released just before Christmas on the PlayStation Store, but a minority seemed to moan about design choices made by the development team. Well, Criterion stepped up and answered all the questions and replied to the criticism in a post on their site here.
[via Kotaku]

December 22: Heavenly Sword Patched
Ninja Theory’s title Heavenly Sword has had its first patch released – adding rumble support for the upcoming DualShock 3. Simply boot the game while connected to the PSN to receive the 18mb update.
[via PS3 Fanboy]

December 24: Resistance 2 Trademarked By SCEA
No surprises here really, just good to get some kind of confirmation. The name ‘Resistance 2’ has been trademarked by Sony Computer Entertainment America, confirming that a sequel to the PS3 launch hit title Resistance: Fall of Man is on its way.
[via PS3 Fanboy]

December 25: New Wipeout HD Screenshots
Some new Wipeout HD screenshots hit the internet on Christmas day over at Play France – check them out here (scroll to the bottom). The game will run in full 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second.

December 27: Devil May Cry 4 To Include PS3 Extras
Those anticipating the release of CapCom’s Devil May Cry 4 this year will be pleased to know that the PS3 version not only looks and plays fantastically (according to the 1UP Show) but it also includes a bunch of extra features. The latest issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reports that the PS3 version will include a 5.1 LPCM audio track, and an option to install data to the hard drive (5GB), which will remove load times. Also on the cards is some sort of PSN support – though exactly what has not been specified.
[via PSU]

December 29: Devil May Cry 4 Opening Cinematic Video
Here’s the opening cinematic video of upcoming CapCom title Devil May Cry 4…

[via Joystiq]

January 1st: New Yakuza 3 Japanese TV Spot
The developers of upcoming Sega exclusive Yakuza 3 celebrate the new year by releasing a new TV spot for the game – in Japanese, no less.

We are updating our links section early in the new year and would like to hear from all of you currently running blogs and websites that are PlayStation or technology/digital entertainment related (particularly those in the UK). Mail us at [email protected]. Thanks people.