By now you’ve probably read the full details of what you’ll get with UNCHARTED 3‘s upcoming multiplayer beta. Now, in our new video interview, Naughty Dog‘s top developers reveal just how deep this rabbit hole goes. At a glance, UNCHARTED 3′s most obvious multiplayer enhancement lies in its sweeping character customization options in the form of weapon loadouts, gun mods and a wide selection of ability-enhancing Boosters. You’ll be able to modify your character’s appearance in almost every way, whether you want to slap some aviators on Nathan Drake or cobble together a custom hero or villain from scratch. “There are hundreds and hundreds of parts and every part has a customizable color,” Game Director Justin Richmond tells us. “You can look the way you want to look. We want it to feel personal.”

“Personal” is a theme that permeates every yawning nook and cavernous cranny of UNCHARTED 3‘s redesigned multiplayer experience. Underneath the ultra-polished shooting mechanics and well-balanced arsenal of weapons lies a social media platform that is positively thrumming with potential. With UNCHARTED 3, community is finally a two-way street: You can tap into your Facebook friend list to recruit a Buddy, then fight by his side while earning rewards for coordinated kills — with a bonus for landing the obligatory post-kill high-five. Afterwards, you can upload your favorite video clips to Facebook and YouTube for sharing. Or, if you prefer, you can watch streaming community clips via UNCHARTED TV while you wait for the next match to begin.

You’ll get your hands on UNCHARTED 3‘s new multiplayer modes when the beta begins on June 28th for PlayStation Plus subscribers and owners of specially marked copies of inFAMOUS 2; full access follows on July 5th for all PSN users. Watch the video and read on for more excerpts from our interview with Game Director Justin Richmond and Game Designer Roger Cogburn. And chime in with any questions in the comments!

You’ve already contributed to UNCHARTED 3′s multiplayer mode by playing The Lab.

“We’ve been running The Lab sessions for UNCHARTED 2,” UNCHARTED 3 Game Director Justin Richmond explained, “and we used that feedback to help design UNCHARTED 3.” With The Lab, Naughty Dog‘s designers experimented with new modes using UNCHARTED 2′s sizeable multiplayer audience. “Plunder Pistols ended up being super popular,” Richmond said, “We knew it was fun internally, but being able to test it with the fans in The Lab verified that we thought was cool. We want to do even more of that with UNCHARTED 3. We have the ability to get feedback from the fans, and we want to maintain that dialog.”

UNCHARTED 3′s 3D technique paved the way for split-screen multiplayer support.

“There are a number of ways to implement 3D; some are more ‘fake’ than others,” Richmond explained. “We committed to using 3D early on, and we wanted to do it as real as possible because it allowed for splitscreen. 3D and splitscreen are kind of the same thing because the game is basically rendering each frame twice. As soon as we figured out how to do that with 3D, we knew we could handle splitscreen. Now, I am grossly oversimplifying that — the programmers would kill me for saying it was that easy! But basically, our 3D implementation allowed for splitscreen support.”

UNCHARTED 3′s splitscreen multiplayer enables dual PSN logins.
“You don’t have to be on some guest account,” Richmond said. “You and your friend can sit down in splitscreen and level up both of your characters. We support two different PSN ID logins.”

The dynamic multiplayer events were inspired by UNCHARTED 2.

“UNCHARTED 2‘s Trainwreck multiplayer level that had an event where a cargo train fell down and revealed an RPG,” Game Designer Robert Cogburn explained. “We were surprised by how that resonated with people, so with UNCHARTED 3 we decided to swing for the fences and go as epic as we can.” Every level includes some sort of dynamic event: Airstrip’s opening truck chase ends in a finale at the airport; Chateau’s spreading fire slowly consumes the central floor and reveals a new area and weapons.

You’ll collect random loot in order to unlock new gear.

Fallen foes will occasionally drop randomized Treasures, and you’ll want to collect every piece you find. “The Treasures add a bit of an RPG element,” Cogburn said. “Every Treasure piece has a varying level of scarcity, and they fit into sets. Once a set is fully completed, you’ll earn an item: a gun, a custom part, an emblem, and so on.” What’s more, if you’re battling with a buddy, he or she can run over and grab Treasure for you. “We can update the Treasures dynamically, too,” Cogburn teased, “so we can add more later if we want to.”

You’re no longer helpless while climbing.

Back in UNCHARTED 2′s multiplayer, climbing left you high and dry — especially if you encountered another enemy. “It came down to who could hit the ground first and get his gun out,” Richmond said. “It kind of sucked — you could only climb or drop down.” Not so with UNCHARTED 3. “Now it’s more like a chess match. Should I edge over and try to kick him? Should I drop? Should I climb? If I do, will the other guy pull me down? It adds an extra dimension to the combat.”

UNCHARTED TV support supports uploads and downloads for YouTube and Facebook.

Plenty of games enable you to capture multiplayer footage and show it to your friends, but UNCHARTED 3 is transforming its multiplayer component into a full-blown video publishing platform. “We can not only upload your video clips to YouTube and Facebook, we can stream videos into the engine,” Richmond said. That means you’ll be able to watch Clips of the Week and community clips while you wait for that next multiplayer level to start. “And we will constantly update that content,” Richmond promised.

UNCHARTED 3 will give high-level players much, much more do.

“With UNCHARTED 2, high-level players would hit a point where they didn’t have anything to spend money on,” Cogburn said. “UNCHARTED 3 is much deeper.” Boosters, which enhance player abilities, can now be leveled up with use. And if the competition gets really tough, you can even buy pricey-but-potent Paid Boosters to temporarily even the odds. “The ranking system plays into that because the higher your rank, the more Paid Boosters will appear. It’s a far more interesting ranking system than in UNCHARTED 2.”

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Last night, Sony Computer Entertainment issued the following press release:

SONY AND SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE FULL RESTORATION OF PLAYSTATION®NETWORK SERVICES Tokyo, May 31, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) announced today that Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will fully restore all PlayStation®Network services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia, excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea by the end of this week.

The company will also resume Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity™ for PlayStation®3 (PS3®), PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), VAIO and other PCs. Details for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as the remaining services on Qriocity will be announced as they become available.

The company implemented considerable security enhancements to the network infrastructure, as well as conducted testing of the payment process and commerce functions. The first phase of PlayStation Network and Qriocity restoration began on May 15 in the Americas and Europe/PAL territories, followed by Japan and Asian countries and regions on May 28, when the company brought partial services back online. With this partial restoration users were able to access to some of the services such as online game play, account management, friend lists and chat functionality were restored. The full restoration of PlayStation Network as well as part of services to become available on Qriocity will include:

• Full functionality on PlayStation®Store
• In-game commerce
• Ability to redeem vouchers and codes
• Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs
• Full functionality on Media Go

Customers will be able to purchase and download games and video content from the PlayStation®Store on PS3 or PSP. In addition, consumers will have full access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity through PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PC’s. Service restoration of Video on Demand powered by Qriocity™ and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for a variety of network-enabled Sony devices will be announced later.

“We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. “We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time.”

The company will be offering customers a “Welcome Back” package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network* and Qriocity account services. The details of this program will continue to be detailed regionally.

* Only available for those countries with access to PlayStation®Store.

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In part one of our look at the origins of the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter, we saw how the peripheral began life as a side project at Guerrilla. In the second part, we learn how the Guerrilla team received valuable help from their friends at Zipper Interactive.

Guerrilla’s proposal for a Move-based peripheral was sent to SCE Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida and the Sony Product Design group, who circulated it among other studios for input. The proposal met with very enthusiastic reactions. “When we saw the foam-board-and-duct-tape mockup, we were like ‘Cool, let’s make that!’” Sony Product Design Manager Ennin Huang recalls.

It wasn’t long before Guerrilla was contacted by developers from other shooters like SOCOM: SPECIAL FORCES, Time Crisis: Razing Storm and Dead Space: Extraction. Zipper Interactive Game Director Seth Luisi, who’d already been looking into a Move-based control scheme for SOCOM: SPECIAL FORCES, took a particular interest in the project. “Seth strongly felt that a gun peripheral could bring an additional level of immersion and realism to the table,” Guerrilla Game Director Mathijs de Jonge says. “Like Killzone 3, SOCOM: SPECIAL FORCES was still in its early stages, so the timing made sense for him as well.”

With each iteration, the design evolved away from the StA-11.

The Zipper team suggested several highly useful additions to the gun peripheral design. “For instance, they wanted players to be able to reload without taking their hands off the navigation controller,” Mathijs explains. “This could be solved by adding pump-action mechanism to the fore grip. Also, they noted that many tactical shooters, including SOCOM: SPECIAL FORCES, featured weapons with multiple modes of fire, which would require the inclusion of a fire selector switch.”

With basic shape and functionality hammered out, the gun peripheral entered the prototyping phase. “Every six weeks, a new plastic gun peripheral would arrive from China for us and the team at Zipper to comment on,” Guerrilla Lead Concept Designer (and resident weapons expert) Roy Postma says. “And with each iteration, you could see the design come into its own more. The style of the weapon became more neutral, less Killzone-specific.”

Early black prototypes of the Sharp Shooter were a little too realistic.

Enhancements included a more ergonomic angle for the fore grip, an adjustable and collapsible stock instead of the foldable one, and overall weight reductions to facilitate prolonged play. “Sadly, some features fell by the wayside during this process,” Roy says. “We originally wanted to have an ammo counter display above the stock, but it just proved too costly.”

The colour of the weapon changed too, evolving from the gunmetal grays of the original design, to a jet black version, to the more neutral grays of the final product. “From a legal and marketing perspective we had to impose some constraints,” Ennin says. “The black version looked very menacing, but it would have violated most countries’ gun laws.” Even the first grey prototypes proved difficult to get through customs, as Mathijs found after a demonstration at a conference.

Meanwhile, the teams at Guerrilla and Zipper experimented with Move control systems for their respective games, figuring out sensible settings for dead zone, aim assistance and controller sensitivity. “Initially we wanted to map a lot of in-game actions to player gestures as well,” Mathijs says, “but that turned out to interfere with player aim too much. So we restricted it to short, simple movements like thrusting the gun peripheral to perform a melee.”

The final production prototype in all its glory.

The gun peripheral went into full production in the run-up to Killzone 3‘s launch. Early hands-on reports of the device – now dubbed the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter – were almost unanimously positive, with many reporters expressing pleasant surprise at how solid and natural the peripheral felt during play.

“In terms of control methods, nothing feels more natural than the sheer simplicity of ‘Point, Aim, Shoot’”, Ennin says. Mathijs concurs: “The peripheral made Killzone 3 immediately accessible to people who had never played a Killzone title before. Some reporters even stated that they preferred to play Killzone 3 with the Sharp Shooter instead of the DualShock 3, because they felt more immersed. That was a huge compliment for us.”

But it wasn’t until the week before Killzone 3′s release that Mathijs realized his other goal for the Sharp Shooter had also been achieved. “I was watching the PlayStation commercial for Killzone 3 and the Sharp Shooter and I suddenly realized, you know what – Kevin Butler looks absolutely badass holding that thing! That’s when I knew we’d fully achieved what we set out to do.”

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As difficult it is for me to get my head around (especially as my new passport is still in the post) E3 2011 is only seven sleeps away. As you’ve come to expect, I’ll be there and PlayStation.Blog will be the place to get the breaking news and interviews from the show floor.

Last year, I wrote a series of posts going through the years and looking at the big announcement, and you can check them out again by clicking through the links below.

1995: The inaugural Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place a few months before the original PlayStation launched in Europe and America. It gave Western gamers their first glimpse at the console that set us on the road to where we are today.

1996: Two characters that epitomise the original PlayStation were both first seen in ’96. Crash Bandicoot and Lara Croft don’t have a lot in common, but they ushered in a bold new era in gaming.

1997: Not for the last time, Snake was the word hissing around everyone’s lips in 1997. The Metal Gear Solid trailer set a precedent for announcing your game with lavish, cinematic trailers.

1998: The Real Driving Simulator debuted in 1998, redefining how a driving game can look and feel. ’98 was a vintage year that also brought us the brilliant Silent Hill.

1999: Despite appearances from David Bowie and Aerosmith, PlayStation 2 was the star of E3 ’99. At the time, it was a breathtaking display of power from a console demonstrated with a real-time demo of Final Fantasy VIII.

2000: Once again, Solid Snake stole the show with the first reveal of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Such was the impact of that nine minute trailer, each screening drew huge queues as attendees returned for repeat viewings.

2001: For sheer breadth of quality games, 2001 is hard to top. Any show boasting Final Fantasy X, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and Grand Theft Auto III is bound to be remembered.

2002: The Getaway was debuted at E3 2002 and here’s a little known fact: there’s a pub on the corner of Great Marlborough Street, not far from the SCEE offices, called the Coach & Horses; one of The Getaway’s interiors is based on that very hostelry.

2003: You’d think that the unveiling of Gran Turismo 4 would have been enough to send everyone home excited, when Ken Kutaragi stepped on-stage holding the first PSP, all headlines were rewritten in a flash.

2004-05: E3 2004 was all about pocket-sized fun on PSP and grand brutality as God of War was revealed. In 2005, we were back with new hardware as PlayStation 3 was revealed and footage from Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots and Killzone 2 set mouths to drool mode.

2006-07: Naughty Dog has been creating PlayStation stars since 1996 and in 2007 they revealed their latest: Nathan Drake.

2008-09: A plethora of games announced for PS3, including LittleBigPlanet and God of War III, before PlayStation Move starred in 2010.

Which are your favourite E3 moments and what would you like to see announced a week from now?

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“Barcelona or Manchester United? If you’re a football fan then you no doubt have plans in place to watch the UEFA Champions League Final tonight and here’s hoping the game lives up to its potential as a spectacle. You’ll notice the PlayStation logos running alongside the pitch – that’s just one part of our sponsorship of the competition. Another part is the UEFA Champions Festival, this year held in London’s Hyde Park. I went along to take a look and shot this video while I was there:

On to the current questions about PlayStation Store, at this moment I have no updates to when it will go live but will let you know as soon as I do. Here’s your recap:”

PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

• White Knight Chronicles II Interview - We speak to the White Knight Chronicles II developer as its release draws close.
• DiRT 3 Is Out Now! - Check out this launch trailer to the off-road racer from Codemasters.
• PlayStation Network Maintenance Later Today - Planned PSN maintenance information.
• inFAMOUS 2: The Beast Is Coming - A stunning new inFamous 2 trailer, as if you weren’t excited enough.
• Win a Sony 3D TV With The Green Hornet - A competition to win a new 3D TV and copies of the film.
• White Knight Chronicles: Origins - We follow up with an interview around White Knight Chronicles: Origins, coming to PSP.
• God of War III: How To Make A Monster - See some stunning concept art from Kratos’ PS3 rampage.
• Watch Highlights Of The Prodigy’s Biggest Live Show Ever On VidZone For FREE + Win Blu-Ray Discs Of The Show - VidZone has secured exclusive footage from a famous Prodigy concert.
• The White Knight Returns From 8 June - We give the release dates for the upcoming White Knight Chronicles titles.
• Resistance 3 Release Date, Pre-Order Bonuses & Special Editions Revealed - Resistance 3 gets a release date and a brilliant range of special editions.
• Welcome Back To Online Gaming - See what event the community team is planning.
• Sharp Shooter Origins – Part One - The first part of a feature from Guerrilla Games detailing the development of the Sharp Shooter peripheral.

• Weekend Essentials 76 - Rally racer DiRT 3 roars back onto PS3 and we invite you to design your very own Portable ID in this week’s update of what’s hot in the world of PlayStation.
• VidZone’s perfect playlists - Make every occasion magnificent this summer with these musical recommendations from the VidZone team.
• 10 of the Best: Gaming heroes - We hail ten of the most heroic characters on PlayStation.
• Ask and win: FINAL FANTASY IV: The Complete Collection - Put your questions to the producer of FINAL FANTASY IV: The Complete Collection and you could win a PS one Classic from PlayStation Store. (UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands only)
• White Knight Chronicles II Preview - The story of Leonard and the colossal White Knight continues on PS3.

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