On Friday and Monday we posted preview videos of ‘From The Ashes’, the third DLC map pack for Killzone 3. Consisting of two new maps and two re-imagined Killzone 2 ‘retro’ maps, “From The Ashes” will hit the PlayStation Store tomorrow for just €4.99\£3.99.

If you’re still on the fence about ‘From The Ashes’, check out this ass-kicking montage that shows all four maps in glorious action:

But that’s not all! Newcomers to Killzone 3 will be interested to learn that we’re also releasing a DLC Bundle Pack including the Retro Pack, the Steel Rain Pack and the From The Ashes Pack – eight maps total – for just €9.99\£7.99. There’s never been a better time to join Killzone 3′s online multiplayer arena, so grab a map pack and jump in!

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In my 20 years in the industry, I have never had an experience like the one working on this project. First off, I spent the majority of last year living in Japan and working on-site with Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. It was a great experience living in Tokyo and working alongside the team – Grasshopper Manufacture has a great team of staff.

Yikes! That is one giant demon, and he’s carrying a big stick, err tree.

The concept of light and dark as a metaphor for good and evil is an old one, but the Light and Dark gameplay in Shadows of the Damned takes it to a whole new level. It is less literal, but rather metaphorical, in the pain and torment that is caused to our hero. As for gameplay, the player should not take the approach of “shoot anything that moves”. Each environment and enemy will require a thoughtful approach in order to progress.

Garcia’s weapon named “Johnson” transforms into a long but lethal canon style weapon called the “Big Boner”.

Usually, darkness is lethal to the player, but sometimes may be required in order to expose an enemy’s weakness. Each situation is different and the player must build upon the earlier concepts encountered in order to defeat the tougher enemies deeper in the game. Shadows of the Damned is the thinking man’s shooter.

Here is the Big Boner in action. Easily dispatching a giant demon.

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Hitman: Absolution was one of the most talked about games at E3 earlier this month after an impressive behind closed doors showing and the release of this atmospheric trailer. There is still plenty of mystery around Agent 47′s upcoming mission so I recently caught up with Tore Blystad, game director and Christian Eleverdam, gamplay director at IO Interactive to get some further intel.

How does it feel to be bringing Hitman back after such a long time away?

TB: It feels super great. Part of time was spent building a brand new engine from scratch. We looked at all the previous Hitman titles and said, “Okay, there’s a lot of DNA here, what do we want to improve?” We looked at everything, from Agent 47 himself – how does he move? what can he do? – to the AI. We had quite a few binary reactions in the old games, where if you got discovered it turned into a bit of a clumsy combat situation. We wanted to widen that a lot. Obviously we still have a lot of stealth elements in the game.

Let’s say you get discovered by a police officer. He won’t immediately try to shoot you, he’ll attempt to arrest you. This means that in Hitman: Absolution we have a bit of rubber-banding, a bit of leeway to try things out. You can back away, find a dark corner or try to disarm him.

We created a lot of different scenarios. So for example there’s a kind of hippies’ apartment which Agent 47 enters disguised as a police officer. These guys don’t like cops, so this disguise is not a good idea in there. But they won’t just attack you without warning. They’ll want to know why you’re there and warn you off. Of course, they might try to attack you, but that’s probably not going to end well for them.

Now, if you go in there dressed as Agent 47, they probably would allow you to be there, even though you’re trespassing and would arouse suspicion. There’s a lot for us to play around with.

So a lot of the experience will depend on you reacting to what’s going on around you?

CE: Yes, you need to play with your eyes open. Disguises play a big part here to alter how the game pans out in front of you. A lot of the disguises have their own attributes, and the Instinct system ties in there too. Instinct allows you to see potential challenges in real time. If you’re disguised and it’s cop versus cop then you can try to bluff them and sneak away to save ammo.
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Last week we posted preview videos of the first two maps from “From The Ashes”, the third DLC pack for Killzone 3. Today we’re offering preview videos of the other two maps included with the pack: Tharsis Depot and Radec Academy. If these names sound familiar, it’s because they’re re-imagined and revamped versions of the beloved Killzone 2 maps.

The first preview video features Tharsis Depot, a Guerrilla Warfare map for 16 Players based on the Killzone 2 classic. After incurring damage during the ISA invasion of Helghan, the depot has been converted to process nuclear Petrusite. The Helghast made extensive use of jetpacks to facilitate the reconstruction process, but the harsh conditions resulting from the damage still made it a grueling endeavor. The ISA have locked their sights on Tharsis Depot now that it’s back in full-scale production, and this time they intend to finish the job they started.

To give you a sense of what’s changed, this video shows comparisons of the original and the new version:

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I am very excited to be introducing ][ Game’s first PlayStation Network game: Dyad.

Dyad is an abstract racing game that has influences in many genres including racing games, fighting games, puzzle games and classic arcade shooters.

Dyad does away with the traditional racing game mechanics of break and accelerate and replaces them with puzzle-like mechanics. You must interact with your enemies in unique and varying ways in order to gain speed.

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