Greetings! My name is John Kearney and I work as Art Director at VooFoo.
Just over 18 months ago, Hustle Kings was released on PSN. Since launch, 1.4 million online games have been played with over 14.8 million very shiny balls potted (imagine those numbers if we could include offline games)! During that time, we have been busy developing Hustle Kings for PlayStation Vita, in addition to providing regular updates and DLC for the PS3 version.
A thriving community helped guide our direction and allowed us to make significant improvements. We created the hugely popular snooker add-on, free crazy tables, new trick shots, ball-sets, cues and avatars. We also provided support for Move and stereoscopic 3D.
As a massive fan of late night games, it’s a privilege for me to confirm the inclusion of Hustle Kings in the upcoming PS3 title ‘After Hours Athletes‘. Created in association with PUMA Social, we recognise that the After Hours Athletes fuel themselves on late night falafel rather than energy drinks and half time oranges.
If that isn’t enough to satisfy your hustle needs, you’ll be pleased to know that Hustle Kings will be available for Vita at launch. Visually, it’s virtually identical to the PS3 version due to the fact that we are able to use exactly the same environments, pool tables and textures. The transition couldn’t have gone any better and the Vita version boasts many specific improvements.
Cross-Play is fully supported and you can even play asynchronously against multiple friends that have got themselves a copy of After Hours Athletes. Career mode has been redesigned and rebalanced. Tricky long shots can be lined-up by using zoom functionality on the back touch-screen. The gyroscope provides a very natural view of the table while in ‘Ball-Cam’ to ensure your angles are spot on. Every part of the UI has been redesigned to look better, allow easier navigation and generally provide a slicker experience. Brand new control mechanisms allow the use of Vita’s responsive touch-screen for adjusting your aim, chalking your cue or taking a shot. If you’re an old-school player and prefer to use the dual analogue sticks, you’ll be glad to know we support that too.
With more features and improvements than I’m able to list here, I’ll finish up by saying we’re incredibly excited by it all and hope that you are too! After Hours Athletes will be available in November with every single piece of Hustle Kings downloadable content included in the box.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like to keep up-to-date with the latest news for Hustle Kings on Vita, but until next time, After Hours Athletes… we salute you!
18 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 1:34 pm by kivi95
Just a quesion about the vita version.
Will it be a psn game or retail game?
2
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 1:37 pm by kool-chris93
Fantastic idea to fuse them together!
3
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 1:55 pm by Carl-G
Hustle Kings is the best Pool game ever
(even beating my best Pool game ever that was ‘V.Pool 64′ on the N64)
4
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 2:21 pm by GhostViper
I love this game. Often play with my friend online. One of my favorites PSN games.
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 4:22 pm by James Gallagher
Mine too – if I could see a table of which games I have played the most, HK will be up there with FIFA!
5
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 2:32 pm by X201
Waves at VooFoo from the other end of The Birmingham New Road.
6
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 3:38 pm by DNAtlantic
@kivi95 It’s going to be on the PSN Store. The Vita doesn’t have a UMD slot for retail games.
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 3:48 pm by James Gallagher
This is correct; however, some of the larger games, in terms of file size, will be available in physical stores pre-installed on a game card, as well as being available for download. Hustle Kings is one of the games that will be download-only, just like the PS3 version when it released.
7
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 4:12 pm by kivi95
Okey thanks for that
, then it will probably be a buy.
8
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 4:12 pm by Skookie30
Ahh Yes sony You coward delete my [DELETED] POST I SCREEN SHOT MY POSTS NOW GIT.
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 4:20 pm by James Gallagher
Please try and stay on topic and refrain from using insulting language to avoid your comments being picked up by the moderators. Many thanks.
9
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 5:04 pm by Project2insanity
@ Skookie: I’m not going to get into a debate ’cause it’s far off topic so this is all I’ll post, but didn’t you ever think the game cases with vouchers were a waste? Sure it may be cheaper now for Sony but doesn’t it also benefit the environment?
Two more things, there are T’s & C’s for using the site. If you didn’t read them, welcome to the internet. Also, this isn’t the right place to vent your frustration so remain calm (and place both hands on the vehicle). No disrespect but you’re not a revolutionary posting on the blog.
10
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 5:29 pm by Shin-Ra
Great to hear about the UI improvements and the two new Vita shots are looking nice with the 4xMSAA.
11
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 6:49 pm by GRB20
I’m sorry about this but the AI in Hustle Kings is just frustrating even on easy, makes the game unplayable. I do enjoy the game but career mode is a joke. Hopefully a update is coming.
12
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 7:09 pm by FrostScythe1
Hustle kings is a great game looking forward to playing on the vita should be great!
13
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 7:49 pm by InsomniacMind
I agree with #11. I love the game, but it’s frustrating. It’s not just about the computer scoring a point. It’s that it scores without a human factor: no thinking, no hesitation and more often than not: no error.
14
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 10:15 pm by honey24muncher
im having amoan here, im getting pee’d off, come to expect fallout lonesome road to be available, and its not on psn yet! sort it out because im thinking of buying a 360 now, they got everything dismorning, above a joke!
15
Posted on 20 September, 2011 at 11:06 pm by Clxmj
^ go and buy a 360 then, because spending £200 plus another copy of Fallout sounds like a fantastic idea..
16
Posted on 21 September, 2011 at 2:20 am by XxDARKxxMIDASxX
It’s a shame that the name doesn’t befit the game!
It’s almost like one of those mistranslations from Japanese into English which doesn’t make much sense.
I love HK and will be interested to see what this turns out like. People really praised Battlefield 1943 for it’s raising of the bar, and I think Hustle Kings deserves similar praise. You blew even the similar full-priced retail games out of the water. Well done!
17
Posted on 21 September, 2011 at 2:55 am by Devils_Demon
I agree with the complaints about the career. HK is a brilliant pool/snooker game but the AI is extremely unfair. It doesn’t take the shots that a regular human would take. The AI can pot a ball from anywhere no matter how ‘far fetched’ the shot is. I snookered the AI behind the black and I assumed he would take the easy and safe option of hitting one cushion to hit an easy red but no, instead he hits the cueball full force, sends it around 3 cushions and pots a red.
I still haven’t managed to beat the career. I think it’s only possible if the AI breaks off and then you make a frame winning big break so he can’t get another shot.
18
Posted on 21 September, 2011 at 10:21 pm by AssassinNinzo
I have to say Hustle Kings is my favourite Pool game, l like Inferno Pool as well but if l had to pick between the two it would be Hustle Kings definitely!
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