Hi it’s Jan Kuczynski here, SCEE producer for Datura. I’m happy to let you know that Datura will available to download exclusively from PSN on 9th May in Europe, and I thought I’d give you a few more details on this uniquely atmospheric title.

In the opening sequence of Datura is a quote from Dante’s Divine Comedy:

“In the middle of our life’s walk I found myself in a dark wood for the straight road was lost.”

I think it sums up nicely what Datura is all about. You’ll find yourself lost in a strange forest where the lines of morality become blurred and nothing is black and white. In the world of Datura you will find yourself placed in a variety of scenarios which will require you to make a quick judgement call.

What you choose will determine how the scenario plays out and will have subtle effects on the overall experience. Once you finish, it’s great to discuss with friends what road they took and how that changed what they saw.

As you can see, Datura isn’t your average game and it will be no surprise for you to hear that it comes from our Santa Monica Studio who have a great pedigree for coming out with games that push barriers to offer gamers something new. The studio is now as well known for unique gems such as PixelJunk 4am and Escape Plan as for mega blockbusters such as the God of War series.

Datura is a collaboration with Polish developer Plastic who previously released the interactive art experience Linger in Shadows for the PS3. One of their goals with Datura was to use the PlayStation Move motion controller in interesting ways to add an extra level of immersion. Don’t worry if you don’t have a PS Move though – you can also use DualShock. I also should mention that if you’re lucky enough to have a 3D TV make sure you try Datura with 3D switched on – it looks absolutely stunning.

Datura is out tomorrow priced at €7.99/£6.49 and is a great addition to your PS Move compatible library. Oh and if you’re signed up to PlayStation Plus you’ll get an extra special 20% discount for a limited period.

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Hi all! Just a quick reminder that No Heroes Allowed! goes on sale on PSN today priced at £9.99/€12.99. To celebrate, we’ve also got a new trailer which I’ve uploaded below.

And here’s something for fans of the series – below are just a few of the new monster and hero types you’ll find in No Heroes Allowed! There are loads more mutations and rare breeds this time bringing the total amount of monsters well over the 200 mark. You’ll also notice Badmella, daughter of Badman and heiress to the Underworld – she plays a big role in this game (if only mostly to complain about the lack of mobile reception in the dungeon )

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Jan Kuczynski here, European producer for No Heroes Allowed! We announced this game back at gamescom and I’m here today to give you some more nuggets of info.

Now, some of you might have had a sense of déjà-vu when you saw the Gamescom trailer and screenshots. Well you’re not going crazy – this is actually the third game in a series – prequels What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?! and What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord?! 2 were released in Europe by our good friends at NIS and Tecmo Koei. Why the name change? Well there’s only so much space on the title screen and what can I say – I’m a lazy typist…

For those of you who haven’t played the previous games – where have you been? You’re missing out on one of the most unique strategy games on the PSP which has you digging out a dungeon full of monsters to defend the overlord of the underworld, Badman, from the disgusting goody-two-shoe heroes that seem intent to capture him and thwart his evil plans of world domination. How rude.

I did ask Badman himself to come and say a few words, but unfortunately he’s booked in for a pedicure… But don’t worry – I managed to get hold of the game’s director to give us some insider info.

Hi, my name’s Haruyuki Ohashi of Acquire Corp. and I worked as director on No Heroes Allowed.

With the third game in the ‘Badman’ trilogy we had two goals. Firstly, we wanted to add new features to make the game more fun. Secondly we wanted to make the game more accessible to a larger number of players.

On the gameplay side, we added water and water-based life forms. We’ve also added a bunch of new pickaxes to choose from, from the Snoozerator to the Snacker Whacker – each with its own weird and wonderful special power. These new features add a new strategic dimension to the game and allow you to come up with your own unique play style.

Something else we’ve worked on is the difficulty level. We had mixed feedback from fans regarding the difficulty of the last two games – some relished the challenge of the fiendish difficulty while others found it a bit too intense. This time we have three difficulty levels (n00b, Meh and l33t) so there’s a level of challenge for everyone.

Oh, and I nearly forgot the two-player mode! For the first time in the series you can team up and go dungeoneering with a friend using ad-hoc mode. It’s a whole new twist on the gameplay.

Now, it may seem at first glance that the main aim of the game is to defeat the pesky heroes who try to invade your dungeon. But actually, the underlying concept is about creating a “biotope”. To succeed, you need to create a healthy ecosystem by maintaining the right balance of monsters to support the dungeon food chain. Once you’ve done that, you have to make sure the delicate ecological balance isn’t disrupted by those annoying heroes.

In other words, it’s much like the real-life struggle between nature and human advancement – how we as humans are damaging the environment we live in. If everyone who plays our game reflects a little on this, the world will become a better place to live in. Well, that was our hope when we created this game.

So it’s nearly time for Badman to be unleashed on the world yet again. It’s up to you to use your judgment and skill to carve out a dungeon and help Badman and his minions in their goal of world domination. Consider it your duty!

As Badman would say, “May the world know no peace!”

Well that’s all for now but stay tuned for some more No Heroes Allowed! news very soon.

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