The last time I met Kazunori Yamauchi was in Dubai, where GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez made the jump from virtual to real life racing. He told me then that he had always believed that a driver trained in Gran Turismo could drive as fast as a real racing driver, so when I interviewed him again last week at E3, I was interested to hear if the same applies to Gran Turismo PSP.

Kazunori Yamauchi the father of Gran Turismo

“I think that GT PSP is an entry point into the series,” he said. “It can introduce people to Gran Turismo 5 where they can learn the skills needed to be a racing driver. It’s a similar flow to what you would see if you played the original Gran Turismo on PSone and worked your way up to GT5.”

Gran Turismo PSP was first announced at E3 in 2005, and Kazunori was happy to explain why there has been so long a wait.

“We’ve talked to lots of journalists on this subject,” he told me, “and the truth is that we announced GT PSP too early. Since then we’ve released Gran Turismo 4,Tourist Trophy, HD Concept and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. We can only apologise for keeping people waiting.”

Having played GT PSP, I’m impressed by how Polyphony Digital has managed to condense the Gran Turismo experience onto a handheld without compromise; I asked whether any of the game’s modes had been designed with portable play in mind.

“The entire game is designed for a portable device,” he replied. “But to go into more detail, goals will be completed in 15 and 30 minute increments, so you won’t be endurance racing like in previous games.”

I then asked what the name of the song is in the trailer, after Silent_Gig enquired in a previous post; he said he couldn’t remember but emailed me shortly after, telling me that the song in question is Fist of God by MSTRKRFT.

Moving on, I wanted to know how he managed to maintain his enthusiasm for increasing the level of realism of the Gran Turismo series. He told me that the expectations of his fans kept him going, as well as the visions that he wanted to present to them.

Our short interview ended there, and after a gruelling day of interviews, the father of Gran Turismo headed back to his hotel, as I did to mine. I wonder what he was driving…

Rate: (Average: 4.79 out of 5)

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Whilst out at E3 last week, Jeff from PlayStation.Blog.US managed to get some quality time with Zipper Interactive at the MAG booth for an in-depth demonstration of the epic 256-player shooter.

Here’s the 2nd in our “Virtual Booth Tour” series: MAG (click here for the guided tour of God of War III).

You’ve probably seen some quick demonstrations of MAG, but that’s not enough time to do this complex game justice. In this video, Zipper Interactive designer Ben Jones takes us through the flow of a massive 256-player battle.

Apologies for the audio pops – it was quite loud on the show floor!

We’ll have more video booth tours coming this week!

Rate: (Average: 4.60 out of 5)

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To make sure you didn’t miss any of the “must sees”, here’s a quick look back at some of our favourite trailers and photos we’ve posted this week from the show.

E3 Game Trailers

(To see more video, check out our Viddler page)

EyePet

Fat Princess

Gran Turismo PSP (mmMMMmm… shiny…)

Heavy Rain (more…)

Rate: (Average: 4.56 out of 5)

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God of War III has been one of the most popular titles on show here at E3, with players queuing up to swing the Chains of Olympus through the game’s opening level. I took a break from wanton decapitation to sit down with Adam Puhl, staff designer on the game.

Adam Puhl, staff designer of God of War III

“We’re finally getting the chance to show a playable version of God of War III at E3,” he told me, “which includes new weapons and abilities in a war between the Gods, the Titans and Kratos. We’re proud to be showcasing the new level of visceral combat in the game as well as the fantastic visuals.”

“We’re now able to show details such as Kratos’ muscles flexing in battle, his veins popping out and blood spraying across the battlefield and landing on his body, which really helps you feel more immersed in this world.”

When a lot of people saw the very first gameplay footage from the game, some claimed that it looked merely like ‘God of War II but with more pixels’; I asked Puhl how he would counter this argument.

“Well, there are a hell of a lot more pixels, that’s for sure,” he said, “but there’s a lot more than that. We’re revaluating the series and putting in a lot of the things that we have wanted since the first game. The Titan gameplay, for example, is incredible this time. In previous games you had glimpses of these enormous creatures that you were on top of, but this time it’s for real. You’re running on a living, moving creature and you have to react to that dynamic, and while people might say the gameplay feels the same, we wouldn’t want to reinvent the series and alienate people – you have to keep the essence of Kratos.”

God of War III isn’t the only game Kratos is appearing in at E3; he is also a playable character in Soulcalibur PSP, so I asked Puhl how involved he has been in this cameo.

“Myself and the guys from Santa Monica Studios worked with the Soul Calibur team and we found them to be fantastic – they had looked at Kratos’ character closely and he feels just right on Soulcalibur PSP. They even introduced some moves that even we hadn’t thought of, but suit him perfectly.”

God of War III is a single-player game, but I wondered if the team had ever considered experimenting with multiplayer.

“Personally, sure,” said Puhl. “I love multiplayer games and that stuff really excites me, but God of War is all about Kratos and if we threw another character in there it could become a distraction.”

It will also be the first time the series has featured Trophies, so I asked what Puhl thinks makes a good Trophy list.

“I like Trophies a lot, but they should feel right,” he replied. “It shouldn’t be like ‘you finished level one, here you go’. The play experience should be rewarding in itself, and Trophies should be another layer of reward for a particularly tricky task, such as ripping 20 civilians apart in a row. They should be a reason to go back and experiment with the game.”

So there you have it, I hope this gives you some indication of how the game is coming along and gets you excited about its March 2010 release. I know you guys love Trophies and I thought Puhl’s views on them were really interesting. Which Trophies would you like to see in God of War III? The development team may even be reading this…

Rate: (Average: 4.33 out of 5)

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A lot of you have been asking for more information on the VidZone music video application in the comments section, so I met up with Lou Jackson and Michael Russo from VidZone to answer some of your questions.

VidZone, which will be available free from PlayStation Store on June 11, provides unlimited access to thousands of streaming music videos and the ability to create unlimited playlists, all on your PS3.

Here at E3 they’ve been showing a promotional video featuring Kasabian and Dizzee Rascal, so I asked whether we would also be able to access interviews and live performances.

“VidZone is partnered with a production company that provides us with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes music video features and live gig footage, and that’s going to be in place at launch,” replied Jackson. “PS3 owners will be able to watch an interview with Kasabian, as well as an exclusive live performance of Processed Beats, which was recorded in London and has a phenomenal vibe.”

“The PlayStation community is one of the most important parts of VidZone’s evolution and we’ll be listening to them and finding out which artists they’d like to see. Actually, we’re trying to choose an act for a live performance this summer and we’d love people to use the comments section of this post to tell us who we should try to get.”

I then asked how many videos will be available at launch. (more…)

Rate: (Average: 4.22 out of 5)

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