A much cherished occurrence here at Fatshark is our designated “brainstorming day” when we divide all the employees into groups, each tasked for the day with coming up with a game pitch for a self owned IP. At the end of the day, the pitches are presented to the rest of the company. In the glorious chaos of creativity, strong willed minds butting heads and colourful ideas, there’s bound to be some good stuff emerging.

(more…)

Score:

• 14 Comments 4 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Today sees the launch of the Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 demo on PSN. Hooray! And what better way to celebrate than to give away five redeem codes. More on that in a bit. First, a refresher on why you need Bionic Commando back in your life.

Bionic Commando is old skool; much more so even than Happy Shopper. And so too is Bionic Commando Rearmed 2. Kind of. As with the first PSN remake of the 2D classic it’s been recreated in pseudo 3D (for maximum high def pretty) but remains faithful to the original in all its side scrolling glory. And you still use the bionic arm to traverse progressively trickier levels while shooting bad guys in the face with loads of different weapons but, well, I won’t lie. Bionic Commando Rearmed has changed.

You can now jump.

I know, I know. Really, I know. It’s wrong, and I get that. I really do. But not having the jump was so HARD. People really struggled with that, so we gave Spencer a jump. It’s just a little one, and it’s possible to complete the entire game without it. And you can turn it off. The thing is, it’s fun. Fun! I know! In a videogame!

We’ve also made it possible to play the game in co-op with a friend (on the same console). And we’ve introduced a perks system of sorts – as you explore some of the more hard to reach places in BCR2 you’ll come across abilities that change the way you play, from grenades to health regenerators to upgrades to your arm that turn it into an awesome punching machine. And while these upgrades don’t make things significantly easier, they do make the game obscenely entertaining even when you’re returning to a level on your third run through as you look for that final secret collectable.

This is the best Bionic Commando has ever been. It’s the most accessible, has the deepest gameplay, is the prettiest and offers the most reason to come back to it again and again.

To celebrate the launch of the demo we’re giving away five redeem codes on our twitter feed, @capcomeuro. Head on over to be in with a chance of winning. And if you don’t win, why not check out the demo, available today on the PSN Store.

Score:

• 16 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Howdy Pardners!

My name is Martin Wahlund and I’m the Executive Producer at Fatshark, an independent development studio based is Stockholm, Sweden.

I am going to tell you a bit about Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West; a fast paced and team based multiplayer shooter releasing this Thursday on PSN.

The game features 6 multiplayer maps, 5 multiplayer game modes, 4 Professions and a single player practice mode.

So what does Lead and Gold play like?

Many comparisons have been made (by people watching previews) to Team Fortress 2 which is understandable due to the similarity in genre. Although we do love TF2, we are very confident that the gameplay and feel of LnG has an identity all of its own.

The matches are 5v5 affairs and game mechanics, game modes and maps have all been designed with one common goal: Teamplay. Let me give you some examples:

• Player characters have aura buffs, we call them synergies, that strengthens your gangmates if they stay in your vicinity. This is a simple but effective way to encourage players to work together.
• We have an experience system rewarding actions that actually helps the team like carrying mission objective items and reviving gangmates. The experience system is non-persistent so everyone starts a new round on equal terms.
• Yes, you can revive fallen comrades. Before death, players are usually left in a knocked down state from which they can be revived by a gangmate. This is yet another incentive to hang around your mates.
• Game mode objectives generally require cooperation. Carrying a heavy sack of gold or a keg filled with gunpowder makes you quite an easy target unless you have back up.

(more…)

Score:

• 53 Comments 13 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook