On top of that PlayStation Move is now part of the inFAMOUS world:

That’s right! You can play inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood with Move… and coming next week you will be able to play inFAMOUS 2 with Move as well via a free update. So check out the video and have a freaktastic Happy Halloween.

Stay tuned to infamousthegame.com and join our forums on SuckerPunch.com for future updates on inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood. Also follow us on Twitter, @SuckerPunchProd, and check out our Facebook Page.

Hey all, it’s Brian Fleming from Sucker Punch. It’s been a long time since my last PlayStation Blog post, and today’s entry is a little different… I’ll start with the marketing facts (inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood available today!!!! €9.99/£7.99!! 20% discount if you are a PlayStation Plus member!!!)

But really, I thought I’d give you a little insight into why and how we ended up making a vampire based spin-off of inFamous.

For us, we’d been working for two projects and 5+ years on the main storyline of inFamous. We wanted the DLC to be a chance to take all that work (art and technology) and do something fun and different for players.

We knew we couldn’t just release some more missions or a skin pack, so we took a bunch of pitches from all the departments here at the studio for what we might do… We wanted something that fit our game, would be fun to work on, and ideally would be unexpected, too.

One of the strong pitches we got was originally called “Vampire City” (a play on “Empire City” from inFamous 1). The pitch was that Zeke was trying to impress a girl with a tall tale about Cole, Vampires, and the origins of Pyre Night. There was a lot to like about this pitch, some important ones were: finally getting to add flying to inFamous, the strong “Pyre Night” set dressing we could add to New Marais, a solid supernatural basis for new powers, and of course having a launch date in the days before Halloween didn’t hurt either. So it was decided, and work began!

About the same time, we had some promising PlayStation Move prototypes running… We’d initially thought we would use move to support UGC authors–but as we progressed, we became convinced we could make the game fully playable with Move. So Move shifted to become a core gameplay feature, and our UGC team decided to tackle our next big wishlist item – “speech bubble” cutscenes. Like making narrative missions? Now you get set-up camera shots and add speech bubbles to characters!

So that’s the story behind “Festival of Blood”… We all hope you enjoy this little ‘what if’ detour in the inFamous universe… From all of us at Sucker Punch, Happy Halloween!!

P.S. I can also confirm the new cutscene tool and PlayStation Move support will appear in the main inFamous 2 game any day now!

Chris Zimmerman – Director of Development, Co-Founder
When I was growing up, my favourite superhero was the Flash. I was a DC kid, and all the other DC superheroes were pretty boring as far as my ten-year-old self was concerned. Superman? Boring. Batman? This was the 70s, which was about ten years before Frank Miller made Batman cool. For me, Batman was Adam West, and even at ten, I didn’t think Adam West was cool. And don’t even get me started on Aquaman.

The Flash, on the other hand, I loved. I think I loved him because he had to be clever to win. It wasn’t just a matter of using his super breath, or firing up a magic ring that could do just about anything. He actually needed to think his way through things, to figure out ways to use his super-speed to get things done. I liked being surprised by what he came up with.

Bob Mowery – QA Lead
Magneto. I realize that choosing a villainous character may somewhat violate the spirit of the question, but let me explain. As a child, my favourite superheroes were solely based on a suite of powers. Green Lantern would probably top my childhood list as he could do just about anything with that ring. The older I get, the more interested I become in the fallibility of heroes and their more “human” characteristics. Magneto’s history is quite profound, being a holocaust survivor. This tortured past guides his character to great lengths. Magneto constantly wrestles with the question “what does it mean to be a member of a hated minority”? His past informs him that this means captivity, torture, and death. As a powerful member of the mutant minority, Magneto takes it upon himself to use his powers to fight for that minority. Magneto is a heroic character, but not to the greater power-lacking populace. Magneto fights for mutant-kind much like the United States fights for democracy around the world. His assistance and methods are often not welcome, but he fights passionately for his mutant brethren in the way he sees fit. I must also shamefully admit that the influence of my childhood is not completely absent from this equation. I still think it would be awesome to rip a building from its foundations, use its girders to tie up someone, and send bullets back to their source with an unnecessary wave of my hand. Parting the Red Sea that is Seattle gridlock would just be an added bonus.

Billy Harper – Animation Director
Any one that knows me, and probably those who’ve seen me talk about inFAMOUS 2 on the internet, know that I think Spider-Man is the best superhero ever. I’ve felt that way since I was a little kid and would try to get spiders to bite me so I could climb walls. However, it didn’t stop there. As I grew up, I continued to find reasons that I liked him that fit with my age and life.

Originally, I liked him because he had the coolest toys and was on one of my favourite shows, The Electric Company. As I got older, I liked him because his powers somehow seemed “accessible” and had inherit weaknesses that sometimes tested his REAL courage because he had to deal with things that his powers couldn’t really help with. I also liked the fact that he still remained true to himself after becoming a hero. He was still a geek. He still used his brain to solve problems. Plus, at the end of the day, he had to figure out how to live a real life. He had to make rent. He had to go to class. Now, as an animator he’s great because his motions are so interesting and difficult to flesh out in my head. It really challenges me to think about how he moves through the world and what exactly he would do and how he’d do it.

Plus, he always has the coolest theme songs!

Darren Bridges – Game Designer
Daredevil. If you asked me five years ago, it probably would have been Spider-Man or Batman or Green Lantern or someone cool. Acrobatics, radar-vision, and “willingness to deal with lots of pain” are definitely not the coolest super-powers in the world. So why the ‘Devil? I read a lot of graphic novels, and a few years ago I got hooked on a Daredevil storyline by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Like lots of Marvel heroes, Daredevil gets dragged through a horrible mess… his identity is exposed, his life starts to crumble, and he and his friends all suffer. He’s pushed so far that he starts to skim the edge of what is acceptable for a hero, defeating the crime lord of his district and declaring himself the “New Kingpin”. Daredevil encompasses my favourite aspect of superheroes – that they are human people with super powers. They are powerful but still vulnerable; they are aspirational but still relatable.

Rebecca Mayfield – QA Lead
Batman will always be my favourite. He is a complex character that I can identify with in some way or another… minus the super-awesome gadgets, of course. The closest I can get to a utility belt packed with Batarangs and Thermite Grenades is my cell phone. But that’s beside the point. Batman is the whole superhero package.

He is human through and through. He bleeds and feels pain. He can experience great happiness one day, and feel the sink hole of loss the next. Yet he is super human, possessing things that allow him to surpass the restraints that we are bound to. This was something I always admired as a kid. Batman is such a powerful figure because of what he has enabled himself to do, but he is also like me in the sense that he can be hurt by a car accident, or a scraped knee. He gave me hope that I could achieve more than I thought was possible by just trying my best. He shows us that even someone who is ordinary can be extraordinary.

Hey guys, hope you are having a great holiday break. 2010 was a huge year starting with the amazing response to our announcement at E3 to the sharing of Cole’s comic book inspirations at Comic Con. Whether it’s exciting new powers, gruesome new enemies, or a new comic book, there’s a lot in store for our hero/villain Cole MacGrath.

We’re busy working on making inFAMOUS 2 the best action game experience we possibly can, and we’ll have more to share in the New Year, including some big announcements. What will Cole’s powers be? How will your choices affect the game? What lies unseen in the city of New Marais? Your questions will be answered in 2011.

Until then, check out the holiday issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine where you can get more details on inFAMOUS 2 and soak in some new images from the game.

We’ll have more updates soon — thanks for your support!!

Panels are typically the highlights of Comic-Con, but truth be told, they’re a bit of a pain in the arse. You end up waiting in a long line (sometimes for hours), fight for good seats with people who are squatting for the Vampire Chick Lit panel happening like 2 days later in the same room, and endure one or more of the following: difficult lighting/audio issues/off-topic Q&As.

Wouldn’t it be easier if all the good stuff was cut down into, say, 7 minutes and 53 seconds?

In this highlight reel of the inFAMOUS 2 Comic-Con panel, the Sucker Punch team talks about the creation of Cole and the changes he’s gone through since the first inFAMOUS (including his voice), how New Orleans is an influence on inFAMOUS 2’s setting of New Marais, and, the all important question of why Cole can’t climb chain link fences:

And round of applause for IGN’s Greg Miller – huge inFAMOUS fan and panel host extraordinaire. Nice job moderating, Greg.

In August we launched the rather popular inFamous comic book competition, letting you complete a short story starring the game’s electric protagonist, Cole MacGrath, using your own comic book style artwork and words.

inFamous developer, Sucker Punch, chose the winners from all your heroic efforts, and now you can see those winning entries right here. Although we can’t publish all the comics we received for the competition, there was a fantastic level of entries and you all should be proud for the great effort put in.

Don’t forget that inFamous will also be joining the prestigious Platinum range on PlayStation 3 from November 13, 2009 – meaning you’ll be able to enjoy being naughty or nice without fear of repercussions from Santa during the holiday season…

Want to win some fantastic inFamous related prizes? Do you have a creative streak you’re just dying to show off to the world? Well PlayStation.com has the perfect thing for you…

The inFamous comic book competition puts you in the shoes of the game’s protagonist, Cole McGrath, and asks you – what type of hero do you want to be? Cole is placed in a deadly moral scenario which only you can solve by using your own artwork and words to create your own conclusion to his comic book story. Your comic will be judged by the development team behind inFamous, Sucker Punch.

Prizes up for grabs include a special edition of inFamous on PLAYSTATION 3, an inFamous artwork book, and signed artwork provided by Sucker Punch, including the chance to see your comic book entry professionally printed and signed by the team.

Visit PlayStation.com for full details and to enter and be sure to read the full terms and conditions before entering.

Get those creative juices flowing and good luck!

Well, PlayStation Czech Republic & Slovakia must have had a shortage of freak accidents lately, because they’ve taken the second option. Together with a helpful transport company, they took this beast of a machine and turned it into a bad-ass cruiser based on the smash hit PLAYSTATION3 adventure inFamous.

Featuring a rather slick pic of the game’s twisted hero Cole MacGrath standing in front of a half-destroyed Empire City, the truck has recently been hitting the highways in Slovakia and the Czech Republic – and there are plans for it to head to western Europe later this summer, so keep your eyes peeled!

Firstly, the magnificent Killzone 2 Visari Throne Room will be available from the Shopping Centre as of tomorrow morning. To celebrate the launch of this great personal space, we’re giving you the chance to get hold of an exclusive Killzone 2 PS Home Reward – the Visari plant & container. This exclusive item will look great in your new Visari Palace Throne Room, (or Harbour Studio at a push…) just bear in mind it takes up quite a lot of space…!

The Visari plant and container PS Home Reward

To get hold of this rare item simply keep an eye on the EU blog over the next couple of days. We will publish a promotion code, as a comment within this article, which you will need to redeem; (T’s & C’s apply – click here) but you’ll have to be quick; the promotion code will be valid for one week only!

Update: The promotion code is now in the comments below as promised, but it’s becoming rather tricky to find it! So, to make things simpler, here it is, to save you hunting through lots of comment pages:

J7BH-C4BR-2RTN.

To redeem the code, go into the PlayStation Store and select the [Redeem Codes] icon from the [Store Top], then just follow the onscreen instructions – the plant will be in your inventory when you log back into PS Home.

In addition to the Visari Throne Room, this week you will also be able to get your hands on an exclusive Helghast Tacticians outfit (for both male and female avatars), some fantastic Killzone t-shirts, as well as a variety of furniture items to kit out the Visari Throne Room – check out the screenshots below.

There will also be a second limited edition promotion code available on Killzone.com which will unlock another exclusive item for the Visari Throne Room. I won’t give too much away here, however be sure to keep an eye out Killzone.com, since no Visari Palace would be complete without one of these rare items…

In addition to the Killzone news above, you’ll be very pleased to hear that we also have the SOCOM Tactical Operations Centre launching in the SCEE region tomorrow. Great for all you SOCOM fans, check out the post here for more info on this new space.

And last, (but by no means least!) we will also be launching the fantastic inFamous ‘Abandoned Docks of Empire City’ space tomorrow morning (including the great Reaper Shock mini-game). Here’s what SCEA’s blog team had to say about this great new addition:

“The Abandoned Docks of Empire City marks a first for Home in that it will broadcast exclusive media developed by Sucker Punch specifically for the hardcore inFamous fans. We also managed to squeeze a mini-game into the space – a scrolling shooter-type button masher called Reaper Shock that lets the community compete for high scores on the built-in global leaderboard (and rewards the most highly-skilled with some rad reward items to decorate your avatar and your personal space with).”

I’ll be around for a while so if you have any questions about any of the above, blog away – otherwise, be sure to keep an eye out for that Killzone promo code

Best
Elliott / iELL

inFamous is already gathering heroic reviews (Spong – 92%, IGN- 9/10, NZGamer – 95/100) but if you want to experience Cole’s devastating powers for yourself, download the inFamous demo from the PlayStation Store or check out the inFamous web game and interactive video at www.infamousthegame.com.

For the moment, just sit back and enjoy the array of inFamous videos and screenshots we’ve compiled for your viewing pleasure – our best picks are below, but there’s plenty more on Viddler and Flickr – so check them out!

Oh! What’s this: looks like a secret code from the interactive video at www.infamousthegame.com? Hmmm… wonder what’ll happen if I enter this code into the minigame…?