Sorcery is running on a heavily modified version of the Unreal engine, and the art direction has progressed by leaps and bounds since its last showing. The game now skews a bit older, with nastier monster designs and edgier spellcasting combat. Watch the video, read our full Q&A, then let us know what you think of Sorcery in the comments!

PlayStation.Blog: I’ll cut to the chase: Why have we had to wait so long to see Sorcery again?
Brian Upton, design director, Sorcery: Coming out of E3, we knew there were some things we weren’t happy with. We really wanted to re-tool the game’s look, its world. We had the gameplay we wanted, but it just wasn’t ready for public consumption.

PSB: Tell me a bit about the character and quest. What’s changed since the original debut?
BU: The hero is Finn, he’s a sorcerer’s apprentice and a real hothead: he’s always trying to learn things he’s not ready to learn yet. When the game starts, your master’s magical talking cat, Erline, dares Finn into venturing into the realm of the dead. Finn, being the guy he is, can’t resist.

In the realm of the dead, you accidentally unleash something very, very bad. The consequences are dire for you and the entire world, so the quest is to undo the trouble you’ve caused. You also begin to realize the Erline is much more than a magical talking cat: she’s central to the whole problem that you’ve created. You’re cast somewhat in the role of Erline’s protector, you’re trying to get her from the human world to the heart of the faerie world to fix this problem.

PSB: Once I got my hands on Sorcery, I was particularly surprised by the intensity of the combat. What does spellcasting bring to combat?
BU:We noticed that with a lot of motion-controlled games, it works a bit like Simon Says: you’re told to do something and you do it. But that’s not how action games work. Action games let you be creative, to craft your own solutions to the problems you face. So we wanted a game that taught you easy gestures, which became tools that you can use in combat. You can use basic spells in a variety of ways, but you can also layer them on top of each other to create more complex and powerful spell effects.

PSB: I noticed that when I combined the cyclone spell with the fire wall…
BU:Yeah, the Firenado is great. It’s one of the more powerful spells in the game. But there are lots of clever ways to use it: you can pick an enemy up with a cyclone and push it through a campfire to create a Firenado. Or you can cast a fire wall, shoot arcane bolts through it to create fire bolts, and aim them at a whirlwind to suck your enemy in and incinerate him. There’s a whole array of ways to inflict damage in this game.

PSB: Tell me about Sorcery’s approach to motion controls. What’s your philosophy?
BU: We wanted something very accessible, something you can pick up quickly. The very first spell you learn, arcane bolt, is very simple to use because you just flick it forward. It’s like throwing stuff at your enemy. As you keep using it, you start to realize its depth: you can curve bolts and arc bolts around obstacles. When you start using ice magic, you can slow down enemies, or freeze them repeatedly and smash them with another spell.

PSB: How do the gesture-based puzzles fit into Sorcery?
BU: We don’t want you fighting all the time, partly because it’s a gesture-based game and you’d get tired. So we try to mix up the intense combat with puzzles to solve. The gestures are pretty simple: You mend things, move them around. It’s less a question of figuring out how to do something; you might see something you can get on top of, and you’ll wonder how you can get up there, what you can rearrange. They aren’t intense brainteasers, but it does change the pace in the overall game.

PSB: I noticed that Sorcery employs an automated camera, a bit like God of War. How does it work and why did you take this approach?
BU: We want to keep it simple: If you have to do camera maintenance all the time, it really sucks. We’re not a shooter, but we do learn a lot of lessons from shooters. In a shooter, on a basic level, you want to establish an interesting shooting gallery and let players be absorbed in it. When you encounter a new group of cameras, the auto-camera will shift to focus on them. It’s a function of trying to streamline the game as much as possible.

PSB: Will there be any RPG elements? Will Finn be able to upgrade his abilities over the course of the game?
BU: There’s an alchemy system. As you travel through the world, you’ll discover magical ingredients and you can use them to research new magical potions. There are roughly 56 magical potions in all, and every time you drink one, it gives you a permanent upgrade. You’ll have about a dozen opportunities to do it, so these potions basically become your build tree, your stats, the way you customize Finn. Do you boost your health or your ice powers? Or maybe make your shield bash more damaging?

PSB: Is Sorcery a shooter? And if not, what is it?
BU: As a designer, I used a lot of the principles of shooter design. I have a shooter background: I worked on Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. Coming from that shooter background, I learned a lot of lessons about how to build an encounter. But Sorcery is not a shooter. Your fire rate is much lower, you have to deal with Mana limitations, you can curve and arc your shots…we used shooter gameplay as a touchstone, but then we took it way beyond what shooters do.

PSB: Earlier you mentioned a shift in the game’s tone since E3 2010. Could you shed any light on that?
BU: What we showed at E3 was largely organized around a dungeon crawl, and we realized we didn’t want that. We wanted a full-blown fantasy world, not a series of tunnels. A lot of our re-tooling involved moving the action gameplay into a more free-flowing space. The E3 version also had a much younger hero, and the enemies were a lot more cartoonish. We though, “you know, we have a game here that would appeal to a hardcore PlayStation gamer…and it looks a little bit like Spyro!” [laughs] We didn’t want people to get the wrong impression, so we wanted to bring the visuals in-line with the gameplay.

X-Men First Class is the prequel film that blew away audiences around the globe earlier this year – so when 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment invited us to an exclusive media event for their Australian Blu-ray launch of the movie this week, we quickly accepted!

The event took place at an appropriate location at Sydney’s Darling Harbour, aboard the naval ship HMAS Vampire – in homage to the amazing visual effects during the naval battle scene at the climax of the film. The highlight of the event would be a live Skype chat with two-time Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor John Dykstra (of Star Wars fame).

On Blu-ray, X-Men First Class looks simply spectacular. The whole package is impressive, and it’s not just because it features some genuinely great bonus material and interactive features – like Cerebro – the interactive mutant tracker that lets you classify all of the different mutant characters spanning all of the X-Men films ( including their abilities and connections to each other). The Blu-ray also offers incredible value for purchase, shipping with bonus DVD and digital copies (for mobile devices).

It all comes back to the film itself though, and half the reason why X-Men First Class is such a great movie is because of the amazing job that John Dykstra did with the visual effects. I had the opportunity to ask John a burning question in regards to my favourite scene from the film

Nino: John, my favourite shot in the film was when Magneto is shown to levitate an entire submarine clear out of the ocean in broad daylight. It’s mesmerising to watch – could you describe what was involved in creating that entire sequence?

John: Well first, we decided that there was a shot that you’d like best, so we set to figuring out how to make it. So it was you – you were the genesis of that shot! (laughs) Seriously though, obviously there were some pretty weird constraints on this particular shot. The idea that Magneto was going to levitate this vehicle that weighs thousands of tonnes, and displaces a huge amount of seawater, all in a very limited amount of time – it was one of the biggest challenges of the shot. Simply making the submarine come out of the water, and running the water simulations around it was something that we already knew how to do. The really difficult part was figuring out how to make the scene move fast enough, and be exciting and dynamic, but at the same time have ‘scale’, so that it didn’t feel as though it was a bath toy being lifted out of a bath tub. We worked extensively on the dynamics of the water, the specularity, how big the reflections were, and how ‘bright’ they were. Also, we considered how the wind and other air currents moved the water around. That’s what gave the shot a sort of a ‘lacy’ feel. There was movement as the spray came off the sub – it was blowing to one side. These were all the things that gave it a proper scale…or a scale at least, that was believable. It was a lot of fun working on it, the guys at WETA studios did that shot for us, they did a terrific job, and it was a huge number of layers on the shot, something like twenty layers of spray alone (before we even get to the actual water). And then just finally, because we’re working in the digital age, we now have the added benefit of trying out many different angles to find the best perspective for the shot, and so we find what eventually looks best.

X-Men First Class is now available to own on Blu-ray & DVD. (Note: submarine not included!)

These days, Hideo Kojima is a busy man. The Metal Gear mastermind recently revealed that the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is heading to the PS3 this November. The HD Collection includes revamped versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, complete with dual-analog-stick controls, 1080p graphics, smoother frame rates, a redesigned user interface, rumble support and much more.

We caught up with Kojima last week at an appearance in Mexico City and he was eager to speak with PlayStation.Blog readers. Enjoy the Q&A, and leave your favorite Metal Gear moments in the comments!

PlayStation.Blog: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was designed for PSP — a portable device. What changes did Kojima Productions make to the upcoming PS3 version so it could be enjoyed on a high-definition home console?

Hideo Kojima, Director, Kojima Productions: The PSP obviously has fewer buttons than the PS3 controller, and it had some limitations when it comes to control. Using the DualShock 3, movement of many things improved…as did, of course, [the addition of] rumble support.

On the PSP, it was also hard to tell some textures apart. Now, rendered in HD, they are are much easier to see. The in-game text is also easier to read.

PSB: Your process of “transfarring” will allow PSP players to take their Peace Walker save files from one console to another, and we will also see similar cross-play support with the PS Vita. Do you expect this to be the future of gaming? Is it a concept that you would like to explore beyond what already has been announced?

Kojima: Peace Walker is the first step. It is a PSP game in HD that lets one go back and forth between one PSP and a PSP. The next step is to take PS2-quality games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, to HD and then to take them to Vita transferring.

My next step is games that will come out for the PS3 from now on, so I can take advantage of this technology with the Vita with content that is exactly the same. I hope that cloud service is available now, and it would be ideal for me if transfarring were to serve as a bridge between the two services.

PSB: Just before E3, a glimpse of what will be its new graphic engine (FOX Engine) was shown. What would you say are their greatest visual benefits? Is there anything that stands out in this technology that you can tell us about?

Kojima: For now, FOX Engine has high performance in developing games on multiple platforms; I think that is the most prominent feature. At this point, it is not an engine that has anything particularly prominent when compared to what’s on the market. From now on, we hope to add features and functions that stand out from other engines.

PSB: Okay, PS Vita has already been revealed. Are you interested in the console? What are the features that draw your attention most to a portable device?

Kojima: As for the multitouch pad on the back of the console, I do not want to force users to use it. The PS Vita has cutting-edge technology and it’s the best there is – especially with integration with the PS3 – and I am very pleased I can offer it to users.

PSB: With the commercial success of L.A. Noire, and the return of cyberpunk with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, do you believe that there is a market for a new Snatcher game?

Kojima: L.A. Noire is a game that I really like, but unfortunately I have not played it. I think it is coming out in Japan today, so when I return, I intend to play it. This idea of an open world in 3D is very good, and I would love to do something like Snatcher, but I do not have the time or the means to do so. But if anyone else would like to develop it, I would love it.

NOTE: A few hours after this interview, Hideo Kojima, in collaboration with Suda 51 and Akira Yamaoka, announced a radio drama called “Sdatcher” based on Snatcher.

PSB: What qualities do you think a game designer needs to be hired in today’s industry?

Kojima: Right now, it’s very similar to movies: You need a lot of money. So rather than doing what you want, doing what you like, you must have a clear idea of marketing and sales. That’s what’s happening to us with FOX Engine; you do not need be an expert in programming to develop a game, but if you have a question, you still need an expert on-hand to provide an answer.

As for expression, that has reached a high level. Video games are trying to reach the peak of entertainment, so game makers should be clear that things like emotion and sound are among the many things that have to be involved.

PSB: How has your perspective from your business point of view and as a game developer changed, now that you are Vice President of Konami Digital?

Kojima: I would like to not change. My priority continues to be to create and produce my own games. Now that I can do this well, I can generate more time to help in other company products, especially in creative ways.

For more info on Metal Gear Solid please visit our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/mgs.

How does White Knight Chronicles: Origins feed into the wider WKC universe?

10,000 years before the original PS3 game takes place, there was a period of strife known as the Dogma Wars. This struggle is between the Yshrenian Empire who are harnessing the power of the Knights in a bid to conquer the world, and the Athwani Mage Kingdom who are trying to stop them. These events would shape history to come in the White Knight Chronicles saga, and White Knight Chronicles: Origins tells the story of the unsung heroes who lived through this period of unrest, only to be forgotten in the annals of time.

Can you tell us how the characters from the White Knight Chronicles universe fit into the game story?

There are some characters from the PS3 games who appear in our PSP title. For example, right at the start of the game your character will meet a young Eldore during the downfall of Xarmgand. The Black Knight Demian is another recurring character who plays a big role in the PS3 games. You’ll also meet the troll Thaumus who’s using guerrilla tactics to try and halt the Yshrenian onslaught. And, of course, the White Knight, the Dragon Knight and the Moon Maiden all make an appearance.

Can you tell us about the gameplay, specifically how the combat system will work?

In the game your character is a member of a mercenary group called the Mobile Corps. Your base is a train where you will be able to take on quests, choosing a team of soldiers to fight alongside you. The battle system is essentially the same as the PS3 version – you command you character to perform an action from a variety of skills. But we’ve done a lot of tuning with the speed of the battle flow and also tailored the controls to the PSP.

Were you fans of the White Knight Chronicles franchise before working on your game?

Yes, definitely!

Matrix Corp. has worked on quite a few RPGs up to now. In your opinion, what’s special about this one?

It’s got to be the transformation system. It’s really at the heart of the whole game and gives it its character.

We also put a lot of effort into the character creation system to ensure that players can create an avatar that really appeals to them. From a design perspective we’ve tried to keep the feeling of the PS3 version while also throwing in some new ideas.

What’s your favourite moment in the game?

The Unity Attacks are great fun. You can perform these in single player mode, but they’re much more fun when you pull them off with a group of friends!

Can you give us an insight into your personal playing style in the game?

My personal preference is using a red chroma and my weapon of choice is an axe. My tactic is to max-out my attack power by selecting the right skills and buffing my equipment. You might not always land your blows but when you do it really saps your enemy’s HP!

Tell us about the story in White Knight Chronicles II

The game takes place one year after the events of the original White Knight Chronicles. A year after the return of the Yshrenian Empire, Leonard and his companions come back together to protect the Kingdom of Balandor, the Archduchy of Faria and the Free City of Greede from the Yshrenian Empire, and end up having to save the entire world.

Two new characters will also play key parts in the story: Miu, the daughter of Archduke Dalam; and the mysterious Scardigne. There is civil unrest in the Archduchy of Faria, with one faction trying to protect Miu and another militant faction trying to spark a revolution. Scardigne belongs to the former, but you’ll need to play the actual game to fully understand the role he takes in the story.

White Knight Chronicles II will bring a satisfying conclusion to the conflict between Yshrenia and the other powers, and to the stories of Grazel, Leonard, and Princess Cisna.

What influenced the original White Knight Chronicles?

We wanted it to be a sort of majestic fantasy, with heroic elements that would appeal to RPG fans. In the original White Knight Chronicles you saved a princess, and in the sequel you have to save the whole world.

Along the way, players will transform into a Knight to do battle with gigantic enemies, and there may even be a little love story in amongst all of the fighting. During their adventures, the players will gradually solve mysteries such as the origin of the Knights and the effects they have on the world. I think the game will help both children and adults remember some things that we tend to forget in our modern lives.

What gameplay improvements have been made to the sequel?

We made a number of changes to improve the game’s pacing, such as better response time in battles and having gauges fill up while a special move is being performed, which allows you to transition to the next move more quickly. However, just doing that would turn the game into a mindless button masher, so we also added elements where the player has to attack his opponent just at the right time. This adds element of strategy has slightly increased the difficulty of battles.

For example, since you can now guard whenever you want, you can avoid getting stunned when an enemy makes a powerful attack by guarding at just the right time. Or, you might use an area-of-effect attack the instant an enemy summons a group of smaller enemies. Strategy is definitely more important in this game.

Why did you decide to include the original game with its sequel on the same Blu-ray Disc?

When we were creating White Knight Chronicles II, the first thing we thought about was what form the product would take. A sequel would usually be sold as a separate package that you could buy on its own and play without the original game if you wanted. However, in the case of a game like White Knight Chronicle,s you also have the online gaming side which means it’s difficult to keep the sequel completely separate from the original. We considered a number of possibilities, like making an expansion that would require the original game.

But that would limit our audience to people who had purchased the first game and wanted to play more. The number of PS3 owners has increased since the first White Knight Chronicles was released, which gives us a chance to attract new players, so we decided that including the original game on the disc was the best solution.

Will there be more WKC games in the future?

White Knight Chronicles II concludes the story started in the first game, so for the moment we don’t have any plans for more games in the series. However, we will be releasing additional quests in the form of downloadable content. And you never know. If there’s strong support for another sequel…

What is your favourite RPG?

Tactics Ogre. It’s a fairly old game now but the story and game world were fantastic. It’s one of those games that I could just sit back and enjoy.

In case you missed them, here are the good and evil gameplay videos that we debuted last week.

Eleven long years have passed since we lead the great heroes and villains from Marvel and Capcom into some of the most stunning fights which have ever been seen in a video game. Now, we`re just a week away from the spectacular comeback of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise – on February 18th Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will finally find its way to your PlayStation 3 systems. The game didn`t even have to hit the market to win its first prizes (E3 2010 Game Critics Awards in the category “Best Fighting Game”, Best Fighting Game award from IGN and more) and has already earned some impressive review scores.

But why did it take Capcom so long to revive this popular franchise? How did the integration of all these different and unique characters work? And what is it that makes Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds more than just an HD-Remake of MvC 2? We asked Capcom for some answers. In reaction we did not only get some insights from game producer Ryota Niitsuma himself, but also an all-new world-exclusive gameplay trailer.

Lean back and enjoy the show!

Several years have passed since Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the game established a huge fanbase. Why did the series almost die and why is it coming back to life now?

Unfortunately, it’s hard to really say why MvC almost died, but since it was originally quite popular, and because there has been a recent surge in fighting game popularity, the renaissance came about rather organically.

I guess it was a lot easier for you to pick out the Capcom characters appearing in the game than it was the Marvel characters. How did your collaboration with Marvel work out?

Actually, since we wanted to preserve the sense of each of the respective worlds of the Capcom characters featured in this game, we had frequent discussions with the people in charge of each franchise, which turned out just as difficult. Marvel, on the other hand, was very respectful of our position—as we were of theirs—and were very helpful in discussing what characters would be popular and suitable for a video game.

How significant was Marvel’s input in developing behaviours for characters that are not specifically designed to appear in video games?

With the Marvel characters, we put a lot of work into replicating their movements, designs, and mannerisms from the comics. Marvel gave us lots of precise direction regarding the character design, but was willing to leave the actual game balancing to us at Capcom. Regarding characters not originally from fighting games, we simply tried our best to carefully preserve their essence from whatever their original source was and see how we could siphon that into an interesting fighting game character.

What makes MvC 3 an outstanding game and not just an HD MvC 2?

I suppose to put it simply, the evolved graphics. We’ve faithfully created all of the characters and stages from the ground up, not just reworked old content from MvC2. You could consider this the next stage in the series’ evolution after MvC2.

Do you plan any DLC?

As of now, we’ve confirmed the decision to release two downloadable characters, but nothing else has been decided. We are considering a number of possibilities, so please stay tuned.

But one thing we haven’t yet discussed is audio. With Dead Nation, it’s vital that we create a skin-crawling atmosphere; more importantly, the music needs to adapt to the intensity of the on-screen carnage. I thought it would be fun to address some common questions related to Dead Nation’s audio design, everything from the zombie groans to dynamic music to soundtrack inspirations. I hope you enjoy it, and be sure to listen:

Dead Nation Main Theme

How did you start working with Housemarque?

The first game that I worked on with Housemarque was Super Stardust HD and I handled the original soundtrack and sound design. I was in-house audio director at Frozenbyte Inc. back then and working freelance. SSHD was an awesome project for me since I’ve grown up with retro arcade games and I got my chance to finally make a style of my own.

What was your reaction when Housemarque originally came to you with the Dead Nation concept?

I’m a huge fan of apocalyptic and zombie movies and games, and when I first heard about making a “really nasty R-rated zombie shooter” I was thrilled! Harri (the creative director) explained me of all the cool things you could do to the zombies and how gory everything would be. If you’re gonna’ do a great zombie game or a movie, it’s gotta’ be R-rated! The top-down perspective allows an interesting angle for the game audio design, too. You perceive the big picture of the soundscape much more broadly than in FPS games.

Has the music changed much over the course of the project?

My first tracks for the game were a bit too slow and we ended up setting the tempo up to 162bpm for the highest intensity levels. The soundtrack is a mash-up of different genres like industrial, orchestral and ambient. We wanted it to sound dark, gritty, and dynamic so we ended up having six different intensity levels for every dynamic music group. It works really great – the music adapts seamlessly to the in-game events.

How difficult did you find putting together a concept soundtrack for Dead Nation?

It was not an easy task! There was not much reference for the Dead Nation soundtrack; I had to invent almost everything from scratch. The closest resemblance was found in the Dawn of the Dead remake OST, but I still had no reference for the highest intensity levels. The in-game music is almost sound design in some parts, since it doesn’t have much in the way of melody and it relies heavily on dark tones and gritty sounds. Overall, I achieved the feeling that we were after: it sounds unique and it fits in the game atmosphere perfectly.

What can you say about the sound design?

Well, first of all, I have to mention that Dead Nation has a huge amount of sounds. It features over 8000 unique sound files and loads of near-authentic zombie vocals. The aim of the sound design was to make Dead Nation feel as gory and gritty as it plays – players will have to endure (or enjoy) quite twisted sounds! This is my most ambitious and biggest audio design work so far, I want players to have just the right feeling while playing.

What is your favourite part of Dead Nation?

I really like the feeling of nailing down the zombies. It just has this realness to it and feels like the zombies are really getting hurt in every way possible! I like the overall atmosphere too; I’m already hooked on the game!

I also grabbed this interview with the President and CEO of Gearbox Software, Randy Pitchford.

How does it feel to have this iconic character in the Gearbox stable?

It’s kind of surreal but I really have to forget about that and focus on the mission of finally releasing Duke Nukem Forever. I’m trying not to worry about pressure or expectations.

In what state was the code in when Gearbox first got its hands on Duke Nukem Forever?

The vision was certainly evident and there were several moments of brilliance scattered throughout the game. When 3D Realms shut down, there were eight guys that managed to take everything that had been worked on and stitch it together; they went through war to get it even to this stage. They now call themselves Triptych and they’re up on the 10th floor of our offices. They did an amazing job and they deserve a lot of respect.

Right now there’s a team based in Vancouver called Piranha and they’re working on some amazing optimisations for PlayStation 3. It was almost inconceivable, when we first received the code, that we could bring it to PS3 but we refused to accept that and have put in a huge amount of work to ensure that the software comes to that audience.

The nature of the project and the level of goodwill that surrounds it in the industry mean that we’ve had plenty of people willing to jump in and help.

Have you removed or adding anything?

A lot! It’s a complex piece of software and it would go well beyond the scope of this interview to detail the additions and omissions. Today, there are 70 people involved in the project, yet when 3D Realms closed its doors, there were 30.

In terms of the story, the design and the experience, it’s a 3D Realms game through and through.

Is the level of expectation around the game a blessing or a curse?

I don’t know yet. With Borderlands, the challenge was getting everyone’s attention. With Duke, we have the opposite problem.

Is there a sense of poetic justice in once again working with Duke?

Not justice at all – I was with Duke for a few years and there are so many people involved for longer than me. One thing I am pleased about is that Allen [Blum] is still involved. Allen created Duke; I feel honoured and privileged to be carrying the Duke Nukem torch but only because I’m carrying it with Allen and he is involved every day.

Are you including multiplayer?

Of course – I can’t imagine a Duke Nukem game without multiplayer. When 3D Realms was working on the game, they never got around to that side of things so Gearbox has enabled a huge effort on that front.

Do you see any discrepancies between the flavour of gaming of 12 years ago, when Duke Nukem Forever was conceived, and the tastes of modern gamers?

Sure, games have evolved in some ways but there are some areas where they’ve stagnated. For example, Duke Nukem 3D was really innovative, at the time, with its mix of combat and environmental puzzle solving. It was rich with interactive environments and plenty of secrets to discover if you veered off the natural path.

Not so many games bother with those any more. Half-Life does a good job with its pacing, I suppose, but hardly anything has the level of interactivity of Duke or does the hidden Easter eggs thing any more. Duke Nukem Forever does all of that.

When’s the sequel coming out?

I have spent zero mind share on anything beyond Duke Nukem Forever!

Finally and slightly off-topic, how is Aliens: Colonial Marines doing?

It’s looking great! We’ve been radio silent but we’re very excited. It’s funny you should mention it because if you go back and look at Duke Nukem 3D, we included facehuggers and there’s Aliens stuff up on the walls. I’ve been stealing from Aliens my entire career so it feels great to finally be involved in the canon.

Truthfully, the game was announced too early – the ink wasn’t dry on the contract and we hadn’t even written the first line of code, but we’re really committed and so is SEGA, and I’m sure that pretty soon we’ll be in a position to start talking again.

By now, quite a few PlayStation 3 owners will have had the chance to try out the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow demo. What were you trying to put across with that teaser?

It was just a small taster of what to expect. The demo was created to showcase the visuals the game enjoys and as a basic introduction to how the user can enhance Gabriel’s combat and abilities. It is difficult showing the variety of the full game in just two levels, but the first stage is a sampler of the way combat works, while the second level, where Gabriel is horse-bound and battling Wargs and Lycans, highlights the variety of content the final game offers.

How would you describe the learning curve of your combat system?

It’s a constantly evolving system, where the player can decide what to add and when. We wanted to remain true to the exploration ethos of the original Castlevania games, where a picture of the map would indicate areas you had missed for whatever reason.

In CLOS, we have areas that cannot be reached at that point, but with the addition of, say, double-jumps, they can. In terms of combat, the newer moves are essential as the range of adversaries is constantly evolving and their AI is sharpening all the time. We also use it to vary up the combat elements, as we were conscious that combat stages can descend into just button pressing stages. Everything in CLOS is there for a reason and hones the gameplay.

What’s your approach to storytelling?

That it works symbiotically with the game. When Mr Kojima came on board, he worked closely with us to show how the story can feed the game and vice versa. Our initial outline for Gabriel was that of a generic barbarian, but Mr Kojima’s input helped us flesh him out, and new elements for the action segued from that. It was because we had such a rounded character that could be emphasised, that the actors such as Robert Carlyle had more to work with – which I think shows in the final product.

You’ve assembled a really impressive cast; did you have those actors in mind from the beginning?

We always had the cast we got in mind, and they have been brilliant. What could have been an ‘in and out’ voiceover job for them wasn’t. Instead, their love of the script and praise saw them developing their characters and working through the motivations for them – offering little nuances and touches that we knew actors of their ranges and talent would bring to the project.

One of the things I remember about the original games was a lot of repetition, but in a good way, if that makes sense, encouraging players to revisit areas to find something new. Will we see more of that, or is it just not in keeping with current fashions?

Actually, repetition is not a part of CLOS – if anything, we have been obsessed with constantly surprising the player. We were determined that CLOS would not fall into the‚’level, level, boss, level, level boss’ cliché that some games suffer from. Yes, there are nods to past Castlevania games and we have patterns that fans of the series will recognise, but this was about delivering a new Castlevania – and we wanted to create fresh elements that people would enthuse about.

There has been a fair amount of controversy around the new Dante in DmC: Devil May Cry, another IP created in Japan and now being rebooted by a Western developer. Did you ever fret over a similar reaction?

God yes! When we announced we were doing CLOS, there were so many negative comments. People loved Castlevania, and felt that it was being sold short. I had to convey that it was my love for Castlevania that A) made me want to work for Konami in the first place and B) try to breathe new life into it. As we have shown more and more of the game, I think some of the doubts have been cast aside and the fanbase is now looking forward to the rebirth more than being wary of it.

CLOS has been compared to many games, including God of War and Shadow of the Colossus; which ones have you agreed or disagreed with?

Castlevania is a series that is 25 years-old. It is fairer to say that the games you mention owe their existence to it, than Castlevania to them! We are in 3D, have huge real-time bosses and a mixture of combat and platform styles – as such there are links to any number of games there.

However, when you look at the greater picture, CLOS is a game that mixes and matches these elements to constantly surprise the player. It is inevitable that a new game is going to be compared to other games as people often need to pigeon hole stuff to understand it, but hopefully after CLOS everyone else’s games will be billed as CLOS clones!

How sick are you of that last question?

It used to bug me, but it had to be expected when CLOS was an unknown quantity!

It seems a recent trend for fans to debate around which is the ‘lead platform’ during game development. Why did you decide to ‘lead’ on PS3 and does it really make a big difference?

Hmmm, I think that the ‘lead’argument traces back to a comment I made early on in the game’s development. The two formats were developed side-by-side but, at the time of that interview, the PS3 version was more advanced. Loose lips and all that…

Do you want CLOS to be judged as a Castlevania game or as a breakaway project?

Can I have both? It has enough elements to please Castlevania fans, and has little nods to the past and touches that they will recognise and appreciate, but it is not bogged down with the whole canonical scenario, so is a perfect new jumping on point for newcomers. Yeah, both please…

Programming is maths and, in Hustle Kings, you’ve had to calculate friction, respect natural laws of spin and momentum, and have all these balls clashing with each other in chaotic order. Who explained the physics and to you, Stephen Hawking?

Haha, well yes, you are right: programming is maths. Unfortunately, they don’t teach you the equations for moving balls around a pool table in school. However, for most things a bit of imagination and intuition can help to combine several basic rules of maths and physics to do things that actually look quite clever.

For the really difficult stuff, we have to rely on other people’s work and, luckily for us, one guy by the name of Wayland Marlow spent years researching exactly how billiard balls react with one another and with the table. We use his research extensively in Hustle Kings to get the motion of the balls as close to real life as possible.

Are you aiming to simulate reality or to gain the most entertaining gaming experience?

I think it’s always very important to concentrate on the gaming experience first and foremost. There is no point in having a realistic game if it is no fun to play. Of course, much of the time, realism and fun complement one another.

Sometimes, you have to stray away from reality for the purposes of the game – after all, why make a game when you can do exactly the same things in real life? As an obvious example, we provide the option to use an aiming assistant in Hustle Kings, showing the path of the ball – it’s far from realistic but really helps beginners get into the game and makes it much more accessible to a wider audience.

Does Hustle Kings only appeal to cue sport enthusiasts or does it have wider appeal?

The popularity of pool and snooker has created a market for games like Hustle Kings, and I do feel that our audience is even wider than that. Hustle Kings is very ‘pick up and play’ so appeals to the most casual of gamers, and it is very accessible, allowing even novice pool players to get into the game quickly.

At the same time, the realistic physics and competitive AI provide for an enjoyable and challenging experience for the more hardcore gamers, as well as pro pool and snooker players. From the outset, we wanted to ensure we could offer something to everyone and I think we’ve achieved that.

Why did you decide to release Hustle Kings via PlayStation Store and does it have the scope to become a full Blu-ray Disc release?

We never felt there was ever any need for Hustle Kings to be a full-priced game. If you take the DLC into account, there is a huge amount on offer there: plenty of game modes, including all of the popular pool variants; snooker; trickshots; bonus games; and several high quality pool halls.

If we did a full priced game, we wouldn’t be able to offer much more, but it would cost more. The reason Hustle Kings is cheaper than a full priced game is not because there is less of a game there, but simply because we don’t have the overheads of packaging and distribution to contend with – I do strongly believe that for this reason, digital distribution is the way of the future.

Every project has a beginning and an end. How long do you think will you continue to support the community with DLC and Patches?

We have always listened to the community for feedback, and will continue to do so. We intend to support Hustle Kings with additional content, DLC, patches and so on for as long as there is demand for it. There are active Hustle Kings forums on our website, where we welcome suggestions. We have many more ideas to enhance Hustle Kings, so watch this space.

What’s left? Watching 10 uninterrupted minutes of BioShock Infinite gameplay video, of course. Get to it!

Irrational Games’ Ken Levine was good enough to return to the PlayStation.Blog.EU and answer more questions about BioShock Infinite’s gameplay. While nitty-gritty details such as control layouts and the weapon arsenals are still over the horizon — the game isn’t due out until 2012, after all — Levine was able to shed light on a host of topics including the rollercoaster ride that is Sky-Line combat, long-range sniping in Columbia’s broad vistas, and how the mysterious companion Elizabeth makes for a potent partner.

Sid Shuman: How does BioShock Infinite build on and evolve the classic gameplay of BioShock? What were your broad goals?

Ken Levine, Creative Director, BioShock Infinite: Players had access to a lot of different tools in BioShock, but the game’s deliberately claustrophobic environments and relatively low enemy counts meant that a lot of combat encounters ended up playing out in similar ways. There were plenty of opportunities for players to make fuller use of their toolset, but it was also possible to just take the path of least resistance much of the time–which usually meant Electro-Bolt and shotgun.

In BioShock Infinite, we want the range of combat encounters to live up to the diverse toolset of weapons and powers. There are, of course, those small scale BioShock-esque interiors. But there are also the breathtaking, expansive outdoor locations you would expect in a huge floating city. Instead of just fighting a few enemies at once, you could be facing more than a dozen. Area effect weapons matter because you might face many enemies at once, and crowd control abilities matter because there are crowds to control.

SS: How do the crowds of enemies change BioShock Infinite’s combat style and pacing?

KL: There’s a famous saying: “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” That’s kind of how it was in the original BioShock. You walked down a tight, restricted corridor with Electrobolt in one hand and a shotgun in the other, and that was an effective way to deal with most of the enemies. There are obviously going to be some different weapons in BioShock Infinite, and also more weapons. You’re not going to be restricted to just the eight weapons of your radial.

One of the reasons we wanted to really expand the scale of the environment and the number of enemies was to create situations where certain tools would have clear strengths and weaknesses based upon what you were up against. There is no perfect combination or an ideal set of tools, and there’s going to be a larger variety of weapons and powers. We wanted to show that even familiar weapons like the shotgun are not always the right tool for the job. And the sniper rifle–unlike BioShock’s crossbow–actually has a specific function because of the extreme scale of our environments.

SS: Not all of Columbia’s citizens are automatically hostile to your presence. How does this affect BioShock Infinite gameplay? Can you influence them to help you in any way?

KL: Columbia is much more alive and vibrant than Rapture. In BioShock, Rapture was functional to a degree, but its population was pretty far gone. Columbia is a city that hasn’t completely collapsed. As you saw in the demo, people won’t necessarily attack you on sight.

BioShock games are shooters, but they aren’t just shooters. A lot of what players loved about the original BioShock was exploring Rapture and uncovering the secrets of its past. That’s something we want to take even further with Columbia in BioShock Infinite, and part of achieving that is increasing the types of interactions the player has with characters and the world.

SS: The telekinesis-like ability seen in the new video appears to be much improved since BioShock. How will players be able to use it to their advantage during combat?

KL: If there is a power that’s similar to previous BioShock games, you can be certain it’s been enhanced in a meaningful way. For instance, the power you discussed allows you not just the ability to grab objects from foes and pick up objects in the world — as you saw, you can do things like turn somebody’s own weapon against him (amongst other cool crap we’ll be discussing later!).

SS: Elizabeth is able to amplify the player’s abilities in certain situations — will these sequences be primarily limited to combat?

KL: Elizabeth can definitely have a big impact on gameplay–if and when you want her to. Her main gameplay role is to provide the player with interesting opportunities to combine her abilities with yours. When she offers those opportunities, the player can take advantage of them or not. You saw a few examples of those in the gameplay video, such as when she generated a rainstorm for the player to exploit with Electro-Bolt. But in all of those instances, the player could have ignored her offer and dispatched the enemies through any other means at his disposal. One thing Elizabeth is NOT, however, is somebody you need to babysit and hand-hold.

Of course, Elizabeth also serves a crucial narrative role. Her presence is central to the player’s mission in Columbia, and to the nature of Columbia itself. But those mysteries will need to wait.

SS: How does Sky-Line combat work? Will the player primarily use his wrench while traversing Sky-Lines, or will other weapons be available as well?

KL: Imagine being on a roller coaster, over another roller coaster, over another roller coaster. Imagine being able to jump freely from one roller coaster to the next. Then imagine people are shooting at you. And you’re shooting at them. That’s the experience of being on the Sky-Lines.

You might choose to take on enemies at extremely long range while traveling on Sky-Lines, or you might engage in close combat. You might do both in quick succession. You can jump between criss-crossing Sky-Line routes, allowing you to instantly change direction and evade or outflank enemies. Sky-Lines are there to expand your tactical options, not dictate them.

SS: Columbia is a city in the sky. How do the wide-open spaces impact the combat?

KL: The range of environments in BioShock Infinite lends itself much better to the game’s broad toolset. In previous BioShock games, there weren’t really visible distances vast enough to take advantage of weapons like the crossbow. In BioShock Infinite, you could take a shot at an enemy situated on an entirely separate floating city block, across an expanse of sky.

SS: BioShock Infinite is set during the early 20th century. Did the time period inspire the weapon arsenal? What kinds of firearms can players look forward to?

KL: BioShock Infinite will have more weapons than previous BioShock games, which is important in terms of addressing the broader range of encounters the game supports. Obviously, many of those will be very much inspired by weaponry of the time, but there will also be plenty of other more unique tools we’re not talking about just yet.

SS: BioShock was noted for its weapon modifications. Will BioShock Infinite follow suit with weapon mods, and will there be more depth or player choice to the process?

KL: There are a variety of customization options players will have to shape their character to their own play style. While we’re not talking about the specifics of those systems just yet, I can say we’re interested in furthering the idea of permanence in character choices. Many of the decisions you make with respect to your character’s abilities will have a long-term effect on how you play the game.

Now you can find out everything you need to know about this epic journey by posing your questions to the game’s star and co-director, Andy Serkis. To get in on the action all you need to do is head over to the official PlayStation Forums and post your questions, or simply submit them via a blog comment. As always, the best ones will be chosen.

Check back to eu.playstation.com in the coming weeks to see if your questions were chosen and embark on a journey to the West.

Don’t forget to download the demo for ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West from PlayStation Store today to get a taste of the action.

I’m a total sucker for two video game distractions: looting and poker. I don’t know what this says about me, other than that I’m going to be a very sleepy young man for a few weeks after Fallout: New Vegas is released.

Here’s the trailer shown at TGS, in case you missed it, and thanks to all the people that helped me come up with questions via Twitter and Facebook earlier in the week.

Since you announced The Last Guardian at E3 last year you have been fairly quiet. What have you been up to?

We’ve been working on the final concept for the game over the past year, and I’m pleased to say that we have now locked that down and we’ve moved into full production. We learned from our experiences on ICO and Shadow of the Colossus that doing Research & Development at the same time as making the game slows down the process, so we decided to spend more time on R&D up front, testing out technologies and mechanics, before moving into full production. I’m glad to say that, right now, we’re in crunch mode.

What are you able to reveal at TGS that our readers didn’t already know?

Two new pieces of information are that the beast is officially called Trico and that the game is coming out in time for Christmas 2011.

What are you trying to show us with this new trailer?

The last trailer we released sparked internet rumours of a sad ending, because of the arrows stuck in Trico’s back, and with people remembering the endings of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. We wanted to neutralise any assumption of the direction of the game. In addition, we wanted to show a bit more of the emotional attachment between the boy and Trico. The relationship between these two is core to the game experience.

What about the relationship between the hero and Trico – where does the balance of power lie?

The simple answer is it’s very similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors. There will be times when Trico is paper, the boy is rock and the enemy is scissors. It’s a triangular relationship where strength is relative to the situation. For example, as you’ll see in the video, Trico can’t squeeze into small places and the boy can’t climb to high places, so they help each other out.

How would you compare the boy’s relationship with Trico in the Last Guardian to Wander’s relationship with Agro in Shadow of the Colossus?

In Shadow of the Colossus, people really liked the relationship between the two. The difference lies in the fact that Agro and Wander already had an established bond, whereas the relationship between Trico and the boy is new, and it develops throughout the game.

Compared to Agro, who was a fully grown, tamed character, Trico is wilder, almost adolescent, and this comes through in his expressive personality which adds humour to the game.

How did it feel to revisit ICO and Shadow of the Colossus?

This is something I’ve always wanted to revisit on PS3 and I’m very happy to be able to accomplish this with even higher production values. I’m delighted with how it has turned out. Unfortunately, unlike the movie industry, videogames sometimes get forgotten when people move onto the next generation, so this is a great opportunity to makes these games accessible to both fans of the series and to a new audience.

What convinced you to support stereoscopic 3D with the new versions of ICO and SOTC and what does this add to the experience.

I’d first like to clarify that 3D is not essential to enjoy these experience – the HD element in itself brings a lot of life to the games. However, 3D will bring even more.

Both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus were designed with a huge depth of field in mind, demonstrated through the vast landscapes. Although 3D technology wasn’t at the point that it is now, it was certainly something we considered. Now that the technology allows it, it gives the product even more ‘juice’ so to speak. I’ve already experienced this throughout the trial build and was overwhelmed with the results.

That’s how much the 3D element brings to the title.

And finally, what are your strongest influences?

There are so many things; it’s hard to pick just one. But most importantly, I’m always thinking about creating a game that I’d want to play but that doesn’t currently exist – I want to make that happen.

As a creator, I think that developing a truly immersive experience and creating a believable reality even within a fictional world is very important and unique to the interactive nature of gaming.

Sorcery is an action adventure, designed specifically for the PlayStation Move motion controller, where you control a young apprentice wizard forced to master his newly-acquired skills deep in the Faerie Kingdom.

You use PlayStation Move for just about everything in the game, including positioning your wand, casting elemental spells towards your enemies and shaking and drinking bottles of potion that provide unique abilities, such as transforming into a rat to access new areas.

If I was a wizard, I would create clones of myself so I could sit at home playing Pandemonium 2 while they run around Cologne filming interviews (or maybe I already did)…

We have feature footage that tells you all about the twins this week as well as the video for their first single “Sun In My Pocket” and next Thursday, 2 September, we have the footage from gamescom so you can see the foundations tremble for yourselves.

We are really interested to see what you think about these guys so get over to your PlayStation 3!

From what I’ve seen, you seem to have been working particularly hard on the game’s graphics. Has this been an area in which you’ve placed special focus?

We’ve tried to leave no stone unturned in just about every facet of the game and the graphics have been helped by us having another year of learning about Playstation 3 under our belt. We’re able to use more of the cell processors now than we finished the first inFamous, so we can have more characters on-screen, more complicated shaders, and much greater layering.

It basically means we’re able to up the amplitude when it comes to graphics and the number of breakable objects you see on the screen. The characters, in particular, look a lot better as we have learned things like light scattering under the skin that makes a big difference. We’re also using motion capture for the first time to create animations, which gives movement a more powerful, visceral look. It’s all looking great!

How much collaboration has there been with studios such as Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games on this project?

We’ve always felt like a little brother to those guys that you mentioned; they’re down in California so we don’t see each other all of the time, but we’ll occasionally give them a call if we’re having trouble with this or that, because they’re super smart.
We’re completely humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence as either of those teams.

Morality was at the heart of inFamous and I’ve always thought that the Holy Grail for those kinds of games is to nail the grey shades of personality in-between. Would you agree?

Morality was never our starting point with inFamous; it was ‘what would you do if you do if you were suddenly given superpowers’ and I think that karmic choice is a big part of that. What would you do? It’s not natural to give someone this power and then expect them to be a hero.

People responded really well to the choices we gave them, and we’re going to be doing more of that in inFamous 2, but I think we’re going to make the choices even stronger, taking you either further in the good or evil directions. We want it to be clear to people what kind of choice they’re making.

What are the storytelling challenges in that kind of forking narrative?

It’s incredibly challenging. You think of the story as a tree that ends up with so many branches that it becomes a daunting task creating all of that content. In inFamous there were essentially two endings that you could see and we might broaden that a little bit, but the real emphasis is on making sure that the way the game plays changing after you make certain choices.

What inspired the new setting of New Morais?

First of all we wanted somewhere that would offer more variation than a regular city. New Morais has echoes of New Orleans and other Southern cities, but there’s also a bit of Atlanta in there. We wanted a warmer, wetter climate with all these different districts like a modern area, a French quarter, a swamp and all these different shapes of the gritty world. It gives us a far more varied ‘jungle gym’ to explore.

What are the new powers like?

We showed the Ionic Vortex at E3, which is tornado made out of static electricity that just wreaks havoc. You have to remember that Cole is not a beginner any more like he was at the beginning of inFamous. He has a lot of powers already, so we’re giving him even more, but also a greater sense of limitation in that he has to consider the damage he’s going to cause to the city by using the really big powers.

For people like me that have played a LOT of inFamous, what’s going to surprise us in the sequel?

I think that the sheer amount of extra content in there and the scale of the new powers is really going to blow a lot of people’s minds.

The Helghast weren’t the only things I shot this week; look out for a few more video interviews next week, here on the PlayStation.Blog and be sure to follow us on Twitter, @PlayStationEU.

First of all, I was keen to hear how it felt to finally spill the beans on the two PlayStation 3 games, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One and Resistance 3, that they have been secretly working on.

“It’s a relief!” Ted replied. “Our fans are very vocal on the forums about what we’re doing and now we can finally confirm that we are making these games and that they are going to be awesome.”

It has been a huge year for Insomniac Games an I was also set on finding out how important it felt for them to reassure PlayStation fans of their commitment to their big first parties IPs.

“We’ve had such a great relationship with Sony over the years that we felt it very important to remind people that we’re still great partners and that we still have great franchises that we’re working on,” he said. “What we’re going to see what from Ratchet & Clank and Resistance is going to be fresh; I think that we’ve demonstrated that at the SCEE press conference.”

I started asking about Resistance and asked why they have opted to debut the game via a live action trailer.

“That was really to set the tone; to give people a taste of what of what’s coming with Resistance,” he said. I asked whether this is something we can expect to see in the full game but, with a smile, was told that we’re not talking about that.

So, moving onto Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, I asked where the idea of co-operative gameplay was borne.

“Co-operative gameplay is something we have been talking about for a long time. We have experience with co-op with Resistance and it’s a natural fit for Ratchet because there are so many people who love to play Ratchet & Clank games with friends or siblings, and we have so many characters that naturally work well together. However, I have to tell you that this is being made by Insomniac North Carolina and I’m sitting back and helping with advice here and there, but they’re really driving this.”

It was hinted in the press conference that the game would be ‘co-op with a competitive edge’, so I asked Ted to elaborate on this.

“You saw it today where all of the players are collecting bolts and earning points, and we’re not talking about what they’re going to do with what they collect right now, but you can interpret quite a bit from what you see.”

It was there we left. It was a pleasure to meet one of my gaming heroes and I’m in an eternal state of wonder over what Insomniac Games will do next. In case you’re wondering too, here’s another look at the two trailers they released at gamescom: