Posted on 15 February by James Gallagher – Blog Manager, SCEE
Because I still haven’t shown off my new green cardigan enough, here is the final video interview from the PlayStation Experience press event in London a couple of weeks ago. This time I caught up with Greg from Sucker Punch Productions to talk about how morality comes into play in inFAMOUS 2.
In case you missed them, here are the good and evil gameplay videos that we debuted last week.
Posted on 10 February by Roland Fauster – Contributing Editor, SCEE
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.
Posted on 14 October by Ari Pulkkinen – Composer and Sound Designer, Dead Nation
It’s been a big month for Dead Nation! We’ve confirmed that online co-op play will be included from day one and also shown off three special zombies – the Mouth, Jumper, and Bombie – in our new “Know Your Enemies” video and there’s still more to come in October.
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:
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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!
Posted on 12 October by James Gallagher – Blog Manager, SCEE
In what some people were comparing to shaking hands with Bigfoot and riding the Loch Ness monster, I can now confirm (as if you didn’t know already) that Duke Nukem Forever is very real, it is coming to PS3 and I have played it.
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.
Posted on 24 September by James Gallagher – Blog Manager, SCEE
The game’s producer Dave Cox speaks to the PlayStation Blog about the upcoming Castlevania revamp.
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…
A collection of PlayStation news and links from around the web.
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+ OttoT
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