Naughty Dog, purveyors of fine action-adventure games including the upcoming survival action game The Last of Us, made a bold move yesterday. They decided to make the core multiplayer component of their most recent game, the globetrotting epic UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception free.

In a world of microtransactions and freemium stigmas, gamers naturally had questions about this decision. Why free-to-play? How will this affect the game’s community? We caught up with UNCHARTED 3 Game Director Justin Richmond, who gave us an inside look at the company’s thought process behind giving away the core multiplayer mode of one of Naughty Dog’s most popular games.

(more…)

Score:

• 21 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Hi PlayStation Nation. I’m Anna Ritchie, writing to you all from the Sony headquarters in New York. Back in March, you may have heard about our Uncharted 3 make.believe contest where we invited Uncharted fans to participate in a contest to win the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to become their very own character in Uncharted 3. Well, today I’m here to share with you the winner and his incredible journey.

Sony make.believe is all about fans using their creativity and imagination to do something amazing, and bringing their dreams to life. Earlier this year Sony gave fans the opportunity to become immortalised in the blockbuster game, Uncharted 3, by sending them to ‘training camp’ to compete in a series of three online challenges, held in the US and Europe. The winners from these challenges were flown to LA and treated in true VIP style, to compete in a live multi-player tournament event.
(more…)

Score:

• 20 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

You camped out on your favorite ledges to earn the kickoff medal on the Highrise and Yemen maps. You’re a pro at sniping fools running carelessly through the Desert Village and Airstrip. You’ve perfected your master ninja stealth kills in the secluded nooks and crannies of the London Underground and City of Brass. Ok, maybe you truly haven’t perfected any of that yet, but perhaps you’re just looking for something different and new. Whether you’re a rugged Uncharted 3 multiplayer fortune hunter or a causal explorer this trailer should get you amped:

Four brand new Uncharted 3 multiplayer maps will be available for download on Wednesday, April 11 2012, on the PS Store. The Graveyard map sets you in motion as you fight among ships and shipping crates on rolling waves. Old Quarter seems like a lovely scene on a cool Yemen night, but it’s full of dangerous alleys and delicately lit rooms. The bar, the back alleys and the broadways of the London Streets map offer some prime spots for a knockdown, drag-out turf war, so be sure to stop by the Pelican Inn for some more brawling. The Oasis map used to provide respite for a Bedouin camp, but now serves as a sun-drenched battlefield for your multiplayer matches.

We put a lot of love and polish into each map and each map has a new dynamic event that occurs as the match progresses. A patrol boat will circle the border of Graveyard launching grenades over the map as it cruises along its path. In Oasis, a plane drops a shipping crate that can flatten you or your enemy if you don’t move out of its way in time. The crate contains a power weapon if you’re smart enough to stay out of the crate’s shadow. London Street and Old Quarter contain dynamic events as well but we want to leave you a couple big surprises now don’t we?

Standalone, this new map pack will cost €9.99/£7.99. If you’re already a member of the Fortune Hunters’ Club this collection of maps cost you only the initial price of joining the club – just log into your PSN account and you can download the Drake’s Deception Map Pack for free.

If you still haven’t become a member of the Fortune Hunters’ Club, you’ll have until the PS Store updates on April 17, 2012, to join in the action. In just 12 days, the Fortune Hunters’ Club will shut its doors.

While the Fortune Hunters’ Club is shutting its doors, this doesn’t mean the DLC for Uncharted 3 will stop. For starters, for those of you itching for new play types and experimental modes, The Lab will make its return to Uncharted multiplayer. We’ll be talking with and polling you in our forums about various potential ideas we have for the future of Uncharted 3 multiplayer so be sure to join in our community and voice your opinion. Stay hungry as we will have additional news about future DLC and other plans for Uncharted 3 multiplayer in an upcoming blog post. For now let’s hit the new maps and see if your multiplayer chops sink or swim. See you online!

Score:

• 34 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook