From the beginning, our goal was to create a great Uncharted game, to give players, including ourselves, more of what they love, but with the PS VITA’s unique spin. The cinematic experience, the gunplay and weapons, the compelling story and characters, the mystery and treasure hunting based on real history, the puzzles, the platforming, and of course, the colourful and detailed imagery… it’s all there. But it’s on a gorgeous five inch screen that you can take with you.

If you’ve been following all the pre-release news, then you know that Uncharted: Golden Abyss also has a ton of collectibles, over 300 in fact. We wanted to not only give the game some replayability with some additional exploration, but also to tell more back story, which we do through the items you collect, locations you photograph, and other puzzles you solve. All of these are tied to Trophies that can be earned. We didn’t forget the gamer who prefers gunplay to exploration: one of the collectible types in Uncharted: Golden Abyss are the Bounties. These drop randomly from fallen enemies throughout the game and represent things that might have been found in the area you’re fighting in: old Spanish playing cards, gold and silver coins, etc. To make it more challenging, we made some the items scarce and made some them really rare. You’re not going to collect all these on a single play through.

But we’re not cruel. To make it a little easier to collect all the Bounties, we created The Black Market. This is a NEAR application that allows you select a Bounty type from your collection and send a request out to the Black Market. If any other VITA players out there (in the area where you made the request) have a Bounty that you’re missing, the Black Market will send you a copy of their Bounty, even the rarest collectibles. We even created a sixth Bounty type that you can obtain only through NEAR: if you send a request to the Black Market and no one has what you need, the Black Market will send you a carved Fetish for you troubles. Again, all of these are tied to Trophies. If you want that platinum, it’s going to take you awhile, and you have to take your PS VITA with you!

We can’t wait!

Coming today, February 8th, to Uncharted 3 is the Fort Co-Op adventure DLC. Did some of you guess that from our screenshot hint? Fort Co-Op Adventure will mark the first time in the series you’ll be able to play co-op as the UNCHARTED villains with Zoran Lazarević, Eddy Raja, Harry Flynn joining forces in a tale that further explores the mystery behind the Janus head statue from the on-disc co-op adventure. Check out a preview of that adventure here:

Worried you’re becoming an easy target because you’re always playing as Elena, Desert Drake, or Chloe? We have some new skins for you to try. Also available today, February 8th, are the Rogues Skin Pack 1 and Rogues Skin Pack 2 as well as everybody’s favorite skins, the Doughnut Skin Pack.

If you’re itching for some competitive action on February 22nd you can download the Plaza, Temple, Train Wreck, and Village maps in the Flashback Map Pack 2 DLC. Your favorite maps return with all-new dynamic lighting effects, cutting-edge particle effects and a bevy of other fresh technical polish. The lighting on every map has been completely redone. This map pack provides a good look at what kind of technical and gameplay shine we can put on Uncharted 3 multiplayer maps.

If you want to buy all this content standalone here’s a handy pricing breakdown:

• February 7th 2012 -Fort Co-Op Adventure: £4.79/€5.99
• February 7th 2012 -Doughnut Skin Pack: £1.59/€1.99
• February 7th 2012 -Rogues Skin Pack 1: £2.39/€2.99
• February 7th 2012 – Rogues Skin Pack 2: £2.39/€2.99

• February 21st 2012 – Flashback Map Pack 2: £7.99/€9.99

If you’re game for becoming a member or already a member all this content will be available free to you as part of the Fortune Hunters’ Club. If not, you can become a member today by purchasing the FHC from the PS Store. It’s a fantastic deal at €24.99.

As a FHC member you’ll save over 60% on the 14 packs of Uncharted 3 DLC. Current members and any new membership purchased will receive all currently available and any upcoming DLC packs for Uncharted 3. The exclusive Fortune Hunters’ Club theme will let you know when new Uncharted 3 DLC hits right from the XMB of your PS3.

The full lowdown on what big DLC is coming after this batch of February awesomeness will follow in a future blog update. We have some very cool surprises for you. Here’s a hint:

Uncharted 3 heavy metal mode? A tie-in with The Misfits Fiend Club? Nope, but we’ll have details on exactly what this symbol means in just a little over a month. Remember to be sure to be on the lookout for some brand new, Uncharted 3 renditions of your favorite maps in the middle of the month! For now, see you in your new skins and in the Fort!

I’m no stranger to writing, having written all the Syphon Filter games, but this title taught me some new tricks. By the time we started shooting in February 2011, I had gone through over 40 revisions, changing everything from setting, characters, names, dialogue and action. If we count all the in-game VO dialogue, we ended up with over 400 pages of script for UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss.

Of course, writing and performance capture was just beginning. What followed was an intense year of motion capture clean-up, animation, camera work, set building, lip-synching, prop building, editing, sound and music, by a team of over 50 artists working across five different studios.

Yes, UNCHARTED’s stunning visuals require next-gen hardware, but in the end, Uncharted’s charm comes from its characters, their friendships and chemistry. The great thing about story is that it’s hardware independent. Players can tell a good story from a bad one, great production values from not-so-great. We knew that the end result – all of that effort by all those people – would pay off in an UNCHARTED experience that would lose nothing simply because it was on a portable console. It’s the main reason I was so excited to learn the UNCHARTED approach to cinematic storytelling. On February 22nd, you’ll be able to see for yourself.

First off, today we’ll be releasing four maps we teased a couple of weeks after the UNCHARTED 3 launch.

You’ll be getting the Cave, Fort, Lost City, and Sanctuary maps in this download pack. Dynamic lighting effects, new particle effects and a slew of technical changes have been made to these maps. The lighting was reworked from scratch. New textures and weather effects are apparent and freshly decorate all maps. We poured hours of development time into these maps to make them be really fun in the UNCHARTED 3 multiplayer ecosystem. This map pack is a taste of how far we can go to remix some of your favourite maps into a completely new UNCHARTED 3 gameplay experience.

If you’re a member of the Fortune Hunters’ Club these maps will be available free to you. If not, you can gain access today by purchasing the FHC from the PS Store. It’s a fantastic deal at €24.99 / £19.99

Initially, the Fortune Hunters’ Club offered savings off the seven multiplayer packs (three character skin packs, four map packs) that will be released for Uncharted 3. We’ve kicked this deal up a few notches and are now offering 14 total packs, 7 new packs that we will be revealing as the year progresses! As a FHC member the savings for these 14 packs will be over 60%! Current membership and any new membership purchased will include all currently available and any upcoming DLC packs for Uncharted 3 as well as an exclusive Fortune Hunters’ Club theme that will let you know when new Uncharted 3 DLC hits right from the XMB of your PS3.

Besides the fun new maps you’ll be playing on today, we wanted to tell you about some future hits of DLC. We have three new character skins packs coming at you next. The Rogues Pack 1 and Rogues Pack 2 will let you play as some of the major thugs and minor characters from Uncharted 3. Donut Pack 1 will giant-size some of your favorite Uncharted 3 heroes and villains.

Details on how and when the three new skin packs will be available, and what DLC is coming after that, will follow in our next blog update. We have a lot more DLC coming at you. To whet your appetite, here’s a hint to as what it may be:

Any guesses to why Lazarević is holding half a Janus head?

As you see we are currently hard at work on completely new DLC for your UNCHARTED 3 online adventure. As soon as all the content is fully baked, tested through QA and we have locked release dates you’ll be the first to know. For now, let’s explore some new maps together. See you online!

This time we’re introducing Marisa Chase — but as she tells Drake at one point, call her “Chase,” only her grandfather calls her “Marisa.” I don’t want to give too much away at this point, but I can say this: once again Nathan Drake finds himself on a quest to solve a historical mystery which he hopes will lead to a fantastic treasure. The trick is staying alive long enough to get there. No easy task. And when Drake gets between Dante and Chase, events spiral out of control quickly.

We were lucky to get some really great talent to play our key characters. Nolan North, of course, reprises his role of Nathan Drake. Nolan brings more than just acting to the story, he helps make the dialogue his own, creates funny ad libs on the spot, and helps rework scenes that might be having problems. Chase is played by the talented Christine Laken, who you might remember as Al from the television show “Step by Step.” Dante is played by the amazing Jason Spisak, who’s played almost as many characters as Mr. North. Working with these guys and watching them bring our Uncharted world to life was amazing. I think Amy Hennig, the writer over at Naughty Dog, once told me that good actors can make even my bad dialogue sound good.

Not that I have any…

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the trailer. There’s more information on Uncharted: Golden Abyss coming soon.

Since NGP, or next generation portable gaming system, was announced back in January, I know you have been itching to find out more about the hardware and the games we’re going to be able to play and how they make use of the innovative new controls.

Now, we are finally able to lift the lid on some of the NGP titles currently in development. I also managed to grab interviews with some of the developers at an event held in London recently, where journalists got their hands around all of the games listed below.

Without further ado, here are the games:

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Nathan Drake’s first portable adventure is developed by Bend Studio, the team behind the acclaimed Resistance Retribution on PSP. It promises to retain the crucial elements of the Uncharted titles – adventure, thrilling action and top-notch storytelling – and the familiar control scheme, while also introducing innovative options such as touch and tilt controls. Check out my interview with John Garvin, Creative Director at Bend Studio.

WipEout 2084

Taking one of the most celebrated PlayStation series in a new prologue, WipEout 2048 is set during the birth of anti-grav racing and features a greater near-future environments than we have become used to since the original soared onto PlayStation in 1995. Perhaps the most exciting feature is the ability to play against PS3 racers on WipEout HD Fury via cross-play with PlayStation 3. Check out my interview with Graeme Ankers, Game Director at Studio Liverpool.

Little Deviants

Little Deviants is a series of madcap adventures that will showcase the multitude of features and functions your NGP possesses, including rear touch pad, touch screen, the motion sensor, front and rear cameras, augmented reality and microphone. Check out my interview with Richard Ogden, Game Design Director at Bigbig Studios.

Reality Fighters

Previously unannounced, Reality fighters is an augmented reality fighting game in which you can capture yourself using the NGP camera and duke it out against other fighters around the world, in the world as you see it through the NGP camera.

Super Stardust Delta

The mesmerising PlayStation Network shooter comes to NGP using the dual analog sticks to control the action the familiar way, plus touch screen and motion sensing controls to add something new.

Sound Shapes (working title)

Play, compose and share on NGP in a unique take on the side-scrolling platformer, where you create music with your actions using the touch screen and share them with the PlayStation Network community.

Hustle Kings

The king of pool games rolls onto NGP, bringing stunning graphics and a stylish art style and adding precision controls via the touch screen and rear touch pad.

Everybody’s Golf
Tee off with the latest iteration of everybody’s favourite golf series from ClapHanz. You can shoot for a birdie using traditional, touch and tilt controls and take on the world in effortless online multiplayer.

Resistance Retribution

You will be able to play your PSP games from the PlayStation Store on NGP. Resistance Retribution is just one example, and you’ll be able to revisit James Grayson’s voyage across Europe using NGP’s dual analog sticks.

Suffice to say, this is just the very tip of the cherry and we’ll have a lot more to talk about at E3, which is just a few days away. We’re interested to know what you think of this line-up so please leave your comments and I’ll respond in kind.

I particularly like the Badges and the little cryptic clues that you have to figure out to find them. They’re a bit like Trophies, and as Wikipedia tells me that Foursquare will allow users to create custom Badges at some stage in the future, I thought we could join forces and start planning some PlayStation-specific examples.

Drake, looking for the ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Badge.

Here’s the idea: think of a real world location that also appears in a video game and come up with a witty name for the badge and a clue to guide people to it. Here’s are some examples. Can you guess what they are?

Doin’ the Chimeran Walk. Oi! – This London Borough towers above the rest in Resistance: Fall of Man.

That Belongs in a Museum – Where Nathan Drake ‘borrowed’ Marco Polo’s oil lamp.

Real Nightlife Simulator – Where the Gran Turismo series first went urban with the headlights on.

Add them into the comments – it’s up to you whether you tell us the answers or leave us to figure them out; I’ll check in over the weekend and any add more that I think of. Of course, you could use fictional locations if you’re really stuck, but you get bonus points if you keep it real.

This was the first European show for Hanno and myself, as we had never been to the Leipzig Games Convention in the previous years. We weren’t prepared at all on how huge gamescom was – not only in importance, but in sheer physical size. There were four different halls at the Koelnmesse where games were being shown and EACH hall was about the same size of an airplane hangar. The PlayStation booth was probably one of the biggest booths we’ve ever seen and was split into four main sections representing racing games, family games, social entertainment and an 18+ area.

We were looking forward to going to Germany since we were hand-carrying over something really special with us – a fresh set of Blu-ray disks that would allow anyone at gamescom to have the first hands-on gameplay ever with the single player campaign of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves! After we got all of our stations setup, we took some photos of the booth and over the next two days had the chance to take even more photos and video to give you an idea of what it was like for us down on the show floor.

We kicked off the week attending the PlayStation press conference, which was filled to capacity and then some, where SCEE President Andrew House introduced a brand new trailer for UNCHARTED 2 which we put together just for gamescom. Then, Hanno and I spent the first two days of the show with a very full slate of back to back interviews with European press and some US press. You can read some of the interviews here.

We also set aside some time for behind-closed-doors meetings with press, which we used to demo a brand new area of the game where Nathan Drake and a Tibetan companion, Tenzin, must work together to explore and overcome a variety of obstacles inside a frozen cave deep in the Himalayan mountains. We caught a few articles about these demos here.

The rest of the days, gamescom was open to the public and hundreds of thousands of people attended to check out all the games being shown. As you can see from the gamescom Flickr page, there were TONS of attendees throughout the public days.

Over the weekend, we were extremely proud to learn that we were awarded the gamescom 2009 Award for Best Console Game! There was some tough competition at the show by some excellent games coming out this year and early next year, so winning this award means a lot to us at Naughty Dog.

Of course, this won’t be the only time we’ll be giving our fans a chance to get hands-on time with our single-player campaign. First, PlayStation Canada is bringing UNCHARTED 2 to the Fan Expo in Toronto, Canada, this weekend and those in attendance will get the chance to get some hands-on time with our game. Then, the following weekend, PlayStation and Naughty Dog will be at the Penny Arcade Expo 2009 in Seattle and we’ll be bringing the single-player campaign code with us as well!

We hope to see you at either show!

A panel of developers and the game’s leading actors – Nolan North, Emily Rose and newcomer Claudia Black – discussed the making of one of the most anticipated titles of this year. And courtesy of Chris Morrell over at PlayStation.Blog.US, you can watch it here.

Entertaining stuff – I can’t remember seeing any motion-capture or voice actors who put so much enthusiasm into their characters and the games they work on.

Naughty Dog will be at GamesCOM and I’m going to be pressing them for new info on the one game I’m most looking forward to. What would you like to know?

Nathan Drake Heading to Hollywood

Posted by Evan Wells // Co-President, Naughty Dog

News in Hollywood travels fast! I am happy to confirm that it is indeed true, Sony Computer Entertainment has signed a deal with Columbia Pictures for a movie adaptation of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and it will be produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, Ari Arad and Alex Gartner. We have been working with Avi and the folks and Columbia for quite some time and look forward to sharing additional details on the film in the short future. Obviously we designed the game to be a cinematic experience and we too can’t wait to see it on the big screen.

So, who do you think should play Nathan Drake?

I loved Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, so can’t wait to see the game recreated on the big screen. But as for the question “Who should play Nathan Drake?”, wow, that’s a killer! Nolan North is the actor who plays and voices Nathan in the Uncharted games, so he could be great choice. What do you guys think?

E3 Game Trailers

(To see more video, check out our Viddler page)

EyePet

Fat Princess

Gran Turismo PSP (mmMMMmm… shiny…)

Heavy Rain

MotorStorm Arctic Edge

Ratchet & Clank – A Crack In Time

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

James’ E3 Pictures

(To see more pictures, check out our Flickr stream)

What came as a surprise is that Chloe Fraser, the female lead in the first game, is back along with Sully and Elena Fisher – a new addition to the series that we heard about some time ago.

The story begins with Drake finding a clue to the location of Marco Polo’s lost fleet. It leads him to the valley of Shangri-La and the possibility of an even greater treasure – the Cintamani Stone, regarded as the Holy Grail of Buddhist mythology that is said to give incredible powers to whoever discovers it. However, a Serbian war criminal called Lazarevic is also searching for it…

As the Jak and Daxter series, also created by Naughty Dog, pursued a darker direction with its sequels, I asked if Uncharted is following a similar path. “We’re exploring darker themes but we don’t want to lose that light-hearted feel,” replied Druckmann. “In the first Uncharted, Drake was kind of thrown into his hero role, but with the sequel we tried to think of what a modern day treasure hunter would be like, who he would associate with and what would motivate him.”

“It gives us the chance to explore different shades of the character,” added Lemarchand. “And the two female characters add to that in the ways that they mirror each other. Chloe has always been a morally upright character whereas Elena is wilder, with more of a thirst for adventure and self-preservation. She is from Drake’s world.”

To bring the characters to life, the actors performed both motion capture and voices, and they acted their scenes on a specialised set as opposed to a sound studio. “It really helps with that off the cuff humour that Uncharted is known for to have Nolan North, the actor behind Nathan Drake, improvising on the set and adding his personality and improvisations,” explained Druckmann.

“I don’t really know why more developers don’t work this way,” Lemarchand added, “but by doing so we feel we aren’t squandering the charisma and talent of our actors. They’re all passionate about the game and their input really helps.”

One of the often mentioned highlights of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was its incredible water physics, so I asked the guys which little details we would all be talking about this time around. “We think we did lush jungle and realistic water really well last time,” said Lemarchand, “and while they’re still there, snow and wind effects have been a big emphasis this time.”

“It’s the little details that you don’t always notice that really immerse the player,” said Druckmann. “For example, in the helicopter gunfight that you saw at the SCEA press conference, the leaves on the trees are actually swaying and rocking in relation to where the chopper is and the rotation of the blades.”

So what did you guys think of that helicopter scene at today’s press conference? I was totally blown away.