Last week, Thai developer Studio HIVE and film studio Sahamongkol Film International announced that the popular muay Thai martial arts movie series Ong-Bak would be adapted into a game. To find out more about the title, we held an exclusive first interview with Kan Supabanpot, General Manager at Studio HIVE, about Tony Jaa’s involvement, the game’s background and which type of genre it will be.

When did development on the game begin?

Initial discussion about this project started in 2010 but actual game development began around 6 months ago.

Is the game based on the first Ong-Bak, which was based in the contemporary world, or will it be based on the sequels, which were set in the 15th Century? Or is it something else entirely?

It is based on the project that has yet to be announced so that’s why it’s still a bit of a secret and no screenshots to go along with our initial announcement.

What type of genre will the game actually be? A fighting game, a third person action game?

It will be a 3D side-scrolling action game.

Will you be playing as Ting, Tien or someone else?

We can’t say specific details but you will be playing as a character portrayed by Tony Jaa.

Approximately how many fighting moves will your character have?

We have around 20-30 moves though we’re not finished with the combat system. We are trying our best to include all fan favorite moves in here.

Will you be able to use the environment as a weapon?

No. It does not really fit in our gameplay design we have.

Is Tony Jaa [star of Ong-Bak], or any other muay Thai expert, involved in the game?

Yes. Tony Jaa himself is involved in this game and it is equally important to tell you that master Panna Rittikrai [Ed: Thai martial arts action choreographer, Tony Jaa's mentor, Ong-Bak director and screenwriter] and his stunt team are heavily involved as he is designing action sequences and fighting moves for this game.

How much creative control was Studio HIVE given over what is an existing IP?

The team at Sahamongkol Film International is very supportive and they allow us to pitch ideas not only concerning gameplay but also visual and story elements as well.

Ong-Bak has several very dark themes – drug abuse, overdoses and murder. Is this something we should expect to see in the game?

There will be a lot of brutal violence, but not with a dark theme like drugs or murder.

There’s also a focus on Buddhist philosophy in the films – especially in Ong-Bak 3 – will that influence the game?

We want to make sure that the purpose of this game is to make sure it is enjoyable for players and additionally giving fans of the series more in-depth experience. There will be some elements of Buddhism, but it will not be our primary focus.

The PS Vita already has a slew of fighting games, and portables are historically very popular in Asian territories. Will you be developing for the Vita?

We cannot give comments regarding release platforms right now as it will be officially announced at a later stage.

In 2008, Thailand banned several violent video games like Hitman and Killer Seven – do concerns about being banned affect the content of the Ong-Bak game?

We are developing this game with our target audience being overseas fans so the violent video game ban in Thailand does not affect us.

When are you planning to release the game?

We are targeting late 2012 for our release.

Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for more exclusive interviews soon.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Early last year, internet ‘hacktivists’ Anonymous attacked Sony for pursuing legal action against PS3 hackers, ultimately bringing down the PSN and several Sony sites. But just when you thought the phrase “Anonymous vs Sony” would be relegated to 2011 recap posts, the group once again declared war on the Japanese corporation. This time, the group was protesting Sony’s support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), something that could potentially limit free speech and lead to mass internet censorship. Will Anonymous’ actions actually help stop the act being passed, should they protest the ‘unconstitutional’ bill, or are they simply acting rashly and making things worse – all while attacking innocent Sony employees and unrelated individuals? To find out, we spoke to a member of Anonymous in an extensive interview.

Full disclosure: In the interest of impartiality, it’s only fair to point out that I don’t personally support SOPA, and believe it will harm free speech, as well as human rights. However, I do worry about whether Anonymous’ actions could actually help the anti-SOPA cause by showing the dangers of the web to its supporters. It’s also important to point out that the viewpoints expressed above and below do not necessarily reflect those of PSLS or its staff, for, as a free speech publication, we do not censor the viewpoint of individual writers.

As Anonymous have no central leadership, we could only interview a member of the group who is involved in planning the attack on Sony. As he (gender assumed) discusses the attack, he requested to be anonymous from Anonymous and has asked to use the pseudonym Zerit instead of his online pseudonym. Several times I reference a “plan”, this is a web-based document written by OpSony detailing how they’re going to attack Sony, and something that was remarkably easy for me to obtain. I also reference other IRC chats with other members that were off the record.

PSLS: To start: Can you describe your position at Anon? (obviously without incriminating yourself)

Zerit: I generally lurk the IRC’s, and help with anything that needs doing. No one assigns positions, in fact there really are none in anon. You’re just helping, or not.

Were you involved in last year’s OpSony?

I was not involved in the hacking part no, I did offer suggestions during planning and helped smooth things over with different people.

There’s over a hundred pro-SOPA companies. Why is Sony such a focus?

Because Sony is a large electronics/gaming company/music company. A lot of the stuff on YouTube could get taken down if they chose to support it and it passed.

How many people would you say are actively involved in the Op?

Well as you can see there are 92 in the IRC, and countless more doing other things… Honestly I don’t know but I would estimate anywhere from 150-2,000. Anonymous is much bigger than most people realize. I promise you that there over 3 million Anonymi.

From OpSony’s plan:

On Sony.com we will have our fun. We will post a press release and enable the download of the complete discography of every Sony Music artist.

Why should music artists who signed contracts with Sony years before SOPA existed suffer?

Our goal is not to make the artists suffer, or anyone but the stingy 1%… Also, last time I checked they have concerts, tours, and generally people don’t go to Sony to buy music anyways, they go to iTunes or use Mp3rocket.

Yeah, but they’ll go there if they hear the site is giving away music for free…

They can already get music for free easy enough. Plus it’s mostly in torrent form, and a lot of people don’t know how to use that.

What about the Sony executives who aren’t actually involved in SOPA? I saw the CC details on a PlayStation employee being passed around.

The executives are the ones that make these decisions, they shouldn’t have supported SOPA in the first place. Also we don’t randomly use that info, we plan on using it to ship the soon to be free goods to wherever needed. I.E. ship them to the occupy movements.

“No meme-usage except for in The Preplan. We need to be intimidating and we need to appear like some elite hacker force to the news channels and to the nation’s technically illiterate grandmothers. We need to strike fear into them.” – So you want to cause fear among normal citizens?

No.

But that’s from the OpSony plan.

We want to appear more professional, we want to scare the corporations, and let them know we are a force to be reckoned with.

Recently Anonymous has been getting more organized and mature, we are evolving, having more fun, and being more effective.

This is arguably the most organized Operation so far.

The use of intimidation in the pursuit of political aims, then?

No the use of looking professional so as not to be treated like a bunch of little kids.

I saw one IRC member on OpSony, who had openly done a lot of dox work, mention that they were born in 1996, when discussing Sony musicians.

Point?

It might be fair to say that you could end up being treated like a bunch of little kids if a bunch of little kids are part of the group.

Not everyone is that young, most people are 18 or older actually. Plus we have proved again and again that we can do things, adults cannot.

Now this Op is rather different to last year’s in that Sony is the target, consumers aren’t. Do you think the original Op was handled incorrectly?

I think so, I think that we hurt the common people and we learned from that and the BART protests… as I said, Anonymous is evolving, more efficient, and more dangerous to those who dare do wrong.

Anonymous don’t forgive or forget – what’s the point of companies/individuals who have been targeted changing their ways, from their perspective?

We don’t forgive your mistakes, nor do we forget them. We keep tabs on our targets, almost without even meaning to. If you’re a “Repeat Offender” shall we say? You shall be punished more harshly than before. We do not forgive or forget is very flexible and can mean many things, that is just one of them.

Ah, I see

Again, nothing in Anonymous is “official” for Anonymous is not “official,” some things are just more commonly agreed upon then others.

SOPA could lead to internet censorship, including the alteration and taking down of sites. To protest, Anon is planning on altering and taking down Sony’s sites. Couldn’t that be seen as hypocritical?

It could, but we are not trying to limit their free speech, we are trying to make their profit margin go down. If we wanted to limit their free speech we would take their Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else they use.

Well you are still trying to limit their free speech right to support SOPA.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Evelyn Beatrice Hall

That is not the point to this operation, our main objective is to make Sony lose enough money where they not only withdraw support to SOPA but actively oppose it. Everyone should have free speech, however there is a fine line. If what a few say hurts the rights of millions of users, then a few hours or days of silence is a small price to pay. But again, we are not intending to take away their communication.

But like you said before, most customers don’t use Sony.com. People don’t go to Sony sites to buy Sony stuff. Do you think that it’ll really hurt their revenue that much?

Yes considering we plan on making all the stuff free, then for the shipping we will use the CEO’s CC info, not to mention we are out in the real world, and it only takes one whisper for it to go viral that now you can get a TV for only the price of shipping.

But it’s not as if Sony are actually going to ship the TVs.

Except it is mostly automated and we are in the process of making sure Sony is locked out.

You can’t stop them calling their distribution centers though.

True, but how long until they notice, not to mention, then they won’t be able to ship any out and they will lose money.

Would you like Sony to go bankrupt?

No.

Why do you think we’re not targeting PSN? If we bankrupt them it will hurt consumers a lot. Sony is used by a lot of people, and overall a good company, they just have some bad policies at the moment.

But consumers will lose out from a poorer Sony. It slightly damages the economy, it means they have to lower their R&D spending, it means less products.

Sony is not the economy, it is a part, yes, but not a huge part. And if they decrease quality, naturally consumers will leave for alternatives meaning even less money for Sony.

OK, moving back to broader questions. Many of the proponents of SOPA say that the internet is a lawless, uncivilized place, and that piracy is an example of the rampant crime on the web. Surely hacking and doxing simply re-enforces those claims? Is Anoymous really making things better?

Saying the internet is lawless and uncivilized is BS. On every site but the deepest pits of the web, there are rules and mods. Even on 4chan!

As to the other question… I promise that there is more crime in real then on the internet. Crime is just more obvious on the internet. And yes we are.

Of course, and murder is far worse than hacking. But by emphasizing the crime on the internet, you’re helping fuel public opinion that the web is a dangerous place.

Anonymous is not going away, and we will continue to develop faster than any computer security can, and we will stand up to injustice. Last time I checked, the constitution is above every law congress makes.

I don’t think that’s public opinion at all. It all depends upon where you’re going. Like in real life, there are bad neighborhoods.

But in real life, whenever there is a terrorist attack, politicians are able to quickly pass laws and legislation that limit free speech, riding a wave of public fear. This time, people are trying to pass laws and legislation that limits internet free speech. As a response, you are doing something that could loosely be described as terrorism.

Last time I checked the purpose of #OpSony isn’t to make them do what we want with fear, it’s with quarterly reports. So it’s more of a protest.

But fear will be a side effect. Your own plan, and numerous IRC chats that I’ve had publicly and privately, show that Anonymous aims to get a lot of publicity from the protests/hacks. To use the quote again

“We need to appear like some elite hacker force to the news channels and to the nation’s technically illiterate grandmothers”

It’s fair to say that if you do achieve this, people who are technically illiterate, who don’t know entirely what SOPA is, or who Anonymous are, will simply think “an ungoverned group of people with tremendous power to cause mayhem on the web,” thus breeding fear, and helping fuel the pro-SOPA, pro-controlled internet agenda, no matter how flawed it is.

Fear is a side effect yes, but terrorism is using force to hurt innocents on purpose to get what you want. We never want to hurt innocents.

The official definition of terrorism is using terror to push a political or moral agenda. Bombs, killing etc, doesn’t have to be a part of it.

Those who are technically illiterate won’t be able to register to vote or send letters to their representatives. Plus the Reps don’t represent us anyways, except on election day.

But Reps do stuff to gain favor of the public, even when it’s not near the election. If the news starts reporting on Anonymous attacks, public opinion could sway towards stopping those attacks, making the internet a “safer place.” The largest internet stories of 2011 were probably Anonymous attacks.

Anonymous has been called an “internet hate machine,” and the sheep can believe that if they want but no matter what, Anonymous still delivers. We would like for the public to side with us, and they will, as long as we keep fighting the fight for their internet and rights.

Also, people are naturally curious, they will look up stuff about Anonymous and see the truth, and then most likely, they will join us. Those who outright lie too often shall be taken care of.

But the mass media will present you as terrorists, SOPA supporters will be able to say “we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” and gain support for what is otherwise a flawed and unpopular bill. We’re still seeing laws passed that limit human rights due to post-9/11 fear.

Yes we know this, and we have already been presented by certain mass media sources… *cough* Fox News *cough* as terrorists. And we laugh at this wild accusation. Plus you forget that we are giving the people free movies and music, they will more likely see us as robin hoods.

But you already said that movies and music are easy to get anyway.

True, but not movies out in the movie theaters… Or new movies like that.

So innocent directors and screenwriters will be hurt? They’re not part of the 1%

Again, that’s not the point here. We don’t want to hurt anyone but the Sony executives, and Sony’s bank accounts. Unfortunately this plan is not perfect, and I don’t claim it is, I admit there will be unfortunate losses by some who were not intended targets. And we shall apologize for this.

Well you could still be effective without releasing new movies…

Too late, already underway. Besides they won’t lose much.

Can you give an example of some of those movies?

Jack and Jill [removed torrent link], Arthur Christmas [removed torrent link], The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009 Swedish version) [removed torrent link] The Adventures of Tintin [removed torrent link]

Taking the largest movie there, Tintin - that was only co-financed by Sony.

They will still lose money.

So will Paramount, so will the actors, the screenwriters, the extras.

Not as much.

Paramount had a bigger investment in the film, they both co-produced, but Paramount spent $30 million on pre-production.

Will you look at that… they support it too… that’s convenient. Not meant, but convenient.

“Not meant” – that’s the point, this research wasn’t done before. And I’m only using Paramount as an example. Films have hundreds of smaller investors, and smaller cogs that will all suffer. Couldn’t it be said that you are acting recklessly just to be seen as the next Robin Hood?

Again, plans not perfect, no choice of action is, but it hurts a lot less then shutting down PSN again. Plus I promise the damage won’t be very much to these smaller companies. What’s really gonna hurt Sony is that their products either can’t be shipped or they’re free.

Next Page >>

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2012. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us

We caught up with Eric Folliot, Senior Brand Manager at Activision, at the Golden Joystick Awards to talk about all things Call of Duty in a PSLS-exclusive mini-interview. How does the MW3 marketing juggernaut react to Battlefield 3‘s taunts, and is Black Ops still relevant? Find out below.

How do you ensure that Black Ops remains competitive when Modern Warfare 3 comes out?

That’s a tricky question, unexpected. I think the answer I would give is that they are slightly different multiplayers, and I think people will play zombies on Call of Duty and will still play multiplayer on Black Ops because they’ve got their prestige levels and their score. I think Elite will help do that do that as well, Elite will mean that you maintain a profile for both Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3.

What do you think of Battlefield 3’s tagline: ‘Above and Beyond the Call’?

I’ve not seen that actually, I’ve seen ‘Field of Battle’.

But now what do you think?

Now I think that’s… nice. [Laughs], actually it’s on the back of the Medal of Honor in the US army, that’s what’s engraved on the back of the medal. So that’s probably where they took it from – I can’t imagine why else they would use it [grins].

The Battlefield 3 and MW3 campaign is heating up a lot, what do you think of some of the things the CEOs are saying?

That’s for them to comment on, I’m looking forward to playing Battlefield 3, but I’m looking forward to playing Modern Warfare 3.

Which one more?

Modern Warfare 3 [laughs], I’m run and gun – this is a personal view, I’m not into the big maps and running around for miles. For me, it’s Modern Warfare 3 all the way.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us

To discuss DrinkBox Studios’ latest game, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, we chatted to Chris McQuinn about the upcoming PlayStation Vita downloadable title. Check out the full interview below to learn all there is to know about being a blob.

Did you ever expect Tales from Space: About a Blob to be such a hit?

Well, I think you’re being a bit generous there, but generally we were pretty happy with the reviews for the game, especially given that it’s the first title released by the studio. There was a ton we learned from AAB that we’re already applying to Mutant Blobs Attacks with respect to getting the word out that we have this awesome game.

What did you learn from About a Blob that you are incorporating in Mutant Blobs Attack?

Tons. The funny thing about releasing a game is that you undergo this huge QA process where the general public is now providing feedback as to what is awesome and what sucks (we love feedback, so always feel free to let us know). The controller scheme in the original AAB definitely had a pretty high learning curve so we’ve decided to simplify that experience by reducing the number of buttons required (don’t worry, overall gameplay is harder). We also learned that people really do love to grow, and love to eat people, and love to destroy the world. Therefore, the emphasis on eating and growing is a major focus in Mutant Blobs Attack.

What are the biggest differences between the two?

Well, the biggest difference in my mind is that the game will be on the VITA, meaning we have all these fun new input devices available for the Blob. The touch screen on the Vita really allows us to immerse the player into the Blob’s world by allowing them to directly interact with platforms, objects, etc. Combining this with classic controls of a platformer results in a unique experience that gamers really haven’t been exposed to. Another big difference is the Blob. The Blob in MBA has been mutated, so has a chip on the shoulder, one might even say he’s a bit of an a-hole.

How has development been on the Vita? Would you say it is harder than developing on the PSN?

Developing for the Vita has been easier than expected, in fact I might even say a pleasure. The pre-release hardware has worked quite well and that the development environment has been pretty solid.

What are your thoughts on the Vita and how it stacks up compared to smartphones and the 3DS?

I think it stacks up pretty well on a few aspects of comparison. The price point of the initial Vita launch is pretty enticing, lower than I think a bunch of us expected. With that said, the device certainly packs a lot of power under the hood. The screen looks amazing – this was the first aspect of the device I noticed when we got Mutant Blobs Attack up and running on it. Colors really pop out. As a customer I think I’d also be pretty happy seeing the strong effort Sony is making to ensure there are a sufficient number of good titles at launch. Just don’t try making a phone call on the Vita.

What is your favorite thing about being a blob?

Eating people. For sure. Oh, and eating cows. Wait, no, that’s blowing up cows.

What is the hardest part about getting your blob to feel and move like a blob?

Well you see, the Blob is a tricky little beast. The challenge is to figure out how to ensure the Blob moves in a manner that is enjoyable from a gameplay experience, while still letting players have the feeling that they’re a Blob. This means a lot of tuning with speed, acceleration, and especially the “goop” factor.

About a Blob was released early for PS Plus subscribers. Will you be implementing any perks for subscribers on Mutant Blobs Attack?

That’s a great question. Unfortunately, we’re still figuring out the specifics of release. With that said, we’re suckers for package deals and perks, so that is a definite possibility.

Will Mutant Blobs Attack feature any multiplayer options?

Sadly there won’t be any multiplayer on Mutant Blobs Attack but happily we will have online leaderboards, so you WILL be able to let your friends know you’re better than them.

Will players be able to take their saved data from the Vita to the PS3?

The initial release of the game will be Vita only, that’s where 100% of our focus currently is. We hope to eventually put out a PS3 version, and if/when we do we will be looking at the cloud save system – we’d like to support it. How’s that for a non-committal answer?

Is Mutant Blobs Attack pub-funded just like About a Blob?

Mutant Blobs Attack is funded completely by the studio itself, and by our moms. They each pitched in 5 bucks.

You have 5 words, describe Mutant Blobs Attack!

Nom, Nom, Nom, Grow, Destroy.

For more on DrinkBox, be sure to check out our in-depth interview with the developer about all there is to know about indie development.

#OnlyOnPSLS

© Cameron Teague for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us

At this year’s Golden Joystick Awards, we caught up with Justin Towell as he attempted to set a new world record for the fastest time on the new India circuit on Codemasters’ F1 2011. With only three attempts allowed, and the entire control system breaking, he managed to beat the 1:21 minute limit set by Guinness World Record by one second.

Hi Justin, can you start by telling us about your previous records?

I have the Guinness World Record for the 360 version on Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Emerald Hill Zone, Act 1, which I did in 21 seconds, beating the previous record by one second – which was set on the same day.

Aww, poor guy.

Yeah [laughs], he’s a nice guy though, James Richards, really nice chap.

And my first world record was on Sega Rally Championship on the Sega Saturn, which I set in, I think, 2008. My boss came in with the Guinness World Record book and said: “Is there anything in here anyone thinks they can beat?” So I had a look, and had a look at Sega Rally and thought: “Yeah, I reckon I could beat that.” It was a really hot time, really hot, but when I started training, I was 5 seconds off the pace, then 4, 3 etc. I got closer, and I thought “I can do this”, so we ended up sending that through video to Guinness World Records, rather than doing it in front of them. So, it was adjudicated by them externally. But it still stands.

Before you were able to set this record, there were some technical problems with the game set-up, did it make you nervous that you had to spend half the day fixing that, rather than training?

Yeah, this morning, I came in and managed to have a good 2 hours playing on the set-up. It was working well, and the pedals were a bit too close and the seat couldn’t be adjusted – but that was ok. 10 minutes before we were meant to be doing it, it all stopped working, the accelerator was jammed on, and I went onto the different machine and that was completely alien. I didn’t know what was going to happen. My nerves were absolutely shot.

Did that make it harder for you, when you actually came to race?

I think it might have helped actually, because my adrenaline was so high, my reactions must have been like a fighter pilot or something [laughs].

In the two hour session before, you actually got a better score.

Yeah, I did, I got into the 1:19’s, which is great. But it doesn’t count, because it has to be done in front of the adjudicator, you have to say “I’m going to break the record”.

How long have you spent training for this?

About a week.

That’s all?

Yeah, well I’ve been playing the game since it came out, I give it 9/10, absolutely love it, Codemasters have done a fantastic job. I think it’s easily better than Gran Turismo 5, easily better than Forza – I haven’t played the new Forza, but it’s better than Forza 3.

So yeah, they said, seeing as the Indian Grand Prix is the next one on the real calendar, and no one’s ever set a lap on it, because it’s brand new, that we should set a record. And the adjudicators deemed that 1:21 is what I needed to beat, which is a harsh time. People on the internet have gone faster, but it has to be adjudicated.

If someone beats it, will you be back?

Yes, absolutely. I encourage it, that’s the whole point of Guinness World Records – it’s for people to challenge, and beat, and then for people to come back and have another go.

What’s next for you?

Probably Sonic Generations, I’ve been perfecting a speed-run. People have managed to get a copy of a sort of hacked modern Green Zone, from the old demo, and there’s some pretty fast speed runs online. But my time is actually faster than those, so that might be next.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us

It’s been over five years since Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion first released, and the role-playing game genre has evolved and changed over the course of the half-decade drastically. As a result, Bethesda’s Todd Howard has revealed that Skyrim will take more inspiration from their other RPG powerhouse, the more contemporary Fallout 3, rather than from the aging Oblivion.

Talking to PC Gamer, Howard said:

[Skyrim]’s a lot more like Fallout 3, where as you level up you are going to see harder things, but the easier things stay around as well. You’ll still run into the weaker stuff and you’ll just decimate it.

Oblivion‘s conversation system has also been overhauled to be more like the one in Fallout 3:

There’s very few completely random conversations. We’ve gone more towards a system, like we did in Fallout 3, where they have a specific conversation with a specific person about various topics.

Finally, he also talked about how Skyrim will also have a lot more environmental storytelling, something that was a success in Fallout:

We realized in Fallout 3 that that kind of environmental storytelling, where you come upon a little scene, is really good. And so we’ve tried to do it a lot more.

With Skyrim out on November 11th, Bethesda’s marketing campaign has kicked into full gear with a fantastic live action trailer.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us

It’s day two of our five day exclusive run of Sideway: New York developer diaries, and this time we’re going to take a look at the concept behind the game, and how Playbrains and Fuel Entertainment came up with the idea. Plus, take part in another chance to win a copy of the game!

To see the first PSLS-only vid, go here and find out about the game’s story. Today, Phil Glofcheskie, Game Designer, Fuel Entertainment talks about how Sideway: New York took inspiration from Edwin A. Abbot’s 19th Century dimensional work of satire, Flatland, among other things:

Yesterday’s randomly selected winners of Sideway are Loi and Daryl – check your PM’s!

To have another chance to win a US code, simply comment on the video below, and come back the rest of the week to enter every day.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us

With digital distribution becoming an increasingly viable platform, independent developers have more and more potential markets where they can sell their wares. But as the industry evolves, developers must move with it, predicting which platforms will be a success, and which will fall by the wayside. To talk about the threat of smartphones on dedicated handhelds, the changing price expectations of gamers as well as the risk of owning your own IP, we chatted to Graham Smith, Co-Founder and COO of DrinkBox Studios, in a wide ranging interview.

Developers of the highly enjoyable PSN exclusive Tales from Space: About a Blob, DrinkBox are hard at work on the downloadable Vita title Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, as well as the recently announced Guacamelee for an unknown platform. For more on DrinkBox, stay tuned for an About a Blob giveaway later today here, and a Mutant Blobs Attack interview later this week.

With the iPhone 4S selling 4 million in 2 days, and the 3DS selling 0.7 million in Nintendo’s first quarter, is there a worry that the dedicated handheld faces extinction?

I’ve been watching these numbers as well, and I think the iPhone is being purchased primarily as a smartphone, not as a gaming device. I’m still continuing to hope that a device made exclusively for playing games will be superior and appeal more to gamers than an all-in-one device. People still buy steak knives even though the Swiss army knife exists.

My personal feeling is that the 3DS just does not have the games it needs on the market yet. I had one in my hands in the store on launch day, and put it back down when I saw that there were no games I really wanted to play on it. It will be interesting to see how it does over the holiday season when more games are available.

Due to the widespread use of mobiles, many gamers are also becoming used to cheaper games that cost $0.99/59p, do you think it’ll be hard to convince consumers to pay $5.99 or $9.99 for a downloadable handheld title?

This is an unfortunate trend. I know people who will only download free games because they don’t even want to pay the 0.99.

The games on iOS are usually much smaller in scope and production value than games you can find on consoles. I find most of the $0.99 games that I have purchased are more “time wasters” than anything else. In my opinion, these types of games are simply not worth $9.99. Not to say that there are no good games on the platform. I loved playing Trainyard and Swords & Sworcery.

I think that gamers will continue to realize that you get more with handheld console games, and that it’s worth paying more for that. I hope that gamers are too smart to choose 10 bad games over 1 good one.

Free-to-play is becoming an increasingly popular, and increasingly lucrative, business decision for iOS developers. Would you ever consider the F2P model for a PSN or Vita title?

There are some ethical considerations that I would want to think hard on before ever making a free-to-play game. Ryan Creighton, another Toronto based indie developers and creator of Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure, wrote a good blog post about the types of people that spend money on these games, postulating that these people were not of sound mind, and that the industry may be taking advantage of them. I would definitely want to do some more research into this before making a game with a free-to-play business model.

Additionally, outside of ad-sponsored games, I think free-to-play games need to be designed that way from the ground up (if you want your game to make good money). This would probably limit your game design significantly. I feel like many companies making freemium games are probably putting money/profits as the priority for the company, and the games are just an avenue for that. I want my company to be primarily focused on making good games, and (hopefully) money will come as a result.

Some developers have praised Sony for their openness with the PS3 and PSN, with the platform holder allowing different business models like F2P, and allowing other services like Steam access. Do you think this openness should mean more developers should consider the PSN as a development platform?

I definitely feel that more developers should consider PSN, and I think that this is indeed happening. In our experiences Sony has been very helpful and great to work with.

Being based in Canada, you’re lucky enough to receive some tax breaks and Guacamelee has financial participation from the Canada Media Fund – do you think you’d still be able to create the same games, with the same scale, if you were based in another country?

Living in Canada, and especially Ontario, has been great for DrinkBox Studios. In addition to Tax Credits and the Canada Media Fund, we have also received grants from the Ontario Media Development Corporation that helped us bring our first game Tales from Space: About a Blob to the PS3 (on PSN), and our currently in-progress game Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack to the Vita.

If we were based in another country, we would either need to make larger personal sacrifices (invest in the project with our own money), be more focused on doing external contracting work (slowing down the development of our own games), or work harder to secure a publisher (likely giving up IP and some creative control). None of these options is great, and so we do consider ourselves very lucky to be living where we are.

Even in Canada, the games industry is going through a tumultuous time right now, new markets are emerging, but at the same time, a lot of developers are closing. Would you still recommend that developers start their own independent studios, or should they wait until the industry has settled?

I think that if you have talent and good ideas, you will succeed despite the current economy. When we first started DrinkBox 3.5 years ago, it seemed like another studio was closing its doors almost every week. In fact the founders of DrinkBox came from just such a studio, Pseudo Interactive, which closed down in early 2008.

There is no telling if or when the industry will settle. Assuming they can find a way to make it work financially, I would encourage people not to wait.

About a Blob was a Sony Pub funded game – looking back on the business decision now, are you happy that you traded exclusivity for more support and financial help?

We invested a lot of our own money into About a Blob and having a guaranteed royalty from Sony when the game released helped up to offset the risk of making the game. It was definitely the best decision at the time, and I would not change it.

How important do you think it is for smaller developers to own their own IP? Is the risk worth it?

I heard Chris Charla from Microsoft talking at GDC about how developers should not be afraid to give up their IP. His argument was that small indies don’t know how to exploit the IP anyway, so why would they want to keep it? I think that this is somewhat true (that Microsoft is in a much better position to exploit the IP than an indie developer is), but I don’t think that this is a good reason to give it up.

I think that IP is definitely valuable. If it wasn’t, publishers would not want it! However, I don’t think that it is so valuable that an indie developer should hang on to it at all costs. If you have to choose between keeping your IP and getting the game made at all, you should probably give up your IP. Once this game is finished and you have some more money in your pockets, you might be in a better position to keep the IP of your next title. Also, you can push to have things written into the contract that will have the IP revert back to you if the publisher does not use it, or that you have right of first refusal to projects based on that IP.

And finally, with rumors of a PS4 starting to circulate, what would be your dream console?

If we were living in a fantasy land, I think I’d want a single console to rule them all. From a gamers perspective, I would not need to have 3 different boxes with all their associated cords and controllers sitting in my living room, and from a developers perspective I would not have to pass multiple different certifications or worry about the current fragmentation of the market. And of course this amazing new console would be backwards compatible with all of my old games and have digital distribution for all new titles so I don’t have to ever hear the words “did you pre-order?” again.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | No comments | Add to del.icio.us

Set to release later this year, Assassin’s Creed Revelations will be the last game in the Ezio trilogy, finally ending Ezio and Altaïr’s story arcs and explaining many of the franchise’s mysteries and riddles. Tasked with this momentous task, lead writer Darby McDevitt knows everything there is to know about Revelations, so we chatted to Darby about the game, its secrets and what’s next for the series. Oh, and Zombie Mario.

For more on Assassin’s Creed Revelations be sure to read our extensive preview of the game’s singleplayer.

Hi Darby, could you start by introducing yourself and telling us about your work on Assassin’s Creed?

Hi, I’m Darby McDevitt, I’m from Seattle – well just outside Seattle, a town called Spokane. I lived in Seattle for a long time and got my masters in Irish literature in Dublin, went back to the States, then moved to Montreal to write this game. But I also wrote Bloodlines and Discovery, so I’ve been on the brand at least two and a half years.

So Assassin’s Creed: Ireland is next then?

[Laughs] No there’s not going to be one, but yes, that is what I would do. I would actually do a very complicated war for independence and then Civil War right after that. That’d be a really nice, complicated moral grey area where you’d have to balance all these conflicting opinions on all sides. And you’d have these great British and Irish characters to choose from, lots of writers and politicians, all these people.

You’d have to have a couple more disclaimers at the beginning for that one.

[Laughs] I know, but if you handled it fairly… I know there’s that Ken Loach film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and the British in that are just like “RAAAWR”, and the Irish of course were fighting themselves in that one. Beautiful movie, well written but…

…No Assassins.

No Assassins. That’d be my ideal project, and Dublin and London might be fun cities. I don’t know where else you’d do, somewhere in Wales perhaps, Holyhead? [Laughs] Assassin’s Creed: Isle of Man…

So how many writers were involved in the game?

Corey May is our head writer of our whole project, so he and the brand team kind of come up with “we’re doing this new Assassin’s Creed to tell this part of the story, the Desmond in a coma bit.” And he hands it down to me, and I write – in this case – I wrote the singleplayer, all the side missions, all the database entries. And then we have an AI writer, Nicholas Grimwood, and he’s responsible for all the lovely crowd chatter, the heralds that are yelling at you, the guards etc. And we worked together to where we planned out, as you progress through the game over the course of the year in the game, you hear the chatter of the crowd talking about the war that’s raging between the Sultan Bayezid and his son Selim, as you get closer to the city. I always say it’s like Fortinbras in Hamlet, where, every so often, you hear, or even see, Fortinbras getting closer; at one point Hamlet is on a horse – this is the Kenneth Branagh version – a horse overlooking a hill, and hearing about Fortinbras getting even closer to Elsinore. So that was the kind of feeling we wanted with Revelations, if the player stops and pays attention to the herald, you’ll hear a story unfolding in the background. So two main writers, Corey also wrote a bit of stuff at the end to keep in line with the Desmond larger story, and Jeffery Yohalem, writer of Brotherhood, and another couple of guys, Richard Farrese, worked on some of the multiplayer stuff, cause we actually have a story in the multiplayer elements as well – you get to learn a lot more about Abstergo, the way that it recruits young people to rise in their ranks. So it’s quite a robust game, I don’t think people know how much content we have in the game, how much varied content there is. I also wrote the Desmond stuff that you’ll play, which is very much different, and then there’s a short film, Assassin’s Creed Embers that’s coming out that wraps up Ezio’s story, I wrote that as well and Ubi Workshop produced it, it looks really lovely.

Is it a difficulty having so many writers?

Nah, I guess because I’m the lead writer on the singleplayer experience I get to say “hey let’s do this, let’s do that”, but Nicholas as the AI writer, he’s pretty experienced, I think he did AC2 and Brotherhood, so he knows what he’s doing. I just sort of came up with the general theme of “hey, hit this theme at these points.” I didn’t have to give much direction. And yeah, that’s pretty self-contained, and then the multiplayer is its own beast.

Revelations is said to wrap up all the cliffhangers and plot holes in the series –

– For Ezio and Altaïr yeah, not Desmond. Desmond’s story will continue at some point in the future, in some form or fashion.

Like?

A Saturday morning cartoon! [Laughs]

So will we have to wait to have all the mysteries solved, do we have to play through the game and have a big scene at the end where all is revealed?

I can’t tell you that, but what I will say is, in the last sequence in the game, we’ve taken great care to make it very narrative rich, with lots of fantastic character development, lots of important reveals about certain bits of information that are really emotional moments. All these characters come to a place that feels like a natural ending.

Does it annoy you that only a minority of players generally finish a game?

Of course, that would annoy anyone right? If people walked out of a movie an hour into it, or put down a book halfway through it… Yeah, it’s a little annoying, but as long as they are having fun with the system it’s ok. But, we actually have a really high completion rate for most games, we keep track of that. Most games have under 50% completion rate, but we’re over that. But below 50%? It’s sad right?

In the section I played today, when Ezio arrives at Constantinople, he is all battered up, his clothes are in a mess, what has he been up to?

Our E3 trailer is actually the beginning of the game, we just released the extended trailer, and that is how it begins. As soon as you start playing Ezio, boom, it pops right into the middle of action. A lot of people are speculating: “Will it begin in Italy?” We thought about that, but decided against it as we wanted to focus our resources on creating all of these new assets and not reviving all of these old ones for new purposes. We wanted everything to feel really fresh right off the bat. Even when you first arrive in Masyaf, there’s snow on the ground, the wind’s blowing, there’s a blizzard – it’s a totally different Masyaf than you’ve experienced. So the game begins with that first sequence, almost like a good Indiana Jones movie, y’know how they always begin right in the middle of some action? Like the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, he’s searching for this cool thing, some stuff goes down right away, and then it starts getting into the real adventure. That’s how we structured it – big exciting opening, gameplay immediately, there’s already a problem. Wrap that up in the first sequence and then on to Constantinople and where you spend most of the rest of the game.

In the preview, I noticed in the start menu there was a section called Animus Island – what’s that?

Aha! Not gonna tell you. Well, that’s the equivalent of getting out of the Animus in the previous Assassin’s Creeds. The island is the original test chamber, when Rebecca and co. were creating the Animus 2.0 (we call it 2.03 because it’s the 3rd game in the Ezio series), they created this test island where they tested physics and tested environmental simulations and all their projections, so the island is just this beautiful little place they created. It’s kind of Desmond’s hub, if you will. I don’t want to say any more.

And subject 16, what’s going on there?

He plays a part… I won’t say too much more.

Are you wrapping up his storyline?

Uh… he plays a part [laughs]. He’s a mysterious character, fans are really interested in knowing more about him, so I think it’ll be interesting to see… we love that character.

Could he have a standalone game in the future maybe?

I have no idea.

And each game there seems to be more and more Desmond play time and character development, will Revelations continue this trend?

There is a large chunk of Desmond material, it’s vastly different to what you’ve seen before though, so it’s hard to explain, and we’re not really going to explain it because it’s a very different experience to the regular Assassin’s Creed, so we’d prefer it to be a surprise. If we reveal too much, people’s heads might explode with the amount of variety we’ve put into this. You already saw the Den Defense mechanic that we haven’t said a word about until now, but now you have Ezio commanding troops in a street brawl. That’s a game unto itself, and as you level up, those get harder and harder. And that’s optional content, if you want to play more of those when your den’s being attacked, you can go to them. Or you can let the Templars take your den and then you have to attack it again and assassinate somebody. So there’s a lot of content that’s just gonna start being revealed, and I think people will be like “Whoa, there’s a lot more stuff here than I thought there might be.”

You will be able to play as Altaïr, is that a one-off treat, or a more common occurrence?

Every time Ezio finds one of these Masyaf keys you will trigger a memory of Altaïr, and there’s five keys per… there’s five times five, or five times… well there’s…

… a lot?

Yeah, I’m not a mathematician [laughs].

So will they wrap up all the mysteries?

I don’t know about all of them, but you will definitely understand what happens to him at the end of his lifespan. I think some hardcore fans will be like “wait a second, what?!” But, at the same time, they’ll realize like, “oh ok, I see, there’s some little weird things here, connections”. But yeah, we’re wrapping their stories up, so there’ll be no more question about where next with these guys. We will see them come to a solid foundation close to their story.

And we’ll never see them again in future games?

I have no doubt that someone will probably, in future years, have some fun cameo or something. That might happen, but I can’t see anybody making a full game around them. It’s a bit like Doctor Who – we created this awesome bit of technology where one man contains millions of ancestors down the line, and we can pluck anyone out from history and use it. We stay with one character for a while, and then, like the regeneration, like Doctor Who, we start a new one and everyone’s excited to see who the new one is. At the same time, they miss the old one, right? I know I was devastated when Tom Baker died, and turned into Peter Davidson, not a big fan of Colin Baker though, and even less of a fan of the suit. So that’s what we’ve created with Assassin’s Creed – Ezio is a beloved character, I love the old character and fans are always curious to see what happens next. We try to balance it and who knows what the future holds.

Will we get any hints about the future in the game?

There are definitely some hints as to… Yeah, there are definitely some hints.

Have you already mapped out the plot of the next Assassin’s Creed?

Corey, the head writer, a while ago mapped out Desmond’s story pretty well. There has been a little course correction along the way, but he knows where Desmond’s story goes, and then he has ideas about which ancestors he wants to attach to that story and… we’ll leave it at that. Any time we come up with a new ancestor, we may know who that ancestor is, but until we get to them, that’s when we fill out that story completely.

And nice trips to the city locations, right?

Yeah, that’s what we should do, we should think “What is the place that we want to go to? Assassin’s Creed: Hawaii, I want to go to Hawaii.” [Laughs]

Have you written the scripts for any DLC?

We haven’t announced any DLC yet.

And the Vita game, are you working on that?

Nothing to do with me.

But there’s new characters, new locations.

Nothing to do with me, I promise! [Laughs]

Next Page >>

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

The resistance needs you. With mankind facing extinction as the Chimera continue to expand across the world, Resistance 3 is easily the bleakest game in the series, a far cry from the cheerful frivolousness of Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank franchise. To aptly convey the abject desperation and despair felt by the game’s cast, Insomniac enlisted composer Boris Salchow, who also wrote the score for Resistance 2. To learn about the game’s music, how it had changed from the previous titles and how user control affects the score, we talked to Boris in an exclusive interview.

Hi Boris, could you tell us about your work on Resistance, and your experience in the industry?

Resistance 3 is my third major video game, not counting several other game projects where I supplied additional music or were developed outside the US. In terms of development time, the amount of music written and with live sessions in London, Resistance 3 is the biggest project so far.

Outside of the world of games, I write music for movies, commercials and TV shows.

Resistance 3 is a reboot of sorts – a new protagonist, a slightly later date – did you decide to ‘reboot’ your score?

Even though very little time has passed since the end of Resistance 2, we are looking at a world in which humans have been decimated to a degree that they do not even have a military organization in place. That changes the overall character of the game away from the military shooter genre, and we highlight much more of the human side of the protagonist himself and the survivors that he will meet throughout the game.

The third game has been described as having a much darker tone, does your score reflect this?

Absolutely. Mankind is almost defeated. In the previous game you were part of a military group that still thought they could beat the enemy and they had trucks and planes and outposts throughout the country. But now all of this is gone. There is no plan any more. But it is also clear that by staying home with your family all of you are going to be eradicated eventually. So you leave your family behind with nothing but a vague idea of what to do. It is not a very hopeful mission.

How does composing for games compare to composing for films and TV shows?

One major difference is that you usually have more time to write the music for videogames. Another big difference is that a game is an interactive medium so in order to be able to react to the gameplay we often have to divide the music into a combination of loops and stingers and at times multi-layered elements. That is very different from a linear media like TV or movies where you always know the exact order and timing.

Because the user has control over a situation in a game – for example they can decide to run away from a foe or attack it – does this cause difficulties when trying to ensure the tempo and tone represent what is happening on screen?

You have to juggle more possibilities in your mind and there are many different ways to approach these situations. I personally enjoy this part a lot and I would not call it difficult, it is more like solving crossword puzzles.

This time, you recorded the score at Abbey Road Studios in London, what difference did this make over the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra for Resistance 2?

Both venues gave us fantastic results that were crucial to how the score sounds and what is right for each game. This time the kind of music we wanted to record and also the sound we had in mind made us gravitate towards London and the historic Abbey Road Studios. And both the players as well as the studio staff really delivered the goods!

Did you endeavor to use instruments that existed, and were commonly used, in the 1950s?

In the game you will hear a lot of source music coming from radios or record players. We used this music to establish the feel for that specific period.

With the score we then decided to keep it rather timeless. I mainly use instruments that did exist back then and are still being used today… orchestra, piano, voices etc. Even the electric guitar we used to create those roaring soundscapes for the big alien machinery is a guitar that existed back then.

The only exceptions are the musical elements that describe the world of the aliens – this of course is asking for sounds outside the traditional palette.

What do you think of gamers who try and replace game music with custom soundtracks?

That’s the great thing about games. YOU are the protagonist. So you should be able to choose what you want to hear on your imaginary iPod while running through a canyon shooting aliens.

But of course that music does not switch in sync with what happens on the screen and in a game like Resistance 3 we are constantly switching gears from heavy fighting to some very emotional moments, to some eerie situations. That is something you cannot do with a custom soundtrack.

Do you think it is important to play games in order to write for them?

Personally I really prefer watching someone else play through the game for me so I can concentrate on the general environment and the emotional background of each scene. But once I have an idea what to do musically, I always imagine that I am actually playing through this myself to see if the music would work because sometimes – especially in action-driven sequences – there is a difference between watching someone fight and actually being the person who is fighting.

But once the game rolls out in it’s final form I love trying my hands myself and experience the game as a player. That is always very gratifying!

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Deus Ex: Human Revolution finally released this week, and judging by reviews it will be a contender for many awards come the end of the year. Just prior to the game’s release we had a chance to talk to the Producer over at Eidos Montréal, David Anfossi, about the creation process of a game with such a lengthy development cycle.

How eager are you to see how Deus Ex fans will react to the game?

Based on the reviews [that we already have], feedback is very positive. So I’m pretty sure the fans will be pleased with the experience, in the sense that we respected the franchise, the mechanics of the game…I have no doubt about that. We did more than 15 playtests.

Anything you wish you could have spent more time on?

A lot! A lot of things, but you know at some point you have to close production. During the four years we used to produce the game, different technologies evolved during this time. Technology we could have used for this game, but it was too late. Because we were too advanced [in development] at this time. A lot of things that we can improve, for sure: facial animation, we can have more detail than what we did for this game. But the quality is there, and we can improve that for sure. We decided to stop the production, we were happy with the quality, the experience is there, so we are very happy with that. But now we have to look at the market and see how it will receive the game.

What was your biggest challenge in the months leading up to completion?

Balancing. We knew that we would face a challenge here with balancing, but it has been [longer] and more difficult than what we expected. It took us one year to balance the game, between stealth, combat, hacking and social, ammunition, and everything to make sure that everybody is pleased with the experience. That it’s smooth – you can learn to use your augmentations all along the quest, so the balancing has been a real challenge…We made sure from the beginning, that [the player] can learn how to use your Praxis points, your augmentations – takedowns and everything. After that, you are free to use them as you want. It has been a challenge to balance that.

For someone jumping into the series for the first time, what kind of tips would you give them?

Take your time. It’s more than 30 hours of gameplay on the critical part, and more than 40 when you decide to explore and to do the sidequests and everything. So take your time at the beginning to explore everything…to make sure you don’t miss something important for the story, to understand the universe, and make sure you have what you need to move forward. So, when we created the cover system, to make sure you have some time to just observe the field; observe enemies. It’s not a run-and-gun kind of game. Take your time, explore, and you will [be rewarded]…You’re not forced to kill a person to obtain what you want. If you sneak around maybe you will find a new way to enter the police station, for example. You can discuss with people to obtain what you want, or you can just explore the offices and find a code. There are always different options.

What are some of the lessons you learned during this lengthy development process?

A lot! Everything was new for us, in fact. We underestimated a lot of things. Like the writing: it was more demanding than what we expected in the beginning, [with] dialogs, e-mails, the newspaper, eBooks, a lot of writing for this game. It’s alright, because it’s part of the experience, you know, we wanted to have a very deep universe. It’s very demanding. So that’s something we learned for sure. Beyond that, [the game's] long term of scope. It was new for us in the sense that you have different ways to play the game. Depending on how you play, the same level will take you more time than another way. So to calculate that and make sure that the game is not about ten hours but [closer to] 30 hours of experience – we were very novice [when it came to that]. So now, based on our experience, we know how to do that. So we learned a lot of things. At the beginning, we had the mandate to revive the franchise. But also, on my side, I took the [task] to create the team. To have a very strong creative team, and this team would follow me for our next projects. I think that I succeeded to create this team. So I am very happy with that. Everybody learned different lessons from different departments: art, music, game design, etc. And they will stay together for the next games, whatever the games. So I think we learned to build on that.

Getting back to the franchise, what do you feel this entry adds to the world of Deus Ex?

For sure, it’s a new story, with new characters, and everything. We totally respected the experience [of the franchise]. Deus Ex: Invisible War was released in 2003, so it was important for Eidos to make sure that this franchise can be played on current platforms. To make sure that we still have this franchise alive. In terms of story, you know, [the year] 2027, we exploit this era to convey messages about transhumanism. The next step of human evolution with mechanical augmentations, with people who can afford that, and people who cannot afford that. Control: the war between different companies involved in that. That’s something we already have today. So it was important for us to talk about that to the players, with all respect to the franchise.

Where do you see the franchise going from here?

Ha! Good question. The next step, in fact, will be to see how the gameplayers will receive this game, to be honest. Because, you know, a lot of gamers don’t know the franchise, except the fans for sure. We have to see how the game will be received, to know if there is a future for this franchise. It’s a question of finance. Based on that, if we have the green light to continue the franchise, and develop a new game for the franchise, we’ll be happy to work on that. The team will be happy about that also. We created a very strong, deep universe, and it would be easy for us to build on that. But that depends on the publisher and the gamers, so we will see.

What’s your favorite style of play?

I’m a “predator” in the sense that I use stealth to reach my enemies. From that point I take them down. I like that kind of approach, you know – you are very stealthy, and after that you kill or stun. I played it [completely] six times in fact, to verify the difficulty levels, to ensure everything is well-balanced: the ammunition, difficulty of the boss fights, etc. I played it one last time to verify the consistency of the story: depending on your choices, you will face different situations. So it was very important to stay consistent with that.

What challenge would you give to players? What would you want to see them do in this game?

There are different challenges for this game, and it supports that in the sense that yes, you can play the game without killing anybody, but you can also play the game without using any weapon. Any at all! We did it, and it’s a really challenging Deus Ex mode. Try that! Very challenging.

We would like to extend our thanks to Square Enix, Eidos Montreal and David for taking the time out to speak with us. Be sure to read our review on this massive game here!

© Paulmichael Contreras for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Eidos Montreal’s first console game is a mammoth of a title – Deus Ex: Human Revolution. With the game releasing next Tuesday, publisher Square Enix flew us to their Montreal offices to discuss the game and the long development process that ensued (the game was originally announced back in 2007). We were able to pick the brain of Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête and see just what went into crafting the look and feel of a new chapter in the Deus Ex world, and how the idea of a cyber Renaissance came about.

We were speaking with Producer David Anfossi earlier, and he mentioned that there’s a lot of influence from the Renaissance in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. What brought about the decision to go this route?

Well, you know, what’s always really important for me, in creating the visuals for a game is to give it a visual statement, like an aesthetic statement. Something to ensure that the game is going to stand out, that it has its own voice, its own vision – that it doesn’t get lost in all the blurriness of all the games that look the same. So that’s always my goal, even though I don’t always know if I’m going to do it or where I’m going to go with that. In Deus Ex, you have the stylized visuals, the way the textures are done and everything, that also gives it its own flavor. But I wanted something stronger as well. So I started my research in transhumanism and all that stuff, and then I stumbled upon Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical sketches that he would do. I had seen them before, obviously, while doing my research in transhumanism, and it just kind of hit me how they almost look like prosthetics, you know – there was a strong link there somehow. Then I started studying all that. If you say that cyberpunk, or transhumanism, for example, is about upgrading the human machine, the Renaissance was all about understanding the human machine in the sense that, in order to upgrade a system, first you need to understand how the system works at its foundation. You’re not going to be able to upgrade it if you don’t understand how it works to begin with. The Renaissance is really in the West, where we started really studying properly the human machine, with dissections and all these things, [whereas] in the Dark Ages it was very taboo – it was illegal. So if in the Renaissance we started studying how the human machine works, and transhumanism is about upgrading it, I kind of metaphorically decided it’s just one continuous line. It’s almost as if the Renaissance era is the beginning of transhumanism. So [Game Director Jean Francois Dugas] liked the metaphor, [Lead Writer Mary DeMarle] liked it, then we also came out with the Icarus myth, which is not the Renaissance, but because the Renaissance is about re-finding all the discoveries/antiquities of the Greeks and all that stuff, which is where the Icarus myth is from, they’re kind of all tied in as well. But then my challenge was: okay, cool, the analogy seems to work. But now, how am I going to put it visually in the game? I wanted to make sure the clothing was reflective of a bit of the Renaissance, and some of the architecture and everything. That was quite hard. The color palette, black and gold, came in as well. To have the proper balance of having the fashion looking wearable, contemporary, cyberpunk, and Renaissance all at the same time was really hard! I think it ended up working. It’s definitely not everywhere in the game. It’s where it needs to be. Wherever it narratively supports a character or and environment or whatever, to actually thematize it with the cyber renaissance.

Was there anything you really wanted to put into the game but just ran out of time and couldn’t fit in?

Yeah, there’s always stuff like that. It’s part of developing a game. There’s always stuff that you either couldn’t put in or stuff that you were allowed to but ended up not having time, or stuff that you just literally cut out. We cut a whole city hub out of the game…It was a place where visually, I really liked it. It was one of my very important visual parts of the game. But for other reasons it had to be cut. So it was really hard to let go of that. You get emotionally attached to these things. But you need to be professional about it.

Well, cut sections aside, what would you say is your favorite area in the game?

That’s a great question actually! There’s a room somewhere in the game that’s just all-white. Everything’s white! Let’s say this microphone is in the room – it’d be painted white. The walls are white, the furniture is white, the computers are white. It’s very much one of our cyber Renaissance rooms, it’s very baroque. I quite, quite like it. Won’t say where it is, or who it belongs to [it's a surprise!]. Apart from that, I think Lower Hengsha, which is one of our main city hubs in the game. I’m very satisfied with the density of the streets and all the shops that we designed – all the fruit stores and meat stores, it all has this Asian flair/flavor to it. The little tech stores with laptops and cell phones and everything in them, there’s so many details. Then you have the floor above your head in that city, which is basically the floor of the second floor of the city. I think it’s quite special to be in those streets that feel fairly contemporary; even though it’s very cluttered and narrow and everything, there’s nothing too sci-fi in the streets. Then you look above, and there’s this huge engineering feat right above your head! It almost looks like the bottom of the “star destroyer,” right above the city. I think this contrast works really well. I quite like it.

One thing we noticed is the presence of a lot of in-world brands. How much leeway were you given to develop these brands?

You know, as an art director in games, I think it’s all about details. It’s a little sad – a lot of companies and other places, they only care about the high-level. The high-level’s really important. If you don’t have your high-level direction, your details are not going to work. So they work hand-in-hand. But I make sure I get a strong high-level visual direction, and then I get into the crazy details. So we have over 1300 props in the game. Anywhere from a very contemporary looking microphone, like yours, to a very sci-fi machine – it’s all there. Then we also wanted to have brands for all these things, so we developed these special shaders where you can have a pretty good resolution of a logo and a brand on all these objects everywhere, because that’s what we live in. If you look in this room that we’re in [right now], there’s brands. Not only brands, but little labels everywhere! I’m sure even here, which looks pretty empty, we could count probably around a hundred. If you look at the headphones, your watch, my phone, and all these things…we don’t consciously notice them any more, but our brains are continuously registering these things at an unconscious level. So that’s why I wanted to have this in the game, because I’m sure that even if you don’t notice them, your brain still registers them. You kind of feel the world as a very credible place because of that. It’s very costly to do these things. To make so many props, so many brands. I’ve worked at companies before where they never would have let me do this. Never in a hundred years! On this project, I had great bosses, like our producer David [Anfossi], who just let me do my thing, and Stephane D’Astous, the General Manager as well, who just let me do my thing. They believed in me, they believed in my ideas. So we have a hundred brands in the game, anywhere from jewellery for women all the way to cybernetics companies. Shoe brands to computer brands, car brands, food, everything. Each one of those hundred brands have their own logos, typos, fonts – we had to design all these things. It’s quite crazy, but I’m glad you noticed it. Most people do, and I’m sure if they don’t notice it consciously, I’m sure the brain registers all these things, and I truly believe that at the end of the day it’s the details that make your world live.

What sort of lesson have you learned with the lengthy development process?

Too many! This whole game was a lesson…That’s a good question. I think, it’ll sound a little boring maybe, but it’s very much a game design lesson, because even as an Art Director I’m very much into how to design games and everything: I think we’ve learned how to make an RPG. I think that’s the main lesson. Montréal is a great video game developing city – it’s known for its talent. We mostly specialize in first-person shooters and adventure games; this is the first RPG done in Montréal, especially at that AAA level. So we knew what it entailed. We knew what it meant, but we had never actually done it before, so we had so much to learn. In terms of [a more traditional lesson]? Well, it’s very hard to bring back one of the biggest franchises in the industry! [Chuckles] Very hard. You have to deal with your own people, and you have to deal with the fans.

Speaking of the fans of Deus Ex, what do you hope they take away from the art direction that you took the franchise?

Hmm…I hope they will really feel that they are in a very homogeneous, credible, world. That it will make them feel something, literally make them feel emotions while they play. That it will help to their immersion. That it will make them think a bit. Mostly that it’s going to be singular, that it is the art of Deus Ex. It doesn’t look like any other game you have played before, it doesn’t get lost in all [the other games]. It doesn’t look the same. A lot of games look exactly the same, and hopefully this game doesn’t feel like that. It feels like itself.

Finally, how do you enjoy playing the game?

I’m a stealth killer! I kill, but I don’t go guns-blazing. I like to observe my terrain, see what’s going on, make sure that I find everything. But I always try to just eliminate everybody without being seen – a stealthy assassin!

We would like to extend our thanks to Square Enix, Eidos Montreal and Jonathan for taking the time out to speak with us. Stay tuned for more interviews from this event, and of course our review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution next week!

© Paulmichael Contreras for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us

It’s been a year since we last talked to Mick Hocking, Director of the Worldwide Studios 3D Team, about 3D, and a lot has changed, including people’s perception of the added dimension – but one thing has remained the same: Sony’s steadfast belief in the format as the viewing medium of the future. To see how well 3D has performed over the past year, what’s going on right now, and a look at the future of 3D – from head mounted displays to holographics, we chatted to Mick – who’s also the Vice President Studio Group for London Studio, Studio Liverpool, Evolution Studios and BigBig Studios – at the Develop Conference in Brighton.

To start off, you showed some figures on how you think 3D is going to grow over the next 5 years or so. Those figures were from 2009, are those still relevant?

Yeah, you have to take all these industry predictions at face value, but across the board, there still seems to be good confidence. 3D TV sales are growing, prices are coming down, prices of the glasses are coming down, and there’s all these new 3D devices – so there’s all these new reasons for people to go and buy a 3D TV, as well as games and films. I think we are pretty confident that the 3D market is going to continue to grow.

Has 3D adoption met your expectations over the past year?

Yeah, I think it’s as we expected it to be. Whenever you’ve got new technology launching there’s always loads of headlines, loads of hype that goes with it. But behind that there’s a reality of what’s actually going to happen, and yeah, 3D TV sales have increased steadily over the last 12 months and we think they are going to continue doing that.

If you look at the PS3’s 3D games, Sony’s first parties are mainly pushing the feature, with 3rd parties still slightly behind. Do you think that ratio will balance out a bit more as the console’s life continues?

There is actually quite a lot of 3rd parties, it’s about 50/50 between 1st and 3rd. I think it’s one of the things that we’re really trying to encourage: All third parties, whether they are small start-up teams or big established teams, get in touch with us and we’ll help them implement the 3D. We’re very, very keen to have 3D done well and it’s just a matter of educating the guys on the teams, helping them to shortcut the learning process, sharing the lessons that we’ve learnt, so that they can put great 3D out there.

So how many developers have contacted your 3D team?

There’s a lot, it’s all the time, from all around the world. We’ve done presentations to publishing partners, to developers etc. It’s pretty constant.

In your keynote, you talked about how you wanted smaller developers to make 3D games. But to make them, they need a 3D TV, won’t that be a problem if they have a small budget?

We’ve implemented 3D with people who don’t have a 3D TV. Some people would send us their code; we’d check it and send back screenshots saying ‘here is the problem’.

You say there are 50 million 3D-enabled PS3 out there, but can you tell how many are actually using the 3D capabilities?

Yeah, we don’t have exact figures at the moment but obviously that’s something we’re looking at at the moment. The first thing we concentrated on was getting as many 3D titles out there at a high quality, because the first thing that people ask themselves when they go and buy a 3D TV is ‘what am I going to watch on it?’ If they’ve got a PS3 then there’s a large library of movies and there’s a very large library of game, and they can look at their 3D photos.

One of the main advantages of 3D movies for film studios is that they can charge more if people watch the movie in an extra dimension. Have you ever considered having a tiered pricing structure for games?

I am not in charge of the pricing of products, but one of the points to make about 3D is the low investment it takes. It’s a maximum of around 2% with what we’ve seen so far, obviously it differs for different games, especially with different techniques of implementing 3D, but some of these games are down to half a percent of the development budget. If you look at any other feature in the game and ask yourself ‘how much did it cost compared to how much impact it could have?’ 3D’s really good bang for your buck, it’s a fantastic enhancement to a game, it’s a great thing we can deliver on PS3 natively because we are able to firmware upgrade the platform. Costs shouldn’t be a barrier to development studios.

Did you notice any bump in the sales of 3D Blu-ray movies when the update was released?

Again, I don’t really follow those figures on films.

Along with 3D, Sony has to push Move, Home, PSP and Vita – do you think this broad approach makes it hard for them to focus on 3D or other key features?

I think they are very used to focussing on a wide range of technologies, it’s such a huge company with so many things going on, it’s one of the really fun things about working inside Sony – we can go to Japan and talk to the electronics guys about ideas we’ve had in our R&D labs and they’ll go and make these things for us. It’s really exciting that I can be talking about things like the Dual-View Monitor and that simulview technique only 12 months ago, and now you can go and buy one fairly soon. It’s a really exciting thing working for Sony.

Has that been since the restructuring of Sony, one of their key goals was to promote synergy between their different arms?

It’s a truly global company, we have offices all over the world and many, many different departments. There’s a constant move to bring those together because the resources we can bring to bear are quite incredible. But like any big company, it’s got to get everybody to join together and focus on producing this great content or great hardware.

So how involved was PlayStation with the development of the PlayStation Monitor?

Very involved, that’s why we’ve branded it with the PlayStation name. We’re doing more and more of these kind of things now, we work very closely with our colleagues in Japan on all new hardware, and what’s great to see is that the hardware and the software sides of the business are integrating more and more and more. And that’s why we’re seeing great results like the PlayStation Vita – that’s the outcome of when software and hardware guys work together from the outset.

Do developers have to specifically develop their game for the PS Monitor for the simulview to work?

The screen will support any 3D or 2D signal, but if you want simulview then you have to render full screen for both players, and that’s a change to the software to do that.

And is that a big hassle, or a small change?

If you can already do 2 player head to head mode then, instead of drawing half a screen you’re drawing a full screen. It’s quite a simple change.

You also said that developers should try to avoid rapid changes of parallax and to ensure they don’t have window violations – that’s fine in cutscenes, but in games the user is in control. How do you still try to ensure that this doesn’t hamper quality?

When you’re playing the game, the speed at which you are moving is not the same as a cut – you tend to blend between, if you run past a window it’s the same as if you ran past a window in the real world: Your eyes are quite used to seeing that there is a parallax beyond the window and that there is a wall quite close to you. Where it’s cutting between different scenes, that works great in 2D, but the problem is that in 3D your eyes are trying to catch up with the change in depth. It can work, but we recommend you avoid it because it can become confusing to watch.

Who do you think is pushing 3D more, the consumers or companies like Sony?

I think both, I think Sony is producing a lot of great 3D hardware and content at the moment, and we’ve had a lot of interest and great pick-up in those items, because the technology is here that was never there before with 3D. And we’ve also got a large library of really good content already. People can invest in a 3D TV now with the satisfaction and comfort that there’s lots to watch and lots to play. We think 3D will be around for a good while yet.

Speaking of the future, you’ve got the head mounted display – how far away is that from being a reality for consumers?

You’ll have to talk to the guys making the head mounted display for that one. I don’t know, it’s in development at the moment, it’s very exciting for us. The same way with 3D in the past, the problems with VR [virtual reality] in the 1980s was that it was very expensive to produce any good effects, it was a big, heavy kit on your head, low resolution, laggy if you turned your head. Because technology has moved on so much, we can now deliver really high resolution OLED images with fantastic clarity, with very, very little lag and really immersive experiences. So, it’s very exciting what we might be able to do with head mounted displays.

You said that you tested out games on the display, were those PS3 games or just test minigames?

[Grins] I couldn’t possibly tell you I’m afraid, you’ll have to wait and see.

But it can technically support PS3 games?

Yes, it will take a HDMI signal, so you can play PS3 games, you can watch movies on it. But we’re doing R&D on it, but we’ll have to wait a little while before we can talk about it.

So, ten years down the line, what will people be using: 3D TVs, head mounted displays, holograms or something totally different?

It depends on what sort of experience they want, we can do pseudo-holographics with PSeye and PS3, make things come out into the room with you because we head-track where you are. With all these things, it’s about adding them to games where it really makes a difference. You really need to test these devices to discover what sort of games, what sort of genres, they add to and then focus on those.

Head-tracking really helps with 3D, is that something you’re pursuing – there is very little support for it in games?

I think there’s a big future in head-tracking, like I said you can use it for pseudo-holographics, you can make sure that the 3D is perfectly calculated for your viewing position. Of course, on head mounted displays you have the ability to do virtual reality immersive experiences. But yeah, head-tracking is going to be very useful for us in the future.

When we last talked you said that the 3DS was an interesting concept and that you wanted to see more of it – have you had a chance to check it out?

No, not at all actually. I can’t really comment on the 3DS itself, but I’ve not seen a great deal of it.

Why not?

We wouldn’t comment on other people’s hardware directly, it’s the same way we wouldn’t expect Nintendo to comment on ours.

When you cross-play WipEout HD between the Vita and the PS3, can the PS3 version output in 3D?

That’s a good question [laughs], I don’t think anyone’s ever asked that before… I don’t know, you’ve stopped me there.

But would there be any technical limitations?

In theory, no. Cross-play is simply getting the position of the ship onto both devices, so it should be technically possible.

Last year, we also talked about the difficulties of ensuring 3rd parties produce high quality 3D titles, are you happy with what they’ve developed over the past year?

Yeah, mostly, I think many of the 3rd parties have developed great solutions, but it’s not all perfect – that’s why, at the talk this year, I must have said “high quality” about 50 times. None of the developers want to make bad 3D, and, typically, if they’ve ended up with a bad 3D result, that means they didn’t know how to fix the problem or didn’t even know there was a problem while they were developing. That’s why, if they get in touch with us, we can really help out. Of course, it’s in our interest that all games on PS3 are of the best quality.

So, to teach developers do you do what you did today – purposely show what not to do with 3D, and give them a headache?

[Laughs] I try not to give them headaches, but we want to show them what to do. Typically what happens is that they send us a build and then we will either conference call them or see them and point out all the errors in 3D to them, and tell them how to fix it. And we find that they can produce great quality 3D.

The 360 kind of has 3D, but not really – do you think this gives a mixed message to consumers about what plays 3D?

I wouldn’t comment directly on Xbox, but I think our focus is just on providing the highest quality 3D experience, and PS3 is by far the most versatile 3D platform. Because we can firmware upgrade the system, it allows us to support fully 3D native gaming, 3D blu-ray, 3D photos and MP4s. That’s really our focus at the moment.

Are you trying to expand the 3D multimedia capabilities?

Oh yeah, sure. PlayStation 3 was always seen, from it’s outset, as an extremely powerful multimedia device, and it’s also an extremely good – I would say the best – gaming device as well. You can download PlayMemories from PSN, do fantastic things with 3D photos – zoom into 3D photos, which is great – there’s also a lot of 3D content on the internet, places like YouTube, a lot of 3D MP4s out there, which you can download and play, and of course you can play full HD 3D movies.

Could you bring the technology behind the PlayStation Monitor to other Sony products?

We may well see it on other Sony products, I don’t know but it would be great, yeah.

The screen is 24” – is there a technical limitation to the size?

The issue with that technique – because you are drawing two separate images on the full screen – is one of ghosting, it’s of panel performance. So as long as the panel can refresh quickly enough with the smallest amount of persistence it works fine, so that’s really the limitation of it. Panels are getting higher spec all the time, so it will become possible on different screens in the future.

And in the future, will it be possible to have that, but in 3D?

So then you’ve got refresh, your challenge then is going to be – if you’re offering 60 frames per second, 60 frames for each eye, times 4, and making sure there’s no bleed through on both… So again, it’s technically possible, but how much light are you going to get to your eyes in that time? You have to think every second you are dividing up the amount of light that can physically travel to your eye into smaller and smaller chunks. It is possible – you could do 4 or 8 players in theory – but you are starting to play with the limitations of the laws of physics.

While 3D is growing, the market is still small – do you think adding 3D to a game is a unique selling point?

Yeah, because I think it can really enhance the gaming experience. It has different effects on different types of games. It can make some games, like our game Tumble, more intuitive – it feels right in 3D, you pull an object back and it comes at you in 3D, you push it forward, it goes into the screen. In racing games, you can get more accurate at racing, I am a big petrol head and love racing, so a tenth of my lap time is worth the investment as far as I’m concerned. For things like FPSes and action games, we can offer a great sense of immersion – it’s a little bit like adding full surround audio to the experience: Why to people do that? Because they want to be drawn further into the gaming world. 3D can give you that great sense of immersion.

There’s Move-only games, would you ever consider 3D-only games?

I think lots of designers are thinking about it, but: 1) There needs to be a market for a 3D-only game, 2) Someone to invest into it and make it and 3) We don’t have an idea of what a 3D-only game would be like because we’re so used to designing in 2D, and people are just getting used to what’s possible in 3D, what the paradigm actually means. So, in the future, we might see somebody come up with an idea that only works if you’re viewing in 3D.

When Sony goes out to a publisher to try and convince them to add certain features, what do you think is more important to them, Move or 3D?

Both [laughs], and Vita.

But does that make it more difficult – Microsoft has less, so they can focus on it more?

It’s one of the big strengths of Sony, we can produce a great handheld device, we can continually upgrade the PS3, we can produce more accessible input devices like Move, and there’s a whole host of stuff going on to the future, and even more exciting devices. I think we’re offering customers really amazing experiences in both the mobile and living room environments, and long may it continue.

You pretty much manage all the racing studios in the UK, what are their plans for PlayStation Vita?

[Grins] I can’t talk about things that haven’t been announced, I’m afraid, but there’s cool stuff coming.

So if you’re a racing fan, should you get a Vita?

I would hope that the Vita is going to please all fans of all genres of games.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Since launching as an open beta in 2008, PlayStation Home has come a long way, evolving from a social hub into its very own games platform. Having developed hundreds of virtual goods, a whole host of Home spaces and the fantastic Sodium game series, Lockwood Publishing are easily the foremost developers for the service. To catch up with the developer after interviewing them last year, and to learn about Sodium2, the rise of social gaming and the perils of free-to-play, we talked to Jamie Riding, producer of  Sodium.

Hi Jamie, could you start by introducing yourselves and telling us a bit about your role at Lockwood Publishing?

Hi Seb, my name is Jamie Riding, and I’m the producer on the Sodium Project. It’s my job to make sure the team have everything they need to develop awesome new Sodium games and spaces for PlayStation Home.

Sodium2 is entirely free-to-play, and is supported by microtransactions – how risky was that as a business decision?

You’re right; the choice to go free-to-play was something of a risk. However, thankfully Home stands out as the perfect place on which to take this sort of risk on console. Home has native support for microtransactions and the Home community are very used to this way of acquiring content. Home is itself a free-to-play service.

Free-to-play gaming is something we’re really keen on also. The ability to update a build upon a game after it has been released is a really exciting prospect. Once it’s out there you get a whole host of new perspectives on what you should do next – and we feel that this can only serve to enhance the field of visible possibilities for the future of gaming. We also see free-to-play as giving players valuable choices in terms of how they want to enhance their gaming experience without being burdened with a large one-off price tag for features which they may never use.

How successful has Sodium 2’s launch been compared to the original?

We’re very happy with the way Sodium2 has been going. Since release the players have already raced over 75% of the way to the Sun! That’s 56 million miles!

Last year you told us SodiumOne took 6 months to develop – is that how much time you spent on Sodium2?

Sodium2 took a little longer due in part to the beta phase in which we tweaked and polished the game with the help of generous player feedback. Sodium2 was also developed with a smaller team than SodiumOne, so obviously this meant we had to take our time and be smart about which features we focused on.

You also said that you were surprised by the amount of people that “users clearly appreciate[d] the opportunity to role-play in a more meaningful way” and that it was something you were “looking at offering more of in the future.” Do you think you’ve done that in Sodium2?

Perhaps not quite yet. So far we’ve only really allowed for one role with Sodium2 – the Velocity Racer Pilot. But one of the areas we’re looking into for the future is support for team based gaming which serves a similar role of facilitating interaction between players in a unique context.

What plans are there to extend the life of Sodium2? Are there big plans for additional content?

We’re hard at work generating new content for Sodium2 right now! We have big plans for the game.

We’ve learnt a lot since we produced SodiumOne, and we’re hoping to be able to build upon Sodium2 in some very interesting ways over the coming months. We feel like we’ve produced a very strong core game with Sodium2, but what we’d like to do now is expand that into a host of interesting areas. The hard part now is deciding which idea to run with.

How did the extended PSN downtime impact the launch of Sodium2?

The release of Sodium2 was slightly delayed because of the downtime. The game launched on June 16th, shortly after PSN’s return. Since then PlayStation Home has seen record traffic numbers which has been of great benefit to Sodium2.

Banking on an exclusive digital platform means that you are put out of business whenever the platform goes offline, does this cause a problem when budgeting for projects?

Thankfully PlayStation Home has returned bigger than ever, and while the PSN downtime was difficult for both us and for Sony, we remain a supportive partner and will continue developing for PlayStation Home.

What can PlayStation Home games offer that PSN or retail games can’t?

What Home really has to offer over and above what else is available through the PlayStation Network is a social framework. That’s something incredibly compelling for a lot of people, but it’s not something you traditionally look to console gaming to provide. Sure you socialize in a way playing COD with other people, but exchanging remarks over head-shots is a very different social environment to that which Home has to offer.

More recently Home has an increasing numbers of fantastic games on offer too, many of them free to play. This works as a great way to meet and interact with a whole new bunch of people. You can be playing head to head with somebody in online multiplayer, then the next minute your avatar is next to theirs chatting in the Home environment. This is something we’re really excited to be offering at the moment with Sodium2. Thanks to the way Home has been developing toward supporting bigger and bigger gaming experiences, we’re now able to provide real-time fast-paced multiplayer which we hope Home users enjoy.

Will the Sodium IP ever leave Home?

With Lockwood Publishing we are talented, ambitious and we’d love to be in a position where we were publishing quality IP from other developers as well as our own.

But Home has been very, very good to us and we have no intention of forgetting where we came from or the support given to us by the PlayStation Home Community.

Lockwood developed the Uncharted 2, inFamous, Resistance 3 and Warhawk Home spaces, among others. Are there any plans to make an Uncharted 3, infamous 2, Resistance 3 or Starhawk Home space?

You would really need to speak to Sony or the various developers and publishers rather than us.

We’ve had some amazing fun working on various spaces for Home. Creating the inFamous Graffiti Wall and the chance to work with big names like Capcom and Ubisoft is always a pleasure. But it’s not something we’re in a position to comment on at the moment.

SOE said that the PlayStation Vita was the “perfect home” for MMOs, do you think it’d make a good platform for PlayStation Home?

We’d love to see integration between Home and Vita. Home’s a very social environment, and many players get a lot out of the relationships they maintain through Home.

Are you a fan of Sodium2? Stick around for a huge giveaway later today right here!.

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us

Creators of the successful Invizimals franchise, and developers of the PlayStation Vita game Reality Fighters, augmented reality developer Novarama recently signed an exclusivity deal with Sony. To learn more about the deal, their thoughts on the fantastic PlayStation Vita, and where the new handheld leaves the Invizimals franchise, PlayStation LifeStyle chatted to Dani Sánchez-Crespo, CEO and Lead Designer at Novarama.

Hi Dani, could you start by introducing yourself and telling us about your work at Novarama?

I’m Dani Sánchez-Crespo, CEO and Lead Designer at Novarama. So I’m in charge of running the studio and also the high level game design of all Novarama products.

Novarama recently signed an exclusivity deal with Sony – how long does the deal last?

We don’t comment on deal details, but suffice to say it’s a strategic deal for us, designed for the long run. With Invizimals now in its third sequel (Invizimals: The Lost Tribes comes out this Christmas) and VITA Exclusive Reality Fighters also in production, we felt it was the right time to expand our partnership with Sony.

Can you say if it includes PlayStation Certified products – the PlayStation Suite on mobiles and tablets? They are not always Sony devices after all.

We only will work on PSP and VITA games for the foreseeable future. As much as we like the other sides of the Sony product line, there’s just so much area we can cover. So we prefer to focus and deliver than to become too distracted by all the other things going on within a large company like Sony.

So you’re not planning on making a game for the PlayStation Eye then?

Hmmm good question, we think PlayStation Eye and Move have a ton of potential and would love to exploit it in the future. I think there’s a killer app for Move somewhere waiting for some studio to find it. And I hope it’s us!

With Sony’s new deal, how much freedom do you have over the development of your games? Are they very hands on or hands off?

We have total freedom, the same one we had before the deal. And with regards to hands on/hands off, I think it’s the wrong approach to look at it that way. I mean, it’s not a top-down relationship, it’s more a team relationship: we respect each other, tell each other our respective ideas, fight with enthusiasm. And in the end, the best ideas are put on the games, be them Sony’s or Novarama’s. We have no ego in that respect.

So do you share your development ideas and techniques with Sony developers? As the most experienced augmented reality developer working with Sony, I’m sure you could teach other developers a few tricks.

Well, we cooperate a lot within Sony studios, yes. We talk with the guys doing Eyepet, as well as with other studios. That’s one of the benefits of being in a large first-party group: the mutual benefits you get from other companies who may have solved the same problems you’re facing already.

Sony said that during the development of the PS Vita they reached out to developers to help design the product. Was Novarama involved in that process – especially in choosing the cameras and location tech?

Well, again, it’s all part of the same philosophy: if you have a new console coming out, and it has let’s say a gyroscope, which is very useful for Augmented Reality, it makes perfect sense to ask the professionals (that’s us) what do they think about it. So that’s kind of an ongoing effort: you see every iteration of the device, give feedback, etc.

That’s how VITA became what it is today.

And are you happy with what it turned out to be like? Sony seems to have really gone out of their way to make this device suited for Augmented Reality.

I am really happy with VITA, but I’ll be even happier when we can put our games in the hands of consumers and let them share our excitement. So really I can’t wait.

In comparison, have you you had a chance to look at the 3DS’ augmented games?

Yes, I have.

How well do you think they stack up?

Well, the 3DS is doing now what we did with Invizimals about three years ago, so in that respect, they do a good job, but the inspiration they took from Invizimals is, let’s say… noticeable. It’ll be fun to see what they come up with when they begin designing new games, I have a lot of respect for Nintendo and I’m pretty sure they can do better…

But of course so do we. Invizimals was developed 3 years ago, and now we’re more advanced than we were.

The handheld also seems to rely on cards to identify reality, does that hold them back in regards to what they can do?

No, cards is a good way to do AR. It’s more that I haven’t seen on the 3DS anything new with regards to AR, just repeating the same formula we invented 3 years ago. AR requires a lot of designer time, and I don’t think Nintendo has devoted that time to it yet.

The other competitor in the AR industry is mobile phones. As the Vita gets older, phones with better cameras and more powerful processors will likely be released. How will you ensure you stay competitive?

If you think about it, in the end it’s not about the hardware only, is about how focused is a company to develop great games. That’s my main criticism to cell phone games: it lacks de product development muscle seen on consoles. So yes Angry Birds is a cool little games, but I don’t see anything on the cell phone space that can compete with the kind of immersion and enjoyment produced by a game console.

Prior to your partnership, were you interested in trying out the mobile space?

No, for the reason outlined above.

Where do you see augmented technology and games going over the life of the Vita and beyond?

Hmmm, you’ll have to wait for the next Novarama games to see that. But suffice to say we believe AR generates a sense of believability and immersion that just can’t be matched by other game genres, and we expect to exploit that in the future.

So are you planning your next game then?

Of course, we always are. Long R&D is the key to good games.

Will it be for the Vita?

Yes.

Invizimals is quite a big game, so is Reality Fighters. Have you thought about creating smaller, shorter games over the PSN? Something like Augmented PlayStation Minis?

My problem is: we usually think big. And then, we have no time left to do smaller stuff, which we would love to do.

You’d be amazed at how many cute little ideas we have for small AR games.

Maybe a big compilation of little ideas?

Hehehe we will see, we will see.

The Vita supports backwards compatibility with PSP games over PSN – does that include Invizimals titles? I’m guessing with the camera it might be more difficult to port.

Can’t comment on that!

So you’ve thought about it?

Novarama doesn’t comment on rumours/speculation

Invizimals: Shadow Zone came out in November over here in Europe, but has yet to come out in the US. Invizimals: The Lost Tribes will come out next November in Europe, but as of now, hasn’t got a US release date. What is the reason for the differences between the two regions release dates?

Long story. But being a title developed in Europe, Sony decided to do a staggered launch.

There was also the issue with the logistics of manufacturing and shipping the cameras, which makes our game even more complex than other Sony titles.

Will Reality Fighters be staggered?

I don’t know! we focus on making the games as good as they can be, but we leave all the logistics side to Sony…

So have you been given a US release date for The Lost Tribes?

Not yet, but it will come!

While the old Invizimals may or may not be coming to the PS Vita, are there any plans for a new game in the franchise to come to the handheld?

We will continue doing Invizimals games as long as there’s Invizimals fans. And, as far as I know, it seems there’s a lot of fans out there.

Invizimals on PSP was held back by the fact it had to have the camera add-on, which was costly and not really supported by other developers. If Invizimals were to come to the next generation, do you think it’s opportunity for growth would be sizeable?

Of course! knowing everyone has a camera makes our life so much easier, and also Sony’s!

It was a pretty risky move supporting a peripheral as an independent developer. Why did you take that risk?

Well, I think creating powerful illusions requires taking big risks. Think about Guitar Hero, think about us… we are all games that generated a powerful illusion by using some special hardware.

So you feel it paid off then?

Sure do!

Will Reality Fighters release on a 2GB or 4GB NVG card, and will it be available to download off the PSN?

Don’t know and don’t know. I hope we can bring the game to the maximum number of people, so I’d love to be Digital and Physical, but that’s a bit early to know.

Will Reality Fighters include complex chain moves and in-depth fighting styles, or is this aiming to be a casual combat experience?

Oh it’s pretty complex… about the complexity of other fighting games. It’s not so much about how deep is it, but what changes do you do to the base combat mechanic to make it accessible to everyone.

I mean, we want to do a fighting game designed in the XXI century, not in 1985, the industry has changed, and so must we. But hardcores can rest assured, the game is as deep as other games they’ve played in the same genre.

Will it include location based gaming and unlockables?

Yes and yes.

If you know Invizimals, you know we do deep games with lots of secrets and unlockables, and with VITA we can do just a massive amount of these

But how do you ensure Wi-fi only Vita owners don’t feel left out?

Whatever we do, it will work on all VITAs.

Does using the augmented tech use up more battery power than when playing games without it?

I’m pretty surprised (in a positive way) about the battery life of the PS Vita, and I think so will consumers, both on AR or non-AR titles

© Sebastian Moss for PlayStation LifeStyle, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us