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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Only just announced for the PSN, the exclusive title Papo & Yo is set to release on the PS3 next year as a Sony Pub Fund game. To find out more about the game, the story behind the plot and the growth of surrealism in the games industry, we talked to Vander Cabellero, founder and Creative Director of Minority in an exclusive first interview.
When a new platform is released, it gives developers an exciting chance to create something unique and different that entertains an entirely new audience. For the NGP, developers will once again be able to create compelling new experiences that push the boundaries of what we expect in games, and to do that they will need a powerful game engine that allows them to make the titles they want, rather than what they are constrained to make with a limited engine. To talk about bringing the Vision Game Engine to the NGP/Vita, the rise of freeware and prevalence of other engines, PlayStation LifeStyle chatted to Trinigy’s General Manager, Felix Roeken.
Announced back at GDC, Move.Me is a server application that allows “academics and hobbyists” to create applications and drivers for the PlayStation Move that is currently in a closed beta. One of the first projects to be revealed for Move.Me was Jacob Pennock’s gesture based mouse driver, that will allow people to use the Move as a super-cool mouse. To learn about his driver, and get a developer’s perspective on Move.Me, we chatted to Jacob in a wide-ranging exclusive interview.
Analysts and gamers have been calling for a fusion between PlayStation and Sony Ericsson ever since the PlayStation Portable was announced, with many touting the “PlayStation Phone” as a true iPhone rival. While the Xperia PLAY is more Xperia than it is PlayStation, it is still the first truly dedicated gaming phone since the ill-fated N-Gage, with a slide-out gamepad and the might of Sony Computer Entertainment behind the product. But one month in to the device’s European release, has the phone been a success? Will it be big in the States? And what’s left to come for the device? We asked these questions and many more in an exclusive interview with Dominic Neil-Dwyer, Head of Market Development at Sony Ericsson.
In part one of our interview with Roger Thompson, AVG’s Chief Research Officer, we talked about how people can protect themselves, whether the government should play a role in informing people, whether Sony handled the hack correctly and much, much more. In part two of our exclusive interview, we discuss whether Sony should pay hackers for help, how they should react to groups like Anonymous and if the internet itself is flawed.
A week ago, the PlayStation Network was brought down after an unknown hacker, or group of hackers, managed to circumvent the PlayStation Network’s security and steal up to 77 million member’s account information, possibly including their credit card data. To find out how you should ensure you are safe, whether Sony are still a target and if they can secure the network in just 2 weeks, PlayStation LifeStyle talked to Roger Thompson, Chief Research Officer for the leading anti-virus and Internet security software company AVG in part one of a wide ranging interview.
Developed by Insomniac Games, Ratchet and Clank quickly became one of the PlayStation family’s most beloved series. With a score originally composed by David Bergeaud, the franchise’s music developed with each iteration, keeping to its roots, but changing as Boris Salchow took over from Bergeaud in 2009 for A Crack in Time. Upcoming co-op title, All 4 One, will once again see another musician take the reins of the series, with Oddworld composer Michael Bross set to bring his own talents to the title, while building on the work of his predecessors.
Dead Island took the gaming world by storm when it was re-revealed with a truly amazing trailer that showed an entirely new take on the zombie genre. To find out about the game, what they thought of people’s reaction to the trailer and if the zombie genre could become overcrowded, PlayStation LifeStyle chatted to Aubrey Norris, Manager of Marketing & PR, Deep Silver, Inc.
