EL33TONLINE: News archive for October, 2009
A series of extremely informative developer video interviews have been released regarding one of next year’s magnum opuses (opusi?), Bioshock 2, discussing all kinds of interesting topics such as the characters and story, the combat and how the multiplayer modes play out.
Let’s start with an interview about the story and make our way down, shall we?
Check out the rest of the Bioshock 2 developer interviews below:
A recent post by Insomniac Games developer Mike Acton on the company’s development blog asks the simple question: “How much does framerate matter?”
While Acton and Insomniac are proud of what they’ve accomplished in their latest title, Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (“It’s a great looking game, a ton of fun to play and is 60fps,” writes Acton), it’s come time for the team to question the importance that a high framerate plays in the delivery and presentation of their future games. From the post:
“One of the long-standing sacred cows here at Insomniac is framerate. We’ve long viewed a solid framerate as both a sign of a quality product and professionalism as developers. It’s always been point of pride in our work and considered an extremely serious part of our development process.”
If you ever wanted to catch a glimpse of one of the developers behind the long-running Tekken series of fighting games, this is your chance to see Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken Project Leader, talk about his team’s work on the latest entry to the franchise, Tekken 6.
In this developer video interview, Harada talks about the progression of the Tekken series, and how Tekken 6 compares to his previous work, and includes a neat comparison of all of the previous Tekken games to show the progression in graphics over the years, as well as snippets of gameplay from Tekken 6.
Very interesting stuff:
Unbelievably, this week’s PlayStation Store update is once again outstanding, with one of the highlights being the Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time demo on both the US and European storefronts.
There’s such an enormous amount of quality content on the store today, that it may just be best if you browse through and see if anything catches your fancy, with all kinds of special offers, demos, add-on downloadable content, Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 DLC, videos and themes.
Browse through the full list of content available now on both the European and US PlayStation Stores below (now including content for the PSP and PSPgo):
Sony has announced that Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time will be available across most PAL territories on the 4th of November, with Australia and New Zealand following on the 5th and UK and Ireland on the 6th. The game was released across the US earlier this week, on the 27th of October.
Two demos for the game are now available on the PlayStation Store. The first demo is set in Krell Canyon and gives players the chance to try out Ratchet’s new Hoverboots, while demo number two is set in The Great Clock and allows players to enjoy “Clank’s time manipulation puzzle solving skills and an exciting boss battle.”
Sony has announced that PSP owners can now download LocoRoco Midnight Carnival via the PlayStation Network.
The game includes a bunch of new features and chief among them is the new online global leaderboard. The top five players will be able to upload their replay save which other players can download to pick up a few tips. Players will also be able to compete in four player battle and co-op modes.
Titan Studios has announced that the new patch for Fat Princess is now available on the PlayStation Network, along with a demo for the game.
And make sure you download Patch 1.03 because it contains a brand new city map called New Pork, and the map is free! Of course the patch will also add a couple of tweaks to the gameplay balance and systems so it’s a win-win situation.
Not much changes on the Japanese hardware chart this week. The DSi still leads the race with 42 199 units, followed by the PSP with 32 865 units. The DSi drops quite substantially from last week’s 49 145 tally while sales of the PSP only decrease marginally by 643 units.
The past few weeks have seen sales for the PS3 and Wii neck in neck in Japan, however, this week the PS3 surges ahead with 29 977 units while the Wii stews with 25 917. Both consoles drop from last week’s totals, the PS3 down only roughly 250 units but the Wii falls by over 4 000 units.
Ster Kinekor has released an official statement regarding the impact of the liquidation of Replication Technology Group (RTG) on the distribution of Ster Kinekor gaming titles.
Ster Kinekor confirmed that RTG, the previous DVD packaging supplier for Ster Kinekor Entertainment, had recently been placed in provisional liquidation. The statement went on to read “the minimum quantities RTG distributed on SKE’s behalf were marginally affected however contingency plans have been put in place ensuring no further distribution issues moving forward.”
Martin Brouard from development studio Frima has posted on the PlayStation Blog to announce the release of their new PSPgo game, Zombie Tycoon, available on the PlayStation Store today as a PSP mini title, for £3.99 on the European PlayStation Store, or $7.99 on the US PlayStation Store.
Zombie Tycoon casts you, the player, as the controller of a horde of zombies, roaming the streets in search of delicious, succulent brains upon which to feast, enabling you to strategically move your mob of undead around the city to help them find their next, fleshy meal.
If such a setup has piqued your interest, you can continue on down below to watch the launch trailer for Zombie Tycoon:
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver retains the number 1 spot on the Japanese Software Chart for the week ending the 25th of October. The latest Media Create figures show that the Top 4 results are the same as last week.
The popular Pokemon DS title sold 118 000 copies to hang on to the top spot while Wii Fit Plus keeps up the pace in second place with 88 000 copies, Tomodachi Collection sticks it out in third with 52 000 copies and Inazuma Eleven 2: Threat of the Invaders is in fourth with 49 000 copies.
Ubisoft has announced that patches for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of its excellent Western-themed first-person shooter, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, are now available.
The patches will “improve the quality of multiplayer connections and matches” as well as “refine the overall balance of multiplayer classes and modes.” The publisher has balanced the Spy, Gunslinger, Hombre, Veteran and Sniper classes while PS3 owners can also look forward to reduced checkpoint loading times.
A demo for the fantasy action platform game Trine is now available on the European PlayStation Store. The demo offers players the chance to try out the first two levels of the game, either in solo or co-op mode with friends.
Trine allows players to create and use physics-based objects to overcome dangerous puzzles and enemies. The story follows three heroes on a quest to save the kingdom, all bound to a mysterious device called the Trine. Players can choose which hero is best suited for the puzzle or challenge.
In a post on the European PlayStation Blog, Emmanuel Orssaud has announced the arrival of the French PlayStation Blog, which will keep everybody in France (and other French speaking nations) up to date with the latest PlayStation and related news.
This is in addition to the Italian and German PlayStation Blogs, with a Spanish portal is still in the works.
Visit the French PlayStation Blog over here and say hello!
While Bioshock 2 is sure to have a stellar singleplayer campaign (as evidenced by the recent Siren Alley trailer), it’s also going to contain a few multiplayer modes, one of which is called ‘Capture the Sister.’
As you can tell from the title, it’s essentially capture the flag, only using the creepy Little Sisters as a points currency, as you pick and lug the little girls from one place to another to score points for your team while trying to fend off attackers from the other team who are also looking for the Little Sister.
Watch a round of Bioshock 2’s Capture the Sister multiplayer mode in action below:
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