Warp Zoned Presents
Author: Mike Gutierrez
Interview: Zipper’s Kevin Schmitt Talks SOCOM 4 Multiplayer
At PAX East 2011, Senior Editor Nicole Kline and I got to have a lengthy chat with Kevin Schmitt, Lead Multiplayer Designer for SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy Seals. We got to talk extensively about the multiplayer, from game modes to progression paths, and how the buddy system plays a large role in the game. We also got some interesting insights from Schmitt, including what it’s like to be a lead designer on his first game at Zipper and the challenges and benefits of dealing with a long established fan base, whom he affectionately refers to as free labor. Playing the game got me really excited for its release and talking with Schmitt only compounded it. Hit the jump for the full interview on one of the most anticipated games of April. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, Previews, PS3
Tagged PAX East 2011, SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALs
The dinosaurs return in new Jurassic Park dev diary with Telltale Games
I haven’t kept too close an eye on the upcoming Jurassic Park: The Game, but hearing that signature music come on in this trailer actually gets me pretty excited for it. It seems you couldn’t have picked a better studio than Telltale, as the team describes collaborating with paleontologists, details the impact the reptiles have in gameplay, and overall just reminisces about that first time seeing Jurassic Park. The episodes will begin rolling out in April for Mac and PC, with console versions due out in September later this year.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Jurassic Park
Modern Warfare 3 to be announced next month in April
We’ve had countdowns. We’ve had fan films. We’ve heard rumors of the story and the teams working on it. But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may finally get its big reveal next month in April.
UK PlayStation Magazine PSM3 states in its insider rumors section, “the next in Activision’s megaton FPS series will be announced in mid-April.” This would coincide with the reveal of the last game in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops, being announced in April as well.
One of the rumors mentioned above speculated that the next game may be a prequel dealing with Ghost, and not the full Modern Warfare 3. Activision has also confirmed that a Call of Duty game is in the works for NGP, so we may even see the next game appear on Sony’s successor to the PSP as well as the usual suspects of PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. We’re just going to have to see if this announcement actually goes down in the coming days.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Killzone: Ascendancy writer points towards Helghast POV for next story
Sam Bradbury recently novelized Killzone 3 and had a quick chat with the PlayStation Blog about the challenges and fun of adapting the Killzone universe to novel form. When asked what he would like to explore next if it were up to him, Bradbury replied:
I’ve seen people debating on the forums about who’s the worst: the Helghast or the ISA. So for that reason I think it would be great to do something from the perspective of the Helghast. We touched on it in Killzone: Ascendancy, but there’s a whole other world there to explore. Also I found the appearance of Visari’s daughter at the beginning very tantalizing…
Seen as the brand identifying icon for Killzone, and arguably the PlayStation 3, many have been calling for a Helghast-focused game for quite some time. Stay tuned for our Warp Zoned Wishlist to find out if it made the cut for what we’d like to see in Killzone 4.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3
Tagged Killzone, Killzone 3
New Xbox 360 disc format is probably not Blu-ray
Yesterday, Major Nelson was taking volunteers to beta test an updated Xbox 360 disc format. One of Digital Foundry’s sources confirms that it’s still the same DVD, just with less data taken up by security measures. DF suggests that up to 1GB more will be available to developers on the new disc format.
The DVD format the Xbox 360 uses has been seen as a limiting factor for some time, with Dan Houser of Rockstar Games pointing it out as a problem back in 2007 when he was developing Grand Theft Auto IV.
Battlefield 3 continues to impress with “Get That Wire Cut”
We’ve already seen Battlefield 3 have a crawling animation when you go prone. We’ve also seen how insane the lighting effects are with the Frostbite 2 engine. But you haven’t seen how effective they can be until you watch the vent crawling segment in the “Get That Wire Cut” trailer above. I’m already getting creeped out by how claustrophobic it’s probably going to make me. In addition to an unbelievable segment of shells falling from a helicopter, the end of the trailer says the full “Fault Line” segment (which will run 12 minutes) will be revealed on April 17. Unmatchable graphics. Incredible animations. I wish other shooters could do that.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged Battlefield 3
Nintendo 3DS breaks day-one sales records for Nintendo handhelds
Yesterday, we reported that retailers had plenty of Nintendo 3DS units in their inventory, but that it probably didn’t mean poor sales. That seems confirmed today, as Nintendo has gloriously proclaimed, “US day-one sales numbers for Nintendo 3DS were the highest of any Nintendo handheld system in our history,” promising to release some solid numbers along with next month’s NPD report. The 3DS had already sold like wildfire in Japan, where the entire intial shipment sold out within a day.
I honestly can’t tell if this is an accomplishment or not. I don’t remember the original DS being a hit until the Lite version came out alongside New Super Mario Bros. And before that, truth be told, gamers really didn’t care about sales numbers all that much.
Resistance 3 coming at you in 3D, includes Move and Sharp Shooter support
Sony’s (obviously) made a big push for adoption of 3D gaming and PlayStation Move. Their first party studios have demonstrated that, yes, you can take your game to the next level with 3D and you can make hardcore games with motion control. So with every big PS3 exclusive coming out, the question on everyone’s minds is: will it be in 3D? And, will it support Move?
Yesterday was an awesome day for fans of Insomniac Games, as they hosted their 3rd Annual Community Event at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. They also took the time to answer those two questions with regards to the highly anticipated Resistance 3, with a resounding yes and yes.
Above you can see Creative Director Marcus Smith and the super dreamy founder of Insomniac Ted Price sporting PlayStation Move Sharp Shooters and 3D glasses (not the kind you’ll use to play the game.) Community Manager James Stevenson attributed the incorporation of these features to fan demand. “After Killzone 3 launched, we heard a massive amount of positive feedback, and were inundated with requests to support both PlayStation Move and sharp shooter.” And now you have it.
I’m about halfway in my play-through of Killzone 3 with Move, and while I can’t say it’ll replace the DualShock for me, it certainly is an interesting and different experience. We’ll let you know how well it was included in Resistance 3 when it launches on the PlayStation 3 September 6.
Posted in News, PS3
Tagged Resistance 3