(click the blog entry title to link to the article)
Naughty Dog helped out with the development of God of War III.
I love them to death, and they are clearly super nice people, but I hope this is because they are so ahead of schedule on U2:AT and have a lot of free time, rather than this causing the delay I was talking about in the last post!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"Fiscal Year"? WTF, Sony.
(click the blog entry title to link to the article)
Apparently Sony clarified their previous statement about the release date of upcoming games including U2:AT.
They had previously said we'd see them released "before the end of 2009," but apparently they went back and corrected themselves, saying we'd see them "before the end of the fiscal year," which technically ends in March of 2010. They didn't specify which of the anticipated games caused them to make this correction, but it could be any or all of them.
Since we don't have a release date yet this could potentially mean that U2:AT gets pushed back anywhere from 3 to 6 months. While I'm sure the time would be well spent, this does not make me particularly thrilled.
But again, there's no proof that anything is truly being moved. They're probably just trying to cover their ass in case they absolutely need to.
Probably.
Apparently Sony clarified their previous statement about the release date of upcoming games including U2:AT.
They had previously said we'd see them released "before the end of 2009," but apparently they went back and corrected themselves, saying we'd see them "before the end of the fiscal year," which technically ends in March of 2010. They didn't specify which of the anticipated games caused them to make this correction, but it could be any or all of them.
Since we don't have a release date yet this could potentially mean that U2:AT gets pushed back anywhere from 3 to 6 months. While I'm sure the time would be well spent, this does not make me particularly thrilled.
But again, there's no proof that anything is truly being moved. They're probably just trying to cover their ass in case they absolutely need to.
Probably.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Fanfics
(click the blog entry title to link to the fanfiction page)
Since there's not a lot going on right now in terms of U2:AT news, and there probably won't be too much until the Game Developer's Conference at the end of next month, I decided to throw up a little interim link to the Fanfiction.net page for Uncharted:Drake's Fortune.
FYI, there wasn't even a section for the game until a couple months ago, and it (sadly) is one of the smallest fandoms apparently! As of right now there's only four fics up, of which only two are any good, and one of which I wrote. So...yeah.
On that note, I guess I'll put some deviantart links too. Just for filler and all.
-Searching for "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" gets some nice desktops, including the banner for the website, which I yoinked from fatalfdork (here's a good a place as any to give credit, I guess, since the only people reading this are me and my one friend). I particularly like the chibi Nathan and Elena, and the Little Big Planet Nathan. Cute!
-Searching for "Nathan Drake" gets some more neat drawings of everyone's favorite treasure hunter, as well as a bunch of hits on some character from something called Deus Obscura...and some really creepy Bruce Hartman type stuff, which looks like Cosmo and Danny Phantom hooked up and had a kid? Who then had his own kid? I have no idea why that is related to Nathan Drake, but uh...there you go, I guess.
There's like practically no Elena hits. But I have hope for the future, aka the immense explosion of popularity after U2:AT comes out.
That's enough for now.
Since there's not a lot going on right now in terms of U2:AT news, and there probably won't be too much until the Game Developer's Conference at the end of next month, I decided to throw up a little interim link to the Fanfiction.net page for Uncharted:Drake's Fortune.
FYI, there wasn't even a section for the game until a couple months ago, and it (sadly) is one of the smallest fandoms apparently! As of right now there's only four fics up, of which only two are any good, and one of which I wrote. So...yeah.
On that note, I guess I'll put some deviantart links too. Just for filler and all.
-Searching for "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" gets some nice desktops, including the banner for the website, which I yoinked from fatalfdork (here's a good a place as any to give credit, I guess, since the only people reading this are me and my one friend). I particularly like the chibi Nathan and Elena, and the Little Big Planet Nathan. Cute!
-Searching for "Nathan Drake" gets some more neat drawings of everyone's favorite treasure hunter, as well as a bunch of hits on some character from something called Deus Obscura...and some really creepy Bruce Hartman type stuff, which looks like Cosmo and Danny Phantom hooked up and had a kid? Who then had his own kid? I have no idea why that is related to Nathan Drake, but uh...there you go, I guess.
There's like practically no Elena hits. But I have hope for the future, aka the immense explosion of popularity after U2:AT comes out.
That's enough for now.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Upcoming Sequels (but there's only one that I care about!)
(click the blog entry title to link to the list)
U2:AT is only #12 on the list of upcoming sequels! For shame!
They did a nice run down of "what we know" and "what we want to know" at least, and the quotes from users about what they want to see fixed is a nice touch.
Also, this link does a quick recap of stuff that Naughty Dog is fixing this time around. The 3 biggest complaints about U:DF were:
1) enemies' health- "guys in t-shirts won't take 40 shots to kill this time around"...although guys wearing armor will.
2) the gameplay shift/plot twist towards the end. as it's been mentioned, players were 50/50 split in their feelings towards it. I hated it the first time around because it scared the shit out of me, but it's grown on me since then (you can read about that in this entry).
3) the final boss fight was too easy. WHAT!? Ok, maybe for some super hardcore gamers, but the first time I did it, I had been told how to win and it still took me a long time to get it down. I thought it was just long enough without getting tedious.
That's it for now.
U2:AT is only #12 on the list of upcoming sequels! For shame!
They did a nice run down of "what we know" and "what we want to know" at least, and the quotes from users about what they want to see fixed is a nice touch.
Also, this link does a quick recap of stuff that Naughty Dog is fixing this time around. The 3 biggest complaints about U:DF were:
1) enemies' health- "guys in t-shirts won't take 40 shots to kill this time around"...although guys wearing armor will.
2) the gameplay shift/plot twist towards the end. as it's been mentioned, players were 50/50 split in their feelings towards it. I hated it the first time around because it scared the shit out of me, but it's grown on me since then (you can read about that in this entry).
3) the final boss fight was too easy. WHAT!? Ok, maybe for some super hardcore gamers, but the first time I did it, I had been told how to win and it still took me a long time to get it down. I thought it was just long enough without getting tedious.
That's it for now.
Amy is Deliberately Mysterious
(click the blog entry title to link to the interview)
This is an interview from last week, so it's a lot of the same, but it mentions some things that weren't touched on, like Nolan North's appearance in the new Prince of Persia, as well as the zombie-monster debate.
This is an interview from last week, so it's a lot of the same, but it mentions some things that weren't touched on, like Nolan North's appearance in the new Prince of Persia, as well as the zombie-monster debate.
Release Date?
(click the blog entry title to link to the blurb)
According to RocktheConsole.com, who quoted PSFocus, a Dutch game retailer called Free Record Shop has in their database a release date of October 1, 2009.
This information doesn't really make sense to me- I have no idea why a random Dutch game shop would have the release date before everyone else (unless someone knows a guy [who knows a guy...] at Naughty Dog I guess?), but this is the first hint of any kind of definite date beyond "Q4 2009," so I'll bite.
This would be a fitting date too because it'll give the game enough time to pick up rave reviews everywhere before the holiday season.
According to RocktheConsole.com, who quoted PSFocus, a Dutch game retailer called Free Record Shop has in their database a release date of October 1, 2009.
This information doesn't really make sense to me- I have no idea why a random Dutch game shop would have the release date before everyone else (unless someone knows a guy [who knows a guy...] at Naughty Dog I guess?), but this is the first hint of any kind of definite date beyond "Q4 2009," so I'll bite.
This would be a fitting date too because it'll give the game enough time to pick up rave reviews everywhere before the holiday season.
A Valid Question (with a heartwarming answer)
(click the blog entry title to link to the editorial)
Stephen Totilo at the MTV Multiplayer blog has a brief editorial about a question he asked before the release of Uncharted two years ago. He'd asked "Why should people care about Uncharted?" and it took Sam Thompson (producer of U:DF) by surprise. This time around Thompson beat Totilo to the question by answering it in his presentation.
His answer was something along the lines of how Nathan Drake is believable. The way he is animated and presented and played invites the player to identify with him, because he is just a normal human in a crazy situation.
I find his response particularly fascinating because it is a perfect summary of why the game resonates with so many players. At least it's what I loved about the game. He was a character with his own personality, sure, and I was still a female gamer playing a male character, which adds some distance. But it was the little things that made me able to ignore the differences and be able to get into his shoes- little snarky comments on his surroundings, grunts when he jumps or gets hit, scared cries when ledges start crumbling, and the way he honestly looks afraid when he's hiding from fire behind cover. I bought it, and it's why I cared about Uncharted. I tried playing Half-Life 2 recently, and I didn't get any of those identifiers in the silent and super-suited Gordon Freeman, so I got bored with it after like an hour.
But I never get bored with Uncharted.
Oh, one more thing: here's another preview from PSXExtreme, but they don't tell us anything we didn't already know.
PS3 Previews: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Stephen Totilo at the MTV Multiplayer blog has a brief editorial about a question he asked before the release of Uncharted two years ago. He'd asked "Why should people care about Uncharted?" and it took Sam Thompson (producer of U:DF) by surprise. This time around Thompson beat Totilo to the question by answering it in his presentation.
His answer was something along the lines of how Nathan Drake is believable. The way he is animated and presented and played invites the player to identify with him, because he is just a normal human in a crazy situation.
I find his response particularly fascinating because it is a perfect summary of why the game resonates with so many players. At least it's what I loved about the game. He was a character with his own personality, sure, and I was still a female gamer playing a male character, which adds some distance. But it was the little things that made me able to ignore the differences and be able to get into his shoes- little snarky comments on his surroundings, grunts when he jumps or gets hit, scared cries when ledges start crumbling, and the way he honestly looks afraid when he's hiding from fire behind cover. I bought it, and it's why I cared about Uncharted. I tried playing Half-Life 2 recently, and I didn't get any of those identifiers in the silent and super-suited Gordon Freeman, so I got bored with it after like an hour.
But I never get bored with Uncharted.
Oh, one more thing: here's another preview from PSXExtreme, but they don't tell us anything we didn't already know.
PS3 Previews: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Amy and Evan Answer the Same Questions
(click the blog entry title to read the interview)
There wasn't a link to this G4 TV interview on the Playstation Blog website, so I'm posting it separately.
This is another one of those interviews that makes me think the Chloe situation might be okay. At least the directors are fully aware of the fact that they're yanking us all over the place since they can't tell us too much at this stage.
Also, what's up with everyone and asking about co-op? DAMN! The video yesterday seems to think that Chloe being referred to as so badass means they're hiding the co-op from us. I don't really think I believe that. They keep emphasizing "giving the best first-person experience available," and I don't see them doing co-op, not on THIS game. Maybe in the future, sure, but in that other interview with Wells you could hear in his voice that he didn't want to have to say it, but the answer is basically no. I mean he sounded kind of like a parent whose kid is asking for something kind of expensive and it's not that the parent doesn't want to give them what they're asking for, but they just can't afford it and have to say no. So I'm not really holding my breath waiting for co-op.
But we know it's going to be a fabulous game either way.
There wasn't a link to this G4 TV interview on the Playstation Blog website, so I'm posting it separately.
This is another one of those interviews that makes me think the Chloe situation might be okay. At least the directors are fully aware of the fact that they're yanking us all over the place since they can't tell us too much at this stage.
Also, what's up with everyone and asking about co-op? DAMN! The video yesterday seems to think that Chloe being referred to as so badass means they're hiding the co-op from us. I don't really think I believe that. They keep emphasizing "giving the best first-person experience available," and I don't see them doing co-op, not on THIS game. Maybe in the future, sure, but in that other interview with Wells you could hear in his voice that he didn't want to have to say it, but the answer is basically no. I mean he sounded kind of like a parent whose kid is asking for something kind of expensive and it's not that the parent doesn't want to give them what they're asking for, but they just can't afford it and have to say no. So I'm not really holding my breath waiting for co-op.
But we know it's going to be a fabulous game either way.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
"Uncharted 2: Drake's a Bit of a Bastard This Time"
Apparently these guys work across the street from Naughty Dog. Lucky bastards.
There's a lot of cool info about ND in there, some theorizing about the elusive and enigmatic co-op, and according to them, Sully is definitely back.
The bit about Uncharted starts at 7:50.
They sound pretty happy that Chloe is replacing Elena. The thing that kind of irks me is this phrase I've seen at least twice now, and here they quote it so I assume someone in Naughty Dog said it at the preview, is this idea that Chloe is "Drake's equal in every way." This rankles the feminist in me, because it implies that Elena is somehow not equal to Drake. Of course she wasn't blasting around with rocket launchers and crap all the time. She's a reporter. She's not a treasure hunter like Chloe apparently is, and she was still pretty kickass, what with the driving and the grenade launchers in the jet ski sections.
I've been flipping back and forth in my opinion on Chloe. Obviously we don't know a lot about her except that she's a treasure hunter, badass, Australian, the love interest, and Drake knew her somehow. Part of me thinks she'll be really cool to interact with, and I know she'll be an interesting character of course. The other half of me is just really concerned that they've pulled a James Bond with Elena. Sure, they'll explain why things didn't work out and all, but what it comes down to is that they wanted a new, exotic girl to replace Elena because she wasn't sexy enough or whatever. What I loved about her was that she was believable and normal, in the same way that Drake was this average kind of guy. Chloe so far is striking me as Lara Croft with more clothes and better dialogue.
In any event, maybe a full length trailer that shows us some character interaction will sway me one way or the other. We'll see. WHEN THEY FINALLY RELEASE ONE.
There's a lot of cool info about ND in there, some theorizing about the elusive and enigmatic co-op, and according to them, Sully is definitely back.
The bit about Uncharted starts at 7:50.
They sound pretty happy that Chloe is replacing Elena. The thing that kind of irks me is this phrase I've seen at least twice now, and here they quote it so I assume someone in Naughty Dog said it at the preview, is this idea that Chloe is "Drake's equal in every way." This rankles the feminist in me, because it implies that Elena is somehow not equal to Drake. Of course she wasn't blasting around with rocket launchers and crap all the time. She's a reporter. She's not a treasure hunter like Chloe apparently is, and she was still pretty kickass, what with the driving and the grenade launchers in the jet ski sections.
I've been flipping back and forth in my opinion on Chloe. Obviously we don't know a lot about her except that she's a treasure hunter, badass, Australian, the love interest, and Drake knew her somehow. Part of me thinks she'll be really cool to interact with, and I know she'll be an interesting character of course. The other half of me is just really concerned that they've pulled a James Bond with Elena. Sure, they'll explain why things didn't work out and all, but what it comes down to is that they wanted a new, exotic girl to replace Elena because she wasn't sexy enough or whatever. What I loved about her was that she was believable and normal, in the same way that Drake was this average kind of guy. Chloe so far is striking me as Lara Croft with more clothes and better dialogue.
In any event, maybe a full length trailer that shows us some character interaction will sway me one way or the other. We'll see. WHEN THEY FINALLY RELEASE ONE.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Playstation Tells Us Stuff We Already Know
(click the blog entry title to link to the blog)
So the Playstation Blog very kindly provided all the links to the websites that I did over the past few days. I was thinking of promoting this blog over there but I don't want to get sued :-P
But anyway, that's their official release on the preview last Monday.
So the Playstation Blog very kindly provided all the links to the websites that I did over the past few days. I was thinking of promoting this blog over there but I don't want to get sued :-P
But anyway, that's their official release on the preview last Monday.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
U2:AT Costs $20 Million To Make
(click the blog entry title to link to the article)
And it's damn well worth every penny.
And it's damn well worth every penny.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
(At Least) Two New Interviews
(click the blog entry title to link to the interviews)
Well, well! What have we here! People are finally opening up a little bit and spilling some goodies. There's a lot they can't talk about yet, obviously, but these are two really excellent interviews that I got a lot out of.
For one thing, they squashed my prequel theory right out. U2:AT apparently takes place "a couple years later." I'm okay with this though because Hennig said that just because they didn't say anything about Elena and Sully doesn't mean that they're not in it, which is reassuring.
It looks like basically everyone who was at the previewing got to toss some questions around, so I'm linking to some of the other ones as well.
There's also a 2-part GameTrailers interview with Wells floating around, which I've posted below.
Joystiq's Interview
Well, well! What have we here! People are finally opening up a little bit and spilling some goodies. There's a lot they can't talk about yet, obviously, but these are two really excellent interviews that I got a lot out of.
For one thing, they squashed my prequel theory right out. U2:AT apparently takes place "a couple years later." I'm okay with this though because Hennig said that just because they didn't say anything about Elena and Sully doesn't mean that they're not in it, which is reassuring.
It looks like basically everyone who was at the previewing got to toss some questions around, so I'm linking to some of the other ones as well.
There's also a 2-part GameTrailers interview with Wells floating around, which I've posted below.
New Screencaps
(click the blog entry title to link to the screenshots)
here's a sample:
Looking nice, as usual.
You can find the same screenshots atSpong.com.
here's a sample:
Looking nice, as usual.
You can find the same screenshots at
Somebody's Seen Some Gameplay!
(click the blog entry title to read the article)
So yesterday there was a whole lot of blogging/news dropped about the actual gameplay, since it appears that Naughty Dog invited a whole bunch of people to hang out and watch co-president Evan Wells play through some of the game. Of all the blogging that happened about this, I liked Joystiq's coverage of the actual gameplay the best (I'll provide some links to others at the end of the post though).
According to all the people who saw the gameplay, it looks Excellent with a capital E. I'm really interested to see all the tiny little upgrades they made- for instance, the fact that enemies wearing different colors are easier or harder to take down. We all know that this was sort of hinted at in U:DF (how many people learned to panic like I did every time they saw the beefy shotgunners running at them, or cursed out the guys with the "Australian hats" and their stupid rocket launchers?) This is different, though, in that it's not just the weapons that are associated with a certain character design, it's the amount of armor they're wearing and how hard they'll be to pick off.
All the stuff that's been thrown around in the past month was either seen or hinted at in the preview- enemy AI, stealth options, platforming-gunplay integration, etc. Everyone is being really tight-lipped about plot details, though, and I can't say I blame them. Their attention to story was part of what made the first game so excellent, and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get too much more info between now and launch to keep anticipation high.
Kotaku Austrailia's Impressions
IGN's Impressions (there's some really juicy bits about Chloe Frazer's appearance in here!)
G4's Impressions
GameSpy's Impressions
So yesterday there was a whole lot of blogging/news dropped about the actual gameplay, since it appears that Naughty Dog invited a whole bunch of people to hang out and watch co-president Evan Wells play through some of the game. Of all the blogging that happened about this, I liked Joystiq's coverage of the actual gameplay the best (I'll provide some links to others at the end of the post though).
According to all the people who saw the gameplay, it looks Excellent with a capital E. I'm really interested to see all the tiny little upgrades they made- for instance, the fact that enemies wearing different colors are easier or harder to take down. We all know that this was sort of hinted at in U:DF (how many people learned to panic like I did every time they saw the beefy shotgunners running at them, or cursed out the guys with the "Australian hats" and their stupid rocket launchers?) This is different, though, in that it's not just the weapons that are associated with a certain character design, it's the amount of armor they're wearing and how hard they'll be to pick off.
All the stuff that's been thrown around in the past month was either seen or hinted at in the preview- enemy AI, stealth options, platforming-gunplay integration, etc. Everyone is being really tight-lipped about plot details, though, and I can't say I blame them. Their attention to story was part of what made the first game so excellent, and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get too much more info between now and launch to keep anticipation high.
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