juanleche  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

So Kyle do you agree with the folks that say its ok that this game will not play in HD on certain HDTVs, or is it that you are not allowed to comment? do you guys have an estimate on how many potential sales of this game – which seems very fun- will be lost do to the fact that this game will not support hd for 1080i only displays? do you think I’m a troll for not wanting to play this HD game in SD?

nobody666  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:36 pm

nice to see I’m not alone in still playing on a crappy old TV.. are the HD people the only ones with framerate and other graphical issues in the demo? everything was nice and smooth and looked great on my end.. but people experiencing issues with demos should always keep in mind they are not playing something from the final build or at least that is a rarity with demos..

40cal  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

@Kyle

do you have a stat on how many time this was downloaded in the first 24 hours?

juanleche  |  July 27th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

to pixelsword – if you are talking about the 360 elite it upscales so no one would complain. but here are some other sites of people complaining about this issue:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=1543693&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
http://ps3.ign.com/mail/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=770141

jacsro  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:05 pm

@Kyle

Excellent work! Every aspect of the Demo is truly impressive. Although, i have to agree with those asking for JUMP and BLOCK buttons…

Sipu  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

Looks fantastic, but BOY was it short and i got bored by all the identical enemies within a few minutes… I hope the full game sucks less (and we get to see a longer demo).

It’s like a western ninja gaiden without the atmosphere of ninja gaiden…

nobody666  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

@Kyle

Wow still in here with us! good to still be hearing from ya! thanks for the demo! and to Ninja Theory!

and thank you for not wanting to spoil the story for us! the shortness of the demo didn’t really bother me other than making the wait for the full game a bit rougher.. heh.. but it was jut enough to let me know that I do want this game..

The replayabilty factor is also real nice! I’ve played the demo several times and every time has been different and lots of fun! great job all around on this game!

Slimer  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:20 pm

I have to say from the two demos of HS and NGS, I would say NGS was better. In the HS demo, it froze on me for a few seconds, didnt know what that was about….and I didnt like the fact that you couldnt jump or block on your own. Hopefully the final version will be better, as I will be looking to the reviews for a possible purchase.

Dubbedinenglish  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

@Kyle

I just played the demo with full surround blasting, and I must really tip my hat off to you guys with the score. The middle-eastern tone with the Greek architecture, the oriental characters, and British voice-overs add up to be one of the best atmospheres in a game. Great job guys!

deadxbabiesxinc  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

what does aftertouch do? is it like slo-mo?

deadxbabiesxinc  |  July 27th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

oh plz message me @ PSN: DEADxBABIESxINC w the reply thanks!

EViD  |  July 27th, 2007 at 5:21 pm

the music is brilliant

especially the one in the title screen

deadxbabiesxinc  |  July 27th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

ooh i figured it out! when u throw an object n hold X the camera follows the projectile in slo-mo. Fun w corpses!!!

CrimsonCalibur  |  July 27th, 2007 at 7:36 pm

Kyle,

First off, I loved the demo. A big thank you for giving this to us!

The biggest hurtle I see with the game is getting people to understand it is NOT a button masher. I think you should do more to convey the fact that the game is a deep system of counters, combos, and superstyle moves. Once you actually get into that, the game becomes something unique and a lot of fun. I just think too many people are dismissing this as “just another button masher” and completely ignoring the main feature of the game.

Nathan Hale  |  July 27th, 2007 at 8:37 pm

OMG I love the demo! Thanks and I can’t wait for September. (Meanwhile I need to practice to memorize all the combos) It seems Kratos finally met his match. :)

sledgey  |  July 28th, 2007 at 3:22 am

I loved the demo sony. However, I could not appreciate it fully as the PS3 cannot yet upscale to 1080i, so I had to see it in 480p. Please fix this problem with PS3 incompatibity with 480p/1080i as I cannot enjoy Motostorm or Resistance because of this issue. VF5 is also 720p, but it supports 1080i beautifully…and this is a 3rd party game.

RicoSuavez  |  July 28th, 2007 at 11:34 am

Are we going to continue to see new Wallpaper downloads with every store update?

CdnBacon  |  July 28th, 2007 at 11:40 am

Beautiful demo, can’t wait for the game. I was not expecting something that looks so fluid – i saw no problems with the framerate. Someone at Sony needs to address these stuttering and aliased shadows though we keep seeing in games like this and MGS4. Is the PS3 just not capable of handling shadowing well? Every game I see they stutter and it really ruins the sense of realism the other graphics do so well to promote. What’s up Sony?

amasih  |  July 28th, 2007 at 11:41 am

Played the demo. I think the framerateanimation still needs a bit of work. The combos don’t feel as if they have that extra “umph” factor that a game like GOW2 has. I agree with the previous posts of not having a block and jump button is weird and could be the killer to bring this game down. The crazy moves like planting a sword between the bad guys legs, need a mini game type of button sequence, so that you feel that your still in combat instead of feeling like your watching a mini cut scene.

CdnBacon  |  July 28th, 2007 at 11:43 am

P.S. love the wallpapers and the fact that Sony respects us enough not to charge for a simple ‘theme’ like some companies (ahem…MS) do. I haven’t bought into that companies nickle and diming and the reason why I see Sony winning in the end of this long race is because they don’t/and hopefully never will resort to the level of microtransactioning their customers to death like MS does.

Outbreak  |  July 28th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Thanks for the demo :) I really love it. Too short, but i understand why. Any info on the LBP beta/demo :D :P

marek123456  |  July 29th, 2007 at 4:57 am

i really want to play this game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i bet you its demo is going to be a hit! yahoo!

juanleche  |  July 29th, 2007 at 7:55 am

http://www.ninjatheory.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15998&postco
unt=9
http://www.ninjatheory.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16004&postco
unt=11

Nice attitude – way to push away potential customers

greyfade  |  July 29th, 2007 at 11:24 am

Worst. demo. ever.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked it, and I’ll probably buy it when I get the chance.

But the demo is a 1GB downlaod for 5 minutes of gameplay? Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Fire the son of a [DELETED]. That demo was *WAY* too short for what it was and is *NOT* worth the 1GB download. Pull that POS until you can make it longer, or don’t hype it here at *ALL.*

You guys seriously suck at PR. It’s no wonder there’s so little interest in the console.

ROLO_ONFIRE  |  July 29th, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Why Sony? WHY??
I spend more time downloading it than playing it, why didn’t you released the E3 demo instead of just a small part of it? :(

Sir_LANs-a-lot  |  July 30th, 2007 at 3:14 am

The graphics look OK. However, the screen tearing is abysmal.

I don’t think God of War has much to worry about.

Loucifer  |  July 30th, 2007 at 6:35 am

WOW…AGAIN!!! NO ONE ADDRESSES THE MAIN CONCERN!!!

UPSCALING ISSUES OR EVEN THE FACT OF WHY THIS GAME IS ONLY IN 720p

Im sorry but i cant support people or studio that wont address an issue straight up!!!!!!

Scarecrow  |  July 30th, 2007 at 8:37 am

The fighting’s so addictive!!!

The game looks beautiful too.
Must get for sure!

jh2112  |  July 30th, 2007 at 9:24 am

Wow, was this demo unimpressive. The opening scene looks really nice until things start moving — then you see how choppy everything is and how much the screen rips during gameplay. The in-game animation is pretty crude, too…and there are a bunch of audio dropouts.

The on-the-fly style switching is a nice idea, but doesn’t seem to amount to much within the scope of the demo. The range stance isn’t really useful here, so it’s just about speed vs. power. It’s not clear to me what triggers those occasional enemy-dispatching cut scenes, either. The gameplay just feels loose and clunky.

Going from Ninja Gaiden Sigma to the HS demo really casts it in a bad light — Heavenly Sword is inferior in just about every way imaginable. Lower resolution, lower framerate, more tearing, dumber enemies, fewer weapons, looser character control, and less content. All I can say is that the opening vista in the HS demo looks better than the NGS backgrounds, and that’s only until the camera starts to move.

To add insult to injury, this is yet another game that only supports 720p, so people with 1080i-only HDTVs are forced to play it in 480p. Ouch.

I’m sorry to say that any interest I might have had in this game is now gone. :(

40cal  |  July 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am

• 40cal | July 26th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Heavenly Sword Demo
This game is going to be a masterpiece.
First, the visuals are truly a piece of artwork. With all of the detail put into the surroundings in this demo it was hard for me to stay focused on all of the action that was going on around me, from the textures of the rock and stone to the vegetation and lighting effects, this demo is true eye candy.
Second, the combat system is one of if not the most advanced that I have ever put my hands on. With a small learning curve the counters are very deep. The ability to counter an attack (camera zooms in) and latterly pick and choose how and with what part of your enemy’s body you want to use to neutralize him is REVALUTANARY. The combos are also great, with the stance change being so fluent the possibilities felt endless.
2.5 The animations and motion capture for the facial features are a nice touch to the sense or reality, while the combat animations are superbly fluent. Nariko (sorry if I spelled her name wrong) moves with a true sense of calm and confidence, and while you have three sets of weapons at your disposal the transfer between the three is flawless.
Third, the sound track is also impressive. With great voice over work and an awesome musical score ripping out of my surround sound system turned my living room into Nariko’s struggle.
This game will be a true next-gen action experience for anyone who is planning on picking it up.
Now for the technical stuff.
720 could be a bit sharper, please apply another coat of polish before the games release. Though 480 looked great, for 480 anyways.
Thank you, Ninja Theory and Sony Computer Entertainment for this great demo experience. Now if you all will excuse me I must go work on my counters and combos.
• 40cal | July 27th, 2007 at 6:53 am
The frame rate issue has been fixed. I guess you guys dont read the other comments before you comment.
http://www.ninjatheory.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1381&page=27
At every one that did not like the controls. Read #522, play the demo again and learn how to play this masterpiece.
• 40cal | July 27th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Comment 522 continued.
What is the deal with Narikos lil sis? LOL
The ability to pick up almost any object that is lying around is a very interactive touch. Whether its barrels, swords, broken lumber, it is all at your disposal for smacking these thugs upside the head. Start a combo, then roll to evade an incoming attack, while rolling pick up the inanimate object and throw it at the end of your roll and unleash new combo. OMG!
The combos involving the Sixaxis shake are a little challenging at first but once you get them down they are very rewarding.
I will be playing the living _______ out of this demo until and after I get my hands on LAIR. Again, NEXT-GEN MASTERPIECE.
• Polyphony NL | July 27th, 2007 at 7:54 am
@40Cal
You are completely right in comment #522
I’ve been waiting for this game since 2005. I downloaded the game and played and I tought what the hell. I was so disappointed. I couldn’t believe it. So last night I played the demo over and over again for three hours straight forcing me mastering the combos and blocking. Well I can say my faith is restored. It will be an insane game. People can better practcing instead
Heavenly Sword is masterpiece it only asks you to master it and that takes time.

jh2112  |  July 30th, 2007 at 10:00 am

@40cal

So, someone posts a comment you don’t like, so you just repost a bunch of your own comments from this very thread? Whatever.

I followed your link that claimed the frame rate issues were taken care of, and all I saw was one of the devs saying “plenty of spit n polish has been done since then”, and that’s it. No direct response to questions about the frame rate. The audio problems have apparently been fixed, though, which is good news.

Still, the rest of my comments stand — the HS demo was hugely unimpressive to me. If the final product is leaps and bounds beyond what we’re seeing here, then Ninja Theory only did themselves a disservice by releasing such a raw demo. And if the demo IS mostly representative of the final game — well, my condolences. :(

DirtyHands  |  July 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am

Too all Playstation commrades: Please ignore those whom wish to see Sony fail with the PS3. Its so said to read comments from others whom may or maynot have a PS3 yet complain just to complain. Although Heavenly Sword took a bit to download, a few minutes of gameplay was enough to wet ones appetite for the game. Developers stay strong and know you have gamers whom are not in a rush for your product. Patience,is the key to have a gamer keep coming back for more….

West End Matt  |  July 30th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

Great vids on 1up of this game. It keeps looking better. I’m buying, end of

darcwake  |  August 1st, 2007 at 2:13 am

YO KYLE! i got 3 things for you

Will there be any LittleBigPlanet demo/beta version coming out before the release?

and

during the course of the game is it possible to change your clothing, upgrade weapons, unlock new combos?…stuff like that

and

AMAZING DEMO! it’s really cool how if you keep replaying it over and over again you learn cooler combos.

aight man holla back at me

darcwake  |  August 1st, 2007 at 2:14 am

KYLE..the second question is for heavenly sword

Loucifer  |  August 4th, 2007 at 9:09 am

@Kyle or anybody for that matter

GameStop says

Old Release Date – 9/4/2007
New Release Date – 9/12/2007

is this going to be the new Sony way???

i would say let me know when its pushed back to October but i forgot gamestop already does that!!!!