MotorStorm Monday: The Inspiration for Pacific Rift

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So a quick catch up. We finished MotorStorm, we thought it was pretty damn good, we knew we needed to make another one, but feeling a bit knackered, we decided that a bit of a vacation was in order. Skip forward a month or so to us sunning ourselves in Hawaii, beautiful place, lovely ladies, and most importantly for this yarn, lovely scenery. Dense jungle, lava tubes, mountains, swamps, volcanoes the works…. Lo, a MotorStorm epiphany ☺

So while that may not have been exactly how it happened, and skipping forward numerous months of diligent coding, designing and modeling, we now find ourselves nearing the date when our latest MotorStorm baby will be flung into the big, wide world. As M-day approaches, what exactly are we doing? Well, for the past few months we’ve been polishing it as hard as we can. And, like most videogame developers, we’re mainly men. So we can polish pretty hard.

But there are also those little bugs. The sheer number of little annoyances, errors and mistakes that creep into any sizeable bit of software is quite often staggering. Four and a half thousands of the little guys to be precise. But the end is most definitely in sight, and the game is almost ready to ship.

So with the bug count right down, those of us not trying to fix the last ones are spending our days playing the game. You’d think we’d be sick of it by now, but spilt screen has given even the most jaded member of the team something to have a laugh with. Especially now that there so much more variety in the tracks, and they’re balanced to the extent that there’s probably only about a second or so difference in lap times with different vehicles – if you choose the right route. And route finding is the secret to being good at MotorStorm. Just picking the most obvious one and turning the same lap over and over again without any deviation is going to get you a little way into the game, but to really conquer the harder AI you are going to have to find the bits of track suited to your chosen vehicle.

If you want to know what we think are the best routes, download our developer ghosts and see the lines we take, and if you’re up for the challenge, try and beat our ghost laps, there’s a trophy in there specifically for doing that.

More next Monday.

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68 Comments

  • looking forward to motorstorm :)

    http://www.playstationliga.de

  • Oh yea! Very nice looking!

    Split screen makes this a buy!

    :P

  • The demo was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for the release of the full version.

    Keep up the great work!

  • Can’t wait!

  • Split-screen is gonna be fantastic. This has the potential to be a modern-day Mario Kart 64 in terms of fun and excitement.

    Are there any plans to allow split-screen gaming online?

  • Haven’t found any graphical improvement from the original motorstorm….indeed, the physics have improved, but i expected so much more graphic-wise…..guess i’m not getting this one.

  • @6: Do you both contacts in one eye or something?

  • @6 lifeRPGs
    The demo for Motorstorm 2 ,was not a full polished build.
    Also you shouldnt play games only for their graphics.
    The key thing is the fun and entertainment.

  • i’ve preordered it already, while i know the demo its an old build i loved it , feels kinda weird at the beginning but after a couple of races it feels like motorstorm once again lol, splitscreen is a blast , monster trucks are brutal, attack moves are bad asses lol , cant wait to play the world’s most brutal off road racing game , see you guys online

  • What build was the demo? because the texture and overall look does not look like what other media has been getting.

  • @10 darkiewonder
    Dont worry,it was a old build .

    im getting Motorstorm as soon as possible.
    (My dad likes the first one ,so the sequel is a ‘must buy’ according to him)

  • Nigel, first off, I am a big Motorstorm fan. However, after playing the Motorstorm Pacific Rift demo I was a little disappointed with the gameplay (truck felt unresponsive) and graphics, even comparing it to the original Motorstorm.. can you let us know how much of these were changed (if at all) since? Oh, one big thing: can you please bring back the pan and zooming back into the ‘PAUSE’ screen please? I really missed that feature from Motorstorm in the MSPR demo.

    This thread sums up some of our concerns over at the US Playstation Motorstorm board: http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=motorstorm&thread.id=64125&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

  • I’m really looking forward this game. Hopefully it supports custom in-game music.

  • @6

    The previous MotorStorm looked great, just needed more features which MotorStorm: PR provides. Personally, I’m glad there’s split screen (more important than better graphics, although MotorStorm: PR definitely has better graphics also).

    Day one purchase for me.

  • When will the demo be available to everyone. I don’t want purchase a commercial to get a demos.

  • @13 in-game custom music is a feature in Motorstorm: Pacific Rift

  • @ 8 Fersis

    How are you going to tell someone else how/why to like their games?

  • @16 Ghostm
    ????
    I was not saying that ,he was asking why the graphics of the demo are different from the videos.

  • day 1 buy! can’t wait for this to drop guys. looking forward to your next post on Monday.

    peace,
    Lh

  • Sweet, Motorstorm Mondays! :D

    I realize the game is about racing… but I REALLY loved crashing in the original. :P And that is definitely some impressive detail. See you at launch! (Actually, we’ll be seeing you next Monday first, but I’m sure we’ll see you at launch too. :P )

  • Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is a day one purchase for me but I wonder why the Qore demo was from an old build? I mean the game is right around the corner so why not give us a taste of what we can expect from the full, 100% complete version? IGN was given the latest build of the game and it looks much, MUCH better than the build that we Qore subscribers were given.

    Please put up a demo of the most recent build next month. That would be the best way to shut up the all haters.

  • Woooo! I am so amped for this game. Keep on polishing ;)

  • I can Poish REALLY hard lol

    that gave me a laugh

  • What a surprise. No Pendulum this time around.

  • awesome day one pick up >:|

  • Nigel, in the demo the lack of polish and a total absence of light effects in the visuals worried me. Motorstorm 1 looks even or superior in this case. What you can say about this issue? Can I expect better graphics that I see in this demo or not?

  • The demo is awesome! Still one of the front runners for Sony exclusives. Keep up the good work .

  • Evolution… the demo is from E3 right? The demo for everyone .. is comming.. can you share the demo of GC?
    Anyway.. i’m going to buy this great game.. and i challenge some of my friends to a 6ª extreme of MotorStorm “1” to remember this great game…before Pacific rift :D

    The Time of PS3 is starting.. right now :D

  • People above

    The Motorstorm QORE demo was from a 1 year old build

    The final version will look incredible as always

    Motorstorm 2 is the king of offroad racing games

    It is Racing GOTY 2008

  • LUNATICS UNITE I LOVE IT! :D

  • I enjoyed the original MotorStorm immensely, far more than I could have possibly anticipated I would.

    My only complaint was that the game relied heavily on rubberband A.I. to make the races more exciting, but to me that has always felt like a lazy programmers way out of making actual difficulty levels, does Pacific Rift improve on this?

  • I have no idea why people are cancelling their pre-orders, the demo seemed fine to me- the graphics looked solid to me, I think they even went to getting rid of those 2d sprites for brush and chip in and use 3d models for ’em this time around (man, I HATE 2d brushes in a world.) Anyway, I love using the jumps at the start of the track, just the whole first part of the track feels like Rain God Mesa on steriods- I believe that this second game is gonna be Motorstorm on steroids compared to what I see from the demo. The only thing I wished they put into the demo was Sixaxis control- I was king of full steering :P

    Oh, and wasim, please don’t say that M:PR is Racing GOTY, it looks like it’ll take second since GOTY came out January 28th- yes, you got it, Burnout Paradise. :P

  • @nmc75
    Where did you find out custom in-game music will be in Motorstorm: Pacific Rift? Nigel Kershaw, could you confirm custom in-game music for this game?

  • @nmc75
    Forget the question I asked. IGN confirms trophies and custom soundtracks.

  • I haven’t seen the demo, but I heard on 1up yours that the build they’re using right now looks stunning. Light effects, scenery, etc all look amazing, so I think the demo might not be representative of the final product. Did I read right and the AI is HARDER this time around? Oy Vey. I’d be more worried about that then the lack of polish…and what about the splatter effect? Has that been eliminated or at least has it been made optional?

  • Will there be any story elements this time? I know we had the whole desert party thing last game, but we need something more.

    After spending countless hours mastering the courses and getting that elusive 1st place in every race…just to get a “Congratulations” message was a bit of a let-down for me.

  • O.K. now that M2 is done you’ll no doubt be finding your inspiration for Motorstorm 3 while vacationing soooooo…
    May I suggest a wilderness retreat during the dead winter in Alaska!

  • Trophy support? The game looks great and I’ll be picking it up ASAP.

  • Looking good. Got the demo and I can say that has to be the longest jump I have ever seen in racing game And it totlay drops off. I would like to see a real car do that!!LOL But any I think the game will be great. Just there is ALOT of games coming out soon that I want But this is in my top 5. Promo in home was nice too!!!!!

  • Thanks Nigel.

    I know I’m getting this game…loved MS 1 and 2 is great too.

  • Looks good. The demo is crazy and it pushed me to a pre-order.

  • man, you guys have really mastered the art of graphic design and animation…..and the artificial intelligence was amazing, they would commit suicide to knock you off course. That really made the game intense. Please tell me you kept that in this game???????

  • It was day one, but now I’ll sit on the sidelines for awhile. It was near impossible to distinguish between Shadows and walls. Didn’t have that problem in the dessert. :P

  • nice I love Motorstorm one and im really excited for the second one. The demo was awesome but everything drove way different then the first. not complaining

  • sweet! buying this one right away!

  • I am having a great dilemma.. I LOVED the demo of this game and LOVED the demo of Pure… I will be purchasing one of the two ( hopefully both ) but i dont know which one :(

  • looks awesome!!!

    can’t wait!

    p.s.
    what do i have to do to get an invite to Home?

  • When will you release the trophy list? Also, any chances for a collector’s edition?

    Could we have some kind of a level editor for the game. Maybe as an update or in Motorstorm 3?

  • Need a soundtrack release please. Loved the music in the first game, so take even more of my money and put out a soundtrack, even if it’s just a download through the Playstation Store.

  • Please answer my question!

    Will Motorstorm 2 support the logitech wheels? unlike motorstorm 1? and will the demo be public later?

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