Linger in Shadows Hits PSN Today!

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Hey all – I’m back again, and I hope you’ve had a chance to read my recent post on Linger in Shadows from last Saturday. Linger releases today on PSN for $2.99, so I wanted to answer some questions that popped up, as well as give a little insight as to how you go about exploring and interacting with Linger.

First things first … I know I haven’t gotten back to folks on the comments, but I have been busy working on finishing the PSP download version of Everyday Shooter, but I promise I’ll chime in and respond to some of the questions and comments here.


When you actually play through Linger in Shadows there are a bunch of things to think about as you explore. Roam through the timeline both forward and backward. Look beyond the frame of the picture as you see it. There are things hidden that you can play with, unlock, and even get Trophies for if you find them. You’ll want to utilize all aspects of the SIXAXIS or the DualShock3.

Right now you may be thinking, “What in the world is he talking about?” But once you jump into the experience, you’ll start to realize what I’m talking about. I don’t want to explain it too much and give it away.

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Also, there are even hints both through audio cues, visual effects, and the DualShock3 if you have that controller as well. If you miss something critical, it winds back, and you are given a hint, too. We added these hints because we want you to enjoy it and not get too frustrated.

Ok, onto Trophies. The reason for including Trophies is that we wanted to reward the player for exploring. The more exploration beyond the basics, the more you get. A lot of these are reflected through “greets.” For those of you who don’t know what greets are, they come from the demoscene. Demo groups put in call outs, or greets, to friends or other groups whose work they really respect. It is kind of like liner notes on a record album. It’s a tradition of the art form that I think is cool, and it exposes you to other demoscene groups that you should check out.

Another thing to think about is that Trophies don’t have to be the traditional “You Killed XXX enemies” or “Beat time of blah” sort of thing. They can be explored as part of ideas, philosophy, mocking the traditional idea of Trophies, or for very unique approaches to playing the game, art, or whatever. I think we’ll start to see Trophies awarded for a lot of different things moving forward as people think about them as being more than just a bullet point.

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I hope I answered some of your questions. I probably created more questions than I answered, but then again, I hope I can address some of those in the comments. I think that once you get your hands on Linger in Shadows and explore the experience today, it will start to make a lot more sense.

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229 Comments

22 Author Replies

  • OK, so I’ve been intrigued since the video came out a while back but I’m still not sure I will download this. I do want to download it, I just don’t have much of an idea of what it’s all about. You called it an experience, could you also call it interactive art? Do you just follow along with the video or do you have control of the camera? If not the camera is that octopus robot the character you control?

  • I have really no idea what to expect with this or what it’s all about but for $3 I really can’t lose.

  • How many trophies in total is there to unlock?

  • $3? That’s cool. Or, since today is my 28th birthday, you could just give it to me……..

  • Whoa!, beautiful graphics!!!, DEFINITELY GONNA BUY!!!, nice job!

  • As an art afficionado, i really look forward to seeing what this is all about. Since childhodd i’ve had an appreciation for art and to have it manifest itself in digital media is very impressive. I will definitley give it a look. Thanks for something different!

  • Thanks for the info! This is cheaper than I was expecting and I love the idea of Sony working with the demoscene to create unique things like this on the PSN, so I am absolutely downloading this.

    One question: How long did it take Plastic to create this “game”? I’m just wondering because you say that other projects like this are possible in the future, and I’m just wondering how long we would need to wait? I’d be on board with Sony supporting something like a dozen demoscene groups and then releasing one a month or something like that.

    • It took them a bit of time to do this. One thing to remember these guys do this part time, they have full-time jobs too.

      As to other productions they are already moving along. The thing is it takes time to do something like this. The creative muse isn\’t just on instant tap.

      Cheers

      Rusty

  • This seems similar to Tori-Emaki. I wanted so bad for Tori to be more interactive than it was. I searched for hours within the media for hidden things but there were very few. Will Linger also have a screen saver aspect to it? I mean wil you be able to leave it idle on your screen and have some kind of active visuals on the screen?

  • I bought the game…don’t even care what it is. I just like how it looks and it’s reason enough to buy it IMO.

  • I’ve already seen it from beginning to end (still going to buy it though) but having seen it, I’m left a little confused as to what kind of message you’re trying to convey. I’m pretty new to this kind of thing, so maybe I’m just missing something, but I couldn’t for the life of me extrapolate much from it.

    Any chance of shedding some light on it? Like why a giant dog and cat are left floating around with a weird Shadow of the Colossus-esque flying squid?

  • @ LR_Se&eN
    I think a screen saver option should be added to all of the PSeye interactive art.

  • @ Rogerjak: So you have had the chance to see the “game” in action theN. wHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION? wHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS NOW? (Sorry about the caps)

  • Will I get a trophy for playing it? ……..j/k btw

  • @DG

    I agree with all my soul!!! It is a shame that you cannot access some of these more quickly or set them as a screen saver once the PS3 has been idle for some set amount of time. Hopefully the Devs here us!!!

  • I’d like to know if the music features in the trailer is in the game? Also will we be able to download that track from the game and/or on the side? please answer this

  • I can’t wait to download this today.

    I do have one question though, will there be a way to download the soundtrack? either through PSN or through a website?

    I’m just working on a custom tracks playlist that is based on instrumental music (so far MGS4 music and some LOTR) and think the song from the trailer would be a great addition.

  • I’m sorry, I had a typo ,I meant

    I’d like to know if the music featured in the trailer is in the game? Also will we be able to download that track from the game and/or on the side? please answer this

    • Yup the music is from Linger in Shadows. We are talking about the music track currently. Hopefully some news soon.

      Rusty

  • @60

    The thrill of discovery is so much apart of this title that it might ruin it for you to be spoon fed. Please lead off with SPOILERZ if you are going to post any. Not saying anyone did, but just in case.

  • I can express how cool titles like these are. They are the building blocks that help people think outside of shooters.

    For this, PSN, I thank you.

  • I’ve got it bought, and been through it a couple of times. And I really like it. Especially for 2,99 ^^ Even though it costs 4.99 in my country.

    To answer some of the questions about how the “gameplay” is, and how long the “life-expectancy” of Linger is.

    Well, first off try to think of it as art. As all art, it doesn’t have a “life-expectancy” per se(is that how it’s spelled?). You discover things in it, as you go. Some may discover them earlier than others. You may adapt different meanings from the art, depending on some moments in your life. You can look at it in very different ways. The squid-bot could be a symbol of mental confusion, or a symbol of the fear of squids. Just to put it in contraste ^^

    The camera is almost static. You can move the camera a bit around, depending on where you are in the demo. There are all sorts of things in the demo, that can be interacted with. For example you can make the “dark cloud” rotate faster, if you feel like it, or you can make some things rotate in the world.

    So try to imagine it as video-art, but interactive. You can’t move around in the world, but you can still have an impact on the environment.

    Oh, and you can pause, rewind and fast-forward.

    As for commentary:
    I would also like some kind of screensaver-aspect in it, like it was suggested it could be incorporated into Home as “digital art”. Which would also be cool =)

    Thanks!

  • I am officially a post whore but:

    I second the notion for a download-able soundtrack. I’d even pay a minimal amount for such a dynamic track.

  • Will there be a section in HOME for this and other experimental demos scenes?

  • I was very confused about this title at first, and still am. But my questions will only be answered if I play it, and at $3 there’s no threat of buyer’s remorse. And hey, with trophies, this is an awesome addition to my already huge PSN collection. Thanks!

  • DAMN! Digital art in your home space would be off the meter man! What a great idea. PLEASE do this. And I agree, these types of titles seem to set the PSN apart from other similar services (that cost money BTW).

  • Yes Rusty, I was wondering to myself, “What in the world is he talking about?”

  • For $2.99 is a no brainer. It looks great and has so much mystery around it that it makes you want to buy it just to see what the heck is this game about…

  • Interactive art seems really good. I was at first wondering if this was a game because it looks too weird and unexplainable to be a game IMO. But its nice to see something new on the psn.

  • Very cool and for 2.99….YES PLEASE!

  • Good to see trophies will finally be in full swing by the end of this month, thanks to this, the soccer cars, Geon and BluRay Disc games like LBP, Bioshock, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Saints Row 2, Rock Band 2, Motorstorm 2, and many, many more.

  • Had a great experience with Linger. Hope to see more like this in the future.

  • I wasn’t sure about this one until I saw the price.

    Think about how much you pay for renting games/movies and it won’t seem as hard to swallow. For the same price as a movie rental, you can own an interesting piece of art, your girlfriend will love it! Oh and uhhh TROPHIES!

  • nice, i’ll check it out.
    i hope we get most of the stuff the EU store got.

    i want the HS:Golf costume pack

  • I’m a huge videophile, but have been let down by all the other “Art” offerings on the PSN (Tori Emaki, Aquatopia, etc.). I’ll be picking this up again because I never learn my lesson, and keep holding out hope that it will be a really cool thing to show off the 52″ XBR4.

    105 MB, though? That seems pretty small and I’m curious how they kept it so small. The old graphics demos I had from NVIDIA and ATI used to be bigger than that because of all the models and textures.

    You have my $2.99 – thanks for at least trying to be different. Cool look at the demoscene.

    • One of the things that traditional demoscene groups tend to pride themselves on is how small they can make things. There is some neat coading techniques that come out of it. Also you\’d be surprised at some of the things that are procedural and not textures.

      Cheers

      Rusty

  • FINALLY!

    I have been looking forward to this forever, ever since i heard about it…this is going to look awesome on my 46″ LCD hd-tv!

    List of favorite games/upcoming games:

    Everyday shooter
    PJ Eden
    Tori-Emaki
    Linger in the Shadows
    FLOWer

    so you can see i’m into the whole art/game synthesis!

    thanks, looking forward to tonight!

    peace

  • Awesome!! Linger in shadows! Ive been looking forward to this for a while, it looks weird, thats why i like it!

  • @ guitain

    Thanks for your post. It helped me make my mind up.

  • Motorstorm is out today… I havent even beat the 3 level in Wipeout HD… I got little big planet BETA….. Plus trying to beat GTA 4 so I’m pretty busy… And I havent even got Maga man 9 yet… TOO MUCH STUFF at one time….. I have never been so busy on a home console before.. veary stressfull BUT I LOVE IT!!!!!!! Keep it up :-)

  • for $3, yeah count me in. Seriously though that is a really respectable price. Hopefully you guys and others will release more of this “interactive art” soon

  • It’s so cheap at 3 bucks I’ll buy it and i see it’s got Trophies – very cool!

  • Avatar photo

    As far as wanting a screen saver, you can take pictures using the select button, go to the photo section in the XMB, and set any picture from in game as your background.

  • I want Age of Booty!
    but this will have to do till that comes out

  • I totally want this! Too bad I can’t DL it until Sunday night…. Can’t access my PS3 until then.

    This looks so interesting. Are you thinking of putting anything on the PSP? I just recently fell in love with my PSP and I’m playing it alot. Can’t get enough of it!

  • Yesterday I bought a box of chocolate covered almonds for $3. Today they’re gone. Something tells me I’ll get more enjoyment out of “Linger in Shadows” than I did out of those almonds. Consider it bought.

  • Hey Rusty, glad to hear there are more pieces in the works. I really enjoy things like “interactive art” and it’s what will define the PSN from other online services. Glad to see that Sony supports the demoscene. Great work!

    • Thanks! It\’s really been great to see a lot of people embrace the demoscene. I\’ve been a fan for over 20 years and when I talk about a lot of folks give me a blank stare.

      When I can I will let you folks know more.

      Rusty

  • Lookin’ great :-) I’ll get it soon. Really like the idea of demos comming to PSN, hope it’s really enjoyable :-)

  • Is there a time release for this because I am currently trying to get this and the video is the only thing showing up when I search the PSN? Any help would be great.

  • I want to check it now!! Stores should update on Mondays lol.Anyways looks cool and I’m willing to giving anything that looks like that video above a chance,

  • TAKE PICTURES WITH THE SELECT BUTTON!?!?!?

    AWESOME!!!

    thanks for that tasty bit of info!

  • $2.99 is a good price except its to low to pay as an exact amount! I’ll have to find something else to pick up along with this (hello echochrome PSP!). :)

    “I think we’ll start to see Trophies awarded for a lot of different things moving forward as people think about them as being more than just a bullet point.”

    Such as… folding@home perhaps? Trophies for completing X amount of work units would be a nice little reward for those of us already folding and a good incentive to get other people folding, don’t you think?

  • Rusty,

    Will you guys put up a demo for this game? Because I really want to try it, but I am just not sure to buy it.
    I know it is only $2.99.. but still I think others will agree with me.

    Are the trophies already on the game? or is it a patch coming soon?

    Matheaks

    • Because of it\’s nature we won\’t be doing a demo for it. As for the trophies, they are already in it. No patch needed :D

      Cheers

      Rusty

    • Due to it\’s nature there won\’t be a demo for it. It would be really hard to do a demo for a \”demo\”.

      For trophies, they are already in. No patches needed :D

      Cheers

      Rusty

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