Inside the Killzone 2 Press Events

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When you read this, the first previews from the Killzone 2 press events held on November 4 and November 11 should be up. To give you an impression of what the events were like for the developers at Guerrilla, we caught up with Production Assistant Rudine Bijlsma, who organized the whole thing.

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“Even though we’d been looking forward to them for a long time, some of us were also a little stressed out over the press events, because we wanted them to be just right” Rudine says. “Thankfully, the whole thing went off without a hitch — due in no small part to the tremendous organizational efforts of Sony and the Guerrilla Games support department.”

In the weeks before the events, crates full of demo pods and promotional materials poured into the Guerrilla HQ in Amsterdam, where they quickly filled up the lobby (and nearly blocked off access to the vending machines). By the time November 4 rolled around, the halls and the stairwell had been completely covered in Helghast flags and motivational posters. “The Killzone 2 promotional materials were awesome,” Rudine says. “The studio took on an uncanny resemblance to a Helghast academy. It was almost scary.”

The events themselves started out with Managing Director Hermen Hulst giving a presentation of Killzone 2’s unique features. His speech was backed by gameplay footage showcasing some of the most explosive and beautiful firefights in the game. “It certainly seemed to make an impact on the attending journalists,” Rudine recalls. “If some had looked slightly jet-lagged when they walked in, they were all wide awake now.”

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Next came the studio tour. Some developers had to talk fast to explain all the different technical and artistic design choices within the allotted time. “[Development Director] Arjan [Brussee] managed to walk his guests through the entire G-buffer layout of the deferred rendering engine in under five minutes,” Rudine laughs. “I’m sure I saw some game journalists drop their pens and scramble for their voice recorders!”

Meanwhile, other developers used the interviews as an opportunity to provide their guests with a little hands-on experience. “[Sound Director] Mario [Lavin], for example, took a group of journalists into the sound booth with him,” Rudine recalls. “He taught them how the noise produced by cracking a walnut can be used to simulate the sound of a breaking skull.”

At the end of the tour, the journalists were offered to play the Killzone 2 single-player missions and multiplayer modes on demo pods. For the occasion, even the monumental garden house behind the Guerrilla studio – the oldest garden house in the city of Amsterdam – had been carefully converted into a demo room. “That actually proved to be more popular than we had anticipated,” Rudine admits. “By dinner time, we were still trying to pry some journalists away from the demo pods.”

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Overall though, the events were a success for the developers at Guerrilla. “Everyone really went the extra mile,” Rudine says. “People looked their best, the studio looked awesome, the demo code didn’t crash at inopportune moments – and to top it all off, we got to send the journalists home with a cool press kit containing playable preview code and a limited edition Killzone 2 concept art booklet.”

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72 Comments

  • I can’t wait for this game.

    Thanks for all of the info.

  • NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Please Please Please make Killzone 2 thrilling.. To be honest Killzone 1 was a downside :(

  • Good to know, just like me.
    :)

    Add me to your PSN,

    DJ_DTM

  • Would love to have some video of this behind the scene stuff. Thanks for the update.

  • way to dwell on the past kijaker. can’t you already tell that KZ2 is full of nothing but epicness! don’t put that evil on this title. i’m sure it’ll be great. from all the first impressions popping up on the interwebs it atlest sounds like it. guess time will only tell. still i can’t wait to get my gritty paws on this.

    peace,
    Lh

  • Any chance you can change this games to a TPS by release?
    Thanks!

  • I’m jealous of those journalists. :D

    Any chance you’ll give out some extra swag to us blog readers? ;)

    My email is klinton00@hotmail.com in case you do :)

  • I’m not really even into FPS games and I’m excited for this one. :D

  • I’m looking forward to the story mode myself.

  • February is going to be awesome.

  • Sooooo cant wait, i don’t care what anyone says i LOVED KZ1 and this looks like 2 be the best looking shooter ever. go Playstation! woot

  • Yes, Keep the ball rolling! I love the coverage of KILLZONE 2. Everywere I look KZ2. Lets see somemore Sony!

  • game looks great. this game will be in my PS3 in 82 days. almost 82 did that quick so probably isnt really 82 days lol

  • Been loving the multiplayer beta even for someone who doesn’t play multiplayer FPS games. I intended to buy the game either way, but now also look forward to some mp fun without the glitches ^_^

  • NICE! But why do journalists (and not fans) get all that cool stuff art stuff? :(

    Is it possible to upload some pictures of the event? I would loved to see GG HQ decked out like a Helgast Academy.

  • Sony will allow this game to get ripped to shreds by the Xbots at:

    1Up
    Eurogamer
    Edge
    GameSpot
    GameTrailers

    Just like they did with the first Killzone. This is the game Xbots wake up screaming about in the middle of the night. This is the game that must be trashed without mercy in reviews so garbage like Halo and Gears of War can look good with their Microsoft paid for ‘reviews’ from the same sites with their 1000 dollar ‘gift bags’.

    Get ready for the usual ‘Sony Exclusive’ 6/10s for this masterpiece from these sites.

  • Cant wait for this awesome game!

  • Why must you tease us…….

  • Oh, is there a demo planned for the PSN? You know like a Christmas present? I swear I’ve been good this year :D

  • @14 Actually you were really close for a quick guess lol. 81 days to go.

  • 82 days left to play the heck out of R2 then it’s KZ2 time!.. wait, make that 75 days. almost forgot about SF4

    @17 yeah, for some reason those sites give low scores to ps3 exclusives for some lame reason. take Edge’s R2 review giving it a low score because it has too much — it has 60-player MP, it has too much enemies.. yeah, too much stuff that’s not possible on a xbox3fixme

  • I noticed you added a ‘little’ something to the PlayStation Blog Flickr page.

    Could we be seeing a post about this soon?

  • this game is going to win game of the year for sure! looking forward to this game!

  • That concept art book, really cool. How does a fan get their hands on such a thing?

    http://www.killzoneunit.com <– ;)

  • Geweldig toch dat Nederlandstalige deze fantastische game maken!

    @Victor Zuylen,

    Its a shame that you didn’t invite us at the press invitation, or atleast another dutch site, But its great to hear that all went well.

  • Guerrilla When the beta close for real?
    We keep our profile or will be reseted?

    I’m waiting for Killzone 2 as my first FPS on PS3… no COD, no Far Cry…
    Only have Turok but just for fun.. because i like dinossaurs xD

    There will be features for HOME?

    SONY please put this game on portuguese!
    I’m waiting a Special edition with a real War knife… :D

  • Oh man I can’t wait for this game!

  • I want a Killzone 2 Concept Art Booklet and a playable preview code!

    That’s so unfair, Guerilla. :(

    Oh well, I’ll have to wait until it comes out… Right?

  • I’m really excited for this game. I liked Killzone on PS2 and loved Liberation on PSP. This is definitely a day one purchase for me.

  • no it is 82 because the 27th is the shipping date. 28th is the day stores will sell.

  • @17.
    I can’t tell you how much I love you right now.
    ..
    :/

  • will this game have co-op single player?

  • @17

    Amen brother. You know what’s gonna happen. The game will be praised wall to wall, and then trashed mercilessly at the end of the review for “being too short,” “feeling been there done that,” or “a victim of hype.” The media builds this stuff up just to tear it down. Don’t be surprised to see Edge, GamePro, Gamespot, and Eurogamer drop 7’s all over this game.

    No matter what Sony does this gen it will be spun around against them, no matter how good it is. Scary thing is all the people that listen to the gaming sites to tell them what to think.

    Anyways, I’m crazy hype for the game. Let’s just hope Sony fills the airwaves with promos for this.

  • @17: i think some of you guys are being waaay too paranoid over a review. Tell me, what did gamespot give R2? where is the 5 or six they gave the game? exactly, it was more like a 9

    What about IGN? was a 9.5 not good enough for R2? Edge was a stupid review though. Looking at R2 on meta critic,quite a few of the reviews were extremely positive, so why get so paranoid about this?

    also to guys who are worried that this will be like killzone 1: think of this, Halo was great, halo kinda sucked though. Never judge a new game by its past iterations

  • The graphics on this… INSANE. I think this is as close to “jaw-dropping” as I’ve ever seen. Though apparently God of War III is looking pretty amazing too. I look forward to seeing it. :D

  • I have the game paid in full. Just waiting for the launch.

  • I don’t think this game is going to sale that well. Sony can not get a break this generation. For what reason I have no ideal. I don’t think a price cut is going to help either. I really hope I’m wrong being a owner of 2 PS3.

  • I want to play this game sooo badly.

  • @38- You’re basing this on what? No one knows what’s going to happen but it’s obvious that some serious marketing money is going behind one of the most important PS3 games to date.

  • Can you get KillZone costumes in LBP??

  • I loved Liberation and I LOVED the beta! Anyone else in the beta here, send me a friend invite. This is a launch day buy for me (or if you find someplace that breaks the street date…). I’ll see the rest of y’all online come Feb 27. I’ll be the guy thats pistol whipping you to death :P

  • Game Informer just gave LittleBigPlanet Game of the Month in their latest issue,I’m addicted to LBP, but at the moment Killzone is the most anticipated game coming out for the PS3 so I know it’ll get Game of the Month from who knows how many gaming magazines other than Game Informer and that’ll jut be for starts. After that,there’s no other choice except Game of the Year. Feb.27=Doomsday for the Xbots3fixme!!!!

  • I’m totally lost. WTH is this post about?
    Some kids come to play games at the office? lol
    At least make sure the kids have at least a handicap or ailment next time.

    Will this be in the collectors edition?

  • KZ2 Demo *’nough said

  • I can’t wait for this game!
    I wish a Demo in the Store before de launch date… just like “Christmas Gift”.

  • any word on a collector edition?

  • I don’t spend a lot of time digging up info on unreleased games, so hopefully someone can help me make a buy or pass decision:

    Does this game have split-screen multiplayer? Or better yet: split-screen screen online multiplayer?

  • Nice post!
    I am sure we all like to get a little behind the scenes stuff so this is really cool!

    How do we get our hands on a Helghast banner?
    I’m jelous, I want my house to look like a Helghast academy!

  • @48 TouchyEd
    Buy Killzone 2! Go … Preorder it NOW!
    Decision made!

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