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In terms of things that constitute A BIG DEAL, the arrival of a new Insomniac game is right up there. The California-based studio boasts one of the sturdiest resumes in gaming, with past works including Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and Resistance, and its latest effort – spectacular third-person shooter Fuse – looks every bit as distinctive.
The set-up is simple – you play as one member of a four-strong squad of special agents, each armed with a high-concept weapon powered by a mysterious alien substance called Fuse.
There’s beefy Dalton who wields a weapon that allows him to generate a force field. Naya’s assault rifle generates a mini-vortex which sucks in enemies. Izzy wields a shatter gun that freezes foes on the spot, allowing colleagues to step in and vaporize them. Finally, Jacob sports a crossbow that fires molten projectiles capable of turning the opposition into a pile of ash.
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The PS Vita version of 2007′s PlayStation 3 dice ‘em up Ninja Gaiden Sigma was satisfying evidence of just how comfortable a full, lightning-fast console action game can feel on a handheld. Duly, Team Ninja’s announcement last month that a sequel – Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus – is currently in development came as very welcome news.
PlayStation.Blog sat down for a quick chat with Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi to find out what it has in store with its new Vita game, as well as mysterious new project Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and recent release Dead or Alive 5.
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Good news for anyone who’s been enjoying Namco Bandai’s enormous JRPG Tales of Graces F since its launch back in August: its immediate successor, Tales of Xillia, is on its way exclusively to PlayStation 3 in 2013.
We’ve struggled our way through an hour or so of the original Japanese version, which launched overseas back in 2011, and the 13th entry in the long-running series brings with it a number of significant new innovations for the much-loved franchise. Duly, we took the time to check in with producer Hideo Baba while in Tokyo last month to find out exactly what fans should expect.
In last week’s behind the scenes Puppeteer interview, we talked to creator Gavin Moore about the origins of the title and got some lovely insight into what makes a great kids game really sing. In the second part of the interview, Gavin touched on the game’s size, its roots in classic platformers of yesteryear and what the development team’s vibrant cultural mix brings to the project.
Read on for more on Sony Japan Studio’s tantalizing platformer, and look for a new update on development — penned by Gavin himself — next week.
Fred Dutton, PlayStation.Blog Europe Manager: So, is Puppeteer a Japanese game or a Western game?
Gavin Moore, Puppeteer Creator: It’s really interesting actually. I’ve seen people have arguments in the office about this – “It’s Western,” “No, it’s Japanese” and so on.
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It’s a big week for gaming! The release of a new mainline Resident Evil game is one of those events where gamers the world over prepare to bunk off school/work (PS.Blog can condone neither action!) and devote their every waking hour to the noble pursuit of zombie slaughter.
The sequel to 2009’s Africa-set Resident Evil 5 is an absolute beast of a game, offering one of the largest single player campaigns in recent memory. Ahead of its global release today, we caught up with executive producer Kobayashi-san, director Sasaki-san and producer Hirabayashi-san at Tokyo Game Show, to find out how Capcom went about creating such a mammoth title.
Fred Dutton, PlayStation.Blog Europe Manager: What makes Resident Evil 6 stand out from its predecessors?
I think it’s the human drama that we really wanted to convey.
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This week’s instalment in our on-going Behind The Classics series takes us to the weird and wonderful land of Oddworld. It might not have sold 20 million copies but few games released in the PlayStation era have such a loyal following as Abe’s Oddysee and its sequels. And with good reason – Lorne Lanning’s beautiful side-scrolling fantasy adventure is one of the richest, most singular game worlds ever created and its hero, Abe, one of gaming’s most eccentric protagonists.
With an HD remake currently in development, we caught up with the game’s creator to find out how the 1997 original came into being. Sit back and enjoy – and if you’re new to the title remember that it’s available to download on the PS Store.
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Make no mistake, the Japanese know how to queue. In the bowels of the PlayStation stand at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, countless orderly lines of patient gamers snake neatly through a maze of white chain-link barriers, intersecting each other like the world’s most organised spaghetti junction. At the start of each queue stands an official with a whiteboard and a marker pen, methodically updating the estimated waiting time for each game. Of all the games on show at PlayStation’s booth, which boasted the longest line? PS Vita action title Soul Sacrifice, with show-goers having to wait well over an hour for a chance to try it out.
It should perhaps come as no surprise that it’s the center of attention. After a series of intriguing trailers, TGS presented the first opportunity to actually go hands-on with Mega Man creator and former Capcom R&D chief Keiji Inafune’s dark fantasy action title.
Puppeteer’s Gamescom reveal last month was a real joy to behold – a bright, bold new PlayStation IP promising primary-colored platforming fun with some deliciously dark trimmings. A month or two on, last week PlayStation.Blog had the opportunity to actually sit down with a controller and see if it delivers on that pledge.
High up in Sony Japan Studio’s towering Tokyo HQ, creator Gavin Moore walked us through the game’s opening chapter, which sees a hapless young lad called Kutaro enslaved by the impossibly evil Moon Bear King and transformed into a puppet. But steel yourselves – this isn’t a cozy Pinocchio-esque tale of a plucky hero embarking on a cheerful quest to (re)gain human form. Far from it – Puppeteer’s opening minutes sees poor Kutaro’s head brutally torn off by our antagonist and his body nonchalantly tossed into a dank, gloomy cellar.
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