Photo by Megan Mack

PlayStation.Blog: Why did you choose Telltale Games to adapt the world of your comic to a video game series?
Robert Kirkman: The Walking Dead is a lot of things, but at its core it’s a dramatic human story that’s very emotional. Telltale came in with a proposal that involved doing a very different kind of video game. A video game that didn’t focus on shooting zombies or hiding from zombies or being chased by zombies…they focused on the emotional, dramatic component. It was a very keen focus on decision making and how that affects your characters, and also how those characters evolved over the course of a narrative. Telltale wanted to focus on the storytelling as opposed to the action, which I thought was really cool. They really got The Walking Dead, and they’ve done it justice.

PSB: Did you intend The Walking Dead game to be serialized from the start? If so, why?
RK: The serialization model Telltale does they do very well. The comic book is a serialized story, and I think it’s a cool thing to transition into a game. Being able to play a two-hour chunk of game and end it on a cliffhanger, with a period of time between chapters that builds anticipation for the next story is a cool aspect for the comic. I don’t think there was any “plan” to be serialized, but I think it was a cool carryover to Telltale’s business model.

PSB: So how much input did you provide into the type of game Telltale made? Did you have key creative mandates?
RK: We had a lot of macro meetings early on about what this game would be. In the very early stages, it was very important to me that this game would be something that mattered to the fans. So this game very much takes place in the world of The Walking Dead comic book, and it deals with things that exist there. And you can’t really tell a story like that if Rick Grimes is the main character. Because [the implication would be], “if this story is so important, how come we never saw it or talked about it in the comic? This is clearly a side thing!”

So very early on we decided to focus on a different character and a different story that would weave in and out of the comic book story in interesting and meaningful ways. But we also wanted it to be a standalone story so that the comic and game can complement each other without contradicting each other. We wanted you to experience them both and get a fuller, richer experience. So yeah, those meetings were something I was very involved with.

Talking with the guys at Telltale, I said, “The Walking Dead is sad. If you can make players sad, that’s really what we’re after here. You want to drive the emotional impact of what it would be like to live in this world, and if you can achieve that in a game, that would be amazing.” And that was something the Telltale team was already striving for — making this a really emotional experience, not just scary or exciting. Those were the kinds of decisions we made very early on. But the type of game it is, and the way the gameplay works, is all Telltale.

PSB: Did you have a broad vision for this game, story-speaking? Did you help write any of it?
RK: A lot of it was stuff Telltale came to the table with. They had Lee Everett, they had the storylines and other things. They were working with Gary Whitta — who’s a friend of mine and wrote The Book of Eli, as well as being a huge The Walking Dead fan — to craft this story. One of the things I’m so proud of as The Walking Dead expands is that I’m able to say, “okay, the comic book is mine.” I can make a good comic book, I’m a comic book writer.

But when it comes to making a television show, I don’t know anything about television. So I’ll work with someone like Glen Mazzara, who is our showrunner and knows TV, to make the best the best show possible. I’m not a novelist, so if I want to work on a novel I’ll work with someone like Jay Bonansinga to write it so I know it’ll be good. I like to work with people who know what they’re doing.

So I’m able to step back and say, “Telltale knows how to make good video games.” I’m not going to come in and say, “we should do this and that” because I don’t make video games. Allowing an expert to come in and do what they do best, I think, is the secret to The Walking Dead becoming as big as it is.

PSB: Speaking of the novels, I recently finished The Rise of the Governor. And I understand the next book Road to Woodbury will focus on Lili, an infamous character from the comics. Will there be any tie-in to the game? Is there any chance Lili appear in future episodes of the game, for example?

RK: There will definitely be a character named Lili in the game. Whether or not that ends up being the same character we know and love from the comic and the upcoming novel remains to be seen. But yeah, the new novel comes out in October and I’m excited about it. The novel series, the comic series, and the video game all are intertwined in the same universe. Keeping that continuity straight is something that’s been very important to me, and yeah, we’ll definitely see them continue to connect in a lot of interesting ways moving forward.

PSB: Here’s a question from @iLLeGaL_sKiLLz: on Twitter: “I wish they would delve into the backstory of how the infection happened.” What’s your take on that? Is that a good idea?

RK: Well, I don’t ever really plan on doing that just because I feel like The Walking Dead is set in a very real, grounded world. Once you go past the fact that zombies are walking around trying to eat people, you’re gonna get more and more into the realm of science fiction. Any kind of explanation for why the zombies are walking around, to me, is just going to make it less grounded, less dramatic, and less real for the readers. I like keeping that as an unknown backstory that is really completely unimportant to our characters as the story moves forward. It’s not something that I definitively want to tackle.

PSB: Here’s a question from a Twitter user whose handle I misplaced: “Why do you hate us so? Why must you build up our love only to tear it down? Did someone hurt you?” I think he’s referring to the fact that you have not been shy about killing characters in this series.

RK: [laughs] I don’t know, I’m really just trying to entertain! I understand that it can be frustrating at times. I love the readers and I love the fact that they’re as invested in the characters as they are. I’m just trying to write a compelling and interesting story. When people are upset that a fictional character dies, it’s just telling me that I’m doing my job.

Outside of PlayStation’s own announcements, the indisputable big-buzz game of Gamescom 2012 was Dishonored, the upcoming PS3 first-person stealth adventure from Bethesda. With relatively low-key showings in Cologne from many of the other major third party publishers, Dishonored really got its chance to shine last week and it duly dazzled all comers.

For the uninitiated, the game puts you in the shoes of wronged assassin Corvo Atano who is framed for the murder of an Empress – his former lover. You’ll be sneaking around a dark, atmospheric steampunk world, combining supernatural powers and a range of weaponry to avenge her death and unmask those who’ve conspired against you.

To be clear, when we say stealth we don’t mean the signposted sneaking of, say, recent Splinter Cell titles. The AI here is unforgivingly old school – more redolent of the likes of Thief. And that should come as no surprise – co-creator Harvey Smith worked on that series, as well as the original Deus Ex and BioShock precursor System Shock. We caught up with him back stage at Gamescom to learn more about his latest project.

PlayStation.Blog: What are Dishonored’s core gameplay building blocks?
Harvey Smith, Co-Creative Director, Dishonored: It’s a matter of falling back on values. We generally like the first person perspective – to give you that ‘you are there’ thing. We like RPG upgrade systems. We like analog AI, so enemies are not necessarily aware of you or unaware of you – they’re uncertain. They may have heard you, but they’re not sure, so they go and investigate. Surfing the edge of awareness, basically. We love highly mobile games; we don’t like games where you’re heavy and stuck on the ground and you have big weapons and you can’t get on top of buildings as they’re just props. We really want you to be able to flit up there like a flea.

PSB: The stealth mechanics seem really challenging compared to more recent examples of the genre…
HS: We decided to go with ‘view cone’ based stealth. Enemies have a view cone. Their peripheral vision is weaker and they don’t see as well up high – it’s squashed so you can hide in the rafters. The deal is that if you’re in front of their view cone they see you, no matter what the lighting levels. Even if I turned out the lights right now, I’d still be able to see you, right? So we decided to go with something realistic.

The truth is that we tried all of the models you can think of. We tried the ‘pool of shadow’ model, but modern players would say the AI looks bad if I’m in a shadow and an enemy walks right by me. That looks dumb. They want a more reactive system. And that makes it a little more hardcore. To sneak, you really have to stay behind cover, lean out behind walls. It requires you to really know where an enemy is looking and avoid that range.

PSB: You claim that it’s possible to finish the game without killing a single person. How challenging is that going to be compared to going in guns drawn?
HS: It’s pretty easy to avoid killing a standard guard. You just throw a bottle and when he goes to investigate you sneak by. But it gets much harder for the key targets. For example, there’s a mission where you get sent to kill two brothers who are corrupt members of parliaments. You can go straight ahead and kill them – they’re in a bathhouse – or you can do a side quest for a crime lord. If you do the right things for him he will have them captured, their tongues cut out, their heads shaved and then put to work in their own mines where nobody will know it’s them. It’s poetic justice. It’s dark, but not as dark as killing them. The two approaches are hard in different ways. The game gets very reactive if you just go in guns blazing – it fights back. But, on the other hand, stealth demands patience.

PSB: Many older gamers will be really excited to hear about a return to these sorts of values, but do you think younger gamers, who’ve never played Thief or the original Deus Ex, will get it?
HS: I have a great deal of faith in those people. When we release a game like this kids sometimes come to us and say ‘this game blew my mind; I didn’t know games could do this; I only played very linear games before’. That’s what we like to hear. I actually have more faith in the 13-year-olds as they’re playing things like Day Z or Dwarf Fortress or Eve Online. They’re hungry for highly interactive, non-dogmatic experiences, I think.

Dishonored creeps onto PS3 October 9th in North America. Look out for more coverage here on the Blog in the coming weeks!

The third string to the whole intriguing project is Dust 514 Neocom – a companion PS Vita app that lets you interact with various systems from the PlayStation 3 game directly from your handheld. In search of a little more information on exactly how it works, we collared CCP Creative Director Atli Mars Sveinsson and Marketing Director Cameron Payne at last week’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany.

“It’s a companion app to the PS3 game,” explains Payne. “It brings all the customisation, community and commerce features onto the Vita. There’s no direct gameplay but you can use pretty much all the features that the Neocom user interface offers in the main game.

“You can interact with battles, purchase items on the market, play around with your dropsuit or vehicle and then save it so you can use it on PS3.”

A quick hands-on session with the app demostrated just how much functionality CCP has managed to squeeze in. Players will have access to the complete Fittings system – allowing you to tinker with your weapon load-outs, armour and various vehicle configurations. And as Eve afficionados will likely be well aware, this is almost a game unto itself, with thousands and thousands of different combinations available.

On top of that, the game’s store is fully accessible from the Vita app, complete with daily deals and special offers, while the in-game mail and social features are also present and correct. Not only that, but you can also navigate around the Eve universe’s enormous galaxy map – a feature which CCP plans to build upon further down the road.

“There’s the galaxy of Eve in real time on your Vita,” says Sveinsson proudly, zooming in and out by pinching the Vita’s touch screen. “700 solar systems and you can drill down and look at the individual planets. Over time we’d like you to be able to tinker with those planets and manage their surface infrastructure.”

Those who don’t own a Vita won’t be missing out on anything – all these features exist in the PS3 game – but, for a game as potentially as absorbing as Dust, it should offer a compelling way to stay connected to the game when you’re out and about.

“There are so many parts of Dust 514 that you can take with you and don’t need a PS3 to enjoy, and this was the perfect way to exploit those features,” adds Sveinsson. “The whole PlayStation ecosystem works really well, allowing these systems to connect and be a nice cohesive experience. It’s MMO on the go.”

Stay tuned to PlayStation Blog for more on Dust 514 ahead of the game’s launch later this year.

Other major highlights this week include the first trailer for PSN stunner rain, big new perks for PlayStation Plus members, a mocap video featurette and new The Last of Us trailer from Naughty Dog, the first details and video for Media Molecule’s PS Vita game Tearaway, news of a God of War: Ascension multiplayer beta, the reveal trailer for PlayStation Move “teen horror” game Until Dawn, word that John Cleese will serve as the announcer for PS Vita quiz game Smart As, an October 30th release date for Sports Champions 2, a new trailer and purchase details for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, competitive mode and PS Vita details for Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault, a jaw-dropping debut trailer for PS3 platformer Puppeteer, a look at the monsters and magic for PS Vita dark fantasy Soul Sacrifice, new PS Vita hands-on previews for Zen Pinball 2 and Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, new trailers for Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, PS3 previews for Assassin’s Creed III naval warfare and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, the launch of YouTube’s PS3 app, confirmation of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD PSN launch on August 28th, first word of a Madden NFL 13 PS Vita demo, an inside look at PS Vita rhythm-strategy game Orgarhythm, details on Hitman: Absolution’s multiplayer Contracts mode, a tasty treat for those who pre-order Persona 4 Golden for PS Vita, the launch of Hong Kong crime epic Sleeping Dogs on PS3, and a deluge of new PlayStation Home content. Phew!

What are you playing this weekend?

• I’m playing: Kickbeat and Zen Pinball 2 for PS Vita, Dishonored for PS3 (at Gamescom 2012)
• I’m watching: Wrath of the Titans, The Lorax
• I’m reading: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirman and Jay Bonansinga
• I’m listening to: PlayStation Blogcast 038: The Shuhei Yoshida Show

Most-Watched Video of the Week: Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified Gamescom Trailer

The 10 Most-Viewed Posts of the Week

Liberation takes full advantage of the new Assassin’s Creed III game engine and its simplified control scheme. Gone are the days of leaning on the shoulder button and playing defense during encounters. Press Square for melee attacks, hold and release Triangle to aim and fire ranged weapons, Circle counters, X is used for block-breakers and other moves. It’s a bit of an adjustment to begin thinking offense first in an Assassin’s Creed game, but ultimately it’s likely to be seen as an improvement.

Ubisoft is taking advantage of PS Vita’s touchscreen in logical ways: tapping the screen brings up a split weapon wheel where you can select melee weapons (machete, hidden blades) on the left and ranged weapons (blowgun, whip) on the right. Of note: with the whip equipped, Aveline improves her parkour abilities, latching onto structures much as Ezio used the hook blade in Assassin’s Creed Revelations. You may have seen a shot in the gamescom trailer showing Aveline paddling a canoe using the rear touch panel, though that’s entirely optional.

If you’ve watched any videos for Liberation, you’ve likely seen the “Chain Kill” system in action. Reminiscent of Fallout 3’s VATS mechanic, a tap of the Right button on the D-pad pauses the game and allows you to select enemies to target for cinematic insta-kills. While the number of enemies you can target will grow as the campaign progresses, don’t think you’re going to Chain Kill your way through the game. At best, it’s likely to tilt overwhelming odds slightly more in your favor, much as Ezio could call in his assassin buddies from time to time in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Revelations.

After trying out these features in a bayou setting, a Ubisoft staffer took the reins to show off Liberation’s “Persona” feature. No, you’re not evoking parts of your psyche to attack evil creatures. Rather, this system refers to Aveline’s ability to get the job done by blending in with the denizens of old New Orleans. Or not.

We were shown three ways to dispatch a well-guarded, high value target. The first — Assassin mode — follows the traditional Assassin’s Creed formula: Sneak or fight your way to the target, execute a flashy takedown, and get the hell out of there with guards in pursuit.

Next, we reset the mission and changed into the “Lady Persona.” Decked out in a fancy dress and feathered hat, high society Aveline can’t run, climb, or battle assassin-style. Rather, the Lady engages in “social stealth,” relying on bribery, feminine charms, and the hidden blade to accomplish the task completely undetected.

Splitting the difference is the “Servant Persona.” Posing as a member of the working class, Aveline can infiltrate pretty much anywhere, get the job done, then take to the rooftops to escape. Just don’t get into a protracted battle in this persona – in the demo we watched, the lightly-armored Servant fell in just two blows.

We were told that while you’ll occasionally be forced to tackle a mission in a particular persona, for much of the game Aveline will assume the guise of your choosing.

I was able to squeeze a few story tidbits out of our demonstrator. Series mainstay Desmond is not the one in control of Aveline via the Animus. Rather, the tale is being played out as a part of a Templar-controlled Abstergo project. Assassin’s Creed III Liberation is, however, related to the PS3’s Assassin’s Creed III, which takes place during the same American Revolution time period. Aveline will encounter ACIII protagonist Connor during the course of Liberation, perhaps swapping weapons with him (I saw his trademark tomahawk in the menus). Fittingly, both titles arrive on the same day, this October 30th.

While waiting to get hands-on with Dishonored here at gamescom (impressions shared in this week’s PlayStation.Blogcast), I ran into an acquaintance from Namco Bandai. He invited me to their booth to experience the two new demos for Ni no kuni: Wrath of the White Witch being shown. I didn’t pass on the opportunity, if nothing else, as an excuse to share beautiful new screens and video with you. Parts of what I saw are showcased in this new gamescom trailer, so do your eyes a favor and roll the video:

When launching the first demo, the demonstrator made a point of showing that the game features a Japanese language voiceover selection option. This is a frequent request from JRPG fans, so rest assured that matter is settled.

The first demo, “An Errand for Father Oak,” takes place very early in the game as diminutive hero-in-training Oliver is trying to get to the Ding Dong Dell, the Cat King’s Castle. When the downtrodden gate guard won’t let you in, you’ll have to venture into the forest to capture “vigor” from forest denizens in a special jar to pep him up and let you in. While this all sounds ridiculous, Ni no Kuni comes off as incredibly charming in person, due in no small part to its stunning visuals.

The second demo, “Eruption Interruption,” takes place further into the game, and shows off a somewhat more serious side to Ni no Kuni. This volcano setting is a far cry from the verdant fields we’ve seen from the game thus far – it’s closer to Mount Doom. The visual effects here look great, with flowing lava and heat wave effects blurring the scenery. The scene has players performing some mild platforming actions, such as shimmying along a cliff face, avoiding erupting steam vents.

At the peak of the caldera, the plucky team is pitted against a big boss: Moltaan, Lord of Lava. This is where it became clear that despite the cutesy visuals, this is a real, challenging game. Moltaan looms so large that he doesn’t always fit on screen, and the battle was suitably epic, lasting nearly 10 minutes and pushing the heroes to the brink of defeat.

The more I’ve seen of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, the tougher the wait until its Western release on January 22nd is becoming.

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Guten tag! What. A. Show. This week’s PlayStation Blogcast comes to you by way of Cologne, Germany, home to the annual Gamescom videogame expo and countless meat products. Jeff and I made the 10-hour flight for good reason: We got hands-on time with loads of great games, from God of War: Ascension to Dishonored to Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified, not to mention sitting in on PlayStation’s well-received Gamescom press conference that introduced cool new games like Tearaway, Puppeteer, Until Dawn and more. Good, good stuff.

But perhaps more importantly, we finally got a chance to record a big fat Blogcast interview with Shuehei Yoshida, president of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios. This conversation ranks among my all-time favorite Blogcast discussions for three reasons:

1. Shuhei walked us through his vision for PlayStation’s internal software development, including its focus on creativity and original IP.
2. It was our first (and hopefully not last!) interview to include EU PlayStation.Blog manager Fred Dutton.
3. At two points during the interview, Shuhei says…well, I probably shouldn’t spoil it. You’ll just have to listen.

But that’s just the beginning of this week’s double-stuffed, beer-battered episode. After talking shop with Shuehei, we shift gears to The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s upcoming survival tale, with an eye-opening interview with stars Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson — or, as you might know them, Joel and Ellie. From there, we delve into the development secrets of Sleeping Dogs, United Front Games‘ highly reviewed open-world crime drama set in the mean streets of Hong Kong.

Oh, and we share full details on next week’s jam-packed North American PSN lineup, too. Listen in, let us know what you think, and we’ll see you back in the States next week!

Stuff We Talked About

Gamescom 2012

Sleeping Dogs

Puppeteer

Tearaway

Dishonored

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Need for Speed Most Wanted for PS Vita

The Last of Us

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

The Cast

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game
details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating
descriptions.]

• Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. Special thanks to Astro Gaming headsets for providing audio gear.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified is real, and we’ve played it. I think the highest compliment I can pay it is to say that, well, it looks and plays like Call of Duty. The running and gunning, the aiming down the sights, the familiar Bank Gothic notices popping up when you land a long-range shot or end an opponent’s killstreak, the weapon loadouts and multiplayer modes — they’re all here, rendered on PS Vita’s luscious OLED screen and playable with dual analog sticks in a mobile setting for the first time.

Activision Product Manager Ryan Scott’s gamescom presentation cut straight to the heart of the matter, starting with the game’s multiplayer offering — a key consideration for any self-respecting CoD title. Multiplayer in Black Ops Declassified supports up to eight players via WiFi across six maps, encompassing essential play modes such as Free for all, Team Deathmatch, and Kill Confirmed, with other “classic Call of Duty modes” promised. Other trademark Call of Duty mechanics such as Create-a-Class, Killstreaks, XP, Perks, and Prestige were all present and accounted for.

So how is developer Nihilistic adapting Call of Duty to PS Vita? After playing a round on the new “Shatter” map, it’s clear their goals were to change as little as possible. In fact, after inverting the Y-axis, I didn’t bother asking the devs on hand about the controls – everything was where I expected it to be.

Access to the knife, flashbang, and frag grenade that are assigned to L2/R2 or L3/R3 on PS3 are easily accessible on the front touchscreen. To hurl a grenade, you simply drag the grenade icon to the area of the screen where you want to throw it, or hold it to cook the fuse before you lob it. The ability to independently aim your grenade throw while shooting in another direction is a new tactical wrinkle for the series, and one that will surely be leveraged by experienced players. The knife is even quicker to use because you can tap any part of the screen not already assigned to something else to swipe your blade. That’s a highly practical implementation of the touchscreen, as players won’t have to fumble to tap a small icon during a heated CQC encounter, and we found it was quick and responsive.

Those all-important Killstreaks work the way you’d expect. Once you’ve unlocked a killstreak, the icon pops up on the left side of the screen and you can tap to trigger it. The mortar strike killstreak was blessedly simple: tap the icon to open the map, touch the target, and launch a volley of fiery death to annihilate the opposition.

That leaves sprinting, which is executed by pressing down on the directional pad. The left stick and D-pad are placed closely enough on PS Vita that you can place the tip of your thumb on the D-pad while keeping your left thumb on the left stick for quick recovery. The only use of the rear touchscreen we saw was to hold your breath while peering down the sniper’s scope – not something you’re likely to accidentally trigger.

Create-a-Class is fully supported with custom loadouts and Perks Black Ops: Declassified will also leverage PS Vita’s geo-social “near” functionality with Share-a-Class, enabling players to transmit a character class via WiFi using “near,” and will allow your friends access to load-outs they haven’t yet unlocked through regular progression. Prestige levels are also confirmed.

Visually, the multiplayer map “Shattered” looked sharp, with swirling dust motes, flapping bits of cloth, crumbled architecture, and a steady framerate.

Single-player content wasn’t shown, though Activision confirmed that it will consist of objective-based missions, along with survival and time trial missions, to keep the experience tuned for mobile play. They’ll be wrapped within an original story taking place between Call of Duty: Black Ops and the forthcoming Black Ops 2. Want to know what happened to Hudson, Mason, and Woods before this fall’s Black Ops 2? You know what to do.

Based on what we saw and played, Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified looks and feels much as you’d expect it to – only now it can take the experience with you on PS Vita. For CoD fans, that’s right on target.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified arrives this November. Are there any specifics you’d like to know? We’ll be speaking with developer Nihilistic soon, and will do our best to get your questions answered. Leave ‘em in the comments below!

The shadow war between the Templars and the Assassins spills from the gilded halls of Renaissance-era Europe to the rowdy seaports of the Thirteen Colonies this fall with Assassin’s Creed III, the highly anticipated PS3 threequel. The seismic shifts in geography and time period have introduced changes both large and small in regards to combat, equipment, terrain traversal, and much more.

But the game’s most dramatic evolution lies in the form of its thrilling naval battles, first witnessed during PlayStation’s E3 2012 press conference (skip to 10:58). But during Gamescom, I finally got a chance to control one of Assassin’s Creed III’s massive warships for myself. I learned that guiding the craft was a deceptively simple affair largely dictated by the sail configuration. Full sail propels you along faster but limits your turning radius; a button tap drops you to half sail, reducing your speed but giving you nimbler handling and higher cannon accuracy.

Your ship’s cannons are located on its sides, so a head-on approach won’t serve you well. The swivel gun is capable of firing accurately in 360 degrees — useful for crippling an opposing ship’s rudder or cannons, but usually not enough to land the killing blow. Instead, you’ll want to pull up alongside your target in order to unleash a blistering volley of cannonballs and savage the ship’s hull or masts. Luckily, you won’t be entirely defenseless against incoming attacks thanks to a “bracing” move that enables you to lean the ship and deflect damage.

After my hands-on experience, I watched a new naval sequence set in the Battle of the Chesapeake, a critical naval battle that helped set the stage for the end of the American Revolution and the dawn of the good ol’ US of A. As depicted in Assassin’s Creed III, the battle is a ferocious bloodbath set against a smoky sky. We watched Connor’s ship carve through a convoy of British man-of-war battleships as he pursued his real goal: a fugitive Templar agent making a hasty escape aboard a British man-of-war. Connor sailed through a thick, oppressive fog in order to reach his fleeing target, only to sustain heavy damage through an ambush attack. Never one to accept defeat, Connor rammed the enemy ship and leapt aboard, nimbly dispatching the deck crew with his hidden blade, cutlass, and pistol. The boarding combat seemed to emphasize particularly sneaky hit-and-run tactics, whether it was creeping across the rigging to pounce on sentries from above, picking off hapless foes with his rope dart or shooting a powder keg to spark a deck-clearing explosion. The demo ended much too soon, but it provided a tantalizing hint of things to come.

After the demo and hands-on session, we caught up with Lead Designer Steve Masters to learn more about the game’s expansive naval warfare component. We learned that ship-on-ship combat will feature in the main story, but will also include optional engagements for players to pursue. Masters explained that you’ll upgrade your ship over the course of the game, adding new cannon ammunition types such as Heat Shot (massive fire damage at short range), Grapeshot (a shotgun-like volley that suppresses crew on the enemy’s deck), and Chain Shot (crippling bolo-like projectiles that shred masts and sails). Masters also confirmed that ship-on-ship multiplayer is not in the cards for Assassin’s Creed III. Be sure to watch our video interview above to learn more.

Have questions? Leave them in the comments!

LittleBigPlanet DLC Costume Cross-Compatibility!

Customization is a BIG part of LittleBigPlanet. Being able to modify your Sackboy or Sackgirl is a way for players to personalize their experience, while also bringing a variety of different franchises and entertainment properties into the LBP universe. We recognize this and have decided that we can’t ask all you LittleBigPlaneteers to fully enjoy the upcoming LittleBigPlanet PS Vita and LittleBigPlanet Karting without an amazing assortment of costumes at your disposal.

So, we’re going to let you bring the costumes that you bought for LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 along with you… at no extra cost!

Not only that, but for any new costumes that take your fancy, you will only ever need to purchase the costume once and you’ll have access to it across LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, and LittleBigPlanet Karting!

If you’ve forgotten just how fabulous you can look in LittleBigPlanet, check out all the costumes we’ve released to date here and have a little window shop, whilst we rush back to LittleBigPlanet HQ and make everything just perfect for you*.

*Here’s the fine print: There are a heck of a lot of costumes and it’s going to take us a little while to get them all tailored, pressed, and packaged up. You will get some at launch and then we’ll be adding the rest later on, but rest assured you will get them!

We’re not going to be able to bring either of the Assassin’s Creed costumes (the Ezio Auditore Costume from Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Ezio Auditore Costume from Assassin’s Creed II) or the April Fools Fragrance Costume (Hessian Sackboy Fragrances) to LittleBigPlanet Karting at this time, but all the other downloadable costumes will be available so there’s no excuse for not turning heads as you gad about and race through the Omniverse.

For more information, check out our FAQ.

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita Gamescom Trailer

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita will be released September 25th, which means you only have to wait a few more weeks! To tide you over, we have a brand new Gamescom trailer for you.

LittleBigPlanet Karting Gamescom Trailer

Last week, we announced the release date for LittleBigPlanet Karting in all regions — you can get behind the wheel of Sackboy’s fast-paced new game on November 6th.

In the meantime, we’d like to take this opportunity to share our awesome Gamescom trailer for LittleBigPlanet Karting.

LittleBigPlanet Karting is definitely Sackboy’s fastest adventure to date! We can’t wait to see the creative new level types our community will create after the game is released.