This week marks the release of Heavenly Sword – and after months of anticipation, weeks of “making-of” videos and the animated prequels, we’re fired up to see the game make its way to store shelves.

Considered one of the most anticipated PS3 titles of the year, the buzz around Heavenly Sword continues to build as review scores begin to pour in from leading gaming sources. A sampling of the scores thus far include: Play Magazine – 10/10, Game Pro Magazine – 4.5/5, Game Informer Magazine – 8.75/10, Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine – 8.33/10, GameZone.com – 8.8/10, and 1Up.com – 8/10.

Here’s what they’re saying:

“Heavenly Sword is a fun, engaging, and most importantly, exclusive PS3 title that Sony fanboys can brag to 360 fanboys about.” – Game Pro Magazine

“…the combat in Heavenly Sword is frenzied and entertaining… The amazing cutscenes (with some of the best facial animations I’ve ever seen), a cool cast of characters, and the stirring musical score complement the gameplay to create an incredibly cinematic experience.” – Game Informer Magazine

“… there’s no doubt in our mind that Heavenly Sword is a winner and a work of art (eat that Roger Ebert!) that will help shift tons of PS3s come September. When it’s good, it’s truly magnificent and some of the final stages will have anyone with a 42-inch high-definition TV foaming at the mouth. No battle-scene compares to Nariko’s finale. Plus, Nariko’s home of the new face of PlayStation, going so far as to shunt Lara Croft from her throne as the ultimate game girl. Bring on Heavenly Sword 2.” – GamesRadar.com

“Heavenly Sword is among the rarest of treasures in the video game world. It is also an important game in the history of that entertainment genre. Why? Never have there been such compelling characters in the gaming world; characters you cared about, characters that could twist your emotions with the initial look in their eyes after a plot point is revealed…. Heavenly Sword is an amazing accomplishment. It is the promise of what the next-gen platforms can achieve in terms of breathing life into characterizations.” – GameZone.com

“Heavenly Sword feels like a summer action flick. It’s full of nonstop action, and it looks terrific. Heavenly Sword is a fantastic game from start to finish.” – GameSpot.com

“Heavenly Sword is the games equivalent of that showcase DVD you bought when you first got your home theatre system all set up; it’s The Matrix or Saving Private Ryan, but it also happens to be a damn good action game to boot…. one of the best experiences you can get on the PlayStation 3. Period.” – TotalPlayStation.com

“Heavenly Sword’s visuals are arguably the best the system has seen to date. I can’t talk up the graphics enough — not only are the characters and environments incredibly well detailed, but there’s very little of that typical (and easily abused) “next-gen gloss” applied to them, so you get a much cleaner-looking game than fare like Gears of War or Virtua Fighter 5.” – 1Up.com

Also, I’m embedding here the new Heavenly Sword trailer!

Lastly, I wanted to include a few reference links here to our previous Heavenly Sword posts. Enjoy!

Inside the Developers Studio: Nina Kristensen
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part I
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part II
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part IV
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part V

From the outset it was clear to all of us that we wanted to create a worthy addition to the game; giving depth and meaning to its story and by offering a different visual experience. Sony and Ninja Theory wanted to supply something extra that the fans could enjoy both visually and thematically.

One of my first ideas for the series was to use 2D animation and a much more stylized and simple look than the game itself to allow the story to be viewed from a new perspective. The CG animation and graphics of the game are some of the nicest out there, so it made more sense to expand the Heavenly Sword universe by using different techniques. This also opened up the possibility to visually re-interpret the world and its inhabitants. Very early on in the production, I had access to all the great pre-existing game concepts and artwork. I always kept aware of the overall look and feel of the game whilst designing the look of the anime as this was very important in order to tie the whole project together. We worked closely with the team at Sony and Ninja Theory to make sure we created a homogeneous universe.

I really feel, as I am a hardcore gamer myself, that expanding a game’s universe in creative and engaging ways can be so much more rewarding for the fans. The Heavenly Sword series has been an amazing project to be involved in, and I hope some of you gamers out there embraced its concept and enjoyed the ride as much as we did making it! Enjoy the final episode, and don’t forget to watch it on the big screen after you download it from the PlayStation Store tomorrow!

For more background, check out this interview I did with It’s Art Magazine.

Also, check out the *early* storyboards from this weeks episode and see how it evolved from paper to video. As you can tell by the details of the storyboard, lots of changes are made during the process (which is nothing new)…episode III is now episode IV…story modifications…new scenes…narration edits….

MILD SPOILER ALERT…watch the video first

Also see:
Heavenly Sword Prequel
Heavenly Sword Prequel: Part 2 – Guardians of the Sword

Apologies for the short post, but things are getting crazy around the office as we’re finalizing the Heavenly Sword advertising – hopefully we’ll debut the TV spot here, on the blog, soon.

This week’s release of the Heavenly Sword animation prequel and the “Making of” series marks the start of a five-week video campaign that leads into the game’s release. The plan was to provide an exclusive peek to our GAP members on Mondays, then release publicly on Thursdays via the PLAYSTATION Store and on HeavenlySword.com. But this thing called the “World-Wide-Web,” is an amazing animal that doesn’t do too well with keeping things um, secret. So as soon as it hit our “exclusive group,” it basically spread everywhere (not necessarily a bad thing). The good news is, despite the early release, the benefit of downloading the video on your PS3 is that you can watch it in full HD glory on your HD television screen [cue angelic chorus].

As for the videos – the animation prequel gives you a glimpse of the Heavenly Sword pre-history up until the start of the game. This “making of” series highlights the team’s efforts to bring you Heavenly Sword, focusing on different elements of production. I know many of you can’t wait to play the game (…something about the demo being too short…), but hopefully these will be enough to keep you waiting until September 12.

I’m back to give you the scoop on PlayStation’s presence at X Games 13, which was this past weekend in Los Angeles. As part of our sponsorship, we were on-site with the PlayStation Experience truck, where players were able to get up close and personal with our upcoming line-up for the PlayStation 3 including Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, and Heavenly Sword. Motorstorm and Tony Hawk: Project 8 were also on hand, and are still hugely popular! It was a really great event, and more than 5,500 people came on board the truck to play! Check out some of the pics below and via our Flickr page.

Congrats go out to Shaun White for taking home the gold in Skateboard Vert! After owning gold in snowboarding at the Winter X Games, Shaun is now the only two-season, board sport X Games champion of all time!

If you were watching TV or reading any newspaper this weekend, you no doubt heard about Jake Brown. During the Skateboard Big Air Finals, Jake Brown went up off the quarter pipe at the end of the mega ramp, lost control of his skateboard and fell 50 feet. He fell incredibly hard, but thankfully was able to get up and walk away!

Congrats to all of the participants and this year’s winners! We’ll see you next time we have the PlayStation Experience truck at one of these events and be sure to report back.

Hi, this is Kyle, I’m a producer here at SCEA’s Santa Monica Studios. One of the titles I am working on, and quite frankly playing most often, is Heavenly Sword. I’ve read a lot of your comments on this blog about this title and I’m happy to confirm the reports that we’ll have a downloadable demo coming this week to the PLAYSTATION Store.

The complete game is still set for September, but I think you’ll find this demo is a great sample of what’s in store and it’ll certainly give you a good idea of the look and feel of the game. To set the stage here, at the beginning of this demo, our heroine, Nariko, gains consciousness after a violent encounter with the evil King Bohan and his army. Nariko learns that Bohan is holding her father, Shen, prisoner inside a massive temple complex so she sets out to fulfill her destiny and embarks on a quest for vengeance against the invading King and his army.

Keep a lookout for the demo on the PLAYSTATION Store this week, I’m anxious to read what you guys think of it.

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Inside the Developers Studio – Nina Kristensen