The reviews we have been receiving have been fantastic and over the past 6 months we have been enjoying watching the player community steadily grow as more players start to hear about the game. To date there have been over 6,800 missions uploaded from players and shared within the Combat Ops community!

My “favorites” mission list in the game consists of only player created missions now and the team is extremely excited at the prospect of the community and number of missions growing very quickly this next month with the newly released God of War PSP bundle where Syphon Filter: Combat Ops is being offered as a promotional free download.

I hope to see you all online soon. Here are a few more screen shots if you haven’t seen them yet.

Back in February at Destination PlayStation, we unveiled the God of War PSP Entertainment Pack, and we knew many of you couldn’t wait to get your hands on the limited-edition “Deep Red” PSP with Kratos’ image silkscreened on the back. The waiting game is now over, as the new bundle hits retailer shelves tomorrow. Beyond the collectability of the PSP itself, you’re also getting the PSP’s highest-rated game to date in God of War: Chains of Olympus, the comedy smash Superbad on UMD video, and a PSN voucher to download the multi-player action hit, Syphon Filter: Combat Ops, all for $199.99 (MSRP).

Stay tuned to PlayStation.Blog for more on Syphon Filter: Combat Ops later in the week.

When: Thursday, Dec. 13, 8pm EST (5pm PST)

Where: http://www2.warnerbros.com/syphonfilter/

Click on the link above, then navigate to the Events section (after the Flash intro)

Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow was met with high acclaim when it shipped to consumers on October 2, earning numerous awards from sites across the web including IGN, GameZone, and Game Informer. Greg brought a new perspective and plenty of conflict to the Syphon Filter universe and is responsible for a cliff-hanger ending sure to resonate with fans. Check out this video to see more on the collaboration between the Sony’s Bend studio and Greg Rucka.

Be sure to head over to the PlayStation Store on your PC to download the free Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow demo, wallpapers and themes for your PSP.

Hi everyone. I wanted to let everyone know that Syphon Filter: Combat Ops was recently released on the PLAYSTATION Store for PC, where you can now download it to your PSP. Hopefully many of you were able to see a sneak preview of Combat Ops that we included on the UMD release of Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, but in the event that you haven’t let me tell you a little more about what to expect with it.

Syphon Filter: Combat Ops builds on the 8-player infrastructure and ad-hoc multiplayer game that was first released with Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and now recently Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow. In the sneak preview we unveiled a glimpse of the new mission modifier that sets Combat Ops apart from the Syphon Filter multiplayer that everyone has been enjoying. The sneak preview allowed players to create missions from one of the modifiable maps and play those maps against friends via an ad-hoc connection. With the full version of the game that can now be purchased and downloaded from the PLAYSTATION Store, you will now be able to choose from 4 customizable maps to create multiplayer missions. For me, the most exciting part is that those missions can be uploaded to the online community that can be shared and played with other fellow players via an infrastructure WiFi connection.

Players in the community will now be able to provide feedback on the missions that have been submitted to the community with the new rating system that has been incorporated, allowing everyone to vote on how much they liked or disliked the mission they just played.

The community features have been expanded to let you know when you log in what new missions have been uploaded, which missions are being played the most, and which missions have been rated highly by the player community. My personal challenge is going to see if I can get one of my favorite missions I have created on the Top 10 list!

As a huge fan of playing multiplayer action games, the emphasis behind Syphon Filter: Combat Ops was to develop an easy-to-use mission modifier that not only provided the tools to create a mission in a matter of minutes, but allow me to take my favorite mission I have been playing online and make a few extra desired tweaks to create the “perfect” mission – and then upload it back to the community.

Another fun feature in Combat Ops that wasn’t part of the sneak preview is the addition of unlockables as you rank up, based on your performance playing ranked matches with other players online. I will keep the nature of the unlockables a surprise for now, but I will say that they will provide added content for missions you create with the mission modifier. I am really looking forward to playing in some of those missions!

Another exciting element for Combat Ops is the introduction of the use of the PLAYSTATION Network. When logging into Combat Ops via infrastructure WiFi, you will now be able to use your PLAYSTATION Network ID, the same ID that you use to login to your PS3 with. This immediately allows you to connect with friends in Combat Ops that are currently part of your PLAYSTATION Network Friends list!

For those that want to just jump into the heat of the battle and play online without creating a mission, rest assured that beyond the community created missions, the team here at SCEA Bend Studio has created 20 missions that are available immediately to play. We had a lot of fun building and play testing these missions, but feel free to download and modify them to make them even better. It won’t hurt our feelings, too much :)

I look forward to seeing you all online.

Here are a few we’ve seen:

IGN.com – Review Score 9.5 out of 10
“Logan’s Shadow is easily one of the best titles to come out on the system this year.”

Game Informer – Handheld Game of the Month, November
Review Scores 8.75 and 9 out of 10
“Exhilarating, adroit, and unstoppably fun, Logan’s Shadow fires direct hits with nearly everything it attempts, and gifts the PSP with one of most accomplished espionage thrillers in recent memory.”

GameSpy.com – Review Score 4 out of 5
“It’s truly remarkable how many command options Sony Bend managed to pack into Logan’s Shadow.”

Game Daily – Review Score 9 out of 10
“One of the best PSP games to date.”

EGM – “This is the handheld stealth-action series to beat.”

And more.

We’re especially proud of the Editor’s Choice award from IGN: Logan’s Shadow is now the highest ranked PSP game on their site, and our 9.5 score ties Halo 3, one of the highest scores of 2007.

While we love hearing praise from the press, it’s you guys that we were thinking of when making the game. We’re hoping that as you play the game that you’ll enjoy the same things the press is responding to: the amazing sound track by Azam Ali which will soon be released on iTunes, the story by Greg Rucka, the advanced graphics and physics made possible by uncapping the 333hz processor, the new gameplay modes, and the full featured online game.

Our goal all along was to take everything we achieved in Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, and kick it up a notch; a daunting task considering that Dark Mirror was one of the highest rated games on the PSP in 2006.

Speaking of Dark Mirror, last month we launched the PS2 version of the game. We debated the pros and cons of doing a PS2 version of the game for a long time. We really liked the idea of Dark Mirror being an exclusive title for the PSP because we’re all huge fans of the handheld system. But in the end, when we were presented with the opportunity to share the game with all of our fans on the PS2, we couldn’t resist. We were able to uprez the textures and some models for display on bigger monitors, and we made adjustments to the game to take advantage of the Dualshock Analog controller. So if you never got a chance to check out Dark Mirror on the PSP, check it out on the PS2. It’s the same great game, but now you can play it on a bigger screen with Dual Analog controls.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the Syphon Filter: Combat Ops sneak preview that we included on the Logan’s Shadow UMD. I won’t say anything more about it for now, but keep checking back — we’ll have an announcement about Combat Ops in the near future.

Thanks!

*Note – in the video above, the narrator mistakenly refers to a salvage expert who helps Gabe as “Dane Cook.” He meant to say “Dane Bishop.” Comedian Dane Cook does not make an appearance in the game.

This guy is awesome. I’ve been writing Syphon for 10 years now, and I’m not saying I’m getting burned out or anything like that, but 10 years is a long time to write for a franchise. I was looking for a way to bring some fresh perspectives to the series. Connie Booth, our director of product development, has been a fan of the espionage genre for years and had read Greg’s stuff, including two series of novels he wrote called Queen and Country and Atticus Kodiak. She had worked with Greg once before on another project, so she hooked us up. Greg writes in a realistic, gritty style and his stuff is authentic and well researched – he was perfect for Syphon. I had come up with the title a couple of years before when we were working on a PSP prototype. Greg liked the title and we started kicking ideas around for what the “shadow” might be. And boom, there it was (mild SPOILER!): Lian Xing, Gabe’s long-time partner, has a past that’s catching up with her and suddenly she disappears. Evidence piles up that she’s a double agent. I can’t say too much more without giving the plot away, but Greg’s brought a lot to the Syphon experience. You can read more about our collaboration here.

Anyway, Greg will be at the Playstation booth on both Saturday & Sunday, from 11:00am-12:30pm and again from 2:00pm-3:30pm, so stop by and say hello.