Kung-Fu Live for PS3: You Are the Controller

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Hey dudes! I’m really excited to let you all know that our new game Kung-Fu Live is coming to the PSN Store later this year! It’s a unique fighting adventure that uses the PlayStation Eye and our internally developed tech to create an experience like never before.

Kung-Fu Live for PS3 and PlayStation Eye

As some of you may have heard, we announced Kung-Fu Live with a playable sneak preview last week in New York. The reception from journalists, as well as gamers, has totally overwhelmed us! We also found ourselves in the middle of the rising motion gaming discussion as many of the stories call out that our game already does what Natal is trying for: Kung-Fu Live uses full-body skeleton tracking to track the player’s moves in real-time. Thus, people have been saying that our game and tech using the PlayStation Eye is stealing the thunder from Natal. LOL!

With our Freemotion technology and the awesome quality of the PlayStation Eye camera, full-body motion gaming is already here. Kung-Fu Live also scans you inside the game world where you literally become the hero of the game. There you are boosted with super human abilities, such as being able to jump flips without actually making flips, do high jump kicks, shoot lightning from your hands, and so on. Oh yeah, not to mention that you can do The Matrix trick of slowing the speed of your opponents’ time while you kick their asses.

Kung-Fu Live for PS3 and PlayStation Eye

So toss away the gamepad for a change and experience what it’s like to be Jackie Chan (no real martial art skills needed): Punch, kick, jump and pummel your enemies into oblivion using your body as your only weapon. I can’t wait to show you guys more of Kung-Fu LIVE, but for now, check out the teaser trailer above for a glimpse of the kick-ass action we have in store.

Feel free to post questions here about the game, I’ll try to answer them as best I can.

P.S: For legal purposes, I have to add a small disclaimer: Freemotion technology can make you extremely fit — just by playing a video game! Any resulting six packs are unintentional. :-) I lost about four pounds in four days playing the game for an hour a day. For once, I’m ready for the beach before the summer starts!

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98 Comments

41 Author Replies

  • that’s one insane kick!

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Heh! Thanks! Its not actually exactly as high as it looks. We used the camera to emphasize it. :) However, the guy in the teaser video who also works in our company could make that kick for real easily.

  • What kind of lighting is necessary for this. It seems like I can never get proper lighting for my PS3 EYE. For LBP I basically had to set whatever I as taking an image of under a desk lamp.

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Well, the camera needs to see of course. So you do need some light. But to my experience the PSEye works even in quite dim conditions. I e.g. played the game fine after lights off in NY, using the light that came in from the market lamps outside the window.

  • Nice kicks…

  • That’s awesome. Cutting the grass under Microsoft is even better.

    Will we be able to “dress-up” our image? Maybe you could get a deal with DreamWorks Animation and be able to play as Kung Fu Panda or the other characters… or even change your face to that of Bruce Lee or David Carradine (well maybe not!!!). Anyway, the idea of adding layers on your avatar would be great too.

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      The way to dress up your image is to put on your actual head band and other Kung-Fu clothes :) What you wear, comes into the game.

  • now way i can do those kicks!!!

  • Looks like a lot of fun. Sold me on it.

  • This will be alot of fun with the family. Im not expecting revolutionary gameplay but simply a great party game. That video by the way was simply horrible. Really one glimpse lol I cant wait for this to release.

  • hmmm $200+/- full body motion…. $40+/- full body motion…

  • TWO THINGS:

    1. Will there be an ‘on-line vs mode’ where you can fight it out with (co-op) or against (vs) your best buddies online?!?

    2. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you’re making a ‘vitual dojo’ wherein you are taking “real” karate lessons with a ‘virtual master’ so you (the gamer) can get practiced up for playing the game as well as learning real life kung-fu!!!

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      1. Unfortunately not for the first Kung-fu LIVE. Co-op is in planning for the sequel if this one does well enough for making a sequel.

      2. There is tutorial. And the learning real Kung-Fu feature did actually hang in there for a long time. It is certainly something we could do as an update/upgrade/sequel if enough people seem to want it.

  • This looks like the best PSEye game ever!
    I needed something for it that looked worthwhile and this looks to be it. I will buy this game when it comes out.
    Thanks for all your hard work, I will be supporting it.

  • Looks like you can dodge the attacks in the game but is there any ways you can block?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      You can only “block” if you do a really fast counter before the hit lands on you. But mostly its best to use your boosted mobility to dodge and evade. Combining a dodge with a fast counter also gives you a stronger combo attack.

  • LOL I totally see someone kicking a TV out the window if their not careful. should be interesting.

  • The most amazing thing about this is that the woman on the right hand side of the photo didnt get kicked.

  • I probably should have clarified my earlier statement. By proper lighting I mean that my white walls appear yellow and things often seem dark, but it does pick up movement well enough to allow me to play Operation Creature Feature and the like. This seemed a bit more advanced than just creating a singular effect where movement is detected and wasn’t sure if that would play a role.

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Right. I know what you mean. We have actually made our own white balance calibration to lessen this effect. It should keep your walls white.

  • will you guys be showing this game at E3? Will there be DLC for it?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      We will go to E3, yes. We will show the game to press and media there.

      DLC is still to be decided. Depends on the success of the game.

  • will other games using this tech be released?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Hopefully. At least by us. And possibly by others. After this game is out, the tech is basically ready for licencing.

      We would like to properly integrate the tech with the Move sticks next. This should give us a totally 3D full-body skeleton tracking with buttons in your hands and absolute positions of augmented props such as weapons all at the same time. That will be pretty sweet!

  • Two words!!!

    Freaken AWESOME!!!!

  • looks interesting, how much is the game do you know? i wanted good games for my pseye so i probably will pick this one up if it is around 40 bucks

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      I can say that it will definitely be less than 40 bucks as its coming to PSN. Cannot say the exact price yet.

  • ThreeLeggedFreak

    I wonder if SCE is gonna come up with a lot more PSEye/Move games, they contracted these guys to do this, so probably.

    This is not for me though, I didn’t like Wii Sports/Wii Fit, doubt I’ll like this.

  • Can this be done in a full 3D game? I haven’t read up on the technology behind this yet, but I’m wondering could this tracking technology track movements in 2d, but then map it to a 3d model?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Using the move sticks with the full-body image this would be no problem. Without them, there are moments when the mapping is e.g. ambiguous in 3D based on what the camera sees in 2D.

  • @Sakimori_X
    “Super bonus points to VAG (snicker) if the game includes a tutorial or dojo of some sort, where you learn the game’s moveset and are told to kick and punch ’cause ”it’s all in the mind”.”

    LOL, I can’t remember the name of the onion dude game but I finished it 3 times at least, lol. great game for sure!

    For this game, I’m spectical. I still don’t have an Eye (waiting for Move to buy the package) so I can’t say for now. But with a good price, the game could be fun to play for sure! =D

  • LOL, Natal is already dead, cause we had it all along…

  • hmmm interesting, will there be an e3 playable demo?

  • Very excited for the game. A question about multiplayer: Is this going to have local mutliplayer where you can track 2 persons and they can do a battle? Or do it online? Not sure if this is even possible but that would be really awesome.

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      The local multiplayer will be up to 4 people playing with game pads and one person on the camera. We have a semisafe design for the 2 person duel on camera but unfortunately that will have to wait to the sequel(s) if its decided that it can be made without risk to the players. The camera frame is a bit small for two people kicking ass next to each other. Online co-op is one of the more possible ones.

  • Grandma knows kung fu!

  • finally i can get the dust off my playstation 3 eye lol. thanks Teemu Maki-Patola, this game looks like a kick ass Hell of a good time. Plus i know i will shed a couple of pounds :) (shhh don’t tell nobody) Holiday release? darn, but that’s ok because all good things come to those who wait. oh and you can bet your ass i’m buying this kick ass game, to beat some ass. wait, that’s alot of ass kicking :) WoW i only wanted to say thanks guys/gals :)

  • Might check this out, I’ve been wanting a game to use with my PSEye.

  • lol a direct mention at HHG’s post… smh, but game does look like something worth trying for $15 and down

  • I don’t think most gamers will be able to attempt those kick how will that problem be solved?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      As I said somewhere above, it doesn’t matter how high you kick. It looks cooler in pictures to have it more dynamic but all punches and kicks work. If you cannot kick to the head then do a punch instead. ;)

  • is the tech restricted to 2D? or can it work in 3D as well?

  • I’ll be buying this when I get my PS Eye + Move bundle this Fall.

    Just looks like mindless fun.

  • MunemasaKatagiri

    That’s really cool! I must get PlayStation Eye fast!

  • “Hopefully. At least by us. And possibly by others. After this game is out, the tech is basically ready for licencing.

    We would like to properly integrate the tech with the Move sticks next. This should give us a totally 3D full-body skeleton tracking with buttons in your hands and absolute positions of augmented props such as weapons all at the same time. That will be pretty sweet!”

    Everything you said here has got to be the most exciting thing I’ve heard in quite some time. There’s unlimited potential for seriously awesome experiences with these technologies working together.

    Quick question about the tech though. How difficult would it be to simply map the players skeleton and, instead of putting his image in the game, you tie the players motions onto a character model created with in game assets?

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      Using the Move sticks in addition, this will work. Without them, an always right & completely working one-to-one mapping is hard to achieve from a 2D camera frame. We also wanted to go for the experience of a personal Kung-Fu adventure, where the player is empowered and can do things that he/she cannot in real life.

  • this could lead to alot of accidents that have to do with alcoholic.

  • lol seeing people think it is a full priced 40 dollar disc game must be like, the greatest feeling ever for Teemu. :D

    The game actually looks pretty awesome. I just hope all these people that are saying they’ll buy it ACTUALLY buy it, cause i’d love to see what these guys can do with the Playstation Move. >.> I know i’ll be getting it day one.

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      :D True! I wish we could sell it successfully for 40$. Would give us a lot more possibilities with the next games. But hopefully it will do well enough to let us work on innovative games in the future as well.

      Many thanks for the support!

  • I saw Joystiq’s preview vid of this game last week. I was LMAO of how hilariously fun this looks. Getting this for sure. Please make the sequel with online co-op!

  • Looks very unsafe…
    Most people will kick something or someone, or trip and fall trying to do something like that…

  • It looks like a flash game with its sloppy physics, crappy animations (for the other characters, not the players, since that’s not up to you obviously) and at least questionable collission detection among other issues like the horrible, horrible visuals. So, no, I don’t think you’re stealing thunder from anything, even something as universally questioned as Natal. LOL.

  • TOO BAD I CAN’T SEE THE VIDEOS, I’M ON PS3!!!!

  • @pencil420 Dude i totally agree with you i’ve been complaining about the PS3 internet browser for a very long time now! and i get ignored each time the flash needs updating cant watch videos on the EU and US blogs web links from both EU and US blogs to other sites dont work they just crash my PS3. everytime i write these problems in Playstation blog share u guys reject my ideas and never upload them i appropriate the good work you guys have done but you need to FIX UP GUYS!!!

  • videos dont work on the PS3 internet browser

  • Looks awesome. Unfortunately, by the time it releases, no one will be interested as the Playstation Move will already be out (Holiday 2010). So for your sake, hopefully this game costs under $9.99.

    Don’t get me wrong, I would buy this game right away, but it would have to come out atleast a month before Move.

    You say this might be a Natal killer? Well Natal comes out in october if i am not mistaken. Good Luck. And I am glad that at least one company is supporting the PSeye, even if sony won’t (see the eye of judgement).

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      We are indeed counting for people who will have the Move as that comes with the PSEye camera that we are using. As I see it, this is one more novel experience for Move owners and quite different from the others. Where as Move mostly activates and tracks the sticks = hands, we bring full-body tracking, kicks and jumps to the same players. Anyone who has either just the cam or the whole Move package will be able to buy the game from PSN and play it with what they already have.

      I didn’t say Natal killer anywhere. I only quoted someone online (several articles) for saying its “stealing the thunder from Natal”.

  • When news of move was first announced I know stupidity like this was coming. History will show it to be a foolish flash in the pan. Seriously what where u thinking? did you put any thought into the potential for serious injuries making a full body martial arts game? or did you hope the inevitble slew of injuries this gme will cause not be associated with the game. Did you consider the fact that invariably people might walk in the room not knowing the game is being played and find themselves kicked in the head or worse? This has all the intelligence of handing the keys to a diablo or f50 to an 8 year old with no driver training and telling them to go at it during rush hour.

  • (I think Natal will be a failure) The game looks great. Thank you for your support of the eye.

  • Just quoted someone eh? So your LOL wasn’t in proud agreement, it was in thinking they’re nuts because your crappy flash-like game has no chance in hell of doing that? Ok then, ignore my last comment (oh wait, you already did that, criticism is bad and will never be addressed)!

    • Teemu Mäki-Patola

      It was in happy surprise of a small developer to find themselves in the big war discussion.

      You can never please everyone and with your kind of hostile (rather than criticism) comment why would I say anything? You are entitled to your strong opinion and it doesn’t matter what I say when its like that.

  • ShadowPhoenix18

    This does seem fun, but…I just see the television wincing in fear as the camera boldly dares me to throw another kick at it, lol.

  • This looks great game – it is great physical training as well. I wonder how long one can play before you are totally exhausted?

  • THE Competition of the xbox natal!!

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