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Heavenly Sword: How Not to Kill Your Heroine (in the movie)
Heavenly Sword begins with its heroine in agony, convulsing on the battleground, her tangled red hair swirled in the dirt. Nariko still clings to the cursed sword that had gotten her so far. As searing scripture snakes up her arms, branding her the doomed property of this mystical blade, she wonders: Why now? Why, on the verge of victory, does the sword claim my life? That glimpse of Nariko, unable to dodge the sword's fatal toll, forever lingers over the action game that follows. Instead of a plotted ascent to power, with sharp, assured victory in hand, we play through a dreaded descent. With every new chapter, Nariko comes closer and closer to the end of her strength.
Nariko rescues villagers in footage from Heavenly Sword film
Here in 2014 most people have forgotten about Ninja Theory's seven-year-old PlayStation 3-exclusive action game Heavenly Sword, but not Blockade Entertainment, who plan to launch a straight-to-DVD CGI film based on the game on September 2. [Image: Sony]
Ninja Theory: Hellblade isn't tied to Heavenly Sword at all
Like many of you, when Ninja Theory showed its new game at Gamescom we turned to each other and whispered "Heavenly Sword 2? Come on, that's totally Kai!" But no, it was Hellblade, and in an Eurogamer interview the studio's confirmed the PS4 game has no ties whatsoever to the 2007 hack-and-slash. And no, it's not even a spiritual successor. "It's a brand new IP," Ninja Theory's Dominic Matthews said. "Senua is a new character. It's not tied to Heavenly Sword at all. I saw someone describe the name as someone just putting Heavenly Sword into Thesaurus.com and going, oh it's Hellblade. It's not something where we've gone, 'Yeah, let's make people think it is this.' We really like Heavenly Sword. We loved making that game. So it's actually more just we like making female protagonists that look in a certain style. And we like swords. And we like hell. It's more that."
Heavenly Sword movie slicing and dicing in September
Cinedigm announced the Heavenly Sword movie arrives on Blu-ray. DVD and the PlayStation Store on September 2, proving this is still a reality in which the Heavenly Sword movie exists. It's still so weird to see Blockade Entertainment's CGI film in action, knowing it's the first major use of the Sony property since Ninja Theory's 2007 PS3 game. As IGN reports, the film stars Fringe actress Anna Torv as heroine Nariko, Alfred Molina as King Bohan, Thomas Jane as Loki and Nolan North in a surprise Nathan Drake cameo - okay, that last one's not true, but maybe it should be. North is really in the film, but a man who isn't is Andy Serkis, who wasn't available to reprise his role as the villainous Bohan. Meanwhile, rumors of a Haze film adaptation remain something we made up just now. [Image: Sony]
Nariko kills a lot of dudes in this Heavenly Sword movie trailer
Nariko, wielder of the titular Heavenly Sword in the upcoming film, is a life insurance company's worst nightmare. In this trailer she kills over a dozen soldiers in under a minute – wait, do henchmen even get life insurance?
In Heavenly Sword's name, the first trailer for a CGI movie [update]
Six months ago it was a footnote to the Ratchet & Clank movie's announcement. Now the Heavenly Sword film has a full-blown trailer and is really rather real, apparently. Yes, it does seem bizarre that an IP neglected by Sony since it was a 2007 PS3 game is being converted into a CGI movie. Nonetheless, that is what's happening, and the film will be shown at "some theaters" in the coming summer, before heading to DVD. Blockade Entertainment's movie stars the very recognizable likes of Anna Torv (Fringe), who voiced Nariko in the game, Alfred Molina (all the best films), and Thomas Jane (The Punisher), as well as Nolan North (all the games) according to an IGN interview. The interview also revealed Andy Serkis, who acted in and provided motion-capture for the Ninja Theory game, wasn't available. That's a precious shame, but by the sound of things the film will at least tie closely to the game's plot, albeit with one "major deviation." "In the game you never actually get to see the true 'chosen one' because he was never born," producer Brad Foxhaven told IGN, "In the film, though, we introduce him-and give Nariko the task of getting the Heavenly Sword to him. This creates a driving element through the second act of the film, and places even more pressure on Nariko when everything falls apart." Update: According to the PlayStation Blog, "The Heavenly Sword film is slated to be released digitally worldwide, as well as theatrically in select global markets, in Spring 2014."
Heavenly Sword also becoming a movie, direct to video
Ratchet & Clank isn't the only Sony franchise from which Blockade Entertainment is adapting an animated film. As almost a footnote on Variety's article about the Ratchet movie, the publication reports that Blockade is producing a CG animated movie based on Heavenly Sword, for a direct to video release.Heavenly Sword was a PlayStation 3 exclusive way back in 2007, an action game by Ninja Theory about a warrior, Nariko, who wields the magical sword protected by her clan in a campaign against an evil tyrant.
PlayStation All-Stars adding Kat and Emmett Graves, plus Heavenly Sword/Wipeout level
SuperBot Entertainment showed off a new pair of fighters in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale at the Sony Santa Monica studio recently: Kat from Gravity Rush and Emmett Graves from Starhawk will be the first two DLC characters to join the fracas. The character pack containing both will be free for a limited time when it arrives sometime early next year.SuperBot's director Omar Kendall also premiered a brand new level for the game, combining the worlds of Heavenly Sword and Wipeout into a beautiful but precarious environment. The actual pricing (and release date) for the level hasn't yet been decided.While letting us play a little bit with each character, Kendall talked to us about the reaction to PlayStation All-Stars, why these two characters are the first to make the DLC cut, and what else SuperBot has planned.%Gallery-172572%
Nariko and Fortesque confirmed for PlayStation All-Stars [update]
Two more characters have been announced as members of the PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale roster, both of which attach firmly to either side of the "deep cut" spectrum: Nariko of Heavenly Sword fame, and MediEvil's Sir Daniel Fortesque.As has been the case with the last few All-Stars character reveals, both Nariko and Fortesque were originally rumored a few weeks ago when files pulled from the beta found their way to neoGAF. Nariko's fighting style is described as "high risk, high reward" by designer Seth Killian in the video above, while Fortesque is said to be much slower and more methodical. Both characters, however, use weapons culled from the annals of their respective series' history.Update: The video originally embedded above, belonging to Gamespot, has been set to private. We have replaced the video with a mirror located here and have updated this post's source link to reflect that change.
Heavenly Sword 2 artwork appears
Heavenly Sword 2 will likely never see the light of day, but concept art that's reportedly from the deceased project is making the internet rounds today. Although the origin of the art is muddy, Siliconera reports the concept art shows the Ravens and the Raven King, who were the samurai-inspired antagonists, along with other characters and sets for the sequel.Sony canceled the Sony Cambridge-helmed sequel back in 2008. The original game was developed by Ninja Theory, which is currently working on the new Devil May Cry.
Canned Sony projects including The Getaway 3, Heavenly Sword 2 found in artist's reel, CV
Former Sony lead artist Martin Binfield touched a few projects that never saw fruition, including The Getaway 3, and his showreel shows off bits of these before they were shelved. The Getaway 3 footage in Binfield's above reel is pulled from the game's E3 trailer, while canceled PS3 science-fiction and lifestyle projects demonstrate rocket-fueled space travel and the joys of being a single father, respectively.Heavenly Sword 2 is listed on Binfield's CV as canceled in 2008. He was the character animation team lead on the first Heavenly Sword.
Rumor: Sony working on a Smash Bros-esque fighter featuring Sony all-stars
The hat of "Sony Mascot" has been worn by many, many different critters and folk since the days of Crash Bandicoot and, uh, Croc. In fact, Sony's stable of lovable household names is so fully stocked that they've decided to pit their creations against one another to determine who lives and who dies. Okay so, that last part might be a little hyperbolic, but the rumor mill is operating at full capacity over Title Fight, a Super Smash Bros.-ish cross-franchise brawler reportedly in development at SuperBot Entertainment, according to The Paul Gale Network. If rumors are to be believed, the game will feature a cast of Sony-console specific characters like Nathan Drake, Sweet Tooth, Sly Cooper, that guy from Killzone and Fat Princess. Fights will take place in various Sony related locations such as Sandover Village or a golf course from Hot Shots Golf. The gallery of images below, which shows Sweet Tooth, a blank female form that may or may not be Heavenly Sword's Nariko and a debug screen that mentions Kratos, were tweeted (and subsequently deleted) by SuperBot Entertainment's senior level designer Chris Molina. Apparently, this hullabaloo is also what that franchise-rich teaser trailer from September was all about, which would also indicate the inclusion of Parappa the Rapper, as well as a representative from FOXHOUND. If all this pans out, Title Fight will be the latest in a long, proud history of SCEA-published fighting games like Battle Arena Toshinden and Cardinal Syn. We'll keep our ear to the ground for more as this story develops.%Gallery-140432%
Heavenly Sword 2 could have gone to Hell
With Enslaved now wrapped up, Ninja Theory's Tameem Antoniades answered a few questions from VG247's readers. One asked about the possible direction a sequel to the team's previous game, Heavenly Sword, could take. (Spoiler alert!) The death of the first game's heroine, Nariko, obviously poses a challenge. According to Antoniades, one idea had players discovering Nariko "trapped in Hell by the spirit of the sword." Coming to her rescue would be Kai, playable in the real world and somehow able to "communicate with Nariko and try and help rescue her soul." Fascinatingly, the potential sequel would have played with the movement of time -- one day in Hell represents a year on Earth -- and as such, Kai would transform from "teenage girl to old woman" throughout the course of the game. The Voices of a Distant Star approach to the game's storytelling could have made for an interesting, thought-provoking journey. (Certainly more so than EA's Dante's Inferno.) However, it's unlikely this concept will ever come to fruition. Last we heard, Ninja Theory is no longer involved with the series.
Ninja Theory co-founder explains studio's move to multiplatform development
With the release of Heavenly Sword, Ninja Theory had seemingly established itself as a high-profile, PS3-exclusive developer. However, the studio's next game, Enslaved, a gritty action version of the same classical Chinese story Journey to the West from which Dragon Ball originates, is going to be multiplatform. "Heavenly Sword came out pretty early on the PS3," Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades explained to CVG, "and we sold, I think, a million and a half copies, and that's still not enough as an independent studio to break even. The publisher potentially breaks even at that point, but the developers don't. It's just that when so many people have Xbox -- I mean over half the market or more has Xbox 360s -- why limit yourself to one platform?" Without a clearly dominant platform like the PlayStation 1 or 2, he said, it's difficult to profit from console-exclusive games. "I think people are going to hold off for a long time before getting on to the next generation," Antoniades added. "I think everyone's licking their wounds and releasing new games to try and keep this current generation going. I'm hoping it doesn't come too soon either because we want to make at least a couple more games in this generation." Squeezing in a few more current-gen releases sounds like a good plan -- it'd be tough to be totally broke and have to start developing on new hardware again.
Ninja Theory's 'Enslaved' promises a mix of brains and brawn
It's been a while since we last heard about Enslaved, the brand new IP coming from Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory and partner Namco Bandai, but IGN has broken the silence with a preview. The game sounds intriguing: Players control an Andy Serkis-modeled brawler named Monkey, who's neurologically tied to a techno-chick named Trip as they roam from a New York 150 years from now and out into a post-apocalyptic America. The game is actually based on an old Chinese tale named Journey to the West, in which a sage and a powerful monkey go on a quest to find Buddhist wisdom, with the sage getting in all sorts of dangerous traps that the monkey (controlled via headband, just like the game) has to help him out with. Likewise, the game offers up a set of challenges that will require Monkey to work with and defend Trip, who offers tools and advice all along. The third-person combat (against various robots and post-human bad guys) is supposed to be tough at first, but much easier with a little strategy and help from Trip. We'll keep an eye out for it at E3 -- the saga of Monkey and Trip could turn out to be one of 2010's more original endeavors.
Rhianna Pratchett launches portfolio website
Rhianna Pratchett, the British game writer behind Heavenly Sword, Overlord (and its upcoming sequels), Mirror's Edge and Viking: Battle For Asgard has launched her portfolio website, making it easier to keep track of her various projects. The website showcases all the games that she's worked on, as well as her contributions to some game writing textbooks and her ongoing series of Mirror's Edge comic books. There are also links to interviews (including one of ours) for those who want to get a little more insight into the person behind the words. From the look of things, the site won't be updated for a while as Rhianna's being kept fairly busy with Overlord 2 and the Wii and DS Overlord games. Now that she's set up home on the internet, we wonder if she'll be joining us on Twitter soon, too.
Killzone 2, Buzz and Heavenly Sword LBP DLC revealed
The observant among you may have noticed that Sony's LittleBigPlanet 2009 DLC roadmap has now finished and we're still clueless as to what's coming next. The PlayStation Blog has updated with some new costume images, as you can see above, including Sev from Killzone 2 (almost certainly due to arrive today, in time for the game's launch tomorrow), Kai from Heavenly Sword and Buzz from, uh, Buzz!. While unlikely, the low-res textures and low poly-count of the Buzz model have us thinking ... maybe, just maybe, this may be a model from the upcoming PSP version?
Andy Serkis: Game narrative is lacking, but has much potential
If Gollum says it, it must be true. Andy Serkis, who played the loathsome creature in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie adaptation, has said that he feels game stories are generally lacking. "There's no heart in them. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games. And games are where the audience is going to be. I absolutely think that gaming is a massive storytelling arena in the making and now the technology has arrived to do that. It's a fascinating time." We absolutely agree with Serkis that this generation is the launchpad for real cinematic storytelling. Games like Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 are paving the way, but with such a young medium there's still plenty of room for improvement. Serkis' background may be in Hollywood, but he did a lot of motion capture and dialogue work for the under-represented PS3 title Heavenly Sword, stating afterward that he'd love to work in games again. Perhaps if game stories keep improving at the rate they have over the last couple of years, it won't be long until we see him donning the skin-tight motion capture suit again.
LittleBigPlanet's Nariko Sackgirl is Best Buy exclusive
Sony previously announced several planned pre-order bonuses for LittleBigPlanet, including custom downloadable "Sackboy" versions of God of War's Kratos and Heavenly Sword's Nariko. While the Ghost of Sparta went to GameStop, the official LBP blog has revealed that pre-ordering the game at Best Buy will land you a download voucher code for Nariko. Both characters are über-spiffy, but, if you want both, you'll have to pre-order the game twice. No one's preventing you from avoiding it at one of the two stores when it's released, though. Oh no, certainly not us. Of course, you could always wait a bit for the characters to be made available for paid download via the PlayStation Store, something we're sure Sony would never think of doing, not in a million billion years.
Nariko Sackgirl is Play.com's LittleBigPlanet preorder bonus
Europe, rejoice! You're not being left out in the cold. Those amazing LittleBigPlanet preorder bonuses will be available on both sides of the Atlantic. So far, we've spotted Nariko hanging out over at Play.com, but there's no sign of any of the others. At least, not yet. The Nariko Sackgirl (who is actually a Sackboy playing dress up, but don't let that put you off) is downloadable via the PlayStation Network. Instructions will be sent out during the week of release, according to Play.com, so don't expect to be playing with your new heavenly pal on launch day. Now, where's that Kratos Sackboy got to? We're sure he's hiding around here somewhere.
