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Gravity Rush may 'fall again' in new game
Team Gravity, the Sony Japan Studio group responsible for the topsy-turvy PlayStation Vita game, Gravity Rush, are working on a new project – and it resembles a sequel so far. Sony issued the brief teaser above, which asks us to "fall again" and shows Gravity Rush heroine Kat flying around a floating city – possibly a new city altogether. Gravity Rush established itself as a top Vita game as soon as it launched in May of last year. In our review, we lauded Gravity Rush for its beautiful anime-inspired world and free-spirited flying.
Gravity Rush director makes reference to sequel
Gravity Rush won the "Games of the Year Division Grand Award" at this year's Japan Game Awards, held during the Tokyo Game Show. That's great news for the team at Sony who developed the Vita action game, but it leads to potentially great news for everyone who enjoyed it.Speaking on Twitter, director Keiichiro Toyama said he would "do his best on the sequel." It's not clear from his statement whether the sequel is in progress now or just an idea, and Toyama couldn't go into further detail, but we're certainly ready for some new environments to turn upside down.
Amazon drops free Gravity Rush in with Vita
We recommended Gravity Rush pretty enthusiastically. But we understand that not everyone has had a chance to play it, due to unfortunate factors like not owning it, and not owning a Vita to play it on.That's where Amazon comes in. Through August 4, any purchase of a Vita will qualify the buyer for a free copy of Gravity Rush. Amazon is also throwing in a screen cover, which you'd want anyway to keep the dangers of the world from reaching that precious screen.
Gravity Rush DLC detailed, buy on PSN this week for Military pack
If you didn't pre-order Gravity Rush on Amazon, you still have a shot at getting the "Military" DLC pack, with a new costume and new missions, for free. Purchasing the game on PSN during launch week (this week!) will get you that DLC for free. The PSN version is also slightly cheaper at $35.99. If you miss the DLC, it'll be released on July 24 for $3.99.On June 26, you can get the "Spy Pack" for $3.99, adding two side missions, two challenge missions, and a "spy costume" ... which is a Catwoman suit. With a tail and everything. Sure. On July 10, you can get the "Maid Pack" with two more side missions, two more challenge missions, and another frustratingly inappropriate costume.
Gravity Rush review: Disorient Express
Gravity Rush for PS Vita is a particular kind of superhero simulation I can't recall seeing before: not only is it an excellent approximation of what I imagine it's like to be a superhero, it approximates the life of a new superhero, with all the awkwardness that entails.Protagonist Kat, who wakes up with no memories and a starfield-patterned cat companion that allows her to alter her personal gravity, is not terribly graceful with her abilities, as befits someone who just gained the power to fall in any direction. She is, however, immediately willing to help save her new friends from mysterious "gravity storms" eating away parts of the town, and the "Nevi" monsters that start creeping in, and her enthusiasm makes up for the growing pains.%Gallery-156045%
Gravity Rush's love affair with the 'bande dessinee' art style
Gravity Rush's art draws heavily from the Franco-Belgian comic book style bande dessinee, which is marked by exaggerating elements that the reader should pay the most attention to. For Gravity Rush, this means creating a large, lush world with multiple, vertical layers and buildings, done with a line drawing method that makes structures more easily recognized, art director Yoshiaki Yamaguchi writes on the PS Blog."The direction we chose to use for the game's graphics conveys the necessary information with exaggeration that matches the player's sensation," Yamaguchi says. "Taking that into consideration, we also wanted to use line drawings, the characteristic of BD and the simulation of beautiful air effects. I think the broader the game art expression becomes, the more interactive a game becomes."The hue of the sky and concept of a living background, as Yamaguchi has previously gushed about, look to bring Gravity Rush's art full circle, even in its initial stages in the 2008 concept video above.
Gravity Rush demo floats to PSN on May 29 in NA, May 30 in EU
Only five months after it landed on Japanese PlayStation Vitas, Sony's Gravity Rush will arrive on PlayStation Network in both North America and Europe. At least in demo form, that is. After a tweet from EU retailer GAME last week alleged a May 30 date for the game's EU demo, Sony confirmed to Joystiq today that the demo is set to arrive on NA and EU Vitas on May 29 and 30, respectively.That leaves just under two weeks between the demo and the game's mid-June launch, though it's doubtful you'll need much time to decide that it's quite a game.
Report: Gravity Rush demo falling to European Vitas on May 30
You'll forgive us, but every little drip of information about when we can play Gravity Rush is positively thrilling. Knowing that the game doesn't arrive until late June (ugh), we were totally psyched to see UK retailer GAME reporting a demo arriving on PSN on May 30.Yes, that does mean we'll likely see a demo here in North America as well, it's just a question of when. We've reached out to Sony to find out (as well as to confirm the EU demo date) and will update this post as soon as we hear more.In the meantime, might we suggest rewatching the mesmerizing trailer for Gravity Rush just above? That's a pretty thrilling journey for a little apple!
Gravity Rush started life as a PS3 title, inspired by Crackdown
When Sony's internal Japan Studio set out to work on Gravity Rush (Gravity Daze in Japan), the game was positioned as a PlayStation 3 title. According to an interview with the US PlayStation Blog, the team "came across PS Vita along the way" and realized it was "perfect for the game."That's not the weird part, though. The game's primary influence is cited as Realtime Worlds' 2007 Xbox 360 game, Crackdown. "I really like the aspect of unlocking skills and becoming more powerful, and achieving a higher level of freedom as you become more powerful," one team member said. "I enjoyed moving in that game." Given that Gravity Rush is an open world game in a third-person view with an upgradable character, the comparison makes sense. Both games feature unrealistic art styles accentuating the fantastical gameplay, making their crossover even clearer.While Gravity Daze has been out for a bit in Japan, Gravity Rush won't float to US shores for another few months.[Image credit: PlayStation Blog]
Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance, LBP ... and Little Deviants among 'NGP' games in development
Sony's bringing out its biggest guns for its new little game machine, the device currently known as "NGP." A slide revealed franchises currently in development for the newly announced handheld, including familiar names like Hot Shots Golf, LittleBigPlanet, WipEout, Killzone, Resistance, and PS3 showpiece Uncharted. Sony's Shuhei Yoshida showed off the Uncharted game, and revealed some controls new to the series: you can touch the screen (or press X) to jump, swing the NGP back and forth to swing on vines, and climb using the device's rear touch panel "as if you're climbing a vine with both hands."The new IPs sound a bit more, um, eclectic: Gravity Daze, Reality Fighters (an augmented reality title), Smart As, Broken, and the delightful-sounding Little Deviants. Update: PlayStation Blog confirms the complete list of game franchises noted at PlayStation Meeting 2011 with NGP iterations in development: Call of Duty Broken Gravity Daze Hot Shots Golf Hustle Kings Killzone LittleBigPlanet Little Deviants Reality Fighters Resistance Smart As Uncharted WipEout
