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Heavenly Sword demo is super-confirmed!
This is a little piece of news that should make everybody happy! Ninja Theory's upcoming super-sexy-cool slash-'em-up and beat-'em-down title, Heavenly Sword, has a demo on the way. SCEA's Kyle Shubel sat down for a quick interview and talked a little about the game. Since we covered pretty much everything there is to know about the gameplay during the week o' Heavenly Sword, we'll only touch on the interesting bits. No online multiplayer -- it's a single player game. They're in discussions about what to bring to HOME. Trophies, whatever. Again, who would love to see a life-sized statue of Nariko next to that life-sized Dante statue? That's pretty rewarding. If it happens. Demo is planned, but its release is still in discussion. We're estimating July just for the heck of it. Sound appropriate? Resolution and framerate right now: 720p @ 30fps Apparently, there will be giant monster-type enemies. No details yet. "Good replay value" planned. Mmm, so what's with developers keeping their mouths shut? Do they really not want to fail to keep a promise that badly? We'd love to just get a ballpark for the demo, or what they'd like to see in HOME, or when they imagine the game being released. Oh well. Until the next interview, then!
Saturday PSP background explosion
Every week, PSP Fanboy brings you new backgrounds to keep your PSP safe from unbackgrounditis. Remember, you can save these images directly to your PSP by accessing the site wireless at m.pspfanboy.com. This week, we fulfill last week's fan requests, which were all PS3 game backgrounds. What games are featured? Continue on to find out. Backgrounds after the jump ...
Heavenly Sword week concludes... for now!
The week of Heavenly Sword draws to a close, but we can read up on it anytime, so the week can last as long as you want it to. But the bit of information we gathered for Friday were 10 things we didn't know about the game. Let's see if we actually knew any of them. Nariko is dying -- combat keeps her alive. Bad guy is named King Botham. Nariko has three fighting stances (see Wednesday's information for that one). The Cell processor pulls off some neat tricks -- swirling hair, clothes, waterfalls, etc. You'll fight many enemies at once... more than Dynasty Warriors, we'd wager. SIXIAXIS motion controls projectiles mid-flight. No monstrous creatures to battle... well... not yet. Multiplayer? The question mark means we don't know. Heavenly Sword is not unlike God of War. Ninja Theory were previously known as Just Add Monsters. We knew most of these, except the last one. If you've been keeping up with GamePro's week of Heavenly Sword, you would have known them too!
We forgot about Heavenly Sword week! This was Thursday.
Thursday's Heavenly Sword feature is a lot less text-intensive and a lot more "oooh, aaaah" intensive. For yesterday, GamePro allowed readers to check out some of the incredibly beautiful art for the title. This includes, of course, the beautiful Nariko and that outfit that, we're certain, is worn for increased mobility.There are also some great landscape shots -- things that should probably be on one of those calendars featuring... places. We really don't have much else to say on this topic. It's a great collection of art, except for that one where Nariko is holding the two swords... if you take that picture and put it next to the Prince of Persia: Warrior Within art, the similarity is pretty humorous. The Prince is in a stance exactly like that, if we recall. Anyway, Friday's feature is next... as soon as they update it.
We forgot about Heavenly Sword week! This was Wednesday.
How humiliating! We got so caught up in the news from everywhere else, we completely neglected to keep up with the Heavenly Sword week over at GamePro. No worries, though, we'll catch you up over the next couple of hours. Wednesday's feature focused on the three fighting styles available to Nariko and her sword, which is slowly draining the life out of her. These styles can be changed mid-attack, so it's not unlike Devil May Cry 3's switching weapons on the fly. Here are the three styles in basic detail: Speed Style: This is the default battle stance primarily composed of rapid short-sword strikes. It's best used for close encounters. Ranged Style: These chain swords let you pick off distant foes, or hook one and slam him into the ground. Like Kratos, maybe, but we're going to say Ivy from Soul Calibur just to be different. Power Style: Slow, but can inflict... you guessed it... massive damage! Stringing together long, custom combos sounds like a blast. As far as the controls, GamePro proudly announces that they're pretty intuitive and easy to get the hang of. As far as SIXAXIS goes, it gets a workout (moving the camera, influencing the direction a projectile is thrown, etc) but isn't central to the gameplay.One last thing... heroic exploits. These are timed button-pressing sequences (or "on-screen prompts" if you prefer) that involve quick reflexes on your part for survival. We may be completely wrong about that, but there are points in the game where you take part in something beyond the normal slashing action. Maybe it's like Resident Evil 3 where you have to make a decision about how to act really quickly (Jill vs. Nemesis text-decisions)?We'll bring you Thursday's feature in a little bit!
Heavenly Sword week continues: the tech behind the sword
The week of Heavenly Sword continues over at GamePro, today gracing us with a kinda-sorta behind the scenes look at some of the story, art direction, and graphics. We'll highlight what's important and leave it to you to check out the full scoop so you can sound like the go-to guy/girl for this game. The Cell is stressed by Heavenly Sword by handling so many enemies on screen at once: "the trick is that Cell treats entire regiments as a single unit of artificial intelligence when they are at a distance; as they draw closer, Cell gradually divides the army into smaller and smaller groups, so they eventually become individual troops with unique fighting styles and tactics." Neat! Graphics are gorgeous and respond to their environment or whatever: "Wind gusts swirl Nariko's hair and clothes, and bazooka blasts send out showers of dust and rubble." Yeah, but... 1080p? How about physics and SIXAXIS support? "When firing a cannon, Nariko can influence the trajectory of the projectile using the Sixaxis. Ninja Theory claims it needs the Cell to handle these complex calculations." They claim... so is there another way? We think back to the Nikita missile in Metal Gear Solid... that was fun. We've still got a lot of questions -- Nariko's past is still pretty much unknown and things like 1080p support haven't been set in stone. No matter the case, this game will be something to grab come September.
Heavenly Sword week opens with 10 new screenshots
There's nothing quite like having an entire week themed on a certain game -- it just so happens this week is extra special because the focus over at GamePro is on Heavenly Sword. The action title is boasting some pretty tight-looking control schemes and action that may rival God of War in unrelenting badassery. Is that a proper term to use for a fantastic female lead? Or would we just call her "sexystrong"?In addition to the ten new screenshots that were released, we'd like to spurn on a discussion for you guys. More and more lately, there seem to be female spots springing up in games as supporting leads (Rachel in Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Lady in Devil May Cry 3 among others), but they've usually got the "share the spotlight with the male lead" syndrome. We pose this question (which I discuss with one of my friends every month or so): what games had a great female lead, who either didn't have to share the spotlight with a male lead, or who had male supporting roles beneath her? Here are a few examples: Aya Brea: Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve 2 Terra and Celes: Final Fantasy VI Virginia Maxwell: Wild Arms 3 (let's not kid ourselves, overall the story was hers) Your turn![Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Three Speech retracts PS3 BioShock, but not other release dates
Three Speech, the "semi-official blog handled by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe," has retracted their claim that BioShock is coming to the PlayStation 3. The kerfuffle began when Steve Boxer, one of the only non-anonymous writers for the site, stated the PlayStation 3 would be getting the game. He wrote in a post about upcoming games, "Another hotly anticipated title from 2K Games (also appearing on Xbox 360) is BioShock." Of course, having this posted on Sony Europe's semi-official blog did bring the statements some weight. The post also stated September would see the releases of Killzone, Heavenly Sword, Ratchet & Clank, Lair and Warhawk. None of these release dates have been retracted, but Sony America says the only game with a confirmed date is Lair in July.It would be nice to finally get a statement on what Three Speech is to Sony. This is the second time in two weeks Three Speech has gone off-message. They state on their site, "Three Speech isn't part of PlayStation, but it does get to speak to PlayStation. You could say we're 'semi official'." Our requests to Three Speech for the name of their editor and a list of their writers have been ignored previously. We continue to question who Three Speech is and what they represent. If they are a handled by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, like Sony America says, it might be time to tug the leash.
Heavenly Sword motion capture session with Andy Serkis
Some of you may know Andy Serkis as the fellow who voiced the beyond-logical-description character Gollum in some movie about rings and lords... Pride and Prejudice, methinks. There were lordly people in there and much exchanging of rings. We kid, naturally. Anyway, it's pretty interesting and entertaining seeing this guy get into character for his role in Heavenly Sword. Reminds me of myself, when I get into character at the start of every single day of my life. Get it? No? It wasn't a joke, you say? Now I'm confused.
Sony hopped on the April Fool's bandwagon
We're calling it the April Fool's bandwagon because it's actually not that, but it would have been a better excuse by Sony instead of calling the release schedule on their UK site untrue. We typed up a nice article yesterday with no intent to fool anyone, yet that's exactly what happened. Just as an aside, if I had made an April Fool's article, it would've been too mean so I decided against it. I'm not good at drawing that line, so I utilized the better part of valor (that's discretion).A Sony spokesperson addressed the issue thus: "We haven't got any release dates for those at the moment; they're just pencilled in for 2007." She's referring to Lair and Heavenly Sword. Why did I just assume it was a woman? Strange. He or she. Anyway, we know that's what they said, but... Lair has been anticipated for May release for a while now. We're going to bank on it still coming out at that time -- Heavenly Sword will come a month or two later, at least in Europe (it's made by an SCEE studio, so they should get dibs). Sorry guys. I was excited too. Let us join together for an angry fist-shake at the Sony webpage designers!
May is the month for games... in the UK!
The US PlayStation site doesn't have these listed in a very easy-to-find place, if at all, but the UK PlayStation website has updated its release schedule for some hotly anticipated titles. April doesn't hold much for you guys, but May is your month -- you'll probably be getting these games earlier than everyone else (expected, since at least one is coming from a European studio). We are, of course, talking about Lair and Heavenly Sword, both slated for a May release.You've also got SingStar coming your way in June, which implies there may be a huge revamping of the PS-Store sometime before that. Don't quote us, we're not sure, but it would make sense and be nice, what with Sony being a gigantic music distributor and all. Good stuff, that. We didn't expect Heavenly Sword until much later in the year. If the UK gobbles it up in May, we in the US may get it around July, right? Hopefully.
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 10
Note: This edition was delayed due to an internet outage. PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com. Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Do NOT place in "VIDEO" folder. Firmware 2.80 or above do not need to download thumbnails. LittleBigPlanet [PS3] Download MP4 (25.5MB) | Download THM The following videos are featured after the break: Warhawk [PS3], fl0w [PS3], Home [PS3], Heavenly Sword [PS3]
Heavenly Sword screenshot/girlfriend
Cutscenes in games are photo-realistic on the PS3. Seriously. Even though Nariko from Heavenly Sword is built based on an actress (kind of like the main characters in the Onimusha games), this screenshot/wallpaper placed on the Ninja Theory forums really shows how gorgeous games can be, cutscene or not.This picture of Nariko spurned on a lot of debate on the forums, many nay-sayers claiming that there's no way this sort of graphic can be in-game. It is in-game, but a cutscene. Just read the original post from the Web Admin: "Had a chat with Tameem, and we've managed to get approval from Sony to release a screenshot to say a big 'Thank You' for your participation on the forums. So, without further a-do, here's an in-game screen grab of Nariko from one of our cutscenes." Yeah, we added the bold. So, what did this "Tameem" guy say? Let's look backwards."I'm assuming most of you have seen the "Cinematic Production" teaser. The facial model and texturing you see is based on the actress and the expression is comprised of a series of blend-shapes driven by the mocap data. Each expression is tweaked by us so that we remain true to the original performance. Lighting and depth of field is then applied to the scene and the results, I hope you'll agree, look pretty nice. This particular example doesn't have the floor in place and we've made it into a 1280x1024 size image so that it can be used as a desktop wallpaper."I've needed a new wallpaper and this will do nicely. What do you guys think? If actual in-game... gameplay graphics are anywhere near this, will that not be very, very impressive?
Today's most Hero(es)ic game video: Heavenly Sword on NBC's 'Heroes'
Tonight's episode of Heroes on NBC opens with Micah and Niki/Jessica playing Heavenly Sword on the PlayStation 3. Apparently one of Micah's other tech-based powers is the ability to play unreleased video games. That would actually be a pretty sweet ability to have. Of course, talk about getting no work done as a result. Like us rushing to get this post to you before the show even airs. We read your minds, a la Matt Parkman, and knew you'd want to see this early.Is there also some sort of a hint or clue buried in the game title? Hiro is desperately trying to get his hands on that special samurai sword that he thinks will let him access his powers once again. Of course in the game Heavenly Sword, the title weapon is the game. According to an IGN interview with the developer Ninja Theory, "The story revolves around an ancient sword, the Heavenly Sword, which belonged to a deity and can never be wielded by a mortal without destroying them ... but as the sword is not meant for her, it sucks away her life force. So you begin the game with only a few hours left to live and have to fulfill this one last mission before the sword finally takes your life. But until that day arrives, Nariko's fighting skills rock."Also, Gollum/King Kong/Nikola Tesla's assistant Andy Serkis will be playing villainous King Botan in this game. Is there any sort of connection here? We'd love to see Serkis on heroes. His power would be to make you feel slightly uncormfortable. Very interesting, NBC. Verrrrrrrrry interesting.
Covers for Heavenly Sword, anyone?
It's not the game, but it at least gives us a glimpse of what to look for on the shelves of our local video game retailer. The box-art for Heavenly Sword has apparently been unleashed on the PS3Forums and you know what? That box-art is snazzy. It almost begs to get placed on our gaming library shelf. The picture we've got here is the European box-art... which makes sense, since the studio making the game is based "over there" (to be vague). Not much else to say about this, but your opinion always matters, so we'll leave the rest of the talking up to you.
Some pretty new Heavenly Sword scans
Hmm, call me crazy, but I'd rather take Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning out for coffee than Heavenly Sword's Nariko. Why? Uhhh... check out the latest screens/scans from the latter's game and you tell us. Yeah, you'd feel safe if Nariko was having a good time and you suddenly get surrounded by a plethora of ninjas, but what if she asked for decaf and you forgot? Something tells me she'd be less receptive than Lightning.Anyway, these latest scans show the long red-haired heroine dealing some major deathblows to some masked peons, as well as Jeux-France's confirmation that indeed, the game is due out in March for the North American crowd. Which is really strange, since the latest EGM threw this title out in their "Fall '07" lineup. But of course, this is the same EGM who hosted a poll asking "What's wrong with the PlayStation Store" and 55% of the voters said "It's not XBox Live". I mean, I don't like cheese because it isn't ice cream. Sure, both are dairy, but I'm ignorant and take advantage of a poll without any screening questions.Wow, we're getting off topic. Although, not much to be on topic about. Check out the scans and get pumped up for March!
Heavenly Sword still on track despite PAL delay
Or is it? Says Nina Kristensen, Ninja Theory's co-founder, "We've always been a launch window title so it hasn't affected us at all," referring to the PS3 delay in Europe. However, lead animator Guy Midgley said "No, it's going to be next year...but we haven't announced a specific date yet." So... it's a launch window title (which should be before 2007, right?) but it's not coming out until next year in the US?Oh. Launch window for Europe! Well, if you put it that way, it makes sense. So, for those of you wondering, Heavenly Sword hasn't been moved forward in the launch frame, nor has it been delayed. The difference between Japan/North Ameria launch window and the European launch window might have caused a few rumors to spark into existence, only to be snuffed out by a little bit of common sense.
TGS 06: Best in Show, according to CESA
The mighty Computer Entertainment Software Association of Japan revealed the eleven titles they thought were the "best in show." Of those titles, two were exclusives for the PSP. Here are the winners, in no particular order: Elebits (Konami) for the Wii Gyakuten Saiban 4 [Phoenix Wright] (Capcom) for the DS Gran Turismo HD (Sony) for the PS3 The Eye of Judgment (Sony) for the PS3 Seiken Densetsu 4 [Dawn of Mana] (Square Enix) for the PS2 Tales of Destiny (Namco Bandai) for the PS2 Blue Dragon (Microsoft) for the Xbox 360 Heavenly Sword (Sony) for the PS3 Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (Konami) for the PSP Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom) for the PSP Lost Planet (Capcom) for the Xbox 360 This should come as no surprise. There are so many excellent games at TGS this year, that it must've been nigh impossible to even narrow the list down. But, for those of you that are battling a fanboy war, you might want to note that PSP got two titles, and the DS only got one.[Via Joystiq]
Heavenly Sword screens and vid... Sony owns TGS!
Maybe that last phrase was unnecessary, but it doesn't matter. There has been so much eyebrow-raising at Sony's stuff at the Tokyo Game Show that all the bad news prior seems to be fading into, er, oblivion. Anyway, Heavenly Sword has a few high-res screens up here, and also a video to download. Just navigate around the question marks and the video's under the blue question marks next to the "mpg". If that doesn't work, you can always look for another video... there's a few over at IGN. It's more arena brawling, but it doesn't matter when the game looks this fun. November is so far away... not that this is a launch title, but even so, we want our PS3. We knew the Tokyo Game Show would change many people's minds! Hooray![creds to Ruliweb for the image (and Sony, of course)]
Heavenly Sword Q&A -- quick and awesome
The producer of Heavenly Sword, Mat Hart, sat down for an interview recently and talked about this much anticipated PS3 title. Here's what he had to say: The inspiration for the action scenes came mostly from film -- films like Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... stuff that's over the top, but really, really cool. The combat system has been in the works for two years, from scratch! They're really trying to reach a deep combo system, what with juggling enemies and the like. "You know, you go into power stance and you feel the weight of the weapon, and you're hitting people across the room, but then you flip over into speed stance, and you're dancing all over the place, spinning the blades around, just whacking guys up into the air." Yay! Ever play Kung Fu Chaos for the XBox? A lot of their ideas spawned from that game. They've been working on a camera system and seem to be thinking about incorporating the tilt sensor as a camera system. Maybe not in this game, but in the future, they believe it could be a very interesting concept. How has developing for the PS3 turned out? Let's just quote this one: "It's been great! To be fair, I've not had anything to compare it with, because we're only developing for PS3, this is a PS3 exclusive. I can't comment on other SKUs or anything like that. But certainly we've found Sony to be a fantastic partner to work with. The actual architecture of the console, the power of the PlayStation 3, is what gives us the ability to give you an environment that's alive, a combat system that gives a unique experience, and a story, an emotionally driven, character-driven story, that pulls you through the game." A half-dozen "chapters" of single-player gaming, one weapon with three different stances (ranged, speed, power)... and they're still tweaking the idea of a "sense of urgency". Will the heroine's life deplete slowly throughout a level? Maybe. It was an interesting interview, but not too much was revealed that we weren't aware of. The fact that we've only got one weapon to use is kind of annoying, but with the different stances it may help spice up combat to keep us entertained throughout the game. Check out the whole interview if you're looking forward to this PS3 game.
