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Oculus buys developer of ‘Lone Echo’
Oculus has bought Ready At Dawn Studios, the developer behind VR games Lone Echo and Echo Arena, according to a statement. Oculus, owned by Facebook, said it plans to support Ready At Dawn as it continues developing VR technology. Ready At Dawn Studios is notable for the innovative movement mechanics it’s developed in VR, which Oculus praised in its statement.
Oculus will host its first games showcase on April 21st
Expect updates on 'Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge' and 'Pistol Whip.'
This trailer for The Order: 1886 is chilling
Not like, "That trailer is so relaxed, it's chillin'." This trailer for The Order: 1886 does away with fancy 3D cinematics and tells the terrifying story of Little Bobby Paige, complete with children singing in the key of creepy. [Image: Ready at Dawn]
The Order: 1886's cinematic look is more than meets the eye
To 1080p or not to 1080p: that is not the question for Ready At Dawn's PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886. Running at a 1920x800 resolution in 2.40:1 aspect ratio, the game is presented like a film, with horizontal black bars running across the top and bottom of the screen. In an age where resolution is a selling point, is Ready At Dawn selling themselves short by giving up valuable real estate? The short answer: No. The longer answer: In fact, it may even be better.
The Order: 1886 delayed until 2015
The PlayStation 4's visually extravagant third-person shooter, The Order: 1886, has been delayed until "early" 2015 – or about 129 years after a group of gun-toting knights embarked on a quest that many excitable historians said would definitely, definitely be adapted into a video game one day. The Order: 1886 follows Sir Galahad and three other knights who have adopted the names of King Arthur's noble warriors. Relying on a mysterious substance called "Black Water" to extend their powers and lifespans, the knights must quell an uprising and battle the monsters that emerge from the foggy alleys of an alternate-history London. The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn, the studio best known for bringing the God of War series to Sony's PlayStation Portable, and Sony Santa Monica. For more on The Order: 1886, make sure to watch Joystiq's video preview featuring new footage and impressions of our time playing the PlayStation 4 exclusive. [Image: SCEA]
Video preview: Strategic use of a flare gun in The Order: 1886
After delivering a set of solid God of War PSP titles, developer Ready At Dawn is poised to unleash its first new intellectual property on the world. Set in an alt-history Victorian London filled with half-breed humans and monsters, naturally, The Order: 1886 spins a new yarn featuring King Arthur's Knights of the Round. While the game features a standard arsenal, it was the strategic use of a weapon that fired a cloud of thermite that we found the most invigorating. Painting a target with the flammable cloud and firing a flare into the dust made for some satisfying explosions of fire, raining terror onto Sir Galahad's enemies. Originally scheduled to arrive this fall, The Order: 1886 is now expected to launch for the PlayStation 4 sometime in 2015.
Sony to stream The Order: 1886 gameplay at 4pm ET
Sony will livestream PS4 gameplay for The Order: 1886 on its Twitch channel today. The console manufacturer teased a "sneak peek at new gameplay from an upcoming PS4 title" today via PlayStation Blog, sporting an image with The Order's logo. Unless this is one elaborate bait-and-switch, the game will broadcast at 4:00 p.m. Eastern (1:00 p.m. Pacific) this afternoon. The PS4-exclusive game was announced at E3 last year in June, and comes from God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta developer Ready at Dawn. The Order: 1886 blends horror and historical fiction by placing players in the role of Knights of the Round Table, who must battle human "half-breeds" that exist thanks to a twist in human evolution. [Image: Ready at Dawn]
The Order: 1886 dev video shows knights of the revolving chamber
The Order: 1886 may take place in Victorian-era London, but as developer Ready at Dawn reveals in this behind-the-scenes video, its in-game history traces back to the age of King Arthur. The characters in The Order wield lightning-rifles instead of broadswords, but hey, times change. [Image: Sony]
PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886 unveils new trailer, gameplay video
We've not seen much of Ready at Dawn's PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886 since it was announced at last year's E3, at least not until today with Sony releasing videos showcasing its gameplay for the first time. The third-person shooter, set in a so-dubbed "Neo-Victorian" London, maintains its wide filmic aspect ratio between cut scenes and gameplay, and Ready at Dawn Co-Founder Ru Weerasuriya says there's "no disconnect" in transitioing between the two elements. Check out the gameplay footage below the break, courtesy of PlayStation Access. According to PS Europe's hub page, The Order: 1886 is slated to arrive on PS4 sometime this year, although it remains without a neo-concrete release date or window. [Image: Sony]
The Order: 1886 is not steampunk, Ready at Dawn boss says
The Order: 1886 debuted in a trailer at E3, showing three people in elaborate military formals, riding in a plush carriage through London's Victorian era. Dirigible-inspired hovercrafts float around Big Ben as the carriage rolls into Whitechapel, a dank, industrial part of town, and the trio carry heavy-duty weapons engraved with fleurs-de-lis. When they're attacked by a group of bipedal beasts, one passenger pulls out a gun that shoots lightning. These details caused us, and most other viewers, to casually label the game as "steampunk." The Order is not steampunk, Ready at Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya told me during Gamescom. "It's a word that we don't use – it's the 's' word," Weerasuriya said. "We don't use that word purely because I think there's a connotation of 'steampunk' that's already been built into a lot of things out there – movies, anime, all that. That is not exactly the one we try to endear to. I think our world is a lot darker, grittier, dirtier and more real." If "steampunk" is the "s" word, then "fantasy" is the "f" word – Ready at Dawn isn't interested in creating an exaggerated, fantastical world full of things that could never exist. Weerasuriya wants The Order to challenge the validity of our real history, proposing an alternate timeline of events in Europe, specifically London, directly after the Industrial Revolution. "What if everything you know today and the events that happened did happen, but they didn't happen for the reason that you believe?" he asked. "What could be different in the way that we view our world? It's full of mystery and it's fun to see where those mysteries lie."
The Order: 1886 announced as PS4 exclusive [Update: Now with trailer!]
Sony just unveiled The Order: 1886 as a PS4 exclusive. The game was showcased in a brief debut trailer which was set in a Victorian yet futuristic-seeming London, complete with zeppelins, monorail, and an array of advanced-looking steampunk weaponry. The Order: 1886 is being developed by God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta developer Ready at Dawn.
Ready at Dawn on going from handheld to next-gen, and getting away from GoW
Ready at Dawn is known for having crafted two excellent God of War games for PSP, as well as assisting in their porting to the PlayStation 3. Unfortunately for Ready at Dawn, the company isn't known for much else – an issue that co-founder and CEO Ru Weerasuriya aims to fix by setting a new direction for his studio."When it came to really decide what we wanted to do next, I think most of the guys internally just wanted to do something that, in some ways, we had built this company for. It's taken us time to get there and we've wanted to do new IP, we've been working on it for a while, and we felt the time was right and it was just the perfect alignment of everything that was happening," Weerasuriya told GamesIndustry International.Which isn't to say the team never considered resting on its laurels and crafting yet another portable God of War, this time for the Vita. "It's an idea that was floated as far as what could happen on the Vita. And especially with a platform like that, we were enticed I think by the prospect of doing something on that platform, but it just didn't align with what we wanted," Weerasuriya said. He'd still love for Sony to do such a project ("There's so much potential for it!"), but for the first time in four-plus years, his studio isn't working on Kratos' next portable game.
God of War PSP studio readying next-gen third-person action title
After declaring themselves as officially done with God of War PSP games, and even going as far as to announce a "story driven action-adventure game based on original IP" back in late 2010, Ready at Dawn staffers promptly revealed they were ... creating a PlayStation 3 port of their previously PSP-exclusive God of War titles. Not quite what we were expecting! If recent job listings are any indication, though, it looks like Ready at Dawn is still working on that original IP -- but now, the game is also headed to a "next-generation home console game system." Eurogamer spotted listings for a variety of jobs on Ready at Dawn's job page, seeking experienced professionals in a variety of disciplines, from concept artists to a graphics programmer to a senior level designer. Little information can be gleaned from the listings beyond the general project, but we've reached out to Ready at Dawn for more info.
God of War Origins Collection launch trailer shows Kratos' brutal beginnings
If you skipped Kratos' PSP adventures, you can fill the gaps of his mythos by picking up the God of War Origins Collection, the launch trailer for which is posted above. Or, you can read our handy summary: He used to be very angry, and now he is very, very angry, and he will always be so angry.
God of War: Origins Collection demo hits PSN tomorrow for Plus members, next week for everyone
The life of a Spartan is hard, you know? Not only do you spend the majority of your time battling the will of the gods and/or Freddy Krueger, but you've also got to deal with Ready at Dawn rebuilding your entire body from scratch. Being completely reconstituted from the ground up is a serious drag on a wrathful deity's love life, but it looks like the reconstruction process is nearly finished, as the God of War: Origins Collection demo will soon make its way into your living room. PlayStation Plus members itchin' for some PSP-remake action can get their hands dirty as early as tomorrow, while plebeian un-Plus members will have to quell their bloodlust until September 6. Full stereoscopic 3D will be included in the demo as well, so if you've got a 3D-capable display and an action-capable attitude, the only thing keeping you from olympian glory is yourself. Unless you're not a PlayStation Plus member; that will also keep you from olympian glory, for one week.
Ready at Dawn gets technical about God of War: Origins Collection on PS3
Oh, you just thought they tighten up the graphics a bit and call it a day, huh? No way, José -- converting PSP games that run at 480 x 272, 30 frames a second, to full 1080p, 60 frames a second is no small task. Ready at Dawn had to get its hands dirty and create a custom PS3 version of its internal engine for God of War: Origins Collection, Nathan Phail-Liff recounted on the PlayStation Blog today. "We ended up going through every single character in the game and doubling or tripling polygon count by hand, as well as up-rezing and re-painting every texture across both games at 4x resolution on both characters and environments," Phail-Liff said. He also said Ready at Dawn had to re-render every cutscene from Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta in the new PS3 engine. Finally, there's also going to be full stereoscopic 3D support in both games. God of War: Origins Collection launches for the PS3 on September 13, 2011.
God of War: Origins E3 trailer is all angry and stuff
Combining both God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta is the God of War Origins Collection, an improved HD-enhanced version of the PSP titles for the PS3. Revealed during Sony's E3 2011 keynote, this two-for-one is coming this year and boasts full 3D support.
Mass Effect 2 wins GOTY, RPG, storytelling awards at DICE 2011
Tonight's 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (i.e., the DICE awards) saw Mass Effect 2 cruise off with honors for Game of the Year, RPG of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Story. However, Red Dead Redemption ended up with more trophies, riding away with wins for Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Character Performance, along with Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Art Direction and Gameplay Engineering. The portable and casual categories were filled with rage, as God of War: Ghost of Sparta won the award for Portable Game of the Year, while Casual Game of the Year went to the ferocious fowls of Angry Birds HD. Check out the full list of award recipients after the break.
Ready At Dawn to reveal new original action game 'soon,' done with PSP
Ready at Dawn recently explained in an interview with Eurogamer that it's ready to make the leap away from the PSP platform that's treated it so, so well over the years. The developer is preparing to announce a new "story driven" action-adventure game based on original IP -- but Ready at Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya confirmed that God of War: Ghost of Sparta is "our last PSP game." So, where is the new project going to end up? Weerasuriya explained that it's currently being developed using the studio's self-titled Ready at Dawn engine, and "right now our engine runs on pretty much anything that's available out there." So, then, 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, Gamecube, Xbox, DS, PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Phone 7, Game Boy Advance, car radios, iPod Nanos and Pokéwalkers -- but totally, definitely not the PSP.
God of War: Ghost of Sparta review: This Spartan stands tall
The past 12 months have been very good to fans of the God of War franchise. Nearly a year ago, we got HD versions of the original PS2 game and its sequel, followed by the excellent God of War III for PS3. Then came the revelation that Ready At Dawn, developer of the knockout God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP, was returning to the system with a brand new entry, God of War: Ghost of Sparta. As great as Chains of Olympus had been, the idea that a portable God of War could satisfy after the epic PS3 iteration seemed, well, like it would take an act of ... gods. It's a good thing, then, that Ready At Dawn clearly drew on some otherworldly powers in creating Ghost of Sparta: a game that upholds the standard of quality in gameplay, storytelling and sheer wow factor of the series, while also -- like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker before it -- blurring the lines between portable and console experiences with its amazing presentation.%Gallery-92258%
