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Getting crafty with LittleBigPlanet Karting
While touring the Sony booth at E3, we sat down with United Front Games design director William Ho to talk about LittleBigPlanet Karting. Check out the video above to learn how the studio is translating the vision of LittleBigPlanet into a completely customizable racer.
The true story of Sleeping Dogs' non-True Crime origins
We know how Activision dropped United Front's True Crime: Hong Kong, but what we found interesting during a meeting about the game at E3 2012 is that Sleeping Dogs wasn't even created as a True Crime title to begin with."One misconception is we were True Crime from the get-go," said Dan Sochan, producer at United Front Games. "We were a new [intellectual property] from the get-go. Our own story, own characters and gameplay features. After working on it for a couple years, Activision decided it wanted to reboot the True Crime franchise."Sochan explained the story, characters and features didn't change through the transitions."In terms of of our initial vision for the game nothing has changed. From new IP "Black Lotus," to True Crime to Sleeping Dogs, that has always remained intact."
Sleeping Dogs E3 video, screens prove once again it's no wuss
Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs has a classic storyline -- tough guy with tattoos gets mixed up with the wrong sort, visits some strip clubs, drives fast cars and punches some dudes -- but as its E3 trailer shows, Sleeping Dogs has something more to offer: Power drills to the thigh. Ouch.%Gallery-157127%
Meet Hong Kong's Yaku ... er, Triads in the latest Sleeping Dogs trailer
United Front Games' Sleeping Dogs seems awfully reminiscent of another open-world, minigame-filled action game with a connection to another well-known Asian mafia, but we just can't seem to put our finger on it. Perhaps you can help identify the mystery inspiration?
This Sleeping Dogs trailer is pretty violent, you guys
We're all for a good bit of Hong Kong-style fisticuffs, but why would you ever slam a guy's face into an active table saw? That's totally uncalled for, Sleeping Dogs guy!
Sleeping Dogs awaken on August 14; pre-order bonuses defined
Hong Kong-based action game Sleeping Dogs will launch at retail on August 14. Publisher Square Enix announced the game's launch date this morning alongside news of three separate pre-order bonuses tied to three separate retailers: Best Buy, GameStop, and Amazon.Should you choose to go the brick-and-mortar route, Best Buy is offering the "Georges St. Pierre Pack," which features a trio of GSP-related gear and moves (his "signature flying punch," for instance). GameStop is similarly offering a slew of in-game content, dubbed the "Police Protection Pack. As you might imagine, it comes with a variety of police officer-themed gear. Finally, Amazon has the "Martial Arts Pack," which ... well ... you get it at this point, right? For full listings of all the gear, head past the break.Oh, and if you're a PC gamer wondering what your fancy pre-order bonus is, know that Square Enix hasn't forgotten about you: "Exclusive content for the digitally downloadable PC version of Sleeping Dogs will be announced at a later date," the press release reads.
LittleBigPlanet Karting arriving in 2012 from ModNation Racers devs
After briefly hearing about LittleBigPlanet Karting in early February, Sony decided to share some new details this morning on the upcoming adorable kart racer. United Front Games is handling production duties – which makes sense given the developer's track record with ModNation Racers – and the team promises the same level of dedication and attention to detail that Media Molecule lavishes on its main franchise LBP titles.Like those main titles, LBP Karting will support a full creation system, which allows players to craft new levels, racers, and even "to modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges," according to UFG senior producer James Grieve. He also says that some form of "community experience" will be included, though he stops short of saying whether LBP.me will play some part in that experience.When we first heard about LBP Karting, the game was said to feature PlayStation Move functionality as well, a la Mario Kart for Wii. However, neither Sony nor United Front Games mentions as much in this announcement. What we do know for sure is this: LittleBigPlanet Karting will launch at some point in 2012 on the PlayStation 3.%Gallery-151249%
Sleeping Dogs sets the scene with new story trailer
If this story trailer for Sleeping Dogs has taught us anything, it's that the tattoo industry in Asia is booming right now.
A Calculated Risk: Why Square Enix Can't Put 'Sleeping Dogs' Down
"It was not a happy time, as you can probably imagine."Producer Jeff O'Connell conveys the grim atmosphere reigning over the developers at United Front Games, moments after losing their publisher and months before their ambitious open-world game could stand in a lineup with other free-roaming felons. Activision wanted a bold return for its True Crime franchise, but decided to pull the plug in February 2010. The protracted effort just wasn't guaranteed to conclude at the top of the genre.Enter: Square Enix London Studios, a division of Square Enix Europe (formerly Eidos). At about 20 members it's a much smaller group than the Vancouver-based United Front, which had close to 180 employees at the peak of True Crime development. "We're a pretty small, tight group," says General Manager Lee Singleton. "I think, actually, a couple of years ago I did the math and I think the average amount of industry experience is like 15 or 16 years or something. We're all pretty seasoned guys."United Front can whip out a similar resume, built on familial qualities. "We consider ourselves very close-knit," O'Connell says. "I'm sure a lot of these studios say they consider themselves a family, and we do, and we do things to foster that kind of feeling. We have a lot of events, and even though we're a very young studio, we're a very experienced studio." The studio began with Modnation Racers, a vibrant, approachable racing game built with Sony, but incorporates veterans from Bully, Prototype and the Need for Speed franchise."Meeting Square, which we did very shortly after the game was canceled -- and I'm probably going to use some corny expression -- was like a bright light," O'Connell says. "Right away, we met those guys and I think we just clicked with them. It's one thing for people to come in and love the game, which they did, and it's another thing for people to come in and just get along with them incredibly well and go out for drinks and meals with them, and just have a really fantastic time, and have them in the studio and have them ask questions or make suggestions, and have that show their depth of understanding." If that run-on sentence isn't indicative of real enthusiasm about this relationship, we don't know what is.%Gallery-147901%
Square Enix's 'Sleeping Dogs' to launch in August 2012, looks True Crime-esque [update]
Update: Square Enix has confirmed Sleeping Dogs, the reincarnation of True Crime: Hong Kong. The publisher sent out a new live-action trailer and notes the game will be available "in the second half of 2012." It's still being developed by United Front Games.Original: "Sleeping Dogs" isn't lying down, shifting from trademark to passively announced title. Canadian retailer Future Shop's official gaming Twitter account posted a poster for Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs and announced an expected launch of August 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It notes the game will be available to pre-order soon.Given the art, the game may not be a Kane & Lynch follow-up as first speculated, but possibly the reincarnation of True Crime: Hong Kong. Activision cancelled the latest True Crime installment last February, with CEO Eric Hirshberg telling us, "The finished product was not going to be at the top of that genre."Then, last August, Square Enix picked up the rights to the game, but not the True Crime intellectual property, meaning the publisher would need to rename the game before putting it out there. It appears Square Enix is making moves to solve this Chinese puzzle box very soon.
Square Enix snags rights to True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision
"The finished product was not going to be at the top of that genre," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Joystiq following the sudden cancellation of the publisher's True Crime: Hong Kong reboot in February. That blunt assessment hasn't stopped Square Enix from picking up the rights to the United Front Games-developed title from Activision and placing it under the management of Square Enix London Studios and its general manager, Lee Singleton. "When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it," Singleton tells Gamasutra, further describing the game as a "great big bucket of fun." Square Enix London Studios knows a thing or two about "fun." The organization is tasked to provide a "fresh approach to third party game development" and, in that pursuit, it's managed games like Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum and Avalanche Studios' open-world Just Cause 2. Since Square Enix didn't purchase the (somewhat worthless) True Crime IP, it appears it will be renaming the game; the "branding team is already working on concepts," Gama reports. And while the-game-formerly-known-as-True-Crime-Hong-Kong was destined for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this November, Square's not ready to even address those specifics. After the game's cancellation, the development team had to "scale back" but now that Square Enix has picked up the title, "we're ready to turn up the heat and get the team up to capacity," Singleton says. For his part, Activision's Hirshberg tells Gama, "Our team has worked very hard to find a solution where everybody wins. Square Enix gets the benefit of the tremendous investment we've made in the game thus far. UFG gets to stay together and complete their vision. And gamers get to play a great game. We couldn't be more thrilled." And while most gamers will no doubt look forward to the title's release, if only to play "Would I Have Cancelled It," Singleton reminds us that the game still needs work. "We are committed to working with the team at United Front Games and giving them the time needed to realize the full potential of the game's standout features and create a truly unique open world adventure." Now we wait to see if Square's able to release something "at the top of that genre."
New Modnation Racers DLC rolls out
More ModNation Racers DLC was promised, and here it is: a Water World parts pack and a new fire-engine themed kart plus racer are now available in the game for your microtransaction purchase. "Backburn" is a fire fighter racer, and he's got a miniature fire engine to drive, available for $1 each or a 25 percent off if you buy them together. The Water World parts pack allows players to insert rafts, slides and even an inflatable shark into their ModNation Racers courses. That pack is $6.99, and joins the Big City Career Extension Pack and Arctic Career Extension Pack (both $9.99) in the PS3 and PSP versions of the game. Finally, the PlayStation blog is also awarding the "Moddies" this month, celebrating the best user-created content from the game. You can see the results over here -- some of those tracks and mods are very, very well done, and all of them are up for download right now. Congrats to all the honorees!
ModNation Racers modded into Vita game
Among the litany of PlayStation franchises you'll get to experience on the PlayStation Vita is the kart racer ModNation Racers. The Vita version includes touchscreen creation controls -- and a ton of user-generated content! Like 2 million+ items. Because all the content created by users for the PS3 version of the game will be available for the Vita version on day one.
ModNation Racers reaches 2 million user-created items; more DLC to come
The race to two million user creations in ModNation Racers took considerably longer to finish than the first-miilion milestone (which was achieved in less than three months). Just over nine month's since Modnation's release, the collective community has finally passed the two-million mark in creations -- a wealth of content for players, old and new alike, to share. PlayStation Blog also confirms that more "official" DLC is on the way, with new karts, characters and prop packs planned. A free "Parts Pack" is already available on the PlayStation Store, and upcoming track packs (used to create new tracks) will include western and pirate themes. Additionally, (official) developer United Front Games is working on new career DLC. [Image source: Flickr; credit: StargamerX]
United Front Games hit with layoffs in wake of True Crime cancellation
We've heard rumblings over the last week about layoffs at True Crime: Hong Kong developer United Front Games, but last night a representative confirmed to us that "a number of roles have been made redundant" at the studio, specifically as a result of the cancellation of True Crime. The "recent activity" page for UFG on LinkedIn, a business networking site, shows at least 25 people who were affected. Despite the layoffs, we were also told that, "UFG is still very much open for business and we will continue to ship top games." Additionally, the studio's website has an update message on its front page this morning, lamenting the cancellation of True Crime but admitting, "we understand why." We wish everyone affected at the Vancouver-based studio the best in the coming months. The full statement from United Front Games is available after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Activision axing Guitar Hero and True Crime; Freestyle Games reportedly hit with layoffs [update]
Despite a recent cover story in EGM, United Front's True Crime: Hong Kong won't make it to retail. Activision's latest earnings report confirms the game's cancellation, as well as the end of the Guitar Hero franchise. "Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," Activision said in its financial statement. The statement goes on to confirm the cancellation of True Crime. "The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences." Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg went into a bit more detail on today's investor call: "Despite a remarkable 92 rating on DJ Hero 2, a widely well-regarded Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as a 90-plus rated release from our most direct competitor [Rock Band 3], demand for peripheral-based music games declined at a dramatic pace. Given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot make these games profitably based on current economics and demand. Instead, what we'll do is focus our time and energies on marketing and supporting our strong catalog of titles and downloadable content, especially to new consumers as the installed base for hardware continues to grow."Hirshberg continued, saying that True Crime's development, "was't going to lead to a title at or near the top of the competitive open-world genre." To put things more directly, Hirshberg added, "To be blunt, it just wasn't going to be good enough." If that weren't enough bad news, Eurogamer also reports that DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games has suffered "severe layoffs," though it's unclear whether the rhythm series has been affected by the alleged redundancies. We'll update this post as we learn more. [Update: An earlier version of this post was based solely on Eurogamer's report, which has since been partially confirmed by Activision.] [Update 2: United Front Games has commented on the cancellation of True Crime]
ModNation Racers for-pay cheat unlocks everything, coming tomorrow
The latest of what we like to call "lazy gamer" cheats -- downloadable unlocks that open up entire games, for a price -- is actually inbound from Sony for ModNation Racers. It's called the "Career Unlock All Key" and, for $3 tomorrow on the PlayStation Store, evidently does what its name suggests. Given the ultra-creative nature of the game, we can't really knock the idea of having access to all of the stickers, karts, tracks, themes and other various parts on the disc (and those added by DLC, if you've already bought it). Then again, if you've already sunk $60 into the retail release and more into DLC, you'd think the least Sony could do is throw in some seat covers a code.
ModNation Racers now $40 on PS3, $20 on PSP
It's a big day for officially-sanctioned discounts on Sony games. First the new Greatest Hits, then the Uncharted 2 Game of the Year Edition, and now United Front's cheerful DIY kart game ModNation Racers. The publisher has announced a price drop for both the PS3 and PSP versions of Racers, to $40 and $20 respectively. And if that's not exciting enough, Sony is also releasing a set of ModNation PSN avatars today! Wait, the price drop thing was much more exciting. We really should have led with that if we wanted to build up.
True Crime: Hong Kong delayed until 2011
Activision's recently released Q2 2011 investor's report contains a bit of bad news for United Front Games' upcoming reboot of the True Crime franchise -- or good news, depending on how you look at it. The game -- now referred to as True Crime: Hong Kong -- has had its somewhat ambiguous fall 2010 release window pushed to an even more ambiguous 2011 launch, which Activision hopes will "give the development team more time to deliver the high-quality entertainment experience they envision for the game." We normally can't help but scoff when publishers give this excuse when pushing back the release of one of their titles, but in this case, we'll let it slide. We're not sure if you've heard, but Hong Kong is ... um, kind of big.
ModNation Racers receives Title Update 1.02 tomorrow
Tomorrow, ModNation Racers, uh, racers can download Title Update 1.02, which addresses long load times, squashes some bugs, improves server stability and adds a new "casual" difficulty level. The update will go live at 2:00 a.m. PDT and also brings with it a bunch of changes to the community site including race logs, tracking systems for monitoring your favorite creators (and their favorite creators), plus friend and rep search utilities, according to the PlayStation Blog. Speed demons looking to expand their roster of racers can also download Nukular and Kart this week, a new ride and driver who look like they just leapt out of Mad Max or something. All we can say is we'd definitely steer clear of the guy on the track with the huge plow on the front of his ride. Just saying!
