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The worlds of Crackdown and Crackdown 2 compared
If the recent animated prequel didn't convince you that Pacific City, the setting for the Crackdown series, has gone to hell in a handbasket since the franchise's first installment, then perhaps this will do the trick. BitMob recently posted a panoramic comparison of the city as it looked in Crackdown to how it looks in Crackdown 2. In short, it looks like a really, really terrible place to live now. Watch as some of the notable landmarks from the first game crumble, decay or simply become derelict due to the influx of violent mutants that plague Crackdown 2. It looks like Pacific City has become a generally more dangerous place to take up residence -- though, as a concern, we imagine that ranks second behind what this gruesome makeover has done to the city's property values.
Third Crackdown 2 ViDoc revels in mass destruction
We should warn you right off the bat that the ViDoc for Crackdown 2 embedded above does at one point feature a Ruffian Games employee using the word "awesomeness," though he thankfully catches himself quickly before the madness spreads too far. While his excitement for this summer's Xbox 360 release is appreciable, we're not so sure that devolving into Valley Girl-isms is the way to play up the game's comically destructive sandbox gameplay. As senior designer Dean Smith puts it, "For some reason, there's a lot of explosive things lying around Pacific City as well, so there's always a new prop to grab or a new explodable of some type." Now that's what gets us excited for more Crackdown: stuff exploding! Lots of stuff exploding! Hooray explosions!
Viral Crackdown 2 contest offers early demo access
This is your lucky day, agent. Today you get to participate in viral marketing, easily the best kind of marketing in Pacific City. This marketing, as you may have guessed, is for Crackdown 2. You might be wondering why you'd participate in such a thing. After all, you loved the first Crackdown, you've read the hands-on coverage for the sequel, your pre-order money has been set aside and you're just coasting your way to July. The answer is simple: early demo access. To get started, pick up Microsoft's Tag Reader app for your mobile phone (find it at gettag.mobi). Then, watch this video. At the end you'll see a hidden orb, which you can scan with Tag Reader. If you'd rather not watch the video (again), you can just scan the image to the right. Once scanned, you can register for a contest account, which will provide you with text message clues about the locations of the remaining "orbs." Find them, scan them and you're in. Orbs for demos, agent. Orbs for demos. Unless you don't have a texting plan, of course.
Crackdown 2 gets ultra-violent prequel cartoon
You know what violent video gaming franchise we always thought would make an excellent Saturday morning cartoon? Crackdown. We're thinking of a modern day GI Joe series, with rugged super soldiers, death-defying acrobatic feats, the occasional car chase and a helpful PSA at the end of each episode. However, Machinima.com recently posted the first episode in a real cartoon series based on Crackdown 2, and ... well, let's just say they went in a much different direction with it. A much bloodier direction. Check past the jump to see the first installment in "The Pacific City Archives," and think about how happy you are that whatever city you may be living in is relatively killer-mutant-free. [Via Kotaku]
Interview: Audio Director Kristofor Mellroth on the sounds of Crackdown 2
It's fair to say Crackdown was a surprise -- even if you didn't buy it for the Halo 3 beta key, odds are that you downloaded the demo and found a pretty impressive pre-GTA IV open-world shooter. That seems like a blessing and a curse for Audio Director Kristofor Mellroth and the rest of the dev team at Ruffian Games working on the sequel: on the one hand, we have fond memories of the original game, but on the other, there are more great open-world games out there now. Will we go back to Pacific City now that we've got a choice? Mellroth is doing everything on his end to make sure that we do. From the music of the game (which features remixes from the likes of Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as electronic beats by artists like Tokyo Black Star and Adam Freeland) to gunshots, explosions, and the ever-present tones of Michael McConnohie, he's put a lot of thought into what Crackdown 2 should sound like and why. Read on for an exclusive interview with the game's audio director.
Crackdown 2 vidoc shows that nothing is sacred
Despite its title, the latest Crackdown 2 vidoc, "Nothing is Sacred," reveals at least one sacred thing in Ruffian's upcoming game: humor. The amusing action becomes apparent when you knock someone upside the head with a sign post, or attach a satchel charge to their face. The first game certainly had its share of guffaw-inducing moments and, come July 6, we'll know if -- on top of skills for kills -- agents will get lulz for kills.
Crackdown 2 will not feature female agents
Admitting that the ability to create and play as a female agent in the first Crackdown was originally intended (but eventually cut), Billy Thomson, Ruffian Games creative director and former lead designer of Crackdown at Realtime Worlds, explained to 1UP that the functionality won't be making an appearance in the sequel either. According to Thomson, it was excluded from the first game due to memory constraints that would've required a "massive reduction" to other parts of the game. Similar limitations will keep playable female characters out of Crackdown 2 at launch, Thomson claimed. "You've got four players (in cooperative play), and that means every single player can be a different character, and that has to be in memory all the time ... we had to save memory all over the place because we've got so much more content in this game than we had in the first game ... we don't stream." While the studio isn't making any promises about a female agent DLC update, "we never know what happens in the future," teased producer James Cope.
Crackdown 2 touches down July 6
Microsoft has announced the date for your return trip to Pacific City ... when you'll tear it to shreds in the name of justice! Crackdown 2 will launch in North America on July 6, with Asia, Australia and New Zealand releases following on July 8, and Europe's on July 9 -- narrowly missing the "first half of 2010" release estimate. Producer James Cope previously said that a demo will be forthcoming before the release of the game, so we'll be playing some small portion of Crackdown 2 sooner than July 6. We're going to start playing even sooner than that, actually -- our dreams are littered with orbs. [Update: New multiplayer ViDoc embedded above.] %Gallery-85271%
Apple, Siemens and Sisvel patent infringement leads to CeBIT booth raid
Mama always said that some folks just never learn, and we reckon there's plenty of wisdom to be had from that very statement. Year after year, German police are called in to raid select booths at CeBIT (and IFA, to be fair), and yet again we've seen a booth cleared out at the request of powerful lawyers from a few companies you may have heard of. Word on the street has it that Apple, Siemens and Sisvel were all kvetching over patent infringements made by an unnamed company exhibiting at last week's show, and within an hour or so of the fuzz showing up, the whole thing was stripped and a hefty fine (€10,000) was levied. Unfortunately, the exact details of who was violating what remains clouded in mystery, but for whatever reason, we get the feeling that something extremely similar will be going down in Hannover next year. We blame KIRFers determination. Updated: Turns out one of our editors at CeBIT saw this whole situation go down at the FirstView booth. Within minutes the entire booth was surrounded by the Polizei, and though we tried to dig further on the situation our inability to speak German caused some communication issues so we decided it best to move on to the next craptablet on the floor. We will, however, always have the shot above to remember the confusing experience. [Thanks, TheLostSwede]
Crackdown 2 producer: 'Expect a demo' before release
Crackdown 2 producer James Cope doesn't want you to have any doubt in your mind that a demo is headed to Xbox Live before the game's release, telling IGN UK in an interview, "You can definitely expect a demo to hit Live before the game is out." While we know the game's set to release in the "first half of 2010," Cope wouldn't get any more specific about the release date. Cope, however, did explain the revamped orb collection system (which adds "new types of Orbs for Agility and Driving skills") and admitted that "the Agency has finally discovered the power of flight." More specifically, he's referring to helicopters, the armored vehicles that will aid you in your destruction clean-up campaign across Pacific City -- and something criminally absent from the first Crackdown. For a handful of more granular details about the upcoming city-jumping sim sequel, peep the rest of the source interview. %Gallery-78857% [Via Xbox360Achievements.org]
Greenberg: Crackdown 2 coming first half of 2010
On Major Nelson's weekly podcast -- with a host left laughing and teary-eyed due to the Xbox head's dental-related lisp -- Aaron Greenberg did some NPD boasting before ruminating on the first half of 2010. After pointing out Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Alan Wake, he confirmed Crackdown 2 as part of Microsoft's list of "triple-A, exclusive" titles heading to the Xbox 360 during "the first half of the year." "Those are just the exclusives, that doesn't include Final Fantasy ... there's no way we had a first half of the year like that last year," Greenberg added. The back end of the upcoming year is no slouch either in his eyes, with Halo Reach and Fable 3 said to be on schedule for launch in the Fall. Considering the first Crackdown's February release date, we're hoping for a similarly timed release of the sequel (just in time for its third birthday!). We've followed up with Greenberg and will update this post if we hear more. %Gallery-78857%
Crackdown 2's VGA trailer invites you to 'blow #&$^ up' with it
As you might have already guessed, last night's Spike Video Game Awards show's "World Premiere" trailers have landed on the web via GameTrailers.com. First up for us this morning: Crackdown 2. Featuring the first campaign footage from the game that we've seen, it looks as though we'll be cooperatively taking down enemies with other agents when the game launches. Moreover, the entire trailer glories in the mass destruction introduced to us in the first Crackdown, backed up by a "Would you like to blow &%^$ up with me?" soundtrack. Color us excited. %Gallery-78857%
Crackdown leaps into Games on Demand lineup
Games on Demand's latest additions are all about two types of orbs: agility and katamaris. The 6GB Crackdown is reasonably priced at $20, with the "Getting Busy Bonus Pack" DLC permanently reduced to 400 ($5). Those looking for a cheaper solution to obtaining Crackdown are advised to permanently borrow the copy their Spartan-obsessed buddies purchased for access to the Halo 3 beta years ago. If you happen to live in Japan and are interested in collecting a single, incredibly huge sphere, Beautiful Katamari is now available. Helping the Prince keep his egomaniacal father happy will cost 2000 in Japan -- there's no word on a global release yet.
Here's your Crackdown 2 weapon loadout, agent!
Doling out only a handful of fresh screens for Crackdown 2 with a smattering of in-game renders, Ruffian Games has done little to supply us with more information on its upcoming game in today's media release. Everything from various character designs to about two dozen weapon types can be found in the gallery below, showcasing the visually gussied-up artwork from the sequel to 2007's surprise hit. It appears as though the few screenshots included are of areas we've seen in the past, though (as you can see in the image above) we're now treated to many more explosions. Now if only we could get some sort of a release date, we could start getting properly excited for Crackdown 2. The thrill just ain't there without an end in sight, ya know? %Gallery-78857%
Get your graffiti in Crackdown 2
Why waste your graffiti on something as temporary as the rear wall of the nearby Rio Grande or Ronald's Cheese Corner when you could have it enshrined forever, digitally? That's the opportunity being offered by Ruffian Games, which is looking for graffiti submissions from fans who'll have a chance to get their art in the game and their name in the credits, if their work is among the best, that is. If you're having trouble deciding what exactly, the theme – the jumping off point, if you will – of your e-vandalism should be, may we suggest ... Mighty Horse?
Crackdown HDD installation now available
One of the conveniences introduced by the NXE last year was the ability to install games onto the Xbox 360 hard drive. Unfortunately, a select few games don't support the feature. Chief among the unsupported titles is Crackdown, Microsoft's addicting open-world action game. At least, it was until now, as Major Nelson has informed the masses that a title update is now available on Live that enables HDD installation of Crackdown. Remember agent, installing isn't just for convenience, it's also for saving wear and tear on the DVD drive -- especially in games like Crackdown, which stream data constantly.
Interview: Crackdown 2 lead designer Steve Iannetta
In 2010, the agents are returning to action, this time with a new development team at the helm. Following a demo of Crackdown 2's single-player in action and a multiplayer deathmatch session, Ruffian Games' lead designer Steve Iannetta took time to discuss everything from new concepts and features in the sequel, the media's reaction to the RealTime Worlds "controversy" and evolving the co-operative world of Pacific City. %Gallery-74365%
Interview: Microsoft Game Studios' Phil Spencer
If given the choice of becoming a (presumably) anthropomorphic vegetable, Phil Spencer would opt for an eggplant. Sure, we spoke to the confident head of Microsoft Game Studios about other things -- Halo, Project Natal, Fable, Crackdown, the Xbox 360's successor, blah blah blah -- but with that profound scoop out of the way, there's barely any reason to read this interview. Mind you, the part where Spencer suggests that alternate forms of input (whether in addition to or in substitute of traditional controllers) might become a common expectation is pretty interesting. You should definitely read that. Joystiq: We just came out of the Tokyo Game Show panel discussion for Project Natal ... Phil Spencer: The creators panel. Yes, the creators panel. Hideo Kojima was there; they brainstormed about all these games. How much focus is Microsoft Game Studios placing on Natal development internally in comparison to other projects? It's a big focus for us in first party. As a first party, I think it's our duty, it's our responsibility to look at the new technologies that we bring to our platform. We did this with Live. We did at launch of 360. When we look at Project Natal as an opportunity for first party to truly innovate on our platform, creating new experiences, new intellectual property, we're very focused. A large percentage of the studio right now is thinking about Natal as part of what they're doing.
Preview: Crackdown 2
A hands-on preview of Crackdown 2 at TGS last week came with a catch: deathmatch only. No matter how much potential for greatness a game might possess, it's hard to gauge its true character when limited to a boring multiplayer mode. That's not to say that my time with Crackdown 2 was entirely boring -- it wasn't -- but simply playing the most generic mode of all didn't raise my enthusiasm beyond a mild passing interest. While I wasn't able to play the game's single-player campaign, I was shown a rough portion of it in action. Ruffian lead designer Steve Iannetta and producer James Cope showcased the game's new weapons and enemies (the mutated citizens of Pacific City that were simply referred to as "The Freaks"). Unlike the deathmatch portion of the preview session, this part was interesting. %Gallery-74365%
TGS 2009: Watch a Crackdown 2 deathmatch
One of the biggest surprises to come out of TGS 2009 is the presence of Crackdown 2 -- and it's playable! While the Ruffian Games developed sequel was only just announced at E3, Microsoft decided to let press in Tokyo step into an early build of the new Pacific City. Some textures were missing, and a few glitches popped up, but it was to be expected in what we were told was a game "roughly at 60 percent" complete. Stay tuned, we'll post our impressions soon, along with an interview with Ruffian lead designer Steve Iannetta. (Oh, and just in case you were wondering: we mopped the floor with the competition.) %Gallery-74365%
