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Developers affirm undeniable potential of PS3
A lot of things have been said about the PlayStation 3's potential, so it's hard to believe there's still something left to discuss. Games Radar has found something, though. Many developers have come to a consensus that 2008 will see the sexy black behemoth flourish -- Insomniac says that "the amount of action we're able to put on the screen at 60 frames per second dwarfs what we were able to do a year ago at 30 frames per second." Epic Games says user-created content will rule 2008 ... with Unreal Tournament 3 and LittleBigPlanet, we have to agree.Traveller's Tales, the folk behind the LEGO Star Wars games, said that the secret to the PS3's potential lies in the flexibility of the SPU's: "The SPUs challenge us to come up with completely new tech ideas and to develop new features around them ... It might turn out that things we've not even thought of end up best demonstrating the power of PS3." This goes hand-in-hand with Bethesda's claim that no title is utilizing the PS3's potential even close to fully. Stuff like lighting effects will improve drastically in the coming years as people come to grips with the PS3's architecture.There are other quotes from bigwigs in the industry, commenting on the PS3, but we'd rather point you to them instead of typing them all here. Let it be known that the PS3 has far more left to offer us than we can imagine and as long as developers keep making games, we'll continue to be impressed with what we see for several more years.
Miyamoto claims he's never heard of Ratchet & Clank
Remember back when Insomniac's Ryan Schneider created controversy by saying they were "extremely flattered" by Super Mario Galaxy's supposed borrowing of the spherical world design that Insomniac first created with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal?Well, Miyamoto has finally found the opportunity to weigh in on Schneider's claim, and apparently, the Mario creator hasn't even heard of the series at all, including the PS3's newly released Tools of Destruction. When asked his thought's on Schneider's comment, Miyamoto said, "I'm sorry, but I have to admit that I've never seen the game in question. Is it a PC game?" Ooooh, burn!Continuing, Miyamoto expressed his surprise by the claim and even said "In terms of the spherical worlds and anti-gravity, we had the original idea as soon as we finished the development of Mario 64 and had been experimenting with it for many years, even on the N64." So there you have it. If Miyamoto is to be believed, and why shouldn't he be, Nintendo didn't borrow anything from Insomniac. Both companies make brilliant games, and we see no reason to think that both couldn't have come up with such a design concept entirely on their own.
Miyamoto: 'Ratchet & Clank' who? Lombax what?
Coy or truly confused, Nintendo's maestro has disputed Insomniac's cry for attention, firmly denying that Super Mario Galaxy's spherical worlds were torn out of a page from the Sony developer's Ratchet & Clank book. Miyamoto claims he and the gang were working to disprove the 'games are flat' theory back on N64, when Insomniac was merely taking its first baby steps into the industry (and, Ludwig, years before Sonic Adventure 2 pulled off 'the rounded level' – FYI). "I'm sorry but I have to admit that I've never seen the game in question," Miyamoto told Official Nintendo Magazine UK when questioned about Ratchet & Clank, "Is it a PC game?"
SCEA is 'very happy' with Ratchet & Clank sales
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction may have the second lowest first month sales of any game in the series with 74,500, but that hasn't stopped Sony from staying positive. "SCEA is very happy with the initial sales numbers of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction," said a SCEA to 1UP. "In a crowded market of mature content, Ratchet is a fun, sophisticated alternative that truly showcases the power of the PS3."Of course, its sunny disposition with regards to Ratchet isn't completely unfounded, there are, after all, many fewer PS3s on the market than PS2s. Also, ignore the imaginary 100,000 in first month sales barrier that 1UP is trying to conjure up, Heavenly Sword smashed that jazz back in September.
Resistance patches some old wounds, so to speak
Are you hankering for a reason to turn Resistance: Fall o f Man back on? It seems the good folk over at Insomniac, after taking a short reprieve from the completed Ratchet and Clank, decided to issue a patch for everyone's favorite FPS launch title. We'll describe the update below: Ability to take screenshots in game using a USB keyboard. Weapon balance changes and new round balancing options. Dual Shock 3 support added for online AND single player. Password protected custom games. Numerous bug fixes. Seems the DualShock 3 is starting to pop up in most of the games, which is always a good sign. Weapon balancing is a nice touch and taking screenshots is never a bad idea. It's very cool to see that developers are continuing support of their titles this generation. This update should be out now, so go check it out!
NY Times sings praises for Ratchet & Clank
What? The mainstream media has a glowing review of a PS3 game? Yes, it's true. Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank Future is garnering the attention of many traditionally non-gaming news sources, such as the prestigious NY Times. Once again, the illustrious Pixar comparison is made for Ratchet's latest outing -- the game is visually compared to the likes of pre-rendered Hollywood blockbusters, like Monsters Inc. and Toy Story.This is important for Sony. The New York Times notes that this can be exactly what Sony needs to convince consumers about the true power of the PS3. "Ratchet, however, will surely become a showcase game for Sony because, given current technology, it seems unlikely that any game for either the 360 or the Wii will be able to match Ratchet's overall visual quality." Such praise from a mainstream news source will go a long way to alleviate Sony's ailing public image."The biggest problem with Ratchet is that at times it is so lushly compelling that you find yourself just staring at the screen, as if it were a movie, rather than actually playing the game. And that, of course, is not a bad problem at all."[Thanks, Will!]
Insomniac divulges some Ratchet development stories
Insomniac just delivered their second high-profile PS3 title, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction -- it's been getting pretty rave reviews across the board, so MTV sought out an interview with the dev team to unearth how and why Insomniac kicks so much ass. So to speak. After gushing over the awesomeness that is the Groovitron, Insomniac mentioned their ambitious claim: "We've bandied the Pixar name around a lot, in terms of our visual goals," and many say they have achieved these goals.To boast the increase in graphics on the PS3, Insomniac divulged that on the PS2, Ratchet had 112 joints in his entire polygonal body -- the PS3 has given Ratchet 90 joints in his face alone. But of course, graphics aren't everything: "My game-designer side wants to say graphics don't matter and it's all about what the player is doing. But the other side is that it really immerses you in a world. ... Our burden is to create a world that is very convincing. So the fact that we can improve the visuals and the graphics adds to that."The online options were dropped for this title not because Insomniac couldn't have done it (just look at Resistance), but "we were kind of disappointed to find that less than 5 percent of players actually played it who actually played the game for both Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked." If any reviewers detracted points for lack of online, well, there's always a reason. There's plenty of details in the full story, so check it out if you want to learn about how graphical detail was approached and the possibility of future titles.
Man. Cathedral accepts Sony's Resistance apology, sort of
Forgiveness is the Christian way, so it's not too surprising that Manchester Cathedral officials have officially forgiven Sony for their use of the historic church in Resistance: Fall of Man. But the subtext of the public acceptance shows there is still some ill will behind the words. Despite two apologies from Sony for any offense caused, Cathedral Dean Rev. Rogers Govender could only passive-aggressively tell the BBC that "we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong." Govender went on to urge the game industry to follow the "long held traditions of film and television" by "having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made." Such traditions of filmic church respect can be seen in this action-packed church scene from Face/Off and this bloody church shootout from The Killer. On the plus side, Govender admitted to the BBC that the controversy over the game has caused "an increase in visits from young people and tourists." It might not be the "substantial donation" they were looking for, but we're sure the Church doesn't mind the extra money.
Ratchet & Clank Future glitch may halt play
It looks like the early release of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is not without consequence. Shacknews reports that some American PlayStation 3 owners may encounter a glitch which prevents them from playing Insomniac's latest platformer. Unlike the sudden loss of your arms or a critical lack of money, however, you can entirely blame someone in the quality assurance department for this predicament*.Insomniac community manager James Stevenson describes the issue, which presents itself during the game's setup, as such: "With specific amounts of free space on your drive, you may see a screen that tells you have insufficient space to create game data even though there is plenty of free space on your drive." He remains decidedly non-specific regarding said "specific amounts," but at least the man provides a workaround. If you encounter the problem, "either delete or add about 500MB of data to your hard drive and the problem will go away." You'll know you've won when you can actually play the game. *Excluding the unlikely circumstance of an insane QA manager capturing you and lopping off your arms. We've heard stories.
Future comes one week early for Ratchet & Clank
Like the comically violent effects of the series's trademark weapons, some fantastic news comes flying in from the Official PlayStation Blog regarding Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Due to manufacturer's expediency, the game started arriving in stores early and instead of getting angry and Hulk smashing everything, Sony's given retailers the green light to start selling the game next week. However, it's not yet known what stores will be selling it before the "official" October 30th release date.This situation currently remains YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) given there's no list of stores, public anyway, who've received a slice of the Future early. However, expect fellow gamers to post tales of receipt on every forum they post on, which while annoying should aid you in your quest. Good morning, and good luck.
Church of England offended by Resistance BAFTA nomination
If the headline seems a little familiar, it's because we've been here before. First, the Church of England issued a statement regarding the "offensive" presence of Manchester Cathedral in Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3. Sony followed up by issuing an apology, stating that they had no intention of offending, but that the content was staying. Church of England responded by saying that the apology wasn't good enough, and Sony responded to the response of the response by apologizing again. Now, following the announcement of the nominees for this year's BAFTA Video Game Awards, the Church of England is once again up in arms, this time issuing a statement pleading that the nomination for Resistance: Fall of Man be pulled, claiming that the nomination "is like rubbing salt in the wounds" of the Church. The spokesman for the Church of England claims that the nomination comes from the game's solid sales, which they believe were increased substantially by the controversy. No word yet of a response from either Sony or BAFTA. Resistance: Fall of Man was only nominated for one award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts: The PC World Gamers Award, which will be decided by a public vote, and not by a BAFTA panel.
Insomniac 'flattered' by Mario Galaxy concept
Did Nintendo's mascot plumber take a cue from a heavily-armed Lombax and his robot buddy? Insomniac Marketing Director Ryan Schneider seems to think so. In an interview with Kikizo, Schneider said, "There's evidence all around us I think, of certain games that have borrowed from Ratchet and Clank. One that we're even extremely flattered by is Super Mario Galaxy, with their spherical worlds; we did spherical worlds in Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal.""It would be amazing to think that [Mario creator Shigeru] Miyamoto-san thought that was so cool that he wanted to incorporate it into Mario Galaxy. Granted, he's doing it in a different way, but it's still a spherical world, so it's flattering to see those sorts of things," he said.We're not convinced, however, that it was hours of Ratchet & Clank that inspired Miyamoto's Mario ideas (though now that we think about it, that Mario Sunshine water pack is awfully suspicious ...). We wonder if the levels aren't an idea culled from strenuous play sessions with Tetrisphere. We've embedded videos of all three below as evidence to present; any other games with spherical worlds you can think of?Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is due out October 30.
Ratchet & Clank PS3 demo on Oct 4
Sony has scheduled some preliminary Tool time, dating the Ratchet & Clank Future demo for October 4th, according to IGN. The demo will feature Tools of Destruction's opening level, as disclosed by Insomniac in an interview with thedaily.com.au. "[Resistance taught us] the importance of opening the game with a bang -- and that's just what we do," Insomniac told thedaily.com.au, "Players will get a sneak peek of this level via a downloadable demo that should hit the PlayStation Network Store in the not-too-distant future." Not-too-distant being just 23 days away.Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is scheduled for retail release on October 23rd.
Brian Allgeier reminisces about his Ratchet & Clank journey
To quote the man, "What a strange long trip it's been." Brian Allgeier recently updated his blog over at IGN, swimming upstream in his river of memories about making Ratchet & Clank come to life, from the beginning to the latest PS3 version. While we'd love to recount his memory of Ratchet & Clank's roots with you, that's his story and we'd feel guilty if you didn't check out his own words on the matter. Let's just say that working on a dead-in-the-water project got everyone's creative juices flowing, resulting in the crazy gizmos we know and cherish along with our favorite furry hero.Brian Allgeier went on to answer a question that many gamers want to ask many developers: how can you keep working on that same franchise for so long? Luckily, every game takes different strides in different directions to keep things fresh -- much like every Final Fantasy game is distinct, every Ratchet title has its own stylistic elements and added areas to keep the same characters fresh. The PS2 titles featured some RPG elements, but Allgeier says with the PS3 version "our goal has been to focus on a galactic adventure with expressive characters in lush and vivid worlds. We're developing new gameplay, storytelling techniques, and a stylistic approach to give players an immersive experience." We simply can't wait to get our hands on the final version of Tools of Destruction, especially after sitting back and learning what goes through the Creative Director's head.
PlayStation Fancast 010: Insomniac Edition
We're sorry you've had to wait so long for this, our latest episode of the podcast. We hope it will be worth it. The title is a bit of a double entendre, as this week we have two special guests from Insomniac joining us on the show. The other meaning? Well, due to scheduling difficulties we didn't start recording until midnight and Jem was due to fly to Leipzig early the next morning, so he might sound a bit tired. We promised we'd keep up with the regular weekly schedule and, as a result of failing this week, we're hoping to bring you another episode before the weekend. Full of Leipzig and PAX anecdotes. Hopefully. Episode 10 features Jem Alexander, Nick Doerr, Andrew Yoon with special guests James Stevenson and Ryan Schneider from Insomniac Games. We discuss Jem's trip to Sony's 3Rooms in London and get in-depth with Insomniac about all things Ratchet and Clank. Among a couple of other things. Check below for the complete program. Complete Show [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [RSS] Add the PlayStation Fancast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. Use m.pspfanboy.com to add the show to your PSP system's RSS feeds. [iTunes] Subscribe to the Fancast directly in iTunes. Program: 0:00 - Intro 0:01 - Second intro 0:02 - 3Rooms 0:28 - Special Guest interview - James Stevenson and Ryan Schneider from Insomniac Games As always, feel free to leave your comments with us, either here in the post or via email to Jem[at]PS3fanboy.com. Also, if you're a fan of the show, please join our PS Fanboy Facebook group.
Ratchet and Clank video dump with pretty colors
Taking a break from playing the awesomeness of BioShock, it's time to take a quick look at another game that's got us getting excited: Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction. Slated for October 23 in North America (but remember it's not region locked), the game has come a long way since we saw it at E3. Why are we so excited about this particular installment in the series we've come to know and love over the years? Well, Christopher Nicholls, animation director for Insomniac Games, hits it out of the park in the video above saying, "This generation is like how many million colors of gray can you have? How realistic -- with lots stubble and [how] miserable can you make all the characters? I think that's OK, but thing with Ratchet, it's a total breath of fresh air. It's back to old-school, is it fun?"We've dumped a ton of Ratchet and Clank videos after the break. Is it worth getting a PS3 for? That's in the eye of the beholder and if you've hit your limit with the brown palette. When one can look at a game and the first thing that happens is a smile creeps in because there's color beyond brown and gray -- from a series that has been consistently solid -- it's at least worth thinking that the PS3 is finally getting some traction.
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction blows stuff up Oct. 23
In the latest Insomniac podcast they announce Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction will release October 23 in North America. No word on a Euro release -- but they say it's region free, so Europe and Australia, use your NA friends to pick up a copy! Some of the guys at PS3 Fanboy have had more time with R&C since our E3 hands-on and they'll be writing that up very soon. This is one of the titles to look forward to on the PS3 this holiday season, as the Ratchet & Clank series has been consistently fun and far happier than the gritty, dark and gloomy gaming we've gotten used to lately. There's nothing wrong with having a game that gives us a giggle.[Via PS3 Fanboy]%Gallery-3182%
Insomniac shares their tech knowledge with the world
Insomniac Games, the team behind Resistance and the upcoming Ratchet & Clank Future, is ready to share their tech knowledge with the world. They recently added a new R&D section to their official website, where they hope to share information on how to best develop for the CELL processor and RSX (PS3 graphics chip). For the technically less inclined, they'll also be providing a look into their game design philosophies -- certainly, it'll be an interesting read for Insomniac fans.Currently, the page features articles on designing SPU code, configuring VNC on PS3, and more. It's a little mind-boggling, but we're appreciative of Insomniac's open approach to their development.
Sony apologizes about Manchester Cathedral ... again
Sony has apologized again, this time "unreservedly," to the people of Manchester and the Church of England for the depiction of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man. In response, the cathedral has created a set of "sacred digital guidelines" and the Very Rev Rogers Govender said, "We still fear that the next buildings to be cloned for virtual desecration could be a mosque, synagogue, temple or other church." There is no word if money changed hands, but according to the Manchester Evening News Sony did admit to "using the images" of the cathedral without permission. Sony also placed an apology advertisement in the newspaper to the people of Manchester. The newspaper then shows its gratitude by calling Resistance a "bloodthirsty game." Dr. David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said, "We have offended some of the congregation by using the cathedral in our science fiction game. It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game, and we would like to apologize unreservedly to them for causing that offense, and to all parts of the community who we might also have offended." So, does this mean the Church of England is over wanting money, or was that just done under the table? [Via NextGen]
Developers Studio: Brian Allgeier and Ratchet & Clank
Just as we did before with Heavenly Sword, we've got another Developers Studio for you via the PlayStation Blog. This time, we're getting the focus on Ratchet and Clank from Insomniac's own Brian Allgeier. When he describes the game as "A Spectacularific Galactic Sci-Fi Adventure" you really start to know how they come up with such creative weaponry -- they'll all about having fun.The folks at Insomniac answer a number of questions about their upcoming PS3 exclusive (hitting shelves this Fall, no less), including their favorite part of the game and describing one of the bosses. Can we mention that the boss battles are epic, giant forces to be reckoned with? Anyway, please check out the full interview at the PlayStation Blog and leave us your thoughts. We can't wait to play this game -- it really does seem to live up to the "Toy Story quality" graphics boasted oh-so-many years ago.
