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Two Crackdown 2 DLC packs teased
We might not have loved Crackdown 2 as much as anticipated, but we're glad to see that's not stopping developer Ruffian Games from supporting the game post-launch with downloadable content. Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, producer James Cope revealed two (tentatively titled) packs already planned for release: "The Toy Box" and "Deluge." According to Cope, The Toy Box will be available first and features "new gadgets and vehicles," as well as opening up Pacific City in the same way that the first game's "Keys to the City" mode did. Next will be the Deluge pack, which will contain "new game modes to expand the play" -- Cope says the team at Ruffian is aiming for "a completely new way to play the game you've already got." No release prices or dates were given for the DLC add-ons, though, presumably Crackdown 2 owners are still plenty occupied collecting all of them orbs. It's a hunger that can't be satisfied, folks!
Interview: Hunting orbs with Crackdown 2's Billy Tomson and James Cope
Though the Crackdown franchise has a new development team in Ruffian Games, the upcoming sequel hopes to retain the best qualities found in the original Xbox hit. You'd think the task is made easier when former Realtime Worlds employees form part of the developer, but creative director Billy Tomson and producer James Cope believe there is still room for improvement. In an interview with Joystiq, the pair discussed Crackdown 2's vision and its attempt to perfect the open-world formula. Read on to learn more about the limitations of the original engine, memory complications, the omission of female playable characters, and plans for future content. %Gallery-85271%
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 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]
