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Some cutesy new Lair screenshots
We're all tired of this "you may look, but you may never, ever, ever touch" policy Sony's got on this game. Seriously, how many more times will we gaze upon the beauty of giant lizards killing one another while the men riding them also fight to the death -- all way up high in the sky? Sure, everything great needs time to mature, but come on! Give the PSN a demo or something.According to CVG, they've got Lair set up for a... wait for it... freakin' September release! What's up with that? What're we going to do during summer? Continue to play other games? But we wanna play this one! Oh well, it's probably for the better. In my situation, at least. There's a huge pile of games that require playtime. In the meantime, check out the new screenshots.
Sony hopped on the April Fool's bandwagon
We're calling it the April Fool's bandwagon because it's actually not that, but it would have been a better excuse by Sony instead of calling the release schedule on their UK site untrue. We typed up a nice article yesterday with no intent to fool anyone, yet that's exactly what happened. Just as an aside, if I had made an April Fool's article, it would've been too mean so I decided against it. I'm not good at drawing that line, so I utilized the better part of valor (that's discretion).A Sony spokesperson addressed the issue thus: "We haven't got any release dates for those at the moment; they're just pencilled in for 2007." She's referring to Lair and Heavenly Sword. Why did I just assume it was a woman? Strange. He or she. Anyway, we know that's what they said, but... Lair has been anticipated for May release for a while now. We're going to bank on it still coming out at that time -- Heavenly Sword will come a month or two later, at least in Europe (it's made by an SCEE studio, so they should get dibs). Sorry guys. I was excited too. Let us join together for an angry fist-shake at the Sony webpage designers!
May is the month for games... in the UK!
The US PlayStation site doesn't have these listed in a very easy-to-find place, if at all, but the UK PlayStation website has updated its release schedule for some hotly anticipated titles. April doesn't hold much for you guys, but May is your month -- you'll probably be getting these games earlier than everyone else (expected, since at least one is coming from a European studio). We are, of course, talking about Lair and Heavenly Sword, both slated for a May release.You've also got SingStar coming your way in June, which implies there may be a huge revamping of the PS-Store sometime before that. Don't quote us, we're not sure, but it would make sense and be nice, what with Sony being a gigantic music distributor and all. Good stuff, that. We didn't expect Heavenly Sword until much later in the year. If the UK gobbles it up in May, we in the US may get it around July, right? Hopefully.
Lair lacks lovingly customized lizards
Over at a place known only as The Slug, some gents got to take a flight around the skies of Lair, due out this summer. If you don't know what the game's about, just imagine Drakengard, but good. If that doesn't help, think Dynasty Warriors meets Panzer Dragoon. Still nothing? Hmm... go watch Dragonheart. Anyway, here's what The Slug had to say about their time with the game: Environments and aerial combat looks great, even in the unfinished version The flight controls are getting tighter, not to mention very easy to get used to. Flick the controller back to do a 180? Excellent. Beyond some unlockable moves, the dragons will not be customizable. No customization? Aww, but dragons are so much fun to dress up! You can give them silly party hats, fingerless gloves, an eyepatch, maybe a few swords sticking out of it... could be pretty neat. But, it's also understandable that adding full customization would be a lot of extra work. Perhaps for a future update of sorts? What's your two cents?
GDC 07: Normal maps make Lair look good!
Mattias Worch, technical art director for Factor 5's upcoming PS3-exclusive Lair, recently spoke to GDC attendees about creating textures and normal maps in a next-gen environment. The very technically-oriented lecture can be effectively summarized as such: "Lair looked really crappy until we used normal maps. Now it looks really good. You should all use normal maps."Developers were told how to use Photoshop to accentuate and restore detail from textures. Also, artists need to have a clear vision before making a single texture: "Unless you know what you want to do with a normal map beforehand, it'll look wrong."Afterwards, Worch showed off some incredible footage from Lair, running off a PS3. The graphics, while still glitchy, show a huge deal of promise. Of particular note were the incredibly lifelike water effects: when a ship explodes on water, you'll see realistic, physics-intensive, ripple effects that must be seen to be believed. The Factor 5 team clearly is doing something right: the textures were absolutely breathtaking, even up-close.Worch promised the audience that his Powerpoint presentation would be made available for everyone to download on his personal website in the coming days. More excitingly, he also promised new videos of the game. Stay tuned.
More and more Lair screenshots flying in!
Someone e-mailed me with this link and mentioned the water. All this time, we were focusing on dragons and failed to realize that the water in the game looks absolutely stunning, too! The latest batch of screenshots were pulled out of the Factor-5 oven on the 23rd, apparently, but we're getting around to it now. Lair is due out in May, and from the way things are shaping up, will probably make quite a splash. Did you see that one coming? Hopefully the dragons will be able to take a dive into the briney deep. That would add extra fun to the killing and such... although falling on top of a plethora of soldiers is equally rewarding.
First Disaster: Day of Crisis screenshot
Nintendo released a single screenshot of Monolith Soft's Disaster: Day of Crisis, the natural-disaster survival game announced at E3 2006. We now have our first indication of how the game will play-- that arrow suggests a Quick Timer Event. Whether that means an action/adventure game with occasional quick-button-press segments, or a Dragon's Lair-style game, we don't know. What is surprising even to us is that we're kind of hoping for the latter. We miss those laserdisc games! Are we the only ones?
Adorable new Lair screenshots!
For the hour, the play does not have date for precise exit. Regardless of the fun English translation, it's true -- we don't know when Lair is coming even though we should. But every other day or so, it seems we're given a new mini-set of screenshots. This time, it's all about the dragons. Last time, it was... all about... the dragons. Okay, so there's definitely a dragon fetish in this game, but it doesn't matter -- it's shaping up to be a pretty fun title. We assume. We'll keep you posted when a firm release date is set. Until then, enjoy!
Factor 5's Lair almost complete, Turrican PS3 possibly next
Speaking with Game Informer, Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht opens up about his studio's PlayStation 3 project Lair. Currently estimated to be 80-90% complete, Eggebrecht is confident that the development team will reach the vaguely stated spring deadline, but admits "Sony's not going to ship it the next day."Next up for Factor 5 is likely a smaller project -- a downloadable game (or two). Eggebrecht supposes it'll be an original "mini franchise," but doesn't rule out the possibility of also porting over some old Turrican titles; not necessarily straight-up ports, but perhaps "something like that but in 3D," teases Eggebrecht.Also, Eggebrecht reports that Factor 5's break-up with Nintendo has not spoiled the two's friendship. We're no talking Rogue Squadron IV; just the occasional happy hour cocktail. Eggebrecht adds, "When I read all of those things about how you have to buy a 360 and a Wii, that's not true. You have to buy a PS3 and a Wii-that's the perfect combination."
How about some awesome Lair screenshots? [update 1]
Geez. GameFront has a really unfriendly linking system. Anyway, while we'd like to link you directly to the screens, their site won't let us. So, we're going to give you our favorite and you can seek through the archives over at their site if you want to see the others. Honestly, most of these simply look like very high-res screenshots of the trailer, but then again, when you throw people in armor against gigantic dragons, it's easy to think "I've seen this before, haven't I?"The game, as far as we've been able to dig up, is still slated for a March release. Since it will be competing with a plethora of titles coming out in the European launch window, they've got to really sell people on the huge, epic dragon battle portion of the game. Shouldn't be hard... just look at this stuff! If the game plays anything like it looks, it'll at the very least merit a rental. If you don't think so, just rent the movie Dragonheart 2 and see how badly big dragon fights can go down.[seems IGN lists Lair as a May release -- we'd like to beg to differ, but we don't really beg.]
Factor 5 also making some EDI titles for PS3
EDI means E-Distribution Initiative... just saying so up front because I'm not too good at rationalizing acronyms. I was totally like, "entertainment desk icing"? And then "electronic drapery interrogation"... basically everything but the correct meaning. That's not important, though. What matters is this: Factor 5, makers of Lair, have come out of the developer's closet and admitted they'll be making two PS3 downloadable titles. Thanks to the original article, I now realize where I've heard of Factor 5 -- the old Turrican series of games. Had no idea, but now it makes sense. There's not much else to say, except the boys over at Factor 5 think the PS3's downloadable initiative has a ton of potential and are very excited to work on something small again.
Factor 5 fidgets with two PS3 e-distribution titles
Factor 5 is working on two games to be released via PlayStation 3's e-distribution network. According to a Gamasutra interview with company president Julian Eggebrecht, Factor 5 is excited to return to tacking on smaller projects, noting that "people who work on these two and a half year, three year projects have a chance ... to work on something small again."The developer is currently working on the gorgeous PS3 title Lair, pictured, and has a long history of making technically gorgeous games, making the Rogue Squadron series for both Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Given Factor 5's expertise and beauty and Sony's 500MB cap on downloads, we're excited to see what they can conjure.See Also: Joystiq impressions -- Lair (PS3)
Joystiq impressions -- Lair (PS3)
I saw the PS3 exclusive, Lair, at the Sony Gamer's Day event last week. The Factor 5-developed game was featured in the opening presentation, and it was available for play afterwords afterwards. I looked forward to trying the game because of its Sixaxis controls, but I was unfortunately thwarted.Just as I reached for the controller, excited to get hands-on time with the dragon-combat action title, an unnamed PR rep literally turned off the PS3 and told me to to go downstairs for dinner. Who was this guy, my mom? Apparently they wanted us fed and ready for the Ludacris performance more than they wanted us to get hands-on time with the game.The Lair developer, who had been manning the game, saw the flash of anger in my eyes. He reassured me that, since the game isn't a launch title, I may get another chance to play it before its release. That wasn't much consolation.We Joystiqers talked about the situation and decided I would still write my impressions of the game even without being able to pilot the dragons. I saw enough of the title to make a few comments. Even after the go-downstairs-for-dinner fiasco, I'm still looking forward to Lair.
PS3's graphics critically analyzed -- verdict is "niiiiiiiice"
Let's first get this out of the way: the guy who wrote the original article (Dean Takahashi) is a graphics freak. Loves them. "A kind of obsession," he says. The PS3, he says in that regard, doesn't have perfect animation but "it's pretty darn good looking." He also says (not us! He said this! Don't shoot the messenger!) "If you'll recall, Microsoft had high hopes that Sony's first-generation games would look cruddy." I bet they were hoping that, because, you know, it's not the gameplay that matters. Not at all (sarcasm).Mr. Takahashi continues to say how the PS3 games are looking quite nice, even for first-generation games! He even went so far as to say, "by and large, the games I saw looked BETTER than Xbox 360 games." Oooh, that's a pretty lofty claim. But, he said, not all the games were necessarily worth the price difference in the consoles. Ridge Racer 7, he says, looks far better than Ridge Racer 6 for the 360. Also looking better than the competition is Resistance: Fall of Man. Falling short of expectations was the build of Virtua Fighter 5 -- not quite as pretty as DOA4 for the 360 (and with those ladies, who'd argue?). Lair is also looking good, but Takahashi didn't focus on graphics, possibly because it's way too early to decide. Anyway, overall, we can get pumped up for the PS3 (again...) and know that we'll get a few very enjoyable titles at launch and early next year.
TGS 'best of' video roundup, yeehaw!
Our must-see-Tokyo Game Show list of videos delivers a jab straight to your optic core. This year's standouts are embedded after the jump. Click the links for larger and downloadable versions.Tell us what your favorites were from the show and we'll add 'em to the lineup.
TGS videos attack! Pick your poison... or wine... whichever
A gameplay video of Coded Arms Assault is now available for your viewing pleasure. It looks all right. It doesn't seem like too much of a separation from standard FPS titles, but it's worth a look if you're an FPS junkie. There's also a gorgeous Ridge Racer 7 gameply video. It looks better than all right. Mostly awesome. Just look at that gorgeous car go around that gorgeous track... and rear-end that other car. It's pretty sweet. Also, a Ninja Gaiden Sigma trailer is up and running. If you guys were right, those who've played Ninja Gaiden Black won't see too much new here. But then again, maybe so. Let us know. Here's a gameplay video of Lair also. What can we say? Dragons, flying, destruction... it's something special, to be sure. Lastly, there's a gameplay video of Devil May Cry 4. Besides the fact the person playing it has no idea what he's doing (sorry, but it's true, unless the controls have changed completely), the game looks astoundingly good. Bias? Sure. But it does. If you mention the cape/sword clipping, that's true, but that in no way should detract from your enjoyment of the game. Anyway, we'll keep you informed of other game videos and other stuff as we get our news from the Joystiq staff that had the honor of being there.
A plethora of many PS3 title screens... many are nice
Motorstorm... Monster Kingdom (Unknown Realms)... Afrika? Check out these screen captures from Famitsu.com that got posted on PS3forums and nod your head in approval. Motorstorm is starting to shape up really nicely. Really nicely, even though some of the pictures seem kind of blurry (perhaps these eyes are growing old, but it's probably just a game effect). Monster Kingdom looks interesting, too. A very cool sense of fashion to be found on the characters, and what appears to be a colorful world. Very colorful! And Afrika... well, those screens aren't exactly new, but they're still good for a desktop background. Very scenic. There are also a few screens of Lair, but they don't appear to be new. Or they're starting to blend together... either way. Feel free to leave your reactions here and which of these interest you most, assuming you were given a lineup of just these three to take on a nice date with your couch.
Lair will support tilt controls, ground battles
Remember that Square-Enix game, Drakengard? Yeah, it wasn't all that great (but not bad at all for the hack n' slash urges in all of us) and PS3's anticipated Lair is shaping up to be a sorta-kinda copy, but hopefully far superior. What do we mean? Well, in the latest Famitsu magazine, Factor 5 has leaked a little info about the game. In addition to flying around and fighting on massive, gorgeous dragons, there will also be massive ground battles. Whether these fights on the ground will be melee or close-range dragon breath of doom, Factor 5 wouldn't say.The other piece of info was tilt control support. As we previously hypothesized (albeit with a fair amount of confirmation of the idea, but come on, give us a little credit!), the tilt controls will assist in controlling your dragon. That's pretty cool. Sort of like taking the reins yourself, except you don't have to worry about being burnt to a crisp or dropped to your untimely death. Good stuff. This game will be tossed around at the Tokyo Game Show (which those of us who haven't had our spirits completely crushed still hope will be a great event for the PS3) and most other questions will probably be answered.
Level 5's Lair to be in 1080p? Sign us up, please
Knights and Dragons and War, oh my! Over on an IGN blog page, the most recent post/preview is of a game entitled Lair, by the German-rooted (but San Rafael-based) Factor 5 studio. Originally, their loyalty lied with the Nintendo Wii, plotting a sequel to the popular Pilotwings game for the N64. Tastes change and they swapped their coat of arms to the Sony side of things. Lair is going to be published by Sony and revolves around the coolest thing ever (maybe) -- dragon warfare and people riding dragons, fighting in the air. On dragons. Wow!The game is boasting full utilization of the motion-sensitive controller as a means to move your dragon around quite nicely. "Intense physics" was the phrase used. Another major boast is the use of 1080p, detailed textures and lots and lots of streaming. This is legitimate 1080p and not a mocked up fake-out. It's... amazing. Here's a screenshot that makes anyone want a pet dragon. This game is looking like a lot of fun and should excite a few of the more fantasy-game-lovin' Sony fans out there.
Partial PS3 launch lineup, allegedly
British Gaming Blog claims to have the scoop on a partial list of PlayStation 3 launch titles. The lineup includes: John Woo's Stranglehold Lair Motorstorm Rainbow Six: Vegas Resistance: Fall of Man Sonic the Hedgehog Tekken Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom As 1Up suggests, the official list will (almost definitely) be longer, and don't be surprised if some or all of these titles aren't on it. [Via 1UP]
