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Joystiq interview: Heavenly Sword's Nina Kristensen
We caught up with Chief Development Ninja Nina Kristensen inbetween sword fights and developing video games at Ninja Theory, and managed to get some skinny on the upcoming PlayStation 3 ubertitle Heavenly Sword. She lets us know all about their influences on the look and style, some of the sexy Nariko's backstory, gives the definitive answer on multiplayer, and what games they play around the office whenever they're lucky enough to find some free time.Check it out after the break, it'll help you kill some time while you wait for this game to hit the shelves.
Some Heavenly Sword load time, demo, SPU usage details
A long time ago we mentioned that a demo for Heavenly Sword was in the works. No, we don't have a date for the demo yet, but from what was gleaned in the statements by Dean Calver, the lead programmer at Ninja Theory, it's coming along quite nicely. Just like the rest of the game. He said, "if you take the PSN demo we are currently doing, then we have a separate team (borrowed from Sony Cambridge) who are doing the work to make it a stand alone demo while the NT team are working on Beta. There's still work for the main team fixing bugs and balancing but it's much less than full time."Having two teams is pretty wise -- that way no time is wasted making a demo. The "real" team can keep plugging away at making the actual game pure quality and that seems to be exactly what they're doing. An example of their efforts shines through with their approach to load times: " ... at the beginning of each chapter we have a introductory cut scene, while thats happening we are also caching data from Blu-ray to hard disk. This way when we actually are streaming while you play we can use both sources at the same time." We like the sound of that, because loading screens can be pretty annoying if they pop up all the time (we're looking at you, Magna Carta ... you really suck).Finally, when asked about the percentage of the SPU the team has utilized, Calver has no idea. He said that you only really know stats like that when you feel bottlenecked by the hardware and Ninja Theory apparently hit no walls at all in their programming. This leaves us to wonder if they only used a fraction of the PS3's power, much like Motorstorm. We can't wait to play it!
SGD '07: Joystiq hands-on with Heavenly Sword
Or as we like to call it -- God(dess) of War III: In True HD. Okay, all jokes aside, there is simply no denying that the PS3's Heavenly Sword is a beautiful game. The characters, the weapons, the settings, and even the effects like dust and blood are visually stunning. They'll blast onto your retinas and curve your mouth into an "O" face that'll last awhile. Yes, it's really that pretty.The level demonstrated during the Sony Gamer's Day event happens right after what was already seen on an episode of Heroes. The game's protagonist, Nariko, starts running down a massive rope towards some enemies. They aren't too thrilled with this, so they start chopping the ropes off the platform they're tied to. This forces you to pull off some fairly easy Dragon's Lair type moves as the screen tells you when to run faster or jump to a side. Eventually she makes it down and lands smack dab in the middle of a fight, which is what we were waiting for.%Gallery-3174%
Heavenly Sword may get multiplayer as DLC
Heavenly Sword will be released as a single-player game, but Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades has hinted that adding multiplayer as downloadable content is a distinct possibility."Maybe we will decide to go down that route sometime soon," said Antoniades in an interview with EuroGamer. "And when we do, it won't just be slapped-on to please marketing tick-boxes. You can be assured that we have our sights on multiplayer." No other details are given as to, for example, what kind of multiplayer is being planned. Co-op? Deathmatch? We'll hopefully learn soon.According to Antoniades, Heavenly Sword is 90% complete, which gives us the impression that it will make its expected September launch. The full EuroGamer interview is expected to be published tomorrow.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Heavenly Sword demo is super-confirmed!
This is a little piece of news that should make everybody happy! Ninja Theory's upcoming super-sexy-cool slash-'em-up and beat-'em-down title, Heavenly Sword, has a demo on the way. SCEA's Kyle Shubel sat down for a quick interview and talked a little about the game. Since we covered pretty much everything there is to know about the gameplay during the week o' Heavenly Sword, we'll only touch on the interesting bits. No online multiplayer -- it's a single player game. They're in discussions about what to bring to HOME. Trophies, whatever. Again, who would love to see a life-sized statue of Nariko next to that life-sized Dante statue? That's pretty rewarding. If it happens. Demo is planned, but its release is still in discussion. We're estimating July just for the heck of it. Sound appropriate? Resolution and framerate right now: 720p @ 30fps Apparently, there will be giant monster-type enemies. No details yet. "Good replay value" planned. Mmm, so what's with developers keeping their mouths shut? Do they really not want to fail to keep a promise that badly? We'd love to just get a ballpark for the demo, or what they'd like to see in HOME, or when they imagine the game being released. Oh well. Until the next interview, then!
Heavenly Sword week concludes... for now!
The week of Heavenly Sword draws to a close, but we can read up on it anytime, so the week can last as long as you want it to. But the bit of information we gathered for Friday were 10 things we didn't know about the game. Let's see if we actually knew any of them. Nariko is dying -- combat keeps her alive. Bad guy is named King Botham. Nariko has three fighting stances (see Wednesday's information for that one). The Cell processor pulls off some neat tricks -- swirling hair, clothes, waterfalls, etc. You'll fight many enemies at once... more than Dynasty Warriors, we'd wager. SIXIAXIS motion controls projectiles mid-flight. No monstrous creatures to battle... well... not yet. Multiplayer? The question mark means we don't know. Heavenly Sword is not unlike God of War. Ninja Theory were previously known as Just Add Monsters. We knew most of these, except the last one. If you've been keeping up with GamePro's week of Heavenly Sword, you would have known them too!
We forgot about Heavenly Sword week! This was Thursday.
Thursday's Heavenly Sword feature is a lot less text-intensive and a lot more "oooh, aaaah" intensive. For yesterday, GamePro allowed readers to check out some of the incredibly beautiful art for the title. This includes, of course, the beautiful Nariko and that outfit that, we're certain, is worn for increased mobility.There are also some great landscape shots -- things that should probably be on one of those calendars featuring... places. We really don't have much else to say on this topic. It's a great collection of art, except for that one where Nariko is holding the two swords... if you take that picture and put it next to the Prince of Persia: Warrior Within art, the similarity is pretty humorous. The Prince is in a stance exactly like that, if we recall. Anyway, Friday's feature is next... as soon as they update it.
We forgot about Heavenly Sword week! This was Wednesday.
How humiliating! We got so caught up in the news from everywhere else, we completely neglected to keep up with the Heavenly Sword week over at GamePro. No worries, though, we'll catch you up over the next couple of hours. Wednesday's feature focused on the three fighting styles available to Nariko and her sword, which is slowly draining the life out of her. These styles can be changed mid-attack, so it's not unlike Devil May Cry 3's switching weapons on the fly. Here are the three styles in basic detail: Speed Style: This is the default battle stance primarily composed of rapid short-sword strikes. It's best used for close encounters. Ranged Style: These chain swords let you pick off distant foes, or hook one and slam him into the ground. Like Kratos, maybe, but we're going to say Ivy from Soul Calibur just to be different. Power Style: Slow, but can inflict... you guessed it... massive damage! Stringing together long, custom combos sounds like a blast. As far as the controls, GamePro proudly announces that they're pretty intuitive and easy to get the hang of. As far as SIXAXIS goes, it gets a workout (moving the camera, influencing the direction a projectile is thrown, etc) but isn't central to the gameplay.One last thing... heroic exploits. These are timed button-pressing sequences (or "on-screen prompts" if you prefer) that involve quick reflexes on your part for survival. We may be completely wrong about that, but there are points in the game where you take part in something beyond the normal slashing action. Maybe it's like Resident Evil 3 where you have to make a decision about how to act really quickly (Jill vs. Nemesis text-decisions)?We'll bring you Thursday's feature in a little bit!
Heavenly Sword week continues: the tech behind the sword
The week of Heavenly Sword continues over at GamePro, today gracing us with a kinda-sorta behind the scenes look at some of the story, art direction, and graphics. We'll highlight what's important and leave it to you to check out the full scoop so you can sound like the go-to guy/girl for this game. The Cell is stressed by Heavenly Sword by handling so many enemies on screen at once: "the trick is that Cell treats entire regiments as a single unit of artificial intelligence when they are at a distance; as they draw closer, Cell gradually divides the army into smaller and smaller groups, so they eventually become individual troops with unique fighting styles and tactics." Neat! Graphics are gorgeous and respond to their environment or whatever: "Wind gusts swirl Nariko's hair and clothes, and bazooka blasts send out showers of dust and rubble." Yeah, but... 1080p? How about physics and SIXAXIS support? "When firing a cannon, Nariko can influence the trajectory of the projectile using the Sixaxis. Ninja Theory claims it needs the Cell to handle these complex calculations." They claim... so is there another way? We think back to the Nikita missile in Metal Gear Solid... that was fun. We've still got a lot of questions -- Nariko's past is still pretty much unknown and things like 1080p support haven't been set in stone. No matter the case, this game will be something to grab come September.
Heavenly Sword screenshot/girlfriend
Cutscenes in games are photo-realistic on the PS3. Seriously. Even though Nariko from Heavenly Sword is built based on an actress (kind of like the main characters in the Onimusha games), this screenshot/wallpaper placed on the Ninja Theory forums really shows how gorgeous games can be, cutscene or not.This picture of Nariko spurned on a lot of debate on the forums, many nay-sayers claiming that there's no way this sort of graphic can be in-game. It is in-game, but a cutscene. Just read the original post from the Web Admin: "Had a chat with Tameem, and we've managed to get approval from Sony to release a screenshot to say a big 'Thank You' for your participation on the forums. So, without further a-do, here's an in-game screen grab of Nariko from one of our cutscenes." Yeah, we added the bold. So, what did this "Tameem" guy say? Let's look backwards."I'm assuming most of you have seen the "Cinematic Production" teaser. The facial model and texturing you see is based on the actress and the expression is comprised of a series of blend-shapes driven by the mocap data. Each expression is tweaked by us so that we remain true to the original performance. Lighting and depth of field is then applied to the scene and the results, I hope you'll agree, look pretty nice. This particular example doesn't have the floor in place and we've made it into a 1280x1024 size image so that it can be used as a desktop wallpaper."I've needed a new wallpaper and this will do nicely. What do you guys think? If actual in-game... gameplay graphics are anywhere near this, will that not be very, very impressive?
Some pretty new Heavenly Sword scans
Hmm, call me crazy, but I'd rather take Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning out for coffee than Heavenly Sword's Nariko. Why? Uhhh... check out the latest screens/scans from the latter's game and you tell us. Yeah, you'd feel safe if Nariko was having a good time and you suddenly get surrounded by a plethora of ninjas, but what if she asked for decaf and you forgot? Something tells me she'd be less receptive than Lightning.Anyway, these latest scans show the long red-haired heroine dealing some major deathblows to some masked peons, as well as Jeux-France's confirmation that indeed, the game is due out in March for the North American crowd. Which is really strange, since the latest EGM threw this title out in their "Fall '07" lineup. But of course, this is the same EGM who hosted a poll asking "What's wrong with the PlayStation Store" and 55% of the voters said "It's not XBox Live". I mean, I don't like cheese because it isn't ice cream. Sure, both are dairy, but I'm ignorant and take advantage of a poll without any screening questions.Wow, we're getting off topic. Although, not much to be on topic about. Check out the scans and get pumped up for March!
Heavenly Sword still on track despite PAL delay
Or is it? Says Nina Kristensen, Ninja Theory's co-founder, "We've always been a launch window title so it hasn't affected us at all," referring to the PS3 delay in Europe. However, lead animator Guy Midgley said "No, it's going to be next year...but we haven't announced a specific date yet." So... it's a launch window title (which should be before 2007, right?) but it's not coming out until next year in the US?Oh. Launch window for Europe! Well, if you put it that way, it makes sense. So, for those of you wondering, Heavenly Sword hasn't been moved forward in the launch frame, nor has it been delayed. The difference between Japan/North Ameria launch window and the European launch window might have caused a few rumors to spark into existence, only to be snuffed out by a little bit of common sense.
Gollum's meatspace counterpart does PS3 title
After groundbreaking roles playing digital counterparts Gollum and King Kong in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and King Kong respectively, Andy Serkis, the world's most famous motion capture-actor, is giving video games a shot.He'll be playing the role of the villainous King Botan in Ninja Theory's upcoming PS3 action title, Heavenly Sword.The BBC is running a short piece, with some gee-whiz tech jargon thrown in to wow the unwashed masses ("one of the processors inside the machine is solely devoted to recreating the movement of clothes and hair") as well as some interesting details on Serkis' specific involvement, noting that he's "taking care of all the performance capture, the casting and is heavily involved in writing."Hollywood involvement in games is nothing new (remember Bruce Willis in Apocalypse?) but Serkis is the Marlon Brando of motion capture and, as such, might be able to bring some real talent into the acting backwater that is video games. Then there's the whole question of whether or not that belongs in video games ...See also:PS3 Impressions: Heavenly SwordMajor PS3 titles missing launch date[Thanks, ben]
