UNCHARTED 3: DRAKES DECEPTION

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Definitely.

And what the hell is with this and Elder Scrolls V coming out on the same day? How the hell am I gonna do that?! :monster:
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
Definitely.

And what the hell is with this and Elder Scrolls V coming out on the same day? How the hell am I gonna do that?! :monster:
Dude have you seen all of the great games coming out in 2011?
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
So X-SOLDIER posted this article in the movie thread about the first paragraph, but the stuff on the game is freaking exciting:

Uncharted 2 was an unqualified success, so Richmond says that the jump from 2 to 3 won't be quite as dramatic as the jump between the first two games. From a technical standpoint, the animations will receive the most noticeable improvements in the third game. "We're doing some crazy stuff where we're actually going to stream some animations in," Richmond said excitedly, "so Drake will actually change animation state based on what's happening." Drake might brush his hand against a wall as he passes by, for example; or he could more realistically react to dangers, like smoke and gunfire, as he encounters them. "We don't want to let you walk through fire without reacting," Richmond added, "but most of these animation changes are just like he's doing the right thing based on what's around him, rather than taking away player control. It's about making him seem more realistic."

Richmond also revealed that brawling -- fist-fighting with multiple enemies -- will be added to the combat. "The fact that you can fight multiple guys at the same time, hand-to-hand, makes a big difference," he suggested. "You couldn't do that last game. So things like a bar fight in the game -- you can put five or ten guys around him and actually have Drake punching them out." Drake will also be able to seamlessly use objects in the environment to aid in a tussle, like grabbing a bottle to smash over an enemy's head or even an enemy's gun to end the fight quickly.

Outside of combat and animation updates, puzzles will now benefit from physics-based improvements. "Imagine this," Richmond began. "The chandelier reacts to Drake's weight. So you jump to it and it starts swinging. The only way to get to the next handhold where you need to go is to actually swing this thing in the right direction. And then imagine that chandelier is actually caught on something, so I have to climb up and free it, then drop to it, and then swing on it to the next thing."

This kind of gameplay might sound like it could lend itself to the PlayStation Move controller, but Naughty Dog isn't going to risk shaking up the established formula with a motion-control option. "We feel like if you're going to build a Move game, you should build a Move game. You shouldn't take a game that already exists with all of these control mechanics, and then build over the top of it."

"We haven't really found a cool way to use it," he added. "If we did, we would." The team did experiment with Move, getting "simple movement" to work in a prototype build, but the technology eats up a significant chunk of memory in calculating player movements (and Uncharted 3 won't have much to spare), so Naughty Dog decided against making any sacrifices, especially in considering the likely majority of players who wouldn't be using Move to play the game.

Uncharted 3 will obviously feature two of the franchise's central characters, Drake and Sully, but more familiar faces are set to return. "There's a lot of characters we haven't talked about yet," Richmond teased. "There will be more characters coming back than you've seen." Richmond also mentioned Drake's opposition this time around, an organized cult of some kind, which will pose a more cerebral threat than the trigger-happy mercenaries Drake faced previously. "It's more of a manipulative enemy than a full-on bad guy," Richmond hinted. "Obviously you're still going to be shooting guys, but the idea is that they can mess with your mind, as well."

As for the prospect of story-based DLC this time, "If we felt like it was financially correct and we felt it was right to do, we would totally do a story-based extension," Richmond told me. I waited for the but ..."But usually, what ends up happening is that the story is really tight, and adding in extra levels and stuff messes with the flow. We usually cut things for a reason, and so we'll get to some spot in the game where we would do something extra, and it just doesn't work." Richmond added that story-based DLC tends to be expensive (typically, you'd have to bring back the actors for any voice work and create all-new assets), and it can be risky to rely on income from DLC to justify that cost.

Multiplayer, however, will be a major feature of Uncharted 3, including post-release updates, though Naughty Dog has learned quite "a lot" from its implementation in the last game. "The biggest thing we learned was don't significantly change the bullet damage of the game after you launch," Richmond recalled. The team got caught up in tweaking the multiplayer after Uncharted 2 launched, and Richmond said Naughty Dog was drowned in feedback after the changes were made -- much of which has aided in the development of the new multiplayer.

"Next game we're going to blow it out," he promised of Uncharted 3's multiplayer. "We're going to really take it to the next level, listen to what the fans said, do all of the things we wanted to do last game but didn't have time to, because we really did the whole thing in just a year."

Additionally, a co-op mode will return, though Richmond confirmed that Naughty Dog still isn't interested in adding the option to the campaign. "That's just not something we want to do," he said flatly. "As a company, it's kind of something where we've said that's not the kind of story we're trying to tell. When you put a second player in the game with you, it changes your feel of the game -- it's not you experiencing it, it's you with somebody else."

Naughty Dog remains steadfast in its commitment to the classic single-player adventure, even if there is some level of anxiety about releasing Uncharted 3 in the highly-competitive holiday period next year. "I'm worried about how crowded it is," Richmond admitted of the game's November 2011 release window, before adding, "I think we can stand up against anybody, take anybody on. There's a juggernaut in Call of Duty, whatever they're going to do, and Assassin's Creed sounds like they're going to come out around the same time as us also -- rumors of 3 or whatever. Ultimately, we've got financial dates we've got to hit; we've got to get the game out when we think it makes sense. We won't spend more than two years on these games."

If the game's release date did get pushed back, the decision would have to come from Sony, not Naughty Dog. "For us, we are going to hit our date," Richmond assured. "Naughty Dog doesn't miss their date."

Naughty Dog is rapidly becoming my new favorite developer. They are amazing. ANd Sony had freaking better give this game the marketing campaign of the year up against all the other games coming out next November. These guys deserve to be extraordinarily successful with this game. Uncharted 2 sold very well, but it dropped off the sales charts surprisingly quickly, while far inferior games remained.

Even more contextually sensitive fights and animations? Not bothering with gimmicks like Move? Tweaking multiplayer even more? Sign me the hell up.

"Naughty Dog doesn't miss their date."

AND DO YOU SEE THAT SQUARE?
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
Naughty Dog already is my favorite dev for this generation.
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
Don't you mean, meet Hellen Mirren?
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
It'd be complete retard if she didn't
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c


HOLY FREAKING JUMPING JACK SHIT

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
A cargo plane accelerates down a runway with Drake and his compatriots stowed away inside. As the rear door yawns wide-open, a convoy of terrorist-carrying trucks is in hot pursuit.

The vehicles draw up to the craft, weaving in and out at high speed, as machine-gun wielding passengers leap recklessly between them to gain a better vantage point. Drake's group engages the enemy in a fierce battle as bullets and grenades burst into fireworks of carnage.

Suddenly, a second plane swoops into view, weapons flaring. There's a massive explosion as the rear-most truck bursts into flames and carousels spectacularly upwards, almost colliding with the airborne craft. The cargo door draws up. Drake is away. Or is he?

It's a sequence of typical cinematic flair from Naughty Dog. And if you didn't know any better, you'd swear it was a set-piece from Uncharted 3's campaign. But the first dead giveaway is the four Drakes on the plane. What I've just described is in fact the opening of a multiplayer map - one you'll be able to play in two months' time as part of the upcoming beta.

"We're showing we can take our epic, action-adventure feel from single-player into multiplayer," says game director Justin Richmond. "We got a little bit of that feeling last time, but this time we're really pushing that and making it feel like it's something new and different that people haven't seen in the multiplayer arena before."


Uncharted 3 brings the epic sequences of single-player into full-on multiplayer battles.
Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells chips in: "We've improved our multiplayer technology now to allow networkable moving objects and really open up the opportunities for the designers to come up with some great experiences."

And this is just a single bullet point on an impressively comprehensive list of new features unveiled to the press at a multiplayer hands-on event in Los Angeles.

Before the event I spend a fascinating morning in the company of Nathan Drake actor Nolan North, Uncharted writer Amy Hennig and others watching a cut-scene from the game being motion-captured (more on that next month).

But the afternoon is all about multiplayer. And, having had a first run at it in Uncharted 2, the studio's goal this time is no less than to be the "go-to game" for multiplayer gamers on PlayStation 3.

"We have our work cut out for us," acknowledges Richmond. "There's a bunch of other titles out there - Call of Duty, even Killzone - that are very, very big in the multiplayer arena. I think we bring something new to the table, something that people haven't done before - and we don't do something that's half-assed.

Can Uncharted 3 multiplayer topple COD? EGTV investigates.
"We want to push as hard as we possibly can. The only way to do that is to make your goal be so lofty that it becomes something that's almost impossible but you might be able to do it. I think we can do it."

It would be easy to be overawed by the challenge of following what is rightly regarded as one of this generation's finest games. But every member of the team I speak to exudes a quiet confidence that never strays into cockiness or complacency.


More exciting than your average map, here the Villains can jump between fast-moving trucks.
Let's get into the game itself. Two maps are available at the event: Airstrip and Chateau. The former is the one already described; after that set-piece it cuts to a more familiar multiplayer setting. The latter is set in and around the fire-damaged chateau seen in the single-player footage previously released.

Two main modes of play are available today: 5 vs. 5 Team Deathmatch (there's a 10-player limit in MP) and the all-new Three Team Deathmatch, which pits three teams of two against each other. It's a brilliant addition, encouraging a surprising degree of tactical play from the off, even amongst rival journalists thrust together by fate.

This is aided by a respawn system that gives the option to respawn as normal or near a team-mate if they're not currently engaged in a battle. Alongside promoting co-operation, Naughty Dog also wants to bring balance to team-based games, mainly to stop it being quite as humiliatingly pointless for the losing side in an obvious mismatch.

The 'Player Balancing' system introduces Power Plays, which kick in when one side builds a clear lead. Examples include Elimination, which temporarily stops one side from respawning, and Exposed, which reveals the locations of the opposing team.

For its part, the winning team is granted more chances to earn cash. Throw in Overtime and Sudden Death and the idea is that even the most one-sided match ought to offer its moments of drama and excitement for everyone.

"All these things, they just make the game in general a different experience from the last game," says Richmond. "We know we're on the right track."

I find I have a lot more fun in the Airstrip map, with its numerous containers to clamber over and under, buildings to creep through, and multi-level vantage points. Chateau is a more tense experience in which you're more likely to be exposed and diving for cover behind nearby ruins.

Beyond the game, social media has a big part to play. Every developer and his (naughty) dog are doing Facebook integration these days, but Uncharted's creator wants it to be worthwhile.

Richmond details one very cool example: "When you login to Facebook through the XMB you can see all your Facebook friends playing the game. If you and I are Facebook friends, even if I don't know your PSN ID, we can still play together, and that's huge.

"Everybody has on average about 150 Facebook friends, but with PSN friends they have a lot less so we want to make sure people can play with their friends and really have an experience that's social and interesting."

Happily, "social and interesting" to Naughty Dog doesn't mean spamming feeds with the usual how-to-make-your-friends-hate-you updates.

"When we update things we're not going to do the general 'You hit level 20!' and blast that out to all the different social media sites," Richmond reassures. "That's boring, people hide it." Amen to that.


From burnt-out chateau to airport yard, multiplayer takes advantage of the main game's key locations.
He adds: "We want to make it much more personal, so: I uploaded a screenshot that I think is cool; I put a clip online that I think is awesome." A new set of editing tools will facilitate this, enabling the creation of highlights reels and so on, which can be uploaded directly to Facebook or YouTube.

Additionally, Uncharted TV will live in the online interface, serving up Naughty Dog-produced content and the best of the community's efforts.

Uncharted 3 multiplayer also supports stereoscopic 3D. According to Wells, this actually came about as a side effect of another new feature: split-screen multiplayer.

"We wanted to add split-screen to our multiplayer - it was a very important feature, the very first thing we started tackling when we started Uncharted 3 multiplayer," he explains. "We knew that we were going to have two points of view anyway, so that's basically all 3D is: rendering in the left eye and the right eye".

Understandably, the 3D effect isn't as knockout impressive as it is in single-player (which Naughty Dog has gone to incredible lengths on – and we'll be covering separately in more detail very soon), but its inclusion underlines the overall ambition to cover every single base with the game and then some.

"It's trying to make sure that everybody in the game has the right experience and making sure it feels like it's running in frame-rate and looks amazing," says Richmond. "So not one system is getting the shaft – the 2D looks awesome, the 3D looks awesome and plays just as well".


Three Team Deathmatch is a terrific addition, pitting three teams of two against each other.
A nice touch here is that both participants in a split-screen game can sign in separately with their PSN IDs, ensuring no-one loses out on progression bonuses.

Elsewhere, you'll have four loadout slots to customise with choices of weapons and boosters, with Naughty Dog promising "thousands of combinations". And characters themselves can be dolled up and accessorised if that is your 'thing'.

One disappointment with Uncharted 2's offering was the not-exactly-inspired range of game modes. Three Team Death Match is a step in the right direction. And Naughty Dog teases us with the promise of further MP mode announcements, one of which just happens to be Richmond's favourite. "We'll be announcing more and more of that stuff through the summer," he says.

There's new boosts, perks, treasure and rewards to discover and capture, and you can experience all of that yourselves when the beta hits on 28th June for PSN Plus subscribers and buyers of InFamous 2, and 5th July for everyone else.

With Naughty Dog saying nothing about co-op missions for now (other than they're coming), that, for now, is everything we know about multiplayer. It's all looking as comprehensive, confident and compelling as one would hope. And that's before we've even had a play of the main adventure.

"We've got some pretty big plans for E3," Wells concludes with a grin. Excited yet?

I THINK I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
This...there are no words for how incredible this game is going to be... I was very confident that they could match Among Thieves' quality, but I didn't think they'd beat it. Knowing what they did with the train and convoy missions make you that much more aware of how amazing something like a cargo plane level can be. I. love. Naughty Dog.

Thanks for the stuffs, Dacon.
 

Max Payne

Banned
AKA
Leon S. Kennedy,Terry Bogard, The Dark Knight, Dacon, John Marston, Teal'c
I have wanted MP games to incorporate over the top cinematic action into their battles for so long.

The fact that weapons and player skins can be customized now just makes it all the more great.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
What is that at :51 when he glows green? "Medal Kickback Activated." Maybe you can spend accumulated medals to have a certain weapon and any given moment?
 

Dee

sweet dee
AKA
Bun, Academic
Uncharted 3 Mo-Cap Session (don't worry, no spoilers)
"Below is a recent video from a motion capture session where we see some of the actors (including Nolan North) perform scenes from the upcoming title. Naughty Dog even discusses how their technology contrasts with that of upcoming detective drama by Team Bondi; L.A. Noire."



Source

iCfC3.jpg
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I can't think of anything to say that I haven't said several times already, but I want it. Thanks for the video. Interesting that for all the props they gave them he didn't have a shifter to play with.

When talking about LA Noire's facial animations, how come no one ever mentions Heavenly Sword? I thought the facial animations in that game were the singular best part about it and they seem about on par with LA Noire from what I've seen in the trailers.
 

Dee

sweet dee
AKA
Bun, Academic
I was just amazed and almost feeling like a special part of the fandom. The camaraderie the actors have going on during this particular scene (and I'm sure others) is brilliant, especially on the second take when they seem to be just playing around with the lines. It makes their characters that much more real and meaningful. Hearing the writer, director and the entire cast and crew and how they all work together gives this game a very special feeling; not to mention the fact that they like to learn from their shortcomings (as explained from the first Uncharted.) It's nice to hear something like that. It also gives me another damn good reason to love the hell out of this series.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
More than that though, the way the did the first Uncharted wasn't a shortcoming. Well...I guess it technically was but that's how nearly every game is done, dubbed afterwards. So they responded to a shortcoming of the industry, not merely of Uncharted I.

These guys are awesome...I wonder if they need an accountant :awesomonster:
 
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