The Unofficial Free Radical Design blog

Oh dear. In my last post it was believed HAZE to be out for January but now this has arisen from the official Ubisoft store.

According to play.com HAZE is coming out on the 18th of January. The website has put the game on a countdown so It could be quite certain. However it is impossible to confirm this. All you can do is hope.

Free Radical Design said it themselves. Also it is assumed to be coming out for the xbox 360 but should also come out for the PS3.

Do you want second sight to be ported to the wii? Let Free Radical know about it. Sign the petition - http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/secondsight

If you want the petition to do well tell your friends, post it on websites and digg this post!

Sections on HAZE from Gamer TV and Gamer TV extra were shown yesterday.

Footage was shown on the 4 player co-op. It shows the simplicity of the feature that allows players to drop into a game without needing to go through a lobby. Players are able to replace a bot into other peoples games whenever they want. People are able to mix 2 player split screen, LAN and internet play together however they want with the limitation of 4 players.

Two levels were shown using co-op. The footage included a look into the vehicles on the ‘promise hand’ side. On one of the levels the players had to clear a village full of Mantel troops before making their way up a mountain. People are able to cure other players when they are in trouble. The other level showed two players on a small quad bike called ‘The ‘Macho’ (Stag). One player had to shoot down Mantel troops while the other had to carefully make its way through a jungle onto a beach. Here an obstacle was found. A player had to use a Mantel turret to destroy it and kill some Mantel troops along the way.

On Gamer TV extra a scene was shown when Shane realises the truth about Mantel. In this scene you are shown a container full of dead Mantel troops in which another character shows you. He then explains how Mantel are only using the war to prevent people from copying Nectar. Mantel have no right to be fighting at all. Soon into the scene the person is shot leaving you alone. From here onwards you switch sides.

If I find a video of this feature from gamer TV on the internet I’ll make sure to embed it here.

PSU: What are your thoughts on Haze being a system mover for the PlayStation 3? With a slew of multiplatform FPS titles coming, how will Haze (a PS3 exclusive) entice gamers to buy a PS3 over anything else?

Rob Yescombe: Well, with four-player hot-swap co-op, the Nectar gameplay system, two unique factions with totally different skills and abilities, as well as the 16-player multiplayer story maps, we’ve got a top notch package that’s going to make it an extremely worthy investment. Ultimately, our focus has been on replay value. If we’re hoping that people will buy the game and/or a PS3, we want to make sure they feel like they’re getting value for money.

PSU: Do you think that Blu-ray is a necessity for next gen gaming and will developers require Blu-ray size storage for games in the future if they don’t already?

Derek Littlewood: It’s clearly not a necessity, but it’s an extremely useful asset. As hardware matures you always see an increase in the scale and ambition of games being developed for it, as developers get to grips with their new engines and toolsets, and that increased scale and ambition equates to an increased amount of content. So I think that as the PS3 matures, you’ll see developers relying on Blu-ray to an increasing degree.

Continue reading ‘PSU interviews Free Radical Design.’ »

Yesterday a special Gamer TV was aired about HAZE. The episode included a great look into the gameplay and gave insight into some exciting features not heard of. From what I could see the game is looking fantastic. If you are unlucky enough not to have been able to watch the episode I managed to find it on gametrailers.com. Enjoy!