I’ve been a Ratchet and Clank fan since the series’ inception back on the PS2. Insomniac has always brought solid platforming and humor to the games, with A Crack in Time being the most polished Ratchet and Clank game to date. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it certainly gets every part right.
An astute NeoGAF reader was driving through Shreveport, Louisiana where an upcoming film, Battle: Los Angeles, is currently being filmed. Set for an early 2011 release, it’s not unexpected to see billboards and ads for products that will be available around the release date, as seen above with the Resistance 3 billboard. Insomniac hasn’t confirmed the game as of yet, but given the success of the series, it’s hard to imagine it not being in development at present.
The cool part is the Statue of Liberty inside the “A” and the Empire State Building inside the “I”, hinting that the Chimera have moved over to New York in their invasion. Sounds good to me. I’m just hoping the single player campaign is fleshed out more than Resistance 2 and co-op is added back in to the campaign. I really enjoyed the Cooperative and Competitive modes in Resistance 2, but the game didn’t have the same longevity as other shooters. We’ll see if the third installment in the series changes that in 2011.
Whenever I hear about the Nocturnal Initiative, my mind goes in bad directions. Maybe I’m just a sicko, who knows. Anyway, yesterday at the PlayStation.Blog Lounge, Insomniac talked about the success of their open source code and documentation initiative to help other PS3 developers.
In case you aren’t aware, Insomniac launched the project roughly 13 months ago (you can read more here). In that time, they’ve seen numerous people accessing the data, both game industry and outsiders, such as students and even IBM. The main goal is to bring new ideas to various other studios regarding SPU usage and programming on the PS3. In their words, this has been a “big success.” One of the cool new features in the code is the water effect technology used in Resistance 2, which looked pretty damn good if you ask me.
Even though some people decided to leak this information early, Insomniac officially announced the Resistance 2 DLC today at the PlayStation.Blog Lounge. There are a few parts to the DLC, so pay attention.
The first is the free patch v1.50 that introduces quite a few new features. Meltdown mode is being added to competitive multiplayer, which is a redesign of the same mode available in the first Resistance. You fight to take over spawn points (Beacons) on the map. For Co-op, Superhuman Mode is being introduced which turns the challenge level to 11. You’ll be able to gain higher XP and Grey Tech, but it’s not going to be easy. If you want to power level some n00bs, you can do that too. You’ll also be able to log in a second PSN profile to track stats and all that fun stuff. A lot of tweaks were also included in the patch to make the gameplay better.
On the paid side, the first piece of content is the Aftermath Map Pack, which will run you $5.99. Three new maps are being introduced: Outpost, Aftermath, and Pit Stop. The first two support up to 20 players on both Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch while Outpost adds Core Control. Pit Stop, the smallest of the maps, supports 10 players on Team Deathmatch and standard Deathmatch. To go along with the maps, six new multiplayer skins will be available for $0.99 each if you want to change up your look. You can grab skins of Rachael Parker, a female Soldier, Ravager, Cloven (Retribution model), Ranger Variation, and Black Ops Variation. They all look pretty cool.
The patch and DLC will be available tomorrow, so fire up the game and the PlayStation Store to get the new goods.
Insomniac just finished up announcing officially the new Resistance 2 patch and DLC. I got a chance to speak with Jake Biegel, the Senior Designer and Multiplayer Lead on the game when they finished up. We got to chat about the DLC and changes implemented in the patch.
The biggest thing Jake wanted to get across is that Insomniac is very community focused. If you weren’t aware (I wasn’t), they host Play with Insomniac Fridays where the team plays Resistance 2 online with their community. During these play dates, they’re getting all kinds of feedback on gameplay balancing, tweaks, and what the community wants. If they can deliver and it makes sense, Insomniac makes it happen.
A few of us have been getting into (or back into) Resistance 2 multiplayer lately. If you haven’t tried it out, definitely hop on because it’s a shitload of fun. But just like any game, there are a few bugs. Insomniac is looking to fix many of those issues with a patch, v1.40, coming on Monday.
There was a nasty little bug where people were getting their ranks reset back to 1, which is being fixed. Not only will you get back everything you lost, but all the XP you gained after the reset will be restored upon downloading the patch. Quite a few other balancing tweaks and fixes are included and you can check out the full list after the jump.
One thing that isn’t being fixed, yet, is being able to store XP and rank for a second local player on your PS3. Right now, whatever gains you get are wiped when you quit the game. Insomniac is working on a fix for this and said the reason this capability wasn’t there from the start was the PS3 lacking this capability. Since this was added in a firmware update, Insomniac is doing their best to get this much requested feature out to you as soon as possible. When they do, Crowley will stop calling, texting, and IM’ing me every day asking when this feature is coming. I can’t wait.
The Chimera is attacking on the US home soil and Nathan Hale is the best we have to stop them. Resistance 2 picks up where Resistance: Fall of Man left off after Hale blew up the London tower and slowed the Chimera attack in Europe. The game has gotten bigger and more intense while adding a new terrific co-op mode. But is there enough here to make it the best shooter on the PS3 this Holiday?
The first Resistance wasn’t a graphical powerhouse and neither is the sequel. While the look of things has definitely improved, it’s not the best visual title you’ll be seeing this year. Sound-wise, however, the game is stunning. Weapon sound effects, dialogue, and enemy Chimera screams sound amazing in 7.1 channel surround sound. Make sure you keep the receiver cranked for this one.
The upcoming PSN Ratchet and Clank game has been dated. It was priced at $14.99 at E3, but Sony dropped the date on us of August 22nd.
For those of you who don’t know much about Quest for Booty, Ratchet continues the search for his missing mate, Clank, in this pirate-themed sequel to Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Even though Q4B is a downloadable game, it packs all of the AAA-production punch you’ve come to expect from every Insomniac Games title.
As for the gameplay, Q4B focuses heavily on exploration and platforming, along with some of new experimental action for the franchise. For example, Ratchet will use the new kinetic tether on his Wrench to manipulate the environment, and he’ll use elements such as light and shadows to his advantage.
This is high up on my priority list for August. I absolutely loved R&C Future, so I’m looking forward to checking out this PSN game in a few weeks. No Trophy support, unfortunately. According to James Stevenson, the Community Relations Manager at Insomniac, the Trophy standards were finalized about the same time Quest for Booty was completed. Oh well.
You can pretty much say that Resistance is one of the flagship titles for the Sony brand right now. With the success of the original PS3 launch title and the much hyped sequel coming this fall, Sony decided it would be fitting to bring the series to the PSP with Resistance: Retribution.
Here’s the first trailer from the game, which looks stunning on the PSP. It’s a third person shooter and you aren’t Nathan Hale. Get ready for some Chimera killing action in Spring 2009.
It has to be one of the worst kept secrets in game releases. We’ve seen the European ratings board give their blessing, and now the ESRB has rated Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty as E-10 in the US.
No word yet from Sony or Insomniac about what we can expect for the new PS3 title. Will it be a complete new release? Will it be a download from the PlayStation Store? Will it be an expansion pack for Tools of Destruction?
We tried to contact Sony and Insomniac about it and haven’t heard back. I’d expect some announcements at E3 next week.
Coming Soon!
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