Haze

[hiddenleaf]

Not yet convinced i will wait for reviews....

[mij]

nako good luck nalang sa kanila dami nya kasaba na magandang games GTA IV, MGS4

[mizyel]

wow this May na daw @_@

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/854/854877p1.html

and yes still a PS3 exclusive

Haze will hit shelves on May 20,2008 as announced by ubisoft.. :heh:

goodluck ubi.. gta 4 - april 29, mgs4 - july 12

[parokyano]

Bago na din daw name nito ah..

[kit_mac]

mano y mano na ang labanan between big titles mid way through the year...

[hiddenleaf]

[NinjaLooter]

Wow! Parang malaki ang improvement sa graphics ah.

[calvs]

kahit ano sabihin ng mga tao, kukunin ko pa din to

[f0xdye]

wow calvin gera din tayo dito?

[calvs]

haha, kuha ka din ba nito pareng choy?
lol, mukhang ok naman e.
sana.
hehehe. pero malamang sa battlefield: bad company uli tayo magkikita-kita, then resistance 2?

[darkwing_uop]

http://www.strategyinformer.com/ps3/haze/interview.html

HAZE Interview

Mike Bowden: For those of us who live in caves and might not be familiar with Haze and Free Radical, care to fill us in on who you are and what it is?

Derek Littlewood: Haze is set in the year 2048, with players taking on the role of Sergeant Shane Carpenter. There’s been a rebel uprising in a remote South American country by a rebel faction known as ‘The Promise Hand’, and Shane has been drafted in by Mantel – a private military corporation – as part of their peace keeping force there.

One of Mantel’s specialties is biochemical research, and a recent product of that research is the ‘bio-enhancing medication’ known as nectar. Nectar is an all in-one combat enhancer, making soldiers faster, smarter and tougher, as well as having a range of other useful effects, like giving its users a sixth sense with which they can predict danger a moment before it occurs, or the ability to see even heavily camouflaged opponents, and it’s used by all Mantel soldiers, including Shane.

Initially Nectar seems like a great bonus, making you an incredibly effective fighter, but as you progress deeper into the war zone you begin to experience horrifying flashes of a bloody, corpse-strewn alternate world, and start to see another side to your high-spirited, fun-loving squadmates; a brutal, murderous, almost inhuman nature. There eventually comes a crisis point where your supply of nectar is cut off and suddenly it’s become clear that that ‘alternate’ world is actually the real world, and nectar has been clouding your vision the whole time.

With the realization that Mantel have been controlling him using nectar, and that the Promise Hand are merely defending their homeland from Mantel’s invasion, Shane changes sides. From that point on you’re taking the fight back to Mantel, not only free from nectar but using your knowledge of it to give you the edge.

The story is told continuously and seamlessly, so you’ll see no loading screens as you progress through it, and all the narrative is told from Shane’s first person perspective, really enhancing your feeling of immersion. We’re supporting up to four player co-op online and the two sides offer completely different styles of play, giving masses of replay value including a uniquely asymmetric multiplayer mode, for which we’re supporting up to 16 players online.

The game is Free Radical’s first next gen title – folks might have heard of us from such games as TimeSplitters 1, TimeSplitters 2, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect and Second Sight – and it’s being released on PS3 in May.

Oh, and I’m Project Lead on it.

Mike Bowden: With the release date finally announced how excited are the team right now?

Derek Littlewood: About as excitable as a puppy on its birthday. Except without the leg-humping. Mostly.

Mike Bowden: What has been the chief reason for the delay? Has it simply been a marketing decision or was there something within the development process holding things up? Care to share?

Derek Littlewood: There wasn’t really one big reason for the delay, just a combination of factors, really. Simply put, we realized that the Christmas release date we were headed for previously wasn’t going to give us the opportunity to fully deliver on the promise of all the different features in the game, but with the extra time to refine and polish, I really think we’ve been able to do just that.

I hope gamers appreciate how difficult it was for us to make the decision to delay the game beyond the Christmas market in order to ensure that we deliver them a better experience in the end; I realize it’s been frustrating, particularly for those hardcore fans who have been looking forward to the game since we first showed it all the way back at E3 ’06, and I’d like to thank them all for their patience. I hope you agree that the wait’s been worth it.

Mike Bowden: With just a couple of months to go, what areas of the game are you currently polishing? Why have you chosen to leave those areas until last?

Derek Littlewood: There’s not really anything you leave till last as such, it’s just that polishing is an iterative process. Your first layer of polish is always very rough, you get things ‘about right’ and then move on, but then you come back and make things a little bit better, and you can go on doing that over and over again pretty much forever, each time making the game that little bit better. It might get better by a smaller amount every time you do it, but it’s still getting better, so it’s worth doing.

So we’ve just continued to polish all the core aspects of the game as much as we can. If I had to call out one area of the game that’s seen more polishing than any other it would be the balancing of the asymmetric combat between the Promise Hand rebels and the Mantel troopers. If you think about it, most games spend their entire development period polishing just one style of play, but with Haze we not only have two different styles of play, with unique strengths and weaknesses and differing abilities, but they also have to completely balance out in our 16 player online multiplayer modes.

We’ve spent just enormous amounts of time with the balance between the two factions, tweaking the rebels here, the troopers there, and I think the result is a balance that, with an earlier release date, just wouldn’t have been possible.

Mike Bowden: How many hours a day are you guys working at the moment, getting any sleep?

Derek Littlewood: Days? Are they the things that happen when the big blue room outside the office appears?

Mike Bowden: What has been the most challenging aspect of the game so far in terms of development and why?

Derek Littlewood: Definitely the way the game constantly streams throughout, meaning the player can play from start to finish without seeing a single loading screen. The amount of data you’re streaming on the fly to create the sort of high-res, lush environments you’ll see throughout Haze is just insane, and the amount of technical problems we had to solve that we’d never encountered before were huge.

But when you see its effect on people, you know the effort’s been worthwhile; one journalist who came to see the game had to be dragged away after about three hours because he’d just been rolling through the entire first third of the game without noticing that he was progressing from one level to the next. He described it as ‘relentless’, which pretty much sums it up for me too.

Mike Bowden: If you had to pick out one feature of the game that we gamers might taken for granted that was very difficult from a design point of view what would it be?

Derek Littlewood: Probably the balance of the nectar system in the game, and the way that troopers can use it to gain an upper hand over the Promise Hand rebels, but then the rebels can similarly exploit certain aspects of it to restore the balance.

For instance, as a Mantel trooper I can ‘dose up’ on nectar to give myself a range of abilities like nectar foresight, which highlights all enemy soldiers with a bright orange glow, even in the darkest or most densely populated environments, making it easy to pick them out and attack them. But then on the other hand, as a Promise Hand rebel I have the ability to ‘play dead’, which exploits the limitations of nectar by fooling Mantel troopers into thinking I’ve died, causing me to fade from their view; this gives me a short window of opportunity to get the jump on them and strike that killing blow.

Every Mantel trooper ability is countered a rebel ability, and vice versa, which was a massive logistical problem to both design and balance, but I think most players will accept that it ‘just works’ without thinking about how hard it was to do. Which, of course, is how it should be; playing the game right now I’m glad that we made the effort to get it right, and I think gamers will be too.

Mike Bowden: As you have now probably played the game many times over yourself, what do you enjoy most about it? (If it’s possible to remain objective that is)

Derek Littlewood: It’s got to be the four player co-op; I’m just always finding ways to both co-operate and compete. I like the way that there’s a few subtle aspects of the game that allow you to bait your co-op squadmates too, for instance the ability to smash a Mantel trooper’s nectar pack and send him into an overdose state: ‘Hey mate, how you doing?’ – SMASH!- ‘GYAARRGH! Who did that!?’ Most satisfying, although less so when their nectar-fueled overdose rampage brings them charging in your direction, guns blazing!

Mike Bowden: How much has the constant multi-format speculation affected your team? Have they been able to shield themselves from the press, or has it made things difficult at all?

Derek Littlewood: I can appreciate the frustration that many gamers have felt about the multi-format speculation, but that’s just the thing – most of it has been speculation, not fact. And when that results in people getting angry at the development team, I think that’s a bit unfair. But then, we equip our teams with sturdy iron pants here at FRD so they can generally weather any amount of angst. Plus they’re wipe-clean, which comes in handy.

Mike Bowden: What about your future as Creative Lead? Are their any projects you are working on or will be working on that you can talk about or even allude to?

Derek Littlewood: As soon as Haze is done I’ll be throwing myself into a tricky duo of projects: ‘Having a life’ and ‘Remembering what my family look like’. Release platforms TBD but you can be assured they won’t have the word ‘exclusive’ anywhere near them.

[hiddenleaf]

No info on the 360 version?

[darkwing_uop]

I guess Derek answered it

[darkwing_uop]

More info on Haze

http://www.totallyps3.com/gameinfo.php? ... newsid=331

[Joe] What sets Haze apart from its competitors and can you tell us a bit more about the story?



[Derek] Haze is set in the year 2048, a near future dominated by the multinational corporation Mantel, who are responsible for everything from public transport to private military outsourcing. The game takes place in a South American country whose government has been overthrown by a rebel faction known as ‘The Promise Hand’ and Mantel’s military arm has been enlisted to go there and restore peace and order.



One of Mantel’s finest achievements is their ‘bio-enhancing combat medication’ known as nectar. Nectar provides a multitude of benefits, from improved vision, to greater speed and strength, and is constantly fed to every Mantel soldier via a back-mounted intravenous administrator.



The player takes on the role of Sergeant Shane Carpenter on his first day after being drafted in to help with the war effort, and the game follows his experiences as he progresses deeper into the war zone and discovers more about the reality of the war, of Mantel, and of nectar.



Perhaps our most unique gameplay feature is that Haze features two completely unique styles of play, as you get to play not only as a nectar-fuelled Mantel trooper but also as a cunning and improvisational Promise Hand rebel, with both sides having unique abilities and styles of fighting. Where this really comes alive is in our 16 player online multiplayer, with the asymmetric nature of the two sides really making your choice of sides matter.



Oh, and we’re also supporting four player online coop – did I mention that?



[Joe] And how is the use of Nectar being handled, both in terms of the gameplay and the story? Will it provide the player with extra abilities?



[Derek] Nectar’s really at the core of the combat in the game, whether you’re a Mantel trooper dosing up with it to give you the edge in combat or whether you’re a Promise Hand rebel looking to exploit a Mantel trooper’s dependence on the stuff.



Nectar does provide Mantel troopers with some cool abilities, like the ability to predict danger a moment before it occurs or being able to spot even heavily camouflaged enemies, but where it gets really interesting is in the interplay between the unique abilities of each side. For instance, Promise Hand rebels can smash the nectar administrator on any trooper’s back, sending them into a crazed nectar overdose state, where they lose the ability to tell friend from foe and develop an extremely itchy trigger finger!



Or, as another example, one of the things you discover as you play through the story is that nectar actually shields Mantel troopers from the horrors of the war around them by ‘censoring’ their view of the world. One of the ways it does this is by making dead bodies fade away, and rebels can exploit this by using the ‘play dead’ ability. When a rebel plays dead he collapses to the floor and Mantel troopers will lose sight of him. He can then wait for his moment to leap back to his feet and strike out at the nearest target.



Every Mantel and Promise Hand ability is balanced like this, so each side has its strengths and weaknesses and you’re always looking for the next opportunity to use your strengths whilst exploiting your opponent’s weaknesses; it makes Haze a surprisingly strategic experience for a fast-moving FPS.



[Joe] It has been said that Haze is looking to make the player more emotionally involved than any other FPS on the market. How are you going to achieve this?



[Derek] The entire campaign story is told from a first-person perspective which puts the player right in amongst the narrative, and the entire campaign also streams seamlessly the whole way through; it’s possible to play from the very start to the very end of the game without seeing a single loading screen, which to me makes an enormous difference to how immersive the whole experience feels.



As the player progresses through the narrative they begin to see these flashes of what initially appears to be a horrific alternate world, but as they discover more about Mantel and nectar, they eventually realise is actually the real world, with the previous, more sanitised image of the world being merely a nectar-influenced illusion.



We’ve also used a lot of cinematic techniques to enhance the storytelling; use of colour, post-processing and other techniques that have been common practice in cinema for many years but that are only just starting to be widely used in videogames. Plus we’ve got a great script and voice actors from places like the RSC, which I think really helps to deliver an emotionally engaging experience.



[Joe] There has been a rumour of no load times during the game. Is this true and if so is it comparable to something like Ratchet and Clank, where the loading takes place cleverly during cut-scenes?



[Derek] Technically the loading occurs continuously, but there are certain sections where the player completely changes environment and at that point they’ll be shipped off in a dropship or helicopter whilst the game loads the next level. Of course, the player won’t be aware of this because whilst in the dropship or helicopter, the other characters in there will be chatting with you and bringing you up to speed with where you’re going next, etc.



I think the difference between Haze and something like Ratchet and Clank is that although R&C does a great job of masking it’s loading, you still get those periods where you’re watching your ship fly from planet to planet, and it’s pretty obvious the game is just loading, whereas in Haze you’re constantly immersed in the game world and it’s very easy to forget the game ever needs to load at all.



[Joe] What about the level structure; will there be multiple paths through a level or are we talking about a mainly linear approach?



[Derek] It’s mostly a linear game; later levels allow you a bit more scope to follow different paths but it’s certainly not a free-roaming game.



[Joe] When players die, how are you dealing with re-spawns? Will this change depending on whether you’re playing alone or co-operatively? How will players heal themselves?



[Derek] When playing cooperatively players can revive their squad mates if they get to them quickly enough (you can also revive AI squad mates when playing as a rebel). When playing solo, you really are out there on your own, and once you’re dead, you’re dead.



So if you’re struggling with the game, get a friend to drop in and join you – and using our drop-in/drop-out co-op play you don’t even have to return to the menu; just tap the PS button on a second controller and a second split-screen player can join straight in!



[Joe] During co-operative play, how will the triggering of cut-scenes be handled and will players be able to wander off and possibly take a different route?



[Derek] No, it’s a linear story so when a cut-scene occurs all players see it. Whilst it would have been nice to allow complete freedom in co-op, because we run all of our cut-scenes in-engine, the range of game-breaking disastrous things players could do in that case would be enormous!



[Joe] And what about saving? Are you taking a ‘save anywhere approach’, just at the end of levels or at checkpoints?



[Derek] There are checkpoints constantly through the game and if you die or quit you’ll be reset back to the last checkpoint.



Funnily enough, checkpoints are another thing that the delay has enabled us to polish – play-test reports indicated that a few sections of the game would benefit from moving or adding checkpoints to make the game fairer so we did so (we all know how annoying it is to encounter badly-placed checkpoints in a game!).



[Joe] We know that the Haze campaign lasts about 15 hours and is playable with up to 4 players co-operatively online, but can you confirm whether this will be using four separate PS3’s or whether there will be a split-screen co-operative mode using only two PS3’s? Some early videos also hinted at 4-player split-screen, can you confirm how many can participate in the split-screen action.



[Derek] Yes, you can mix split-screen and online with two (or three) PS3’s. You can also mix split-screen and LAN.



We’ve always been completely unequivocal about the game supporting a maximum of two players in split-screen; it’s never been stated that we would be supporting four-player split-screen.



[Joe] It has also been rumoured that at least one of the online modes will feature a storyline that compliments the main campaign. Can you shed some more light on this?



[Derek] Yes, each team assault scenario is set in the same timeframe as the main campaign and features a small story of its own. These stories act kind of like the deleted scenes on a DVD; they’re not vital, but they fill in a few of the blanks of the story for those people who are interested.



[Joe] What other modes are available for people to play online and how many players can Haze support?



[Derek] Our multiplayer modes support up to 16 players online; and we’re also supporting bots who can fill in the spare slots if you have less than 16 players involved. We’ve got a range of deathmatch-type modes and also our team assault modes, which are objective-driven.



[Joe] Haze’s AI has been hyped to be better than that seen in any other FPS. Is this what enabled you to limit the fire fights to relatively small affairs, such as 4 vs 4, or 4 vs 8, rather than Call of Duty 4’s mass fire fights with re-spawning enemies?



[Derek] With all the different abilities available in the game and the intricacies of our asymmetric combat system, we wanted to give players the opportunity to really think and try out new strategies against each new group of enemies, and if you’re constantly getting mobbed you don’t really get that thinking time. I love CoD4 but Haze’s combat just has a different style and pace; I think it’s possible to appreciate both in different ways.



[Joe] Haze has been delayed for quite some time now. What has this extra time enabled you to do and how has it benefited the game?



[Derek] More than anything else we’ve really been able to polish and refine the game based on play-test feedback; with the extra time I think we’ve been able to better deliver on the more ambitious features of the game that a pre-Christmas release wouldn’t have allowed us to do.



I realise it’s been frustrating for all those gamers who’ve been patiently waiting for Haze, particularly those who’ve been looking forward to the game ever since we announced it at E3 ’06, but trust me that our main reason for delaying the game was to ensure that we would give you guys the best experience possible with it. In many ways it would have been easier to just release the game and benefit from the Christmas sales rush, but our primary motivation has always been to ensure that we deliver a great game to our fans.



[Joe] We have already seen some footage of the Jungle environment and people have jumped to the conclusion that Haze is going to be very similar to Far Cry. What are your thoughts on this and what other types of environments can we expect?



[Derek] The Far Cry comparisons really are superficial and don’t go far beyond the fact that both games have levels set in jungles. But in reality Haze is a massively more diverse game than that; we’ve got a level set in an abandoned seaside resort, and ramshackle shanty town, and an epic mountain ascent ending in an assault on a fortified observatory replete with a rattling cable car ride to get there.



And of course, the whole thing blends together seamlessly so it gives it this great ‘road movie’ feel and makes you feel like you’re travelling through one complete, coherent world.



[Joe] There has been a lot of discussion on internet forums about the frame-rate drops in the Haze videos. What can we expect the final frame-rate to be and are you supporting 1080p?



[Derek] The game runs at 30fps at 720p. The delay has given us the opportunity to continue optimising the game and I think you’ll find the finished product is a lot smoother than the work in progress shown in some of those videos.



[Joe] We’ve seen some pretty horrible instances of Sixaxis control being used in games, does Haze offer Sixaxis control and if so how have you integrated it into the game.



[Derek] We’re supporting it but only in very small ways; for instance if you get set on fire you have to shake the controller to put the fire out. I agree that sixaxis control can be very frustrating if forced onto a control system that doesn’t need it, so there was never any danger of us shoehorning it in for the sake of it.



[Joe] Are there any plans for downloadable content in the future?



[Derek] Yes, but I can’t say any more at present.



[Joe] What about a sequel? Are we likely to see one or is Haze wrapped up as a story at the end of the game?



[Derek] As a story it’s complete in itself; it doesn’t leave you with a big gaping cliffhanger or anything. But that’s not to say all of the questions raised by the plot are definitively answered, and with all the work we’ve done to develop the many facets of Mantel, nectar, and the Promise Hand, there’s plenty of scope for exploring different stories in the same universe.



[Joe] Many developers have shied away from developing on the PS3 and instead chosen to lead on the XBOX 360 and port across. This has led to some terrible conversions. What lead you to choose to lead development on the PS3 and do you think this choice will make it easier to port across to the XBOX 360 and are you still intending to release on the XBOX 360 and PC at some stage?



[Derek] As a company, FRD has always had great success with PlayStation hardware, all the way back to TimeSplitters 1 which was as exclusive title on PS2 for its European launch; our programming teams just prefer the coding style that PS hardware allows. As a result the PS3 was the natural choice for Haze.



[Joe] Does the PS3’s much-lauded Cell processor offer any real advantages and did this influence your decision to lead on the PS3?



[Derek] It’s just a processor; people always seem to think that just because it’s got a different name it’s somehow going to allow for some sort of fancy tricks that aren’t possible on other machines, but the whole point of a general-purpose processor is that it can be made to do anything, and that applies as much for the CPU in the 360 or any PC you care to mention as it does for the Cell.



And like any processor, if you code things in a way that plays to its strengths, you’re likely to see good results. So we’ve focused on maximising our use of the SPU’s and ensuring we’re doing a lot of parallel processing and we’ve gotten some great results.



[Joe] What do you think about the current trend of videogames becoming more accessible and slightly easier to complete? Did that come into your thinking at all when developing Haze and deciding where to pitch the difficulty level?



[Derek] I think that as gamers we can often forget how hard it is to comprehend the control mechanisms and rule sets of modern games if you haven’t been playing games for years; for most people on the street, being asked to play a modern videogame is a bit like being sat down in front of a piano and being asked to play Beethoven’s fifth!



So, whilst as a gamer, I’ve enjoyed wrestling my way through the harder difficulty levels on Devil May Cry 4 recently, as a developer I’m always looking for ways to appeal to both ends of the market; giving players the choice between a simple, accessible experience and a brutal, unrelenting one at the other end of the scale.



I think Haze’s trump card with regard to difficulty is our co-op support; if you’re ever struggling with a section of the game, you can add another player or three to even the odds a bit. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that the hardest difficulty will be a walkover in co-op – on the higher difficulties adding extra players multiplies up the toughness of the game too.



[Joe] What current FPS has most impressed you and why?



[Derek] Undoubtedly Call of Duty 4. The mechanics are perfect, the illusion of living, breathing AI fantastically well realised in animation terms and the set piece construction is absolutely staggering, but more than anything else it’s the pacing that I think Infinity Ward are absolute masters of.



When you talk to a lot of gamers they don’t really cite pacing as being something they think is important in a game but I think that’s just because that when it’s done well, you don’t notice it - instead you’re just swept along by wave after wave of excitement, followed by anticipation, followed by excitement, and so on, throughout the game. But it’s absolutely the thing that makes most great games great, and CoD4 is no exception; particularly something like the flashback assassination mission, which features some of the most perfect pacing I’ve perhaps ever encountered in an FPS.



[Joe] And finally…can we expect any monkeys?



[Derek] There’s currently a big box of monkeys sat here in the office marked ‘For TS4 usage only – DO NOT TOUCH’. Make of that what you will.

[chilho]

I'm with you on this calvs! Regardless of the rating, i'm getting this game!! Kita tayo sa gyera nanaman. Promise i will play more na! hehehe...

@darkwing,
i sense you're realy into this game also, Hope this game really lives up to it's hype and whoop Halo's butt! hehehe

[darkwing_uop]

yup m into this game because of its pedigree, and the 4 player online, parang preview sa 8 player sa R2 hehe also mukhang ok naman ang story, i like my games with a good story hehehe check this backstory out hehe

http://www.mantelglobalindustries.com/uk/ourboys.html

[blitz-dice]

New Haze Screenshots for PS3







http://www.dailygame.net/news/archives/007372.php

[darkwing_uop]

wow parang ma action talaga, lots of onscreen movements, hopefully this game delivers, Goldeneye don't let me down!!!

[blitz-dice]

dapat magandaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, tagal nadelay eh

[atabspunk]

http://www.strategyinformer.com/ps3/haze/interview.html


The story is told continuously and seamlessly, so you’ll see no loading screensas you progress through it, and all the narrative is told from Shane’s first person perspective, really enhancing your feeling of immersion. We’re supporting up to four player co-op online and the two sides offer completely different styles of play, giving masses of replay value including a uniquely asymmetric multiplayer mode, for which we’re supporting up to 16 players online.

Ayos NO LOADING SCREENS !!! .... preloaded kaya sa cutscenes?