PlayStationSpot

This week we welcome Guerrilla Games‘ Killzone.com to the weekly recap. Killzone Community Editor Victor Zuylen will drop updates from the Killzone Command Center every week. Take a look at what they’ve got up there, the backstory is really intriguing.

• Warhawk v1.5 Update “Free Never Gets Old!” - Trophies, in-game music, tutorials, free - seriously, what’s not to like?
• Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack Now Available - in dashing royal blue.
• Who’s Going to PAX? - We are. More details next week.
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Street Fighter Alpha Available Today on the PSN! - BCR: As difficult as you remember, but much prettier.
• PLAYSTATION Store Update - Starring BCR, SFA, and 4 demos.
• Burnout Paradise - coming to PSN - Soon, no disc required!
• PLAYSTATION Store Video Content Update - Scores of new shows movies to watch this weekend.

Courtesy of David “Point Man” Brothers

• Get Up, Get Out, Get Something - Have you preordered SOCOM: Confrontation yet? No? Why not?
• Sneak Peek: The Home Stretch - David Seymour over at Slant 6 fills us in on what’s going on in the super secret S6 HQ.
• Gun of the Week: STG 77 - The STG 77 looks like a laser gun, but fires bullets. Who knew?
• Dev Q&A 13 - We’ve done 13 of these? David Seymour tells us about gun spray, one shot/one kill, and drops a few other tidbits.
• Poll of the Week: Bundles - Which version of SOCOM: Confrontation are you going to buy?
• Sneak Peek: More Beta Info - Want to know what’s going into the Public Beta? I’ve got you covered.

Courtesy of Victor Zuylen – Editor, Killzone Community

• Killzone storyline update - The latest update to the Killzone storyline section examines the Vektan Era (2129-2155), and reveals what life on the Helghan-owned colony was like.
• Early Days on Vekta - Snippets from a recently recovered Helghast textbook offer a unique, if not entirely unbiased, glimpse into their historical perspective on the colonization of Vekta.
• Smoke, Mirrors and Lots of Rubble - We investigate how the Guerrilla developers pulled off the stunning building collapse in the Corinth River level. Includes a downloadable movie of the event.

If you only read one PlayStation.Blog post this week, make it this one.

Courtesy of David “Point Man” Brothers

• Abigale at Comic-Con - Abigale slides over from the SOCOM.com forums to tell us about her experience at Comic-Con.
• In-Game XMB Isn’t A Threat - I state my position and get some interesting discussion down in the comments.
• Which SOCOM: Confrontation to Buy? - Seth lets us know the variations that SOCOM: Confrontation is going to come in.
• Urban Wasteland or… - Get your vote on! Help pick Urban Wasteland’s name.
• Public Beta Info… No, Really! - Seth announces the public beta.
• Public Beta In Canada - A brief clarification post– Canadians get the beta, as well!
• Sneak Peek: Facial Features - Now you can make the prettiest merc or commando ever with this quick overview of the editable facial features in SOCOM: Confrontation.

Courtesy of Bryan Intihar - Community Manager, Insomniac Games

Bryan’s Blog: The Freight Train and Intern Edition - Long time no talk, everyone! I know it’s been a few weeks since I served a delicious slice of Bryan’s blog pie (well, I hope you think it’s tasty), but I’ve been pretty darn busy. And I’m hardly the only one. The studio is like a freight train right now—we’ve reached our top speed and this train ain’t slowin’ down till we reach our final destination. That would be finishing Resistance 2.

P.S. If you’re planning to attend this month’s Penny Arcade Expo (Aug. 29-31), please swing by the Sony booth and say hello. I’ll be there showing off Resistance 2, which will be playable on several kiosks.

We’re incredibly excited to announce that Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty will be available for download on the PlayStation Network Store on August 21st for $14.99. Even better news: Q4B will also be available in Europe on the 21st, and in Japan on 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.

We think Quest for Booty is perfect for existing Ratchet & Clank fans and players new to the franchise. If you’ve been a fan over the years, you’ll be compelled to help solve the mystery of Clank’s kidnapping and if you’re just getting started, Quest for Booty offers a great entry point with and action-packed 3-4 hour experience for almost the same price as a movie ticket. Plus, Q4B has pirates… and booty… and it’s really fun to say “Quest for Booty” out loud with a pirate accent.

This week, we’d like to welcome Bryan Intihar of Insomniac Games into The Recap. See what the boys in Burbank have been up to at the bottom of the post.

And I’ve been out of the office (@ Comic-Con International 2008), and so haven’t had a chance to relay this information, but as many of you have asked, and some have figured out, the song from our E3 Press Conference opening montage is “Burn in My Mind” by Twenty-Four Flowers. Here’s their MySpace page if you wanna take a listen.

• E3 Coverage on PlayStation.com from the Gamer Advisory Panel
• BioShock PS3 Trophies Confirmed, Detailed
• Xam’d: Lost Memories Debuts at #1 on PLAYSTATION Network
• First look at MAG
• Soulcalibur IV Bringing Darth Vader Exclusively to PS3
• PlayStation @ Comic-Con – Starting Tomorrow!
• PixelJunk Eden: Trophies Galore!
• Siren: Blood Curse rises today
• Take a tour of our Comic-Con Booth
• PlayStation Store Update
• 1942: Joint Strike coming to PSN today (and a Bionic Commando: Rearmed update!)
• Burnout Paradise PS3 Update

Courtesy of David “Point Man” Brothers

• E3 Wrap - I give some coverage to the E3 coverage!
• Clandestine - Time to check and see which readers are ready for playing in clans.
• Gun of the Week: M4-90 - Did you know that shotguns can be used in bomb disposal robots? True story.
• Dev Q&A 11 - Four more questions answered!
• Sneak Peek - Clarification on Maps - I clear up some confusion, hopefully, on the Regular and Large maps.

Courtesy of Bryan Intihar - Community Manager, Insomniac Games

Hello, PlayStation world! E3 may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean things have slowed down for all of us Insomniacs. In fact, this week has been pretty crazy with Resistance 2 development going into overdrive, not to mention the recent announcement of Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (which you can download from the PlayStation Network in the coming months).

In other studio-related news this week:

• Hopefully by now you’ve seen some footage from Resistance 2’s Chicago level, which features a massive amount of creepy creatures known as the Grims. Mike McManus, one of our gameplay programmers, recently posted a blog about working on this portion of the E3 demo and some of the differences between developing for R2 and Ratchet & Clank Future: ToD. Check it out here: http://www.insomniacgames.com/news/.
• Episode 30 of the Full Moon Show podcast is now live. We welcome back to the show Brian Allgeier, design director of the Ratchet & Clank franchise, to discuss the Q4B announcement and other E3-related topics. Also, the folks from Sony Bend join us to chat about an all-new installment in the Resistance universe, Resistance: Retribution for the PlayStation Portable (which arrives in early 2009). You can download the podcast at http://www.insomniacgames.com/podcast/podcast.php.
• The Resistance 2 beta has been quite the topic of discussion this week. As my community mate James Stevenson mentioned yesterday on various gaming websites, there will be many ways of getting into the beta. Subscribing to Qore is simply the only one that’s been officially announced. So stay tuned for more details.
• Our founder and CEO did a number of interviews at this year’s E3, but few proved to be as entertaining as the one he conducted with the HipHopGamer. Head to http://www.thebitbag.com/ to see Ted Price discuss Resistance 2’s Leviathan battle, the changes going into competitive multiplayer, and how the president of a major game studio should rock the WWE championship belt.

Ted Price here. I’m founder and CEO of Insomniac Games, the studio behind Resistance: Fall of Man and many of the Ratchet & Clank games, including Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. While we’re busy at work on Resistance 2, I wanted to stop by to share some exciting news about the future of Insomniac.

As you may have seen this morning, Insomniac is launching a new studio in the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. It will focus on developing both current and new intellectual property, and will open its doors in January 2009. The North Carolina group, which will also be known as Insomniac Games, will receive administrative and engine, tools and technology support from the team here in southern California.

Veteran Insomniac Art Director Chad Dezern will serve as the North Carolina studio director, while Resistance 2 single player Lead Programmer Shaun McCabe will act as the studio’s production director. However, both will continue to work on Resistance 2 until it launches this Fall. We’re focused on making R2 amazing - that’s our top priority right now.

The move to North Carolina allows Insomniac to keep our size at a level we like in Burbank, while also giving us an opportunity to grow and attract some of the top talent that resides on the East Coast. We’re already beginning the process of looking for good people to join us in Raleigh-Durham, so if you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us at info@insomniacgames.com.

We are all incredibly excited about this news, and we’re looking forward to bringing you more great games. And for those Resistance fans that are dying for more R2 information, make sure that you tune into Spike TV for Gametrailers TV with Geoff Keighley on June 13th. The show will reveal the first Resistance 2 gameplay footage in an episode shot here at Insomniac Games.

As always, thanks for all of your continued support!

The Game Developers Conference isn’t just about showing off new games (really, that’s a rather small part of the conference). It’s a place where aspiring game developers can land themselves the job of a lifetime. Like working for Insomniac Games. As if getting to work on the Ratchet and Resistance series wasn’t incentive enough, the Insomniacs are attempting to lure in new candidates via song at their booth. Take a look:

Twice weekly massages(!)