Now that we’re starting to get our hands on the PS3 launch titles in a little more depth, personal favourites are emerging. I’ve got friends who are all over Ridge Racer 7 like a rash; others are intrigued by MotorStorm’s ace physics and combative gameplay. It’s a good sign, I guess, that people are finding their own titles to fixate on rather than everyone pointing at one single launch title as being the pick of the bunch - or worse again, everyone sounding a universal “meh” sound and being uninterested by the lot. For me, though, the title to watch is Resistance: Fall of Man - a first person shooter which I initially wrote off as being a cynical attempt to make a World War 2 game by the numbers look interesting by adding aliens, but which looks more and more like a genuinely brilliant game every time I see it.
Today, then, I’m having a quick chat with Ted Price - the head of Insomniac Games, the company making Resistance. You might know them as the developers of Ratchet & Clank, and although Resistance is gritty and unrelenting, depicting an alternate history where real British towns and cities are under the control of a nasty extra-terrestial force in the late 1940s, you can still feel the influence of Ratchet in the game’s weapons. The team has really cut loose with the PS3’s physics capability, giving us a host of really interesting weapons we’ve never seen in a game before - many of which, Price claims, couldn’t have been done at all on the PS2, because they rely so heavily on working out the physics of hundreds of individual bullets, spikes or particles.
That being said - isn’t Price worried that most people will just dismiss the game as yet another WW2 shooter, which is exactly what I did when I first saw it? Apparently not.
“The fact that we set it in Great Britain is a big clue for people that this is not a World War II game,” he explains, “because in World War II, there wasn’t a lot of fighting in Great Britain! Secondly, the Chimera have a greater and greater influence on the environment as you move through the game - and even though we’ve shown some settings that are more terrestrial, there are plenty of Chimeran structures that set it apart from any other first person shooter out there, especially those that are World War II shooters.”
“Finally,” Price continues, “we make a big point in the story to emphasise the difference between this time period and previous time periods - in particular, with the technology that we present. You’ll notice that we have VTOLs [Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft] flying around - that’s the standard mode of transportation in this world. Those didn’t exist in our world until the 1990s perhaps, the 1980s? That freedom of creating very different technology was one of the great aspects of working with this alternate history - and I think that as people play the game, they’re going to feel that it’s a very different setting.”
One of the interesting things about Resistance, from a gamers point of view, is that it doesn’t look like a launch title - which in general are games that are a bit rough and ready, with graphics that don’t take advantage of the hardware, not much in the way of content and loads of bugs. By contrast, Resistance is a really polished game - the kind of thing you expect to see a year after a console launches, not the day it comes out. So did Sony play favourites and give Insomniac access to hardware before all the other studios, or something?
“Not necessarily,” Price says, “but we worked closely with Sony at the very beginning to understand what the architecture was going to be all about. We participated in that early aspect of development, before we even had dev stations. As a result, we were able to get ready for when those dev stations came - so as soon as we got the dev stations, we jumped on it, and we had our levels up and running very quickly. We began building assets long before we got PlayStation 3 development stations.”
He pauses and thinks for a second. “The other thing to keep in mind,” he says, “is that we’ve been on PlayStation hardware now for over ten years, and I think our team of engineers is used to how Sony develops hardware. Even though the Cell and the PlayStation 3 are very, very different from PlayStation 2 and PlayStation, there’s a certain design sensibility that you get in terms of working with the hardware. Sony, for example, their hardware allows you to get very close to the metal - and our guys are used to working at a very low level and really squeezing a lot of power out of these machines. So, they were probably more ready because of our experience on the previous Sony platforms than had we not worked on PSone and PS2.”
Aside from the singleplayer campaign, Resistance also has extensive multiplayer support - both four-way split-screen, and online play for up to 40 players. Online games are hosted on servers provided by Sony, and Price claims that the team has experimented with 40 player matches involving gamers from locations as far afield as the United States, Spain and Japan, with near-perfect gameplay experienced between those countries. The game also has a built in buddy list, support for clans with up to 200 members, and the ability to form temporary parties who join a match as a group, thus simplifying the process of getting all your pals into the same game. However, disappointingly, it won’t hook into the main buddy list of the PlayStation 3 - instead you’ll need to build your own buddy list which is specific to the game. Price wouldn’t be drawn on whether this will be fixed by a future update to the game, but he made a point of saying that the buddy lists are separate “currently”, and said that “it is definitely possible to update the game via online” - so perhaps there’s hope on that front.
Finally, we leave Price with a question about the locations in the game - which takes in action from cities including York, Manchester, Grimsby (yes, Grimsby - “it had a great fish cannery,” Price explains cryptically), Nottingham and London, plus quite possibly a few more. “We actually went over to England - one of our artists went over and took a lot of photographs of all the places that we built,” Price explains.
“We also used maps of the era. For instance, if you go into Manchester, you’ll notice that the Manchester cathedral is there, the bridge leading to the cathedral is there… It was all based on real maps of the areas. Also, London is in the game, but it’s very different because it has a lot of the older structures that we believe would have existed had World War II never occurred in real life. So, it does look different to what you see today - it’s not quite as modern, simply because it never had a chance to be modernised.”
All of which, as a Londoner, just leaves me all the more keen to see the game in its final form. When all’s said and done about the hardware, PS3 will - like any console - live or die on the strength of its games; and Resistance is definitely one to watch to get a feel for what developers are starting to accomplish on the hardware.
Only one artist sent over to England for the locations? Strange…
Comment by Fivos — Nov 2, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
if so, freaking good artist, i say.
Comment by daniel — Nov 2, 2006 @ 6:07 pm
Good interview, but the separate buddy lists for Resistance and for the Sony Network is extremely disappointing. Please convey this to Sony HQ, gamers want one ID that enables them to play with anyone. We don’t want to have a network ID, and then a separate ID for each game. What is the good in that? We want a universal network ID, good multiplayer gaming with little or no lag, in game messaging, video chat, etc.. Hopefully this will be patched, and hopefully before the system is even released here in the US on the 17th so when the first people log in to the Resistance servers that it is integrated with the Playstation network so we don’t have to worry about two different user names and sets of passwords.
Keep up the good work!
Comment by Andy — Nov 2, 2006 @ 6:20 pm
The fact that the buddy list will be a seperate entity from the playstation network worries me. I have a feeling that the playstation on line network if allowed to do this type of thing and not be unified under one big ambrella like X box live will be the cause of much customer distress. If a company like Insomniac is going to seperate itself right off the bat with one of the biggest hyped games for the system, it does not give me much confidence. Did Sony not learn anything from their ps2 online strategy debacle?
Comment by Luis Gomez — Nov 2, 2006 @ 6:26 pm
The online system need to be amazing to beat Xbox Live. The whole system including the buddy list needs to be integrated together. One central friends list is very important.
Comment by faded515 — Nov 2, 2006 @ 6:40 pm
It was well known that the Sony online service would be piece-mealed together yet Sony fans refused to believe it. This is how it is, not unified like XBL but each game having seperate logins, buddy lists, etc.
Comment by MajorNelsonRipOff — Nov 2, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
This sounds like only the buddy-list within the game will be managed separately but you will be logged in automatically with your main ps-account.
Comment by dm — Nov 2, 2006 @ 8:48 pm
Great read, but I wish there was more new info or screens. the separate buddy list also sounds like a problem.
Comment by Neil — Nov 2, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
Where can I find more info on PS3’s eDI? I’ve been looking for exact information but I’ve read hype about how it will be revolutionary. And that Ashlee Simpson will be exclusive to xbox live.
Comment by T Jefferson — Nov 2, 2006 @ 9:55 pm
I don’t think Sony needs to beat Live. 100m+ chose PS2 despite Live. Although it would be good to have unified buddy list in all games
Comment by Martin — Nov 2, 2006 @ 10:18 pm
Fix the buddy list dude this is so wrong if there is nothing wrong with sony’s Blist then use it and keep it all together. That is what was really bad with the PS2’s online games. Fix this with that patch or whatever it is. Do it, Do it Now!
Comment by Sean — Nov 2, 2006 @ 10:20 pm
Yep,I agree the whole system including the buddy list needs to be integrated together. One central friends list is very important. This would make Resistance:FOM even more a must have purchase.
Comment by PS3 Fan — Nov 2, 2006 @ 10:31 pm
Let them know how you feel guys!
http://forums.insomniacgames.com/index.php?board=22.0
Comment by AmericanNinja — Nov 2, 2006 @ 10:37 pm
“However, disappointingly, it won’t hook into the main buddy list of the PlayStation 3 - instead you’ll need to build your own buddy list which is specific to the game. ”
Why is that? I thought the Sony Online thing was to be as connected as Xbox Live? Does every game still make its own online part? That sucks… that would mean nothing changed!
Comment by TheBard — Nov 2, 2006 @ 11:50 pm
hey sony, we know it’s you…you can give it up now.
Comment by tom — Nov 3, 2006 @ 2:46 am
Great interview … a few questions not asked. I know that you want to set this up as a Franchise.. as in to make more than one title.. but I have yet to see any vehicles. Is this something that you think you might change later on or is it that you just dont see vehicles as something that you want to put in your game or Online game.
Comment by dXodus — Nov 3, 2006 @ 6:43 am
Sorry but IMHO Sony have dropped the ball AGAIN with the online play… Friends of mine who have XBL have nothing but good things to say about it.
Its getting harder to ignore the naysayers who foretell the doom of PS3 when the system is crippled by the company that makes it!!
Comment by JediMartock — Nov 3, 2006 @ 11:43 am
JediMartock believe me no doom will fall on the ps3, all of this negative news has been around since the first playstation but in 95 we didnt have to worry about all these blog sites who try to turn the mindset of the communities to like the systems they like. Sony will do just fine, and the online will pick up if it doesnt then there’s always ps4 to do it
Comment by Regula Oblique — Nov 3, 2006 @ 5:56 pm
100m+ choose PS2 despite Live? Is that a joke? The Xbox didn’t come out until after the PS2, was unproved and Live launched 1 year after the Xbox shipped - big lead for Sony that MS couldn’t overhaul. (Oh and most people I know are on their 2nd PS2 due to dead consoles, so some of that 100m are not new users).
Non integrated FL is just stupid. Is that a legal thing? Does MS have a patent on a unified FL? If they do Sony will just tell us it’s not needed and give us rumble instead
Comment by shinesevens — Nov 4, 2006 @ 9:55 pm
There are more PS2 people online than the competition. As for dead consoles *ring of death* mean anything to you.
Comment by Downunder — Nov 8, 2006 @ 12:10 am
>>(Oh and most people I know are on their 2nd PS2 due to dead consoles, so some of that 100m are not new users).
So given the fact that a PS2 died on them, and they are now in position to choose Xbox with the establish Live service, instead of PS2 ….
They chose PS2 again.
Telling stuff.
Comment by Rather — Nov 8, 2006 @ 9:07 pm
Whats wrong with Grimsby? Its a great place so why in your review u speak sarcastically about it?
Comment by grimsbykid — Nov 25, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
GRIMSBY RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by grimsbykid — Nov 25, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
We have best fish and chips in ENGLAND! WOOHOO!
Comment by grimsbykid — Nov 25, 2006 @ 8:53 pm
[...] I worked on the site for a little while, and they never edited a single word I wrote, or prevented me from asking any questions I wanted to ask. I’ve actually been criticised a few times for working on ThreeSpeech, the implication being that I was essentially being paid to be a Sony shill; it certainly never felt that way to me (not least because I was actually only meant to be paid for one of the articles, and I totally forgot to invoice for it - doh). In fact, in the small number of articles I wrote for them, there was as much bad stuff as good about PS3 revealed; for example, an excerpt from an interview with Phil Harrison where he admitted that the company had over-stretched itself by including Blu-Ray, and an article where I interviewed Insomniac Games boss Ted Price and he revealed that Resistance: Fall of Man wouldn’t use the PS3’s built-in buddy lists. Neither of which is exactly what you’d call Good News; both of which broke exclusively on a Sony-funded site. [...]
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