Talk Playstation 3 News

You read it almost everywhere, but it was never confirmed. Starting on December 31st Free Radical will only have 40 people working at their studio. Then it’s the wait on which company will scoop up the remaining people and it’s projects.

Despite the Star Wars: Battlefront III deal gone sour after two years of development, Timesplitters 4 makes it interesting for other companies to take over the troubled studio after the disappointing Haze reception. Plus the two remaining secret projects according to an employee make the studio even more attractive.

Source

Famitsu got it’s hands on White Knight Chronicles to test this game of it’s potential. The results a score of 29/40 (7,8,7,7) .

How did this PS3 exclusive get this score, well the reviewers didn’t care for a number of elements in the game, such as the in-game menus, battle controls, chatting (apparently it was difficult to chat while moving around) and overly simplistic battle system despite a game length of 30 hours. They did however had good words to say about the customizable combos and epic battles in a gorgeous looking world.

Don’t raise your eye brow cause of the score as these we’re the same people that rated Haze a 34/40 (9,8,9,8). So does that mean that White Knight Chronicles will get worse reviews like Haze got from ‘western’ reviewers. Time will tell.

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There is a new update for Haze. Basically this update “corrects the difficulties encountered when inviting people into the Co-op campaign.”

The Ubisoft forums have notified us.

So next time you launch Haze you will be prompted to download an update.

“An update is now available on the PSN to correct the difficulties encountered when inviting people into the Co-op campaign. All you have to do is turn on your PS3, launch the game, and accept the update.
After the auto-install, please go into “Select chapters” to continue your campaign. You will then start from the beginning of the last level you reached in the game.”

When all the Xbox 360 fan boys found out that the Playstation 3 exclusive shooter Haze ran at sub HD resolution it of 576p it got slammed hard and tried to make it look like a really bad game (and its not a bad game at all).

One of the Talk Playstation readers have e-mailed me asking me to make a post that Xbox 360 exclusive (or timed exclusive) runs at 585P. And that game is Ninja Gaiden 2. Does this mean it makes NG2 a bad game? No. Did it make Haze a bad game? No.

This is currently a rumor… A user over at the Beyond3D forums has said the following:

“it seem 1120 for horizontal but need confirmation, there are not good screenshot for horizontal check. for vertical 585 it’s relatively sure and reliable 1120×585 would be another type of anamorphic resolution, opposed to the other classic anamorphic 1024×600 use in some X360 (COD4, PGR3, Oblivion, TR…)

but there are little more pixel in 1120×585 than in 1024×600 and 1120×585 is the better use of the EDRAM space that i have seen. it’s 9.998MiB, just a 2KiB residue unused. maybe it explain this choice”

Screenshots with potential proof is here.

It doesn’t matter what resolution the games run at, its how well it plays. I just thought i would stick up for the Playstation fans and just get a point across. Resolution = means nothing. Steady frame rate = vital.

Haze is now available worldwide and it is a solid shooter, i would recommend buying Haze if your looking for a first person shooter with something new in it.

There have been mixed reviews about Haze and people are thinking whether they should buy it or not. I would say download the demo and try that but i guess the demo does no justice.

Take a look at this multiplayer video:

Haze Knifed Multiplayer Gameplay

On the back of the Haze box there is a big sign that says something like this:

“FREE DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT”

Does this mean that Haze could see new maps or even chapters in the future? The best part of this is the word FREE so does that mean we won’t have to pay for the content thats added what ever that content maybe?

Take a look at the back of the Haze box:

This is for the PAL version of the game, there are reports saying that the NTSC version doesn’t contain this.

Source.

Haze is released today in the UK and here is the launch trailer for the nectar shooter. Haze has had mixed reviews from differen’t websites and overall the game is pretty good, its not bad. Take a look at our thoughts of the Haze demo and a look at some gameplay video.

“The Mantel soldiers love their Nectar like a Marine loves a stim pack.”

PSX.is have posted some Haze split screen images. Just to give you a taste of what split screen will look like. Split screen is very fun but obviously not as good as full screen. Haze will be released 20th of May in America and 23rd of May in Europe.

Split screen images:

Previous reports suggested that the PS3 exclusive shooter Haze runs at a sub HD resolution of 1024×576. I can confirm that this is false. According to the Haze Community Developer, Aymeric Evennou AKA Ubi_Wuzzi, Haze runs at a HD resolution of 720p.

“Since last week, I hope you enjoyed the demo and that you did not make any abusive use of Nectar. From what we saw, it seems that you enjoyed playing this demo. Yet, we noticed that some of you found the demo too easy, for those ones the suggestion is to try the Hard mode. (You may also be glad to know that an Ultra Hard mode is unlockable in the final version of the game!) From some other comments I read, I wanted to clarify that the game runs at 720p resolution.”

So for those who wanted a definite answer straight from the developers mouth, there it is, Haze runs at 720p.

Source.

Free Radical’s Haze will be released on the Playstation Store in America tomorrow (07/05/08). So for those that wondered if America will ever get the demo, wonder no further.

Ubisoft released a press release and states:

“The demo is now available across Europe, and will go live on the PLAYSTATION®Network on 8th May in the U.S.”

If you had trouble downloading from the UK store from America, you won’t have to wait much longer to play Haze.

Check out our gameplay video of Haze and also check out our thoughts and screenshots of the demo.

Here is the Haze demo gameplay video that i promised to post in the first impressions i posted earlier. If you havent read my verdict on the demo please do so by clicking here. For those in other countries other than Europe, make a European account and download the demo, it will be worth it!

Haze gameplay video (quality not up to scratch though):

I’ve just downloaded the Haze demo (1557mb) from the European Playstation Store and here’s my initial verdict.

Graphics – 8/10

My first impressions on the graphics were WOW. The look and feel is great. Haze looks so much better when actually seeing it on your 40″ HDTV. The videos you see on the internet aren’t very good and doesn’t show what this game is capable of. The explosions look great and the firefights suffer no slowdown at all and runs at a solid frame rate.

The foliage, trees etc make it look like your in a real jungle. During my time of playing i didn’t notice any jaggies or blury graphics in the background, it looked solid and crisp. Oh and for those that want to know Haze runs at 720p max, it won’t run at 1080p.

Sound and Music – 8/10

The voice acting in this Haze is top notch no complaints here. Guns sound good enough, the explosions sound real, there is a lot going on and the sound does well to keep up. No problems with the sound and music. During firefights there are explosions going off, team mates shouting, enemies calling etc. It’s all good.

Gameplay – 9/10

Although i only had a short play through the demo i can tell you that the game is very fun play. The gameplay mechanics are excellent with the use of nectar to boost your movements, strength and to easily see the enemies work well. The controls are good, the learning curve is around 30 minutes. Haze uses the pretty much the same controls as your standard first person shooter with triggers to shoot, X to jump etc.

Co-op – 9/10

This is where i spent most of my time. Playing co-op over the Playstation Network suffered no lag at all and it’s super fun! Me and a friend teamed to go up against the AI through the campaign mode.

There is a lobby system when looking for a game to join and, its easy to use and navigate, you won’t have a problem joining a game. I havent witnessed any connection problems either, i’ve always connected first time.

This is probably where we will spend most of our time playing Haze.

Overall – 8/10

I had a good experience playing through Haze, the cut scenes are good, the voice acting is great and the gameplay is even better. If you havent played Haze yet, download the demo from the European Playstation Store. You will probably play through single player one or two times and then spend the rest of your time online. I’d say Free Radical have done a fantastic job.

I will be buying Haze when it’s released later this month purely because co-op is fun!

Here are some screenshots that i took:-

I recorded a video which i will post shortly so check back soon!

If there are any questions please feel free to ask away.

The Haze demo is almost here, it will be released on the 6th of May on the Playstation Store. So are you wondering what will be in the demo? We are too! Derek Littlewood, the Haze creative head said:

“It’s the first mission in the game,you take on the role of Shane Carpenter as a Mantel trooper as he’s scrambled into a jungle battlezone to secure the site of a crashed Mantel plane carrying a shipment of nectar. And you can assume by default that I’ll say it’s great”

Haze will be released on the 22nd of May 2008 after a number of previous delays.

Source: videogamer247.

Gametrailers.com have posted 4 new Haze videos. Haze is a Playstation 3 exclusive and will be available on the 20th of May in America and 23rd of May in Europe.

Join Mantel Corp. HD

“Join us, and fight the good fight with the finest weapons ever made.”

Expose the Truth HD

“Fight the lies and expose the truth.”

The Good Fight Cinematic

“Will you fight the good fight, or something else?”

The Wrong Side Cinematic

“Which side are you on?”

Here are some new Haze multiplayer videos from Gametrailers.com. You will be able to catch a lot of action including sniping, death in all directions and kill style.

Kill Style Multiplayer Gameplay

Death in All Directions Multiplayer Gameplay

Sniping Multiplayer Gameplay

So there you have it, Haze multiplayer action all in one place! Enjoy.