Uncharted 3 – heavily rumoured for a reveal at the Spike Video Game Awards next month – is set in the desert according to Kotaku.
Although which of the world\'s many deserts the game is set in is unknown, Kotaku suggests an African desert. Raiders of the Lost Ark anyone?
The rumoured setting, if correct, would follow South American jungles in Uncharted and the Himalayas in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Last week we heard whispers of Sony\'s plan to unveil a PlayStation 3 exclusive the day after the VGAs – and those whispers made the sound of Uncharted 3.
In January Nolan North, the voice of Uncharted protagonist Nathan Drake, hinted that production on the game would begin this year.
And in September last year Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig expressed her belief that the Uncharted series had the potential to run and run, long past Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
"Our expectation with Uncharted is that it can be an ongoing franchise as long as people want more of it," she said.
"[Drake\'s] going to have lots of adventures, thank god."
Here’s what we can tell you: First off, obviously the title is not “Uncharted 3: World of Deceit,” as has been rumored here and there on the Internet. Still: Good guessing with the “deceit” thing. According to Naughty Dog’s creative director Amy Hennig, the theme of deception plays out in multiple ways throughout the threequel, from Drake doing the deceiving to Drake being deceived to some mysterious deception about Drake’s very identity. The story focuses on the hero’s relationship with his mentor and father figure, fan fave Victor “Sully” Sullivan, and has him searching for a legendary lost city that will ultimately take him to the Arabian Peninsula and the vast wasteland of the Rub’ al Khali Desert, also known as the Empty Quarter. (Said legendary lost city has been known by various names, including “Iram of the Pillars” and the “Atlantis of the Sands”;
Uncharted likes to keep one foot (or at least a toe) grounded in history (Nathan’s ancestor is the British pirate, explorer and Navy officer Sir Francis Drake) and the plot of Uncharted 3 draws more from Drake’s exploits as well as from the life of T.E. Lawrence — not from his militant days as the fabled “Lawrence of Arabia,” but rather the Brit’s early years as an archaeologist. The inspiration for the story, says Hennig, came from Naughty Dog’s desire to take on the challenge of conceiving and building out gameplay scenarios within a desert locale — “challenge,” because organic elements like water, fire and sand are technically difficult to credibly render with animation. Says Hennig: “When we first came up with the idea of sand, you see everyone’s eyes light up here and go, ‘Yeah, that’s going to be really hard — let’s do it!’” Adds Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells: “We’re a bunch of nerds. We just look for something that will be a technical, artistic challenge, and allowed us to push into an area of the world and history we’ve never tapped into before.”
Uncharted 3 — which aspires to be an “interactive cinematic experience,” says Hennig, marked with character-driven storytelling — will also make more expansive use of motion-capture filmmaking techniques (think: the way James Cameron shot Avatar) that will enhance the quality of character performance. (In fact, Naughty Dog’s new Santa Monica digs includes its own mo-cap studio.) The execs at Naughty Dog walked us through one of the game’s levels, and while we can’t tell you anything about the locale (it actually wasn’t the desert), we can tell you that it was quintessential Uncharted, marked by dynamic camera work and gameplay that requires you to jump and climb through treacherous spaces that are in an almost constant state of change — or in this case, catastrophic collapse. Innovations? Several, including enhanced backward climbing and the ability to fight multiple baddies at once. Finally, Wells stressed that much time and effort is being lavished upon expanding Uncharted’s online multiplayer and co-op capabilities, too; expect more details to come in the coming months. Doing so gives the consumer more value for their entertainment dollar — especially in a weak economy, and especially among videogame consumers more prone to buying just a few games a year. It also creates a market for additional downloadable content for purchase (Uncharted zombie maps, anyone?), and cultivates an avid community of what Wells calls “evangelists” that can help create buzz future products. “We want to take on the big boys of the multi-player genre,” says Wells, no doubt alluding to multiplayer giants Call of Duty and Halo. “It has become something here at Naughty Dog that will become an important part to all our games.”
SMOOTH OPERATOR
There\'s a greater fluidity to Drake\'s animation - as he clambers over and across things his movements are more distinctive than ever, and seamless in the joins.
This slots right into an expanded melee system, an underdeveloped area for the series, that allows Drake to fight multiple opponents at once. One thug tries to hold our hero down, but Drake dropkicks his mate before turning the tables beautifully.
At another point, he creeps up onto the rafters above an enemy before pouncing for an instant takedown. Other minor changes are a more streamlined ammo system (you don\'t have to pick it up, just run over it) and "enhanced backwards climbing", which sounds highly athletic.
A word, too, for Sully, everyone\'s favourite witty curmudgeon. He\'s by Drake\'s side for almost the whole sequence, and the interdependence is greater than that managed with any other NPC.
One or the other is constantly in a scrape, and they have to help out in real-time. Sully feels like a character rather than just a computer-controlled bot who follows your progress.
And on that note... Among the early-release hubbub was a hastily removed listing from Gamestop that claimed 1-2 players for the central campaign. That doesn\'t confirm a fully co-operative campaign, with all bets on Sully as the other lead, but if something like it doesn\'t happen we\'ll eat our fedoras.
Naughty Dog have been talking up their desire to bring the single-player\'s intense cinematic experience to multiple gamers, which could be a reference to the current co-op experience, or another sly nod to Sully.
Finally, the earliest piece of gameplay shows both Drake and Sully at nearly all times. Come on; the cat\'s out of the bag.
According to Naughty Dog at their PAX East 2011 developer panel, the tech and visuals found in Uncharted 3: Drake\'s Deception will make Uncharted 2 look a lot less spectacular than how we see it now. With that claim, the studio seems to be quite confident about the title.
Specifically, Naughty Dog stated that Uncharted 2\'s "infamous" train level and building collapse scene will look like "child\'s play" when put up against the final version of Uncharted 3. For those who don\'t know, those two Uncharted 2 sections made jaws drop worldwide, and they still do to this day.
Uncharted 3: Drake\'s Deception is set to release later this year on November 1. We will keep you up to date on the game.
Just when you thought the Naughty Dog engine couldn\'t get any better, they continue to improve it with newly added Destruction physics.
They\'re using a rare destruction program that has been used mostly for Hollywood movies and TV shows like X-Men, Hancock, and Heroes. This particular program is not even available to the public yet and has rarely (if ever) been used in any video games before.
Nerd talk - It\'s actually quite interesting, because Naughty Dog uses HAVOK physics, which also has \'Havok Destruction\'. However Naughty Dog opted to go with a totally different Destruction program for Uncharted 3 and seems to be making Destruction an integral part of the game. If you watch the "Burning Chateau" gameplay reveal, you see the ceiling collapsing and destructable cover. I really wonder why they decided not to use Havok and instead are using a new, and unproven program which is still in it\'s beta stage. Either way though, it looks really good and I can\'t wait to see more.
Uncharted keeps getting better and better. When I think back to Drakes Fortune, even the explosions looked really cartoony and almost ps2-ish. Now they\'ve come full circle and probably have the best all around engine in the entire business, as evident from U2 and the short previews of U3.
Expect to see a lot of destruction in the new Uncharted.
You’ve already contributed to UNCHARTED 3′s multiplayer mode by playing The Lab.
“We’ve been running The Lab sessions for UNCHARTED 2,” UNCHARTED 3 Game Director Justin Richmond explained, “and we used that feedback to help design UNCHARTED 3.” With The Lab, Naughty Dog‘s designers experimented with new modes using UNCHARTED 2′s sizeable multiplayer audience. “Plunder Pistols ended up being super popular,” Richmond said, “We knew it was fun internally, but being able to test it with the fans in The Lab verified that we thought was cool. We want to do even more of that with UNCHARTED 3. We have the ability to get feedback from the fans, and we want to maintain that dialog.”
UNCHARTED 3′s 3D technique paved the way for split-screen multiplayer support.
“There are a number of ways to implement 3D; some are more ‘fake’ than others,” Richmond explained. “We committed to using 3D early on, and we wanted to do it as real as possible because it allowed for splitscreen. 3D and splitscreen are kind of the same thing because the game is basically rendering each frame twice. As soon as we figured out how to do that with 3D, we knew we could handle splitscreen. Now, I am grossly oversimplifying that — the programmers would kill me for saying it was that easy! But basically, our 3D implementation allowed for splitscreen support.”
UNCHARTED 3′s splitscreen multiplayer enables dual PSN logins.
“You don’t have to be on some guest account,” Richmond said. “You and your friend can sit down in splitscreen and level up both of your characters. We support two different PSN ID logins.”
The dynamic multiplayer events were inspired by UNCHARTED 2.
“UNCHARTED 2‘s Trainwreck multiplayer level that had an event where a cargo train fell down and revealed an RPG,” Game Designer Robert Cogburn explained. “We were surprised by how that resonated with people, so with UNCHARTED 3 we decided to swing for the fences and go as epic as we can.” Every level includes some sort of dynamic event: Airstrip’s opening truck chase ends in a finale at the airport; Chateau’s spreading fire slowly consumes the central floor and reveals a new area and weapons.
You’ll collect random loot in order to unlock new gear.
Fallen foes will occasionally drop randomized Treasures, and you’ll want to collect every piece you find. “The Treasures add a bit of an RPG element,” Cogburn said. “Every Treasure piece has a varying level of scarcity, and they fit into sets. Once a set is fully completed, you’ll earn an item: a gun, a custom part, an emblem, and so on.” What’s more, if you’re battling with a buddy, he or she can run over and grab Treasure for you. “We can update the Treasures dynamically, too,” Cogburn teased, “so we can add more later if we want to.”
You’re no longer helpless while climbing.
Back in UNCHARTED 2′s multiplayer, climbing left you high and dry — especially if you encountered another enemy. “It came down to who could hit the ground first and get his gun out,” Richmond said. “It kind of sucked — you could only climb or drop down.” Not so with UNCHARTED 3. “Now it’s more like a chess match. Should I edge over and try to kick him? Should I drop? Should I climb? If I do, will the other guy pull me down? It adds an extra dimension to the combat.”
UNCHARTED TV support supports uploads and downloads for YouTube and Facebook.
Plenty of games enable you to capture multiplayer footage and show it to your friends, but UNCHARTED 3 is transforming its multiplayer component into a full-blown video publishing platform. “We can not only upload your video clips to YouTube and Facebook, we can stream videos into the engine,” Richmond said. That means you’ll be able to watch Clips of the Week and community clips while you wait for that next multiplayer level to start. “And we will constantly update that content,” Richmond promised.
UNCHARTED 3 will give high-level players much, much more do.
“With UNCHARTED 2, high-level players would hit a point where they didn’t have anything to spend money on,” Cogburn said. “UNCHARTED 3 is much deeper.” Boosters, which enhance player abilities, can now be leveled up with use. And if the competition gets really tough, you can even buy pricey-but-potent Paid Boosters to temporarily even the odds. “The ranking system plays into that because the higher your rank, the more Paid Boosters will appear. It’s a far more interesting ranking system than in UNCHARTED 2.”
MP beta in less than two weeks!
Please put up a reminder when it\'s out,lol. I guarantee i\'ll realize a week after the beta begins that it started
With the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta right around the corner, I’m sure you all want to know exactly what we’re putting into the Beta and what you can expect over the two weeks it is active. A few weeks ago, just before E3, IGN posted a thorough first sneak peek at the details of our upcoming Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta.
Now, we can give you the FULL rundown of the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta for things that weren’t necessarily covered in the IGN reveal. We put together a handy little FAQ below with ALL the details.
When can I start playing?
Tuesday, June 28, for all Infamous 2 and current PlayStation Plus members, who all get early access to the Beta.
If you’re not an owner of Infamous 2 or a current PlayStation Plus member, we’re opening the floodgates to the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta for EVERYONE on Monday, July 4...
[size=+1]IGN Review : 10/10[/size]
[size=+1]Closing Comments :[/size]
IGN defines a 10.0 -- a masterpiece -- as "the pinnacle of gaming, a masterpiece may not be flawless, but it is so exceptional that it is hard to imagine a game being better." That\'s Uncharted 3: Drake\'s Deception. From start to finish, single player to multiplayer, this game sings. The characters, the graphics, the sound, the story – they’re all top notch. If you’re willing to skip Uncharted 3, be prepared to miss one of gaming’s finest moments.
10 Presentation
The cinematography and the way the game tells its story blew me away. It\'s touching and entertaining.
10 Graphics
Amazingly beautiful -- just watch sand cascade from Drake\'s footsteps, water slosh across the screen, and the wrinkles crinkle on characters faces. Naughty Dog outdid itself.
10 Sound
Spectacular voice acting, fantastic sound effects and an emotional score.
10 Gameplay
Refined climbing and shooting are better than ever, but it’s the way your actions merge with the story that impress.
10 Lasting Appeal
Single player deserves multiple playthroughs, just like your favorite film. Multiplayer is deep as well as rewarding and will keep you coming back.
[size=+1]10/10 OVERALL Masterpiece[/size]