Naughty Dog designer Richard Lemarchand believes that new social networking and connectivity features in the works for the PlayStation 3's online PlayStation Network may give the service an advantage over competitor Microsoft's Xbox Live.

Speaking with IGN, the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) lead developer said that the PlayStation 3's trophies build off of groundwork laid by the Xbox 360's Achievements, adding that the social aspects offered by the system could "become the norm across all gaming systems."

"I like the fact that you can pull them up and look at them in-game anywhere you are on the PS3 interface," Lemarchand continued. "I think there's going to be other things coming down the pipe that's going to give PSN as a whole a competitive edge."

Lemarchard declined to offer specific details on the upcoming additions, but stated that he was excited by the internet connectivity and user-oriented content... Read more

Having finally invested in a PS3 a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity last weekend to play and complete Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, touted as one of the highlight's of the system's software library.

Though my experiences with the game were largely positive, Uncharted led me to a very sudden and unsettling realization concerning my take on the current direction of game development: I absolutely abhor cover systems.

Steel Penny Games today revealed itself to the general public, announcing its intent to focus on digitally distributed titles. The developer represents the latest studio centered around digital distribution, a category that includes Blazing Lizard, the Kuju-owned doublesix, Wideload Shorts, and many others.

The first release out of Steel Penny, which was formed early last year by ex-Naughty Dog tools engineer Jason Hughes and background artist Andrew Gilmour, is a puzzle game starring the cat-dog duo Bruiser and Scratch (pictured above). It is slated to arrive on WiiWare in mid-2008.

Said to launch in early 2008, WiiWare marks Nintendo's latest addition to the online Wii Shop Channel. Unlike the Virtual Console portion, which sells straight ports of old games, WiiWare will focus on original titles.

Thus far, Virtual Console sales have brought in almost $32 million, and many are hoping for a repeat of that success with WiiWare. Advocates of digital distribution argue that such a model--recently introduced in the realm of consoles via Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and PlayStation Network--allows for more creativity, lower project costs, shorter development time and higher returns.

While no official announcement has been made, a recent PlayStation Underground e-mail (pictured left) from Sony confirms the oft-rumored PlayStation 2 port of High Impact Games' Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP).

According to the e-mail, the port will hit stores in March, about a year after the title debuted on PSP. Size Matters marked the first Ratchet & Clank title to be developed outside of Insomniac Games, which created the franchise.

It also marked the first title for High Impact Games, the staff of which includes several ex-Insomniac employees as well as veterans from Jak & Daxter developer Naughty Dog. The studio is currently working on another portable Ratchet & Clank title, Secret Agent Clank (PSP).

PSP to PS2 ports have been all the rage these days, and rumors of marquee PSP releases making the leap to the PS2 are frequently tossed around. Fortunately for Ratchet and Clank fans, this one turned out to be true. Expect an official announcement from SCEA in the near future.

The latest update to the PlayStation Store offers a slew of new content, including new features for Housemarque's Super Stardust HD (PS3) and a playable demo of the game for those looking to give it a trial run.

New features added to Super Stardust HD include the addition of custom soundtracks, as well as an overhaul of the scoreboard which now tracks stats like session time and highest difficulty level reached. This patch is free to download for owners of Super Stardust HD, and available at the PlayStation storefront.

Additionally, the tracks announced earlier this week for Harmonix's Rock Band (PS2, PS3, X360) are now available to PlayStation 3 owners. Represented in this week's haul are "Die, All Right!" by The Hives, "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots, and a cover of Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast," for $1.99 each.

As for downloadable game content, Game Republic's Folklore (PS3) has been updated ... Read more

Santa Ana, California-based developer Ready at Dawn has specialized in making handheld-only spinoff titles to big budget Sony franchises, but the studio may be working on a presumably original console project soon. The company developed the Daxter (PSP) spinoff to Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter series, and is responsible for the upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP), based on Sony's God of War franchise.

"This team is ready to move onto something pretty big, and we've been planning it for quite a while, and this team needs to show what they're capable of doing on next-gen or current-gen, which ever word you want to call it," God of War: Chains of Olympus director Ru Weerasuriya told 1UP.

Weerasuriya is most likely referring to the new intellectual propety the company mentioned when it hired former Naughty Dog creative director Dan Arey. Ready at Dawn is also known to be porting Clover Studio's fanciful action-adventure game Okami (PS2, Wii) to the Wii.

Here's a pre-Thanksgiving holiday summary of all this week's feature content, as well as some of the more prominent news items.

Features:

• Mass Effect Review
  Nick Breckon played through BioWare's new space odyssey and found it an unbelievably ambitious but slightly flawed epic RPG.
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review
  The jovial Chris Faylor took a trip through Naughty Dog's latest offering and found it to be an amalgam of game genres with lots of pirate killing.
• Undertow Interview
  Were you aware: The concept for XBLA's Undertow came from the designer's childhood doodles? Chris Faylor reveals all in this exploratory interview.
• The Shacknews Holiday Buyers' Guide 2007
  The Shack staff assembled an incomparable cast of gaming experts to make well-informed recommendations on this holiday's best games.

News posts

• First Halo 3 Map Pack Arrives Dec. 11
• Sony Cuts PS3 Dev Kit Price to Attract Developers
• Newest Halo Novel Makes Times' Bestseller List
• Ubisoft Delays Haze and Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Manhunt 2 Controversy Hangs On by Bloody Thread as Senators Demand ESRB Re-rating
• Sony CEO Claims PS3 on Same Sales Rise as PS2

Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune marks the first PlayStation 3 exclusive title from the studio known for Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. It's undeniably pretty, but how did the actual gameplay turn out? Scope out my full review to find out.

There are certain fights that demand countless attempts, as the massacre of all the enemies in an area triggers another wave or two. There is very little satisfaction in carefully picking off ten heavily-armed pirates only to fall victim to the grenade-launching bastard that rushes in, and my curse-laden exclamations and the frustration I felt at such points were identical to those I experienced during Gears of War.
Read on...

ShackCast 18 starts off with some discussion of this week's news: upcoming Ghostbusters and Terminators games, the upcoming Kane and Lynch movie, downloadable Xbox games coming to Xbox 360, dates and prices for Rock Band downloadable content, and the just-announced spectator mode for Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii.

There are also substantial impressions of BioWare's Mass Effect (X360), Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), and Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3), some goofier-than-usual reader mail, and a Jam Sessions contest song by Remo, with lyrics by Shacker AndyGoin.

Don't forget to send in your questions and comments about video games, the Shack, or the ShackCast to shackcast@shacknews.com!

Play or download the podcast now, or browse the episodes through iTunes, RSS, or Digg. ... Read more

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the first PlayStation 3 title from Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter creator Naughty Dog, has shipped to stores a few days in advance of its official November 19 release.

Shacknews can confirm that GameStop stores in North America are receiving the treasure-hunting game and selling it today.

Rumors of an early release for the treasure-hunting game began circulating late last week. At the time, Sony informed Shacknews that the game was not to receive an early release a la Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3).

Be sure to check back with Shacknews in a few days for our take on the final game, but feel free to scope out our past interview and hands-on impressions in the mean time.

Coinciding with the release of the PlayStation 3's 2.00 firmware, various demos and content arrived on the platform's online PlayStation Store.

Included in the new offerings are demos of Naughty Dog's premiere PS3 exclusive, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3), and Visual Concepts' College Hoops 2K8 (PS2, PS3, X360). Both games dribble into stores November 19. For more on Uncharted, check out our extensive interview and preview.

In terms of game-expanding content, the $5.99 Devil's Weekend Add-on for Evolution Studios' MotorStorm (PS3) adds a new track to the game, along with nine more races and nine additional vehicles. Meanwhile, the $6.25 Foo Fighter and Velvet Revolver packs for Neversoft's Guitar Hero III bring a total of six new songs to the guitar simulator.

Speaking of MotorStorm, players will be able to download a new update when they head online with the off-road racer, which enables rumble support for the forthcoming DualShock 3 as well as adjustable motion control sensitivity settings and tweaks the game's online component.

A downloadable demo for Naughty Dog's upcoming adventure title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) will arrive on the PlayStation Network slightly earlier than expected--one week from today on November 8. Uncharted game director Amy Hennig revealed the date in response to a question on Sony's official PlayStation Blog.

Uncharted went gold last week, with a demo planned for mid-November at the time. In the same blog post revealing the demo date, Hennig announced Uncharted would be arriving in stores one day early on November 19.

Developer Naughty Dog is known for creating the Crash Bandicoot franchise as well as the Jak & Daxter series of platformers. Uncharted is the studio's first PlayStation 3 title.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the premiere PlayStation 3 adventure title from Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter creator Naughty Dog, has gone gold.

"We went ‘gold’ last week," Naughty Dog AI and animation programmer Christian Gyrling posted in the commnets of the official PlayStation blog. "Right now the game is in other words 100% done and is currently going through the approval process."

The timing of the gold announcement bodes well for the title's planned release on November 20. For more on Uncharted, check out our extensive interview and hands-on coverage.

However, it appears players won't need to wait until the game's launch to get their first taste of the expressive Nathan Drake and his treasure hunting ways. "A demo will be available [for download] in the PlayStation Store sometime mid November," wrote Gyrling. "I don’t know the exact date as of now."

Capcom today confirmed reports of numerous games that originally leaked during its recent London press event, including a Wii port of Clover Studio's Okami, a new game entitled Dark Void for untitled platforms, a PlayStation 3 port of Lost Planet, and an Xbox Live and PlayStation Network sequel to relatively obscure arcade action game Commando.

Okami
The much-demanded Okami for Wii is being handled by Ready at Dawn Studios, the developer of Daxter (PSP) and God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) whose core members hail from Naughty Dog and Blizzard. The game is set to ship in spring 2008.

"In accordance with our tradition of only working on games we'd like to play, we're proud to announce that we are taking after Clover Studio to bring this incredible game to the platform it was always meant to be on in the first place," reads the company's website. Motion control of the game's celestial is of course in.

Dark Void
Redmond-based Airtight Games, founded by well-known former Xbox executive Ed Fries as well as members of the Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox) team, is developing Dark Void, a steampunk-tinged action game... Read more

Naughty Dog's adventuring action title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) will retail November 20 in the U.S., SCEA line producer Sam Thompson told Shacknews. The Indiana Jonesian title will be the first PlayStation 3 project for the developers, known previously for the Jak and Daxter franchise.

"We are looking forward to rounding out a great fall and holiday lineup on the PS3 with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on November 20th," Thompson said. The team was about 80% done when I saw the game at PAX, and showed a demo with fairly significant improvement in the combat portions over the E3 build.

Thompson hinted to Shacknews in the PAX interview that, knowing Naughty Dog's history of making multiple iterations of games, Uncharted could likely be the first in an ongoing franchise.

Developer Ready at Dawn told GameSpot today the PSP iteration of God of War will retail March 4, 2008. The date confirms rumors of a delay from the originally planned fourth quarter 2007 release given to Shacknews in an interview earlier this year.

In addition to the demo disc being sent to those who signed up for it earlier this year, the developer revealed that a second UMD demo of the title will be made available. Including gameplay from the game's Cave of Eos section as well as "making-of" footage, Ready at Dawn expects the first demo to ship to selected gamers this month. The other demo, which will not contain the original's special features, will presumably be made available via certain retailers later this year.

The studio has already begun work on a separate original IP and hired on Naughty Dog vet Dan Arey as a new creative director. Shacknews contacted Sony for more information on the delay, but has not yet received a response. To read more about God of War: Chains of Olympus, check out Chris Faylor's aforementioned interview with the Ready at Dawn team.

I saw Uncharted first at E3, and wasn't really impressed with the feel of the game. Naughty Dog made some pretty needed enhancements to the title since then, so I had a much better experience playing it at PAX. Afterward, I talked to SCEA line producer Sam Thompson for the details on the changes and what to expect when it ships. Read on.

Hero Nathan Drake exhibits a ridiculous number of layered animations while exploring the jungle environs, making the adventuring gameplay ultrafluid. The last time I played, the combat felt like a jarring and stilted slowdown of the platforming action, so the improvements paid off.

Reporting from PAX, Joystiq has a Q&A with Sony producer Sam Thompson about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the new Naughty Dog game. There are also hands-on impressions here.

Acclaimed PSP developer Ready At Dawn Studios has confirmed that it is developing an original games based on a new intellectual property. The company has previously only worked with existing properties created by other studios.

Responsible for bringing the Naughty Dog-helmed Jak & Daxter property to PSP in the form of Daxter, Ready At Dawn is praised by many for its technical expertise of the PSP hardware. The studio is currently handling the upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP (preview), a prequel to SCE Santa Monica's PlayStation 2 series.

Along with the first teasings of its new property, the company announced the hiring of Dan Arey, who served as senior and creative director at Jak & Daxter (PS2) and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) developer ... Read more

The onslaught of E3 coverage continues here at Shacknews with Carlos Bergfeld's thoughts on Naughty Dog's first PlayStation 3 title, the exploration-heavy Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The visuals are certainly impressive, but does the gameplay match up? Read on to find out.

We've already reported on all the crazy blend shaders, facial mapping and procedural animation layering--needless to say, this game looks damned good. Sam Thompson, line producer at SCEA, demoed a new build of the game for me at E3, slipping in details like the target of 7,000 animations for the game's hero, up from the 3,000 of the build shown.
Keep on reading...