Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Ready at Dawn talks abandoning the PSP, piracy and being originalhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/#commentsFiled under: , ,


When it comes to developer Ready at Dawn, creating games for the PSP is just so last week. But while the company has closed the book on any PSP aspirations, going so far as to mail its entire stock of dev kits back to Sony, the developer of both Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus has played the reason for abandoning PSP development close to its chest.

It's a mystery, but mysteries give us headaches, so we tracked down Ready At Dawn's president, Didier Malenfant, to find out why exactly the studio has turned up its nose at developing for Sony's sexed-up portable. "We feel like we've done everything we wanted to do with the PSP," admitted the exec. "We have new projects on other platforms and we like to focus on one thing at a time."

Even so, Didier championed the state of PSP development, stating matter-of-factly "Good games sell. Who would have thought?"

Following news of Ready at Dawn's PSP plans, or rather lack thereof, some suggested that piracy might have been a contributing factor in driving the developer away from the platform. We asked Didier if he considered piracy on the PSP to be a real problem.

"We sold over 2.3 millions copies of Daxter and are on track to beat that with Chains of Olympus so we're pretty happy with our sales," he responded. "Could we sell more games if piracy was non-existent? Maybe. But we don't target the market that could be, we target the market that is."

Didier wasn't ready to offer specifics concerning the company's upcoming projects, though he told us that Ready at Dawn is now working on original IP, a first for the now five year old studio. "We have two original IPs in development and some neat ideas with an existing IP. Most of that stuff is next-gen, but we'll see as we move forward what turns into games and/or what goes in different directions."

Wrapping up, we'd be remiss if we didn't question Didier on the off chance Ready at Dawn might want to revisit PSP development in the future, though the exec was noticeably coy. "You can never say never so we're not going to say you won't see any ports of our future games on PSP," he commented, adding that "as far as targeting the PSP specifically like we did in our first two games, we currently don't have any plans for that."

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]]>chains-of-olympuschainsofolympusdaxterjoystiqfeaturespspready-at-dawnreadyatdawnJason Dobson2008-06-11T05:00:00+00:00Uh-Ohkami: Capcom botches Okami Wii box art, inadvertently advertises IGNhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/uh-ohkami-capcom-botches-okami-wii-box-art-inadvertently-adver/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/uh-ohkami-capcom-botches-okami-wii-box-art-inadvertently-adver/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/uh-ohkami-capcom-botches-okami-wii-box-art-inadvertently-adver/#commentsFiled under:


With all the work that goes into the designing, writing, and programming of a game (especially for a title as hotly anticipated as Capcom's waggle-infused port of the PS2 under-appreciated gem Okami), we assumed that there would be one person at every video game publisher who would give the final retail packaging a once-over, keeping a keen eye out for any typos, printing errors, or hidden watermarks from popular video game news sites. Then again, maybe that's just us.

As is the unfortunate case with the Wii Okami box art -- NeoGAF user Bob Digi discovered that right above a permanent "sticker" promoting the game's high score in Play magazine (an unsightly blemish in its own right) sits a fairly clear IGN watermark, the result of the artwork's background being photoshopped from an image on IGN's Okami PS2 site. Then again, perhaps the game underwent some serious changes in its Nintendo transition, and now features protagonist Amaterasu traveling throughout feudal Japan, devouring the logos of major gaming news sites.

[Thanks, Riven.]

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]]>boxartcapcomignneogafnintendookamiokamiwiireadyatdawnwatermarkwiiGriffin McElroy2008-04-20T11:00:00+00:00Nega-review: God of War: Chains of Olympushttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/#commentsFiled under: , ,

"Chains of Olympus doesn't quite live up to the other God of War games." (4) "Ready at Dawn didn't mess with the franchise's proven formula whatsoever, which is ... one of our ... gripes for the game." (3) "Gameplay-wise, nothing much has changed ... You still run around and beat the beejezus [sic] out of enemies and then meet up with the occasional boss fight." (5) "I wish that Ready at Dawn had added something new the canon rather than just re-using what's been done in the past." (7)

"The game feels a bit too familiar ... [and] at times you do feel like you've played the game before." (7) That said, "the game is missing some of the features from other God of War games. ... you won't find the ability to use your blades on grappling points, the Icarus Wings, Rage of the Gods, rope traversal, rope swinging, a fourth magic, etc." (4) "I find myself disappointed ... that the game doesn't quite have the same feeling of showing you something new around every corner that the previous games did." (4)

"The game is also brutally linear: you're constantly running from point A to point B, stopping to administer the occasional beatdown." (5) It could also be described as "a very linear experience, (3) that "may be a touch linear." (9) "Toward the end, combat got pretty repetitious, relying really heavily on the mechanic of blocking you into a room and not letting you out until you finished taking down the waves of enemies." (1) "It would have been nice to have seen a little experimentation here or there to mix things up. (3) "Altogether, ... the game feels like a bit less of an adventure and more of a straightforward action game." (4)

Control-wise, "the more intricate attack moves are simply lost to the somewhat 'floaty' control nub on the PSP. There are times that I'm sure I nailed a combo only to watch it come apart mid-attack." (8) "Kratos' rolling dodge... [is] still a little awkward," (6) and "some things, like accidentally setting off magic spells, can ... be off-setting." (2) "I didn't like ... the quick-time events requiring analog nub action ... that analog nub just can't measure up to an analog stick.." (1)

"The puzzles were for the most part a little too easy," (1) "very simple," (4) and "on the simple side." (9) No, the puzzles "aren't all that difficult by and large." (3) "They tend to either have obvious solutions or -- in a couple of cases -- be so obtuse that you'll spend hours just trying to figure out how to get out of one stupid room." (6) "There's a puzzle that's not particularly intuitive thanks to the fixed camera and lack of cues," (2) and "one -- which involved dragging around a lot of very heavy statues that were incredibly slow to move -- got downright irritating. (1)


As far as enemies, "if you can imagine lining up the creatures from previous installments and then mixing and matching their abilities a tad, you pretty much know what to expect." (3) "Towards the end of the game the developers increase the difficulty by forcing you to take on more enemies in a smaller space rather than introducing newer/harder enemies." (7) Put simply, "the enemies weren't as varied as before," (5) and "it would have been nice to have seen something a little more inventive here, even if it was only one wholly unique creature." (3)

"Playing through this title there is certainly something missing - bosses." (8) "I'm slightly disappointed with ... the short list of boss fights." (3) "The game could have used more unique boss fights and big memorable moments to put it on par with God of War I and II." (4) "While there are bosses punctuating the overall 'levels', there are few that are the size and scale of the large statue in God of War II, or Ares in the first God of War." (8)

"The game is a smaller overall package than we've come to expect from the series." (4) "The game is relatively short in length," (9) and "not as long as the console counterparts. (1) "The story is short ... between five and six hours the first time through," (4) or "probably seven or eight hours." (1) Either way, "it'll be a brief experience for the voraciously hardcore." (2) and "another level or two wouldn't have hurt." (6)


Otherwise, "there are a few more frustrating moments that take some patience to get through. (2) "The smaller screen cuts into some of the game's graphical prowess," and "there aren't as many neat-o fatality animations either." (5) "Enemy AI is a bit mixed in the game. ... I did have a few times when I could walk up to some of the archers without them attacking." (7) "There are a whole lot of unskippable cutscenes littered throughout the game ... we really don't need to see the same scenes play out again every time we're unlucky enough to die before the next checkpoint." (6) "The storyline ... isn't as strong as in previous games," (2) and "it isn't quite up to the par set by the other titles in terms of an expansive and cohesive storyline." (8)

Welcome, greek mythology fans, to the latest installment in Joystiq's Nega-review series. As always, this Nega-review takes the small, negative points from many overwhelmingly positive reviews and compiles them together into a horribly scathing whole. While positive context may have been removed from some excerpts, everything inside the quote marks was indeed intended as a negative in the original review.

While you might think it would be hard to put together a review for a game that many are calling the best PSP game ever made, it was surprisingly not that difficult. Reviewers tended to agree that the game's linearity, familiarity, and simplistic puzzles were the weakest points. Much of the small criticism of the game came largely in comparing it to the hugely successful PS2 versions -- perhaps an unfair standard for a PSP game, but one that shows just how high the title stands above others on the same system.

Also see: Chains of Olympus Meta-review

Sources:
(1) GameTap
(2) GameSpy
(3) IGN
(4) 1UP
(5) GamePro
(6) GamesRadar
(7) GamingNexus
(8) GamingTrend
(9) GameZone

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]]>chains of olympuschains-of-olympusChainsOfOlympusCoOgod of wargod-of-warGodOfWarnegareviewPSPReady at DawnReadyAtDawnSonyKyle Orland2008-03-04T08:00:00+00:00God of War: Chains of Olympus goes goldhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/12/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-goes-gold/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/12/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-goes-gold/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/12/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-goes-gold/#commentsFiled under: ,


We typically don't do posts when games go gold, but Ready at Dawn's declaration that God of War: Chains of Olympus is ready to print on UMDs has two things going for it. First, GoW: Chains of Olympus is arguably the most high-profile PSP release outside Japan EVAR. Second, well, there are just some awesomely fun photos of the team's celebration after the game was finally done.

Ready at Dawn's jamboree also means that Chains of Olympus should most definitely make its March 4 release date. Don't have a PSP and still need to get your Kratos on? If the rumor mill holds true the game will see its day on the PS2 at some point in the future. Congrats to the team at Ready at Dawn, may your hangovers be kind and gentle.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

Gallery: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

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]]>chains-of-olympuschainsofolympusgod-of-war-chains-of-olympusgodofwargodofwarchainsofolympuskratosportready-at-dawnreadyatdawntrendAlexander Sliwinski2008-02-12T13:29:00+00:00PSP's Daxter sells 2 million copies in 2 yearshttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/psps-daxter-sells-2-million-copies-in-2-years/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/psps-daxter-sells-2-million-copies-in-2-years/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/04/psps-daxter-sells-2-million-copies-in-2-years/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Developer Ready at Dawn, currently preparing God of War: Chains of Olympus for March 4 release, announced its freshman effort Daxter has sold over two million copies worldwide. Sure, two million sold for a game which released in 2006 isn't an insane sprint in terms of sales, but it's a marathon victory. The game certainly benefited from being bundled with new PSPs last year, but the developer says Daxter saw its best sales in nearly two years during December '07.

Ready at Dawn notes that it can only look forward to GoW: Chains of Olympus doing better than its first project. Considering our experiences with Kratos' handheld adventure so far, there's not too much Ready at Dawn needs to worry about.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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]]>daxterjak-and-daxterjakanddaxterready-at-dawnreadyatdawnAlexander Sliwinski2008-02-04T16:25:00+00:00Okami Wii-ports for duty on March 25http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/16/okami-wii-ports-for-duty-on-march-25/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/16/okami-wii-ports-for-duty-on-march-25/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/16/okami-wii-ports-for-duty-on-march-25/#commentsFiled under: , ,


You people should be thanking Ready at Dawn for providing you with a means of escape from the unforgiving and surprisingly creative torture we had planned for all Okami skippers. By purchasing the "exact" Wii port of Clover Studios' beautiful swan song when it releases on March 25th (the date Capcom says it's "currently driving towards"), you'll earn yourself a chance at redemption.

And by the time you're actually playing it on March 26th (the intro is a bit on the long side), you'll thank us for pointing you to the best Zelda game in years.

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]]>BreakingNewsCapcomCloverOkamiReady-At-DawnReadyAtDawnLudwig Kietzmann2008-01-16T16:50:00+00:00PSP God of War's boosted clock speed comparisonhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/psp-god-of-wars-boosted-clock-speed-comparison/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/psp-god-of-wars-boosted-clock-speed-comparison/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/16/psp-god-of-wars-boosted-clock-speed-comparison/#commentsFiled under: ,


God of War and its sequel for the PS2 had a reputation for being the dreamiest guy in school -- the Zack Morris of the system, if you will. So it makes sense that developer Ready at Dawn would want their latest project, God of War: Chains of Olympus, to hold a similar honor for the PSP -- and since the release of firmware update 3.50 for the system earlier this year, Sony has made their job much, much easier.

The firmware update unlocks the system's true capabilities, upping the system's measly 222MHz processing speed to a respectable 333MHz. It doesn't make your old games look any better, but developers of new games on the system can reap the rewards of the 50 percent processing speed boost. Just check out the video comparison of the game running at the two different clock speeds above, and see how Ready at Dawn gussied up their handheld take on the PS2 swan song.

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]]>GodofWarGodofWarChainsofOlympusPSPReadyatDawnSonyGriffin McElroy2007-12-16T12:00:00+00:00Ready at Dawn drawn to current-gen consoleshttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/ready-at-dawn-drawn-to-current-gen-consoles/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/ready-at-dawn-drawn-to-current-gen-consoles/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/ready-at-dawn-drawn-to-current-gen-consoles/#commentsFiled under:


With work on God of War: Chains of Olympus coming to an end in March, developer Ready at Dawn is already planning an excursion beyond the PSP's portable realm. In a lengthy interview with 1UP, the studio discusses how easily the Greek-on-the-go got the green light thanks to the hard work put into the well-received Daxter. "The first meeting just went like 'we should make a God of War PSP game' and they were like 'yeah you should.' And that was pretty much it," quipped the game's director, Ru Weerasuriya.

Once Kratos is out of the way, Ready at Dawn hopes to put on a similarly impressive show on that system you currently have chained to your television. "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." Expect to hear more about Something Pretty Big as soon as the team gives Okami its deserved second chance on the Wii.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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]]>Chains-of-OlympusGod-of-WarGod-of-War-Chains-of-OlympusGod-of-War-PSPGodofWarKratosOkamiReady-At-DawnReadyAtDawnLudwig Kietzmann2007-12-13T08:30:00+00:00Ready at Dawn raises sun on Okami for Wiihttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/19/ready-at-dawn-raises-sun-on-okam-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/19/ready-at-dawn-raises-sun-on-okam-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/19/ready-at-dawn-raises-sun-on-okam-wii/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The rumors were true and Capcom is porting PS2 gem Okami to the Wii, now it's time for some details. 1UP reports that Ready at Dawn, developers of the depressingly pseudo-delayed God of War: Chains of Olympus, will handle the porting. Capcom was looking for a developer to port Okami to the Wii last year as "the PS2 release suffered from shipping amidst the flurry of next-generation consoles." At GDC '07 execs from Ready at Dawn expressed their admiration for the game to Capcom's senior director of research and strategic planning -- they got the offer within a week.

There's no word if additional content will be created for the Wii version; Capcom says that all depends if Ready at Dawn gets the primary game finished in time (they can use extra time to add stuff). Okami is expected in the first half of '08.

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]]>capcomokamiokamwiireadyatdawnAlexander Sliwinski2007-10-19T11:00:00+00:00Naughty Dog director lured to Ready At Dawn by new IPhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/03/naughty-dog-director-lured-to-ready-at-dawn-by-new-ip/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/03/naughty-dog-director-lured-to-ready-at-dawn-by-new-ip/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/03/naughty-dog-director-lured-to-ready-at-dawn-by-new-ip/#commentsFiled under:

daxFormer Naughty Dog creative director Daniel Arey has joined the gang at Ready At Dawn to assume a similar role for an unannounced original IP. "When I first got the chance to hear about this new property, I immediately knew I had to be a part of it and get a chance to join forces with the ... talent over at Ready At Dawn," said Arey of the job change.

Already compromised of a few former Naughty Dogs, Ready At Dawn should prove an easy transition for Arey, whose 10 years of work at his former studio yielded a pair of successful franchises in Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. While Ready At Dawn has quickly established itself as a leading developer for PSP (Daxter, God of War: Chains of Olympus), the California-based studio has not revealed which platform it's targeted for this new project.

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]]>DanielAreyNaughtyDogReadyAtDawnJames Ransom-Wiley2007-08-03T16:22:00+00:00God of War to use PSP's full processor speedhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/god-of-war-to-use-psps-full-processor-speed/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/god-of-war-to-use-psps-full-processor-speed/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/26/god-of-war-to-use-psps-full-processor-speed/#commentsFiled under: , ,


God of War: Chains of Olympus creative director, Cory Barlog, has posted a follow-up to his "Inside the Developers Studio" Sony blog debut in order to "add some more of what you're asking for." Apparently, you were asking if Kratos would find his PSP adventure enhanced by the recent lifting of the system's processor speed restriction. Barlog confirms that developer Ready at Dawn will indeed take advantage of the unthrottled CPU, no doubt using it to render an alarming number of snarling mouths, serrated limbs and somewhat pointy breasts -- frequently all on the same creature, if the rest of the God of War series is any indication.

Barlog, who notes that he prefers a hands-on approach to game development versus his overseeing role on Chains of Olympus, is currently working on God of War III an unannounced PlayStation 3 project. Industry insiders strongly suggest that it's a survival horror title featuring an undying James Lipton.

Gallery: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)


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]]>chains of olympusChainsOfOlympuscory barlogCoryBarlogGod of warGod of war PSPGodOfWarGodOfWarPspReady at DawnReadyAtDawnLudwig Kietzmann2007-06-26T09:27:00+00:00God of War: Chains of Olympus revealed, free UMD demo offeredhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/25/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-revealed-free-umd-demo-offered/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/25/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-revealed-free-umd-demo-offered/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/25/god-of-war-chains-of-olympus-revealed-free-umd-demo-offered/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Someone over at IslandOfRhodes.org finally got around to tacking the "r" and "us" onto "God of Wa: Chains of Olymp," setting in motion a cataclysmic series of events that has unearthed this trailer and unleashed a mail-order UMD demo (Sony, you know the PSP can like totally do that WiFi thing and download stuff, right?). So, did we mention the demo is only available while supplies last? That means the dude who read this a second ago is already clicking away. What are you waiting for ... a bigger price cut?

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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]]>Chains of OlympusChainsOfOlympusGod of WarGodOfWarislandofrhodeskratospspReady At DawnReadyAtDawnumdJames Ransom-Wiley2007-04-25T10:08:00+00:00God of War PSP & PS3 details: rumble on PS3, confirms directorhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/13/god-of-war-psp-and-ps3-details-rumble-on-ps3-confirms-director/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/13/god-of-war-psp-and-ps3-details-rumble-on-ps3-confirms-director/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/13/god-of-war-psp-and-ps3-details-rumble-on-ps3-confirms-director/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

smoking is bad, kidsDuring the official God of War II launch party in San Francisco last night, game director Cory Barlog spoke briefly about the franchise's future on PSP -- and spoke vaguely about the eventual sequel on PlayStation 3. Here's the bullet-point roundup of details scooped by 1UP:

God of War on PSP (untitled):
  • ReadyAtDawn developing (as speculated)
  • Not a port; Barlog: "It is its own story that connects to the overall story" -- but where that story fits into the overall story arch was not discussed; Barlog does say, "I want the PSP version to not feel like the PSP version ... it's just as big. It's just as epic. It's God of War." Grrrrrr!
  • Original level design (but the game might revisit familiar areas); Barlog: "We're not reusing any levels. We're not doing any of that stuff. It's all original content."
  • Replacement for PS2's right-analogue dodge/roll control is still being worked out; devs are considering a toggle function
  • No confirmation of PS2 or PS3 connectivity; ReadyAtDawn did create a connectivity feature for Daxter (with Jak X: Combat Racing); Barlog on possible PS Home tie-in: "Home was in development [during GoW2], but nobody really on our development team was knowledgeable about it, so there wasn't much we could do about it."
  • No explicit hints of PSP game in God of War II bonus disc content; Barlog: "No, I'm smart. We took out any references to stuff we don't want out yet ... But there are some things in there that may relate to a future game if we do it..."

God of War on PS3 ("God of War 3" unconfirmed):

  • Franchise will be in 1080p with SixAxis (motion) and vibration functions
  • Barlog on PSN support: "We do want to have support for the network platform -- I think it's huge. And I'm looking at a lot of stuff right now that if I do end up doing anything with 3, I want to utilize that."
  • Barlog on co-op: "Does co-op have a place in God of War? If we can do something unique with it, yeah, but it is really an early exploration of that in my head really. It's not even a discussion with the team."
  • Barlog on episodic content: "I think the game's way too big. There are too many art assets."
  • Barlog on embracing 'Game 3.0': "User created levels for God of War -- I don't think it's a realistic proposition."
Check out 1UP's liveblog post for complete details of the launch event and exclusive interview with Barlog.

[Thanks, Engineer_This]

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]]>godofwargodofwar3godofwarpspps3pspreadyatdawnJames Ransom-Wiley2007-03-13T13:27:00+00:00God of War font used to tease 'unannounced psp title'http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/16/god-of-war-font-used-to-tease-unannounced-psp-title/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/16/god-of-war-font-used-to-tease-unannounced-psp-title/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/16/god-of-war-font-used-to-tease-unannounced-psp-title/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

god of war on psp?
PSP Fanboy points to some rousing evidence that developer Ready At Dawn could be prepping a God of War game for PSP. Formed by an ex-Naughty Dog member, and stocked with former Blizzard staffers, RAD received overall praise for its Daxter platformer last year. On its website, RAD now hints at an "Unannounced PSP Title" in the works. While still blank, the info page for the upcoming title features a blood animation filling the site's top navigation box (displaying Daxter screens). The blood is followed by overlaid "Coming Soon" text presented in a familiar font ... The same font used in the God of War games...

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]]>GodofWarPSPReadyAtDawnJames Ransom-Wiley2007-02-16T20:25:00+00:00