Pre-E3 Socom Confrontation news (More pics and Q&A)

[o-BacklasH-o]

A ton more Q & A and two new screenshots:

 

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/802/802162p2.html

 

July 6, 2007 - Tactical shooter fans are eagerly chomping at the bit for any new information on the first PlayStation 3 release of Sony's premiere online series, SOCOM. With E3 beginning just next week (oh, the horror), we fired off a number of questions to Seth Luisi, director of development over at SCEA, to find out whatever we can about SOCOM: Confrontation. Here's what he had to tell us:

 

IGN: How has the move from the PlayStation 2 to the PlayStation 3 helped broaden the overall SOCOM experience?

 

Seth Luisi: The PLAYSTATION 3 allows us to do so much more than what we could do on the PlayStation 2. We have much more detailed environments and characters. We have much, much further draw distances. We have damageable environments. We have rag doll and IK for the animations and a lot more.

 

The overall SOCOM online experience in SOCOM Confrontation is much more visceral and intense.

 

Confrontation promises plenty of great vistas - for killing.

 

IGN: What sorts of environments are in store for players, and how much variety can they expect to find in the game?

 

Luisi: We currently have 5 North African themed environments planned for SOCOM Confrontation. While most are urban we do have a few more rural environments as well. Each environment can be played as one large 32 player level or several smaller 16 player and 8 player levels. Unlike in SOCOM 3, you will also be able to play many different game types regardless of the number of players and size of the map. For example, we will have 8 player demolition, 16 player control, etc… While we only have 5 environments in SOCOM Confrontation the number of levels and game type variations created from those 5 environments is much, much larger.

 

IGN: What weapons and gadgets will we be able to choose from?

 

Luisi: We are still finalizing the full weapon list. We'll have more details on this in the future. Needless to say, we will have many SOCOM classics with some new additions as well.

 

IGN: Are you striving for more loadout customization than we've seen in past SOCOM titles?

 

Luisi: Absolutely. Not only will you be able to customize your weapon as in previous SOCOM games but we are also adding character customization options. Clans will also have unique customization options. We'll have a lot more details to share on this in the future.

 

Numerous customization options will allow you to create your own look.

 

IGN: The inclusion of vehicles changed the way that SOCOM 3 played compared to its predecessors, making it a larger experience, though not necessarily better in some eyes. What is Confrontation's intended play style? Up close and personal at predefined choke points, or wide open where soldiers move freely and define their own battlegrounds?

 

Luisi: SOCOM Confrontation will not include vehicles. We want to really concentrate on the on-foot aspect of the game and make that the best possible.

 

As far as play style, we plan on having dense urban environments which will have definite choke points along with some more open environments as well. This has been the case with all previous SOCOM games including SOCOM and SOCOM II. However, we will not have huge open environments. We want the game to feel intimate and not barren.

 

IGN: The short demo video we saw looked extremely sharp. What can you tell us about the game's visuals? Will snipers have nearly infinite draw distances to work with?

 

Luisi: We are focusing on having detailed environments that will also be highly damageable. The art team at Slant Six are also creating very distinct landmarks and adding a lot of variety to each level so that it is very easy to tell where you are.

 

The view distance will also be "very" far, so snipers will not be looking into a bank of fog like in previous SOCOM games.

 

IGN: How will the PlayStation Network help expand the online experience with regards to setting up your friends list, clan support and so forth?

 

Luisi: More details on the PSN and community features will be provided at a later date. We are still working on implementation for a lot of these features.

 

Environments are said to be tighter and more intimate than those in SOCOM 3.

 

IGN: Will Confrontation feature support for Home in any way, such as trophies?

 

Luisi: We are still working out what support we will provide for Home. We are definitely going to support Home but we have not finalized our plans.

 

IGN: Will there be any sort of connectivity between Tactical Strike on the PSP and Confrontation?

 

Luisi: Sadly, no. The two games are just too different for any sort of meaningful connectivity.

 

IGN: Will the downloadable and in-store releases differ in any way? Does having the download-only option allow for anything that a store-only release doesn't?

 

Luisi: This is still being decided.

 

Clan support will play a big part of Confrontation's online functionality.

 

IGN: Though it's been reported as otherwise recently, we are to understand that Slant Six is handling the reigns of SOCOM Confrontation and that Zipper Interactive is merely acting as a reference of sorts. Is this true, and if so, exactly how much influence and interaction does Zipper have with the development of the title?

 

Luisi: As the SCEA producer for all of the SOCOM titles I've collaborated with Zipper on every SOCOM title, though I work for SCEA and not Zipper. I've been directly involved in the direction of every SOCOM title.

 

In the same way, I am now collaborating with Slant Six on both SOCOM Tactical Strike and SOCOM Confrontation. My team and I work with Slant Six on a day to day basis and we periodically get feedback from the team at Zipper.

 

IGN: When the game was premiered at Sony's Gamer's Day back in May, we were told that the title had only been in production for five months at that time. Why did a series as important to Sony as SOCOM only start its PS3 production at the beginning of this year and not earlier? Does the team feel overly rushed in order to get it finished because of that?

 

Luisi: SOCOM Confrontation has only been in full development since the beginning of this year, that is correct. We've been working with Slant Six games for almost two years now on SOCOM Tactical Strike and we saw a good fit with Slant Six Games in creating an online only SOCOM game on the PS3 in the near term. We have not yet announced a specific release date for SOCOM Confrontation and we will not release it until we feel it is ready.

 

The team at Slant Six is leveraging a lot of shared first party technology, some of which is being released to third party developers as part of the PlayStation Edge program. This shared technology really helps reduce the amount of development time required.

[o-BacklasH-o]

Does anyone know if G4TV is going to have live news from the E3 expo like last year?

[UNCLE-SID25]

I think they were sneaking in this year...

[-Wu-Rusty]

Either way its gonna be a hell of a game!

[inadub]

great find thanks for sharing

[Epidemic]

The screen shots look amazing to say the least. This game is going to sell a lot of PS3's

[Tri-Cannon]

yeah well i don't know i'm going to say i have yet to buy a ps3 and i played R6V yesterday at my buddies i played one level kicked some huge ass and i am very excited about getting a ps3 and that game as for socom i want to make sure that its not going to be a big let down to say the least...Hoping its just an upgraded socom 2.