Posted Jan 7th 2009 11:30AM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
Two of Europe's brightest development teams will share a home in the future, according to a recent interview with SCEE's Michael Denny. Studio Liverpool, developers of the popular Wipeout franchise, and Evolution Studios, developers of the MotorStorm series, will eventually merge to work at one location. The two teams have already merged "management structure" and are currently using "combined resources." The two teams are already in close proximity to each other, so it makes sense that these PlayStation teams should combine.
Each studio will continue to have their own "internal concepting group" to think up "new opportunities and new IPs." Perhaps their next game will feature futuristic hovering ... off-road monster trucks. Wait a sec. That sounds incredibly awesome.
With MotorStorm: Pacific Rift finished, the Evolution Studios team sat down with 1UP to talk about the franchise in a retrospective interview. The first question is a rough one -- going after the lofty expectations created by not just one (but two!) "target" CG renders. While the games certainly look pretty, they're far from the pre-rendered gorgeousness of the initial videos released. Their response is brutally honest, and filled with expletives. You'll have to break through an age gate to see their response, after the break.
Something is just off about this new MotorStorm Pacific Rifttrailer from Japan. It could be the language barrier, sure, but actions speak louder than words and what we're seeing here has us palm-in-face. What exactly does any of this have to do with racing vehicles on off-road turf? Something tells us they do not quite understand what the game's all about. Or, we're just not getting them.
Did you know yesterday was launch day for MotorStorm Pacific Rift? In case you might've forgotten Nigel Kershaw, the game's director, put up a new post on the PlayStation Blog just to remind you. In doing so he also gives us some interesting information about upcoming downloadable content for the game. Once the development team have had a break they'll be back to work finishing off some DLC they've already got in the pipes.
"We've got a pile of stuff waiting in the wings, and, you'll be glad to know, a lot of it is free." Which we know will please a lot of people who were annoyed at having to pay to unlock content on MotorStorm 1's disc. It seems DLC will be appearing quite regularly, too, as the team is "going to try and give you something new to play with every week." There's also talk of some bigger expansions making their way to the Store by Christmas. MotorStorm 1 was very well supported post-release and its sequel looks to be no exception. We're intrigued to see what Evolution have in store for the game.
Want a sneaky peek at some of MotorStorm Pacific Rift's tracks? This montage video shows what you can expect from the "Earth Zone" levels in the game. These make up only a quarter of the game's tracks, so no doubt we'll be seeing videos showcasing the Water, Fire and Air zones before the game releases on October 28th (November 14th in Europe). In the meantime, check out Kanaloa Bay, Mudslide, Sugar Rush and Razorback in the video above.
If Pure isn't your thing, then there's always MotorStorm Pacific Rift to bring you more off-road racing action on your PS3. Luckily, the mudslinging, dirt-in-face title won't keep you waiting long as an official October 28 release for North America is now set in stone.
With 4-player split screen, 16 multi-route tracks, and Trophies, it might be hard to say no to this one. Just don't be left in the dust and check out the demo which is out now via Qore. Better yet, brush up on your knowledge and read some previews.
Who's up for a frankly indecent amount of MotorStorm Pacific Rift images? No-one? Fine, we'll keep them to ourselves. Just kidding - everyone and their dog should check out our bulging gallery for the game. There's all sorts of stuff in there: concept art, vehicle renders and screenshots. Twenty nine different images are ready for your perusal right now, so go right ahead. If you're more of a fan of motion, then make sure you saw these gameplay videos. MotorStorm Pacific Rift is looking stunning.
Posted May 2nd 2008 9:00PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
It had been rumored around the internet for a while now, so it's not exactly shocking news to hear its confirmation. Motorstorm 2 has officially been re-named Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. We're almost certain we'd heard this before, but since it hadn't been confirmed (the official unveiling is due in June's edition of PlayStation: The Official Magazine) we thought it'd be nice to assure you that you can, in fact, call the game by this title when amongst groups of friends. So get ready to race around some sexy islands and get into some sexy crashes later this year with Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.
Posted Mar 10th 2008 6:00PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
It seems information regarding Evolution Studios' sequel to last year's hit Motorstorm is finally surfacing. Some scans from the latest issue of OPM reveal not only the new locales featuring water, water everywhere, but monster trucks as drivable options. There's more info in the scans uploaded by C.Birch on the PS3 Forums, waiting for you to read them. But the main points are thus: Water. Monster trucks. Driving. Apparently, dodging vehicles once you're ousted from your own plays some kind of part, but we won't know until we see more.
Posted Mar 1st 2008 1:00PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
Our French isn't that great, but over at JeuxVideo, they seem to say something about an exclusive reveal of Motorstorm 2 happening soon. How soon? Wednesday. The reveal is most likely a video, since that appears to be the draw to the site itself. What'll it show? Just some pre-rendered footage? A slideshow of cars and proposed tracks? Gameplay of a game that will surprise us at just how far along it is? It's a mystery to us, but Wednesday is sounding like an exciting day.
Posted Feb 21st 2008 7:00PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
So you think Devil May Cry 4 is so hot, selling 2 million copies? Well, prepare to be blown away since Motorstorm recently crossed the 3 million units sold mark. What, you're not blown away? Neither are we. We won't lie -- it's a good game and 3 million are a lot of games. But you have to keep in mind this game's been out for a while and has been bundled in with the PS3 in nearly every region. So take it how you want it, but we're going to give a big thumbs up and congratulate Evolution Studios for making it that far.
Posted Jan 9th 2008 8:30PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
We love graphical user interfaces. Especially when we're told about Evolution Studios' new GUI that will be in place for Motorstorm 2. This isn't going to be some remodeling of what was in the original title, or some minor tweaks. This is a complete overhaul from scratch to bring you the best GUI possible. Which is good, very good, as the first Motorstorm had some pretty icky problems in that regard originally.
Apparently the new GUI design is artistic and functional -- two attributes you'd expect. We don't have any screenshots of it because it's still in its rough stages, but Evolution is sicking their graphic design team on the job as we speak so perhaps soon we'll have more to show you. For Motorstorm fanatics, this is probably cool news and you'll derive some pleasure from witnessing the new GUI. As an old Calculus teacher told us, "Friends don't let friends drink and derive." Relevant? Not at all. Funny? You bet.
Still playing Motorstorm but starting to get the urge for something fresh in the muddy title? Seems you'll get your answer, as Sony and Evolution Studios plan an update today, upgrading their servers to 3.0 and adding new Devil's Weekend stuff to the PS Store. We'll detail what's in the patch and content below.
DualShock 3 support has been added.
Adjustable sensitivity controls for Sixaxis.
In the same online lobby, your position in the previous race determines your spot in the following race.
Grid order is randomized for the first race in any online lobby.
4 new tickets, totaling 10 new races will be available for download.
5 new vehicles, with one special unlockable vehicle will be available -- each with three new skins.
There's also a free Halloween skin added once you update. A little late, but free stuff is free, right? It's nice to see this game getting a nice stream of updates and new stuff. It seems Sony wasn't lying that downloadable content on their games is going to actually matter. What do you off-road racing fans think? Like getting these updates?
While it may not be the most exciting news to grace your face (so to speak), it's still something that a lot of curious minds want to know. Ever since the announcement of Sony buying out Evolution and BigBig Studios, something in the back of our minds asked "how much? Those studios are relatively small, right?" but we weren't told anything at all, until now.
Turns out the deal was made for around £16 million, which equates to roughly $33 million. In addition to the deal, we've come to learn that, as is natural with development studios, they're hard at work on other titles. Evolution has undoubtedly started work on Motorstorm 2. We're just glad Sony brought these guys under their wing -- maybe their next installment will fix whatever was broken in the original.
Posted Sep 20th 2007 12:00PM by Nick Doerr Filed under: News
At Kaz Hirai's keynote speech, there were only a few, erm, key announcements made. One of these was the DualShock3. Another was the expanded remote play presentation and a third was the delay of Home. Another tidbit worth mentioning is Sony's acquisition of Evolution and BigBig Studios, makers of MotorStorm and Pursuit Force, respectively. These are part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios now and will be overseen by Phil Harrison.
Philly H released this statement regarding the acquisition: "Our strategy is to create the best games by working with the best talent and Evolution and Bigbig are world-class additions to our team ... The incredible people in these studios further extend the depth and skill of the industry's largest platform-exclusive development resource." We're glad to hear it and expect to hear new games coming from Evolution Studios soon. BigBig is releasing their second Pursuit Force game on the PSP at the beginning of October.
At Kaz Hirai's keynote speech, there were only a few, erm, key announcements made. One of these was the DualShock3. Another was the expanded remote play presentation and a third was the delay of Home. Another tidbit worth mentioning is Sony's acquisition of Evolution and BigBig Studios, makers of MotorStorm and Pursuit Force, respectively. These are part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios now and will be overseen by Phil Harrison.
