PS3 Fanboy

Yesterday, Kotaku posted a rumor saying Heavenly Sword 2 was in fact in development ... but that it had been canned by the Sony higher-ups. Details of a potential sequel to Heavenly Sword were leaked to the public from a focus group a few months ago. However, since then, developer Ninja Theory has moved on to a yet-unannounced multiplatform game.

According to the Kotaku report, the Heavenly Sword franchise is not seen as commercially viable, in spite of generally favorable reviews and respectable sales figures. Supposedly, Ninja Theory has "grown increasingly bitter about their treatment at Sony's hands." The bad blood between Ninja Theory and Sony has supposedly caused the developer to move offices, further away from Sony Cambridge.

If there is any truth to this rumor, it would be the third major game canceled by Sony's European arm in recent memory (The Getaway and Eight Days being the last two games canned). Today, SCEE responded saying "I think it is fair to say that we do not comment on rumor and speculation, especially about games that have never been announced." In addition, the rep wants to remind everyone that Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift are all from Sony Europe, emphasizing that first-party development in Sony Europe is not in any kind of trouble.

Update: Speaking to Gamespot, Ninja Theory confirms that the relationship between Sony and Ninja Theory are good. "We are moving, but it's completely amicable," Ninja Theory cofounder and chief development ninja Nina Kristensen told GameSpot. "We move mid July and have been planning it for the best part of a year; there's nothing nefarious about it. We are excited about the move--our new premises are considerably bigger and in an excellent location near the town centre." According to the report, Heavenly Sword 2 was offered to Ninja Theory, but the team declined to work on it.

With all the excitement going on with PlayStation Day in Europe, we're going to turn your attention to another conference coming up soon. The Nordic Game 2008 conference. It's a little more technical of a conference, but it's still got some great developers giving speeches. Sony's own Fumito Ueda, creator of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus will be taking part in the "Game Creation and Technology" program. This program focuses on new game niches and continuing to innovate creatively.

Other celebrated panelists in the discussion include the creator of Silent Hill and Siren, Keiichiro Toyama, Rock Band's Roby Kay and Ninja Theory co-founder, Tameem Antoniades. We don't really expect any announcements out of these folk, but they might bring something new to the table when giving their presentation. Like whatever direction Ueda is taking with his third game. We'll keep you posted.

Unfortunately it seems that Ninja Theory are definitely not currently working on Heavenly Sword 2. Nina Kristensen, co-founder of Ninja Theory, confirmed the news during an interview with GameIndustry.biz. Instead, the development team is working on a new multiplatform intellectual property, potentially leaving the Sony owned Heavenly Sword franchise for another developer to play with.

Kristensen also mentions that they're thinking of producing a CGI movie to accompany their new project. Nothing's confirmed yet, as the two and a half year development cycle has only just started, but the potential of using the game engine to produce a movie is something they're definitely interested in. The full interview will be published on GameIndustry.biz later this month, where Kristensen will discuss their new project in further depth. In the meantime, check out the concept art for the game that was found on the new Ninja Theory website.

It seems a focus group got together, thanks to Chatter Inc., and talked about Heavenly Sword 2. At first, the questions were standard survey stuff -- nothing too meaty, just reactions to the first game. Later, though, tidbits were unveiled about possibilities with the sequel. What were they? We'll list them below, but if you hate spoilers, we'd recommend you turn your monitor off and bathe in clorox until all the pigment is gone from your skin.

1. Heavenly Sword 2 will take place 10 years after the events in Heavenly Sword.
2. The main character will be a male with martial arts background.
3. The main character will be Kai, but she will be a more mature woman.
4. The game will require you to master different martial arts styles before retrieving the heavenly sword.
5. The game will, instead of button mashing, have controls that utilize an analog stick to go through weapons.
6. The game will have downloadable weapons, characters, and enemies to customize your experience.
7. The game will be more interactive with the environment.
8. The game will have you on a storyline with replayable missions, as opposed to an open world.

It seems like it's all speculation, but we can kind of see how the game will turn out if they follow some of these ideas. Instead of being compared to God of War, it seems the game might turn more into a Devil May Cry presentation style. Just so Kai isn't so ... weird. Take this rumor with a basket of salt.

It's a two-way road, this video game business. Developers want you to buy their products so, in turn, if you request something from them then you had better be willing to front the cash. During a presentation and Q&A at last night's Warhawk tournament at 3Rooms, Tameem Antoniades (co-founder of Ninja Theory) was asked what his response was to the criticism that Heavenly Sword was too short. He replied that Ninja Theory are definitely interested in extending the experience via downloadable content - but only if it sells well.

The game has been getting good reviews pretty much across the board, with the most common criticism being that there simply isn't enough game to play. With the marketing push that is happening in Europe (we couldn't get through the paper this morning without being greeted by Nariko's face at least twice) we expect the game to sell well, but will it sell enough to persuade Ninja Theory to release extra content? We sincerely hope so. If you want to see it happen, then put down the money and buy the game.