Ja, het is weer eens zover... Bij deze kunnen we jullie nogmaals verwennen met een kersvers Q&A interview. Deze keer handelt het interview over Ninja Blade, een opkomende hack 'n Slash actietitel - exclusief voor de Xbox 360 - die de concurrentie wil aangaan met Ninja Gaiden en consoorten. Deze Q&A werd mogelijk gemaakt dankzij het XCN. Het interview werd gevoerd met Masanori Takeuchi - Producer & Director van Ninja Blade en dit bij ontwikkelaar FROM Software.

 

First up, can we talk about From Software and your history of ninja games? It’s quite an impressive one, isn't it?

Masanori Takeuchi: From Software entered the world of consumer video game development along with the launch of the original PlayStation, with a completely real-time 3D RPG title called King’s Field. With its unique technology, King’s Field had a strong impact on the golden age of turn-based JRPGs, and it received enthusiastic support from users. After its release, we went on to release the mecha action game Armored Core, allowing users to choose from hundreds of millions of customizations, and putting From Software on the map as a publisher and a developer.

Since then, we’ve been actively releasing titles for all the various platforms (PS2, GC, DS, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, and PC), and we are continuously honing our development skills and technological flexibility. In 2003 we acquired the sales rights to the Tenchu ninja stealth games, and we’ve been continuing the development of the series.

Tenchu is a series of stealth action games, starting on the original PlayStation, which provide players with a realistic depiction of ninjas. Acquire, the developer of the original Tenchu title, is still hard at work developing the latest titles in the series. From Software has had a long partnership with Acquire, and we look forward to making many wonderful ninja games with them in the future. Over 3.5 million copies of the games in the Tenchu series have been sold worldwide.

Now we’ve developed Ninja Blade, a new ninja game that utilizes the know-how we’ve acquired through our work with the Tenchu series, while taking a totally different approach to gameplay.

 

 

 

The game looks gorgeous – especially the cut scenes. Were graphics a high priority for you? What in particular are you proud of?

Masanori Takeuchi: From the start, Ninja Blade was planned to take advantage of the Xbox 360’s powerful graphics processing capability. For that reason, we’ve really been throwing a lot of our energy into graphic production for this project.

In particular, we put tremendous effort into the “Quick-Time Event” scenes. We went to a lot of trouble to make thrilling graphics on the level of Hollywood action films, in which ninjas fight against huge enemies and do everything they do with flawless style.

 

Let’s talk about the story. Tell us a bit about Ken Ogawa. What sort of writing, films, etc. influenced the storyline?

Masanori Takeuchi: For the story, we tried to express ideas and feelings that we felt had not been satisfactorily treated in ninja games before Ninja Blade. Namely, the fact that many games depict ninjas as killing machines, rather than human beings. In Ninja Blade we feel realism to be extremely important, and we considered the proper depiction of the human element to be equally essential in the telling of the story. We first made the character of Kanbé with that in mind. As Ken’s father, he is a ninja master, a man who knows the art of the ninja inside and out. On the other hand, Ken is inexperienced as a ninja, and we learn about Kanbé’s way of life as a master ninja through the lens of that inexperience. Japan has no shortage of ninja novels and comics, and I feel that they’ve probably had a strong influence on our story.

 

Tell us a bit about Ninja Blade's setting. You've talked about 'Modern Realism' with the game's locations being modeled on real buildings! How does that affect the style of the game?

Masanori Takeuchi: In this game, mysterious parasites that cause any living creatures to turn into bloodthirsty monsters are spreading throughout the world, and the goal of the game is to stop this. Ken and Kanbé are fighting to prevent the parasites from spreading.

We set the game in the modern era so that the ninjas could be fighting not only samurai and enemy ninja clans, but all sorts of different adversaries. We decided that establishing a modern setting would allow us to have a dynamic game that takes advantage of 3D space more than any ninja game before it, complete with battles atop towering skyscrapers. I’m confident that we succeeded in that goal.

 

 

 

As part of that, you chose to set the game in modern times. What influenced your decision there and what sort of difference does it make?

Masanori Takeuchi: I touched on this a bit in my answer to the last question, but for us the most important thing was creating a strong sense of realism for the player. The Tenchu games are set in medieval Japan, which is an era very far away from our own. It occurred to us that making the setting modern would let players relate more to the time period and give them a greater sense of realism, which is why we decided to do so.

 

You've mentioned that the game has adaptive difficulty. How does that work? Will it still be tough enough for people who want more of a challenge?

Masanori Takeuchi: The game’s adaptive difficulty feature is aimed at players who have trouble beating the game even after many tries. We adopted this feature based on very opinionated feedback with regards to a well-known Tecmo ninja game. In that feedback, a large number of players felt that the game’s difficulty level was too high. For this project, we’ve performed countless playtests to ensure that the game will be fun while maintaining challenging and rewarding gameplay. I recommend the “Hard” difficulty setting for fans who want to play through the game again at a higher difficulty after beating it once.

 

The game seems to contain some fairly impressive weapons. Is there a set of weapons in the game you find the most exciting?

Masanori Takeuchi: There are three categories of weapons in Ninja Blade: the Oni-Slayer Blade, the Twin Falcon Knives, and the Stonerender Sword. Each of them has its own traits that set it apart, and you’re free to choose which one you want to use. I want players to use this freedom to discover the combat style that suits them best. Players can find weapons, and then combos, that fit their own playing style. Ultimately, players will be able to perform high-level techniques, using combos that link together attacks in real-time from not just a single weapon, but multiple different weapons.

 

 

 

Let's talk about enemies as well. Apparently there are a lot of bosses and sub-bosses to fight... and you can fight on the side of buildings!

Masanori Takeuchi: Enemies come in many forms, and are all formidable foes whose defeat will require a mastery of your three types of weapons, combos, and ninjutsu. However, you don’t have to be in the dark about each enemy’s characteristics and weaknesses. You can use your “Ninja Vision” ability to understand the weaknesses of your enemies. In particular, you’ll find yourself wanting to make the most use of this while fighting against bosses. As for battles fought while falling down the side of buildings, this is the sort of exciting situation you’d never find in other ninja games. I hope players will enjoy fighting the various enemies that populate Ninja Blade’s world.

 

Exciting stuff! What about the mechanics, that seems to be a big focus. Tell us about the Ninja Vision and the Todome.

Masanori Takeuchi: For Ninja Vision, we incorporated the ninja ability to quickly analyze various aspects of the world into the game system. Using Ninja Vision will make it possible for players to know their enemies’ weaknesses, get hints to solve various puzzles in levels, and more. Also, while using Ninja Vision, players will see game events go by in slow motion, much in the way professional sports players do when they’re “in the zone.” Players will find this useful when fighting bosses, and it should help them in beating levels.

Of course, there’s a limit to how much players can use Ninja Vision. If a ninja uses it too much, his eyes will get tired, making objects on the screen harder to see. While this is happening, Ninja Vision will of course be unusable, and players may find themselves getting into unexpected trouble due to things being hard to see. Players have to be prudent in deciding when to use the ability.

The “Todome Blow” is a special finishing move that players can perform on bosses after weakening them a considerable amount. This is to give players a strong feeling of catharsis that they won’t find in other games when they beat strong bosses. Players must be careful, though, not to let weakened bosses recover. I encourage players to muster up their courage and strike a Todome Blow as soon as they can!

 

And there are quick-time events as well, right? How have you implemented that and what do you feel it adds to the game?

Masanori Takeuchi: The quick-time events in Ninja Blade are extremely distinctive. They’re longer and cooler than in any other game, and there are more of them. Instead of feeling simply like they’re watching a movie, players may experience the illusion that they’ve become the protagonist of a movie. These aren’t standard cinematic scenes in which all you can do is passively watch.

 

Time for a bit of partisanship – how do you feel Ninja Blade compares to older ninja action games? Where does it fit in the action game landscape?

Masanori Takeuchi: I would say that Ninja Blade has greater realism and is more cinematic than other ninja games. Also, more importantly, other ninja games were designed for older game platforms, or are simply upgrades of games on older platforms. In contrast, Ninja Blade is a game that could only happen on a cutting-edge game console.

 

Is there any possibility of Ninja Blade getting DLC on Xbox LIVE in the future? Is that something you'd ever consider doing?

Masanori Takeuchi: We’re currently considering the possibility. We might do it if there’s enough demand.

 

 

Speaking of downloads, will there be a demo on Xbox LIVE? What sort of content can we expect in it?

Masanori Takeuchi: The demo will be available from Monday, March 9. It contains roughly 15 to 20 minutes of content, and lets players get an idea of standard combat as well as half of the first boss battle. I feel that players who play this demo will get a good idea of just how great Ninja Blade is.

 

Thanks for your time

  

De komst van Halo Wars bracht ons niet enkel een nieuw soort Halo game, maar als bonus bij de Limited Edition waren er 3 drie maps bij ingevoegd die de eerste helft van de tweede Halo 3 Mappack genaamd Mythic uitmaakten. De drie maps zullen vanaf deze week eveneens te downloaden zijn op Xbox Marketplace zodat iedereen toegang heeft tot deze. Ik zal kort en concreet de eerste drie maps, Orbital, Assembly en Sandbox overlopen, zodat jullie weten wat jullie te wachten staat.

Sandbox

De eerste map in het pakket is de map Sandbox. Net zoals de naam al insinueert  speelt deze map zich af in een woestijnachtig gebied. Het gaat hier echter wel om een zeer kleine map, die op zich een kleinere versie is van de map Sandtrap. Sandbox is hierdoor een veel intensievere map betekenend dat stilstaan voor korte tijd al kan resulteren in een dood.

Samenvatting

Setting: Woestijnachtig

Grootte: Klein

Vehicles: Gematigd

 

 

 

Assembly

Assembly is een map die zich afspeelt in de ruimte in een gelijkaardige setting als die in de map: Construct. Dit betekend dat je je hoog in de atmosfeer aan boord van een ruimteschip bevindt wijlens het afschieten van je vijanden. Het mag gerust gezegd worden dat ook dit eveneens meer weg heeft van een verkleinde versie van een originele map als eerder een volledig nieuw speelveld op zich te zijn. Desalniettemin is ook deze wederom intensiever dan zijn “origineel” omdat de overal layout van de map nu veel simpeler is en je vijanden dus veel sneller zal vinden. Voeg op zo’n kleine oppervlakte een Brute Hammer toe en je hebt jezelf een zeer vermakelijk potje Halo 3.

Samenvatting

Setting: Ruimtestation

Grootte: Klein

Vehicles: Geen

 

 

Orbital

Orbital is als het ware de enige echt “nieuwe” map van de drie nieuwe. Orbital speelt zich af in wat ik enkel kan raden dat een outpost of militaire hulppost is. De map bestaat uit 2 grote gangen en 3 kleine. Kortom het is wederom makkelijk om elkander te vinden. Desondanks dit feit zijn er op het eind van elke gang 2 “Mongooses” voorzien waarmee je de minimale afstand nog sneller kan overbruggen. Origineel was het de bedoeling dat er 2 “Wraiths” op het eind van elke gang voorzien zijn, maar om de map speelbaar te behouden hebben ze er toch maar voor gekozen dat iemand overrijden het ergste is wat je kan doen. Desalniettemin bestaat forge nog altijd waarmee je de map echt zeer irritant kan maken, maar dat telt voor vrijwel elke map.

Samenvatting

Setting: Indoor => Militaire hulppost?

Grootte: Middelgroot

Vehicles: Gematigd => 4 Mongooses

Conclusie

Deze eerste 3 maps van de in totaal uit 6 bestaande Mythic mappack toont zelden creativiteit, maar speelt echter wel in op wat de gamers willen. Kleinere maps, intensievere gevechten, “skills first” en ownage volgend. Hoewel ze geen nieuwe leven blazen in de oude maps, doen deze nieuwe maps toch wat ze waren bedoelt te doen en dat is de link met de originele speelvelden behouden. Hoewel dit slechts de eerste 3 maps zijn en we de volgende en laatste 3 kunnen verwachten bij de release van Halo 3: ODST, zou dit toch voldoende moeten zijn om ons tot die tijd geoccupeerd te houden.

Sinds onze nauwe samenwerking met het Xbox Community Network, kortweg XCN, hebben we jullie reeds verschillende keren kunnen bevoorraden met interessante Q&A Interviews met ontwikkelaars van verscheidene aankomende titels. Vandaag kunnen we jullie dan ook opnieuw trakteren op een leuke Q&A. Deze keer met Diego Sartori, Creative Director van ontwikkelaar Sim Bin. De jongens die verantwoordelijk zijn voor de aflevering van de nieuwste racesimulatie voor Xbox 360, namelijk RACE Pro. De verwachtingen voor deze nieuwe racer voor de Xbox 360 liggen bijzonder hoog, daar dit de eerste Xbox 360 game is voor Sim Bin; maar zij in het verleden reeds verantwoordelijk waren voor verschillende geslaagde racegames uit het PC-wereld, met als beste en meest gekende bewijs GTR.

In het interview dat mede mogelijk gemaakt werd dankzij het XCN, wordt er dieper ingegaan op het bedrijf SimBin, de verschillende online en offline spelmodi en het racegenre en ook de toekomst van dat genre. Lees je gang…

1. First of all, could you give Xbox 360 owners a bit of an introduction to Simbin and tell us about your history in racing games?

DS: SimBin was founded in 2003 by Henrik Roos and in late 2004 we released our first PC titled – GTR.  At the time, Simbin was a young company with a relatively small distribution team. Today, SimBin consists of two development studios, a headquarters and hand picked offsite consultants who have all been recruited through our communities. My own history in racing games is that of a racing game fan that played all the racing games as soon as they got released – regardless of system/platform.  Through the community, I got an early access to GTR and based on testing the one car and track featured in the build – A Lister Storm and Spa Francorchamps – I wrote a “Hands on report”. My approach to writing the piece was to let my fellow racing game fans feel what I felt, but also try to be as constructive as possible when I wrote about some negative aspects of the “game build”.  This led me to receive an invitation to Spa Francorchamps to meet SimBin and see the company’s race car on the track during the 24 hour race. From there, one thing led to another, and today I work as the Creative Director for SimBin Studios. Who would have thought that this could be possible standing at Eau Rouge on a warm summer’s day in 2004!

2.We hear that your CEO, Henrik Roos, has an interesting history in racing – what’s the story?

DS: Yes, Henrik has owned his own GT Class race team and driven both in the Swedish GT championship and the FIA GT Championship with a Viper GTS-R.  He won the Swedish GT Championship with the Viper GTS-R and managed to find funding to go for a full season in FIA GT the following season. It is through Henrik’s racing career and knowledge of the racing scene that we managed to create GTR.  All data recorded during two full seasons of FIA GT created the foundation of our data base used during physics creation. Top level management in SimBin all have backgrounds in and around real racing. This means that we all know exactly what we want our games to communicate to the player both in terms of feel and immersion. 

3.So how has this passion for racing transferred to RACE Pro?
DS: First and foremost our passion for racing rubs off on the development team - our offices and studios all feature elements from racing. We also make an effort in making sure the development team gets exposed to racing, both by going to races all over Europe and through our connections and relationships with the teams and manufacturers so that we can get the guys up close and personal with the cars and tracks. It is impossible to describe in words what a drive a around the track in a race car feels like; we therefore try to get our guys into the cars with a race driver for a few laps.  It has never failed to amaze me how much of an impact such a drive can have on people and how much it changes their perception of what goes on inside a race car during a race.   It is important to remember that apart from being passionate about real racing we are all also passionate about racing games and we act like little kids when we get to drive a car or a track for the first time as part of production. 

When we drive a car or a track for the first time, we often end up in a trip down memory lane where the topic of conversation turns to when or where we saw the car or track in real life.

4.Why is the time right to get your first Xbox 360 game out of the garage?

DS: We wanted to provide the console crowd with our type of racing game and we believe there is a market for us on console. At the end of the day, it is all a matter of mindset: the appeal to us is pure racing - it is the emotional rollercoaster ride while sitting behind the wheel of a race car.  We therefore believe that RACE Pro is able to move and excite fans of racing.

5.What type of gamer are you aiming RACE Pro at?

DS: RACE Pro is aimed at anyone with a love for racing and racing cars. RACE Pro targets both players new to racing and seasoned race game players, the game can be configured to be as much of a “sim” as the player wants it to be. SimBin’s philosophy of “easy to learn – hard to master” has been a thread throughout the development process and focus has been on making sure the game would not “scare” away players new to racing.  RACE Pro is meant to be a game they can grow with and a game that will challenge the players on their terms. For the seasoned racing game players, the leader boards, online and AI races will show that there are lots of tenths, or maybe even seconds, still to find and it is during the hunt for these elusive tenths that the physics of RACE Pro really begins to flex its muscles.   The game will remain intuitive but get increasingly harder as the player takes the cars further and closer to their actual limits.

6.What types of racing and which types of motors should gamers expect?

DS: RACE Pro is all about circuit racing, therefore RACE Pro features officially licensed tracks from all over the world, including tracks such as the Macau circuit in its official layout, Laguna Seca, Valencia, Monza, Porto, Pau and Brands Hatch, to name just a few. The cars are mostly race cars, but RACE Pro also offers a few of the race cars in their street legal form – Audi R8, Gumpert Apollo, Viper SRT10, Koenigsegg CCX and the 1018hp CCXR. RACE Pro features race classes with Mini Cooper, Caterham CSR, Radical SR3 and SR4, WTCC, Formula BMW, Formula 3000, WTCC Extreme and then a host of GT cars split into three classes – GT Club, GT Sport and GT Pro. In the GT classes, RACE Pro features cars such as the Aston Martin DBR9 and DBRS9, Corvette C6R and C5R, Saleen SR7, Viper Competition Coupe and GTS-R, BMW M3 GTR and Z4 GTR, Koenigsegg CCGT plus many more. In addition to all the officially licensed cars and race cars, RACE Pro also offers a class of licensed prototype cars called WTCC Extreme. These cars are based on the WTCC cars but are taken to the “extreme” with rear wheel drive, light weight body kits, big wheels and big 600hp engines. With a chassis only weighing 1000Kg, these 600hp cars are extremely fast and alongside the formula 3000 cars are the fastest cars of the game in terms of lap times. All tracks and cars have been created based on real data provided to us by the license in addition to data collection done on location by the SimBin Reference Team. 

7. What features have you put in place to make RACE Pro more accessible for the casual gamer or a racing fan more used to arcade-style games?

DS: The most noticeable “feature” if you will is the Simbin mindset of “easy to learn – hard to master”. With RACE 07 for PC, I believe that we managed to combine an accessible racing game with a racing game that also catered for the more seasoned (or more sim oriented) racing game fan.  We did this by working really hard on the physics of the cars as well as the controls, especially controls other than wheel and pedal kits. In order to make a game accessible, it has to be intuitive - even the most arcade oriented games can be hard to drive if the controls or feel of the car is not intuitive. In terms of features designed to help the player, RACE Pro features a race line and driving aids.  What is interesting about both the racing line and the driving aids is that these are both components from real life racing. The race line (though not using the same color codes as that in RACE Pro) is right there for the driver to see on the track surface. What I refer to is the race groove: to the driver this is as informative as the colored race line accessible within the game. Worth noting is that RACE Pro of course features the race groove and once the players have learned how to use it, it can easily replace the colored race line. As for driving aids, anti locking brakes and to some extend the stability system are not often used in real racing. But traction control is used in more or less all real life GT championships. Despite this undisputable fact, there are still purists who prefer their racing free of any aids. Luckily, RACE Pro allows the player to configure the game to suit their own perception of what is realistic. 

8. There haven’t been many new Xbox 360 racing games recently - how do you see the racing landscape on Xbox 360 and where does RACE Pro fit?

DS: True, 2008 with regards to racing games has been pretty quiet. I do however think there have been some pretty cool driving and car games during 2008. How do I see the racing landscape on Xbox 360? To me, this is a multi facetted question. On consoles and on PC, there are enthusiasts who take their racing very seriously and I am sure they would welcome some better peripheral support or a broader selection of choices.   All racing game developers are looking for that next feature, function or style that will make their game stand out and come across as special. SimBin’s approach has always been immersion first, and I hope that this is what will make RACE Pro stand out from the crowd and thereby let us fit into the racing game genre alongside the very capable competition already present on the Xbox 360 platform.

9. Would you claim that RACE Pro is the most realistic racing game on Xbox 360?

DS: No, I would not call RACE Pro the most realistic racing game for the Xbox 360 - what defines realism depends on personal preference and it would be wrong of me to dictate what people’s preferences should be. RACE Pro is SimBin’s portrayal of real racing based on a selection of real life data.  How we have chosen to treat the real life data is ultimately what defines the experience the player will have with the game and I certainly think RACE Pro features what matters the most and that is accuracy, attention to detail and immersion. We believe that our approach creates a realistic portrayal of being behind the wheel of a race car, but as with beauty being in the eye of the beholder, I think the same can be said about realism.  Therefore, I will let the players be the judge of the level of realism in RACE Pro. 10.  Have you gone for 30fps or 60fps, and what influenced your decision?DS: RACE pro runs at 30fps.Ultimately, the Xbox 360 hardware dictated our decision as it also needed to run our level of simulation. 11.  What kind of career modes have you implemented?DS: The game features a progressive career mode that has been created using influences from real life. In order to go racing for a team, the player needs a contract. There are two ways of getting a “seat” with a team: one being to “force” your way by paying the big bucks; the other is to do a try out for the team. If the player’s performance matches the expectations of the team, the cost of a “seat” will be a lot less.  We let the player choose which option they would to follow and according to what their financial balance dictates.

The career mode also features “Stand in” contracts. In real life, a stand in would be called in if a team’s normal driver is unable to race a given race or races.  Stand in contracts let the player get their hands on cars not yet unlocked while at the same time earning a little extra cash.

12. What about Xbox LIVE? Was LIVE racing a big focus for you during development?

DS: RACE Pro is about pure racing and the online experience should reflect this as much as possible. We wanted 12 players during online races and we wanted to make sure that even 2 guys would be able to have a meaningful online session. So with this as our main target, we began working on adding AI support into the multiplayer experience. The implementation ensures that if AI is added to the session, the AI will never block a human opponent from entering the session. The AI “only” acts as fill. We wanted players to be able to practice online and early in the design phase it was considered to add a stand alone online practice mode. We ended up making the lobby support practicing online. Once a session has been launched by the host it will be in “waiting for players” state and in this state all players are able to drive around the track.
During testing, we found that players often chose to stay in “waiting for players” state and simply practice, work on setups and do “cat and mouse” sessions and of course discuss these elements using the communicator. The host dictates when to change to the race session, so these online practice sessions can last as long as wanted. When setting up a session, the host can choose between a ranked or an unranked race, and configuration of the races offers the exact same options as when setting up an offline race against the A.I.

RACE Pro offers online races of up to 75 laps and as little as 2 laps, so there should be something for both those in for a quick racing fix and those with a need for an endurance style racing experience.

13. Do you have any special plans to support the RACE Pro community? I’m thinking leaderboards, tournaments, websites, challenges, opportunities for RACE Pro racers to line up on the grid with the Simbin team…?

DS: In addition to the games website, there are quite a few online communities based around our PC releases and many of these have geared up for the release of RACE Pro. They all look forward to welcoming their new racing fan colleagues and I am sure that RACE Pro players will be able to find a good community to be part of. RACE Pro has leader board support. As for SimBin staffers racing the public and media, this is something we have done before with our PC releases and this is something we will aim to repeat with RACE Pro.

14.What’s in the future for the RACE Pro series on Xbox 360?

DS: The immediate future might see some really cool DLC content coming RACE Pro’s way! The long term future very much depends on how well the game is received and how well it does in stores.  

15. And finally, what do you see in the future for racing videogames? Can they keep getting more realistic or has a ceiling been reached? How can you keep gamers interested?

DS: How do we measure realism?  For example, is our tyre model more realistic than our competitors?   It could actually be that our tyre model uses less parameters and therefore seems less complex.  A realistic tyre simulation is run on a massive computer and to think that a tyre model in a racing game is anything near a realistic tyre simulation is plain silly. The ability to choose what parameters to simulate and how to simulate them defines how realistic a game will feel.  The combinations of what to simulate and how to do so are endless, and I do not for a second think that anyone has found the magic combination.  We are getting closer, but there is still lots to be learned and lots of new approaches to explore.  I view this as a welcome challenge for all of us in the industry. What type of racing games this gives us in the future is for the future to tell, I for one can not wait to see what the future has in store for all us racing game fans! 

Thanks for your time!

My pleasure…See you on the digital race tracks!