Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

[Mister Jack]

Sure, it's easy to write this off as a Smash Bros ripoff, but Smash Bros was a really fun game, so if Sony's take is anywhere near as good then I'm sold.

Confirmed Characters:

Kratos
Colonel Radec
Nathan Drake
Fat Princess
Sly Cooper
Parappa the Rapper
Sweet Tooth

Spike

Ratchet and Clank

Jak and Daxter

Dante (DmC version)

Sackboy

Nariko

Cole MacGrath

Evil Cole MacGrath

Big Daddy

Heihachi Mishima

Raiden

Toro

Sir Daniel Fortesque

Edited September 9, 2013 by Deanb

[CorgiShinobi]

I know I might seem too pessimistic about this, but this doesn't really have enough yet to "wow" me. There will be more revealed, especially the talk of third-party characters, but it's coming off as a bit mediocre.

 

The integration of different games into a single stage is great. However, would the novelty wear off? LittleBigPlanet being built the same, and receiving the same questions from the "Buzz!" segment? Not to mention that the only stages shown so far are boxed in, which I guess is due to how you have to knock out characters. (I guess?)

 

I'm not trying to be bias towards Smash Bros., but honestly when it comes to free-for-all fighters, Smash Bros. is the exception. Most everything else that has been in that sub-genre is usually mediocre. Of course, there's more than one franchise implemented here and so there is a lot of material to work with. Still, I can't help but feel like I'll need to play it to know if this will be good.

 

The concept alone doesn't do it for me, not like Mario vs. Link vs. Star Fox vs. Pikachu. I've never had the urge to pit Kratos and Radec, or Parappa and Sly.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Atomsk88

[Strangelove]

Jesus, people are super pissed that the game just even exists. Theyre acting like this is the first time one company copied another one.

Either way, last time Sony copied Nintendo, Naughty Dog ended up creating the best kart racer ever(Crash Team Racing), so hopefully they can do that again.

Im not really a fan of SSB. Aside from the characters, I don't get any enjoyment out of it. So Sony can actually change the system and make it a bit deeper than SSB. But that would probably alienate people. Because at this point I don't think its a problem of being worse than SSB. It really cant be. SSB has decent balance, but its not rocket science.

 

Sony just needs to add a really big thing or several small things to differentiate itself as far as the actual fighting goes. It needs a big gimmick to set itself apart.

But most importantly, Sony needs to realize that they dont have enough star power to pull away SSB fans by making the exact same game on their platform. If it cant beat Nintendo with characters, it needs to do it with gameplay.

[Thursday Next]

Pretty sure it's not about "beating Nintendo" or "pulling away SSB fans". It's just about shifting units. Personally, I don't like fighting games, but I do like games with local multiplayer, so this might pop up on my radar if it's a ~20GBP price point.

 

It looks really well executed and I think there's quite a few stars in there already. Would be interested to see if any FF characters pop up, and if Snake makes an appearance having already been in SSB.

[Strangelove]

Not beat as in money, but beat as in making a better game. Just like most first party Sony titles, I don't expect big numbers.

 

And I really think it needs to offer something different from SSB. As it stands, if you have Brawl there's really no reason to own this aside from the roster, which a lot of people would say is worse. The fact is that a lot of people have Wiis and a lot of those Wii owners have bought or played Brawl to know if they like it or not. If they like it, they have no reason to give this game a chance, but if they didnt like it, then this game needs to offer something to them that Brawl didnt.

[Thursday Next]

I disagree. Brawl has been out ages and is not the deepest game ever. I think that most people will be pretty much done with it and could well see this as a natural replacement. Also, the chance for a fresh roster and a high def experience could well be enough to persuade those that do still play SSB to give it a go. Looking at the currently announced roster this game skews a little older as well so will be more likely to appeal to the 18-30 FHM reading gamers who were not so keen on Kirby, Mario and Starfox. These titles are pretty much fan service games and while there may be a lot of overlap between Ninty and Sony fans, I don't think that the existence of one game feeding that inner fan will stop the majority of them wanting the Sony fandom sated.

 

Saying "if they like Brawl they would not buy this" does not work in the current market. People liked CoD4 MW, then they liked MW2, W@W, BlOps and now they like MW3. This game has shinier graphics and different characters, something that far exceeds what MW offers with its bi-annual updates so if it is like SSB, it will probably be quite well received by SSB fans.

[Strangelove]

But its not a sequel, its an alternative. While the idea seems to be ripped right out of SSB, its still a new product. People have ridiculous amounts of franchise loyalty. I doubt nothing as good or better than CoD has come along in these last 5 years, but people don't adopt them. They give them a try, and go back to CoD. It seems people don't like having two of the same type of game. This game is going to be more of a Battlefield. Similar enough, but different and some would say better in every way. All in all, CoD is still number one despite what other games come out.

 

And I say all of this because of the devotion people have to SSB. You literally cant talk shit about it. You can talk shit about Brawl not being as good as Melee, but you cant talk shit about the franchise. You say its not deep and tons of people will come out of the woodworks to try to prove you wrong. Shit, there's even a Brawl remake type thing where they balance the game to be more like Melee. They changed everything in that game.

Im sorry, but people that dedicated will always creep me out. They take this shit seriously.

 

This game is basically Move. A better version of the wiimote, yet not nearly as popular. No one dropped their Wii for Move like Im sure Sony assumed. The shittier product won because it was there first and people are scared to try something different.

Id say it as because lack of good move games, but then again the Wii also didnt really have a good amount of Wiimote games. Tons of good WIi games, not a lot of good games that use the Wiimote as it was intended.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Strangelove

[Johnny]

The problem with this is not the ways it's similar to Smash Bros.

 

The problem for me is that it looks REALLY slow, stale and dull... just lacking all the good parts of Smash.

[CorgiShinobi]

Just to add, aside from Balanced Brawl, recently there has been an on-going project called Project M that aims to add all the commonly perceived positive attributes of both Melee and Brawl into one ultimate Super Smash Bros. game. It works by running through a mod and... you know what, I'll just show IGN's commentary.

 

Written Summary

 

 

EDIT: So yeah, there is still massive dedication in the Smash community. And I agree with Strange that so far all PlayStation All-Stars has for it is the roster. Though, they'll definitely have to remember the PlayStation heritage because Fat Princess isn't nearly as thrilling as Crash Bandicoot or, if possible, Spyro the Dragon!

Edited April 27, 2012 by Atomsk88

[Johnny]

Project M is a good idea but... I just hate the feel of Brawl so much, that even if they fix all the rest of the issues, as long as it still feels like Brawl I won't like it. /purist.

[TCP]

I never been a big Smash Bros fan, I played it when I was a kid on the N64 at friends houses, but besides that it never clicked with me. Never saw the appeal in Brawl or Melee. However, this looks kind of cool. Who wouldn't want to shoot Kratos as Nathan Drake?

 

And honestly while Nintendo has some old favorites like Mario, Link, and Samus, Sony has continually been developing new characters since the PSOne days, so they should have quite the library of relevant characters. Not to mention 3rd party oppurtunities like Cloud, Snake, Lightning, maybe even someone like Ezio.

[Strangelove]

Ezio will definitely be in(if Sony asks). Ubisoft does not know how to say no to cross promotion.

[CorgiShinobi]

I never been a big Smash Bros fan, I played it when I was a kid on the N64 at friends houses, but besides that it never clicked with me. Never saw the appeal in Brawl or Melee. However, this looks kind of cool. Who wouldn't want to shoot Kratos as Nathan Drake?

I dunno, it never really came to mind. I mean, there are people who love that idea and in fact it is partially the reason for this game's existence.

 

While I would love to troll Sony fanboys by saying something along the lines of "Welcome to 1999," Sony's PlayStation was still young and the brand itself wasn't fully realized. Compared to Nintendo's 15 years of characters, the company didn't have the roster to compete. Heck, Sony was having trouble simply finding a mascot for the console.

 

Perhaps why it doesn't "click" with me is how vastly different these Sony characters are. You have Kratos, a rampantly aggressive vengeful/wrathful demigod who's either busy having threesomes or killing monsters (possibly with boobies) in a brutal fashion. Now compare that to Parappa... you gotta believe! Radec, a sadistic and merciless military commander of a colony of space Nazi versus Sackboy (you know he's in), a loveable fabric avatar of creativity and fun.

[Mister Jack]

The wide range of character diversity seems more like an asset to me.

[Johnny]

How diverse do you want to get though? In my opinion, the sweet spot is somewhere between "all of these feel the same" and "There is no way these characters could ever be in the same universe."

[CorgiShinobi]

What Johnny said.

 

I can see Jak, Rachet, Sly, Crash, Parappa, and Spyro fighting each other. Yet it's like you would need another game for Kratos, Ezio, Radec, Cole MacGrath, Nathan Drake, and Sweet Tooth. Just, those two groups don't "gel" to me.

 

With Smash, the most "out of place" character you had was Solid Snake in Brawl, and then if you got down to it Samus Aran. Captain Falcon technically, but he was made in Smash Bros. to the icon we know today.

[Strangelove]

 

Its from gamerbliss.com, but the article has been removed. I wish they would get the obvious characters out of the way like Cole and Ratchet and just move on to the surprise 3rd party stuff. It's the real and only reason people find this game remotely interesting.

[Alex Heat]

I'm happy to see Jak, but I feel like I'm the only guy who really hates those little cat things from Monster Hunter and how they're getting the Rabbid treatment (read: THEY KEEP SHOWING UP).

[Strangelove]

Those arent from Monster Hunter though. Those are Sony's Japanese mascots. Were they in Monster Hunter? I never saw them til Street Fighter X Tekken.

[Alex Heat]

I never saw them until they popped up in Monster Hunter, but I also assumed Sony's mascot was whichever character was their bread winner at the time (which would probably be Nathan Drake now?).

 

Still hate them though.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Alex Heat

[Strangelove]

This looks a lot better than the other trailers Ive seen. its a lot brighter and less cluttered. Also, Big Daddy and Parappa level 3 special moves. Theyre pretty cool.

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

You gotta belieeeeeeve!

[Strangelove]

All of a sudden, Ill have to start taking this game more seriously.

 

 

https://blog.us.play...ewest-employee/

 

Hello PlayStation, I’m Seth Killian. A few of you may know me as a familiar face in the world of fighting games, but I’m writing today to say that I’ve joined Sony as the lead game designer for the external group at the Sony’s Santa Monica Studio.

 

 

I was excited to join Santa Monica Studio in particular because of the chance to work with some great individuals, but also because of the incredible range of projects they take on. If you head out of my office and turn right, you’ll run into the “God of War: Ascension” team. If you turn left, you’ll find the Giant Sparrow crew working on “The Unfinished Swan.” There are other amazing studios in the world, but nowhere else that I know where you can find that kind of diversity combined with such a deep commitment to greatness–which also happens to sum up what’s so exciting to me about Sony overall.

 

The external group works with Sony’s outside studios — teams like Queasy Games (Sound Shapes), Fun Bits Interactive (Escape Plan), thatgamecompany (Flower, Journey), and… SuperBot Entertainment, makers of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale!

 

Fighting games are very close to my heart, and as someone that’s spent much of my life with traditional fighters, All-Stars has been a great opportunity to take a step back and rethink fighting fundamentals from the ground up. The entire team was put together from scratch to create this game, and they are loaded with fighting game superstars (including some impressive tournament credentials–I’m not even the first EVO finalist to join the team!) who love great combat just as much as I do.

 

 

All-Stars is also a total love-letter to Sony fans. From the characters, to their special moves, to the incredible level 3 supers, and the stages themselves, I’m not sure there’s ever been such a giant dose of fan-service in Sony history. Beyond great character designs or all the ingenious little ideas that make combat feel great, the real test of a great game to me is that “just *one* more game!” feeling. If it’s 3am and you have to work the next day, but you’ve still got the urge to play again, you know you’re doing something right. You only have to walk through SuperBot’s studio and see all the staff being scolded to stop playing their own game andget back to work to know that they’ve really got something special cooking.

 

You don’t have to take my word for it, however–we’ll be taking All-Stars on the road and making sure you guys have plenty of opportunities to go hands-on, starting with PlayStation’s first official presence at EVO this weekend. More details soon.

 

For everyone that’s already reached out, thank you so much for the kind welcome into PlayStation Nation, and for everyone else, I look forward to doing my absolute best to give PlayStation fans the great games they deserve.

 

 

And another link.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/7/2/3131017/capcoms-seth-killian-joins-sony-santa-monica-playstation-all-stars

Edited July 2, 2012 by Strangelove

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

AWESOME.

[SixTwoSixFour]

Maybe he'll manage to convince the rest of the team that unblockable instant kill supers are a STUPID FUCKING IDEA. I love Seth, I love him with a passion. I just hope he's not joining too late to fix this game.