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HAZE impressions & media thread

BuzzJive said:
More people should read that blog entry. It's got a good breakdown of the team behind this game - which all Rare fans should be all over.

I can understand that some people don't like the TimeSplitters games because they were goofy, but this game is headed in the opposite direction.

There's a lot to like about this group, and I hope people will give Haze a chance.

Also - I hope they get their act together on the 360 version. I really don't want to wait X years to play this game (where X is the amount of time it takes the PS3 to drop to a reasonable price).

I wouldn't worry about the 360 version; it's been said all along that the versions were developed simultaneously, so the end result will probably be at least acceptable.
 
BruceLeeRoy said:
Ahhh Merovingian for having such a sweet avatar i expected more of you.

Yeah well, i'm a MGS fan, don't know how that relates to that which you speak off. So **** off.

The Dev Diary was cool.
 

radeonxt

Member
BruceLeeRoy said:
Ever since Timesplitters 2 came out it has made no sense to me why Sony didnt take steps to secure Free Radical as a 1st party developer. Given the time and resources (like they seem to be getting with HAZE) I bet they could really make something excellent. They seem to be one of the few developers besides BUNGIE(and just recently Insomniac) that really get how to make a first person shooter work on a console. The timesplitter series showed they could get the mechanics absolutley perfect but not so much the presentation. HAZE seems like them truly at their A game though.


why would it be a sony 1st party if they were part of rare years ago? :S

maybe this fall they affirm the game is not ready and all versions are released January 2008, or march 2008... etc...
 

Ragnarok10

Junior Member
http://www.gametab.com/news/934240/
http://www.gametab.com/news/934263/
Welcome!
Attention all you Playas and Pimps,

Hullo. My name is Rob Yescombe. God, that sounds like I’m at an AA meeting. Anyhoo, I’m the screenwriter on HAZE, which is the brand new First Person Shooter being developed here at Free Radical Design. As you may know, our founding fathers were the core team behind GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on the N64. We also made Second Sight, and the TimeSplitters series -

The founders of Free Radical (Steve Ellis, Dave Doak, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate) started the company way back in 1999. After the phenomenal success of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark they could have spent the rest of their days reclining on a velvet chaise longue, being fed solid gold grapes by the world’s most expensive callgirls. But that wasn’t the life for them – they wanted to keep creating.

So, with a team of only 18 guys, they produced and delivered the first TimeSplitters by October the following year. Since then we’ve been delivering First Person Shooters every couple of years, and now the company has grown to over 150 people. So, according to my math, HAZE should be precisely 8.5 times better than TimeSplitters – awesome! That’s how it works, right?

Alright, let me introduce you to the core team behind the game.

Dr. Dave Doak – (‘Double-D’)
Yes, he really is a doctor, but not in the Doogie Howser sense. He did a degree and D.Phil in Biochemistry, and then went on to work as a post-doctoral researcher and college lecturer at Oxford University. Coincidently, David found that the SGI computer systems he was using for molecular graphics were the same as those then in use for Nintendo 64 game development. That was the reason he approached Rare in the beginning. As well as taking a lead role in the design of TimeSplitters and TimeSplitters 2, David co-wrote the script for Second Sight - still considered one of the most involving plot-driven action games of recent times. Dave now acts as a kind of perpetual universal quality control – looming over everyone’s shoulders, and touching them with his Midas fingers. Wait, that came out wrong.

Karl Hilton – (‘Playboy Hilton’)
After joining Rare in October 1994, Karl combined the unique disciplines learned during his degree in Architecture followed by his masters in Computer Visualisation and Animation as the Background Artist on GoldenEye. His hard work and enthusiasm resulted in him leading the art creation and direction on that game. After GoldenEye, he was made Lead Artist on Perfect Dark.

After co-founding Free Radical Design, he led the direction of the game art in TimeSplitters and TimeSplitters 2, before becoming fully occupied with directorial duties during Second Sight and TimeSplitters Future Perfect. Karl now oversees the Art direction for HAZE when he’s not buying cars, thinking about cars, or drawing his dream car on a napkin.

Steve Ellis – (‘The Steve-1000’)
A genuine bona fide child prodigy, Steve first started programming at age 8 before completing his O-Level Computer Science at age 11, and then his A-levels at age 13. Steve produced the multi-player component of GoldenEye single-handedly. Hell, the guy even did the low-level programming on TimeSplitters 2 all by himself.

However, far from being some kind of monstrously giant-brained freak who has to live in a glass tube, Steve lives a normal life handling business development, finance, legal and general management.

Graeme Norgate – (‘Beefburger’)
Everyone’s favorite 36-year-old Goth is perhaps best known for his work on GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. However, Graeme actually began composing aged 12. He joined Rare in April 1994, where he worked on titles including Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Land and Blastcorps.

After co-founding Free Radical Design, Graeme went on to be nominated for a BAFTA for his sound work on Second Sight, and is considered an industry authority thanks to his audio in the TimeSplitters series.

Contrary to rumours, he does not worship the Dark Lord.

Derek Littlewood – (‘Sizzlewood’)
Derek had an unconventional route into games – when he first came to interview at Free Radical, he was working at the bakery counter in a supermarket. However, the man had some very convincing thoughts on game design – convincing enough, in fact, for the company directors to hire him full time. Since then, Derek has played a vital design role in TimeSplitters 2, Second Sight, and now as Project Lead on HAZE.

Martin Keywood – (‘McFly’)
As Project Manager / Producer, Martin is the interface between us and UbiSoft. He makes sure everyone knows where they’re going and what they’re supposed to be doing there. He owes his job at Free Radical to a lonely night with a bottle of peach schnapps. After drinking below the label, he promptly decided to ditch his life as the Development Director for an IT company and sent a rambling, booze-fuelled email to Free Radical. The rest is history.

Rob Yescombe – (‘Please Insert Insulting Nickname Here’)
Me, I’ve been knocking around for a while. I started writing professionally ten years ago for Zee TV – an Indian television network. From there I did my hard yards in script reading before graduating on to format creation, co-writing and feature development. Oh, I also did a few months as a gag writer for radio and some TV presenting somewhere in there. To be honest, I was a whore who would do anything I was paid to do. Finally, I’m working on a labor of true love with HAZE and I’m excited about it.

But I won’t bore you with our history (any more). Let’s talk about the future. At the end of this year, we’re delivering HAZE on PS3, and right now we’re at red alert. By ‘red alert’ I mean that we’re getting perilously close to the last leg of development, and everyone on the team is desperately trying to cram in all the ideas that less determined men would suggest we leave for another day. But the guys here really don’t seem to have homes to go to, so why not, eh.

As for me, this week I’ve been directing some of the final voice sessions. Half the game is set in South America, so we made a decision early on that we wouldn’t have any actors ‘putting on’ accents. That is to say, all the actors playing rebels parts are from the region, which lends the whole thing an air of credibility. I hope.

The biggest problem that comes from working with native speakers is that English is their second language - sometimes a very distant second. In fact, the principal challenge of the last few weeks has been extracting performances from these guys that, while remaining authentic, are actually intelligible. You see, their accents are pretty damn thick. I’m sure you folks will let me know if it worked.

Right now, as I write, our UbiSoft producers are in the meeting room upstairs, waiting for me to finish this blog so we can get on with other stuff. I’d better stop here. But I will leave you with something special…check below to get you’re your first glimpse of Haze in motion in our first video developer diary.
 
BruceLeeRoy said:
Ever since Timesplitters 2 came out it has made no sense to me why Sony didnt take steps to secure Free Radical as a 1st party developer. Given the time and resources (like they seem to be getting with HAZE) I bet they could really make something excellent. They seem to be one of the few developers besides BUNGIE(and just recently Insomniac) that really get how to make a first person shooter work on a console. The timesplitter series showed they could get the mechanics absolutley perfect but not so much the presentation. HAZE seems like them truly at their A game though.

As cool as Haze looks, I don't know how much sense it'd make for Sony to invest much in securing Free Radical support. First of all, I don't think Haze is necessarily a guaranteed seller, or even a strong future IP. The things that make Haze most attractive to me are also things that are largely wild cards with the masses; I appreciate the concept, but I don't expect it to hit it big in the mainstream, at least not based on those concepts. Which adds another issue, and that's marketing. With Sony already struggling to find a marketing format and position for its existing properties, it'd seem like a tall order to add something as allegedly complex as Haze to the marketing roster. As much as I dislike Ubi, I think it's in this case a good partner for Free Radical.
 
The graphics are pretty impressive. I'm not too keen on the helmet designs but I'll be forgiving if the gameplay is as good as the graphics.
 
Not having a shooter on the 360 this holiday seems like an interesting move. I guess we will find out if it works out for them or not in the end ;).
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
chriskzoo said:
Some grabs from the latest developer interview, including 4-player co-op
dude delete the image shack hosting before you get hit with the ban hammer
 
So here's something that might have made a pretty serious dent in my hype for the game.

Eurogamer: Do you think there's a concern that the way you've presented Haze might not appeal to American gamers because it's not the flag-waving, heroic sort of indulgence they enjoy?

David Doak: Certainly there's no intention to alienate anyone with this. Yes, traditionally the American - particularly the mid-west - wants to play a game that wears its heart on its sleeve, and off we go. But the world is not that naive a place really, and I think that also we've indulged a bit of caricature there too when we say 'oh well, all Americans do this,' because they don't, and it's... well, look at recent events, look at American opinion about the Iraq war. It's changed considerably. Really, this isn't supposed to be any kind of satire or parody of events; it's trying to say, 'let's make a game about a soldier, as opposed to a game about a war'. And 'let's make a game that is a character-driven story'. All the other things are just like a bigger backdrop to it.

I like the ideas of showing more than one, single tracked side of armed combat and the effects it has on human life (let's face it, there needs to be something to counter Ghost Recon), and using mind control and disruption of mind control as a method of showcasing this is quite appealing, but I was always under the impression that it was carried by a satirical presentation. I read far too much into last year's trailer, that's quite obvious. I saw traces of Verhoeven in the way the trailer was put together, with an exaggerated (although in America perhaps far too realistic) corporate approach.

Free Radical has traditionally been very good at developing characters with, you know, character, and I figured this would work really well in a realistic but satirical setting. But with comments like the above, and with similar comments from other people on the team pointing to that it's an entirely serious take on war... I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm reading too much into those comments as well. I'm good at that.
 

Busty

Banned
AltogetherAndrews said:
So here's something that might have made a pretty serious dent in my hype for the game.



I like the ideas of showing more than one, single tracked side of armed combat and the effects it has on human life (let's face it, there needs to be something to counter Ghost Recon), and using mind control and disruption of mind control as a method of showcasing this is quite appealing, but I was always under the impression that it was carried by a satirical presentation. I read far too much into last year's trailer, that's quite obvious. I saw traces of Verhoeven in the way the trailer was put together, with an exaggerated (although in America perhaps far too realistic) corporate approach.

Free Radical has traditionally been very good at developing characters with, you know, character, and I figured this would work really well in a realistic but satirical setting. But with comments like the above, and with similar comments from other people on the team pointing to that it's an entirely serious take on war... I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm reading too much into those comments as well. I'm good at that.


I agree. The first trailer that we got at E3 last year that had the soldier designs looking more generic and GRAW-esque did have a heavy Paul Verhoven/Ed Neumeir style parody that I really connected with.

Though I, like you, may be jumping the gun here, it seems that they are going down a route similar to Platoon. Which, if true would be sad as I was hoping some of the trademark Timesplitter style charm may have made it's way into the satire.

Hmmmmm.






At least the multiplayer will be great, regardless........
 
Busty said:
I agree. The first trailer that we got at E3 last year that had the soldier designs looking more generic and GRAW-esque did have a heavy Paul Verhoven/Ed Neumeir style parody that I really connected with.

Though I, like you, may be jumping the gun here, it seems that they are going down a route similar to Platoon. Which, if true would be sad as I was hoping some of the trademark Timesplitter style charm may have made it's way into the satire.

Yeah... I suppose the constant references to Apocalypse Now should have clued me in though. Satire is a powerful tool that is far too rare in games and in movies these days, so I'm a bit disappointed right now. And it also felt like something I could trust FRD to be good at. I'm not quite as confident in the company's ability to push 15 hours of dead serious and somber war content, to be honest. We'll see, maybe I'm worrying about nothing.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
AltogetherAndrews said:
Yeah... I suppose the constant references to Apocalypse Now should have clued me in though. Satire is a powerful tool that is far too rare in games and in movies these days, so I'm a bit disappointed right now. And it also felt like something I could trust FRD to be good at. I'm not quite as confident in the company's ability to push 15 hours of dead serious and somber war content, to be honest. We'll see, maybe I'm worrying about nothing.
I think you're worrying about nothing, and ill see you in 4 player co-op come september.
 

Jel0man

Junior Member
Dark Messiah: Elements - 7th September (Xbox 360)
Settlers VI - 7th September (PC)
Brothers In Arms: Double Time - 21st September (Wii)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja - 19th October (Xbox 360)
Assassin's Creed - 9th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway - 16th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - 16th November (Wii, DS)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - 16th November (PC, Xbox 360)
Haze - 30th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=78000
 
Jel0man said:
Dark Messiah: Elements - 7th September (Xbox 360)
Settlers VI - 7th September (PC)
Brothers In Arms: Double Time - 21st September (Wii)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja - 19th October (Xbox 360)
Assassin's Creed - 9th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway - 16th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - 16th November (Wii, DS)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - 16th November (PC, Xbox 360)
Haze - 30th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

http://www.insidegamer.nl/bedrijf/u...rijke-Ubisoft-games-krijgen-releasedatum.html
A) Insidergamer isn't a trustworthy source.
B) We have yet to see this on the big sites.
C) They removed PC and Xbox 360 from Haze.
 

Busty

Banned
watership said:
That could be an old listing. The games are being developed at the same time, but Sony secured the rights for a timed exclusive.


Was it ever confirmed or even whispered whether Sony actually paid for this excluisve or was it more of a default exclusive owing to the release of HALO3.
 

glaurung

Member
Actually the Conviction date looks solid enough.

The fact is that they are using some new kind of middle-ware for developing all of this and that takes time off to polish the storyline and iron out the bugs. So no, Conviction looks set, at least 360-wise.
 

Deepblue

Banned
Busty said:
Was it ever confirmed or even whispered whether Sony actually paid for this excluisve or was it more of a default exclusive owing to the release of HALO3.

I think that one is correct. There has yet to be any evidence of Sony paying anything for a time exclusive.
 

Jel0man

Junior Member
Updated list. Haze to be PS3 timed-exclusive for one week:

Dark Messiah: Elements - 7th September (Xbox 360)
Settlers VI - 7th September (PC)
Brothers In Arms: Double Time - 21st September (Wii)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja - 19th October (Xbox 360)
Assassin's Creed - 9th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway - 16th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - 16th November (Wii, DS)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - 16th November (PC, Xbox 360)
Haze - 23rd November (PS3)
Haze - 30th November (PC, Xbox 360)

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=78000
 

FrankT

Member
Jel0man said:
Updated list. Haze to be PS3 timed-exclusive for one week:

Dark Messiah: Elements - 7th September (Xbox 360)
Settlers VI - 7th September (PC)
Brothers In Arms: Double Time - 21st September (Wii)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja - 19th October (Xbox 360)
Assassin's Creed - 9th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway - 16th November (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 - 16th November (Wii, DS)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - 16th November (PC, Xbox 360)
Haze - 23rd November (PS3)
Haze - 30th November (PC, Xbox 360)

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=78000

Nice :lol

Shortest timed exclusive ever?
 

besada

Banned
AltogetherAndrews said:
I'm not quite as confident in the company's ability to push 15 hours of dead serious and somber war content, to be honest. We'll see, maybe I'm worrying about nothing.

This has actually been my biggest issue with the game. From my reading it seems like they're trying to do a deeply serious game about the moral gray area of being a soldier, which is why all the "teammate calls you a pussy" stuff seemed out of place to me. I never got the idea they were trying for satire, which makes the wackier bits seem out of place.
 
The team mate calling you a pussy thing ties into the more questionable actions of this war. I don't know the specific scenarios, but I could see it implemented in a scene where your squad is up against unarmed civilians. Other members of your team may be pushing you on to kill someone, you hesitate and they harass you for it. We'll see how it works out in-game, but it's a good idea in theory.
 
SealSqueal said:
One week! So tell me again who announced this as a timed exclusive? How completely ridicurous.

No one did. It's just your typical Ubisoft nonsense, muddying up release schedules and so forth. PS3 is the lead platform (and has been the lead platform for at least a year), and according to the guys at FRD that's the version that they are really focusing on. Keep in mind that prior to UbiDays, the people at FRD were always adamant about it being very much a multiplatform game. So this is just Ubi trying to establish some brand awareness by using cheap methods.
 
Kabuki Waq said:
PS3 Lead sku tho. Which means they made the choice for us multi console owners.
Well, if the PS3 version isn't significantly better than the 360 version, I will get the 360 version because I have more friends to do co-op with.
 
snack said:
Well, if the PS3 version isn't significantly better than the 360 version, I will get the 360 version because I have more friends to do co-op with.


If the Difference is the same as between UBI ports you really should get the lead Sku verison. I am more about split screen co-op than online so i will be fine with either version reagardless.
 
Kabuki Waq said:
If the Difference is the same as between UBI ports you really should get the lead Sku verison. I am more about split screen co-op than online so i will be fine with either version reagardless.

This isn't developed by Ubi though (thank god), so I'm not sure if lead platform carries the same meaning in regards to Haze as it would in regards to a game developed by Ubi itself.
 

Aaron

Member
Kabuki Waq said:
If the Difference is the same as between UBI ports you really should get the lead Sku verison. I am more about split screen co-op than online so i will be fine with either version reagardless.
Free Radical ports, not UBI ports. The difference will astound you.
 
glaurung said:
Actually the Conviction date looks solid enough.

The fact is that they are using some new kind of middle-ware for developing all of this and that takes time off to polish the storyline and iron out the bugs. So no, Conviction looks set, at least 360-wise.

hmmm, interested to see what they will show at e3, since the game seemed very rough at UBidays to me.

Ontopic: Hopefully this game will have as creative multiplayer modes as time splitters. I loved the stage where one guy was on fire and had to chase the rest down.
 
AltogetherAndrews said:
This isn't developed by Ubi though (thank god), so I'm not sure if lead platform carries the same meaning in regards to Haze as it would in regards to a game developed by Ubi itself.
Actually Free Radical were pretty vocal on the lead SKU thing. According to them PS3 is the most powerful console, and it allowed them to do some crazy shading and what not (the game looks quite awesome).

So the differences might be there, but still, it seems like an awesome game, people should consider it regardless of what systems they own.
 
I guess Ubi really is trying to pull an Assassin's Creed with this one, as stupid as that sounds. Some Ubi dude posted this in the Haze forum, in a number of threads no less.

To explain the release date confusion right now: Officially HAZE is a PS3 lead development, PC and 360 versions are not confirmed at this time. There was an error in a release schedule which was sent out yesterday but websites have the correct schedule now.

What a ****ing joke.
 

watership

Member
Officially HAZE is a PS3 lead development, PC and 360 versions are not confirmed at this time.

Do they think we'll forget that it was announced at E3 2006 as a 360/PC/PS3 game? What's with UBISOFT and "announcement exclusives"?
 

Redbeard

Banned
watership said:
Do they think we'll forget that it was announced at E3 2006 as a 360/PC/PS3 game? What's with UBISOFT and "announcement exclusives"?

They've got a plan for that.

At Ubisoft's E3 press conference:
KSstage2.jpg

"PC and 360 versions of Haze have not been confirmed..."
 

GrayFoxPL

Member
Quoting is fine, right?

Didn't we play this game already? After unleashing yesterday's avalanche of release dates and promptly crushing the month of November in the process, Ubisoft has removed any date and mention of the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Haze from the list. Speaking to an Ubisoft UK representative, ******* was told that the mysterious disappearance could be attributed to the PlayStation 3 being "the only confirmed platform for Haze." Oh dear, it's Assassin's Creed all over again.

Just last month, Ubisoft described the politically charged shooter as "leading on PS3," noting that "no exclusivity for any platform has been officially announced." Despite Free Radical's director, Steve Ellis, stating that the developer's chief challenge was "designing a solution that will work well across the platforms," Haze was theorized to be at the very least, a timed PS3 exclusive. The week-long release gap between the PS3's Haze and other versions shown on Ubisoft's initial schedule rendered such a conclusion comical, but not untruthful. What of the vanishing Xbox 360 and PC versions then?

When we asked directly whether Haze was a PS3 exclusive or not, Ubisoft simply reiterated that the system was "the only confirmed platform." It's the same line we kept hearing when Ubisoft was dodging questions about the exclusivity haze surrounding Assassin's Creed -- a game which started out on "PlayStation 3 and at this time, no other platform has been confirmed." Ubisoft later admitted a PC version would "indeed see the light some day" (the same day, actually) and then finally confirmed an Xbox 360 version to an unsurprised audience.

Can we expect the same sequence of events for Haze, or are negotiations between suits still active? We expect to get some answers (simple "yes" or "no" ones, preferably) at next month's Min-E3.
 
Personally I don't like Free Radical, from what little I've played of Timesplitters. I thought Second Sight was a joke. Rubbish AI and physics, clunky controls, crap art design.

I'm sure this will eventually hit the 360, c'mon is Ubi
 
Because that wouldn't generate nearly as much discussion. And with an unknown IP, any path to brand awareness seems to be acceptable, even if it involves dicking your own future customers around. It's really quite obnoxious.
 
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