Hey SOCOMers,
This was another great week of questions so I will dive right in.
To begin, there was a question regarding map design and the scope of the maps with respect to buildings that can be occupied and explored. As a general rule we are trying to make as many building interiors as accessible as possible. There are some limitations in maps such as Crossroads, where specific building are designed as blockers to create good flow and to balance encounter times. In general we give as much space and freedom to the player as possible.
As for the animation in the preview videos seen a while back, lets just say we have come a long way since then. At the time many of our animations simply didnt exist (the jump is a good example), much of the animation blending wasnt in place and the gameplay you saw was using placeholder animation data. We have recently completed a huge mocap shoot at Sonys awesome facility in San Diego, and you guys can be the judge of the animation the next time media is released.
As for character/weapon customization and encumbrance, I cant comment yet. When more details are officially released I will provide insight into those mechanics if you still have questions.
Also if you missed it SOCOM: Tactical Strike has gone Gold! and we here at Slant are proud of Tactical Strike team and their amazing accomplishment.
Check out the post on the PlayStation Blog
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/10/24/socom-tactical-strike-g
oes-gold/ and we look forward to the fan response.
Keep the questions coming!
SealTeam-6 Out