Late last year, Free Radical Design fell into administration, thanks to the wonderful recession gracing our fair world. Well, good news has arrived- Crytek have bought up the company and saved 43 jobs. Free radical is the developer of the fantastic Timesplitters series (and unfortunately the forgettable Haze), and Crytek is behind big-name games Far Cry and Crysis.

This is good news for everyone- Crysis get some great new developers on its team, and Free Radical employees get to keep their jobs. Plus, we might get to play Timesplitters 4 after all. I can only offer my condolences for the employees that weren’t able to keep their jobs- with any luck they’ll be picked back up in the long run.

Well, shit. Gamesindustry.biz today reports that one of the gaming world’s finest development studios is shutting its doors. Rumour has it that when UK developer Free Radical’s employees showed up at the doors today, they were told to meet at a local hotel for a final meeting- the lack of response to calls seems to back this up, too. Oddly enough, a few weeks earlier the studio’s director Steve Ellis had said “we certainly won’t be laying off any staff today. Or, for that matter, any time in 2008.”

I sincerely hope that this rumour is false. Free Radical was formed from the Rare employees who developed GoldenEye for the N64, one of the best games of all time, and went on to develop the Timesplitters series- a consistently outstanding set of games. Free Radical were said to be developing Star Wars Battlefront 3 (another great series), too. Perhaps their only bad game was Haze; is this why they are supposedly shutting down? Graeme Norgate, David Doak- what will become of these industry greats? I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sort of despair over a company closing down.

[UPDATES]More stuff happened. See it after the jump.

[UPDATE] Gamezine have received word from an unnamed source that “the studio is not closing down. Yet, at least. What they are doing is major restructuring.” There’s hope yet!

[ANOTHER UPDATE] Now Kotaku are reporting on another unnamed source, this time saying that the company has shut down. We’ll make sure to report the final verdict when it is officially confirmed.

[MORE UPADTES]EDGE-Online’s source has told them this:

Co-founder Ellis was “visibly upset” when he talked to the staff, the source said. “[He] told staff how very sorry he was and they’d been doing all they could, working flat-out to either find a publisher or a buyer over the past six months, but no offers were made. There have been several visits to the States, but to no avail.”

About 20 staff members were offered positions with Ellis’ new venture, Pumpkin Beach, while the rest of the employees were told in a separate room that they would be laid off.

Staff had reportedly been paid to the end of December, but are not expected to receive any further compensation “as there was nothing left to give.”

Reps from U.K. game makers Codemasters and Monumental Games were at the hotel after the meeting asking for CVs and applications from former Free Radical staffers.

Let’s just hope Pumpkin Beach continue Free Radical’s legacy.

When we first got our hands on Haze, we were intrigued by the concept of Nectar and its use on the battlefield. Still, we were worried whether this was all Haze had to offer; a game exploiting the concept of exploiting drugs in war. With that confusing thought just escaping our little heads, our mits were on the final version of the game.

I’ve had a lot of Haze play time, giving the game a shot in the fun filled Wembley stadiums of Play.com Live, the technology festooned pad at Sony’s Three Rooms, and finally in the excitable offices of Free Radical outside Nottingham.

It was easy to see the potential of Haze each time: the four player co-op, the creative and addictive Nectar abilities (that shouldn’t be confused with Nectar points), the asymmetric multiplayer combat, and the unusually deep storyline. But it was not until the game was in the comfort of my home that Haze’s failings were more apparent.

It can become easy for the game’s positives to be clouded by a thick haze that some might get lost in, but when you do clear the smoke you’ll still find sizeable nuggets of gaming goodness to enjoy.

Yes, vehicles are in Online Multiplayer.

Upon entering the disc you’ll first be met with a considerable 3.8GB install to the PS3’s HDD. Yes, the worrying trend continues. In the future, we hope Sony will lower their current 5GB allowance to 2GB or lower, because watching a blank screen for 10 minutes (not near the 22minutes of Devil may Cry 4) is incredibly tedious. Pictures, Mantel documentation, or even a controller layout would have made this journey more pleasant. Then again, the install is somewhat justified since there will be no loading in Haze, something which makes playtime fly by.

When you do eventually get to start the game, you’ll enter Haze’s futuristic world. This is a time where governments outsource their militaristic needs to private, media savvy companies like Mantel. Mantel can’t afford mistakes or bad press, so their army must be strong, invincible and their battles morally right.

To meet these goals, Mantel has developed a new tool of war – Nectar. A soldier enhancing drug that not only makes Mantel’s army more efficient in the physical acts on the battlefield, but also turns the horrors of war into a bright and jolly haze. There is no blood. There are no bodies. There’s only you and your comrades fighting on the right side and for the right reasons.

As Shane Carpenter, a new Mantel recruit (though he appears to be a Sergeant), you’re going to face some tough decisions in your fight against a new threat: The Promise Hand rebels.

The Promise Hand. For more information on Haze’s story, characters, weapons and vehicles, please follow this link.

At the beginning of his mission Shane is dropped into a lush jungle, where he’s to grapple with Nectar’s abilities. What’s first apparent is how intuitive the controls are. You won’t find fire-power relegated to R2 and L2 like the FPS games inspired by the Xbox 360’s control scheme. Instead these triggers are lavished with administrating Nectar, or if you’re a Rebel, playing dead.

The message of modern warfare being like a videogame, and war games being devoid of moral responsibility is met with the concept of Nectar, since your foes stand out like Time Crisis enemies jumping into guns sights. When you zoom in on the orange aura of your foes, it’s easy to pop them off one by one.

Since enemies are well hidden in either foliage or against similar coloured backgrounds, injecting yourself with the drug is necessary to succeed. Being dosed up on Nectar feeds the notion that videogames have the ability to bring adrenaline and addictive killing into the living room – a sentiment that might be familiar to Jack Thompson – Nectar makes you feel invincible. But be careful on the trigger. Go too far and you’ll overdose, losing control over your bullet spray, resulting in injuries to your allies. When your AI compatriots do the same it’s not quite as funny, so your best bet is to euthanise.

In truth, Haze’s AI isn’t as clever as we hoped. Friendly AI are generally useless, running around like headless chickens, getting in the way of your fire and not killing that one guy you can’t get to. Sure, you don’t want them to help too much, but you at least want them to be useful, rather than a burden. Enemy AI does fair slightly better, with Rebels diving into cover and Mantel troopers storming their way towards you.

Watch your back.

However, these certainly aren’t the most intelligent enemies. There are points where they’ll stomp straight past you to your ally, allowing you to simply turn around and pump bullets into them. Worryingly, much of the AI’s activity appears to be triggered by passing a certain predefined line, so until you do so they’ll be camping behind barriers, allowing you to shoot them with no reaction if you haven’t passed that point.

Before long, with Nectar dripping from your veins, you’re out of Mantel’s shoes and you’ve joined the Promise Hand. This plot twist was never a secret, but it is surprising how early in the game this happens. Just as you’re starting to enjoy Nectar abilities, the drug is thrust from your hands and left leaking in the jungle scrub. Haze’s most original innovation won’t be used again.

That’s not to say being a Rebel doesn’t have its own innovations. Without Nectar you’ll have to be a bit more cunning and agile. Abilities include a handy dive to get behind cover and the ability to strap Nectar packs to your grenades. These can either be thrown or set as a trap and result in an eruption of yellow gas that causes troopers to overdose. Your knife can also be dipped in the drug, for you to splice the stuff straight into a trooper’s back.

The most creative Rebel ability is playing dead. Nectar sensors dead bodies, so if you act like one you’ll become invisible. Sounds like it could make the game a cake walk? Don’t fear – it’s tougher than you think. You can only play dead when you’re nearing death by tapping L2. Once your enemy turns his back, press X to start coming up and again to jump to your feet quickly. It takes some getting used to, but once mastered, can save your life.

However, for all the Rebel innovations, Nectar was always Haze’s king. Even if Free Radical intended a reluctant and premature withdrawal from the drug, exploiting your enemies is common to all shooters and so spending most of your time as a Rebel makes Haze’s originality sparse.

Moreover, during Rebel play it’s noticeable Mantel troopers aren’t nearly as effective as you were on Nectar. They aren’t incredibly good at getting head shots and they don’t destroy you with a powerful melee attack. In fact, they are mostly dumb brutes. Free Radical may argue this is a conscious balancing decision, but it does almost destroy the Nectar advantage Mantel troopers are meant to have in both story and gameplay.

Boosh!

Level design is creative, seeing you traverse a hilltop hotel, travel by cable car, fight on a sinking ship, and shoot your way through the corridors of a moving transport carrier. Nonetheless, apart from the final chapter, levels are lacking a certain grandeur expected in modern shooters. Some levels even feel old fashioned, employing a “pull switch to continue” policy, and peppered with floaty vehicles that are prone to toppling or spontaneous combustion from hidden explosions.

This isn’t helped by the game’s graphics, which sport low texture resolutions and a general soft facade. There’s also a helping of pop-in on Mantel trooper’s armour – a graphical error you wouldn’t expect from a high-profile title. It’s easy to point to excuses, such as no loading and large levels, but when you look at other first-generation PS3 games doing similar feats with much more impressive engines (such as Heavenly Sword and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune) it’s easy to see Free Radical haven’t really got to grips with Sony’s hardware.

Moreover, levels become visually drab and uninspired; brown barren landscapes compliment empty gray corridors. In truth, Haze’s most stunning visuals can be found in the bright forests of the demo level – saturated blue skies, vibrant foliage, and interactive grass (a feat even Call of Duty 4 couldn’t match). Of course, the world is meant to become more drab after you’ve gone cold turkey, but it makes me wonder whether this order is wrong. That is, the visual progression and even the story would be helped by starting the game as a Rebel, to then be enslaved by Mantel. Thus, Haze’s most innovative feature would be in the second half of the game, the visuals would become more vibrant, and the plot could touch upon how an ordinary man is deranged by the drug.

“Don’t forget your promise to Merino!”

The latter is needed, because the morality of fellow troopers is sorely missing from Haze. Fellow Mantel are stereotypical American jocks obsessed with killing. Though this is meant to show the power of the yellow drug, it’s impossible to relate to characters who say “It’s like taking candy from a crippled baby.” Naturally, this makes it all the easier to change sides and take pleasure in killing the Mantel troopers, but there’s another problem. It’s also very hard to relate with the Rebels, who are obsessed with repeating intense lines like“Don’t forget your promise to Merino”, making you wonder if you’ve really made a promise to Merino (Skin Coat).

Merino does happen to be Haze’s most convincing character, sporting the best voice acting in the game (sadly not matched by facial animation), but when he begins to submit orders you question whether you should follow them. You don’t feel obliged, because you were never really on Mantel’s side and you’ll find it hard to relate to Shane’s guilt, because you’ll never relate to him. Shane shows no strength as a Sergeant and pony’s from one side to the other.

The game does eventually touch upon the moral dilemmas of using enhancing drugs in war and the issue of murdering “people” in videogames. You may even kill remorsefully in the final stages, illustrating that when Haze presents its story well, it does succeed.

The story is engrossing enough to hold its own in co-op, not interfering with what you really want to do – kill the baddies with your buddies. The single-player campaign can be played cooperatively via splitscreen (2 players), LAN or online (up to 4 players). This is where Haze shines.

The ease with which you can join a quartet of friends (or even strangers) is so seamless and simple, even allowing access to your PSN friends list, that you’ll wish all your games had the same ability. This certainly makes the campaign more engaging, with many of the levels owing themselves to cooperative play. Plus, if you’re having trouble in the single-player, why not invite others to help you out?

As seamless as the co-op is, there are some niggling problems. The game cannot be manually saved, saving automatically upon passing checkpoints. This worked perfectly well until my teammates passed a checkpoint while a gun turret had me pinned down. After we all eventually died I was loaded in front of the turret that would kill me in a few shots. I suffered this until I was eventually able to escape and complete the level. A manual save system should be in place, or you shouldn’t be placed in an unreasonable position upon reload.

Co-op can annoy when you’re bumped without warning to join your comrades after lagging behind. This is sometimes helpful, but you’re often thrown into a room of enemies without time to orientate yourself. Moreover, it would be helpful if each player could get their own save game instead of just the host, since as it stands non-hosts have to begin anew when they play alone.

Online multiplayer consists of 16 player Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Team Assault on 6 maps. The asymmetric gameplay really shines here, since each team can choose to play as either Rebels or Mantel Troopers. Though you might find yourself doing well with only one play style, the more you get used to each of the mechanics in this fast paced multiplayer, the more you’ll recognise how well Free Radical has balanced the teams.

Playing dead is one surprising success in the multiplayer, resulting in invisibility to all troopers. You’d think troopers would just shoot the ground to kill you (which is of course possible) but the fast paced action and the fact that the kill will actually display itself on the screen (eg. Name1 killed Name2) means playing dead is a great addition.

It’s a shame there are so few maps when we’re used to bigger offerings from the Time Splitters developer, but Team Assault does add variety in the form of different map objectives. These do a good job of promoting team play and slowing down the pace of a generally frantic multiplayer experience. Haze also welcomes the return of bots, allowing you to boost up the numbers in online and splitscreen. We wonder why new gen games got rid of them in the first place.

Free Radical’s latest offering does a good job of implementing asymmetric play in both online and single player and treads new PS3 ground with its seamless online co-op. Nevertheless, its potential isn’t quite reached elsewhere. Haze’s most interesting innovation is relegated to the first third and questionable voice acting, poor cutscene animations, and uninteresting characters turn the story into a melodrama rather than approaching any real seriousness. Haze set out to transcend the shallow shooters on the market, but in the end its major attraction is found in “gimmicky” Nectar abilities.

Haze – Pre-Played You are Shane Carpenter, and the year is 2048. You are a newly enlisted soldier with the leading company trying to create peace throughout the world. This company offers you cutting-edge technology, including vehicles, weaponry, and performance-enhancers….

After reporting on the native rendering resolution of the Haze demo, some questioned my reasoning that the final game would sport the same resolution. This is despite there seldom being an example of a game’s resolution differing from its demo. In visiting Free Radical’s studio near Nottingham, creative lead Derek Littlewood confirmed our suspicions.

When I mentioned our story, Derek told me that the final game does indeed render at 1024by576, contrary to what is said by Ubisoft on the Playstation Blog; “From some other comments I read, I wanted to clarify that the game runs at 720p resolution.” Of course, Haze will output at 720p since the Playstation 3 can upscale, but this is not reflective of the game’s native resolution. Derek exclusively told us why they made the decision to render at a lower than HD resolution:

We prioritise a nice smooth framerate over a different res. Personally, I don’t really buy the whole thing. People did the same with Call of Duty, they did the same with Halo, and they say with those games ‘It’s not running at true HD!’ And it’s like, I don’t care. If the game looks good and it runs smoothly, those are the important things to me.

In asking whether the resolution was decided towards the end of development, Derek replied:

Yes. Well, as you develop an engine you’re aiming for a certain thing, but as all the pieces slot into place, you end up realising what sort of resolution you can run it at and that’s where we ended up with for Haze.

If you were to move forward with our next games, then as we optimise the engine we might be going, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll step things up and change things.’ But then different games we work on might have different requirements, so things may change there again. It’s all about how you use the resources you’ve got. But I don’t understand why people care whether there’s 20 pixels, 50 pixels, or 100 pixels more…

Naturally, I said that it’s not only a 100 pixel difference. 720p is over 300,000 pixels more than 576p:

Well, I always say, judge it [Haze] by the whole experience. Sit down with it and enjoy it. If people come away from that saying ‘Yeah, the resolution was a bit lower than I was expecting’ then I hope people wouldn’t, because it has other things it does really well.

For even more Haze goodness, our friends at PS3Attitude are holding a Haze week, starting tomorrow.

As seems to be the norm this console generation, not all games can hit that elusive 720p HD resolution.  First Halo 3, then GTA4 (PS3) and now the PS3 exclusive Haze.

As previously reported, a demo of Haze can be found on the Playstation Store, supporting 4 player co-op.  Graphically it’s solid, but what’s most impressive is that it runs silky smooth.  It runs at a locked 30fps, and even with a host of foliage and enemies on screen – it never dips.

Though there are more impressive looking games on the PS3, it’s with Haze’s gameplay and story that show off its true colours.  (More on this in our upcoming preview of both the four player co-op and multiplayer modes.)  Nonetheless, for Free Radical to achieve a solid PS3 engine with no loading throughout the game, they’ve had to make some concessions.

Qua51 of Beyond3d now confirms Haze’s resolution to be 1024by576 with no anti-aliasing.  That is, going by the demo, and there’s yet to be a difference in resolution from a game’s demo to its final release. At the end of the day, this is something we’re going to have to get used to.  If developers find they can put the saved power into a solid framerate, or better graphics – then should we really be complaining?

When we visited Free Radical at Sony’s 3 Rooms earlier this year, script writer Rob Yescombe had this to say about the game’s graphics::

We’ve got a 12 hour streaming experience and for someone to put that next to a game where they can spend 2 minutes loading a level every half an hour. Well good for them, but it’s a totally different game.  Just because it might be first person, just because it might be on the same platform, they’re totally different games, totally different things that we’ll be able to do.

So we want to give people variety of gameplay, and if that means you’ve got a texture that doesn’t look photo realistic, well guess what, you’re going to enjoy the game more than you would looking at a photo realistic texture.

And it’s hard to disagree with that.  Let us know what you think about the HAZE demo in the comments section and in our forums.

*Update* - Quaz51 of Beyond3d Forums has now confirmed that Haze uses 2xAA as opposed to the original 0xAA.

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Back in March we gave you an insight into what can be expected from Haze, the new FPS from Free Radical. Now you can see what you think with the demo going live on the Playstation Store today.

So if you have been tantalised by all the info and screen shots circulating and feel you need to get some of that sweet sweet nectar, then now is your chance if you have a European PSN account. The demo clocks in at a hearty 1.5GB’s and contains the first level of the game to be played in single player, or up to 4 player co-op.

Expect our review of the game very soon.

*Update* – The US will get the Haze demo this Thursday 8th May.

It’s hard to put exclusivity disputes to rest. What’s worrying is that there are disputes – anger and seriousness over the possibility of losing a game to the “competition.” There’s been buzz around Metal Gear Solid 4, Bioshock, and most certainly HAZE.

Free Radical’s script writer, Rob Yescombe, attempts to put the bickering to rest in this interview we held at Sony’s Playstation 3 Rooms.

What makes HAZE (and to a lesser extent Bioshock) more complicated than MGS4 and Final Fantasy XIII, is that it was originally announced for three platforms. Moreover, the game’s producer turned a presumed Playstation 3 exclusive, Assassin’s Creed, into a multiplatform game. Ubisoft don’t appear to be the exclusive type.

This begs the question, why did Free Radical choose Ubisoft as their producer this time around rather than Sony, or the previous Codemasters? Rob Yescombe had this to say of their decision:

Well their pedigree for shooters is pretty good. I mean, they’ve got a good gambit of things under their belt. And part of the pleasure of being an independent studio is you don’t have to work with the same guy every time.

It’s not that we’ve had problems with any other publishers, it’s just that in order for us to remain…er…vigilant in the market that we occupy, it’s important to know what it’s like working with various people. Ubisoft have been bloody great, I mean they’ve put us here [Playstation 3 Rooms, London.] This is nice.

Still, as a result of Ubisoft’s indecisiveness over console exclusives, there has been a continuous cycle of reports saying Haze is no longer exclusive, to it being a timed exclusive, and then to exclusive again. So what is the truth of the matter? I asked Rob whether HAZE really is Playstation 3 exclusive?

Why does everybody keep asking that? It’s a Playstation 3 exclusive. Buy a Playstation 3 and play it. I want it to be the reason people buy a Playstation 3.

That’s all well and good, but will this really put the rumours to rest? Couldn’t it just come out on another platform further down the line?

We’re a Playstation 3 exclusive. If by some magical wave of the wand that happens, I won’t be complaining. But we’re a Playstation 3 exclusive.

Rob has certainly put things into perspective. Like any good business decision, I presume it’ll all depend on the game’s sales on the Playstation 3. Still, as obvious as this sounds, people will still be talking about whether HAZE really is Playstation 3 exclusive. In reply to the sentiment that everyone is talking about HAZE’s exclusivity, Rob muses:

I find it so confusing that some people are so offended at the idea that it will be format exclusive. But it’s like people get angry about it. What are you angry about?

Indeed, what are people angry about? I expect most are annoyed by the conflicting reports from both news sites and Ubisoft/Free Radical themselves. It would help to know who’s decided on the gam’es exclusivity. Perhaps it wasn’t Ubisoft’s decision, but Free Radical’s choice to concentrate on one platform?

No, it’s not our decision.. It’s a publisher decision. And it’s not like this bizarre practice of gamers kind of demonising publishers like they’re some evil guy. Ubisoft have helped us out a lot on this game, in terms of being very supportive to the decisions that we wanted to make and to approve it.

They allowed us to delay it. You know people are so furious “Oh god, I pre-ordered this game and it’s delayed.” The fact of the matter is, what we want for people to do is not just to have a knee jerk buy at Christmas. You know, we want people to feel like they spent $50 and it was worth that money. You know, that’s what that delay was about.

In addition to delaying the game, changing focus from three platforms to just the Playstation 3 must have helped the game’s quality also:

Originally it [development] was kind of open ended. The fact of the matter is our pedigree at Free Radicial, when we were doing Timesplitters, all of that started out on Sony hardware. And so those guys have a lot of experience working in that realm.

Starting on any new hardware has its quirks, and Playstation 3 is no different, but it meant that we were able to hit the ground running maybe a little bit faster than some of the other developers that found it a bit tricky.

Hopefully such focus would enable Free Radical to concentrate more on the Playstation 3’s quirks, such as the Cell Processor:

Well, I mean, it’s something that those guys, the technical guys, are very capable of doing.

Even then, Sony’s technical wizards have been relied upon by some developers, especially before the arrival of improved Playstation 3 tools. So have Free Radical had any support from Sony’s techies?

Well to be honest with you, we haven’t really needed that kind of tech support. I mean, they’re willing and able to provide it, but we just haven’t run into that problem.

Which is pleasing to hear, since this is one game where the framerate won’t falter. Expect a locked 30fps on release. We all hope that this little interview has put HAZE’s exclusivity into context and will potentially put the bickering to rest. Then again, we’ll only be able to guess at why Ubisoft made this decision.

For more information on Haze please follow this link, or have a gander of our gallery. Stand by for our incoming hands-on preview.

We were lucky enough to be invited by Free Radical and Ubisoft to a Haze event in London where, along with playing through a considerable chunk of the campaign in four player co-op, we got to know the ins and outs of this not too distant future world. Follow the link for new details on the game’s characters, vehicles and weapons.

Set in the year 2048, governments of the world have dissolved their national armies and outsourced to fulfil their militaristic needs.  It’s too expensive and politically complicated to employ your own army, so why not rent one?  Mantel Global Industries takes on this mantel; responsible for the peacekeeping efforts of the UN, NATO and dozens of national armies.

You play as Shane Carpenter, a newly enlisted soldier seeking fulfilment and thrills by fighting for a good cause. He’s a sound guy that’s looking to help make changes to the world and bring suffering to an end.  Until he joined Mantel he didn’t know what to do with all his good will. Now, Mantel has provided him with a gun and the opportunity to “help others through affirmative armed action”.

Yes, Mantel offers its soldiers everything they want, from a high-tech arsenal of vehicles, deadly weaponry, to the performance-enhancing drug Nectar.  You see, Mantel are a smart media savy company.  They don’t want bad press or low morale, so they make their army invincible and the war invisble to its soldiers. To perform this impossible task Mantel developed a “nutritional supplement” called Nectar.

Nectar improves a soldier’s sight, aim, speed, and strength. It also enables them to endure – and even enjoy – any personal injuries. Perhaps most famously of all, Nectar increases each soldier’s awareness of their surroundings in combat, allowing them to “predict” impending danger.

What Mantel doesn’t tell its soldiers is that Nectar also filters their world.  War is like a game to them.  There’s no blood, no screaming, no death and no bodies.  As a Mantel trooper, you’ll just be shooting targets while on a massive high.  This experience is so vivid, that the soldiers describe it as a “sixth sense.” Of course there’s nothing supernatural about it, it’s simply a case of stimulating the right parts of the brain.

Now, in the year 2048, a problem has arisen in the Boa region of South America. A dangerous guerilla faction called The Promise Hand, led by a vicious maniac known as ‘Skin Coat’, are on the rampage, trying to overthrow governments.  These rebels are scum, especially ‘Skin Coat’, who earned his alias by skinning those who opposed him and using their skin as a makeshift leather  ‘coat’.  Thankfully, in typical fashion, Mantel has sent in a sizeable force to send the Promise Hand to their graves.

You must fight this vicious rebel faction, the Promise Hand, with the following Mantel team by your side, whether as computer AI or joining you via your online/offline friends:

- Sergeant Morgan Duvall; Carpenter’s equal in rank and age, Duvall is known for partying hard, and fighting harder. Better educated than most of his contemporaries, Duvall is respected by his fellow soldiers and hence they look to him for guidance not only in the field, but in their day-to-day lives.

- Lietenant Corporal Adrian Teare; A little bookish, Teare has been known to let his intellectual inspirations get between him and his fellow soldiers. However, he is an adept soldier with award-winning combat skills.

- Corporal Francis Peshy; A star quarterback in Highschool, but a less than stellar student, Peshy graduated by the skin of his teeth. With his parents’ blessing, he joined Mantel Corps and found his niche. He wakes every morning with a smile on his face – knowing he’s doing what he does best.

- Corporal Bobby ‘Watchstrap’ Daily; A Good Ol’ Boy, born and bred, his skinny physique earned him his odd nickname. Happy to follow orders, what Watchstrap lacks in brain power, he makes up for with enthusiasm.

As you fight your way through a war-torn country, the vicious Promise Hand rebels will challenge you in a number of guises:

- Infantry; Carrying the ‘Lobo’ Assault rifle, these soldiers are all-rounders, which makes them unpredictable and extremely dangerous.

- Shockers; Favoring the ‘Oso’ shotgun, the Shockers are fast and agile, allowing them to get up close to use their weapons to deadly effect.

- Suppressor; Armed with the ‘Hand of God’ minigun, these trigger-happy maniacs are not the kind of guys you want to get into a firefight with. With a massive capacity for damage, they are high effective both and short and long range.

- Incinerators; ‘The People’s Dragon’ flamethrower has long been a favourite of this elite unit. Tactically, they tend to lie in wait until their target is within striking distance – then unleash the fury of the Dragon.

At first you’re embedded in your Mantel mission to destroy the rebels and bring order to the world, but quickly things begin to change.  Everything is not as it seems. In uncovering the truth you’re going to have to break away from Mantel’s manipulative grip and join your former enemies, the Promise Hand.

Naturally, since your enemies are now your friends, your former friends are now your enemies.  You’re going to have to make some tough decisions when you switch sides, and letting go of Nectar is going to make it ever harder to join the rebel life.  You will also be pitted against the craze Mantel soldiers who find war as fun and joyous as a roller coaster ride:

- Regulars; Regulars carry the world famous BlackSaw, and boy do they know how to use it. Their highly aggressive tactics are enough to get any local tough guy sh*tting his pants. In short: don’t mess.

- Assault Troopers; These heavily armoured guys travel in packs, and are rather partial to using the Donkey Puncher. What’s more, with all that body armour to protect them, they like to get in close for some serious Nectar-powered face mashing with the butt of their shotguns.

- Fire Support; They say some guys have all the fun – and these guys might just be them. Sporting a combination of heavy armour and a Hard Candy, these folks like to keep their distance and pepper the bad guys with rockets until they look like cheap pâté. If they’re in the mood to get closer, they’re also packing a Diplomat, and they ain’t afraid to use it.

- Scouts; Armed with the B72 Sniper rifle, the Scouts use plenty of Nectar to ensure the perfect headshot on any stragglers. Their standard armour is more than enough to keep them snug as a bug in a rug.

In the heat of the battle all that will matter to you are the weapons at your disposal.  So what exactly will you be yielding as a drugged up trooper, on an agile rebel?  As a Mantel trooper you’ll get your hands on a this collection::

- The ‘Diplomat’ (D6 Pistol); The ‘Diplomat’ is the side-arm of choice for the smart Mantel trooper. It’s got the kind of stopping power that makes the bad guys feel like they were hit by a steam train full of anvils. It’s especially good at close range “when negotiations fail” – hence its nickname.

- The ‘BlackSaw’ (B72 Assault Rifle); The ‘BlackSaw’ is the standard issue rifle, but there ain’t nothing standard about it. This baby fires rounds made from depleted uranium, meaning that not only do you kill your opponent, you give them radiation poisoning too. Yee-ha!

- The ‘Donkey Puncher’ (D118 Combat Shotgun); As painful as it sounds, this high-end shotgun is more than enough to kick any ass presented to you. At close range, it’s a one shot kill affair.

- The ‘Hard Candy’ 387L (Rocket Launcher); The Hard Candy is a state of the art rocket launcher, capable of blowing the living sh*t out of any armoured or unarmoured target.

- B72 Sniper; This classic sniper rifle couples the ultimate in armour-piercing rounds with a projectile velocity powerful enough to rip right through the sternum of any Promise Hand soldier. Tasty.

- ‘Spring Cleaner’ SK3 (Fragmentation Grenades); Despite their sweety-pie nickname, these grenades are as tough as they come. Based on the classic dead man’s switch design, these time-operated babies are perfect for crowd clearance.

A life without Nectar means the Promise Hand need to use their wits and skills to create the perfect weapon against Mantel troopers.  This results in ingenius modifications to items as simple as grenades – tie Nectar to them and watch as your enemies become their own worst enemy:

- The ‘Razor Tongue’; This classic hunting knife can be used to slash or throw. The rebels will smear the blade in Nectar while making a Nectar Grenade. With Nectar on the blade, the Razor Tongue will cause any Mantel trooper to overdose.

- The ‘Lobo’ (Wolf); The Lobo is the standard rifle for most militia groups across the world, and with good cause. With a quick-load double-ended magazine and a large clip size, it’s the ideal weapon for both attack and suppression.

- The ‘Oso’ (Bear); This shotgun may be a little rough round the edges, but it still packs a punch. With a slightly larger clip size than its mantel counterpart, the Oso’s extra cartridges can make all the difference in a close-quarters firefight.

- The ‘Mano del Dios’ (Hand of God); A massive bullet capacity and surprisingly light weight makes this minigun the stuff of nightmares for anyone up against it. Not to be messed with.

- The ‘Dragón de la Gente’ (The People’s Dragon); A practical, portable flamethrower with a comparatively long reach, a few sweeps with this fiery weapon can be enough to clear a room in a matter of seconds.

- The ‘Pinpointer’; This sniper rifle carries fewer rounds than the Mantel equivalent, but what it lacks in number it makes up for in power. A deadly piece of hardware.

- ‘MalFruta’ (BadFruit); Old school, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. Filled with a combination of steel chippings and high explosives, these grenades are just as dangerous as Mantel’s own.

- ‘Nectar Grenades’; Made on-the-fly by strapping a Nectar Administrator onto a standard grenade, this explosive spreads a thick cloud of yellow Nectar gas across the area. Any Mantel soldier caught in the cloud will overdose.

You’ll need a ride if you’re going to get around the vast environments that will stage this war.  Both sides have a bunch of vehicles, though you won’t necessarily get behind the wheel of all of them:

- The ‘Boxcart’; Fast, manoeuvrable and all-terrain: a combination that has made the ‘Boxcart’ invaluable to Mantel troops in the difficult jungle landscape. Its lightweight frame is thanks to a notable absence of armour. So, whilst it can transport quickly, in combat it certainly can’t guarantee a safe arrival – hence its fragile namesake. Still, the fixed JM90 HeavyGun turret is a good reason to get out of its way.

- ‘Mrs. Mantel’;  Earning its alias by carrying soldiers in its ample belly and ‘birthing’ them on the battlefield, this dropship uses a combination of movable rotary engines and miniature kerosene afterburners, making it a true vertical take-off and landing craft. This motion arrangement gives the craft the means to both fly at high-speeds like a jet, but also to manoeuvre like a helicopter when at low speeds – as such, it is the perfect machine for rapid combat insertions.

- The Dumpster; This chunky Mantel truck is fuelled by a diesel-electric hybrid power train and is used to transport troops and supplies. Its dense plate armour will stop most ballistic fire in its tracks.

- The ‘BigBoy’; At a mere 35 Tonnes, the ‘BigBoy’ tank is light in comparison to its ancestors even when fully loaded. This new low-weight version allows for fast-response tactical deployment and a reliably swift track speed. Its primary weapon – an electromagnetic coil cannon – functions like a rail gun, using magnetic forces along the barrel to propel its shells at a dangerously high velocity.

The Promise Hand aren’t ones to be stationary either – they’re always on the move in their nippy vehicles, trying to stay ahead of those duped up mad men:

- The ‘Macho’ (Stag); Like most rebel equipment, the ‘Stag’ (pictured below) is cleverly salvaged, constructed and repaired on-the-fly – resulting in a patchwork appearance. Subsequently, it is well modified for the harsh jungle environment.

- The ‘Mula’ (Mule); The ‘Mule’ (as seen in the title image) is nothing if not ideal for jungle warfare – able to go where bulkier Mantel vehicles cannot reach, it is fast and versatile. The driver is virtually guaranteed a bumpy ride (hence its alias), but with the room for an additional passenger to fire in their defence, this vehicle is perfect for two-man smash ‘n’ grab missions.

- The ‘Palo Hueco’ (The Hollow Bat); This helicopter has a small advantage in manoeuvrability over Mantel’s ‘Mama’, thanks to its marginally smaller size and weight. Naturally, its armour is a pale comparison to its Mantel counterpart, but its mounted miniguns ensure it is deadly to ground forces.

- The ‘Diente de la Serpiente’ (The Serpent’s Tooth);  This mobile missile launcher carries a rare second-generation nuclear missile, modified for a direct attack on the Mantel ‘Land Carrier’. The launcher itself is over 26 metres long, and is driven by two 1,800hp diesel engines with a maximum speed of just 40km/h.

- The ‘Pecho del Rhino’ (Chest of the Rhino); The ‘Rhino’ is a heavily modified civilian truck. To ensure a functional speed, every conceivable extremity has been stripped off, save for the heavy armour around the driver’s carriage. Whilst this means that it is ideal for transporting non-explosive cargo, like food and medical provisions, on the frequent occasions it is used to move troops, the unfortunate soldiers in the rear find themselves without any protection.

And with that your initiation is complete.  You have all the information you need, apart from images of the battlefield you will be fighting on, and the wise words of somebody who’s been there before.  Don’t worry though, my review of the game will be revealed very soon.

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Remember the story about pre-ordering Haze and being able to return it a week later for full store credit? Yeah, not so much. The deal, only available at EB Games Canada, looks to have been quashed by Ubisoft with claims of a miscommunication between the publisher and retailer north of the border. Someone should tell EB Canada, though.

Stephen Totilo over at the MTV Multiplayer blog wrestled the comments out of Ubisoft, without much further info given. Certainly the publisher couldn’t have been too happy with the idea of losing sales to EB’s used game market.

This certainly caught my attention when I saw the flyer on the EB Canada website, and it would not surprise me to see the “offer may be discontinued at any time” clause on the promo being taken full advantage of.

As I write though, the promo is still featured on ebgames.ca and a call to the headquarters of EB Canada in Brampton, Ontario results in a customer service agent informing me that the promotion is still valid and is available as long as the game is pre-ordered, up until release.

The agent even offered the opinion that the promo, “Sounds like a good one, doesn’t it?”, as he double-checked the info. A downtown Toronto location of EB Games also reported that the offer still available.

It seems the channels of communication between publisher and retailer may remain a little murky. Anyone pre-ordering Haze hoping to return it should be prepared for the possibility the deal disappearing at any time with no avenue for recourse.

If I learn more, you’ll be the first to know.

Free Radical’s new FPS might just take the leap as being the first that really showcases the horror of war.  We got to experience it for ourselves when we sat down with a February build of the game at Play.com Live.

The fact that the Mantel PMC in Haze pushes Nectar onto its soldiers as an enhancing drug is well known. It sounds simple enough, but the allegory here is relevant to war veterans who were fed drugs to make them fearless and unquestioning; because Nectar, as it turns out, is both a blessing and a curse.

Nectar wasn’t so useful when we were stuck inside closed underground environments, but when you’re fighting in dense foliage, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.

The big thing when you tank up on Nectar is enhancements to your vision. Rebels shine brightly as if they were being viewed through thermal goggles. If a grenade is thrown, a sixth sense kicks in and sends out a pulse from where it lands, giving you just enough time to get out of the way; or at least avoid the brunt of the damage. We saw the same happen with rockfalls. It also boosts your speed. But it’s still not a patch on Timesplitters.

Just to prove the point of how essential it is, you can even siphon more off from other members of your squad. But as with any drug it’s possible to overdose on the stuff, which as Patrick pointed out, is rather disorientating.

The larger the OD, the greater the effect. It starts off with a little bit of screen blurring, ending up with a total loss of control. Friend and foe alike become indistinguishable black silhouettes and your movement and shooting becomes random for a fixed period.

There also appear to be drawbacks to using Nectar in the form of a ‘bloodstream abnormality’, which appear to be scripted, causing your vision to distort slightly as with a mild overdose.

There’s no reason that you would OD intentionally of course, but as a tactical element, Nectar packs are physically represented on Mantel soldiers – shooting them will have the same effect.

We thought it would be fine if we just stayed in cover – and we were – but the Promised Hand rebels have an unnerving knack of hitting your team mates’ packs, which means that they go into a blind rage. And I don’t mean they stand still and fire blindly – they pursue with intent. That killed us far more frequently than the rebels themselves.

That problem would probably be non-existent if you were playing multiplayer co-op of course. Otherwise, your AI companions are pretty good at flanking and taking people out. It’s just a pity there’s no map to tell you where they all are. 

In the second part of the game you realise that Mantel isn’t a particularly ethical employer and quit the force to join the rebels. You see, Nectar distorts the reality around you so much that it hides dead bodies and blood from view. At that point – our Ubisoft rep tells us – ammo is a lot scarcer, so Nectar it becomes the weapon of choice.

Let’s say you’re faced with a group of Mantel soldiers. Shoot one of their packs and he’ll start taking his team out. Even better, you could lob a Nectar bomb their way and send the whole lot bananas. All you have to do is mop up. No bullets? Apparently you can do the same by dipping throwing knives in Nectar.

But for all its illusionary properties, Nectar can’t change the way you see Haze, because it looks graphically average. One look at the wall textures will tell you that. Likewise the heated flamethrower death was more reminiscent of a stream of crepe paper.  Naturally since this is not the final build, improvements here can be expected.  Oh and the framerate, it’s a solid 30fps, with narry a drop below.

Meanwhile, the environments are selectively destructible. In one underground complex we were able to shoot a fire extinguisher clean off a wall, but we were damned if we could make the thing leak.

Realtime cutscenes had entertaining and well performed voice-overs, with sufficiently expressive movements from the characters.  Nonetheless, when talking about facial expressions and lip movements Haze left a lot to be desired.

The real horror, with Nectar given such a prominence, will be if Haze turns out to be a bit of a one trick pony – but then we weren’t able to try the four player co-op which is such a massive part of the package. We did want to play more, but our Ubisoft rep wouldn’t attempt to jump to a latter level.  A shame, but understandable.

However, we did notice that the Haze box in our demo pod had a sticker with a 10/10 review score and the quotation; “The Best Playstation 3 game yet” . Ah wait, it hasn’t been reviewed yet. Freed Radical are cheeky scamps.

News coming straight in from Play.com Live in Wembley stadium is final confirmation that Haze will eternally be a Playstation 3 exclusive.

The full game is playable at the event – that’s right, the full game and Kev Lochun will be giving a preview this weekend. It’s looking clean and sharp, and overdosing on Nectar is a pleasing yet disorientating experience.

While playing through the game we got speaking to two independent Ubisoft reps. When asking both on whether the game will ever come out for the Xbox 360, they said in a resolute fashion that the game is not just a PS3 timed exclusive, but will never make its way onto any other platform.

This result is apparently a recent decision, but final. Sony must have paid Ubisoft/Free Radical a nice little packet to bag this one.

EB Games is no stranger to some controversial practices and the occasional odd promotion. Well, how do you feel about pre-purchasing a game and getting it free for a week—providing you return it for store credit within that time-frame? EB Games Canada offers this very service for the upcoming Haze.

Developers and publishers don’t care much for the used game market. Gamers don’t appreciate the pre-order solicitations, limited stock on many titles, forced hardware bundles…I’m sure there’s more, but EB Games Canada has a new proposition for gamers to consider: pre-purchase games and get them free for a week.

The March flyer for EB Games Canada boasts that if you pre-order Haze, you can play it for a week, bring it in to trade and receive its full value in store credit (minus tax).

Is this an attempt to increase pre-order volume and used stock of the game, or are they working with Ubisoft to drum up sales, hype and word-of-mouth advertising for a title that may need it?

My mind is struggling to consider what may happen in this scenario, but it seems like more people will give Haze a try than might have otherwise. If people like it this could benefit the game, yet EB could be planning to stock up on used copies to then sell for a bigger profit.

Skepticism aside, maybe Ubisoft just thinks it’s doing something nice for its neighbors up north (they’re located in Montreal). There’s no mention of this offer on the EB Games US site.

If you’re curious about Haze, this could be your ticket to check it out. Just remember you’re getting store credit back, not cash.

Seriously guys, again? C’mon Ubisoft! We know you’re making a metric-f*ckton of money. How about tossing that cash over to Free Radical? Maybe with enough money they’ll have the resources to finish this damn game, throw it on shelves, and hope for some sales.

Such a push would intimate somewhat of a reboot, like Vivendi’s Timeshift, so let’s hope it’s for the best.

Source: Ubisoft via Financials Press Release: Haze, which was originally scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2007-08, will now be released in fiscal 2008-09.

The Official Playstation Magazine placed Play TV at a guesstimate price of £70 and a loose release date of between January and April 2008. Play.com have solidified the price to 154.99 Euro’s and provided its shoppers with a release date of 28th March next year.

Whether this is a typical retailers approximation designed to generate pre-orders, or an unofficial confirmation from Sony to Play.com is anyone’s guess. But it sounds about right.

But what’s even crazier about Haze is that it has had more release dates than a Guns and Roses’ concert. And just like a Guns and Roses’ concert, the closer we get to a release date the further it gets pushed back.

If my memory serves me right, the last release date for Haze was December 4th 2007 and just before we hit December, it was pushed back into “Q1 of 08″.

Haze was also rumoured to be released in February, but boy do we have some good news for you. Found on Play.com’s Playstation 3 section is a countdown for a Haze release date. The best part about this is that it tells us that the game is coming out in only 28 Days. And 28days later is January 18th!

So if Play.com is to be believed, play it smart this Christmas and keep some cash for next month, as Haze is one title not to be missed on the PS3.

Well, the PSN Store update today is just a little bit disappointing. We were foolishly expecting Haze on the EU store, but they only received an old Stranglehold demo, and the US Store didn’t get much either.

So what’s in store for the US Playstation Store? You’ll be pleased to know that there are actually two demos: A demo of Blazing Angels 2, and a demo of the PSN game Toy Home. Hm, we guess that’s good enough, though it’s a bit of a letdown after Uncharted last week and the expectations for Haze.

The full update looks like this:

Demos:

Toy Home
Blazing Angels 2

Game Videos:

Playstation Network Video
Toy Home Video
PAIN Launch Trailer
High Velocity Bowling Trailer
Ratchet & Clank BTS: Animation
Ratchet & Clank BTS: Gameplay
Uncharted: DF Meet the Dogs video
Time Crisis 4 Trailer 2
Burnout Paradise Ultimate Driving Trailer
Battlefield: Bad Company Teaser Trailer
Timeshift FPS Differently Trailer 1

Movie Trailers:

The Dark Knight
This Christmas
David Gilmour – Remember That Night (Blu-ray)

Enjoy! Or at least try to.

We have reason to believe that there will be another jungle demo for download on the Playstation Store this week. Joining Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune should be a demo of the First-Person-Shooter, Haze.

Haze, is that little shooter from Free Radical, those crazy Brits who made Time Splitters. Based in Nottingham might I add, where both Robin Hood and I have resided in the past. Release dates for Haze are shaky, but signs point to it releasing Decemeber 14th on the Playstation 3. Whether it will release next year on PC’s and the Xbox360 is anyones guess, because they’ve been flip-flopping over this for months like a couple of well…flip-flops.

Playstation owners should be injecting themselves with Nectar tomorrow, since the Official Spanish Playstation site stated last week that the Haze demo will come out on November 16th. Hopefully nothing has changed, except that it’s coming on update Thursday (the 15th), because rumor has it that the demo will take place in a jungle level, with four player co-op enabled. We hope this co-op will be online, but it won’t be surprising if Free Radical (and ultimately the publishers, Ubisoft) hold this back from us until the games full release in Decemeber.

Note, this news was only listed on the Spanish website, meaning that maybe for once, Europe will be getting a demo before their American brothers. But don’t fear, the demo should be region free (unlike the original Uncharted demo), so anybody around the world will be able to Nectar themselves up.

Ubisoft’s name comes from the word “ubiquitous”, which means to be everywhere at the same time. With the many branches Ubisoft has throughout Europe and Canada, there’s a reason for the name.

Locations in Barcelona, Shanghai, Dusseldorf, Bucharest and Casablanca (just to name a few) make the company seem like the in-house producer of spy novels rather than a high-end video game developer.

And that assumption isn’t too far off target. After all, Ubisoft has more than dabbled in the subject matter, being the creator of both the Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter series.

Ubisoft got its start as a publisher, and much like Electronic Arts, used this as a springboard to make its own in-house software. Starting in France in 1986, they received their first recognition as a developer with the creation of Rayman, a title originally designed for the flop that was the Atari Jaguar and the more standardized MS-DOS operating system back in 1995.

Rayman was your typical 2D side-scrolling adventure, but it served its purpose in getting the company noticed, and Ubisoft was able to continue future creations with decent capital. Giving the hero a wide variety of powers helped the game achieve enough variety to create a fan base and later Rayman adventures.

Ubisoft continued to produce quality carts in the years to come. They would really start to make big strides once development began for the newer generation of console titles. Ubisoft really started to make a name for itself with the PS2, XBOX and Gamecube clientele. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell in particular was a huge leap for them and their famous Montreal office.

Splinter Cell proved successful with fans of the stealth/action category made famous by its Konami counterpart, Metal Gear Solid. Sam Fisher, a character now synonymous with the genre, was a more grizzled, realistic, and relatable character than the super-soldier archetype of Solid Snake. His was a more realistic world, using more realistic weaponry in more realistic settings.

The addition to the highly popular multiplayer capabilities introduced in the sequel Pandora Tomorrow would only sweeten the deal, and many gamers found more joy in the highly playable Splinter Cell series than Kojima’s cinema-heavy Metal Gear Solid series. He was the Pepsi to Metal Gear’s Coke, and many gamers welcomed the change.

After Ubisoft successfully went toe-to-toe with a genre monopoly, they decided to reanimate a classic game themselves. In 2003 the Montreal branch released Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time , an artistic interpretation of the original series created by Jordan Mechner. The game successfully captured the urgency and acrobatic prowess of the original, while delivering an amazing story arc with top-notch narration.

Flipping over parallel bars, running on walls, and sliding under closing spiked gates has never been this much fun, and fans who fondly recalled the 1989 original rejoiced. Like Splinter Cell, the game gave birth to several sequels. While Mechner would not continue with Ubisoft in the development the next two games, they continued to garner success (albeit with a much darker tone and subject matter). Ubisoft had another hit that would continue to attract critical praise.

Ubisoft has made plenty of must-buy titles in its short existence, and published dozens of others. The sleeper hit Beyond Good and Evil, the Myst series continuation Myst IV: Revelation, and the stylized first person shooter XIII are some examples. But what makes Ubisoft hold its own with the other big hitters on this list is its commitment to a promising future.

By the end of this year we can expect to have Assassin’s Creed, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Haze. Next year shows no sign of letting up with potential blockbusters FarCry 2 and Tom Clancy’s EndWar rounding out 2008’s lineup.

What puts Ubisoft in the running for best developer of our generation is the fact that many will buy these titles simply because they’re brandished with the Ubisoft logo. They have built a name in the past, which continues in the present and should continue into the future. Ubisoft picked its name wisely – ubiquitous is truly what they are.

Must Haves:
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (Multi),
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (Multi),
GRAW 2 (Multi)

Have Nots:
Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force (GBA)

Top Ten Developer List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1

The PS3 line up took another hit today when Ubisoft’s highly anticipated First Person Shooter “Haze” had its PS3 exclusivity rumor squashed once and for all by a developer for the Nottingham, England based video game developer “Free Radical Design”.

FRD is best known for its TimeSplitters series and has been hard at work piecing together the futuristic military FPS. When asked about the title being released only for the PS3 the developer said that production of Haze for Xbox 360 and the PC had been underway all along.
Having already lost the exclusive rights to Devil May Cry 4, Ace Combat, and Virtual Fighter 5, the PS3 has fallen on hard times as of late. If you own one, there is no sense in panicking just yet, kick back … enjoy the HD bliss that is Blue-ray and wait patiently for “Home” to be released to the general public. Metal Gear 4 and Final Fantasy will be here soon enough … whether they remain PS3 exclusives or not is another story.

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