Black!

[ultimategamer2004]

The new FPS from criterion...

Publisher: *TBA
Developer: Criterion Games
Platform: PlayStation 2 · Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release Date: 12/30/05 · Origin: U.K.

The developers of the incredible Burnout series take the horsepower of their highly-evolved graphics engine, shove a barrel into its exhaust ports, and load it up with high-caliber bullets with this heavily-anticipated FPS (the term "Halo-Killer" was coined for this game).

Set in the near future of Eastern Europe, you are a retired member of the US's secret, off-the-books Black Operations efforts. When your buddies turn up missing, you are the only agent capable of making the covert infiltration needed for their rescue. But the term "covert" quickly loses its meaning when the action explodes in this highly-cinematic action title bolstered by a devastating deformation engine that makes nearly everything in the game breakable with the force of your heavy artillery.


This should be good especially the graphics..

[JadeDragon]

Some pics or even a link would have done ultimategamer2004 :?
Now must track down some info on what your talking about

--------------------------------------------Few Minutes later a little info--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Info 1: http://www.criteriongames.com/images...sue44black.pdf
Info 2: http://www.gamestats.com/objects/668/668817/

[Kiwi]

If you're going to start a thread, could you at least provide some info, rather than leaving everybody else to do it.

[GT4 RULZ]

Platform: PlayStation 2 · Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release Date: 12/30/05 · Origin: U.K.

we have a long time to wait before it gets released :x

[Kiwi]

Wow, a year and a half away. Looks like this thread may have legs.....

[ultimategamer2004]

Sorry about the no info thing but i only heard of this game a few days ago and new nothing about it i dident even know it was 1 and a half years away but it may be somthing to look foward too like B3 is to me...

[Omega Blue]

if this is as good as they are making it to be, we're in for another good FPS coming to the Ps2, i think this game will be one of the game to take the Ps2 out with a bang. i would love for Cold Winter, Killzone, and Black to be amazing FPS franchises for the Playstation 2 and Ps3.

[ultimategamer2004]

Yes i expect this too be a very good game especially graphically...

[stanDarsh]

E3 2004: Introducing Black

Say hello to the PlayStation 2's "everything-killer."


May 13, 2004 - It takes a great big shock to create hype on the same level of titles like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Fable, but the good folks at Criterion Software have gone ahead and done it. You've probably already heard about it too; as the game known simply as Black has been creating some powerful buzz since being revealed behind closed doors at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Shown very selectively to a small group of journalists at random intervals throughout the day, Criterion's Black looks to be nothing short of incredible.

Set in the near future of Eastern Europe, players will assume the role of a retired member of an off-the-books Black Operations agency that's been pulling secret missions for the U.S. government. One day when your colleagues go missing, you're the only agent capable of making the covert infiltration needed for their rescue. Though honestly, the term "covert" quickly loses its meaning when the assignment gets messy. And by messy, we mean total carnage.

"We wanted to be able to put you in a room with nothing in it and still let you have a lot of fun," commented Craig Sullivan, Lead Designer, Criterion Games. "The whole point of it all is take the first-person shooter genre and make it the way we want to. We want to make something you can play that's exciting as a movie firefight. Even the lowest form of a gun in a game should still scare the sh*t out of you. If the gun is fun to fire in an empty room, we've got something. If not, we've got nothing. Sure there will be some things we do that other games do too, but we'll do them differently. You won't shoot at the floor and burrow down into nothingness, for example."

At first, Black may seem a little formulaic to PC veterans. Totally story-driven and populated with an abundance of different characters, it'll possess frequent NPC radio chatter and several opportunities to interact with A.I. controlled minions. For casual game players it may sound a bit like Half-Life or NOLF, but once involved with the mechanics, players will likely realize the differences.

For one, the finished version of Black will boast objects and environments that can be completely and totally destroyed with a mixture of real-time and scripted segments. The demo we were allowed to watch and participate in illustrated these dynamics perfectly as we moved from an empty starting point to the remains of a war ravaged city street. To see what the game can really be capable of, however, we didn't even have to move; as the excellent deformation system could be exposed immediately in the first room. Cycling through our three available weapons (pistol, shotgun, and machine gun), we blasted away at the walls with realistic effects. Paint chips, wall fragments fall into pieces, and debris clouds all form and dissipate with eerie realism.

Moving outside brought even more amazing reactions as objects broke and fell relative to where they were shot. In one quick melee, for instance, we chased a pair of enemy soldiers with our machine gun as they ducked for cover behind the windows of a nearby building. But not only did we eventually blast their lifeless souls into nothing but little ribbons, we also took out the majority of the building they inhabited with it; destroyed windows, collapsed catwalks, and signs that were meticulously dismantled were all examples of our unbridled video carnage. At one point, we even managed to blow the tires out of an automobile and dropped a giant water tank from the top of a disheveled brownstone.

Unfortunately the demo pretty much ended with that; as the team wasn't quite ready to reveal additional details about the possible multiplayer features, game modes, or how many levels there are. From what we played with so far, however, Black is incredibly fun -- even at this early stage. That by itself is an impressive feat too, as the team hasn't even implemented the A.I., storyline, or deeper gameplay mechanics yet (there's still more than a year to go before the game is done). If that level of entertainment isn't proof of how involving Black could be when it's finished, though, we don't know what would be.

Sadly, Criterion wasn't prepared to publicly release any media of Black just yet; as the team was adamant about keeping it and its conventions a secret for just a bit longer. Even so, you'll have to take our word for it that the game is absolutely stunning; with a bevy of special effects, animation, and lighting bits at with almost no slowdown from the 60fps benchmark at all. We really wish we could show it to you soon, as we haven't been this excited for a game in quite sometime. Hopefully, we'll be back soon to tell you even more reasons why.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/515/515421p1.html

[Kiwi]

Just a shame that there's no pictures to look at yet. But then, I'm sure they'll be superb when we do get some anyway. Interesting that Criterion developed Renderware as well, didn't know that before.

[Omega Blue]

sadly its also planned for the X-Box, i dont know if it will be simotaneous release or kind of how the GTA games are released. :cry:

[stanDarsh]

Oh there is 1 pic, but it's merely poking some fun, it looks like this:

[Kiwi]

Ahh well, it's no biggie. I would think that they will be released the same time. There is a lot of time between now and the time this game is supposed to be released, so for all we know Criterion may sign an exclusivity deal with somebody.

[Omega Blue]

Ahh well, it's no biggie. I would think that they will be released the same time. There is a lot of time between now and the time this game is supposed to be released, so for all we know Criterion may sign an exclusivity deal with somebody.

i swear if MS and Criterion sign an exlcusivity deal someone at Microsoft is dying.

[Kiwi]

Ahh well, it's no biggie. I would think that they will be released the same time. There is a lot of time between now and the time this game is supposed to be released, so for all we know Criterion may sign an exclusivity deal with somebody.

i swear if MS and Criterion sign an exlcusivity deal someone at Microsoft is dying.

Only if I get to pick the person.....hmm, who should I pick?



:twisted:

[rev>thanu]

i think the game is ps2 exclusive. i went to ign and there is no news on ignxbox about the game. no mention of it and you know that when a game is multiplatform ign posts the news to each consoles link page. so i don't know i hope is exclusive.( i'll do more research on the game). well if it's as good as they say well i think we have the game we sony fans have all been waiting for. hope for the best

[Kiwi]

IGN may not, but Gamespot do:

Black is a first-person shooter currently in development at UK-based Criterion, the company responsible for the outstanding Burnout series of racing games, and the purveyors of the RenderWare engine found used in everything from Burnout 2 to Grand Theft Auto III. The company has no previous experience making first-person shooters, but as design director Alex Ward explains, the company views that as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. Rather than strictly adhere to the conventions of the genre as most first-person shooters do, the makers of Black are starting at ground zero, bearing in mind a few key, detail-oriented design philosophies--namely, that the shooting aspect of a first-person shooter needs to be exceptionally intense and satisfying above all else.

But let's back up for a moment. Black is still very early in development for the PlayStation 2 (an Xbox version is also planned) and will not ship any earlier than late 2005. It will be a modern-day first-person shooter, featuring authentic weapons and locations, and its main character will be an American soldier battling other, American opponents in Eastern Europe. Alex Ward cited television shows 24 and Alias as inspiration for the game's story, which should be a gritty and plausible techno-thriller--so expect Black to be a serious, mature-themed game. Criterion didn't talk about the specific features of the game, dismissing the entire notion of early talks about multiplayer options and things like that, and instead opted to focus on the game's core look and feel.

What they actually showed us behind closed doors at E3 was basically a shooting gallery, in which we had the opportunity to test out several weapons--a pistol, an assault rifle, and a shotgun--against a few foes. No artificial intelligence had been implemented as yet, and the sequence was not predicated by any story elements. So what was so great about it? The fact that the deafeningly loud gunfire affected the environment in a manner far more spectacular than we've seen in any shooter to date. Criterion acknowledged that what the developers are attempting to do with Black is to capture the sheer, gut-wrenching drama of intense Hollywood gunfights. That means, as bullets all hit their mark, they do what you'd expect bullets to do from growing up watching action movies--cause debris, dust, and smoke to spray every which way, glass to shatter all over the place, or maybe sometimes ricochet and hit something that the player wasn't even aiming at. The logic goes like this: In Black, missing one's target ought to be as thrilling as actually hitting one's target.

At any rate, we were able to blast all the masonry off of walls, crush the letters off of large signs, blow doors off of hinges, shatter car windshields and headlights and blow their tires, ricochet bullets off of steel gratings, and more. The destruction remained; the bodies did not fade away, and shell casings littered the floor along with all the bullet holes from errant fire. And the intensity of the visuals was met if not exceeded by the sound. Gunfire was exceptionally loud and clear. The sound of bullets striking all the various types of surfaces was pronounced and realistic. After gunfire ceased, we could hear the fire echoing way off in the distance for several long moments.

The result of all this? We had more fun playing what was simply a technology demo than we've had playing most of the other games we've tried so far at E3. It's just that simple. You get the feel of the action down right, and build everything up around that. The Criterion developers take a straightforward, even humble approach when talking about this. But from seeing their technology in action, we can add one important note--their talent must be extraordinary. If other game developers could pull this type of thing off, they would.

The developers suggested that we can expect the game to be heavily plot-driven, with intelligent characters (that is to say, interesting characters that are fully integrated into the story) and an emphasis on communication (the developers cited the intensity of the radio chatter in Ace Combat 4 as an influence here), and mentioned that one specific level will take place during an air raid, which we figure ought to be pretty hectic. We did notice, from the demo, that some of the apparently realistic physics on display in the demo were in fact scripted sequences set up to be triggered by our fire. At any rate, though, the demonstration level was still very impressive indeed. Now all Criterion has to do is build a game around it--but from what we've seen of the company's past work, we're fairly confident that they'll pull something off that's well worth playing. After all, it already is.

[rev>thanu]

thanks for the info matt. anyways i've been trying to get into gamespot for a long time and it takes me to some other site.

[Kiwi]

Are you sure you haven't typed in gamestop rather than gamespot?

[rev>thanu]

i'm very sure. anyways i figured out what the problem was, i use to type gamespot.com and it use to take me to here http://games.channel.aol.com/gameMain.adp . So now for me to go to gamespot i have to type the WWW before gamespot all the time for some stupid reason.

anyways if you have aol, then go to that site and click where it says final fantasy radio and you can hear final fantasy songs all day. (just for people who might want to know or never knew).