Killzone 2 Pushed Back For Scheduling Reasons

For those who missed it, Killzone 2 has been pushed back to February 2009. Why the delay? Well, SCEA's Ron Eagle would like you to know it's got nothing to do with any problems or anything going wrong or anything the Killzone 2 dev team may or may not be behind on. No, according to Eagle, that delay's simply down to Sony's holiday release schedule being full-up on shooters:

To be clear, there is nothing wrong or causing a delay to the development of the title. We (SECA) had to look at the fall calendar with SOCOM, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2, plus some PSN titles and make a decision where each game should come out. Killzone 2 was moved to Feb 2009 to make sure we didn't have three shooters in the marketplace competing for retail dollars during the same holiday season.

SCEA Judges Day: Killzone 2 interview [PlayStation.Blog]

Fresh from their big PR event today in London, Sony have released some new screenshots from their now-delayed flagship shooter, Killzone 2. And looking at a couple of the in-game shots they chose to release (not the gorgeous one above), it's easy to see why it's been held back. Still looking a little rough in places. Indeed, some of these shots aren't just missing their earlier "target renders", they look more PS2 than PS3! Ah, I kid, but really, there's still a long way to go if they want to meet their own lofty, self-imposed standards. Feb 2009 should about do it.

In case you're just joining us this afternoon, today saw a whole slew of news coming out of the UK from the Sony PlayStation Day London '08 event. From the delay of Killzone 2 to early 2009 to the PlayStation 3 outselling the Xbox 360 in Europe, here's a rundown of the stories from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's big event.

SCEE: LittleBigPlanet Delayed, Not Coming Until October
Killzone 2 Dated for 2009
Resistance 2 will Feature Eight-Player Co-Op, 60-player Multiplayer
Motorstorm 2 Gets Named, Detailed
Gran Turismo Racing Academy Announced
Sony Gamers Day UK Info Dump: Resistance 2 to SOCOM Confrontation
Men In Black Becomes First International BD-Live Title
Episodic Siren Blood Curse Hits PS3 This Summer
Sony Brings Indie Music to PSN via Movement
Europe Getting MGS4 Bundle After All
SCEE Plays Up Social Gaming At Gamer's Day 08
PlayStation 3 Outsells 360 In Europe
Mirror's Edge In Motion

Killzone 2 Dated for 2009

Killzone 2 will be hitting the Playstation 3 in February, David Reeves told journalists gathered in London for Sonys Gamers Day there today.

Not a whole lot of other information about the release, but several sites report that the game will be playable to the press both today and next week during the U.S. Gamers Day.

The news came following an announcement that LittleBigPlanet has been pushed back from a September launch date to October. SCEE also sales of the Playstation Portable, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 in Europe and apologized for the delay of Home.

PlayStation Day Conference [Eurogamer]

A Very Killzone Christmas

The BBC's Exclusive Halo 3 Footage

Killzone 2 Developer Walkthrough

Killzone 2 Hands On

After sitting through a short and familiar presentation of Killzone 2 at the Games Convention last week I was finally given a chance to play the game.

Before handing over the controller, the developers explained that in the game you play as Sef, a legionnaire called in to help quell the resistance on the Helghast home world of Helghan as the regular army fights to topple the Helghast leader.

The pointed out the various filters used in the game to give the world a darker, more realistic look and talked a bit about the game's new first-person lean and peek system which allows you to stick to walls and then pop-out to shoot, without ever leaving the first-person perspective.

The BBC recently got a chance to play through a small chunk of Killzone 2. It appears the level they got their hands on was the one shown at E3, and they were thoroughly impressed:

Sat down in front of a playable level it is immediately clear that Killzone 2 will be one of the most cinematic and immersive games ever produced on a console.

The raw processing power of the PlayStation 3 has been harnessed to create a level of detail seen only in a handful of games on high-end PCs.

The dynamic lighting, animation, high-definition environments and details, such as plaster flying off walls and pillars caught in crossfire, create a sense of place and reality that takes games to a new level of realism.

The unnamed writer says that the game is leaps better than the original Killzone, and not just because of the improved graphics, AI, specifically, is called out as "first rate". The writer goes on to say that there are some rough bits still that need to be worked out, but seems to be genuinely impressed.

Hit the link for the full write up and make sure to check out their video.

State of Play: Killzone 2 hands on [BBC]

The Killzone Party

I wrote up my impressions for Killzone 2, but never really got a chance to talk about the party that surrounded the trailer's Tuesday night unveiling.

It was held at the popular Sushi Roku restaurant, a fact lost on me until two days later when a famished Team Kotaku spent three hours waiting to actually eat food at the place on our own. (I actually left to go pass outsleep before it arrived.) Set on Ocean Boulevard overlooking the pacific, the restaurant was packed to the gills Tuesday night with Sony execs, pr folks, developers, journalists and just-dead fish.

I just got back from Sony's private Killzone 2 party. It was held at a little sushi place on Ocean Avenue called Sushi Roku. The good news is that Killzone 2 was playable, the bad news is that the only ones allowed to play it were the developers.

The game presentation started with a very familiar cut scene that showed a group of men being flown in to take on the Helghast. The trailer's graphics were amazing. It's probably some of the best facial animation I've seen in a console game. I did find the mouth movements to be a bit uncanny, but otherwise it was some pretty impressive stuff.

After what we thought was a short trailer, the game dropped straight into actual, live gameplay. And I do mean live, the game was actually being played by one of the developers as we watched.

First Killzone 2 Screen Revealed

UPDATE: Killzone Beta Ramping Up?

Rumor: Sony's Halo-Killer Coming Soon(ish)