Sony Computer Entertainment America Announces Collector's Edition for Highly-Anticipated PLAYSTATION(R)3 Exclusive Resistance 2(TM)

Global Multiplayer and Co-operative Beta Also Set to Debut in Early October

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) announced today that Resistance 2(TM), from independent developer Insomniac Games, will release in North America on November 4 and will be offered in a special collector's edition while supplies last. The collector's edition for Resistance 2, the highly-anticipated follow-up to the best-selling PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system (PS3(TM) system) launch title, Resistance: Fall of Man(R), will be available for a suggested retail price of $79.99 at participating retailers with the following premium items included:

— Created by DC Unlimited, an exclusive Chimeran Hybrid action figure with Bullseye weapon.

— A double-sided hard-cover Resistance 2 art book covering war-torn America from two unique perspectives.

— Exclusive in-game HVAP Wraith multiplayer weapon skin

— Copy of Resistance 2 with special edition cover artwork selected by the fans

The special collector's edition also includes a bonus DVD of exclusive Resistance 2 additional contents including:

— A preview into the upcoming Resistance novel, "Resistance: The Gathering Storm" by well-known science fiction author William Dietz.

— "America Forever Lost", Behind The Scenes video of Resistance 2 with Insomniac Games

— "Shattered History" Resistance chronology video — provides a visual guideline from the earliest days of the Chimera invasion to the current storyline.

— Digital copy of Issue #0 of the Resistance comic book series published by Wildstorm.

Gamers eagerly awaiting the game's launch this November will have an opportunity to get an early look at Resistance 2 as SCEA also announced today a worldwide competitive online multiplayer and co-operative beta beginning in early October. Powered by the PLAYSTATION(R)Network, the Resistance 2 multiplayer and co-operative beta will provide PS3 owners with an opportunity to experience new levels, modes and weapons.

"Resistance 2 is Insomniac's most ambitious game yet. The team's goals from the onset have been to heighten the online experience and encourage experienced and novice players to jump online," said Ted Price, President & CEO, Insomniac Games. "With an eight-player, co-op campaign and 60-player squad-based competitive multiplayer, Resistance 2 offers players a complete online experience on a scale like no other. We really value the feedback of the Resistance community and are excited to open the beta and provide our dedicated fan base an early look at Resistance 2's multiplayer features."

The Resistance 2 Public Beta program will be available through both premier and open access. Premier access provides players with guaranteed access to the entirety of the Public Beta period through programs including:

— GameStop Pre-Order Program: Beginning in September, players in the U.S. and Canada can gain premier access to the Public Beta by pre-ordering Resistance 2 at a GameStop retail store or online at http://www.gamestop.com.

— Qore(TM) Annual Subscription: A highly interactive, monthly original video program that covers the world inside PlayStation(R), available only on PLAYSTATION(R)Store for the PS3 system.

For open access, players will have the chance to apply, and if selected, play the Public Beta after the premier access period. Those that are interested in joining the Public Beta can submit their information at http://beta.myresistance.net/apply. In addition, players who purchased Qore Episode 03 (single Episode) will be guaranteed access to the Public Beta.

The rating for Resistance 2 is currently pending with the independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). For more information about the ESRB visit http://www.esrb.org.

About Resistance 2(TM)

On the brink of annihilation, mankind resumes the fight against the unstoppable Chimera on the shores of the United States. And thus the stage is set for Resistance 2, the highly anticipated follow-up to Insomniac Games' best-selling PS3 system launch title. Players will once again step into the war-torn boots of US Army Lt. Nathan Hale, who not only faces near impossible odds on the battlefield, but also constantly struggles with the Chimera virus raging inside his own body. In addition to an epic single-player campaign, Resistance 2 will offer a truly unprecedented eight-player, class-based online co-op campaign and 60-player online competitive multiplayer built upon a 'massive battles, greater intimacy' mantra. Also, players can expect tightly integrated community support via MyResistance.net.

Try and spot which one doesn't look like the cover for a shitty PS1 game...

Yes, it's this one! And, to be honest, it's a pretty great cover.

Pick the Cover for Resistance 2: Collector's Edition [IGN]

Most interesting was the new Berserk features that Insomniac will be integrating into multiplayer. If you've played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the new system is similar to that game's "Perks" feature.

Insomniac is ensuring that your progression through Resistance 2, whether it be in competitive multiplayer or coop, will provide constant reward. You'll be racking up experience points for just about everything you do in game. Fire a bullet, get some XP. Kill an opponent get some XP. Get enough in a round of multiplayer and you'll be able to initiate one of your Berserks.

These special attributes include things like invisibility, the ability to see through walls or a defensive aura that looks somewhat like the bubble shield from Halo 3 on a team-based scale. Schneider showed all these Berserks in action, giving us over the top examples of each being used.

In one, we watched a pre-taped attack on a group of human soldiers, each of whom had a Chimeran enemy sneak up behind them, then eliminate them while cloaked in a Predator-like invisibility shield. In another, we saw team member take advantage of the X-ray vision, firing sticky bomb rounds via the Magnum's secondary fire and blowing up his opponent without ever having actually seen him in person. Pretty snazzy.

The XP feed will also bring with in non-playable perks, as Insomniac is planning to bring over 160 medals, Trophies and ribbons to players of Resistance 2, maximizing bragging rights.

Finally, Schneider showed us R2's newest weapon reveal, the Splicer. Similar in style to a gun we saw in Dead Space, it uses a guided buzzsaw to rip enemies apart. Its primary firing mode delivers ricocheting saw blades, but its alt-fire gives one maximum goring potential, as the hovering blade can be moved around a body for extreme gibbage.

We're definitely looking forward to trying all this stuff out for ourselves, hopefully when that private Resistance 2 beta goes public and an entry key magically shows up in our inbox. It's to the left of every page on Kotaku, my good Insomniac friends, in case you lost the e-mail.

[thanks everyone who sent these in!]

Hey, if you didn't get in, there's no need to sob uncontrollably in the corner. You still have options to play the game early when the public beta goes live this fall, whether they be signing up for PlayStation video mag Qore, making the beta a pay to play affair, or by pre-ordering the PlayStation 3 game. There are many ways to enjoy the Resistance 2 beta, says Insomniac.

Resistance 2 Beta [Official Site - thanks, Gantz!]

Insomiac’s James Stevenson gave me a run-through of the Resistance 2 demo from E3.

I wasn’t surprised when I first saw the leviathan trouncing its way through the flooded streets of Chicago like I was during E3. I knew he was coming. But I was able to see just how much detail is actually on the leviathan model itself and how much intricate detail was going on in the animations on its face. They’ll be focusing more on larger bosses this time around, Stevenson told me, so I expect to see many more “wow” moments like this

I was told there would also be a lot more effects added to the final game, too. This will be most noticeable during the sequence where Nathan is running up the stairs in the building with the leviathan peering in at him. All the while the building will be on fire and smoke will be billowing about.

One section that still leaves me troubled is when Nathan is crossing the scaffolding between buildings. After seeing Mirror’s Edge and how careful you have to be crossing smaller platforms, it left me a bit disappointed you can blindly run through that with out any worry of plummeting to your death.

Not only do the enemies animate well (thanks in part due to them all being motion-captured), but they also travel in groups and will try to flank you. Luckily, the new Magnum in the game allows you to shoot your bullets into objects and detonate them like a remote bomb. This looks like it will be useful for slower enemies, but for larger, faster groups, I’d stick with the good ‘ol machine gun.

I asked if players should bother keep their Resistance 1 save file on their PS3 in the event they’ll receive a carry over bonus like in the Ratchet & Clank games. While James wouldn’t confirm anything, he said there might be something, such as a medal. So it sounds like you should hold off on deleting your old save for a little while longer just in case.

The Insomniac guys contacted us today to try and clear up the Qore announcement confusion. The team promises to do everything they can to make sure the beta problem runs as smoothly as possible and that it is available in many countries and through many different outlets.

Here's the deal. We are running a Public Beta, and you will have many ways to get in. The best way which will give you the earliest access to the beta will involve a pre-order program that should be announced soon, (for those of you who don't know what pre-ordering is, you essentially reserve your copy with five dollars down, and that five dollars will go towards the price of the game when it releases).

For all of you folks outside of North America are up in arms because Qore is NA only, please don't worry. This is one of many ways to get in, and we plan to make the beta available in all territories, as we need to test all servers and worldwide play.

Further details on how to get into the beta will be forthcoming.

Well that's good to know.

[thanks Matt!]

Nathan Hale doesn't feature in Retribution at all — instead, we've got a new character named James Grayson, a Private in the British forces.

Backstory on the game is that Grayson's brother, an RAF pilot, gets shot down, and Grayson goes in to look for him — and finds him on a table, the Chimera's newest conversion project. This means, of course, that Grayson's got to kill his own bro, and this makes him into a vengeful Chimera-slaughtering machine. He goes AWOL on a rampage, gets bagged for treason, and that's where the game starts.

Raine Bouchard of the Maquis helps Grayson get out of prison, and he joins the Maquis in a time when the Chimera are running low on bodies and are experimenting with new conversion methods. According to assistant producer Roberts, "inner strife and turmoil" drives the story.

Developer Bend Studio has built it on its third-gen PSP engine — by the way, these are the guys responsible for the Syphon Filter titles Dark Mirror and Logan's Shadow. Roberts admitted, though, that the Syphon Filter difficulty ramp wasn't suitable for everyone, and that Resistance: Retribution is being designed to be more accessible.

Roberts said the "aim assist" feature is not an auto-aim — there's no way to permanently lock on and stay that way, but the target window will find enemies in view and target them generally, with the player free to switch between enemies. In other words, you only have to aim a little bit Cover is automatic when approached, and tapping the trigger button will make the player pop out and fire automatically. Whereas Hale regenerated, Grayson is a normal man who needs health packs to recover. They've made them red to match the health packs so that they stand out.

It does seem like the control design is easier to deal with, probably an item of value when dealing with a shooter on the PSP. One standout item about this title? The graphics are incredible, vivid and alive with specular light. Seriously, stunning.

"We've really upped the gore," says Price. It's possible to blow off arms, legs and heads. What's more, new weapons include a 44 Magnum, which fires bullets that you can detonate by remote. So, you could fire a buncha bullets in the wall and then detonate them. It's even possible to detonate those bullets that you've shot into Chimera. Instead of a health bar, when players are shoot, the screen goes reddish like Call of Duty. Should make the game much more immersive.

When asked about cross platform PSP remote play, Price said that was something they would not be addressing now. Maybe later? Maybe not? Who knows! Not me.

LocoRoco 2, Patapon 2, NBA 09: Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Buzz! Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles and Midnight Club: Los Angeles Remix.

"We've always felt that the PSP was one of the keys to Sony owning the living room," Tretton said.

[Project Abraham]

You'll have to buy the magazine to get all of the details revealed in the bloated 10-page story, but the Playstation folks say that it includes a play through of a lengthy segment of Chicago, and some 8-player online co-op and competitive play.

Much more info than the taste of plot we received from that leaked early screener yesterday.

Want More R2? Grab GamePro [Playstation Blog]

Spooky Demonic Narrator Guy issues the ominous warning — to, we're assuming, either Resistance: Fall of Man protagonist Nathan Hale or Resistance 2 players — "You think you can resist, but you haven't seen what we're truly capable of." Explosions, flesh eating and gargantuan space ships follow — the kind of stuff you demand from your first person shooters.

Unfortunately, the whole thing's a low-fi affair. Here's to hoping we see it in more glorious resolutions at E3.

Resistance 2 - 2nd Trailer. [YouTube]

The bad news is that Mr. C says he needs to sell his PlayStation 3 in order to scrounge up the funds to travel home to see his father, who is very ill, for the first time in seven years and possibly for the final time. A plane ticket to Bulgaria, he says, isn't cheap, so the very neat PS3 must go.

Sure, you may have doubts about the validity of the whole thing, especially since we're not sure Bulgaria is even a real country. But being dishonest about something this grave will only secure you the finest lake of fire in Hell, so we're taking off the cynic's hat for once. David's plea is after the link and after the jump.

ONE-OF-A-KIND LASER-ETCHED SONY PLAYSTATION 3! 120GB!! [eBay]

Dear Kotaku Editors,

Last April, I was the winner of your one-of-a-kind Red Laser-Etched PS3. I thank you very much for letting me have it, but unfortunately I have run into a situation where I have need to sell it.

You may not believe the story that you are about to read but it is 100% the truth. I just didn't want some Kotaku reader to find it on ebay and it end in a post about how I am just out for money etc, and didn't appreciate it.

I am a poor college student. My father lives in Bulgaria and is suffering from cancer. I haven't seen him since I was 15, and I am almost 22 now. The cancer has been in remission for many years but has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. I need to fly there to see him as it very well may be the last time that I have the chance. I am so broke I can barely feed myself and go to school much less afford this ticket. I have no credit history and can't get a private loan. Really my only choice is to sell something and the awesome PS3 you guys gave me is the only expendable and valuable thing that I own. I love it, but if there was ever a good reason to sell it this is it.

It occurred to me that this type of thing may go for well more than I need. And if it does I will donate what I can to Child's Play. Unfortunately I don't know the exact amount (at least 1600 total) that I will need to cover this whole trip. I just know that I need to go as soon as possible.

Anyway, this is the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250262768816

thanks again,

I wish I had been able to keep it but I would never forgive myself if I didn't try to see him.

D

The issue teaser also hints at some sort of secret. The adjective "colossal" is used. We're instructed to sit down, it's that serious. What could it be?! Surely there's a countdown clock out there that will provide us with more information!

See GamePro's new Resistance 2 cover, win a beta code [GamePro - thanks, James!]

I thought Gametrailers by now would have chopped up their video into gameplay mcnuggets of Resistance 2, but they haven't and so the only way to see any of that footage is to watch the entire 22 minute episode of GameTrailer TV. Producers are crafty that way, getting you to watch all of a show instead of only the parts you want.

Above is the second chapter of the show (which aired on Spike at 1 am Saturday). In it you can see Nathan Hale stalking around Chicago (having arrived from San Francisco) and filling up half-converted Chimera zombies with lead. Ah, zombies. The TIE Fighters of melee combat ...

After the jump, the other chapters. Chapter 1 covers the game's backstory. Chapter 3 discusses multiplayer, and Chapter 4 goes over the weapons systems. The FPS from Insomniac is slated for a fall release on PS3 only.

Chapter 1: Resistance 2 story

Chapter 3: Multiplayer

Chapter 4: Enemies and weapons

GameTrailers TV: Resistance 2[Gametrailers.com]

If you're reading this chances are you're a night owl. Good thing too, tonight's episode of GameTrailersTV has Geoff Keighley pulling an all nighter with Insomniac's Ted Price as the two check out some never-before-seen single player campaign footage from Resistance 2. The show will also include some new multiplayer footage as well as a peek at some new cities, enemies and weapons from teh game.

If you're up for some Resistance 2 and can't sleep than check out the show on Spike at 1 a.m. Yes ONE in the morning.

Insomniac's Ted Price on Resistance 2 [Eurogamer]

He has to. Resistance 2 online play will support up to 60 players on one map, and without some way of sorting through some of those problems the matches just wouldn't be any fun to play.

If you really don't care about the confusion of such a mighty match, if you revel in the disorder, you can still play the matches you want, but for the rest of us Price and his team has some pretty neat ideas.

As he announced in Europe, Resistance 2 will feature a multiplayer mode that breaks those 60 gamers into smaller squads. While the matches I saw and played through featured ten squads of six, Price said that other size squads will also be used in the game.

While the members of the squad don't have to stick together, they do spawn together and it pays to stick to your group. Once spawned, the game's AI looks at the larger battle taking place on the map and issues automatic orders to your and your squad, marking your new objective on the map with a star in a circle.

Objectives can include taking a control point, defending an area, even coming to the rescue of another squad under heavy fire or taking out one particular member of an opposing squad.

Resistance 2 automatically matches you up with an enemy squad, making sure to give the two opposing forces the same sorts of orders so they're always fighting one another. The AI also does it's best to make sure that when possible your objectives and the objectives of other squads in the larger army aren't near one another, so team mates will be more inclined to stick together and follow orders.

A player can decide to just run around the map attacking other enemy squads, but an in-game point system awards far more points for doing what you're told and for getting kills on that squad matched to you. And not only do those points let you get in-game buffs of sorts like a shield, but they're also used to help permanently rank up your character outside the game.

There are some other really neat tweaks to squad play as well. For instance, the enemy squad your team is taking on will be marked to make them more identifiable. (In the build I played they were tinted red, but Price says that something more subtle will be implemented by launch.) Those enemy players who are doing well will be marked with a large red star over their head. The longer they are on a kill spree, the more successful they are, more points someone will get for killing them. This bounty-like system can award up to four times the normal number of points for taking out these skilled players and will likely go a long way to help balance the game for new players and make it more challenging for skilled gamers.

I'm a long-time fan of first-person shooters, and like many of my ilk, can get a little touchy when someone starts messing with the formula, but playing through a couple of matches on one of Resistance 2's enormous maps populated with 60 gamers made me a believer.

The spawn locations, the use of orders, the tight-knit squad system, all made me feel as if I was playing a much smaller, more manageable match, more importantly it made me feel as if my effort meant something, instead of it being lost in a frenzied 60 person free-for-all.

While I loved the system, I think it's just as important that Price and his team aren't forcing people to use it. Not only can you choose to play traditional matches in the game, with 60 people on board, you can also just ignore what you're asking to do in the squad play and go-it alone. Player choice is an important factor in shooters, guiding players to make smart tactical decisions is a great thing, but not forcing them to do so is even better.

While the version of Resistance 2 was missing a bit of polish and quite a bit of features, I was still impressed with how far Resistance multiplayer has come since the first title hit. Visually, the game seems a bit grittier, and the play more fluid.

Price wasn't showing off the single player campaign at last week's event or the eight-player co-op, but what I did see of the title left me both impressed and eager to see more.

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Mirror's Edge In Motion

Multiplayer will support up to 60 players and include Chimera, again, it will also be structured in a way to bring back a sense of intimacy. There will be squads within these mammoth fights, making the game feel more personal and filled with skirmishes instead of giant, faceless wars. The game will use some sort of system to make sure you always respawn near the same group of players, so you can really start to gun for them.

R2, which is six months from hitting shelves, will also include persistent levels which you earn by getting points for things like helping out your team.

PlayStation Day Conference [Eurogamer]

I don't know this for a fact, but I'd suspect that since SCEA's Gamers Day isn't until a week from Friday that Sony may embargo coverage of the European Gamer's Day until that Friday or the following week. Of course they could just let the news trickle out as their Gamer's Days happen, that just isn't how it usually works. Either way, lots of exciting Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable news coming this month.

Sony Invents Playstation Day, Celebrates w/ Demos [British Gaming ]

Thanks, shindokie for the tip!

The show will also include the latest trailer for Midway's TNA iMPACT!: The Videogame, a Don King hosted bit of footage from Don King Presents Prizefighter and a look at some new gameplay from the Bourne Conspiracy.

The show airs tonight at midnight... or is that tomorrow morning at midnight? It will also be popping up on GameTrailers.com and the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Chimera Skull from Playstation 3 game TV ad [eBay - thanks, Benj!]

So a new IP is coming from Insomniac in the semi far to far future? Sounds good to us.

Insomniac's Ted Price Talks 'Ratchet' Sales Surprises, New IPs [MTVmultiplayer]

One of the first games expected to shine in one of Home's series of game portals is Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man. Resistance is said to provide Home visitors with an interesting room to explore, one that will let PlayStation 3 owners visit unseen areas of the game and tap into bonus content in the form of "intercepted" radio communications between European and U.S. forces.

These hidden transmissions will help to flesh out the Resistance story, giving players a better understanding of the game's conflict. We hear that Home avatars will have free roam of unpopulated levels, not unlike a virtual Resistance museum.

As interesting as these plans are to Resistance fans like us, they're not as impressive as what we've heard about what Home in store for Warhawk and Uncharted. Stay tuned.

What Insomniac has decided to do was to share and distribute their own technology throughout the industry, in turn encouraging others to share their own tech. The Nocturnal Initiative is not, they stress, a game engine. There will be no snarky comments from Mark Rein about Insomniac stepping on Epic's toes as the program is designed to help game development peers avoid rewriting some of the basics.

"Rewriting libraries is a waste of time," said Andy Burke, tools group lead at Insomniac, and the gang on the software side hopes that releasing code into the wild, code that comes with a "liberal" open source license, fosters feedback and may encourage others to share their own work. That can lead to better games, they hope.

The first batch of code is now available at the Nocturnal Initiative web site, in easy to read Wiki format, for developers who are interested in the program. They may be interested to learn that this isn't just something that's been whipped up for good PR, this is code that's being used in production, used in development in titles like Ratchet & Clank Future and Resistance 2.

While the current offerings aren't necessarily specific to the PlayStation 3—PC and Xbox 360 developers may be interested in what's available—that doesn't mean the possibility of PS3 specific libraries are out of the question.

"We don't think there's anything preventing us from offering code specific to the Cell, which is already fairly open as it is," said Insomniac's Mike Acton, but the development team isn't setting anything in stone, it sounds. They certainly have plenty planned, as evidenced by their future release road map. Hopefully, game developers will find something worthwhile within.

Nocturnal Initiative [Insomniac Games]

Thanks, Mike!

Since the story broke, Manchester Cathedral has seen a significant rise in visitor numbers...Teachers tell us that teenagers in particular are interested to see a building which they thought was fictional.

We've actually made it a big focus to include more churches and now synagogues and mosques in Resistance 2.

For instance, did you realize that the single-player campaign is pretty much finished, the game's narration is dead, the 8 person campaign multiplayer will support a class system ala Battlefield 2 and Team Fortress, or that Insomniac is doing their damndest to get 60 players on a map at once? If not, you might want to hit up the link for a full refresher course. Because that and a bottle of Cholula will pretty much set you until fall 2008.

Previews: Resistance 2 [1UP via PS3Blog]

RESISTANCE 2 INTERVIEWS [threespeech]