SCEE’s sent out journalist invites to a Killzone 2 public beta this afternoon, which will apparently take place “later this year.”
No specifics are available as yet, but we’re fucking pumped. We’re so pumped. We’ve supplied all the information we’ve been asked for and we’re waiting to hear on the dates now.
Pumped.
Killzone 2 will have bots. Pretty exciting stuff, eh? They'll be available in both offline and online matches, with an adjustable difficulty level to boot. What won't in be present in multiplayer (initially) are vehicles. They're already in the single-player campaign, and are set to be patched into multiplayer after the game's launch. Another aspect that will be added in post-launch is campaign cooperative play.
But regardless of what side you're on, Killzone 2 is a lot of fun online and clearly offers a tremendously rich experience to PS3 owners. I was truthfully shocked at how close the multiplayer portion of the game looks like the incredibly vivid single-player we've seen so much of before. Every little detail seems reflected in the multiplayer.
Overall, Killzone 2 was a blast -- even in my sleep-deprived state. I can't wait to see more.
A statement by Sony PR on the PlayStation Blog clarifies some details about Killzone 2's delay to February 2009 and confirms that the game is also being released in North America that month (previously, that date had only been confirmed for Europe). Sony's Ron Eagle explains that the game was intentionally delayed because the fall release calendar was already full.
Eagle points out that if Killzone 2 was released this fall, it would be the third shooter in the PS3 marketplace (joining SOCOM and Resistance 2) fighting for retail dollars, so the decision was made to push its release into the new year. Eagle insists that "there is nothing wrong" with Killzone and the so-called delay is a "pure management decision."
"The game still has plenty of development time, and each milestone is bringing it closer to what was originally shown all those years ago. Most importantly, the team appears to be doing a brilliant job of re-creating the scope and impact felt in war movies."
Live from Sony's PlayStation Day 2008 in London, David Reeves has just announced Killzone 2 for February 2009, ending speculation that the game would arrive this fall.
Guerrilla Games QA Manager Seb Downie popped into the "KILLZONE DATED!!" thread on the official PlayStation.com Forums to let us know that the developer hasn't sanctioned the release month 'confirmed' by SCEE earlier today. "Sorry folks, as before, please take any release dates, or months with a grain of salt," Downie writes. "If we haven't announced it, it is not gospel."
I agree actually. Whilst there is always the "double" bump theory Shane Kim espoused for Halo 3 last year though I think Killzone 2 would have to be an astounding game for it to even having a chance of selling big in both months.
Likely Resistance 2 and Gears 2 will steal much of it's thunder. I'm not so worried about LBP but Jesse wrote an excellent analysis last year about FPS sales cannibalizing each other and that was on the Xbox 360 between a monster heavyweight Halo 3 and a lightweight contender The Orange Box. As I expect the PS3 to have a lower install base in Holiday 08 than the 360 did in 07 this effect can only be more pronounced with two games likely much closer in terms of hype and quality.
with the recent news that Killzone 2 would be hitting in September followed by Resistance 2 shortly thereafter along with the fact that Killzone 2 is coming out around the same time as LBP (which is my [and much of the media's] most hyped PS3 game honestly), i can't see sales of this game hitting 2.4 million. but we'll have to see i guess.
The unsurprisingly named official site of the game, Killzone.com is being updated, and will integrate with your PSN ID. It's unclear what kind of enhancements are being made to the Killzone.com online experience.
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