March 8, 2007 - One common theme scattered across a number of the conferences at this year's Game Developer Conference is related to programming for the PlayStation 3. Be it the RSX, Cell or what have you, there are panels discussing nearly every facet of PS3-specific development. While most of what you'll find at these sessions are strictly for the advanced developer, delving into things like managing data stacks and how to properly use pointers, there is the occasional bit of info that proves interesting to those that still don't understand anything John Carmack ever says.
During a panel on optimizing SPU code, a couple members from Sony's World Wide Studios development group gave a couple quick demos to help visualize what the Cell's bits were handling. One of these demos included a never-before-seen look at Heavenly Sword, giving us an updated glimpse at the battlefield scenario that we first saw in the original E3 2005 trailer.
The demo opened up with Nariko standing outside the gates of a town, delivering a monologue. Desperation and despair coated her voice as she made mention that her mom had died during childbirth and that she should have died along with her. Regardless, she claims that she will not see her people tortured and killed and that she'll defend her city at all costs.
Across the battlefield, a swarm of soldiers approaches, a giant catapult-like weapon in tow. While still off in the distance, Nariko cocks her rocket launcher and fires off a handful of shots, each time taking out a small group of soldiers. With each shot, the camera quickly zoomed in to follow just above and behind the rocket, allowing the player to influence its direction, much like we saw that you can do with thrown barrels and other objects at this past year's E3. Once the soldiers got too close, Nariko pulled out her swords and began slicing men to bits. Her swords seemed best-suited for taking out an individual soldier and not a group, so she quickly switched to her chained blades and began slashing through the crowd. Numerous times during the demo she grabbed a soldier and performed a cinematic and brutal kill, much like the groin-stomping finisher that you can see in the most recent footage.
A clock ticked down in the corner, which we believe counted the seconds to the city's destruction. As it crept closer and closer to zero, Nariko finally made her way to the massive weapon and scaled the object, slashing away and dismantling its various bits and pieces on the way up. As she progressed, button symbols appeared on the screen, making this section look exactly like what you'd find in many of God of War's boss battles. When she finally reached the top and landed the last blow, Nariko flipped off the machinery and landed in a crouched position on the earth just before the video faded out.
After the demo ended, the presenters nonchalantly proceeded to talk about how the SPUs divided the code that not only ran each soldier's AI, but Nariko's hair as well. Unfortunately, the rest of the presentation wasn't nearly as exciting as the trailer, so we'll leave it at that for now.
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wird sicher ein hammer game!