1up: Exclusive Uncharted 2 Interview

1up.com: Naughty Dog is in full-on crunch mode for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. "Last Sunday was my first day off, and we've been working seven-day weeks since Christmas," notes creative director Amy Hennig. When I sit down in co-president Evan Wells' office to play some Gold Rush, I notice something I don't usually see on an executive's desk: a pile of empty Mountain Dew cans. Yet despite the long days of testing and polishing and tuning, both of them took the time to sit down and talk about the themes, inspirations, and goals for Uncharted 2.

[Cajun Chicken]

Nathan's shirt is tucked in 3/4's this time!

Seriously, this is my most anticipated game this year. Just hope it can live up to Uncharted, but this is Naughty Dog we're talking about, their sequels are always much more defined.

[SnuggleBandit]

Ya the level of detail is just INSANE! Especially when they talk about the cover system and his running animations...and they put all that effort into something half of gamers out there won't even notice

Pefectionists.

[Cajun Chicken]

I can't wait to see the water effects in the new one. Heck, when I saw Nathan's clothes getting wet and slowly drying off again over time, amazing. If you ask me, the Crash Bandicoots got better, The Jak series got better and Uncharted well, I fail to see ND not topping their selves again.

My fave developer, their attention to detail is immeasurable, graphics, design, narrative and animation and they make you really connect with the protagonists.

ND are true artists.

[SnuggleBandit]

ya the water in the last game was truly awesome to see...i know they will improve on those effects this game but what i'm really looking forward to are the snow effects.

[Cajun Chicken]

Yeah, ND always manage to pull out fantastic snowy areas. Can't wait to see snow and ice in Uncharted 2. I hope it has reflections in it like what Crash 2 did with the floors.

[cranium]

I hope the ice is slippery. That could make for some interesting platforming sections, and, maybe even combat sections!

[Rofflecopter]

hah can you imagine playing through on crushing with slippery ice?

You're on the last section of a ridiculous level, you're getting shot at left and right, you take a huge leap and slide halfway across the room into cover.

Good stuff.

[Hububla]

"he probably had literally about 150 to 200 cover-taking animations -- whether he was low or high, or how he had his foot angled, and that was all done via a proprietary layered-animation system that we developed."

im really starting to like naughty dogs attention to detail

[cranium]

"One of the main characters in the game is Tenzen -- this guy you meet in Tibet who becomes your partner for a while. The interesting interplay there is that Tenzen doesn't speak English, while Drake doesn't speak Tibetan, and their dialogue plays out that way. We don't subtitle the Tibetan either, so the player is in the same boat as Drake is -- in the "Uh, I have no idea what you're saying.""

Can't wait to see what other humorous situations Drake will find himself in :)

[Cajun Chicken]

That really reminds me of Herge type comedy in the Tintin books.

[Aceluffy]

I hope somebody will be kind enough to translate what he says then, gotta know everything about Uncharted 2

[Trey4Lyfe]

Is on it's way!

[doctorstrange]

I love this game so much it hurts

[Dellis]

This game will flop at Retail but it will be amazing as game

like part 1

[SnuggleBandit]

first one sold over 3.5 million!!?? how will this one flop??

[El_Colombiano]

Z-hayden,

If it doesn't sell 10 Million, its a flop for them.

[SnuggleBandit]

ya he won't reply cause he's just a troll...or a noob who knows nothing about games...or both :)

[Boody-Bandit]

What a waste of bandwidth.

[LittleBigSackBoy]

"We have the multiplayer demo starting on September 15 as a two-week exclusive with GameStop initially. So that takes us to the end of September, and then the next two weeks leading up to our launch date -- October 13 -- it will be open to everybody."

i didn't know that...

[ottoman_239]

My gamestop voucher says the uncharted 2 multiplayer demo starts on August 19 - september 18

[AXAXAX]

Before details on this game was ever anounced... all I wanted was it to be set in India or Nepal... and now the game begins in Turkey! :D Absolute heaven!

[grantps3]

what do you mean by flop?
is 3 million a flop? 2 million?

it is sad when people consider it a flop at 2 or 3 million, but i do understand what your saying. uncharted is amazing but should be selling a lot more. PRICE CUT+ ps3 slim+ uncharted 2 = best holiday ever.

uncharted is the best new franchise this generation. If sony doesnt advertise this game, i will go down to sony hq and kick their @ss. it needs to be shown on tv, magazines, billboards, the whole 9 yards.

[air1]

day 1 buy for me.

but that will be about it for the ps3..

[mistajeff]

Amy Hennig has a brilliant way of phrasing things, I'd never be able to explain these things as well as she does.

[MajestieBeast]

its funny how sony has so much quality and diversity in there platform exclusive developers. This game will not dissapoint if the beta is any indication and uncharted 1 longer sp + insane mp=goty 2009 for me screw mw2.

[poopsack]

"In most games, a train level is simply a stationary area with the background moving all around you. We didn't want that, and we started early on and created enough real estate to have an actual moving train. "

[cmrbe]

compliment to ND skills to bring characters to life that that interviewer asked if Nathan Drake is a sociopath. I mean which other game character have people asked this same question?. This means that Nathan drake is so real to this intreviewer that he had to question weather he is a sociopath or not.

Also when Elena and Sully were originally not in the early scenes alot of gamers and journalist asked where they were. This is a sign that ND did managed to create characters in Uncharted that left a big impression on gamers and journalist. They definately did for me.

As i said before. Nathan is not a saint at all and i do believe he has a really really dark past. Did you guys notice how he just brushed off Sully's death which actually wasn't like its nothing in Uncharted 1?. There is alot more to Nathan Drake than we think and i can't wait to find out more in U2.

[jack_burt0n]

the top 5 games I have ever played, apart from all the other things that have been mentioned one of the greatest achievements of uncharted is the way the game feels, it has been playtested so much and so well its close to perfection.

Naughty Gods FTW.