Friday, July 30, 2010

Speculation. IGN visited Zipper Interactive last week. *Update*

On yesterday's Podcast Beyond, go to the 13 minute mark. One of the IGN editors (I think his name is Colin) stated how he saw Chris Roper last week, then another editor states "Didn't you see someone else too?", and Colin hesitates at first, sounding like he feels he shouldn't be talking about this, but then admits to seeing Jeremy as well.
I find it kind of interesting. It sounds like IGN made a little visit to the Zipper Interactive offices last week. Possibly for a new story on SOCOM 4?
Let the speculation begin.

UPDATE:
Chris Roper has replied to the speculation with this:

Mark Ryan Sallee, their guides king, went on a road trip for the week and we met up for lunch. Nothing secret going on, sorry.
--------------------
Chris Roper
Community Specialist, Zipper Interactive
--------------------

Looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer for more SOCOM 4 information.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

SOCOM 4 pushed to 2011. States "additional features" as the reason

If you haven't already heard, SOCOM 4 has been officially pushed to a 2011 release window. Which, by the way, is a mighty big window, so hopefully that'll be narrowed down soon.

What I find really interesting is this paragraph:

SCEA's senior corporate communications director, Patrick Seybold, told Joystiq, "We can confirm that SOCOM 4 will be released in 2011. The team is focusing on additional features which will help to deliver the most compelling and immersion SOCOM experience yet. Please look out for further updates and announcements over the coming months."
I wonder what "additional features" is referring to. A co-op mode? More maps? More single player levels? Who really knows. But they state that we'll be getting more details within the next few months so hopefully we don't have to wait to long to at least find out what we have to look forward to in 2011.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

Recent Zipline Ep 13 brings good news and "ugh" news

So, we'll be talking all about this in the next SOCAST, but I just wanted to hit on some points from Zipline Ep 13 this week. Firstly, lets break down some of the new SOCOM 4 information:

Good:
The average size of a map is about the size of Blackwoods from SOCOM 3.
SOCOM 4 will have some of the smallest maps the franchise has ever had.
It will take roughly 3 body shots from an assault rifle to kills someone.
Location-specific damage (12 different locations that enemies react to).

Sure why not:
You can kill chickens/birds.
There will be a dance feature.
Cullen Grey wears jeans because he was caught off-guard and unprepared for the whole mission.

Bad:
There are clan factions, and special weapon for each faction.


Now all the good points speak for themselves, so lets jump to the bad. Why, oh why, are they bringing in separate factions and have specific weapons for each?

Nothing good has come out of this in the past, and it prevents your fans from experiencing all of the game's options.
At least in MAG it kind of made sense because the whole game was designed around 3 large factions and it forced you to pick one and stay with it (even though it bugs me that I'll never be able to see what SVER and VALOR are like, and I think that whole design choice turned a lot of players off of MAG).
It just has absolutely no place in SOCOM. I don't even know why there are 'factions'. I'm curious what that even means for this game.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how this plays out. This isn't a deal breaker by any means, but unless I can be told a legitimate, good reason for this being in the game, it makes no sense to defend it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Real SOCOM Podcast Mini - Media Episode 1

This is a new short-form audio feature I'll be doing whenever SOCOM is mentioned in the media. This week I discuss some comments made about SOCOM 4 on the Rebel.fm podcast. So take a listen and let me know your thoughts on the opinions expressed.


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The voice chat/communication system

More recently on the SOCOM.com message boards I have noticed that a lot people have been speculating how the voice chat system might/should work. Fellow SOCAST contributor LUKENBACHER posted this thread where he calls back to the way that the early SOCOM games executed the voice chat system.

While I do like the general idea of the chat channels that LUKENBACHER suggested, this brings up the issue that people who play alone, and join a room where a lot of people in the same clan are playing. The person who is playing alone might be left out of the conversations and strategies that the people who are playing as a group in a different chat channel are having.

This sparked my own thoughts about how I think the SOCOM 4 voice chat system should work. This harkens back to an idea I was pushing on Slant Six before SOCOM Confrontation and has to do with the PS3 launch title Resistance.

Insomniac (developer of Resistance) was very progressive in terms of Resistance's online interface and how the various systems worked together to encourage a team environment that I think the game pulled off very well, particularly the chat system.

All the separate chat channels were open mic, but the main channel you had to press and hold a button. And even if you were in a separate channel you could press and hold that chat button to talk to everyone on your team, regardless of what channel they were on. So people in the main chat channel/other channels could still be privy to strategies and still communicate with people in other chat channels by holding down a button.

I think this is the absolute best way to execute the chat system, and encourages teamwork not only between clans, but between lone rangers and strangers (hey, I can rhyme) as well.

Monday, July 12, 2010

SOCAST Episode 8


Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of original updates recently. In the midst of a big move and a new job so I've been a bit busy. But I found some time to join the SOCAST crew once again this week, and it's a pretty good episode with xWARGOx from the RMD Clan joining us - who reveals something VERY interesting about his past (hint: he played a professional sport in a National league).


The SOCAST is also now on iTunes.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

SOCAST Episode 7

Me and the rest of the SOCAST/SOCOMIV.com crew are back again this week for another episode. Check it out.


In Episode 7, the SOCAST CREW is back this week with special guest........... Dr_McNOOB !!!!!!

In this episode we discuss.....

The SocomFans.com merger
SocomIV.com Forums
One Game Mode Per Map in Socom 4 Official?
Daytime vs Night Maps in Socom 4
"Water Polo" in Socom 4 Multiplayer
Public Beta for Socom 4?
Dr_McNoob's Epic 60 "Second Spotlight" Rant

And we briefly discuss some of our CRITICS out there......

CAST: HTK , r_e_v , LUKENBACHER , David2Crazy, and Dr_McNOOB

TIME: 33 minutes, 43 seconds