Community - Socast Episode I: Discussing Zipline

I came across this post on the SOCOM.com forums. Great half hour podcast put together by HTK and r_e_v from the forums. They discuss all the information that came out of Zipper's Zipline Podcast.

Check it out here. (mp3)

And I'll be posting more posts/podcasts/etc from the community. So if you see something interesting that you feel should be recognized, drop me an email at daviddoel@therealsocom.com and I'll be sure to post it.

Zipline Podcast Ep1 - My thoughts

If you haven't already listened to Zipper's new weekly podcast, you can check out Friday's episode here.

I was surprised with the amount of new information that came out of the half hour podcast. Jeremy & Chris interviewed Lead Designer of SOCOM 4, Travis Steiner, who divulged a good amount of new information including:

- There will be NO vehicles in multiplayer

- The online gameplay will be a departure from the classic SOCOM experience (new modes, new maps, a new experience)

- Cover system will be in multiplayer

Travis also explained that SOCOM 4 will be a much different experience than their previous game MAG, but didn't quite indicate how other than the fact that SOCOM 4 is a 3rd-person game without vehicles online.

He was also very adamant on the point that SOCOM 4 will not feel like a classic online SOCOM experience. He made the point that many of the members on the team have been working on and playing SOCOM since it's inception, so they want to try something different. I just want to counter his point by saying that every SOCOM game since SOCOM 3 has been very different from the SOCOM 1/2 experience. So making a SOCOM 1/2 style game WOULD be a departure from what has been released more recently. SOCOM Confrontation (developed by Slant6) was definitely an attempt at trying to bring back the SOCOM 1/2 feel, but its hard to find hardcore fans who think that Confrontation is a proper representation of SOCOM 1/2.

But like I've been saying since SOCOM 4's announcement, Confrontation is the closest that we are going to get to a PS3 classic SOCOM experience. A lot of people thought I was full of it and that Zipper would bring 'back the classic', but if it wasn't obvious before, it is now, they want to do something different.

Personally I'm not complaining. I'm really excited to see what they have planned for multiplayer and single player. But I'm here to represent the hardcore fans, and they don't seem as convinced as I am, that it's time to move on to some new ideas. I just hope that the overall experience still feels like SOCOM, just pushed to the next level.

Jotstiq interview with Travis Steiner

Joystiq just posted an interview they had with Lead Designer on SOCOM 4, Travis Steiner. There is some really good information in there about how they are approaching the Move controls as well as why they chose to release two shooters in one year.

Check it out here.

Seattle newspaper sits down with Zipper

The Seattle Times have sat down with Zipper Interactive's Brian Soderberg to talk about the Playstation Move and SOCOM 4. Check out the entire article here. No real new information for the hardcore, but its an interesting Q&A none the less.

Source

Zipper's weekly podcast starting April 23rd

Jeremy Dunham and Chris Roper will be back together in podcast form starting next Friday. Both come from IGN and had been on a couple podcasts there, namely IGN PS3's 'Podcast Beyond'.

It's awesome to see Zipper doing this for their fans. When I had started this blog there was barely any communication between the SOCOM development team (SlantSix at the time) and it's fans, and now there is constant communication between the two.

Good luck with the podcast guys, I know I'll be listening.

Source

Chris Roper (formally of IGN) joins the Zipper team

Awesome news out of Zipper, Chris Roper (formally of IGN.com) has joined Jeremy Dunham on the Zipper community team as a 'Community Specialist'. Chris Roper was recently laid off from IGN - citing economical reasons.

Chris and Jeremy

It's great to see he's landed on his feet at Zipper, and just like his work at IGN, he'll have a lot to offer the company as well as fans of Zipper franchises.

Check out all the details here.