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An
update from Burrito
Written
by by El Burrito (aka SolidNinja)
Posted
on Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Hey
everyone. I thought I'd try and help Red
Fox out with the site because he's having
a lot of problems with his computer.
Anyway I'd just like to say that we're
trying to build up a few map guides for
everyone here. They're going to be in the
"Maps" section. I'm building one
for Abandoned and if anyone has tips, just
e-mail me. I'm going to e-mail my first
complete draft to Red Fox by the weekend.
Cheers
to Red Fox for the great site and visit
the forum.
EEK!
Written
By Snake
Posted
on Wednesday, June 16, 2003
Sorry,
about the lack of updates! I've been
working out some technical problems with
my computer, the site, and myself. I'm
swamped with work right now! Anyways, I've
been searching all over the place, but
there's no new info on SOCOM 2, looks like
I finely got a window to finish up my
work. Check out the forum, post anything
you find on SOCOM 2- or e-mail me an
article you'd like posted.
It's
kinda hard to keep up with two sites at
once- and really difficult to keep jumping
back and forth all the time. I have my
friends to thank for helping out A LOT
with both sites, but I can't keep this up!
I've decided to merge my clan's website
with this one. It'll remain a SOCOM 1 and
2 database, only with my clan's info added
to the sites content. Please understand,
we're still wide open to the public in
general- and if you'd like, you can post
your clan's info too. I'll be adding my
clan's news to this page, it'll be mixed
in with our SOCOM 2 coverage- and we will
continue to provide the best and latest
SOCOM news out there for our viewers.
Thanks
for visiting! Feel free to post your
questions and comments in the forum.
More
E3 Coverage
Written
By Bob Prichard
Posted
on Wednesday, June 4, 2003 By Snake
Though,
this is probably old news, I still thought
it was worth posting. I picked it up from
Sony's "Gamer Advisor Panel"
homepage. It's an article written by an E3
correspondent, Bob Prichard, and describes
SOCOM 2's booth at E3.
-Snake
"First
of all, if you like SOCOM you'll
love SOCOM II. Most of you really
want to know about the online multiplayer
gaming so we'll just cut to the chase. I
spoke with Seth Luisi (Senior Producer of SOCOM
II) and he said there are 12 new maps
for your online gaming pleasure (with the
10 original maps enhanced returning). New
weapons like shotguns, mines (PMN), RPG
Rockets and stationary weapons (turret
guns/multiple grenade-launcher turrets)
are great additions to the game. This time
the maps are a bit bigger and better
designed. I was having so much fun just
running through some of the buildings in
the different levels I played that I
actually forgot I was hunting down
terrorists. New outfits have been given to
the terrorists and seals that go with the
style of the missions. There are also more
realistic environment movements (bushes
moving from the breeze of the wind) and
the sound and graphics have both been
improved. Speaking of improvements: Server
1 for SOCOM is being improved as we
speak and Server 2 for SOCOM II
will be even better. Sony and Zipper
Interactive are working with cheat devices
(i.e. Code Breaker, GameShark 2, etc.) to
prevent players from cheating on SOCOM
and SOCOM II. Remember the days of
glitching? Well they will be all but a
past memory when SOCOM II arrives.
The developers have found the glitch code
and are tweaking it to prevent glitching
in the game. Let's talk about the headset.
Sony is creating a new headset that will
work not only with the SOCOM games
but future titles as well. You'll still
hold the circle button to speak to other
players, but now you can chat with other
players in the room lobby in-between
games! The ranking is another item that is
being improved. Do you remember that L3
button problem, changing your rate of
fire? Sony is considering making it a
double tap to improve the issue gamers had
with the L3 button. It's apparent that
Sony and Zipper Interactive want this to
be the best online game around and the
demo gives every indication that it will
be. We'll all get the chance to find out
when the game releases November
2003."
Official
Playstation Magazine Feature
Written
By Joe Rybicki
Posted
on Tuesday, June 3, 2003 By Delta
Please
understand, we take no credit in the
creation, or originality of this article.
It was created for OPM, by Joe Rybicki of
OPM's respected staff. However, I do
credit Delta for posting this on the
website. Again, this IS property of the
Official Playstation Magazine- not SOCOM
Online, and I would highly recommend
picking up a copy of this magazine, and
reading the actual featured article.
-Snake
From
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine...
The
team has been listening since the
beginning, since SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs
first exploded onto the scene in August of
last year. They've been taking calls and
reading e-mails, sure--but more important,
they've been hunting down message board
threads and reading reviews. They want to
make their game better; they want to make
a sequel that pleases fans of the first
game and newcomers equally. They want to
make the game you want. And from what we
saw in our exclusive world-premiere
session with the folks at Zipper, they're
going to do exactly that.
Mission
Briefing
It
would have been easy for the developers to
simply clean up the first game: tweak some
controls, add a few levels, and call it
done. And it's true that a lot of cleaning
up is taking place. But as you'll see when
SOCOM 2 releases in November, that's only
the start.
"We
wanted to have more urban areas in the
sequel," Creative Director David
Sears tells us. "We range everywhere
from industrial towns in Albania to the
favela [slum] sprawls in Brazil."
Beyond Albania and Brazil, you'll also be
visiting scenic Algeria and Russia.
"It makes clearing the spaces a lot
more intensive, and forces you to use your
team more." He takes us into a
Brazilian city so realistic, so densely
designed you'd swear you were looking at a
completely different game if it weren't
for that familiar heads-up display (which,
incidentally, will be totally revamped in
the final version). Civilians wander the
streets, merchants conduct business,
drunks stagger out of seedy taprooms. The
buildings crowd each other up the steep
hillsides, and the path of our SEAL team
winds tightly through these claustrophobic
streets and alleys. The thought of having
to conduct any kind of serious combat in
these spaces is terrifying; it makes
stealth a very, very attractive option.
Especially
when Sears starts telling us about the
increased intelligence of enemy
characters: "One of the things people
picked up on right away in the
single-player mode of SOCOM is that
enemies weren't that responsive," he
says. "In actuality, they were doing
an awful lot of thinking about what they
should be doing, but we weren't actually
showing it with animations or
sounds."
"They
would go into this 'surprise' mode,"
says Senior Producer Seth Luisi,
"which, unfortunately, we didn't have
an animation for. That's why you'd shoot
at somebody and he'd just sort of stand
there. He was thinking 'I'm really
surprised,' but he literally couldn't move
in a way that made the surprise
obvious."
"This
time, we're actually showing it,"
continues Sears. "It's going to serve
the same purpose as the exclamation marks
in Metal Gear. "
Intelligence
Report
By
now, we're wandering into the turf
controlled by Mike Gutmann, the senior
software engineer and the guy responsible
for programming computer-controlled
behavior. "One of the keys to showing
the depth of behaviors enemies have,"
says Gutmann, "is using more
animation, more voice. Now, whenever two
or three A.I. characters get close enough,
and they haven't talked to each other in a
while, they might form a group and have a
conversation about themselves. So you can
expect a lot more group interactivity in
terms of ambience--and also when they're
attacking you. They'll work in groups
better." Uh oh.
"Also,
when you're shooting at them, they're not
going to want to stand still,"
Gutmann continues. "If they're
getting shot at, they'll head for cover
pretty quickly. They're definitely more
aware of the power of bushes now."
"We
have a new way to handle transparency for
things like bushes and trees," says
Brian Soderberg, Zipper's chief technical
officer. "So there's quite a bit more
vegetation. That means better places to
hide."
And
your enemies will use whatever cover they
can find. "They actually anticipate
when they need to reload," Sears
chimes in, "and just before they need
to reload, they start moving toward cover,
reloading on the way. It totally changes
the way A.I. handles combat."
"We
looked at a lot of the things that
happened in multiplayer," Gutmann
says. "That's a great tool, because
that's the kind of thing that people want
to see in terms of the way A.I. characters
behave. But definitely the biggest thing
is conveying to the player what the A.I.
characters are doing."
COMMAND
DECISION
What
are the A.I. characters doing? The short
answer: a whole damn lot more than in the
first game.
"We're
doing a lot more ambient animation with
our enemies," Sears tells us.
"We want to make the world even more
believable by giving the enemies things to
do. We don't want the Terrorists to be
nearly as generic as they were in the
first game, so there's going to be a lot
more background, a lot more story--more
personality. So you'll get to know the
people you're about to shoot."
This
improved intelligence and expanded
background aren't just limited to enemies,
either. Your own allies will enjoy the
same improvements. Guess what that means?
"Boomer
has retired. He's moved on to greater
things," Gutmann says with a grin.
("He's a security guard at the
mall," mutters Zipper President Jim
Bosler.) "The guy taking his place
will do a much better job in that
capacity."
That's
almost all we need to hear, but we decide
to stick around anyway. And it's a good
thing, because we get a lot more details
about our new allies. "We really
wanted to make the team appear more
intelligent and be more useful,"
Gutmann says. "They're going to be a
lot more supportive, a lot stealthier, and
they'll appear to react more intelligently
to what's going on in the
environment." "If a guy's in
'Hold fire' mode, for example," says
Sears, "and he observes the motion of
an enemy, he'll say, 'I've got a shot,
sir. Should I take it?' He's going to
prompt you to command him. And if you
leave him alone, he's going to wait until
the enemy's awareness escalates to the
point that the enemy is ready to shoot
you, and he'll say, 'I'm going to have to
take the shot.'"
"We're
also going to loosen up the
controls," continues Gutmann,
"so that you can control Jester, the
guy who's taking Boomer's place as Able 2.
In the past, you couldn't tell him to hold
position while you went off on your own;
we're going to loosen that up so that you
can have him stay in place while you
wander up to 30 feet away."
In
addition, SOCOM 2 will include some new
team commands. "'Get down!' makes
your team all drop to the ground and take
cover right there, very quickly,"
says Gutmann. "There's also an 'Overwatch'
command, where you act as a sniper, and
Jester will shout out targets for you. So
he'll say 'Target, 30 yards, one o'clock'
and once you take that guy out, he'll
point out the next target."
Lock
and Load
But
these aren't the only things that will
affect the way you carry out your
missions; new firepower will make a
substantial difference, too. "We're
including three different types of
shotguns," says Sears, "ranging
from pump-action to full-auto. We're also
including rocket launchers for both the
Terrorists and the SEALs."
"These
will be available in multiplayer on a
map-by-map basis," Luisi says.
"We don't want to include them on the
smaller maps, but on the bigger maps,
where there's more room, we plan on
including those. And the M203 grenade
launcher as well."
"That's
right," says Sears, "you get the
grenade launchers that we kept out of
multiplayer in the first game. But we'll
be treating all these things
realistically. For example, the LAW [light
antitank weapon, i.e., a big freakin'
rocket launcher] is only a single-fire
weapon. So when the SEALs use it, they can
only fire one shot, and then they discard
it. We're even going so far as to include
the ubiquitous and much-loathed PMN
antipersonnel mine for the
Terrorists," he continues,
"which is going to help us balance
the nastiness level for each side in
multiplayer."
Yes,
we can see you salivating for more
multiplayer info. Be patient; we're
getting to it. First, a few more words
about weapons:
"We're
including manned turrets," Sears
tells us, "so you can jump aboard
some really nasty, really powerful
machine-gun types. We're using a common
Russian model, but we're also including a
.50-cal and a multiple-grenade-launcher
turret as well--possibly more. We'll have
those in single-player and multiplayer.
They're going to play a major role in
multiplayer, because by getting to the
turret and then protecting the guy who's
using it--you'll be able to really hold a
significant part of the map."
Contact
Established
Oh
yes, multiplayer. At last we meet again.
This is arguably the most important
feature of SOCOM 2. As great as the
single-player game may be, nothing's going
to stop the universal howl of dismay if
the game doesn't deliver the multiplayer
goods. Please allow us to set your mind at
ease. Online play is going to rock even
harder than before. And that's saying
quite a lot: SOCOM now sports 12 to 13,000
simultaneous users during the peak hours
from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern time.
That's more than any similar PC game
except the ubiquitous Counter-Strike. The
only games that rate significantly higher
are massively multiplayer RPGs--which can
only be played online.
Furthermore,
there are over 300,000 active login names
in the SOCOM database (names that expire
after a month of inactivity). Fifty to
60,000 people play every day. And on the
weekends, the average play time is over
three hours. That's a damn long time.
In
other words, the online mode of SOCOM is
fairly popular.
And
the designers are well aware that they
need to raise the bar even higher the
second time around. This is where all that
listening they did really starts coming
into play. Just as an example, when we
went to visit Zipper, we brought a
printout of the longest "SOCOM 2 wish
list" thread on our message board. As
we went through the presentation, we put
check marks next to the improvements that
were definitely going in. By the end of
the day, over half of the items had check
marks next to them--and most of the others
were being considered. Didn't we tell you
they've been listening?
"We
want to make sure that when we release
SOCOM 2, we're the top online game,"
says Luisi. "So we're focusing on
adding more community features and making
them easier to use. We plan on adding clan
rankings and the ability to set up
Spectator passwords for clan games, so
Spectators can come in and watch a clan
match."
Visual
Reconnaissance
Wait,
what? Spectators? Since when is SOCOM a
spectator sport? "We're adding a
Spectator mode," he continues,
"where you can join a game and just
watch. And we're going to do a lot for the
observation modes, both when you're dead
and when you join as a Spectator. You'll
see all the stats of the people who are
playing; you'll be able to see the
players' descriptions, what clan they're
in, that sort of thing. Even while you're
still in the game there will be a lot more
information on the Stat screen, like who
on your team is dead. We're going to do a
lot to improve the presentation."
As
if our heads weren't spinning enough,
Luisi keeps firing improvements at us:
"We're adding a Friends list, so you
can see what game your buddies are in.
We'll also have an Ignore list. And, of
course, we're working a lot on chat stuff.
For voice chat, we're definitely going to
show who's talking--you'll get the
person's name next to the voice icon. The
voice quality is also going to be much
improved over the first game. Plus, we'll
have the ability to adjust the mic
sensitivity and volume."
Had
enough? No? How about this: "We're
going to add voice chat in the game lobby;
you'll be able to talk to all 16 players
while you're waiting to start the game.
We're also planning to set it up so that
when 80 percent of the players have
clicked Ready, the game will launch, so
you're not waiting for that one last
person to launch the game. And we'll make
it so you can mute players in a game, so
if someone's being obnoxious over the
headset, you don't have to hear it."
Field
Promotion
And
the hits just keep coming: "We're
improving the ladder rankings to make them
more fair," Luisi continues. "We
don't want them to be as heavily based on
how long somebody's been playing. We're
going to try to do our best to make it
representative of the quality of the
player."
"You'll
be able to move up higher if you beat
somebody who's better than you,"
Soderberg tells us, "than if you beat
somebody who's worse than you."
"You'll probably get a rank like the
Naval ranks we used for completing
SOCOM," Luisi continues. "And
we'll have rooms limited to ranks, so that
if you join and you're an Ensign, you can
play in an Ensigns-only room--so the
higher-level players can't jump in and
beef up their scores. That should help a
lot with the learning curve, which was an
issue with the first game."
Areas
of Operation
Let's
pause to take a breath and point out that
many of these items are, in a sense,
peripheral. It could be argued that these
are things that should have been in the
first game anyway. What about more
fundamental changes? Zipper has that
covered, too. "We'll be putting two
new mission types in there," Luisi
tells us: "Breach is a game where the
Terrorists have a fortress and the SEAL
team has to plant a bomb inside the
fortress. But they also have to blow up
certain walls [there will be a lot more to
destroy in the environment, a lot of
hidden passages where you'll have to blow
something up] or complete certain
objectives to get to that spot, so it's
much more of an interactive,
multiple-objective thing. It takes a lot
more teamwork."
"The
other one is called Escort, where the
SEALs start with VIPs, and they have to
escort them to an extraction point; the
Terrorists' entire goal is just to
eliminate the VIPs. The SEALs can just let
the timer run out to win and concentrate
on defending the VIPs, or they can try to
get them out of there. But they have to
protect them--which is obviously much
different from Extraction in the first
game, because you don't even have to
rescue the hostages if you don't want to.
Plus, we're keeping the original three
gameplay types as well, so we'll have five
in total."
Those
five types of games will take place over a
total of 12 new levels, and the two we saw
on our visit were noticeably different
from the levels in the first SOCOM. In the
first level, the SEALs were arrayed along
a ridge encircling a valley. In the middle
of the valley was a Terrorist
installation; the two entrances were
boarded up and guarded with manned
machine-gun turrets. In the middle of the
SEALs was a bomb. The objective? Grab the
bomb, run down the hill, blast through the
boarded-up entrances, locate a central
building, plant the bomb, and then prevent
the enemy from defusing it. The ultimate
goal was the detonation, but the choke
points of the entrances (guarded by
machine-gun fire, let's not forget) made
for a pretty significant secondary
objective. And there were other objectives
as well: Take out a radio tower, for
example, and the Terrorists lose the
ability to call in a devastating air
strike.
You
heard right; we said "air
strike." In addition to the new
weapons and new mission types in
multiplayer, a whole new element has been
added. "You'll be able to have a
helicopter or jet fly in and attack
certain locations on the map," says
Sears. "We'll have around three
specific targets for the air strikes, and
there will be a radio where you can call
in these attacks, in a room where you
can't really see those targets. So you'll
have to use your teammates as
spotters."
The
other game we participated in was a
Demolition mission set in--ready?--an
honest-to-God city, complete with
multilevel buildings, winding streets,
balconies, and stairways. The
close-quarters combat made for a very
different feel than what we're used to
from SOCOM.
The
Cleanup Phase
But
wait, there's more--a lot more. "One
of the things we're exploring," says
Luisi, "is being able to put all the
online levels from SOCOM into SOCOM 2.
We're going to improve the artwork a lot
and probably change some of them from
daytime to nighttime, make the level look
slightly different. So if you had a
favorite level in SOCOM, you'll be able to
play it in SOCOM 2. That means we'll have
22 different maps for online play."
"And we're taking the time to modify
not just the look of the old levels,"
says Sears, "but also put in (in a
limited way) more cover, grass, shrubbery,
foliage, maybe add a turret..I always
describe them as 'remixes.' They're very
recognizable as levels from the original,
but at the same time, they have been
gifted with a lot of new touches."
"And
we'll fix all the glitches," notes
Luisi. "We already have a fix in to
prevent people from going outside the
levels. We're also working a lot on the
GameShark and Code Breaker cheats, to try
to prevent those. It's pretty complicated,
but we're hoping to be able to prevent
them 100 percent. The whole online
experience is going to be a lot more
glitch free."
As
if that wouldn't be enough to convince us
that they really had thought of
everything, Luisi fires a parting shot.
"The L3 issue [that is, the tendency
for some players to accidentally switch to
single-fire mode in the heat of battle] is
something people really hate. People are
actually selling modified controllers on
eBay with a 'safety' switch that disables
the L3 button. So we're looking into
making it a double-tap or something so
that it's not as easy to accidentally
switch your firing mode."
"And
then there's the stance control," he
finishes, "which is already much
improved. Now it's pressure sensitive: If
you're standing and you push Triangle
hard, you'll go prone; if you just tap it,
you'll crouch. It's a lot more intuitive,
and much quicker. We've also fixed all
those unexpected stance changes, where
you'll be crouching, run into a wall, and
stand up. The goal is to never have the
game change the stance on you."
Mission
Accomplished
We're
stunned. We've rarely witnessed a game
studio so committed to making the sequel
that the players want, systematically
knocking down every major issue players
had with the original. "The general
framework that's been the guiding light
all the way through," says Bosler,
"is that this is a true sequel. We're
really trying to move every element a big
step forward--whether it's A.I. or
technology or graphics or gameplay. There
are new things we're doing; it's not just
improvements on what we had before. Our
goal is to make people say, 'Wow, this
really moved into a new dimension.'"
And
rarely has it seemed like the fans
themselves had so much input into the
future of a beloved game. "There are
lots of bulletin board threads that we
forward around here," says Bosler,
"where people will say, 'What would
you want to see in a SOCOM sequel?' And
people seem to be thinking it probably
won't come out for a couple years, or
it'll probably be just an expansion pack
or something. So our goal is to sneak in
there and really over deliver. We want to
blow them away and let them know that we
listened."
A
New Thing
Written
By Snake
Posted
on Monday, June 2, 2003
Most
of you who know me, know that re-designing
websites every month isn't out of the
ordinary! So, here we go again! A new
design for a new month. I figured this was
a special occasion, since we've been
around for a WHOLE month!...err...well,
anyways all the old news has been moved to
the archives- so if you want to catch up a
little, scroll down to the bottom of the
page and choose an article! Also,
tradition of the recent events, I also
re-designed the forum!
Now,
on to the really interesting news!
Here's
an interesting excerpt from the SOCOM 2
feature in the June issue of OPM:
We got really excited when, talking about
weapons, David Sears lays this one on us:
"There's much more enemy-vehicle
interaction, too. We have a ton of enemy
helicopters that range from full-on
assault vehicles to one-man machine gun
helicopters. And, of course, tanks."
But Seth Luisi cautions, "It's
important to note that those are enemy
vehicles. For this game, our environments
aren't suited to player-controlled
vehicles." We're disappointed, but we
understand.
"We continue to work with Naval
Special Warfare," Jim Bosler
explains, "and we continue to try to
be realistic. Generally, SEALs out on a
search-and-destroy mission aren't going to
be hopping into enemy vehicles and driving
them. You'd start losing what the game's
about."
"It's the running around in close
quarters that makes the design of the
maps," Luisi continues, "and
that's not suited for vehicles. You can't
just throw vehicles in there. So if we
ever did add vehicles in a future game, it
would have to be very carefully
done."
Yo,
I'm currently STILL re-working the
screenshots page layout- just give me a
few days and the screens will be back up
again. More content is also on the way,
and anything left out will be re-done for
our new site! So please be patient.
Thanks!
Good
Stuff!
Written
by Snake
Posted
on Sunday, June 1, 2003
I
got some good stuff for you all today! A
friend over at SOCOM
Battles posted some screens of SOCOM
2's new interface! You can check them out
in the forum here.
Also, The Digital Gathering released a few
game play videos of SOCOM 2! Here's the
links:
Crossroads
Crossroads
#2
Crossroads
#3
Crossroads
#4
Sandstorm
Sandstorm
#2
Unnamed
Map
Unnamed
Map #2
Unnamed
Map #3
Bazooka
in action!
Right-click
on the links and click Save-as to save any
of the movies above! There all MPEG
format! BTW, they're are not property of
this site, thus if you run into any
problems, do not report them to me-
because there's nothing I can do about it.
Here's
a short description from a member of the
SOCOM Battles forum, Tenn:
The
single-player game looked sweet. I only
played the Brazilian map that was very
tight, reminded me of frost fire. But
there were civilians all over and YES they
get in your way. I was shooting a
terrorist and a civilian walked right into
my fire (AI??). There was also store
fronts with hanging meat etc... My only
issue with all these added items were that
they were not interactive. Like for me I
was running around shooting the hanging
meat. I just wanted to see it fall or
something. I MEAN COME ON DOOM used to let
me do things like that.
The online mode was solid! I'm sure that
they are putting the finishing touches on
the game because what I played could pass
as the final game! Maybe they only have a
few maps done, don't know??? But waiting
till NOVEMBER will be too long for me! I
think I'm going back to E3 tonight when
the lights are out and steal the beta
version! J/K
Thanks
Tenn! You can read his full post here.
Zipper
announced in the June issue of OPM, SOCOM
will have 22 Online Maps! 10 of the
original maps (revamped) plus 12 new ones!
Also, most (if not all) the weapons in
SOCOM have been re-recorded and/or cleaned
up a bit! Even the voice actors have been
replaced!
Good
Bayou!
Written
by Snake
Posted
on Thursday, May 29, 2003
Prepare
yourself for this one...
Boomer
has retired! Yes, you read that right! No,
I'm not joking! According the devs at
Zipper Int., Boomer will not be returning
for SOCOM 2- because of he has
"retired", LOL! Instead, (you)
the Kahuna, will be watched over by good
old Jester. And who will take Jesters
place? Well, we'll just have to find out!
Wow,
things just won't be the same without that
damned idiot... I will always remember you
Boomer...as the dumb-ass who got me killed
more than a thousand times! You f------,
stupid, son of a b----!
Logitech
USB Headset
Written
By Snake
Posted
On Wednesday, May 28, 2003
The
long awaited Logitech USB Headset, built
specifically for the PS2, will be on store
shelves near you on the 30th of this
month! Priced around $39.99, it includes 1
velvet, 1 leatherette, and 1 foam ear
pads, a 10' long cord, volume control, and
a noise-concealing microphone. It's also
much, much more clear than the original
SOCOM headset. Oh yeah, it also has voice
recognition capabilities. I wish I
would've known it was coming out so soon,
or I wouldn't have bought my new headset!
I paid $59.99! Anyways, you can pick one
up at Game Stop or Electronics Boutique (EB
Games) or buy it online.
SOCOM
2 Preview
Written
By Jeff Gerstmann, Gamespot
Posted
on Monday, May 19, 2003 by Snake
When
it comes to developing a follow-up to a
successful game, the most obvious and more
successful approach is to deliver more of
the same while pumping up as many
different aspects of the game as you
possibly can. Zipper Interactive appears
to be going this way with its upcoming
sequel, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, and the
early results appear to be fantastic.
The
12-mission single-player campaign will
feature three difficulty settings. The
missions have more varied and deeper
objectives this time around, and you'll
see a handful of in-engine cut scenes as
you play. This will provide more back
story for your missions, and you'll even
get to see the masterminds behind the
game's terrorist activity this way. Your
performance in one mission will also have
an effect on how the next missions play
out. For example, if you go loudly through
a mission, setting off alarms and letting
everyone know you're there, the next
mission's enemies may already be on alert
when you get there.
The
AI for both the enemies and your SEAL team
has been improved. Also, improved
animation and speech will keep you
informed about how the AI is reacting to
your actions. Enemies will act surprised,
your teammates will talk a lot more, and
you'll generally have a better idea about
why the AI acts the way it does. The AI is
more responsive to your presence and will
be more apt to investigate nearby noises,
such as your team making its way through
nearby underbrush. You'll also have more
control over your teammates. With the new
"over watch" command, you can
set up shop in a sniper spot and have your
teammates act as spotters, calling out
enemy locations to you as they see them.
Multiplayer
is also a huge focus for SOCOM II, and
Zipper seems very dedicated to improving
upon some of the issues found in the
original game. The biggest deal here is
that SOCOM II will feature some pretty
hefty cheat protection, but there are also
quite a lot of game play and interface
improvements that should please fans of
the original. The original three game
types from SOCOM return, as do graphically
improved versions of all of the original
game's multiplayer maps. These will be
joined by 12 new multiplayer maps and two
new game types. VIP escort works similarly
to the hostage missions in the original
game, but here the SEAL team starts out
with three AI-controlled VIPs who must be
protected and extracted before the
terrorist team can take them out. Breach
sets up one team as base defense and the
other as an offensive team. The offense
will use high explosives to get into the
enemy's base, while the defending team
must prevent its base from being overrun.
Explosives can also be used to block
certain routes, either by filling areas
with rubble or destroying bridges.
The
control in the game has been improved.
Many SOCOM players found themselves
accidentally pushing in L3, which would
have the annoying effect of switching you
from full-auto to single-shot
fire--definitely not something you want to
have happen in the middle of a firefight.
Now, there is a short delay on the
rate-of-fire change, so you'll have to
push L3 for a half-second or so before it
will have any effect. The stance-change
control has also been changed. It's now
handled in an analog fashion. Tapping the
button will move you from standing to
crouching, while pressing the button all
the way down when standing will let you
dive down to a prone position.
On
the interface side, big enhancements have
been made to the multiplayer front-end and
reward system. You'll now be able to use
voice chat in game lobbies, instead of
just text. Support for clans has been
bumped up quite a bit, and SOCOM II will
keep track of clan rankings, allow for
clan challenges, and have an option for
clan-only practice matches. A friends list
and an ignore list will let you keep track
of other players, and rankings have been
expanded a lot. The game now has a system
called "medals of merit," which
are post match awards that sound as though
they'll lead to the unlocking of new
player models and skins. All of the game's
statistics will be viewable from any Web
browser, as well as in the game itself.
When using voice chat, the name of the
player currently speaking will appear
onscreen, making it easier to figure out
who needs what. A new compression setting
is being used for voice in the game, which
should make the voice chat sound a lot
better. Along with the 16 players in a
game, you'll also be able to allow up to
eight spectators to watch your online
matches. Player and spectator modes can be
separately passworded, meaning that you
can let anyone watch your clan matches or
allow only certain players to watch.
Finally, you'll also be able to use a USB
keyboard to use text chat inside of
matches.
Along
with the complete list of weapons from the
original SOCOM, 16 new weapons will be
added to the game. There will also be two
new weapon classes: shotguns and rocket
launchers. Weapons like the RPG-7 behave
realistically in that they're only
effective at longer ranges--the rocket
doesn't arm immediately, meaning that if
you use it at close range, the rocket will
just bounce off whatever it hits without
exploding. You will also be able to call
in air strikes, using other players as
spotters to figure out when and where to
pound enemy locations.
Graphically,
the game looks a whole lot smoother. The
player models have a much nicer look to
them, and the environments benefit from
improved lighting, bump-mapping,
reflective textures, and better, more
natural water effects. Even with these
improvements in place, the frame rate
appears to be smooth. The team is hiring
higher-caliber voice actors for the
in-game speech, which should make it sound
a bit more realistic.
SOCOM
II: U.S. Navy SEALs is currently scheduled
to be released in November.
E3
Pre-Show Report
Written
By Jeff Gerstmann, Gamespot
Posted
on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 by Snake
Zipper
Interactive's SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs was a
fantastic third-person team-based online
shooter, and it remains one of the
PlayStation 2's strongest online games.
Now the developer is hard at work on a
sequel that adds more cheat protection,
more game play types, more weapons, and
more maps.
While the focus is definitely on the
game's online mode, the single-player
options are no slouch, either. The game
will have 12 missions in its single-player
campaign, which takes you through various
hot spots around the world, like Algeria,
Albania, Brazil, and Russia. The voice
headset plays a role here as well, and
you'll be able to order your AI-controlled
team around with voice commands. SOCOM II
will feature more voice commands than the
previous game. Friendly forces will also
come into play in the campaign, and you'll
be working with the British SAS and the
Russian Spetznaz as you play.
The popular demolition, suppression, and
hostage-rescue map types return in SOCOM
II, but there will also be new game modes,
such as VIP escort and breach. There will
also be more post game commendations this
time around, like medals of merit.
There will be a pretty big collection of
new weapons and items in the game,
including LAW rockets, RPGs, handguns,
assault rifles, sniper rifles, submachine
guns, shotguns, machine guns, grenades,
laser designators for calling in air
strikes, explosives, remote-detonated
mines, and newly tweaked night vision.
SOCOM II will have an updated front end
for its online play, allowing for
customizable player profiles and a new
ranking system that can be viewed from
outside the game via your computer's Web
browser. You'll also be able to keep track
of your friends via a buddy list. In the
game, you'll be able to always see which
player is talking via an onscreen
indicator, something that was sorely
needed in the previous game. In addition,
the team is taking steps to prevent the
rampant cheating that currently plagues
the SOCOM servers. In fact, some of these
anti-cheat measures will be rolled out and
tested on the current SOCOM servers.
SOCOM II is scheduled to be a
broadband-only title, and up to 16 players
will be able to play online in each game.
SOCOM II is currently on track for a
November release
Zipper
Interactive Interview
Written
By Douglas C. Perry, IGN
Posted
on Monday, May 12, 2003 by El Burrito
May
09, 2003 - In
the summer of 2002 Sony Computer
Entertainment America and developer Zipper
Interactive teamed up to deliver the first
PlayStation 2 online game to reach truly
mass audiences. The game: SOCOM: US Navy
SEALs.
Less than a year later, SOCOM has
pushed the sales of the Network Adaptor
like no other game, and its success has
been duly noted by its critics, developers
and players. This fall, Zipper plans to
capitalize on its burgeoning success with
a full-on sequel. Packed with new
features, tweaks and improvements, SOCOM
2: US Navy SEALs looks to bolster what was
weak, strengthen its better aspects, and
deliver a more comprehensive online
package. Zipper listens carefully to its
users and has addresses nearly every
aspect of the game, from control to
mission types to solving online cheating.
To get a better sense of the
project goals, we spoke with David Sears,
creative director and Brian Soderberg, the
co-founder and chief technology officer at
Zipper Interactive, and Seth Luisi, senior
producer at Sony Computer Entertainment
America.
"We've committed to producing
a fully realized sequel and you're right,
a year isn't that much time," said
Sears, in response to IGN's queries.
"Fortunately at Zipper we have a lot
of talented people and a formidable team
mentality. The SOCOM you know has been
refined and polished and we've expanded on
our strengths. New voice commands, more
focused teammate responses, more community
support in multiplayer, new multiplayer
game types -- it's a long list. We also
listened to what our audience was saying
online and included many of their
suggestions in the sequel's design."
Once again taking on the role of an
elite Navy SEAL commander, players will
explore through 12 single-player
international missions (from Algeria and
Albania to Brazil and Russia) using the
coolest and most up-to-date weaponry and
training. Multiplayer missions have been
crafted to lead players into different
realms of play and newer, more intense
missions.
"Single player missions are
also physically larger with more varied
terrain types," added Sears.
"Players will still deploy to the
jungles, deserts, and forests, but we've
included many urban areas. The enemy AI is
much more sophisticated in using the
environment to its advantage and will not
only notice the sound of a player's
movement but detect the movement of
foliage so it's even more important for
players to move stealthfully.
"There was substantial story behind
the terrorist's actions in SOCOM I but it
was often overshadowed by the combat. In
SOCOM II part of the reward of being
stealthy is increased insight into the
motivation and future activities of the
enemy. Overhearing a conversation between
two terrorists may yield intelligence that
makes subsequent missions easier. We've
also included secret objectives in each
mission that don't appear in the TACMAP
(Tactical Map) that can also influence the
difficulty of future missions but the
player has to find these objectives
themselves."
Terrain ranges from deserts to
forests and newly designed urban settings,
which puts gamers in both indoor and
outdoor environments, and players will
experience changing weather conditions and
different times of the day and night.
Players should take note that many of the
new settings are packed with moving and
interactive objects such as vehicles and
machinery.
Like in last year's effort, the
story-based mission types will vary from
attack, defend, rescue and more. New
mission types include Demolition, Hostage
Rescue and Suppression in single-player
modes, and Breach and Escort in
multi-player missions. Enhanced online
missions types include Medals of Merit,
friends' lists and that ability to call in
air strikes (five kinds in all). Players
will once again command their troops using
the SOCOM-compatible headset or via
on-screen text messages.
If nothing else, Zipper is bent on
delivering a passionately authentic
SEALS-style game. Working closely with the
Naval Special Warfare Command to ensure
realistic SEAL game play and mission
designs. Along with your own troops,
players can collaborate with special
forces such as the British SAS and the
Russian Spetznaz.
In multi-player mode, players will
explore and fight in new combat
environments with mission types including
demolition, suppression and hostage
rescue, as well as new mission types VIP
escort and breach. Gamers can customize
their character profiles, view the newly
designed ranking system on the Web, and
meet, chat and team up with other players
online. But how will the multiplayer game
change and improve?
"In multiplayer, maps really
encourage people to play as a team
more," explains Sears. "For
example, you can call in air strikes using
a radio in your base but you can't see the
strike zones from the radio. You need
teammates to tell you when the enemy is
entering the kill zone. Tactically you
need to breach walls with explosives to
access alternate paths; you can block
primary access points for the enemy by
detonating explosives at key junctures in
the map. Turreted machine guns and grenade
launchers can give you an immediate
advantage from the start of a game. Of
course, environments are generally larger
and have more secret areas."
The first SOCOM ran at a relatively
smooth 30 frames per second, and while it
didn't boast the best graphics and
textures online, it was surprisingly
clean, well textured, and more than
anything authentic in its re-creation of
Navy SEALs actions, clothing, and
weaponry. In this new sequel, the
technically savvy guys at Zipper have
pounded their PS2 programming books to
grind even more from the complicated
machine.
"We've come up with several
new technologies to provide a more
authentic look and feel," explains
Brian Soderberg. "We're delivering
multiple world texture render phases --
this allows us to use more high resolution
textures for more detailed looking terrain
and objects in the world; environment
mapping, which creates realistic looking
reflective water and shiny surfaces; car
and building windows can now, in the
missions, reflect the environment. And
there are others. We have improved weapon
effects -- all SOCOM II weapon effects
have been re-worked to more accurately
simulate the real-world weapons and their
effects; projected light & shadows --
this provides more realistic lighting
interaction with the characters that in
turn provides more realistic cover and
concealment for the SEALS and
terrorists."
Visually, SOCOM II's overall engine
performance has improved. This translates
into a wealth of improved details,
including things like efficient
transparency processing (a more efficient
method to process transparent vegetation
and plant growth). Better transparency
processing also means the team has
incorporated more vegetation into the
SOCOM II missions, which in turn creates
more hiding places, and thus creating a
greater level of stealthy maneuvers for
both SEALs and terrorists.
While the first SOCOM offered
gamers a healthy arsenal of weapons,
heavy-duty power weapons weren't part of
the formula. No doubt there were cool
weapons. The sniper rifles, M16s, satchels
and claymores were indeed good fun. This
time around, players can get their digital
hands on several new weapons, including
the latest in LAW (Light Armored Weapons),
RPGs, handguns, assault rifles, sniper
rifles, shotguns, sub-machine guns,
machine guns, grenades, laser designators,
explosives, and remote detonated
anti-personnel mines. Players are sure to
ogle over the new night-vision interface.
Zipper has accurately reflected each
weapon's life-like accuracy, and smart
players will notice that game play is
affected by many real-life factors such as
fatigue, movement and weapon recoil. AND,
there are also two new weapon classes,
rocket launchers and shotguns.
"The rocket launchers and shotguns
really round out the SOCOM II
arsenal," says Soderberg. "This
time around players will have AT-4s when
playing as a SEAL, though the terrorists
are a close match for them with their
RPG-7s and PMNs (landmines). We will
include at least one new weapon that's
being field tested now, but if successful
would be in widespread usage during the
game's near-future timeline. Generally
we've kept our focus on the more personal
aspects of play: get close enough to your
enemy to take him out with reliable
weaponry that does the job every
time."
Zipper has paid attention to
exactly how the game functions correctly
online, as in it's been watching the
cheaters and it believes it's come up with
solutions. In the first few months after
release, regular online playing was
relatively free of cheaters and hackers,
but as the months progressed the Game
Shark hackers worsened. Now with SOCOM 2,
how will Zipper quell the cheaters and
hackers who have ruined so many gamers'
online playtime?
"We take the cheating very
seriously and have some very aggressive
plans for SOCOM II," explained Seth
Luisi. "We really do not want to give
away our hand, but I can say that we are
dedicating a large amount of resources to
prevent cheating in SOCOM II. Also, we
have some plans for SOCOM I as well."
Soderberg adds: "We never
thought that cheating would get so out of
control in the online console environment!
We know that this has become a big problem
in SOCOM I. We have spent a good deal of
time developing ways to greatly minimize
cheating for SOCOM II.
"We will address cheats in 2
ways: First, we will address all known
cheat types explicitly as part of the
delivered SOCOM II DVD, based on all we
have learned from the SOCOM I experience.
We can't really explain our approach here
since that would give the hackers clues to
coming up with new approaches to cheating.
Second, we also have a post-deployment
approach to allow us to quickly address
cheats developed after the game is
released. We will have a post-release team
actively addressing cheats as they are
found. Once again, it doesn't make sense
for us to explain our approach."
And last but not least, Zipper has
worked to improve its voice-command
system, from the type of commands to the
interface. There are new shorthand
commands, a command called Over watch for
sniping and several new secret commands
players will learn later. Players can even
use sub-channels for offense and defense
to more easily communicate with teammates;
there's even an all new "who's
talking" display.
"The interface for speech
recognition has always allowed players to
issue short commands to their team without
using the slower but sometimes useful
subject /verb/object menu system,"
said Soderberg. "Players can still
instruct members of their team to throw a
grenade just by saying 'BRAVO DEPLOY
FRAG.' To add to this sort of immersive
play we're adding more shorthand commands
that give you more precise control of your
team. For instance, you can order your
team to lower their visibility profile
instantly just by saying 'TEAM GET DOWN.'
"Teammates now understand the
commands for three distinct movement modes
including a slow and cautious stealth mode
that minimizes the likelihood that your
team will be discovered when in the field.
There's a command called "OVER
WATCH" that lets the player take the
role of a sniper while a teammate calls
out enemy movements. These are just two of
many changes to the team commands, and of
course there are a number of new secret
commands that players intimidate
enemies."
In the end, SOCOM 2: US Navy Seals
looks to show just how dedicated Zipper
Interactive is in its drive to create a
better online military action game. From
the new mission designs, varying new
environments and better graphics to the
more controlled online play and tighter
interface, SOCOM 2: US Navy Seals looks to
give fans exactly what they are clamoring
for. We'll have more new information from
the show, we promise.
Genesis
Written
By Snake
Posted
on Saturday, May 10, 2003
What's
up?
After only 24 hrs the site is up and
running! Welcome to SOCOM online!
I'll be posting news, and content to fill
our pages over the next few days, so
please be patient as we work out the
details, and bring you the best damn SOCOM
info out there!
Anyways, let me know what you think- your
opinion means a lot to me! You can contact
me at Zzephyer@hotmail.com.
I look for to your e-mail, as I have
noting better to do than read what's on
your mind!... Actually, I'd much rather
you post your thoughts in our forum!
cya
around kids!
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