Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Moves Closer to Gold

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UNCH
Hello again! The countdown is on and we are only two weeks away from a Gold Master. We’re down to the point where every minute matters. The QA departments are working around the clock (and around the globe … in Europe and Japan) looking for any last bugs that we need to get cleaned up before we can ship.

Things are hectic around our studio as we’re trying to juggle several tasks at once. Not only are we trying to wrap up production on the game, but we’re also working frantically on helping with the package design and the strategy guide as well. We’ve also scheduled one last impromptu focus test this weekend in our office so that we can check to make sure that any of the last minute tweaks we’ve made to certain aspects of the game haven’t thrown off any of the previous game balance tuning that we’ve done.

Richard Lemarchand was up North in the Bay Area doing a whirlwind media tour on Thursday and Friday of last week. He stopped by the offices of many magazines and websites to show off the latest build of the game and to give some last minute updates before we send off the final disc for review. Be sure to keep an eye out for coverage and gameplay footage online. This preview from IGN is one of the first I’ve spotted.

We’re also preparing to create another trailer to be released in the coming weeks. Taylor Kurosaki, our video editor, is working on selecting the music to use in the next one and planning out the flow and the structure to tease the story just enough without giving too much away.

The final mixes of sound, music and dialog are all being added to our cinematics and it’s really coming together nicely. We’re also getting back all of our localized assets so that we can ship Uncharted simultaneously around the world in 13 languages!

For more information, be sure to visit the official game Web site.

Also Read:
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (Update)
Inside the Developers Studio: Evan Wells & Richard Lemarchand

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217 Comments

4 Author Replies

  • Good, luck with these last weeks, I work for a game developer and I know how insane it can get – don’t forget to sleep occasionally. Your game looks phenomenal and I can’t wait to play it.

  • Holy smokes, that screen looks awesome. Is there and “post-processing” or DOF applied to this one or is it straight from the game?

    Great work!

  • @ Evan Wells

    I hope you answer on this questions. Just a couple of days ago same video was released on GameTrailers and 1UP. One on GameTrailers looks AMAZING, while quality on 1Up is much much worse. Is it from different build or 1UP is just being anti Sony as usually and are posting low/bad quality videos?
    You can see here about what i am talking about
    http://www.n4g.com/ps3/NewsCom-72606.aspx

    Just one more think. Game seemed hard when you guys showed it last week on gamespot “On the spot” show. AI seemed to hit Drake very easily. What can you tell about that?
    I don’t want to sound like i am [DELETED] about it, just wondering.

  • The demo is still launching (US) before the games release right?

    The environment of this game is awesome. Believe.

  • Note to Sony:

    “Simultaneously around the world” does NOT mean New Zealand (which speeks English) gets the game 4 weeks after the US. We are closer to the factoray were it is made, not on the outer side of the planet like the USA.

  • Preordered today can’t wait for demo and the game. Thanks for the info You guys ROCK !!!

  • “Simultaneously around the world” does NOT mean New Zealand (which speeks English) gets the game 4 weeks after the US. We are closer to the factoray were it is made, not on the outer side of the planet like the USA.

    You know then it is prolly a legal issue—making a worldwide release you have to jump through a LOT of hurdles—I just asked a dude for instance at SCORE (www.score.org –a small business help site) about copyright law–in the USA if you make something that is identifiable (aka written piece of work, a line of code that is unique, a 3D model, a hand-made drawing etc) it is immediately copyrighted under a law passed in the 70s–but that only works here–so you have to jump through legal hoops on every part of the planet to make sure the game you spent countless hours and dollars on doesn’t get pirated and, through a legal loophole, some jerk who didn’t work on it makes money—LOL I used to work for an indie studio called XruxifiX–we mad a PC game that got pirated in Russia–we know cause we found box scans online that we didn’t make–so that is why I bring that up—I would be willing to bet you money that they are just being cautious and lawyers are finalizing some mundane detail so it doesn’t haunt them.

  • I’m looking forward to this baby.

  • Sweet looking.
    Quick Question: Demo?

  • @56 Then they shouldnt promote it as a “Simultaneouslyworld release”. If Mirocsoft can do a ture simultaneously world release (with in 2 days) for its first party titles then sony can do it to.

  • I’m back!

    Let me answer a few of these questions quickly:

    RE: Multiplayer – Uncharted does not feature a multiplayer mode. We really wanted to focus the entire teams efforts on creating the most engaging single player experience.

    RE: Screensots – Our screenshots are all captured directly from the game. There is post processing and depth of field, but that’s all being calculated real-time, and how it really looks in the game.

    RE: Languages – We do have spoken Dutch, but you can set it to spoken English with Dutch subtitles if that’s how you’d prefer to play it. In fact you can pick any combination of spoken language and text that you like.

    RE: Demo – Yes we will have a demo before the game hit’s the shelves, but we don’t have an exact date set yet.

    RE: International Release Dates – I hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth too badly. We are gold mastering all the languages at once, but due to the distribution differences between the various territories around the world there may be a few weeks difference between street dates from country to country.

    RE: Advertising – We are working closely with our advertising agency working on a wide range of marketing executions. The TV spot is being worked on and coming along nicely. All of this will start hitting soon. We want to wait until closer to release to for the big push. After all, it doesn’t do you much good to see something on TV that you can’t run out and buy!

  • i want to see nathan drake on coke bottles :)

  • Well thanks for answering, It would be nice if the rest of Sony was as good as communicatng with it customers as you are.

    December 12 cant come fast enough. :)

  • Good point about the advertising, Evan. Just wanted to make sure you were going to have some ads for this wonderful game.

  • @61

    Ditto! :)

  • Thank you guys for the info. And great with working with the marketing agency because I want this game to marketed well so you guys can sell the game well and so that it can push consoles and get people to buy a PS3

  • Ok sucks for no multiplayer, but how the hell where we expecting for one anyway, a bunch of Drake clones? Any way thanks for the quick answer. And looking forward to seeing this on TV. While I’m watching Raw… or sexy things 0_o

  • Will there be Remote Play capabilities? Please? :)

  • Ok sucks for no multiplayer, but how the hell where we expecting for one anyway, a bunch of Drake clones? Any way thanks for the quick answer. And looking forward to seeing this on TV.

  • will there be auto aim as i am a casual gamer. please!!!!!

  • @66

    That would be quite nice! :)

  • Can’t Wait Mane.

  • this is the game i want the most this year, i cant wait for it!!!

  • @ EVAN.

    I don’t even own a ps3 *yet*, I just signed up to say that your quick responses are amazing!

    Responses alone would be amazing, but you really are on top of this Uncharted release. Naughty Dog seems to be a really great studio, its just amazing to see this attention given to people on a comment list.

    I know people may not say thanks often, because it is more “GO GO GO , NEXT QUESTION, NEXT ISSUE!” But thanks for taking the time to keep me informed about this game. I hope that when you guys get bigger & bigger the customer relationship stays the same, after all.. we are all about to make you guys ridiculously rich!

  • are we going to see jak and daxter on ps3 in the futer ? :P

  • cool cant wait ….
    oftopic a bit
    :
    are we going to see jak and daxter on ps3 in the futer ? :P

  • dubble post sorry my first time here :P

  • @72 – I agree, it’s great that he responds to us. However, we already made them rich. They made Crash Bandicoot and the Jak and Daxter games, they aren’t some small studio trying to make it big, they already are big.

  • Thanks for the update. Its always great to see you guys on here and actually reply to our questions, concerns and comments. Can’t wait for the game.

  • Will the game be region free like all other PS3 games? I don’t want to wait an extra 3 weeks just to buy the game with 12 other languages I won’t use.

  • I am really looking forward to this game. I have to say this though; I am tired of people saying it’s just like tomb raider, but with a man. It’s not, if you did your research you’d know that. Play the game or demo before you make this comparison.

  • This game just sounds massive… I can’t wait!

  • @76

    I mean EA big. I know Naughty Dog isn’t some small studio.

  • The pic for this post is my new PS3 background. Booya

  • @ evan
    i noticed some screen tearing during the behind the scenes video(during gameplay) that came out in the playstation store. has this problem been fixed?

  • Hi Evan Wells,

    could you please address this issue I arised on the NeoGAF forum please?

    http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8119486&postcount=249

    It’s really bugs me.

    Here is an animated GIF to better describe the issue.

    http://i24.tinypic.com/16kndr5.gif

    Thank you.

  • Day 1 for me Evan, I promise you that. I have the same question as MUGEN02 as well, regarding the screen tearing.

  • Evan, I’m a HUGE Crash Bandicoot fan… and I still play the first installment ’till this day (ie to me, it’s up there with Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros.).

    I’m confident in Naughty Dog as the past has been a great indicator, and I cannot wait until I get my hands on Uncharted.

    I’m excited to hear of a demo, and your responses in the comments section have been great.

  • I just made this my PSP background, it looks fantastic!

  • hey sony, i was wondering if the 2.00 update got pushed back because of home?

  • @ Even Wells
    Listen to TTP.

  • Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune will be a great game, no doubt. I like how much polish is being put on this game. Heavenly Sword was a great game, but the framerate drops, and screen tearing slightly hindered the experience, so I’m glad that Uncharted is getting the polish that it deserves so that nothing will hinder the experience.

    After reading this blog, I am most definitely going to get this game. I was going to get it before, but this blog solidifies my purchase. With all the hard work, late nights, and weekends that Naughty Dog is giving to this project, Naughty Dog deserves all my money.

    Oh, and that new screenshot in this blog is impressive. This game deserves massive praise and hype. I hope the advertising of this game is massive, because it deserves it. This game is also going to sell very well. Uncharted will most likely become my Game of the Year.

    Thanks for taking the time to inform us about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and it’s progress Evan Wells. It’s very much appreciated. I can’t wait for the new trailer, and the release of this game in November.

    *bows down to Naughty Dog*

  • likely to be one i will be buying.. it looks challenging and fun.. i like the feel and look of the game so far.. i hope it does well..

  • A quick question for you Evan – I mentioned this in the other thread but I think you had finished answering questions by then (and thanks for taking the time to answer them!):

    I just noticed something in the latest gameplay video that I saw… You have your aiming and shooting functions mapped to L1 and R1. Why is this? The Sixaxis doesn’t have the best triggers but L2 and R2 are still the triggers. Will we be able to remap the controls? I’m used to using the triggers for firing now and I really don’t care for the L1 and R1 setup anymore.

  • Hi Evan !

    Thank you so much to take the time to answer our questions.

    1. Will you fix the tearing issue that plagued some videos ?

    2. Did you saw the differences regarding the settings between the gametrailers.com and gamevideos.com Harbor cutscenes ?

    3. Will you address the issue raised by the poster under the username TTP ?

    Thank you very much. For me it’s a day one purchase.

  • Shazam that screen looks awesome. Cant wait to get my Uncharted on……Speaking of Which!

    Will Uncharted support rumble from launch (for us who will import a Dualshock 3 from japan)?

  • Hi again,

    The screen tearing in the behind the scenes video is largely gone. The footage in those videos is soooo old (it makes me cringe!). Believe it or not the game looks even better now! Our game is locked to 30 FPS, so if the game is running faster than that, no tearing. Occasionally, when the framerate drops, we will swap the frame buffers mid-render creating a tear. We do this, so that the framerate doesn’t drop instantly to 20 FPS which is what we’d have to do to prevent the tearing. Instead we wait until the tear is going to happen near the top of the screen or the very bottom so you aren’t as likely to notice. In any event, the framerate is now stable so it’s not something that we have to do too often.

    And as for configurable controls, we obviously let you adjust your aiming axis preferences (and sensitivity) but we didn’t expose any button remapping. We spent a lot of time mapping the huge number of actions that Drake can perform to the fewest possible buttons. Opening that up for remapping would have been a can of worms and something that we didn’t think it necessary to tackle.

  • Looks to be a wicked game, hope it lives up to the hype!

  • Oh please, please, please, please add a second control scheme. Just let us switch L1 and R1 with L2 and R2, that’s really all I’m asking for. I definitely understand having the face buttons mapped for specific sequences and whatnot but this is a pretty big deal to me. I couldn’t even stand playing Resistance at first until I went in and remapped the controls. It just seems wrong to not use the triggers to aim and fire.

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