Sideway: New York is Only on PSN Starting Today

In Hollywood circles, there is a well-known tradition where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will skip town and go somewhere remote right about when they have a big movie opening. They do this mostly for good luck, but also to avoid the press and ignore the grosses. Basically, they generally try to get their mind off of the project they’ve dedicated much of their recent lives to create.

I mention this because our adventure platformer Sideway: New York is all wrapped and done and will be available only on PSN as of today’s PlayStation Store update. I also mention this because at this moment, a few of us here at the studio are out in Zimbabwe embarking on a new work project. (Oooh, I can just see the screaming blog headlines now: “Game Developer compares his game to Star Wars”).

I mention this preamble principally because my beloved perfect record for responding to questions and comments on the PlayStation.Blog is (*sniff*) about to be sullied and I don’t want you to think I am ditching. Basically what I am saying is that “It’s not you, baby…it’s me.” I just don’t think there will exactly be rich wireless access where we’re gonna be, so keep that in mind when you’re asking anything in the comments, which is to say it’s best to stick to questions that can simmer a week and to avoid looking for advice on burns and cuts, what tie goes with that jacket or general crises of faith that are best suited for immediate and professional help.

Anyway, this PlayStation.Blog entry is more about reflecting on going “from A-Z” in a “working with our partners at Fuel Entertainment to create something from scratch that we’re really, really proud of” sense. If you have no idea what I am talking about, and even if you do, check out this action montage from the game below:

Sideway: New York is a nice mix of platforming, exploration and action to keep things fun and interesting throughout. The game is easy to pick up and play, but it gets more challenging as you progress. There are a ton of unlockable paint powers, speed runs, puzzles, hidden tags and areas to find, and the levels and enemies get more and more twisted as you make your way through a single day trapped on New York buildings all the way to Times Square for the big finale.

Yessir, you can have all of that awesome permanently burned into your mind today for $9.99 — $7.99 if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber (this week only). In a lot of ways, Sideway was a way for us to bring some life back to the platformer genre, a genre that I think gets a bum rap as as being stagnant.

In any event, it’s been a positively rawkin’ experience getting the game ready for you guys, and we really hope you like it one-third as much as we loved making it. And hey, maybe one of you will be the first to find all of the score tags in the game…I’m not sure any our quality control guys or level designers have gotten all of them, yet.

Really, on behalf of all of us at Playbrains, Fuel Entertainment and Sony Online Entertainment, thanks for reading and following us throughout the game’s development, and I hope you get a chance to check it out on PSN today. And once you’re done playing the demo, you should definitely buy it, you cheap goober.

Hey, I’d buy your game!