inFAMOUS: Second Son Message Board older than one year ago

From the start, Seattle felt like the perfect locale for Second Son. Sucker Punch Productions is located just outside of Seattle, and we saw this as an opportunity to recreate the feeling of our home town. We wanted to capture a level of detail we had never attempted before using the amazing speed, graphics processing power, and high resolution output of PS4. Not to mention, being from here, we just couldn’t build a fake city with a fake Space Needle… I mean “Galactic Tower” just doesn’t sound right to us.

Our goal was to create an urban playground for the player as they experience Delsin’s amazing superhuman powers, so it was paramount that we capture the essence of the city. We wanted to give the player the feeling of walking down an alleyway and seeing the rain accumulate between the cobblestones, and the reflections of the rain-streaked, brick buildings and neon market signs. Or the feeling of looking up at the sun as it breaks through the clouds, sending rays of light through enormous pine trees. We challenged our team to create all the painstaking details of the atmosphere, architecture, and weather of Seattle, an open world complete with traffic, Seattle denizens wearing real, 3D-scanned clothing, expansive vistas, and destructible environments that are interactive with your powers. It’s also running at true 1080p.

The city also tells a big part of our story. Seattle is under martial law, and the presence of an oppressive police state is visible on every street. We licensed real local businesses to lend a credible feeling of being in Seattle, so as you recognize these well-known sites being suffocated by the DUP’s tactical gear, you get the idea that this nightmarish scenario could actually happen. Icons like The Space Needle, the monorail, and even local quirks like the “gum wall”, gives Second Son the feeling of a living, breathing city that needs Delsin to set it free.

We’re lucky to have one of the most talented and hard working environment, lighting, and effects art teams in the industry who are pushing hard to ensure that everything is the definition of “next gen.” We’ve worked hard on making the environments in Second Son look beautiful and feel as realistic as possible while also supporting a compelling narrative. We’re all excited to have players jump in and make their own adventures in our Seattle.

Sure, when you play inFAMOUS Second Son, you’re going to “enjoy your power.” But which one are you going to enjoy the most?

Delsin absorbs the ability to control Smoke in his hometown, and then goes to Seattle to find more conduits and gain their powers, starting with Neon. These power sources have different strengths and weaknesses, requiring you to change up your tactics. This has led to an ongoing debate on the design team about which power is actually the best.

Darren Bridges (Power Designer): Ok, is this really a debate? Smoke is the clear winner. There’s nothing better than dashing in and choke-slamming some DUP stooge, then firing a Cinder Blast that destroys the tower his buddies are standing on.

Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer): Sure, if you want to get your hands dirty, Smoke is great. But Neon is clean and streamlined. You’re basically firing lasers out of your hands, so you’re a natural sniper. With Neon, combat is all about precision from a distance. Each shot hits hard, especially if you’re targeting the enemy’s weak points. Neon lets you dissect a squad of Dupes like a glowing purple surgeon.

Darren: Sniping is cool, but Smoke lets you travel through air vents and launch yourself out over the rooftops. It turns the entire city into your own personal playground. And smoke is everywhere — if you run out, you just damage a car and get some more. That’s like being able to punch a cow and make hamburgers fly out.

Jaime: Interesting metaphor… But who needs to go on a “vent hunt” when you can just run straight up a wall, instead?! Neon gets you where you want to go, fast. And enemies aren’t going to be able to hit a streak of light. Plus, draining Neon looks cooler.

Darren: Orbital Drop. [...mic drop]

Jaime: Dude. Not fair. You know PR won’t let me talk about the Neon — thing — that you almost see right at the end of this new teaser video.

PS4 Truckin': here's a scene from the PS4 launch party, where apparently Infamous: Second Son is being played on the side of a truck. I wonder what's in the truck? I bet it's a bunch of Xbox Ones. (Via Billy Harper)Read more...

Fans of Cole McGrath will be able to find out what happened after Infamous 2. Yay! But the only way to get the Cole’s Legacy DLC is to pre-order Infamous: Second Son collector’s edition. Boo!Read more...

The PS4 launch is right around the corner, which means plenty of fantastic, next-gen games to check out on November 15th! But today, we’re here to update you on Infamous: Second Son. Sucker Punch Productions has devoted tremendous effort to it so far, and we’ve been working with them to reward gamers who pre-order with not only the exclusive vests we announced, but also an upgraded, limited edition that gives you a unique foil cover, as well as Cole’s Legacy DLC.

Behold! The Infamous: Second Son Limited Edition! Like the title says, it’s limited, so if you’re interested, don’t forget to pre-order. This item won’t be available after launch.

Don’t worry if you’ve already pre-ordered, by the way. You’ll automatically be upgraded to the Limited Edition!

But what’s this Cole’s Legacy DLC we mentioned? For one, it won’t be available for purchase when Infamous: Second Son launches. It’s only available through these offers here. It’s additional downloadable content you’ll be able to play that uncovers what happened between the devastating events of Infamous 2 and Infamous: Second Son.

Cole MacGrath’s actions in New Marias set in motion a chain of events leading to the now forceful occupation of Seattle by the oppressive Department of Unified Protection. Cole’s Legacy bridges this gap in time with a series of missions Delsin Rowe must complete that reveal unique insights into how the world of Infamous: Second Son came to be.

And for those of you looking for something to collect, look no further than the Infamous: Second Son Collector’s Edition.

The Infamous: Second Son Collector’s Edition contains everything you need to get into the Infamous universe. This beautiful, very limited collector’s edition contains a copy of Infamous: Second Son, an exclusive cover, exclusive in-game vest, a replica of Delsin’s beanie, a set of pins, decals, a DUP patch, and Cole’s Legacy DLC!

The Limited and Collector’s Editions will be gone pretty quickly, so be sure to pre-order before the game comes out early next year, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more Infamous content and news!

The PlayStation 4 launch is almost-kind-of-near-but-still-3 months-away, and we hope you’re excited for it as much as many of us are over here. If you caught word of how things went at Gamescom and PAX, we had a lot of great news and announcements — particularly the tease of a brand new power and reveal of a new character for Infamous Second Son! Coming early next year, the team over at Sucker Punch Productions is excited to keep talking to you about the game over the next few months, and show you even more leading up to our launch.

Speaking of more, we decided to pack in even more Infamous news this month with the announcement of our pre-order offering for Infamous Second Son!

We’re happy to announce these exclusive vests, designed by Seattle locals Penny Arcade, the good folks over at iam8bit, San Diego street artist Exist 1981, and artista y disenadora, Jos! The entire set is available exclusively via pre-order of Infamous Second Son at participating retailers. Check out the designs in greater detail below!

These will only be available via pre-order, so be sure to get yours in before the game comes out early next year, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more Infamous content and news!

The free-roaming super-powered action-adventure Infamous: Second Son appeared at Gamescom with a trailer featuring Fetch, a fellow conduit, who will presumably serve an important role of some sort in the game. Sidekick? Love interest? Escort mission target? We'll find out when the game drops in February for the PS4.Read more...

Hello again from Germany! We just kicked off our Second Son behind closed door presentations for our media friends here at gamescom, and we wanted to give you all a glimpse at what we’re talking about behind the scenes. We’re using the new DUALSHOCK 4 controller for the PlayStation 4 in some really cool ways to bring players even deeper into Second Son with new gameplay controls and mechanics, making them feel like they’re superhuman themselves.

Well we were going to write a few paragraphs outlining why you’ll enjoy playing Second Son DS4; however, Ted Fishman summed it up best in this video by stating, “I hold this controller all day, and honestly I can’t wait till this comes out, because I want one of these controllers at home.”

We’ll have more news on Second Son throughout the summer, so stay tuned to the PlayStation blog for the latest. Of course, let us know what you think on Twitter and on our official Facebook page.

Enjoy!

“Well, if the good ending is canon, then it’s not Cole in the new game. And if it’s not Cole, it’s probably not electrical powers, right? And if it’s some other power source, what is it? And is that still Infamous?”

These were the questions that came up as soon as we started planning for our next game. Quite daunting, considering back then it was only my second week at Sucker Punch Productions. (That reminds me… Hi! I’m Jaime Griesemer, the Lead Designer on Second Son.) However, the team was full of ideas. Some were what you might expect: Earth powers! Water powers! Some were less traditional: Control over birds! Car powers! The power of friendship! We accumulated a list of dozens and dozens of possibilities. In the end, we decided that the reason electricity worked so well was because it was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Not a familiar trope, but not too abstract. An elemental power, but a modern, urban one. As we narrowed down the list, one power source that kept coming up was “Smoke”.

Smoke is great. It’s not common enough in games that there are a lot of expectations about what it can do, but it’s ripe with potential uses. It fuels your imagination. “What happens when you throw smoke at someone? Of course it explodes, but maybe it could linger and send enemies into fits of coughing? How do we make smoke into a melee weapon? Like a whip or something? Where do you get smoke from in Seattle? Could you wreck a car and then absorb the smoke from the engine fire? How does it feel to get smoke pumped directly into your face? Probably not good. Hey, what happens if you can turn into smoke? I bet that would be handy in a fight…”

Smoke also comes with some challenges. I’m no rendering programmer, but apparently smoke “causes rampant overdraw” and “consumes fill rate” and would be an “incredibly difficult effect to pull off as the basis for the entire game” and that we “should pick something else.” Whatever, this is new hardware! Let’s see what PS4 can do! Turns out, Sucker Punch’s programmers and artists were up for the challenge, and being a first party studio working directly with the hardware team has some advantages…

I think it turned out fantastic, but you can judge for yourself from the behind-the-scenes demonstration at the top of this post.

Spoilers follow for the ending of Infamous 2. Read more...

Update: A press release from Sony clarifies that Infamous: Second Son won't be available on launch day, but rather prior to March 31, 2014 in the first quarter of next year.

Original: Sony has confirmed that Infamous: Second Son - the third title in the open-world series from developer Sucker Punch - will be available when the PlayStation 4 launches later this year. The release window was revealed during Sony's E3 2013 press conference.

Also mentioned as launch titles were Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack: both previously confirmed as launch titles for the upcoming console.

Sony has confirmed that Infamous: Second Son - the third title in the open-world series from developer Sucker Punch - will be available when the PlayStation 4 launches later this year. The release window was revealed during Sony's E3 2013 press conference.

Also mentioned as launch titles were Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack: both previously confirmed as launch titles for the upcoming console.