Okay I am calling you guys out right now!
If you are going to use guns you will be forever branded a pussy! Real men fight with a katana. Can you block a bullet with a sword, Marchii? Well, can you?
Iga_Bobovic said:Okay I am calling you guys out right now!
If you are going to use guns you will be forever branded a pussy! Real men fight with a katana. Can you block a bullet with a sword, Marchii? Well, can you?
Why can't I block a bullet with a bullet?
I am Neo.
Badass Mega interview here with lead designer and creative lead
Snippets:
Roman: We started thinking about Red Steel 2 shortly after having finished Red Steel 1. We didn't want to make a Red Steel 2 just to make a second game, but really to have something new. We spent almost a year and a half doing prototypes, trying things out. And then, about 9 months ago, Nintendo unveiled Wii MotionPlus, and that's when we told ourselves we could really make a true 2. And the cool thing about a sword game with Wii is the movements you do. And when Wii MotionPlus came out, it was like a light that got turned on.
Blayrow: What can you tell us about the world? Will Caldera be the only place we can visit ?
Jason: The game begins in Caldera, then the story takes place in and around this place, so yes, you will visit other places. You won't just be in this town. But this is the zone that the hero's clan protected and he's back home. That's his connection with this place.
Blayrow: Will there be safe havens ?
Jason: Yes there will. I don't know if I can really talk about that now. Let's just say: a hero has to save people, and the plot isn't just about coming into the town to exterminate the bad guys, it's a ghost town. It's also about how the inhabitants help him and how he teaches them to defend themselves. You'll see more about this in the upcoming months.
Asky: The first Red Steel had many qualities (the soundtrack, atmosphere, direction, the gunfights, etc.) but also had a lot defects concerning finishing touches (irregular graphics, lots of bugs.) Are you able to reassure Wii players who appreciated the first Red Steel and convince those who are hesitating that this time the game will meet their expectations ?
Jason: That's a good question. I'm going to say that the heart of the Red Steel 1 team is still here, and has learned a lot. Everything that made Red Steel 1 is still present. If you liked Red Steel 1, chances are that you'll like the second one too. If you didn't like the first one, we realize that most negative comments concerned controls and graphics, and we worked hard on those for Red Steel 2. I think we fixed the controls. I knew we couldn't talk about Red Steel 2 before we had something concrete, because of the frustration caused by the first Red Steel. And for the graphics, you were able to see what they were like. I hope you'll like the game and that people will come or come back to try Red Steel 2. I think that people were frustrated by Red Steel 1, that it didn't fulfil its promises.
Interview with Lead game designer
Sounds like Metroid Prime 3 had a big influence. I will truncate all this greatly for the sake of reading, but the full thing is better folks. 
NL: How do you keep the variety in settings, or do you leave the desert later on?
RCO: We wanted a lot less travelling, to keep it more focused. There's still very different visual settings for each level, but they all fit together. There isn't any snow!
NL: I loved the safe-cracking minigame. Are there more elements like this later on?
RCO:There's more varied games like this throughout the game, but you'll have to wait to see them!
NL: I asked Jason whether he saw Red Steel 2 as the console's flagship FPS, like Halo or Killzone.
RCO: We were more influenced by Metroid Prime 3, but with our close combat gameplay and in a semi-realistic world.
NL: The game's pleasingly physical, even for a Wii game. How did things like cutting the doors and bamboo come about?
RCO: We really wanted to reinforce the game's core mechanic, and use the same movements in different ways. Metroid Prime does this too - when you see a door, you know what to do because of the way it gets you to recognise and repeat,.
NL: I noticed there's no "bullet time" in the demo. Is it going to be in the game?
RCO: (Smiling) It's in but it's different. That's all I'm saying!
NL: How far would you say Red Steel 2 is pushing the hardware?
RCO: I could say "this game is pushing the Wii to its limits!", but it wouldn't necessarily be true! I'll say that the first game was barely 30 frames per second, but this one is almost always running at 60fps.
NL: What would you say to our readers to get them even more excited about Red Steel 2?
RCO: Well, today you saw the lift move. If you get that within ten minutes of play, imagine what you get after five hours... (smiles)
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421073957/m/7461098867
Massive Q and A here with the producer.
Q: How does Red Steel 2 handle loading?
A:
One of the advantages of using the Lyn engine is that there is support in there for a certain amount of data streaming. We are using this to our advantage to create much larger spaces than the Wii could normally support. We still load from time to time for specific transitions (and these load times are quite manageable), but we intend for the majority of the experience to be largely load-free.
Of course, this means a certain amount of ‘portaling’ of the environment, but we think that’s a pretty fair trade.
http://kotaku.com/5308822/red-steel-2-preview-whack+tastic-fun
Tight Shooting Controls and Authentic Sword Swings: This is the first game I've played that makes the Wii Motion Plus feel like a godsend. The targeting reticule for the revolver barely wobbled even when I was wheeling sharply right or left to shoot at enemies or glass bottles. It also seems like the game can tell the difference between an actual horizontal slash and a lazy sort-of-horizontal slash that's actually more like an upward diagonal slash. Best of all, the game can read the strength of a slash, which feels so satisfying when you're delivering a strong vertical slash to the head of an armored enemy. Just be sure to actually wear your wrist strap.
It Looks Fabulous: The character designs and animations were smooth and the colors popped. I know there's not a lot of visual intensity to a dusty desert town, but the sky, sand and occasional fiery explosions looked really good.
Safe-cracking mini game: You can find safes in a level and crack them open for money to upgrade or buy weapons. The way it works is you hold the Wiimote to your ear to listen for the tumblers clicking as you turn the dial of the safe in the game with the Nunchuck. Sure, it might look a little silly – but I'm pleased to see the Wiimote's speakers being put to good use. And what kind of Western would it be if you couldn't crack safes?
You Can Deflect Bullets With Your Sword: Win.
Final Thoughts
I thought my bias against Red Steel 2 from not liking Red Steel would be canceled out by my bias in favor of Westerns and that I could pretend to be objective about this game. But truthfully, my love of Westerns and the sheer amount to which Red Steel 2 appeals to it overpowers any memories of Red Steel, so I have to admit I'm biased in favor of Red Steel 2.
Tons of new stuff today:
"The game has actually been worked on in one way or another pretty much since the end of Red Steel 1. The core team for Red Steel 2 is made up of largely the same people that did Red Steel 1. So there’s a lot of continuity there.
There was a lot of work being done in terms of research [and] about gameplay. What are we going to do? How can we make it great? The team wanted to make the next one really killer, really awesome. So we spent a lot of time really looking at the core mechanics, looking at the technologies, rebuilding that from the ground up. Making sure we can get the absolute most we could out of the Wii. There was a lot of questions amongst the team about can we really make this work with the basic Wiimote.
We tried a lot of things and certainly we got a long way. But when the Wii MotionPlus showed up, it was like “Oh okay. Well, [laughs] this is how this game should work!” was pretty much our response. When we plugged it in and tried that, wham! What happened it that [Red Steel 2] went from a shooter with a sword in it, to a sword game with guns in it. We really shifted the focus and that let us sort of go down and take our setting apart and look at it again. We created this new hero from the inside out based on that gameplay. "
"One of the core features [of Red Steel 2] is that the harder you swing, the more damage you do. It’s really cool. We know how hard you swing. So you can’t just play the game like this (demonstrates by shaking his hands really quickly).
This does not function for Red Steel 2. You’ve got to do this (swings out arms hard). Now you don’t have to throw your damn arm out [laughs]! You don’t have to, (swings arms out hard and grunting loudly). But you have to actually get your arms in the throw. We think we’ve defeated the waggle.
… this is the coolest Wii feature ever, for me … This is always what I wanted to do with the Wii … I think this is what the Wii is for, personally. Bam! Just that feeling. When I saw it, I thought “Dude, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen on the Wii.” I want to get this out to the fans and to myself. I want to play it! "
darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.
And you'll only have 10 words to say about it on the podcast!
darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.
Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Foolz said:gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Hmm . . . . *crosses game off to-buy list*
Ravenprose said:Foolz said:gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Hmm . . . . *crosses game off to-buy list*
It's Ubisoft, we all knew it would happen. 
Ravenprose said:Foolz said:gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Hmm . . . . *crosses game off to-buy list*
I hope you guys are joking!
Iga_Bobovic said:Ravenprose said:Foolz said:gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Hmm . . . . *crosses game off to-buy list*
I hope you guys are joking!
When am I not joking?
Foolz said:Iga_Bobovic said:Ravenprose said:Foolz said:gamingeek said:darthhomer said:Thought I'd bump this by saying that if everything goes to plan, I may be playing this game on Monday.Sonofa.......
The game has got its first bad previews actually, from joystiq and Destructoid. They said that it would get repetitive.
It's getting bad previews? It must be terrible then.
Hmm . . . . *crosses game off to-buy list*
I hope you guys are joking!
When am I not joking?
I wasn't joking.