Haze dated for PS3 this Autumn

By Robert Purchese Published 23 May, 2007

No mention of other formats.

Ubisoft has revealed that Haze will launch on PS3 this autumn. No mention was made of the previously announced Xbox 360 and PC versions.

The publisher has remained coy on the issue, telling US site Gamespot that, "Haze is leading on PS3, but no exclusivity for any platform has been officially announced." More confirmation is expected soon.

It's in development at Free Radical and will feature four-player jump-in co-op for the first time in an FPS.

The game will take place in 2048, a time when NATO and the UN don't exist. And because of this, most Western governments outsource their military requirements to Mantel Global Industries - an enormous army for hire.

This is where you will come in, as you jump into Sergeant Shane Carpenter's biomedically-boosted shoes and head down to South America to get rid of The Promised Hand rebels. But over the course of three-days your life will change forever.

While no specific details were divulged, Free Radical was keen to point out that this will be a mature and deep experience; one that will have you thinking long after you finish it.

"I can't say too much about it even at this stage, but it asks questions and raises issues that are worth debating long after you've finished the game," said Derek Littlewood, team leader for the game. "Visually, Haze will certainly set a new benchmark, but we believe it will also set a precedent for the quality of writing that we believe should exist in the next generation of games."

"There's more to HAZE than meets the eye, and there's certainly more to Mantel too. In fact, every aspect of the game holds a surprise, secret or twist - the storyline, the gameplay, the graphics. Nothing is safe!"

You'll get all the futuristic weaponry you'd expect, along with vehicles and explosives to fling around. But the real secret to spicing up the gameplay will be "Nectar", a bio-medically engineered nutritional supplement that increases soldiers' performance. It will have clear positive effects on your abilities, but there will also be drawbacks - ones that seem to gravitate towards the underbelly of the story.

Free Radical is also adamant that your experience will be seamless, allowing you to drift from one area of the story to another, without the hassle of navigating menus and breaking your immersion.

"It's a completely seamless experience - no loading screens, no missions select screens," Littlewood added. "This was a core aim from very early on in the project, because we're trying to create a realistic, immersive game world - and there are no loading screens in real life, my friends!

"We wanted to give the player a real sense of continuity throughout the game, so rather than simply jumping from one location to another, you'll catch a ride in a Mantel vehicle to get there instead. Think of it as a road movie through a war."

It sounds like it's shaping up very well, and we'll be bringing your our thoughts on the game from the Ubidays event in Paris soon.

Meanwhile you can take a look at the freshly released trailer, or pop into our Haze gallery for the sparkly screenshots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • zuljin #1 5 years ago

    "and there are no loading screens in real life, my friends"

    I think you'll find there are. In the games we play.

    /Congratulates himself on achieving ultimate pedanticness

  • Freelancepolice #2 5 years ago

    Timed exclusive or just something that slipped through microsofts fingers...

  • kissthestick #3 5 years ago

    http://us .gamespot.com/news/6171219.html...

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #4 5 years ago

    It's unclear at the moment, but we'll find out soon enough.

  • lambtron #5 5 years ago

    Might actually be the first ever decent FPS on a Sony platform.

    Note my standards are pretty high - by decent I mean as good as Goldeneye or Halo.

  • david78 #6 5 years ago

    Big wod of Sony cash perhaps. SpiderMan 3 made the company a shitload.

  • EmiliasHorse #7 5 years ago

    I wonder how much Sony had to splash to give them an exclusive FPS.
    Haze Vs Halo3..let's get it on.

  • krudster #8 5 years ago

    Hmm, I smell another AssCreed farce. Ubisoft doesn't really *do* exclusives, so I'd be very surprised if this happened.

  • supersoldier01 #9 5 years ago

    "I can't say too much about it even at this stage, but it asks questions and raises issues that are worth debating long after you've finished the game,"

    Such as why did I buy this instead of Halo 3.

    "It's a completely seamless experience - no loading screens, no missions select screens,"

    Wow - great! - didnt they do this 25 years ago on the Atari?

    "We wanted to give the player a real sense of continuity throughout the game, so rather than simply jumping from one location to another, you'll catch a ride in a Mantel vehicle to get there instead. Think of it as a road movie through a war."

    Let me guess - a cutscene in a vehicle...
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/07 @ 18:53

  • kissthestick #10 5 years ago

    Hmm, I smell another AssCreed farce. Ubisoft doesn't really *do* exclusives, so I'd be very surprised if this happened.

    Uhh, Splinter Cell 5?

  • EmiliasHorse #11 5 years ago

    Splinter Cell 5 will no doubt go PS3 in time...But Splinter Cell games along with Ghost recon series are not big sellers on Sony machines.

  • ecureuil #12 5 years ago

    I don't think Sony spent any money on this. As has been suggested, Ubisoft probably made this decision in order to avoid colliding with GTAVI, Halo 3 and Bioshock, all in consecutive months.

    It's not going to detract from Halo 3, that much is obvious.

  • Steroyd #13 5 years ago

    Hmm, I smell another AssCreed farce. Ubisoft doesn't really *do* exclusives, so I'd be very surprised if this happened.

    Only that it went from Multiplatform to "Exclusive" rather than the opposite.

  • TheJanitor #14 5 years ago

    another great exclusive for the ps3.

  • captainrentboy #15 5 years ago

    Bloody hell the PS3 getting an exclusive I'm marginally interested in? I'm shocked! I read the massive preview in this month's Edge and it seems pretty groovy, what with all the drug taking and stuff. The overuse of Yellow sickens me though, I hate Yellow.
    Like someone above thought, I think this will go to the 360 after the console's mega exclusives die off in early 2008, there will be too many better looking alternatives to this on the 360 come Chrimbo and this would probably get lost and ignored in the midst of all the other's hype.

  • Steroyd #16 5 years ago

    there will be too many better looking alternatives to this on the 360 come Chrimbo and this would probably get lost and ignored in the midst of all the other's hype.

    Which is probably why it's PS3 exclusive?

    I hope it has as many features as it does Timesplitters 2, my most enjoyable Console FPS ever.

  • The-Bodybuilder #17 5 years ago

    Good for sony and the ps3. Not good for ubi.
    I'm sure SOny didn't want MS and Halo 3 to run rampant in sales running up to christmas, so sent a barrel of cash down ubisoft's way to have an "exclusive" to minimize H3 damage.

    On paper, it's a logical thing to do (depending on how much they paid for).

  • The-Bodybuilder #18 5 years ago

    >"Ubisoft probably made this decision in order to avoid colliding with GTAVI, Halo 3 and Bioshock, all in consecutive months. "

    But ubi may de the losers of this deal (depending on how much it cost).
    I mean, having a not-so-well known fps on a console known for not selling fps's with the smallest userbase isn't the greatest idea.
    I mean, it's STILL gonna go up against those games you mentioned.

  • Les #19 5 years ago

    "I hope it has as many features as it does Timesplitters 2, my most enjoyable Console FPS ever."

    My only enjoyable FPS ever. I don't like shooters but Timesplitters 2 was fun on Gamecube.

  • ecureuil #20 5 years ago

    Resistance sold over 1 million copies on the PS3.

    No-one would buy this if it launched at the same time as Halo 3.

  • Haloboy #21 5 years ago

    A lot of gaming news sites seem very confused over if indeed Haze is now to be a PS3 exclusive or not.

    Would be a shame if it were to simply now never appear on the PC or the 360.

  • ecureuil #22 5 years ago

    Of course it will appear on the 360.

  • Jtyettis #23 5 years ago

    Kind of funny the developers laughed at the idea of any kind of exclusive for the title when asked this week and then went on to state they plan for it to hit all 3 platforms by year end. Bottom line is we all know they're in the works and being that this is Ubisoft publishing it will almost certainly come by March 08 on the 360 imo. They don't want to compete with the 360s lineup this fall. Here is the video;

    http://www .jeuxfrance.org/Multi/Haze_1.wmv

  • Freek #24 5 years ago

    Coy publisher == Timed exclusive.

  • #25 5 years ago

    Who cares if it's an exclusive or not. Get a f..... life.

    Do you ever play games, or do you use all your time to bitch on the forums!?

  • JediMasterMalik #26 5 years ago

    So EG...

    ...Are you going to fix your spelling mistake?

    It's exclusive, not exlclusive.

  • Monkey_Puncher #27 5 years ago

    Haze looks like a load of rubbish anyway, PS3 is welcome to it.....I joke, I joke!

    I hope it's not a PS3 exclusive :(

  • captainrentboy #28 5 years ago

    I'm not really sure why Steroyd quoted me, and then said something directly underneath that I had realised and already said :/
    I'm pretty darned sure this will go to other formats, sooner rather than later too, Ubisoft aren't stupid enough to miss out on that 10 million (+ by chrimbo) 360 userbase, but it would make absolutely no sense to release it anywhere near Halo 3, come Jan-Feb when we hit the post Christmas software drought the 360 owners out there will happily lap it up.

  • RE*AC*TOR #29 5 years ago

    Poor liverpool. Great effort. Lucky first goal. Oh well, another year. Well done Milan.

  • Vin #30 5 years ago

    It's a VF4 scenario.

    Still, who the fuck would actually WANT to play any kind of FPS with the sixaxis?

  • spongebob #31 5 years ago

    It's supposedly a timed exclusive. First on PS3 for a while, then on X360 and whatever follows.

  • jynxce #32 5 years ago

    I enjoy Free Radical titles and was waiting for it to drop on the 360. Oh well. On a side note: Notice how great this game has become to some now that it is Sony exclusive. Typical.

  • NegativeZero #33 5 years ago

    If this plays anything like Timesplitters 2 then I'm quite happy for Sony to have it. Something about Timesplitters 2 caused some kind of fundamental disconnect in my brain, I simply couldn't play it. Everything about it frustrated me.

    One less game to compete for my attention when the 360's rush of AAA titles begins.

  • SexyBodyBuilderDude #34 5 years ago

    Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of the games will likely be released at the same time or very close to each other. If the Xbox 360 version releases later, it will have better graphics and improved online features, just like all games released on both systems always receive higher ratings on the Xbox 360.

    Think about Ubisoft said similar things about Assassins Creed, but we now know that Assassins Creed will be released simultaneously on both systems, but the Xbox 360 version will have better artificial intelligence and include rumble features not included in the PS3 version.

    And think about Unreal Tournament 2007, now called Unreal Tournament 3. When it was called Unreal Tournament 2007 they wouldn't mention an Xbox 360 version; they only mentioned PC and PS3. When the game was renamed Unreal Tournament 3, we found out it would be released FIRST on Xbox 360 and PC, and last on PS3.

    So, I think there is a great chance this is nothing to be concerned about. This will be on Xbox 360 soon enough. I think the game might just be ready in the fall, but Ubisoft doesn't want to compete with games like Halo 3, Mass Effect, and Grand Theft Auto 4 with rumble and other special features on the Xbox 360.

  • eurocloak #35 5 years ago

    Wow they hype(on this site) for haze is off the charts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Genji #36 5 years ago

    "Wow they hype(on this site) for haze is off the charts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

    :-D

    Yeah, the hype is even more off the charts since it became a PS3 exclusive.

  • lambtron #37 5 years ago

    lambtron: What about Black, Timesplitters, King Kong and Resistance? You have played them right?

    I have played all of them Disc I own all except King Kong. They're ok, (resistance less so IMHO) but none of them are a patch on the two games I mentioned.