Binary Domain to have 2 more squad members

[Pao]

IGN had a hands-on preview as well as an interview for Binary Domain, it contained some good new info, but their impression
with the game itself is pretty positive:

Set in Tokyo in the year 2080, Binary Domain's world is a very different place to the one we inhabit now. The line between man and machine is blurring, and humans are now capable of creating robots that are almost indistinguishable from themselves. International statutes have been put in place to prevent that, as a robot that looks and behaves like a human – and may even think it's a human – is seen as a threat.

Even so, sophisticated robots that pass as humans have been walking among us, and an attack on Bergen – one of the two major robotics companies – seems to indicate they're the work of Amada, the other leader in the field. Amada is based in Japan, so the player, as RUST Group operative Dan Marshall, is sent in to find out what's really going on. His squad has entered Tokyo illegally to track down the source of the lifelike bots, which means they've ticked off the Japanese government, who send in plenty of resistance to shut them down.

In terms of moment to moment gameplay, Binary Domain is a squad-based third person shooter where enemies can be blasted apart piece by piece. Shoot a robot's legs apart and it will drag itself towards you, clutching at your legs and setting off a self-destruct sequence. Shoot one of its arms off and it won't be able to reload its weapon, and will finish its clip then try and hit you with it. Blast a robot's head off and its fellow bots will turn on it, recognizing it as a potential threat to themselves as it fires blindly.

The limb-based damage makes combat satisfying and surprising, but isn't the only element that helps Binary Domain stand out. Players must also build and maintain the trust of their squad mates. They do this by backing their squad up, by coordinating with them, and by playing well. If you put your squad in a situation they're unlikely to survive, then guess what – they're not going to be your biggest fan. Unhappy squad members will be less likely to heal you when you go down, won't take directions from you, and will even hang at the back of a firefight. Why should they risk their lives for you?

It's an interesting idea, but a little early to judge just how intuitive it will be. Playing well - and bolstering trust that way - is one thing, after all, but it sounds like the system will be more complicated than that, taking into account how squad members want you to interact with them and want you to play.

We asked the game's director, Daisuke Sato, how many squad members there'll be and how they will differ. "The game has – in total – seven characters that you can choose from to take on your missions," he told us. "They all have different specialties and combat tendencies, so one is a sniper, another a light machine gun support role with a high firing rate that will give you covering fire. There's also a close quarters combat specialist and a tactician who likes to flank the enemy while you approach from the front. All of those differ as I've described, but we hope that people don't only choose characters that suit their play style, but may also [make a choice because they] like the character as a person, and want to raise his or her trust level. And if they have a similar play style to you, maybe you might want to change your play style a bit."

Giving your squad commands and responding to their dialogue can be done through the four directions on the D-pad, but perhaps the most intriguing aspect of squad interaction in the game is the voice command system. At a basic level it works in much the same way, allowing you to direct, praise or chastise squad members. There'll also be some scope to experiment, however, with a wide variety of additional commands recognised. Want to tell Faye – the sniper specialist – that you love her? You can, but she'll tell you to shut up and fight.

That was the example given in the demo, but why were non-combat commands included? "We imagined what gamers would say when they get angry at the game," Sato told us. "When people are playing video games and they get frustrated at an AI that's not doing what it's supposed to do, they might shout at the TV 'what are you doing?' or 'bullshit' or something like that, and we decided to support some of those words. After preparing that, we thought, well, if people find out they can say stuff like that and the NPCs react to it, then how about we add some more; add something totally random that people might just blurt out, especially with a female character. So people can explore and discover words that aren't combat related, and we feel that's going to be part of the fun."


Aside from the end of the very first reveal trailer, Binary Domain has very much been presented as a story of action heroes blasting apart robots, but there's definitely the potential for the setting to have some subtlety. Your squad is invading Japan's oil illegally, and trying to destroy machines that – while in contravention of international laws – are indistinguishable from humans. Could the game have a Blade Runner-esque edge to it? Could it look at the morality of destroying machines this advanced?

"Why destroy these things when they're so close to human beings?" Sato mused when we asked. "The rule [prohibiting the creation of humanlike robots] has been set up because no one really knows what's going to happen if the boundaries between machine and man become too blurred, and what they don't know is a threat. In terms of the moral question, I can't really say. I hope that when it comes out you'll play it all the way to the end and see what kind of ending you're met with, and have the moral question answered there. Your question ties too deeply into the story to answer without giving it away."

So there you go. Not only is Binary Domain looking like a whole lot of fun, with an interesting angle for its squad-based gameplay, but we could well be in for a gratifyingly layered story to boot.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/118/1188935p1.html

[Pao]

Binary Domain Director Says Team Was ‘Fed Up’ With Yakuza Games

"In an interview which we will publish later this week we asked what led to the creation of the world seen in Binary Domain. Game Director on Binary Domain and Yakuza series, Daisuke Sato replied with the statement below."

Well Binary Domain was created by the same team that worked on all of the Yakuza series as well as another division who came together to become a large team. We had become fed up with the Yakuza series as we had felt that after four games, spanning both the PS2 and PS3, we had taken the series as far as it needed to go for now. We felt that moving into some new territory would be nice and we all quite liked the idea of bringing a world of science fiction to life. We decided nearly straight away that we did not want to set the game one hundred years in the future, and so we decided that a future that was not too far from our own would be best, as we can bring in current elements and imagine how things will have developed. We chose the location of Tokyo over places such as London or other world cities because it was somewhere that was always around us, many of the team have never left Japan and so a game world based outside of the country would have felt less believable. We decided that going for a New Tokyo made sense as the team knew about the city the most and could really take the feel and bring it into the game. It also fitted very well because Japan is known for technology and innovation so by setting the game in this place it would seem sensible that androids would be living there in large numbers. Choosing to create a game that was a Third Person Shooter was not initially what we had in mind. We were not sure what we should do but in the end the shooter fitted. It was not just as a way to appeal to a larger Western audiences, as traditionally the Yakuza series does poorly outside of Japan, by creating a shooter we would loose some of that audience because the Japanese largely do not enjoy shooters. We felt that this game could open the window of entry to both sides of the globe as we could interest Western fans with the shooting and gameplay and interest the Eastern audiences with the involving story and character interaction too.

http://thegamershub.net/2011/08/binary-domain-team-member-says-team-was-fed-up-with-yakuza-games/


Also, release date is 14 February.

[Barry the Nomad]

The day of love... <3

[Deefy]

The day of love... <3

Coincidence? Will perhaps have to do with an obscure plot of the game?

[Suzuki Yu]

from GI

When I heard the words “near future,” “robots,” and “third-person squad-based shooter,” I have to admit that my eyes sank into my skull a little bit. Maybe it’s jet lag. Maybe it’s just a sign of genre overdose. After getting a demo of Sega’s Binary Domain, I can say that it brings more to the table than a heaping pile of cliché.

The story is set in the year 2080 in Tokyo. Robots are ubiquitous to our daily lives. A series of robots called hollow children have emerged, and their presence complicates things. They have egos, personalities, and, most troubling, they believe that they are human. Manufacturing robots with these capabilities is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, so an elite multinational force is assembled to go to Tokyo, figure out who is creating the hollow children, and put a stop to it.

The biggest draw to the game is that it uses something called the consequence system. Players are monitored constantly on the battlefield, and the way they perform directly affects the way your squadmates feel about you. They’ll notice when you’re hanging behind cover and not doing anything, or if you toss a grenade that takes out multiple enemies, for instance. If morale is low, you’re not going to get support or cover fire when you need it. If you play as a team and fight well, however, your teammates will go out of their way to ensure that the mission goes well.

I saw the effects of both extremes in action, and the differences were stark. Faye, a Chinese sniper, and Cain, a French combat robot were the companion AI during both demos. First, morale was low. While the AI fought against the enemy robots, they were clearly doing the minimum required to stay alive. When asked for cover support, they sassed back. Basically, it was rough.

On the other hand, a happy crew goes above and beyond. For instance, Faye noticed an enemy robot clinging to a wall, and she volunteered to take it out. I barely had time to spot it before its sparking ruins hit the ground.

Players can interact with the companions through button-presses, but there’s also headset support. There, players can have simple conversations even in the middle of battle. In the demo, the player called Faye’s name and she responded. She acted pleased when she was told that she was doing a good job.

There are seven total companions in the game, and each one has different styles. Some appreciate a hard-line approach, while others need to be coddled to remain effective during fights. Depending on the mission, one, two, or three companions will accompany player character Dan Marshall on his adventures.

Look for Binary Domain on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2012.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/binary_domain/b/xbox360/archive/2011/08/18/binary-domain-gamescom-preview.aspx

[Suzuki Yu]

an interview with Destructoid talking about the Trust System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rylUtttDQE#ws

[Trippled]

Kind of suprised to see someone from Sega speak Englsih that fluently. Iizuka lived in America for quite a while, yet doesn't speak it well. Naka speaks it fluently as well, yet he stayed in Japan most of the time I think.

ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKA DO YOU SPEAK IT

[Sharky]

Where the hell is the new trailer?! =|

[Pao]

Trailer? Pfft, here's a gameplay walkthrough!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW9mB_VneQg#ws

Some animations really needs to be ironed out, but overall its looks awesome!

EDIT: I noticed the "Pre-Alpha" written below... It's probably the E3 build then.

[CrazyT]

Ooohh... my.. fucking god. Looks great

[Suzuki Yu]

Awesome .... thanks Pao!

of course it needs some adjusting here and there but hey this is pretty great for a Pre Alpha demo.

[Sega Uranus]

Not sure what people were saying about the graphics. Outside of the low poly Gran Turismo 5 car, the graphics looked incredible! Some really great animations especially.

[Team Andromeda]

Not sure what people were saying about the graphics. Outside of the low poly Gran Turismo 5 car, the graphics looked incredible! Some really great animations especially.

Yes and at last some nice use of Next Gen shaders by the Yakuza Team and neat nice touches ( even on  the smallest item like fluttering flags and kicking up debris) It's not GOW, or Lost Planet II  levels of GFX, but its better than most of it's clones and a huge step up from Yakuza.

[Suzuki Yu]

a patch of new pictures released
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201108/27048972.html

i like the design for the long range robot

[ROJM]

Kind of suprised to see someone from Sega speak Englsih that fluently. Iizuka lived in America for quite a while, yet doesn't speak it well. Naka speaks it fluently as well, yet he stayed in Japan most of the time I think.

ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKA DO YOU SPEAK IT

Not suprising really. It depends if he socialized outside the business environment when he stayed in america. It just sounds like he kept within the confines of the Japanese business community that lives in america rather than interacting with everyday yanks. Which means he didn't have to bother learning to speak english that well. Happens all the time when it comes to foreign business.