Naughty Dog will release a video game package that includes two blockbusters, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves The bundle is due July 22, ahead of the release of its highly-anticipated third Uncharted game, according to ComputerandVideoGames.com.
The bundle will cost $40 and include some goodies for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. It’s a good way to introduce new gamers to the series. BioWare recently began giving away free copies of Mass Effect 2, another triple-A title, alongside sales of its Dragon Age 2 game. Both games will be cheaper than the original $60 price tag they had, so it should be more appealing to gamers.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves won numerous awards as the best game of the year in 2009. This demo shows that the Naughty Dog team that made the game for the PlayStation 3 wants to push the envelope even more with the newest game, which comes out this fall. If they succeed, then they could easily have game-of-the-year material again. And that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Sony.
Independent studios with smaller budgets are often forced to come up with clever ideas and game mechanics to create popular and innovative titles. Studios like Naughty Dog — with titanic budgets and teams surpassing 200 people — work to create more cinematic experiences that stretch the limits of the gaming console and what games can offer gamers. It’s one of two ways the industry is pushing the envelope with video games.
It looks like Naughty Dog is trying to focus more on dynamic environments in the third version of its game. The company recently showed off a new level that takes place on a boat that sways constantly in a storm and has a lot of moving objects. At the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco earlier this year, Naughty Dog also demoed a 3D-enhanced level that had Drake escaping from a multi-story château that was burning and collapsing.
Uncharted 2 featured a level where players were running along a moving train that was riding through the jungle. Just about every part of the scene was constantly moving and the game didn’t slow down at any point. The château scene featured loads of fire and falling pieces of wood as the house crumbled around the hero Nathan Drake and his partner Sullivan.