Author: Trafficblast

To mark the 10th anniversary of Sucker Punch’s action game Infamous, the studio shared a number of fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets and insight from the game’s development.

In a Twitter thread, Sucker Punch revealed all manner of things, including how the game at one point had motorcycle parkour (see in action in the GIF below), that it had the working title True Hero, and that the team wasn’t sure if they would legally be allowed to call it Infamous so they created a second trailer with a different title for E3 2007 where the game was officially unveiled for the first time.

Sucker Punch also shared that, earlier on in development you could change into civilian clothing in phone booths throughout the city and that a feature where the player could use super-powers to create new types of shops in the city to keep inhabitants happy.

Sucker Punch also toyed with the idea of adding “light” character customizatin to allow players to change things like clothing and hair and considered adding the ability to basically become super-Tony Hawk and skate through the city by riding an invisible energy field.

These are just some of the cool takeaways from the Twitter thread–you can see them all here.

Infamous was released in 2009, and it was followed up with Infamous 2 in 2011 and the standalone game Infamous: Festival of Blood that year. The franchise moved to PlayStation 4 in 2014 with Infamous: Second Son. The standalone game Infamous: First Light was also released in 2014.

Game development is an iterative process; things change all the time, and it’s fascinating to see how Infamous changed over the course of its development. This information is only just coming out now, 10+ years after the game’s release, and that might be due in part to the industry’s culture of secrecy.

Sucker Punch’s new game is the samurai action game Ghosts of Tsushima. The title is in development for PlayStation 4 but no release date has been announced.

Nintendo has already announced the date and time of its E3 2019 Direct, but that isn’t the only presentation fans have to look forward to next month. Ahead of the expo, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are also holding a special Pokemon-focused Direct presentation, which will showcase some new details about Pokemon Sword and Shield.

The Pokemon Direct is set for Wednesday, June 5, at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM BST. According to The Pokemon Company, the presentation will run for approximately 15 minutes and will reveal “new information” about the upcoming Nintendo Switch games. You’ll be able to livestream it on Nintendo’s website, YouTube, and Twitch channels. GameSpot will also have a stream up so you can tune in right here.

This marks the first new information Nintendo and The Pokemon Company will discuss about Pokemon Sword and Shield since the games were officially unveiled this past February, during a special Pokemon Direct that took place on Pokemon Day. While that stream was fairly brief, it did give us our first look at the highly anticipated Pokemon games and revealed some important details, including the games’ setting–the Galar region–and three new starter Pokemon. It also raised some questions.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are slated to launch exclusively for Switch in “late” 2019. Given their impending release, it was presumed Nintendo and The Pokemon Company would share more details about the games around E3 2019, which officially kicks off on June 11, after Nintendo’s other Direct presentation concludes. Be sure to check out our roundup of what we know about Pokemon Sword and Shield, as well as what we want and expect from Pokemon Sword and Shield at E3.

Ahead of the Pokemon Direct, The Pokemon Company has also announced it is airing a Pokemon press conference tomorrow, May 28. That presentation is scheduled to begin at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET (2 AM BST on May 29) and will “cover a number of topics of interest to Pokemon fans.”