Archive
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News
06 March 2007 - Spring 2007 - Rocksteady Studios are now enjoying our brand new offices
We have recently moved into a custom designed office with all the facilities you would expect for a world-class games developer. Check out some of the pics - we hope you love the office as much as we do! And yes, we do have foosball competitions!!!
    
    
Rocksteady Team
29 November 2006 - Rocksteady Go Shooting in Prague
The team recently took a weekend in Prague to shoot guns. Real ones!! This was a great team-building exercise as well as providing valuable experience for our development departments.
     
     
     
   
    
Rocksteady Team
06 October 2006 - New title now in production
After the fantatic summer success of Urban Chaos: Riot Response our team are now working on our next title for the PlayStation3 and Xbox360.
Stay tuned for more announcments on our next exciting title!
19 May 2006 - Launch!
Today is the launch of Urban Chaos and it really does feel special - a proud day for all involved! Everyone has their copies of the game and we are having a big celebration tonight in London.
15 May 2006 - E3 2006!
We just got back from E3 and Urban Chaos had an amazing show! there were 5 storey posters hanging in the entrance hall and we had pods on the Sony, Microsoft and Eidos stand. We did lots of interviews with US press and everyone who played Urban Chaos, loved it.
30 March 2006 - Post GDC
We are back from the GDC show and whilst fascinating stuff, including an inspirational keynote from Nintendo, it was also a great chance to promote Urban Chaos. We also just did a TV interview with Gamer TV which will be aired soon. There is also a new game play movie on Gamespot!
20 March 2006 - GDC
We are off to the Games Developer Conference next week to soak our brains in lovely lectures about games. The conference is based in San Jose and last for 5 days. Speakers from all parts of the games industry lecture about every topic related to games and it’s a great place to see how everyone is preparing for the future. We have lots of interviews with the press so Urban Chaos should get some more great press just after. More when we get back.
16 March 2006 - Press
We are currently doing a million interviews and meetings with the press for the up and coming reviews of Urban Chaos! Its funny that there is such a long lead time between giving an interview about the game and then seeing it in print. Everyone we meet is really positive about the game and we look forward to the reviews in the next 2 months.
10 March 2006 - New Hires
We have just make some great new hires for our next project. It has taken a while to find the right people, but we want to ensure that we have the best, most talented staff who work well with everyone here. Recently we have hired two, very talented senior artists as environment artists. And we have also hired a very talented Art Director to support the art team. We have also hired a great Assistant Producer to bolster the production team. Our team is so important to us and we are very fortunate to have such an experienced, talented and friendly team. Getting the right people in early in a new project makes all the difference and we are looking for more great team members! If you are interested, check out our jobs page.
08 February 2006 - New Preview On GameSpy
A new preview of Urban Chaos can be found here:
http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/roll-call/686888p1.html
17 January 2006 - Hockey Masks
We just contracted a Canadian firm to make us all the hockey masks in the game! They make real vintage hockey masks for teams and collectors. These will be used in PR and marketing shoots and are being painted with the same designs as in game – they will arrive soon and I will let you know how they look!
05 November 2005 - The Name Urban Chaos
As some of you may have spotted Urban Chaos was once called Zero Tolerance and before that its working title was Roll Call. Whilst this may have caused some initial confusion, we focus tested all the names extensively and Urban Chaos proved to be the clear winner with everyone. Zero Tolerance got good response in America but did not have the same impact in Europe nor did it say enough about our game setting and story. Roll Call had very similar feedback so Urban Chaos: Riot Response was chosen as the strongest of all three and had a nice balance to it; Urban Chaos establishing the problem in the city and Riot Response being the solution!
31 October 2005 - 1st Urban Chaos Press Release
Today we hade our first press release for our game! Here is the info in full:
Eidos Interactive, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today confirms that the game previously known as Roll Call has been re-named and will feature as a major part of the 2006 line-up of titles under the new title URBAN CHAOS™- Riot Response
Developed by London based Rocksteady Studios, URBAN CHAOS is a high velocity, action shooter confronting real terror in a real city. Play as Nick Mason, an ex-US marine and part of T-Zero, the elite counter-gang unit. Specially trained in all areas of urban combat and armed with the very latest high-tech weaponry, T-Zero is all that stands in the way of total anarchy.
Experience a year in the unpredictable life of a T-Zero Officer in a city on the brink of collapse as he works with the Emergency Services in a desperate fight to save his city.
URBAN CHAOS will be available on PS2 and Xbox in Q2 2006.
24 July 2005 - Focus On Focus Testing
We have done more focus testing following E3 and each has focused on a different area of the games production, whether it be the game controls, enemy design, game name, or the marketing and advertising.
Each session was fascinating and we took as much of the whole company as possible along. It was tough to watch the focus testers as sometimes they would get lost in the unfinished levels or not understand the controls – but we went back to work, reviewed all the notes, and fixed all the problems they found. This process has made a huge difference in the feel of the game; because every feature and level has been thoroughly played by actual gamers the game now feels genuinely fun to play and we have been able to iron out all the difficulty spikes and frustrations. We have lots of plans for the next project to ensure that we do even more focus testing!
18 July 2005 - Hollywod News Shoot
We just got back from LA where we filmed the newscaster for the news footage that appears in game. The idea is that the in-game story and emergencies appear as real-life news flashes. The story was written by a script writer and the news room was designed by our FMV artist. All the footage is real news reel stock. And all the people in the story are actors who have authentic uniforms. This gives the news a very real feel. The actress we used was actually a real anchor woman from New York. I didn’t know what to expect when we got there and was blown away by the Hollywood set: huge lighting rigs hung from the vast ceiling and people were running about checking the chroma key settings. The film set was amazing and the actress and crew were all totally excited to be part of making a computer game – we did the shoot and the final effect looks scarily real and adds a real serious edge to the story.
21 May 2005 - First E3 Previews
Just back from an amazing E3 and the previews are already rolling in. The best one has to be the IGN preview by Ivan Sulic who quoted Urban Chaos as “quite possibly the best shooter on PS2”
Read his full preview here: http://ps2.ign.com/articles/617/617947p1.html
Overall Urban Chaos got a great response and, as this is the first time we have had feedback from the press, the whole company is really excited that the key factors in the game are being recognized. And our efforts to make the game a real gamers game are having the impact we wanted. E3 is always great for making us realize that we have got something really special in our hands. The next step is to focus test the game on the target market and see what they think.
04 May 2005 - 1st Focus Test
We have just done our first focus test session. It’s the first time the public has seen the game! We used a professional focus test company called ‘Some Research’ whom we will use a number of times throughout the development to ensure Urban Chaos is something that people want to play, and could have great fun when playing it! The 1st session was held at a special London location with 1 way mirrors and video equipment. We gave Some Research a brief to source groups of different ages and interests whose common interest was first person shooters. They must have all played certain games (such as Halo) and owned our target platforms (PS2 and Xbox). We had 4 groups of 8 on the first session. Each group represented a different age group, such as 18-24 and, a different skill level, either casual gamer or hard-core. We arrived at Some Research’s offices early to set up. And an hour later the first focus testers turned up. It was interesting to see the people who would be the first to see the product and at such an unfinished stage too! It was nerve racking and everyone was excited. The groups were introduced to what they would be doing and, interestingly they were paid for their time. The reason for this is that if paid, you tend to take things more seriously, especially playing games. I felt we had a real opportunity to learn a lot about our game in the next few hours.
For obvious reasons, I cannot go into the details of the feedback yet, but after a long days work, we came away with a whole new perspective on the game, and tons of notes too! All of which, we believe, will make Urban Chaos a better game. I will keep you posted of other sessions later in the year.
Note: That 1st focus test session really helped develop Urban Chaos into a great game, one that was tested and reviewed by a sample of real gamers. A game that should work for different players with different approaches. One whose design feels considered and well tested, something I feel all games should do. We at Rocksteady are now developing technologies to track game play and also get live feedback from players to help create more games that people can enjoy playing so that in the future, we can make games that fit the target audience perfectly. Maybe even change dynamically to suit individuals players.
09 April 2005 - E3 2005
Urban Chaos has its first showing to press and industry professionals at this years E3 games convention in Los Angeles. We prepared a special version of the game for E3 and are flying out to present the game to press for the first time!
13 December 2004 - Day 1
Today is our first day of business! Everyone is setting up, making coffee, plugging everything in for the first time, and beginning work. its great to start with such a blank sheet and everyone is raring to go.
We have a year in which to complete Urban Chaos and we will keep you posted of its developments!
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