May 08 EGM Features SOCOM Confrontation

In anticipation of the Confrontation cover story in the May issue of EGM, 1UP has posted two new screenshots. The initial reaction has been positive, and the dev team is really excited that the world can finally see some of their hard work. This has also been a huge relief to SealTeam-6, who has the unenviable job of telling SOCOM’s huge, hungry fan base every week that:

• a) yes we are still working on the game, and
• b) no, there is no new information we can share at this time

No more! The flood of information is coming in the May issue of EGM. As to the hundreds of private messages and emails that we get every week, we read and appreciate all of them. Whether it’s a quick note to inquire
“What the [heck] is taking you [fine fellows] sooooo long??”
or an encouraging
“Please don’t [mess] up the new SOCOM!!”
we feel the love. The overwhelming message is that you want Confrontation to be great, and you want it soon. So to address those points, the game is looking, playing and feeling better than ever and we are working hard to get it in your hands as soon as possible. Hang in there, Confrontation is coming!
As for the just-released screens, here is a quick comment about each screen to address the flurry of forum posting that they have caused.

This is indeed Crossroads, the most fan-requested SOCOM map. This shot is taken from our new OTS camera, but the player is backed up into a wall here so it might look a bit confusing. This is the right in front of the SEAL spawn, looking down the street in the direction of the warehouse. The commando in the upper right is aiming a M87ELR, and his teammate by the tree is wielding a G36-C. The mercenary charging up the street is firing with an F90.

This is a brand new map, which has a 16 player core area and an expanded footprint for 32 player matches. This ruined shopping center is a great sniping location, and is a hotly contested control point in our internal sessions. The player here is aiming an M60-E3; eagle-eyed fans will also spot an AK-47, a USAS-12 and a SASR sniper rifle in this shot.
Also, SealTeam-6 requested that I specifically iterate this point “for the record”, so here we go:
There is an option to use classic SOCOM camera! It looks and feels like the original classic camera!
Repeat after me…
There is an option to use classic SOCOM camera! It looks and feels like the original classic camera!
There is an option to use classic SOCOM camera! It looks and feels like the original classic camera!….

Finally, I would like to welcome aboard the new community manager for all things SOCOM, Abigale. She is going to be working to keep the communication flowing between the SOCOM community and the dev team.
Cheers

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The May issue of EGM will have a cover story, likely going into great depth about the upcoming PSN title, SOCOM Confrontation. However, 1UP has a small sneak peek: it's given readers a list of all the special forces squads that players can join. 1UP explains: "Joining a special force is now a perk associated with joining a clan ... special forces (and their associated uniforms, gear, and weapons) will only be available to clan members." As expected, the SEALs and SAS are available in the game. But what else can players find?

• Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEALs, United States)
• Special Air Service (SAS, United Kingdom)
• Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK, Germany)
• Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE, Spain)
• 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPIMa, France)

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"I work for a video game company so i get mine early" -daedum

-Its 10 pages long, with 15 new screenshots


GAMEPLAY

-You can roll or underhand a grenade with real physics

-You can lean your guy with the six-axis instead of the d-pad

-There is proximity chat

-Your clan can talk via open chat, but you can L2 to chat to everyone on your team. Or if you have proximity chat then you chat with who ever is around you.

-Audio has changed. Sounds around a corner sound muffled.

-There is now a run/sprint mode. You can run/sprint but you can’t shoot and your gun will not be accurate after running. So basically just use this too avoid snipers.

-Tilt with the six-axis can be tweaked for sensitivity

-There are exploding barrels and cars.

-View distance is big, so no more fog like SOCOM 2

-Smoke looks dark gray

-They talk about the 3rd person view. They said because the new widescreen TVs have a different ratio, there was too much space on each side of the classic view.

-"Sony's Seth Luisi says, "Because it was more centered towards 4:3 TVs, and now going to 16:9, we have a lot more area off to the sides."

-You can go up on roofs


GAME SETUP & INFO

-Crossroads is bigger than the original

-They are bringing back a new game mode. "Elimination" its like SOCOM 2, kill the whole other team or take a draw

-Crossroads (ps3) has an extra outer ring that the ps2 didn't have. There are two towers now.

-Confrontation is 32 players but you can make smaller maps for 16 players total.

-Improved clan support

-Ranked matches are automated. If you want to set up your own room with specifics (no grenades, etc) it won’t be ranked. This stops cheaters and rank ups.

-"You can no longer set up a match exactly defined to your team’s exact strengths and create a honeypot to raise your clan ranking. For your clan to have a global ranking you now have to be a rounded team with good strategies for dealing with all the maps. Now, you can build all the custom games you want - the room system is still there, which I know is really important to SOCOM fans. You can do all your clan tryouts and training in those rooms, and even playing within those games aggregates different stats, because we track a lot of information about the player. But it doesn't directly go into the global clan ladder." –Seth Luisi

-There will be 7 maps total at launch. All maps will be based in North Africa

-There is an underground map that has a collapse parttriggered by the enemy

-Clan support will be available on socom.com where the leader can change their clan, add players etc.

-There will be a party system so your clan will join the same game.

-The other map that is shown in the article is called URBAN WASTELAND it takes place around a high rise hotel, but it mentions you have access to just the first few stories. It has an underground tunnel network and has some bridges and stuff. There is a multileveled parking garage. This is the same one that was shown in previous screenshots released on the web.


MISC DETAILS

-They are planning on having a new headset for SOCOM.

-It also shows the online numbers of the SOCOM franchise aswell as 2 screenshots from SOCOM 1 & 2

-THERE WILL BE A CLOSED BETA. I think it said they will seekpeople out through SOCOM.com

-Closed beta going on "right now or May"

-Open beta after that.

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