PAIN – Sore Spots Pack and Free Daxter Released

[Shin-Ra]

Ask... and you shall receive (Online Play)
• Posted by Travis Williams

When we first started this site one of the things we promised you is that we would listen. Not just listen but also converse. I’d like to think we have lived up to that part of the deal. Go ahead, read some old posts…. I’ll wait.

YOU BACK? Good.

We just got the word that we have completed FORMAT testing for the online extension to PAIN. This means that you will be able to FINALLY play each other online over the PLAYSTATION®NETWORK.
Talk smack with Voice Over IP.
Chat in PAIN lobbies.
Finally decide who the best is (Especially within this community).

One of the first polls we ever took for PAIN was about what features you wanted. The OVERWHELMING favorite was online play. I have to admit that when you all voted for that we kinda cursed ourselves for putting it on the list. PAIN wasn’t engineered to be an online game. There’s simply too much STUFF flying out that needs to be accurately tracked. You see, when you blow things up in a shooter no one really cares about debris. In PAIN, debris is the difference between a GOLD launch and a PLATINUM launch.

So this journey began as soon as we got the first poll results saying you wanted online play. We spoke to our middleware reps and they told us that we were nuts for trying online with PAIN. Obviously they don’t know the whole PAIN team is nutty so doing nutty things is just par for the course.

It wasn’t easy to incorporate online into PAIN. We had to make some hard choices in order to make it happen. Chief among them was requiring you have a 256K upstream. As I said before there are quite a few things flying around in PAIN, some of them you don’t always see, but have profound effects on your score and play. To make sure this could happen in a smooth manner meant we had to set that min requirement.

Also, all online modes (with the exception of Fortress) are Two-player games. We did this so that your online experiences would be analogous to your offline experiences and that took quite a bit of work. Our network programmer Billy did quite the job getting PAIN online. Thanks Billy. You rock.

We took your advice and added some info so you can see the type of player you are playing against. You can tell if your opponent is a ringer or he just likes to pull cords when he’s about to lose.

With the launch of online PAIN we also have the Smack Pack release. The Smack Pack includes two PAIN Play modes for one price: Fortress and Darts. Check out the videos HERE if you need a reminder of what they are. There’s a lot involved in these two modes. Good luck. We’ve been working on these modes for a while. I really hope you enjoy them. Remember the more PAIN environments you have the more variations you will have on these play modes. A Downtown Fortress game is very different from a Hollywood Studio Fortress battle.

Last week I promised you guys a Leprechaun. If you have Scurv Dogg as one of your launchable characters, enjoy his new outfit. I think he looks pretty sweet, check it out HERE. Just don’t ask him for his pot of gold. You know how he likes to bust caps. Happy Saint Patty's Day!


Don’t forget the character you all ganged up on us to create is finally in the hizzy as well. BROCK LEE COMIN ATCHA! He has the best air poses EVER! And whatever you do you must respect the afro. You all seen a picture in Downtown and decided he should be a launchable. He’ll be available soon. Since we are all in a giving mood… Can I have a raise?

I’ll settle for a 20 if you got it….anyone?