Remember the PlayStation Move game where you escape from the Yakuza by riding an office chair? Itās called Slider and we spoke with George Weising, Producer, to find out more about it and if SCEJ is working on any other PlayStation Move games for North America.
Slider is such an offbeat game, maybe you can start by explaining the concept?
George Weising, Producer: Slider is a game about a detective and secretary trying to escape the Yakuza because they are up to their neck in debt. Youāre trying to escape through the streets in Hong Kong, on office furniture, to a busted down van.
Will Slider be a downloadable or retail game?
I canāt speak to that, but it is a big game. Itās going to be many hours. There are a whole bunch of different courses and each course has a whole bunch of different variations of it ā different paths through the city, different versions of each path. So, as you play through the game you unlock different modes: time trial, freeform, and so.
What can you tell us about these other courses? Will you always escape in a beat up van? Will they finally get to a decent car?
Weāre not sure exactly of what kind of vehicle they get to, but whatever they get to should be funny.
So humor is a big part of Slider?
Yeah.
How are you localizing that for North America?
For starters, we scrubbed the dialogue completely. We rewrote specifically to be funny in North America and then all of the voice talent will be American actors with an English dub.
The wacky humor reminds me of Painā¦
When I first saw it reminded me of Jet Grind Pain Taxi. I like it because itās like those crazy Sega arcade games from the 90s. Like Crazy Taxi with a sense of humor. Jet Grind Radio ā with its really cool grinding [note: you can grind rails with your office chair in Slider] and its bizarre interaction with the environment. And itās funny.
How can you extend the concept for hours to make Slider a worthy launch title? Is it a launch title?
Itās definitely coming out for launch. The game itself, itās the kind of game you can play with your family, you can play alone. Thereās nothing in it that wonāt make it not OK to play with your family. Not all of our games are like that, but this one is.
So far this is the only title weāve seen from SCEJ that utilizes the PlayStation Move. Is this the only game in development at Sony Japan?
I canāt speak to that, but itās probably safe to say no.
But, Slider the only one confirmed for America?
For now.
Published: Mar 26, 2010 10:07 am