LOS ANGELES — Naughty Dog Game Director Justin Richmond knows that it would be easy to rest on the laurels of the massive success of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves when it comes to the franchise’s highly anticipated next chapter; Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, but refuses to.

“We always want to make a game that we’re interested in playing. We want to push ourselves,” Richmond said. “We never want to rest on the laurels of the last game. Uncharted 2, it was lightning in a bottle, and we know that. It was the right people in the right studio at the right time, but we’re really proud of what we’re doing with this one.”

So just how does Richmond plan on improving what many see as one of the most impressive and memorable games in recent years? Easy; adding pretty much more of everything fans love and improving what they didn’t.

Take the game’s melee combat system for example, Richmond said that while the system worked for Uncharted 2, the team knew they could do so much more this time around.

“One of the things we really tried to improve this time around was the melee system.  We were never really happy with it in the last game and we’re working on making it as much fun as the rest of the game. We’re really taking a look at all of these little things and seeing where we can tweak them to make the game that much better.”

During our interview, we were shown two sections of the Uncharted 3 campaign, and though it’s obvious that the tweaks Richmond talked about were implemented, it was even more apparent that the studio knew what gave Uncharted its identity, big over the top action sequences. The first sequence we saw was a slightly longer version of the cruise ship level from Sony’s E3 press conference (yeah, the one with the really cool water effects) and it was clear that the scope of the game has been made to be even more massive. The level (as seen below) features a ton of interior and exterior locations, completely dwarfing the scope of the last game.

The second section we saw found Drake and Elena sneaking into an airport runway and Drake literally climbing on to the plane’s landing gear to climb on board. Once on the plane, Drake found his way to main cargo area, where he met up with an awfully large Henchmen, and a very cool battle sequence ensued (where we got to see the new melee system with contextual cues and quick time events). While the demo did show the type of over the top Hollywood style action we’re accustomed to see in the franchise, the cinematic leading up to the sequence told a different story, one not usually associated with Drake’s adventures; the heart and believability of the characters, and according to Richmond, that’s something the team is really aiming to change.”We want to be true to our characters, what they’d do, how they’d act. We feel like we have a natural progression of where the characters were in the last game to where they are now.”

But what about the characters not from the last game? Richmond then introduced us to Katherine Marlowe, the game’s new antagonist and quickly became excited about what she brings to the Uncharted saga.

“This is where the Drake’s Deception title really starts to come in. Uncharted 3 finds Nathan Drake searching for an ancient 16 century treasure, but he ends up being pulled in to an even bigger mystery filled with deceit, pitting him against a shadowy clandestine organization and the occult treachery of its cunning and ruthless leader,” Richmond said. “Marlowe is always trying to undermine Drake and getting him to do things he doesn’t want to do, it adds a brand new dynamic to the franchise.”

Uncharted 3 launches on November 1 exclusively for the PlayStation 3. Check back with Blast for more previews and coverage until the game’s release, and be sure to check out our gallery below for a ton of cool Uncharted screenshots.

Sony’s MLB The Show series is well established, and now in its fourth year. It’s the top realistic baseball game on the market-so good in fact, that if MLB ’09 The Show had just been last year’s version of the game, it still would have been the best out there (though we would have been pretty upset at the lack of new features). Thankfully that isn’t the case though, as the developers at SCEA have been hard at work adding new features and modes for you to play with as you make your way to the majors or control the future of a franchise.

The things you loved about The Show are back, like the ability to guess the pitch your opponent is throwing, the sliding game options, the very deep player creator (that can also be used to create your player in Road to the Show) and one of the best booths in any sports title, made up of Matt Vasgersian, Dave Campbell and Rex Hudler. These three are actually improved this year, as there is a “Progressive Commentary System” that changes the announcer’s dialogue based on what is going on in the game, meaning that because of the new animations and situations that have been put into the graphics and gameplay, there is a larger variety of things for you to hear, and far less looping of the announcer soundtrack. Given the amount of time you could spend with this game going through all of the various gameplay modes, that’s a big plus.

The pitchers are as smart as ever with the Adaptive Pitching Intelligence system that changes strategy based on the batter, thanks to pitchers that the catcher is calling. These pitches are not just randomly pulled out of the game, but are instead picked based on the context, and are based off of actual MLB statistics. As a stat junkie, this is huge, and something I love about the series. To make things even more realistic, The Show utilizes a pitcher confidence meter, which is used to affect the ability of a pitcher to hit release points, while consistent mistake pitches will bring down the confidence of a pitcher, which makes commanding your repertoire that much more difficult. If that isn’t enough realism for you, the umpires have their own personalities, and may make mistakes (though you can shut this feature off if you want things to be a bit more black and white strike zone wise). Pitchers also need to use all of their offerings if they want to be able to control them properly, just like in real life. If you skip out on a pitcher’s fourth pitch, say, a curveball, for awhile, and then want to use it in a high pressure situation, your chances of success with it will be much lower than if you had used it all the time as a go-to pitch.

Hitting is not nearly as complex as pitching, but it’s still a very realistic interpretation of what being at the plate is like. You can guess what the pitcher is going to throw, as well as the location. If you guess location right, your hitter will focus on that area without the need to move the analog stick, but you will still have to get the timing right to make the most of this advantage. If you guess wrong, you need to manually move over, which may take just a bit too long for you to do anything constructive with the pitch. If you guess the pitch type wrong, your contact meter goes down a bit, and you will need to identify what the pitcher is throwing and whether you should swing at it even, which can cause you to make some foolish split-second decisions. It takes some getting used to, but is an incredibly satisfying system that asks you to do much more than just swing at the right time. I’m a big fan of a more arcade style of baseball game, but even someone like me is enamored with this hitting system of The Show.

Franchise mode returns for the second year of its existence, with some key improvements. There is now a 40-man roster, which means you have a deeper pool of talent to pull from and more decisions to make in the offseason. There are also many things you need to do that can turn franchise mode into what is essentially a baseball simulation game, were you to avoid playing the actual games, as you need to worry about arbitration (including super-two players, which is a term that the more casual baseballs fans would not be aware of) the waiver-wire and September call-ups (which are based off of the minor leaguers on your 40-man roster). If you aren’t sure of what any of these terms mean, and don’t want to get caught off guard, SCEA has included a glossary for your to peruse at your leisure, so that you can figure out just what these ideas mean. It’s nice to not have to get up from your couch to Google the information, and can instead just continue on with what you are doing.

If you don’t want to play a franchise by yourself, you now have the option of playing a league online. You can even set drafts and adjust the schedule around so that you don’t have to spend 162 days of your year playing through the season, but can instead play the games when you want them to be played. This is much better than simply offering head-to-head exhibition matches, and has the potential to become something huge once SCEA has spent as much time with it as they have with the more established game modes.

Incognito Entertainment is no more.‚  Oh no! No more Warhawk or Twisted Metal you say.‚  Well that is not true either. ‚ Like the mystical phoenix, from the ashes of the dead rises a new and exciting development studio, LightBox Interactive.

Dylan Jobe, president of the newly formed LightBox Interactive, Inc. is proud of the time spent developing for Sony systems and aims to continue past successes by today signing an exclusive deal with Sony Computer Entertainment spanning multiple years and titles.

Sony has been quite appreciative of Incognito’s work given the dynamic successes of Twisted Metal and Warhawk and aims to keep the studio churning out titles exclusive to the PlayStation brand.

“We are extremely pleased to be working with Dylan and his team in their new endeavor at LightBox Interactive,” said John Hight, director of internal development, SCEA. ‚ ”Through pioneering many online and community features on PlayStation Network with the multiplayer game Warhawk, this team is established as leaders in the online category. ‚ I look forward to seeing what kind of further innovations they bring to the PlayStation platforms through this new development deal.”

Personally, I loved the name Incognito, but LightBox is intriguing as well.

Resistance: Fall of Man was the top launch title for the Playstation 3, and one of the most worthwhile on the system to date. Resistance 2, the highly-anticipated sequel, had a lot to live up to as it attempted to push the series forward while retaining the elements that made the first game such a success, but it is safe to say that developer Insomniac was able to deliver as promised.

For those who are not familiar with the series, you play as Nathan Hale, a U.S. soldier who had been sent to Britain to fight against the Chimeran threat. After successfully repelling their attacks overseas in the first Resistance, you find yourself back in the United States, against a larger and much more coordinated Chimeran attack force. Hale, the lone U.S. soldier still alive from the British campaign, was infected with the Chimeran virus in the first game, and the second game centers around Hale’s need to finish the mission he started before the virus is able to overtake his entire body and transform him completely. He will attempt this mission alongside the Sentinels, a unit of soldiers that, like Hale, are also infected with the Chimeran virus.

As excellent as the original Resistance was, there were issues that needed to be ironed out and improved upon in a sequel, and Insomniac did a solid job of identifying these problems and making them disappear. First of all, the health/medpack system was scrapped in favor of a cover system, with 100 percent health regeneration rather than up to 50 percent. This worked to speed up the pace of the firefights and allow you to do more than just hide behind walls and occasionally shoot, as you would not need to worry about running out of medpacks to boost your health back to full.

Second, the lower-level Chimera are no longer sinkholes for your bullets that took an inordinate amount of time and shots to kill. Instead, the game keeps the difficulty up by casually throwing enemies at you-sometimes in large numbers-that you would have faced in rare or special situations in the original. They back those enemies up with groups of Chimeran grunts, which are as stated easier to kill, but in larger numbers than before.

There are also new foes for you to face, the most memorable of which are the Chameleon Chimera. These are invisible and fast Chimera that you have to listen for as they come at you-you will hear their rumbling, and maybe a growl as they launch themselves at you, and a shotgun blast from an attentive player will be all that is necessary to dispatch them. For those who do not listen close enough though, expect to be torn asunder.

Thankfully, the AI for soldiers on your team has improved from the first game, and there will be times where they save you, and you them. Unlike the first game, where it often felt like large-scale battles were essentially you with the other soldiers there for show, they assist you in taking down enemies, including the aforementioned Chameleons. Of course, the Chimeran AI is also noteworthy, and there will be times where they flank you or sneak up behind you for the kill.

The weapons have been revamped, with some of the weaponry from the first game improved-the Bullseye, for instance, lives up to its name more here than it did previously, and the Auger now shows you the shape of the enemy units behind walls rather than simply reddening your reticule. Insomniac has also included new firepower, such as the Marksman, an accurate rifle with a scope and a short, three-round burst of fire. Think of it like a low-powered sniper rifle that you can take on a run-and-gun mission.

Blast is liveblogging the Sony E3 press conference, so don’t go anywhere!

The Sony setup at the Shrine Auditorium is very impressive. They have more than 60 big widescreen displays set up. They decided to run their operation from a few miles away from the conference center.

12:00: Resistance 2 looks very good. They showed a trailer and demoed gameplay. The trailer was all from actual gameplay — very good detail and a hell of a story.

12:04: Madden, Tiger Woods, bunch of other games still being made for PS2.

12:08: Sony seemed to have accepting that PS2 and PS3 both exist. They’re adopting a “we have three successful platforms” model.

Buzz quiz game coming to PSP and PS3. Singstar has sold 15 million units, plus 1.9 million songs download.

Nine years into the PlayStation 2 lifecycle, they’re unveiling a new Lego Batman bundle for $149, including the game and a Justice League animated DVD.

12:10: A new Ratchet & Clank game is coming to the PlayStation network. Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty will be available this summer for $14.99

12:20: Sony is pushing Gran Turismo TV, coming to the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue game on the PlayStation Network August 1 — promosing to bring full HD automotive and racing events and programming from all over the world. Not sure how successful this will be.

12:22: Sony, like Microsoft, like Nintendo, like EA, is pushing the social component of games — playing multiplayer, getting new gaming trophies and showing off your high scores. PlayStation Home, in a wicked short video, is Sony’s entrance into the age of the “video game console avatar.”

12:23: Rental and electronic download of movies and shows from Lionsgate, Fox, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount, Funimation, etc. The line between PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is blurring. One advantage: Sony owners can port their downloaded content from PS3 to PSP and take it with you.

This video service will start TODAY.

12:30: Time to talk about PSP.

Thirteen million units sold in North America. New entertainment packs coming, Madden and family-friendly Ratchet & Clank with a silver PSP and National Treasure 2 on UMD for $199.

12:35: New PSP title coming, Resistance: Retribution, takes the alien battle to Europe.

Also, look for Patapon 2 and Midnight Club Remix

12:40: Finally talking about PS3.

“Life with PlayStation” will be a news, live webcam, and weather channel available at the end of July. This is pretty cool.

12:41: Sony Online Entertainment is involved in the fold now — Jim lee, executive creative director of the upcoming DC Universe Online is talking about the game, showing a brand new trailer abut the game.

12:50: M.A.G. — The Massive Action Game will pit up to 256 players against each other at once online in eight man squads led by a player who has proved himself as a good leader. Even Sony admits this will push PS3 to its limits.

Our friends at CrunchGear diligently dug into FCC filings to find out that Sony is exploring the possibility of adding a ceramic white PlayStation 3 to their lineup.

There’s even plenty of photos to show that this is a serious possibility, and Sony Computer Entertainment America tells BLAST it’s a possibility, but not to bet on one way or the other just yet.

“There are many FCC filings like this each year,” said SCEA’s Alex Armour in a recent interview. “We haven’t made any announcements about upcoming PS3 plans, but are comfortable with our current two SKU strategy. We are continually evaluating the market trends and consumer input to determine the appropriate PS3 models for our territory.”

What does that mean? If they think they’d sell a bunch, they’ll release a white PS3.

What Sony did do was clear the governmental hurdles necessary to bring the product forward. And this all depends on whether or not the PlayStation 3 has the year everyone thinks it’s going to have. You might see a new bundled white PS3 with one or some of the new titles hitting stores soon, or for all we know Best Buy could do their thang and secure a “Best Buy Exclusive white PS3 with 2 controllers and 2 games for $499.”

But that’s pure wanton speculation on my part.

As Engadget said all last week, Sony confirmed Sunday that a firmware update for the PSP handheld gaming system will include free telephone calls via Skype.

“PSP users worldwide will be able to start using Skype features and services through a simple system software update scheduled in late January,” Sony Computer Entertainment said Sunday. “After updating the PSP system software, a Skype icon will be added to the Network category in the home menu. PSP users who do not yet have a Skype username can register by clicking the icon and following the instructions. PSP users who already have a Skype username can immediately sign in by clicking the Skype icon and entering their username and password.”

Full list of features:

• Free voice calls between Skype users
• Skype contact list management (view existing contacts, add new ones)
• Skype presence (see which friends are online and available to talk)
• SkypeOutcalls to make calls to landlines and mobile phones anywhere in the world (requires the purchase of Skype credit)
• Optional SkypeIn number that lets users receive calls on Skype from landlines and mobiles anywhere in the world (requires the purchase of Skype credit)
• View and modify Skype settings and account details (including username creation, SkypeOut settings, voicemail settings and call forwarding)

Skype allows users to make voice calls among other users free of charge over the Internet. There are more than 246 million members.

One of the biggest new games for the PlayStation 3, Heavenly Sword tells the story of Nariko who is supposed to inherit the protection of a special sword kept in their clan. The sword is powerful, but it takes the life of the owner.

The clan believes that a male will be born to wield the sword, but Nariko is born, to the disappointment of her father. The story starts with Nariko fighting the final battle with the Heavenly Sword. She is defeating all the enemies when the sword overtakes her, and the game stars with her recalling the previous five days.

Nariko’s clan is being assaulted by King Bohan’s armies, who seek Heavenly Sword themselves. The game switches between melee style and ranged attacks after that. When your in ranged attacks, you can use a system called “afterthought” to guide the projectile. This uses the motion sensor of the Sixaxis controller. The afterthought is often necessary to hit a particular target. The game doesn’t let you zoom in on targets, so you shoot in the general direction, and the afterthought does the rest.

When in afterthought mode, you are looking at the world from the view of the projectile, so just guide it to where you want to hit. It isn’t perfect control — it seems more like nudging the projectile in the direction you want to go in. It is continuous control though, so if you push it too high, just push it back down. Once you get used to it, the game allows great precision for hitting the target.

The melee part of the game is a hack and slash where you just need to kill all the enemy’s coming at you. There are combos that can be used, and many enemies will come at you at once.

The graphics in the game are phenomenal. It feels like watching a movie. The sound effects are also top notch making the realism of the game great.

Overall the game is very flashy, it looks really good. I’d say it was only about average playability though. It looks great, but the shooting parts are annoying, and the fighting parts get boring. It’s also a very short game. Heavenly Sword is one of the best-looking and best-sounding PlayStation 3 games, but it’s still not IT.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sony
Developer: Ninja Theory
Platform: PlayStation 3
Genre: Action/Adventure
Players: 1

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Launch Date: September 12, 2007