Last night I swung by the Landmark Embarcadero Movie Theatre in San Francisco to bear witness to something with little precedent: a theatre full of attendees shouting, clapping, and sitting on the edge of their seats watching someone play a video game. The game? "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves." The Event? A showcase of never-before-seen sections of Nathan Drake’s single player campaign and a multiplayer tournament (with prizes!) open to all attendees.
Despite whatever that terrible iPhone photo above demonstrates, I swear that Uncharted 2 looks fantastic--even when blown up to 20+ feet by way of the fancy hi-def flaw-illuminating projector Sony brought to project the game. And while last night’s event was closed to the public, this follow-up post is not.
Amy Hennig, Creative Director at Naughty Dog was on hand, talking to fans and autographing some of the lucky attendees’ early copies of the game. Besides admitting she “loves the smell of opening new games,” I had the chance to corner her about what it’s like to see her cinematic project up on the big screen.
“It’s funny, because our whole goal is to try to make something that feels like a movie and plays like a movie, but interactively. So to see it up on a movie screen… it’s almost a little bit too self-referential in a way. But it’s very cool. I’m just happy to see that people are enjoying it as much as we hoped they would.”
If you’re in the SF area and you’re looking to get into the event, here’s the short of it. It’ll cost you $15 and event registration starts just before 6pm. I recommend getting there early because, really, who wouldn’t want to walk home with one of these Fortune Hunter Editions?
Ka-Ching!