David Jaffe confirms that Twisted Metal will use the PSN Pass system in a long, and disappointingly expletive-free video.
“Yes, we are doing an online pass,” he says at around the 16-minute mark. “No, I did not want to do an online pass.”
The God of War director went on to explain that he’s not opposed to the pass system on principle, adding that he’s “torn on the online pass thing as a general philosophy.” He didn’t want the pass included in Twisted Metal because he wanted as few obstructions as possible between new players and the game’s multiplayer content. “We’re treating this like a new IP” he said, before adding that if Twisted Metal brings in enough players, he wouldn’t be against using PSN Pass in the sequel.
Regardless, the game will be using the PSN pass system. “It wasn’t my call,” adds Jaffe. “It’s Sony’s game, and they funded it, and I respect their decision.”
A few other small details: Jaffe confirmed that bots will be available in local multiplayer, but only in 2-player splitscreen. 3-4 player splitscreen will also be limited to ten of the game’s thirty-odd maps.
Jaffe confirmed there’d be a demo available before Twisted Metal launches on Valentine’s day. There’ll also be a small balance patch for the game on launch day. Jaffe explained that there are other changes he’d like to make, but they won’t be implemented in the initial patch because he doesn’t want players’ first experience with the game being a long, annoying download. “We’d love to do future tweaks and adjustments to the game,” he said, “and some of those hopefully will be level-based, and those might be a little longer. Key balance issues and some of the bugs.”
Twisted Metal will be available for the PS3 on February 14th in North America, and February 17th in Europe.
