Slowly but surely, the new TimeSplitters game is getting more and more developments. And today, we've got an oh-so-teaseriffic teaser trailer rootin'-and-tootin' with none other than Sir Chipalot. That and a wallpaper too!

Free Radical is asking you folks where you want TimeSplitters 4 to be released. Yes, they actually have a poll for it going on in their site, and they want you to make the decision for them.

Plenty of interesting snippets were packed into Ubisoft's recently released fiscal year 2007 Q3 report, including the promise of a Prince of Persia game in 2008 and another delay of Haze's release. Another noteworthy mention is the upcoming Shaun White snowboarding game. For more details, head over to the full article.

It's offical: Free Radical's TimeSplitters 4 is in the works, and it's coming to "getcha." If you head over to Free Radical's official website, you'll find an announcement for the next installment in the wacky first-person shooter series. TimeSplitters 4 promises crazy characters, hot sweaty action, and other good stuff that will beat naked girls any day.

Along with a brief introduction comes a flash movie, calling gamers to "fight to the finish" in the greatest FPS of all time. You'll see a little surprise at the end, and it's also a surprising revelation. Details are scant, but after watching the teaser, we're expecting healthy amounts of humor packed with fast-paced action like what the series is known for.

From what we reckon, Timesplitters 4 is still early in development. Free Radical is currently recruiting artists and programmers for the project, offering takers with some free fruits and the chance to cover colleagues in mustard. You'll have to be very competent though, because they're searching for people with talent and "skillz."

Free Radical's Rob Yescombe was quoted saying the game is "unsigned at the moment," so we can't tell which next-gen platform it will appear on. We do know it's in development, and you can go visit Free Radical's website if you think you're up for the challenge. They've also got TimeSplitters 4's trailer on the site so watch it if you feel up to it.

Back in the day, abundant bloom was the coolest thing in the block. Now that developers have access to more powerful hardware, some gamers will call them lazy if a next-gen title doesn't have parallax mapping, high resolution rendering, and all that. Free Radical co-founder Dave Doak, however, would rather be creative than make generic eye-candy.

"A typical next-gen look has often got all the next-gen stuff like specular highlights and normal mapping turned up to the max... But if it's not turned up to 11, people think it's not next-gen enough," he said in a recent interview with PC Gamer in its issue # 180. Yet, the TimeSplitters series took a more cartoony approach over super-realistic graphics, and Doak seems to favor that style.

Even with powerful tools around, it looks like TimeSplitters will stay true to its roots. After giving Valve's Team Fortress 2 props for standing out, noting how developers are starting to ponder if they really have to do realistic rendering or go for a distinct look, he said:

TimeSplitters has always had that [distinct look] and it's something we want to go back and look at again, specifically taking that cartoon look and doing it with the interesting rendering you can do now [with next-gen].

We haven't heard much about TimeSplitters 4, but if Doak's words hold true, then we're getting more of the quirky first-person shooter that offered hours of fun. Who cares about complex physics engines and extremely detailed character models? Give us rocket launcher-wielding monkeys and we're sold.

This year is certainly shaping up to be the year of the FPS. One of the most promising new additions to the FPS genre is Ubisoft and Free Radical's Haze (PS3, Xbox 360, PC). Rob Yescombe recently spoke to GamePro about Haze, giving out a lot of details about the game and the Nectar effect.

Even though Haze is an FPS, Yescombe noted that the player's main weapon isn't a gun but Nectar, the "nutritional supplement" that can give Mantel soldiers godlike combat abilities. Nectar usage is a double-edged knife: it can enhance combat abilities, but it can also cause soldiers to go berserk when ingested in extremely large quantities.

Yescombe's comments about this is a sort of spoiler, so we'll just say that Haze is all about seeing war from both sides of the fence. The game also features what Yescombe describes as "an extremely intelligent and adaptive AI." Even though players can go through the entire game using only their favorite high-powered gun (ammo can be recalibrated to fit any kind of gun), the AI still won't make things any easier.

Yescombe also revealed a few juicy bits about the game's multiplayer mode. Haze will feature four-player co-op and online multiplayer support for up to 24 players. The coolest thing about the multiplayer mode is that it can alter the single player storyline. The same also holds true for the single player game.

All in all, Haze is shaping up to be a ready contender amid this year's slew of triple-A FPS titles. The game currently looks on scheduled for its November release on the Sony PlayStation 3. For the full interview including talk about PS3 weapon controls as well some spoilers about the game's storyline, click on the Read link below.

Some would argue that if there's one thing all First Person Shooters has got to have, it's good multiplayer - and some are certainly happy that Free Radical's upcoming title, Haze (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), is sporting what could be one of the most intense multiplayer experiences ever to hit the FPS genre. Yes, armchair marksmen, this gameplay video update of Haze is all about having a ridiculously fun time with other people in Haze - and it doesn't look half bad at all.

In these videos, we see two aspects of a typical multiplayer round in Haze - that is, utilization of the knife and some of the many projectile weapons in the game. In Multiplayer Knife Fight, we see the player not using the aforementioned sharp object to slash and cut, no - he throws the darn things, and we're all but floored as he literally clears a hallway full of enemies with 'em.

The other video, Shootout Cam, gets us behind the sights of a player raining fire and brimstone down on his opponents - the fact that you can see how many shots you have left is pretty neat.

Free Radical certainly looks to have an FPS classic on their hands. Add to that a riveting storyline that's not only mature but deals with today's world matters, and Haze looks considerably epic from this viewpoint. Updates as we get them, so enjoy the videos!

The other video after the jump!

It's one thing for a game to give you a vehicle you can drive around in - it's another thing entirely when that vehicle becomes your only hope of surviving a full-scale attack against you and your mates. We see that and more in this particularly hell-on-wheels flavored gameplay video update of Haze (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) from GC.

In this video, we see the player and his nectar-guzzling buddies pile into what looks like a monster truck crossed with a tank, before manning the thing in what appears to be the Haze equivalent of a dirt racetrack filled with mines and bombs and other nasty things.

What's really interesting in this video is that while it may look like the player's barely dodging the things that go kablooey to the left and right of him, upon closer inspection, his team-mates appear to be dying - and that's not a good thing. Even the bloke who's manning the gun gets offed.

While Free Radical's Haze may seem to share a few similarities here and there with a certain FPS on the Xbox 360, there's no doubt that it looks to deliver one of the more intense gaming experiences yet. Enjoy the video!

  

Online gaming site SPOnG recently caught up with Free Radical Creative Director Derek Littlewood to talk briefly about the upcoming game Haze (Xbox 360, PS3, PC). In the said interview, emphasis was given on the main differences between the multiplayer aspect for Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network (PSN).

Littlewood explained that the difference actually lies on how Sony and Microsoft conduct their businesses. In a nutshell, Sony gives developers more freedom while Microsoft tends to have detailed and specific instructions. The creative director shared:

It's a fundamental difference in philosophy between Sony and Microsoft. You see it in all of their libraries and their tech support, as well. Sony very much, y'know, let you just go at it, whereas Microsoft provide a lot more structure and a lot more libraries for you.

Derek Littlewood then admitted that Free Radical prefers working with Sony than Microsoft. He claimed that they understand the advantages of having specific instructions to follow and the downside of having too much freedom, but it's just that Sony's style works for them better:

You see some games with the Live interface, [where] they might have been able to innovate and alter things round and make things work better than Live, but they can't because they have to conform with Microsoft's standards on that, whereas on the PlayStation Network you have the freedom to do things in the way you want to.

It was reported before that Haze publisher Ubisoft recently removed the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game from its official release list. The PS3 version, on the other hand, is scheduled to be released this coming November.

 

The biggest understatement you can ever say this year is Haze being just another FPS. Beyond astounding graphics and Nectar-induced action, Free Radical's latest offering features more than your average American shooter - special skills are available, unique to either Mantel soldiers or Promised Hand rebels.

For those who didn't know, Haze follows the cat and mouse story of soldiers under the effects of drug-like Nectar against rebels who don't want to yield. Players can choose either side, each with their own arsenal.

Those under Mantel Global Industries have access to Nectar, which greatly enhances their physical abilities. There's a catch though, since their perception of reality is distorted. Shooting people don't show blood and dead guys disappear, just like in video games. Still, these skills should give them an edge:

• Nectar Perception: you’ll be able to spot rebels even in the darkest parts of the environment
  
• Nectar Focus: allows you to pull off incredible head-shots from long distances away
  
• Nectar Foresight: gives you a heightened sense of things, e.g., nearby grenades emit a warning in the form of a ripple effect before exploding onto you
  
• Melee Blast: send rebels flying with an overly-powerful strike

More after the jump!