Naughty Dog on Uncharted Sequel

On the eve of the first game's release, the developer looks to further instalments.

Larry Croft is the snarky nickname some people have given Nathan Drake, the star of Sony's new PS3 treasure-seeking game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. And like Tomb Raider was for Lara Croft, Uncharted will be Drake's first game, but it won't be his last.

Speaking recently with Ars Technica, Christophe Balestra, co-president of Naughty Dog, said that just like the developer's other big games, Uncharted is much more than a one-off.

"Crash was a franchise, Jak & Daxter was a franchise and yes of course Uncharted will be a franchise," Balestra said. "It takes a lot of effort to create a universe like Uncharted and there is so much more we want to do. It would be a waste if we didn't have a sequel to make it even better than the first one."

He added that Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is not tapping into the full potential of the PS3 right now, leaving plenty of raw overhead for expanding the game technologically.

"As I said we're only using 30 per cent of the power of the Cell, so there's more to do. We already have very sophisticated technology and we'll push to the next level for our next game," he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Balestra talked up the PS3's other tech trump card, Blu-ray, saying that the game, which uses more than 90 per cent of the space on the disc, would not have been possible without it.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is coming only to the PS3. The game will be out in Europe in December and there will be a playable demo around the same time. You can find out more about the game from our earlier interview with Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand and look for a new preview coming soon.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo