One of the PS3’s most anticipated titles, Warhawk has seen many twists and turns through the development process. Only a few changes include the addition of ground based combat to what was widely considered to be a flight only game and then the drastic change to release the game as online multi-player only. Thankfully, Game Informer had a chance to sit down with the Warhawk Game Director, Dylan Jobe. The resulting interview has brought light to many of the more drastic changes.

Arguably the most drastic change to Warhawk on Playstation 3 was the culling of the single-player mode, which has resulted in a strictly online-multiplayer gaming experience. The decision was the hardest to make, according to Jobe, who admits that in the end has resulted in a better product for the consumer;

It was brutal. I think a lot of gamers don’t realize how hard it is to make those types of decisions. Because you’ve worked on something for quite a long time, and then—you know how things are in the kind of launch window, the hardware craziness that happens around all the developers—so you put blood, sweat and tears into something, and to see it come together in a way that’s not how you want, it’s difficult. But, that is, unfortunately, easier than releasing a pile of crap to a gamer… ultimately, if the gamer’s getting good product and they’re happy, then Sony’s happy. If we bust our ass on something that’s mediocre and basically put that burden on consumers, then they’re not going to be happy and then ultimately Sony is not going to be happy. We just have to suck it up and say, “The gamer deserves to have a good product.”

Interestingly, Jobe mentions he’s still uncertain over whether or not Warhawk will be released on Blu-ray or purely via download over PS Store. Either this interview is old, or previous confirmations may have been incorrectly asserted. In reading Jobe’s words, however, there is definitely still the possibility of a dual media release;

I can’t mention anything specifically yet, because we haven’t announced our official distribution methods. I think we’re going to be informing people relatively soon. The only thing I can officially say right now is we’re still looking for a late summer/early fall release. At a personal level, I’m excited about taking advantage of all of Sony’s distribution methods, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

To ensure the stability of Warhawk as a self sustaining multiplayer game, Incognito has provided for every Playstation 3 to act as a Sony grade server, which can also be password locked or clan match. In addition, Warhawk will be taking full advantage of split-screen multiplayer, allowing up to 4-players to play splitscreen whilst online.

You can just turn your PS3 on and it can be a Sony ranked server, and you can just play. Or you could have clan matches on that machine. It’s very, very open.

And, in addition to that, because of the way our dynamic split-screen stuff works, you can have your own PS3 hosting—you can have 20 or something other guys connected to it—and then you can have a four-way split and then you’re all online at the same time. The really neat thing that we did with Warhawk split screen is that we don’t require you to configure four players or three players or two players before you go online. So let’s say you start going online and you have the controller and a buddy grabs your other Sixaxis and presses start. The engine respecs that, cuts the screen in half, draws another viewport right next to it, creates a guest account and logs him in and puts him right in the game. And all he had to do is press start.

Jobe was also able to confirm Warhawk will make full use of Sony’s Home software, providing a variety of trophies. Though no information was able to be made available on that particular aspect of Warhawk, some insight has been provided as to a levelling up system being used for the game. Essentially, everyone starts off with no content unlocked and over time a variety of customisation options is provided for performing certain activities, one would assume like killing the opposition;

A good example is the first tier. You look like a standard infantry guy, you don’t even get to do color markings, and you don’t get any fancy accessories. Within your first or second session, you will have leveled up, you’ll get a new icon over your head in game, and you’ll be able to pick color graphics and choose if it’s on your helmet or on your back—depending on the configuration that you choose—and you pick your color. And then, as you continue to go through the ranks, you unlock new helmets, you unlock new customizations, where you can do color accents on your character. And at the highest levels, not only can you pick head, upper body and lower body changes, but you can pick special shoulder pads that inherit the color from your color sliders. When you’re running around on the ground and you see a guy with the bright orange single shoulder pad, like a Stormtrooper in Episode IV, you know he’s a badass because he unlocked that. So all of the customization throughout the game, whether it be for aircraft or for characters, are tied to leveling up.

The final revelation, Incognito’s claim was to make a fast-paced Battlefield, though with some new nuances to cater for a larger audience. It’s true, he really did say that.

No news yet on a release date for the demo but Jobe did mention to “keep your eyes out.” That’s hopeful.

Read the full interview at GameInformer.com.

Thanks to Lotus 111s for submitting.