INFECTED is a fast-paced, over-the-top 3rd person shooter for the PSP™ ( PlayStation®Portable). Developed by Planet Moon Studios and published by Majesco Entertainment, INFECTED casts you as a lone cop, fighting against a tidal wave of infectious zombies, intent on ripping New York to shreds.

In the single player game, you'll clear out neighborhoods in brutal “Kill Em All” scenarios, or race to evacuate civilans in the “Helicopter Evac” missions. As you progress, you'll unlock bigger weapons and new avatars, including special SlipKnot characters!

In the multiplayer game, INFECT your friends when you whip ass in deathmatch, Mad Cow and other special game types. Whether in 8 player ad-hoc, or 2 player through the Internet, winning matches will spread your custom INFECTION across the globe.

Features:

• Ultra fast-paced, twin-gun action on the streets of New York City;
• Set off massive chain reactions of exploding zombies, scoring grisly combos;
• Four exciting multiplayer modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and the soon to be infamous, Mad Cow;
• Players spread their unique avatar (character) to defeated opponents’ PSP systems through both ad hoc and infrastructure wireless modes;
• Gamers can check the spread of their avatar across the world through infrastructure mode, powered by GameSpy.
• PSP system wireless ad hoc support for 1-8 players; Infrastructure support for two players.
• Access a huge arsenal of weapons and upgrades including the Viral Chainsaw;
• Players create unique custom characters and unlock dozens of others, including all nine members of Slipknot, Majesco’s BloodRayne character, and more;
• Blistering metal and electronica soundtrack include Roadrunner Records artists Slipknot, Ill Nino, Chimaira, Fear Factory, among notable others.

GCM:	Thank you for your time! Please get us started by introducing yourself and telling us about the team that will be “infecting” our PSP’s later this year.
Aaron Loeb:	I’m Aaron Loeb, I’m the producer on Infected here at Planet Moon. Planet Moon has been around since 1997 and we made the games MDK, Giants and Armed & Dangerous. The game is being published by Majesco, who brought the world Bloodrayne and Psychonauts.

GCM:	Can you give our readers a brief synopsis of the story in Infected and the motivation for Officer Stevens, the main character?
Aaron Loeb:	It’s Christmas in New York and a virus is turning people into flesh-eating zombies. Officer Stevens, the hero, has been infected but isn’t turned into a zombie. Instead, it turns out, you are immune to the virus and your blood is deadly to the infected. You’re tapped by the New York Bio Team, the agency responsible for stopping infections in the city, to use your blood to wipe out the zombies.

GCM:

The concept of actually “infecting” other players’ PSP’s is probably the most unique idea to come around in a long time, especially for a handheld system. Was the game built around this concept or did it get added further along into the design process?

Aaron Loeb:

The core idea of the game was infections; the idea of infecting other peoples’ PSP’s was one of several ideas that came up around the same time. We knew we wanted to make a zombie game called Infected and from there we came up with the idea of having the AI model the spread of a virus (which it does: in the single player game, you can watch as one zombie spreads his virus to a civilian, who becomes a zombie, and then the two of them spread the virus on to others). And we wanted to let players spread the virus to other players as well.

GCM:

With the “hook” of Infected relying heavily on online multiplayer gaming, what is the design team doing to make sure solo gamers will have just as much fun?

Aaron Loeb:

We’ve spent a huge amount of time on the single player game making sure it’s a fantastic PSP experience. This is a title exclusive to the platform, so all of our energy was making sure it played just right for a PSP – who cares about the way people make games like this on other platforms? The control scheme, the pace of a single mission, the ease of picking it up and getting into a game (takes just moments), everything about the single player game was built from the ground up to make PSP-owners happy. At the most basic: a single mission of Infected takes about 4-10 minutes. The whole game is in easily broken down, bite-sized chunks of content.

GCM:	How much freedom will the player have in creating their own unique Avatar? Will you be restricted to an in-game design tool or can you create something on your PC and transfer it to the PSP?
Aaron Loeb:	It’s an in-game tool that allows you to choose from about a million different combinations of avatars. There are also a ton of hidden avatars in the game that you can unlock if you find the secret places and the secret method to unlock them. These include all 9 members of Slipknot and Miss Bloodrayne herself.

GCM:

3D action games on the PSP seem to be hit or miss when it comes to controls. What steps (i.e. target assist, camera control) are you taking to make sure the game is playable with the limited controls of the PSP?

Aaron Loeb:

Well, one of the things that is very difficult in analog control – this is very nerdy, but may be interesting to you – is the curve you use for the speed of turning based on where the analog stick is controlled. This becomes even more important with only one stick. If the curve is too steep, the player turns too suddenly. If it’s not steep enough, the player can’t actually turn their character fast enough. So, we spent a ton of time tuning that control to make sure it was satisfying; and we actually had focus groups with normal gamers who just moved the character around while we videoed them to make sure they were able to control the character the way they liked. In addition to this, we added target lock to allow you to keep a bead on your enemy, a turbo boost to allow players to get away from a target-lock-on in multiplayer, and a 180 degree flip to make sure if someone is shooting you from behind, you can zip around and take ‘em out.

GCM:

Can you explain how the game tracks each player’s virus globally and how we can track our own personal infection via the Internet? Also, can Japanese players infect North American players, and vice versa?

Aaron Loeb:

Every time you beat someone, you get credit for passing a virus to someone in their city. You’ll be able to go online through the game and see a world map that shows you everywhere in the world your virus has spread to. You’ll also see how many people, overall, you’ve infected with your virus, what cities in the world are the most infected, and who the best and worst players in the world are. We haven’t announced any details on the foreign versions of the games, but rest assured, people will be able to spread their infection around the world.

GCM:	What is the procedure for setting up or joining an online multiplayer game as far as matchmaking, etc? (i.e. central sever, GameSpy, P2P)
Aaron Loeb:	It’s as simple as pie. We use GameSpy’s automatching, so all you have to do it hit “Play Online” and you will be connected to another player for a deathmatch.

GCM:	Are you planning any contests or promotions for infecting the most people or infecting x-many people by a certain date?
Aaron Loeb:	We’d love to do that. Keep your eyes on Infected.com for announcements.

GCM:	Is New York the only location Infected takes place in, and if so, how many different environments will we get to play in? What’s your favorite level?
Aaron Loeb:	It’s all in New York City and it takes place across 5 neighborhoods: Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Central Park, Midtown and Times Square. My favorite area is probably Times Square because it’s bright and beautiful, but I have a soft spot for Greenwich Village because I went to college there and it’s really cool to kill zombies in Washington Square Park under the arch.

GCM:	Infected is the first PSP game to really encourage online play and connectivity. What are the chances of downloadable content like new levels?
Aaron Loeb:	We have no plans for downloadable content; but you can play the game forever with ad hoc and infrastructure.

GCM:	Console and PC gaming traditionally have a higher percentage of online gamers. Why did you pick the PSP for Infected and is there a chance of seeing this game on other systems?
Aaron Loeb:	Never say never!

GCM:	Thank you again for your time! Do you have any last impressions or thoughts for our readers?
Aaron Loeb:	We had a great time making Infected, and we really hope you enjoy it. It’s all about fast paced, super fun action gameplay. If that’s your cuppa joe, you won’t find a better game! Check it out!

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