Super Stardust HD

We’re mere days away from getting our first look at Housemarque’s inaugural PlayStation 4 project, a supposed “spiritual successor” to the sublime Super Stardust HD. The company confirmed earlier in the month that it will be jetting off to GamesCom next week, where it will pull back the curtain on the first of two brand new collaborations with SCEE. And speaking as part of a question and answer with Games Industry – republished on its blog – CEO and co-founder Ilari Kuittinen shed a little light on its decision to partner with the PlayStation maker yet again.

“Last year, we were given the opportunity to start working on two new games with SCE Worldwide Studios Europe XDev team, and that was a great deal for us since they’ve been a trusted partner for many years,” he told the site. “The partnership allows us to continue creating the cool core games that we want to concentrate on, and also get our hands on new hardware as soon as it’s available.”

And according to Kuittinen, the company has already fallen in love with that hardware. “We really like the PS4’s architecture and power – hence, developing our new games exclusively for SCEE is the perfect opportunity for us,” he explained.

One big question remains, though: why the decision to make a spiritual successor? “We think of the new game as being a ‘spiritual successor’ to Super Stardust, simply in the sense that it’s from the same team and it’s a shoot ‘em up which we believe fans of Super Stardust and the genre as a whole will enjoy,” he said, adding that the game may include some form of multiplayer features. “I think that there are two major ways to build player excitement in our offerings: improved online experience, and treating games like a service.”

We’ll get to see the title in action in less than a week. Are you excited yet?

[source gamesindustry.biz, via housemarqueblog.com]