Listen up folks, 'cause I've got some dirt on the Public Beta for SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation! We're not quite ready to say when it will come out, but let's just say that it's gonna be a hot summer... better to spend it inside, just in case.

There'll be a couple of ways to get in. One will be through a radically different pre-order program (think 'team') the team is working on with one of our retailer friends. It's currently in planning mode, but I should have some more info soon. Trust me-- all you clan guys are going to love it. Stay tuned.

The second option will be to go through Qore: Presented by PLAYSTATION®Network, SCEA's new interactive monthly program. It goes up for purchase and download on the PLAYSTATION®Store on June 5th. Subscribers to Qore will get the opportunity to participate in the Public Beta when it's available, but you can occupy your time watching some of the cool SOCOM behind-the-scenes videos that will come exclusively with Qore.

I see a lot of talk on the forums and comments about how this person or that person is the biggest and baddest SEAL around. Soon, you're going to get a chance to put your money where your mouth is!
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The recent Dev Q&A 02 with Allen Goode and I brought up a lot of community concern dealing with the ranked games being limited to Auto Match only. We have a good reason why we decided to go down this path (it prevents rank up rooms), but we are open to feedback as well. I would like to get official feedback from the community at large on this issue. Cast your vote in the poll!

We will seriously consider the results of this poll.
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Kotaku writes: "It doesn't look like there will be a whole lotta new coming to SOCOM Confrontation when the online-only shooter hits the PlayStation 3 in September. Sure, you're going to get new maps, and lots more detailed graphics, but if you were hoping for some paradigm shift, some major change in the way you play the popular PlayStation shooter, you're going to be disappointed."
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David Brothers Writes: Full steam ahead this week, with a new screenshot, some new sigs, and a couple of interviews.

Friday

Get Down- We wrap up our week of new shots with one last shot of Crossroads.

Wednesday

Kotaku on SOCOM.com- Kotaku showed us some love, so we show some back.

Thursday

Dev Q&A 01- We kick off a new series on SOCOM.com¿ a developer question & answer session. Seth Luisi answers this week's questions.
IGN and David Seymour Chit-chat- Coinciding with Seth answering questions on SOCOM.com, David Seymour reveals some new things to IGN.

Friday

Friday? Gamer's Day!- Gamer's Day is getting revved up.
Incoming SOCOM Patches- Cade Meyers from Zipper fills us in on a few upcoming patches.
SOCOM's Signature Style- We've got three sigs. Spread them far and spread them wide.

We got some great info out to you guys this week. We'll have more Q&A next week and keep your eyes on this blog for more E3 Judges' Day updates.
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Ever since SOCOM: Confrontation was revealed it has been under tight wraps in every respect. Videos, screens, and specific information were and still are hard to come by as the game is still under development. For those who don't know, SOCOM is Sony's flagship shooter that single-handedly established the PS2 online. David Seymour, design director at Slant Six Games, today has finally let loose some juicy info about the game that any SOCOM fan will love to hear.
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Several screens and some concept art for SOCOM Confrontation have cropped up online. The screens were originally posted on the semi-official Sony blog Three Speech and show off both the character models and the slightly better looking environments. We recently reported that the online-focused shooter would let up to 32 players fight in seven maps in battles of strategy and teamwork via PSN. From the sounds of it, it's squaring up ... » Read More

You want to know about the Closed Beta, right? Okay, well, let's get right into it:
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Playstation.Blog writes: "Hey, folks. David "Point Man" Brothers back again for another Weekly Wrap-up. Here's what went up on SOCOM.com, last Friday through yesterday:

Friday

* Tuning & Balancing ¿ Another behind-the-scenes look at Slant Six as Allen Goode shows what it takes to finely tune SOCOM: Confrontation to perfection.

Monday

* Dev Bio: Dan McBride ¿ Dan McBride is the Managing Director at Slant Six and lets me in on his background
* Poll: Favorite Maps ¿ The first poll has been reset so vote one more time if you haven't been back since

Tuesday

* Gun of the Week: F90 - This week we take a look at the F90 and enjoy the sweet sound of slow-mo gun fire.

Wednesday

* Gun of the Week? ¿ What do you think should be the next Gun of the Week?

Thursday

* Dev Bio: David Seymour ¿ Overseeing all aspects of game design is Slant Six's own David Seymour

We're updating every weekday at SOCOM.com¿ see you there!"
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SOCOM Confrontation focuses on online play and the global community and clans that support it. With support for Tournaments, Clan Ladders, Leader Boards, this latest title in the multi-million unit selling franchise is exactly what SOCOM fans have been clamoring for. Additionally, players will be able to modify their appearance through facial and physical customization.
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Sony's SOCOM: Confrontation for PS3 will be aiming to take the PS3 online shooter crown from Activision's massively successful Call of Duty 4 when it arrives later this year. The online-focused shooter will let up to 32 players fight in seven maps in battles of strategy and teamwork via PSN. Soldiers will be customisable, with weapons set by the player for the job at hand. The game will promote clans, with a recruitment feature that allows you to ... » Read More

SCEE's officially announced SOCOM: Confrontation. According to VG247, here's what you're going to get:

¿ Intense online combat experience with up to 32 players delivered in High Definition
¿ 7 highly detailed maps
¿ New engine built for PS3 with advanced physics, lighting and ballistics including penetration modelling
¿ Choice of playing as one of five special forces units: United States Navy SEALs, Special Air Service (SAS, United Kingdom), Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK, Germany), Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE, Spain), 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPIMa, France)
¿ Unrivalled Community Features with increased clan & ladder support
¿ Tournaments available at the regional, national and global levels
¿ Advanced player matching enable players to form teams with their friends and easily join an online game
¿ Integration with SOCOM.com: Stat tracking, clan management tools, My SOCOM pages and more
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New details from Electronic gaming magazine:

GAMEPLAY:
-You can roll or underhand a grenade with real physics
-You can lean your guy with the six-axis instead of the d-pad
-There is proximity chat
-Your clan can talk via open chat, but you can L2 to chat to everyone on your team. Or if you have proximity chat then you chat with who ever is around you.
-Audio has changed. Sounds around a corner sound muffled.
-There is now a run/sprint mode. You can run/sprint but you can't shoot and your gun will not be accurate after running. So basically just use this too avoid snipers.
-Tilt with the six-axis can be tweaked for sensitivity
-There are exploding barrels and cars.
-View distance is big, so no more fog like SOCOM 2
-Smoke looks dark gray
-They talk about the 3rd person view. They said because the new widescreen TVs have a different ratio, there was too much space on each side of the classic view.
-"Sony's Seth Luisi says, "Because it was more centered towards 4:3 TVs, and now going to 16:9, we have a lot more area off to the sides."
-You can go up on roofs.
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Sony blog writes: "Green up, it's time to go.

I'm happy to announce that SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation will be hitting store shelves and the PLAYSTATION Store on September 16th, 2008. You'll be able to download it from your couch or pick up a copy at your favorite brick-and-mortar and get to business.

As we approach the release of SOCOM: Confrontation on the PS3 this September, we are very excited to announce the all new SOCOM community site: www.SOCOM.com.

We've been working for some time to grow and expand our support for the SOCOM community. The initial phase of SOCOM.com (Phase 1) will launch with the official Blog and Message Boards dedicated to the world of SOCOM. The Blog will be the place to go for the latest updates on everything SOCOM related; including screenshots, video, behind-the-scenes blogs and more. It will also give us a method to directly communicate with the SOCOM community. You can sound off in either the comments section for each post or in the message boards. We have agents gathering intel and dev team members will respond when they can."
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SOCOMUpdate writes: You can no longer set up a match exactly defined to your teams exact strengths and create a honeypot to raise your clan ranking. For you clan to have a global ranking you now have to be a rounded team with good strategies for dealing with all the maps. Now , you can build all the custom games you want - the room system is still there, which i know is really important to socom fans. you can do all your clan tryouts and training in those rooms. and even playing within those games aggregates different stats, because we track a lot of information about the player, but it doesn't directly go into the global clan ladder" (NO RANK UP)
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1UP has brought you several big stories on SOCOM Confrontation in the past month, but today Sony passed on one more important piece of information: a release date. The latest iteration of the popular online shooter franchise will be arriving on September 16.
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It was simply inevitable. With Vivendi shipping well over a million copies of 50 Cent: Bulletproof to over a million suckers with crap taste in shooters, a sequel was expected. According to a cover snap of the latest issue of EGM, 50 Cent II, as we're calling it now, is reality. It's getting the "first look" preview treatment in next month's mag, something for which we're sure the boys at EGM were gentlemanly enough to feign interest in for a well-deserved exclusive.
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As 1up revealed early this month, the May issue of EGM has a blow-out cover story on SOCOM Confrontation. Along with the loads of other Confrontation info in the story, you'll find a list of all the different special forces included in the game. Joining a special force is now a perk associated with joining a clan; solo players will still be able to play as either commandos or mercenaries, but special forces (and their associated uniforms, gear, and weapons) will only be available to clan members.
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After a year undercover, Sony has finally broken its silence on its PS3 instalment of SOCOM, though it looks like you'll have to buy a magazine to get the full story. The next issues of US mag Electronic Gaming Monthly apparently has the full blow-out on Confrontation, which will be available as a download on PSN, as well as traditional retail means. "The dev team is really excited that the world can finally see some of their hard work," posted ... » Read More

In anticipation of the Confrontation cover story in the May issue of EGM, 1UP has posted two new screenshots. The initial reaction has been positive, and the dev team is really excited that the world can finally see some of their hard work. This has also been a huge relief to SealTeam-6, who has the unenviable job of telling SOCOM's huge, hungry fan base every week that:

* a) yes we are still working on the game, and
* b) no, there is no new information we can share at this time
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1UP.com:
With the popular SOCOM franchise set to make its debut on the PlayStation 3 this year via SOCOM Confrontation, fans are psyched, and we are too. The latest issue of EGM has just arrived in mailboxes across the nation, but we're already looking ahead to our next ish, which will feature an exclusive hands-on look at Confrontation's full 32-player online battles. Hopefully that's enough to get you hungry, but in the mean time we've rounded up a couple brand new screenshots to really whet your appetite.

Check out the upcoming May issue of EGM for all the info and many more pics.
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