Hi all you Sega blog readers! My name is Keith Hladik and I’m one of the Producers of Conduit 2. I’ve been here at ‘the Volt’ for six years and I’ve had the pleasure to work on titles such as the first Conduit and Tournament of Legends. It’s always exciting to reach out to our fans and pull back the curtain on some decisions made during development. Being a fan of the first game, it’s been an exciting ride to work on the series again.

As we approach our launch date I’d like to highlight some of the cool weaponry featured in Conduit 2. First Person Shooters are all about their weapon arsenal and for Conduit 2 we worked tirelessly at crafting new weapons, tweaking and refining old weapons, all while ensuring each is balanced for single player as well as multiplayer. We knew we wanted to bring back the majority of the guns, but as we started development on the second game we wanted to give each weapon a secondary feature to bring them new life. Human weapons now have iron sites or scopes while some of the Trust and Drudge guns received a major overhaul. The development team read tons of fan feedback, scoured the forums, and studied YouTube videos to determine which weapons ‘worked’ and which weren’t used all that often.

The TPC Launcher

Fans of the first game might recognize these first couple of weapons. First up is the TPC Launcher, a dangerous Trust weapon. In The Conduit its only function was to fire off energy grenades. It was a pretty powerful weapon and a fun gun to use online. For Conduit 2 we amped it up a bit; adding “sticky” proximity grenades as its alternate fire. What grenade launcher isn’t complete without sticky bombs!? Players can now press the ‘alternate fire’ button to switch modes (defaulted to Down on the +Control Pad for Wii Remote Nunchuk style controls). When the button is pressed, parts of the gun and grenade alter their color to red. Players can then plop down some grenades that explode when enemies get within range. This is perfect for protecting that capture or choke point. Another pro tip is that you can attach proximity mines to team mates and they can run around chasing after the other team! Sure, they might die in the ensuing explosion, but you don’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs!

In regular mode players can rapidly fire off 4 energy grenades that bounce and explode after a certain amount of time or when they hit another player. The TPC Launcher is now critical to any team when they need a good set of defenders.

The Hive Cannon

Now I’d like to move along to another original gun from the first game we retooled for Conduit 2. This is a huge favorite in the office for both its power and unique ability. I’d like to introduce you to the new and improved Hive Cannon!

The Hive Cannon is a powerful Drudge weapon that natively fires tiny insects that explode upon impact with enemies and objects. In the first game the firing cone of the weapon grew or shrunk depending on which way players twisted the Wii Remote. As this proved to be a bit cumbersome for players and truthfully not all that useful, we removed that functionality and added something we think is way cooler. With a press of the alternate fire button, the gun lobs a spherical ‘Drudge Pheromone’ that sticks to anything it touches. Now, there is a slight arc to the trajectory of the glob so players will have to carefully judge longer distance shots. Yeah, yeah… you’re probably wondering, so what? Well the really neat part is that anytime you fire the Hive cannon, the insects will home in on the pheromone, tracking its location. You can even shoot around corners if your unsuspecting victim runs for cover. With high damage value, large clip, and rapid fire, the Hive Cannon is a great weapon that provides players unique strategies when on the offensive.

The Darkstar

I’d like to end this weapon blog detailing one of our newest and probably least known about weapons, the Atlantean Dark Star. The somewhat maddening thing about our weapons in the Conduit series is that they go through 2, 3, and sometimes 4 different names throughout development. The Dark Star, which was once (and probably still is somewhere around the office) called ‘The Black Hole Gun’, ‘The Brahmastra’, or simply ‘The Killa’. We’re glad we settled on ‘The Dark Star’ as it evokes sheer terror once that thing is fired. So now that your interest is peaked I’ll describe one of the most powerful guns in the game.

The Dark Star, as with all of our weapons, has 2 firing modes, and the second mode is wholly dependent on the first. The primary fire shoots an energy ball that attaches to targets. The initial damage is fairly low, however once a player is hit with this they will continue to take damage over time (DOT). If they subsequently die while an energy ball is attached to them (either from the ball itself, another weapon, or from another player), you now have a Level 1 Dark Star shot.

You have options now, either press the alternate fire button to switch modes, or try to kill more enemies with the primary shot attached. Since you’re probably in the thick of things, most often you’ll probably want to switch to the Dark Star shot right away. When the weapon is transferred into Dark Star mode, its jaws open up in anticipation of the hell you’re about to unleash on your foes. Once you press fire, watch out! A piece of highly potent dark matter will launch from the gun and explode into a huge black hole once it collides with something, (or after a short amount of time), preferably an enemy! All nearby living things will get sucked into the black hole and die painful death.

“But wait, what if I kill someone with the regular shot again?” you ask. Well you’ll level up your gun to Level 2, and then Level 3 if you kill someone else with the regular shot DOT. Each subsequent level of the gun fires a larger and larger black hole, each with a larger gravitational pull. But you have to be extremely careful as you wouldn’t want to get sucked in yourself! Black holes aren’t choosey. Players also have to be careful as the Dark Star will revert back to level zero if you die while it’s leveled up. The Dark Star is a bit of a cult favorite here at HVS, and in the hands of a skilled player with the right suit upgrades, it is a very devastating weapon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this brief overview of some of the changes we did to weapons from the first game as well as one of our new guns. With over 20 weapons, Conduit 2 has a great selection of fun and unique weaponry to try out. And with our new loadout system, players can bring any weapon they choose into any single player level or multiplayer match!

I’d like to extend my warmest thanks to all the fans past, present, and future. I hope to see you all online when we launch April 2011 – don’t forget to pre-order to prepare for the fight on day 1!