So, it's been rumored for a while and expected for longer, but the Ratchet and Clank Collection is officially a thing. Confirmed by both the North American and PAL Playstation Blogs, the first three Ratchet and Clank games which have all sorts of names depending on what country you were from, apparently, where all three will be locked at 60 Frames Per Second, render in 1080p (or 720p for 3D) and have a separate Trophy List for each game, with each one having a Platinum Trophy as is expected. That's all standard stuff for these collections and, while they're greatly appreciated, there's nothing new and exciting to talk about with that. But, well, we are covered with that as well, since the multiplayer mode from the third game (Either Ratchet and Clank 3 or Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, again, dependent on where you're from) that I didn't know anything about will be included and playable in the collection. Clearly, as an online mode for a PS2 game, it didn't get to see much usage when it was originally released but nowadays it shouldn't have any problems getting off the ground.
The Collection is the first step in the 10th Anniversary of Ratchet and Clank celebration, with more things promised to come, yet obviously unannounced just yet. It's not too hard to guess at just what these could be, however, especially when you take a look at the comments and replies of the American Announcement Post.
James Stevenson on March 15th, 2012 at 4:31 pm said:
That would be crafty of us, wouldn’t it?
That’s not the big 10th Anniversary Surprise though :-)
While ruled out as a possible "Big Surprise" for the Anniversary, it certainly wasn't ruled out as a possibility, nor was it even hinted against happening. As stated in the quoted, the same rep responded to quite a few people with something along the lines of "You will want to make sure you pre-order!" in a very light-hearted, but pointed manner. Whether the reason you'll want to pre-order is because of a possible Deadlocked HD or not, whatever this bonus is, it's probably going to be big considering the urging here. Yet it also might not be the "Big Surprise" that's in store for all of us. While you might think it's only for North American buyers if you read both posts, I would imagine that it will be for PAL as well, given the number of times they said "Everyone is going to get everything".
When everyone is getting these/this game(s) is the real thing here, as PAL's collection is fully dated for May 16th, 2012, whereas the NA version has a nebulous window of "Fall". Fall doesn't necessarily mean late Fall, early Fall or what, but I would imagine it would be closer to the start. Of course, the original Ratchet and Clank released on November 4th, and the NA release date seems to have something to do with this big surprise and announcement, so it might be closer to that. At least, the release date itself, not the announcement. That is supposed to be "Coming Soon", so we'll just have to see what it is. Now, I'm not saying smart money is on an official new game in the series, but I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. Unfortunately, I doubt whatever announcement this is will have anything to do with the Vita, as a very pointed statement of "There are currently no plans for a Vita version. Sorry. :(" from the PAL blog rules that out.
I've stated my interest for a Ratchet and Clank Collection for a while now since these seemed to be real gems from the past that I missed completely. I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, but when I was a kid, I just never grabbed up the games despite recognizing them as big, first-party games. (at least, towards the end of the PS2's lifespan I did. And had several opportunities to buy into the series that I passed up on.) With this thing official, I'll finally have a chance to get into the games a bit late, but in arguably the best way possible currently, with better graphics, locked framerate and incentive to explore every nook and cranny of the games as you would -want- to do as a young'n. So here's looking forward to it!
“This option was considered [Deadlocked]. We had our reasons for this way, but don’t think we didn’t think of it”
“Again, everything should be available to all”
“You will definitely want to pre-order if you’re in North America :-)”
If my intuition isn’t failing me, I would make a strong guess, due to these comments, that :
Deadlocked will be released on the PS Store as a stand-alone HD remaster and North Americans, should they pre-order, as a result of waiting, will get it free of charge. Europeans will also get it, but will have to pay.
That would be my best guess for the 10th ANNIVERSARY SURPRISE.