As previously mentioned, Slant Six Games and Sony Computer Entertainment of America are pleased to announce Cold Front, the first downloadable expansion pack for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation!

Over the next few weeks, Slant Six would like to share some production notes with you regarding some of the new maps and shed a little insight on how these maps came together.

This week we are featuring Blizzard: a classic map from SOCOM 1 and 2 that has been updated with HD graphics and effects. In order to enhance the player’s experience with this perennial favorite, we opted to make the weather a key gameplay aspect.

The calm atmosphere of previous iterations of the map has been completely reworked with visibility now being hindered by the constant flurry of snow and winds that pound against your character.

The biggest challenge we faced with Blizzard in updating to PS3 from PS2, was working with open terrain, and in turn, wide open sight lines. Balancing the blizzard effects, vegetation, and open terrain to achieve the right amount of visibility among the characters proved an interesting challenge.

We have included three of our favourite Blizzard screenshots below:

Dredge frozen in ice.

View through the snow filled trees.

Bird’s eye view of Blizzard-the best way to plan your attacks!