Global Resistance is Insomniac's irresistible Resistance 3 promotion

Well, at least it looks the part. Insomniac, creator of the Ratchet and Clank series, has unleashed Global Resistance, a Facebook-connected social game to promote the upcoming release of Resistance 3 for the Sony PS3, Gaming Union reports. The game, which is said to play much like Risk--which ironically will have a Facebook version of its own soon enough--will unlock exclusive content in the PS3 shooter. Inversely, playing the shooter will bolster your forces in the social game.

Players are forced to side with either the humans in this alternate WWII reality, or the Chimera, an alien race that's a cross between The Thing and the Body Snatchers. Players will gather troops and attempt to take over regions of the world using the vast war map across rounds that last for hours in wars that last for days--seven days, to be exact. Your military decisions are aided with color-coded icons that help you judge your forces against the enemy's.

However, the game appears to be extremely complicated, and generally skewed to the hardcore, war-mongering gamer. Luckily, the game takes on a few Facebook game cues like Missions. These, like Goals in FarmVille, direct players on what to do next in order to unlock content in Resistance 3. Players must even create and maintain their own military base to create new troops to launch Missions with--that sounds a lot like Empires & Allies, no? (Not to mention the battle system, an asynchronous affair with players trading pre-planned attacks much similar to Mafia Wars.)

Global Resistance
Perhaps Global Resistance is the first move by Insomniac Click, a social games division within the studio that recently opened for business. Regardless, this is an impressive endeavor in both looks and scope that Resistance fans will surely love. Now, we just can't wait to see what Insomniac Click can do with a game all its own.

Quote of the Moment: 'There is no right way to do [social games]'

That's what Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price (pictured) said to GameSpot during an interview. The company has recently created Insomniac Click, its very own social games studio. But forming a social games wing has had deeper effects than simply making executives see green. Social gaming has apparetly permeated how the studio approaches its core game franchises like Resistance and Rachet & Clank on the PS3.

"What we are learning as we get further into social game development is the importance of on-boarding, the importance of social hooks, and reaching the broadest audience possible while delivering a AAA experience," Price told GameSpot. "These are things that we of course considered in console development, but as we are building social games we have to be even more focused on particular aspects of development, and because of that, we are learning a lot that also applies to our console games. And as a result, we are learning lessons that we probably wouldn't have learned if we were purely focused on our console games."

In other words, social games have had a visible effect on how the studio creates and maintains its existing console games. No, you won't come across farms to grow as you fend off the alien invasion, but you might "share" the fun with your friends. Price went on to say that the existence of Insomniac Click has led the studio to consider a bigger focus on community in its games. Then, the Insomniac head gets even more real for a second.

"Well, most of us are trying to figure out exactly where we want to focus in terms of making our mark in social games, because there is so much experimentation happening every day, and there is no right way to do it," Price said. "That's what is exciting about it." (And we seriously doubt Insomniac Games is alone there.)

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

What do you hope or expect will come from Insomniac Click? Do you think social games will have a lasting effect on the games business overall?