E3 Impressions: Sony
This is the final of three posts I will be doing. I have already covered Microsoft and Nintendo. Mind you, this is just my opinion on what was announced. I’ll also note that both Sony’s and Nintendo’s post may be longer than Microsoft’s. This is actually because I didn’t know that the Microsoft event happened before E3 started, and I’m following a Liveblog as I type this.
The first thing we see is Killzone 3 in 3D. I’m still really on the fence about 3D gaming. On one hand, it is a logical step towards visual advancement – since graphics are getting so detailed, but I don’t like the fact that I either have to buy a 3D-HDTV or wear glasses. I’m also not a fan of the headaches I’m sure I’d get if I wore glasses that altered the way I’m seeing something. We’ll see though. Apparently, though, during the presentation, they showed a Mortal Kombat fatality in 3D. I’ll admit, that’s something I’ve always wanted to see!
Nintendo and Sony both had some “interference” with their motion controllers. It’s like the Windows 98 scenario (where it crashed during a presentation) where your focused product doesn’t work the way it’s intended. For Sony, it doesn’t help with the sale of the device if you’re having issues with it when literally showing it to the world. Microsoft’s no-issue presentation gives off the idea that Kinect is built really well while Nintendo and Sony’s device could be better.
What did surprise me was the price of the Move. Unlike Kinect, the PlayStation Move ranges from $50 to $100, depending on what accessories you want. Even given that you’re buying the controller, navigation controller and the PlayStation Eye, that’s not really a bad deal. The hook is that the PlayStation Eye is required, so no Eye means a guaranteed $100 buy (unless you get it cheap off the ‘net). It also gives me the idea that Sony really sees this as an additional peripheral while Microsoft is trying to make Kinect a focal point for the next year. It’s also the first time Sony’s product is cheaper than the competition!
Kevin Butler – I like him. That is all.
They say 70 new PSP games will be coming out by the end of the year. Doing the math, that’s roughly 12 games a month. I hope they pull through with it to get some steam on the PSP – but with the recent announcement of the 3DS, maybe they should let the PSP run its course and then stay out of the market. I think it’s safe to say that is heavily dominated by Nintendo and Apple.
PSN+, or PLayStation PLus is official. And Sony, THANK YOU for listening to the feedback and adjusting the price. $50/year is doable for a lot of people. Plus, you get the first three months free. Honestly, I’m pretty much sold on that idea. I think the first three months are free as well. So you get a “trial” run? I like the idea of free full games (ala PS3 Minis), beta access to demos and automatic patching. What I don’t like is the exclusive in-game content and DLC. I REALLY wish they would make it so that PlayStation Plus members get cheaper DLC (say, 75% off?) instead of locking it out completely, but it looks like that wasn’t the case.
It also looks like Sony struck a deal with EA while Microsoft struck a deal with Activision. While 360 owners will get DLC before Sony owners for the upcoming CoD for the next few years; those who buy the PS3 version of Medal of Honor (from EA) will get a re-release of Medal of Honor: Frontline. It looks like instead of taking shots at each other, Microsoft and Sony are striking deals with other companies.
Infamous 2 was shown – and while I like the series, I don’t like the direction they’re taking it. The only thing that is similar is that Cole has the power of electricity at his fingertips. Almost everything else has changed: His look, the city, his voice, etc. Remember how people had an issue when Maggie Gyllenhal played Rachel in the Dark Knight when Katie Holmes didn’t reprise the role? It wasn’t really her fault, but it made it hard to believe she was Rachel. It’s the same way to me with Infamous. This guy may be Cole, but his changed look, outfit and voice will make it hard for me to believe it.
Finally, Twisted Metal for the PS3. I’ll only say two words: FUCK YEAH!
And to wrap up my post – it’s a bit disappointing that ONE game is something that got me excited. Both Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony brought their A-Game (they had to … it was E3!) and nothing really jumped out – a lot of neat stuff, but I literally had an “Oh shit” moment once I realized the teaser was talking about Twisted Metal. Here’s a link to the teaser – I picked up on it 25 seconds in.
In the end, Sony’s conference was enjoyable, but I still think Nintendo stole the show, while Microsoft was probably the least impressive in my eyes.
With the Big 3′s conferences out of the way, all that’s left are the game companies. Look for a review of E3 overall early next week.
Back for a E3 review
Despite me taking a sabbatical for a indefinite amount of time, I felt that I should at least comment on my thoughts from the E3 expo that happened a few weeks back. Needless to say, I was interested in what was going to happen because I hold the personal opinion that we’re nearing the ceiling in terms of graphical enhancements. Outside of facial expressions and background details, I don’t think we can get much better than what we’re at now. The only real advancements we can make is to make it easier to make these pretty graphics for the developers. That being said, it’s not come down more on innovation, gameplay and creativeness for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
And it looks like Sony and Microsoft succeeded, and Nintendo fell on its face.
I love PS3/PSP System Updates!
If there’s one thing I like, it’s a nice clean user interface. I don’t like a lot of clutter and I like things to be out-of-sight-out-of-mind. I’ve been able to experience both the Wii and the 360s interface, but I think I like Sony’s most of all. I sure am sounding like a fanboy of Sony, lately – but the truth is I thought it was pretty neat even when I was pretty disgusted with Sony.
But that’s not really the point of my post – the point is that not only do I love their XMB, but I love their updates as well. Having owned a Wii, there would be a lot of times that I had an update waiting in the morning only to install it and find that it’s just a quick patch or something. But when I got word that both the PS3 and PSP’s system are getting updates I can’t help but compliment Sony on their constant attention towards making their system run better.
Review: Monster Hunter Freedom
Monster Hunter Freedom was the second game I bought for the PlayStation Portable. I had bought this without doing a review because a friend of mine had the second game and really liked it. And for the most part we agree on game genres – we both think Final Fantasy 6 was the best Final Fantasy of the series – so for the most part when he likes a game it’s assumed I’d like it too.
But unfortunately, it wasn’t the case with this game. And with this game it’s not that the game was bad – although there were quite a few things that irritated me – the main problem I had was the amount of time it took to do simple tasks. And it’s the kind of game that I think is only appreciated by a select audience. I get what Capcom did with this series, however I just couldn’t do it. And if you care to know what I’m talking about, read on.
Article: Should Sony, Nintendo be scared?
Article: Games are serious business for Apple
Summary: Apple has already produced more titles on the iPhone/iPod Touch (which I’ll refer to from here on out as the iTouch) than the Nintendo DS. Apple is climbing the ranks of mobile gaming and maybe Nintendo and Sony should be prepared for a new competitor in the ranks.
Enough.
This is a very stupid and inaccurate article. And I’m going to prove it by two points and point out some hypocrisy with my third point. If you stop reading right here, then go away with this: Apple’s iPhone/iTouch games are nowhere near the equivalent of the gaming on the Nintendo DS or the PlayStation Portable.
Demo Review: Syphon Filter – Logan’s Shadow
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow is the first PSP demo that I downloaded. I wanted to see a game that could show the power of the PSP and this did a good job of doing it. I can’t remember the storyline offhand so I can’t comment on that. But I did get to play the first level completely so at least I have something to base my review on.
The controls, starting off, are weird. The lack of the second analog stick makes aiming difficult. Movement is fine – because it’s done by the analog stick – but in order to aim you use your four buttons. This can be a pain because you can’t get the preciseness that you normally would off of a second analog controller. But honestly, I was able to get used to it relatively fast and if I bought the game, I’m sure I’d get the hang of it. It’s not going to influence my decision. But other than that, the controls aren’t that bad. You directional pad toggles all your different views (like Splinter Cell) and your shoulder buttons are your attacks.
Demo Review: Patapon
While looking at the PlayStation store on my computer for demos to download to my PSP, I came upon Patapon. A game that looked pretty weird but pretty genuine, so I decided to grab it. It was only about 100MB so the size wasn’t terrible. (My memory stick is only 1GB, so anything over 100MB is considered a pretty big download)
As the story goes, you are a God. And the Patapons serve you. You communicate with them by drum beats which when you hit it in the correct order while keeping with the tempo, they respond. In the demo, I only got “move forward” “attack” and “defend.” Unfortunately, it gets pretty tiring after awhile. There really are no other controls other than hitting the same buttons over and over again when you want to either attack or move forward. The attacks are automatic and the movement is done after hitting the four-button-combo. You could probably play with one hand if you really wanted to. This may not be as repetitive later on since I only played for about an hour but after the fourth level I found myself ready for something different. Another thing to mention is that if you do a sequence in tempo without skipping a beat or note after awhile your patapons go into hyper mode, which make them more powerful and stay that was for a long time as long as you keep up with the notes and tempo.
Jobs: iPhone is the best handheld
At its seasonal hardware unveiling today Apple showed off expected new models for its agenda-setting music hardware the iPod – but it was games, not audio, which CEO Steve Jobs pushed to the forefront.
Jobs revealed that 100m applications have been downloaded from the AppStore, the area of iTunes which distributes software. There are 3,000 apps on the story – 600 of which are games titles, many of them free.
But “some of [the games] are getting pretty fantastic. There is something here for everyone”.
To prove it, he called Apple’s senior VP of product marketing to demonstrate three new iPod Touch/iPhone games, the Gameloft’s Real Soccer 2009 and the recently released Spore Origins and upcoming Need for Speed Undercover by EA.
The former ad the latter showed off almost cutting edge use of the touchscreen interface of the iPhone. Gameloft has programmed an on-screen d-pad into its game and has included gesture controls, while EA has transposed traditional racing game controls to the interface for its car racer.
Jobs summed up, claiming that Apple’s iPod Touch is no longer great for just music and video, but now games too.
“Now you can make a pretty good argument that it is the best portable device for playing games on – and a whole new class of games,” he said.
Jobs said that in a wider sense Apple had the best hardware line-up it has ever offered, which included also announced smaller iPod Nanos and higher capacity iPod Classics.
He also revealed details on the might of Apple’s place in the market as a digital distributor. iTunes was described as the “largest online content store in the world”, offering also 8.5m songs and 30,000 TV episodes for download. And there are 65m user accounts with registered credit cards on the service. All of this has “enabled us to slowly climb up to become the number one music distibutor in any format in the US,” ahead of traditional retailers like WalMart and Best Buy, said Jobs.
It seems as if when Steve Jobs isn’t telling people that giving an autograph would be rude, telling people that his health is no ones business, or forcing people to buy new products to support the new iTunes feature he’s telling people that the iPhone is the best portable gaming system – better than the Nintendo DS and better than the Sony PSP.
Why I’m going with Sony.
If you asked me a about six months ago, I would have spit on the PlayStation 3. I’ll admit it and I’m also going to admit that I’m wrong. What I haven’t been fond of is Sony continuously bashing its competitor, the Nintendo Wii, when Nintendo’s system has – and continues to – destroy Sony in sales. Continuous reports show that Nintendo Wii is still dominating, with X-Box 360 in second place and the PlayStation 3 in last place. I’m not a fan of competitive bashing in commercials and reports. I absolutely loathe those Mac commercials because they portray PC users as nerds who use a inferior system while Mac’s are for cool people. It drives me crazy because overall I think XP/Vista is superior to OSX. But I digress. For the most part, I just didn’t like Sony and their antics.
But, I have changed my ways. Now I’m actually going to be buying a PlayStation 3 within the next two months. It’s not necessarily because the games look really good with a high definition television or because Sony is known for its more mature games. The reason I’m getting it is because I think in the long run, it will get a much bigger use out of it than I originally thought.
Review: CastleVania, Dracula X Chronicles
So here it is, the reason that I bought a Playstation Portable – the rarest of CastleVania games finally released to the United States.
It actually took me awhile before I got it. Like I said before, my son is being treated with a very rare disease, so I bought this game to tide me over while I’m holding him and he’s sleeping or we’re just hanging out in the hospital room while he’s sleeping.
Before I go on with the review, I will state that I’m a huge CastleVania fan. In my eyes, they can do no wrong. So don’t be shocked when I give this game a 5/5, because I will. However, that’s not to say it’s a 100% masterpiece, but in my opinion it’s pretty close. Read on, dear reader, and be subjected to extreme, extreme fanboyism.
There isn’t much about this game that I don’t enjoy. The graphics, music, playstyle – it’s all there plus three additional games. I personally tire of the MetroidVania games that are out now. It seems that the Producer, Iga, really is stuck on that formula. and while I’ll still buy all the games, it’s nice to go back to the way it was. A linear sidescroller where you go from point A to point B-1 or B-2. No real exploration, just ass kicking your way to Dracula.
First Impressions: Monster Hunter Freedom
A friend of mine had mentioned the Monster Hunter series quite a bit. So as I wrapped up CastleVania, I went to GameStop to get another game so that my PSP didn’t collect dust. Unfortunately, the two games I was aiming for were either gone or too expensive. (Gotta’ maintain a budget for my future PS3 buy) What did catch my eye was Monster Hunter Freedom for $20. I didn’t read reviews, but thought – what the hell – and bought it.
First impressions aren’t that great.
First, I noticed a decent loading time between starting and ending a quest. It’s kind of a hinderance, but what can you expect from a little machine loading a PS2 game? The second is the lack of storyline. So far the story is that you’re a monster hunter. That’s it. I’m hoping that a story will develop later on as I’m going through the tutorial portion. A lot of things are overwhemling at first. You have a lot of stuff you can do, but they just send you out on a hunt in order to learn how to do it. I’m okay with that. Something that’s confusing to me, at least, is that there is no structure to it. I can combine items, fish and search for things. But as I continue to do it, I don’t get any form of skill point or experience if I successfully pull it off. Maybe I’m too used to the WoW experience.
