A Review/Ramble/Editorial of the PSVita

Some of you may have followed the previous post on handhelds and their cultural relevance and if you did it was abundantly clear that I very much love my Vita. What follows are just some thoughts on the system in no real order on how it plays, works, games and interface.

THE SYSTEM:

It's excellent. It's built very well and even though it's a little on the large side for a handheld it feels great in my hands. I really liked my PSP 3000, but it was a tad small and uncomfortable to hold.

The sticks are excellent and give you the precise control you'd expect from sticks. The buttons are of the "clicky" variety which isn't my favorite, but the shoulder buttons feel very good.

The touchscreens work very well. As good as any smart phone I've ever used.

The screen itself is huge. It's gorgeous and is a pleasure on the eyes.

I thought the interface was a little clumsy at first. Want to look at friends or trophies or chat? They are all separate apps that have to be loaded independently of each other. At first I thought this was lame until I realized it was more than likely done this way as a way to save power.

I like that the system seems to be aware of when it actually needs to be connected to the PSN and only connects when necessary. It always holds the wifi signal, but won't go into PSN accounts until needed. Again I would assume this is to save battery.

The networking and PSN Store all work better than I could have hoped. It's all relatively seamless and works well. I've been adding funds to my wallet and using PSN cards with great ease.

The system multitasks extremely well. I love that at literally any point of any game I can hit the PS Home button and it will instantly pull me out of the game and will allow me to flip through any page on the Vita I want. I can pull up my friends or trophies app or load the PS Store and Chat all while keeping my game running in the background. When I'm ready to keep playing I go back to the page my game is running on and hit continue and I'm instantly back in the game with no loading. It's awesome.

The battery generally gets a beating by me since I have all the settings maxed and am generally downloading something at the same time. Not sure from a first hand account yet as to how long it will last while simply just playing a game, but the general 4-5 hours seems accurate.

I really only have 2 gripes about the system: 1. I'm not fond of the speaker locations. They are almost constantly blocked by my thumbs to some extent while using the sticks. It's not a huge deal, but can be distracting to get some slight sound muffling while playing. 2. The back touchscreen is great, but sometimes I'm accidentally inputting things when I don't mean to because of where I place my fingers on the system. I guess that there's probably not a way around this as it is literally the nature of the Vita.

GAMES:

I currently own Uncharted, Escape Plan, Rayman, Mutant Blobs and Super Stardust. The weakest of the line up is Escape Plan. While not a bad game it isn't wowing me like I hoped it would. Levels are very short and the load times are long. Using all aspects of the Vita has been very "grin giving" to me. Pushing things over or pulling out drawers by hitting the back touchscreen gives a very unique feel to a puzzle game I've never seen before. This is the only game I've ever played that gives you almost a fly on the wall God complex through the way it plays which is really cool. Leaky steam coming out of a pipe? Literally plug the pipe with your finger. It's a neat game that could be really amazing when a sequel rolls around.

Uncharted is shockingly good and is surprisingly more fun than Uncharted 1 and 2 for the consoles. I'm not saying it's the better game, but that it is more fun. There seems to be more platforming and a smaller amount of endlessly streaming enemies wearing balaclavas (one of my biggest gripes of the series). There are even some decent stealth levels which were almost non-existent in the console versions (I've yet to play UC3).

Using the touchscreen for this game has been surprisingly fun. I'm no fan of gimmicky controls, but I do appreciate using a new input that is executed well. Another good example of this is arming charges in Killzone by using the Sixaxis tilt controls. In Uncharted you enter combinations through a dial combination lock. You take charcoal rubbings of important landmarks. You use the back panel to spin an item and the front panel to literally clean it up to better inspect it. At one point I had to put my Vita up to a bright light to see the hidden ink on some paper to read it. Using the back touch panel as an exact and seamless way to zoom with my sniper rifle and camera is amazingly refreshing. One thing I thought I would never use was to use the sixaxis to further dial in a precise shot while aiming down the sights. I now use this all the time. Combat also utilizes a little touchscreen prompts for fist fights. The lamest one by far is when you slip while walking across a beam and have to use the sixaxis to not fall....really lame.

Needless to say the graphics are amazing on this game and the soundtrack and voice acting is on level with the console versions. I'm on chapter 15 and I'm still shocked that I'm playing this on a handheld.

Rayman is a breath of fresh air that I didn't know I needed. It's ridiculously fast paced and tons of fun. It's like Mario mixed with Sonic, but with very tight controls and some tough platforming. It uses the touchscreen to a small, but fun, extent to grab certain items that are in bubbles. A very fun game that I wouldn't have given a fair shake on consoles.

I got Super Stardust as a gaming dare by my bro-in-law, Silent, to have high score competitions and it's fucking awesome. Basically it's a twin stick shooter and is as balls crazy as Geometry Wars, but you're playing on a spherical planets. Amazing controls and graphics with a great soundtrack. A ton of modes to play and a leaderboard built specifically to make you play more and more as every game mode shows where your points stack up against your friends. It's very addicting and very fun. Just so you all know I'm already pummeling Silent.

Mutant Blobs I got just last night and haven't even played yet. I keep reading it's a ton of fun and a must buy. I'll keep you posted on that.

CONCLUSION:

All in all I'm madly in love with the Vita. I've been consistently choosing to play it over my PS3 and 360 which is something I've never done with a handheld.

The ability to play small short games along with large complex ones is something that hasn't happened up to this point with handhelds.

UBER-CONCLUSION:

Sell all other handhelds and get a Vita. It's truly the best handheld there's ever been. I look forward to pwning your weak punk ass scores in Super Stardust.

Handheld Cultural Relevance

I've been thinking a little bit about handheld systems lately, mainly due to Sony's Vita release.  Handheld gaming has changed a lot over the years in technology, but I'm not sure the gamer's personal goal in handheld gaming has really changed at all.  Culturally speaking, I think Sony took a bit of a gamble with the Vita, positioning themselves in a way that they could either destroy the market share Nintendo has had for so long, or destroy themselves.

Let me start off by saying I really like the Vita.  I think the high price tag is the only thing that really kept me from making the investment.  It is totally stacked with cutting edge tech, game quality and graphics look phenomenal, and all the inter-connective features on it (PS3, web, etc.) really add some depth to gaming that has been absent from even home consoles.

We have seen in the past, however, that technical proficiency does no equate to sales dominance.  For me, this is no better represented than by Sega's GameGear. Poised in perfect position to really show Nintendo what for, the GameGear boasted a larger color screen, a comfortable button layout, and (for it's time) cutting edge features, such as a TV tuner adapter.  Why did Nintendo's little grey box with it's puny monochromatic display succeed?

Nintendo (deliberately or not) met the needs of the 'gamer on the go'.  As fantastic as of features as the GameGear had, it wasn't addressing the main needs of the travelling player.  Nintendo exercised a sort of, 'form follows function' mentality when designing their unit.  It was compact, efficient, and it scratched that gaming itch all at the same time. The GameGear was large, required ample power to run, and it ignored the cultural need of it's time - who needed to watch TV wherever they were at?  Nintendo won out because they were more aware of the cultural 'need' (I use that word very lightly...).

As a quick segway, let me defend Sega's decision here... they were attempting to become the emergent technology.  Sometimes the culture dictates the need and technology responds, sometimes the technology emerges and the culture embraces it.  The iPad, for example... There wasn't a very strong need for tablet computers, they had existed for a while, but the iPad found a way, through a mixture of redesign and marketing, to make their product a cultural solution. Sega just didn't do that...


Back to the Vita, and this is what I'm curious what other people are thinking on this too.  Is the Vita meeting a need, or is it trying to fill in an unnecessary gap?  It's features are very close to that of a smartphone, so much in fact that it even includes social media apps, and game information sharing features.  I'm very impressed by the ability to bring Uncharted with me wherever I go, but is that really what I want out of mobile gaming? It's the free games and simple games that make the smartphone gaming market so lucrative, so how do you convince a million Angry Bird addicts to pony up 400 bucks for this new thing and a couple of games?

That might be a little unfair, but it is the truth of the market we are currently in.  Nintendo has kept up their success thanks to their share of first party titles (surprise, surprise...), but with them the risk is the opposite.  If they don't stay more culturally relevant, then they risk becoming old news, a console lost in the piles of old toys from yesteryear.  I think the risk for them is real too - I have a 3DS, and as much as I love it, the marketing focus on the 3D technology was a mistake.  I play it all the time, but I never use the 3D.

Anyone else have a different experience with this stuff?  Most of this is written based off of my own experiences, but I don't think it's that far from the truth... I basically stopped playing my GameGear because I was always tethered to a wall outlet.  That isn't exactly what I imagined when I wanted to go into "mobile gaming."

DLC - Game Extender or a Malevolent Shitstorm of Corporate Greed?

DLC. Not entirely new or ground breaking, but the way it's packaged and presented is always changing. Most recently so with clever marketing tag lines like "Elite" and "Season Pass".

Now I'm not talking about user created content or mods or patches. I'm talking about content created by the developers and then sold to the gamers.

I've been talking, at some length, with Lead Salad about Gears 3 DLC and the continual pillaging and raping of my belief in developers as kind gamers, like myself, that love games as much as I do and want to spread gamer love to all with new content they've created.

I feel very strongly that Gears 3 DLC has crossed a line. Normally I wouldn't take the time to write about DLC because it's always a point, in my mind, as a power of choice, as a consumer, to purchase or not to purchase (that is the question!) it. But it was the clever marketing and thought that I'd actually be saving money that got me to purchase the now hated "Season Pass".

What the Season Pass gives players is the first 4 DLC packs for the cost of only 3. I believed, in my naive and safe mind that the world was fair and beautiful, that if I loved the game and expected to play it for a long time after release I'd be stupid not to....only in this case I was very stupid to.

Shortly after the first DLC dropped it was announced that it would be made free to everybody as a sign of how "giving" Epic is at Thanksgiving. How wonderful! I've now paid for DLC in advance that's now free to all! I've already been robbed of my benefit of getting 4 for the price of 3. But hey look! I at least get these extra skins! 10 bucks for 3 cosmetic skins works out to $3.33 a skin or 266.66 MS points per skin. Not too shabby!

Not long after the first DLC was released the Season Pass was put on sale at a discounted price. Another burn.

I guess what bother's me the most is that I feel had as a consumer. Like they really stuck it to me. It feels worse than buyers remorse because I've actually spent around 90 bucks on a game I feel I really have to keep, more than ever, to justify my expense. I enjoy the game, overall, and wouldn't really wish to be rid of it, but whenever I play it it comes with a tinge of resentment which is something I've never felt with any game in the past. Not even HALO 3 or REACH which I bought and sold about a dozen times between the two.

The DLC has also been released criminally close to the launch of the game. At least when COD releases it's inevitable map packs it lets the game breathe a little.

I have wondered, in the past, if maybe the developers would have included some of this content at release, but were unable to because of disc size capacity issues. If that's true then that might be the biggest burn of all. And please don't forget on disc DLC which Gears has been guilty of in the past.

I'm not a moron. I understand that games are a business and that large developers and publishers have a bottom line that must be met and that cushioning that bottom line is made easier with DLC.

I just wish it weren't so obviously shitty.

Game Update

Now that the holidays have come and gone, I'm almost caught up on my list of things to play.  Almost. My birthday was a couple of days ago, so a few more games got added to the list. I guess if you're gonna choose to have any problem in your life, having too much to play and enjoy isn't a bad problem to have.

In the online world, MW3 and GOW3 have still been occupying a majority of my time. Both have their issues, but not big enough ones to stop playing, just big enough to rage quit every now and then.  MW3 is what it is, and it's usually a safe bet because I'm almost always guaranteed to have someone online to play it with.  Gears is really only fun when you've got a group working through it together (in Horde or Multi) so that one usually takes the backseat.  I still own Battlefield 3, in hopes that maybe someone besides my brother will pick it up, but with so much on my plate anyways, not gonna do any persuading to other people to buy it.

In the single player world, I've been playing quite a bit on my 3DS.  I finished Ocarina of Time 3D, as well as Mario Land 3D, and have been chipping away getting all gold cups in the new Mario Kart.  On the big screen, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has been quite the treat, and I anticipate in a month or so I'll probably end up doing a full write up on that.

I've also been playing through a couple of the Professor Layton games that I missed.  The Layton games are awesome, for those that don't know, and anyone with a DS looking to kill some time, these come highly recommended.  Professor Layton, they famous puzzle professor, and his young apprentice Luke, work their way through strange mysteries and mishappenings.  The characters are charming, the animation sequences are top notch (very reminiscent of The Triplets of Belleville for those animation buffs out there...) and the gameplay is simple and straightforward - puzzles!  The puzzle selection is fairly diverse as well, from logic puzzles, more simple math equations, riddles, kinetic puzzles, etc.  My only real problem with Layton, which is really more of a preference is how they end up ranking the puzzles.  Each puzzle is given a quantity of "picrats" to earn depending on it's difficulty, but due to the puzzle diversity and how different people use their brains, a hard puzzle for someone might be very easy for someone else.  The touch screen can also inhibit some of the puzzle solving here... Point and click adventures worked very well on PCs because the mouse cursor could change as something new could be interacted with. When the DS uses this mechanic, there is no "hover" feature that lets the player know what they can and cannot interact with, leaving them feel lost and confused. Most of the time when I can't think my way through a puzzle, the beginning of my confusion could be traced back to the limits of controls. Or maybe I'm just making excuses for a puzzle stumping me good.

In any case, it's been nice to get back to gaming in a variety of genres.  I also finished Uncharted 2, which was a long time coming, so I didn't feel like that was worth writing much about.  That game is just too long.

I'm gonna start my day off now, and spend the rest of it exploring Skyward Sword until someone invites me to play something online.  This was kind of a lazy post, just felt the need to write something. Out.

Call of Duty Reflections

I do love me a good first person shooter.  A lot of it probably has to do with what I played when I was really falling in love with videogames, but FPS games really push the right buttons for me.  It feels a little bit immature sometimes to play so many of them, and despite what other gamers and members on this blog might tell you, I do try to expand my horizons.  Somehow though, it all comes down to having a good solid shooter.

It shouldn't be a surprise that I picked up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (COD, MW3).  One could do a quick search and find all the stats and information about the game and be impressed by the numbers in every direction.  I think it did something like 6.5 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of sales.  Absurd.  It got so many phenomenal reviews and such high critical acclaim between persons and co-workers that it would be difficult to discredit the game from popular opinion alone.  As a smart and seasoned gamer, though, albeit one who loves first-person shooters, I know this can't be the end all.

And indeed, it is not. What I've found sort of "across the board"is that there is some polarization going on.    Some people love it, some people hate it, some people swear by it, some people swear by the previous installments of the franchise.  I think, to a degree, that this happens with all games and media.  Not everyone could love everything, but most media sells on a smaller scale, so it isn't as noticeable.  If 5% of the crowd didn't like a game like Bayonetta, the screams of frustration wouldn't be nearly as the loud  (let  me do the math here...) 325 million users (also 5%) who bought it the first day.

Something that I don't think gets done though in the industry, either in marketing, reviews, personal blogs, etc., is calling the game what it is.  We get caught up in the sensationalism and take it all too personally, regardless of whether the opinion is positive or negative. At least, I know I do.  Here's my breakdown so far....

Call of Duty is Call of Duty is Call of Duty...

Since the release of COD4, these games have basically been a license to print money.  They're so addictive, so steady with it's learning curve, and for the most part, fairly balanced. But you would be doing yourself a disservice if you went into a Call of Duty game expecting anything different.  Take a look at Activision's business model - nothing changes from game to game, they just go and sell it to you again.  Mark my words, there will be a definite, clean cut ending to the COD games someday, because Activision will do exactly what they did with Guitar Hero.  I don't think that will be for quite sometime though.  The COD machine is rolling, and the momentum shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

I don't want my warnings about expectations to go misunderstood, however.  I don't just mean for optimists who want something new, but also for the pessimists who think too much has changed.  It hasn't. It hasn't even changed game engines since COD4.  Five games in a row now, with the same engine!  They may have changed the killstreaks, or maybe how some of the weapons look, but they can't change too much, otherwise the most important part of what makes COD what it is would be lost - the feeling.  If the game designers (whichever studio is working on it, it doesn't really matter anymore...) want to have a successful COD release, they have to make it feel like the other ones.  Gamers might disagree across the board about which game has the best aesthetics, but at their core, they all play the same.

I think that's all ok though.  Consistency is a fine trait to have amongst a franchise, and regardless of preference, I think all of the good, long-lasting, series have a strong and consistent feel to them.

Kill Confirmed is Awesome


COD basically does one multiplayer playlist very, very well - Team Deathmatch.  TDM is the standard to which all other COD playlists have been measured.  The downside of having a really good TDM mode is not having enough diversity.  Since that "killing" aspect of the game is a core design element, it makes it hard to have any other the other playlists feel different. CTF feels like TDM with a flag being run around.  Even the most tactical of gametypes like Search and Destroy feel like simple variants of TDM.  Kill Confirmed takes that simple principle and runs away with it.

Kill Confirmed is what I would say is MW3's big gift to the franchise.  It takes the simplicity of TDM and adds a scoring system into the mix.  Regular TDM rules apply, such as the call-ins and pointstreaks, but to win as a team, you need to "collect" the dog tags of your slain foes.  A golden pair of dog tags will glow to collect after a kill is executed, and a point adds to your score.  If a teammate gets cut down, then a red pair of tags will exist.  Deny the enemy an opportunity to score by collecting the red-tags.  First to 65 wins.

Although it's a fairly simple and familiar concept (can anyone think of any other playlist that does this? It feels so familiar...) it really adds a lot to how a game will flow.  "Hot spots" of death and destruction will naturally occur, making sense to the idea of holding an area down.  As a team, you can alter the flow of a match by deliberately choosing to move to a different location - after all, the enemy can't score if they can't collect your tags.  Changing the eb and flow of a battle is a really cool feeling. It's also nice to see less sniping.

This playlist also helps compensate for one of COD's biggest weaknesses - the sensation of camaraderie.  Although Team-Deathmatch is the name of the playlist, it hardly plays as a team game.  Kill Confirmed, like Battlefield's scoring and leveling system, forces the player to play as a group. I still wouldn't recommend COD as the best "group" game, but Kill Confirmed definitely fills in a lot of those weak spots that COD has.

Kill - no wait... Pointstreaks


In the past COD games, killstreaks are everything.  Getting X number of kills in a row will allow the player to call in something to help out the team.  Radar scans, chopper, support... tactical nuclear strike. The call-ins have changed in the past, but the premise had not - it's always about kills.  Not so anymore.  Call-ins are done through points, instead of kills. Points can be earned by taking down air-support, knocking out a turret, capturing a flag or a point, and of course, killing an enemy. This not only encourages the player to not appeal to the lowest common denominator and always focus on killing, but lets them choose to play as they wish, rewarding them for helping out in whatever way they choose to.

Additionally to implementing point streaks, the COD designers have created "strike packages".  These are preset call in packages that the player chooses.  Each class has it's own strike package making switching out on the fly as easy as picking a new class post-mortem. There are three packages to choose from - Assault, Support, and Specialist.  As one could probably surmise by the naming, Assault and Support have call-ins related to more killing and more support, respectively. (The Support class also has a cumulative total for points, that don't reset after a death).  The Specialist, my personal favorite, is new.  Specialists don't get any call-ins for their team, but instead, unlock additional perks for themselves.  After 2 kills, a Specialist will receive an additional perk of their choice, to work in addition to the three they've already selected for their class.  This continues with 4 and 6 kills (That's six perks at the same time...).  At 8 consecutive kills with no deaths, the "specialist bonus" is unlocked, giving the player who earned them all  of the perks at the same time.

I'm gonna start a new paragraph here, because it took me a while to appreciate the impact that this has on one's game, and it totally freaked me out the first time I earned the bonus.  With all the perks running, I can run longer, I don't make noise, I reload quicker, I aim down the sights quicker, I switch guns faster, I don't take fall damage, I'm invisible to radar, helicopters and thermal, and if I start to run out of bullets, I resupply my guns from my fallen enemies.  In the simplest of terms, this is as close to God-mode that anyone could get in a COD game.  It does all restart if I die, but it makes the whole experience very rewarding.  If I finish a game with a 24/3 Kill/Death ratio, I know I earned every single one of those kills.  No choppers doing the work, no turrets keeping me safe... all my hands, my weapon.  I am a one man army.

Final Thoughts


I don't want to give off the wrong impression here.  I don't think COD is the best game in the world.  I don't think it should win any game of the year awards.  I don't even think that the changes made in MW3 even make it worthy of being called the best COD game yet.  But it is good. It is a solid experience, and it is a safe and consistent choice.  COD does what it does very well, and I don't think it's blind ignorance that's moving millions upon millions of this title off the shelves at stores.

If that's not the stuff you think you want in a game, than stay away, but I don't necessarily believe you.  I think that we consciously and subconsciously make decisions about our games with safety in mind.  It's why we go to review sites, it's why metacritic exists at all. We want consistency in our gaming, but we also want the experience to remain fresh.  With both of those things in mind, Activision really has done some amazing work here.  It's incredible to think that they've been able to release the same game experience, with some small variances, for five years in a row with consistent growth in sales.  There is a small art to changing something just enough, but not too much.

I look forward to my time with this game over the next year, but not so much that I couldn't put it down to play something else.  It will always be on my shelf even though I may not be playing it like there is no tomorrow.  It's like I like it just enough to warrant not getting rid of it until the next installment comes out.

Do you hear that? I think it's the sound of Bobby Kotick laughing.

Horde in Azura =

jizz in my underoos.

Just saying.

Cultural Musings

A great deal of marketing in the industry right now seems to be committed to making sure the "other guy" is beaten down or made fun of.  It almost smells of politic advertisements.  I'm thinking specifically of Battlefield and Call of Duty and their negative campaign ads.  They are actually pretty good spots too (I'm remembering the "fight against grenade spam"), but I feel like it creates an unfair and unnecessary comparison.  I don't think the two shooters are exclusive enough to be put head to head.  Sure, they both are super serious, semi-futuristic, first-person, hoo-rah, shooters, but they off enough to the market that differs from the other that to make a strong comparison doesn't actually do either justice.  If the ads work, then the COD fan who picks up Battlefield might feel let down, which doesn't help sell your product in the future.

I've actually been playing a fair amount of Battlefield 3 lately, and the fun times I've had in it have only solidified my resolve to also pick up Modern Warfare 3 because I'm not able to meet the same need I have in a shooter with BF3.  Battlefield is an intense, borderline overwhelming experience that puts a specific focus on team play and group focus.  It does it not only as an objective, but as you work as a team to accomplish said objective.  Capturing the control points may be the focus of the match, but you get more points on a personal level by using your class to help your teammates.  Not coincidentally, helping them will help your team carry on farther and more effectively.

Call of Duty doesn't even come close to that stuff.  Everything in COD plays like a quick team-deathmatch, but it doesn't reward the player with anything by playing as a teammate.  TDM may as well be a free-for-all match... the only difference is not being able to kill half of the lobby, but if you play hardcore you can do that as well.  That sounds a little bit like a complaint, but it's COD's strongest card, and frankly, it trumps most of the others.  COD does deathmatch killing so well that it's got countless folks hooked on doing the same thing over and over again.  It knows just the right buttons to press, and then it presses them constantly, creating an incredibly deep experience, albeit, a relatively shallow one.  If COD is a one trick pony, the trick it knows involves roller-skates, a flaming hoop, juggling, and quite possibly sword swallowing.

I guess it isn't a big deal, and it surely isn't a surprise that these big game companies are going after each other's throats, but as a retailer of these games, its a tough conversation to have over and over again.  It's already difficult enough to convince even the most-serious of gamer to pick up the new version of the franchise they already play each year (These things come out like Madden now...), but now I have to find a way to ease the fanboy tension that the marketing of these triple-A titles naturally create.  You wouldn't believe the harassment I got in MW2 the other night when I put 'HALO' as my clan tag... It was like I punched their mother.  Of course, now I publicly opened the door to get ripped on Halo again...

I think I'm gonna sell it all and buy a second Wii so I can play Zelda and Mario at the same time.  But thanks to Smash Bros, even they are out to kill each other...

Shady

A friend pointed this out to me on facebook this morning, and I felt compelled to share.

When is the last time that anyone read a terms of service?  I know I haven't, just clicking through the pages assuming that it's all legal mumbo jumbo that I wouldn't understand anyway. 

Sony's Terms of Service update - Sept. 15, 2011

For those who don't want to follow the link, it's Sony's update to their TOS that you will need to agree to before you play, as of September 15, 2011.

"NOTE:  THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS A BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION 

AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER PROVISION IN SECTION 15 THAT AFFECTS YOUR 

RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT AND WITH RESPECT TO ANY “DISPUTE” 

(AS DEFINED BELOW) BETWEEN YOU AND SNEI, SONY COMPUTER 

ENTERTAINMENT INC., SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC, 

THEIR AFFILIATES, PARENTS OR SUBSIDIARIES  (ALL ENTITIES 

COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO BELOW AS “SONY ENTITIES”).  YOU HAVE A 

RIGHT TO OPT OUT OF THE BINDING ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION 

WAIVER PROVISIONS AS FURTHER DESCRIBED IN SECTION 15."

Section 15 goes on to let the user know that if they choose to opt out of this portion of the TOS, that they have 30 days to send a notice, in writing, to Sony letting them know.  While I'm glad that they are providing an alternative to FORCING someone into this, I think this is a shady move.  Most people aren't going to read the TOS. Of those that do, who is going to go through all the effort to mail in a letter.  How many parents will just breeze over this for their kids?  Etc.

For the record, the word "Sony" could be replaced with any company.  I think this is lame and really underhanded.  The intrusion Sony incurred was unfortunate and devastating.  Their delayed response raised more than one public eyebrow.  Now they are integrating a way out of a potential class action lawsuit in their own innocent terms of service.

The real funny thing to me, is that I feel like I need to update my PS3 all the freaking time. I've flipped through so many legal pages that I'm beginning to think I should get a trophy for it, because it may as well be it's own game.  I would be just as bothered by this sort of a move with any other company, I just think the inclusion of this "waiving agreement" into Sony's TOS is particularly ironic.  

Long Overdue

I just wanted to let the world know that I'll be starting my personal campaign to play and finish a handful of stuff that's been cooking far too long on the back burner.  Some of them I have watched played (a personal favorite activity of mine, by the way), some I haven't touched, and some I feel just deserve to get some play time.

Resident Evil 4
Bioshock 2
Okami
TMNT (upon Juniper's recommendation - HAHA!)
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Super Metroid

That's my potential batting order as well.  As highly acclaimed as it is, I feel bad putting Super Metroid so near the bottom, but the Metroid franchise has always been tough for me, and I'll probably be using a guide anyways.  Any suggestions?  I'll be kicking of RE4 as soon as I publish this post.

This also might be a trend that I hope continues on the blog.  3N3MY and I were chatting the other day, and a potential idea we tossed up was a retro review section.  Either playing something from yesteryear and giving it another look by witholding nostalgia, or maybe taking the super critical eyes of the current game industry and holding the old stuff up to the same standard. Thoughts, questions, concerns?

Your prayers are appreciated in my endeavor.

Kevin Butler

This is the new ad campaign for the PS3 and I think it's awesome. I've long been a fan of Sony's VP of almost everything, but kicking off a new campaign by bringing Kevin out of retirement was highly enjoyable to me.

You really should be following this guy on Twitter as well.

Are there any other gaming mascots that stand out to you?

Man Cave, but I hate that term.

Since my Lady Friend and I started looking for a house she's been a very big proponent of me having my own Man Cave. I don't know why, but she's been pushing for it more than me because it's not a priority for me. But since I'm in a house and have the space I'm certainly not going to complain at her willingness to let me do basically whatever the hell I want with the space.

Anyways, I have a house with a basement that isn't finished, but is somewhere between finished and just a normal basement.

I just wanted to gloat that over the next couple months I'm going to be getting the basement in order so that I can black out the walls and build a screen for my new HD projector and get me a nice comfy couch down there with a kicking surround sound system, my mini fridge from college....and a foot rest.

My project will be aided by the always helpful Silent.

I just wanted to take a second and get you all jealousy about me playing pretty much the greatest way possible. Alone and in the dark on an 8 foot screen.

I'll probably post some before and after pictures and it won't be called a "Man Cave" because that's overused and not funny.

I think I'll call it, "Man, I'm Gonna Own Your Candy-Ass Cavern". Much more fitting for the pwnage that will happen down there.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Review

95/100
5/5
95%
A

Strengths
Story/Atmosphere/World
Music/Ambience
Characters/Voice Acting
Protagonist
Choices/Non-linear
Side Quests/Rewards
Length/Replayability

Opportunities
Boss Fights
Graphical Glitches/Mouths

***minor spoiler alert***
First of all, let me state that I haven’t finished the game but I have about 15+ hours into it and unless the game drastically alters course or the ending (there are multiple endings according to one achievement) then I highly doubt I will change my review.

This game delivers on almost every level that I can think of when it comes to rating video games. The summer doldrums are now officially over for me and I’m kind of shocked that I almost didn’t purchase this game. This was $45 (Steam pre-order cost) well spent and I’m very glad I bought this on an impulse as a “secondary” purchase. This game is definitely a pleasant surprise and much better than the second game in the series. It’s a worthy prequel to the first Deus Ex and I hope some great DLC is released for it.

Also, you do not need to have played the first game to play this one. There are references to the universe but very little connection. This is a prequel and occurs before the first Deus Ex.

Likes
Story/Atmosphere/World: The story gets you going from the start, drawing you into the world with the societal war revolving around human augmentation, very akin to the gay marriage debate going on today in the U.S. Some people believe human augmentation is the next step in human evolution while others believe it should be outlawed and is a violation of human biology. What the game lacks in graphics (and I think it looks good but it’s no Crysis 2) it makes up for in atmosphere. The world is fleshed out but not to the point where you feel distracted from your missions. The world will make you think of Shadowrun, the table top game, not the video game. I really enjoyed the gold/black feel to everything. It’s original and done well but not overdone to the point where there aren’t other colors in the game. There is a central city hub where you branch off of into apartment buildings or the Sarif building or a L.I.M.B. clinic to do side quests or parts of the main mission.
Music/Ambience: The music is pretty cool and really draws you into the cyberpunk world. It will make you want to go watch Blade Runner again, or go out and buy for those of us who aren’t smart enough to already own it in our movie collection. The soundtrack is eerie at times and really helps flesh out the world and the gold/black atmosphere.
Characters/Voice Acting: The voice-acting is well done and the characters are memorable, so much so that Adam Jensen gets his own special mention as I have a new favorite protagonist in my list of video game heroes (mentioned below). The mouth movement is seriously lacking and detracts from the great voice-acting. Your boss has a familiar voice that I can’t quite place but I swear he’s a well-known actor.
Protagonist: Adam Jensen smokes 5 packs a day. Normally, this gravelly voice would feel overdone and get annoying… but I really enjoyed it in this game and it helped flesh out the kind of character he was. He’s a hardcore ex-cop that you don’t want to mess with and even when he’s speaking “nice” lines of dialogue, he’s no push-over. I am now a fan of Adam Jensen and he could easily kick the crap out of a lot of other protagonists, with the help of his augmentations of course.
Choices/Non-linear: Surrounded by linear shooters, this game really gives you choices. So far, I haven’t killed a single soul, other than the few bosses I’ve faced and I love that! I made my way through a police station early on in the game and since I completely suck at stealth, I ended up having to take out every officer with my tranquilizer rifle, stun gun, and take-downs. Needless to say, I later found out from watching an IGN Easter egg video on youtube that I could have talked my way into the police station! I love it! The amount of choices in the game is fantastic and very reminiscent of the first game.
Side Quests/Rewards/Augmentations: The game rewards you for exploring and finding the different paths, whatever they may be. Little XP rewards pop up all the time and the majority of your XP will come not from killing/incapacitating your enemies but from everything else. XP let’s you “level up” which earns you a praxis point that you can stick into your augmentations. There are enough of them that you will not run out of augmentations to upgrade. I have upgraded my inventory, cloaking system, silent walking, targeting system so I can track enemies, etc., etc. I also decided to upgrade my dermal armor to help out in boss fights (see below) which are difficult for characters choosing a stealth path through the game. There are a decent amount of side quests but you won’t be able to complete all of them. I did not level up any of my hacking, mostly because I refused to as I wanted to save that for a second play-through. Take-downs require an energy cell, which seemed annoying at first, but makes sense because your arms are both augmented arms… and it also limits you from being over-powered. You can also sell gear and other stuff you find, like ammo, and then spend your money at L.I.M.B. clinics to purchase additional Praxis points for more upgrades.
Length/Replayability: I am 15 hours in and not sure when the game ends. I have explored a lot of areas and taken my time doing side quests so I haven’t hurried through. I thought it ended at one point but it was a boss fight. I love getting my money’s worth so for me, the length is great and the game also encourages you to replay it using another option, such as running and gunning as opposed to the (horrible) stealth and non-violence I am using this play through. I have held back from starting a second game but the game almost encourages you, if not pushes you to start a second game. It tempts you with computers you can’t hack because you have leveled your cloaking augmentation instead of your hacking. It’s great and I will 100% play through this game again at some point.

Opportunities
Boss Fights: These occurred exactly like other reviews said. If you went with the stealth option, you didn’t have your armor or reflexes upgrade and the boss fights were harder. I decided after the last boss fight to upgrade my dermal armor specifically for these boss fights. I had also upgraded most of the stealth upgrades you could with gear I had scavenged for credits to purchase more Praxis kits. This is a small complain but a complain none-the-less. I did find one boss, who looked exactly like Rihanna the pop singer, was susceptible to my stun gun so I would stun her and then pump her full of bullets. I also found I could quick save in the middle of the boss fights which helped a lot. Also note that these boss fights are fast and furious so if you die, which will happen a lot for stealth characters, you don’t feel like you’ve wasted a ton of time. I really wish the choices from the rest of the game carried over into the boss fights.
Graphical Glitches/Mouths: I’ve noticed some graphical errors, small glitches, and have had to reload a couple times. But I have two saves, there is an autosave, and a quicksave feature so I’ve never had a problem reloading and fixing whatever glitch there is. None of the glitches have been game breakers so these could all be patched out.

Final ThoughtsGo out and buy this game when you get a chance. I highly recommend it. It’s definitely worth the money. It’s a great blend of shooter and RPG with all the choices thrown in. If you like Elder Scrolls, shooters in general, Mass Effect, Crysis then go check this game out.

By the way, I can’t wait to shoot someone in the head on my second play-through. :)

Quality

In the age of the Red Rings of Death, it's easy to forget how quality in electronics is not like it used to be. I'm sure we all have our stories about how something survived abuse whether a flood or a suplexed body (my old NES). It wasn't until I found my old Rumble Pack that I remembered the abuse my old systems suffered.

My old dog ate it. It still works!

Cataloging Games

This week's "3 Best" post got me really thinking about my old games. I just came back up from my basement with a giant Tupperware container that contains every past-generation game that I have ever owned, minus 20+ NES games that were stolen from me in college. Anyway, the point of this post is to see if anyone knows of any good websites or methods to catalog games. I know that www.1up.com has, or at least use to have the ability to list every console and game you owned. It also gave you an estimated value of your collection. I haven't logged into my account in years but was curious if there were any better alternatives out there. I'd like it to be something that is easily accessible by the public, including you guys.

It's a little side project I think I'm gonna start just. Only problem is that my free time doesn't really exist and when it does, I usually try to take advantage of it by gaming.

Bought a PS3

I am now the proud owner of a used PS3 and Killzone 3 and Gran Turismo. Getting shipped tomorrow. And yes, I will be selling my 360 to offset the cost.

Not quite sure yet if I just joined the Dark Side or the Light Side...

Weekly Top 3 - Boss Battles

As clearly stated in the title for this post, this week's top 3 is going to be boss battles.  These could include, but are not limited to, final boss fights, antagonist confrontation moments, mid-game humps or challenges to overcome, or maybe even the toughest thing you've overcome in a videogame. (It would also be appreciated if you are mentioning any bossess or moments that are particularly good spoilers to story or gameplay, mention that before describing the event.)

For me, in no particular order.

Ganon - Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (SNES) - This may be an uncreative choice for me, but it's a big one.  My copy of LttP was given to me by a cousin (I think) so all the files were already beaten.  As a young kind, I love exploring the world, but going to places where the puzzles were already beaten, or the NPC's shared dialogue from the tail end of conversations that I didn't have with them, was... unfulfilling.  I started my own file, and to my surprise the puzzles were really tough, even when I knew what the end result was going to be.  In some cases, the game got harder, because I knew that a particular portion would be easier if I just had that one item, but in reality I wouldn't be getting that item until another 6 dungeons.  My expectations were there, but misplaced...  Finally getting to Ganon, finding out how that giant hole in top of the pyramid got there, and rocking him out with my silver arrows... a very gratifying beat down.

The Maw - Halo Combat Evolved (XBOX) - I really liked the ending of Halo.  Maybe it was because it's still one of my favorite co-op games to play to this day.  Maybe it was because it was the first thing I got for my xbox.  Maybe it's because I'm a fanboy. Whatever the reason is, I like it.  The ending to the first part of the original Halo saga was a good one.  With frustrating puzzle like combat, lots of explosions, an annoying enemy always letting me know how smart he was, and an epic conclusion with a giant race through an enormous ship before everything explodes in oblivion.  I'm really looking forward to doing this again when the Anniversary collection releases. 

Andrew Ryan - Bioshock (XB360) - This one isn't much of a boss fight, but it was awesome.  I spent a good chunk of time in Bioshock looking for as many tape recorders as I could.  Not for any achievement or the corresponding achievement points, but because they added a depth to the world and story that I couldn't get enough of.  Bioshock already felt a little bit voyeuristic, digging into a world that you were never really a part of, and finding these tape recorders added to the thrill.  They gave you personal testimony and witness to the results and rubble you were rummaging through, and when you finally meet the character you've been hunting down... catharsis.  Andrew Ryan's was particularly good, and it makes you rethink everything you've done in the game so far.  Kindly play this game if you get the chance, would you?

Alright everyone else, it's your turn.  Go!

PS3 Version of new Counter Strike gets all PC-y

You may have stumbled across this article on Kotaku already and while I'm a little tired of all things Valve, because of it's endlessly annoying fanbase, this is neat news.

With the release of Portal 2 on PS3 (due to Sony's more open source PSN) you can see Valve's desire to meld PC and Steam with PS3 and I really find that exciting. You could run a limited version of Steam on your PS3 and even do the coop campaign with a PC player over Steam. Nothing outstandingly groundbreaking, but it is another step towards a potential one console/rig/system future that people keep saying will eventually happen.

What's neat about the new Counter Strike is that, on PS3, you'll have not only cross-platform play AND cross-platform skill based matchmaking, but the PS3 will also have built in mouse and keyboard support.

As all gamers know the "Master Race" has the far superior control scheme and it's a really great addition to the console. Not only does the cross-platform play allow for a much much much larger pool of players (especially for a Valve Counter Strike game) to play with, but the mouse and keyboard support will actually allow console players to be every bit as good as their PC Brethren. If there's one thing Shadowrun on 360/PC taught us it's that cross-platform is cool, but PC player will own your ass with the better controls.

So basically this game has taken a giant leap forward as a future purchase for me. I would have liked to given it a try because I've always really wanted to give PC gaming a really good run, but the initial start up costs of a new rig are too much and I don't want to jump into an old Valve PC game and get owned for being a noob.

Thoughts? Do you guys think these are good things or should they remain separate like they've always been?

CoD: A Love/Hate Story

With MW3 right around the corner, I've been doing a lot of thinking, probably more than I should, on the Call of Duty series and the love and hate it draws from so many people. As I was ranting to 3N3MY earlier this week, I decided to focus more of my thoughts on exactly why I won't be purchasing MW3, at least at launch. It is a game I am interested in picking up at a later date just to play the 5 hour story. I know it will feel like a Michael Bay/John Woo movie but will still be fun... just not worth $60 at launch for if I'm not interested in the MP.

PROS
1. CoD is a smooth shooter with great controls, on consoles and PC, that rewards you with XP, unlocks, ribbons, badges, everything. From the name customization in MW2 to the gun customization in Blops, CoD offers the players a lot and draws them in.

2. DLC - if it's a game you enjoy and you want to keep playing, there is definitely a lot of DLC. I would argue it's priced high for a couple maps but there are plenty of people who have paid for it.

3. Safe Bet - You know the next CoD will be a good shooter and a safe bet. If you liked the last one, you will enjoy the next one. They won't deviate from their formula very far.

CONS
1. As much as I love say, Diablo, Starcraft, Battlefield, Elder Scrolls, or Mass Effect, I would hate to see one released once a year for several years in a row. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. It gets old and stale. I love pizza but if I eat pizza every day for several days in a row, I really start to not enjoy pizza.

2. Same Engine - This could be a pro as the engine runs smooth and has since the first MW but isn't it time for a change?

3. Too Little, Too Late - Blops did a lot to address the complaints regarding MW2 but for me, it felt like too little, too late. Blops was fun but as I tracked the hours I put into the CoD series, they fell drastically with each series. I put 200+ hours into MW2 and only around 70 into Blops.

4. Bobby Kotick - EA has made some questionable moves of late but they still have nothing on this guy's mouth. :D

The main reason I won't purchase MW3 this fall is... I'm a hardcore Battlefield fan. I really love the teamplay and camaraderie the Battlefield series encourages. And to be honest, as much as I bash the CoD series now, I would probably be purchasing it if it wasn't for the countless hours I'll sink into Battlefield 3. Not to mention Elder Scrolls: Skryim comes out 3 days after MW3.

Here's a great commentary on the subject of MW3 vs. BF3 if anyone is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Bhc_XaY6U

Deus Ex Impressions

It's been quite some time since I've struggled to put a game down, shut it down, and lay my head down on my pillow in order to get some decent sleep so I can function at work the next day. Deus Ex, like the stealth style I am failing miserably at playing the game through with, came out of nowhere and shattered the summer slump for me. I can't remember the last game that sucked me in like this. This is a game that I wasn't planning on purchasing and sort of pre-ordered on a whim, a little reward to myself for the crazy audit that we had at work that just ended this month.

The original definitely brought some great ideas to video games in general, allowing you to shoot your way through levels, sneak around undetected, hack through different areas, and so on. Back at the time, this was a novel idea and it might sound a little old now. Human Revolution expands on this idea and though the levels are still linear, it gives you a variety of methods to travel through the levels, similar to Crysis 2 if no one is familiar with the other Deus Ex games.

The music is great and makes me want to go watch Blade Runner. The gold and black art style is ambient, artistic, and original. What the game lacks in the latest and greatest facial and body animations it more than makes up for in voice acting, art style, atmosphere, and world detail. The story quickly draws you in with questions and plot lines. You will find it very hard not to want every augmentation as they all sound incredible to have on Adam Jensen (who sounds like he smokes 5 packs a day, which doesn't come off as cheesy in this game, but really BA actually). I now can see enemies fields of vision, have an extra energy cell for takedowns, and can cloak myself. I want to upgrade my hacking and social interactions but don't think I'll have enough upgrade points...

I passed up Batman: Arkham Asylum only to play it later and realize what an awesome game I had missed. This game is along those lines but an even greater game that you don't want to miss. If you play shooters at all, you must play this game.

Before I carry on too long and turn this into a full review, I strongly suggest everyone play this game. Please do not comment below since I am not talking about a AAA title... thank you.

QUICK UPDATE: Made it to the first boss fight last night. A little brutal, since I focused on stealth upgrades. Made it through, because after a couple tries, the boss stopped chasing me and stood in the middle of the room and just shot at me. Not sure if this was a glitch or built into the game to compensate for failing to kill him several times. Either way, I took him down pretty easily from cover when he just stood there. It didn't ruin the game and allowed me to carry on with the story... but it would have been nice to see all the choices you're givencarry over into the boss fight as well. Not a dealbreaker but wanted to mention this since this was a big negative I saw in other reviews.

My brother is in town so hopefully I'll beat the game next week. :D

"Rise from your graves!"

The song from the first board of Altered Beast has been stuck in my head for the last 2 flipping days!

I'd be upset....if I didn't love it so.

Just thought I'd share.