Arc vs Natal

The motion control wars was supposed to start this spring with the Sony motion controller getting a 6 month or more head start over Natal with Arc. Arc is a suggested decision on the name of Sony's motion controller if you didn't already know.

Well I was curious to see what people would say about Arc, but Brutal Gamer brought to my attention that this has changed.

“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users." -Kaz Hirai

While I don't agree with Brutal Gamer's article that this kills any chance for Sony to outdo Natal, it is a loss of a good head start for them.

Speaking of Natal, Brutal Gamer also lets us know about a possible November 2010 release (early birthday present 4 me?). They also speculate on this article from MCV about the supposed price and shipping details.

so after sifting through all those articles, i've let it sink in. 50-80 dollars for Natal?! Holy crap, what a good price. Almost a dirt cheap price when you think about it, and if it's just a little better than it was at E3 those 5 million units will disappear FAST!

So now you will have to decide if you have both consoles which to buy first, and single console owners will have yet another piece of hardware for the fanboy flame wars.

Playstation Home has been updated!

I suppose it may be a bit trivial to talk about Playstation Home, seeing as how most people I've talked to has said that it blows. The fact that it's still in beta makes it a bit trivial to talk about any sort of updates, but also makes people's complaints with the "game" a lot less grounded. So with that, I feel like we should take a look at some of the new stuff they've added to this Version 1.3 update.

The original idea for Home was to be a big open world to meet new people, and eventually get into various games, and with this latest update we get new worlds and features, and that idea is increasingly becoming closer to being realized.

First, let's talk about some of the new features. There are now Leaderboards for all of the little games that appear as holographic images in front of whatever game you're playing, you can zoom into them, much like the advertisements laid out in the shopping mall. This makes those games seem somewhat better, as there's more competition, and I'm not sure if this was there before but they've added multiplayer to a few of them. they've also added in a bunch of new clothes that you can buy in the mall, and while I haven't bought any of them, I have looked through the list and have seen a lot of people running around with various gear on. The movie theater has now been expanded and includes a lobby, complete with ticket purchasing machines, that currently just have free Dethklok t-shirts and in-game PSP gos to give away. The different theater doors vary from streaming music videos, to advertisements, to streaming full episodes of Naruto Shippuden. This seems like a better set-up then last time, but you still find a lot of people just standing around in front of any given theater.

Probably the most significant update is the ability to start up a party, in order to launch a game. Pretty much, you're able to set up a party for a specific game, and then choose anywhere between 2-32 slots for players to join in. You're then able to target somebody and send them an invite to your party. They'll join, and you'll launch the game, straight from Home, provided you have the disc in your system. The launching aspect is slightly wonky, in that you can set up a party of 32 players for any game, even ones that don't support that many, you can even set up a party for single-player-only games, even including demos. I could essentially set up a 32 player party to play the infamous demo, but once we got there, we'd just play the single player. After launching a game, there will be an option on the Xross Media Bar to "Return to Home" which will send you back to the same place you left off in Home. While there's still some kinks to be worked out, I think this makes Home work much better as an extended game lobby than it has before.

There's a bunch of new areas in the game as well, and while I didn't check them all out, the ones I did were pretty cool. There's a new area for Uncharted 2, which has a cool new turn-based strategy game, that I actually had quite a bit of fun with, especially since it let you create and join rooms instead of waiting in line. There was the Gamer's Lounge, which was just a club with nothing to do except lounge around and talk, which was kind of lame. There's a Ratchet & Clank area that's kind of weird, since the art style clashes with the realistic human avatars, besides that, there's a kind of cool turret command mini-game. There's a Siren: Blood Curse area with a survival horror minigame that let's you do 4-player co-op, however, it's about as hard to get into a match as a game of Pool at the bowling alley. I'm not sure if it was there before, but there's also a Socom area that lets you get a team together and set up some strategy. This is really cool, cause I can picture a clan meeting up here and discussing some strategy before launching a game, and now with the built-in game launcher, they make this easier to do than ever!

One of the worst things about this new update is that they've completely removed public voice chat. The only way you can chat with somebody in Home is if you add them as a friend and call them up using the in-game menu. This is restrictive, and cumbersome, and I feel like it's just the result of a lot of whiners complaining about standard online gaming voice chat. It's a part of any online community, and people should just learn to deal with it or realize that there's a mute feature for a reason.

Besides that last part, I feel like Home has come a long way since it's inception, and while there's still a few kinks to work out, and maybe a few things they could streamline, I feel like it's on it's way to becoming a viable option of something to do when you boot up your PS3. Here's hoping they keep improving it, and patch the voice chat back in.

Would you like a MAG Beta Code?

Via Twitter (Gametab Article)

Sony is giving out beta codes, and according to the Gametab article you can win one too if you slave over your computer all day waiting for the next question. Why would you want to do that? well they will only award it to the first 6 people who get the question right. For those who carry an Xbox 360 and have been playing 1v100, this should be a breeze for you ;)

Just in case you want to avoid clicking twice, here is Sony's Twitter. Good Luck!

GC 09: PS3 Slim Announced!

Today at Games Convention 2009 in Germany. Sony Announced the PS3 and that it will be available the first week of September this year.

Interesting Facts:

120 gb harddrive
32% smaller
36% lighter
34% less power consumption
Price: 299.99

Video Games | PlayStation 3 | GC 09: PS3 Slim Debut

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Aside from the fact that I think it looks pretty ugly. It seems to be a really good deal if you haven't gotten a PS3 yet. This could be the fall they turn it around, we'll have to wait and see.

MAG release date announced

in case you don't believe me

I know what your thinking, didn't we already talk about the anticipated MAG release date period? Well that was true before the depression began, and good games started being delayed so the publishers could make more money among other reasons. Well now we get the new release date.

January 26th 2010

several months later than the original release date, and personally it was pointless to delay it. But look forward to MAG, because its shaping up to be the most chaotic game in the PS3 exclusive library. If you have the humor to ask why, let me rephrase this (again) for you.

256 PLAYER GAMES!

That is all XD

Heavy Rain pushed back to 2010

“Purely from my perspective, most publishers today realise that it’s not ideal to release a new IP or a new genre just before Christmas,” he said.

I remember seeing footage from E3 2008 and boy has the hype died down, since people are upset from having to wait for the game. Then again there is some truth to Guillaume de Fondaumiere's words.

This christmas will be the year when single console owners like myself will likely buy a second console, with price cuts abound, even for the Wii. Since Heavy Rain is an exclusive, putting it in Christmas territory seems ideal for selling a lot of copies. But these days it may not be the case, since now those other consoles for PS3 owners are tempting to get with the price cuts. Of course you're going to need to buy games to enjoy it, being the bundles and included games don't really make the cut >_>

Also it's good that they wait a while, because the recent news of faulty Blu Ray movies in Netflix makes me worry about the Blu Ray disc games for PS3. I think Sony made a mistake in changing the way they made them lately, I do not know if its an issue now.

PS3 copies of Blazblue selling fast

Blazblue, a game made for the PS3 and Xbox 360 is having more success on the PS3. Even going as far in this article by selling out on Amazon and demanding 20 bucks over sticker for a new or used one not directly from Amazon.

That's alot of excitement over one version of the game, and you have to wonder why. Well apparently people who have this game for PS3 can Remote Play. Remote Play for Blazblue allows PS3 users to play your PS3 on your PSP while mobile.

There apparently hasn't been a game that utilized that since Lair, good stuff.

PS3 to be backward compatible again?

Interesting

So apparently software news has brought to light a cheaper and cost effective way to make the PS3's of the future be backwards compatible. I'm sorry but this makes no sense, PS3 fans have their PS3 already. Why didn't they do this when they removed backwards compatibility, I'm guessing they hoped it would just make PS2 owners go out and get a PS3.

But I really don't see the sense in doing this now, especially since now PS3 owners will feel deprived that they didn't keep backwards compatibility. I know a lot of PS3 owners are hounding down the original units that have the backwards compatibility, I mean it was great the PS3 was 400 bucks finally. But this news of essentially putting back the backwards compatibility but having to wait until they release the firmware is kind of lame.

Could it be an exclusive PS3 Slim addition? Hard to say.

Look I like that they are offering backwards compatibility again in the future, but I really don't see them offering you the chance to send yours in for backwards compatibility. And i'd laugh if somebody buys another PS3 for backwards compatibility, I don't have many games I want to play on the next console.

Killzone 2 Review

Killzone 2 had some big shoes to fill when it came out. Between all of the trailers we've seen up til then, and the infamous pre-rendered trailer from 2005, people were expecting that world and more from the game. Putting all that aside, let's take a look at the game as it is, for what it is, and put aside all of the hype surrounding it.

Graphically, the game is amazing, if you go back and take a close look at the 2005 trailer then you'll most likely agree with me when I say the final game looks even better! Not only are the textures insanely high-res, not only do the models have near perfect bump mapping, not only is the lighting amazing, but we also have great animation. Characters move realistically, flags blow and sway in the wind, facial expressions are done with such pristine quality that you can see the ripples of flesh moving on their face. If there is ever a prettier game than this, then let that game be called the best looking game, but for now, Killzone 2 holds the title.

In terms of gameplay, it's pretty much your standard First-Person shooter fare, you run, take cover, pop out, shoot someone in the head, go back in cover, rinse, repeat. The controls seemed a little awkward at first, and they definitely take some getting used to, but once you do, it's all good. The gameplay is really amplified just by how nice everything looks, it creates a great sense of atmosphere, and the game does a great job of making you feel like you're actually there.

The story is pretty basic, you go here, shoot some dudes, go there, shoot some bigger dudes, go somewhere else, blow up a tank, get on a turret, shoot some more dudes... basically, it's your standard First-Person shooter fare. However, it definitely benefits from the well done presentation and the intoxicating atmosphere of the game. They do try and make the story as compelling as possible, but the characters are pretty forgettable. Later on in the game, some big events happen that they want you to care about, but you end up just being like "whatever, I'm just gonna shoot some more dudes". Overall, though, I enjoyed the single player for what it was, and it definitely didn't come off as a bad story, and it even had a solid ending to it, but the best part of it wasn't the cutscenes, it was the action. When your commander radios in and tells you some Helghast are coming your way, and then they all come out after you, it's always really cool, and pretty intense.

The multiplayer component is no slacker either, and is probobly my favorite part of the game. Each room can support up to 32 players, and all of the maps are just the right size so you feel not too close to each other, but not too spaced out either. After each match, you rank up. Staring at the lowest rank and working your way up, earning different badges for doing specific things, like a certain number of melee kills, or a certain number of headshots. The whole thing feels very much like Call of Duty 4's online play, but there's more to it than that. Each multiplayer game has a few different modes that it will switch through, and depending on what happens in one mode, it will tie it in with what the next mode will be... for example, both sides are trying to place propaganda speakers on the other team's side, depending on who wins the round, the mode will switch to seek and destroy, and one team will destroy the propaganda speakers that were placed in the last game. This all happens in a single game, without taking any round breaks or anything like that. Also, after ranking up enough you begin to unlock new abilities, like a medic gun, or a cloaking device, or even a saboteur ability, allowing you to disguise yourself as the other team. This gives the online some more depth, and makes it feel a little bit like Team Fortress. This is all topped off by a complete lack of lag, and graphics that match the single-player campaign.

Overall, Killzone 2 is an amazing game with stunning visuals, intense action, compelling multiplayer, and is definitely something any PS3 owner should pick up.

I give Killzone 2, a 5 out of 5.

A review of the Sam Raimi Spiderman Trilogy

Well, since Raimi is back for Spiderman 4 and maybe 5. It got me to think how he has fared so far with the Spiderman franchaise.

Spiderman- The first movie, where I had no knowledge of most of the cast. Tobey Maguire was a good Spiderman/Peter Parker, James Franco and William Defoe were good too. William Dafoe has always played "dark" crazy characters, but I could see a fatherly figure to Peter in him while he essentially shunned his son and hoped he'd snap out of the Goblin phase. Unlike most people I didn't care about Kirsten Dunst, although when she kisses spiderman it seemed like a great moment between the two of them. This movie in general was well executed, I kind of liked the Goblin Suit, and it was a nicely done origin story. It had changes from the original story, but it worked, and the scene with Peter trying to control his webbing was priceless. Overall this movie works good, but it's not quite on the level Spiderman 2 was.

3 out of 5

Spiderman 2- My favorite one. This movie confronted the love story finally and brought over 20 years of loopholed storylines regarding Mary Jane and Peter. But even more important, Alfred Molina as Doc Ock was great. He totally "behaved" as if you could predict what he'd do with his new appendage toys, and when the arms controlled him you saw naieve optimism in his attempt to build the tritium machine again. Spiderman losing the will and control of his powers was certainly interesting to watch, and the train scene. Oh my god the train scene! Watching his suit rip while he was trying to slow the train down made me tense. I almost thought he'd plunk onto the ground below, and the moment after that was wildly hard to believe, but symbolic at the same time. Spiderman giving up the girl was great for me because then it didn't have to revolve on her, but damn he got her back. That was okay for me, as long as it resolved the love interest since waiting to let someone know you love them always kills the movie if it's never resolved early on in a trilogy. This was the best one so far.

4 out of 5

Spiderman 3- Oh my god, what happened? Remember me saying the love interest was resolved, it wasn't. Raimi needed to keep it somehow and put a subplot about Mary Jane's career, that wasn't even the worst thing. Remember in Spiderman 2 when he felt good not having to be Spiderman, that was okay and put some lightheartedness into this movie. Well, because Raimi wanted to make the movie darker he switched it to emo Peter when he got the suit. SO MANY CAST MEMBERS WERE MISUSED OR WASTED, James Cromwell never had a significant part that any no name actor could have done. Topher Grace did as good as he could, but I never could believe Eddy Brock to be so puny. Grace was miscast in my opinion, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marco was kinda off. Why? because at the end he became a wild goose chase for Peter and ended up being just a thrown in character for action scenes. There was more Sandman and Harry Osbourne than Venom, with Sandman being a waste and Harry being stupid until he changed heart in light of a small fact his butler failed to tell him. This movie was trying to be something it wasn't, and it was successful box office wise. Wow this movie sucked, and that's too bad too because Venom and Sandman looked good.

1 out of 5

So we know Raimi started out good, got better, but then dropped the ball. Why? well because he and his brother decided to write Spiderman 3 instead of a good writer that hurt it. Thank god they got someone for Spiderman 4, it is partly Raimi's fault who did not want to do another Spiderman movie. So i'm worried about the 4th due to that, and Sony is holding on to Spiderman a lot now that Marvel is trying to take back its franchaises. That is bad considering Sony pushed the use of three villians in one movie, so they are a problem for the franchaise too. One can hope though that the 4th movie will go about face.

Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite Demo Impressions

Some of you may not know this about me, but I'm pretty big into imported games from Japan. While Monster Hunter may not technically be an import title, since they have been releasing some of the games in the states for a while now, it's always had a very Japanese feel to the gameplay, and I mean that in a good way. Now, they've released a demo of the newest game, Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite on the Playstation Store. Definitely a good idea if they want to get a larger amount of Americans interested in the game, which is definitely what it seems like they're doing with their advertising campaign.

Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite is the US version of what's known as Monster Hunter Portable 2G in Japan. The game takes a lot of elements from Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and expands on them. While I never got a chance to play Monster Hunter Freedom 2, I have played the first one, and it's occupied a lot of time in my PSP.

Comparing what I've played of this game to the first one, there's been a lot of improvements. the first most noticeable one is the map system. In the first game, your map would be limited to the section you were in, and you'd have to blindly wander around trying to find your target. Now, you can see the entire map, and your target is clearly marked, I'm a much bigger fan of this system than the previous one.

Also, I'm not sure if they're only doing this for the demo or not, but there's a class system now. Before, you would simply make a character and buy different equipment, and have a lot of customization options, but it seems now that you can choose different classes, and customize from there. However, it could just be for the demo so you can get right into the action.

The graphics, for a PSP game are excellent. Strong, crisp, detailed textures. Fluid animation. The poly count doesn't seem very high, but the PSP can only do so much. I think the game really pushes the PSP to it's limits, while still maintaining a rock-solid framerate.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the demo, and I'm anticipating the full game. One thing that's pretty nice is the amount of content they give you in the demo. Seeing as how the Monster Hunter games have so much stuff in them usually, it's not a huge surprise, but it's definitely welcome. For anybody who's a big Monster Hunter fan, or anybody who likes a good action game, definitely download the demo and check it out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Also, don't forget to look for the game, hitting shelves in the next few days.

Activision pressures Sony

Price cut or we cut

Sony's got a huge hurtle to jump if it wants to go above Microsoft, I thought they managed to do so with all the beautiful exclusive games like Uncharted 2, God of War III, MAG etc. but it seems thats going to be softened with Activision's threat to cut loose on Sony.

The consensus is that the PS3 is harder to develop for, but the system itself is respected for the richer gaming experience. The exclusives for the PS3 unveiled at E3 show us the potential STILL not topped in the PS3.

The problem is, Microsoft ate away at exclusives on the PS3. This year they managed to get in line for the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and losing Activision's support entirely would be a big blow. It would take quite a few games out of the yearly release for PS3 and ESSENTIALLY become exclusives for the Xbox 360. Sure it's made for Nintendo as well, but Nintendo has 1999 graphics, not exactly utilized as the 360 does.

It's a hard future for Sony, but in the position they face. I tip my hat off to them for trying hard, and I sometimes want a PS3 of my own. But as I said, i'm waiting for a price drop, so I can have a game with my PS3.

Hang in there Sony

Sony Home impressions

So, Home has been out for a little while now, and since I've just recently got a PS3, I've never got a chance to try it beforehand. However, while waiting for Killzone 2 to come in the mail, I decided to download Home and check it out.

Really, I'm not super-thrilled. Home is a good concept, but it's just executed badly. There aren't nearly enough worlds to explore yet, and the ones that are there are all fairly generic.

The worlds based on games aren't much better. They all have a distinct style, which is good, but there's never really much to do. Each world usually has one game, and the rest is just in-game advertisements, and just chatting to random people.

I suppose Home works best as a chat room, to meet fellow gamers, but wouldn't you rather just play a game to meet other gamers?!?! The most enjoyment I found out of Home was using it to mess with other people. Going up to random people and giving them the "thumbs down" expression and running away is much more fun than waiting on line to play an in-game arcade machine.

Overall, Home is a good idea, but it's executed very poorly. It'd probobly work better if they waited, made it more refined, and released it alongside the release of the PS4 as it's main dashboard. This is still pretty possible, and Sony might just be testing the waters, remember, Home is technically still in "Beta."

A mistake Nintendo must avoid

Link

Nintendo simply says they are unconcerned with the competition in motion technology from Sony and Microsoft. This may cause them problems. 

It's one thing for them to wave off challenges to their gaming empire, but it's another thing to act as though they arrived in the technology first. Sony, and to a larger extent Microsoft, are catching up in motion technology. Despite being a bit of a fanboy, Microsoft really has the world abuzz about Natal. Simply because you need nothing to use it, Rob's post about it being on Jummy Fallon adds to the hype.

Nintendo should worry about their technology such as Wii Fit and the Wiimote since Microsoft is especially aiming to make "physical" motion peripherals a thing of the past. Nintendo would like to avoid looking like it follows the crowd, it's avoided following the crowd for a very long time. But it just might have to if they want the Wii to succeed.

Currently the Wii balanced itself at E3 by offering long awaited sequels to their Famous titles and extended game libraries like Dead Space. But at the same time they were overshadowed by Sonys more recognized, polished, artistic, and awaited sequels and new projects. Nintendo has a casual gaming style, which can't fight Sony.

And Natal from Microsoft beat their Wiimotes into novelties from the views of gamers. Lets hope Nintendo does not sit and proudly name off their past achievements, and decides to play ball with what the other two have to offer.

So, I bought a PS3.

Well, that title tells you basically all you need to know, but let me just re-iterate. I, Robert Battersby, a long-time Xbox user, and somebody who has never owned a Sony console until just a month ago when I bought a PS2, has now done the unthinkable and purchaced a PS3!

This may seem crazy to many long-time listeners of the podcast, or fans of my youtube videos, and some of you may not even believe me. Well, if the above photo isn't proof enough, I've also made an unboxing video for your viewing pleasure.

With the PS3, I also ordered Killzone 2, which has yet to come in the mail. Also, I realized that the PS3 doesn't come with any HD wires... Let me just say something to all console manufacturers, if you're going to make an HD console, have it come with some damn HD cables!! If not HDMI, at least RGB component!

Putting that aside, a lot of you may be wondering why I bought one. Well, after E3, I was so impressed by the lineup of games they had coming out, and thinking back to all of the exclusive titles that had already came out, it seemed like a no brainer. Exclusive titles like Killzone 2, Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, MGS4, Valkyria Chronicles, and you can't forget about all of the great downloadable games!

Overall, I'm really excited for the future of the PS3, and I'm glad that I finally own all of the consoles for this generation.

E3 2009: Heavy Rain Impressions

So, I've been in love with Heavy rain for a while now, everything about the game just screams perfection. The story, the presentation, the graphics, just everything. So, it's no surprise that when they showed the game at E3, I was going to be excited. What I didn't expect was for them to show a full scene from the game!

After watching this five part developer walkthrough of the game, I feel like they are making this game amazing. The whole thing seems a lot like Indigo Prophecy, Quantum Dream's last game on the original Xbox. However, they took some of the things in Indigo Prophecy that didn't work, and changed them or improved them for Heavy Rain.

In the walkthrough, they show one of your main characters. In the actual game you'll have 4 different main characters you can play as at different times in the story. Here you're playing as an FBI agent named Norman Jayden, and he's going to the junkyard to interrogate a man nicknamed Mad Jack. The demo starts out just walking around the junkyard. The interesting thing about these walking sections of the game is that instead of just using the left analog stick to move, you instead use the left analog stick to look around, and use the R2 button to move forwards. I personally think this is a very intuitive control scheme and helps give the character a much more lifelike and much more fluid animation.

So, Norman goes up, and talks to Mad Jack, and asks him a few questions. Jack says he doesn't know anything. So, then you begin searching around the warehouse using your special sunglasses that can scan things in the environment, and eventually, Norman stumbles upon a Skull in a pool of acid. At this point, Mad Jack comes back, with a gun, and puts it to the back of Norman's head. Now, we have a nice QTE sequence much like in Shenmue or God of War, But instead of losing if you miss one button press, you just go to a different string of events. Of course, if you miss too many button presses, then you'll die.

Norman ends up getting the upper hand on Mad Jack, getting the gun from him and pointing it at him. Mad Jack doesn't believe he'll actually use it, so you have a few different options now, to prove it to him. Of course, Norman starts having withdrawals from his drug addiction, making him fall over and pass out. Letting Mad Jack take his gun back.

After you wake up, you're handcuffed to the inside of your car, heading towards a giant trash compactor. There's a bunch of different actions you can take to try and escape. Also, the screen has now split in two, much like it does in 24. The bottom screen acts as a visual timer, while you control the gameplay in the top screen. It's this part that really sets the QTE system apart from other games, because in order to find the different actions you can take, you have to look around your environment. This looks like it'll create a much more frantic experience than your standard QTE system.

So, Norman ends up being able to escape from the car, at the last second, and now has to fight off Mad Jack, who isn't the happiest person in the world right now. This involves another short QTE sequence, in which Norman comes out on top. There's another possible way to do that part where you die, however, the developer has said the story would continue, even if all of the 4 main characters die, creating a ton of replay value with a very different, very varied branching storyline. I think this kind of emergent gameplay is exactly what the industry needs to keep moving forward, and this game is definitely a very good reason to get a PS3. Look for it when it's released early 2010.

E3 2009: Sony Motion Controller Thoughts

First we had the Wii remote, then we had the Wii Motion Plus, and then the announcement of Project Natal by Microsoft. After all those announcements Sony unveiled it's motion controller at the Sony conference. While some of the tech demo's they showed were interesting as proof of concept. It was hard to get excited by another motion sensing device.

If this demo was shown before Project Natal maybe the response would be slightly different but with it being placed the way it was, it really fell flat. The one thing going for it was that it seemed more feasible and easier to understand then Project Natal. I can get my mind around the Sony want and how it works and how the light is read by the Eye Toy. Project Natal looks like it works but I don't understand why it works and I think most of the main audience won't either. If you don't care about how the technology works then maybe it doesn't matter. I for one like to know about the technology that I'm using and that's why I liked that I could understand what Sony was doing.

The demo that interested me the most was probably the archery and showing how the game would work with first person shooters. It also showed how RTS games could be used with the system. RTS games have always been plagued by bad console controls so if it works well this motion controller might solve this old issue once and for all.

E3 2009: Ed's Thoughts on Day 2

Reuploaded due to technical issues, Ed's thoughts on Sony and Nintendo.

PSP Go: Will It gain momentum?

The PSP Go was the worst kept secret of E3, Sony's conference even acknowledged that, even though some details were kept secret.

For one thing, we knew the PSP Go would have a slide out controller for a better "handling", kinda liked the design myself. I want one, just like everyone else. And i'm considering buying it as an entry level PS3 alternative, but the release had issues.

For one thing, it only downloads games. There is no CD drive for the games, hence the fact that the PSP GO is 50 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter. I LIKE THAT. But others like Rob, fellow blogger :), would rather have a physical copy or get a digital copy with a physical copy as T.J. would want. I'm more easygoing (hence the favorite blogger :D) and I just like the fact that the digital copy will cost less than the physical copy. 

Although when it came to price, the retail is to be $250. $250 dollars for that? Seriously, the high end PSP 3000 with more hardware on it having the drive for physical copies is $170. There was no miniaturization of technology for the PSP, just a slid out keyboard. Yes I know the games will cost less, but it's kind of a pricey entry fee into the PSP world. 

Also, for me, having an exposed screen on a handheld unlike the DS makes me hesitate. 

E3 2009: Rob's Day Two Impressions

Day two impressions! Nintendo! Sony! My thoughts! Extreme camera angles!

Watch!

Do it now!