We tagged along with some folks from Sony to see some of their upcoming titles and gear, and we were not disappointed. They have a great line-up coming down the pipe and they are really putting some muscle behind 3D Technology. To be honest, I’m not sold on 3D just yet, but last night was definitely an eyeopener. I got to demo Virtua Tennis 4, Kill Zone 3, along with U.S. Navy Seals all in 3 D and they all looked fantastic.
Kill Zone 3:
This game is awesome! Not only were the graphics visually stunning, gameplay was relatively smooth and intuitive. I got to play with the Sony Move Sharpshooter apparatus which gives you the ability to play the game standing up and pointing a gun towards the screen. It has shooting options such as automatic, and semi-automatic, and you can reload by striking the bottom of the apparatus as if you are actually changing a clip. Very cool.
Virtua Tennis 4: It looked great in 3D and can definitely become a good work-out with the playstion Move Controller, especially if you play against anyone good! They have completely revamped the Virtua Tennis world and you can now look at a map of events which makes it feel RPG-ish. Your character suffers from fatigue as times goes along as well. There are also a bunch of mini games to sharpen your skills.
U.S. Navy Seals: I was most impressed with their use of 3D with this game. There are images on the screen that represent where your team is and enemies as well as ammo etc that seemingly float above the action. So your most important information is right on the screen with you, but not in the way. The shrubs and other objects in the game really pop out at you and I enjoyed sneaking up on enemies and executing a well thought out plan with my computer teammates!
We did get to check out the XPeria Play which is Sony’s Playstation phone. I think it looks great and it will definitely resonate with gamers who want a more serious gaming experience on their phones. It runs Android Gingerbread which is the latest Android release from Google, and also sports full directional and action button pad. It also has two analog stick touch areas which I thought was a great addition. It will be coming out for Verizon fairly soon.
The Motorola Xoom tablet is now available for online order, or you can pick one up at a best buy. It ships with Google’s new Honeycomb OS which is basically Android for Tablets. The Xoom has a lot under the hood that makes it comparable to iPad like 4G from Verizon, Flash, and a larger display (10.1 inches). It’s also got a 1GHz Tegra dual core processor and 1GB of RAM to boot. Not bad Motorolla not bad.
Notion Ink Adam
This tablet was the first of the bunch to actually go on sale. It boasts a Pixel Qi screen which allows you to turn the back light on and off enabling daylight reading. It also has a custom Android interface and will be upgrading to Honeycomb. Ad to that a 1GHz Tegra dual core processor and swiveling 3.2 MP camera and you have an inexpensive rival. The most expensive 3G + wifi version will run you only 500 bucks. Plus its got a whole slew of ports including HDMI, USB (x2) and Micros USB.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will have Honeycomb with Samsung’s “Touchflo” customization. It will be super thin at only 8.6 mm which is slightly thinner than the iPad2 which comes in at 8.8mm. It also has a dual core 1GHz processor and front and rear cameras of course.
Playbook
The Playbook is RIM’s definition of a tablet and I think its a pretty good one. The OS will be RIM’s so it’s neither Android or iOS. It’ll be a little think at 10mm in depth. It’s also smaller coming in at a more mobile 7 inches. It will also have a 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Front and rear facing camera, 3 and 5MP respectively, however, the difference lies in its ability to sync with your Blackberry. We are talking contacts, calendar appointments…the works.
G Slate
The Gslate is another Honeycomb tablet that will be running on Tmobile’s 4G network which means 1GHz dual core processor, 1 GB Ram. The screen will not be as big as the other guy’s (only 8.9 in) however the display will be HD. Nothing out of the ordinary except for they sucker punch you with this little trick. It will have dual rear cameras for 3D and HD video capture. Booyah.
Have you played Batman Arkham Asylum? No? Stop reading and play it now. Once your done, this game should be out and you can buy it too. Ok, it may be too early to tell, but Asylum was so good I have high hopes for Arkahm City. Judging from the trailer, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed either.
Captain America: Super Soldier
To be honest, I was afraid of this. Captain America wasn’t my favorite character, but he wasn’t my least favorite either. Never really liked how he was the embodiment of everything “good” which really meant blond, blue eyed, and American. However, after reading the Ultimates Comics with good ole Steve Rogers re-imagined I began to gather more interest. I saw this trailer back at comic-con.to be honest, it’s not half bad. Strangely enough, the combat system sort of reminds me of Batman Arkham Asylum a bit. Very curious and can’t wait to give it a try.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
I love flight syms…especially really arcade-like ones. When it gets too real, it kinda takes the fun out in my opinion, but not to worry with the new Ace Combat game. It looks so much more gritty, and the flight combat system with “Steel Carnage” as they call it looks darn right awesome. You really feel like you are doing cool moves with the different camera angles and the machine gun is finally worth switching to. Judging from the trailer – this will probably be the best flight game of the year.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Metal Gear anyone? Ok, my bad, but the stealth and the heavy emphasis on tech begs the comparison. However, the stories are completely different and I am quite intrigued. The game looks like a thinking man’s game, however, thankfully, the weapons look great so you won’t be bored to death by rambling story line. I’ve never played the original, but count me on this go-round.
Mortal Kombat
Remember when you were either a Street-Fighter guy or a Mortal Combat guy? Then it seemed like Street-Fighter took the crown for a while. Well, it looks like the folks over at Warner Bros. have something to say about that. they have revamped the characters and even added new surprises. Will definitely be a great alternative to the other fighting games out there.
This kid in Australia got his little but beat down. We in no way condone violence especially at that age, but something feels just about right when someone gets their just reward.
We happened to get our hands on Google’s new phone made by Samsung called the Nexus S. It’s running the company’s latest version of Android…Android 2.3. Check below to see what we thought!
Likes:
We loved the overall sleekness of the design. I’m a simple man and I was totally impressed with the form factor. It’s all black and unassuming, yet when you look at it, you know there is something special about it. The buttons capacitive buttons light up only when the device is on so when it’s asleep it’s just a dark black device in your hand. When you turn it off, it kinda flickers off in the same way your old CRT TV used to which we thought was a nice touch. There is also a really cool burst of orange (wish you could change the color) that happens when you get to the top or bottom of a long list…i.e the bottom of your contact list. It’s those little things that let us know that the folks over there at Google are doing good work.
The phone is really thin and light weight. This can go either way, but I don’t mind light devices if they work though the phone did almost slip a few times with simple gesturing. The call quality is nothing special, but the speaker phone was a little better than I was expecting. It’s by no means the best speaker phone we’ve ever heard but it held it’s own which was surprising. These light-weight devices usually have terrible speakerphones.
The camera was ok – I really liked the HD2’s camera to be honest, but this one will do. Still 5 MPs with single LED flash. Some devices have dual LEDs which is nice, but I didn’t find myself missing the second LED.I found the shutter a little slow but I can’t really complain too much because its a phone however, some mobile devices are getting better at this. I also liked the front facing camera, though it may not be of much use if you don’t know anyone with compatible software.
The Operating System is great. It was quite zippy and I had no problems scrolling through long lists. As you may know, Android offers near seamless integration with your Google life. It picks up all of your Google Contacts, Calendar Appointments etc… This pure Android experience also offers wireless tethering to other devices via wifi or a hard connection. I wish there was a quick shortcut to the tethering functionality like the palm devices on Verizon, but a hotspot is a hotspot and I’m not complaining. We didn’t get to try out its NFC powers, but we knew it was there. We think this will be big in the near future, though it’s not very prevalent in other devices just yet. However, it may be something you wish to think about when making your next phone purchase.
Dislikes:
Data speed. I have a G2 and though it’s only coming in at 800 MHz while the Nexus S has a 1 GHz processor yet many times the G2 felt faster because I spend a lot of time downloading information on the web. Because the G2 takes advantage of Tmobile’s 3G+ network, I was bringing up pages and downloading apps much faster on my G2. This is the one jinx in the armor so-to-speak for the Nexus S. I also didn’t like the plastic feel of the back cover. It makes the device quite light in comparison with other smart phones in the same size range, but it makes the phone feel a little cheaper than it should. Also, Samsung – please stop putting the lock button on the right side! I ended up going into the Android boot-up sequence by pushing the power button and the down volume button at the same time! I also kept changing my sound settings accidentally because of this.
Lastly, my 3G conked out towards the end of use. Not sure if this was because the phone was a trial phone or what, but after a while, I was unable to reach 3G speeds at all on the device.
Overall:
Overall, the device is solid and would love to have it for the front-facing camera, sleek look and feel, along with the pure Google experience. Other than a few hang-ups like network speed, I found this phone to be quite useful and a pleasure to use. Not sure about that 3G issue though. That may be a major issue if it is widespread. However, if it’s isolated – then I’d just replace the phone for a new one as I found very little to be disappointed with.
I love this game so much that even though it came out earlier in the year, I still had to put it on the list. This game has the original voice actors from the series of the Joker, Batman, Harley, and more which ads to the overall feel of the game. The gritty textures, and dark scenery paint the perfect picture of an insane asylum that you get to explore while picking up clues following trails. My favorite part of the game is the fight system. You can literally, if your nice enough with the timing, chain an infinite combo on Joker’s henchmen.
4. Mafia II
You play as Vitto, a WWII vet with apparently nothing better to do than be a thieving bum. The story line is pretty compelling, but the game really shines in its overall free-roaming feel and ambiance. The music is great and the graphics are awesome. You can drive around town in fancy cars and carry out Mafia jobs. The fight system could use a little work, but it does the job. Overall a very great game to play if you have a summer to waste.
3. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
This game could easily have made the top two picks if not for one fatal flaw…the absence of race replay. It wouldn’t be such a big deal of the game play wasn’t so blasted good. After you beat your lap record, you will really want to replay all the close calls and impressive driving skills you displayed while tearing up the track and you simply can’t. Frustrating is an understatement here.
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
You get to kill people in really cool ways. Nuff said. Naw, but really – don’t let the whole “Black Ops” title fool you. You aren’t Solid Snake. There might be some sneaking for like 2 minutes tops…but the rest of the game is a fast paced frenzied race to the end. Story line is quite intriguing as well. Couple that with awesome graphics and you get a great game that only Activision could produce.
1. NBA 2k11
Michael Jordan. He’s in the game. That’s it. If you are a sports fan and haven’t purchased this game then shame on you. The living roster is great, it gives you updates on real games and the game play is superb. You get the player’s nuances and even their tendencies throughout the season! You also get access to all of Jordan’s old classic games and you get to play them out! I think this is the number 1 game of 2010.
