Tag Archives: ps3

Sneak Peek at Sony Playstation Holiday Titles

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We got to take a look at some of the upcoming titles on the Sony PlayStation 3. I anticipate a pretty good gaming season toward the end of the year, but I would say two games really stood out.

God of War Ascension:

I spoke with David Hewitt who manages the design team and he took me through a round. The game wasn’t finished, but it looked really good. Everything looks to be on a grander scale, and Kratos is still as grumpy and violent as ever. However, there was a puzzling moment where Kratos apparently saves someone. Freakish right? I think that may play into the overall story, but that’s just a hunch. But don’t worry, he’s still ripping minions apart and decapitating things. There was also some brain exposure. Yup, you read that right. They’ve also added a new dynamic to the game called “Life Cycle” where you can rebuild anything that’s been destroyed. You can rebuild completely or rebuild up to a certain point. There was a part of the demo where Kratos was able to navigate to another section of the map by climbing a partially destroyed area with the Life Cycle power. Rage mode has also been tweaked to automatically trigger once you’ve reached enough orbs. The designers feared that we weren’t using it enough so now they are forcing it! I complained that if it triggers, I don’t want to have it wasted on weaklings or have it triggered when I’ve just ended a big fight. However, David countered by letting me know that they’ve balanced the fights so that that shouldn’t happen too often, and Rage Mode happens more often all together so it shouldn’t bee too big a deal. We’ll see – the game comes out March 12th.

Assassins Creed III:

I was thoroughly impressed with the demo that was shown. I’ll be honest, Assassin’s creed hasn’t really been my favorite game. It’s really cool, and beautiful to look at, but for some reason, I just wasn’t drawn to it. However, I think that might change with Assassins Creed III. The game takes place around the Revolutionary War in the time-line of the United States and there are a few things I’d like to point out. First, our assassin’s movements through the trees looked really fluid. I note it because it must have been really hard to program. It’s trees! Not buildings, or rooftops, which are more flat and linear. I was really surprised at how well they pulled that off. Secondly, you can assassinate with any weapon – not just the hidden blade. This makes your assassinations a lot more fluid as well. I think you see the point I’m trying to make. Lastly, is ship combat. Yea, somehow or another, you end up commanding a ship, and it’s really cool. You see the guys raising the masts and all that other stuff. Your first mate is yelling orders and everyone is working as you steer the ship around the ocean. You’re battles are cool as you send cannon balls hurling through the air towards your enemies. It’s a really fun new dynamic to the game that I personally can’t wait to play.

Twisted Metal Offers Chance to Fire Fully Automatic Weapon at Ice Cream Truck Remotely

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No,

the title is not misleading at all. Sony has come up with the idea, as promotion for the new installment of Twisted Metal for Playstation3 coming out on the 14th,  to hook a fully automatic weapon up to a server and a webcam. They are allowing lucky winners to remotely shoot at an ice cream truck in the middle of the dessert. All you sick and twisted individuals interested can sign up here with your facebook or twitter account.

Hands on with Sony’s PS Vita

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I was invited out to Sony’s Holiday Season sneak peak and among the items being shown was their all new PS Vita. Unfortunately, I was unable to take video of the unit head on, but we spoke with a bunch of Reps concerning new titles for the PS Vita so check out the vids below as we update them.

I did get to check out a few titles first hand and most importantly, to hold and feel and caress the device. Here are my thoughts.

Hardware:

From a Hardware perspective, the device takes you back to the moment you first laid eyes on the original PSP. It’s slick and visually appealing. It looks better in person than you thought, and has sexy curves. I was surprised by how big it was. That 5 inch screen is totally satisfying and quite beautiful, though I did squint a bit in light even though there wasn’t much of it around as I was in a room with all the windows shuttered. The unit was much thicker than I was expecting, however, it was thin for it’s size if that makes sense. The front and rear facing cameras where there and they were a welcome addition. The rest was standard stuff that you know already – dual analog sticks, 3.5 mm headphone jack, L/R Bumpers, two speakers, etc. I did note two ports on the top of the device. One seemed to be for an SD card, however, I couldn’t make the other one. Seemed to be proprietary. I suspect it will be how Sony plans on selling physical copies of their titles, but we’ll see.

Titles:

ModNation Racers: This game is shaping up to be a pretty fun title. It’s a racing game at heart, but it gives you the ability to create maps on the fly. Using the touch screen capabilities, this is a lot easier than fumbling around with an analog stick and cursor! An added bonus is Vita owners will be able to play PS3 Maps.

Ruin: If you like dungeons and Dragon type games then this title will definitely tickle your fancy. Pulling a page from Microsoft, the game designers allow for seamless play between consoles meaning you can pause and start exactly where you left off between the Vita and the PS3.

WipeOut: This classic title gets the Vita treatment and it looks great. The game designers used the accelerometer to allow for motion control and the touch screen for different uses such as attacking or charging. They also utilized the Vita’s camera for online game-play.

Hot Shots Golf: One word – “Fun”. We took a look at this title and its looking quite good. Your still playing golf so things haven’t changed that much, however, they have also made changes to take advantage of the Vita’s feature set. You can use the touch screen now to position your player when teeing off as well as some motion control.

Reality Fighters: Really interesting title that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The real kicker is the level of customization you have over your character. You can take a picture of yourself using either of the two cameras and create your character based on your likeness. You can change your appearance to super muscular or super…unmuscular. You can choose different weapons, clothes, facial expressions, and even fighting styles. They haven’t sacrificed too much on gameplay either as the fighting techniques look very polished. You can even play in an augmented reality setting.

One last gem was for the PS3, but definitely worth mentioning. The game was called “Journey“. You play a floaty thingy and you meet up with another floaty thingies to get to the top of a mountain. Sounds bumish, but it’s really quite fascinating. The game is really very visually pleasing. You can go it alone or you can team up with someone and take the journey together, but the clincher is you never know who that person actually is. No gamer tags, no chat, no nothing. Just you and that other person on a journey together. And at any point that person can simply walk away.

Wrap-up

This coming Holiday Season is warming up with all these fresh titles in the pipeline. I’ll be in line for my Vita when it launches. The specs are solid and if they can keep innovative games coming, it will easily be the king of portable game consoles. It ALMOST has me wishing it was already the Holiday Season…Almost. I’ll still take as many days of summer as I can get!


New PSP – PS Vita Now on the Scene

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The Sony PSP has finally been revisited and completely revamped. The end product is that pretty little thing you see above. The PS Vita, as its called, has all sorts of goodies under the hood. For starters, it will come with front and rear facing cameras, 3G and Wifi, dual joysticks, and a 5 inch screen. You will reportedly be able to speak with other gamers while playing and even play with gamers near by. Retail price is looking like $249. Take a look at the video below:


[source: Slashgear]

Socom 4: U.S. Navy Seals Review

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I checked out Socom 4: U.S. Navy Seals a little while back at a Sony event, but got my hands on it and decided to spend a little more quality time with it. The game has some great hits and some minor misses. Check the below for the details.

Likes:

In-Game Gun Customization

After missions, the game allows you to make customizations to weapons you have earned. This way, you can get to know your weapon more…intimately. This also helps taking out the enemy easier. In many shooters, I don’t really get the ability to customize until you get online so this is a welcome characteristic

Always Knowing Where to Go

So there is this diamond that is always onscreen. Its main purpose is to point you to areas of interest. Since the game is pretty linear, you end up following it to the end of the mission. Stay sharp though because it doesn’t alert you to ambushes.

In Depth Team Commands

As a guy who likes to play war-strategy games on the pc, I really liked the ability to command your fellow comrads. Socom 4: U.S. Navy Seals takes it a little further by giving you a little more than many other games in the same genre. You can delay attacks to coordinate kills as well as set way points so you can be a little bit more strategic with the way you play the game. Two thumbs up for tactics!

Dislikes:

Too Linear

As I mentioned before, the game is linear, and this can get to be a little annoying at times. You find yourself in one of two situations. Either being lulled into a pattern of game-play then someone suddenly shoots you or you being frustrated by not getting to explore and finish the level in your own way. It’s not very “sandboxy” so you pretty much have to do what the designers had in mind.

Environment Interaction Very Low

very little environment interaction. I took away from being brought into the Socom universe. The shrubbery doesn’t move when you’re hiding in it. You kind of phase right through the leaves. It’s small, but I thought that was a detail that adds to the ambiance of the the game as a whole. Also, you don’t seem to get burned by fire when its smoldering on the ground, and you can’t do a ton of exploring even though you can do some. Also on one of the early stealth missions, silent kills weren’t so stealthy but none of the guards seemed to notice the guy yelling or the splattered blood on the ground. Again, not a huge deal, but it detracts from the believability of the game scenarios.

Controls can be complicated

This is something that most will probably get over with trial and error. But if your new to the franchise get ready for a big learning curve. zooming in to kill the enemy literally takes three button presses and keeping track of your gear is simple but time consuming when in battle. Switching between first and third person views can be disconcerting as well. It’s doable ofcourse but very tough at first.

 

Wrapup:

Very good, but I’ve played better.  Got to say that the command system was one of the best I’ve played with so far. I’m a big fan of war strategy games and this power is definitely for those who like to control the action at a micro level. However, so many controls felt cumbersome at times especially when in the middle of a large fire fight. Oftentimes I had to die a couple times just trying to get my controls down. That said, it was quite enjoyable taking baddies down with precision and control and it’s definitely worth checking out and adding to the collection if you like shooters.

 

PSP3 slim….Finally

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If you thought the PS3 was a bit bulky for your taste, you have company. That’s been a complaint for a while…that along with the hefty price tag. However, both have been addressed by Sony which will be offering a slim version of its PS3 in September, as well as a price cut of the 80 gig model of the original PS3. You can find more details over at Engadget. This is most-likely what the procrastinators have been waiting for. Time for some blue-ray goodness!