Is Sony Screwing Up the PS Vita? Not Yet. Maybe. Sort of.
After a promising unveiling, the PlayStation Vita has faced a lot of cynicism because of Sony's decisions with the handheld. It seems like they're trying to screw up their own system with pointless limitations like a proprietary memory card, a one-user limit for the proprietary memory card, and a still-unconfirmed-for-the-United-States overpriced UMD owner game download plan. Basically, Sony's choking the PS Vita, and when the 3DS is already $80 cheaper than it will be when it launches in February (after missing the holiday season), this could mean the new PSP will suffer the same also-ran fate as the old PSP, or suffer the completely-failed-and-ignored fate of the PSP-Go.
The PS Vita isn't a lost cause, though. Despite some screw-ups before launch, it does have a lot of potential. Its screw-ups aren't that big for most users, as well. While hardcore gamers will be irritated by the memory card issues and the UMD thing, these are actually factors that most users won't even notice.
New York Comic-Con 2011 Cosplay
New York Comic-Con was huge and, like every con, had a ton of cosplayers. I didn't dress up (with the exception of getting a fez at the Doctor Who merchandise booth), but I shot nearly 50 people or groups dressed up as... well, everything. Yoko, Cobra Commander, Lilandra, Naked Snake, furries, Heavy, Ruby Rhod, Zangief, Dexter, Deadpool, and the world's hottest Wonder Woman. Check out the full gallery below.
Microsoft Gets 30-Day Exclusivity for Skyrim DLC
A press release sent from Bethesda today has revealed that "The first two add-on content drops for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be releasing exclusively on Xbox 360, 30 days before it's available anywhere else," (check out Joystiq for the full PR text). The developer has a track record for extensive post-launch DLC content, and the scope and scale of DLC for Skyrim look to be the hugest yet (Todd Howard's interview with AusGamers sheds some light on DLC plans).
So all you PS3 and PC Elder Scrolls fanatics who just gotta have the DLC now now now are SOL. I would be very interested to see sales statistics for moves like this, and how many multiplatform owners choose to get the 360 version instead of the PS3 or PC version, just so they can get the DLC right away. Are there really that many multiplatform owners for that to make a difference? It's doubtful that many people who weren't already in the market for a 360 are going to jump up and buy one just for this deal. And if the numbers don't really yield all that much competitive advantage for the 360, then it just seems like kind of a dick move on Microsoft's (and Bethesda's) part.
Seems to be a lot of that going around right now.
Dungeon Siege III preview
It's been awhile since since a Dungeon Siege title hit the scene. This one marks the franchise's first foray into the console market, and Obsidian Entertainment has taken the helm for this transition over from original developer Gas Powered Games (with Square Enix taking over publishing duties from Microsoft Game Studios). If that makes fans of the PC series wince, I'm here to tell you that while Dungeon Siege III preserves much of the concepts of its forebears, I couldn't shake how strikingly similar the game "feels" to X-men Legends and its successors, only with fewer playable characters and more equipment tinkering. That's not a negative criticism at all - I loved those games - and it's certainly a well-executed, solid, basic, co-op centric dungeon crawler that will satisfy you if you're having a major craving for isometric swords and sorcery. But otherwise, I find myself balking at the idea of dropping a full $60 on it.
E3: All-new games on the horizon to watch for
Obviously E3 always comes with an avalanche of news and information about games, some new and some merely updates to games that were already announced. For right now, I'm going to focus on games for which the announcement was just made in the last few days, and disregard the likes of Batman: Arkham City and Aliens: Colonial Marines (much as I might ravenously anticipate them). Catch a quick list of all-new titles that have caught my eye so far after the jump, complete with trailers because I know what you ladies like.
Sony’s PlayStation 3D TV lets two viewers see different screens
The blogosphere has been abuzz about Sony's underwhelming press conference, and the reaction to their push for 3D technology has been negative. I have to agree, I'm finding myself puzzled as to what they're thinking here. Nintendo's Wii U and Microsoft's evolution of Kinect technology are both attempting to change how people play videogames, but Sony seems to be saying "Look! Even better graphics!" So when they announced a small 3D TV with a built-in PS3 yesterday, I shrugged and turned my attention to the next thing. This had been done before.
Today, however, a hands-on of this thing is making me give it a second look. If I'm reading this right, two players each wearing 3D glasses are looking at the same TV but seeing different screens. While 3D visuals are slick, forget about them for a second - being able to multiplayer around a single TV without needing to split the screen would be huge. Now, as I've grown older and more curmudgeonly, I've started to lose patience with the industry's recent penchant toward denying local co-op, especially 4-player shooters. My hunch is that developers not only want to force more people to buy the game if they want to play together, but also that they feel splitting the screen doesn't do justice to the graphics they so lovingly crafted. But c'mon, now. Every gamer has some fond 4-player splitscreen memories. Online gaming is a blast, but so is being in the same room as your friends when you all start to panic and spaz during Left 4 Dead.
This new TV is positioned to strike a blow for local multiplayer. While a $500 combination 3D TV/PS3 accompanied by $70 glasses is prohibitively expensive for working-class schlubs like me, the technology shows some promise to reverse a really irritating trend. I'd like to see Sony run with this idea, I'll always support anything that gathers more people around a single machine rather than force them to all retreat to their respective gamer caves in order to play together.
Nintendo of America Targeted in Hacking Attack
Now that PSN seems to be back on its feet, time for the hackers to get back to work. Lulz Security - the hacker group that has claimed responsibility for the cyber security breaches at Sony, Fox News, and a private sector affiliate of the FBI - has claimed responsibility for targeting Nintendo of America in a similar attack (ABC News via EpicBattleAxe). The server was "accessed unlawfully a few weeks ago, but there was no damage," according to a company spokesman, but no customer data was stolen. True to form, a tweet from the hacker group insisted the attack was just For The Lulz, clarifying that "We are not targeting Nintendo. We like the N64 (gaming console) too much – we sincerely hope Nintendo plugs the gap."
Certainly, Lulz are pretty high on themselves right now and their N64 comment is cutesy-poo snark, but if the these institutions, particularly the ones holding sensitive data for the public, take a lesson from these attacks and learn how to beef up their security, then maybe these clowns are doing the world a favor.
PSN Store Back Up, Welcome Back Content Now Available
It's taken a really long time, but Sony has finally gotten PSN back up, along with the PlayStation Store and its promised free content. Two games for the PS3, two games for the PSP (choose from a short list of both; my suggestions: Infamous and Wipeout HD for the PS3, ModNation Racers and Killzone Liberation for the PSP), and 30 free days of PSN Plus (which includes a handful of other free games that will stop being free when your subscription runes out). To access this content, just log on to PSN, access the PlayStation Store, then access the Welcome Back featured icon. You can get your free PSN Plus and download your four free games. Even if you don't have a PSP
Be prepared for some errors in the PlayStation Store, though. The service seems to be choked with users looking to get free stuff and catch up on a month of missing DLC, but if you keep trying to access the menu and your choice of game, you'll eventually get there. I accessed all four downloads and PSN Plus registration pretty quickly, despite the parade of error messages.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier to include Kinect functionality
According to some leaked box art, the next edition of Ubisoft's Ghost Recon series, due in 2012, will be Kinect enabled - "better with Kinect sensor," to be precise (Xbox360Achievements.org via That VideoGame Blog). This juicy info confirms some rumor-mongering from last year, that the Kinect functionality would be optional, used for things like hand signals that would translate into game commands.
This seems to me to be an excellent use of the Kinect's impressive technology to augment the player's relationship with the controls, a way to sort of combine the precision of buttons and sticks with the added dimension of body movement. There's no reason the Kinect can't be used with a game that still requires a player to hold a controller. In fact, I could see that being the future of this technology. For now, I can imagine a seated player using arm signals to command AI allies, or perhaps to avoid the need to speak via headset in multiplayer, something they could design to be audible to nearby human opponents.
In the future, I can see how a game could operate with a player standing and using entire body motions, while still operating buttons, thumbsticks, and triggers in each hand like the Wiimote + Nunchuck or the PlayStation Move stuff. This advancement would seem to me to be a necessary one, since Kinect's full abilities - while technologically impressive - are hard to extrapolate into games beyond the minigame compilations currently available.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play: There’s Good News and Bad News
Hey! Have you heard about the PlayStation Phone? Sony's totally making a PlayStation Phone! No, really! PlayStation Phone! PlayStation Phoooone!
Yeah, that didn't happen. The NGP might turn out to be something like a PlayStation phone, but the slide-open, gamepad-equipped, Android-powered Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is most definitely not a PlayStation phone. In fact, it proves that the whole "PlayStation Suite" and "PlayStation Certified" thing is basically bullcrap. All is not lost, though. This phone is surprisingly awesome in its own way, just not with any real Sony game presence on it. Find out more in our gaming feature review of the phone.
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