Bits For Rent

So I skipped out on my post-Phil GDC blogging due to class immediately following his presentation and the fact that I was OMGBusy last week getting my “shit right” and preparing for the druken glory that is Spring Break.

The keynote has had time to simmer know, and the consensus appears to be unanimous. Even the black, charcoal hearts of Tycho and Gabe at Penny-Arcade have been warmed over by the woolly charm of LittleBigPlanet’s physics-powered foursome. Speaking of which, have you SEEN that 18 minute demo they did live for GDC? The four minute trailer that got out before looks absolutely elementary compared to the depth and depravity of the demonstrated version, though they feature the same level. The additional time given to character expression, slaps, hand waves, orange vaulting, and even stickering a few linen sheets had my mouth completely agape at the potention that lies within this charming little download title. If they didn’t know it before, I’m sure they do now: LittleBigPlanet is going to be a BigBigHit. Sorry, I pun when I’m giddy.

In truth, I could wax on and on about the glories of this user-powered title for an entire blog entry (and I just might later this week or early next), but there’s so much more to address I feel obliged to press on. Let us instead address the much more highly contested reveals: Miyamoto’s non-keynote and Sony’s Home.

As for Miyamoto, well, I really feel bad for the guy. His company is in the middle of a mega-huge stock buy-out, or so I’ve been told, and this prevented him from revealing any significant new information about his games and the Wii in general that could compromise the value of the purchase. Honestly, I thought they were too busy printing money over there in Japan to still need stocks, but apparently there’s no such thing as too much profit.

Other cool stuff I read from GDC, as an attempt to prove that this blog is more that a mere commentary by myself on my PlayStation experience (it’s a helluva lot better than my Wii one, but we’ll touch on that soon): Warren Spector, one of my personal favorite minds in the business, got up and talked for a little over an hour on the importance of story in video games. He categorized the four types of story inclusion in games, and basically summed up his speech by saying that user involvement in story decisions has become crucial. GTA and similar games served as a strong beginning for the formula, but the cinematic and freeform style of games like Gears (not an actual mention, just recalling this off the top of my head) or Oblivion, where the user’s actions affect the outcome, are what storytelling in next-gen gaming is all about. As a huge fan of story and narrative in games, I was enthralled by the article.

I also read about CliffyB’s (gosh that feels loathesome to type) Designing Gears of War junket thing, which happened right before the Shiggy keynote, but he really didn’t say anything too exciting other than when he described the use of visual aids to enhance the perception of speed and action. Motorstorm is just as guilty of using blur to boost the sense of speed as Gears is of using shaky-cam to boost its running, so it was cool to hear I’ve been fooled so easily, so often.

Aside from the other cool bits by Elite Beat Agent’s creator (Ouendan 2 and EBA 2 this year, bitches) and Koji “IGA” Igarashi on the resilience of 2D and Castlevania, the big news of GDC was Home, Sony’s Second Life-cum-social-network. It’s been getting some pretty mixed comments, ranging from the expected fanboy orgasms of “OH MY GOD IT’S SO FREE!” to the grumblings of Nintendo and Xbot loyalists critiquing the feature for not attracting a new audience, not appealing to them, not being free enough, not buying into the idea of playing games inside a glorified META game, and more. I, personally, am a bit on the fence, but on the whole rather receptive to the idea of a free online virtual lobby and Sims-like interface for killing time between games and grouping up with other PS3 owners. After all, I have a PS3, and it’s not going to cost me a dime to at least try it.

I’ll even admit that the lobbies and larger social areas aren’t strongly appetizing. The ability to customize my own apartment and run content from my harddrive live into TVs and picture frames around my personal living space is, however, a pretty fucking awesome feature. I know that a lot of journalists are talking about how people will be using this to broadcast porn through the PlayStation Network, but it really just makes me feel sorry for the gaming community that our news sources are obsessing over the potential to put boobs and cocks on the walls of their virtual homes. C’est la vie, I suppose.

Anywho, it was a great week for video game news, even if some of the fanboys got their feathers ruffled by all the good and not so good news. If anything, GDC served as an example to show that all three competitors, no matter the current situation, are still holding strong and already dug in for another five years of console warfare. And as always, that means more great news for gamers.

It’s GDC week and things are already starting to look like fun. Today, we’ve got a fantastic read on Warhawk, the Incog game that was the showboat of PS3 at E3 2006 and has now resided itself to being a humble PSN title. But don’t mock the game for falling short of its original ambitions: get a look at the footage IGN put out in their Weekly video podcast and you’ll be saying “wow” with the rest of us. I had always been considering Warhawk in high regard when it came around time to decide whether I would be taking the plunge on a PS3, and I was honestly dismayed by the rumors of it being in trouble and the departure of the single-player experience. Now, however, I’m flying high once more, ready to pull some figure-eights and pour some bullets down some poor schmuck’s throat. Heck, it’s about time I got a decent flight experience. Lord knows Star Fox hasn’t been cutting it (ooooh, burn).

Elsewhere, we had a nice little write-up at 1UP about the GDC panel on RPGs. Dubbed “The Evolution of the RPG”, the segment was basically a Microsoft-sponsored sit-down between Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker Studios and Blue Dragon fame, Ray Muzkya from Bioware (the Mass Effect people), and Peter “I’d put my dick in it” Molyneux, the wannabe genius behind Black and White and Fable. Essentially, the piece recites the different arguments brought up during the panel and each person’s take on the topic. I link to it because they all come to rather disconcerting points on some issues.

Regarding RPG evolution itself, the agreement is that a highly cinematic, grandiose presentation is the key to next-gen storytelling, which essentially follows the Final Fantasy line of thought. This is disturbing to me as games like Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy Tactics or even Dark Cloud don’t rely on the story and that shimmering coat of paint to be engaging experiences; each is a raw and rather traditional playing game and they excel because they perfect the mechanics that define their genre, not because they beauty them up. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pomp and circumstance of FFXII, it’s one of the best games I played last year, but that game also has a fantastic and unique combat engine that encourages intimate knowledge of the characters and constant manipulation of party lines and skill trees. Meanwhile, a game like Blue Dragon is a high-poly version of an old Dragon Quest, with a bit of Grandia III tossed in as well. Is it a good game? Personally I haven’t played it, but it looks like it might be. All I know is that I don’t want to be drowning in cinema and not have a compelling game experience to go along with it.

The group also made some interesting comments on the need for characterization, though sadly the one representative of Japanese RPGs — the style of RPG most lacking in customization, whether it be the character model or the ability to break from linear progression — is pretty much pulling a Ken Kutaragi and getting misty-eyed about some fantasy vision of his own. Regardless, though, it’s been a pretty good start to GDC, and the bombshells (PlayStation Home, Xbox Live on PC for $50 a year!) will hopefully continue tomorrow as Phil Harrison presents his GDC keynote. I’ll be live with comments as soon as he finishes up (unless I’m in class… haven’t checked the schedule). See you then.

What a day for Sony. I’m not even sure where I should begin. Suppose it’s best to start with the unrelated bits and then move into the big stuff. This is going to be a LONG post, so I apologize to the scroll buttons on mice everywhere in advance.

It all starts with a little bit of good news for Sony, which it actually quite the rare occurrence nowadays. After a prolonged legal engagement with Immersion technologies, a force feedback developer who filed suit against Sony for copyright infringement on their rumble feature, the two companies have finally reached an agreement in the appeals court for an unknown sum of money. The good news here is that the two companies are finally on “good” terms, and have announced a partnership to bring rumble to “future” PlayStation devices. In other words, Sixaxis 2 can be expected soon with the rumble weights put back in. Our so I have deduced from the official press release.

Moving on from there, we got to learn that Sony has created a new toolset for first-, second-, and third-party developers based on the Cell and RSX-based processes developed by Naughty Dog, Sony Worldwide Studios, and other close-knit PS3 developers. The toolset is basically a “greatest hits” of programming code to allow third parties and start-ups to pick and choose from the very finest physics, water effects, cloth effects, AI, or whatever else Sony has deemed fit to be a part of the package. Dubbed “Edge,” the code is now available to designers everywhere and will most likely usher in a new wave of support for the Black Monolith of gaming. You can read the official bulletin at DevelopMag.

But now let’s get to the meat of the Sony gossip. The very core of the internets were shaken today when Kotaku released an article which attempted to prove whether or not the rumor of a “PlayStation Home” feature would be coming soon the the PS3 system, to serve as an answer to Miis and the Xbox Live Gamerzone community system. Before that can of worms was opened, however, a post on the Neoseeker message boards revealed what looks to be an accurate summation of Phil Harrison’s keynote for the Game Developer’s Conference. What’s interesting to note, however, is this comment from 1UP’s Luke Smith.

There’s a panel next week at the Game Developer conference called “The Experience is King: Social Gaming for the Next Generation” with Dave Ranyard (Creative Services Manager, SCEE), Mike Haigh (Studio Director, SCE London Studio), which has gotten even more interesting with the patent’s emergence from SCEE.

Essentially, what we are dealing with is an effort by Sony to push the realm of interactive content even further away from the “Insert Game Disk” simplicity of PS2 and towards something more akin to a console version of Second Life or a 3D recreation of MySpace. This potential dissemination of user created content and a unique take on user identification is only further steeped in intrigue when held against these recent revelations by Kotaku and 1UP.

Which leads us to Sony’s big secrets for next week and the Game Developer’s Conference, or GDC for short. It seems that Sony’s normally tight lips have finally formed a slight leak in their seal, because today we were inundated in an avalanche of PS3 gossip. To begin with, a post on the Neoseeker forums found what it believes to be the checklist of features to be discussed during Phil Harrison’s keynote for the conference. It reads something like this:

Details from Phil Harrison- Sony Computer Worldwide Studios
Keynote at GDC March 7th 2007:

Anouncements:

Firmware update available on the 8th for North America/Japan and Asia. European PS3′s will be preloaded with this latest update.

Features of this latest firmware include:

More refined PS Store frontend
Playstation Network integrity enhanced
Wallpapers from pictures
Ability to change background colours
Sony Connect Store for music and movies added to the PS Store. Hundreds of trailers/full films/song videos and mps3′s available for download.
Playstation Card option in PS Store enabled.
Playstation Lifestyle- Similar to my space/youtube. User generated content and experiences are the key.
+ more.

Removal of Emotion Engine chips in PS3′s in NA and Japan to follow in April. Reason for this is to reduce costs and focus on enhanced opportunities via software. Benefits include the ability to upscale selected PSone/PS2 games to 1080i/720p.

Lots of development talk.
Release dates for key games. Warhawk in June/July 2007. Heavenly Sword delayed. Killzone and MGS4 in late 2007.

New content on PS Store available on the 8th:

Tekken 6 trailer
Lair demo & trailer
Rainbow Six Vegas demo
EA: Skate trailer
Battlefield Bad Company trailer
Warhawk demo
Virtua Fighter 5 demo
Virtua Tennis 3 demo & trailer
GRAW 2: trailer
Mortal Kombat 2 game
Killzone trailer

Killzone demo for May.

More details. Stay tuned on the 7th.

Let me sum that up for all of you. Virtua Fighter 5 DEMO. Warhawk DEMO. Virtua Tennis 3 DEMO. Lair DEMO. Killzone 2 TRAILER. That’s three huge exclusives getting out on the PlayStation Network in one day, and two excellent PS3 titles joining them there as well. Plus I completely skipped over the part where they announced custom wallpapers for the XMB, Sony Connect content now accessible via the PlayStation Store just as if you were downloading it on your home PC, and that little bit about “PlayStation Lifestyle.” Sound like a lot of cats came out of the bag? We’re just getting started. But first, let me recap.

Sony is back in the sack with Immersion, ready to give gamers back that tingling sensation they’ve been missing with the newfangled Sixaxis controller. To help boost developer morale even further, they’ve released a brand new set of programming tools to allow developers with no experience with the Cell architecture or the RSX chip (Read: almost everyone) to make quality content with a lot less of the back-breaking dirty work. To top that off, they’re preparing a media blitzkrieg for the PS3 owners out there with a new firmware update with loads of customization options (seems to be a running trend with their GDC philosophy), and tons of new store content. Awesome. But wait, it gets better.

After doing some digging around, it seems that Brian Crecente and the boys at Kotaku came across a virtual golden nugget of news. In short, an anonymous source revealed to them that the PlayStation 3 would soon be receiving a new feature for its OS: Home. In line with what the above quote mentions about the PlayStation Lifestyle, Home seems to be a way to create a totally unique virtual avatar for your PlayStation account (like a Mii), and then build around it an entire house. This “home” will then be filled with unlockable extras and trophies earned by beating games or completing challenges, much like an Achievement point on Xbox 360 works, only with a tactile (if virtual items were tactile) result, i.e. a new couch or poster for your house. The best way I can describe it is like designing a home in Animal Crossing along with the interactivity of the Sims and combined with a dash of YouTube and MySpace. The official, anonymous source, puts it as follows:

Basically, you get to make an avatar for your console (like a Mii) and this avatar has a room. As you play games and accomplish certain tasks, you will receive items with which to adorn the room that are specific to the game (achievements). The kicker is that this is going to be a new requirement for every PS3 game…

So we move from product based to service based, starting with packaged product augmented by downloadble content. We’ll enhance this with social networks, the MySpace experience, this will be a key part of the PlayStation3 going forward. What brings it to life is the voice chat, the text chat, the video, the social features we’re building in for the future.

The actual write-up from Kotaku goes to lengths to tie the theory in with some of the comments Phil Harrison has made about avatar creation and user/community interaction. It’s a very, very interesting idea in my opinion and I could probably write another 500 words on what exactly I find so fascinating about it. But rather than doing so here, I may compose another topic in a few days when I’ve let the idea bounce around in my head some. For now, though, I thought it best to hear some reactions and just spread the news as best I can. Sony doing something that sounds like it could turn out alright. Whodathunkit?

Today was a great day for video games. Not only did I trade in the fantastically underwhelming Final Fantasy III — good fucking riddance, I say to thee — but I let Hotel Dusk go as well. The irony there is that I got $24 for FFIII, and only $18 for Hotel Dusk, which is a far superior product. Speaking of which, did I ever manage to write anything about that game? Nothing comes to mind, so allow me to splooge all over my own blog for a moment.

Hotel Dusk is a fantastic literary experience wrapped in the retro, black and white coating of a 1970s noir and shoved into the small confines of a DS cartridge. It is not a very good game — the actual puzzles and environment interactions range from mind-numbingly dull to fist-in-the-wall hard — but I don’t think it ever tries to establish itself as one. Instead, it opts to provide the player with a fascinating yarn about a cop on the hunt for his long lost partner and the people that may or may not be able to help track him down. It’s not the most well told story, either, though its dialog is something truly joyful to read. I honestly wish there was a way for me to fit “Shut your head, Louie” into my daily vocabulary, but alas at the times we live in. OK… I’m being rather coy here, so let’s just come out with it: as a fan of good fiction, I had a really great time with the story and characters of Hotel Dusk, and I hope that you may one day get the chance to enjoy them as well. There, now let’s get back to the loot.

In exchange for Dusk and FFIII, I picked up quite a horde: Viewtiful Joe 2 (the last good one), Resident Evil Remake (it looks so pretty, but it plays so awful!), Dark Cloud 2 (haven’t played it yet, but apparently it’s the Second Coming), and last and certainly least… Devil May Cry 2. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but it was that or Killer 7 and when I asked the GameStop guy what to get, he just kind of sighed and said “Devil May Cry 2.” I think that’s rather telling of how much suck is possible in a game… without that game being Sonic the Hedgehog for 360/PS3.

So I haven’t yet sat down to really try any of these out, since I have a monster of an exam on Friday that may very well crush me if I’m not careful, but rest assured this weekend will be an unholy orgy of digital interaction. Me, my Wii, a TV, and maybe the PS3. Actually, definitely the PS3. Virtua Fighter 5 was in my goodie bag as well.

Having not played a VF before 4, I never really got into the series. In fact, I can hardly consider myself a fighting game fan, as pretty much every brawler other than VF4 and Super Smash Bros. has made the sad trip back into the store to be traded in. But with VF5, I think there’s hope. Even without the “sticks” — religious relics that no true fighting fan can play let alone breathe without — me and my roommate have had an absolute blast going back and forth beating the utter crap out of one another. It’s part of the reason for this entry’s title: there ain’t no blood in this series. There are, however, God-like uppercuts and spine-cracking pile drivers. And for the first time since, well, Soul Calibur 2 I suppose, I’m actually looking forward to my next time playing the game. Take that, Mortal Kombat, Guilty Gear (yeah, a little too WTF for me), and Tekken. I’m playing with the big boys now. Literally. As a Lei-Fei and Pai/Vanessa player, I’m stacked against my roommate’s Jeffry, Wolf, and Brad nearly every match. But those slow fuckers don’t stand a chance! It’s actually at the point now where I’m using “skill” to beat him, and giving him opportunities to win just to keep him less frustrated. How modest of me, no?

Well… this was a rather disjointed entry, but my brain’s cooked for tonight. I’ll be back again soon with more VF5, maybe some flOw (!!), and of course the retro round-up.

Addendum: I totally forgot. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter was the only fighting game I can safely say I have “played the shit out of.” God that was an awesome time. Fuckin’ robot guy was cheap as fuck, though.

It’s been a long time, if there ever was a time, since I managed to write something about music. Truth is, I listen to a fair amount of the stuff. Heck, I’ll even swing by Pandora every now and then to just try out something new. But as for what’s made it into my rotation lately, well, I guess I’ll do some explaining.

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen – For someone such as myself that finds everything Damon Albarn touches to be laced in gold and clothed in silk, this record nearly slipped past my radar. It’s a good thing I make it a point to watch Rolling Stone’s website for the latest CD reviews (always keeping my eye on something new to listen to), or else I’d never have had the good fortune to hear this 12 track serving of bliss. The material on tap here is typical Albarn: ambiguous but chilling lyrics, strong piano driven melodies, and synthed up, reverbed to the max guitar and vocals. Essentially, it’s indie Gorillaz — the disc is even produced by personal favorite and Demon Days mastermind DJ Danger Mouse — but if that doesn’t sound appealing to you, give it a try anyway. I’m sure you could be a fan in the making.

The Decemberists – So, funny story about this one. I get a recommendation from a few people to check out the Crane Wife — apparently it got a fair amount of publicity last fall thanks to Stephen Colbert — because it’s the new hotness and everyone’s loving it. So I give it a listen, casually, while writing and looking around the web. Nothing special. I even go on a crusade to tell these guys that they’re wrong and that the band is not, in fact, hot shit. But then… then someone tells me that the lyrics are really like a narrative. Really? I go and look ‘em up. Wow… they weren’t fucking around. And so I gave the disc another spin, this time really listening. The lengthy epics are still tiring and feel laced with religious symbolism, but the dialect is something that has to be heard. Skeins and patagons and keening bells and fecundities oh my! the band is quite the literary tour de force. Couple that with a very retro, perhaps even folksy, full band ensemble and you’ve got a winning combination. Since listening to Crane Wife, I’ve moved on to Castaways and Cutouts, which is perhaps the better of the two not because it lacks the pretentiousness of the former, but because the Legionnaire’s Lament is such a monstrously good sing-along (they call that anthemic, don’t they?) that you simply must hear it. No joke.

Bloc Party – I wasn’t a big fan of the first Bloc Party record. It certainly had its moments, but some questionable track inclusions left it out of my major rotation shortly after its release. After listening to A Weekend in the City a few times over, I’m beginning to feel that much the same can be said for this post-punk sophomore effort. It begins well enough, with Song Fox Clay moving from disparate acapella to strumming, thumping rock out. The punk continues ahead full steam with Hunting For Witches — a hint of electronica can be found at the song’s beginning — but quickly tag teams out with the slower, mellow burner Waiting for the 7.18. And with those three tracks, you really have the sum of the whole CD. Great, transient punk rock and vocal performances are cut up intermittently by odd, progressive pieces that really feel out of place (read: “The Prayer” and “On”). Overall, it’s still a pretty good listen, but it’s not of the caliber one expects from such a talented group of musicians who showed such promise in their debut.

Other groups currently in the cycle are Interpol, Arctic Monkeys, and The Rakes (another emerging Brit-Rock group that sounds like it may hold a fair bit of promise). Some classics are getting their due as well, but others haven’t quite stacked up to meet the challenge: Gomez’s Liquid Skin and Chavez’s compilation Better Days Will Haunt You both failed to impressed after a sufficient trial period. They can’t all be winners, kid.

Anywho… that’ll do it for tonight. I’ll try to be back tomorrow with some impressions of Virtua Fighter 5 and The Prestige on Blu-Ray. I got The Departed on BD today (“My hand is steady”), and I have to say that next-gen DVD really is something to admire. I’m not going to splurge all the time for these $25-30 discs, because DVD still looks great from 5+ feet away IMO, but I’ll be damned if the details and colors don’t just burst from the screen in 1080i/p. You really need to try it sometime.

I will be the very first to admit it: I am a supporter of the PlayStation brand. I grew up with Nintendo consoles, and still love them dearly to this day, but when it comes to gaming I know that the large stock of my great game experiences will invariably fall on a Sony system.

I actually remember buying my first PlayStation. It was not long after the price dropped to $99, and it was at a Target near my home. My friend had bought one a few months earlier and picked up with it a few choice games, most noticeable among them being Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage. This was my first Insomniac game, and from the moment I first controlled that floaty, purple dragon and started my quest to collect as many orbs as possible, I knew I was hooked. I even remember my first thoughts on the DualShock: it was uncomfortable, totally not ergonomic, and a complete pile of crap next to my beloved N64 pad. But there was something about the games that made me spring for the system, and it’s been the same story ever since: PlayStation is where the awesome is at.

Actually, on a slightly embarrassing note, I wasn’t even a hardcore gamer back then. I picked up an N64 title every two months depending on the reviews in Nintendo Power, but when it came down to genres and control schemes and music and the basic geek praise for Sakaguchi, Miyamoto, Naga, and the rest of the gaming gods at that time, I was utterly oblivious. I knew what a good game was, but I was just playing for the sake of the experience. There was no attachment or investment in the Spyro or Mario series, I just thought they were of a kind of quality other games lacked.

And so that brings me to the point of today’s post. In an interview with 1UP’s Luke Smith, Phil Harrison has done the odd thing for a Sony representative and spoken in terms that do not come across as arrogant nonsense. You can see for yourself, if you’d like. But it’s not really what he said that has driven me to sit down and type (I’ll blame that on a desire to not watch Econ lectures), it’s the message itself. Read closely those few responses he gives. This is a man that knows how to bait the reader and interviewer with hints of future greatness. He exudes a sort of placidity that shows immense control of will, as if he himself were able to change the face of Sony with a simple rubber duck. I say these things not to suggest that Mr. Harrison has some sort of supernatural ability to reconstruct the image of a caring, down-to-earth Sony — I personally doubt that such a thing ever existed — rather I emphasize this discussion because this is what needs to be done.

Sony has, for nearly a year, been caught in a downward spiral. They were late and bloated in their E3 press conference. They lost rumble in their controllers and “ripped-off” Nintendo with the tilt sensors. They sold two SKUs of a product when they criticized Microsoft for doing the same. They lost the GTA series as an exclusive. They undershipped a product that is over-priced. They had issues with scaling, backwards compatibility, Blu-ray diodes, online titles, and much, much more. In short, they practical drove their momentum into the ground, and only on rare occassions did they ever show signs that something about this behavior was wrong.

But here we are, a week from the release of Virtua Fighter 5. Tomorrow Full Auto 2 becomes the first third-party demo to hit the PlayStation Network. The thesis project flOw is right around the corner. In March, we get an online version of Motorstorm and Europe sees what might be the best launch line-up for a system in the history of videogames. And there’s GDC on March 7th, bringing us back once again to the man this post is all about, Phil Harrison.

So what, then, is the point of this lengthy and expansive post of mine? Timing. In my honest and — I hope — mostly unbiased opinion, this is the time when Sony needs to get out of the gutter, wipe the blood from its nose and stand firm in the face of the opposition. George Orwell is famous for writing a story in which a man changes history to coincide with the actions of his government, his actions unnoticed by the public at large. That story is far from a work of fiction, its message still rings true nearly sixty years after it was first put to paper. People are willing to ignore, forget, perhaps even believe anything that may or may not have happened in the past so long as you provide for them a present and future in line with their desires. We can forgive you, Sony. All you have to do is start talking. Show us a near-final build of Heavenly Sword. Show us a glimpse of Killzone 2. Show us a demo of Metal Gear Solid 4.

The public is waiting, and when the spotlight falls on Phil Harrison once more, three weeks from today, let us finally hear why it is that PlayStation systems have a 10 year lifespan. Tell us why we should play beyond instead of jump in. Tell us why the large hard disks, HDMI, and free online service are critical tools. Tell us something to make us think back fondly to our times playing Spyro, or unboxing that launch day PS2. The ball is in your court, all you need to do is swing.

So Christmas has come and gone and with it I have finally regained access to my wonderfully large and shiny (and dusty) PrayStation 3. Since then, I’ve been on a bit of a gaming binge (when not at the driving range. God DAMN golf is addictive), and I feel like recapping some thoughts. I do have oodles to say about the latest Zelda and what I liked and disliked about it, but I’ll save that for a later post, hopefully before the new year. Until then, it’s PS3 time.

First off, I downloaded the Gran Turismo HD Concept demo from the PlayStation Store (PSS for future reference), and have come away from it duly impressed. I am not, nor have I ever been, a GT fan, or even a racing fan. I find cars fantastic devices in real life: they get me from place to place, they go fast, and you can crash them into things when the feeling hits you. In games, though, the sensation of controlling one has, to me, been unable to be duplicated, and that breakdown in immersion has kept me from investing time in most of the titles. I did buy GT3 when it came out for PS2, but I returned it after a few months because the task of racing in shoddy vehicles multiple times to gain access to better cars or simply better parts was lost on me. So let me say I was shocked when I found that GTHD could actually unearth the gearhead within me.

The demo is only one level, Eiger Nordwand (sic), and this is apparently an entirely new course for the series, which has been shown countless times since the game’s demo at E3. The level is truly a delight, however, with a perfect amount of variety in its design. Sloping hills lead in to devastingly sharp switch-backs that open into magestic straightaways and long, sweeping turns. Building up speed is never prolonged, as the mountainous setting rolls gently around the course, sending the track left and right with regularity. Suffice it to say, the track looks great and offers a perfect amount of challenge to serve as an appetizer for Polyphony Digital’s upcoming GT5.

What makes it even better is the access to 10 completely different cars, all varying in ride style and quality, that must be unlocked with increasingly shorter completion time. I’ve only driven six of the cars so far, but that’s not to say the unlocking is difficult – in fact, the record times they give you are easily achievable I have found – just that the inclusion of the global player rankings make it that much more encouraging to drive better with each car. My personal goal has been to land within the top 500 with each car before moving on, something that has provided me with equal amounts frustration and pleasure. Sure, 500 seems pretty meager, but when the top players are all disconnects or seem to be exploits of a bug, I feel pretty confident when my n00b driving is going this far. I only wish I knew how many people downloaded the demo, so I had a reason to boast. All I know is by the time I get within 500 with hte Ferrari, I’ll need to drop back to the Cappucino and beat all the times placed in the days since hitting my record with that car.

And that’s the kind of draw I never thought that I would experience from a game like GT. As a strong believer in the single player experience, I’m shocked at how a simple number – not even actual competition – has made me strive to be a better player. Rather than enjoying the game for its beautiful graphics, of which there are many, I’m going back to play it for the gameplay. A racing game. A genre I’ve only supported three times that I can think of (MRC on N64, Ridge Racer 5 at PS2 launch, and GT3). That’s just unbelievable to me.

Oh, and yes, the graphics are fucking godly. I don’t need to say anymore. Go look at videos if you have to, but rest assured that this is the best looking racing game ever, and definitely one of the best looking next gen titles made so far. And it’s just a DEMO.

As for the rest of my time spent on the PS3, it hasn’t been going to Resistance, which I’m looking forward to playing but not yet ready to sit down and power through, but rather Fight Night Round 3. A game that’s been out for about nine months on 360, that some have said is an inferior version on the PS3, is still an absolute blast to sit down and play. It took me about four matches to get the total punch control down, but now I’m knocking punks out left and right like a champ. Haymakers, hooks, and body punches have a great visceral feel to them, and the bone-crunching sound of hard hits is the most rewarding thing to, well, feeding animals in Okami (quite an extreme, I know). I’m just fighting my second “title” bout tonight, against some block-heavy, body-twisting schmuck that’s trying to rope-a-dope me. Of course, I throw nearly a hundred punches a round, so I deserve to fight this kind of guy, but I’m a winner, damnit. Jimmy “No Dice” Roulette will crush all challengers!

*cough*

Uh, I think that’s it for games NOT on Wii, actually. I need to get into FFXII again, but the picture quality over PS3 is off-putting and I’m not really eager to play on the old PS2. Guess I’ll have to suck it up and make a choice on which way to go, though. Anyway, I’ll be back again soon with Zelda impressions.

I’m just going to come out with it, already:

Tomorrow morning will mark the three week anniversary of when I got my Wii.

Yes, that’s right. I’m a cheeky, cheeky bastard and I deserve to be smacked around harder than Paris Hilton, but I have very few regrets. I also have a decent story to go along with my confession.

The time was three weeks ago and I was entering my last week on school, and that meant it was time for exams and time to go home. The only problem was, for me, that this was also nearly a month since the launch of the PS3 and Wii, and I had failed to score either system. Now, I had copious amounts of cash burning a hole in my pocket and, despite my desire to throw it at either developer, there was no sign of any good fortune heading my way. Just three days prior I had run in to Best Buy only to find they had recieved and sold out of PS3s two hours beforehand.

So there I sat, playing poker with some pals and holding on to the only Ace I had left up my sleeve (not literally, I play a fair game). See, I had gotten a tip from the Circuit Shitty that they would be getting 15 Wiis in and holding them until Sunday. I had originally called my buddy, who really wanted a Wii, to let him in on the news, but at the time I wasn’t really interested in getting one (you know they’re coming our with a black one or a better one next fall, just you watch). But, as the hour grew late, I turned to my roommate and said, “I can get a Wii tomorrow. But if I’m going to sit around and wait for one, I’m getting two while I’m at it.” I then brow-beat him and dangled deliciously despicable offers over his head, only to finally get his begrudging acceptance to along for the ride minutes before I left for the Shitty.

When we got there, there were 12 people in line. Perfect. And, thankfully, we arrived the same time as someone else, making us the final three people officially getting a system. The time was 6:30am. I had not slept, but I had not been out in the cold until now, either. Waiting at launch is officially overrated, I thought.

And so the next three hours passed slowly, oh so slowly, with the roommate watching a movie over at the car and me sitting with the nerds, playing bejeweled on my phone (DS Black got left at home, much to my dismay). The line continued to grow until 9 o’clock, with college students followed by parents followed by grandparents, all rounding around the front of the store to a line of roughly 45-50 people. The certified Wii owners, myself included, could only speculate as to what sort of glimmer of hope they were holding on to, as this is a town where shipment quantities have peaked in the single digits most of the time.

Regardless, 9:30 finally arrived and the manager came out, announced the already-known sales figure of 15 and handed out the tickets. Stealth was lucky number 13, line-squatter buddy was 15. And that’s where it gets fun.

You know how I said he was at the car watching a movie? Well, that was true until abour 8:45, when he came and stuck it out on the cement. However, #16 in line, who got there 10 minutes after us, began a wonderfully debate with the both of us over how waiting anywhere but on the cement was not really waiting, and that he deserved the last system. For twenty-five minutes. He probably weighed 160 pounds soaking wet, and his manly goatee was evidence of heart of pure malice. Truly a chisled fighter ready to do what needed to be done to defeat me, the Christmas-stealing Grinch. But, hey, we had the tickets. Eventually, he had blown off enough steam, and I had repeated myself enough times (“We got here FIRST; We never LEFT!”) that he threw in the towel and sulked off. “I wish he hadn’t done that,” my bud says to me. “I felt bad waiting by the car anyway. I would have given him the ticket.” Guess it pays to be polite after all.

Anyway, while we waited at the service counter for the Wiis and a copy of Zelda, some schmuck tried to shoplift and got tackled by one of the employees, RIGHT in front of us. So the day was not without its fair share of entertainment, to say the least. What became of the Wiis is that I kept the one I purchased, and was planning on selling the second one off, with cash, as a trade for a PS3. I got about 6 offers for not only the second Wii, but my own as well, from those little fucking scalpers that sat for three days at Best Buy and consequently ruined my launch before I said screw them all and gave the Wii to my friend I had tipped off originally, at no extra cost to him.

The result? We’re both totally enjoying the system, and he managed to find me an extra controller (which is like finding a gold bar, only it’s white and has a wrist strap) as a thank you. I’m also now forced to eat a large helping of crow as I have been incredibly down on the system for the past few months and have claimed several times to have no interest in getting one until MP3 comes out. Well I retract those statements, because Zelda on Wii blew a pleasant wind up my skirt and Wii Tennis and Bowling are fantastic (The other minigames, not so much). And, hey, it was Christmas time. I needed something to play, and it sure as shit wasn’t going to be a 360. (not until it’s $200 for a premium, Blink. You can hold me to that.)

Now, the funny epilogue: it’s Thursday now, and I roll out of bed at noon, since there are no classes today and I usually roll out of bed at noon anyway. I remember back to a week ago and think, “well, what the hell” and speed off to Best Buy on a whim. There’s supposed to be weekly shipments, after all. I pull into the parking lot and, sure as hell, a woman is walking to her car with a PS3. So I reach into the glove box, grab my pocket knife and… wait, wrong ending. Actually, I run into the store and before the Yellow Shirt asks me how I’m doing I gasp “You have PS3 where?” The man looks at me quizzically and I make a snap decision: he’s clearly not aware of the situation and I need to ask someone else. Next up, large Blue Shirt woman pushing around a cart of Clerks II dvds. “PS3s left where are now?!” I demand. “Uh, back of the store,” she says, clutching the cross on her neck.

I am a leaf on the wind at 40 miles an hour in a crowded electronics store. I blaze past the K-Fed CDs, dodge around the King Kong dvd case and slide to a stop in front of the PS3 demo kiosk. A smiling Blue Shirt is standing there, knee-high in PS3s. Four 20GB models and four 60GB models. “I want one.” I state, arms out. “Sure,” the shirt replies, his face inside an imaginary noose. “Which one do you want?” He asks, I hope, out of duty. “The 60. Six-Dee.” The rest is a blur. He hands me a coupon booklet and the system, which weighs more than Ken Kutaragi’s ego. I grabbed Fight Night and Resistance, paid, and threw my precious cargo in the back. Upon arriving back home, my roommate (the one from the Wii line), shouts from his room, “Where the fuck did you go?” I throw the PS3 onto his bed (not such a good idea given the quality of the box springs) and stand triumphantly in the doorway. He turns around, glances at the bed, and then at me, and then at the bed again. “No fucking way.”

A Merry Christmas indeed.

P.S. I am broke as all hell. Send monies.

Before I make the announcement on the “big news” of the week for me, I need to backtrack and mention a few things. Let’s move to the TV front.

Day Break is a new series running on ABC to occupy the LOST time slot, 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, and I’ve gone from cynic to singing its praises over the past few episodes. The show started with a monumental two-hour pilot, introducing us to Taye Diggs’ character Detective Derrick Hopper and his awkward case of Groundhog Day. But while the overall plot structure sounds like something you may have heard before, the intricacies of the serialized action are what have truly snared the hooks in me. Each episode requires the viewer to be attentive to every detail, and Hopper gets only one shot each day at learning something new about why he’s being framed and how to save his girlfriend and sister from certain death (over and over again). I highly recommend checking out the first couple episodes off ABC.com if they’re on there, or you’re favorite torrent source.

Second, just a check up on shows I’ve got in my weekly rotation: Prison Break (go find the first season and rent it or buy it. The close-calls every few episodes are tiring but the cast is well-developed and the escape at the end of the season is the ultimate payoff.); Heroes (what is there to say? If you’re not already watching this show, start doing so when it returns early next year. The constant Japanese, the rich variety of cast members and the sly comic book references are a delight for anyone familiar with the works of Moore, Loeb, and Miller.); Lost (duh); and House (the idiosyncracies of his character are irresistable. House is the asshole you can’t help but want to emulate when faced with the idiots of society). I can’t say enough good things about any of these shows, but I have to say that if it you’ve ever considered tuning in to any of these in the least, do so. At worst, it will keep you from watching CBS crime dramas five nights a week. God knows we don’t need another CSI.

Moving on, I suppose I need to harp on FFXII a little bit more: 25 hours in, it’s still a fantastic game. Gambits have reached a whole new level of importance, and status effects are the biggest pain in the ass since, well, Confuse. I’ve been avoiding playing it this week due to the “big news” and also final exams, but I’ll be ready to sink my teeth back into it starting next week. The siren songs of the Chocobos truly are irresistable.

Hmm… I feel like there’s a bunch else I need to write down but isn’t coming to the top of my head. Obviously I can’t talk about what’s up this week yet… ah yes, there’s always the PS3.

I must confess: lately, I’ve been very doubtful of my reasoning behind purchasing a PS3. Yes, it has Resistance, a game I truly want to play, and yes it will play all my PS2 games and free up space on my dresser, but what is the real motivation to get it now, as opposed to say, February? I suppose my eagerness to have a new, HD-capable console may be getting the better of me. It’s just an innate desire I have as a gamer to have the latest and greatest tech; the same urge hit me last year, but I held off and promised to wait for Sony. At the same time, though, I’m eying the availability and prevalence of great titles on the 360 and beginning to question how rational that may be at this point. Buy a $600 system with two or three games now with the assurance of many great games and exclusives to come, or buy a $400 system with three or four great games now and many more exclusives still to come. Viva Pinata (laugh all you want, it looks great), Rainbow Six, Gears of War… and that’s just this holiday season.

Then again, that really is this holiday season for 360 owners. They’ve long been famous for jumping on every great game released and leaving it for dead two weeks after release, but will the trend continue? PS3 has me covered with a library of old titles at my disposal and major releases already in the pipeline for Q1, but 360 has the instant satisfaction. The choice is truly a tough one, as there is no way to make a wrong decision at this point. I’m still leaning tentatively towards the PS3 for now, but time will tell what my ultimate decision may be.

Ok, that’ll wrap it up for tonight. I’ll be back soon with The Story.

First, a quick apology for the title; it couldn’t be helped, I swear. But now, on to more pressing matters.

It seems that my suckage in FFIII was justly deserved, as I not only forgot the cardinal rule of gaming (read the effing manual!), but I was hoping to plow through the combat like I do in FF12. But seeing as how my play time in FFIII is still well below a level where I can safely talk about it and not get reamed, I’ll be shifting my focus to the latest love of my life, Final Fantasy XII.

As a preface, I must clarify that I am not a great fan of fantasies that are of the Final variety. I have only purchased, in my lifetime, a small sprinkling of titles from the series, and up until this month only one of them was numbered. In total, I own Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (loved it to no end), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (a thing of beauty), and now FFIII and FFXII. A sizable collection, to be sure, but when the core series is pushing over a dozen entries, it’s a small sum to be sure.

There was much ado over Final Fantasy XII’s decision to take the reigns from the player when it came to the combat. The idea of shifting the turn-based systems of the previous titles into an automated process that could, in theory, play itself seemed downright rude. After all, we gamers are a proud people, and we can’t admit to buying your game just for the pretty CG (of which there is many and is most certainly worth the entry fee alone). With no gameplay to keep us engaged, was Square giving us icing with no cake? The answer is most definitely “no.”

The combat in FFXII is, in short, nothing short of masterful. The Gambit system is absolutely what the bloated series needed, and it hastens not only the pace of battle, but of the game itself. Let’s face it people, the random encounter as we once knew it is a thing of the past. No longer should a player be forced to run around these beautiful and expansive worlds, only to be torn from them after five paces and thrust into an arbitrary faceoff. In fact, the fondest memory I have of Grandia III is of charging at the foe I wished to lay to ruin, and then performing stupendous combos to execute him precisely in the manner I desired. However, while Grandia’s combat engine relied heavily on timing and cancels enemy attacks, FFXII’s combat is all about strategy and preparation. Loading up characters with as many gambits as you can is a great idea when you’re considering the game from a static perspective; but when you set up whom those gambits affect and under what specific conditions (Cure allies with less than 40% health, for instance), that is when you truly understand just how glorious this system can be.

Naturally, however, Boss fights and stronger enemies are going to require you to act much more like a general than a conductor. Often times you’ll be worn down on all fronts, and when your characters dip into a Cure gambit when they could be preparing to attack and finish the bastard off, you’ll see where taking risk can be greater than simply playing it safe. Especially when you swap in a party member in an effort to use their Quickening ability (similar to FFVIII’s setup with whatever those low-HP specials were, only these are full-MP). Oh, I could keep going on about how glorious this all is, but I’ve yet to even scratch the surface of the plot. So, as the hour grows late, I shall wrap things up here and continue next time with more FFXII and my much-belated PS3/Wii scarcity launch rant. Good times, indeed. You don’t want to miss ‘em.