Introduction
Every once in awhile, a developer will come along with a game that makes people question the nature of what is a game. Indie games and/or games that are available only for download as WiiWare, or the Xbox Arcade, or the PSN store tend to take more risks and expand the boundaries a bit more than games delivered on more traditional media. The first offering from the folks at thatcamecompany, fløw, was definitely a mold breaker. Does their second offering, Flower, soar?
I’ve started and deleted this post several times, because I’ve been having a hard time collating my thoughts into a coherent post. I probably won’t succeed this time either. But I keep having this nagging jumble of thoughts that I need to get out. It’s gonna be a long ride. It’s about what I like to call The Nintendo Dilemma.
It’s time for the multiplatform list. Given the lack of exclusives this year so far on everything except the Wii, this list is substantially longer than some other lists.
The PS3 is faring slightly better so far this year than the Xbox in terms of exclusives. Will this be the year of the PS3? Here’s my list of most anticipated PS3 games of 2009.
Hey, who doesn’t like free stuff, right? There has been a lot of talk in gaming circles the last few years about microtransactions, which are typically small monetary transactions for digital content. These could be actual games, like WiiWare or Xbox Live Arcade. Or they could be add-on content for games, like map packs, skins, songs, new weapons, new levels, and the like. Or they could be new themes, or gamerpics, or avatar clothes… usually anything to get the consumer to fork out more money.
Not that I’m taking some moral high road here… I’ve bought my fair share. Probably more than I’d like to admit. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things you can get for free with the right timing and a little patience. Here are a few I’ve heard of in just the last few days:
In an effort to RUIN my timely Sackboy papercraft post (obviously), LittleBigPlanet has been delayed worldwide by a week due to some language in a music track that some muslims deem offensive.
Not the best news for Sony given how big a release LBP is for the Playstation 3, but I think people can survive an extra week. Hey, it’ll give you more time to make your paper Sackboy!
Introduction
My game impressions segment returns after much neglect, with an older title I recently picked up and finished. Resistance: Fall of Man was released for the PS3 on November 14, 2006 as a launch title for the PS3. I didn’t get a PS3 until a year later, and when I did, I downloaded the Resistance demo and played it a little, but I couldn’t get into it and deleted the demo before I ever finished it. I thought maybe I’d look for it cheap someday, but it wasn’t on my “must play” list. Fast forward to E3 2008, and Resistance 2 was all the talk of Sony’s press conference (not to mention Resistance: Retribution coming for PSP). With news of the upcoming releases, I figured that maybe I would download the demo of the original again and give it another try.
Today is the day that SIREN: Blood Curse is released on the PS3 as a downloadable game on the Playstation Network. I’ve always had a healthy facination with survival horror games (even though I have practically no interest in movies of the same type). So I decided to go to metacritic.com to see if there were any review scores up yet, or even better, links to articles that might tell me a little more about the game. There isn’t much yet, but there was a little link that said “Discuss this game in our forums.” I clicked on it, and that’s when the fun began…
Last but not least, the Sony press conference. My thoughts….
2008 is the Year of the PS3. Hmmm.
Talking about their 10 year plan and how it’s all going according to plan. Sounds like a bunch of spin on a disappointing console to date.
Blu-ray won the format war. Very true. Metal Gear Solid is only possible on PS3 because of Blu-ray. Really?? Hmmm.
Recapping software in 2008. Grand Turismo 5 Prologue. Grand Theft Auto IV. Metal Gear Solid 4. “This is why you buy a PS3.”
“Exclusive downloadable content is nice. Exclusive games are what make up consumers minds and drive the business.” Shot at Microsoft. Kind of weak, considering they have good exclusive games too, plus some high profile exclusive DLC.
Resistance 2. Looks decent, although it uses that some annoying brown gray palette that game designers seem to love these days for FPS. Maybe a little more color. Seems more Gears-ish. I tried the demo of Resistance 1 and didn’t really like it, so this doesn’t get me excited.
Little Big Planet. Still looks good. I don’t know why I would want to design something in LBP, but they say you can download other people’s levels. If they add a sorting method to separate the good user levels from the crap, it would be good.
Talking about gaming industry revenue. Seems like a distraction from Sony’s less than stellar numbers. They sold 1.8 million PS3′s in 2008, and 1.5 million PS2′s in the US. Doesn’t sound like people are embracing Sony’s version of “next gen” like they would wish. Touting Playstation and Playstation 2 numbers.
Greatest Hits for PS3 for $29.99. The only one I might go for is Ninja Gaiden. I already have Rainbow Six Vegas, Assassin’s Creed, and Oblivion on the 360, and don’t want the rest. No Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. I was so-so on the demo but thought I might buy it at a lesser price, so I was hoping it’d be a GH title. Glad they’ve started the GH program though.
130 titles coming to PS2 in 2008. EA Sports games. Star Wars Force Unleased. Singstar. Yakuza 2. Madden of course. Mercenaries 2. Interesting how much they tout the PS2. It’s being supported by developers because of the hugely slow start of the PS3. New PS2 bundle! What about PS3 other than Resistance 2?
All Playstation network users will have a single logon. I guess I didn’t realize that wasn’t the case.
Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty. Seems like a bastardized version of a full Ratchet and Clank game for $14.99. Why? So you can get another R&C game out and have something for the Playstation store?
Other PSN download games: Crash Commando (reminds me of Undertow on the 360), Fat Princess, Pixel Junk, Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung Fu. I think I’d buy Siren. The rest… meh.
Grand Turismo TV? Not a big fan of car racing games. Or TV shows. It loks the the Speed network on the PS3. Meh.
Talking about trophies (cough: Achievements).
Playstation Home. “Your patience will be more than rewarded.” No announcement of the release STILL?? Not even a generic “later in 2008″??
Playstation Network video delivery service. Finally. Rental and purchase. Standard and Hi-Def. Portable to PSP. That’s very cool. Other than that, it’s playing catch-up with Microsoft.
PSP talk. New “family friendly” bundle.
Resistance: Retribution for PSP. Looks pretty decent. Not squad-based like the PS3 Resistance games. Spring of 2009. If I was more into Resistance, I might pick it up immediately.
PSP software highlights. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Nice. Madden 09. Meh. Not a Madden fan. LocoRoco 2. Looks decent. NBA 09. Meh. Super Stardust Portable. Looks very good. LEGO Batman. Wow, looks awesome. Patapon 2. More of the same. Buzz. Who cares? Valkyria Chronicles. Might be good.
Life With Playstation. Not quite sure I get it. Coming within the month.
DC Universe Online. MMO from Sony Online Entertainment. Trailer looked interesting… I wonder how it will be implemented. Free on PSN with disc purchase with no monthly fee? They didn’t say.
80GB PS3 that “has the same functionality of the 40GB PS3″ for $399 in September. Another SKU? Maybe they are trying to make it “the SKU.”
PS3 2008 titles. Little Big Planet. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. MGS4, Quantum of Solstace, SOCOM Confrontation, Soul Calibur 4, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naratu, Mirror’s Edge, Resident Evil 5, Singstar, Guitar Hero World Tour, NBA 09: The Inside, Buzz! Quiz TV, Killzone 2, Eternal Sonata.
God of War III announcement. Trailer with no gameplay footage. Not until Spring of 2009 though. Probably a must buy.
Infamous. Looks like Star Wars The Force Unleashed meets The Darkness. Meh.
Massive action online game. 256 human players. Eight-man squads fighting each other. Meh. Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea.
Well that’s it. Overall I’m disappointed. I don’t think they hit it out of the park like they needed to. Maybe I’m just not a fan of the types of games they are focusing on, like Resistance, Gran Turismo, and so on. Not excited about much on the PS3 that I can’t get on the 360 except maybe Little Big Planet, maybe DC Universe Online, and God of War III, which doesn’t come until next year. On the PSP, LEGO Batman looks really sweet, as does Super Stardust Portable. And the video tranfer from PS3 to PSP is nice, although I generally prefer to own media on disc over downloading it. Didn’t see anything that my wife or kids would get excited about at all.
Too tired to add hyperlinks. I’ll do a press conference wrrap-up tomorrow after I’ve had time to digest it all.
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