Timed exclusive/stuff

You know I was just thinking how its kinda sad when certain companies, both Sony and Microsoft MUST stick their respective console logo's to the mack of a multiplat game. Microsoft seems to do this more, like on the newest Modern Warfare 2 infamy trailer. I have also seen Sony do it with Playstation 3 on the back of Ashes Cricket 09 (Yay...) and I think I saw a ghostbusters one. I wish both companies would just stay out of multiplats, which makes some newer gamers abotu to buy a console think that that (I meant to say that twice then by the way :D) certain game is exclusive.





Also I really dislike timed exclusives. OK fine, a company can have all the fully exclusive DLC they want but I find timed just a tiny bit ridiculous. What do companies get out of it? They spend a few million bucks to get the certain DLC delayed a few weeks (or 6 months- a year) for the other platforms. Its absolute ludicrous to me!





Anyway I said I'ld drop a few words about MAG and I'll do as much as I can now, and the rest in my next post!

Now I am in the MAG beta, however can not play it anymore now that school has started again for me... The first thing I would like to say about it, is that it is pure awesomeness. I got to try out the Acquisition game mode which is where one side is defending two vehicles and the other team is attacking and trying to steal those vehicles.

What I first noticed was there was no lag! Now I thought with 128 players in Acqusition (I think it wasn't 256 players Aquisition) would have lag, seeing as I am in Australia and the majority of people in my squad and team were Americans. But no, there was no ag which I was very pleased about.

Now I'll get the bad things that I do not like about MAG off my chest, this is purely based on the Aqusition game mode in the beta so is subjected to change in the final release and different game modes. My first bad point would be the spawning system when attacking. You can choose at first to spawn at "Tactical Spawn" where you are placed on foot and have to run into the battlefield, or spawning on an ATC (something with 3 letters) tank. It can be very annoying having to run all the way back into the battlefield, taking up a bit of time, then getting sniped or shot down by bunkers straigt away and having to spawn again.

Some smart people will drive the ATC's you can spawn on into a hidden location in the enemy base, so you can spawn on that and attack the enemy closer. That is until one smart defender blows it up. It becomes funner however once both the bunkers and the Anti Aircraft battery has been disabled. Then you can airdrop in :)

Thats all I have time for tonight, I'll write some more tommorow! Seeya!

Back

Ooops realized I kinda haven't been posting recently, not that any one actually reads this :D.

Yeah I've just been a bit busy and lazy and putting off writing to no one. But now I'm so bored I'll do a mini post! I plan on blogging more now though...

Oh well over the time when I didn't post I got into the Uncharted 2 beta (which has now been made into a demo XD) and the MAG beta. I will do a MAG writeup probably next post... or the post after but all I can say is it is pure badass with no noticeable lag when I was playing!

I also was very, very bad and got myself a Nintendo DSi, I know I should be murdered by sony. But I swear it was purely to compare it against my PSP! I SWEAR GODDAMIT! Thats a picture of the style DSi I have. Not my one, some randoms website.

Anyway I can safely assure I like my PSP a lot better, although I shouldn't talk considering I haven't even got Scribblenaughts of GTA Chinatown Wars for DS yet which seem fun :). The only game I have is Pandora's box... a puzzle game that hurts my brain, a lot. So judging from 1 game so far I like PSP better.

I like the DSi though with the cameras, even if they are bad quality, 0.3 megapixels XD, I think my mobile phone has more megs... But its pretty cool mutating someones face. The face recognition software is dodgy, not recognizing someones face I was pointing straight at...

The bumpers on the DSi feel slightly... cheap comparing it to PSP. Like a little piece of fragile plastic (although esentially thats what it is!). All in all I still love my PSP, even if it is the old model and my DS is the newest.

So... Oh right. Also Chinatown Wars is coming to PSP :). Even though now I got a DS I shouldn't really care... but I do because me loves PSP.

I also bought a few PS3 store games... Fat Princess, High Velocity Bowling (no idea why I bought a game that should be on Wii) and some dynamic themes. I personally think the most cool one is the Wipeout HD Fury one, which is free, although after a while it gets a bit annoying. My dynamic theme right now is Little Big Planet, which is the most badass, sackboys are the badassiest things eva!

Uncharted 2 comes out very soon and I can't wait! I'll post one of my mini reviews after finishing the single player campaign...

Anyway thats all I have time for... seeyou next time and I'm back! Yayy...

Heyy,

Well Gamescom at Cologne <--- (Not as in deoderant) in Germany is coming up soon with Sony's press confrence on the 18th of August. I was a tad disapointed when I found out the conference for Sony would only go for 1 hour, they had previously booked in for THREE. They say the other two hours are to get people to sit down...

Well probably what I'm busting to see is a PS3 slim and a price drop for PS3. I just really want the PS3 to move more numbers and beat the xbox! Sorry I just had a annoying argument with a "misinformed" xbox fanboy on youtube, I won of course. Fanboys are one thing, fanboys who can't get their facts right are another story altogether and annoy me completely. This goes for Playstation Fanboys, Xbox fanboys or Wii fanboys, get your facts right before talking!

Anyway... I really hope to see more MAG at gamescom I'm busting to get my hands on that game.

Seriously though 128 VS 128 online with no apparent lag? This will be awesome. Sure as you can see in that screenshot the graphics are not the greatset on PS3, but are still OK considering you have to have that many people online in one game at once. As you can also see in that screen the bullet streaks are awfully long. I really hope they shorten these as to me they look somewhat ugly. Although some people actually like the streaks. The streaks that long could also help find any people camping somewhere no one can see (especially if there is no Killcam).

Talking about Killcam what other games apart from COD have that, anyone know? I really wish I had it in a lot of FPS... Especially when theres a sniper who keeps getting me in Killzone :( (Probably just cuz I suck at the game though :))

On the subject of COD in my opinion it needs a cover system apart from crouching and going prone. Most games now have one, I wish COD did too. I would really like to be able to shoot while in cover, like Killzone 2 and Gears of War etc. Oh well ducking and going prone will be good enough for now :)

Thats all I have time for today,

Ben.

Heyy,




I'm quite angry at Activision/Infinity Ward with Modern Warfare 2. Although I have preordered the Prestige Edition and am a sucker for anythign they throw at me, they have no right to already have DLC to be released. What the hell? They have already announced ( a while ago) they have 2 maps as DLC to be released around the games launch for us consumers to buy.



So firstly they jack up their prices, and announced that to the public saying its a "test". They then unleash an awesome prestige edition which makes most epic nerdy gamers drool a.k.a get more money. They then announce they have a special custom controller in the works in conjunction with Madcatz. And now they have already said there are two multiplayer maps ready to launch!



WHy in the world can they not just release it with the game scince its all ready. And why can they not at least have the download code for it in the Hardened Edition/Prestige Edition. For goodness sakes the least they can do when giving us NVG's in the prestige edition is to put in a code to give us DLC maps!

Hopefully the maps will be awesome, as I will most likely buy them ASAP. If they just happen to be a port of the COD 4 map I will be epicly pissed off... Not to mention the maps will most likely be an epic price. Hopefully the maps will be more than maps, maybe new game modes or new guns etc.

Oh well I have no doubt Modern Warfare 2 will be spectacular and awesome... Although I'm still looking forward to MAG more. They really should get cracking on releasing vids though, especially the multiplayer. Anyway thats all for now!

Ben

Heyy,




Trophies. Those little things which people either love or hate. What some people aim to get in a game, the reason why they put in those long hours, the reason why they have something to play for. I myself do not hunt for trophies (which is the reason why I'm severyly lacking in any). Other people do hunt for trophies.





My point is trophies add to the gaming experience, along with achievments. Admit it people, you like getting that little message in the top right hand corner that a trophy has been earned, that you got that extra little pixel in your trophy collection. I feel fufilled when I get one of those little items and very happy about it.





I do not know why Wii hasn't adopted trophies yet, seeing as both 360 and PS3 have. Also the reason behind why sony isn't putting trophies on PSP are because "due to the hacks and modders it would be impossible to have it without trophies been abused". Well I'm prettty sure 360 is hacked and dosen't have any problems with achievements. I wish personally Sony would think up a way to combat this problem and bring trophies to my much loved PSP.

Heyy,

Fathers day is around the corner and when my dad looked at the NDS in Ebgames he seemed sucked in by brain training for himself (...) . So I decided I'll buy it for him for fathers day, and mostly just compare it to my much loved PSP.

I want to see the unbiased side of the argument if I have both (seriously people, if you only have one 99.9% of the arguments will end up just a bit biased) and decide for MYSELF which is better. I can see back in 07 why DS seemed quite better, the PSP was lacking in many games. But like the PS3 the game library is slowly growing and many great games have been announced.

I love my GTA Vice City and Liberty City along with God of War and MGS on my PSP. I'm looking forward to Little Big Planet PSP, GT PSP, MGS: Peacewalker, GTA Chinatown Wars and many more I can not think of.

Yes by the way in case you've been living under a rock GTA Chinatown Wars is coming to PSP... It was the highest rating DS game and it was an exclusive DS fanboys had been screaming about... now its coming to PSP. Hopefully the graphics will be just a tad better than that free flash game I can get from any website.

Anyways unfortunately thats all I have time for :(. I may blog again soon and next blog I'll do a review of battlefield 1943!

Well I'm happy to hear a patch for the Cod 4 UFO Hack is been released (finally), and its good to see Infinity Ward still supporting COD 4 when MW 2 is right around the corner! Talking about that I hope I get a good number on my NVG Soap Head Stand...

Anyways I think I'll do a small review of Flower:



Flower

Well flower is quite a cheap game I recently purchased off the Australian PSN store for a very small price of around 12 bucks. It is a very short but beatuiful game with no real objective than to, well bloom flowers. Sounds a bit like a little kids game but really its not, well it could be but my friends and I enjoy it a heap, a long with a whole lot of other people.

If your an XBOX fan reading this your out of luck, a PS3 exclusive.

Now I'll start off with the hugely simple controls. When games use sixaxis *COugh* lair *cough* they usually turn out an epic failiure. With Flower it isn't. Yes flower uses sixaxis to control the wind your controlling and blows it in all directions. Theres only 1 actual button needed and you can choose that one button. You can choose any button on the controller for the wind to blow and move forward, wether it be X, Square, Right analog stick or left trigger, anything. If you don't like one just change in game without going to any menus.

Now I found these controls weird in the first few levels and I started to keep forgetting you can't use the analog sticks to move, but the sixaxis. Eventually however you get the feel of the game and the controls start to feel natural and relaxing in your hands. I use the R2 trigger due to the fact with sensitivity you can choose how fast the wind acctually blows.

Flower is a very relaxing games with most levels set in dull fields which you eventually bring to life by blooming the flowers on the ground. The graphics look pretty outstanding although simple, with thousands of blades of grass swinging around individually in the wind.

When you bloom a flower there is an extra note added to the music playing and it feels very soothing to have little different instruments chirp in at different times.

Now the game is very, very, short, I finished it to the end in around 1 hour. However there are secret flowers you can go back to find, 1 or 2 in each level. Also after you go for the trophies it expands the playtime quite a lot.

Flower does not have a timer or a point system or anything. Theres no game over and no dieing. You can't get shot by hordes of Nazi Zombies or Helghast and its a perfect stress reliever. However I'ld like to see more game modes and an online part. Maybe bloom a certain ammount of flowers within a certain time. Or I would like to see either online or offline split screen with collecting as many flowers as you can within a level.

I would give Flower a 8.1/10 due to the fact it is very relaxing and the music is brilliant. The grass moving individually also is good processing wise. I would like to see a longer playtime and more game variation modes however which could have boolstered the score a bit. Still if you want a relaxing game aside from all your first person shooters for a great price and replayability, this is the game for you!

Conclusion:

A relaxing and beatuiful game, guarenteed to calm.

Menus- 8.5/10- Nearly no menus, just a flower which you select using motion control

Graphics- 9.1/10- Graphics calming and lovely to see grass blowing so naturally

Sound-9.9/10- Sound is amazing especially when you collect more flowers

General Playability- 7.8/10- Motion controls hard to get used to, but rewarding in the end

Replayability- 7.7/10- The first levels you'll want to replay... the others not so much

Final Score- 8.1/10

__________________

Well that wraps up this blog and hope you keep on reading!

Ben

Wipeout HD and other downloadable games

Well I already gave a recap of my Killzone 2 Map Pack Bundle which I still think is awesome afew posts down, but scince that day I have bought more DLC!

Wipeout HD

Wipeout HD is my most expensive purchase over the playstation store yet and you'll hear me say it a lot, but its worth the money. With a 9.3/10 from IGN I knew this game would probably be good but it was better than I expected.

The controls are simple enough to be able to pick the game up quite quickly and play, however you may need if you want to be serious with it to remember some button combinations. You can fly with either the arrow keys or the analogue stick. On PS3 I definetly go with the analogue stick as it feels more natural to move and frankly easier to fly. This is probably because I play most of my games with the analogue stick.

You press X for thrust (accelerate) and [] to fire your weapons you pick up along the track. O is to "absorb" your weapon meaning to repair your ship but sacrificing your weapon and triangle is to switch views. R1 is to look behind, L2 to airbrake left and R2 to airbrake right. Deeper than that some button combinations can make your ship do different things, like Left Right Left, or vice versa makes your ship roll when in the air and giving you a speed boost when landing. In Wipeout HD you can also turn on motion controls which could frankly be better and probably are not used by the majority of people.

There are only 8 tracks in the game but a whole range of different ships. The game runs in 1080p at 60fps and looks awesome. All the 8 tracks are taken from Wipeout Pulse and Wipeout Pure on the PSP however thats no biggie, just made the tracks more suitable for 1080p :). \

The online for the game is smooth and features support for voice chat, and of course I suck at online. It is 8 player online that is smooth and I have not encourted much lag... well I say I do over the headset when I lose.

The trophy lineup is also good for this title featuring around 30 trophies which are very hard and includes a platnim... once again I stress these trophys seem hard, well for me anyway.

Overall Wipeout HD is very much worth the 30 buck investment and even better if you gameshare. I wish the developers gave us a few new trakcs. I find nearly no other problems than that, apart from the 8 tracks however you can race them backwards expanding your options. If you have a PS3 and are looking for an arcade game to buy, this is your game!


Conclusion:

Your old and most favourite vehicles and tracks but in HD.


Menus- 8.9/10- Slick design and easy to read
Graphics- 9.0/10- Graphics good but not as amazing as it could have been
Sound- 9.5/10- Techno tracks suit wipeout HD, ability to import custom music
General Playability- 8.1/10- Easy at first, gets hugely frustrating later
Replayability- 8.5/10- Some races you'll want to replay, some you'll need to.

Final Score (not average)- 8.9/10- A solid and smooth game.

____

Well that was my first review I guess! Next time I'll be doing a review of Flower and the MGS Pack of LBP and maybe Battlefield!

Until next time,

Ben.

Gaaameeessss...

Heyy,

Well haven't blogged in a week due to school work... Anyway I recently bought some PSN things for the first time that I love soo much!

For anyone still debating on wether to get the Killzone 2 Map Pack Bundle with all 6 maps, get it. There is more games on the maps now that the bundle has been released and to me all the maps are especially fun and full of cranage. The Suljeva Cliffs (or whatever) map is especially related to this with flames from the flamethrower shooting at you, snipers perched on the overhead ramps and a heap of sabeouters infiltrating your base.

I have experienced no noticeable glithces in the new maps, and they are just awesome fun. People though are tending not to do the objectives but try get the Flamethrower or Boltgun due to the fact they just want the trophies. But people are getting them (lots due to boosting), and soon that will stop. I have gotten into a few good games so far with people doing the objectives.

Another game I have bought is Wipeout HD which I will talk a bout later because it is acctually just downloading its startup update now (just got it)... but I can tell its gonna be awesome and the 30 buck price tag is a bonus!

The modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer footage looks undoubtedly awesome, with a kill streak of 11 you can pilot an AC130 Gunship. Now don't go crying out noobs will abuse it, if they are real noobs and not just playing tactically, they wouldn't get a kill streak of 11. Also on peoples mind if that COD 6 will run natively in 600p at 60fps. People are crying out over this but its the same as COD 4 and COD 4 looked great :).

Another thing I love with playstation is the game sharing :). Sony lets you activate your account on 5 different PS3's, so you can share your games with 4 different friends (the fifth activation is yourself!). So when they trade with you, or when you split the cost its a great deal via Sony's part.

Anyway I'll blog again soon (I hope) and for now thats all!

Figure 1 (Read on to know what its about).

Heyy,

Just for everyones information this weekend (25 July 2009) for Killzone 2 is double experience! You get 2.5X points if you win and 1.5X if you lose :). This can be used to get you up those leaderboards or rank up a lot quicker.

Also scince I'm on the subject of Killzone I think I'll talk about it. To start off if you have a PS3, get this game. To me it looks like one of the best graphical games out and the gameplay is superb. The voice acting is also amazing. The images are clear and crisp and soon you'll feel like you really are taking part in the invasion of Helghan.

The missions in Killzone 2 don't get too repetitive (although I'm onloy halfway through the game at the moment). You take part in driving vehicles and getting in big mechanical things that totally own the Helghast! You feel like your doing damage in the actual fighting when you mow down another tank with your own tank :).

Anyway the real great part in the game is the multiplayer. Although there is only 8-10 levels (to General) and you unlock things a long the way it dosen't end there. At each few levels you unlock a new class (Tactician, Sabetour, Medic, etc.) and with that class comes new abilities. The tacticians primary ability is to put a spawn grenade (maximum of 2) on the map where the rest of the team can spawn from. The medic can revive people if they havent been headshotted and are waiting to respawn.

Each class also has a secondary ability which you unlock by doing the same thing 8 times in different games. I'll take medic for an example. You gain a "ribbon" if you revive 5 people in one game. If you do this 8 times in different games you get a medal which unlocks the medics secondary ability! The medics seconadary ability is to throw a health pack which your team can pick up to recharge your health. The picture at the top of the page (figure 1) shows the class unlockables. There are lots of other ribbons giving you various abilities aswell.

The clan and group support in Killzone 2 is fantastic and it has a great lobby system where you can pick your region and it shows you all the games in your region so you do not get lag. Anyway even when I choose an American or European server (I'm in Aus) I never experience any lag (wish the same cvould be said for Call of Duty).

Thats all I have time for today, hope you enjoyed the Killzone 2 info!

Ben.

Heyy,

Sorry haven't posted for a while been busy with school. Anyway so the Modern Warfare 2 different editions have all been anounced (2 wednesdays ago, 15 July 2009). About a week after we found out the price, $150 RRP in America and $199 in Australia. For those of you who are very late this is what the different versions include:

Standard Game:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

"Hardened" Edition:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Special edition "steelbook" case with custom artwork by Infinity Ward
• Hardbound artbook "Behind the Lines"- Designed by Infinity Ward concept art makers.
• Call of Duty Classic (1) for PSN, XBL or PC

"Prestige" Edition:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Fully Functional Night Vision Goggles (able to see up to 50ft in dark. Black+White or Green toggles. Custom designed to replicate in game NVG's. Wearable and adjustable.
• Soap Mactavish collecters edition head which are each numbered and engraved to hold NVG's when not in use.
• Includes everything that comes in the Hardened Edition.

The only place selling the Prestige in Australia at the moment is EB Games who have extremely limited pre-orders. I hope to be able to pre-order tommorow with sucess or if not, hardened edition at least. The reason I'm buying the prestige is not for using the gimmicky NVG's but to more use them as a collectors item, or to sell off for a profit on ebay at a later time (what I did with a Sims 3 collector USB).

Thats all I have time for tonight so I hope I can post again tommorow or Sunday!

Why I think the PS3 awesome

Heyy,

Oops haven't blogged in a week, been too busy playing PS3 (oh and went back to school becuase holidays finished). Well I guess I'ld first up like to say in this blog why in my opinion the PS3 is a great console (with no fanboyism <---- Is that a word???). Anyways...

The PS3 is better in my eyes due to a lot of things. Probably one of the most important is its immense lineup of exclusives. I laugh when I look back at the turbulent year of 2007 for the PS3. Having pretty much no exclusives apart from Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man the PS3 was definetly a sore loser in the console fight. Now fast forward to 2009 and I don't think anyone could have guessed how sucessful the PS3 was starting to become, and gaining momentum. I'll list all the awesome games for PS3 that are exclusives that I can remember:

^^^ - Means coming soon or announced as a PS3 exclusive

• Uncharted
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves ^^^
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Resistance 2
• Motorstorm
• Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
• Wipeout HD
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
• Gran Turismo 5 ^^^
• inFamous
• MAG ^^^
• Killzone 2
• God of War 3 ^^^
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time ^^^
• Little Big Planet

Oh well thats all I can think of (and a bloody fair ammount). This dosent even include the Final Fantasy, Singstar or Buzz! games...

The PS3 is also great due to blu-ray. This is sooo good for games, it makes it so my games can fit a lot more in a single disc, more textures, special features and more gameplay! The multimedia is fantastic with the apps and well everything!

Thats the end of this blog (I need to go!). Seeya I'll post some more tommorows I hope!

Blog 3: Motion Senseing Prediction

Heyy,



Well for my third blog I thought it would be a good time to talk about what I think will happen with the motion sensing business in gaming. With Wii's Motion Plus, Microsofts Natal and Sony's Wand all announced (in the case of Wii been released) now we can compare them a tiny bit.



Its obvious from the start that Wii is doing suberb in the business, selling like double the ammount of PS3's. So in case you've been living under a rock, I'll give you a brief talk of the Wii.



Wii



Well the Wii is from the makers of Nintendo (who brought us DS, Gamecube, 64, SNES etc.). This is a very small console that weighs 1.2kg and is very light to handle. The Wii has a sensor bar attatchement which sits either above or below the TV and via the wonders of Infra-red can track the Wiimote's position. The Wiimote has built in accellerometres and infra-red technology to sense its position in relation to the sensor bar. It can track the speed of which it moves in a number of directions using the accellerometres. The Wii is more directed at a very wide range of audience with some more "hardcore" games (Mad World, No More Heroes), but mostly casual games (Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy) and along with that heaps and heaps of minigames directed at families.



The Wii accuracy with its WIimote has quite a bit to be desired as sometimes it can not pick up small movements. This is where the Wii Motion Plus attatchment comes in. At a price of another 30 bucks Australian you can buy a tiny attatchment that goes into the connecter where usually a nunchuck or other attatchment would go on. The Wii Motion Plus makes true 1:1 tracking so now the Wii can monitor you more closely! So you will no longer have to do either very large or very small movements so that the wii can track you but more precise.

In my opinion I think that Wii Motion Plus would definetly add to the Wii experience. It can be very frustrating when you need to do very precise movements in a game, however the wii does not recognize them. With 1:1 action the Wii will be able to do what it wanted to do for a very long time. My score so far for the Wii Motion Plus in innovation is only 6/10 as it dosen't really add a lot, only makes it more accurate without bringing new things to the table.

XBOX 360

The XBOX 360 is Microsoft's very trouble plagued console. It weighs in at around 3kg and is shapped mostly like a rectangular prism. A hard drive can be added to the top of it (at a heft price) which is just snapped onto the top of the 360 and can be bought in 20GB, 60GB or 120GB increments. 120GB hard drives cost $150 AUD at retail. The 360 has been a very trouble plagued system and has faced a lot of critisism due to it, however has recieved strong sale figures due to it been the first "next-gen" console to be released. Some of the most common troubles are the disk scratching problems, the E74 error code and the most well known, the dreaded Red Ring of Death (RROD).

Microsoft's answer to Wii's massive success is their own "Project Natal". This is a camera which will sit below or above your TV and track your movements. It will not be 1:1 accuracy and when it was playtested, players said it wasn't quite accurate and was a little less accurate than the Wii is currently. At E3 among some adds a program call Milo was shown which was a kid who interacts with you and can regonize your voice.

Natal is definetly a 10/10 on the innovation front however the big question is will it be worth it? This technology will probably not come cheap, and as it is Microsoft will have just been made a lot more expensive :). The games in my prediction, as you do not use a controller, will be very casual in my opinion and aimed at families. There will be a whole lot of minigames desgined like all the dreaded Wii minigames and probably a disapointing lack of actual good games designed for it. However if Microsoft and game developers do this right it could be a good success. If say a certain game developer made a game and wanted to put a side feature relating to the game on it, as well as having the main game, there could be a special feature extra. You could only use this special feature if you have Natal and it would just be a not as complicated part to the game, maybe just a racing sequence or a kung foo battle without any controllers. Just a side extra feature that ties into the game a bit and dosen't need complicated controls. This would definetly in my opinion be the way to go.

Natal may or may not be a sucess and it depends on wether there are games to play on it. Will developing for a game that dosen't use any controls but just movement sensing be easy and cost effecient? Or Will it just be forgotten and left for dead (not reffering to the game by the way). I guess only time will tell!

PS3

In my opinion definetly the best console out there (I'll back my reasons up in my next blog by the way). The PS3 is a media and gaming powerhorse, been able to play blu-ray is its main multimedia feature. Blu-ray is the way of the future as it can hold 25GB's one one single layer of disc (50GB on a dual layer blu-ray disk). Sony wants to in the future put both a game and a movie on the same disc as an option, movie games of course. So you could have the Wolverine game and movie on the same disc! (True a bit of a gimic but it would be cool...). The PS3 has great exclusive titles and overall quality of games.

The PS3's answer to motion controlling is seen as a more "hardcore" gaming tool than the Wii and Natal are aiming at. In the E3 demonstration a sword and shield along with bow and arrow and a paintgun was used showing it could be used for those purposes. So what is Sony's answer? A magic wand :).

This is like a stick with a head thing on the top that is purple. (That sounded just a bit sus). This wand provides true 1:1 control and was showcased at E3 2009. Of course this is a controller so has buttons and could be used in more "hardcore" games, picture playing God of War 3 with your 2 magic wands a sword and shield... ok don't picture it as a mini side feature I talked about earlier. At E3 Sony announced there will be support for a number of these to be used in conjunction with each other, namely 2, a sword and a shield. If you haven't checked out the demonstration, you should, its cool. The wand is tracked by the Playstation Eye which will prove to be very accurate. What I think should happen is Sony jim off Natal a bit and have the ability to both accurately track the wand, but at the same time, not as accurately track how the body is moving.

The innovation factor for me with the magic wand is 7/10 as it is new for Sony and the playstation however is not that new in hardware terms. This is the stick that I am hoping will be a success but again, only time will tell!

All of the big companies answers to motion control are good and some will no doubt be more sucessful than others. Only time will tell which is the best though! Oh well this is a quite a long blog so next blog I'll be saying PS3 and cross platform games you definetly should have :D. Until next time,

Bye!

PSN: trey4li4e17

Ben

Blog 2

Heyy,

Well second blog time. I'm starting to really look forward to both the cross platform and the exclusive games coming out on PS3 this year and the beginning of next. The two probably most heavily games I'm awaiting on is Uncharted 2 and MAG.

Uncharted 2 was voted the Best Game of E3 09, Best Console Game of E3 and Best Action/Adventure game of E3. Pretty nice list. The beta code was given out for the online multiplayer (which I missed out on), but apparently already the multiplayer seems very polished and clean. People already said it feels better and more innovative than Call of Duty online! The developers have been putting a lot of work into the game, and taking in the beta suggestions. Also a heads up in a chat over at the PS3 blog they said there will be a second multiplayer testing which will be easier to get a hold of than the first beta! At E3 the gameplay looks solid and the graphics are awesome looking already. The cover system looks good and should hopefully add competition to Gears of War cover system. There is currently no exact release date but it should release by Fall.

MAG is a second heavily waited on PS3 exclusive with no current release date. It is the biggest online multiplayer game yet, with 256 online (128 VS 128). There will be 3 different factions (or PMC's), these PMC's are Raven, who have all the high tech newest weapons and equipment. Or Valor who is the typical milatary style of people, like Call of Duty marines. Last of all theres S.V.E.R who are the badboys and are rough and agressive. You can choose one of these three PMC's.

Some other games I'm waiting on is Modern Warfare 2, God of War 3, Gran Turismo 5, Assassins Creed 2 and a heap more. Some games already released that I want to buy is inFamous and Wipeout HD.

Another interesting bit of information I have for you today is that although Valve (the makers of Left 4 Dead) have declared the PS3 a waste of time and they will never develop for it, they are now hiring a team of PS3 developers. Things seem to change around in the games industry prettttty fast. I doubt we will see a Left 4 Dead 2 remake on PS3 but instead I'm thinking of either a new game, or Left 4 Dead 3 on PS3, 360 and PC.

Just to end of this blog, another thing thats been recently discovered is a patent by Sony to use everyday objects as controllers... Just imagine your in a drunken state and have flushed the controller down the toilet, but don't fear as you can use a dinner plate to play Killzone 2! Anyways... That patent should rock and hopefully in the future if Natal is a success it can be incorporated with the PlaystationWand to own Natal.

Thats all from me for now, until next time seeya!

First Post

Well time for my first post... Although no one will probably ever read this :). This blog will be mostly about gaming, more focussing on the PS3 side of things than anything else, as to me that console is the best. Of course other people will have their preferences, some liking the 360, some the wii and some the '64 or the snes.

I myself have only 2 consoles; the Wii and PS3. I also only have 1 handheld wich is the PSP. I like all the consoles except straight up I can say the PS3 is a better system than the Wii to me, and its kept my interest for a longer time. I got my first ever console, the Wii last year for Christmas. The games I got for the Wii was

• Wii Sports,
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
• Wii Fit
• Mysims Kingdom
• Call of Duty: World at War
• Summer Athletics
• Hasbro Family Game Night
• Tiger Woods Golf 08
• Wii Music
• Guitar Hero: World Tour
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
• Wii Play
• Fifa 09
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and
• Mario Kart

As you can see I bought err afew Wii Games (15) along with all the much not needed accessories like the Sport acessory pack and wiimotes along with nunchucks. I still use my Wii occassionally to play World Tour and Wii Fit. Usually only once or twice a week though. I thought me and my Wii would last forever, however the lack of great exclusives stopped me from coming back.

Now my PS3. I got my PS3 very recently on 17th of June 2009. Along with my PS3 I also bought an extra 99 buck controller and these games:

• Killzone 2
• FarCry 2
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Little Big Planet
• FIFA 09
• Motorstorm
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue

As you can see I only have 8 PS3 games, due to the cost of the console, controller and the games. However right now my PS3 is my sleek black beauty, dusty, fingerprinty, mini scratchy love. I love everything about it. Its nice LED's when it turns on and tells me when the hard drive is been accessed. The nice slot loading mechanism instead of a tray. The touch buttons to eject and to power on and off the system. The sleek black finish of the PS3 that collects dust and scratches so easily. The killer exclusive games and the loads of apps

This is just my first post of many... in this post I just wanted you guys to get a brief introduction of me and my consoles :). Feel free to add my PSN anyone aswell: trey4li4e17
I'm in Australia so hopefully you should know the times when I'ld most be on! Happy umm everything and see you next time!