Where we go from here.

It's been a long time. How have you been? 

Well, its been a while, May to be exact, since I posted on here. This is due to many reasons, some personal and some not. I wasnt sure if it was worth posting on here due to the fact my last entries didnt get any views and also I was a bit discouraged due to other things. However, I think im going to give it a shot.

I love this industry. I love the business side of it, the game side of it, and the culture of it. Now, this is probaly true for many other people, and shouldnt be a qualifier to have you listen to me or read my pieces I write.

The best I can do is try to write well, be informative, and write pieces that I hope you will enjoy. I also will need to be more consecutive with my posts. I cant have a 6 month gap between each article. Thats not fair to anyone who enjoys what I post.

So, I will do my best on that.

Now, lets see where the wind takes us. +

Duke Nukem Review Coming Soon...

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I've been busy with duke nukem forever so I can write a review. Which is why the blogs been quiet recently. Once I have the game done, I'll write the review. Don't miss it!

The many endeavors of the PS3.

When the PS3 launched, it was clear that SONY literally threw everything they could into it. Bluray playback, SD card readers, Backwards Compatibility, Bluetooth, etc. But many argued that they were putting too many eggs in too many different baskets, and didn’t really focus primarily on the game aspect of the console. While that would be hard to say today, back then it was indeed a case to be made. Not only that but their were many other things that went into the console like apps and services. But how have these things improved since then and are they even viable after all this time? What of SONYs new ventures into the 3rd dimension and waggle town? Well, lets take a look:

Bluray Support:

Then: Probably one of the biggest reasons the PS3 was so expensive to make at launch and made it have a 600 dollar price tag, Bluray really had it work cut out for it back in 2006. With a really small percentage of households even having the TV to take advantage of it, Bluray had the task of convincing the masses to buy a expensive HDTV (most of which were in the 700-1,000 dollar ranges to get even a 720P decent one.) AND convince them to re-buy their DVD collection on Bluray. They also had to deal with a format war with Toshibas HD-DVD, which seemed to have backed heavily on people recognizing the DVD name at the end and going that route.

Now: Bluray won out over HD-DVD in the end for being the superior product, having the most studio support, and having it built into the PS3, which acted as a Trojan horse for the format much like DVD did with PS2. Now you can easily find affordable Bluray movies and sales are finally starting to catch on in a big way. Also, its the reason why you will never see a multidisc game on PS3 and you can have Exclusives that use a lot of High def textures and uncompressed audio.

Was it worth it?: Well, this is a tricky one. Was it worth having it in the PS3 to help the format become what it is today for Movies? Absolutely. I really do not think Bluray would be were it is today without PS3 being its trojan horse to get it into homes, and the format has gone on to be a success. But Worth it for Video games? Well, not exactly. For Exclusives on PS3, its great and really appreciated. With Bluray we are able to get lossless audio and uncompressed textures and all that, but for multiplatform I think it has caused more problems then it has helped. Because 360s DVD 9s are capped at 6.8gbs of space, and since 360 tends to sell more multiplatform games, Devs use 360 as the lowest common denominator and cater they game deving around that size constraint. Meaning its rather rare to see a multiplatform game be multidisc on 360 and since PS3 is the same game their version isn’t really any bigger then that 6.8gbs, meaning theirs lots of unused space and devs don’t really take advantage of it. So for gaming, its up in the air. i personally don’t think Bluray was all that necessary for this gen, but it definitely will be next gen and MS cant afford to not have it in their next XBOX.

Remote Play:
Then: A neat idea. Have your PSP become connected with your PS3 and use it like a mobile control for it. You could download demos for your PS3 off your PSP, listen to music on your PSP that’s on your console HDD, or even experience certain games that are on your PS3 a new way by playing them on your PSP through remote play.

Now: really, remote play seems like its taken a back seat to SONYs attention. While its improved sine its launch, the feature really isn’t being taken advantage of like it should. Little downloadable games or retail games have any support for it and the feature loses it appeal after a few times fiddling around with it.

Was it worth it?: Not for the current PSP, but there’s a great chance it’ll be worth it for PSP 2 if rumors are to be believed. (Rumors being that PSP 2 will be heavily tied to your PS3 to do stuff.) So no, right now it wasn’t worth it, but maybe later on.

Qore:

Then: A idea that the majority scoffed at. For a few bucks (or 24.99 for a years worth of issues)you get HD video previews of up coming games, Art galleries, interviews and access to special bonus's that they decided on like certain betas or demos. Also showcased upcoming bluray movie releases for the month. thought of as a waste of money by a lot of people.

Now: Far better then it was when first launched and now its free if you subscribe to PS Plus. The content has gotten better over the years, but the Exclusive bonus's have dropped off, probably DUE to PS Plus. Still, its a neat thing and actually pretty interesting. I should say that I have actually been a subscriber to this thing since it launched, and have enjoyed it.

was it worth it?: It wasn’t something that was necessary or really asked for, but I think its a cool thing to have. you get to see some great looking videos and interviews by your favorite devs and learn more about the upcoming games and blurays. So in the end, I think it was worth it as a neat option to have.

PS Home:

Then: Ah, the good ol’ whipping boy of the internet. This is probably one of the most hyped things about PS3 back in 2007 or whatever. The idea was simple, have a virtual world ala Second Life where gamers can come together, talk shop, launch into games, and have it basically be a hub world for all thing video game and coca cola. (ok, I should say Advertisers, but Coca Cola was rather famous in those early videos). It launched in 2008 with bugs, lots of load time, little content, one movie screen that showed the same damn twilight movie trailer over and over and over and over again, and that was about it. In other words, it landed with a thud.

Now: Far better then you’d expect given its crappy launch. they’re are now over 200 games to play, lots of game spaces, a multi-cinema theater that gets updated regularly, the loading is way better, its more smooth, and so on a so forth. While people still like to think its a waste of time, me and millions of other people use it regularly and its making SONY lots of money (millions if I am not mistaken.) So I think allot of the hate is warranted anymore. However, that said, it is hard to find things that grab my attention to be their more then 20 minutes and I honestly mainly just use the theater. Its not that their isn’t a lot to do now, its just I am not into mini games that much. Also, it could be smoother then it is and its not as fluid as it could be. But still, its a surprising better product then it was when it launched.

Was it worth it?: Financially, yes. As I said SONY is making lots of money off this thing, so in that regard its successful. To core gamers, you’d be hard pressed to find people to get over their initial hate for it when it first launched. People seemed to have accepted that its crap, will never get better, and moved on. So for those gamers out their, No. To casual users that like this kind of stuff, yes, given how many people use it daily.

Life with Playstation:

Then: Probably one of the neatest ideas I think. Its basically a virtual globe map you could go around and fine news stories to locations around the world. Although not every location, it was still a cool way to find some news out and the weather. Had lots of potential.

Now: Improved, but underutilized. this thing had lots of potential, but it was never capitalized and now its more of a curiosity then anything. They added music playback and video support, but honestly I haven’t used this thing for like a year before booting it up recently just so I can do this blog.

was it worth it?: Honestly, no. That’s due to SONY not doing anything with it. This thing would have been cooler i think if it was like a PS gaming news hub or something, like maybe the title of it would suggest.

Folding @ home:

Then: probably the most out of left field thing for SONY to do with a console, cure Cancer. or at least help to cure cancer. Basically, because the Cell Processor is so good at doing job tasks or whatever, its able to simulate folding proteins that can lead to doctors finding cures or treatments to Cancer. It could be part SONY trying to boast Cells computational power, but more then likely just earnest good will. But it gives you a righteous reason to leave your console on over night.

Now: Now its basically in the background of Life with Playstation. Yup, SONY merged the two a while ago. So while your looking up news stories on Life with Playstation, Folding @ Home will be doing its thing in the background. Of course, you can switch you screen to the folding @ home channel and see the magic of simulated proteins folding, but more then likely itll put you to sleep.

Was it worth it?: What am I going to say? Trying to help cure cancer isn’t worth it? What a loaded question. Its something that’s not hurting anything, only helping. So sure, why not?

Additional OS Support:

Then: The idea was to have PS3 be a open platform giving users the ability to install Linux on their console for a optional OS for the PS3. It was a novel idea and showed how SONY was so open to the user created content community and what now.

Now: However, that lead to issues. SONY shut this thing the hell down recently to avoid potential piracy and what not, which did not sit well with fans. Going so far as them writing petitions and trying to take SONY to court. This move probably mad hackers even more determined to crack the PS3 open and their has been jailbreak devices going around that allows users to copy games ala PC on their PS3 HDD, which made SONY bat s!@# scared. Enough so that they released a patch shortly after disabling a lot of third party devices for PS3. Including some controllers sold through stores. Of course, the biggest thing to come out of this is the recent hacking attacks on SONY and the Playstation Network. Wether it was due to SONY taking GeoHot to court or because hackers do what hackers do, chances are things certainly began to bubble when SONY took out Linux support in PS3.

Was it worth it?: I might get flak for this, but why is this such a big deal? SONY didn’t want people hacking and pirating their games (which, ironicaly, ended up happening anyway), boohoo, there so evil. Also, this isn’t exactly something that was a major thing used by a lot of people, so really who cares? IMO other OS support wasn’t worth it because its something few people care about. You should be thankful PS3 is still as open as it is. *Glares at Xbox Live.*

Now were going to get into stuff that gets tough to call:

PS Plus:

Then: Launched in July of last year, PS Plus is essentially PS3s way of doing a yearly fee subscription service, like what MS does with XBOX Live. The idea is to give the gamers that use their PS3s a lot discounts, exclusive demos, themes, free games, and Beta access and other things. When announced, people were skeptical and many scoffed at the idea of basically renting those free things because once your subscription lapses, you cant play them.

Now: I have been using PS Plus for about 2 months now, and I am really digging it. See, the problem is people think its not worth it because they are offering games for free that you probably already have. Well, now me. I barely downloaded anything off of PSN, and I am getting way more use out of this service then I have with Live over the past year. So far in my two months ive gotten beta access to DC Universe, I’ve gotten Shatter, Sam and max, Crash Team Racing, MAG online trial that I can play the game indefinitely as long as i have a PS Plus subscription, but am capped at level 8, both Odd world PS1 games, avatar picks, a couple of great minis, Burn Zombie Burn, and the NHL game center app for FREE. Only reason I haven’t bought any of the discounted stuff is because I don’t have money in my PS Wallet right now. Plus I got that automatic download thing. So yeah, total not worth it /sarcasm.

Was it worth it?: Yes. As I have said, I have gotten more use out of this service then I have out of Live lately. And the fact that people complain about the rental aspect of it is just stupid. People don’t realize that SONY cant let you keep the free stuff after you cancel because that would be financial suicide for them. I think its petty for people to use that as a major slight against it. Plus, this is one way that SONY can make money, which will only benefit gamers who use the console.

Cell Processor:

Then: Technical Marvel? Or Modern Day Blast Processor PR hype? Who knows, but the fact is SONY has taken a rather large gamble with this thing. Developing it with IBM, the Cell processor is said to be some kind of super computer chip that can bend space and time, cure cancer, and make every game better. Ok, that’s being cynical, but if you go off of SONYs PR hype for this thing, what I just said isn’t far off. Basically this thing does calculations real good and is way different then what devs are used to. Which lead to devs, well, not knowing what to do with it. See, this thing is split into one core and 8 SPUs. the idea is to have devs offload work on the GPU (which IS technically weaker then the 360 GPU) to the Cells CPUs, giving devs the ability to do cool shader effects and stuff like that. Basically, the console itself was designed to have the COU make up for the GPUs weakness’s Originally SONY wanted no designated GPU in the PS3, they wanted two Cell Processors. However, they realized that would make the console far to expensive (go fig.) so instead they slammed in a GPU at the last minute and had only one cell processor. The Cell however has at least proven itself with exclusive games I think, because they look better then most 360 ones do. However, whether this is actually due to Cell or due to the technical wizards that are SONYs first party studios is unclear. It did not, however translate well to multiplatform devs and their games back then.

Now: Whether or not the Cell is a modern day blast processor lie, I think it is clear that the thing is not complete bull even if it is mostly bull after all. Games on PS3 exclusively are some of the best looking games this gen and first party devs do say that Cell has something to do with it. Also, multiplatform devs have gotten better with using the CPU and GPU together, meaning we rarely see a PS3 version of a multiplatform game perform noticeably worse or basically be jank compared to the 360 version.

was it worth it?: heres were it gets tricky. For Exclusives, I think its a good thing and they are definitely utilizing it. But overall I just don’t think this thing was necessary. There are plenty of affordable, capable processors SONY could have picked for this thing and they would have done the job fine. A nice triple core CPU would have sufficed and it would probably have made it easier on devs. And who knows, SONY could have used that money saved and put in a better GPU. So, while it is helping making Exclusive games on PS3 do cool things and maybe its helping them look better, I just think SONY could have gone with a more conservative, dev friendly approach with their tech. So I am going to say no.

3D:

Then: This is a relatively new one, but a big effort on SONYs part these days. Wether its to sell more of their TVs or because they truely feel its the next big step like HDTV was from SDTV, SONY is putting a TON of muscle behind this thing thats been around since, like, the 50s ( grant it, 3D these days is atleast a bit better then it was back then). Whereas nintendo is going the glasses-less 3D route, SONY is backing its best on the glasses variety of 3D.

Now: SONY is STILL putting a good majority of their focus on what many people just consider a headache inducing gimmick. So much so that at this years E3 and last, SONY devoting a good amount of their show showing their trailers in 3D and trying to finaly get people into the madness. They even released a speacil 3DTV bundle thats surprisingly affordable for what you get. However, 3DTVs are NOT catching on like SONY and James Cameron may want. Until we get to the point where the new TV you buy just happens to have 3D built in, much like how you cant even get SDTVs anymore, then I cant see 3DTVs catching on in any major way.

Was it worh it?: This is the multi million dollar question here. Many people thought HDTVs wouldnt catch on, but lo and behold you cant even buy a SDTV anymore. So really, this one im going to chalk it up to "Only time will tell"

Playstation Move:

Then: When SONY unveiled the PS Move at GDC a couple years back, it was met with a tempered, skeptical response. While some of the stuff was indeed impressive, it reeked of Wii clone. Because, quite honestly, it was. Actualy, it is a better version of the wiimote. Its more accurate, has better tracking, and has exactly a 100 precent more sexual inuendo looking design. Would it be enough for wii-anits to jump ship to PS3 for a more fluid, accurate experince. 

Now: Answer is: NO. While the many components of Move have sold well (or should I say shipped well) it has not garnered the same kinda mainstream buzz as its rival Kinect for Xbox 360. Even though the Move is actualy probaly the best path to get compelling core motion controller gaming, it didnt matter. The magic of flayling around like a ninny proved to great for the more accurate Move controller. While by no means a dismal failure in the sales department, theyre is almost no hype or buzz around Move right now, and most of that has to do with compelling software. SONY seems hellbent on putting Move support into core games that, quite honestly, have no need or even consumer demand for motion controller support. So, as of the time of this writing, Move did not live up to the promise.

Was it worth it?: If SONY dosent start delievering the goods, then no. I will give MS this; they are atleast trying their damndest to make Kinect truely something great (with varying degrees of success thus far considering who you talk to.). SONY on the other hand seems to be treating the Move much like the Dursley family treated Harry Potter. With negligence. Its up their locked in the attic with only its stupid owl to keep it company while his family treats him like dirt. (I swear, this analogy was funnier in my head) So, in conclusion, right now it is not, but who knows about the future.

   

My take on the PSN outage debacle.

It is no big news that the PSN was down for a considerable 3 weeks. And while it is now up for the most part, the incident may have left a bad taste in some people's mouths. So, let me talk about for a moment my take on the outage and where SONY is going to be from now on.

I recall the day PSN went out as something of a "Eh, no biggie" to me. For one thing I thought the outage would only last a few days, and that it was due to maintaneance, or even better maybe they were making improvments to the infastructure and stuff like that (faster downloads would be nice). It was, however, the day after I received Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 for PS3 via Gamefly. Now, I admit that the only thing I lost by having PSN down was my ability to play these games online, which I dont do much of anyway. And its not like I could have redeemed the PC version of Portal 2 from a PS3 rental since the code is only good for purcahsed copies of the game. However, it was a tad inconveinant and I mostly missed messaging my friends about how they were enjoying the games. We also have to remember that this weekend was a three day weekend since it was Easter on that sunday, so having PSN down was a major bummer for many who wanted to play their PS3s online during the break.

However, little did we know that this was no simple maintaneance, but a far greater debacle.

I remember on that following tuesday I was getting ready for my karate class at my college and I checked my twitter feed to see what my followed people were up to. Then I remembered seeing a explosion of tweets about how SONY released a press release about how they had to pull down PSN due to a "External Intrusion" which is basicaly fancy talk for "We done got hacked". It was then revealed that the party that hacked the network had access to any users real name, address, email, passwords, and possibly even credit card details, something that even until today is contested. Basicaly, hackers got your info and could potentialy use your credit card to buy a bentley in florida. so not good news.

It would then be about 24 days later until PSN would be back up in any form. Right now we have everything back up except the PS Store, which is one of the main thing people will use on PSN. Thats rumored to be coming back up on tuesday.

But, lets talk about the future. Whats in store for SONY now? Well, in the short term this is bad news bears for them. They are going to have to deal with trust issues now with some of their users and try to win back their good will. They are attempting to do this with their "Welcome Back"program which nabs you 2 PS3 games of your choice out of 5, 2 PSP games out of your choice of 5, 30 days free of PS Plus if you are a non existing member of it, 60 days if you are a existing member, and 30 days free of their Quriocity music service to exisiting and non existing members (I think this deal is pretty decent considering its all free)

However, in the long term I dont think this will have a whole lot of impact. People on the internet have severly bad short term memory and this will likely pass by realtively soon. SONY will still make a PS4, people will buy it, theyll continue to make games, people will continue to buy them, life will go on as normal. However, SONY really does need to learn from these mistakes and keep trying their damndest to make sure it dosent happen again.

Do I think SONY is to blame for this whole debacle? Yes and no. I believe they should be held responsible for having the info not as protected as it should have been and there rather piss poor handling of the situation, but we also musnt forget that they were hacked, so we need to blame the hackers too. Which goes without saying. In reality though, no online syestem is really safe, but companys still need to be held with the responsiblity of doing their best to keep it safe.

The first step on a bold new journey.

Well, here it is. My blog about the fantastical world of Video Game Entertainment. On this blog im going to be posting my general thoughts on things that are occuring in the video game world. This includes, but is not limited to, Reviews, Impressions, News, Opinon pieces, and stuff like that. Im very excited about this and I hope that you will join me down this journey of fun, discovery, and rock star energy drink fueled madness.

game on.