Curmudgeon Gamer
18 February 2009
Either disappointment or glorious success (Nintendo DSi)
So the Nintendo DSi is coming out on 5 April 2009 in the U.S. at a price of $170. (Announcement and demo video at Wired, among others.)
Either this is going to blow up in Nintendo's face or they'll come out looking even more invincible.
For a while now Sony's been selling the PlayStation Portable (PSP) for $170 by itself or $200 bundled. According to data provided to me by NPD, and some figuring done on my own through other sources, the average for PSP sales has been $190 or higher. Significantly fewer people buy the core system and many are willing to jump up $30 for a bundle.
All the while the Nintendo DS has been $130. Each month Nintendo DS sales are at least twice the monthly PSP sales. It's not that the PSP sells poorly -- it actually does pretty well -- but the Nintendo DS is in much higher demand. Yet, in January 2009, sales for the PSP were off significantly.
I don't want to read too much into a single data point, but I think it's possible that Americans (increasingly pessimistic about the economy and the future) are finally reaching the point where a slick $200 handheld system isn't feasible. Even worse, they may be saying a $170 handheld isn't worthwhile.
And that's where I'm worried that Nintendo's DSi won't catch on. The upgrades here are the SD card slot, downloadable software, and two cameras. (The GBA slot is gone, but my anecdotal experience leads me to believe no one will notice.) I believe (although I don't know for sure) that it will also play more nicely with modern wireless access points. (Goodbye WEP, I hope.)
But like the PS3, the DSi is making a proposition based on logic that the consumer won't buy. The PS3 is a great media center, hi-def player, and game system. It also is a decent way to browse the web in the living room. But it's also $400.
The DSi is 95% of the Nintendo DS, with added features -- cameras, downloadable software, and a card slot -- that bump the cost up to $170. To paraphrase a line from an article I once wrote: A consumer who can't afford a $170 handheld still won't be able to afford it just because it has two cameras and new software capabilities.
All that said, I'm terrible with predictions. That's essentially why I write about the sales figures after they come out instead of trying to predict them. And, it should be noted, the Nintendo DS launched at a higher price and eventually dropped to its current $130 level. That may well happen with the DSi, and at that point at least it should return to crazy-wild sales levels.
Either this is going to blow up in Nintendo's face or they'll come out looking even more invincible.
For a while now Sony's been selling the PlayStation Portable (PSP) for $170 by itself or $200 bundled. According to data provided to me by NPD, and some figuring done on my own through other sources, the average for PSP sales has been $190 or higher. Significantly fewer people buy the core system and many are willing to jump up $30 for a bundle.
All the while the Nintendo DS has been $130. Each month Nintendo DS sales are at least twice the monthly PSP sales. It's not that the PSP sells poorly -- it actually does pretty well -- but the Nintendo DS is in much higher demand. Yet, in January 2009, sales for the PSP were off significantly.
I don't want to read too much into a single data point, but I think it's possible that Americans (increasingly pessimistic about the economy and the future) are finally reaching the point where a slick $200 handheld system isn't feasible. Even worse, they may be saying a $170 handheld isn't worthwhile.
And that's where I'm worried that Nintendo's DSi won't catch on. The upgrades here are the SD card slot, downloadable software, and two cameras. (The GBA slot is gone, but my anecdotal experience leads me to believe no one will notice.) I believe (although I don't know for sure) that it will also play more nicely with modern wireless access points. (Goodbye WEP, I hope.)
But like the PS3, the DSi is making a proposition based on logic that the consumer won't buy. The PS3 is a great media center, hi-def player, and game system. It also is a decent way to browse the web in the living room. But it's also $400.
The DSi is 95% of the Nintendo DS, with added features -- cameras, downloadable software, and a card slot -- that bump the cost up to $170. To paraphrase a line from an article I once wrote: A consumer who can't afford a $170 handheld still won't be able to afford it just because it has two cameras and new software capabilities.
All that said, I'm terrible with predictions. That's essentially why I write about the sales figures after they come out instead of trying to predict them. And, it should be noted, the Nintendo DS launched at a higher price and eventually dropped to its current $130 level. That may well happen with the DSi, and at that point at least it should return to crazy-wild sales levels.
--jvm at 09:14
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[ 4 ]
23 December 2008
Review: Super Stardust Portable (PSP)
Super Stardust HD is one of the finest PlayStation 3 games ever made. Yes, it looks like pure eyecandy, but the gripping, seat-of-your-pants gameplay stands the test of time. I recently commented that Space Invaders Extreme is to the original what Tempest 2000 was to Tempest, and I'm tempted to compare SSHD to Asteroids. Honestly, that's the wrong comparison. It is a new Robotron: 2084 for the HD generation.
When I heard the Super Stardust HD developer, Housemarque, was making a PSP version I laughed out loud. How do you condense a two-joystick game with countless objects on the screen at any given moment onto a handheld with only one analog nub (not even a stick!) and far reduced RAM and CPU capabilities? "Madness!" I thought, "It will look and play terribly."
I was wrong. (Regular readers no doubt are used to that by now.) In fact, it is now one of the finest PSP games I've ever played.
The second joystick -- used for shooting -- is handled with the four right buttons, used as a directional pad, but that's just the obvious bit. The brilliant part is that tapping a direction will generate a wide spread of random shots. The gold melter, which is one of the key weapons to master, will fire out a pleasing sinusoidal wave using this tapping approach, mimicking just the way I use it in the PS3 version. And holding down all four buttons (not difficult, in my experience) will fire the melter in a swift circular pattern -- again, just as I've used it many times in the other version.
Graphically, the game gives the appearance of handling enough objects that it really doesn't matter if falls short of the PS3's billions. Everything looks beautiful, and I'd say it's one of the better demonstrations of the PSP's abilities. One important difference here is that the spherical play surface in the original has been replaced with a spherical-looking background image and a toroidal playfield. (The use of a torus to give the illusion of a sphere is a trick I last saw in Tetrisphere on the Nintendo 64.)
The only quibble, and it's not difficult once you learn to cope, is that weapon selection is on the D-pad. That's awkward, and I'd make a couple of suggestions to improve it. First, there should be a way to map the D-pad directions to a particular weapon; for example, I should be able to make up select the rock crusher, right the gold melter, and down the ice splitter. This would eliminate some of the frustration. The final direction could be used as a cycler, or (better) a means of selecting the most upgraded weapon currently available.
The pacing has been tweaked a bit to make accomodate the adjustments in the controls. The result is a game which has kept me in awe for a solid week, and shows no intention of slowing down. I've sunk over 6 hours into this version already, and that was during a busy week when I've also been playing BioShock and doing holiday chores. (For comparison, I have well over 12 hours in the PS3 game.)
I've realized, in the meantime, that Robotron: 2084 was ultimately the correct comparison. After all, one of my favorite versions of that classic arcade game is on a handheld. The Atari Lynx version of Robotron: 2084 uses just a D-pad and two firing buttons, but still has a very clever solution to the independent firing problem that impresses me to this day: the two buttons are used to rotate a constant stream of shots while the D-pad handles movement.
When I heard the Super Stardust HD developer, Housemarque, was making a PSP version I laughed out loud. How do you condense a two-joystick game with countless objects on the screen at any given moment onto a handheld with only one analog nub (not even a stick!) and far reduced RAM and CPU capabilities? "Madness!" I thought, "It will look and play terribly."
I was wrong. (Regular readers no doubt are used to that by now.) In fact, it is now one of the finest PSP games I've ever played.
The second joystick -- used for shooting -- is handled with the four right buttons, used as a directional pad, but that's just the obvious bit. The brilliant part is that tapping a direction will generate a wide spread of random shots. The gold melter, which is one of the key weapons to master, will fire out a pleasing sinusoidal wave using this tapping approach, mimicking just the way I use it in the PS3 version. And holding down all four buttons (not difficult, in my experience) will fire the melter in a swift circular pattern -- again, just as I've used it many times in the other version.
Graphically, the game gives the appearance of handling enough objects that it really doesn't matter if falls short of the PS3's billions. Everything looks beautiful, and I'd say it's one of the better demonstrations of the PSP's abilities. One important difference here is that the spherical play surface in the original has been replaced with a spherical-looking background image and a toroidal playfield. (The use of a torus to give the illusion of a sphere is a trick I last saw in Tetrisphere on the Nintendo 64.)
The only quibble, and it's not difficult once you learn to cope, is that weapon selection is on the D-pad. That's awkward, and I'd make a couple of suggestions to improve it. First, there should be a way to map the D-pad directions to a particular weapon; for example, I should be able to make up select the rock crusher, right the gold melter, and down the ice splitter. This would eliminate some of the frustration. The final direction could be used as a cycler, or (better) a means of selecting the most upgraded weapon currently available.
The pacing has been tweaked a bit to make accomodate the adjustments in the controls. The result is a game which has kept me in awe for a solid week, and shows no intention of slowing down. I've sunk over 6 hours into this version already, and that was during a busy week when I've also been playing BioShock and doing holiday chores. (For comparison, I have well over 12 hours in the PS3 game.)
I've realized, in the meantime, that Robotron: 2084 was ultimately the correct comparison. After all, one of my favorite versions of that classic arcade game is on a handheld. The Atari Lynx version of Robotron: 2084 uses just a D-pad and two firing buttons, but still has a very clever solution to the independent firing problem that impresses me to this day: the two buttons are used to rotate a constant stream of shots while the D-pad handles movement.
--jvm at 23:07
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[ 0 ]
06 August 2008
Hear it here too: johnC hates Apple.
No, no, Carmack doesn't really hate Apple, but he is willing to be on Jobs' "s***head list" to say Jobs doesn't get gaming. You've read it on every other site, and I'd be remiss if I didn't post it here. From Eurogamer.net:
Apple has flubbed gaming several times. I don't get it, and Carmack doesn't really go into why Apple's cried gaming "wolf" at least twice now. Jobs might not get games, but he does seem to understand business. The implication here is that Jobs doesn't understand he's tarnished Apple's reputation by exploiting Carmack a couple of times. We don't have a hint beyond naivety why Jobs doesn't ignore but, instead, botches gaming, and naivety doesn't seem like a fitting answer.
It could just be that, as a gamer once upon a time, I've had a difficult time understanding who is really in the driver's seat. I have no reason not to think Carmack's a nice guy, but I think we can read a bit into quick make-up session after the "s***head list" text-byte.
I also know that Carmack would be programming for portable platforms right now if it wouldn't disrupt id, so this isn't just brown-nosing, but there is a little, "Steve, you're an idiot. But only in a small portion of the market that you don't care about anyway. iPhone? That's great!" in there, don't you think?
Why alienate one of your bigger proponents for the iPhone as gaming platform (heck, Carmack wonders on the record if the PSP is in trouble; regardless of if he thinks it's likely, that's good for Apple) who lives in the gaming world by screwing games over on your PC platform several times? You got me. All it tells me is that in the world of personal computing, Jobs means something and Carmack is, regardless of my particular bias, just playing games.
The truth is Steve Jobs doesn't care about games. This is going to be one of those things that I say something in an interview and it gets fed back to him and I'm on his s***head list for a while on that, until he needs me to do something else there. But I think that that's my general opinion. He's not a gamer. It's difficult to ask somebody to get behind something they don't really believe in. I mean obviously he believes in the music and the iTunes and that whole side of things, and the media side of things, and he gets it and he pushes it and they do wonderful things with that, but he's not a gamer. That's just the bottom line about it. [emph mine]
Apple has flubbed gaming several times. I don't get it, and Carmack doesn't really go into why Apple's cried gaming "wolf" at least twice now. Jobs might not get games, but he does seem to understand business. The implication here is that Jobs doesn't understand he's tarnished Apple's reputation by exploiting Carmack a couple of times. We don't have a hint beyond naivety why Jobs doesn't ignore but, instead, botches gaming, and naivety doesn't seem like a fitting answer.
It could just be that, as a gamer once upon a time, I've had a difficult time understanding who is really in the driver's seat. I have no reason not to think Carmack's a nice guy, but I think we can read a bit into quick make-up session after the "s***head list" text-byte.
But I think the iPhone is a potentially extremely important platform for a lot of reasons, and I think it could be the type of thing that really makes inroads into...does it kill the PSP. [sic]
...
One of the best opportunities for years right now is for two guys to make a project - you know, an artist and a programmer - to go make something on the iPhone, and I think there are people that can make a couple of million dollars probably by having some breakout success that nobody's ever heard of, and I think that that's a really awesome opportunity right now.
I also know that Carmack would be programming for portable platforms right now if it wouldn't disrupt id, so this isn't just brown-nosing, but there is a little, "Steve, you're an idiot. But only in a small portion of the market that you don't care about anyway. iPhone? That's great!" in there, don't you think?
Why alienate one of your bigger proponents for the iPhone as gaming platform (heck, Carmack wonders on the record if the PSP is in trouble; regardless of if he thinks it's likely, that's good for Apple) who lives in the gaming world by screwing games over on your PC platform several times? You got me. All it tells me is that in the world of personal computing, Jobs means something and Carmack is, regardless of my particular bias, just playing games.
Labels: apple, business, developers, id, mobile, PC, ports, psp
--ruffin at 11:08
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[ 0 ]
08 May 2008
Chains of Olympus for PS2 for Xmas '08
This isn't an announcement, but a prediction. Provided the porting of Daxter from the PSP to the PS2 is true (see here, originally seen here), then Sony has to be seriously considering porting God of War: Chains of Olympus to the PS2 as well. Keep in mind that both Daxter and God of War on the PSP share some engine code, so a port of the former would accelerate a port of the latter.
According to NPD's figures, Chains of Olympus sold well over 300,000 copies in its first month on the market. A PS2 version would easily sell a million and would complement a $99 PS2 model quite well.
Given that I completed the PSP game twice (something I almost never do for long-form action games), I'd probably end up picking up the PS2 port. So make that a million copies, plus one.
In an ideal world, Sony would also get someone to port the game to the PS3 and sell it for $15 on PSN. But this is Sony we're talking about, so it will never happen.
According to NPD's figures, Chains of Olympus sold well over 300,000 copies in its first month on the market. A PS2 version would easily sell a million and would complement a $99 PS2 model quite well.
Given that I completed the PSP game twice (something I almost never do for long-form action games), I'd probably end up picking up the PS2 port. So make that a million copies, plus one.
In an ideal world, Sony would also get someone to port the game to the PS3 and sell it for $15 on PSN. But this is Sony we're talking about, so it will never happen.
--jvm at 09:24
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[ 0 ]
23 April 2008
Echochrome and the hobbled PSP
I'm getting echochrome tomorrow. Reading the Sony blog about it, I continue to be amazed at garbage like this:
Instead of insulting our intelligence, how about spend more time implementing a serious network service for the PSP? It's just embarrassing, three years after you launch a fine piece of hardware like the PSP, to still be stumbling on something so simple as this.
And for the PSP version, you can share the levels you create with other people in your area via wireless Ad Hoc. Cool, right?!?Sorry, Sony, but Game 3.0 -- your word, not mine -- was really supposed to be about sharing your work YouTube-like. No one gives a flying flip about sharing data via ad hod wireless. No one.
Instead of insulting our intelligence, how about spend more time implementing a serious network service for the PSP? It's just embarrassing, three years after you launch a fine piece of hardware like the PSP, to still be stumbling on something so simple as this.
--jvm at 20:35
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[ 4 ]
02 April 2008
Collecting sickness gone mad (or: Demo discs!)
Well, I've finally done it. I've officially started collecting demo discs.
I've always had a few demo discs around. For example, that's the only way I could play Intelligent Qube for years. (Cue people asking me for an Intelligent Qube ISO...) And my wife nearly killed me when I played the Parappa the Rapper demo for ages. I also picked up the Official PlayStation Magazine demo of Tomb Raider: Legend within the past couple of years.
But now they've gone beyond utility into that bizarre realm of "neat artifacts I'd like to buy just to own". Oh boy. This is like label variations of Atari 2600 games all over again.
Here's the best source of data I've found on them. I even made a spreadsheet of the PS2 demos so I could keep track of mine. I have 13 ... out of over 400 listed on this page. At least I'll have something to keep me busy. I also have 3 PS1 demo discs and a handful of PSP demo UMDs.
Incidentally, there is competition out there for these. On a lark, I bid $18 on a lot of 41 demo discs the other day on eBay. The final bid was $38 or so. Yow.
Anyway, if you've got some you'd like to ditch, give me a holler.
I've always had a few demo discs around. For example, that's the only way I could play Intelligent Qube for years. (Cue people asking me for an Intelligent Qube ISO...) And my wife nearly killed me when I played the Parappa the Rapper demo for ages. I also picked up the Official PlayStation Magazine demo of Tomb Raider: Legend within the past couple of years.
But now they've gone beyond utility into that bizarre realm of "neat artifacts I'd like to buy just to own". Oh boy. This is like label variations of Atari 2600 games all over again.
Here's the best source of data I've found on them. I even made a spreadsheet of the PS2 demos so I could keep track of mine. I have 13 ... out of over 400 listed on this page. At least I'll have something to keep me busy. I also have 3 PS1 demo discs and a handful of PSP demo UMDs.
Incidentally, there is competition out there for these. On a lark, I bid $18 on a lot of 41 demo discs the other day on eBay. The final bid was $38 or so. Yow.
Anyway, if you've got some you'd like to ditch, give me a holler.
Labels: collecting, demo, ps2, psone, psp
--jvm at 08:55
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[ 2 ]
11 March 2008
Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)
In about the last year I've played God of War and its sequel God of War 2 to completion. The former is better with plot and the latter with combat, but both are well above average in both departments. With blood and nudity and a mythological soap opera, the God of War series strikes me as the modern male escapist fantasy equivalent of Burroughs's A Princess of Mars.
Last week the PSP received its own God of War game and I'm pleased to say that it recreates everything I loved about the PS2 games, including a decent story. Frankly, with external developer Ready at Dawn creating this prequel, I was concerned the plot would be second-rate. However, its proficiency at storytelling lags the original slightly while outdoing the sequel. This time we follow the adventures of Kratos, the superhuman servant of Ares, just prior to the events in the first God of War.
While Chains of Olympus succeeds at many things, I was most impressed by the pacing:
Interestingly, my favorite moment in the game didn't involve combat or a puzzle. As you may know, heavy doors and objects are lifted in God of War by pounding the circle button repeatedly. Near the end of Chains of Olympus, Kratos has to commit a difficult act of personal sacrifice which is acted out through circle-button mashing. It's a simple variation on a common mechanic, yet I thought it was effective in conveying the emotional weight of the moment.
All around, I enjoyed God of War: Chains of Olympus a great deal -- both for its gameplay and its furthering the story of Kratos -- and I recommend it.
Last week the PSP received its own God of War game and I'm pleased to say that it recreates everything I loved about the PS2 games, including a decent story. Frankly, with external developer Ready at Dawn creating this prequel, I was concerned the plot would be second-rate. However, its proficiency at storytelling lags the original slightly while outdoing the sequel. This time we follow the adventures of Kratos, the superhuman servant of Ares, just prior to the events in the first God of War.
While Chains of Olympus succeeds at many things, I was most impressed by the pacing:
- The opening level presents the game's biggest boss (but not the toughest one).
- The third is full of puzzles.
- The fourth provides you with the truly enjoyable hit-reflection ability.
- The sixth takes you to a whole new setting, with several new enemies.
- The seventh introduces a new and immensely rewarding weapon.
- The eighth is a series of strenuous battles, a plot twist, a final battle, and a clever little conclusion that leads directly into the story of the original God of War.
Interestingly, my favorite moment in the game didn't involve combat or a puzzle. As you may know, heavy doors and objects are lifted in God of War by pounding the circle button repeatedly. Near the end of Chains of Olympus, Kratos has to commit a difficult act of personal sacrifice which is acted out through circle-button mashing. It's a simple variation on a common mechanic, yet I thought it was effective in conveying the emotional weight of the moment.
All around, I enjoyed God of War: Chains of Olympus a great deal -- both for its gameplay and its furthering the story of Kratos -- and I recommend it.
--jvm at 20:41
Comment
[ 2 ]
Patapon
Patapon is an exquisite little offering that can be snapped up for as little as twelve pounds fifty. It would be a crime not to.
The PSP always gets a rough time of things, mainly because it isn't quite the license to print money that the DS is. But how many great games have come out on the DS lately? Think about it. Not that many. I can only think of Apollo Justice and the new Advance Wars, and whilst I love the both of them they're basically sequels. Patapon feels like a fresh, vibrant excursion in a land of opportunity and bleeds a kind of effervescent vivacity all over the large, dead pixel prone screen of my chunky, fat PSP. This joy is contagious, and soon works its way into my eyes and brain, eroding away my cynicism and rendering my joyless nature inert and redundant. When Patapon is spinning happily away in the UMD drive, the PSP becomes the drab young girl in glasses who gets a makeover by the captain of the football team and everybody wants to sleep with by the end of the movie. It's like falling in love with your high school sweetheart, and then finding out she's also a millionaire.
It's got everything a crusty old relic (read: me) needs to enjoy a game. An intuitive and non-standard control system, flash art direction, army building and rhythm based gameplay. Also, it's practically doomed to an existence of never being truly appreciated in its time and becoming a cult classic. Those are the very best kind of games, because the few of us that play them can sit around and reflect on just how better we are than your average muppet.
Downsides? It's quite short and farming rare items can be pretty bothersome. Although, if you're one of the gazillions of WoW players, you'd think I was needlessly complaining.
The PSP always gets a rough time of things, mainly because it isn't quite the license to print money that the DS is. But how many great games have come out on the DS lately? Think about it. Not that many. I can only think of Apollo Justice and the new Advance Wars, and whilst I love the both of them they're basically sequels. Patapon feels like a fresh, vibrant excursion in a land of opportunity and bleeds a kind of effervescent vivacity all over the large, dead pixel prone screen of my chunky, fat PSP. This joy is contagious, and soon works its way into my eyes and brain, eroding away my cynicism and rendering my joyless nature inert and redundant. When Patapon is spinning happily away in the UMD drive, the PSP becomes the drab young girl in glasses who gets a makeover by the captain of the football team and everybody wants to sleep with by the end of the movie. It's like falling in love with your high school sweetheart, and then finding out she's also a millionaire.
It's got everything a crusty old relic (read: me) needs to enjoy a game. An intuitive and non-standard control system, flash art direction, army building and rhythm based gameplay. Also, it's practically doomed to an existence of never being truly appreciated in its time and becoming a cult classic. Those are the very best kind of games, because the few of us that play them can sit around and reflect on just how better we are than your average muppet.
Downsides? It's quite short and farming rare items can be pretty bothersome. Although, if you're one of the gazillions of WoW players, you'd think I was needlessly complaining.
--Martin at 07:32
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[ 0 ]
07 March 2008
Time for a break
I'm due for a much needed holiday next week. I just grabbed a copy of God of War for the PSP and I have to say that it looks a lot better than I remember. I'll have to dig out my demo and see if there are noticeable improvements.
I also downloaded the PSP version of flOw, the relaxing game that previously had been a Flash game and later a downloadable PS3 game. Despite all the kvetching by the press about graphical slowdowns, this is really a very clean port. I recommend it for PSP owners, especially if you haven't played the PS3 version.
Meanwhile, I've not been blogging because my writing agreement with Next-Gen was extended from a monthly NPD column to include a weekly column. So, since late January I've been pouring my weekend free time into that work. For the curious:
Anyway, I've got next week's column in the bag and I'm hoping for a day or two of just pure gaming while I'm on holiday. Between my real job, time with family, caring for sick kids, being sick myself, and writing on the side I've had practically no time for games, much less writing about playing games.
I also downloaded the PSP version of flOw, the relaxing game that previously had been a Flash game and later a downloadable PS3 game. Despite all the kvetching by the press about graphical slowdowns, this is really a very clean port. I recommend it for PSP owners, especially if you haven't played the PS3 version.
Meanwhile, I've not been blogging because my writing agreement with Next-Gen was extended from a monthly NPD column to include a weekly column. So, since late January I've been pouring my weekend free time into that work. For the curious:
Anyway, I've got next week's column in the bag and I'm hoping for a day or two of just pure gaming while I'm on holiday. Between my real job, time with family, caring for sick kids, being sick myself, and writing on the side I've had practically no time for games, much less writing about playing games.
--jvm at 15:14
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[ 1 ]
30 January 2008
Left Behind
Sony's just put out their firmware version 3.90 for the PSP and it's got Skype connectivity.
Actually, that's not precise enough -- they've put out v.3.90 for the PSP-2000 model, aka new hotness. For those of us with the original PSP, aka old and busted, it could be the end of the road for firmware updates.
I don't know if Sony's announced this yet, but I bet that when PSN access finally comes to the PSP, it'll be for the new model only. Ah well. Maybe I should look into firmware modding again...
Actually, that's not precise enough -- they've put out v.3.90 for the PSP-2000 model, aka new hotness. For those of us with the original PSP, aka old and busted, it could be the end of the road for firmware updates.
I don't know if Sony's announced this yet, but I bet that when PSN access finally comes to the PSP, it'll be for the new model only. Ah well. Maybe I should look into firmware modding again...
--jvm at 08:57
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[ 3 ]
13 January 2008
Hacking the PS3 (or: Sony is clever, for once)
A thread came up on NeoGAF about when it might be possible to play copied PlayStation 3 games, via modchip or hacked firmware or what have you. This reply pointed to this talk on YouTube, which is terribly interesting. Watch the introduction, which takes about five minutes.
I remember when it was announced that GNU/Linux would be permitted on the PlayStation 3 out-of-the-box and how this was a move to prevent piracy. These folks, who at least give the impression of being in touch with the hardware hacking scene, believe that making the PlayStation 3 open to other operating systems has kept it safe from the pirates. In a nutshell, the "smart" hackers open a system up and the "dumb" pirates then exploit the opening. By inviting the former group to play within some boundaries (certain PS3 hardware is still off limits from within PS3 Linux distributions) the latter group doesn't have a chance.
Now, that doesn't mean that the PS3 will never be hacked. All systems are hacked, eventually, I believe. But 14 months after the launch Sony is still secure. Every other system they've launched has been hacked to pieces, and they've lost out on at least some software licensing fees as a result. (I won't try to figure out how much, given how people argue that pirates would never have bought the games in the first place, that Sony might benefit from having more people playing software on its platforms, etc. etc. Perhaps we can all agree that it's at least greater than thr-- four dollars.)
Of course, the irony is that Sony finally had the right idea on the platform whose software fewer people actually want to play, much less pirate.
I remember when it was announced that GNU/Linux would be permitted on the PlayStation 3 out-of-the-box and how this was a move to prevent piracy. These folks, who at least give the impression of being in touch with the hardware hacking scene, believe that making the PlayStation 3 open to other operating systems has kept it safe from the pirates. In a nutshell, the "smart" hackers open a system up and the "dumb" pirates then exploit the opening. By inviting the former group to play within some boundaries (certain PS3 hardware is still off limits from within PS3 Linux distributions) the latter group doesn't have a chance.
Now, that doesn't mean that the PS3 will never be hacked. All systems are hacked, eventually, I believe. But 14 months after the launch Sony is still secure. Every other system they've launched has been hacked to pieces, and they've lost out on at least some software licensing fees as a result. (I won't try to figure out how much, given how people argue that pirates would never have bought the games in the first place, that Sony might benefit from having more people playing software on its platforms, etc. etc. Perhaps we can all agree that it's at least greater than thr-- four dollars.)
Of course, the irony is that Sony finally had the right idea on the platform whose software fewer people actually want to play, much less pirate.
--jvm at 18:00
Comment
[ 4 ]
07 December 2007
PlayStation 3 Memory Cards
Everyone knows the PS1 and the PS2 used memory cards, but did you know the PS3 has memory cards too? Target thinks so:
Technically, they're right. It is a card with memory on it. You can use it with the PlayStation 3, although I'm not sure the cheaper 40GB model has a port for one. But in the sense that the term "memory card" has been used with previous PlayStation consoles, it's a bit of a misnomer.
Still, more power to them if they can get people to buy them, especially at this price. The one I'm looking at has twice the capacity for this same price. And I'm buying it for my PSP, not my PS3.
Technically, they're right. It is a card with memory on it. You can use it with the PlayStation 3, although I'm not sure the cheaper 40GB model has a port for one. But in the sense that the term "memory card" has been used with previous PlayStation consoles, it's a bit of a misnomer.Still, more power to them if they can get people to buy them, especially at this price. The one I'm looking at has twice the capacity for this same price. And I'm buying it for my PSP, not my PS3.
--jvm at 10:12
Comment
[ 2 ]
27 October 2007
Sony fails at selling the PSP
When my God of War PSP demo finally came in, this little cardboard advertisement was packed inside the mailer. It's marketing like this that explains why the PSP isn't living up to its potential. Sony simply doesn't know how they want to sell the system:
The two main reasons this advertisement fails:
Look, Sony, the competition is outselling your PSP by at least a 2-to-1 ratio every month with its non-photo-music-video Nintendo DS. Their handheld's software actually gets in the top 10 on a regular basis, and even had the #1 spot for a while this year. Their marketing is focused on one thing: games. Wise up!
The two main reasons this advertisement fails:- Photos, Music, and Video come before Games. The PlayStation name is synonymous with games. Not photos. Not music. Not video. GAMES.
- Game shown (MLB '07 The Show) is available on other platforms, with better graphics and probably better network support. It does not sell people on the system's uniqueness.
Look, Sony, the competition is outselling your PSP by at least a 2-to-1 ratio every month with its non-photo-music-video Nintendo DS. Their handheld's software actually gets in the top 10 on a regular basis, and even had the #1 spot for a while this year. Their marketing is focused on one thing: games. Wise up!
--jvm at 15:46
Comment
[ 2 ]
25 October 2007
Konami hides its history too well
The new Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles should give today's PSP owners an easy means to experience some revitalized history. The game disc contains an exclusive remake of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, an emulated original Rondo of Blood (PCE CD), and an emulated Symphony of the Night (PS1). I say it should give PSP owners this oportunity, but it doesn't, really. Konami has decided to lock the history away behind a wall of secrets.
Out of the box, only the first of those three games is available to play. How do you unlock the other two?
To play Symphony of the Night you have to get to take Richter into Stage 3', an alternate stage reached by finishing Stage 2 in a special way. Then you have to pick up an axe subweapon which is hidden in a secret room. Then you take the axe to a particular room and use it to cut down a platform held up by vines. Then you take a set of platforms several screens across and break a tombstone to reveal an icon which unlocks Symphony of the Night.
If you die on Stage 3' after you get the axe but before you unlock the secret, you lose the axe. Tough luck, buster. Yo gotta do it again.
How to unlock the original Rondo of Blood? Get to and break that same tombstone playing as Maria, not Richter. Wait, you don't have Maria as a selectable character yet? Oh my. You did pick up the special key subweapon on Stage 2 and then unlock the prison door down in the dungeon, right? Well, that's how you get Maria. Then head off to Stage 3' and get the Rondo of Blood icon in the tombstone. That's right -- an easter egg within an easter egg!
What a load of crap. Instead of making historic games accessible to players in their original forms, Konami has hidden them so well that I'd've never found them if it weren't for GameFAQs.
Out of the box, only the first of those three games is available to play. How do you unlock the other two?
To play Symphony of the Night you have to get to take Richter into Stage 3', an alternate stage reached by finishing Stage 2 in a special way. Then you have to pick up an axe subweapon which is hidden in a secret room. Then you take the axe to a particular room and use it to cut down a platform held up by vines. Then you take a set of platforms several screens across and break a tombstone to reveal an icon which unlocks Symphony of the Night.
If you die on Stage 3' after you get the axe but before you unlock the secret, you lose the axe. Tough luck, buster. Yo gotta do it again.
How to unlock the original Rondo of Blood? Get to and break that same tombstone playing as Maria, not Richter. Wait, you don't have Maria as a selectable character yet? Oh my. You did pick up the special key subweapon on Stage 2 and then unlock the prison door down in the dungeon, right? Well, that's how you get Maria. Then head off to Stage 3' and get the Rondo of Blood icon in the tombstone. That's right -- an easter egg within an easter egg!
What a load of crap. Instead of making historic games accessible to players in their original forms, Konami has hidden them so well that I'd've never found them if it weren't for GameFAQs.
Labels: castlevania, konami, psp, sony
--jvm at 21:38
Comment
[ 5 ]
Finally here! God of War PSP demo
The God of War: Chains of Olympus demo promised 9/2007 finally arrived on the 25th day of 10/2007. Way to go, Sony.
The verdict: Short. Bloody. Fun.
Now how long it will take them to finish the full thing?
The verdict: Short. Bloody. Fun.
Now how long it will take them to finish the full thing?
--jvm at 21:33
Comment
[ 0 ]
24 October 2007
Preorder bonus? No! Preorder punishment!
I picked up Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP over lunch. The shop only had two copies, and didn't have any preorders, so I got their little 8-bit Simon Belmont figure. Hideous, absolutely hideous.
Bad Konami!
Bad Konami!Labels: castlevania, game stores, psp, sony
--jvm at 13:48
Comment
[ 3 ]
15 October 2007
Hey, Sony...it's mid-October already
Earlier this year, I registered for the free demo of God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP. Since then, Sony has been sending me periodic emails telling me I'm going to get a copy in September 2007. Here's a quick tour of those emails...
5 June I received this:
28 June I received this:
1 August I received this:
5 September I received this:
And 10 days ago I received this:
Tomorrow we'll be past the midpoint of October and I still won't have my copy of the demo.
After bombarding my mailbox for months with a September 2007 release date, and even telling me I should possibly already have my copy, this kind of incompetence is inexcusable.
5 June I received this:
28 June I received this:
1 August I received this:
5 September I received this:
And 10 days ago I received this:
Tomorrow we'll be past the midpoint of October and I still won't have my copy of the demo.
After bombarding my mailbox for months with a September 2007 release date, and even telling me I should possibly already have my copy, this kind of incompetence is inexcusable.
--jvm at 22:24
Comment
[ 2 ]
23 September 2007
Cheapskate
For all the kvetching about prices (some on this very blog), this really is a decent time for finding cheap games. Just this weekend I found Shadow of the Colossus for $10 at Wal-mart and took advantage of the 3-for-2 deal at Toys R Us to pick up three PSP games (Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Lumines II, and EA Replay) for an average of less than $7.50 each. Heck, I even spotted Taito Legends Power-up for the PSP for $13 brand new in GameStop. After the other pickups, I couldn't really justify any other games, so I'll just have to wait on that one.
Labels: game stores, prices, ps2, psp
--jvm at 15:43
Comment
[ 2 ]
08 September 2007
PS3 Compatibility of My PS1 Library
Either model of the PS3 will probably play your PS1 games as well as the other. That's my conclusion after I checked the compatibility of the 128 PS1 games in my library, as cataloged on MobyGames. Here's the breakdown
If you'd prefer a graph, here you go:
Out of these 128 games, the 80Gb and 60Gb models have exactly the same compatibility issues. Although I've never seen it said somewhere, this leads me to believe that the PS1 compatibility is purely software, and has nothing to do with the PS2 hardware in the 60Gb PS3 model. Sony has a software PS1 emulator after all, the one used on the PSP! Moreover, when issues have been fixed with PS1 game compatibility, they're fixed by a firmware update.
So, there is no compelling reason to get either PS3 model over the other if your concern is PS1 compatibility.
Incidentally, I believeyou still can't play the downloadable PS1 games on the PlayStation Network with a PS3 at one time you couldn't play downlodable PS1 games on the PlayStation Network with a PS3. If indeed there is was a software PS1 emulator built right into the firmware, then I'm really puzzled about Sony's reluctance to make those PS1 games playable on both the PSP and the PS3. What's What was going on there?
I'm working on combing through my PS2 library. I'll have another post up when I get done.
105 work just fine (that's 82%)The number that probably really matters: 126 out of 128 will work with minor inconvenient issues. That's 98.4%.
4 have video corruption (2D movies)
8 have graphics corruption (2D or 3D game graphics)
4 have some sort of audio problem (usually just a wrong or truncated sound)
4 have a bug that can cause a hang (only a couple are truly fatal)
1 has a controller issue
2 have speed problems (usually running slowly)
If you'd prefer a graph, here you go:
Out of these 128 games, the 80Gb and 60Gb models have exactly the same compatibility issues. Although I've never seen it said somewhere, this leads me to believe that the PS1 compatibility is purely software, and has nothing to do with the PS2 hardware in the 60Gb PS3 model. Sony has a software PS1 emulator after all, the one used on the PSP! Moreover, when issues have been fixed with PS1 game compatibility, they're fixed by a firmware update.So, there is no compelling reason to get either PS3 model over the other if your concern is PS1 compatibility.
Incidentally, I believe
I'm working on combing through my PS2 library. I'll have another post up when I get done.
--jvm at 21:20
Comment
[ 3 ]
11 May 2007
Try not to be so obvious, Mr. Previewer
A new God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) preview says:
No.
End fanboy writing now.
As has become standard for the God of War series, this means players will find all kinds of ties between the story and previous God of War tales, from subtle references to out and out reveals.I can believe there were lots of connections between God of War and God of War II. It's only natural. Does does that establish a standard for storytelling in the series?
No.
End fanboy writing now.
--jvm at 21:57
Comment
[ 5 ]
30 April 2007
PSP, the new remake dumping ground
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Sure, there are a couple of nifty games on the PSP you won't find anywhere else. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is one but still consists of many ideas already refined on other platforms. Lumines started on the PSP, but has since been released on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation 2.
Don't get me wrong: I love good remakes. It's a weakness, and one I've not worked hard to eliminate. In my mind remakes like Ridge Racer and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee were well worth my money. Even Ruffin, who normally chides me for indulging my appetite for these things, gifted me a copy of Resident Evil: Deadly Silence which consumed me for a couple of weeks.
But the PSP isn't doing much else nowadays. As far as the eye can see, it's remakes, rehashes, and retro collections.
In the next year we'll see the following on PSP:
Where is the PSP equivalent of Elite Beat Agents? Where is its Nintendogs or Brain Age? If Nintendo can pour money into original, unique projects and keep them exclusive to the Nintendo DS, why can't Sony do the same thing?
Sure, there are a couple of nifty games on the PSP you won't find anywhere else. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is one but still consists of many ideas already refined on other platforms. Lumines started on the PSP, but has since been released on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation 2.
Don't get me wrong: I love good remakes. It's a weakness, and one I've not worked hard to eliminate. In my mind remakes like Ridge Racer and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee were well worth my money. Even Ruffin, who normally chides me for indulging my appetite for these things, gifted me a copy of Resident Evil: Deadly Silence which consumed me for a couple of weeks.
But the PSP isn't doing much else nowadays. As far as the eye can see, it's remakes, rehashes, and retro collections.
In the next year we'll see the following on PSP:
- Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
- Parappa the Rapper
- Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
- Final Fantasy I
- Final Fantasy II
- Taito Legends Power Up
- Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Where is the PSP equivalent of Elite Beat Agents? Where is its Nintendogs or Brain Age? If Nintendo can pour money into original, unique projects and keep them exclusive to the Nintendo DS, why can't Sony do the same thing?
--jvm at 10:35
Comment
[ 1 ]
25 April 2007
Tomb Raider Anniversary's note to the fans
Over at NeoGAF I ran across some images from the current build of Tomb Raider Anniversary which show a note to the fans from Jason Botta, the game's creative director. Here are the parts of the note I felt were important. (You can read the rest in the screenshots.)
Still, I'm a little concerned by the wording on the controls. I suppose most people do find the newer controls -- the ones used in Tomb Raider: Legend -- more forgiving and natural, but calling them contemporary strikes me as dodging the real issue: they've taken away much of the sense of danger.
I used to refer to those high, dangerous locations and jumps in the original game as "unnecessarily vertiginous". The heights were literally dizzying and more than once I felt my stomach turn over at the feeling of being mere inches from a deadly fall. (The only time I've felt like that in real life was when I was atop one of the two World Trade Center towers in New York in the late 1980s. Even as far back from the edge as we were, I felt so dizzy I wanted to crawl back to the door or risk blowing off the side and into open space.)
With the controls in Legend they've taken away that sense. Lara can -- and does -- save herself if you go off a ledge. Timing a jump is easy since there is a broad "safe zone" near any ledge and any jump initiated in that zone will be good enough. Compare this with the original game where you really felt you needed to pace out your jumps ahead of time. Even then, a twitch at the wrong moment would send Lara plunging to her death.
On the other hand, I'm excited to hear that the story has been respected. I've always felt that the plot was really quite well-done. As long as they've not belabored it with too much contrived explanation, it should come across well.
Tomb Raiders,That's a pretty nice note, and quite a bit more personal than what I'm used to getting from games nowadays. In a way it reminds me of the developer pictures and notes on the back of the old Activision games for the Atari 2600.
It's hard to believe it's been over a decade since the original Tomb Raider game was released and the world got their first taste of Lara Croft. At that time, games had just really started moving into 3D and Tomb Raider was hailed as a landmark achievement from both a technical and gameplay standpoint. A powerful heroine, epic environments, and a world that players could really immerse themselves into were all elements that helped Tomb Raider stand out from the rest of the gaming landscape.
[snip]
We wanted to recreate all the parts that people remembered and then throw in some new areas to keep veterans on their toes. We strove hard to find the right balance of nostalgia and freshness and to create an experience that captured the sense of isolation so prevalent in the original. The story was simultaneously expanded and tightened up so as to realize the full potential of the tale and provide more insight into the various characters. And while we almost duplicated TR in some regards, we took this opportunity to update some aspects of gameplay -- like Lara's movement -- to something a bit more contemporary.
[snip]
Jason Botta
Creative Director, Tomb Raider: Anniversary
[Emphasis added. Errors, if any, are mine. -jvm]
Still, I'm a little concerned by the wording on the controls. I suppose most people do find the newer controls -- the ones used in Tomb Raider: Legend -- more forgiving and natural, but calling them contemporary strikes me as dodging the real issue: they've taken away much of the sense of danger.
I used to refer to those high, dangerous locations and jumps in the original game as "unnecessarily vertiginous". The heights were literally dizzying and more than once I felt my stomach turn over at the feeling of being mere inches from a deadly fall. (The only time I've felt like that in real life was when I was atop one of the two World Trade Center towers in New York in the late 1980s. Even as far back from the edge as we were, I felt so dizzy I wanted to crawl back to the door or risk blowing off the side and into open space.)
With the controls in Legend they've taken away that sense. Lara can -- and does -- save herself if you go off a ledge. Timing a jump is easy since there is a broad "safe zone" near any ledge and any jump initiated in that zone will be good enough. Compare this with the original game where you really felt you needed to pace out your jumps ahead of time. Even then, a twitch at the wrong moment would send Lara plunging to her death.
On the other hand, I'm excited to hear that the story has been respected. I've always felt that the plot was really quite well-done. As long as they've not belabored it with too much contrived explanation, it should come across well.
Labels: PC, ps2, psp, tomb raider
--jvm at 13:17
Comment
[ 16 ]
22 April 2007
A loss of grand scale (and a whiff of adult themes)
A new trailer came out last week for the upcoming Tomb Raider Anniversary and I was dismayed by what appears to be the new Great Sphinx level. I found a picture on the Glidos site which conveys the sense of scale present in the original:
Here are a couple of shots from the new trailer:
It could be that the new Sphinx is just as big as the old one, relative to Lara's size, but I don't think so. It looks like they've scaled the Sphinx down, and I think that's a real shame. As I've stated previously, the original Tomb Raider conveyed the sense of being a small adventurer in a vast, unexplored space. (A similar feeling can be found in the more recent God of War, and reportedly in God of War 2.)
I hope that sense hasn't been lost completely, but this new evidence makes me pessimistic.
As the trailer ends it reveals that the ESRB has rated Tomb Raider Anniversary as T (for Teen), specifically for violence (expected) and mild suggestive themes (say what?). For all the hullabaloo surrounding Lara's attire and bust size, there was nothing remotely sexual in the original game. The first lurch in that direction came with Tomb Raider II. In particular, Lara does a quick clothing change from her usual outfit to a wetsuit which happens just out of view of the camera. Then after the game's climax, there is a brief coda with a voyeuristic camera view of Lara taking a shower. That bit ends with her saying "You've seen quite enough" and unceremoniously discharging a bullet right into the camera.
Everything I've seen says the remake is only the first game, not the second, so they've added something to earn that extra ESRB tag. I'll be curious to see just what that is.
Here are a couple of shots from the new trailer:
It could be that the new Sphinx is just as big as the old one, relative to Lara's size, but I don't think so. It looks like they've scaled the Sphinx down, and I think that's a real shame. As I've stated previously, the original Tomb Raider conveyed the sense of being a small adventurer in a vast, unexplored space. (A similar feeling can be found in the more recent God of War, and reportedly in God of War 2.)I hope that sense hasn't been lost completely, but this new evidence makes me pessimistic.
As the trailer ends it reveals that the ESRB has rated Tomb Raider Anniversary as T (for Teen), specifically for violence (expected) and mild suggestive themes (say what?). For all the hullabaloo surrounding Lara's attire and bust size, there was nothing remotely sexual in the original game. The first lurch in that direction came with Tomb Raider II. In particular, Lara does a quick clothing change from her usual outfit to a wetsuit which happens just out of view of the camera. Then after the game's climax, there is a brief coda with a voyeuristic camera view of Lara taking a shower. That bit ends with her saying "You've seen quite enough" and unceremoniously discharging a bullet right into the camera.
Everything I've seen says the remake is only the first game, not the second, so they've added something to earn that extra ESRB tag. I'll be curious to see just what that is.
Labels: ps2, psp, tomb raider
--jvm at 22:23
Comment
[ 7 ]
08 April 2007
Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP: Game pricing update
With the basic PSP dropping to $169.99, I felt it was time to see what had changed since I did some rudimentary number crunching on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP game prices five months ago. Not only has the system price dropped, but publishers have abandoned $50 PSP games. Average PSP game prices have shifted down $2.16, although it still has more high priced games than the Nintendo DS. During the same period, average DS game prices have come down about $1.68.
Here's the key result:
Some of the drop in the average PSP game price can be attributed to the disappearance of $49.99 games. In November 2006, the PSP had one such game. Removing just that one game from the November data would have dropped the average price of a PSP game by $0.16.
The only PSP game that currently lists for $49.99 is the PSP version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an unreleased game slated for a December 2007 launch. (As it is unreleased, it isn't figured in the numbers shown in this article.)
Other points of interest:
The disappearance of the $50 game makes things a bit harder for publishers on the PSP. Being able to charge $50 for a PSP game was one advantage that system had over the DS. It would be interesting to know if publishers have made a pricing decision based on market conditions or whether Sony has set a $40 ceiling on PSP game prices. I suspect that Nintendo generally won't let publishers charge $40 on the Nintendo DS, although an exception has clearly been made for Final Fantasy III DS.
Now that the $50 option is missing, the big name PSP titles launch at $40. Moreover, I suspect that some publishers are less likely to stay at $40 as long when there are no games in the higher $50 bracket. Notably, even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories can command only a $30 price tag six months after it was released; by comparison, Liberty City Stories stayed at $50 for almost the entire first year after its release.
I look forward to examining sales data over the coming months to see if the hardware and software price adjustments affect PSP sales.
Feel free to download the data for yourself: OpenOffice ODS, plaintext CSV.
Here's the key result:
| Average Game Price | Mid-Nov 2006 | Mid-Apr 2007 |
| DS | $28.97 | $27.29 |
| PSP | $31.97 | $29.83 |
Some of the drop in the average PSP game price can be attributed to the disappearance of $49.99 games. In November 2006, the PSP had one such game. Removing just that one game from the November data would have dropped the average price of a PSP game by $0.16.
The only PSP game that currently lists for $49.99 is the PSP version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an unreleased game slated for a December 2007 launch. (As it is unreleased, it isn't figured in the numbers shown in this article.)
Other points of interest:
- EB Games lists 102 new games for the Nintendo DS and 94 new games for the PSP. This doesn't count out-of-stock and unreleased games, so the numbers could shift 2-3 games either way in a day's time.
- The median game price for each system is $29.99.
- About 33% of all PSP games retail for under $25. Around 41% of Nintendo DS games are below the $25 level.
- About 1/3 of all PSP games retail for $39.99. Only one Nintendo DS game sells for that price (Final Fantasy III DS), while about 23% of Nintendo DS games retail for over $30.
- 18 out of 22 Nintendo DS games priced at $34.99 are Nintendo-published games.
The disappearance of the $50 game makes things a bit harder for publishers on the PSP. Being able to charge $50 for a PSP game was one advantage that system had over the DS. It would be interesting to know if publishers have made a pricing decision based on market conditions or whether Sony has set a $40 ceiling on PSP game prices. I suspect that Nintendo generally won't let publishers charge $40 on the Nintendo DS, although an exception has clearly been made for Final Fantasy III DS.Now that the $50 option is missing, the big name PSP titles launch at $40. Moreover, I suspect that some publishers are less likely to stay at $40 as long when there are no games in the higher $50 bracket. Notably, even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories can command only a $30 price tag six months after it was released; by comparison, Liberty City Stories stayed at $50 for almost the entire first year after its release.
I look forward to examining sales data over the coming months to see if the hardware and software price adjustments affect PSP sales.
Feel free to download the data for yourself: OpenOffice ODS, plaintext CSV.
--jvm at 01:36
Comment
[ 7 ]
21 March 2007
Xbox Live compromised? (and a Sony comment)
Updated below.
The reports of hijacked Xbox Live/Windows Live accounts are somewhat ominous. At this point, they haven't been confirmed by Microsoft, so it might as well be a rumor.
Were there reports of this before the Windows Live beta launch recently? Obviously, it's a bit post hoc ergo propter hoc to say the availability of Windows Live is the source of a possible security breach, but the timing is suggestive. Apparently Microsoft has launched a probe. Hopefully Microsoft will issue a press release on the veracity of the reports.
If there was (or perhaps is) a problem, it hasn't been handled well. I'd rather Microsoft have been more forward if they knew of problems. Even if it was just cover for deficiencies in the Xbox 360's original design, extending the Xbox 360 warranties was a good PR move. In keeping with that, Microsoft perhaps should have stepped up to say there was a problem, that they'd fix it, and that they'd take care of anyone who was bitten by a security breach. If there are no problems, they should be out in front as soon as possible telling everyone as much.
This raises a possible explanation for why Sony is hesitant to give the PSP access to the PlayStation store. The PSP is a compromised platform. People can, and are, writing software for it, and Sony cannot control them. A user can run homebrew code on a lot of PSPs, including a program that will brick the system.
So the combination of hacked firmware and a networked application which handles a user's financial information raises the possibility of malware that phones home with that information.
Update: Kotaku has a response from Microsoft. The official word isn't informative: it just says they take security seriously and they're investigating all reports. A representative apparently conveyed to Crecente that they haven't found any security breaches. Why wasn't that in the official statement?
[Originally I wrote about Windows Live as if it were launched. It isn't, but is in public beta. Obviously, I made a mistake. More info here.]
The reports of hijacked Xbox Live/Windows Live accounts are somewhat ominous. At this point, they haven't been confirmed by Microsoft, so it might as well be a rumor.
Were there reports of this before the Windows Live beta launch recently? Obviously, it's a bit post hoc ergo propter hoc to say the availability of Windows Live is the source of a possible security breach, but the timing is suggestive. Apparently Microsoft has launched a probe. Hopefully Microsoft will issue a press release on the veracity of the reports.
If there was (or perhaps is) a problem, it hasn't been handled well. I'd rather Microsoft have been more forward if they knew of problems. Even if it was just cover for deficiencies in the Xbox 360's original design, extending the Xbox 360 warranties was a good PR move. In keeping with that, Microsoft perhaps should have stepped up to say there was a problem, that they'd fix it, and that they'd take care of anyone who was bitten by a security breach. If there are no problems, they should be out in front as soon as possible telling everyone as much.
This raises a possible explanation for why Sony is hesitant to give the PSP access to the PlayStation store. The PSP is a compromised platform. People can, and are, writing software for it, and Sony cannot control them. A user can run homebrew code on a lot of PSPs, including a program that will brick the system.
So the combination of hacked firmware and a networked application which handles a user's financial information raises the possibility of malware that phones home with that information.
Update: Kotaku has a response from Microsoft. The official word isn't informative: it just says they take security seriously and they're investigating all reports. A representative apparently conveyed to Crecente that they haven't found any security breaches. Why wasn't that in the official statement?
[Originally I wrote about Windows Live as if it were launched. It isn't, but is in public beta. Obviously, I made a mistake. More info here.]
--jvm at 11:28
Comment
[ 2 ]
15 March 2007
Sony needs dose of competence, better webmonkeys
Starting five months ago, I've periodically complained about Sony's failure to execute on distributing game demos for the PSP. About 45 days ago Sony promised improvement, and to their credit there is now a prominently featured link right on the front of their PSP site which claims to list all PSP demos. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sony has managed to screw it up.
If you have a PSP with browser, or you use the correct user agent string in your non-PSP browser (namely "Mozilla/4.0 (PSP (PlayStation Portable); 2.00)"), you can visit the official PSP site. When you get there, you'll see this:
Prominently featured on the main page is a link to the All Demos page. It's the blue bar in the screenshot above. As of this moment there are four demos listed on the page advertised as listing all PSP demos, as shown below:
What's wrong with that? The total number of demos is six, not four! (In case you're wondering, I'm not hiding anything below the bottom of the screen in the shot above. It doesn't scroll any further, and there are no other games to show.)
You may recall that 45 days ago Sony was advertising its Killzone: Liberation demo, although not on this All Demos page. To this day that demo is not visible through Sony's official PSP browser site. Since the announcement of improved demo support Sony has also released a Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror demo, which did get listed on the demo page. (See above.) Before any of that there was a LocoRoco Holiday Demo, which also cannot be found through the official PSP browser site. That makes six demos total, only four of which are listed on the page which describes itself as "all demos".
Look, a modestly skilled monkey could do the work Sony needs done. What they really lack is competence. The demos are available elsewhere on Sony's own fricking pages, for Pete's sake. Here's the official page for the LocoRoco Holiday Demo. The download link on this page gets you the KillZone: Liberation demo.
Forget for now that there should be dozens of PSP demos available to promote the system. (I listed some I'd advocate in this earlier post.) Put aside the fact that, as an avid PSP user, I actually check every week to see if there are new demos by visiting the official PSP site through the PSP browser. Sony is getting trounced in the handheld market (the DS outsold the PSP 3-to-1 in the U.S. in the past month), yet can't manage to exploit one of its greatest strengths over the competition. What will it take for them to change? Or will they just give up and blame someone else for their self-inflicted failure?
If you have a PSP with browser, or you use the correct user agent string in your non-PSP browser (namely "Mozilla/4.0 (PSP (PlayStation Portable); 2.00)"), you can visit the official PSP site. When you get there, you'll see this:
Prominently featured on the main page is a link to the All Demos page. It's the blue bar in the screenshot above. As of this moment there are four demos listed on the page advertised as listing all PSP demos, as shown below:
What's wrong with that? The total number of demos is six, not four! (In case you're wondering, I'm not hiding anything below the bottom of the screen in the shot above. It doesn't scroll any further, and there are no other games to show.)You may recall that 45 days ago Sony was advertising its Killzone: Liberation demo, although not on this All Demos page. To this day that demo is not visible through Sony's official PSP browser site. Since the announcement of improved demo support Sony has also released a Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror demo, which did get listed on the demo page. (See above.) Before any of that there was a LocoRoco Holiday Demo, which also cannot be found through the official PSP browser site. That makes six demos total, only four of which are listed on the page which describes itself as "all demos".
Look, a modestly skilled monkey could do the work Sony needs done. What they really lack is competence. The demos are available elsewhere on Sony's own fricking pages, for Pete's sake. Here's the official page for the LocoRoco Holiday Demo. The download link on this page gets you the KillZone: Liberation demo.
Forget for now that there should be dozens of PSP demos available to promote the system. (I listed some I'd advocate in this earlier post.) Put aside the fact that, as an avid PSP user, I actually check every week to see if there are new demos by visiting the official PSP site through the PSP browser. Sony is getting trounced in the handheld market (the DS outsold the PSP 3-to-1 in the U.S. in the past month), yet can't manage to exploit one of its greatest strengths over the competition. What will it take for them to change? Or will they just give up and blame someone else for their self-inflicted failure?
--jvm at 22:59
Comment
[ 3 ]
03 March 2007
Notes: Payback (GBA), Gradius Collection (PSP)
While I'm working on Beyond Good & Evil (i.e. winner of this comments thread), I've picked up two new handheld games to pass the time.
- Payback (GBA) - I am a sucker for oddball games, it's true. So when I saw Payback, a nearly-full-3D Grand Theft Auto clone for the Game Boy Advance, I was instantly intrigued. Regrettably, it was never released in North America, and Nintendo's rules prevent the publisher from shipping the international version to me directly.
My first attempt to get it from someone who listed himself as being in Australia, where the game was published, netted me a package shipped directly from Hong Kong with -- you guessed it -- a cheap rip-off. That copy has been donated to academia for further study.
A European friend arranged to purchase from the publisher on my behalf and forward the game to me here in the States, so now I have the real thing.
I spent about an hour with it this afternoon, and it is really a fascinating clone of GTA. The pay phone missions start you off in Liberty City ... ahem ... I mean Freedom City. Running down a pedestrian leaves bloody tire tracks on the pavement. Missions involve the usual Point A to Point B to Point C mechanics. Practically the only familiar GTA hallmark I haven't seen is the line of Hare Krishnas in the park.
The controls are a bit wonky. Be prepared to struggle with them a bit, but they'll grow on you. If there is a lot of gunplay later on, I suspect it will mean frustration. I should also mention that Liber--Freedom City is located on an island nation, so you'll be driving on the wrong side of the road.
I enjoyed the time I dropped into the game and I suspect I'll pick it up again from time to time. However, it won't be an obsession. - Gradius Collection (PSP) - The recent Best Buy clearance netted me my first $5 PSP game, Gradius Collection. While I've played side-scrolling shmups before (like R-Type), I have never seen a Gradius game, either in an arcade or on a home system.
The short of it is that I like what I've seen so far. Granted, I hated my first three games, because I had no idea what was going on, but now that I understand a bit more about what's going on I really enjoy it. Gradius and Gradius II are the games I've played the most and they're similar enough that the skills carry over, but the levels are different enough that I'm enjoying them independently.
The options allow you to tune the difficulty, which is helpful for newbies like me. There are also options to view the game at the resolution offered in the arcade and in a stretched mode to use all the PSP screen.
For $5, I'd buy just about any game. However, Gradius Collection is one that I'd've picked up at $15 had I known how much fun it could be.
--jvm at 21:58
Comment
[ 4 ]
06 February 2007
Why Manhunt 2 may not appear on PS3 and Xbox 360
Today Rockstar announced that Manhunt 2, sequel to the sadistic original game from 2003, will be published for the PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, and Nintendo Wii. While I am dismayed that another sadistic piece of garbage will be published, the choice of platforms is very interesting. If Rockstar were to simply port the version from the PlayStation 2 to the more powerful Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, they would be skewered for the lazy effort. They may avoid a full version of Manhunt 2 for those newer platforms, one that takes full advantage of the next generation hardware, because the end result would tread a little too close to real not just for the likes of Jack Thompson or even the ESRB but for the general public.
The passing generation of console hardware can do some amazing things. One has merely to look at Halo 2 and God of War 2 to see what the hardware can accomplish in capable hands. Yet those games fall measurably short of photorealistic. Most average people can still tell that the images on the screen aren't real.
For the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, however, the gap has narrowed. Moreover, this is Rockstar, creators of Table Tennis for the Xbox 360, a game lauded for its realism. On these newer platforms, the expectation of photorealism -- or some close approximation -- will be intense. Were Rockstar to make a photorealistic Manhunt, they'd need to show all the gore that had previously been chunky and blurry in the lower polygon, muddy textured PlayStation 2 game.
Manhunt is the kind of game that celebrates the image of a man's vain attempt to stuff his entrails back into his lacerated gut. No doubt there is a segment of the market that not only wants to see such sights, but in fact to cause them to happen. But the segment that stomached low resolution approximations of that scene on a PlayStation 2 is probably a good bit larger than the segment that wants to see a high resolution version, complete with pulsing, steaming, veiny intestines.
And Rockstar aren't alone in avoiding the bleeding edge of graphics. One of the most savvy moves I saw in the market last year was Valve's re-invention of Team Fortress. Imagine applying today's graphics to this original vision of TF2:
You would not come up with the form of TF2 that Valve has settled on:
So Rockstar has chosen to hit the platforms on which it can get away with this kind of game without crossing a virtual boundary. Beyond that boundary lies a whole new reality, the likes of which we have only begun to understand. I don't begrudge Rockstar's decision to avoid applying the full power of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to the kind of game that would force us to ask some uncomfortable questions. I wish them luck and I'll be watching as always, an interested observer. However, the questions are still there: How real is too real? Which virtual activity will we, as a society, be willing to tolerate?
The passing generation of console hardware can do some amazing things. One has merely to look at Halo 2 and God of War 2 to see what the hardware can accomplish in capable hands. Yet those games fall measurably short of photorealistic. Most average people can still tell that the images on the screen aren't real.
For the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, however, the gap has narrowed. Moreover, this is Rockstar, creators of Table Tennis for the Xbox 360, a game lauded for its realism. On these newer platforms, the expectation of photorealism -- or some close approximation -- will be intense. Were Rockstar to make a photorealistic Manhunt, they'd need to show all the gore that had previously been chunky and blurry in the lower polygon, muddy textured PlayStation 2 game.
Manhunt is the kind of game that celebrates the image of a man's vain attempt to stuff his entrails back into his lacerated gut. No doubt there is a segment of the market that not only wants to see such sights, but in fact to cause them to happen. But the segment that stomached low resolution approximations of that scene on a PlayStation 2 is probably a good bit larger than the segment that wants to see a high resolution version, complete with pulsing, steaming, veiny intestines.
And Rockstar aren't alone in avoiding the bleeding edge of graphics. One of the most savvy moves I saw in the market last year was Valve's re-invention of Team Fortress. Imagine applying today's graphics to this original vision of TF2:
You would not come up with the form of TF2 that Valve has settled on:
So Rockstar has chosen to hit the platforms on which it can get away with this kind of game without crossing a virtual boundary. Beyond that boundary lies a whole new reality, the likes of which we have only begun to understand. I don't begrudge Rockstar's decision to avoid applying the full power of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to the kind of game that would force us to ask some uncomfortable questions. I wish them luck and I'll be watching as always, an interested observer. However, the questions are still there: How real is too real? Which virtual activity will we, as a society, be willing to tolerate?
--jvm at 18:53
Comment
[ 9 ]
01 February 2007
YES!
Finally, a Castlevania for PSP and on top of it, it's a remake of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. Sony's not completely asleep at the switch, it would appear. Video here.
A year ago, the PSP scene felt like a wasteland to me. It's not saturated with games I want to play, like the PlayStation 2, but it is very respectable.
A year ago, the PSP scene felt like a wasteland to me. It's not saturated with games I want to play, like the PlayStation 2, but it is very respectable.
Labels: castlevania, psp, sony
--jvm at 21:58
Comment
[ 10 ]
30 January 2007
PSP: Now with 25% more demos!
Today Sony released firmware version 3.10 (wonder why?) and announced the availability of a Killzone: Liberation demo. This brings to five the total number of demos available directly from Sony:
- LocoRoco
- World Tour Soccer 06
- LocoRoco Halloween Demo
- LocoRoco Christmas Demo
- Killzone: Liberation
[Sony] promised that more first- and third-party demos would be released on an ongoing basis. In the coming weeks, Sony expects to offer demos for Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2.Well, that's a start, but hardly the best the PSP has to offer. I hope Sony breaks the system wide open for third parties, especially smaller ones, to put out demos of their games. My own choices for demos would be:
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- Lumines 2
- Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee
- Field Commander
- Tekken: Dark Resurrection
- Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection
- Every Extend Extra
--jvm at 20:34
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[ 0 ]
29 January 2007
Sony's PSOne on PSP: punishing the faithful...again
Sony needs to fix the PSOne emulation situation on the PSP right now.
There is now a firmware downgrader for every PSP ever sold, including my own which has been upgraded to firmware version 3.03. Anyone who owns a PSP and an older copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (I do) can then install a copy of the PSOne emulator that Sony has been selling through its PlayStation Store. Then you can rip your very own PSOne games and play them with the emulator.
The catch is that redistribution of the emulator is probably illegal. I'd guess that it has also been hacked in a way that allows it to use any game image, which probably violated the DMCA at some level and certainly the license agreement that came with the software. So, for reasons other than not wanting to brick my PSP, I'm going to stay away from hacked firmware and the emulator.
Sony needs to remedy the situation right now, or else risk deeply angering some of the fans of its hardware and software. (I count myself among those.) As it is, the folks willing to partake in copyright infringement (distribution of the emulator) are getting the most from their Sony hardware.
To fix this, Sony needs to:
Perhaps there is some other means by which Sony can stop slapping the fans in the face, but it needs to fix the situation and fast.
There is now a firmware downgrader for every PSP ever sold, including my own which has been upgraded to firmware version 3.03. Anyone who owns a PSP and an older copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (I do) can then install a copy of the PSOne emulator that Sony has been selling through its PlayStation Store. Then you can rip your very own PSOne games and play them with the emulator.
The catch is that redistribution of the emulator is probably illegal. I'd guess that it has also been hacked in a way that allows it to use any game image, which probably violated the DMCA at some level and certainly the license agreement that came with the software. So, for reasons other than not wanting to brick my PSP, I'm going to stay away from hacked firmware and the emulator.
Sony needs to remedy the situation right now, or else risk deeply angering some of the fans of its hardware and software. (I count myself among those.) As it is, the folks willing to partake in copyright infringement (distribution of the emulator) are getting the most from their Sony hardware.
To fix this, Sony needs to:
- Make the PlayStation Store available to PSP owners.
- Sell the emulator to me at some reasonable price. Let me suggest no more than $60, although lower is better. And upgrades/improvements should be free.
- Include a game ripper with the emulator or sell it separately. I don't care.
- Sell pre-ripped images of games (guaranteed to work) for a modest fee (say $4).
Perhaps there is some other means by which Sony can stop slapping the fans in the face, but it needs to fix the situation and fast.
--jvm at 11:09
Comment
[ 11 ]
27 January 2007
Woohoo! PSP Castlevania!
Via NeoGAF I've found out that the February issue of Play magazine has this statement:
Heck, with a good year of PSP titles I might even be content enough to hold off on the PlayStation 3 until late 2007. After all it is my PS3-killer.
There's an epic PSP surprise in the offing too...can you say Dracula X meets Symphony of the NightIf true, the PSP will have moved up yet another notch in my estimation. And if it's a port, or an enhanced version of Rondo of Blood, then my question from last summer will have been answered in a way I never saw coming. Could this be evidence that Sony is finally making the moves it needs to secure the exclusive games to make its systems stand out? Probably not. Watch Rondo of Blood hit XBLA first, or something similar.
Heck, with a good year of PSP titles I might even be content enough to hold off on the PlayStation 3 until late 2007. After all it is my PS3-killer.
Labels: castlevania, psp, sony
--jvm at 19:02
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[ 0 ]
Speaking of unused multiplayer
I managed a cheap copy of Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast for my PSP last night. It's a completely different racing experience from Ridge Racer, but it does have infrastructure network play. Nine months after release there isnt' anyone online. I tried last night for about 15 minutes waiting for someone to show up and then again today. Now, this isn't like immediately after release (as Ken Levine was discussing), but a full nine months past Outrun's April 2006 release, so it's perhaps not completely surprising, but it is disappointing. Given the sad state of PSP software sales in 2006, there are probably only a few thousand people out there with this game and of those only a fraction probably play online. If there has to be a silver lining, it's that most (perhaps all) networked PSP games don't require a central server for ad hoc gaming, so we can avoid the dead networked game syndrome.
Ah well, if someone wants to play Outrun 2006 for the PSP online, drop me an email or comment. I'm still learning to drive this thing, though, so if you've played more than an hour you'll probably be doing far better than I.
Ah well, if someone wants to play Outrun 2006 for the PSP online, drop me an email or comment. I'm still learning to drive this thing, though, so if you've played more than an hour you'll probably be doing far better than I.
Labels: multiplayer, online, psp, sony
--jvm at 12:02
Comment
[ 3 ]
17 January 2007
Again, with the nub!
From Kris Graft's piece today on the PSP games we can expect in 2007:
Positive:
As a consistent reader of Next-Gen.biz I see plenty of stuff that Kris has written, and generally I think it's well done. The slamming of the nub, however, is really off the mark. It's like the Jaguar controller crap all over again.
We know what you're thinking; shooters rarely work on PSP because of the sad analog nub.No, I wasn't thinking that. In fact, now that you mention it, I still think it's wrong. Let's look at some shooters on the PSP and review quotes about the controls:
Positive:
- Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror - "smooth, well-designed control scheme" (source)
- Killzone: Liberation - "The shooting mechanics are handled very well in Liberation." (source)
- SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo - "intuitive interface" (source)
- SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 - "Whether you're sneaking or shooting, the controls are easy to grasp and they work well for the most part." (source)
- Medal of Honor Heroes - "It takes a little while to become accustomed to the default control scheme, and it does have a few shortcomings, but overall it works quite nicely." (source)
- Pursuit Force - "Control is, admittedly, slightly wonky. But thanks to a lock-on mechanism, it's easy to handle crowds of gun-toting gang members." (source)
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - "complicated control scheme has a steep learning curve" (source)
- Bounty Hounds - "With a better camera and improved controls, it could have been a real contender." (source)
- Star Wars: Battlefront II - "Interface makes for somewhat awkward controls" (source)
- From Russia with Love - "the idiotic method of auto-targeting makes it a real problem" (source)
- Ghost in the Shell - "Sluggish, imprecise controls" (source)
- Armored Core: Formula Front - "manual controls are sluggish and difficult to use" (source)
As a consistent reader of Next-Gen.biz I see plenty of stuff that Kris has written, and generally I think it's well done. The slamming of the nub, however, is really off the mark. It's like the Jaguar controller crap all over again.
--jvm at 12:51
Comment
[ 1 ]
15 January 2007
The PSP nub ain't that bad
At the mention of Every Extend Extra this evening on IRC I was reminded of one of the more annoying exaggerations you're apt to hear about the PSP: the analog nub is horrible. A game that requires quick reflexes and fine control would be impossible if the PSP's nub were as bad as some writers have made it out to be. Yet, EEE is playable on the higher levels precisely because the controls are so responsive.
If a PSP game has horrible controls then I'm tempted to blame the developer, not the hardware. The hardware is more than capable.
If a PSP game has horrible controls then I'm tempted to blame the developer, not the hardware. The hardware is more than capable.
--jvm at 20:32
Comment
[ 0 ]
13 January 2007
Do you use your PSP?
I second Dustin's question: Just what are people doing with all those PSPs? I use my PSP to play games, but apparently many people don't. Or if they do, they only play really old games.
According to the NPD data for 2006, Sony has sold around 6.7 million PSPs in the U.S. since the launch but then no single game sold more than 600,000 copies in the last year. I have a hard time believing that kind of data, but there it is. Moreover, the games that are selling well are all from 2005.
I can't believe that enough people know about the homebrew/emulation possibilities for that to be the answer.
I fear that what's really happening is that people are thinking they want one, buying it, picking up one new game and a handful of cheap old games, and then packing the whole thing away and forgetting about it. That would explain the continued hardware sales, fueled mostly by the PlayStation brand and a few higher profile games, but slack software sales.
I certainly understand how that happens -- my own PSP sat idle for months during 2006. Things turned around for me -- my PSP has gotten heavy use for the past three months, almost exclusively on new games -- but one wonders if it isn't too little, too late for the public.
According to the NPD data for 2006, Sony has sold around 6.7 million PSPs in the U.S. since the launch but then no single game sold more than 600,000 copies in the last year. I have a hard time believing that kind of data, but there it is. Moreover, the games that are selling well are all from 2005.
I can't believe that enough people know about the homebrew/emulation possibilities for that to be the answer.
I fear that what's really happening is that people are thinking they want one, buying it, picking up one new game and a handful of cheap old games, and then packing the whole thing away and forgetting about it. That would explain the continued hardware sales, fueled mostly by the PlayStation brand and a few higher profile games, but slack software sales.
I certainly understand how that happens -- my own PSP sat idle for months during 2006. Things turned around for me -- my PSP has gotten heavy use for the past three months, almost exclusively on new games -- but one wonders if it isn't too little, too late for the public.
--jvm at 01:34
Comment
[ 12 ]
04 January 2007
Not dead
I hate to start the new year this way, but I literally have nothing to say. The news has been light and nothing I've read has particularly interested me. I'm busy playing games (Final Fantasy III DS and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops) and doing some reading.
For what it's worth, I'm considering an LCD TV over a PS3 for the time being. So there is that.
For what it's worth, I'm considering an LCD TV over a PS3 for the time being. So there is that.
--jvm at 21:04
Comment
[ 7 ]
26 December 2006
A Gaming Father's Xmas Day
Here's how I spent my quality time with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops on Christmas day.
- Wake up.
- Open presents.
- Cheer at receiving Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for my PSP
- Assemble toys for the kids
- Play with toys
- Cook pancakes for brunch
- Eat pancakes
- Clean while kids and wife sleep
- Play with more toys when everyone wakes up
- Steal 10 minutes with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops -- 2 minutes to get started, 5 minutes of cut scene, 2 minutes of moving around, 1 more minute of cut scene
- Cook turkey for big supper
- Make chocolate pie
- Eat big supper
- Bathtime for kids
- Take kids around neighborhood to see lights and decorations
- Pie time
- Bedtime for kids
- Clean kitchen
- Pack for travel next day
- Sleep
Labels: psp
--jvm at 20:59
Comment
[ 8 ]
25 December 2006
Sony fails the Napster test, PSOne emulator in the wild
Today some PSP owners can play many PSOne games on their PSPs -- reportedly with perfect speed, sound, and graphics -- without Sony's blessing. A hacked firmware on certain models allows the use of Sony's own emulator to play rips of original PSOne games. And, so, Sony caps off an awful year by failing to understand that when a market for your product appears you must seize it immediately or the world will leave you behind with empty pockets.
This is a lesson the RIAA and its members had to learn the hard way via Napster, Limewire, and all the other file-sharing networks that thrived on the public's desire for digital music downloads. While they looked in vain for a perfect solution to protecting their copyrights, they forgot that people are willing to pay for music, but those same people have limited patience.
Three steps I'll suggest are often necessary for winning your market:
I have no idea what Sony does now. I guess if the games that people download on the PlayStation Network are really just rips of PSOne games running in a universal emulator, then Sony needs to get that emulator out quick or lose any chance of cashing in on this situation. If it were available for purchase right now, I'd pony up for it. I'd even pay for a nice application that would take care of ripping my existing games to a handy format so I could play them with a minimum of hassle.
If Sony is selling enhanced, improved versions of PSOne games for use in their emulator, then they still need to get that stuff out and soon. They need to explain how their versions are superior to the versions we can all buy used in our local stores. They need to justify the cost somehow. (Networked Twisted Metal 2 would be nice, while I'm wishing.)
The current state is unacceptable. They've built a user base of PSP owners, simultaneously teased and neglected them, and now the market has moved past them to provide what Sony won't. Do something Sony. Anything.
This is a lesson the RIAA and its members had to learn the hard way via Napster, Limewire, and all the other file-sharing networks that thrived on the public's desire for digital music downloads. While they looked in vain for a perfect solution to protecting their copyrights, they forgot that people are willing to pay for music, but those same people have limited patience.
Three steps I'll suggest are often necessary for winning your market:
- Get your own product out there early.
- Make it accessible.
- Price it attractively.
- It has had the PSP out for over 18 months (in the U.S.) and still hasn't addressed the demand for emulated PSOne games on the handheld -- a demand that Sony itself drove when it announced that it had such plans.
- It has yet to make the few emulated games it has released accessible to the majority existing PSP users, myself included. Instead, users have to first own a PlayStation 3, through which they can purchase the games and then transfer them to a PSP.
- It has only succeeded in making its own product reasonably priced, with games costing around $6 each.
I have no idea what Sony does now. I guess if the games that people download on the PlayStation Network are really just rips of PSOne games running in a universal emulator, then Sony needs to get that emulator out quick or lose any chance of cashing in on this situation. If it were available for purchase right now, I'd pony up for it. I'd even pay for a nice application that would take care of ripping my existing games to a handy format so I could play them with a minimum of hassle.
If Sony is selling enhanced, improved versions of PSOne games for use in their emulator, then they still need to get that stuff out and soon. They need to explain how their versions are superior to the versions we can all buy used in our local stores. They need to justify the cost somehow. (Networked Twisted Metal 2 would be nice, while I'm wishing.)
The current state is unacceptable. They've built a user base of PSP owners, simultaneously teased and neglected them, and now the market has moved past them to provide what Sony won't. Do something Sony. Anything.
--jvm at 22:28
Comment
[ 1 ]
15 December 2006
Comments: Every Extend Extra (PSP)
The abstract synesthesia shooter Every Extend Extra, available on the PSP, is a beautiful piece of work with some practical failings. I don't think it's possible to review this kind of game in the traditional sense, so I'll simply offer some comments on my experience.
Writing out how the game works in detail is complicated, even though the game itself is simple. It's easiest to just watch it being played. Suffice to say you earn points by detonating yourself near enemies, are rewarded by causing chain reactions as enemies ignite each other, and if you don't earn points quickly enough then either you run out of ammunition or a timer runs out. In either case, your game ends. Each level takes a fixed amount of time before the boss appears. Further, the graphic design varies from level to level though the gameplay doesn't.
The music reacts in time to your actions. If you've seen Rez, then you've got the gist of it.
I cannot stop playing this game, and I've even found myself playing in my head as I sleep. Like many other addictive games, it presents a power to bring order to a randomly generated situation, and rewards satisfyingly when you find that sweet spot which clears the screen. With short, intense games it is precisely the kind of game that Sony needs on the PSP.
The instructions, on the other hand, are a bit of a mess. The tutorials, for those of you who don't read the manual, are buried at the bottom of the Options menu. They don't tell you everything, though, and I'm just now learning to use the R+L method of detonation. It also suffers from load times that go on too long, especially for the relatively spare graphics used in each level.
I grabbed it for $20 and that's just the right price for me. Any more and I'd've felt a bit ripped off.
If you'd like to try something similar the original game, Every Extend, is available for Windows here.
Writing out how the game works in detail is complicated, even though the game itself is simple. It's easiest to just watch it being played. Suffice to say you earn points by detonating yourself near enemies, are rewarded by causing chain reactions as enemies ignite each other, and if you don't earn points quickly enough then either you run out of ammunition or a timer runs out. In either case, your game ends. Each level takes a fixed amount of time before the boss appears. Further, the graphic design varies from level to level though the gameplay doesn't.
The music reacts in time to your actions. If you've seen Rez, then you've got the gist of it.
I cannot stop playing this game, and I've even found myself playing in my head as I sleep. Like many other addictive games, it presents a power to bring order to a randomly generated situation, and rewards satisfyingly when you find that sweet spot which clears the screen. With short, intense games it is precisely the kind of game that Sony needs on the PSP.
The instructions, on the other hand, are a bit of a mess. The tutorials, for those of you who don't read the manual, are buried at the bottom of the Options menu. They don't tell you everything, though, and I'm just now learning to use the R+L method of detonation. It also suffers from load times that go on too long, especially for the relatively spare graphics used in each level.
I grabbed it for $20 and that's just the right price for me. Any more and I'd've felt a bit ripped off.
If you'd like to try something similar the original game, Every Extend, is available for Windows here.
--jvm at 11:09
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Sony stupid about PSP demos (revisited)
I've written before about my frustration with PSP demos, but the appearance this week of yet another Loco Roco demo just brought home how braindead Sony appears to be. As a North American PSP owner, I have access to five demos* directly from Sony** and three of them are variations on Loco Roco. I realize I've got a bias, because I just don't enjoy the little yellow blobs like some people apparently do, but I don't think most PSP owners are wetting themselves with glee over holiday-themed demos.
Let's compare with the other major system that's designed to grab data, like demos and movies, off the internets, the Xbox 360. You know how many games have demos on Xbox Live? FIFTY FIVE. That's right, 50 and then 5 more. There are even multiple demos for some games, for the demo-downloading completist.
I realize Sony's been a little busy screwing up its PlayStation 3 launch, but surely they can put some dedicated people on the PSP side of things and leave them there with resources to help the system live up to its potential. Right?
I will give Sony this, however: the ability to connect to your PlayStation 3 via your PSP from anywhere you have a network connection is pretty awesome. I haven't seen it in practice yet, but the idea is really quite intriguing. It is precisely the kind of feature Sony needs to one-up Xbox Live. Since Sony has the dedicated handheld platform to built upon, it is playing to a strength that Microsoft doesn't have (yet).
* I should note that I think there are five demos. I can't get my PSP online in my current location to double check. Corrections in the comments, por favor.
** Yes, I can download some unofficially and install them. Most are in Japanese.
Let's compare with the other major system that's designed to grab data, like demos and movies, off the internets, the Xbox 360. You know how many games have demos on Xbox Live? FIFTY FIVE. That's right, 50 and then 5 more. There are even multiple demos for some games, for the demo-downloading completist.
I realize Sony's been a little busy screwing up its PlayStation 3 launch, but surely they can put some dedicated people on the PSP side of things and leave them there with resources to help the system live up to its potential. Right?
I will give Sony this, however: the ability to connect to your PlayStation 3 via your PSP from anywhere you have a network connection is pretty awesome. I haven't seen it in practice yet, but the idea is really quite intriguing. It is precisely the kind of feature Sony needs to one-up Xbox Live. Since Sony has the dedicated handheld platform to built upon, it is playing to a strength that Microsoft doesn't have (yet).
* I should note that I think there are five demos. I can't get my PSP online in my current location to double check. Corrections in the comments, por favor.
** Yes, I can download some unofficially and install them. Most are in Japanese.
--jvm at 10:04
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[ 2 ]
11 December 2006
Installable PSP games
The UMD drive in the Sony PSP was a huge mistake. The format is essentially dead for movies. Having a mechanical drive in the PSP eats up the battery and probably makes the whole system more prone to failure. Memory Stick PRO Duos can now be had in 4 gigabyte sizes, over twice the capacity of a UMD, for reasonable prices. And today we find out that Sony has cards in development that have eight times that capacity, or almost 18 times the size of dual-layer UMD.
I've been told that shipping games on Memory Stick would be cost prohibitive. So perhaps Sony could continue to ship games on UMD but offer an option to have the game install itself on a large enough Memory Stick. I'd gladly plunk down for the largest Memory Stick I could find if I could install several of my games on the card, get increased battery life, and faster load times.
This weekend I bought Every Extend Extra (it was on sale for $20, a deal I couldn't pass up) and the disc access is painful. The game doesn't involve tremendous amounts of data like, say, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories might but it does slow down a bit when the UMD has stopped spinning while playing a level and then has to be spun back up to speed. EEE would probably fit on a smaller Memory Stick and thereby avoid the grinding disc access that currently breaks up what is an otherwise slick presentation.
No doubt unscrupulous people would find some way to exploit the system and play games they don't legally own. I can't help that. But with a system to install games on Memory Stick, Sony might be able to pave the way to a revision of the hardware that eliminates the UMD drive and moves to fixed media altogether.
I've been told that shipping games on Memory Stick would be cost prohibitive. So perhaps Sony could continue to ship games on UMD but offer an option to have the game install itself on a large enough Memory Stick. I'd gladly plunk down for the largest Memory Stick I could find if I could install several of my games on the card, get increased battery life, and faster load times.
This weekend I bought Every Extend Extra (it was on sale for $20, a deal I couldn't pass up) and the disc access is painful. The game doesn't involve tremendous amounts of data like, say, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories might but it does slow down a bit when the UMD has stopped spinning while playing a level and then has to be spun back up to speed. EEE would probably fit on a smaller Memory Stick and thereby avoid the grinding disc access that currently breaks up what is an otherwise slick presentation.
No doubt unscrupulous people would find some way to exploit the system and play games they don't legally own. I can't help that. But with a system to install games on Memory Stick, Sony might be able to pave the way to a revision of the hardware that eliminates the UMD drive and moves to fixed media altogether.
--jvm at 19:29
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