The trials and tribulations of playing online...and enjoying it.

So after a few rounds of the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta, I realized something that wasn't new to me at all - that I'm a good online player.  Not good as in "headshot from 200 meters away," but good in staying in an online match and playing it.

I'm one of those players that don't care whether or not a game has online features, who is quite content killing the computer AI whose sole intent is to fall by your hand.  I'm used to being good in games and completing them, walking out from explosions without turning back and looking like a bad ass.  Online, however, I'm as good as dead.  Nothing happens the way you plan it, and your most elaborate kills turn out to be shooting the final bullet at someone else's target's barrage of bullets.

But I still consider myself a good online player.  Despite shooting like a blind man, I still rank up - maybe not as fast as the skilled players out there, but I get my kills every now and then.  And while I don't enjoy seeing my body crumple down like a paper doll, I don't get aggro or go into a verbal rampage.  And I try to stay through from match to match just to show that I'm not a quitter; that to quit a game mid-match is worse than being a sore loser.

And while eventually all the weaker players get weeded out and people are more confident in kicking out lesser players from their team deathmatch games, I will still be adamant in sticking around.  I shall forever play by Amy Hennig's motto - to "not take [playing online] so fucking seriously."  Thank you again, Amy, for understanding hesitant online gamers like me.

Woohoo! Happy June 28th, everyone!

Why?

Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta

Well, first off, the Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta kicks off today for all Playstation Plus members and early adopters of InFamous 2.  After almost a 3-week wait after InFamous 2 came out, players can now redeem that voucher to get early dibs on the 3-week Beta trial!  The Beta will be open for everyone else July 5th.  And

Beyond Good and Evil HD

This re-mastered version of a video game cult classic has now finally arrived on the PSN.  I've been very vocal about Beyond Good and Evil and its on-again-off-again impending sequel of sorts, but there's just something about the first game that just was done well.  And while I do own my own physical copy of the game on GameCube, to see it again in HD will be a welcome sight.

Recently-acquired games before and after E3

There have been a few new games occupying my attention these past few weeks, so I've decided to lump them all together into one post to put into scope my "gameritis."

In the months prior to E3, I acquired a couple more 3DS games - Steel Diver and PilotWings Resort.  Both games, while looking decent in 3D, proved to be quite short and lacking in anything more than their original gameplay.

Shortly before E3, when the PSN service was fully up and operational, I decided to fully support the Back to the Future games by purchasing the entire series, as well as Arcana Heart 3.  In the former, I can't get enough of anything related to the movies, and the Telltale style didn't get in the way of them telling an interesting appending story on time.  In the former...well, I just wanted to get a fighter with chicks.

After E3, I had InFamous 2: Hero Edition waitin for me, since it was released around the first day of E3.  The messenger bag became another laptop bag for me (wears comfortably), and the Sly Cooper patch was just gravy.  The statue it came with is actually nicely detailed, and is sitting pretty at my work desk. 

All other DLC was nice to have, especially since all of it was included in the package.  The only thing left is to wait one more week to sign up for the Uncharted 3 beta.

And on Monday I acquired The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS.  The game looks even better than I remembered, and I look forward to completing the game again once more!

I believe my plate is quite full now, thank you.

Post E3 2011: Some things never change

Being a one-man correspondant for one of the largest gaming events in the world is a daunting task, and clearly trying to capture all my coverage during the event was even more tiring this year than ever.

There are lots of stuff I still have yet to write up, and will hope to do so this week, so please bear with me as I play catch-up.

E3 2011: Day 1 Streetpass results

After the first day of E3, here’s that day’s results.
7:00 AM – Turned on 3DS

8:04 AM – Arrived at downdown LA, received first street pass – CommanderVideo! I don’t have a picture to prove it, but its greeting was “bittripgame.com.” But the Mii was a skinny figure with a Samus mask on – sounds like him. It makes sense, though, to make your Mii a virtual business card.

9:35 AM – 10 new people added (which is the max, I soon realize)

11:18 AM – 8 new people. Started to use them to unlock more pieces and play “Find Mii” since you can only use 10 at a time. So the first 10 people were wasted. Hmm, I got a ceo!

11:26 AM – 6 more people?? Okay, play some more…
11:31 AM – 9 more?? Okay, I need to get ready to enter the convention floor.
3:56 PM – 10 new people. Which doesn’t surprise me. But it’s a good time waster while waiting in line for events. Got someone from RockstarLeeds.

6:46 PM – 10 more people added. I got Zoidberg! And I’m exhausted.

Total number of new Miis Day 1 E3 = 54

E3 2011: Sony's successor to the PSP, the PS Vita!

Let the portable console wars begin!  Sony unveiled their now-officially-named PSVita device!  Priced at $249 for the Wi-Fi version and $299 for the 3G/Wi-Fi version, the PSVita will be released near the end of the year, sporting dual analog sticks and a touch-interface in the back.

Again, will reserve judgement until I get more hands-on, but this is going to be very interesting.

E3 2011: Nintendo's first pics of Wii U and touch-screen controller

Still playing catchup to the recent Nintendo press conference, but here are the first pics of Nintendo's newest console, the Wii U!

I'm holding reservations until I can get more hands-on with the devices, but from the looks of it, it appears that Nintendo's trying to simulate an extremely large version of the Nintendo DS, with the touch-screen as a handheld, and the TV as the large "top screen."

What do you guys think?

Pre-E3: What type of gamers make our games?

Everyone enjoys video games, but how much history is within each member in the industry?

When we judge video games, we rely on our own vast knowledge and history of video games in our lives whether we know it or not.  And with the many years that video games have been a part of our lives, we tend to forget that not every gamer was born with the same background.  For all we know, half of the engineers for Bioshock never owned an NES at all.

So I'm preparing an interesting questionaire to ask certain people on the floor, just to gauge how historically steeped is our video-game industry peeps are.  Some of the questions I'll be asking are:

• What was your very first system/console you played?
• What was your very first system/console you owned?
• What is your most favorite game?  Did you play the original of it, or a remake?
• Have you played in an arcade before?

I'll probably make more questions than this, but it would be great to know what type of gaming background various figures in the video game industry hail from.  I'll be providing pictures and job title details of the people that participate as well.

3DS street pass progress - E3 edition

Since getting my Nintendo 3DS, I've tried for a while to activate my street pass and accumulate my friend list. So far, I've been only able to acquire 4 friends total so far. With E3 just around the corner, I expect these numbers to wildly grow after each passing day. So, I'll post my street pass progress at the end of each day at E3 to see who I may run across.

While a majority of them will probably be other attendees' Miis, there's the small hope that I might snag a couple of video-game-industry Miis in the process!

Preparing for E3 2011...

It's that time again.  Time to stretch out my walking legs and get the skinny on the latest games that will engorge our eyes for the next year.  It's E3 season, all the players will be there, and I'll be in the thick of it all.

While I'm only an attendee, I'll still try to gain insight into whatever information I can get my hands on.  That being said, please submit to me any questions you'd like me to ask while on the showroom floor, either as a comment post or as an email to gameritisguy@gmail.com.  Bear in mind that results may vary due to schedules and, well, chaos of the convention.  But I'll do my best to get the answers you want. 

And all throughout next week, I'll be giving my best coverage from the showroom floor in both my blog here and in akiba-station.com, so be sure to check both sites for the latest and greatest!

L.A. Noire, or Ace Attorney without the training wheels

L.A. Noire is like a graduation from all the Phoenix Wright games; your choices aren't on a linear path towards being right, and you have to really focus on people's facial tells.  Okay, so there was that Apollo Justice game where you had to focus on people's facial tells, but they were all on cartoon images.

The great thing about the game is that, for the most part, the game continues on no matter what choices you make.  So you could be going down a completely different lead, arrest the wrong person, and let the actual criminal escape.  The game will still lead you down the story as if it was intended, and will not get in your way.  And even if you completely botch a case, you can always replay it again until you get it right.  I've went through one case already where half of my interrogation with a witness was botched, but I ended up catching the criminal in the end.  When the case was over, small hints inform me that if I had asked the right questions, I would've solved the case sooner than expected.  It's all these little "what ifs" that keep replay values high.

Add to this that all cases are set in mini-episodes, and you have a game that is sandbox-y yet still linear in story-telling - two things that I can completely get behind on.

InFamous...finished! (as good guy)

Much like completing Portal right before Portal 2, InFamous is now finished and tucked beneath my "complete" belt, and I'm ready for the sequel.  Going to probably go through the game as evil Cole now and see how my choices change me.