Dead Nation...finished!

My wife asked me why I enjoy playing horror games yet never like to watch them.  I told her that with a game, I have control on when I die; with a movie, I'm invested in character to whom I don't know whether they will live or die.  I hate surprises, but I like it when I have somewhat control over them.

Anyways, I finished Dead Nation, the other free game from Sony after their online downtime.  I'm quite pleased with the game, and it definitely warrants more playthroughs, much like the other free game InFamous I downloaded as well.  The game becomes equally as hectic when you play co-op, which I highly suggest you do with this game.  Nothing like yelling to your friend to cover your back as you get flanked from both sides with hoards of zombies.

InFamous 2...finished! (as good guy)

A sandbox title should keep you playing "in" the sandbox for as long as you want, with no concern for time or urgency.  InFamous 2 does a great job doing this in all their side missions, shard-collecting treks, and random city navigation.  If I didn't want to do a story-based mission, I can hit up a side mission.  If I don't want to do a side mission, I can randomly collect shards or find dead drops.  If I don't want to do that, I just enjoyed myself surfing around the city.

If there's one thing I'd add, is that the shard sense should've expanded to the dead drops as well.  I wouldn't never considered the last dead drop location I had left in the location that it was in.

There's still the joy of being evil in InFamous 2 to complete, but I'll do that once I finish being evil in the first InFamous.

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.

Games I've never played until now: InFamous

Game: InFamous
Release Date: May 26th, 2009
Reason for not playing it: Hate having to choose.

Playing games with morality never was a strong point in my book for a video game.  There are always two choices to make, and whatever choice you made would always make you wonder about that other choice.  And you know you'll have to play the game all over again a second time just to make those alternate choices - that is, IF the game is good enough to tolerate through a second playthrough.  Luckily, InFamous is quite good at being a good game.

I think the morality system overall turned me off from InFamous.  Just the thought of having to play the game a second time just to make evil choices instead of good riled me up, making me want to say "what, you think you're good enough to play a second time just to see how things would've turned out?"  I should've known the answer to that already if it's a game from Sucker Punch, creator of the wonderful Sly Cooper series.

After starting up InFamous, in no time did I make the analogy that the game was like Sly Cooper in a HUGE playground.  It's like playing Sly Cooper 2, where you play a Sly who already has the prior knowledge from the first game to run on tightropes, climb on pipes, and spire jump on pointy structures.  No joke, I spent a good amount of time jumping on the "no vehicle" poles by the park, going full parkour from pole to pole.  The amount of attention to climbable points on a building is ridiculous.

Cole's ability is the power of electricity, which I largely thought was just a one-note ability.  Turns out it's only the theme for performing projectile attacks, grenade blasts, seismic drop blasts, hovering, speed-grinding, energy-sapping, enemy hand-cuffing, and more.  Plus, the game does a great way of doling out a story in which you restore a city from being without electricity to lighting it up like a christmas tree, Okami-style.

While the morality system seems to be very simplistic and almost entirely straight-forward (Cole's inner monologue tells you what's good or bad), the lasting affect of your choices really shines in the game.  As you favor one side over the other, not only do you and your missions change, but the environment changes.  Walls get plastered with poster propaganda, pedestrians change their attitude towards you depending on your side.  Overall, you get a sense that your actions really do affect these NPCs.  Even the tiny missions come off as random incidents, notifying you with the "point of interest" indicator.  These range from just viewing the televised reports in the city to focusing on a pedestrian's cry for help for assistance.  These things not only make the gameplay more immersive, but it makes the surroundings feel more real.

Verdict:

Almost 2 days to the 2-year mark that I haven't played InFamous, and I can't believe I let this game slip past my radar.  Even though I'm borrowing my friend's copy of the game, I'll certainly download it for free once the PSN is back up.  I'm glad I'm playing InFamous now, especially with the sequel coming out soon which will have the Uncharted 3 multiplayer Beta!

Chrono Trigger released for Wii Virtual Console!

Chrono Trigger has finally been released to the Virtual Console, so if you've avoided getting the original SNES cartridge, the PSX re-release, or the DS re-re-release, you can get it now on the Wii!

To commemorate my already-insane love for this game, I now present to you the video of my "To Far Away Times" LBP2-created tribute level!  (Thanks, JHKthree!)

If a game is re-released 3 times over, you know the game is well-renounced.

Portal 2 (single player mode)...finished!

With many articles willing to spill out the game's story and secrets as if the writers expect gamers to play as fast as they did, I'll keep mine very short and sweet.  I will say this, though - Portal 2 is definitely longer than the original Portal.  And I'm playing single player mode again.  And again.  And again.  At least until they release more levels in the summer.

I'll still need a partner to complete co-op mode, though.

Portal 2 (and Steam copy) arrives promptly

Not long after I finished the first Portal, Portal 2 one arrives at my doorstep today.  And because it's a PS3 copy, a free copy on Steam is inside as well!

I'm probably one of the last amongst my friends to acquire a Steam account, and I have to say, the service is nice and refreshing.  Not only do you don't have to deal with the excess cardboard clutter one usually deals with for computer games, but everything's associated to your online account.  It's nice to know that my games are still with me when I change hardware.

Plus, with the added benefit of playing with other Steam players through my PS3 game, I can choose my preference of control.  That being said, finishing Portal re-introduced me back to the ol' "keyboard and mouse" control scheme that I'm now on the fence.  Though, if I ever feel like changing back and forth, at least my game saves to the Steam cloud, so I don't have to be playing both games concurrently to play catch-up.

Rock Band 3...finished!

I think after 2 iterations, the Rock Band franchise has reached its peak. Granting Pro Mode for drums, guitar, and keyboard; introducing the Rock Band Network; incorporating the triple harmony from Beatles Rock Band, and the pause/resume feature from Lego Rock Band - this is the ultimate culmination of everything that's good or worked with Rock Band. And it's going to be hard to top, even for Harmonix.

And now with the new Fender guitar in my hands, Rock Band has become my guitar instructor and seeing some extended gameplay as I train my fingers. This game will always be in play, through all other future releases.

Portal...finished! (Finally)

Thanks to a friend's free Steam copy of Portal, I've finally played and finished the game in about a solid 4 hours. Now I've fully fleshing out those "the cake is a lie" references made throughout the years. After playing the original game from start to finish, I'm really looking forward to the sequel coming out this week.

I'm probably one of the few (if not, last) gamers that haven't finished Portal, but at least I've rectified that wrong. It wasn't that I didn't want to play the game - the gameplay concept was so simple and so unique, and executed so elegantly that you'll just have fun screwing around instead of trying to solve the puzzle.

I'm sure I'll kill as much time in the sequel coming out later this week.