Tag: Sony

Playstation Plus – Too Much of a Good Thing

I’ve been on the Playstation Plus bandwagon since April this year and it’s been quite a ride. I’ve played at least 20 new games through it, some crap and some great. The whole idea of “playing games you wouldn’t normally play” is conductive to a bit of open-mindedness, but I found the opposite started happening as the months went on. The little bubble of “Playstation Plus” games became the only thing I played on PS3 without me even noticing. My eyes stopped looking at the shelf of games I decided were worth buying, because I always had a backlog of PS+ games to check out that might be good. The service obviously has many upsides but I don’t think it’s sustainable in its current form, and here’s a few reasons why.

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Get ready for E3 with your commemorative report card!

E3 Report Card(Click for larger version)
I’ve taken the liberty of filling out the first conference for you since everyone will be watching Apple @ WWDC.  Over the next two days fill out your cards and post them here and on the social medias or print a copy out to put on the fridge!

Conference Times in cities worth caring about after the jump.
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Metal Gear Solid 4 – Do you require Nanomachines™ in your diet? (WARNING: STORY SPOILERS)

MGS4

In the world of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, if you have convoluted plot-devices from previous games in that series that had no answers to the questions raised, then you can fix that problem with Nanomachines™! With Nanomachines™, you can keep killer diseases like cancer at bay, make your military units competent and/or zombies who can shoot things somehow, and explain ridiculous plot devices that destroyed any writing creditability you had circa pre-2001! And thanks to this being the final Metal Gear Solid title (ahahaha nope not really), Solid Snake gets the send off he deserves. Wait, no, he didn’t. That’s what most of Kojima’s blind-fanbase truly believes (like thinking Cyborg Raiden is a good character); in actuality, this is one of the most hateful games I’ve ever played. Unlike Metroid: Other M, which had an equally stupid storyline with gameplay-intrupting cutscenes that also had questionable character development, MGS4 did whatever it could to piss me off… and no, the 2012 patch doesn’t help matters either. Continue reading “Metal Gear Solid 4 – Do you require Nanomachines™ in your diet? (WARNING: STORY SPOILERS)” →

The Week that Shaped the Future of Gaming.

The way we game today is vastly different from just five years ago and worlds apart from prehistoric times when we blew into cartridges in the vain attempt to bring them to life on our fuzzy cathode ray tubes. Gaming is so different and continues to change so fast that many warn against trying to predict the future, for fear of looking foolish in hindsight. You won’t find such cowardice from me though and unlike some, who have built careers out of looking like fools, I’ll be correct. I’ll be correct because I’ve already had months of hindsight, using my incredible brain to critically evaluate last weeks news and extrapolating an accurate future from it. There were five key pieces of news last week that taken alone barely warrant comment but together shape the future direction of video game delivery. In decades to come I will be seen as a gaming prophet, the chosen one, able to divine meaning from these cryptic runes.

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Killzone 2 – Generic Fun

Killzone 2 is EXACTLY what you think it is. A military themed futuristic shooter with amazing graphics, a flashy campaign mode and a few classy dick jokes. I know, it’s 2012. At Pietriots we game according to our budgets and we take our time, because games are fun. Despite being an old predictable shooter, I felt the need to write about it because I was having a good time. The gameplay is quite impressive and the battlefields really feel alive, it was all going gre-

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The Next 5 Years: Naka’s Prediction

Greetings everyone, I am Yuji Naka and I have something to share with you all. This morning I woke up with a clear vision of the future. It was the first time in weeks I had a dream without my pal Sonic interrupting my fishing trip. It started this year and went all the way to the year 2017! Can you believe that? 5 years in a single night! I will have to talk to SEGA about making a new NiGHTs game with this concept. We always have great discussions when they catch me sneaking into my old office, hehe. Anyway, let me start with the year 2012, which I’m sure you all know well!

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Late to the PS3 party: LittleBigPunishment

Just over a week ago I finally bought a PS3 – there’s quite a few games on here I’ve been keen to play and Tales of Graces F was the pushing point, as well as my new Logitech G27 steering wheel that shamefully isn’t compatible with X360. I’ve been enjoying LittleBigPlanet so far; it’s a lot more fun than I expected. The physics aren’t horrible like I’ve read; it’s easy to adapt to, and the game has quite a bit of charm with some great music and pretty graphics.

It was all going fine until I foolishly plugged in my ethernet cable while the game was paused… THEN OPENED THE GATES OF HELL.

gamechanger

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Sony’s Treachery, Ten Years On

As the eleventh of September rolls around, the thoughts of everyone around the world will turn back to the victims of this terrible tragedy. And as we do, we let our minds wander towards the powerful feelings of sorrow, hate, and eventually a thirst for vengeance against the extremist group. Why? – we ask in exasperation, why did thousands have to die? Who could commit such atrocities? Certainly not Al Qaeda, a ragtag group of gun hobbyists in Central Asia. There is only one organisation with the resources, motive, willpower, and flagrant disregard for human life to disrupt the Nintendo GameCube launch in such an atrocious manner: Sony. Sony, the entertainment and electronic conglomerate were responsible for 9/11!!!!!!!

In the picture below, taken from a website that said it was from video footage of the World Trade Center attacks, you can clearly see the Sony logo on the tail of the plane. The other circles indicate where explosives, disguised as PS2s, were strapped to the exterior of the plan. You know, in case you’re too blind to make them out. I mean it’s clear to see, really.

911ps2circles

But why would Sony, not Al Qaeda, fly planes into buildings? Let us paint the picture.

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PSN Addendum

Dad rang me today, he’s never played a video game in his life despite owning an iPhone since launch. I didn’t even bring up the subject but even he had a laugh about Sony and the PSN. I think his exact quote was “they are so fucked.”

Anyway this was just a quick update to promise future updates. I’ve got a review of Mortal Kombat for PS3 to post but I feel I should test out online play first…

Easter, PSN and Public Radio News

This Easter all I wanted to do was try out the PSN. This is no joke either, I’ve had a PSP for years but using that for internet related shenanigans is a nightmare. My new housemate has a PS3 though and this Easter he and his missus (my other housemate) were going down south for the long weekend. I was planning to charge up his PS3 and get some Battlefield 1943 action going. Maybe see how it’s movie purchases compared to iTunes, my current digital store of choice.

You can imagine my disappointment at the mysterious error code I received. The ever reliable Penny Arcade confirmed that the PSN network was down. I did however, strangely, successfully manage to download an update to my housemate’s copy of Super Street Fighter II HD Remix. Surprised he owned it really. So with my weekend fun cancelled I had to settle down and read All Quiet on the Western Front instead. I also got to eat a lot of chocolate and play online games on all the other systems in the house so the weekend was alright in the end.

All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front; better than Heavy Rain and available despite the PSN.

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Move over, Nintendo

In a “Move” that highlighted their innovative and interactive approach to gaming, Sony mysteriously dropped two tons of bananas in the city of Sydney on Thursday. It was done to promote their brand new Move motion controller in a stroke of marketing genius. Sony reps were around the whole day giving away bananas, encouraging people to Move and burn off the extra energy. A concept almost as inspired as Move itself. Sony had a PS3 system set up in the heart of Circular Quay on a huge screen, playing their smash hit game Heavy Rain, which launched this year and is now compatable with the Move device. People were taking turns playing all day, it’s so simple, you don’t even need to press buttons anymore. Everyone was getting involved, all you need to do is move your hands to play. Onlookers were “Moved” by the games emotional  storyline and deep messages, emphasising how much Move connects players to the game.

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