Right now the buzz is all about the PS3 Slim and it's direct competitor, the Xbox 360 Elite. On the opposite end of the console war, where portables clash, things have been very slow for a long time. There's very little to argue about it. While quite a lot less powerful, the DS has eaten alive the PSP so far, especially thanks to a much more varied software library. It's true that 80% of that library is absolute crap, while maybe only the 40% of the software line-up of the PSP is made of unsightly shovel ware, but 20% of a LOT, in this case, might be better than 60% of a much smaller number. This not even considering that many, many portable users seem to love the unsightly shovel ware anyway...
Looking at the Japanese news portals, though, something has been moving as of late. While the Nintendo DS is still there strongly, even thanks to the last Dragon Quest, the tag "PSP" has been appearing more and more, as basically every Japanese developer is scrambling to release new games in time for the launch of the PSPgo, or just after it. You may have noticed it by reading this blog too, as I reported the announcements that I thought more interesting. Just a fraction of the total.
While everyone in the west is talking about the clash of the "big consoles", in Japan the holiday season will be extremely PSP-heavy.
The list of titles is so rich that it's almost mind boggling: Gran Turismo, Lunar: Armony of Silver Star, R-Type Tactics 2, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Persona 3 Portable, Phantasy Star Online 2, Full metal Alchemist, Macross Ultimate Frontier, Hexyz Force and a slew of others, leading towards that big 2010 release that will be Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker.
PSP owners in Japan are in for quite a few months of Joy, whether they are planning to buy the new (and a bit overpriced PSPGo) or they intend to stick with the old model.
That's actually the best part of it all. We don't really know how much the Go will sell, due to the quite steep price point, but it's arrival fueled a big intake of new games, that will in turn fuel sales of the console (both the new model and the old for the ones that don't want to spend too much) and close the gap considerably with the Nintendo competitor.
Of course there are a few question marks. How many of those games will make it to the west? And will the western developers feel the same urge to develop and release new games for the PSP? Chinatown Wars and Assassin Creed are two quite big ones, but will there be more?
While I have to say that I love my DS as much as my PSP (mostly due to the games, since the graphics are normally a bit lacking, and I'm not really picky about the control scheme), the portable competition has been stagnating in the last couple years, so it will be very interesting to see if, like the arrival of the PS3 slim, the PSPgo and the many games it'll bring along, will revive the market and force Nintendo to shift up in their offering and quality as well.
While I personally think it'll be very, very difficult for the PSP to "beat" the Nintendo DS, the gap in the game library is now being closed, and I'm thinking that, counting the upcoming releases, the PSP might really strengthen it's niche as a better choice for "core" gamers (but of course, the best choice is always the same, having both :P).
We'll have to see if this will truly be the PSP renaissance or just a substantial increase in quality. One thing is for sure, adding this to the PS3 vs Xbox 360 shake-up, it's really good to be a gamer, nowadays...
Monday, August 31, 2009
New screenshots for Valkyria Chronicles 2 as the big update approaches...
Sega released a whole new fansite kit on the Valkyria Chronicles 2 official website. besides a good amount of new screenshots (you can see them all here) it includes some new character art (the one for the mysterious Valkyria definitely looks much better than before) and an overview of the environments we'll find in the Gallian Officers Academy.
The new screenshots also show that that the enemy forces will include some "Artificial Valkyria". Soldiers carrying the same backpack that Prince Maximillian had during the final mission in the first game. There's even a mysterious screenshot that shows Maximillian himself rendered with the Valkyria 2 engine. Will he be coming back somehow? Is it simply a flashback? That we don't know.
Now we just have to wait for September the 3rd, when we can expect the big update that, according to the news section of the official website, should bring actual gameplay movies to the starving Valkyria fans. Hey, I'm one. Bring it on Sega (and bring it to the west quickly, please)!
The new screenshots also show that that the enemy forces will include some "Artificial Valkyria". Soldiers carrying the same backpack that Prince Maximillian had during the final mission in the first game. There's even a mysterious screenshot that shows Maximillian himself rendered with the Valkyria 2 engine. Will he be coming back somehow? Is it simply a flashback? That we don't know.
Now we just have to wait for September the 3rd, when we can expect the big update that, according to the news section of the official website, should bring actual gameplay movies to the starving Valkyria fans. Hey, I'm one. Bring it on Sega (and bring it to the west quickly, please)!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
GT Academy: Virtual driver wins real race
One week ago, on glorious circuit of Zolder, Belgium, something quite unprecedented happened:
A driver that started on videogames won his first real race, during his first racing season on a real racing car. That's Lucas Ordonez.
Lucas was selected between Gran Turismo players to be part of the GT Academy, a collaboration between Playstation and Nissan to pitch virtual drivers in the world of real racing.
Does this victory prove that videogames can easily create real competitors? I doubt it. Lucas was one gamer chosen between thousands. And the other driver selected with him (Lars Schlömer) didn't make it, proof that the world of real racing is unforgiving even for someone that already beat thousands of fellow virtual racers.
The "training" he got in Gran Turismo wasn't enough, for Lucas, to reach his first victory, or even to really tame the power of a racing Z. He had to undergo some very severe training session before even being able to stand on the starting line. He had, basically, to jump the chasm between virtuality and reality.
What this victory does demonstrate, though, is that that chasm CAN be jumped. Videogames won't teach you to drive a real racing car, but, if you have the right mindset, will give you the right attitude to be a competitor. Just think how many times you did those draconian time trials in every Gran Turismo game to get your license, to squeeze even one tenth of a second out of the same circuit again and again.
That's one of the things that racing games can teach. That even if your initial results are poor, doing it again and again, trying new things and experimenting will help you improve. That's what real drivers do. They train on their cars and their circuits again and again, every day, for hours, squeezing every last tenth of second from their lap times.
Lucas brought that limited luggage of basic skills and attitude, and built the real skill set on top of them finally making it to the real stage, then on the podium, and finally to the top.
At the very least, we can say that GT academy was a successful experiment, and Nissan proved to see far in supporting it. I wonder other similar experiments will be attempted in the future. Will we see a Forza Academy? or a Need for Speed school?
We shall see, but Lucas is there now. We should all root for him.
A driver that started on videogames won his first real race, during his first racing season on a real racing car. That's Lucas Ordonez.
Lucas was selected between Gran Turismo players to be part of the GT Academy, a collaboration between Playstation and Nissan to pitch virtual drivers in the world of real racing.
Does this victory prove that videogames can easily create real competitors? I doubt it. Lucas was one gamer chosen between thousands. And the other driver selected with him (Lars Schlömer) didn't make it, proof that the world of real racing is unforgiving even for someone that already beat thousands of fellow virtual racers.
The "training" he got in Gran Turismo wasn't enough, for Lucas, to reach his first victory, or even to really tame the power of a racing Z. He had to undergo some very severe training session before even being able to stand on the starting line. He had, basically, to jump the chasm between virtuality and reality.
What this victory does demonstrate, though, is that that chasm CAN be jumped. Videogames won't teach you to drive a real racing car, but, if you have the right mindset, will give you the right attitude to be a competitor. Just think how many times you did those draconian time trials in every Gran Turismo game to get your license, to squeeze even one tenth of a second out of the same circuit again and again.
That's one of the things that racing games can teach. That even if your initial results are poor, doing it again and again, trying new things and experimenting will help you improve. That's what real drivers do. They train on their cars and their circuits again and again, every day, for hours, squeezing every last tenth of second from their lap times.
Lucas brought that limited luggage of basic skills and attitude, and built the real skill set on top of them finally making it to the real stage, then on the podium, and finally to the top.
At the very least, we can say that GT academy was a successful experiment, and Nissan proved to see far in supporting it. I wonder other similar experiments will be attempted in the future. Will we see a Forza Academy? or a Need for Speed school?
We shall see, but Lucas is there now. We should all root for him.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Gundam Senki Multiplayer modes detailed
As the release date in Japan approaches, Namco Bandai has released some new juicy info on the online multiplayer modes for Gundam Senki (Gundam Battlefield Record U.C.0081).
The Free Mission mode will allow players to fight online both in four players cooperative mode and in eight players team deathmatch.
When creating a character each player will have to chose a side (Earth Federation or Zeon) and a name, and will retain his online persona from then on (there's no info on the possibility to have multiple characters at the moment). By killing the enemy online he will receive experience points that will contribute towards a leveling system granting new ranks and skills.
As his online career progresses each player will be able to purchase and customize new mobile suits to tackle different missions.
The customization provided online will be even more extensive than that of the campaign modes, as the enemy weapons will be available for capture, for instance allowing a Zaku to carry a beam saber, or a Gundam to fight with two beam axes.
Also, during the online missions, defeated enemy mobile suits will drop customization parts that will unlock new mobile suits (four Gundams and two Zakus, between witch the infamous "Red Comet" from the first anime series).
During online gameplay communication will be available both via text chat and voice chat and a system similar to the command palette will allow players to assign a pre-written text lines to the D-Pad, to give quick instructions to their team-mates.
Several screenshots of the online modes and customization are available on this article on the Japanese portal Gpara.com.
This is just another layer of depth added to this extremely promising game. As I told in my previous posts about it, it seems to have the potential to be the best mecha game of this generation. We only have to hope that Namco Bandai won't be blind to such potential. Not releasing Gundam Senki in the west would be a big missed opportunity. You heard me Namco, get those translators to work, we want some Gundam action! :D
The Free Mission mode will allow players to fight online both in four players cooperative mode and in eight players team deathmatch.
When creating a character each player will have to chose a side (Earth Federation or Zeon) and a name, and will retain his online persona from then on (there's no info on the possibility to have multiple characters at the moment). By killing the enemy online he will receive experience points that will contribute towards a leveling system granting new ranks and skills.
As his online career progresses each player will be able to purchase and customize new mobile suits to tackle different missions.
The customization provided online will be even more extensive than that of the campaign modes, as the enemy weapons will be available for capture, for instance allowing a Zaku to carry a beam saber, or a Gundam to fight with two beam axes.
Also, during the online missions, defeated enemy mobile suits will drop customization parts that will unlock new mobile suits (four Gundams and two Zakus, between witch the infamous "Red Comet" from the first anime series).
During online gameplay communication will be available both via text chat and voice chat and a system similar to the command palette will allow players to assign a pre-written text lines to the D-Pad, to give quick instructions to their team-mates.
Several screenshots of the online modes and customization are available on this article on the Japanese portal Gpara.com.
This is just another layer of depth added to this extremely promising game. As I told in my previous posts about it, it seems to have the potential to be the best mecha game of this generation. We only have to hope that Namco Bandai won't be blind to such potential. Not releasing Gundam Senki in the west would be a big missed opportunity. You heard me Namco, get those translators to work, we want some Gundam action! :D
Classy Gamer gets a Progesterone shot
While I don't think this blog has ever suffered from a testosterone excess, expressing the point of view of a male gamer only is becoming less and less representative of an industry that's becoming more and more aware of the presence of a quite sizable percentage of female gamers.
I don't think that female gamers, or "gamer girls" as they are more commonly defined, are THAT different from male gamers, mind you. That said, they still come from Venus, while I have a nasty Martian heritage that for sure shows quite a bit in my posts.
That is why i spent the last few months searching through the Internet and hunting for a fine specimen of Venusian that could complement my writing, showing the point of view of a seasoned gamer Lady.
That's why i would ask my readers to welcome Ami (Aka MatsuriDream), that will, from now on, write on this blog side by side with this bad, blunt Martian.
Besides being one of the most lovely geeks I ever met, Ami is one of the smartest and most experienced gamers I could find. She is one of the few people I know that can actually name quite a few games I never heard about.
I'm quite sure that she will bring a lot of quality posts to this little blog of ours.
She will also probably kill me as soon as she sees the picture above. Looks like she doesn't have that much love for pink....
On that note, I would also like to officially welcome Tia (AKA Iantha), that has already worked on this blog from behind the curtains for a while. She doesn't write articles (even if maybe one day she will decide to), but she is the gentle but firm hand that beats my own posts into submission with her careful and attentive proofreading. If you noticed an increase in the quality of my writing, she's the one to be credited for it.
From today on she's also officially part of the new Classy Gamer team.
Stay tuned, then, because this blog has now a well varied team and we're ready to roll! :D
I don't think that female gamers, or "gamer girls" as they are more commonly defined, are THAT different from male gamers, mind you. That said, they still come from Venus, while I have a nasty Martian heritage that for sure shows quite a bit in my posts.
That is why i spent the last few months searching through the Internet and hunting for a fine specimen of Venusian that could complement my writing, showing the point of view of a seasoned gamer Lady.
That's why i would ask my readers to welcome Ami (Aka MatsuriDream), that will, from now on, write on this blog side by side with this bad, blunt Martian.
Besides being one of the most lovely geeks I ever met, Ami is one of the smartest and most experienced gamers I could find. She is one of the few people I know that can actually name quite a few games I never heard about.
I'm quite sure that she will bring a lot of quality posts to this little blog of ours.
She will also probably kill me as soon as she sees the picture above. Looks like she doesn't have that much love for pink....
On that note, I would also like to officially welcome Tia (AKA Iantha), that has already worked on this blog from behind the curtains for a while. She doesn't write articles (even if maybe one day she will decide to), but she is the gentle but firm hand that beats my own posts into submission with her careful and attentive proofreading. If you noticed an increase in the quality of my writing, she's the one to be credited for it.
From today on she's also officially part of the new Classy Gamer team.
Stay tuned, then, because this blog has now a well varied team and we're ready to roll! :D
Friday, August 28, 2009
United Nations vs Eroge: the beginning of a new censorship crusade?
On this blog I talked about Eroge (Japanese grames centered around erotic content) quite a few times in the past, especially due to the fact that they very often sport some deep and engrossing stories that would put to shame many AAA "normal" games.
A few months back the media covered extensively the case of Rapelay, a fairly atypical (since it was centered more around actual "gameplay" than any kind of deep story) eroge that portrayed heavy-handed scenes of rape.
Recently the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a list of observations on Japan's sixth periodic report on sexual discrimination.
If we dig deep into the list and reach paragraph 35 and 36 we read:
"the Committee is concerned at the normalization of sexual violence in the State party as reflected by the prevalence of pornographic video games and cartoons featuring rape, gang rape, stalking and the sexual molestation of women and girls. The Committee notes with concern that these video games and cartoons fall outside the legal definition of child pornography in the Act Banning Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
36. The Committee strongly urges the State party to ban the sale of video games or cartoons involving rape and sexual violence against women which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls."
While I'm personally not interested in games portraying rape like Rapelay, I can see how this statement, if interpreted broadly like this kind of committee (and the media) tends to do, can easily be applied to a quite large slice of the Eroge market (not to mention the manga and anime market).
All in all, it strikes me as quite dangerous on several levels.
First of all, it's incorrect. I'd dare say due to the fact that the members of the committee probably didn't play a single Eroge in their whole lifetime, and uses second hand information, random out of context pictures and simple hearsay to make their judgment.
While it's true that quite a few (not nearly a majority or a "prevalent" percentage) Eroge portray forced sex, it's also undeniable that a big percentage of such games don't normalize at all such actions. On the contrary, the character committing such acts is more often than not shown as exactly what he is: an evil sexual deviant that no one would really want to imitate in real life.
On top of it, the statement is based on a false, or at the very least unproved assumption: that simulated action in games or media can actually "promote" the same kind of action in real life.
There are many sanctioned studies that actually state the contrary, like this one, which relates directly to rape and pornography in Japan, and many others on similar topics, like the relation between videogames and violence.
So, if the UN is now free to "assume" that videogames can "promote" similar actions to their contents in real life, what is the next step? A new crusade against violent games? Because, after all, if a videogame can promote sexual abuse, it can promote violence as well, no?
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women doesn't really seem to care about the fact that that such an assumption has been studied and found wrong again and again by the largest part of the scientific community.
But moving on, one would wonder why this kind of statement is only aimed at videogames and anime, and only in Japan. The international porn industry is packed full of movies and productions that portray forced sex and molestation. Why is the committee ignoring the average (and much more popular and widespread) American-made porn movie that portrays rape, while asking for a ban of Japanese-made games that do exactly the same?
You got it, it's the old, lovely case of double standards. Games are the easy target. Even better if foreign games, since it's always self-satisfying to consider negative things as "alien".
On the other hand, the multi-million dollar western porn industry would be a harder target to aim at, wouldn't it?
What about Hollywood? Because, you know, there are quite a few Hollywood flicks that portray forced sex, stalking, and the like. Shall we ban them as well?
One would at least assume that they actually went and checked the sex-related crimes rate in Japan, before making such bold statements. Turns out they didn't, because if they did they would have probably noticed that the rape rate in Japan is twenty times lower than in the US.
Finally, our friendly neighborhood UN committee shows quite a lot of ignorance in their biased views. They ask for a ban of videogames and anime that portray sexual abuse against women, but they completely overlook the fact that in Japan there's a quite broad niche of similar games aimed to a female audience and that portray exactly the same kind of actions, but performed on men.
They don't even need to look that far, since a few of such "Yaoi" games are even published in the US by Jast USA. So, portraying sexual molestation of women isn't acceptable, but portraying the same on men is?
Of course I'm perfectly aware that rape, stalking and sexual predation are an extremely sensitive and serious problem, just as much (or more) as violence and murder.
Still, I'm extremely disappointed to see that, instead of digging to the core of such problems, a committee funded by our own money takes a chance to bring to bear the usual unfounded and biased attack against videogames, completely overlooking similar offerings in other kind of media and the many studies that clearly deny a relation between fantasy simulated action and real action.
There's a limit to ignorance, beyond which it stops being acceptable. I think someone just crossed it.
A few months back the media covered extensively the case of Rapelay, a fairly atypical (since it was centered more around actual "gameplay" than any kind of deep story) eroge that portrayed heavy-handed scenes of rape.
Recently the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a list of observations on Japan's sixth periodic report on sexual discrimination.
If we dig deep into the list and reach paragraph 35 and 36 we read:
"the Committee is concerned at the normalization of sexual violence in the State party as reflected by the prevalence of pornographic video games and cartoons featuring rape, gang rape, stalking and the sexual molestation of women and girls. The Committee notes with concern that these video games and cartoons fall outside the legal definition of child pornography in the Act Banning Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
36. The Committee strongly urges the State party to ban the sale of video games or cartoons involving rape and sexual violence against women which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls."
While I'm personally not interested in games portraying rape like Rapelay, I can see how this statement, if interpreted broadly like this kind of committee (and the media) tends to do, can easily be applied to a quite large slice of the Eroge market (not to mention the manga and anime market).
All in all, it strikes me as quite dangerous on several levels.
First of all, it's incorrect. I'd dare say due to the fact that the members of the committee probably didn't play a single Eroge in their whole lifetime, and uses second hand information, random out of context pictures and simple hearsay to make their judgment.
While it's true that quite a few (not nearly a majority or a "prevalent" percentage) Eroge portray forced sex, it's also undeniable that a big percentage of such games don't normalize at all such actions. On the contrary, the character committing such acts is more often than not shown as exactly what he is: an evil sexual deviant that no one would really want to imitate in real life.
On top of it, the statement is based on a false, or at the very least unproved assumption: that simulated action in games or media can actually "promote" the same kind of action in real life.
There are many sanctioned studies that actually state the contrary, like this one, which relates directly to rape and pornography in Japan, and many others on similar topics, like the relation between videogames and violence.
So, if the UN is now free to "assume" that videogames can "promote" similar actions to their contents in real life, what is the next step? A new crusade against violent games? Because, after all, if a videogame can promote sexual abuse, it can promote violence as well, no?
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women doesn't really seem to care about the fact that that such an assumption has been studied and found wrong again and again by the largest part of the scientific community.
But moving on, one would wonder why this kind of statement is only aimed at videogames and anime, and only in Japan. The international porn industry is packed full of movies and productions that portray forced sex and molestation. Why is the committee ignoring the average (and much more popular and widespread) American-made porn movie that portrays rape, while asking for a ban of Japanese-made games that do exactly the same?
You got it, it's the old, lovely case of double standards. Games are the easy target. Even better if foreign games, since it's always self-satisfying to consider negative things as "alien".
On the other hand, the multi-million dollar western porn industry would be a harder target to aim at, wouldn't it?
What about Hollywood? Because, you know, there are quite a few Hollywood flicks that portray forced sex, stalking, and the like. Shall we ban them as well?
One would at least assume that they actually went and checked the sex-related crimes rate in Japan, before making such bold statements. Turns out they didn't, because if they did they would have probably noticed that the rape rate in Japan is twenty times lower than in the US.
Finally, our friendly neighborhood UN committee shows quite a lot of ignorance in their biased views. They ask for a ban of videogames and anime that portray sexual abuse against women, but they completely overlook the fact that in Japan there's a quite broad niche of similar games aimed to a female audience and that portray exactly the same kind of actions, but performed on men.
They don't even need to look that far, since a few of such "Yaoi" games are even published in the US by Jast USA. So, portraying sexual molestation of women isn't acceptable, but portraying the same on men is?
Of course I'm perfectly aware that rape, stalking and sexual predation are an extremely sensitive and serious problem, just as much (or more) as violence and murder.
Still, I'm extremely disappointed to see that, instead of digging to the core of such problems, a committee funded by our own money takes a chance to bring to bear the usual unfounded and biased attack against videogames, completely overlooking similar offerings in other kind of media and the many studies that clearly deny a relation between fantasy simulated action and real action.
There's a limit to ignorance, beyond which it stops being acceptable. I think someone just crossed it.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
PS3 Slim vs Xbox 360 Elite: David vs Goliath
Now that Microsoft announced their own price cut (as everyone expected) the battle between the Xbox 360 Elite and the PS3 Slim will be heated. The title of this post, by the way, isn't a biblical implication on who will win (we have no idea), as much as a simple pun on the fact that the PS3 is smaller than it's Microsoft competitor.
Personally, I doubt we'll see a "slimmed down" version of the xbox 360 anytime soon (I'm always ready to be proven wrong, of course), despite how much some sites seem to believe in such a possibility with religious fervor. The console has always been at the limit of it's cooling capabilities, and sticking the same hardware in a smaller case would only exacerbate the problem. To be able to slim down the 360, Microsoft would probably have to develop a newer chip able to function while producing considerably less heat.
Is it really important anyway? I doubt it. Unless your move your console a lot, size doesn't really impact performance and gameplay.
So, comparing the PS3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Arcade side by side, since now they are more or less everywhere in the same price range, which console wins the features war?
The very basic features are more or less the same. Both consoles can play games, both consoles can let you watch movies, both have the same hard disk size (120 Gb). I can already see some of my readers ready to comment "Thank you, Mr. Obvious!".
So, let's dive deeper and let's see every little nuance and difference between Sony's and Microsoft's offerings.
Let's start from the most evident: The PS3 has Blu-Ray, while the Xbox ships with a normal DVD reader. The ability to watch Blu-Ray movies is quite an hefty plus on Sony's scoreboard, of course, especially given the fact that HDTVs are becoming more and more popular nowadays and the Blu-Ray library is finally taking off for real.
Xbox 360 users, though, aren't 100% locked out of the HD disk market. At the moment you can easily get an old external HD-DVD xbox 360 drive for less than 50 dollars, and quite a bit HD-DVD movies on the cheap. The downside, of course, is that HD-DVD is a dead format, so the library of movies won't evolve anymore.
While not comparable to the built-in Blu-Ray, the HD-DVD driver on the xbox is still a good way to get HD movies with little investment, if you aren't interested in the newest flicks.
But is Blu-ray important just for movies? Of course Blu-ray offers the biggest storage space, 50 GB against the 9 of a DVD, mean bigger games with bigger and less compressed assets, without having to recur to multiple discs. Of course your mileage may vary with the disc-swapping issue, but given that many multi-disc games on the 360 (Star Ocean, and Lost Odyssey for instance) tend to give disc reading errors, I wouldn't call it secondary.
On top of that Ars Technica published just today an interview with Naughty Dog (the developers of Uncharted) that says that one of the reasons why Uncharted 2 couldn't work on an Xbox is the combination of Blu-Ray and Hard Disk, that allows to play the entire game without loading times, and displaying an unparalleled depth of field. Of course Naughty Dog is a Sony first party developer, and it's obvious that they're sounding the PS3 promotional fanfare.
Despite that, I've never seen a console game that looks and moves as good as Uncharted 2, and that gives Naughty Dog quite a bit of credibility.
Let's move forward, and get to the online gameplay offering of both consoles. First of all, let's give a look at the hardware. The PS3 slim has built-in Wi-Fi, out of the box, while the Xbox 360 needs an external Wi-Fi dongle that's always been quite overpriced. You can find it for as little as 80 dollars, but it's still quite an hike on top of the 360's base price.
Of course not everyone needs Wi-Fi, unless you don't have access to your router (if you live in an apartment with centralized Wi-Fi) or can't pull a cable to it.
Normally having a cable plugged directly into your router offers better and more stable gameplay, anyway.
What not many know, though, is that the PS3 comes with a Gigabit ethernet adapter, while the 360 sports only a 10/100 adapter. Of course to fully exploit the PS3's superior ethernet you'll need a top of the line network as well, but better is still better.
Moving on to the actual network, here it's pretty difficult to establish a clear winner, given that each offering is strong on different factors. The Playstation network has quite a strong advantage in the fact that it offers a complete online gaming offering for free. All the basic features are there, and if you're interested in just playing online that's all you need.
Xbox live comes with and a broader array of features, but at the cost of 50 dollars a year, which isn't exactly negligible. The quality of the Xbox Live service, though, is undeniable, and bonuses like Netflix for sure help further. Also, Xbox live has a currently bigger community which isn't negligible as well, even if the probable success of the PS3 slim will inflate the PSN community as well.
Xbox Live will soon offer Twitter and Facebook, but can't really compare, in this field, with the PSN, that simply provides a full-featured internet browser that lets you access Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and whatever other internet service you might want.
Finally, the PSN offers Home, that still needs a lot of Improvement to be really attractive, but still is an interesting application.
All in all, I'd say that the PSN and Xbox Live are a matter of personal choice.
If you're willing to pay a regular fee for more features and a better all-round experience, then Xbox Live is superior for you.
If you're just interested in playing online with a good potential for future evolution into a better network (and want to access the internet as a whole, and not just the services that Microsoft decides to provide), then the PSN would be your choice.
Let's move forwards and let's talk about backwards compatibility. This is a pet-peeve of many PS3 critics. There's no way to play PS2 games on the PS3, and that really deprives the PS3 users of an enormous software library from the most successful console of the last generation.
The 360 is backwards compatible with most of the old Xbox games (even if they don't work with all cables), and this is a solid point in favor of Microsoft's offering. Though, I will have to admit, that the Xbox games library isn't exactly top notch and is not evolving anymore.
A detail that many forget is that despite lacking BC with the PS2, the PS3 is backwards compatible. It can indeed play the full library of PS1 games, which, granted, aren't as technologically advanced as the PS2 ones, but still include an extremely strong line-up of classics.
I would even go as far as saying that, if graphics aren't your main issue in judging the quality of a game, the PS1 games library trumps the original Xbox games library quite radically.
If you're interested in graphics, of course, it's the other way around, but in that case, why are you looking at backwards compatibility at all?
Personally, I feel that the lack of PS2 backwards compatibility is a big missed chance for the PS3, and that's why so many (me included) criticize it. But If we look at the actual value added to both consoles, I personally feel that the PS1 titles line-up offers a better value than the Xbox one.
Let's go further in our analysis and see what else is offered out of the box. The Xbox 360 comes with 3 USB ports (even if it doesn't use them much), one of which on the back, to be used primarily with the Wi-Fi dongle. The PS3 slim has only two, and uses them quite a lot. If you have two pads and use some accessories, the PS3 will probably require you to get an USB HUB to multiply your ports (make sure to get a self powered one. The ones that get power directly from the console risk to ruin your USB ports on the long run).
The PS3 is compatible with Bluetooth, which means it's also compatible with any bluetooth headset you may have for your cellphone. The Xbox360 Elite comes with it's own headset, but has no Bluetooth. This means that if you want to use a wireless headset your only choice will be Microsoft's one.
The PS3 also benefits from the ability to connect to the PSP, which of course requires buying a PSP, but is always a nice possibility.
A very important factor in favor of the PS3, at least for me, is that it comes with USB rechargeable controllers by default. To be honest I still can't fathom what kind of engineer, at Microsoft, thought it was really okay to ship their controllers using batteries.
You don't have much choice here. Either you spend a bit more to get a rechargeable battery pack for your 360, or you'll spend much more on the long run with normal batteries.
A slight counterpoint in favor of the 360 is that if you damage the batteries of your DualShock 3, you'll have to buy a new controller. If you do the same with a 360 controller, you'll just have to buy a new battery pack.
Moving on, the PS3 has an edge on it's HDMI port too, since it support HDMI 1.3a (finally fully featured on the slim model), while the 360 supports only HDMI 1.2. This means better color on screen and better audio on Sony's console.
Let's talk about Hard Disks now. While it's true that the 360 Elite and the PS3 Slim have the same HD size (120 Gb), the PS3 is compatible with every 2.5 inches hard disk. So, if you ever want to expand your Hard disk to a bigger one, you can with little hassle. The Xbox 360, instead, is stuck with it's overpriced dedicated HDs.
The funniest thing is that a perfectly PS3-compatible 500 Gb hard disk will cost you less than a 120 Gb HD for the 360.
Finally, as we get to the core of our consoles, the PS3 CPU is built with a 45 nm technology, while the 360 one is build with a 65 nm technology. This means that the PS3 will generate less heat while functioning, increasing it's potential resilience to overheating-related issues.
This goes on top of the honestly abysmal failure rate of the 360, that doesn't testify at all in Microsoft's favor. Again, as a slight counterpoint, the 360 has a better warranty system in place to make up for the much higher failure rate.
After this quite detailed analysis I'd say that we can easily say that the PS3 "David Edition" slim literally demolishes the Xbox 360 "Goliath Edition" Elite features-wise, out of the box.
There isn't much spin to apply here. The only redeeming feature for the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live, but it'll cost you money on top of the base price.
But let's give a look to the other big deciding factor in a console's success. The games.
Of course, everyone has his own way to judge games, as such the titles library of each console will have a different value to different people.
First of all, let's look at the lineup of already published exclusives for both consoles.
The Xbox 360 has more exclusives in it's current library, and a couple prominent games with exclusive DLC (like Grand theft auto IV), but unless you are planning to buy every single exclusive game for your console of choice, numbers matter only relatively.
If you plan to buy only great games, and don't care much about numbers crunching, things are pretty even.
The 360 has the Gears of War series, Mass Effect, Ace Combat 6, Halo 3 and Fable 2 to name some. In addition to that, it has a strong line-up of already published JRPGs: Star Ocean The Last Hope, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery (the last two are quite low-quality though, and ToV has a fairly superior PS3 version, with no release date in the west yet).
The PS3, on the other hand, has a lower number of exclusives, but has nothing to envy in terms of quality with games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted, the Reistance series, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm and Killzone 2.
At the moment the PS3 has a quite weaker line-up of JRPGs, the only prominent ones being Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. Though, quality-wise, Valkyria Chronicles beats basically every JRPG released in the last few years on any platform. If you have a PS3 and didn't play it yet, you're a criminal :D
Looking at the future, there are quite a few strong exclusive titles coming for both consoles: The 360 has Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3 ODST, Left for Dead 2, Mass Effect 2 (A PS3 version of this one is rumored but not confirmed), Splinter Cell Conviction and MagnaCarta 2.
On the other hand, the PS3 will hit heavy, with Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, The Saboteur, Final Fantasy XIV (even if this one might actually come to the 360, if Square Enix manages to solve the issues regarding Xbox Live), Last Rebellion, Demon's souls and White Knight Chronicles.
As usual, everyone will evaluate the games listed according to his own tastes, but I'd say that the PS3 Line-up is one of the best of the last few years, and stronger than the one sported on the 360.
Another thing that some consider important is that the PS3 is region free, while many games on the 360n are region locked. This means that PS3 owners are able to import games from other regions, especially Japanese ones like the new Gundam Senki and Yakuza 3.
Not only that, the ability to import American editions of some key games may be crucial to many European gamers, when the European edition is released considerably later.
Final Fantasy XIII will probably be the perfect example. I doubt many self-respecting Final Fantasy fans will wait for the European edition of the game (on the PS3 or the 360). Most will just import the PS3 version from the US getting to play it many months earlier.
To summarize, the PS3 has a quite radical advantage hardware-wise and features-wise, partially countered by Xbox Live. The Xbox has the advantage of quantity in it's existing software-library, while quality is pretty even, trying not to count personal taste. Finally, the PS3 is about to have a very strong holiday and post holiday season, with a stronger line-up than it's direct competitor.
In the end, I'd say that the balance is in favor of the PS3, that seems to offer quite a bit more bang for the buck. Of course, the best option is having both, to be able to enjoy exclusive from both sides of the fence.
So, to put it down simply. If i didn't have an HD console or if I had only a 360, at the moment I'd buy a PS3. If i had only a PS3, I'd buy a 360.
All in All, this is a great period for gamers, with the PS3 price cut dragging down the price of the 360 as well, and making the "All-consoles-heaven" available to a broader audience.
Whatever side of the fence you're on (or even if you're sitting across it), there's much joy to be had in the next few months.
Personally, I doubt we'll see a "slimmed down" version of the xbox 360 anytime soon (I'm always ready to be proven wrong, of course), despite how much some sites seem to believe in such a possibility with religious fervor. The console has always been at the limit of it's cooling capabilities, and sticking the same hardware in a smaller case would only exacerbate the problem. To be able to slim down the 360, Microsoft would probably have to develop a newer chip able to function while producing considerably less heat.
Is it really important anyway? I doubt it. Unless your move your console a lot, size doesn't really impact performance and gameplay.
So, comparing the PS3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Arcade side by side, since now they are more or less everywhere in the same price range, which console wins the features war?
The very basic features are more or less the same. Both consoles can play games, both consoles can let you watch movies, both have the same hard disk size (120 Gb). I can already see some of my readers ready to comment "Thank you, Mr. Obvious!".
So, let's dive deeper and let's see every little nuance and difference between Sony's and Microsoft's offerings.
Let's start from the most evident: The PS3 has Blu-Ray, while the Xbox ships with a normal DVD reader. The ability to watch Blu-Ray movies is quite an hefty plus on Sony's scoreboard, of course, especially given the fact that HDTVs are becoming more and more popular nowadays and the Blu-Ray library is finally taking off for real.
Xbox 360 users, though, aren't 100% locked out of the HD disk market. At the moment you can easily get an old external HD-DVD xbox 360 drive for less than 50 dollars, and quite a bit HD-DVD movies on the cheap. The downside, of course, is that HD-DVD is a dead format, so the library of movies won't evolve anymore.
While not comparable to the built-in Blu-Ray, the HD-DVD driver on the xbox is still a good way to get HD movies with little investment, if you aren't interested in the newest flicks.
But is Blu-ray important just for movies? Of course Blu-ray offers the biggest storage space, 50 GB against the 9 of a DVD, mean bigger games with bigger and less compressed assets, without having to recur to multiple discs. Of course your mileage may vary with the disc-swapping issue, but given that many multi-disc games on the 360 (Star Ocean, and Lost Odyssey for instance) tend to give disc reading errors, I wouldn't call it secondary.
On top of that Ars Technica published just today an interview with Naughty Dog (the developers of Uncharted) that says that one of the reasons why Uncharted 2 couldn't work on an Xbox is the combination of Blu-Ray and Hard Disk, that allows to play the entire game without loading times, and displaying an unparalleled depth of field. Of course Naughty Dog is a Sony first party developer, and it's obvious that they're sounding the PS3 promotional fanfare.
Despite that, I've never seen a console game that looks and moves as good as Uncharted 2, and that gives Naughty Dog quite a bit of credibility.
Let's move forward, and get to the online gameplay offering of both consoles. First of all, let's give a look at the hardware. The PS3 slim has built-in Wi-Fi, out of the box, while the Xbox 360 needs an external Wi-Fi dongle that's always been quite overpriced. You can find it for as little as 80 dollars, but it's still quite an hike on top of the 360's base price.
Of course not everyone needs Wi-Fi, unless you don't have access to your router (if you live in an apartment with centralized Wi-Fi) or can't pull a cable to it.
Normally having a cable plugged directly into your router offers better and more stable gameplay, anyway.
What not many know, though, is that the PS3 comes with a Gigabit ethernet adapter, while the 360 sports only a 10/100 adapter. Of course to fully exploit the PS3's superior ethernet you'll need a top of the line network as well, but better is still better.
Moving on to the actual network, here it's pretty difficult to establish a clear winner, given that each offering is strong on different factors. The Playstation network has quite a strong advantage in the fact that it offers a complete online gaming offering for free. All the basic features are there, and if you're interested in just playing online that's all you need.
Xbox live comes with and a broader array of features, but at the cost of 50 dollars a year, which isn't exactly negligible. The quality of the Xbox Live service, though, is undeniable, and bonuses like Netflix for sure help further. Also, Xbox live has a currently bigger community which isn't negligible as well, even if the probable success of the PS3 slim will inflate the PSN community as well.
Xbox Live will soon offer Twitter and Facebook, but can't really compare, in this field, with the PSN, that simply provides a full-featured internet browser that lets you access Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and whatever other internet service you might want.
Finally, the PSN offers Home, that still needs a lot of Improvement to be really attractive, but still is an interesting application.
All in all, I'd say that the PSN and Xbox Live are a matter of personal choice.
If you're willing to pay a regular fee for more features and a better all-round experience, then Xbox Live is superior for you.
If you're just interested in playing online with a good potential for future evolution into a better network (and want to access the internet as a whole, and not just the services that Microsoft decides to provide), then the PSN would be your choice.
Let's move forwards and let's talk about backwards compatibility. This is a pet-peeve of many PS3 critics. There's no way to play PS2 games on the PS3, and that really deprives the PS3 users of an enormous software library from the most successful console of the last generation.
The 360 is backwards compatible with most of the old Xbox games (even if they don't work with all cables), and this is a solid point in favor of Microsoft's offering. Though, I will have to admit, that the Xbox games library isn't exactly top notch and is not evolving anymore.
A detail that many forget is that despite lacking BC with the PS2, the PS3 is backwards compatible. It can indeed play the full library of PS1 games, which, granted, aren't as technologically advanced as the PS2 ones, but still include an extremely strong line-up of classics.
I would even go as far as saying that, if graphics aren't your main issue in judging the quality of a game, the PS1 games library trumps the original Xbox games library quite radically.
If you're interested in graphics, of course, it's the other way around, but in that case, why are you looking at backwards compatibility at all?
Personally, I feel that the lack of PS2 backwards compatibility is a big missed chance for the PS3, and that's why so many (me included) criticize it. But If we look at the actual value added to both consoles, I personally feel that the PS1 titles line-up offers a better value than the Xbox one.
Let's go further in our analysis and see what else is offered out of the box. The Xbox 360 comes with 3 USB ports (even if it doesn't use them much), one of which on the back, to be used primarily with the Wi-Fi dongle. The PS3 slim has only two, and uses them quite a lot. If you have two pads and use some accessories, the PS3 will probably require you to get an USB HUB to multiply your ports (make sure to get a self powered one. The ones that get power directly from the console risk to ruin your USB ports on the long run).
The PS3 is compatible with Bluetooth, which means it's also compatible with any bluetooth headset you may have for your cellphone. The Xbox360 Elite comes with it's own headset, but has no Bluetooth. This means that if you want to use a wireless headset your only choice will be Microsoft's one.
The PS3 also benefits from the ability to connect to the PSP, which of course requires buying a PSP, but is always a nice possibility.
A very important factor in favor of the PS3, at least for me, is that it comes with USB rechargeable controllers by default. To be honest I still can't fathom what kind of engineer, at Microsoft, thought it was really okay to ship their controllers using batteries.
You don't have much choice here. Either you spend a bit more to get a rechargeable battery pack for your 360, or you'll spend much more on the long run with normal batteries.
A slight counterpoint in favor of the 360 is that if you damage the batteries of your DualShock 3, you'll have to buy a new controller. If you do the same with a 360 controller, you'll just have to buy a new battery pack.
Moving on, the PS3 has an edge on it's HDMI port too, since it support HDMI 1.3a (finally fully featured on the slim model), while the 360 supports only HDMI 1.2. This means better color on screen and better audio on Sony's console.
Let's talk about Hard Disks now. While it's true that the 360 Elite and the PS3 Slim have the same HD size (120 Gb), the PS3 is compatible with every 2.5 inches hard disk. So, if you ever want to expand your Hard disk to a bigger one, you can with little hassle. The Xbox 360, instead, is stuck with it's overpriced dedicated HDs.
The funniest thing is that a perfectly PS3-compatible 500 Gb hard disk will cost you less than a 120 Gb HD for the 360.
Finally, as we get to the core of our consoles, the PS3 CPU is built with a 45 nm technology, while the 360 one is build with a 65 nm technology. This means that the PS3 will generate less heat while functioning, increasing it's potential resilience to overheating-related issues.
This goes on top of the honestly abysmal failure rate of the 360, that doesn't testify at all in Microsoft's favor. Again, as a slight counterpoint, the 360 has a better warranty system in place to make up for the much higher failure rate.
After this quite detailed analysis I'd say that we can easily say that the PS3 "David Edition" slim literally demolishes the Xbox 360 "Goliath Edition" Elite features-wise, out of the box.
There isn't much spin to apply here. The only redeeming feature for the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live, but it'll cost you money on top of the base price.
But let's give a look to the other big deciding factor in a console's success. The games.
Of course, everyone has his own way to judge games, as such the titles library of each console will have a different value to different people.
First of all, let's look at the lineup of already published exclusives for both consoles.
The Xbox 360 has more exclusives in it's current library, and a couple prominent games with exclusive DLC (like Grand theft auto IV), but unless you are planning to buy every single exclusive game for your console of choice, numbers matter only relatively.
If you plan to buy only great games, and don't care much about numbers crunching, things are pretty even.
The 360 has the Gears of War series, Mass Effect, Ace Combat 6, Halo 3 and Fable 2 to name some. In addition to that, it has a strong line-up of already published JRPGs: Star Ocean The Last Hope, Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery (the last two are quite low-quality though, and ToV has a fairly superior PS3 version, with no release date in the west yet).
The PS3, on the other hand, has a lower number of exclusives, but has nothing to envy in terms of quality with games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted, the Reistance series, Infamous, Little Big Planet, Motorstorm and Killzone 2.
At the moment the PS3 has a quite weaker line-up of JRPGs, the only prominent ones being Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. Though, quality-wise, Valkyria Chronicles beats basically every JRPG released in the last few years on any platform. If you have a PS3 and didn't play it yet, you're a criminal :D
Looking at the future, there are quite a few strong exclusive titles coming for both consoles: The 360 has Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3 ODST, Left for Dead 2, Mass Effect 2 (A PS3 version of this one is rumored but not confirmed), Splinter Cell Conviction and MagnaCarta 2.
On the other hand, the PS3 will hit heavy, with Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, The Saboteur, Final Fantasy XIV (even if this one might actually come to the 360, if Square Enix manages to solve the issues regarding Xbox Live), Last Rebellion, Demon's souls and White Knight Chronicles.
As usual, everyone will evaluate the games listed according to his own tastes, but I'd say that the PS3 Line-up is one of the best of the last few years, and stronger than the one sported on the 360.
Another thing that some consider important is that the PS3 is region free, while many games on the 360n are region locked. This means that PS3 owners are able to import games from other regions, especially Japanese ones like the new Gundam Senki and Yakuza 3.
Not only that, the ability to import American editions of some key games may be crucial to many European gamers, when the European edition is released considerably later.
Final Fantasy XIII will probably be the perfect example. I doubt many self-respecting Final Fantasy fans will wait for the European edition of the game (on the PS3 or the 360). Most will just import the PS3 version from the US getting to play it many months earlier.
To summarize, the PS3 has a quite radical advantage hardware-wise and features-wise, partially countered by Xbox Live. The Xbox has the advantage of quantity in it's existing software-library, while quality is pretty even, trying not to count personal taste. Finally, the PS3 is about to have a very strong holiday and post holiday season, with a stronger line-up than it's direct competitor.
In the end, I'd say that the balance is in favor of the PS3, that seems to offer quite a bit more bang for the buck. Of course, the best option is having both, to be able to enjoy exclusive from both sides of the fence.
So, to put it down simply. If i didn't have an HD console or if I had only a 360, at the moment I'd buy a PS3. If i had only a PS3, I'd buy a 360.
All in All, this is a great period for gamers, with the PS3 price cut dragging down the price of the 360 as well, and making the "All-consoles-heaven" available to a broader audience.
Whatever side of the fence you're on (or even if you're sitting across it), there's much joy to be had in the next few months.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A legend returns: new info and screenshots about R-Type Tactics II
As Japanese developers scramble to support the launch of the new PSPGo, Irem has released a slew of new information and screenshots about R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate (I seriously love this title), slated for release in Japan on October the 29th.
Wonder why everyone wants to launch new PSP titles this october... Oh, right...
The game, sequel of R-Type Tactics (renamed R-Type Command in the west) and tactical heir of the legendary side-scrolling shooter R-Type, will expand quite extensively on the original R-Type storyline:
With the Bydo defeated, humanity has enjoyed several years of peace, probably too many years, as the warlike nature of the human being is finally started to resurface. It was the humans themselves that initially created the Bydo, and after the war the Earth Union government decided to mantain and further develop the Bydo weapons, to be used in future warfare.
Not everyone, though, was in agreement with that course of action, and rebel forces based on Mars started to build a new faction, the Granzera Revolutionary Army, bent on destroying every last remain of the Bydo technology.
Tension between the two factions soon became unbearable and the skirmishes quickly ended in open warfare. It's time for R-Type fighters to be pitched against each other.
This is, I'd say, the most natural evolution of the R-Type storyline, with humanity again risking self-destruction, quite directly this time.
From a gameplay point of view, Irem announced more than 200 units for this iteration of the franchise (the first Tactics game had about 100), distributed between the Earth Union Army, The Granzera Revolutionary Army and the Bydo.
Also, there will be much more variation between the available units:
of course there will be several choices of Fighters and Capital ships for all the factions involved, but many special purpose crafts have been added to spice up the gameplay. Here are the most prominent:
- AWACS crafts: able to send jamming signals to the enemy units, and disrupt their sensor and engagement capabilities.
- Command crafts: able to hit weakened enemies with scrambler missiles that will force them to switch sides during a mission.
- Aerial Refueling crafts: air tankers able to refuel and resupply other fighters during missions.
- Decoy Units: just as the name says, they are able to draw the enemy into attacking them, and then will explode causing damage to all the surrounding units.
- Base building units: bringing limited base-building to the franchise, this kind of craft will be able to establish a defensive stronghold in space and to repair friendly units.
In addition to this, several gameplay features have been announced like online multiplayer, the presence of giant enemy battleships (up to 10 times bigger than the PSP screen), and the fact that new units and additional missions will be available on the PSN as downloadable content.
if you're eager to see some screenshots you can go to the official website or to the Japanese portal Gpara.com, that features a lot of them. For the ones that don't know Japanese, after the red stripe with 【地球連合軍】 written in it, you will see units from the Earth Union army. Where it says 【グランゼーラ革命軍】 the pictures feature Granzera crafts, while the Bydo are portrayed after the 【バイド軍】 line.
Personally, i'd say that the game looks promising, adding quite a lot of depth over the already complex base that was the R-Type Command. Will we see it published in the west? Given that we did get the first game, we can most definitely hope that the second will receive the same treatment.
Wonder why everyone wants to launch new PSP titles this october... Oh, right...
The game, sequel of R-Type Tactics (renamed R-Type Command in the west) and tactical heir of the legendary side-scrolling shooter R-Type, will expand quite extensively on the original R-Type storyline:
With the Bydo defeated, humanity has enjoyed several years of peace, probably too many years, as the warlike nature of the human being is finally started to resurface. It was the humans themselves that initially created the Bydo, and after the war the Earth Union government decided to mantain and further develop the Bydo weapons, to be used in future warfare.
Not everyone, though, was in agreement with that course of action, and rebel forces based on Mars started to build a new faction, the Granzera Revolutionary Army, bent on destroying every last remain of the Bydo technology.
Tension between the two factions soon became unbearable and the skirmishes quickly ended in open warfare. It's time for R-Type fighters to be pitched against each other.
This is, I'd say, the most natural evolution of the R-Type storyline, with humanity again risking self-destruction, quite directly this time.
From a gameplay point of view, Irem announced more than 200 units for this iteration of the franchise (the first Tactics game had about 100), distributed between the Earth Union Army, The Granzera Revolutionary Army and the Bydo.
Also, there will be much more variation between the available units:
of course there will be several choices of Fighters and Capital ships for all the factions involved, but many special purpose crafts have been added to spice up the gameplay. Here are the most prominent:
- AWACS crafts: able to send jamming signals to the enemy units, and disrupt their sensor and engagement capabilities.
- Command crafts: able to hit weakened enemies with scrambler missiles that will force them to switch sides during a mission.
- Aerial Refueling crafts: air tankers able to refuel and resupply other fighters during missions.
- Decoy Units: just as the name says, they are able to draw the enemy into attacking them, and then will explode causing damage to all the surrounding units.
- Base building units: bringing limited base-building to the franchise, this kind of craft will be able to establish a defensive stronghold in space and to repair friendly units.
In addition to this, several gameplay features have been announced like online multiplayer, the presence of giant enemy battleships (up to 10 times bigger than the PSP screen), and the fact that new units and additional missions will be available on the PSN as downloadable content.
if you're eager to see some screenshots you can go to the official website or to the Japanese portal Gpara.com, that features a lot of them. For the ones that don't know Japanese, after the red stripe with 【地球連合軍】 written in it, you will see units from the Earth Union army. Where it says 【グランゼーラ革命軍】 the pictures feature Granzera crafts, while the Bydo are portrayed after the 【バイド軍】 line.
Personally, i'd say that the game looks promising, adding quite a lot of depth over the already complex base that was the R-Type Command. Will we see it published in the west? Given that we did get the first game, we can most definitely hope that the second will receive the same treatment.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Hexyz Force: Atlus to release a new JRPG on the PSP
Looks like Atlus detected some potential in the PSP, probably due to the upcoming release of the PSPGo. Right after the announcement of Persona 3 Portable they just unveiled a new JRPG scheduled to be released (in Japan) on November the 12th on Sony's portable console.
The new game, named Hexyz Force and developed by Sting Entertainment (the creators of Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, Dokapon and Baroque) will be set in a world split in two by an ancient war between the Goddes of Creation and the God of Destruction: The results of such a divide are the Land of Light and the Land of Darkness.
Many centuries have passed since then, and now the world knows peace and prosperity, but signs of the awakening of the God of Destruction are starting to threaten that peace.
Cecilia, a shrine maiden in the Land of Light is performing her daily duties when the temple is attacked by demons led by a mysterious man wearing a jet black armor. As the fact that the objective of the attack is Cecilia's life becomes evident, she's forced to flee, departing for an adventure that will intertwine with the fate of Levant, a young soldier hailing from the Land of Darkness.
This JRPG, featuring full cel shaded 3D gameplay and high quality anime cutscenes, has a quite interesting feature: the story will unfold from two different and alternating point of views, that of Cecilia and that of Levant. Both characters will lead their own separate parties, but their travels will often bring them to meet and influence each other.
Not much more is known so far, but quite a few videos, including a very nice anime trailer, are available on the new official website. The game seems promising so far, expecially given the two-faced nature of the story and the anime cutscenes. The best thing is that, being published by Atlus, there are good chances that we'll see it released in the west as well.
The new game, named Hexyz Force and developed by Sting Entertainment (the creators of Yggdra Union, Knights in the Nightmare, Dokapon and Baroque) will be set in a world split in two by an ancient war between the Goddes of Creation and the God of Destruction: The results of such a divide are the Land of Light and the Land of Darkness.
Many centuries have passed since then, and now the world knows peace and prosperity, but signs of the awakening of the God of Destruction are starting to threaten that peace.
Cecilia, a shrine maiden in the Land of Light is performing her daily duties when the temple is attacked by demons led by a mysterious man wearing a jet black armor. As the fact that the objective of the attack is Cecilia's life becomes evident, she's forced to flee, departing for an adventure that will intertwine with the fate of Levant, a young soldier hailing from the Land of Darkness.
This JRPG, featuring full cel shaded 3D gameplay and high quality anime cutscenes, has a quite interesting feature: the story will unfold from two different and alternating point of views, that of Cecilia and that of Levant. Both characters will lead their own separate parties, but their travels will often bring them to meet and influence each other.
Not much more is known so far, but quite a few videos, including a very nice anime trailer, are available on the new official website. The game seems promising so far, expecially given the two-faced nature of the story and the anime cutscenes. The best thing is that, being published by Atlus, there are good chances that we'll see it released in the west as well.
Level 5 Vision 2009: Highlights Live
In about one hour at the Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, the JRPG developer Level 5 will hold their annual press conference, dubbed Level 5 Vision 2009.
According to the event's official web site, the conference will feature six already annoounced titles Ni no Kuni (Level 5's co-production with Studio Ghibli), Professor Layton and the Demon's Flute , the Professor Layton anime movie, Inazuma Eleven 2, the ROID mobile portal and Danbol Senki. In addition to those, three new games will be announced.
1Up will be there to liveblog the conference, and I will be here to comment live as well.
I have a lot of hopes about the three unannounced games. We really need some new good JRPGs, expecially some more on the PS3 or the 360 (or both). Also, there's a good chance that we'll hear something about the already rumored sequel of White Knight Chronicles.
1: The conference is set to start in 5 minutes from now. It's scheduled to last for 45 minutes :D
2: It's starting now. Flashy special effects going as the stage fills up with fog... The video on screen shows just the games I listed above for now.
3: The announcer is boasting the over 5 millions sales for Professor Layton, a franchise that I personally hate with a passion, but to each their own...
4: Akihiro Hino (Level 5's CEO) walks on the stage. He's now saying how they're going to surprise everyone with incredible announcements today. We already heard this Hino-san...
5: Back to professor Layton's new title (The Demon's Flute), it will be part of a trilogy. The trailer is showing a new female character, named Remi. I honestly have problems appreciating this franchise... I guess the horribly childish chara design seals the deal for me. Anyway, the game will be released in Japan on November the 26th, and it'll be a prequel of the previous games.
6: Now they're showing a video of the voice cast that are bragging on how great Professor Layton is... Yeah sure... Remi will be voiced by Saki Aibu, while the ending theme will feature the voice of Yuko Ando.
7: Time for... More Layton. It's time for the Anime Movie. Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (Yawn... ). They're showing the trailer now... oh joy...
It will include characters from the new game, and revolve around the puzzle that grants eternal life. The anime is being produced by the studio that worked on the Pokemon movies (appropriate...).
They will try to have a Layton movie once a year, every winter. I'm sure you can feel my overwhelming joy...
8: Next in line: Inazuma Ileven 2. For the ones not familiar with the franchise, it's a mix between an RPG and a soccer game for the nintendo DS. Not that bad. It kind of reminds me of the first series of Captain Tsubasa, just with Aliens and other crazy stuff. The new game will feature 4-players local multiplayer. The Japanese release date is October the 1st, and I seriously doubt we'll ever see this released in the west.
More info is being given, like the fact that the game will be released in two different editions (Fire and Blizzard), a-la Pokemon, and that Hidetoshi Nakata (a famous Japanese soccer player that played overseas a lot, mainly in Italy) will be present as an hidden character named Nakata Hide. He will also voice the character. Looks like Level 5 is quite generous with their budgets lately...
The two different editions of the game will feature different opening and ending songs (Oh, Goodness)...
9: Time for a mini-concert of a Japanese band of young idols... Hopefully after this the age target is going to rise a little bit... I'm hoping we'll get some announcements dedicated to the ones that aren't under 15 too...
10: Next is the new game in the Atamania series. It's an extremely casual-friendly series of puzzle games that will never, ever be localized in the west. Thankfully, I might add (yes, I'm starting to be Jaded... must be because it's 7 in the morning here in Italy and I didn't hear a single interesting announcement yet)...
11: Following suit is the newest Mystery Room game. You got it. Another puzzle game. Nothing to see here.
12: Finally getting about something relatively nice (but still quite low in the age target): Cardboard War Machine (AKA Danbol Senki). a Robot Fighting game with anime cutscenes on the PSP. The robots will be highly customizable in all their parts and players will be able to fight against each other pretty much like in a Pokemon game. The bad news are that the game has been delayed to next year. I'm going to cry myself to sleep now... Not really.
They're going to produce an anime based on the game, and Bandai will release a toy line based on the robots. It might actually get a western release since they gave an official english name for it: "The little Battlers" (oh my...).
13: Now they're talking about their ROID online service, that is getting a cellphone version. After this one they covered all the games/anime/stuff we already knew about, and something interesting should finally come.
14: Seriously... I'm trying hard not to fall asleep...
15: Oh, I was forgetting about Ni No Kuni, that's the last already announced game that they didn't mention yet. And they are now, in fact. Something really interesting at last. Ni No Kuni, for the few that didn't know yet, is a Nintendo DS game that Level 5 is developing with Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. They're showing a trailer right now. Both the anime cutscenes and the in-game footage seem to be high-quality, expecially for a DS game.
The game will feature a turn-based combat system similar to Dragon Quest. It will be released earlier than I expected: spring 2010 (in Japan of course).
The female main character will be voiced by Masami Nagasawa, the character named Gyro will be voiced by You Oizumi (Professor Layton's voice actor), and Mikako Tabe will voice the main character, Oliver.
To make the project even more interesting, the score will be composed by Joe Hisahishi, one of the most acclaimed composers in Japan. He composed the scores of basically every movie by Miyazaki. The game will be recorded in a 4 Gb rom, the biggest available for Nintendo DS.
15: At long last a new game is about to be announced... The title is Fantasy Life, and it will be an RPG. It will be a joint production with Brownie Brown and the music will be composed by Nobuo Uematsu (another extremely famous Japanese composer, looks like Level 5 really wants to get the best to work on their scores), that will write 21 tracks for the game. They didn't announce a platform, but it definitely looked DSish. The involvement of Brownie Brown also screams Nintendo DS quite loudly.
16: They stated that Ushiro (a PSP horror game) and Inazuma Eleven for Wii are still in production, but not yet ready for a public outing.
17: looks like the conference is ending. They announced just one of the three games they teased us about. Also, they didn't show any game for any Next-gen console. Almost everything was DS-related.
I'm mildly disappointed... We already have TONS of Nintendo DS games, and while it's understandable, given the popularity of the platform, can't say I wouldn't have liked to see something different. Oh well...
Thanks for reading, it's time for me to finally drop in bed for a couple hours before work... *sighs*
According to the event's official web site, the conference will feature six already annoounced titles Ni no Kuni (Level 5's co-production with Studio Ghibli), Professor Layton and the Demon's Flute , the Professor Layton anime movie, Inazuma Eleven 2, the ROID mobile portal and Danbol Senki. In addition to those, three new games will be announced.
1Up will be there to liveblog the conference, and I will be here to comment live as well.
I have a lot of hopes about the three unannounced games. We really need some new good JRPGs, expecially some more on the PS3 or the 360 (or both). Also, there's a good chance that we'll hear something about the already rumored sequel of White Knight Chronicles.
1: The conference is set to start in 5 minutes from now. It's scheduled to last for 45 minutes :D
2: It's starting now. Flashy special effects going as the stage fills up with fog... The video on screen shows just the games I listed above for now.
3: The announcer is boasting the over 5 millions sales for Professor Layton, a franchise that I personally hate with a passion, but to each their own...
4: Akihiro Hino (Level 5's CEO) walks on the stage. He's now saying how they're going to surprise everyone with incredible announcements today. We already heard this Hino-san...
5: Back to professor Layton's new title (The Demon's Flute), it will be part of a trilogy. The trailer is showing a new female character, named Remi. I honestly have problems appreciating this franchise... I guess the horribly childish chara design seals the deal for me. Anyway, the game will be released in Japan on November the 26th, and it'll be a prequel of the previous games.
6: Now they're showing a video of the voice cast that are bragging on how great Professor Layton is... Yeah sure... Remi will be voiced by Saki Aibu, while the ending theme will feature the voice of Yuko Ando.
7: Time for... More Layton. It's time for the Anime Movie. Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (Yawn... ). They're showing the trailer now... oh joy...
It will include characters from the new game, and revolve around the puzzle that grants eternal life. The anime is being produced by the studio that worked on the Pokemon movies (appropriate...).
They will try to have a Layton movie once a year, every winter. I'm sure you can feel my overwhelming joy...
8: Next in line: Inazuma Ileven 2. For the ones not familiar with the franchise, it's a mix between an RPG and a soccer game for the nintendo DS. Not that bad. It kind of reminds me of the first series of Captain Tsubasa, just with Aliens and other crazy stuff. The new game will feature 4-players local multiplayer. The Japanese release date is October the 1st, and I seriously doubt we'll ever see this released in the west.
More info is being given, like the fact that the game will be released in two different editions (Fire and Blizzard), a-la Pokemon, and that Hidetoshi Nakata (a famous Japanese soccer player that played overseas a lot, mainly in Italy) will be present as an hidden character named Nakata Hide. He will also voice the character. Looks like Level 5 is quite generous with their budgets lately...
The two different editions of the game will feature different opening and ending songs (Oh, Goodness)...
9: Time for a mini-concert of a Japanese band of young idols... Hopefully after this the age target is going to rise a little bit... I'm hoping we'll get some announcements dedicated to the ones that aren't under 15 too...
10: Next is the new game in the Atamania series. It's an extremely casual-friendly series of puzzle games that will never, ever be localized in the west. Thankfully, I might add (yes, I'm starting to be Jaded... must be because it's 7 in the morning here in Italy and I didn't hear a single interesting announcement yet)...
11: Following suit is the newest Mystery Room game. You got it. Another puzzle game. Nothing to see here.
12: Finally getting about something relatively nice (but still quite low in the age target): Cardboard War Machine (AKA Danbol Senki). a Robot Fighting game with anime cutscenes on the PSP. The robots will be highly customizable in all their parts and players will be able to fight against each other pretty much like in a Pokemon game. The bad news are that the game has been delayed to next year. I'm going to cry myself to sleep now... Not really.
They're going to produce an anime based on the game, and Bandai will release a toy line based on the robots. It might actually get a western release since they gave an official english name for it: "The little Battlers" (oh my...).
13: Now they're talking about their ROID online service, that is getting a cellphone version. After this one they covered all the games/anime/stuff we already knew about, and something interesting should finally come.
14: Seriously... I'm trying hard not to fall asleep...
15: Oh, I was forgetting about Ni No Kuni, that's the last already announced game that they didn't mention yet. And they are now, in fact. Something really interesting at last. Ni No Kuni, for the few that didn't know yet, is a Nintendo DS game that Level 5 is developing with Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. They're showing a trailer right now. Both the anime cutscenes and the in-game footage seem to be high-quality, expecially for a DS game.
The game will feature a turn-based combat system similar to Dragon Quest. It will be released earlier than I expected: spring 2010 (in Japan of course).
The female main character will be voiced by Masami Nagasawa, the character named Gyro will be voiced by You Oizumi (Professor Layton's voice actor), and Mikako Tabe will voice the main character, Oliver.
To make the project even more interesting, the score will be composed by Joe Hisahishi, one of the most acclaimed composers in Japan. He composed the scores of basically every movie by Miyazaki. The game will be recorded in a 4 Gb rom, the biggest available for Nintendo DS.
15: At long last a new game is about to be announced... The title is Fantasy Life, and it will be an RPG. It will be a joint production with Brownie Brown and the music will be composed by Nobuo Uematsu (another extremely famous Japanese composer, looks like Level 5 really wants to get the best to work on their scores), that will write 21 tracks for the game. They didn't announce a platform, but it definitely looked DSish. The involvement of Brownie Brown also screams Nintendo DS quite loudly.
16: They stated that Ushiro (a PSP horror game) and Inazuma Eleven for Wii are still in production, but not yet ready for a public outing.
17: looks like the conference is ending. They announced just one of the three games they teased us about. Also, they didn't show any game for any Next-gen console. Almost everything was DS-related.
I'm mildly disappointed... We already have TONS of Nintendo DS games, and while it's understandable, given the popularity of the platform, can't say I wouldn't have liked to see something different. Oh well...
Thanks for reading, it's time for me to finally drop in bed for a couple hours before work... *sighs*
Monday, August 24, 2009
Build your own village in White Knight Chronicles
One of my most awaited games for the next few months is undoubtly White Knight Chronicles (slated for release in the west during the first quarter of next year) . The mix of fantasy and giant robots is simply irresistible for me.
Let's not even go into the downright silly fact that we're getting a game more than one year after the Japanese release. It's unbelievable that it still happens in this day and age...
The only positive note about that, though, is that we'll get the game with the expansions already packed in. Level 5 seems to be bent on bringing to the west the best product possible, and that seems to be the cause for the delay. At the very least it's a good excuse, no (No. But oh well...)?
In any case, Sony just unveiled the details of the second expansion (dubbed "2nd Wave") that will soon hit the game. Alongside the chance to edit the appearence of one's character (at the small price of 500 yen), new equipment and an improved combat system, players will be able to create their own online village with the Diorama function.
Elements for the Diorama will be for sale on the playstation network. You can already see some of them on the official Japanese website. We still don't know much about the functionalities of this feature, nor if some elements for it will be available for free.
One thing is for sure, Sony and Level 5 are still pushing this lovely JRPG quite a lot. Hopefully it'll be worth the looong wait. I have a good feeling (about the game, most definitely not about the long wait).
Let's not even go into the downright silly fact that we're getting a game more than one year after the Japanese release. It's unbelievable that it still happens in this day and age...
The only positive note about that, though, is that we'll get the game with the expansions already packed in. Level 5 seems to be bent on bringing to the west the best product possible, and that seems to be the cause for the delay. At the very least it's a good excuse, no (No. But oh well...)?
In any case, Sony just unveiled the details of the second expansion (dubbed "2nd Wave") that will soon hit the game. Alongside the chance to edit the appearence of one's character (at the small price of 500 yen), new equipment and an improved combat system, players will be able to create their own online village with the Diorama function.
Elements for the Diorama will be for sale on the playstation network. You can already see some of them on the official Japanese website. We still don't know much about the functionalities of this feature, nor if some elements for it will be available for free.
One thing is for sure, Sony and Level 5 are still pushing this lovely JRPG quite a lot. Hopefully it'll be worth the looong wait. I have a good feeling (about the game, most definitely not about the long wait).
Valkyria 2 Commercial unleashed. Website easter egg
As I wrote a few days ago, the first Valkyria Chronicles TV commercial has been aired. Obviously it was just a matter of time before it got posted on Youtube. I embedded it below for your viewing pleasure.
The commercial clip doesn't include any gameplay, but it's quite generous in showing a few snippets of the cutscenes that will be in the game.
At the very least it's a final confirmation that the game will indeed have cutscenes to show the storyline.
While the style has changed a little from the first Valkyria game, resembling more the Valkyria Chronicles anime (not surprisingly), it still retains it's CANVAS pencil trait. After all the character designer Raita Honjo is the same. Despite me writing it clearly on my very first post about VK2, there has been a lot of misinformation about this around the net. Luckily the character designer didn't change at all, he just adjusted the style a little to that of the anime TV series.
On a side note, starting today the official Valkyria 2 website hides a small easter egg. If you keep refreshing the front page (took me about 20 times) it will show a VERY small clip (about 2 seconds) of the Valkyria Character that's shown at the very end of the commercial, while she looses her cloak. If you're not in the mood of repeatedly refreshing the website I posted a screenshot above. The clip is so short that it won't show you much more than that.
The commercial clip doesn't include any gameplay, but it's quite generous in showing a few snippets of the cutscenes that will be in the game.
At the very least it's a final confirmation that the game will indeed have cutscenes to show the storyline.
While the style has changed a little from the first Valkyria game, resembling more the Valkyria Chronicles anime (not surprisingly), it still retains it's CANVAS pencil trait. After all the character designer Raita Honjo is the same. Despite me writing it clearly on my very first post about VK2, there has been a lot of misinformation about this around the net. Luckily the character designer didn't change at all, he just adjusted the style a little to that of the anime TV series.
On a side note, starting today the official Valkyria 2 website hides a small easter egg. If you keep refreshing the front page (took me about 20 times) it will show a VERY small clip (about 2 seconds) of the Valkyria Character that's shown at the very end of the commercial, while she looses her cloak. If you're not in the mood of repeatedly refreshing the website I posted a screenshot above. The clip is so short that it won't show you much more than that.
Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 3: a beginner-friendly online racing guide
I bet you looked at the picture on the left and are now expectinga comparison between Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo 5, full of console war galore and fanboy-sized morsels.
Well, too bad. That isn't going to happen. Not here at least. If you like racing the next few months are going to be joyful whether you have an Xbox 360 or a PS3, even more so if you have both like me. Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo 5 look every day more promising and even Need for Speed Shift seems a quite interesting product.
They actually come at the right time, as the previous generation of console racing games (Forza 2 and GT5 Prologue) is beginning to really show it's age. Luckily, though, online racers from all over the world are soon going to face new challenges.
A new generation of racing games inevitably brings a new generation of virtual drivers, as many gamers that never held a console steering wheel in their hands drop the sword and the rifle of their favourite RPGs or FPSs to see what all that buzz is about.
Those gamers may find themselves a little disoriented in an online environment that's indeed quite peculiar, with many unwritten rules they probably have no idea about.
Just think about the purpose of racing games. While in the 90% of online games your goal is to win by causing as much destruction and havoc possible, racing games require you to win while causing as little damage (better if none) as you can.
So, without further ado, here's a little list of randomly ordered pieces of advice that online racing beginners might find useful to "fit in" without too much trauma for themselves and their peers.
- Be respectful. Always.
Remember that, while in FPSs your "enemy" can't hear you, when racing online that "idiot" that just cut into your driving line can hear you very well. And so can all the others competing in the same race as you. Insulting, swearing and being generally obnoxious and hateful in your manner of speech will make you look bad, and will spoil the mood of everyone around you.
Want to vent your rage against the "idiot" mentioned above? Turn off your mic.
- Be a good sport.
Sportmanship is the first and foremost thing that will get you respected in the online racing world. You can drive as fast as Michael Schumacher, but if you can't be a good sport no one will care about you. When you win, be modest, don't brag needlessly, and don't make fun of the losers. When you loose, congratulate the winner. The newbie that's lagging behind and hitting the grass at every turn might show you his tail lights in three months.
- Don't be the "Noob of the First Turn".
Newbie racers always tend to have problems at the start. Getting their timing right with the green light is something that takes time and training. This normally causes them to find themselves near the back of the pack just before the first turn. Instinctively, they try to regain the lost ground and brake too late (if they hit the brakes at all), slamming right in the back of the ones that did brake at the right moment. This tends to cause massive chain-crashes (since the pack is still tight) right at the beginning of the race, ruining it for everyone involved.
Lesson to be learned: No matter how bad you are at starting. The first turn is critical, and it's better to brake early than to brake late.
- Situational awareness is your best friend.
One of the most common mistakes made by newbie drivers is to look only in front of them, ignoring what's on their sides and behind them. Always keep a clear idea in mind about what's around you and periodically check your mirrors. When someone overtakes you make sure you know exactly where his car is in relation to your car. If you're not confident that you can hold your position without causing a crash, give way. If you deserve being in front you'll overtake him again later.
- Don't be a griefer.
No one likes idiots that drive the wrong way. Don't. Simple as that.
- Don't insult griefers.
They don't care.
- If you cause a crash, apologize.
Causing a crash during a race is easier than you think. Even the most experienced virtual drivers will sometimes lose grip and crash into someone else, or simply make a mistake that can ruin another racer's effort.
If that happens to you, apologize. If your counterpart reacts badly, be the better man and don't escalate things. If you're in doubt about who actually caused the crash, apologize anyway. It won't hurt.
- Be conservative.
The romantic image of the daring driver risking everything on the razor's edge is overrated. The best drivers are very conservative, always weighing risk and reward. You might loose a tenth of second by braking earlier on a turn, but if that avoids a crash then you already know what the right choice is. Ranking last is better than not ranking at all.
- Don't quit in the middle of a race.
No matter if you're in last or if your car is damaged. Quitting when the race isn't done is just bad form. If you're too damaged to carry on, just park your ride somewhere out of the way and go make a coffee.
- Don't chat their ears off.
Racing takes concentration and focusing. If you start chatting and babbling the other virtual drivers in the room will get annoyed at you. If you feel like chatting, wait a little before starting. Sometimes you'll enter a room in which the other drivers feel chatty themselves. Learn to gauge the mood. If the others like to talk, feel free to join in.
- Don't be sad if you lose your stars.
Online racing is one of those environments in which it's very easy to be rated negatively. Even if following the advice listed here will help, sometimes you'll just find someone in a bad mood that will give you a negative rathing over the smallest scratch on their car's paint. Learn from the experience and don't turn it into drama.
- Don't floor the pedal before the start.
Many newbie drivers just push as much as possible on the gas before the light becomes green. This will actually give you a laggy start. Push on the pedal (or the button) enough to make the dial on the RPM Gauge skim just below the red. As soon as the lights turn green floor the gas. This is the trick that will give you the "Rocket start" that the other drivers achieve so easily.
- Chose a car you can handle.
Most of the coolest and fastest looking cars in any racing game's lineup are quite difficult to handle, expecially if they have a FR or MR transmission. Try your cars of choice extensively offline and make sure you can at least corner decently with them without spinning.
Starting with a FF or a 4WD car will probably help you. They're more stable and corner more easily. given that better grip makes them less prone to spinning when you accelerate out of a turn.
- Be gentle.
Treat your controller like you would treat a woman. Expecially at the highest difficulty settings flooring the gas all of a sudden while coming out of a turn will only make you spin, the same can be said about basically every other sudden and violent input you can give. Always be gradual and soft in your steering, braking and accelerating. If you treat your car roughly she will rebel, and you'll find yourself off the asphalt before you can say "oh crap".
- Learn to tune your car.
Tuning is a very important part of racing. A good tune can adapt the car to your driving style, and often make up for some of your mistakes. Of course tuning is difficult, and you won't be able to learn that easily from scratch. The forums, in this case, are your best friends. In forums dedicated to your favourite game you'll easily find many tuning experts that will be more than willing to help you. On top of it you'll very possibly be able to find some web-based calculators that will give you some decent basic tuning settings to start with.
- Try harder settings.
Sure, driving with automatic transmission, active steering, stability and traction control is easy. Is it rewarding? Not one bit. Moreover it'll probably make you end each and every race in the back of the pack, as the driving aids will slow you down considerably while forcing your car to act in an excessively conservative fashion. Removing the driving aids for the first time will make you feel like a kid removing the training wheels from his bycicle. It will be harsh, sometimes even frustrating. But when you'll finally get used to driving without them you'll really feel in control and you'll manage to handle your car like you never thought possible. It's one of the most rewarding sensations in online racing.
- Seriously, don't crash.
This is the last and most important piece of advice. While your most beloved racing simulator may have a great damage modeling, your main objective is never to see that modeling in action. Do whatever you can not to crash. No matter if you lose, no matter if everyone is faster than you. If you get to the goal line without crashing, then you've won. You won't be able to always avoid it, but driving while trying to never crash will minimize collisions and maximize the fun.
Of course this is only a small drop in the ocean of experience that an online racer builds for himself while playing online for years on end (And if you're a veteran virtual driver willing to share further advice, please use the comment form below), but I hope it'll help a few beginners to avoid some of the frustration that will come with the impact of joining of the most elitist but rewarding gaming communities on the net.
Have fun, and remember: don't crash, seriously :D
Well, too bad. That isn't going to happen. Not here at least. If you like racing the next few months are going to be joyful whether you have an Xbox 360 or a PS3, even more so if you have both like me. Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo 5 look every day more promising and even Need for Speed Shift seems a quite interesting product.
They actually come at the right time, as the previous generation of console racing games (Forza 2 and GT5 Prologue) is beginning to really show it's age. Luckily, though, online racers from all over the world are soon going to face new challenges.
A new generation of racing games inevitably brings a new generation of virtual drivers, as many gamers that never held a console steering wheel in their hands drop the sword and the rifle of their favourite RPGs or FPSs to see what all that buzz is about.
Those gamers may find themselves a little disoriented in an online environment that's indeed quite peculiar, with many unwritten rules they probably have no idea about.
Just think about the purpose of racing games. While in the 90% of online games your goal is to win by causing as much destruction and havoc possible, racing games require you to win while causing as little damage (better if none) as you can.
So, without further ado, here's a little list of randomly ordered pieces of advice that online racing beginners might find useful to "fit in" without too much trauma for themselves and their peers.
- Be respectful. Always.
Remember that, while in FPSs your "enemy" can't hear you, when racing online that "idiot" that just cut into your driving line can hear you very well. And so can all the others competing in the same race as you. Insulting, swearing and being generally obnoxious and hateful in your manner of speech will make you look bad, and will spoil the mood of everyone around you.
Want to vent your rage against the "idiot" mentioned above? Turn off your mic.
- Be a good sport.
Sportmanship is the first and foremost thing that will get you respected in the online racing world. You can drive as fast as Michael Schumacher, but if you can't be a good sport no one will care about you. When you win, be modest, don't brag needlessly, and don't make fun of the losers. When you loose, congratulate the winner. The newbie that's lagging behind and hitting the grass at every turn might show you his tail lights in three months.
- Don't be the "Noob of the First Turn".
Newbie racers always tend to have problems at the start. Getting their timing right with the green light is something that takes time and training. This normally causes them to find themselves near the back of the pack just before the first turn. Instinctively, they try to regain the lost ground and brake too late (if they hit the brakes at all), slamming right in the back of the ones that did brake at the right moment. This tends to cause massive chain-crashes (since the pack is still tight) right at the beginning of the race, ruining it for everyone involved.
Lesson to be learned: No matter how bad you are at starting. The first turn is critical, and it's better to brake early than to brake late.
- Situational awareness is your best friend.
One of the most common mistakes made by newbie drivers is to look only in front of them, ignoring what's on their sides and behind them. Always keep a clear idea in mind about what's around you and periodically check your mirrors. When someone overtakes you make sure you know exactly where his car is in relation to your car. If you're not confident that you can hold your position without causing a crash, give way. If you deserve being in front you'll overtake him again later.
- Don't be a griefer.
No one likes idiots that drive the wrong way. Don't. Simple as that.
- Don't insult griefers.
They don't care.
- If you cause a crash, apologize.
Causing a crash during a race is easier than you think. Even the most experienced virtual drivers will sometimes lose grip and crash into someone else, or simply make a mistake that can ruin another racer's effort.
If that happens to you, apologize. If your counterpart reacts badly, be the better man and don't escalate things. If you're in doubt about who actually caused the crash, apologize anyway. It won't hurt.
- Be conservative.
The romantic image of the daring driver risking everything on the razor's edge is overrated. The best drivers are very conservative, always weighing risk and reward. You might loose a tenth of second by braking earlier on a turn, but if that avoids a crash then you already know what the right choice is. Ranking last is better than not ranking at all.
- Don't quit in the middle of a race.
No matter if you're in last or if your car is damaged. Quitting when the race isn't done is just bad form. If you're too damaged to carry on, just park your ride somewhere out of the way and go make a coffee.
- Don't chat their ears off.
Racing takes concentration and focusing. If you start chatting and babbling the other virtual drivers in the room will get annoyed at you. If you feel like chatting, wait a little before starting. Sometimes you'll enter a room in which the other drivers feel chatty themselves. Learn to gauge the mood. If the others like to talk, feel free to join in.
- Don't be sad if you lose your stars.
Online racing is one of those environments in which it's very easy to be rated negatively. Even if following the advice listed here will help, sometimes you'll just find someone in a bad mood that will give you a negative rathing over the smallest scratch on their car's paint. Learn from the experience and don't turn it into drama.
- Don't floor the pedal before the start.
Many newbie drivers just push as much as possible on the gas before the light becomes green. This will actually give you a laggy start. Push on the pedal (or the button) enough to make the dial on the RPM Gauge skim just below the red. As soon as the lights turn green floor the gas. This is the trick that will give you the "Rocket start" that the other drivers achieve so easily.
- Chose a car you can handle.
Most of the coolest and fastest looking cars in any racing game's lineup are quite difficult to handle, expecially if they have a FR or MR transmission. Try your cars of choice extensively offline and make sure you can at least corner decently with them without spinning.
Starting with a FF or a 4WD car will probably help you. They're more stable and corner more easily. given that better grip makes them less prone to spinning when you accelerate out of a turn.
- Be gentle.
Treat your controller like you would treat a woman. Expecially at the highest difficulty settings flooring the gas all of a sudden while coming out of a turn will only make you spin, the same can be said about basically every other sudden and violent input you can give. Always be gradual and soft in your steering, braking and accelerating. If you treat your car roughly she will rebel, and you'll find yourself off the asphalt before you can say "oh crap".
- Learn to tune your car.
Tuning is a very important part of racing. A good tune can adapt the car to your driving style, and often make up for some of your mistakes. Of course tuning is difficult, and you won't be able to learn that easily from scratch. The forums, in this case, are your best friends. In forums dedicated to your favourite game you'll easily find many tuning experts that will be more than willing to help you. On top of it you'll very possibly be able to find some web-based calculators that will give you some decent basic tuning settings to start with.
- Try harder settings.
Sure, driving with automatic transmission, active steering, stability and traction control is easy. Is it rewarding? Not one bit. Moreover it'll probably make you end each and every race in the back of the pack, as the driving aids will slow you down considerably while forcing your car to act in an excessively conservative fashion. Removing the driving aids for the first time will make you feel like a kid removing the training wheels from his bycicle. It will be harsh, sometimes even frustrating. But when you'll finally get used to driving without them you'll really feel in control and you'll manage to handle your car like you never thought possible. It's one of the most rewarding sensations in online racing.
- Seriously, don't crash.
This is the last and most important piece of advice. While your most beloved racing simulator may have a great damage modeling, your main objective is never to see that modeling in action. Do whatever you can not to crash. No matter if you lose, no matter if everyone is faster than you. If you get to the goal line without crashing, then you've won. You won't be able to always avoid it, but driving while trying to never crash will minimize collisions and maximize the fun.
Of course this is only a small drop in the ocean of experience that an online racer builds for himself while playing online for years on end (And if you're a veteran virtual driver willing to share further advice, please use the comment form below), but I hope it'll help a few beginners to avoid some of the frustration that will come with the impact of joining of the most elitist but rewarding gaming communities on the net.
Have fun, and remember: don't crash, seriously :D
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Playstation Home: How to improve Sony's virtual world?
Despite the criticism it received from several sources, it's doubtless that Playstation Home has a lot of untapped potential. That is the biggest problem, though: it's untapped.
Having been one of the first pioneers of using virtual worlds (and Second Life in particular) as a vehicle for marketing, I saw and experienced basically every mistake that has been made in that field.
Virtual worlds are extremely dynamic environments, with a completely different target from Joe Average walking down the streets while exposed to advertising billboard, or watching commercials on TV. To tackle them without knowing and "courting" such target is a suicidal action bound to end in disaster.
The biggest problem is that the ones that created Home managed to reproduce every single mistake made with Second life, to create new ones, and to amplify them by several times.
While the ones working in Second Life and in other virtual worlds learned from such mistakes and adjusted to their targets, Sony still hasn't.
The question is simple: is Playstation Home still salvageable? And if it is, can it be turned into something actually cool and fun, able to compete with the offerings coming from the competition (The Mii System from Nintendo and the Avatar System from Microsoft)?
The answer is "yes", but a lot needs to be changed and many basic mistakes need to be corrected. And yes, it's a change that would take time and cost money.
I'm going to list a few changes that would probably do the trick, based both on my needs and tastes as a gamer and my experience in virtual world marketing. It's a difficult balance to achieve, but that's exactly the balance that Sony needs to aim to. It's important to keep in mind that the main target that home needs to entice is a crowd of gamers, not of generic people that just want to chat and watch some commercials.
- Let's start from the basics. Why have separate Home instances for separate regions? Or better, why not allowing people to move from an instance to the other?
At the moment a Home user from Europe will have to create a Japanese or American PSN account to enter the Japanese or American Home. It's quite nonsensical to create a meeting place for the fans of the only region free console in the world, and then segregate users from different regions in their own ghetto.
Separate starting points are fine, with separate plazas, malls, theaters and so forth, so that people will initially find themselves amongst others from the same region. On the other hand, though, Home residents should be able to travel to other regions, and enjoy the contents there as well.
This would turn home in a true worldwide meeting place and would multiply by three the content any gamer can enjoy. If I want to take a picture of the big Gundam statue in the middle of the Japanese plaza and want to have a chat with other Gundam fans, why should I go through the hell of creating a Japanese account?
- Make traveling more intuitive and immersive.
At the moment when you decide to travel from a location to the other, you're given a download screen and nothing else. Also, you have to access a completely non-immersive list to go from the Plaza to any "branded" location of Home. It doesn't feel like a virtual world at all and it's so counter-intuitive that many users don't even fathom that they need to do so in order to travel. A good way to change this would be adding a "train station" location to the plaza, and use it to travel from the plaza to any other location. Then, while the users downloads the new location, he could be put in a "train car" location, that would allow him to chat and interact with the ones going in the same direction. Of course the "train car" step would be skipped when there's no download to be done.
- Make personal spaces a true gamer's virtual home.
At the moment personal spaces are very underdeveloped. The furniture in them is limited and impersonal, and has absolutely nothing to do with being the "home" of a gamer. How could this be changed?
1: Give Home users a PS3 and an HDTV. It's hilarious that one can't have a PS3 in the PS3's virtual world... Have the HDTV display a short clip from the latest game played by the user.
2: When the user inserts a new game in the console, a new item resembling the box of the game appears in his Home inventory, free to be placed and displayed in his Home personal space.
3: Link the trophy system to Home. Have the unlocking of certain trophies assign game-related items like posters, memorabilia and gadgets to be placed in tne gamer's personal space.
Having one's "virtual" collection of BD games, a PS3 showing off the last game played and memorabilia scattered around the personal space would definitely turn it into a more lively and personalized "virtual home" befitting of a dedicated gamer.
- Add actual functionality to personal spaces.
Now that we had one's virtual space personalized, let's add functionality to it.
1: Give users a drawing board. Being able to draw simple pictures and schemes is very important for group of gamers. Just imagine a Call of Duty squad able to actually meet in someone's personal space, with the leader being able to schematize the tactics on the drawing board.
2: When the Video Delivery Service is launched in november, allow users to stream the video in their Home Virtual Space maybe for a slightly higher price. That way the Home user would be able to share the movies they rent with their friends. Also, the same rfunctionality could be extended to the VidZone service.
3: Allow people to stream MP3 music directly from their HD to their virtual spaces. Can't have a good party without music after all.
4: Let users purchase small games to place in their Personal spaces. Chess, card games, maybe an arcade cabinet or two.
- Events, Events, Events!
Let's be honest. Like every Second Life club owner and marketer has learned the hard way long ago, virtual world residents can't care the least about about static content. You can place down minigames, information booths, ads of any kind and shape, but that will keep them interested only for a few minutes before they move on.
They want an ever-changing, dynamic schedule of events to keep them busy. Celebrities are a plus.
While persuading a celebrity to take part to an event in a virtual world is a pretty hopeless feat, causing many to have them impersonated by someone else (it's just an avatar, after all), Home has a big advantage. The "celebrities" that gamers want to see are game developers, and game developers are much more inclined to put themselves at the helm of an avatar than other kind of celebrities. Sony could easily get some game developers to hold some Q&A and presentations on the Home grounds. It's advertisement for them, after all, and they often do it for gaming portals and on irc. Also, when a game launches, throw a launch event or party in Home. Bring guests, gadgets and tasty morsels and the crowd will flock.
- Live press conferences and keynotes.
At the moment the coverage of Sony press conferences in Home is laughable. It's never live, and never complete. Sony should definitely host live video of their press conferences and keynotes at events like Tokyo Game Show, E3 and Gamescom in the Home presentation space. It's seriously ridiculous that Sony doesn't showoff their own conference in their own virtual world.
Also, they might want to show the conferences of Sony-friendly third parties, like EA and others. It would be an added service that would definitely entice most gamers to use Home more, and the third parties in question would appreciate as well. Everyone wins.
- Prizes and collectibles.
This is something that already exists in Home, but it's extremely limited. Too limited compared to what actually should be done. Branded minigames in the various home spaces shouldn't just be a sterile time-sink. Their fun-factor is always pretty limited, so adding some themed collectibles as prizes for the winners would raise their desirability. An example of what I mean can be found in the Namco Bandai space in the Japanese and American Home. There you can find a few little The Idolm@ster lottery machines that can award you with themed pieces of clothing or some lovely little collectible cans featuring the character of the game. Once you get them you can display them in your personal space.
These kinds of attractions should be much more widespread across home. They give the user the impression that they are rewarded for their time spent in the world, and for being exposed to all the marketing and commercials.
Of course those are just some examples of what should be done to turn home into an interactive, dynamic and more than anything else fun virtual world. At the moment, techically, Home is much more advanced and extensive compared to what's offered by Microsoft or Nintendo, but falls short in what's most important: identifying and pursuing the "gamer" target. It is, in simpler words, a lot of wasted potential and money.
That's exactly the purpose of what I listed above:.
More "gaming themed" personalization and interaction, more ways to showoff one's gaming achievements, more ways to interact and socialize with other gamers. Exposing the user to marketing and advertisement needs to become an effect, not the purpose. The purpose needs to be pure, unadultered fun.
To become a selling point instead of liability, Home needs to be turned into the perfect virtual luna-park in which gamers, more than anyone else, can really feel at "Home".
Give it some thought, Sony?
Having been one of the first pioneers of using virtual worlds (and Second Life in particular) as a vehicle for marketing, I saw and experienced basically every mistake that has been made in that field.
Virtual worlds are extremely dynamic environments, with a completely different target from Joe Average walking down the streets while exposed to advertising billboard, or watching commercials on TV. To tackle them without knowing and "courting" such target is a suicidal action bound to end in disaster.
The biggest problem is that the ones that created Home managed to reproduce every single mistake made with Second life, to create new ones, and to amplify them by several times.
While the ones working in Second Life and in other virtual worlds learned from such mistakes and adjusted to their targets, Sony still hasn't.
The question is simple: is Playstation Home still salvageable? And if it is, can it be turned into something actually cool and fun, able to compete with the offerings coming from the competition (The Mii System from Nintendo and the Avatar System from Microsoft)?
The answer is "yes", but a lot needs to be changed and many basic mistakes need to be corrected. And yes, it's a change that would take time and cost money.
I'm going to list a few changes that would probably do the trick, based both on my needs and tastes as a gamer and my experience in virtual world marketing. It's a difficult balance to achieve, but that's exactly the balance that Sony needs to aim to. It's important to keep in mind that the main target that home needs to entice is a crowd of gamers, not of generic people that just want to chat and watch some commercials.
- Let's start from the basics. Why have separate Home instances for separate regions? Or better, why not allowing people to move from an instance to the other?
At the moment a Home user from Europe will have to create a Japanese or American PSN account to enter the Japanese or American Home. It's quite nonsensical to create a meeting place for the fans of the only region free console in the world, and then segregate users from different regions in their own ghetto.
Separate starting points are fine, with separate plazas, malls, theaters and so forth, so that people will initially find themselves amongst others from the same region. On the other hand, though, Home residents should be able to travel to other regions, and enjoy the contents there as well.
This would turn home in a true worldwide meeting place and would multiply by three the content any gamer can enjoy. If I want to take a picture of the big Gundam statue in the middle of the Japanese plaza and want to have a chat with other Gundam fans, why should I go through the hell of creating a Japanese account?
- Make traveling more intuitive and immersive.
At the moment when you decide to travel from a location to the other, you're given a download screen and nothing else. Also, you have to access a completely non-immersive list to go from the Plaza to any "branded" location of Home. It doesn't feel like a virtual world at all and it's so counter-intuitive that many users don't even fathom that they need to do so in order to travel. A good way to change this would be adding a "train station" location to the plaza, and use it to travel from the plaza to any other location. Then, while the users downloads the new location, he could be put in a "train car" location, that would allow him to chat and interact with the ones going in the same direction. Of course the "train car" step would be skipped when there's no download to be done.
- Make personal spaces a true gamer's virtual home.
At the moment personal spaces are very underdeveloped. The furniture in them is limited and impersonal, and has absolutely nothing to do with being the "home" of a gamer. How could this be changed?
1: Give Home users a PS3 and an HDTV. It's hilarious that one can't have a PS3 in the PS3's virtual world... Have the HDTV display a short clip from the latest game played by the user.
2: When the user inserts a new game in the console, a new item resembling the box of the game appears in his Home inventory, free to be placed and displayed in his Home personal space.
3: Link the trophy system to Home. Have the unlocking of certain trophies assign game-related items like posters, memorabilia and gadgets to be placed in tne gamer's personal space.
Having one's "virtual" collection of BD games, a PS3 showing off the last game played and memorabilia scattered around the personal space would definitely turn it into a more lively and personalized "virtual home" befitting of a dedicated gamer.
- Add actual functionality to personal spaces.
Now that we had one's virtual space personalized, let's add functionality to it.
1: Give users a drawing board. Being able to draw simple pictures and schemes is very important for group of gamers. Just imagine a Call of Duty squad able to actually meet in someone's personal space, with the leader being able to schematize the tactics on the drawing board.
2: When the Video Delivery Service is launched in november, allow users to stream the video in their Home Virtual Space maybe for a slightly higher price. That way the Home user would be able to share the movies they rent with their friends. Also, the same rfunctionality could be extended to the VidZone service.
3: Allow people to stream MP3 music directly from their HD to their virtual spaces. Can't have a good party without music after all.
4: Let users purchase small games to place in their Personal spaces. Chess, card games, maybe an arcade cabinet or two.
- Events, Events, Events!
Let's be honest. Like every Second Life club owner and marketer has learned the hard way long ago, virtual world residents can't care the least about about static content. You can place down minigames, information booths, ads of any kind and shape, but that will keep them interested only for a few minutes before they move on.
They want an ever-changing, dynamic schedule of events to keep them busy. Celebrities are a plus.
While persuading a celebrity to take part to an event in a virtual world is a pretty hopeless feat, causing many to have them impersonated by someone else (it's just an avatar, after all), Home has a big advantage. The "celebrities" that gamers want to see are game developers, and game developers are much more inclined to put themselves at the helm of an avatar than other kind of celebrities. Sony could easily get some game developers to hold some Q&A and presentations on the Home grounds. It's advertisement for them, after all, and they often do it for gaming portals and on irc. Also, when a game launches, throw a launch event or party in Home. Bring guests, gadgets and tasty morsels and the crowd will flock.
- Live press conferences and keynotes.
At the moment the coverage of Sony press conferences in Home is laughable. It's never live, and never complete. Sony should definitely host live video of their press conferences and keynotes at events like Tokyo Game Show, E3 and Gamescom in the Home presentation space. It's seriously ridiculous that Sony doesn't showoff their own conference in their own virtual world.
Also, they might want to show the conferences of Sony-friendly third parties, like EA and others. It would be an added service that would definitely entice most gamers to use Home more, and the third parties in question would appreciate as well. Everyone wins.
- Prizes and collectibles.
This is something that already exists in Home, but it's extremely limited. Too limited compared to what actually should be done. Branded minigames in the various home spaces shouldn't just be a sterile time-sink. Their fun-factor is always pretty limited, so adding some themed collectibles as prizes for the winners would raise their desirability. An example of what I mean can be found in the Namco Bandai space in the Japanese and American Home. There you can find a few little The Idolm@ster lottery machines that can award you with themed pieces of clothing or some lovely little collectible cans featuring the character of the game. Once you get them you can display them in your personal space.
These kinds of attractions should be much more widespread across home. They give the user the impression that they are rewarded for their time spent in the world, and for being exposed to all the marketing and commercials.
Of course those are just some examples of what should be done to turn home into an interactive, dynamic and more than anything else fun virtual world. At the moment, techically, Home is much more advanced and extensive compared to what's offered by Microsoft or Nintendo, but falls short in what's most important: identifying and pursuing the "gamer" target. It is, in simpler words, a lot of wasted potential and money.
That's exactly the purpose of what I listed above:.
More "gaming themed" personalization and interaction, more ways to showoff one's gaming achievements, more ways to interact and socialize with other gamers. Exposing the user to marketing and advertisement needs to become an effect, not the purpose. The purpose needs to be pure, unadultered fun.
To become a selling point instead of liability, Home needs to be turned into the perfect virtual luna-park in which gamers, more than anyone else, can really feel at "Home".
Give it some thought, Sony?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Is the PS3 Slim driving software sales too?
This week has undoubtly been a great week for Sony. They dominated the news firmly without leaving much breathing space, if any, to the competition, and managed, at least temporarily, to raise the popularity of their console quite a lot.
Of course we don't have much data yet, besides what's provided by the retailers, and even the data we have doesn't give us any hint on what the long-term results will be.
What we can do is to observe the present, and wonder what the future will hold.
One of the few early sources of data we have are the Amazon popularity charts, that list the popularity of each item compared to other items of the same category (updated hourly).
While we're just talking about one retailer, it's still one of the biggest in the world, with a very widespread customerbase. This means that, at the very least, such data has some limited statistical value.
While your mileage may vary on how to interpret them, I think it's interesting to give them a close look
I reported a few days back that the PS3 Slim was firmly in first place between the consoles themselves. It still is, with the Wii and the 360 Arcade dropping further to 9th and 31st places respectively.
But what about software? While console sales themselves are very important (for obvious reasons), software sales are equally important to gauge a console's popularity.
Let's give a close look to the list, and let's see how the multiplatform titles are going.
Something has definitely changed. Before the announcement of the PS3 Slim and the price drops for the PS3, it was very, very hard to see a multiplatform title selling more on Sony's console than on the 360. Now we can see the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum (the nearest upcoming big hit) leading the 360 one both for the regular and the collector's edition. The PS3 regular edition is actually the second most popular game after the unreachable Wii Sports Resort. Let's move to the latest already released big hit, Madden NFL: The result is the same. While we don't know by how much, the PS3 BD leads the 360 DVD.
That's most definitely good news for Sony, even if I feel that the real longer-term test will be on Modern Warfare 2, which will probably be the best selling multiplatform title this fall and comes from a franchise that's always been 360-dominated. On MW2 the PS3 version is still behind by quite a lot, even if it's climbing steadily, while the 360 version is dropping. We'll have to see if this trend continues long enough for the PS3 version to catch up in the next four months.
An interesting piece of data comes from older games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted and the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto 4. They have reappeared near the top of the popularity list, meaning that new PS3 users are also buying "classic" games to build up their software library.
Finally, let's give a quick look to the accessories. The DualShock 3 is most definately popular, having overtaken even the WiiMote (but not the Wii Motion Plus), with the 360 controller lagging behind. The PS3 Remote is selling very well too, placing 11th. Meaning that PS3 customers still value the PS3 as a media station as well as a gaming console.
From the early data it's pretty evident that yes, the PS3 slim and the price cuts coming with it are driving software sales by quite a lot as well. The true question is if Sony will manage to keep the momentum or if the competition will intercept the ball. The next big stage is Tokyo Game show, during which Sony normally does quite well. An announcement of a close release date for Gran Turismo 5 and other strong exlusives would do well in their favor (a couple new titles wouldn't hurt as well). Also, applying some pressure (or support) on third party developers to get some potentially strong Japanese exclusives (or including exclusive content) like Yakuza 3, Gundam Senki and Tales of Vesperia, published in the west, would considerably strenghten the line-up, bringing back the Sony brand to it's ancestral place of premier provider of Japanese franchises.
The ball is in Sony's field. Will they attempt a long pass? Will they run with it? Or maybe they'll just drop it? We will see in the next few months.
Whatever the final result will be, the ones that will win are the gamers.
Of course we don't have much data yet, besides what's provided by the retailers, and even the data we have doesn't give us any hint on what the long-term results will be.
What we can do is to observe the present, and wonder what the future will hold.
One of the few early sources of data we have are the Amazon popularity charts, that list the popularity of each item compared to other items of the same category (updated hourly).
While we're just talking about one retailer, it's still one of the biggest in the world, with a very widespread customerbase. This means that, at the very least, such data has some limited statistical value.
While your mileage may vary on how to interpret them, I think it's interesting to give them a close look
I reported a few days back that the PS3 Slim was firmly in first place between the consoles themselves. It still is, with the Wii and the 360 Arcade dropping further to 9th and 31st places respectively.
But what about software? While console sales themselves are very important (for obvious reasons), software sales are equally important to gauge a console's popularity.
Let's give a close look to the list, and let's see how the multiplatform titles are going.
Something has definitely changed. Before the announcement of the PS3 Slim and the price drops for the PS3, it was very, very hard to see a multiplatform title selling more on Sony's console than on the 360. Now we can see the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum (the nearest upcoming big hit) leading the 360 one both for the regular and the collector's edition. The PS3 regular edition is actually the second most popular game after the unreachable Wii Sports Resort. Let's move to the latest already released big hit, Madden NFL: The result is the same. While we don't know by how much, the PS3 BD leads the 360 DVD.
That's most definitely good news for Sony, even if I feel that the real longer-term test will be on Modern Warfare 2, which will probably be the best selling multiplatform title this fall and comes from a franchise that's always been 360-dominated. On MW2 the PS3 version is still behind by quite a lot, even if it's climbing steadily, while the 360 version is dropping. We'll have to see if this trend continues long enough for the PS3 version to catch up in the next four months.
An interesting piece of data comes from older games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted and the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto 4. They have reappeared near the top of the popularity list, meaning that new PS3 users are also buying "classic" games to build up their software library.
Finally, let's give a quick look to the accessories. The DualShock 3 is most definately popular, having overtaken even the WiiMote (but not the Wii Motion Plus), with the 360 controller lagging behind. The PS3 Remote is selling very well too, placing 11th. Meaning that PS3 customers still value the PS3 as a media station as well as a gaming console.
From the early data it's pretty evident that yes, the PS3 slim and the price cuts coming with it are driving software sales by quite a lot as well. The true question is if Sony will manage to keep the momentum or if the competition will intercept the ball. The next big stage is Tokyo Game show, during which Sony normally does quite well. An announcement of a close release date for Gran Turismo 5 and other strong exlusives would do well in their favor (a couple new titles wouldn't hurt as well). Also, applying some pressure (or support) on third party developers to get some potentially strong Japanese exclusives (or including exclusive content) like Yakuza 3, Gundam Senki and Tales of Vesperia, published in the west, would considerably strenghten the line-up, bringing back the Sony brand to it's ancestral place of premier provider of Japanese franchises.
The ball is in Sony's field. Will they attempt a long pass? Will they run with it? Or maybe they'll just drop it? We will see in the next few months.
Whatever the final result will be, the ones that will win are the gamers.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Gran Turismo 5 release date: When?
Many have been speculating about a possible release date for Gran Turismo 5. This morning Kazunori Yamauchi said that Gran Turismo 5 will be released "shortly after" Gran Turismo for PSP.
Of course "shortly" is generic enough to mean "the day after" or "six months" after. But let's see what else is on the fire.
Sony has recently announced that European customers that will preorder GT5 will also receive a digital copy of Gran Turismo PSP. This might very well mean that GT5 will be available for preorder when GT PSP will be released.
On top of that all, the "feature list" that appeared on the official website and then mysteriously disappered, unveils the very believable possibility that GT5 was to be announced at Gamescom (after all Sony's conference was supposed to last three hours), but the announcement was suddenly pulled.
My guess is worth as much as anyone else's, but my Crystal ball says that, given the elements listed above, we're looking at an official announcement during the Tokyo Game Show, and a worldwide release (maybe with a few days of difference) this December.
From a Marketing point of view it would make perfect sense. With a bundle PS3 Slim/Gran Turismo 5 (possibly at an acceptable price, around 320 Euros/Dollars) Sony would pretty much nail down the holiday season.
Of course Marketing isn't a perfect science, and what makes sense to me might not make sense at all to the one that will have to actually push the red button. As usual, we'll have to wait and see.
Of course "shortly" is generic enough to mean "the day after" or "six months" after. But let's see what else is on the fire.
Sony has recently announced that European customers that will preorder GT5 will also receive a digital copy of Gran Turismo PSP. This might very well mean that GT5 will be available for preorder when GT PSP will be released.
On top of that all, the "feature list" that appeared on the official website and then mysteriously disappered, unveils the very believable possibility that GT5 was to be announced at Gamescom (after all Sony's conference was supposed to last three hours), but the announcement was suddenly pulled.
My guess is worth as much as anyone else's, but my Crystal ball says that, given the elements listed above, we're looking at an official announcement during the Tokyo Game Show, and a worldwide release (maybe with a few days of difference) this December.
From a Marketing point of view it would make perfect sense. With a bundle PS3 Slim/Gran Turismo 5 (possibly at an acceptable price, around 320 Euros/Dollars) Sony would pretty much nail down the holiday season.
Of course Marketing isn't a perfect science, and what makes sense to me might not make sense at all to the one that will have to actually push the red button. As usual, we'll have to wait and see.
Gundam Senki flies to Space
As the release date in Japan (september the 3rd) draws near more details surface about the extremely promising PS3 exclusive Gundam Senki (Gundam Battlefield Record U.C.0081). If you're new to this blog you might want to read more about it here and here.
Many were wondering, given the screenshots released so far, if the game would have been set only on Earth. Looks like it won't be, and to the underwater scenarios we already saw, Namco Bandai added at least one mission in space, more precisely on the surface of the Moon.
The forces of Zeon will attack the Lunar Base with an iconic Musai space cruiser and the player will be prompted to intercept it with a stunning looking Full Armor Gundam (see below) that packs in an immense firepower as much as a completely different gameplay compared to land-based Mobile Suits. After shooting down the enemy cruiser we'll have to shed the Full Armor equipment and tackle the Zeon Mobile suits on the surface.
Namco Bandai also released a new promotional video (you can see it below), that showcases quite a lot of gameplay. It also shows the command palette in action and briefly shows the multiplayer modes. Yes, you hear it correctly, I didn't write about it before, but this title will feature online multiplayer. If you think that piloting a gundam is awesome, just imagine how great it will be to do so against and alongside other human players over the internet.
The gameplay definitely looks awesome, confirming my idea that this could easily be the best and deepest mecha simulation game of the last few years. Hopefully Namco Bandai will realize the potential a game like Gundam Senki can have in the west as well and decide to release it in the US and in Europe.
Sony believes in it enough to include it in the very first bundle for the PS3 Slim (a smart choice, in my opinion) in Japan. Will Namco Bandai believe in their own game as well and challenge the west?
Many were wondering, given the screenshots released so far, if the game would have been set only on Earth. Looks like it won't be, and to the underwater scenarios we already saw, Namco Bandai added at least one mission in space, more precisely on the surface of the Moon.
The forces of Zeon will attack the Lunar Base with an iconic Musai space cruiser and the player will be prompted to intercept it with a stunning looking Full Armor Gundam (see below) that packs in an immense firepower as much as a completely different gameplay compared to land-based Mobile Suits. After shooting down the enemy cruiser we'll have to shed the Full Armor equipment and tackle the Zeon Mobile suits on the surface.
Namco Bandai also released a new promotional video (you can see it below), that showcases quite a lot of gameplay. It also shows the command palette in action and briefly shows the multiplayer modes. Yes, you hear it correctly, I didn't write about it before, but this title will feature online multiplayer. If you think that piloting a gundam is awesome, just imagine how great it will be to do so against and alongside other human players over the internet.
The gameplay definitely looks awesome, confirming my idea that this could easily be the best and deepest mecha simulation game of the last few years. Hopefully Namco Bandai will realize the potential a game like Gundam Senki can have in the west as well and decide to release it in the US and in Europe.
Sony believes in it enough to include it in the very first bundle for the PS3 Slim (a smart choice, in my opinion) in Japan. Will Namco Bandai believe in their own game as well and challenge the west?
The PS3 slim will support Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master audio
One of the main points of debate between Audio buffs about the old PS3 was the inability to bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA sound directly to a receiver. That meant that the signal was to be decoded by the PS3 itself, effectively losing the "lossless" audio coming with such codecs.
Now, most gamers wouldn't probably care at all about this, but given that the PS3 is also a Blu-Ray player, many audio fans couldn't bear the affront.
During the "PlayStation Strategy" conference held two days ago, Sony unveiled some new details on the 3.0 firmware, and between them there is a juicy bit. The PS3 slim will support bitstreaming of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA, finally bringing true and complete Lossless audio to the console market.
Unfortunately, just like the new BraviaLink, this feature won't be supported by the old fat PS3's.
So, if you are an audio buff and you are planning to take advantage of the 299 dollars/euros price cut to get a fat PS3, you might want, instead, to wait for the release of the Slim, your ears will thank you.
Considering, anyway, that the only feature the old PS3 has over the slim is the Linux installation (i'd say about five people use it in the world), my advice is to just wait even if you aren't an audio fanboy. More features are better than less, and your electricity bill will benefit as well.
Now, most gamers wouldn't probably care at all about this, but given that the PS3 is also a Blu-Ray player, many audio fans couldn't bear the affront.
During the "PlayStation Strategy" conference held two days ago, Sony unveiled some new details on the 3.0 firmware, and between them there is a juicy bit. The PS3 slim will support bitstreaming of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA, finally bringing true and complete Lossless audio to the console market.
Unfortunately, just like the new BraviaLink, this feature won't be supported by the old fat PS3's.
So, if you are an audio buff and you are planning to take advantage of the 299 dollars/euros price cut to get a fat PS3, you might want, instead, to wait for the release of the Slim, your ears will thank you.
Considering, anyway, that the only feature the old PS3 has over the slim is the Linux installation (i'd say about five people use it in the world), my advice is to just wait even if you aren't an audio fanboy. More features are better than less, and your electricity bill will benefit as well.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
PS3 Slim. Too Little, too late?
I can't say I didn't see it coming. Since a few days before the official announcement of the PS3 Slim and of the price cuts for Sony consoles (basically since when the rumors had become strong enough to be considered almost fact), a part of the press literally scrambled to try and downplay the effect of Sony's move.
This article on Cnet and this one on Forbes are two quite blatant examples of pieces written just before and after the announcement. if you try googling, thought, you'll find quite a few others.
The arguments are almost always the same, almost as they were coming from the same source. The PS3 still costs a little more than the competition, the competition will counter Sony's move by issuing price cuts of their own...
It's funny how those journalists seem to think that price would be the one and only deciding factor in purchasing a console (or any other product).
They all repeat it like it was an holy mantra and there were absolutely no other elements playing a role.
If it was like that, I guess my marketing studies have all been a waste of time. Now I can be liberated from my burden and I can just abide the wisdom of our friendly neighborhood journalists: I'll just advise my clients to be the cheapest on the market and boom! Instant success! Easy, isn't it?
Who cares about the fact that the PS3 offers quite a lot more value (in features) for it's price? Who cares that, to have features comparable to those of a basic PS3, you need to add to an Xbox 360 so many accessories that in the end you come out spending more? Who cares about the fact that the PS3 has an extremely strong line-up of upcoming games? Of course, all those elements are completely negligible since the one and only deciding factor (at least according to the journalists in question) would be basic price...
Hold on... The Wii costs quite a lot more than an Xbox 360. Then why Nintendo's console leads the one from Microsoft by such a large margin in sales? Might it be because of it's... features?!
Then we come to absolutely funny contradictions. Our wise journalists list online gameplay as an absolute factor in which the xbox 360 beats the PS3. It's true, even if the gap is gradually narrowing. But wait just a second. You have to pay for your Xbox Live gold membership, while the PSN is free. Wasn't price the most important deciding factor? A gold membership isn't even cheap. It's 50 dollars a year for what a PS3 offers for free.
Maybe I should set sarcasm aside. I almost feel like I'm stealing candy from a kid here... Let's get a little more serious.
All the articles I've read seem to completely forget some very basic marketing concepts. The first one I already talked about: the effect of price cuts is gradually dampened the more you apply them. Your price cut will be very effective the first time, then it's effect will decrease the more you cheapen your product.
The second quite important concept is the "highest acceptable price".
Every product has a price point under which the consumer feel that the purchase is acceptable or desirable.
It's quite evident, given how things went this generation, that the PS3 was, until now, priced above that threshold for many potential customers. Of course we cannot be sure until long term results are published, but I feel that, with the price cuts, the PS3 is now priced well under it's highest acceptable price for most potential customers.
When you price a product under that threshold, the customer starts evaluating the features you're offering more than the price. Price becomes a less important factor, and your product can very well succeed against competing products priced lower, given that it also offers more bang for the buck.
Does the PS3 offer more bang for the buck than the competition? I'd say yes, there isn't much to debate here.
Is that enough to balance out the higher price point? We'll have to see about that, but for sure there's absolutely no logical reason to call Sony's move a failure before long term results start to show and even before the competition attempts any action to counter it.
So why are some journalists so eager to put their credibility at stake in order to downplay the effect of the PS3 slim? Maybe doomsaying has become en vogue?
I'm almost tempted to believe that someone is actually pulling the strings behind the scenes. The articles I linked and others similar to them are so blatantly biased and misguided that I somehow find it hard to believe that a self respecting professional Journalist would actually write them if not somehow pressured or if he didn't have an hidden (not that hidden to be honest) purpose or agenda.
After all spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) has been an established marketing strategy since the seventies, and the press is the primary tool for such an action.
It's not like we haven't seen any underhanded marketing techniques in the gaming industry, expecially during the current generation.
May it be that the first true counter to Sony's price cuts and PS3 Slim is already in action, and it isn't a price cut?
One thing is for sure. The journalists in questions aren't gamers. I can't possibly imagine any self-respecting gamer being less than enthusiastic about a console that gets priced 100 dollars (or euros) less than before. It benefits the users or potential users of such a console for obvious reasons, and it benefits the users of competing consoles because their favourite brands will have to react by increasing their quality and/or lowering their own prices.
In simple words, wherever your brand loyalty lies (IF you have a brand loyalty), you have something to gain from this all, directly or indirectly.
A stronger Sony can only mean stronger competition in the market, higher quality and lower prices for each and every gamer.
The only ones that might be upset about Sony gearing up in the market are the rabid fanboys of the competition, Sony's competitors themselves, and the ones that have an hidden agenda. I'll let you judge which of those groups our "wise" journalists belong to.
This article on Cnet and this one on Forbes are two quite blatant examples of pieces written just before and after the announcement. if you try googling, thought, you'll find quite a few others.
The arguments are almost always the same, almost as they were coming from the same source. The PS3 still costs a little more than the competition, the competition will counter Sony's move by issuing price cuts of their own...
It's funny how those journalists seem to think that price would be the one and only deciding factor in purchasing a console (or any other product).
They all repeat it like it was an holy mantra and there were absolutely no other elements playing a role.
If it was like that, I guess my marketing studies have all been a waste of time. Now I can be liberated from my burden and I can just abide the wisdom of our friendly neighborhood journalists: I'll just advise my clients to be the cheapest on the market and boom! Instant success! Easy, isn't it?
Who cares about the fact that the PS3 offers quite a lot more value (in features) for it's price? Who cares that, to have features comparable to those of a basic PS3, you need to add to an Xbox 360 so many accessories that in the end you come out spending more? Who cares about the fact that the PS3 has an extremely strong line-up of upcoming games? Of course, all those elements are completely negligible since the one and only deciding factor (at least according to the journalists in question) would be basic price...
Hold on... The Wii costs quite a lot more than an Xbox 360. Then why Nintendo's console leads the one from Microsoft by such a large margin in sales? Might it be because of it's... features?!
Then we come to absolutely funny contradictions. Our wise journalists list online gameplay as an absolute factor in which the xbox 360 beats the PS3. It's true, even if the gap is gradually narrowing. But wait just a second. You have to pay for your Xbox Live gold membership, while the PSN is free. Wasn't price the most important deciding factor? A gold membership isn't even cheap. It's 50 dollars a year for what a PS3 offers for free.
Maybe I should set sarcasm aside. I almost feel like I'm stealing candy from a kid here... Let's get a little more serious.
All the articles I've read seem to completely forget some very basic marketing concepts. The first one I already talked about: the effect of price cuts is gradually dampened the more you apply them. Your price cut will be very effective the first time, then it's effect will decrease the more you cheapen your product.
The second quite important concept is the "highest acceptable price".
Every product has a price point under which the consumer feel that the purchase is acceptable or desirable.
It's quite evident, given how things went this generation, that the PS3 was, until now, priced above that threshold for many potential customers. Of course we cannot be sure until long term results are published, but I feel that, with the price cuts, the PS3 is now priced well under it's highest acceptable price for most potential customers.
When you price a product under that threshold, the customer starts evaluating the features you're offering more than the price. Price becomes a less important factor, and your product can very well succeed against competing products priced lower, given that it also offers more bang for the buck.
Does the PS3 offer more bang for the buck than the competition? I'd say yes, there isn't much to debate here.
Is that enough to balance out the higher price point? We'll have to see about that, but for sure there's absolutely no logical reason to call Sony's move a failure before long term results start to show and even before the competition attempts any action to counter it.
So why are some journalists so eager to put their credibility at stake in order to downplay the effect of the PS3 slim? Maybe doomsaying has become en vogue?
I'm almost tempted to believe that someone is actually pulling the strings behind the scenes. The articles I linked and others similar to them are so blatantly biased and misguided that I somehow find it hard to believe that a self respecting professional Journalist would actually write them if not somehow pressured or if he didn't have an hidden (not that hidden to be honest) purpose or agenda.
After all spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) has been an established marketing strategy since the seventies, and the press is the primary tool for such an action.
It's not like we haven't seen any underhanded marketing techniques in the gaming industry, expecially during the current generation.
May it be that the first true counter to Sony's price cuts and PS3 Slim is already in action, and it isn't a price cut?
One thing is for sure. The journalists in questions aren't gamers. I can't possibly imagine any self-respecting gamer being less than enthusiastic about a console that gets priced 100 dollars (or euros) less than before. It benefits the users or potential users of such a console for obvious reasons, and it benefits the users of competing consoles because their favourite brands will have to react by increasing their quality and/or lowering their own prices.
In simple words, wherever your brand loyalty lies (IF you have a brand loyalty), you have something to gain from this all, directly or indirectly.
A stronger Sony can only mean stronger competition in the market, higher quality and lower prices for each and every gamer.
The only ones that might be upset about Sony gearing up in the market are the rabid fanboys of the competition, Sony's competitors themselves, and the ones that have an hidden agenda. I'll let you judge which of those groups our "wise" journalists belong to.
Valkyria Chronicles 2 art unleashed. TV Commercial incoming
I was waiting for the next update of the Valkyria Chronicles 2 official website tomorrow, but looks like Sega decided to try and surprise me (How Naive...) by updating today.
The first part of the update includes some cute character design sketches that show off the expressiveness of the main characters (you can see them all in this flickr gallery). Have to say that they look very nice. One of the few flaws of the first title was that the characters were sometimes lacking in expressiveness, and looks like Sega is adressing that problem in the second installment of the series.
Looks like, though, that the teaser ghameplay trailer, that was supposerd to come tomorrow, has been rescheduled, and will be published on the official website next monday, August the 24th (the following updates are scheduled for the 27th and on September the 3rd).
If you live in Japan, though, or have means to watch Japanese TV you might just be in luck. A TV commercial has been scheduled to be broadcasted across several Japanese TV stations in the next few days:
Here's the schedule (please forgive any possible translation error):
-BS11: August 22nd (Saturday) 23:00 (11:00 PM)
-Chiba TV : August 23rd (Sunday) 1:35 AM
-TV Kanagawa: August 23rd (Sunday) 2:30 AM
-MX television: August 24th (Monday) 23:00 (11:00 PM)
-TV Saitama: August 25th (Tuesday) 1:00 AM
-Kyushu Broadcast: August 28th (Friday) 2:48 AM
-Chubu Nippon Broadcasting System: August 29th (Saturday) 2:30 AM
-TV Hokkaido: August 29th (Saturday) 2:30 AM
-Mainichi Broadcast: August 30th (Sunday) 3:28 AM
Hopefully someone will be nice enough to put it on youtube for the ones that cannot access the channels listed above.
This said, I'm back to watch episode 20 of the anime series. It's really clicking with me, just as the game did...
The first part of the update includes some cute character design sketches that show off the expressiveness of the main characters (you can see them all in this flickr gallery). Have to say that they look very nice. One of the few flaws of the first title was that the characters were sometimes lacking in expressiveness, and looks like Sega is adressing that problem in the second installment of the series.
Looks like, though, that the teaser ghameplay trailer, that was supposerd to come tomorrow, has been rescheduled, and will be published on the official website next monday, August the 24th (the following updates are scheduled for the 27th and on September the 3rd).
If you live in Japan, though, or have means to watch Japanese TV you might just be in luck. A TV commercial has been scheduled to be broadcasted across several Japanese TV stations in the next few days:
Here's the schedule (please forgive any possible translation error):
-BS11: August 22nd (Saturday) 23:00 (11:00 PM)
-Chiba TV : August 23rd (Sunday) 1:35 AM
-TV Kanagawa: August 23rd (Sunday) 2:30 AM
-MX television: August 24th (Monday) 23:00 (11:00 PM)
-TV Saitama: August 25th (Tuesday) 1:00 AM
-Kyushu Broadcast: August 28th (Friday) 2:48 AM
-Chubu Nippon Broadcasting System: August 29th (Saturday) 2:30 AM
-TV Hokkaido: August 29th (Saturday) 2:30 AM
-Mainichi Broadcast: August 30th (Sunday) 3:28 AM
Hopefully someone will be nice enough to put it on youtube for the ones that cannot access the channels listed above.
This said, I'm back to watch episode 20 of the anime series. It's really clicking with me, just as the game did...
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