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I was reading an article on cnet and I have to agree completely with what David Carnoy have mentioned about the present and future of the Sony PlayStation. The current PlayStation 3 has just started to take off with the lowered production cost (chip shrunk from 90nm down to 45nm) and with slightly more games worth purchasing. Sony should get back or at least break even from the investment and money lost from selling each console under cost when it first came out. That won’t be possible however, if Sony started researching on a completely new processor chip from the ground up as it would need to inject a huge chunk of money for research and development all over again, well before Sony could profit from the current console. Therefore it makes much sense for Sony to stick to the current chip design and modify it.

As a PlayStation 3 (60GB with Spiderman 3 Blu-ray DVD) owner since November 2007, I would prefer to hold on to this console for at least a few more years as oppose to buying a new console every 2 years because I’m just not ready to make another expensive purchase, just like most of us normal consumers who would like to make purchases at the cheapest possible price unlike the hardcore gaming fans who will rush to get new consoles/games on their very first release days. I too agree Sony should improve the current console, not just on the technical side but the look and feel of the console as well. The PlayStation 3 console is huge, though its surprisingly quiet. It would be great if its size could be reduced to the same side as the slim PlayStation 2. I think the slim version of the PS2 is one of the sleekest console of all time, if not THE sleekest. And I assume by the time it can be shrunk to that size, the price will drop as well?

Sony should ignore and forget about Microsoft from releasing an XBox 720 or XBox1080 (I personally like the name XBox1080 as it would match with the current Full HD format). Why? What happened to the earlier versions of the XBox360? Remember the infamous Red Ring of Death? How many times did someone you know had to send back the console for a repair or a new one? Don’t get me wrong, I am not a PS3 fanboy and certainly not here to bash XBox360, at least not in this article and I don’t see a point in bashing it anyway as I heard from people the newer versions are much more stable than the older ones. I just want to point out that history would repeat itself if Microsoft rushed into releasing a new console. And even if a new XBox is released with better graphic capabilities, its not all about the graphics. First if a game has great graphics but no actual playing value, the game would still not be worth purchasing, well most of the time. Take the Nintendo Wii for example, it doesn’t have the graphics compare to the XBox360 and PlayStation 3 but its the best selling console these days. The reason is because it is innovative and it suits a broader range of audience from non gamers, casual gamers and to the hardcore gamers. To me its basically a tweaked GameCube!

But then again, imagine what the PlayStation 4 can do with a completely new chip.

What do you think?

Call of Duty 5 will be released on November 11th for US and November 14th for Europe. From watching the trailers on Gametrailers.com This game might be better in terms of game play and graphics. The game features 4 player co-op game play which is something I really want to have and the graphics have improved and got bloodier. The reason why I said “might” is because as long as I haven’t played it, I don’t see a point to judge a game based solely on trailers.

I’ve been asking myself do I want another COD game that takes place in the past? And most importantly do I have time to play COD 4 AND 5. As far as I can tell, COD 4 is more than enough for my daily online multiplay needs. And honestly I prefer modern to futuristic over games taking place during the World War 1/2 time periods. Something like Halo and Gears of War (Haze was horrible based on the demo I played). I just think we have enough of those and should focus more on the modern time if not in the future.

Again after watching those trailers, COD 5 is certainly a great game, it might or might not be better than COD 4, I guess time will tell and it really differs from person to person. For those that are fans of WW1/2 then I think COD 5 will probably suit them better. Hopefully when Call of Duty 6 comes out the game will take place somewhere in the future and/or in space which is what I ultimately am looking for in the next COD series.

As for COD 5, well, I will keep debating with myself whether its worth buying or not. A demo would be nice!

Images from the Official Call Of Duty Site

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Yet another great teaser from Gametrailers.com. This one features playing with pirate and ninja sackboys. I seriously think I will be stuck customizing my own sackboy for at least the first day and appreciate it for another day before I will actually get to play the levels. And this game is pretty hyped up based on the comments and ratings for the past trailers/teasers/previews. I apologize for lack of a better word to describe this game so far, which is EPIC. And I hope it IS in fact epic when it is released on October 21.

And please no delays!

Sorry for mentioning this so late in time, I just found out this game has its own official web site and its own news site which I had no idea they existed! Again I apologize for being a noob.

First I heard Resistance 2 will support up to 60 players in a single online multiplayer game. I was really excited about it. Now after watching THIS trailer, the CEO said in this trailer from Gametrailers.com that it will also support 8 player co-op mode. Wow this game is just getting better and better. (Excuse me if you guys all knew about the co-op mode already though). I am really looking forward to this game which is set to be out on November 4th.

As a somewhat related note, Tomb Raider: Underworld will be released one day before Resistance 2. October and November are going to be two busy months for gaming because Little Big Planet will probably take up most of my video gaming time once it comes out.

First impression the sci-fi third person shooter Fracture gives me is that it is very Mass Effect-ish. The first half of the demo allows you to get used to the controls, the environment and lets you test out the different weapons of the game.

The controls are pretty somewhat straight forward but slightly different. R1, R2, L1, L2 are all for weapons. Triangle button is for sprinting which shows a very nice blur effect to simulate running. As usual, the square is for reload and cross is jump. L3 is crouch and R3 is zoom. I was expecting some close range one hit kill like the knife in Call of Duty but there isn’t any, at least in the demo.

 

The environment looks amazing with detailed textures. As the first half of the demo, you get to try out the weapons. Two features that are pretty important in this game and are actually very innovative – raise and lower terrains with your weapon and two types of grenades. You will know where to raise or lower the terrains by looking for the corresponding symbol around the area you need to manipulate. Unfortunately there’s a limit to how high or how low you can manipulate. The effects of terrain manipulation are impressive, even more so if you use grenades to do the job! Aside from moving from place to place, raising or lowering terrains also help you during battles. For example, if you lower an area, you have yourself a trench and if you raise an area, you will have yourself a shield for a while from all the gun fire.

 

The standard rifle that starts you off in the demo is pretty “standard” and doesn’t give a powerful impression. The Black Widow on the other hand, can enable you to shoot up to 6 grenades that you can detonate all at once. Then there is the pulse sniper rifle which is pretty common (Unreal Tournament comes to mind).

 

There aren’t too many sci fi third person shooters in the next gen consoles yet, well at least not for PlayStation 3 unlike XBox 360 which has Gears of War 1 (2 coming out soon) and Mass Effect to name a few. I’m not sure if its worth buying, more of rental to me. I rather wait for Dead Space even though it doesn’t have online mode. But then again, if you have a PS3, do give the demo a try, maybe you might just like it! Just not quite my cup of tea.

 

Score: 7/10
Release date: Oct 7 2008

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PlayStation 3 doesn’t have anything good these past two weeks that suited me except Silent Hill: Homecoming will be out at the end of September. After that, there are at least four games that everyone should watch out for since they are pretty hyped up! Hopefully these games will live up to their hype specially Little Big Planet.

Here are the dates for the four games I recommend to watch out for that are coming out in October:

 

Dead Space – 10/14/2008
Far Cry 2 – 10/21/2008
Big Little Planet – 10/21/2008
Fall Out 3 – 10/28/2008

Dead Space, an horror + sci fi combo third person shooter. Sort of like Resident Evil + the movie Event Horizon and with a lot more gore. Basically, in this game, forget about headshots from Counter Strike or Call of Duty. In order to make the bloody monsters stay down is by shooting their limps or their weak spots. Obviously each monster will be dealt with differently. Another new feature that has not been introduced in any of the other third person shooters is fighting in zero gravity where your movement is slower and sound is suppressed. Top becomes the bottom, left can be right under this environment. I am looking forward to hunting those monsters down jumping all over the place in zero gravity.

I also think Dead Space will be a good addition to the horror section for the PS3 until Resident Evil 5 comes out. Unfortunately there is no online component to this game, which is not good in my book. Would be nice if at least co-op play was implemented like Mercenary 2 because playing with others, specially your friends, is much more fun and enjoyable than by yourself…well sometimes.

 

October 21st will be a busy day as Far Cry 2 and Big Little Planet come out on the same day based on EBGames.com. I guess I will test out Big Little Planet first because its really a new type of game where as Far Cry 2, while impressive in both game play and graphics, is still a FPS to me so therefore it can wait. Big Little Planet really looks like a true party game that PlayStation 3 lacks since day 1 where you can play with up to four people on one console and instead of having a split screen, all four will be on the same screen, which is a huge plus. Wii will still dominate the party game section for a while or maybe for as long as the console lives since I think that’s what it really is for. But I’m still glad PS3 is coming out with an exclusive party game.

And finally we have Fall Out 3, another promising game to complete the month of October. So far it looks like Oblivion with improved graphics. Don’t get me wrong, its not necessary a bad thing. I will need to see more game play previews before I can say more for Fallout 3. But so far it really looks promising.

I could hardly concentrate at work today because I knew once I got off work, I would be driving to EBGames close to my home for a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Ever since I tried out the demo. I could not get it off my mind. One reason because I have hardly played any Star Wars related games prior to the release of this game. Although I was really close to getting Lego Star Wars but I didn’t in the end. That’s why I love downloadable content so much because you can actually try out the games before you buy. And a lot of the games that I like happen to offer demos.

But did the game live up to my expectation?

 

Graphics & Audio

The graphics are amazing and I have mentioned that in my demo review already. But with the demo you could only see so much since it was only part of a level. The voice over and lip synching is much more life like compare to other games with dialogues. One thing I forgot to mention from my demo review is that, the environments really give you the impression that you are within something massive like when you are inside the hangar or deep inside the ship’s core. And since so many people asked, no this game does NOT support 1080p full HD output unfortunately. It would be nice if it was though obviously.

And as for audio, I’m no expert but I like the sound effects, specially the lasers and when you are killing enemies with your beam sabre. The sound effects are really movie-like. I have not encountered any missing audio yet as reported by Gametrailers.com. It did mention about missing audio in the ending though. That would be such a turn off!

 

Game play & Controls

With the EMM engine controlling what materials to use for creating each object, the Havok controlling the objects’ movements and finally the last engine, the Euphoria engine determining how enemies react to their environments. The combined affect of the three physics engines really created a realistic experience. For example, watch closely when you Force Grip an enemy, if he is close to some crates, he will actually try and hold on to it. I think little details like this really add to over gaming experience. I have not encountered any clipping problems so far reported by Gametrailers and I hope I do not. The game is also somewhat on the short side as well with only 9 missions.

Controls are pretty straight forward, if you have played other action games before it will take you no time to get used to the figure out which button is for what purpose. When fighting bosses, you will finish them off by following a set of buttons much like in Heavenly Sword. If you fail to excute perfectly, you will have to start over again. Overall you will go through each level killing enemies with a few different combo moves, and the hack and slash may bored some players after a while. It quickly turns into a level grinding fest like an RPG game when trying to level (power) up your three forces – Force Lightning, Force Grip and Force Push. The forces do provide hours of excitement but after that, they become just a bunch of weapons. And did I mention there’s no online game play?

 

Final verdict

After all the hype generated over the past few months, I can assume this game will be a must for hardcore Star Wars fans. Those that are into third person action like Devil May cry may also find this game entertaining. But for how long? That really depends on how fast you get bored of repetitive game play with no online component. In my opinion, its another game that didn’t quite live up to the hype generated unfortunately. At least its good for a rental game.

7.5/10

 

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So today, I went to Gametrailers.com and guess what, I found another LittleBigPlanet trailer. And boy, another EPIC one. I just cannot wait until I get a copy in October, October 21st to be exact based on Gametrailers.com. The end of the trailer mentioned there is another part to this! I seriously can’t wait, I think the hype that is being generated by this game is just as great as Metal Gear Solid 4 generated a few months ago, if not more in my opinion. I know i’m not comparing apple to apple because they are two different types of games.

LittleBigPlanet’s innovative game style is what attracts me and a alot of people. With its massive list of customization from character (sack boys and girls) customization (which reminds me if you pre-order the game, you get the Krato custom from God Of War from EBGames) to creating your own levels. I strongly believe customization is the way to go for future games because everyone wants to be unique and different in his or her own ways.

Anyway, let’s cut to the point and enjoy the trailer from GT. Oh by the way, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be out in less than a week! Stay tuned for my review.