I originally planned on using G4TV.com’s coverage of the press events, and I may still for the other two. However, for some reason they edited out like the first half hour of this press conference, so instead I’m going to use IGN’s YouTube channel, which I will have to post in three parts, but at least you’ll get the whole event. So what was the weakest of the three console conferences?
#3 was in fact the Sony Conference. Now in its defense, I’m not really a big PlayStation fan to begin with, so already they were in something of a weak spot. However, for reasons I’ll get into, none of the games announced really sent me anywhere.
In this first part we are introduced to 3D and part of the new “Move” controller info.
Let’s just get past the elephant in the room, and surprisingly it isn’t Move, but 3D. Sounds fantastic, right? All you need are some rather pricey glasses and a 3D-capable TV. Well who wants to spend that kind of money on those silly glasses? I can’t even afford to upgrade to an HD TV and you want me to now buy your 3D HD TV? What if they develop an enhanced version of THX sound. Would I have to by an E-THX 3D HD TV? Where does it stop?
Besides, 3D is a lame gimmick that nobody seems to get right anyway. Do I have to hunt down an SCTV skit? It feels about the same now, only it costs a lot more. And you don’t even need all that stuff. I have an old TV and a monitor just old enough that I’m not sure putting the video on 720p is even worth it. Oh, and I have these.
They’re called “Pulfrich” glasses and you can read up on them here. One of them I got from a box of Rice Krispies and the other was given away at K-Mart stores and sponsored by a root bear distributor. And guess what: I was able to watch that video in 3D just fine. Then again, I can pop my copy of Beast Wars: Transformers into the player and get that to work, too. I’m just not impressed.
"Wow, it really feels like I'm shooting people with an ice cream cone!"
As for the Move controllers, I’m somewhat more impressed, but not by much. They maintain that it gives better movement than the Wiimote (not by name, mind you), but I thought the Motion Plus was supposed to offer 1-1 movement. They have a point that using the buttons to shoot instead of your fingers is a good thing, but I doubt it feels like your in a gun fight.
The Wii has the Wiizap and a bunch of third party tools that you can plug the Wiimote into and actually feel like your holding a gun, a tennis racket, a golf club, and whatever else they’ve come up with. Heck, I see them at Big Lots. Now if the “Kinect” (I’ll get into that in the Microsoft conference) can sense when you pull the trigger on a toy gun or an unloaded Airsoft rifle or something, or swinging an actual golf club, then they’ll have an advantage over the Move as well. Again, I’m not impressed, and it look more like a toy than the Wiimote, like some kind of Harry Potter toy. Is that going to go over with the “hardcore” crowd that the GameOverthinker is always talking about?
Speaking of magic wand toys, part two gives us a look at more Move product, starting with the game Sorcery.
Now Sorcery is a good game for the Move controller. Plus you can change the color of the globe. Yeah, otherwise, I’m sorry but I’m just not feeling this thing at all.
I really didn't plan to freeze frame at the worst possible shot, honest. It took three tries to even get a picture with the text.
Let’s talk quick about the PlayStation Portable. The website set up for Marcus? Yeah, just redirects to a YouTube page. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of Kevin Butler, and whether that’s because I’m a Nintendo guy or he’s just that annoying is up to you to decide.
By the way, kid, there are plenty of bad games on the PSP. It was also a poor instrument as a movie player and it took gaming companies quite a bit of time to get used to only one little analog stick that’s not all that easy to use at times. They do seem to have some interesting titles coming out for it, but most of them aren’t exactly something a kid your age should be playing. So if they’re playing “bad games”, it’s because out of the two handheld systems out there (let’s not even get into phone games here outside of causal gaming) the 3DSi Lite whatever is the one who has the most kid-friendly games. Not to mention my kind of games, which often interlace.
So let’s get to the third part.
Personally, I would have rather heard more about Invisimals and Tron: Evolution as far as the PSP goes. They seem to be adding a mobile version of the Eye Toy, which isn’t a peripheral that PS developers have ever really done anything with, or at least not very well.
I’m also wondering why they didn’t make a bigger deal about having Tetris, the game that pretty much made the Game Boy famous. I do have to give Sony credit as far as the Portable goes. It does have better quality graphics and they’re finally putting some darn good games on there in the past year or two, but very few of them are games I want to play.
And I think that’s why I’m not really into PlayStation. When it comes to extended media, they really do come up with some cool stuff, even if “Home” is just a rip-off of Second Life and other social MMOs. Maybe this is why Little Big Planet is so intriguing to me, but I really don’t have the time to play those games. I’m too busy working or writing. Otherwise, creating and seeing what others create does interest me, which is why I have a Second Life account in the first place. I just don’t have time to play with it. Having a free side and pay side for their PlayStation Network is also a great idea, so that everyone can gain something from the service, with the more intensive stuff saved for people who have the funds. If they have a virtual economy, ala SL or other MMO groups, it could be an even bigger plus.
PlayStation’s strength is most definitely in the social area, but most of their games are dark, violent, low in color, and while that might be fun for you, it just isn’t for me. Military shooters and horror games (I don’t follow horror in any other storytelling format, either) really aren’t the kinds of games I find enjoyable. And that’s the majority of games both PlayStation and XBox put out.
So now for the final video, where a surprise announcement was made.
The possible return of everyone's favorite turrets?
Portal 2 coming out on PS3 isn’t just big news because the first game is awesome, but because of the comments Newell has made a couple years ago. I, however, will get the PC version because that’s what I have. (I also need to finish the final level already. I hear a recent patch changed the ending to prepare for the sequel and added a few other features, so now I have to track down the original ending online somewhere.)
Final Fantasy is supposed to offer some great stories (although viewers of The Spoony Experiment know that some of the more recent games haven’t been all that successful at it), but I don’t have time to play this game, either, so that draw is lost on me. Mafia 2 is a game where you play the bad guys as if they aren’t (the more recent Hollywood version of the mob, which irks me), so that’s out. The same for Assassins Creed, where the Catholic Church is evil. Having been raised Catholic (although I current consider myself non-denominational), I don’t happen to like that plot. Sounds like another version of The Da Vinci Code. InFamous allows you to play hero or villain, so it may be one of the few exclusives I find interesting, but there aren’t enough to make me choose the PS3. And I care so little about Twisted Metal I won’t acknowledge it with further comment.
So when I say that Sony had the weaker event, I mean weaker for me. Are these great games? Possibly. However, most of their exclusives aren’t my kind of games, and so I’m not really drawn to Sony’s offering this year. Now if that was #3, what was #2? Check back tomorrow and find out.
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