A Gamerz Blog

Pokemon no 1 in Japan, but sales dropped. What's with the Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:57:00 +0000

Pokemon Black & White reign as king in Japanese sales chart, moving 168.541 copies. Despite this, the overall sales in Japan dropped by whopping 34% from the week before.
We probably heard it before that Japanese game market is slowing down. Many people blame Japanese developer as lack of creativity when compared to the Westerner. Even some publishers like Inafune branded Japan games market as doomed. Japanese developers keep making more or less the same game as a decade ago. So where is those creativity gone?

Before we put the blame to those games developer, let's try to see from other perspective. Japanese economy has been slump lately. There is no sign that it will pick up soon. The yen is keep getting stronger and stronger, thus making Japanese product less attractive to the global market.
The population is dwindling, means that nobody support the old generation. Job market shrunk. Japanese people are afraid to open business and rather work to a company.

With the economy gloom, people are afraid to spend and brings the whole thing down. It might be a reason to be pessimistic. It probably not because lacks of creativity of Japanese people that drives the gaming market down, but maybe the whole market in such a bad shape that makes the gaming industry as it is right now.

Nintendo announces $300 3DS price point for Japan market

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:47:00 +0000

Today Nintendo drop the price point as well as release date for the new 3DS. The successor of NDS will cost 25.000 yen ($299) for Japanese, although the price for US and Europe market still hasn't been confirmed.
3DS will release on 26th February 2011 in Japan bundled with 2GB SD card, charging cradle, stylus, and "paper cards" to play augmented reality games.

3DS apparently will have its own virtual library from Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games and two new games announced for 3DS itself, Resident Evil: Mercenaries and Mega Man Legend 3.

It is hardly a surprising news about that $300 price point. All Nintendo's system has always been around $250 - $300 dollars. I think it is a good numbers for a handheld game device.

What's up with the thrashing ads, Sony?

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:38:00 +0000

You all probably know Sony's marketing campaign that involves thrash talking Kevin Butler and that kid Marcus. Kevin Butler is a funny man who take aim againts Kinect, and recently Sony via yaybuttons.com slams Kinect for not having buttons - "Not like save the whale important, more like not play games that suck important."

And not only that, Sony too takes aim with iPhone with ads featured that Marcus kid (I forgot his full name and couldn't be bothered to google it) that more or less says," yes, iPhone can have so many games, but quality games are in PSP."

I admit, at first it was funny to watch Kevin Butler thrash Xbox 360's Kinect project, but after a while it get stale and was it really necessary.

First of all, Sony might have a point, yeah iPhone games are more or less casual compared to PSP games, and buttons can sometime be important in playing games, but Sony should take a look at themselves and admit that their products have a lot of flaws too.

Admit it or not, it doesn't change the fact that iPhone is chasing PSP and might overtake Sony's PSP as a platform for games. Other thing to be consider, is that Apple's installed base is much bigger than PSP, and it might more appealing to game developer.

With PSPgo a major failure, I think Sony should not thrashing other people, and concentrate to its product because deep inside I'm pretty sure Sony scared shit of Apple and Microsoft.

Golden generation era for facebook games is approaching the end

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:35:00 +0000

It took my attention when reading an article from Joytiq about facebook games by creator of the widely popular Plant vs Zombie.

The golden generationof facebook casual gaming might soon end. It is not that those casual games will dissapear, however too many developers overcrowded the market already. For last couple of years, it was easier to make money from facebook games, and suddenly everybody just jump into the bandwagon, thinking there's alot of untapped market.

Today, its harder to justified an investment to make facebook games profitable. The competition is harder, and the growth of facebook isn't as fast as it used to be.

There are too many games nowadays in Facebook, the competition is fierce especially for new players. Developer has to be smart to engage its players to keep playing otherwise once they gone, they gone forever. One of those tricks is giving a free extra if user login for 5 consecutive days, and even penalize players for not logging in often! Not to mention the status pages is overcrowded with friend asking help for their games as a quick reminder or asking other friends to join to get another bonuses.

For all those annoyance, its a sign that developers are trying hard to get as much as customer possible and try to monetize them, because face the fact, a facebook games' lifespan is not that long. Maybe a month or two and people will either get bored or found another new game and couldn't be bothered to come back.

Facebook might be one of the destination for casual gaming, but beware, it is definitely not a safe haven for developers!!

Microsoft going to increase Xbox LIVE subscription starting 1st November

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:41:00 +0000

Some bad news for Xbox 360 users, Microsoft will raise current Xbox 360 subscription by 1st November 2010. The new price for 1 year subscription is $60, $10 more than previous $50. Monthly rates raises from $8 to $10 and Quarterly rates will be $25 from previous $20.

Like it or not, this bound to happen. Microsoft is a smart company and they probably has researched and realized that current core customer won't be abandoning ship for just $10. Yes, $10 might not be much for some people, but given current economic and competition, it hardly the right time for a price increase. PS3 offers free online play as well as PC. Sure, PSN might not be as robust as Xbox LIVE, but again.. its free.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep won't be available on PSPgo

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:56:00 +0000

PSPgo owners is officially become PSP"gownerz" with the news that Kingdom Hearts :Birth by Sleep won't be coming at all to Playstation network, or at least Sony said that there is no plan currently. In other words, PSPgo won't be getting their Kingdom Hearts at all.

Its just the way of saying that Sony and developers are giving up on their "experimental" download only PSPgo. Such a big title like Kingdom Hearts should definitely be available across all PSP platform.

I don't understand whats the fuss for Square Enix not going to make the game available through PSN? The game is finished, and all they got to do is to upload into PSN. Even though PSPgo population is relatively small, it should sell at least couple of thousands downloads for sure.
Well.. Maybe we will never know the reasons, but for time being, just forget your PSPgo will be an ultimate gaming machine, more like ultimate piece of overprice junk.

Kane & Lynch 2's story mode is 4 hours long? Is that laziness?

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:58:00 +0000

What is your reaction when you learned that Kane & Lynch 2's story mode is only 4 hours long? The word lazy, ridiculous, bad value for money may come across your mind.

Games used to offer much more hours especially JRPG which guarantee you 40+ hours of gameplay. But today's games are much much shorter. I remember when I played Call of Duty 4 single player for the first time. I was surprised that the story only lasted around 10 - 12 hours, but I can accept that CoD 4 multiplayer kept me for a long time. Soon all other games seems to follow through, and it seems its getting shorter and shorter. Splinter Cell: Conviction is only 6 hours long by the way and that is kind of ridiculous.

Shorter gameplay might give a better story telling, good pacing, climax, anti climax and everything. But 4 hours is pushing too hard. I can understand that developer might want to have a better return. Development cost nowadays is much more expensive than it used to be because a game might have a single player part and multiplayer part. Getting a AAA rating games might take couple years. But in the end, customer too should feel the value of money cause game is not cheap also. If developer cannot meet the customer expectation, they won't buy it. developer didn't have a good return, no sequel, and in the end everybody going to lose.

Google in quest to beef up its gaming department to compete with Apple

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:20:00 +0000

Recently, Google is buying quite a few casual game developers such as Zynga, Playdom, Slide and the latest Ngmoco. It is a no brainer that Google want to push its gaming department like a boy on steroid.

Comparing to Apple, Android is the closest OS that can beat Apple's OS at the moment. With open platform, Android is gaining market share through other phone brands like Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc. I think Android is so good that phone maker shouldn't be bothered to develop its own OS anymore.

Then Apple App store is great, no doubt about it, but in gaming department, quantity usually exceed quality. Apple itself doesn't develop games internally and rely on third party. With Google buying the top casual games developers, Apple should at least take a look to its gaming department, because gaming can make a difference. You can also see from recent Sony PSP ad that mocks Apple's iPhone gaming. The message is clear, "Sure.. iPhone is a gaming device, but when it comes to game, PSP is still on top of Apple."

Whether gaming is on top of Apple's priority list, it remains to be seen. But the stride of Google is no joke. Zynga, Playdom especially, has been successful in developing games for facebook which attracts a lot of casual players and able to generate some cash from their games. They are quite reputable and doing a good business. By acquiring them, Google is in good position to dive into the gaming market and compete with Apple through its Android market.

Sony Ericsson rumored to make Playstation phone based on Android

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:43:00 +0000

According to article via Engadget, Sony is planning to bring Playstation phone based on Google's Android system.

PlayStation branded phone will be based on the Android 3.0 platform, sport a 3.7 to 4.1 inch WVGA or better resolution screen, (possibly) a 5MP camera and a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.For controls, the device is said to feature the PlayStation standard d-pad and face buttons, plus a “long touch pad” for analogue controls. Hardware-wise, Engadget describes it as “a cross between the Samsung Captivate and the PSP Go”

No doubt that current PSP is near the end of its lifetime, and it seems that it is a no brainer to introduce the next PSP. By combining gaming and phone much like the highly successful iPhone, I feel that this is the right move for Sony, because one of the biggest success of gaming in iPhone is the fact that it is always stays within reach of the users to provide instant gaming.

Now the Google's Android platform. I saw Samsung Galaxy S with Android the other day, and I was pretty impressed by it. I think the closest competitor to iPhone's OS is Google's Android. Major phone manufacturer has tried to build their own OS such as Nokia's Symbian or even Blackberry, doesn't even come close when compared to iPhone's software robustness and its successful app store.
Choosing Android as its platform may give Sony a shortcut for their phone OS technology and because Android is an open platform, I might actually see that it will have speedy growth in the near future.

I was let down by PSP go, maybe this time Sony can actually make amendments.

Casual gamers and games by Gezegond

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:02:00 +0000

I decide to post up comment from Gezegond because what he said has some truth.

"Casual Games" like all other things has its ups and downs. Ups, as you mentioned above is that less skilled players can easily play them, and it opens a way for independent developers to sell their games.

However the downs of it, is what scares me. You see, in these times, when casual game's sales are high, they become an illusion.
why? because people start to think: "casual games are cheaper to develop, and sell more. so why even bother a developing a hardcore game?"

That's obviously bad, because casual gamers can learn to play more satisfying, more complex games in time. However, hardcore gamers, who have tasted the joy of hardcore games, can't go back and play casual games. At least not as their main games. To me, casual games are just a relaxing break after a tense hardcore gaming experience.

So right now, casual games are a designer's best bet. We hardcore gamers take one or two of the best games out there (World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, etc.) and practice on those, therefore we won't care about less valuable games. These games are bought by people who have less experience and skills, and therefore won't care about the game's different aspects that much. These people won't really care about the amount of time and money spent when the game is being developed, as long as the game can entertain them for some time.
These people are called casual gamers, and games designed specifically for these people are called casual games. So casual games, are games that are easy and cheap to develop, yet they can entertain people for quite a time.

So what's bad about these "casual games"? Since they're cheap to develop, yet sell a lot, they become a designer's first priority. NDS becomes full of simple games, Wii is built specifically for casual gamers, apple believes that iphone is the best handheld console, since it has so many casual games, simple facebook games are played more than million dollar budget games, PSP creates a section dedicated to casual games called "Minis", and most recently we have Natal and Move, both aimed at casual gamers. (Move is less casual oriented though)

Now let's fast forward some years later, your 10 year old niece have been playing facebook games for a couple of years, now he has become a "skilled player" at these games, he knows everything about them, and he's itching to play a game that's a little more complex. He has now become a "hardcore gamer". However all developer's care about is simple casual games, because in these times, they have proven to be more profitable. What is happening is that these casual gamers are becoming less and less, because no hardcore gamer will ever become a casual gamer. suddenly people will get tired of these "casual games". they want something more complex to do, suddenly casual games stop to sell, so will the casual hardware, and all that money and attention that is put into the casual games will go to waste, and guess what? the video game industry will crash.

Why am I so sure that this will happen? because it has happened before, in the only other generation besides this generation that lasted more that five year, the second generation of video games. Just replace "Atari 2600 cartridges" with "casual games", and you'll find out that this situation has been happened before. And what do they say? History repeats itself.
More Info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983

So what is the answer here? I believe it's simple, yet for some reason forgotten.
The answer is: quality level design, plus balanced difficulty levels.

In a game like "Half-Life", player can choose the difficulty in the beginning, so casual gamers can easily choose "beginner skill levels", while skilled players can choose harder difficulties.
Now if the level design is done well, even a player with no previous experience can learn to play the game, and in time, become skilled at it.
As an example, in Half-Life 2, when you first receive your first handgun, the very first opponent you'll see is at an obvious disadvantage, he won't shoot you a lot, and won't move a lot. so the player gets to learn "how to aim". that's an easy task. next opponents are much farther and they move a lot. so the player now needs to learn to "aim better". In time, the non-experienced player will become experienced, just like how you become more skilled the more you play a specific sport.

If a game excels at these, it can be played by both the "hardcore gamers", AND the "casual gamers". These games sell really well (Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are 5th and 6th top selling games on PC), and push the video game industry farther (instead of holding it, like casual games do).
Developers should focus on creating quality games that are easily played by everyone, instead of focusing on a specific group of gamers.

Smart EA lets you play a semi NBA Jam with purchase of NBA Live 11

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:55:00 +0000

Good news, NBA Jam, a resurrection of a classic will be coming to PS3 and Xbox 360. The bad news is, it won't be a complete retail game or a downloadable one. To play NBA Jam, you can simply buy NBA Live 11 where you can obtain a code to redeem the game. So this is actually a good thing right? Hold on a moment, the NBA Jam that is offered in PS3 and Xbox 360 is not the complete version. The complete version is still the Wii's.

When asked to EA why they did such thing, they responded that they feel by doing this, people will be ~~forced~~ tempted to try NBA Live 11 and see what kind of change do they made with the new series. Not bad EA, actually it is quite a smart move. NBA Jam cost nothing on PS3 and Xbox 360 because the development cost is covered while doing the Wii's version. By limiting the game from its full version, Wii's can maintain superiority over the PS3's and Xbox 360's. Not to mention forcing NBA Jam lovers to try NBA Live 11.

Bravo EA, not bad. Though I still think its a cheap move, but again.. bravo!!

MGS & MW2 in one funny short film

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:37:00 +0000

This is a fan made comedy short film featuring Metal Gear Solid and Modern Warfare. It's funny and I think you should watch it and enjoy!!

Casual gamers, digital distribution and the rise of indie developers

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:20:00 +0000

I have to admit that my 10 year old nephew play facebook games more than his PS3, Xbox 360 combined. Why? It's not that facebook game is better than PS3 or Xbox 360, heck I play my PS3 all the time. It's because that facebook games are easier to understand, less learning curve, and quite enjoyable. My 10 year old nephew isn't exactly a casual gamer at all, in fact he was playing games since age six with DS, PSP and so forth. PS3 and Xbox 360 games sometimes felt a bit too intimidating for him. It's hard to jump into the game and enjoy it. You'll need some skill learning in order to perform better, until then it easily become frustrating than fun.

My generation, which I consider golden generation of gaming, we starts from simple game like dig dug, pac man. We then learn to tackle more complicated game like Mario Bros, Contra, Mega Man. Until today, we play Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5, etc which we can jump into without any problem. But for the rest, especially people who just start gaming, they rather find another alternative.

Facebook games provides exactly the kind of alternative they need. Free, easy access game from internet browser. They don't need to buy a gaming device and most of the household nowadays already has a PC and internet connection. They don't even have to go to the shop and get the hard copy. With digital distribution everything is easier.

Taking from above point of view, that is why digital distribution plays a big part in changing the face of gaming industry. It didn't really boom until Apple introduced its Apple App store and Valve also introduced Steam where casual gamers and small developers can go to without significant cost of entry barrier. After that, it seems that digital distribution is the new era. Music, movie, games began rolling through internet. Microsoft and Sony didn't want to miss the boat and start doing digital distribution via their Xbox marketplace and Playstation Store.

With the rise of digital distribution, it doesn't just helping casual gamers, but small/ indie developers that have almost no chance against big ones have alternatives to promote their game. They couldn't do retail copy because their team and budget is so small that almost make no sense to distribute it via disc. When people buy 40 - 60 bucks of games, they expect more content and experience. Small games like Joe Danger and Flower are not so feasible to do it via retail.

The best thing being indie developers is that they can use any kind of creativity and imagination without the need to be controlled by other people. They can start slow and small, and take a risk with new things which triple A title could not afford. There will be more and more indie developer in the future no doubt, and it definitely helps the growth of our game industry.

Call of Duty 7 details slammed by Military fans

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:01:00 +0000

I can't help but to share some fun article from PSM August. Those guys from Treyach seems to get it wrong. A website called Off Duty Gamers slammed recent release picture of operative that show his tattoo on his left arm, and said:

"Would you really want a tattoo that shows your unit patch or country affiliation if you're behind enemy lines taking part in a so called 'black' operation? It's pure hollywood."

A member of the U.S. 82nd Airborne also told ODG:

"Tattoos identifying you as American disqualified you for operations in denied areas where you and your kit were to be 'sterile'. This meant you wouldn't be identifiable as a U.S. soldier; exactly the kind of operations SOG took part in."

It seems that a lot people care about consistency. especially fans who have military information or background. Now remove that tattoo please!!

Sony patents for screen sharing using 3D glasses

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:36:00 +0000

A patents from Sony suggested that Sony has plan to use 3D glasses to allow "screen sharing". 3D graphics works with double rendering by allowing an eye to see half frame and the other eye seeing other half. Instead, you can also shut off the entire half frame so that the other frame is missing and you completely see a different image while the other glasses is set to see the missing frame.

This design will enable people to do a screen sharing gaming without the need to split the screen, although it will be only in 2D.
There is another patent that called 3D Shutter Glasses with Mode Switching Based on Orientation to Display Device. It means that you getting a different image based on where you stand.

I think these patents will allow more creativity to the developers and it does make 3D technology a little more appealing.

Official: Kinect set to launch at $150

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:06:00 +0000

Microsoft. Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb, posted the pricing details Kinect on his Major Nelson blog. The retail price of Kinect will be $150. Including this will be Kinect Adventures which carries retail price at $49.

In addition to that, there will be a new bundle of Arcade model of new Xbox 360 slim at $199. It will feature 4GB of built-in flash memory and wireless N. Should you want all three of them, you can get the arcade model, Kinect, and Kinect Adventures at $299.

So if you do the math, the nett Kinect price will be $100, which is an improvement in terms of pricing point. But for casual gamers, it might still become a hurdle for them to pick one.
The bundle price of Kinect "might" work, only it won't sell like Wii during its first launch when motion control console is still fresh. And the success of Kinect will all depends to the software. I don't think releasing Kinect games that have more or less the same concept of Nintendo's games will cut it. Microsoft will have to be more creative than that.

Japanese publishers reduce cost by cutting number of release games

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:09:00 +0000

Expect fewer titles by Japanese publishers the next fiscal year. With Japan games industry declining, company such as Sega, Konami, and Tecmo Koei will cut down their cost especially R&D department.

Sega will release 56 new titles this year, 10 titles fewer than previous year.While Tecmo Koei will cut down 11 titles and Konami also reduce 10% titles by 2010 fiscal year.

But it's not all that gloomy and grim outlook. The decision of releasing fewer title may result in better quality overall. By reducing the cost of games that didn't work, publishers can focus more resources in making fewer but better games that did work. And in the long run, may boost its operating profits.

However, the bad news is, publishers may be more cautious in trying to innovate and develop something new. They will take a safe approach and focus more into sequels after sequels.
When thinking of it, it is really sad because I really like what Quantic Dreams did with Heavy Rain. They got the balls to take the risk, innovate and create something different, which I'm hoping the others will follow.

Ubisoft: No New Assassin's Creed in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:27:00 +0000

Recent rumor suggest that Ubisoft is following Activision's path to make its highly successful Assassin Creed an annual franchise and they did it with the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood that will release on November 16 a year after Assassin's Creed 2.

However, Ubisoft Montreal's Jean-Francois Boivin might have a different perspective. He said that Assassin's Creed might skip year 2011 as he thinks the franchise need a breather.

"Honestly, I think for the benefit of everybody -- and business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games -- I believe that this license needs a breather," Boivin explained. "You can't plough a field every year. Once every three years -- or once every something -- you have to let it breathe. You have to let the minerals back in. I think it's the same thing with any license, really."

"We can see a lot of the music games that are releasing year after year -- the interest is a lot less than it used to be," Boivin said. "The excitement is a lot less than it used to be. You want to keep people excited. You gotta make people miss it a bit."

I think this is the right way a franchise should be. Just as the economics law of diminishing return, you'll feel less and less satisfaction the more you experienced it. Sure, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood might be a very good game after just a year of development, but it will be even better game if it gets more time.

Onlive's lag tested by Digital Foundry

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:52:00 +0000

Onlive, the streaming service which lets gamers play games without the need of console claim that the lag will be at 30- 50 ms. So, guys at Digital Foundry tested it using a PC.

Using Unreal Tournament III, the time needed between button pressed and on screen action is about 150 ms. Other games such as Dirt, and Assassin Creed 2 register lag between 150 ms - 216 ms which is a bit high.

It is unclear how network lag account on this test. If network lag say about another 50 ms, then the game will be too sluggish and unresponsive.

Lag is the biggest problem that can make Onlive fail (other than cost of subscription, of course) because Onlive targeted Hardcore gamers, and hardcore gamers have certain standard acceptable lag range. With those kind of lag, it will definitely scare most gamers. But I do fond of the technology though, I think it's remarkable and groundbreaking. Too bad it's too ahead of its time and boy.. I do wish to have 5 Mbps internet connection here.

Sony will replace current 120GB PS3 with new models

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:27:00 +0000

Sony will introduce a new PS3 Slim model in Japan. This new white 160 GB PS3 slim is set to replace the current 120 GB black (according to 1up.com). In addition to this, there is also a 320 GB model. The price? It will retail for 29,980 yen (around $342), white the 320GB model will run 34,980 yen (around $400).

Sony hasn't confirmed whether these new models will be available in Europe and North America, but I got the feeling it will. The question is, why Sony decided to ditch the 120 GB model? Its nice to have some alternative, but 120 GB model still offer a cheaper alternatives to customers. By ditching it, means that they have to shell out more money even though they get bigger hard drive.

News & Update, 2 July

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:37:00 +0000

- Official Xbox 360 magazine says that Kinect can track 6 people but only 2 active players at the same time.

- Xbox 360 sales see a huge jump in Japan thanks to Monster Hunter: Frontier. Japan and Monster hunter equals perfect combination!!

- SCE Worldwide Studios CEO Shuhei Yoshida mentioned that the company finally make profit with every PlayStation 3 console sold. There won't be another price cut anytime soon because a lot of great software are coming out and the innovations with Move and 3DTVs. After 4 years of losing money, they finally can make a profit, wow..

- June Takeuchi, producer of Resident Evil 5 said that he has no role in the development of Resident Evil 6. Takeuchi announced that he is working on an unnamed title with Keiji Inafune since last year.

Playstation Plus, in depth

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Sony announced Playstation Plus, a premium service for PSN subscriber at E3. Sony wanted to monetized from its PSN like Microsoft did with Xbox LIVE. But since PSN has been free after all these time and like any free product, it still lagging behind Xbox LIVE. Therefore Sony introduced this Playstation Plus. So what does it offer?

First thing first. The price of Playstation Plus is $50 a year or $18 for three months. Should you decided to subsribe, you will get a free PSN games, PS One game and minis and the title will change each month.
You need to keep you subscription active in order to play the PSN games, so it is more or less like rent games.

Selected dynamic themes and avatars will be given to you and you can keep it even after the subscription expired. And there is also steep discount of 20 - 50% of selected item.

Full game trials will be available only to the subscriber. You can download the game that usually last for an hour and if you decided to purchase it, there is no need to redownload, you can start where you left off and throphies will be unlocked.

Subscriber will also get automatic updates for patches, download demos and betas while your PS3 is in standby mode.

So is it worth it?

Well, I can say that this is not bad. It is better than paying for online gaming, and it is an added incentive. I think this is the right way that Microsoft should follow. I can only hope the free game selection will be better, not just some old games that no one's buying anymore.

Kinect is too lag for competitive gaming

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:21:00 +0000

Lag has been the main issue around Microsoft's no controller Kinect, and it is doubtful if Kinect capable in playing FPS. Turns out it is not.
Microsoft 's director of platform marketing, Chris Penello more or less confirms it, and said that

Well, I don't want Halo on Kinect. I want Halo on a controller. Now would it be interesting to see what kind of game they could make using Kinect? Yeah, I would love to see what those guys could do, or what the Call of Duty guys could do. But I don't want to play Call of Duty 4, I want Call of Duty: Black Ops on the controller.

In addition to that, Rare confirms that Kincent lag will be around 150 ms. That means from the time you do your body gesture, Kinect will roughly take 150 ms to process the data and translate it into the game. If you do online play, the number probably should be add 100 ms to communicate with online server. Hence the total amount of time required is 250 ms which is unacceptable.

I think it's wise to separate games that can be Kinected from games that don't. Not all games can be enjoyable with no controller. The success of Kinect will depend on how developer innovate with this thing. As a matter of fact, doing dancing, fitness, and party game won't cut it, they need to integrate it into hardcore gaming and that is a tough task for all developers. The unconfirmed but likely price of $150 a piece doesn't help either.
I begin to see why Nintendo and Sony ditch this technology. Probably it is too ahead its time for competitive gaming. But in the mean time, since it is already here, let's just wait and see.

Assassin Creed: Brotherhood, another useless spin off or true sequel?

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:19:00 +0000

When Ubisoft decided to follow Activision's path of annual CoD series, I was thinking that Assassin Creed: Brotherhood will be more like AC2.5 with few upgrade and worse story spin off. Apparently that is what happenned with MW2.

I then read June issue of PSM UK about the newest title of this Assassin Creed and in fact there are new exciting things. First of all this new AC is developed by collaboration of three internal studios: Montreal, Annecy, and Singapore). Ubisoft Annecy who developed multiplayer for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tommorow (remember the spy vs mercenary thing?) worked on it for more than five years.

The multiplayer component has its own story and cast of characters. The only confirmed multiplayer mode is called 'wanted'. There are six visually distinct characters which you will randomly assigned to one of them. After that, you all put into a small city where there are 140 non playable character that is identical to the players.

You will be given a picture and assigned to kill a target. You will also have a mini map to roughly tells you where the target is. Another player whose in the same level will in turns hunting you and it's not the one that you are hunting. So its more like free for all, A hunts B, B hunts C, C hunts A. The clever part is when someone is at the highest rank might get targeted by more than one people. So you must really careful and keep watch your back often.

For the single player is said to be as big as AC 2, all the things except combat will more or less the same. You now can recruit and manage a assassin guild. Assassins that you trained will be able to help you during the mission.

It sounds that Assassin Creed: Brotherhood is definitely worth a try, but I still doesn't like the idea of annual franchise milking.

Nintendo 3DS: Early impression. Potential blockbuster

noreply@blogger.com (HDJ) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 04:26:00 +0000

Nintendo 3DS is officially announced during E3. It is a successor for current NDS system capable in displaying 3D graphics without the need of glasses. A lot of people actually skeptical when it was first announced. So what is the early impression?

Firstly the design and shape is basically the same with previous NDS, but bigger screen at the top. A analog pad is present above the directional button. I feel that the design could have been improve, but Nintendo said that final design is not yet confirmed. I hope it can be more stylish like the PSP.

Official processor hasn't been detailed yet, but the graphics is better than PSP and it is a powerful system that could be on par with Gamecube or Wii.

Now for the 3D graphics, Nintendo really pulled it off. The 3D looks gorgeous and playing it without glasses is really a plus point. There is a slider to manually tone down the 3D if you feel dizzy and don't want to play the game in 3D and this is important because Nintendo is well aware of the health issue that may occur.

Nintendo again sticking to cartridge and I can see that Nintendo has no other choice. Download only device is not an option for Nintendo, so is UMD which is Sony's. Plus to make 3DS compatible to all previous NDS library, it is a clear decision that 3DS should stick to cartridge. Only this time 3DS uses bigger 2GB capacity cartridge. In addition to that there is a rumor that 3DS allow user to install games into the cartridge which would be very cool to have multiple games inside a single cartridge much like the pirated R4 cartridge.

For the lack of hard drive, Nintendo well aware that their console had to maintain low price somewhere below $300, therefore it opt for SD card slot instead. SD may serve as a decent storage media, but it still nice if it has a internal hard disk to store DLC contents and games.

There is still a lot that can be change until it actually launch as Nintendo said that this is not a final version of 3DS. But from this early impression, I think most probably I will buy a 3DS.