So, with that in mind, Sega brought out the big guns with Phantasy Star Online 2. It was released in Japan late last year. Long story short, the game is good. It fixes plenty of issues from the original PSO, it takes a page out of various contemporary action RPGs to update things a bit, and it even adds some interesting ideas to boot. And it’s free to play.

But that’s the PC version. How about this Vita beta? How does it stack up? What does it foretell about the official release? Will it be the PS Vita’s killer app? Well, let’s dive right in and see.

In the game, you can pick between various races, genders, and character types. The Hunter uses melee weapons, the Ranger uses ranged weapons, and the Force uses “magical” weapons. I went with a Hunter because they’re what I’m used to on the PC version.

I spent a bit of time running through the first few missions and getting a feel for the controls. They feel really nice, and they’re very responsive. They feel a lot like using a PS3 controller on the PC version, but with some slight differences here and there. The main thing that I enjoy is having my hotbar on the touch screen, making everything a touch away, rather than a clunky scroll with shoulder buttons.

Story elements are all in Japanese, but they don’t seem to take away from the gameplay at all, as they’re easily skipped and ignored. They also don’t add to the game for anyone that doesn’t speak Japanese, so I can’t really comment on them too much.

Something that I really like about the quest system in PSO2 is the variation that randomly happens. Thanks to “client orders”, which are basically fetch quests that ask you to do things you were going to do anyway (such as killing enemies), you can constantly rack up EXP and have something new to do in old quests. Not only that, but quests usually have emergency mini-quests that have you eliminate a group of difficult monsters before progressing forward. Not only do these mini-quests create variation in an age-old quest system of “accept quest from desk, complete quest, rinse and repeat”, but they help making the grinding aspect of the game much more straightforward and fun. After all, it IS an action RPG with a leveling system.. It’s going to require at least a little bit of grinding. Thankfully, it honestly doesn’t require too much unnatural replaying of quests for EXP.

The rain makes everything look very hazy and unpolished. I’m hoping this will be fixed in the official release, as it shouldn’t be too difficult to patch this up. But this issue brings to light another unfortunate thing..

Combat during the rain actually causes the framerate to drop quite a bit. Attacking is usually very smooth and precise, but when it’s raining, it’s actually difficult to control the character (as noted by my completely off-the-mark attack in the above photo). It’s not unplayable by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s noticeable enough that it makes my heart sink a little. I hope that optimization of the rain engine will fix this issue, rather than removing even more on-screen enemies. At the moment, there’s only a slight difference from the PC version when it comes to how many enemies appear on screen at once. I would honestly hate for this to change. In fact, I would rather the rain system be taken completely out, as the only real purpose of it is to make the rivers rush a bit. But, this is a beta, and these issues CAN be fixed before release.

Using the right analog stick to control the camera feels really awesome, but it’s a little bit too sensitive in places. A simple sensitivity toggle could fix this, but if it doesn’t get implemented, it’s not enough to really complain about. Speaking of controls, the game actually allows for a small amount of control scheme customization. This is a nice change of pace from other console/portable action RPGs, and it really made me wonder why a game like Ragnarok Odyssey didn’t have this.

Oh man, this feature makes the game so much easier. All you have to do is tap your minimap on the touch screen a couple of times to bring up a full level map that transparently chills on your screen while you continue playing. Brilliant.

Here’s where things get really good. You know how I said at the beginning that you pick your character type from Hunter, Ranger, or Force? Well, you can change your type at any time, and level them each up individually to radically change how you play the game. This effectively makes your character simply an avatar, rather than a bound character type. As you can tell, my Hunter is level 6 here, and my Ranger is level 2. Still haven’t had a chance to start on my Force yet.

Using the optional third-person shooter camera/crosshair is fantastic on the Vita. It makes using ranged weapons a fantastic experience, and allows for a lot more accuracy than blindly targeting and shooting an enemy. It rewards proper shooting skills, and I really like that.

I consider myself a bit of a lone wolf in MMORPGs. I like to quest on my own in an environment around people because it makes me feel like I’m not entirely alone in the game world. So one of the things I really like about this game is the ability to hire NPCs you meet to join your party for free. The AI is actually pretty good, and the NPCs level up as you level up, allowing them to be decent partners in a tough pinch. The only real downside is that they don’t do near as much damage as they should, but that’s simply to balance the game. I highly recommend hiring NPCs for times when you’re just not up for player interaction. Actually, you can hire them even if you have players in your party. It’s all up to you, and it’s a nice change of pace.

The 4 pictures above demonstrate a glaring issue with this port: the draw distance is god awful, and it desperately needs to be optimized better for the Vita. There’s no real issue with it during the main part of gameplay (i.e. in quests), but, as you’re about to see, it can make simple navigation of the lobby areas a bit of a chore.

What we have here is that I can see the text above the character’s name, but I can’t see the character itself or the icon above their head to tell if I can pick up or turn in a client order.

If I get close enough that the character will load, the icon will finally load. A bit of a hassle, sure, but this is something that can be optimized and fixed in the official release.

Once the icon has loaded, if you walk away and walk back, the icon will appear shortly after the text appears. A sign of good things to come in the way of optimization? I sure hope so.

Notice anything odd in this picture? Like, how the shadow is completely pixelized and barely resembles the character model? I can’t tell if this is just laziness or pre-release oversight. Either way, I don’t really expect this kind of issue to be in the official release.

Another odd thing about this port so far: all of the video screens in the lobby have been replaced with a static pixelized image. I’m hoping this will be fixed in the official release, as having rendered video playing in the lobby is a fantastic feature, and it would definitely help to cement the lobby system as the Vita’s answer to PlayStation Home. Not really that big of a deal, but it’s a nice feature, and I hope it gets added back in.

This is another placeholder image on one of the video screens. I’m starting to notice a bit of a trend here.. Someone needs to add some filtering or something to these textures.

Look at the gold circle. Really? Consider this me begging the developers to add some filtering to the textures.

Final Verdict:

For the first beta test of the Vita version, it really seems fairly polished. It appears that the devs know what they’re doing, and they’re working hard on making this a competent port. It has several issues, such as the textures not being filtered very well and the framerate drop during rain, but these are things that can be easily fixed with a bit of tweaking and more testing.

It’s not a watered down port like some were expecting, and it’s not a barebones version like others were expecting. It’s a legitimate port of the PC version, and it’s looking like it will be the Vita’s killer app, as it’s set to be released for free, just like its PC counterpart.

I hope this has helped clear up some of the confusion surrounding the Vita release of Phantasy Star Online 2. I will be covering every other day in the closed beta test as well, but not in nearly as much detail, since I covered most of the main points here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section. I’ll answer them to the best of my ability in my next article.

Stolen shamelessly from The Vita Lounge — http://www.thevitalounge.com

I laughed so hard at that, even though it’s a bullshit statement. Anyway, here’s the list:

10. 

Lumines is ridiculously addictive and has a killer soundtrack. If you’re into EDM/House/Trance type of music fused together with fast paced puzzle action, Lumines shines a strobe light directly into your core. From the moment you play the first song — Deep Dish’s “The Future of the Future”, you’ll know you’ve stumbled onto one of the most scintillating experiences currently available on any handheld system.

9. 

By this point, you’ve probably already played Rayman Origins on one of the other systems, or possibly even picked up Rayman Legends on Nintendo’s new Wii U. If you haven’t yet played this amazing platformer, know that you’re in for a real treat. Rayman Origins is bright, cartoony, and looks like a very “for kids” type of game, but shines with superior art design, an obscenely catchy soundtrack, and platforming that starts off slow but eventually becomes extremely difficult even for veteran platform gamers. There’s a little bit of slow down when you get a lot of stuff on the screen, but it looks so damn great you won’t even care.

8. 

I just reviewed this game yesterday, but it makes the list because of how well it fits the Vita as a handheld game. Breaking tasks up into 30 minute max sessions, Ragnarok Odyssey offers monster slaying while on the go making it the perfect game to play while you’ve only got a few minutes to spare.

7. 

The only reason Persona 4 Golden isn’t higher on this list is because I personally haven’t played it. Everyone has been giving it extremely high praise, and seeing as how the Vita is pretty thin in the RPG department, Persona 4 Golden seems to be the game that all of the die hard RPG fans are playing — and that’s a good thing. From what I’m hearing, this could possibly be the best game currently available for the Vita. I can’t wait to pick it up myself.

6. 

Yes, I know Mutant Blobs Attack is currently free for PlayStation Plus members, but even at full price Mutant Blobs Attack is probably the best example of how to do a game for Vita currently available on the Vita. The touch screen controls work extremely well, and they’re not forced — which means you can opt to use the regular buttons instead. It’s cute, the levels are fairly short, and it’s easy to bang out a few levels and then move on to something else.

5. 

If you already own Zen Pinball 2 (or any of the terrific Zen Pinball tables) then you already own this for your Vita. Just go download the Vita versions from the PSN store and be completely amazed at what a killer job Zen Studios has done bringing an almost identical port of the PS3 version over to the Vita. On top of that, not only are all of the tables fully functional (complete with voice/music/graphics) but you can also turn your Vita portrait style and play using your Vita’s touch screen to control the flippers. How bad ass is this? Zen Pinball on the go? It’s a no brainer if you’re a pinball fan.

4. 

One of the best fighting franchises makes its debut on the PS Vita, complete with all of the downloadable characters and skins found on the PS3 version. The only real difference between the two is that the graphics are obviously dialed back for the Vita version. Sure, it doesn’t look as good, but it still looks damn impressive and moves at lightning fast speeds. Absolutely no slow down here, and as a bonus, you can execute fatalities by swiping the directions on the touch screen. What a killer idea.

3. 

While I wasn’t so kind to it in my review, a lot of my frustration with AC3: Lib came because I’m a huge Assassin’s Creed fan and I wanted it to be flawless. While it’s not flawless, it’s extremely impressive and it’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to a real Assassin’s Creed experience on the go. Aside from the stupid interactive functions, I think the majority of Assassin’s Creed fans are going to enjoy it at least in some form.

2.

BlazBlue Continuum Shift EXTEND is by far the best fighting game currently available on the PlayStation Vita. Everything about it is incredible. The network play is terrific, the story modes are engaging and hilarious, and the action is fast and doesn’t slow down at all. In fact, I’d argue that BlazBlue CS-E is actually nicer looking on the Vita than it is on the bigger systems. When someone asks how the graphics look for Vita games, BlazBlue has been my go to show-off game since the day I got it. Trust me when I tell you, if you’re a fan of fighters BlazBlue Continuum Shift EXTEND is worth every single penny you can throw at it.

And, my pick for the game you absolutely MUST get on your PS Vita:

1. 

Without question, PlayStation AllStars Battle Royale was made for the PlayStation Vita. Sure, it’s available on the PS3 but there’s no doubt in my mind that this game was meant for people to beat each others asses over Wifi. I was extremely skeptical because I really disliked the beta that was out earlier this year but once I played the full game, I was absolutely hooked. It’s just so damn good. You need it in your life.

Writer’s Note: Titles such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Hot Shots Golf, LittleBigPlanet, Gravity Rush, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and several others are all quite good but by this point if you’re interested in those titles you’re already looking to pick them up and you don’t need my recommendation. Also, Uncharted, Wipeout, Gravity Rush, and Mutant Blobs Attack are all currently free for PS+ subscribers.

In Assassin’s Creed III, Desmond relives the journeys of yet another member of his Assassin ancestry – a fierce half-British, half-Mohawk Indian warrior called Ratonhnhaké:ton. As a child, he watched his people suffer at the hands of the Colonists. Taking their suffering in mind, he sought out to protect those who could not defend themselves from tyranny and oppression.  Ratonhnhaké:ton eventually became a member of the Assassin’s Order, with that he adopted a new moniker; one that would allow him to easily skitter amongst the colonial people. To the colonists, he was known as Connor Kenway.

Because of Connor’s Native American ties, Assassin’s Creed III has a large focus on travelling light and moving quickly. With the help of a new engine dubbed AnvilNext, Assassin’s Creed III looks to be the most fluid title in the franchise’s history. Alongside Connor’s impressive arsenal including tomahawks, crossbows, and a detachable hidden blade, Connor will easily be able to enervate multiple enemies at once, all while remaining in motion. As the player, you’ll be able to run, shoot, stab, jump, swing from branches, and dive through windows as a short-cut through buildings. These improvements in motion will make Assassin’s Creed III feel more fluid, more natural, and of course, more exciting.

Combat will greatly benefit from the new engine, because it aims to speed things up a bit. In the previous titles, your character always stopped for a few seconds to show off a killing animation. It looked nice, but after the animation you’d have a window of vulnerability which made it tough to prepare counter-attacks. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations helped with that by allowing chain counter-attacks, but the added fluidity of AnvilNext will help Connor’s actions feel more responsive and solid.

Of course, combat won’t be the only thing AnvilNext improves. Assassin’s Creed III looks even better than it did in previous iterations, allowing for a staggering number of on screen enemies, dynamic weather changes, more detailed environments, and better enemy AI. The power of AnvilNext also allowed the Assassin’s Creed III designers to build a much larger world; which I’m personally looking forward to because Brotherhood and Revelations feel very confined to much smaller areas which you have to take over rather than explore.

Perhaps the most exciting new addition to Assassin’s Creed III is the naval combat system. Ubisoft has removed some of the unnecessary elements of previous titles (looking at you, crappy tower defense mode from AC: Rev) and they’ve added a little bit of sea warfare to make fighting off those Redcoats feel even more satisfying. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to fight on the ships, and I’ll be able to jump aboard an enemy ship like an awesome assassin pirate.

It’s safe to say that I’m a huge fan of the world that Ubisoft has built. In my opinion, Assassin’s Creed is one of the most compelling franchises in video game history and Assassin’s Creed III looks like it’s on par to not only be the best of the series thus far, but also one of the most memorable games ever set in the Revolutionary War time period. Don your beaked cloaks, sharpen your hidden blades, gather your tomahawks, and prepare your arrows, because the Yanks are coming and we march on October 30^th.

Nothing is true.

Everything is permitted.

Live by the Creed.

Assassin’s Creed III launches October 30^th, 2012 on the PlayStation 3, PC, and Xbox 360.

**EDITOR’S NOTE: I wrote this preview a few months ago for a project that was scheduled to launch in September. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Assassin’s Creed III is only a little over a week away, but I hope you enjoy this piece as it was tough to write without having actually touched the game.**

Think about it – the WSJ isn’t a newspaper that typically covers entertainment mediums. There’s a good chance that they’re trying to appeal to a younger audience (especially given the multitude of young tycoons and moguls these days) but there’s an entire crowd of people who haven’t considered video games (outside of Angry Birds or Tetris) who are now going to be looking at (and most likely reading) a review for a fairly niche FPS/RPG hybrid that succeeded when it should have failed. If there were a real life ‘little engine that could’ Borderlands most certainly is it.

On the bad side, this review is fairly biased and proves the writer had no real experience or knowledge of what he was getting into with Borderlands 2. Mr. Najberg’s lack of attention or respect for the original Borderlands (c’mon, who really admits they had to wikipedia the original story?) is both disgusting and eye opening. There were multiple comparisons to both Halo and Call of Duty, which are games that go in completely different directions from that middle ground where Borderlands exists. No competitive multiplayer? That’s because it’s not a competitive game; it’s a RPG with FPS elements. The only real competition in Borderlands is to find the best gear you can and show it off via multiplayer sessions. These blind comparisons to every other big name FPS franchise only further shows just how unprepared Mr. Najberg was for this review. Based on Mr. Najberg’s words, people who don’t play games might read this review and perceive that gaming is still nothing more than sophomoric, immature, and obscenely offensive slag crumpled together and marketed as ‘entertainment’.

What does this mean for upcoming Borderlands 2 sales? Well, for Gearbox and 2K it could mean that holiday shoppers who read the WSJ may potentially skip on purchasing the game for their wish lists because the review says it’s pretty bad. However, I’m sure Gearbox nor 2K are really all that worried about it, because the majority of people who read the WSJ would buy it anyway, because that particular outlet usually caters to those with higher incomes. While completely destroying the intricate experience Gearbox tried to recreate with Borderlands 2, Mr. Najberg’s obvious disinterest could be perceived as a metaphor to show how uninteresting, uninspired, or how bland the sequel presents itself. That said, the internet and the gaming industry had a very real right to rage. If you’re playing a game and it’s apparent that it’s just not your thing, try and respect the company by offering constructive criticism, or pass it off to someone who might not be so lethargic about their experience.

That’s a lot to be angry about, and I certainly understand why a ton of PR people, fans, and even industry pundits were so upset about the review. But on the positive note, let’s consider something else: Borderlands 2 was so hyped, it got covered in the WALL STREET JOURNAL. That’s like Martha Stewart inviting NIS on her show to talk about how lovable Prinny is. That’s like having Atlus games on the Bloomberg Report because they heard Persona 4 was kind of neat. Even with negative coverage, getting ‘time’ in one of the most viewed publications in the history of printed media is a stunning accomplishment and one that shows not only how much love there is for the Borderlands franchise, but also how far gaming itself has come in the past few years.

Borderlands doesn’t exactly hit that Wii Fit market. You’re not going to hear soccer moms talking about their endeavors on Pandora while you’re sitting in a doctor’s office. Borderlands 2 is a prime example of a game made directly for the fans of the original, and this coverage, no matter WHAT they said about it, means gaming is invading the most unlikely media outlets. Despite your personal feelings for Mr. Najberg or his opinion, I’m thankful to see SOMEONE in our industry getting time in a place typically reserved for a bunch of stuffy, corporate hullabaloo. Awesome job, Gearbox and 2K, and thanks to the Wall Street Journal for taking time to include gaming in your publication.

Before getting to the games, let’s discuss the services PlayStation Plus offers:

Cloud Saving

A screenshot of Sony’s Cloud. Mostly.

PS+ originally came with 150 megabytes of online storage for your game saves, however that’s now been upgraded to one gigabyte ensuring you’ve got a ton of room for your delicious saved games.  For those of you who aren’t sure what saving to the cloud actually means, it’s essentially Sony offering space on one of their servers so that you can upload your save files to a remote location so that you have a backup readily available should you need it.  This is a great feature for two reasons: Early PS3 adopters may have a console with only a 20gb, 60gb, or 80gb HDD, and having your saved games somewhere other than the local hard drive helps to free up more hard drive allowing you to store more free games!  Secondly, uploading your files to the cloud guarantees their protection in case your hard disk drive fails or if some dastardly evil person steals your console.

This is particularly handy for PS+ subscribers because of the copious amount of free games and game saves that will be amassed onto your PS3.

Late-night auto-updates

I had no idea that this feature existed until one night I sleepily turned off my console after a heavy session of Final Fantasy IX.  I turned off my television, crawled to the kitchen for some water, and walked again past my console (which I had just turned off) – but then I noticed the power light was flashing at me.

A dramatic recreation of that terrifying night I discovered auto-updates for my PS3.

“What? I just turned you off!” I muttered as my console’s fans whirled angrily.

“Great, Gray Fox (my PS3) is haunted” I thought. Half-expecting Samara in Lara Croft cosplay to crawl out of it, I turned on my television and happily found that it was downloading an update to Skyrim, without even asking!

Persona 3. The only game where self-inflicted head shots are encouraged.

The way automatic update works is like this: Basically the system turns on at a specific time (which you can set in the menu), checks for updates for any games you’ve previously played, and automatically downloads and installs updates for those titles.  This also works for any games you were downloading from PSN.  About a week ago I bought Persona 3 FES off the PlayStation Store and I started downloading it, but then had to leave for a mini-vacation, so I turned off my PS3.  When I returned a few days later, it had finished downloading and was ready to be played. The excitement, it was immense.

Free and first BETA invites / media stuffs!

If I had played the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Multiplayer Beta, I’m sure I would have loved it – but I didn’t. However, even though I didn’t plan on playing it, the GRFS beta was installed automatically as it was available to PS+ subscribers. Had I been a little more attentive, I could have gotten the LittleBigPlanet Karting beta as well.  Though I didn’t play either of those two, I did play the Starhawk multiplayer beta, which was amazingly fun and surprisingly full featured for a beta.

Yesterday, I finished downloading the (PS+ exclusive!) beta for Sony’s upcoming MMOFPS, Dust 514 (which is actually connected to the world of popular space MMO, EVE Online).  I plan on playing this one as much as possible!

Having a PS+ subscription also got me early access to ThatGameCompany’s amazing Journey.  No, it wasn’t discounted, but it was a week early; and I played the hell out of it, much to the non-malice of my friends who didn’t care.

PlayStation Plus also got first access to Hulu+, Amazon Video, and several other streaming media services as well.

That’s it for services I used, but that’s not why most people are interested in PS+.  They’re mostly interested in the free games that Sony offers to PS+ members.  Let’s take a look at what I’ve played, enjoyed, and felt fairly indifferent about.

Rock of Ages:

I actually wrote a review for Rock of Ages and really enjoyed it. It’s whimsical, cartoony, interesting and very competitive. Decent for $9.99, very good for free.

Awesomenauts:

Awesomenauts is another game I wrote a review for and greatly enjoyed it for a short while. It features fantastic multiplayer action in a genre not yet tapped on consoles. Okay for $9.99, good for free.

Pac-Man Championship DX:

I had already bought PMCDX a few months earlier, but I can tell you it’s one of the best downloadable games around.  It takes the already-addictive nature of Pac-Man and cranks it to 11.  It features several modes including Score Attack, Time Attack and Ghost Combo.  Score Attack and Time Attack are pretty self-explanatory, but Ghost Combo requires you to strategically run (float?) around the board getting as many ghosts to follow you as you can before you eat a pellet and go to town on them.  It is exhilarating to see hundreds of ghosts chasing ole Pac-y, and even more satisfying ending their non-lives as he chomps them down.  Fantastic for $9.99, amazing for free.

Batman: Gotham City Imposters:

Last month’s free game, GCI quenches my team-based shooter quota for the PlayStation 3. It’s highly addictive, with a viable smorgasbord of both weapon unlockables and character customization. Besides the few multiplayer modes like standard Team Deathmatch, there are offline challenge modes dealing with each weapon / movement upgrade individually, which will earn you experience and tokens to use towards gear upgrades. The only real downside are the asshats typically playing it. Imposters is good for $14.99, great for free.

Choplifter HD:

A remake of a classic arcade game, with none of the heart (or fun) of the original. Questionable for 14.99, decent for free.

Shank 2:

A pretty stellar action-platform with the intensity of 1,000 grindhouse films. Great controls, beautiful graphics and intense, if not repetitive action make it pretty great for free. Good for $9.99, great for free.

Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and Comix Zone:

Three classic Sega Genesis games you probably played in your youth that didn’t particularly age well; except for Golden Axe which still has really fun multiplayer. Not worth $4.99, but the nostalgia is nice to have for free.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus:

This was the first time I actually played this title and really was surprised by it. Fantastic graphics with a unique take on stealth action make this a solidly memorable title. Good for $9.99, great for free.

Trine 2:

A really fun title with some of the most gorgeous artistic direction on PSN, combined with with some very well-designed physics puzzles make this a great pick-up-n-play title for short gaming sessions. The only downside is the sketchy combat. Good for $14.99, great for free.

Hard Corps: Uprising:

The resurgence of 2D in the past few years pretty much guaranteed the resurrection of Konami’s classic mega-shooter Contra. While Hard Corps: Uprising isn’t a sequel in any way, it’s spiritually connected. Multiple weapon upgrades and character directions, huge levels and fast action make this game great, but strange-speed and annoying character design keep it from reaching Super C greatness. Okay for $14.99, good for free.

Renegade Ops:

Renegade Ops essentially combines Smash TV and a jeep to make this strikingly detailed title from Avalanche Studios. Drive a jeep, blow up some other jeeps or a tank or two, rescue some POWs, rinse, repeat. Okay for $14.99, decent for free.

LittleBigPlanet 2:

I played LittleBigPlanet 2 on disc. The digital version takes up like 9 gigs. Great game. Absolutely worth it at any cost, and it’s a no-brainer for free.

I still haven’t touched these games yet: Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, Sideway: New York, or InFamous 2.

These titles are all free with PS+ and I just haven’t had time to play them.  There’s just too much here!  You should note that every title you get from PS+ is only playable while you have an active PS+ subscription.  In other words, if you get Space Marine for free, then your subscription expires, you won’t have access to it or the cloud backups either; so before you rely on cloud saves, make sure you don’t plan to let your subscription lapse.

So there you have it: You don’t really need to do the math to see that I’ve gotten far more content than the $50 price tag I payed for a year of PS+.  Overall, PlayStation Plus is unquestionably worth it if you use your PS3 to play games – and with one of best titles of all time on it’s way for free – Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption – it’s a guarantee that you’ll get way more than your money’s worth.

TL;DR

- PS+ gets free games, services and media
- It’s a pretty stellar value for what you’re paying.
- I definitely need more time to game.

This is why when I heard the news regarding the latest installment of the franchise, God of War: Ascension, getting some questionable censoring, I had to speak out.

In an interview done near E3 2012 with God of War: Ascension game design manager David Hewitt revealed that the 6th game of the bloody story of Kratos will tone back on the violence, specifically violence on women.  So I can assume there’ll be no female bosses or general enemies, like the Sirens and gorgons.  Kratos will somehow ignore all the female gods and all their misdeeds because Sony Santa Monica is afraid to get yelled at by feminists.

No, no, no. To me, this is literally the opposite or what should be done.  Treating women differently than men, effectively shielding them from what’s arguably the entire point of God of War, is to take a step backwards in equality amongst genders. Women don’t want nor need to be protected or ignored, but only to be better portrayed and written.  And I truly believe any sort of censorship of God of War would hinder it’s identity and be unjust towards the series.

An actual, real-life screenshot from God of War: Ascension.* *Not an actual screenshot.

Is this really the way we want to see our favorite god-killer to go?  The last time I saw a great franchise “toned down” we got Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. But really, this seems like a cheap trick to avoid any negative press, and to avoid the rage of feminists everywere. Is this what Sony Santa Monica thinks equality is? Hindering what our protagonist – in this case, Kratos, who is basically a machine designed for killing – from fighting ladies because they’re so frail with their cooking pots, child-bearing hips and their …quilts?  Is this really God-of-fucking-War?

Plus it seems we’re sacrificing great character design for generic “humanoid animals with mallets” that’ve been the gaming norm for decades. Then what happens when PETA gets their mits on GoW:A? When God of War: Reascension comes out, will they apologize for their gratuitous violence against animals and have giant vegetables attacking Kratos?

Don’t ask where I’m getting all these completely-legitimate screenshots well in advance of the game existing. I have connections. Just trust me on this.

Here’s the thing about Kratos. When he kills it’s usually never personal, unless you happen to be his ultimate target. He doesn’t care who or what is in his way – be it a woman, man or hydra – and doesn’t harbor any negative emotions towards one life or another. They’re just blocking him from his ultimate goal, and doesn’t hunt anyone out of spite, but out of necessity.  Kratos’ own necessity, but necessity nonetheless.

So is toning down the violence, specifically against women necessary in God of War: Ascension? The answer is simply no. The real way to avoid any negative feminist attacks are to have a few strong woman be in opposition or allied with Kratos (like Athena throughout the series, and, to a lesser extent, Pandora in GoW3) and have them put up a decent fight instead of merely having him strut past her, thank her for the sandwhich and pat her lovingly on the ass.

Violence against women and general misogynism has been a hot topic in the gaming world lately.  There have been controveries surrounding a few other big titles at E3 this year, such as the treatment of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and the latex nuns of Hitman: Absolution (read about all these controveries in my article, The Chronicles of Misogyny: The Hitman, Rape and the Feminist).   And the answer to all of these issues is simply to have stronger, well-represented females… even if it means they have to get ripped to pieces by Kratos alongside their male counterparts.  Remember the Sisters of Fate?  They were awesome.  Remember Medusa? Of course you do.  Hell, Gaia is one of the most epic characters in gaming, and pretty much the narrator for the entire franchise. We haven’t run out of great mythology female figures for Kratos to maim.

Here are a few great examples of strong women in Greek mythology, in case you need help finding some, Sony Santa Monica:

Atalanta

Bitch be playin hard to get kno wha i sayin??

Atalanta was abandoned by her father and left to die in the forest, the Sisters of Fates intervened and sent a wandering bear who kept her alive until she was found by some wandering hunters. Atalanta grew into one of the most beautiful and deadliest women around, and frequently beat men at combat, racing and hunting. She was such a respected huntress and warrior that Jason (of the Argonauts) asked her to come along on his legendary journey. She declined saying, “I wanted it to be called ‘Atalanta, Jason and the Argonauts’, but his [Jason’s] balls were too small to allow it.”

Atalanta is a strong, independent woman who was not tied to anyone in marriage. So proud and strong was she, that she offered her hand in marriage to any man who could beat her in a footrace, or die trying. Many men died, except for one – Hippomenes – who, with the help of Aphrodite and a few godly Golden Apples (women and their apetites, amirite fellas? Please send your hate mail to Ryan@GamingOgre.com) – managed to beat her in a race. Unfortunately, he forgot to thank the god of lust who then instilled her wrath upon both Hippomenes and Atalanta.

Problem, greekfag?

Fast. Great with a sword and spear. Having the skin of the legendary Calydonian boar. Imagine that fight? I see it as a recurring boss battle, like Sigma in Megaman X, where Kratos can’t defeat the warrior, but has to use the Golden Apples to lure her towards a trap or just uses them to escape Atalanta before finally slaying her.

Circe

The whole comparison of men to pigs probably came from Circe here.

Remember that weird greek story you read in high school, The Odyssey? Remember that crazy, all-powerful witch that turned Odysseus’ men into swine, tempted them to abandon their quest for years  and then murdered most of them at the end?

Yeah, that was the goddess Circe – daughter of Helios and mother of that familiar beast, you know the one called the fucking MINOTAUR. I bet she’d be a little pissed at Kratos for murdering her child and father (and probably several other members of her family… the Greek gods were kinda tight-knit like that) and would strategically turn the guy into a toad, fish or some sorta sheep That’d be a different battle Kratos to go through- a mother’s wrath. He’s only gone through people who’ve inherently fucked him out, how would he react when he encounters someone whose life has been so severely altered because of his actions? Would he be regretful? Would he not give any fucks?

I imagine the boss battle having to avoid blasts from Circe while attacking her now-boar minions.

The Sphinx.

“What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

You didn’t think this half-woman half-lion was exclusive to Egyptian mythology, did you? Oh no, Sphinx plays a role in the story of Oedipus, and is an aggressive warrior with a penchant for riddles and eating people who can’t answer them. And look at her! She’s a perfect boss fight for our man Kratos! Kratos answer a riddle – maybe a physical block puzzle or something –  and if you get it wrong, you’d have to fight her.  If you get it right, she’ll let you pass. It’d be an interesting way to combine combat and the puzzle elements God of War is known for.

Artemis.

Any resemblance to Katniss Everdeen, Merida, the dude from Crysis 3, Lara Croft from the TR reboot or Hawkeye is purely coincidental.

I can’t think of any other stronger female that should appear more in the God of War series than Artemis.  She’s appeared briefly, but her presence is incredibly strong. The massive blade Kratos wields in the first God of War is named after her, and she is known for being a skilled archer and huntress and protector of the gods. She’s the daughter of big daddy Zeus and probably his favorite daughter. He gave her everything she wanted. A bow and silver arrows? Done. Twenty Amnisides river nymphs to do her bidding? You’ll have it. A kennel full of hounds to hunting? Sure.  Why the Hades not? She had it all and, unlike most of the figures in Greek mythology, loved her mother and father and the young men and women she protected. She’d be pissed at Kratos for threatening her family – ironically she is Kratos’ half sister, along with half the cast of Greek mythology – and has an entire army willing to do her bidding. This just screams boss battle, or even entire level dedicated to.

There you have it. Four great female figures with great stories that Kratos could fight in interesting and challenging new ways. Fans of the series get some new boss fights, woman get some pretty decent representation and God of War doesn’t get rated ‘T for Teen’ because Sony is afraid of being yelled at by CNN.

TL:DR

- God of War: Ascension is taking out violence against the ladies
- We shouldn’t treat them any differently than men, that’s the entire point of equality.
- There are plenty of strong female influences even in Greek mythology to warrant some strong ladies.
-  PETA will protest literally anything. Also: photoshopping different slogans onto signs is startlingly fun.

Remember those “valid uses of Photoshop” I’ve been talking about in various articles? THIS IS ITTTTT

So when I saw that a new trailer for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 surfaced  during my daily routine of trudging through the interwebs , I shrieked “Fuck Yeah!” and well, pressed play. One minute and thirty seconds later, I was stunned. What.The.Fuck.Did.I.Just.Watch.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2‘s Fight Lab is essentially just an updated training mode. And apparently the guys over at Namco Bandai are on some serious LSD cause the trailer is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever watched. I swear to god, I rewound the the part when a SUMO WRESTLER FLOATED ONTO THE SCREEN about 33 times And that wasn’t that craziest part. Bitches are getting their clothes punched off, Panda Bears are decked out in ballerina attire, there’s suicidal chickens. Really? Who made this game? Is this real life?

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be available for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 11th.

Judgment is the fourth installation in the series and the game will be centered around GOW veterans Damian Baird, Augustus Cole, and the rest of their Kilo Squad as they recount the events that led up to their trial for treason and desertion. This all happens before the events that happened in Gears of War.

 Epic Games also released more info in the new multiplayer mode, Overrun, a multiplayer game (relative to Team Fortress) that introduces a class-based competitive mode that will pit COG Soldiers and Locust in a ‘head-to-head’ combat. Teams of five will alternate between both COG Soldiers and the Locust and pick from a variety of sub-classes. The COG classes are as follows:

• The Engineer
• Engineers are COG defense specialists. They can deploy sentries and repair fortifications. He’s equipped with a Gnasher (shotgun) and a Blowtorch.

• The Solider
• COG Soldiers are highly trained weapon specialists. They can deploy ammo for themselves and their teammates. They are equipped with a Lancer and the Boomshot.

• The Scout
• COG Scouts can access elevated sniping positions and reveal enemy locations by deploying spotting locations. This guy is equipped with the Longshot Rifle and a COG Pistol.

• The Medic
• The COG field medic can deploy Stim-Gas in order to heal and revive teammates. She’s equipped with a Lancer and COG pistol.

The Locust selection includes all our classic favorites from Horde: Tickers, Wretches, Grenadiers, Kantus, Bloodmounts, Corpsers, Serapedes, Maulers will all be accessible to players. The object of the game is to attack opponent’s generators, and defend yours. It’s basically an updated and new-improved Beast Mode from Gears of War 3.

The trailer for Gears of War: Judgment and the Overrun Tutorial video are below. Now all we have to do is wait patiently for the next 8 months….

Gears of War: Judgment will hit the shelves exclusively for the Xbox 360 on March 19, 2013.

Seriously guys? Does she deserve this? Honestly?

And then, attempts at bringing up the idea of genuine equality is bombarded by genuine misogyny and threats of physical violence and even rape.  Of course, I’m talking about the treatment of Anita Sarkeesia, feminist blogger over at Feminist Frequency, who’s received some of the most heinous threats and generally disgusting comments in recent memory, including having an entire game dedicated to beating her into a pulp, all because she’s trying to shine light on the sensitive subject of gaming misogyny.

But why was she – someone who’s trying to improve something – met with such backlash?  I have a theory, and it is this: gamers – especially gamers on the internet – are really proud of there hobby and would defend it to the death.  So when someone – nonetheless a girl – comes along and says their hobby is inherently broken, they fight off the idea with the tenacity of a keyboard-wielding pitbull.   Fortunately, all the negative press sent Sarkeesian’s video series campaign skyrocketing passed her original goal of six-thousand dollars to well passed one-hundred thousand.  The trolls were trolled.

“RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!”

As both a gamer and a male, this worries and saddens me.  I love this industry.  A lot.  More than most things.  And I defend it with all my heart as many do when it is brought up to question, when it is insulted and when it is disregarded.

I fight tooth and nail as much as the next proud gamer, but when I see other gamers threatening to rape a fellow gamer who happens to be a woman for wanting to make a video about women in gaming, I hesitate, because these people share the same hobby as I do, and when I defend it I defend them.  How do we expect this industry to be taken seriously when we get comments calling her a skank and how she “…pocket raped almost 7,000 people” who donated to her cause of their own free will?  When there is actual time dedicated to just beating the piss out of her?

Is this what she deserves, someone who’s trying to fix an inherent problem with the industry?  It is not, and anyone ignorantly slamming her is just willingly blind to this seriously problem the industry is facing.  And not only is this industry facing misogyny towards our actual female gamers, but towards the fictional characters we play in our games as well.

Everyone had a say about the recent trailer for the Tomb Raider reboot trailer, featuring a young Lara Croft and her attempted rape.  Yes, she seems incredibly weak and shrieks at every step like she’s stepping on needles.  Yes, rape is a cheap trope and shouldn’t be needed to portray strength in women, and anyone who defends it saying “MURDUR IS WIDELY ACCEPTED IN GAMING Y U NO LIEK RAEP?”

I’ll tell you.  When death is dealt in gaming, it’s usually against someone who is defending themselves (unless you’re playing “No Russian” from CoD: Modern Warfare 2– and remember the controversy that had?) with equally large weapons/ninja stars/haduokens.  It is not against a single, powerless victim, because, quite frankly, that’d get boring quick.  Imagine if none of the enemies in Contra had guns or could generally defend themselves or if Mortal Kombat was just exclusively fatalities. Or rape.

If Subs wasn’t wearing such REVEALING outfits, THIS WOULDN’T HAPPEN.

Rape has a victim.  This victim is someone who could not defend themselves from the said rapist.  Rape is an exercise in power assertion against a weak victim, for example Stanley and Blanche’s relationship in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.  The clash comes after brutish and animalistic Stanley Kowalski and proud southern belle Blanche DuBois clash for dominance when Stanley’s power is challenged and ultimately ends up in the decisive sign of power, the rape of Blanche by Stanley.

How can you apply this at all to gaming?  It’d be like a taking away all of Sub-Zero’s powers and willingness to fight and repeatedly punching him in the face as Goro, or the final boss in Metal Gear Solid 4 being Major Zero (who is a brain dead paraplegic). I mean…seriously? This is the difference between justifying murder and rape in gaming.

Let’s talk the sexy nuns of Hitman: Absolution.  For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer, here’s a still.

The top is a bad way to do sexy, badass female assassins.  The bottom is a good way to do sexy, badass female assassins. Also: Michael Madsen.

The trailer for Hitman: Absolution features these women (who previously had been dressed as normal nuns) whipping out large guns and attempting to kill the famed Agent 47, who then rips them to pieces one at a time.

Yeah, I saw Machete too.

Okay, it’s not the violence that bothers me.  The guy is just defending himself. But… what the several fucks are they wearing?  Maybe if they weren’t wearing six-inch heels and skintight BDSM outfits they may have actually hit their target and not have been destroyed by 47.  And yes, I realize they’re trying to go for a Rodriguez/GRINDHOUSE style, but even then in his films they had substance.  STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS ARE NOT CHUNKS OF MEAT USED TO SATURATE THE BLOODTHIRSTY TASTE OF HORNY 13 YEAR OLDS

The developers defended the trailer by saying the assassins were removing the clothes to “reveal their true dark nature.”  …which is skin-tight latex and D sized tits? Wat? What sort of assassin even dresses like that?  How inconspicuous.  You want decent females assassins with a true dark nature?  This can be done through character, dialogue and story instead of cleavage and leather.

The phenomenon known as male gaze comes across in the trailer, as the camera sweeps past the cleavage and asses of the assassins before 47 pretty much decimates them.   Doesn’t bother you?  Think I’m a testosterone-less idiot who needs to suck it up, like a manly man man?  Think women are ruining your favorite hobby?  I pose this: What if Hitman: Absolution was done like this instead?

I liked the part where his abs were sweaty.

“BUT RYAN! GAMERS ARE MOSTLY TEEN DUDES SO ITS NATURAL TO PANDER TO THEM RIGHT?  COMPANIES WANT TO MAKE MONEY SO THAT’S WHAT THEY GOTTA DO.”

Well, yes, I understand that, but Half-Life 2 has sold near 7 million copies, all without a single shot of Alyx Vance’s ass crack, not including the pervy mods made by fans.  How’d it do that?  By focusing on great gameplay, characters, and storyline.  It’s not a huge mystery here, guys.  There are plenty more games that sell without this kind of just… dumb shit that just gratifies to the lowest common denominator and most basic of instincts in people.

What most people don’t get, what they don’t do in life in general is looking at this through another person’s eyes.  It’s really easy to judge something or someone without knowing the trials they go through.  But that’s what I, your host Ryan, is here to do.  Dudes! Can’t imagine what female gamers go through on a daily basis?  Don’t see the big deal is?  Well, imagine your favorite male heroes of all time.

Now imagine them like this:

Remember that “valid use of Photoshop”? This is not one of them.

Horrifying, isn’t it?  This is what they go through, dudes, bros, and dudebros.   It’s time that stupid shit like the latex nuns and randomly sexy chicks change. Teenage boys aren’t the only people gaming anymore.  If developers truly want to push this medium forward, this stupid treatment of women has got to change.  And how can you do something?  Write letters.  Post on forums.  Send some positivity about certain games and characters to the developers, and let them know that the times they are a-changin’.   I predict these lines will soon be erased, and terms like “girl gamer” will disappear and everyone will focus on this great hobby that unites us.

Because that’s what gaming is really about.

TL:DR
-  Rape is a cheap trope to get you on a character’s side
-  Real assassins wouldn’t wear latex nun outfits and is just dumb.
-  Girls play videogames. …Crazy, I know right?
-  Looking up “men in speedos” into Google Images makes for a rough night

You’re welcome. Send your hate mail to Ryan@GamingOgre.com or leave it in the comments below!

This is a similar deal offered to those who pre-ordered the 2010 Medal of Honor received beta access to Battlefield 3.

Medal of Honor Warfighter focuses on the special ops teams throughout the world and puts them against terrorists. Being developed by EA’s Danger Close team and this time uses the Frostbite 2 engine, the same engine as Battlefield 3.

No information about Battlefield 4 other than it’s in development and people will be able to participate in a beta sometime in the future. It looks like EA are aiming for a 2013 release for BF4.

(image from Medal of Honor Warfighter)