PS3 | The Recycle Bin

LittleBigPlanet – Love is in the air.

I am not sure how I previously missed out on all the LittleBigPlanet fun, but stranger things have happened. I remember when the game was announced; the build-up until release was really exciting. Somewhere along the way I decided that I had better things to do, and I figured I would get sucked into the create mode way more than necessary.

So LittleBigPlanet passed me by. Circumstances dictated that my PS3 would die a painful death last summer, although my successfully YLoD repair project is an entirely different story that has already been documented for your viewing pleasure.

When I replaced my original 60GB PS3 “Fat” with a new (and debatable not so improved) PS3 “Slim” model, the bundle I purchased allowed for two Greatest Hits titles. One of the titles I selected was the LittleBigPlanet Game of the Year Edition.

And, for everyone looking for a great value, the GOTY edition includes 7 packs from the PlayStation Store. These packs feature tons of costumes, stickers, objects, [18] new levels and the “Paintinator” to amplify the fun you’ll have. Once more, these are on the disc FREE (that’s nearly a $30 value)

Content Packs include:
Metal Gear Solid Level Pack – featuring the “Paintinator” paintball gun
Metal Gear Solid Costumes
Monsters Costumes
Monsters Pack
History Costumes
History Pack
Animals Costumes

The game sat unopened in my PS3 box for the better part of 6+ months, before I finally decided to give it a go and see what the fuss was all about. That and on a whim I decided to preorder the Little Big Planet 2 Collector’s Edition; yes, it is a sickness.

So here I am to profess (or is that confess) my love for all things LittleBigPlanet. While I have yet to really tackle the create mode in either version of the game, I can say that I really love the ingenuity offered up by the LittleBigPlanet fan base.

While this is almost random and irrelevant to my newfound love for LittleBigPlanet, I will close out with a quick link to an article from the Examiner that outlines some of the details from the various LittleBigPlanet 2 DLC costume packs.

Those who purchased the collector’s edition of LittleBigPlanet 2 received all of the pre-order DLC costumes mentioned above in addition to the exclusive Jak, Daxter and The Great Gonzo (from The Muppets) outfits. As expected, the 11 costumes voucher code ended up being the most demanded of the bunch with the bids topping at $31.00.

I think it is interesting to see what “virtual” items are worth, or at least the perceived value of said items. If you consider that the standard edition of the game is $59.99, the LBP2 Collector’s Edition was a great deal: Sackboy + bookends + DLC.

PS3 Gets Inferior Angry Birds Minis

I am not sure why I care. It’s not as if I have posted anything in the last few days, or have purchased the Angry Birds Minis. Sometimes something just catches my attention, amuses me, and for shits and giggles I have to post.

Take this PC Magazine review of PlayStation Minis Angry Birds as an example. It is an entertaining review (I have quoted the review summary) because it points out so many of the flaws with the current PlayStation Minis program.

Pros
Faithful port of the iPhone/Android versions.

Cons
Jerky on the PSP. Blocky on the PS3. Analog stick/disc control isn’t as satisfying as touch screen. Not as many levels as smartphone versions.

Bottom Line
Though it’s still just pocket change to play, the PlayStation Mini version of Angry Birds is more expensive and less enjoyable than the iPhone/Android versions.

PlayStation gamers are straddled^ with a port that is flawed on the PSP with graphics issues, slowdown, etc, and apparently the game looks like shit on the PS3. I can only imagine how bad things must be on a good quality high-def TV.

For those of you keeping score at home, the PlayStation Minis version cost more ($3.99) than versions for other portable devices; it only includes 63 levels (vs. the 180+ levels available on other portable devices), and the port is flawed.

Good grief. I hope Sony addresses these types of issues with their publishing partners in the future. At a minimum, when the NGP is released, Sony has to address Minis pricing.

**************

^ = Edit. Upon further review, in this context, this does not make sense, but I like the way it sounds/flows. Besides, it is my blog, so it stays.

Gamestop and PlayStation Rewards

I read this article from Gamasutra, which discussed the strong holiday showing by GameStop. While I hold no grudges towards GameStop (or EBGames) I never appreciated purchasing a “new” game from their mall stores only to discover that the “new” game had in fact been previously played. One only needs to perform a google search to see that I am in good company.

I strongly suspect that the new PlayStation Rewards program will either change PS3 owner’s purchasing patterns (i.e. no longer purchase “new” games from GameStop) or stop GameStop from allow employees to play new games, return them to the packaging, and sell them as “new” games.

From the PS3 Rewards FAQ:

How do I advance my standing faster?
At launch the program rewards playing new Blu-ray games, and activity in Home & on the PlayStation®Store such as buying movies, shows, games or other content. We’re always evaluating additional Reward behaviors.

Gamers that really care about Rewards may also think twice about purchasing a used game if they really want to receive credit for their purchases.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Return of Reviews That Don’t Suck

It has been a while since I praised a review, so why not get in a quickie before the close of 2010. I have been interested in Spelunker HD since I read about the game a few weeks ago in some random blog and forum posts. Of course there seems to never be enough time to play all the games I own, so why lust after yet another title? Come on, why not!

This little gem of a game has only managed a meagerly 63 metacritic score (based on 9 critic reviews), but what does this gamer from gamecritics see that others have yet to explore?

This fastidious adherence to its own rules is paired with a welcome dose of player-friendly wisdom. As strict as the game may be, it veers broadly around the pitfall of spitefulness. The denizens of the caves can all be evaded with some careful footwork; snakes can be leapt over, and bats periodically pause their bombardment to allow safe passage. Even so, bombs and flares—which can be used to drive these creatures into hiding—can be found before their every occurrence without exception. Spelunker HD takes no joy in needless frustration.

I may not pick up Spelunker HD anytime soon, but at least the gamecritics review keeps this one on my radar. I tip my hat to this reviewer, unlike many; this reviewer writes reviews that don’t suck.

Christmas Gaming Treats

As a kid I always looked forward to getting new videogames in December (birthday and Christmas). I always held out hope that I was going to get a few new games, and they just had to be better than decent because I knew that my gaming library was not going to increase during the upcoming year.

These days I just buy what I want, usually via pre-order, or I watch a game, waiting for the inevitable price drop before finally indulging myself. Either way, my gaming comes to me when I want, and if I happen to get a dud, I can flip it on eBay. No worries, no fuss.

This year, thanks to Santa (and of course my family), I have enough games to keep me occupied until December 2011, or until I decide to pick up the next great, have to play it now spectacular, super special gaming extravaganza. Something along those lines; call me a sucker for pre-release build up hype.

The Gaming Treasure Trove:

Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Greatest Hits. I have always wanted to give this game a go, but for whatever reason, I never did.
FIFA 11 (Under $30 during Amazon Thanksgiving sales). I wrote a few weeks ago that I have been playing the shit out of FIFA 10. I love the FIFA 10 experience; the virtual pro is a very immersive experience. I am going to stay with FIFA 10 for the rest of 2010 to see how many Trophies I can pick up before flipping FIFA 10 on eBay, and then I will start my FIFA 11 journey. I can only hope that FIFA 11 is as fun and entertaining as FIFA 10 has been over the last six weeks.
God of War 3 (Under $35 during Amazon Thanksgiving sales). Because one cannot have enough God of War.
God of War Collection Greatest Hits ($10 during Amazon Thanksgiving sales). Are you kidding me? $10 for high-def updates of two highly rated PS2 game? Complete with a gaggle of Trophies for my gaming pleasure. I never played the PS2 versions, but thanks to the PSP God of War games, I am a converted fan.
Gran Turismo 5 Prima Essential Track Guide*
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing 2010. Some different. Something for the Move.

* OK, so this little spiral bound book is not game, but I figured I would include it in the overall haul. It is getting a lot of flack in the Amazon review listings, however it is exactly what it states – a track guide. If you are looking for a traditional cheat (er, strategy guide) book, then the Prima guide is not your cup of tea.

Maybe all these new games will have an added bonus; getting my PlayStation Rewards status to nudge a little for the first time since the week after Thanksgiving!

Looking Forward To …
With all these new gaming Christmas experiences, plus the current backlog of goodies, is there anything left on my radar?

Little Big Planet 2. Of course I never played the first one, but everyone says LBP is a must have experience, which is fun for the whole family.
MLB 11: The Show. See FIFA 10 + FIFA 11; I have until March to get my money’s worth from MLB 10.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. I want to try the newest NFS title, but I am going to wait for a lower price. Plus I still have GT5 to keep me occupied, and F1 2010 is not getting any love.
Madden and NCAA Football. Yeah, I know, let’s don’t go there yet.

There are probably other gems lurking out there, but right now I actually do not have anything on pre-order or a “watch list.” OK, just kidding. I have the HD update of the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection on pre-order. But other than that one …

Gaming News and Notes

Over the last three weeks, starting right before the Thanksgiving break, I have been on a torrid (for me) gaming rampage. I think I have logged more hours on my PS3 (and even a few on the oft forgotten PSP – Ghost of Sparta) than I did in total January through October.

I have to say it has been fun. Almost like a kid in a candy store. Gaming nirvana if you please. I have found this latest zone has helped me decompress and even get in some quality time with the kids. These days I don’t question how long this ride will last; I just keep on plugging, enjoying it until I put down the controllers.

Crazy Taxi
After pickup up my PS3 Slim for Father’s Day, I flipped Crazy Taxi on eBay. Not because I no longer enjoyed the game; I consider it one of the ultimate pick and play titles. It is just a damn good arcade gaming experience, which blends the perfect elements of short bursts of gaming excitement and the pursuit of high scores.

Besides, the PS3 Slim more or less forced my hand, since it is not PS2 backwards compatible. Of course in my back pocket I knew Crazy Taxi would be headed towards the PSN.

The PSN edition seems to be the same game, minus the licenses (Levi’s, KFC, music, etc), with slightly harder controls compared to the PS2 and Dreamcast versions. Crazy Taxi is still a fun arcade experience; one that the boys enjoy playing with dad. As an added bonus, the PSN version also provides the pleasure (or frustration – take your pick) of pursuing Trophies.

FIFA 10
Shame on me for not playing this one more over the past year. FIFA 10 is a fantastic sports game, and the virtual pro feature being balls out fun. In my dotage, I have a hard time pulling off decent skill moves, so my pro still seems a little stiff and rough around the edges. As a striker, I am all offense, with almost no defensive skills. I think my rating is currently 72 and climbing.

Rumor has it Santa is bringing me FIFA 11 ($29.99 during one of the Thanksgiving deals), so I figured I better maximize my FIFA 10 experience before Christmas so I will not feel so guilty when I trade in or eBay FIFA 10. And maximize I have; in fact I have probably spent more time with FIFA 10 than any other game in this article. Fun and highly addicting!

Gran Turismo 5
After waiting an eternity (at least it seemed that way), we finally have a proper Gran Turismo on the PS3. I picked up the Gran Turismo 5 Collector’s Edition – I love the series, even if it is not the best pure “racing” experience around.

After starting off with one of the 25+ versions (or whatever) of a Toyota Corolla, I have been slowly making my way through the game. Due to so many other games in my rotation (or call it my gaming backlog) I have not started the long slow GT grind. I have picked up my B and A licenses, and while I could keep on trying to progress, I have been working on locking up all B and A license Gold trophies, which seems damn near impossible for some. I actually find this pursuit more relaxing than frustrating; I get in a zone and keep plugging away, slowly decreasing my times until I strike Gold.

The only GT game that I managed to “complete” at 100% was the first release – Gran Turismo for the PSOne. It has been a long time since those days! I doubt I have that much spare time to really go after that mark with GT5; however I am sure I will maximize my value (gaming dollar).

I think the game has already been patched 3 times, so the developers did end up rushing the game, which is a bit of a surprise considering the long delay. Over ambitious? Probably. At least the developers are supporting the game and trying to make things right by the fans.

Sports Champions
My family has discovered the joy of playing Bocce. At least we are enjoying Sports Champions version of Bocce, and we are having a blast learning the rules and associated skills. My mother is giving my oldest son a Bocce set for the backyard. I love it when videogames cross pollinate real life!

I think my kids’ favorite is volley ball, closely followed by disc golf. My favorites are archery and disc golf, and I also find gladiator duel an interesting diversion. Ping pong is the favorite of my 3.11 year old, but I find it damn near impossible.

On a side note, I need to get two more Move controllers for some serious volley ball and archery dual Move head-to-head action. What would that investment be? Almost $325? I have already “invested” $100 camera + Move controller, $50 second move controller, $35 Navigation controller, $30 Move charge station. Ouch. Archery is a blast with two controllers, so I can only imagine how much fun it would be to have a two-player archery duel with 4 Move controllers!

On more side note. The Navigation controller seems poorly supported. I think the only Move game I have that takes advantage of it is Heavy Rain. Need to come back to Heavy Rain in a future article.

My Aquarium
Did I really buy this one? Just for the hell of it I downloaded My Aquarium. It is a great concept, with extremely poor execution. The graphics are not acceptable; in fact I was not even sure this was an HD title, but from what I have read, My Aquarium is in fact presented in HD … just without the normal eye popping graphical glory. It really is a damn shame that this virtual screensaver does not look nicer, and to make matters worse, the interface is unbelievable clunky, complete with unresponsive controls.

If a “game” begged for updated graphics with Move support, this is the one. To the good, Trophy whores will find a few almost freebies on offer; apparently you can cheat to get them quickly, however I am earning my Trophies the old fashion way. It will probably be a year before all the fish unlock, giving me a cheap Gold Trophy.

Uno
I dismissed this one out of hand when it was previously released, however I did pick it up on sale for $0.99. It is OK at best … I mean it is Uno. I have played a few games online, but I disappointed that a couple of disconnects in the “lobby” counted as game discounts. That or someone figured out a way to hack a couple of wins against me; I am not enough of a junkie at this game to try to follow my statistics to see why the game thinks I have abandon a couple of gaming sessions.

I think you have to really love Uno in order to pick this one up. Not bad for $0.99, but not worth a whole lot more than a single ducket. Then again, this could be a nice diversion if someone wants to get their wife into videogames.

Hustle Kings!
Plus continues to deliver interesting content and discounts. I picked up Hustle Kings! a couple of weeks ago when it was discounted to just under $6. I have only played a few times, but the game seems to offer a really nice pool experience. The bar locations have great aesthetics – music, presentation, and graphics.

I’ll comment more on this one in the future. I picked it up mainly because I suck at pool in real life, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that playing a virtual game will actually help me in real life. To a certain degree it already has, at least when it comes to adding some backspin on pocket shots. In real life I would scratch, following the ball into the pocket, but I am getting the hang of how to avoid this mistake. Hope it carries over!

Hustle Kings! also supports the Move. I am not sure how it compares to playing with a DS controller because I have only used the Move. The game appears to do a good job of supporting the Move, however I have to admit that my poor old fingers and hand gets a little cramped trying to line up fine precession shots. As I said, more on this one later.

Closing
Did I just do that? Good grief; that is a lot of gaming playing!

Happy Sunday!

Black Friday Gaming

I am not a huge shopper, except for the stay at home and click on Amazon kind of shopping. This year (at least so far today) I did not see a whole lot of deals that I just had to get.

The tally today is FIFA 11 (DS) and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) for the kids, while dear old dad took advantage of a couple of Lightning Deals for God of War Collection (PS3) for a mere $10 and God of War 3 (PS3) for a click under $35. Thanks to the PSP and God of War: Chains of Olympus, I have become somewhat of a Kratos fan. Good stuff.

I am thinking about taking advantage of some of the PSN titles on sale. Joe Danger looks better than decent. I am pretty sure I am going to pull the trigger on Destruction Derby (PSOne); long time readers will remember that seeing the demo of this game made me fall in love with the PlayStation. I have not picked up very many of the 15th Anniversary sale items, but this is one that I will not pass up. Then again … backlog list of games is growing deep. To the good, Destruction Derby will get some use on the PSP.

Gaming today has mostly consisted of Sports Champions, which is a great family title, and of course some Gran Turismo 5 action.

Happy gaming weekend to everyone!

Gran Turismo 5 Collector’s Edition Arrives

Racing nirvana? Probably not based on past Gran Turismo titles, however I hope it is a damn good driving experience.

It has been a while since I have actually been around the house on a major “release” day. Thanks to having several days off, I should get in plenty of time with the game.

Upon firing it up, I was prompted to install version 1.01 of the game, which took a couple of minutes. The game is currently installing 8GB of data on my PS3 Slim HDD. According to the progress meter, this should take 20 minutes.

Happy me!

Ending Credits

Yesterday I threw up an article congratulating myself for completing Afrika, in the process achieving my first Platinum trophy. This is a great segue into a recent IGN article titled “Why Don’t We Finish More Video Games?”

It is a damn good question, and the article brings out a few interesting points that I shall proceed to quote for your reading amusement.

The irregularity of getting a new video game can also blunt your temptation of pulling the rip cord before it’s over. When I was younger, I felt damn lucky to get four or five new video games over the course of a year for my Master System. But now I have the ability to buy more than one video game a month.

Back in my ill spent youth, I too was lucky to receive 3-4 Intellivision games a year. Of course having a December birthday always meant getting shafted – “Christmas will be here in a few days.” Joy. That always sucked.

At any rate, new games were special. These days new games are not exactly special; a dime a dozen. Of course Gran Turismo 5 releases today, however it is not as if I am in dire need of a new game. As the article said, I still have a ton of unfinished games, including F1 2010.

Do you remember game-ending glitches fifteen years ago? Personally, I can’t recall a single game found on a cartridge that suffered from a crippling bugaboo. (PC games have long endured a reputation for shipping before being completely stable.)

There’s now an over-reliance on the ability to patch a console game after it ships via the console’s Internet connection.

I really abhor this aspect of today’s generation of consoles. I remember having arguments with friends and colleagues that PC gaming was a waste of time and effort. Console gaming was the way to go because games were in one nice tidy package, without relying upon patches to “finish” a game. Boy have times changed!

My issue with completing games is one of time; really lack of time. I want to move on to new experiences, and my available free time is limited. I typically end up in a trap of starting a game, playing for a little while, and moving on to the next thing. Moving day occurs because I want to experience the new game, not because the first game sucked.

In theory I am getting better. In the last few months I have “completed” a few PSN titles, God of War Chains of Olympus (on the easier levels at any rate – but I did see the ending!), and of course the lead in for this article, Afrika.

Platinum Club

Last night I earned my first PS3 Platinum trophy for completing Afrika. I know some would argue that it is not a “game” in the traditional sense, and I think I would have to agree. Instead it is more of a relaxing after work, late at night, whenever you want to de-stress experience.

Getting to 100% was pretty much a pain in the ass; lots of repetitive type missions, but as I said, it was a stress free pain in the ass experience, which is OK in my book.

I’ll go on the record and say that I had to “cheat” a couple of times to find some of the animals. Cheating in Afrika means reading a guide to find the general location of specific animals required to complete the game. You have to take a picture of a dung beetle. Seriously.

So now I am one of the cool kids, with my cool Platinum trophy. Except the cool kids do not play games like Afrika.

Plus Finally Offers Betas

One of the biggest gripes by the PlayStation Plus “community” has been the lack of betas. Upon the initial introduction of the Plus service, Plus subscribers were led to believe that they would get plenty of exclusive beta offerings.

Over the first three months, the betas did not show up, and Sony backtracked a little on the wording of what they intended. Apparently only selected Plus users would have an opportunity to land some of those beta experiences. Bellyaching ensued.

Sony has responded by working with Ubisoft to allow all Plus subscribers access to the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood beta. Let the rejoicing sound from coast to coast. In a further attempt to appease Plus subscribers, later this month 5000 lucky Plus subscribers will land a Killzone 3 early access beta. Happy days.

I didn’t bother to read the user agreement to see if I could post on the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood beta, so I will refrain from offering up some opinions right now. I will say that I have never played an Assassin’s Creed game, which obviously means this is not the typical type of game I will pick up. I do love the fact that I have access to the beta. New experiences are always a Plus.

Atelier – Reviews that Suck

In honor of Calvert Games ninth birthday weekend, I thought I would offer a blast from the past, and make an attempt at the original Recycle Bin grand tradition of stylistic prose, ripping piss poor reviews from mega-sites. Longtime readers will get this right away; others will wonder why is that joker going after IGN.

Do I have to be Captain Obvious to point out that IGN typically rates games high? As a super-major-mega-media outlet that is what is expected out of their reviews; however you know something is amiss when IGN gives Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland a subpar score (5.0 out of 10), compared to the baseline at metacritic. Atelier is currently carrying a metascore of 72 based on 12 critic reviews, so what pray tell is wrong with IGN’s review of Atelier?

The review’s tagline says it all and sets the tone for the rest of the review: “Child molestation jokes are always funny, right?”

So Mr. Reviewer, how is the story?

It’s almost worth picking up Atelier Rorona for the story. Almost. This is one of those boundary pushing, dances the line between funny and creepy, RPGs. Whether it’s Rorona’s master that makes jokes about molesting her while she sleeps, or the nice shopkeeper who gets drunk and actually does molest her, everyone wants a piece of Rorona. The American version changed the character’s ages, making Rorona 17 instead of 14, but that only barely makes things better.

WTF? Of all the current reviews, IGN’s is the only one that zeros in on molestation as a focal point of the game. Seriously?

I can understand someone not being comfortable with the references mentioned in the review; however the dialog referencing this sort of innuendo does not actually comprise the entire story.

I digress. What about the gameplay?

The problem with the game is that it’s just plain tedious.

A review is just an opinion, so I can actually respect that point of view. To each their own, right? Next up is the meat and potatoes of the review.

The challenge in the game comes from the time limits set for each Assignment. Each assignment has to be completed in a set number of days. Everything Rorona does in Atelier takes time. Adventuring, alchemy, or sleeping all spend days, bringing you closer to the deadline. I can’t sit there and level grind until my characters are all powerful because each zone takes a certain number of days to travel to, and there is a finite number of monsters each time I went to it. So leveling up is a very deliberate process, and it can bite players in the ass if they aren’t on top of their game.

Good grief. The time limit, race against the clock gameplay aspect, and your ability to manage the path you pick is the entire point of Atelier.

In other words, this reviewer sucks at this sort of game, and does not like the challenge of a “pick your path against the clock” adventure. So there you have it.

If the reviewer is completely uncomfortable with this sort of game, why take the assignment? If the game is offensive, why not tell the editor that after uncovering the lesbian overtones [I actually enjoyed this review], “I decline” to proceed any further with this trash?

Honestly, Atelier has typical JRPG all over it. Just do a google image search for “anime” and see what you uncover, which should not have been that shocking to the reviewer who opened up the review with this revealing ditty …

I love an inappropriate, flirtatious RPG starring underage girls with huge racks as much as the next guy.

I can only conclude that in general the reviewer actually likes this sort of game, but something about this one went too far? [Content Warning – Seriously – Sankaku Complex]

I would have a lot more respect for the reviewer and IGN if the review started off with a note from the editor along the lines of “… some readers may be offended by the dialog … the reviewer original assigned to Atelier had deep reservations about the story’s content …” and then give the game to a reviewer that can actually provide an opinion of the game’s content with more than a casual treatment of Atelier’s gameplay.

Wednesday: The Mid-Week Gaming Update Returns

First of all I just got another 100% complete, which is pretty rare for me. Linger In Shadows – this was a free Qore download 12-18 months ago that I looked at once and dismissed. Just for shits and giggles I decided to give it a go over the weekend. Linger In Shadows is a technical demo that is a “different” sort of way of playing a game; artistic-stylistic gaming? Trophies are easy; feel sorry for anyone that actually pays for this one because it should be more or less a free offering as a technical demo.

Soldner-X
As part of my Plus subscriptions I picked up Soldner-X: Himmelstrummer & Soldner-X2: Final Prototype (Bundle PlayStation Plus price $10.79, regular price $17.99). I did not look before I leaped into this one, but after a few minutes with each game, I think this combo-pack will offer decent shmups fun.

Monsters Gone Mad
Survival Horror meets hunting action? I have never been a fan of either genera, but I have increasingly been interested in a decent hunting game.

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts could be fun with Move support, but why offer a whole new setup, complete with a Wii like sensor bar? Ridiculous. I am sure it is meant as a cheap alternative to the Move, but why bother on the PS3 if Sony is trying to push the Move? I understand that third party publishers cannot be forced into move support, but shipping the game with Move support sans Top Shot Elite gun would probably earn the publisher more sales.

The controller itself is incredibly fun to play with. For the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, which were the ones I got to play on, you get a sensor bar to stick to the bottom of the screen (kind of like the Wii’s sensor bar). Only it’s sleek and black and sexy-looking.

Probably the niftiest feature of the Top Shot Elite is the infrared scope that you can use to track animal prints or blood trails. Combined with the fact that you have to physically reload the gun, it feels a lot more realistic than some shooters. I’d love to see this used with other games like Call of Duty, as it has a lot of potential for really improving how people play first-person shooters.

Move Navigation Disassemble
Interesting picture of a disassembled Move Navigation Controller.

I am still not 100% sold on the initial Move offerings, but I am of the opinion that it is significantly better than the Wii.

Did I really just do that?
Yes I did. I just order Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists Of Arland? Sure I have plenty of games to play, and this one is probably the last one on my list, but WTF? Why not go after a game with sexual innuendo for a main character that looks all of 12? I am just kidding on that last one, but I am always a up for something a little different, and I have never tried a game in this series.

Time to clean out my gaming library again because the backlog is in full effect!

F1 2010 Ships

Finally! This sweet puppy should be in my PS3 later today. Based on the various reviews, I do not expect this one to be a cakewalk, but I am so looking forward to a fresh new F1 experience. I sold my copy of Formula One Championship Edition over the summer to raise funds for upcoming purchases, so I have had to weather a “no current F1 experience” storm.

To tide me over, I have been following the reviews (entertainment value) and any articles I could find; the best of which is Eurogamer’s “F1 2010: The Final Lap” developer interview. The article is really compelling because it goes into what the team did not have time to include, and the FIA approval process. Apparently multiplayer with 12 Ferraris on the track was a no go; same for AI drivers changing teams in career mode. Maybe in 2011?

I really need to figure out how to pony up for one of those G27 wheels, but after throwing $200 bones at a Move setup, a purchase wheel is not going to be in my immediate future.

Time permitting I will be back later tonight to post some impressions.

Grumpy Old Gamer Returns

First things first, after contacting Amazon to ask them WTF was up with my F1: 2010 pre-order, I received the following response:

Looking into your order, I see that “F1: 2010″ is back-ordered. I’m sorry about this delay–we certainly didn’t expect that this would happen.

Therefore, this item was delayed. Unfortunately the supply for some items will be limited and they sellout quickly. Sometimes, unexpected fluctuations in supply can add time to our original availability estimate. Though the item is out of stock, we do list the item and receive the order. Once we receive the order we will immediately contact the supplier to obtain the item. Sometimes as the case like yours the supplier failed to obtain the item.

We need to order your copy of item from a different supplier, and it will take us slightly longer than we anticipated to ship this item to you. I apologize that you were not notified sooner of this change in availability.

However, I can confirm that we still expect to ship your order by September 23. It should be delivered to you by September 24.

They are shitting me, right? Not only did I pre-order from the get-go, as soon as the game showed up on Amazon (that would be July 10), I never received any sort of notification that (A) game was on backorder (B) game was not shipping on release day (C) that Amazon had an epic fail.

Color me grumpy. The initial reviews are very promising.

Heavy Rain: Seriously Large Move Patch
After a heck of a long download (took three attempts to get the 1.1GB 2.0 patch to download) I am not that impressed with Move support, however I think it is really just a user error getting the Move controller to calibrate correctly. No matter what I do, when I calibrate, the control area (rectangle on the screen) always seems to “float” to the right – not sure how else to describe this behavior.

I have not attempted to use my second Move controller or replace the Move Navigation controller with a standard Dual Shock. I did not have any calibration issues with Sports Champions, so I am really holding out hope that this is 100% user error.

I have spent some time scouring the various PlayStation boards looking for clues to a fix. Scouring forums with immature posters sometimes offers up good, clean, fun; however when I am looking for help with an issue it just makes me a bitter, grumpy, old gamer.