To me it is a major bummer that the Vita, at least upon its initial release, will not support PSOne titles. Having 25+ digital PSOne classics, many of which were obtained via PS+, available gives me more options for my PSP and Vita.
Sure these games are old, but some of the RPGs are pure gold, and the catalog is too amazing to ignore, perfect for gaming on the go.
Hopefully Sony addresses in the very immediate future.
So far I have really enjoyed The Sly Collection; currently in the swamp on Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus. Getting past Muggshot to continue the game and earn the Silver “Giving The Dog A Bone” Trophy had to be one of the most frustrating gaming experience I can recall. Or maybe I am just getting too damn old for platforming games.
At any rate, I have to decide it I am going to double dip on the God of War Origins Collection which feature the two best games on the PSP – Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. Seeing these two titles in HD, with the added bonus of Trophies, may tempt me … maybe. If you have a PSP and you have never played these titles, for shame!
Rounding out the collection list is the Ico and Shadow of Colossus Collection; the official’ish Sony Blog just released some of the bonus content (videos and two dynamic themes) along with the Trophy list. I have had this on one pre-order since Thanksgiving weekend last year, so I am really looking forward to seeing this one arrive in late September.
While it is not a PS2 HD re-release collection, I thought I would add in one random PlayStation LifeStyle link. Pretty good article and strong reader comments on what XSeed will do with the PSP Ledgend of Heroes series. Me? At this point I am firmly committed to not purchase any more UMDs, although my 9 year-old a PSP … he is not into RPGs, much less JRPGs so I will probably miss out unless these somehow port to the PS3 or get a Vita release.
Today is the last day to claim any “welcome back” games. When Sony’s package went live in early June, I picked up the free PS3 theme and LittleBigPlanet (LBP) for the PSP. I still have not made my other PSP selection; will probably settle on ModNation Racers as Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation are not my typical fare for PSP gaming.
From a PS3 standpoint, I already purchased the PSN titles Dead Nation and Super Stardust HD. I also own LBP (although the Game of the Year Edition), and inFAMOUS. While I do not technically “own” Wipeout HD, I do have it available to my library as part of the initial PS+ offering. I also took advantage of a PS+ discount last September to pick up the Fury DLC for $7.99, which also renders this option as semi-worthless.
In other words, my PS3 choices are rather limited. I decided on Wipeout HD just because I would now “own” the game; not that I am planning on letting my PS+ subscription expire anytime soon.
I also decided on inFAMOUS; was there really any other choice? inFAMOUS was packed in with my PS3 Slim that I purchased around this time last year as a replacement to my original PS3 60GB system. Would you believe that I never actually played inFAMOUS, much less opened the game? I know; I suck. Figured I would get to it at some point down the road as I work my way through my backlog of games.
By going with inFAMOUS, I figure I can at least flip my copy for a few bucks on eBay or via some sort of trade in down the road, although the value has to be pennies on the dollar due to the game being offered in the “welcome back” package.
Yesterday I attempted to add inFAMOUS as my second game, however it was not offered as an available “welcome back” choice. After a lot of pain and suffering (i.e. research), I realized that because I never deleted and never played the free trial I received last year as part of PS+, I needed to download the trail again, play it, and let it expire.
That is a hell of a lot of work to try to get some value from the “welcome back” package. It fact it was way more work than I anticipated. For some reason the game took impossibly long to download; maybe hordes of other gamers were also making last minute “welcome back” selections.
At any rate, the download completed and installed just before midnight last night. I played it for about 30 minutes before crashing for the night. When I checked the available “welcome back” options this morning, there sat inFAMOUS. So happy days; I am currently downloading the full game now.
I know I should not look a gift horse in the mouth …
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[July 4th Update:] If you failed to collect your free “welcome back” games, Sony has extended the offer: “The Welcome Back offer has been extended until 9am Pacific on Tuesday, July 5th. If you haven’t had a chance to download the offerings, please do so before then.”
If you have not already done so, now is the time to do the needful.
Well, at least in Japan. I think it is interesting that the PSP is still managing strong sells in the face of the upcoming Vita and of course the 3DS.
Of course Sony could be heavily discounting the PSP or offering pack-ins, or other incentives; or maybe all three. In fact yesterday I received some Sony propaganda for a PSP-3000 deal (Japan must have something similar). The PSP-3000 Limited Edition Entertainment Pack includes Gran Turismo, MLB 11: The Show, and a 2GB memory stick PRO; all this is yours for $159 MSRP, which is actually a pretty solid deal for anyone needing a PSP replacement or just late to the PSP party.
I have been considering getting one of my boys a PSP; thinking they will go even lower in the final days before Vita, which will happen to be in the headwinds of the Christmas shopping season.
Now that Sony has unveiled the first info on the successor to the PSP, the various mega sites have beaten the NGP to death with their coverage, predictions, options, etc.
To keep things short and simple, I will offer up a few comments of some items that caught my attention.
The NGP will contain 3 motion sensors, including six-axis motion support. It will be interesting to see how well this capability is implemented in games; hopefully it will not just be a cheap gimmick.
The NGP is set to have front and rear cameras, which should be perfect for practical applications such as video conferencing. Gaming should also benefit – basically a built in PlayStation Eye Camera (or two).
The NGP will have touch screen technology. This one is pretty obvious, but when there was a lot of speculation around the PSP Go, a touch screen was in demand.
GPS will be built into every NGP. There should be plenty of apps in the work for instructions to the nearest bar or cheapest place to buy some new NGP game.
The NGP will support Wi-Fi. Let’s just hope this works if you are off the 3G network, either by physical location or lack of funds to support your mobile phone needs.
And oh by the way, the NGP is obviously a phone. I thought I would save that one for last and make a clever joke, but in retrospect, the implementation and execution were poor.
All of this is great stuff, but what about the price? Predictions range from $249-349 according to analysts quoted on PlayStation LifeStyle. The PSP has notoriously poor battery life, so Sony better be able to muster 15+ hrs for a full charge.
Of course for a portable gaming device, games matter. Sony is starting off with a solid library of PSOne Classics to play on the go, Minis, and whatever else is in their current PSP PSN stable of games. Will that be enough? I still hate the fact that not all UMD based games are available in digital format on the PSN. At this point in the PSP lifecycle, I believe that is unlikely to change, and I think there is almost zero chance that Sony will offer some sort of conversion utility.
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.
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^ = 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.
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!
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.
I know that the Japanese market is not the end-all-be-all barometer when it comes to videogame sales data, however the continued abysmal numbers for the PSPgo are worth noting. The Sixth Axis just posted some data for July.
Across the month the Wii beat the PS3 (89,899 vs. 77,315), the DSs beat the PSPs (202,082 vs. 108,695) and the PS2 continued to beat the PSPgo (6,134 vs. 4,056). Overall shares of the month’s hardware unit sales are little changed from June with Nintendo stealing a percentage point from both Sony and Microsoft. Out of the 509,108 consoles sold Nintendo accounted for 57% (291,981), Sony 38% (192,144) and Microsoft 5% (24,983).
I don’t think anyone is surprised with the continued success of the DS over the PSP; same for the Wii over the PS3. Was anyone really expecting the PSPgo to be a complete failure? I don’t think this is just a case of consumers wanting physical media (UMDs) over digital downloads. So what is wrong with the PSPgo?
I could probably go on, but I think Sony screwed the pooch with the PSPgo. I am guessing that Sony will try to continue to play up the PSPgo, but until they come out for the next PSP (PSP2, PSP Phone, whatever), Sony is probably better off offering incremental improvements with a PSP-4000 at an enticing price in over to keep in the handheld game.
I thought this was a great PSP article on kotaku via N4G. As documented here, my PSP ownership has been very hit or miss. My periods of PSP enjoyment are often followed by very long (as in months) dry spells where the PSP does not get any love.
Over the last few weeks that has changed. I really think that for the most part I have been playing the wrong games. Gems like Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters and God of War: Chains of Olympus are very worthwhile PSP gaming experiences.
It looks like Wonder Woman is about to get a complete makeover, which I assume will make her more relevant, and of course provide more T&A appeal. Just follow the money … and you are sure to find some eye candy, even in comic book form.
Over the last couple of days FoxNews has been following the story closely, decrying Wonder Woman’s makeover as fundamentally un-American.
But when asked about the absence of the American flag on the new costume, a spokesperson for DC hedged.
“We at DC Comics are exceedingly proud of Wonder Woman’s heritage and Superman’s heritage as iconic symbols of American patriotism,” the rep told FOX411.com. “Suggestions that any costume changes within their 70 plus years of rich storytelling come at the expense of this heritage are unfounded. The latest evolution of Wonder Woman’s iconic costume is a central part of the latest comic book storyline. All of the classic symbols – patriotic (stars, eagle) and heroic (lasso, bracelets) – are ever-present. We encourage Wonder Woman fans to stay tuned.”
Lynda Carter, the actress who portrayed Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s, declined to answer Fox 411.com’s question about the removal of the American flag from the Wonder Woman costume. In a previous interview, Carter said she thinks Wonder Woman would want all the upset fans to just “get over it.”
If ‘ol (really old now) sexy blue eyes says FoxNews should let it drop, I agree. Earlier in week, Wonder Woman comic writer J. Michael Straczynski told FoxNews [actually he told IGN]:
“Her look was almost identical to what it was in 1941. Other characters have changed and evolved … and female friends of mine kept asking, ‘How does she fight in that thing without all her parts flying out? How does she carry her stuff?” the writer said.
Good point. If anything the short-shorts and boobage flying around should distract Wonder Woman as well at the Cheeta, who I also figured had a crush on Wonder Woman.
Personally I think the new Wonder Woman art is pretty hot (in a non-sick-o, comic book loving sort of way); however at the risk of Lynda Carter coming after me, I wish comic book artist Jim Lee could have incorporated more of the American flag look into the new outfit.
Speaking of Digital Comics and DC; if you missed the earlier story about DC going digital, you may want to check out this article from IGN Comics. If you are a PSP owner, head over to the comics part of the Official PlayStation Blog or the PlayStation Comics home page for more info on downloading a free Wonder Woman comic.
I decided to subscribe to the new PlayStation Plus service last Tuesday. I opted for a year subscription ($49.99) which includes three “free” bonus months, bringing the final price from $4.17 (12 months) to $3.33 (15 months) per month. One of the very first things I noticed was that the T&Cs committed me to an automatic renewal once my subscription expires – I did not see or notice an easy way to cancel the service.
This PCWorld article describes the new PlayStation Plus service as not worth the cost of entry. At least not yet.
What do you get for $50 a year? At this point, not much. I counted nine total PP options, including a trial version of inFAMOUS, free full versions of Rally Cross ($5.99), Age of Zombies ($4.99), a Warhawk Fallen Star content pack ($1.99), a Fat Princess: Fat Roles expansion pack ($4.99), and Wipeout HD (19.99), a lone sci-fi theme, and–wait for it–two Fat Princess avatars.
Additionally, Midway and TikGames-Creat Studios were offering a handful of specially priced items, including stuff like Midway’s Mortal Kombat II (regularly $4.99, discounted to $2.50) and TiKGames-Create Studios’ Wakeboarding HD (regularly $14.99, discounted to $11.99).
But that’s it. All told, it’s more like a sampler platter of what to expect–trial versions, freebies, and discounts–when the service finally ramps up. I though that’d be now, but alas, we’re left to hypotheticals and unofficial conjecture about a holiday content fulfillment period.
Facebook
The writer also limited the fact that the PlayStation Store has some stupid, undefined, non intuitive errors. In one case, not being able to directly publish PSN purchases directly to his Facebook page. I do not do the Facebook thing; I know … maybe one of these days I will get with it … probably. I digress.
I am trying to think if Facebook integration is a cool feature or downright silly. No idea, but I doubt the vast majority of my friends would care that I just picked up two free premium bonus Plus Fat Princes avatars. Actually, they would probably say I was a wanker.
Free Games
I downloaded Wipeout HD, Rally Cross (PSOne Classic), Age of Zombies (minis), and the free avatars and theme. I am not really sure what to do with the “free” expansion content – over the weekend I am going to download it to see if there is any possibility of “keeping it around” for later in case Warhawk or Fat Princess become “free” Plus content or maybe discounted content.
Was the first month of Plus worth it to me? Probably not, although I did get Wipeout HD, which is a game I would have never purchased. Based on the reviews I can find, the Zombie minis is considered one of the better made minis. Too bad, because I thought it pretty much sucked.
Back in the day I loved Rally Cross, but I doubt it has aged well. I consider this bonus content for my PSP because I doubt I will play it on the PS3. I am going to look to see if I can find a game save on one of my old PSX memory cards, but even if I do, while I can transfer it to my PS3, I doubt there is a way to transfer saves between the PS3 and PSP.
The rest is well, not worth much to me. What am I going to do with a couple of avatars and a theme? I doubt that I will purchase any of the discounted games and content, although I will give them a look over the weekend; maybe I am missing out on a hidden gem.
Finally, inFamous was included in my PS3 Slim bundle purchase. Since I have not opened the game, I may give the free 60 minute trial a go. If do not like the game, maybe I get some eBay value out of an unopened copy of inFamous.
Automatic Downloads
This was one of the features that sold me on the Plus service. I love the concept of my PS3 pulling down patches and firmware updates in the middle of the night, so I can just install the next time I fire up my PS3 or patched game.
Right now I have no clue how this works. When I started Wipeout HD for the first time, I was greeted with a message that I needed to download the latest version. Strange since I downloaded and installed (but did not play) Wipeout HD Tuesday night, and played it for the first time Wednesday night. My PS3 is set to auto download between 4-6AM.
It is worth watching to see how this feature plays out, and what sort of message or info is provided when I turn on my PS3. It would be lovely if I was informed that a new firmware update, game patch, or demo was downloaded for my gaming pleasure. Or maybe that is too much to ask.
Qore?
At one point I read that Qore would be part of the service. I was an initial subscriber, however I did not think it was worth the money and did not renew my subscription. The only reason I would like to see it is included is for more Plus content. Seems like it would be a nice perk for Plus subscribers, but no real loss if it remains a “paid for” download; I just will not pay for it again.
PSN Future Purchases?
This is where things could get interesting for Sony. Will the Plus service cannibalize other potential sales? Now that I have paid $50 for Plus, I am not sure that I will purchase minis and other PSN titles. At least not right away because sooner or later they could (hopefully will) end up as part of the Plus service, which in turn would devalue my subscription. Of course we are only talking $3.33/month, but in general I am cheap.
Let’s see what happens next month.
After spending some time with the PSP Digital Comics reader app, and downloading a handful of few and a couple of paid for books, I decided to take an expensive plunge back into my wistful days of my misspent youth. [Not really wistful or misspent, but it sounded good on “paper.”]
I have always been a fan of Green Lantern (especially the Green Lantern Corps – love the concept), Captain America, Spiderman, and Batman. After searching on Amazon for some graphic novels, and after downloading a Green Lantern: Secret Origin title, I decided that DC’s Blackest Night collection would be a good, if not expensive, jumping on point.
- Blackest Night (collects Blackest Night #0–8, 304 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401226930)
- Blackest Night: Green Lantern (collects Green Lantern vol. 4 #43–52, 272 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227864)
- Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps (collects Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 #39–46, 264 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227880)
- Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps (collects Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1–3, “Green Lantern” #49 and “Adventures Comics” #4-5, 172 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227902)
- Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps:
- Volume 1 (collects Blackest Night: Batman #1–3, Blackest Night: Superman #1–3 and Blackest Night: Titans #1–3, 240 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227848)
- Volume 2 (collects Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1–3, Blackest Night: JSA #1–3 and Blackest Night: Flash #1–3, 240 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227856)
- Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns (collects Power of Shazam! #48, Catwoman #83, Suicide Squad #67, Question #37, Phantom Stranger #42, Weird Western Tales #71, Atom & Hawkman #46 and Starman #81, 208 pages, hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 1401227899)
That pre-order of 7 graphic novels should give me plenty of reading pleasure for my comic jones. If not, then hopefully, hopefully down the road these books will fetch something in return on eBay.
So PlayStation Plus is now available and the $50 question is should I Plus? There was a point in time when I would have said hell no to a subscription service. There was also a point in time where I would have picked it up right away just to be part of the experience (and write a review).
I am leaning towards throwing $50 to the service for several reasons. I really only game on the PS3 (and occasionally on the PSP) so it is not as if I having competing gaming interests. I like the idea of discounts. I also like the concept of automatic download of firmware and software updates; no idea why this would not be offered as a standard service instead of a premium.
“Automatic Download: Subscribers will be able to set their PS3 to wake up from standby at any time of the day or night, download and install any game updates for the games you have been playing so you don’t have to think about it. Also, select demos and videos will be pushed to your PS3 ready to go. System software updates will also download automatically (manual install still required) and then the PS3 will turn itself off again.”
Finally, any additional PSP content is a bonus.
“PlayStation Plus is for PS3 owners as subscribership can only be purchased on the PSN Store. However, some of the content – minis and PS One Classics – available each month will also be playable on your PSP if you have one. Download them on the PS3 and transfer to your PSP, or download directly from the PSP Store or Media Go for PSP.”
So should I Plus? PlayStation LifeStyle posted an article that you will come out ahead with Plus. With that type of value, how can I afford not to buy Plus?
I am going to write another post focusing on the games that helped me pass the time during my recent trip to Scotland. Yes, PSP and gaming have been a long time coming. Before I get to that article, I thought I would post a quick update about the PSP Digital Comics Store (and reader).
Prior to my trip, I downloaded a handful of free comics – nothing really special, and no big name super hero comics. I would rather read Spiderman, Captain America, Batman, and Green Lantern instead of free copies of what was being offered in the store. There were no DC titles on offer, and I thought the Marvel collection was really limited. No current titles, very little of any series runs from my youth, and pretty much nothing that I wanted to throw money at before I determined the usefulness of the PSP Digital Comics reader. So I went with the 20 or so free titles on offer.
Archie and Donald Duck and a handful of other titles were not too exciting. I suppose these were on offer to have something available for everyone.
I was impressed with The Ghoul, which while not great, was at least entertaining. I am undecided if I want to pick up the rest of the story; probably will look towards some reviews first. Atomic Robo was also a title that I enjoyed, maybe even enough to complete a run if the title ever goes on sale. Cages, NeoZoic, and Snake Woman were decent, entertaining reads, but I doubt that I will move past the initial free titles unless I just have money to burn, which is not likely to happen any time soon.
Being a Star Trek fan, I really enjoyed Mirror Images; I think it was my favorite of the free titles. I never got into Star Trek titles even when my comic reading and collecting was at a fevered pitch. I’ll pick up the rest of the series at some point down the road.
The actual PSP Digital Comics Reader is a surprisingly good tool for reading comics. It is simple to use, the auto navigate tool is well done, and at any point you can zoom in and out as necessary. Sony just released a new version, with some minor features and enhancements. If you have not tried this feature out, it is worth your time (assuming you are a comics fan or have been one at someone point in the past), and the free comics mean that you are not really committed.
Yesterday Sony had an exciting announcement for the PSP Comics Store – DC titles have landed. I say finally, and thank you! Before my trip I wrote that it was just a matter of time with DC Universe in the works. Thankfully a nice initial offering has been provided, along with a free preview of Superman #700.
I have not done a lot of research on the PSP digital comic format; I assume is proprietary, which may be the only thing that holds me back from really throwing some money towards some titles. That and the lack of some of the titles and issues that I would actually like to buy/read. I wonder how long Sony is going to be in the PSP market. There is a lot of talk about the PSP2, but who wants to throw money at digital comics on a dead platform? Not that the PSP is going anywhere, but if the digital comic format is not portable to a current (thinking iTouch) or future (obviously PSP2) device, it would be hard for me to invest any significant money into PSP digital comics.
The summary is that I am pleased with the PSP Digital Comics reader, but uncertain of the longevity of the format. I think caution is the watch word; I’ll proceed carefully with a few purchases and some more research.
