Author: jcalvert

In my quest for the perfect PSP protection I decided to pick up Pelican’s product for $9.99. What do you get? A block glossy finished plastic cover that screws into the back side of your PSP. The inside of the cover has a felt cover to protect your precious PSP screen. You also get 4 plastic covers/cases for your UMD disk.

The plastic cover looks nice, but feels flimsy around the hinges. In addition, the two screws make the PSP two wide to comfortably fit into the cloth stock PSP carry case.

Ultimately I paid $9.99 for something that will not truly protect the screen � it just covers the screen when I am not playing. I think I need to get some sort of plastic screen cover for protection, but they are sold out everyone in town. If I do not find anything better, then I guess this will have to do, but I imagine that it will be included with an extra with a PSP game on eBay at some point in the future.

I will not spoil it for anyone; not now, but maybe in a week or two. I got to see the move Thursday night, and despite mixed reviews from friends, fan sites, and message boards, I really enjoyed the move. In short (with no spoilers) – Revenge of the Sith was much better than the previous two installments, but of as expected it did not top The Empire Strikes Back, which is the best of the six movies.

I have not had time to sink my teeth into all the new console announcements, but I find it interesting that predictions are rolling out the door:

“In 2004, Sony’s older PlayStation 2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market, according to Jupiter Research. The original Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed by Nintendo’s GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems.

But by 2010, Xbox 360 would grab the lead with 38 percent of the market, followed by Sony with 32 percent and Nintendo with 22 percent, Jupiter forecasts.”

I am not sure how Jupiter Research came to this conclusion, but it is interesting to see a prediction that Sony will lose 11% percent of the market, Microsoft will gain 19% of the market, and somehow Nintendo will even gain another 8% market share.

Microsoft certainly has a chance to gain market share with their new system, but I wonder how companies such as Jupiter Research make these sort of forecasts, and more importantly to us gamers, how often are these predictions on the mark?

Star Wars 6 … err, rather Star Wars 3 is almost here, and as I wait for the goodness to arrive, a friend of mine tipped me off to Star Wars Revelations, which is an independent effort from Panic Struck Productions. I will let you decide the merits of this 40 min file, but you have to give an A for effort.

April sure was a down month for the blog – only three days of posts. Hopefully May will be a little better, but the last few weeks have been pretty challenging with the usual suspects of work, family life, work, trying to buy and renovate my grandmother’s 102 year-old house. Still, life is good.

Some of Chris’ comments yesterday (see Bah Humbug!) really hit home. I bet if Kevin reads this he will start laughing because we frequently had this same sort of conversation.

The funny thing for me is that in the end, I think my love for videogames is being passed by my love for the good old days. The bigger issue is that I no longer feel inspired to write about games because I have less time to play them these days. When I do have time to play them, I do not want to worry about spending my free time writing, and I certainly do not want to spend my free time looking for issues (i.e. game flaws and bugs) that I have yet to discover.

So much has changed, but as I recently said in a previous post, and as Chris hinted at yesterday, maybe this has a lot to do with finally growing up. Maybe we are at the point where our innocence is long gone. Internet life and the gaming scene in general were so different in the mid to late 90s. It is almost impossible to explain if you were not “into” it back then, but if you were, you almost surely know what I am referring to and you almost certainly are feeling the same jaded frustrations.

The independent gamer of the past has faded away into obscurity; just look at this site’s history for an example, and look at what Chris is saying to understand that something extremely important and significant is going on in the gaming community. Many of us old bastards are becoming mainstream. The CG staff laughed at me a couple of years ago when I said as much about myself, but it is all too true, and Chris’ comments just confirm my belief that many of the stalwarts (if I can be so bold as to lump myself into that category) are passing the baton on to a new generation of gamers. What sort of nitch will they carve out? What will be their legacy? What will happen when the gaming community no longer gives a flying crap? Scary stuff; the torch really is passing … to where, I know not.

I am not saying that the mega sites do not have their place (I use them for video and images and the like), but the days of the individual contributor seem long gone. Who do you turn to when you want to find relevant gaming info? As guys like Chris fade out of gaming world (i.e. no longer covering games) so much is lost. It is really a damn shame, and from a selfish standpoint, I hate to see Chris and others get so jaded that they no longer feel passionate writing about games. I guess it is inevitable. Hopefully as Chris hinted, the world of the blog will open new doors and avenues so that the old bastards will continue to contribute in meaningful ways.

As for me, I will just try to keep on keeping on, but obviously the days of 4000+ word reviews are so far gone that no one seems to remember why we did that sort of stuff in the first place. The glory days of Usenet seem so far away …

To all you old bastards reading this blog, to past and current contributors, thanks for all the memories. You guys made (and hopefully will continue to make) gaming an entertaining endeavor.

I am sure this is old new to many PSP owners, but WipeOut Pure has a little hack that has been exploited to allow PSP users to surf the Internet. I got around to trying this out over the weekend, and the results were mixed. There is a certain novelty factor to surfing the web on my PSP. That is well and good, but the load times sucked (may be a limitation of my personal wireless network) and many pages would not load correctly, including this one.

I also had trouble with many sites that I wanted to try out – everything from ESPN to IGN had various issues, including some browser lockups. On the plus side, Google works well, so I could read various news updates, and I played around with my dear old friend Usenet (via Google).

I will have to play around some more before I decide one way another about the viability of web surfing on my PSP. It would be nice to get sports, stock, and news updates, as well as access to email, but it is somewhat of a pain to type user names and passwords, much less full length emails. Still, this is an interesting hack to try out, but hopefully Sony will realize that they need an update to support simple email, web surfing, instant messaging, etc. I am sure a lot of PSP owners would pay $19.95 or so, to have a decent integrated internet package for their PSP. Unless of course the hacks start rolling in that provide a better experience.

I have not played anything of note in 2+ weeks, so I happily spent about 30 minutes with FIFA 2005 last night. At this point my impressions are mixed. On one hand, I finally have a sports game, but on the other, the game has some interesting “issues” that may or may not hinder the long-term value of the game.

The first thing I noticed was the piss poor response on the menu screens. The actual interface is very nice and dare I say polished, but the response time flat out sucks. You press a selection and you find yourself waiting for the screen to change. Did I press the button or not? If this is a load time issue, it just plain sucks. EA Sports has the resources to do better. Still, navigation has nothing to do with gameplay, only how you get there, so maybe no one else will care. I doubt it; too many jaded bastards out there including myself!

I am not sure if I will ever get a handle on the advanced controls; you have to switch between the small analog stick to the d-pad and then back to the small stick; pretty tricky stuff for someone my age. Younger readers may have better luck, but the system just does not seem very polished. Then again, I only played about 30 minutes, and I could get better with more experience.

I noticed two other strange things during my initial time with FIFA 2005. First, the inertia just feels strange; almost too heavy. This may work on the console version, but it does not translate very well into the PSP version. Second, the game almost never finishes out of bounds animations. To explain, as soon as the ball is about a foot from going out of bounds on a missed shot, the game changes to the goal kick or corner animations (or sometimes the throw-in animations for sideline plays). Strange stuff.

There is commentary; I think it is pretty much the same as the console version, but maybe not as much constant chatter. To be honest, I really only noticed when there were comments about a goal or a missed chance. The graphics are not bad, but as mentioned below, some of the animations are cut short. The players look decent enough, but you are far enough away from the action that the overall effect of great PSP graphics is somewhat diminished.

I will try to get more updates out later, but right now I am thinking this game is a rental. I have not played PSP World Tour Soccer to get a comparison point so no advice one way or the other. My opinion right now is that I will play this game for a few weeks and sale on eBay – at this point it is not something that I would keep around in my library.

Will post more later.

This blog is still on the up and up; something like that. Chris is currently doing his stuffs (read about it on the IOSBL site), and I am doing my stuffs, whatever that means.

Seriously, it seems like between work (and more work) and other little life events, there was been precious little time for blogging. So it goes. Thankfully there is this handy-dandy new PSP thing that allows for great gaming on the go. Yes, I still like my new shiny; more on that in a minute.

I ended up with 1,040 points (86.2%) in ESPN’s NCAA College Bracket game, which is not bad for someone that has not watched any college basketball this year. I read the paper and the Sporting News, but that is about it for college basketball this year; I even cut out Sports Center. So I entered the pool, and basically guessed better than all but 14% of the people that played the game. Not too shabby! For the record, I picked UNC over GA Tech (73-69).

Enough about that, the Braves are in full swing today at 4PM, with Smoltz back on the mound as a starting pitcher. I love the Braves, but it is hard for me to get enthusiastic about MLB as has been the case since the last strike. Yes, the labor crap really did me in, and while I love the sport of baseball, the MLB just has not recaptured the magic that it used to hold over me. Maybe it will come back to me at some point (with my boys playing baseball). I really don’t know; kind of a paradise lost or age of disillusionment or something.

Tonya and I took the boys to ATL for a long weekend; did the Atlanta Zoo and even got to visit an Apple Store. Apple really has it going on with the whole Apple mystique thing. My wife wants an iPod Mini (Pink one of course), but I am trying to talk here “down” to a Shuffle in order to save some money. I am pretty sure my next computer will be a really cheap PC and a decent Mac. Apple has won a customer.

My iTrip was functional, but it is extremely difficult to tune the damn thing in traffic, much less try to find a decent station with static. Still, if your car’s stereo does not have an input jack for your iPod, the iTrip should still be considered fairly functional.

Moving right along, “… and then it happened …” � sorry, been reading too much Thomas the Tank Engine to my 2-year old. I never thought it would happen, but the morning we left for ATL, I decided to download an entire album from the iTunes store. Up until this point I have purchased a handful of songs, but always songs, never the entire album. I picked up “Hot Fuss” by The Killers. I am not sure what this says about me (music taste or downloading albums), but I think it signals something fairly significant in my life. I always have to buy (own and hoard) certain things (music, games, magazines, etc), but lately I have been selling games that I do not play (have to pay for the PSP) and selling other stuff (F1 magazines for example) in order to remove some clutter from the house. Now I am going completely digital with my music. It was bound to happen sooner or later; I think I am finally growing up.

On the PSP front, I love this device. Lumines is a great puzzle game, Twisted Metal is a fun “blow up stuff” experience, and WipeOut and Ridge Racer are fine racers. I can see myself putting down Ridge Racer at some point because there is only so much arcade racing action that I can handle, but so far all my games continue to be fun. I need a sports title, but FIFA has been pushed back to April 25, so I may go for MLB and/or MVP in the coming weeks. Actually I was not planning on picking up any baseball games, but the wonderful PSP sleep feature has me convinced that I will get my money’s worth out of a baseball title. Now I am thinking of ordering both and keeping the best title.

A funny thing has happened since I got my PSP – in short, the PS2 is not receiving any attention. Actually I wanted to play some Norrath the other day, but the damn thing would not load. Maybe the PS2 is finally kicking the bucket. Anyway, other than wanting to get in some GT4 time, console gaming is not calling me right now. Is the PSP a console replacement? Too soon to tell.

If you have a PSP, you are already well-versed with the awesome sleep function. If not, the sleep function is a god-send to gamers, especially sports gamers (assuming we will need it when the football and baseball games are released). At any point you can put the PSP in sleep mode; be it in the middle of shooting another car (Twisted Metal) or in the middle of a power slide (Ridge Racer) or a pitch (presumably a baseball game). Really a wonderful feature.

All for now.

First, happy Easter! Nice and rainy here in Georgia, but still a wonderful day.

I got to put in a decent amount of time yesterday and this morning with my PSP. If you have a GBA:SP (or a GBA) you know how great the graphics and screen look when in direct sunlight. Not so with the PSP. I let my wife drive since she was hauling us over to her parent’s house. The PSP just did not look good in the sun. Not sure why, but it was darn near impossible to see Twisted Metal in the sunlight.

On the other hand, the PSP looked wonderful brilliant in a dark room – very impressive. I image that school children all over the country are going to be staying up much past their bed times until their parents wise up and realize that the PSP works extremely well in darkness. The only problem with playing in the dark, was that I do not have the various buttons (volume, screen brightness, etc) memorized, so I could not find them, but that is a small price to play for excellent night gaming.

I am having little luck with network connectivity with Twisted Metal. I can connect at my house, but 9 times out of 10 I get kicked out due to “network issues.” It could be my cable modem (or more likely my b-band wireless router) is just not keeping pace with the game. At my in-law’s house, I easily connected to their g-band router, and had better connectivity results. Problem was that in almost every game I attempted to play, I ended up being the only one in the gaming room. I guess people do not want to play an “unknown” person, but I never have this problem with Twisted Metal Black on the PS2. Or maybe other gamers are also suffering from connectivity issues. This requires further watching to see if this is a trend or if everyone is just trying to figure out how to work their PSPs.

Speaking of Twisted Metal Head-On, I am starting to adapt better to the game. Once I got the hang of the analog nub stick, things started to improve. I am sure it will get even better once I decide to read the manual to look at the control settings.

The analog stick does take some adjustment to get comfortable with its unique control, but after a while, it is actually pretty solid. I have switched from using the d-pad with Ridge Racer to using the analog stick, with little to no difficulties.

It is almost time for Easter lunch (homemade seafood lasagna, yum-yum) so I will wrap this up by saying that Ridge Racer and Wipeout: Pure are great racing titles. Lumines is extremely well made, and should satisfy any puzzle fan. I think (key word is think) that Twisted Metal Head-On will also prove to be a solid game for fans of the series, or fans of blowing up stuff.

Thursday night I managed about an hour and a half of playing time before my PSP’s battery gave up the ghost. I suppose that out of the box, the battery has not been initial charged, so no real reasons for concern. Yet.

First impressions? The screen looks fantastic, and overall I would have to say that the device looks “sexy.” The device is smaller than I figured it would be, but the screen is bigger than I imagined. The screen takes up about 80% of the face of the PSP, with the other 20% divided between the left and right for the various buttons.

After holding the device in my hands for a while, I noticed that while the PSP is not overly heavy, it started to feel rather heavy in my hands, but not heavy enough to be bothersome. The side power and WiFi button/switches also felt awkward rubbing against my hand; almost as if everything else was solid, but these two buttons always felt like I was pressing them into the PSP’s interior.

I do wonder why Sony decided to pack white headphones, and a white plastic strap/holder. I guess that is the iPod effect, but Sony should have stuck with keeping everything black. The initial PSP value bundle also includes a power adapter, a cloth to clean the screen, an overly large instruction manual, a cloth carrying case, a disc that includes some videogame footage, some movie clips, and some music videos. A Spider Man 2 movie is also included. I would have rather paid less because the extras are not really worth anything, especially when you consider that the demo disk is non-interactive.

It was super easy to setup WiFi networking. The PSP found my wireless network with little fuss on my part, and you can store 10 different configurations, which is a huge bonus if you plan to play in different areas (home, the coffee shop, work, etc). I joined several Twisted Metal online games, but most of the time I got booted out due to network issues – not sure if my battery was not charged enough, or if my b-band could just not keep up with the game. I need to investigate further.

As far as the games are concerned, I am happy with my initial selection, but I really need a sports title (FIFA was delayed) and maybe something RPG or hack-and-slash-ish. I have no desire to pick up Sony’s basketball game, and World Tour Soccer has not received favorable reviews (plus the graphics were blurry and washed out on the demo disk). There is always Tiger Woods golf, but I am not going to pay $50 for portable golf.

Some brief impressions follow (maybe 5hrs total time between the games).

• Lumines: Puzzle Fusion – what a neat little puzzler. Of course there are shades of Tetris, which is true of any puzzle game. The graphics are crisp and pretty, but I am sure this could be done on the Nintendo DS (or pretty close). The gameplay is extremely addictive; you basically rotate squares and try to match up colors before the blocks reach the top of the screen. For puzzle fans, Lumines is easily worth $39.99.
• Ridge Racer – this one has to be one of the most beautiful games I have every played. It is truly impressive what Namco has done with the PSP version of Ridge Racer. I have a feeling that this game will be the PSP benchmark for the next two years; it looks that good. Of course it would not matter if the game played poorly, but it does not. It is pure Ridge Racer, even if there is some feeling of “been there, done that” because Ridge Racer recycles so many of the tracks from previous PSX games. For fans of arcade racers, Ridge Racer is worth $39.99.
• Twisted Metal: Head-On – I am a huge fan of the series (well TM1, TM2, and TM:Black), but so far I am not feeling it with this edition. I am not sure if it is just the control setup (I have not looked to see if there are different options), but so far Twisted Metal: Head-On has been some what disappointed. There are plenty of characters/vehicles from the previous games, and there are a lot of levels; fans of the series should feel at home. I guess I need more time with the game, but at this point, I am not willing to say this one is worth the $39.99 I paid.
• Wipeout Pure – I have not played this one very much yet (Ridge Racer is taking up my racing time), but first impressions are very favorable. The graphics are pretty, the interface feels like Wipeout, and the racing action is spot on.

More to come later, but at this point the PSP is not a dud. The price is somewhat of a concern, as I feel it is priced $50 too high, and getting booted out of my network Twisted Metal games is also a point of contention. Battery life is definitely something to watch; are we really only talking about 4-5 hours? I also think the price of the games are $5-10 too much, but if the replay value is there, I suppose I will get over the sticker shock.

At this point I am impressed with the new shiny. Hopefully the good feelings will continue to last.

My wife tells me that my PSP arrived safely from EBGames.com via UPS Next Day service today at 1:30PM. Of course I am at work (with 2+ hours to go before I can get away), and still have soccer practice, along with the “getting the kids ready for bed ritual” before I can even think about looking at my shinny new babble. Then there are all the other decisions that have to be made. Exercise or play the PSP? Beer or no beer? A lot of beer or no beer? Exercise? I have a feeling the PSP is going to win out.

Who knew it would be so damn difficult to know for certain if I am going to get a PSP on launch day? I previously posted some portions of the more interesting emails from EBGames.com that were not 100% clear if I would get a PSP upon release. How hard can it be to give a concise “yes” or “no” answer to the $250 question? Apparently pretty difficult.

Meanwhile the local EBGames has informed me that I will get one, which out strings attached (i.e. $250 – no bundles required), and they will “hold” my order until noon on Friday. Pretty damn rediculious that their online counterpart requires such a massive layout of money on their bundle packages ($250 + 4 games/accessories). My total with shipping is around $500. This junk better be good!

But what about the games? EBgames.com sent the following last night:

“Dear EBgames.com Customer,

Thank you for choosing EBgames.com for your online gaming needs. At EBgames.com we pride ourselves on the speed and service at which we are able to get games into the hands of our customers. Unfortunately, games such as FIFA Soccer, the PSP Charger Case, Ridge Racer, and Rengoku: The Tower Of Purgatoryare no longer available as selections. Please resubmit your selections from the list of games below. As soon as you reply with your four items we will put your order together and send you a confirmation with further details. This resubmission will not affect your place in our first come, first served queue. The game can’t be cancelled however. You can either replace FIFA Soccer for another game listed below or leave it on your account. If this is left on your order, this will ship out on its scheduled release date.”

WTF? After looking at the status of my order, all of my games, which the exception of the Lumines puzzler are listed as not available or on backorder. No Ridge Racers. No Twisted Metal. No Wipeout. No FIFA. No nothing. That royally sucks.

So I called EBGames.com support, and “Ricky” tells me that the email is a mistake, and my entire order, with the exception of FIFA, is boxed and ready to ship. If true, then very nice. I am informed that FIFA has been pushed to an April 5 release date, and I will get it Next Day shipping free of charge.

I am not sure if Sony is responsible for miscommunication with the various distributors and retailers, or if EBGames.com is just botching the whole launch.

I still have no idea what to expect in the way of shortages – should I go for 2 PSPs and make some extra cash on eBay, or do I just happily, and gratefully except a single system and be done with it. I told my wife that I would give her half any profit I make from proceeds from the “extra” PSP, so she is hopeful of massive shortages.

I guess it will all shake out less than 72 hours.

Cheese and crackers, can violent video games not get a break? Why have a video games rating system if we are not going to enforce it by preventing minors from purchasing (and renting) ‘M’ (Mature) rated games?

So now we have this crap on David Coursey’s Weblog by an attorney that wants to stop MicroSoft from publishing GTA:SA

“Last Sunday I appeared on CBS�s 60 Minutes to explain a wrongful death lawsuit we have filed in Alabama on behalf of the families of three law enforcement officials slain by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City to kill. As you know, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is even more violent. Already there have been killing incidents linked to this latest GTA game.”

I should not even dignify a response, but in David Coursey’s weekly letter, David wrote the following:

“I will not cite all the evidence here, but there is good reason to believe that violent media has a negative effect on children and society. It desensitizes them to pain and suffering and may teach them violent “skills” they would not learn anywhere else.”

Maybe this is an accurate statement, and maybe it is not. Regardless, I go back to my previous point that children should not be playing games such as GTA. There is a reason GTA, as well as other violent games have a ‘M’ game rating � the games are not intended for children.

David concluded his “take” on this issue, with the following:

“Everyone involved in the development, promotion and sale of hyperviolent games like GTA should be ashamed. I wish we would go after these games with the same zeal directed at some other forms of obscenity.”

It always boggles my mind that people look towards video games as if there are the anti Christ. Are weak minded individuals influenced by media (not just video games)? I am sure they are in the same manner that children are easily impressionable. If everyone can just agree that games such as Grand Theft Auto are not for kids, and enforce the already reasonable ratings system, then I think a lot of this bunk would go away. Leave the video games alone already!

As expected, the PSP reviews are stating to roll in at various gaming and non-gaming sites. I figured it would be fun to see what some of the non-gaming sites have to say about this new gaming wonderment. Continuing on the previous theme (see “PSP Review – Gaming = Good; Multimedia = Bad” post below), pcmag.com rates the PSP a 4.5 our of 5. Of course PCMag is somewhat gaming mainstream since they are a Ziff Davis company, but I digress.

“Originally conceived as the PlayStation Portable (and now simply called the PSP), the slick, gorgeous device succeeds spectacularly as a portable gaming console. If you view its music- and video-playback capabilities as bonus features, you’ll be thrilled; if you were hoping it would be best-in-class at all its endeavors, you’ll be slightly disappointed.”

Frankly I find it a little disconcerting that I am not in Sony’s targeted demographic age group for the PSP (15-25 year old males according to the review). How is a 15 year old going to come up with $250 for this puppy? It sucks being old.

Washingtonpost.com has an interesting PSP review. You may have to register with the site to see the review:

“If you get a PSP, do yourself a favor and stick to the games. If you also want to listen to music and view your pictures, just get an iPod Photo or another music-plus-photos player. What if you don’t want to carry around two expensive gadgets all the time? Then you’ve got a problem — and so does Sony, until it revisits the PSP’s multimedia software.”

I am going to be in this boat. I will soon carry around my cell phone, my iPod Photo, my GBA, and my PSP on various trips. I wanted the PSP for the games, not the other stuff, so no big deal.

There is also a separate article that covers some basic reviews of the games. Nothing to write home about, but it is always interesting to see what the mainstream has to say about games.

“On the sports front, Sony offers MLB, NBA, Gretzky NHL and World Tour Soccer. NBA is our favorite of those four; not only does it look extraordinary, it offers some creative added features, such as a set of three mini-games that let you work on particular skills. World Championship Soccer, however, was the worst of this bunch, on account of its stiff animations and repetitive commentary. MLB, NBA and Gretzky NHL can all be played online as well as over local “ad hoc” wireless networks, but World Tour Soccer only allows local competition.”

Too bad about WTS – I have read similar unflattering previews about the game, so I decided to go with FIFA to meet my PSP soccer gaming needs. I hope to try WTS fairly soon after launch, if I can find it on the cheap (eBay) or for rent.