When we last met, I predicted that Atlus would not localize Catherine. PlayStation LifeStyle has a post confirming this prediction. Some games are just too weird to let loose on unsuspecting US gamers.
Catherine – No US Release
Author: jcalvert
Prediction: Atlus Will Not Localize Catherine
I just ran across this interesting article at Sankaku Complex [CONTENT WARNING]. The overall summary is a bit disappointing. Apparently Atlus made Catherine so damn difficult that many gamers are struggling to progress the game even on the easiest difficulty setting.
Making matters worse, many of the gamers watching Catherine were expecting an RPG, not a puzzle block pulling experience. I remember seeing so of the puzzle video footage, and assuming that block levels were an exercise in completing some sort of mini-game. Apparently, not so much, which once again proves that point that it is never safe to assume.
I am going to go out on a limb and predict that sales, reviews, and gamer feedback will be disappointing, and Atlus will opt not to localize Catherine for a US release.
Now Playing, Watching, and Reading
I have a smorgasbord of games in my current rotation, which is really unusually because I almost always sick to 2-3 games at the most. In no particular order:
Joe Danger – What a fun little game. It is going to be really hard for me to get 100% (from a Trophy consideration) on this one because some of the Time trials are really tough. This has to be one of the best games I have purchased from the PSN (got it when it was 50% off).
FIFA 11 – I play this one a few times a week when I want to get my soccer/football jones satisfied. I love the Virtual Pro feature.
Marvel Superhero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet – I picked up this one to play with my 4-year old, as he is really into superheroes right now. One of our favorites is Captain America (for me) and Bucky (for my son), so it was really cool that the version of the game I purchased had a good for this DLC.
Dead Nation – Only when the kids are in bed. To be fair, I have not played it in a while, but would play it more if I could play when I was not such a sleepyhead!
Gran Turismo 5 – Need I say more? It is really the only racer I am playing right now, but at some point I have plans to jump back to a couple of forgotten titles.
Space Invaders Infinity Gene – I got this one a couple of weeks ago for the low, low price of $4.99. What a great pickup. As a fan of shooters, I have to say that this game provides a lot of nice shooter pleasure. The music mode is incredible; nothing like putting in some Cure Disintegration and just sort of zoning out.
LittleBigPlanet – Mostly the Game of the Year Edition right now, but I plan to jump right back into LBP2 Collector’s Edition soon enough. Actually waiting for a patch to make sure all my goodies from LBP1 correctly import. I wrote about my love for all things LBP a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how I made it this long without discovering the pure pleasure of LBP. Collectively, these two titles are easily in my Top 5 favorite PS3 gaming experiences (that is another article!)
PS+ Gets Some Love
I wanted to do a quick link to this article, which pretty much sums up how I feel right now about PS+. Subscribing to the PS+ service has been one of the best uses of $50 gaming bucks that I have made in the last calendar year. I am going to stack my subscripting in the new few weeks to take advantage of the continued opening gambit of 3 free months. If you have not subscribed to PS+, you should really check out the last 90 days of content and discounts, which have been incredible.
Looking Forward To …
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection, MLB 11: The Show, the next NASCAR game, Journey, and Catherine (as of right now, Atlus has not announced a US release date).
Now Watching
Spartacus: Blood and Sand. OMG (wanted an excuse to talk like the cool kids) is this one over the top, but from a story standpoint, it is actually really good. I am just starting disk 3, so I am about 8-9 episodes in, and I have to admit that I anticipate see what happens next. Some of the characters are really fascinating; I want to see how their story lines progress and see how certain political motivations will screw over various targets.
I could do without all the meat just flapping around; I have never seen so many dongs just out in front of my face. I guess turnabout is fair play for the fairer sex, but still, I am glad that the developers toned it down a little after the first couple of episodes.
On Blu-ray some of the scenes such as “… have your way with the girl’s ass a bit while I watch …” are nice, if not a little bit excessive. I could never get my wife to watch this with me; not because of the gratuitous sex. The blood and gore is so over the top that at times I find myself turning my head or at least cringing in a “I really didn’t want to see that” sort of way.
Good stuff. Picked up the Season 1 Blu-ray in the low $30s from Amazon; hopefully the rest of the shows are equally as appealing.
Now Reading
Bloom County Volume 3. Sometimes I have to have some light reading before heading off to la-la land.
Yesterday, Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal (I love Amazon Prime two-day shipping) showed up on my front porch. I decided to order immediately after see Ms. McGonigal on Attack of the Show earlier this week. I am looking forward to a book that actually advocates gaming. What a great tag line – Why games make us better and how they can change the world. Seriously; hope this one is as good as the tag line.
LeBron Tells Fan to F’Off
Not in so many words, but I say good for LeBron. These days it is rare for me to write about the Association, but I had to get in a couple of comments on this one.
While King James has taken a lot of heat over the last few months (see what I just did there – I am such a rocket), some of it justly deserved, I hope LeBron does not receive any sort of backlash for telling a fan to back-off.
I hate the modern day concept of fans getting to do whatever the hell they want just because they paid for a ticket. There is a time and place where fans cross the line, and of course like trying to police pornography or moral values, it’s dangerous when someone else judges the boundaries of said line.
Well, something like that, if you follow my logic. Sure, call LeBron a wanker, but don’t bring his family into it. Seems like a reasonable request to me.
2011 Braves – Poor Defense, Lack of Speed
The ajc’s Mark Bradley posted a really good summary of the current state of the 2011 Braves – 5 reasons to be concerned about your 2011 Atlanta Braves.
1. The defense could be deadly.
2. Nate McLouth is again projected as the center fielder.
3. Craig Kimbrel walks people.
4. There’s still no speed.
5. Magic might not be transferable.
I don’t disagree with any of these concerns, but obviously I think that poor defense and lack of speed will keep the Braves from being a serious Wild Card contender. I think it will be so bad that the great starting pitching will be nullified due to poor defensive play (and of course the ability for the defense to make some “just go and get it” plays behind their pitchers).
It has been a while since the Braves have had any sort of table setter up front; once again the 2011 Braves will be lacking any sort of traditional (or even non-traditional) leadoff talent.
The biggest gamble of all is the dependency on Chipper. I love the guy; one of the all-time great Braves and I certainly wish him no ill will. The front office is going all in, expecting this 38 (almost 39-year old) future first ballet Hall of Famer, to make a decent recovery.
Go Braves! Just don’t expect them to go deep into October.
Here we go again – videogames and violence, with baseless facts.
I guess it is time for me to reintroduce some of my older essays, op-eds, and opinion pieces. The subject of videogames and violence will not go away, and with developers increasingly pushing the envelope, we have Bulletstorm front and center on FoxNews.
“If a younger kid experiences Bulletstorm’s explicit language and violence, the damage could be significant,” Dr. Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist at the Hoag Neurosciences Institute in Southern California, told FoxNews.com.
“Violent video games like Bulletstorm have the potential to send the message that violence and insults with sexual innuendos are the way to handle disputes and problems,” Weichman said.
Carol Lieberman, a psychologist and book author, told FoxNews.com that sexual situations and acts in video games — highlighted so well in Bulletstorm — have led to real-world sexual violence.“The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games,” she said.
Really? Please cite some references. While some may argue that parents cannot monitor their kids 24-7, which is an entirely different post, I don’t see how “younger” kids would be able to purchase Bulletstorm, much less play the game without an assist from a parent (or adult).
I love how these “experts” come out in droves whenever a new game packed full of controversy is released, but they never cite references. For what it is worth, FoxNews did try to get some comments from the developers; however my problem with this article is that FoxNews should not blindly accept these “opinions” as facts without doing a little research first.
For all I know, I could be messed up in the head because as an impressionable youth, I got my hands on a strip poker game for the C-64. Mmmmm … that game was delicious. Ever since, I have gone through life wondering why every beautiful girl does not walk around in lingerie.
Dawgs Continue To Draw Trouble
Sheesh; WTF is wrong with this batch of Bulldogs. Once again, Washaun Ealey seemingly is in trouble, having been suspended indefinitely.
At some point, Coach Richt and UGA is going to have to figure out that they cannot continue to recruit kids that have such a poor sense of judgment, responsibility, and commitment.
Oh well, bring on the batch of new kids and see what sort of trouble they can stir up.
PSN 11 for 2011 Sale – Update
A mentioned in my comments yesterday about the 11 for 2011 Sale, I did pick up Tumble, but was on the fence with several other potential purchases. Final decisions?
Costume Quest looks like a lot of fun, but everything I have read said that it is only about 6 hours of fun. It is tempting to go after some cheap and easy Trophies, but I think I will pass for now. I bet the game is on sale again (maybe even cheaper) this October.
I also decided to hold off on Hoard for now. While the price seems to be a good deal, after doing a little research I am not sure that the game has an active online community base (probably just a dedicated few gamers). This is a classic chicken and egg situation; even if the game on sale, if no one picks it up due to a dead online community, the online community will never grow. For now I am going to take my chances that the price will drop again or Sony will offer it up as part of a Plus free game (or heavily discounted), which would in turn build up the online community (at least for a little while).
I almost held off on Space Invaders Infinity Gene; almost. The under $5 price point was too good to pass up. I missed out on the predecessor to this Space Invaders next generation reboot, so I am kind of going into this one blind, but from all the positive feedback Infinity Gene has received, I have a feeling that this one was a good buy. Besides, one can never have too many shooters!
Two solid games for under $10; color me pleased!
PSN 11 for 2011 Sale
Sony is offering a number of 50% off games on PSN this week. This is old news since it was published last Monday, but as we are heading into the last few hours of the sale, I thought I would get in a few closing comments.
Comet Crash – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Costume Quest – Sale (PS3)(now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Hoard – Sale (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Motorstorm 3D Rfit – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Peggle – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Shatter – Sale (PS3) (now $3.99, original price $7.99)
Soldner-X-2: The Final Prototype – Sale (PS3) (now $6.49, original price $12.99)
Space Invaders Infinity Gene – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Swords and Soldiers – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Tumble – Sale (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Because Sony does not do a good job of offering up a quarterly upcoming PlayStation Plus publishing schedule, it is impossible to know if any of these 11 for 2011 games are going to show up as discounted or free items for Plus subscribers in the immediate future. I already have Shatter as part of my Plus subscription, and I picked up Soldner-X-2 as part of a Plus bundle discount. What about the others? Only time will tell …
Tumble
Overall this is a good sale, from a variety offered and discounted dollars standpoint. The only confirmed pickup for me is Tumble; I played the demo a while back and while I liked the game, I figured I would wait until the inevitable sale. I think Tumble at 50% off makes for a great pickup; it is interesting to see the wide range of metacritic scores.
No go …
While I may have had some interests in Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue in the future, for now I’ll pass until this one is further discounted. I am on the fence with Costume Quest, which looks like a really fun game, but once again, the price is not that appealing. “A little bit lower please …”
Right now my gaming Jones is not moving me in the direction of RTS or tower defense type games, which rules out Swords and Solders and Comet Crash respectively. Probably my loss since the price is right on each at under $5, and they both received positive feedback.
Conundrum
As mentioned earlier, I am on the fence with Costume Quest, but only because I may wait until it is under $5. The only other games on this list that I am uncertain about are Hoard, which looks like a fun concept, and the Space Invaders, but I do not really need another shooter.
Final Results
Before the weekend is out, I may end up with four games (Tumble, Costume Quest, Hoard, and Space Invaders) for $25, which is not bad for about $6 a pop. Most likely I will just end up with Tumble, but I always like a good sale, and the Trophy whore in me could use a few new diversions.
Remote Play – Great Idea, Poor Execution
PlayStation LifeStyle has a PixelJunk Shooter 2 interview with Q-Games founder, Dylan Cuthbert. Nice little interview, which is surprisingly lacking in PixelJunk Shooter 2.
First, this Remote Play quote below caught my attention.
Equally, has remote play proven popular, and what difficulties does the feature bring?
We have decided to drop remote play in Shooter 2 because of difficulties combining that with the online versus play. I’m not sure really that people use this feature much anymore but in the past it has been relatively popular.
It’s too bad that Sony never found a way to make Remote Play more acceptable with their publishing partners. Sony is equally culpable for Remote Play being discarded like a can of beans. As this post’s title suggests, Remote Play is a wonderful idea, but Sony fucked up in the delivery of the goods. Sony could have, and should have, made some of their IP such as Qore support Remote Play.
The second item in this article that caught my eye was the reference to the next PixelJunk game, Lifelike.
Was there ever any consideration for using PlayStation Move?
Not for Shooter 2 no, because it would have distanced the game-play too far away from the original game. However, PixelJunk Lifelike, a game we are developing, will be utilizing the Move!
I took a look at the video, which really did nothing to help me understand WTF the developer wanted to do with this teaser trailer. I suck at rhythm and music type games; hope that is not where this is headed. Regardless, the PixelJunk line has some interesting games, so I cannot wait to see what Q-Games come up with next.
Funny. I read the article for Pixel Junk Shooter 2 info, and referenced two other items.
Good gaming! Happy Sunday!
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.
PlayStation NGP – First Comments
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.
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.
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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.
Falcons – Disappointment in ATL
Saturday night’s 48-21 drubbing of the Falcons at the hands of the Packers was disappointing on a number of levels. First, Atlanta squandered home field advantage. Second, I hate seeing the Falcons fail so miserably on a national stage. Third, the playoff atmosphere was so fun, that I really wanted to do it again on NFC Championship Sunday. Fourth, I am at a position in my life where I could actually afford the luxury of season tickets and playoff tickets; who knows if that will happen again. Finally, I am a Falcons fan; I never want to see my team get their collective asses kicked ten ways to Sunday.
I am not going to re-cap a lot of the pain and suffering that I saw in the Georgia Dome. I think this summary from the post game report that the Falcons send their season ticket holders will suffice for now.
An NFL playoff record 102-yard TD return by Eric Weems in the 2nd Quarter gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead over the visiting Packers, but after the huge play not much else went right for the NFC’s #1 seed. The Falcons’ defense ran into an offensive buzz saw led by a red hot quarterback, as Aaron Rodgers completed 31 of 36 passes for 366 yards and 3 TD passes (and another rushing TD) during a humbling 48-21 Divisional playoff game rout that ended Atlanta’s magical 2010 season.
Re-seed Needed
A re-seed system is needed, but only after the Wild Card round, where each division champion, even a weak one, gets some credit for winning their division. Without a re-seed for the divisional round of the playoffs, the current system diminishes the value of being the top seed.
I know it sounds a lot like sour grapes; however I am not just calling for a re-seed as a Falcons fan. Sure I was disappointed, but down the road another weak division winner will advance, while a “hot” Wild Card team with a better record than said division winner manages to play their way into the playoffs, and then advance. Wait until this happens to one of the popular teams in the NFL; there would be an outcry for justice.
I have to get this out of the way. Even if a re-seed process was in place that would have allowed the Falcons to play the weakest team, Atlanta played so poorly Saturday night that there would be no guarantees that the Falcons would have beaten the Seahawks.
This year both of the AFC wild card teams were “better” than two of the division winners (Colts and Chiefs), but neither division winner escaped the Wild Card round. The same could not be said in the NFC, where a 7-9 NFC West Seattle team played the #2 seeded Bears, while Atlanta ran into that 10-6 Green Bay buzz saw. Let’s fix the system before it happens again.
Next?
Up next may be an article or two about the AFC and NFC Championship games, along with the Super Bowl; however my attention is going to be narrowed in on what Atlanta needs to do in the off season to correct some of the flaws that the Packers exposed. Of course none of this will matter if the owners move forward with a lockout.
Chipper To Return By Spring Training?
When Chipper went down last summer, I thought that was the end for the Braves legend, but it looks like Chipper has a good chance to return by Spring Training. I just hope we do not see Chipper return too soon or see an aging star that is well past his playing days.
“He’s a big part of the lineup, no question,” Wren said. “He’s not the Chipper Jones of his MVP year in ‘99, we know that. But he makes a difference, and we saw that in August and September after we lost him.”
Injuries decimated the Braves last year, but even a healthy Chipper may not be enough to overcome the Phillies in 2011.