Category Archives: PlayStation

Editorials, Games, PC games, PlayStation

Steam and the One-Console Future

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One of the most surprising announcements at this E3 came from Valve, with Gabe Newell, who has been somewhat outspoken about the experience of PS3 development, confirming a PS3 version of Portal 2, previously only thought to be coming to the PC, Mac and Xbox 360. That in itself isn’t all that shocking because Valve games have turned up on the system from other developers, but it’s not hyperbole to say that his aside about Steamworks coming to Sony’s console has the potential to really shake up the industry.

Some of this is still speculation because we don’t know exactly which Steamworks features will be on the way. I’d be very surprised if cross-platform multiplayer made it, and Steam Play (buy it on the PC and automatically get the Mac version and vice versa) expanding to the PS3 version would be apocalyptically big, but even if we’re looking at the simpler things like automatic updates, community features and Steam Cloud – we know that last one’s on the way for sure – Valve is going to go a big way towards removing the barriers between gaming across distinct platforms and moving gaming away from independent walled gardens.

Originally Steam Cloud would simply copy your saves and custom settings to the ‘cloud’ so that they’d be synced between your computers, and with the release of the Steam Mac client it was expanded to doing that across operating systems, and we have to assume, given that it has no other purpose, that it’ll do the same with Steamworks PS3 games. We already have retail PC games that integrate Steamworks – big titles like Modern Warfare 2 and Just Cause 2, for example – and it’s entirely possible that future editions will sync your progress across multiple platforms. Saving your game in Call of Duty on your PC at work and picking up on your MacBook on the train home and then finding your progress reflected on your console is insane. It’s like living in the future.

I like Xbox Live a lot, but this just couldn’t happen on the Xbox 360 as it stands. It’s the kind of thing that was promised by Live Anywhere, but what little of that still exists now seems to be coming only to Windows Mobile phones. Besides the fact that I don’t and won’t own one, it’s a great system if you’re willing to lock yourself into Microsoft’s products, but Steam now works on consoles and, if the rumours of an upcoming Linux version are true, computers regardless of operating system. An open network doesn’t always work out for the best on something that should be as plug-and-play as a console – see the disaster that was the Konami ID in Metal Gear Solid 4, as well as how online functionality can still vary wildly between PS3 games – but I think Valve has demonstrated its community credentials on enough occasions to be the one to try this.

The ‘one-console future’ is inevitable if this medium ever wants to grow up, and simply facilitating interaction between platforms is the first and largest step. We’re still going to have PlayStations and Xboxes for the foreseeable future, but Steamworks and independently developed community features like Rockstar Social Club and Battlefield 1943’s Coral Sea Challenge that are showing the barest hints of cross-platform interaction are, I think, seriously showing the way things are going. The way things have to go.

I could be wrong and this could turn out to be nothing, of course. I don’t think it will, though. This has to happen so let’s get it over with.

Games, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox

E3 2010 Conference Review

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It’s E3 again! That means broken promises, broken hearts, betrayal, disappointment, and that’s just when there’s a World Cup match on. For reference, check out my report cards for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

So without further ado, in chronological order…

Microsoft

To be honest, I got exactly what I expected from Microsoft. We all knew that there was going to be a huge focus on Natal Kinect and that was borne out. It’s undeniably technically impressive, but the lineup doesn’t interest me in the slightest so far. My antipathy towards the Wii is no real secret, and so it’s going to take something special, likely from an established developer known for great ‘normal’ games, but for the time being I’m happy to be an observer. I can see people who are in the intended audience being really impressed by it.

If we’re talking stuff outside hardcore games, ESPN was the most impressive thing. It’s almost certainly not coming here, but it’s potentially the definitive way to watch sports, and it’s included in an existing Xbox Live subscription. I’m a football fan, and having a library of classic matches as well as HD streaming live stuff with all those community features would be fantastic. Imagine getting a similar thing with the BBC iPlayer, for example.

As for the real games, there weren’t really any surprises for the most part, but what I saw impressed me. Gears 3 looked like Gears 3, and Halo: Reach really looked like a proper next-gen Halo game. Crytek is apparently making a God of War game as well, and MGS: Rising looked decent, albeit like it’s reviving something that should now be finished with. That interests me still, as even if it’s part of a genre that I don’t often get on with, those cutting mechanics look incredibly cool. Could be some real potential there.

Echoes of Sega’s E3 1995 Saturn announcement with the unveiling of the new machine, which perhaps isn’t the kind of memories to be dredging up, but you can’t deny the effectiveness of showing off the reduced size of your redesign by having it on stage inside the old one the whole time. It’s been much-needed on the technical side for a while, and I’ll certainly be tempted to upgrade at the next price drop. I’m liking the look of it, actually.

But the overall impression was underwhelming. Halo: Reach was the only game that really got me excited, and that’s… well, Halo. A Halo game that was announced over a year ago and that most of us have already played, in fact. I’m writing this section on Monday night before either of the other two conferences so I could be proven completely wrong here, but I expect Nintendo and Sony to blow away the paltry number of new announcements to appeal to gamers, and they’ll almost certainly be exclusives, which Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid aren’t. There was a lot of flash there for really not that many new games for 2010 and 2011.

So a fairly unimpressive line-up of new games with some intriguing but unproven technology means that this conference scores a…

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Games, Impressions, PlayStation, Xbox

Rockstar Redeemed

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I finished Red Dead Redemption yesterday, and wow, Rockstar’s outdone itself on that one. I loved GTA IV and its expansions, but Red Dead was more mature, more beautiful, more poignant, and something that I want to see more of. Free-roaming games of this type are wasted on yet another modern crime spree, and I hope that this is enough of a success to see more interesting historical periods mined for their gaming goodness.

It’s stunningly beautiful at times, as striking as any of the great vistas thrown up in the open-world games this generation. Towards the end I saw a sunrise over the water at the town of Blackwater and had to stop and admire the view, and there are countless little places to sit on your horse and do so – the hints of the landmarks of Mexico that are visible from Rio Bravo, the view across all of Cholla Springs from the cliffs of Hennigan’s Stead, taking in the entirety of the plains from the summit of Nekoti Rock. I’ve loved the imagery of the Old West since the days when I’d visit Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom and Blackgang Chine right up until I discovered Sergio Leone, and Red Dead evokes it all as knowingly as GTA does the same with modern pop culture.

Up until the end – there won’t be any overt plot spoilers here, but I may allude to certain things – I’d been enjoying the story, but as it reached its finale it really turned into something special. The end of a certain stranger’s quest that runs through the game was the point where Rockstar upped its game, in my opinion, and from then on it turned from what was essentially a GTA story into the tale of redemption that the name was hinting at, while touching on themes of destiny and civilisation. Marston was a brilliant protagonist who you grow to care about, and the change of pace for the final act, although I’m sure some will dislike it, formed an important bookend and provided an emotional anchor for the finale proper.

And when I say ‘mature’, I don’t just mean blood, sex and bad language. The lawless Old West arguably fits the GTA template better than the heavily policed modern day; there’s none of Niko complaining about his inescapable life of crime and poverty as he sits there with $1 million in his pocket because, unless you go out of your way, you’re probably not ending the game with more than a couple grand in cash. Similarly, there’s less dissonance between Marston’s character and his actions when you decide to ‘play’ the character because he’s a former gang member being forced to do these things in a lawless world rather than someone who claims to want out but has an unfortunate habit of accepting hits from mob leaders for money anyway.

In short, Red Dead is a magnificent game. I think it’s a better game than GTA in every respect, raising the bar on the game that owns this sub-genre and plucking a game series from obscurity – really, does this have any relation to the distinctly average Red Dead Revolver at all? – and deserving praise just as much. I just hope it’s successful enough to spawn some follow-ups because I’m excited to see what’s next.

Editorials, Games, Nintendo, PlayStation

I Love Atlus

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Independent publishers are something of a rarity these days, what with them generally either going under or being absorbed into one of the big guys, and some are better than others. This is a love letter to one in particular, which has constantly impressed me over the last few years and doesn’t seem to get nearly enough credit.

Atlus

I’ve steadily built up a library of RPGs from Atlus over the past couple of generations, mainly in the Shin Megami Tensei series, and they’re universally excellent, challenging and fun, and the publisher is one of the best in the world when it comes to quality of its translations. Taking the very Japanese Persona series as an example, they were lovingly translated while keeping the original spirit without being obtrusive (1UP has a good interview on the methodology behind the localisation of Persona 4 here) and given great dubs, which could only really have been improved by the inclusion of the original voiceovers.

Also, special editions, limited editions, whatever you call them, most publishers’ are usually neither. Atlus’s, on the other hand, are frequently both. A soundtrack CD is the least that can be expected, up to lavish art books, guides, slipcases, and the rest. It’s a good reason to be cynical about £10 extra for a tin and download code, and it takes something special from anyone else for me to care any more. Only the late Working Designs was better for its treatment of obscure games.

And given that these editions are actually limited, they’re invariably good investments. The Demon’s Souls Deluxe Edition only came out in October and is already comfortably topping £150 on eBay. And while I might suspect certain studios of holding back copies of their out-of-print games and leaking them onto auction websites when they’re selling for hundreds – I have no evidence to support that accusation, I hasten to add – Atlus isn’t averse to running normal-price reprints of its rarest games. It might disappoint the hawks on eBay, but it’s a nice feeling to get a brand new sealed copy of a rare game like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga – both superb, by the way – without paying over the odds for them.

The brilliant Demon’s Souls currently has me in thrall – seriously, either import it or hope for a European release – and I’ll be rekindling my relationship with the Persona series now that Persona 3 Portable is confirmed for an English-language bow. I make no secret of the fact that prefer RPGs on a portable system and so that represents my best chance to actually put in the 100-odd hours required to finish it. Port the superior Persona 4 and I’ll be yours forever.

Atlus is part of a rare breed these days, not only as a Japanese company that’s successfully doing its thing on the current generation but as a studio that treats its games and its fans right. How many of those are there? Valve maybe? This is one endangered species that I’d love to keep around.

Games, Impressions, PlayStation, Xbox

Some Old-Fashioned Hardcore Gaming

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After a year dominated by good games, but games that didn’t really push the envelope any further than the number of guns featured in that particular first-person shooter, I’ve changed things up by having a good time with a couple of recent releases that have really taken me back.

Bayonetta was first, and I loved it from the moment it accompanied a drive in a red sports car with Magical Sound Shower on the radio. It’s loaded with references to classic Sega games and revels in the Capcom connection as well – many of the developers worked on Devil May Cry, most notably director Hideki Kamiya – with nods to everything from the obvious Devil May Cry through to Viewtiful Joe and Resident Evil 4. It’s far more entertaining in its homages than something like Matt Hazard, which uses them as an excuse for uninspired design – ironically bad.

Bayonetta

It’s also mind-bendingly gorgeous, outrageously silly on occasions, and unashamedly hardcore in its design. Lower difficulty levels make cool-looking combos easy and accessible through button-mashing, but play it on normal or higher and it takes skill without requiring the third hand that certain similar games can do. The combo system in particular is superb, letting you flick between two different weapon loadouts mid-combo and cancel in and out of them as you go, dodging with a tap of the right trigger. It’s less prescriptive and more spectacular than Ninja Gaiden, while also less daunting than Devil May Cry 4.

Essentially, it’s just a lot of fun to play, whether you’re out for a challenge or some classic gameplay of a sort that seems to be in decline. Just don’t play it for the story, because that’s utter bollocks.

I’m not convinced that it’s a 10/10, though. Although there’s nothing that I’d pick out as a glaring flaw, it’s very much standing on the shoulders of giants rather than forging its own path, and I like to think of perfect scores as being reserved for the few games that do the latter.

Demon’s Souls is the other game, and although it’s been out in the US for a few months, I only recently took the opportunity to import it. Its buzz has been hard to ignore and it’s even picked up a few awards along the way, and I’m surprised by how easily it seems to have found an audience considering its difficulty and plain old-fashioned bloody-mindedness. Ganged up on by a couple of basic zombies? Dead. Killed again before you manage to resurrect yourself? Dead. Oh, and you’ve lost all your collected souls as well. Brilliant…

Demon's Souls

Both games are different sides of the same coin. Bayonetta is brash, loud, and intent on having fun with its audience but also accessible, whereas Demon’s Souls wants to trip you up and is only playable by someone who can play through the frustration. It’s not fun, per se, but it’s a very compelling challenge, and the enjoyment is in getting through it and finally beating that boss who reduced you to a broken pile of bones within seconds of your first meeting.

But regardless of their wildly divergent approaches, I’m just happy to see that games like this – ‘proper’ games, as I’ll hesitantly call them – can still succeed. As much as I love Modern Warfare 2, I like to see games hewn of the bedrock of gaming history still getting out there and doing good business. Hack-and-slash action games and roguelikes – admittedly, Demon’s Souls isn’t quite that bad – were once staples of gaming, and Bayonetta and Demon’s Souls represent their modern equivalents, doing a great job of keeping the old-school flag flying. We should appreciate them for that.

But now, Atlus, how about pulling your finger out and giving Demon’s Souls a European release? This is 2010, not 1995.

Editorials, Games, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

My Game of the 2000s: Grand Theft Auto III

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As tempting as it is for me to put Shenmue, with its tenuous claim to not be a game of the 90s, on the pedestal again, when I think about it, the game of the decade just gone has to be Rockstar’s generation-defining crime epic. Above Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, BioShock, Halo, Half-Life 2… Only World of Warcraft comes close to such influence and commercial success, but I’ve never been able to get into that, so I’ll leave the celebrating of that game’s achievements to more interested parties.

Grand Theft Auto III

Like it or not, GTA III defined gaming in the 2000s, setting the PS2 on the path to a generation of complete dominance in much the same way as one of the 90s’ iconic games, Tomb Raider, had done for its predecessor. It was a revolution, essentially launching its own genre – we still don’t seem to have a universally accepted term for the open-world crime shooting/driving genre – and becoming the talk of workplaces and classrooms all around the world. It also brought terms like ’emergent gameplay’ out of Edge columns and into a form where anyone could see what it was about. I remember chatting to people about what insanity they’d caused the night before for weeks afterwards, and in my circle a person’s achievements in GTA III almost became small talk, such was its universal popularity.

I still have so many memories about this game. San Andreas is largely lost to my memory in all but the vaguest of terms and I probably wouldn’t pass the Knowledge in Vice City, but I can remember this incarnation of Liberty City like the back of my hand. The sequels have it beaten in every respect on paper, but this one is still my favourite. This is when GTA had that sense of fun that made it famous but before it lost focus in pursuit of scope and bullet points on the box; before it started down that slippery slope of being a bit too focused on its storytelling – this essentially pointed your pleasantly silent protagonist in the right direction and let you go; before it got completely bogged down in imitating Rockstar North’s favourite films.

Grand Theft Auto III

Were the later games better, though? Maybe you’ve got a shout with Vice City and possibly GTA IV, but this was first, and for the above reasons, it’s my favourite, and it’s undeniably the most influential – the one that started it all. Vice City was like it was made for me as a child of the 80s – well… I was born in the 80s but know that it is the greatest of all decades – and I’m a staunch defender of GTA IV against the baffling backlash that it seems to have had, and yet none of them have captured lightning in a bottle as well as this did. Even though both its PS2 sequels sold more, GTA III is the defining one. When this game came out was the moment that the PS2 generation really started, and as that has to be the console of the 2000s, surely this is that decade’s game?

I’d be interested in anyone else’s opinions and personal picks. Just for God’s sake don’t make me read another top ten of the decade.