My Game Center

I am not a fan of motion gaming, waggle, touch screens, or other so-called “casual controls.” It’s not that I write them off the moment I see them. I just have yet to see a game that uses those control options to make the experience better to gamers like me, who are well accustomed to a standard controller.

Just recently though, I saw a game that’s finally change my mind, and its name is Modnation Racers: Road Trip. Using the touch screen and back touch pad of the PlayStation Vita, the team at SCE San Diego have created a game that streamlines the creation tools that we know and love while maintaining all of the depth that we expect. 

Modnation Racers: Road Trip (PlayStation Vita)Developer: SCE Studios San DiegoPublisher: SCEARelease: February 22, 2012

For those unfamiliar, Modnation Racers is a the Sony exclusive kart racer with a heavy emphasis on creation and customization. Since the series’ launch last year, there have been over 2,000,000 creations available and shared, with approximately 500,000 of those being tracks. Fans of the series will be pleased to know then that Road Trip will be able to access all of those creations, day one. you can’t upload Road Trip creations for use on the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable, though.

The experience of playing a handheld game versus a console game is distinguished most notably by the fact that handheld experiences must be quick bursts of fun that are as immediately satisfying as they are deep. For a game like Modnation, this can prove a challenge as you can conceivably spend hours building and perfecting a custom track. For Road Trip, SCE San Diego is making smart use of the PS Vita touch screen functionality to lessen the amount of time spent building from hours to mere minutes.

It starts with you choosing from a preset list of environments: jungles, island resorts, deserts and the like. after that, you simply draw the shape of the track from an overhead view of the environment. just touch down on the screen to draw and you have a track designing in literally seconds. It’s that simple.  from here, you can select the placement of finish lines, weapon drops, and boost pads just by selecting the option from the menu and touching the spot you want to place them at. or you can use the auto-populate feature if you don’t care to go too deep. There is also an option to use the Vita camera to make tracks out of what you’ve photographed. This was not demoed though, so I’m not sure how it works.

Once you have a track laid out, you can manipulate the surrounding environment with touch fairly simply. so when I wanted to lay out a lake, I simply selected the option from the menu, traced onscreen the area that I wanted to place my lake in, and watched the terrain form in an effect reminiscent of from Dust.

Road Trip also makes use of the back touch pad during track customization. when creating mountains for my track, I place my fingers on the back touch pad and rose the terrain with corresponding spots onscreen. when you have all the touch features working together, what you get is the ability to make complex and creative tracks in minutes. creating tracks in Road Trip is streamlined, amazingly intuitive and easy to use all while retaining the richness and depth that the series has built its name upon. 

While the touch controls shine the most in the track editor, they are also featured in the avatar and kart editor. Relegated mostly to Minority Report-style drag and drop, touch in the kart editor allows you to zoom in close and swap out kart components such as tires, suspension, spoilers, etc. in the avatar editor you use the touch controls in a similar manner, swapping out clothes and accessories. one cool feature though is Modnations’ use of the the Vita’s gyroscope. At anytime when customization a kart or avatar, you can shake the Vita to randomize your creation. It’s not the most fascinating feature ever, but it’s there and it works.

Our demo of Modnation Racers: Road Trip also showed off the game’s career mode, complete with over thirty tracks and events. If you like the series’ take on kart racing already then you will feel at home here. Drifting and drafting are back and intelligent use of them is as important as managing your boost, shortcuts, and weapons.

As I’ve said, I have never been interested in the whole motion/waggle/touch control craze of late. If every Kinect and move controller suddenly vanished tomorrow, the evil leprechaun on my shoulder would probably break into a river dance. Road Trip, though, uses touch to great effect that further elevates the core gameplay of the series. Handhelds are about quick fun, and Modnation is about creating cool stuff. Road Trip’s use of touch control supports both these design mantras and comes out the better for it.

FIFA 12 sold a record breaking amount for the franchise in its debut week, and indeed had the third best-selling week of all time in the UK, only outdone by the previous two call of Duty games, Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2.

And while sales fell heavily this week, by 68% in fact, the football game still remained at the top by a comfortable margin.

FIFA 12 has likely been helped by a lot of positive reviews and good reaction to the new control system, which makes the game trickier, but flows more like a real match.

Id’s shooter rage failed to overturn the footy game and only managed number two, and there was another new entry at number three: dark Souls from Namco (the challenging sequel to Demon’s Souls).

Under assault from these new releases, Gears of War 3 slid to number four, and the next four games also slid down two places: F1 2011, Zumba Fitness, Dead Island and Deus ex: Human Revolution, which are now numbers five to eight respectively.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean continues to hold on inside the top ten, sticking at number nine, followed by Sony’s Resistance 3.

There was another new release which failed to make the top ten, NBA 2K12 from 2K Sports, that managed number twelve. although this was better than last year’s effort, when the 2K11 game only hit number nineteen on its opening week.

So your car would like to be part of one the most famous auto-racing games in the history of the home arcade, yes? Sony today announces that opportunity. what the fine folks at Sony have done today is to announce that the ninth annual Gran Turismo Awards will be held right alongside the SEMA show (Specialty Equipment Market Association.) in this show, awards will be handed out to a variety of vehicles, the best of which will be chosen to be replicated for the next Gran Turismo video game.

The several categories Sony and SEMA have in mind are best SUV, best hot rod, best domestic car, best European import, and best Asian import. amongst each of these there will only be one, one car to appear in the next installment of Gran Turismo series. Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi will be the one to select the car that will receive the Best in Show award and that car will be playable in the next game’s installment.

These awards, sadly, will not be open to the general public. If you’re going to get in, you’ll need to be a member of SEMA and able to head to Las Vegas on November 3rd, 2011, to compete with your high-class vehicle. seem like a few requirements you’re ready to fulfill? meanwhile we’ve still got Gran Turismo 5 to work with for now- get jammin!

According to what Sony España Software Manager Juan Jiménez told spanish site the Vault, upcoming PS3 exclusive Uncharted 3 will require a one-time-use code in order to access the online features.

This move fits with the PSN Pass strategy, which was introduced earlier this year with the launch of Resistance 3, and was designed to combat piracy and make profit from used copies (in a similar fashion of what EA did with titles like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2). this means owners of used copies will have to buy a $10 code separately in order to enjoy Uncharted 3′s full experience.

In Jiménez words, ”Yes, we’ll continue working with the PSN Pass in order to make a definitive stand against piracy,” which basically means we can expect every important Sony release to feature the aforementioned code.

If you know spanish, here’s the whole interview with Jiménez, who says a couple of interesting things about PS Vita among other things.

Source: IGN, Joystiq, The Vault

PlayStation 3 is the new console released on November 11, 2006 in Japan. it is the newest member of the PlayStation series produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, a Japanese video game company. this new console introduced a few unique points to the series. PS3 brought the shiny PlayStation Network and a new feature which allows users to use Blue-ray Discs as a storage device. after the release of the fat PS3, Sony released a Slim version by September, 2009. the Slim version is lighter, smaller and uses less power than his big brother.

The PlayStation 3 has many accessories that can be used in a big variety of games. the first controller was the SIXAXIS. it was used from the release of the console until 2008, when DualShock 3 took his place. the main difference of the two controllers is that DualShock 3′s vibration function doesn’t interfere with the motion sense. As we all know a controller is just not enough for the gamers of the 21st Century. That’s why the PS3 also has a racing wheel for racing simulation games. this wheel was developed by Logitech. PS3 users can also interact with certain games through motions using the PlayStation Eye. this is a webcam with a built in microphone, and it can be used for games like EyePet, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and the Eye of Judgment.

Sony made a very reliable console with only 10% failure in a time period of two years. even if the console is one of the most reliable out there on the market is has it’s problems. a few of these problems are the yellow light of death, which is a non-specific hardware problem. this problem occurred mostly in the UK, so sometimes a console repair is needed. PS3 repairs can be annoying if you do not know a store which can fix the problem near you. Also recently there was a big error with the PlayStation Network. someone hacked the servers and accessed the user database. this leaked the personal information of around 77 million users including passwords, addresses, and payment history. Apparently no credit card data was stolen. after this Sony gave a free month membership to all PSN users with a new identity theft program.

GAMES ON PLAYSTATION 3:

There are a few PlayStation 3 exclusives like LittleBigPlanet, the Infamous series and maybe the most popular PS3 game, Uncharted. of course there are tons of multi-console games like the Devil may cry series, Mortal Kombat and the Call of Duty series. Today game developers are more likely to publish a game on consoles like the PS3 and the Xbox 360 than on a PC.

REPAIRING YOUR PLAYSTATION 3:

PS3 repair is very important on these consoles, as they tend to broke. there are many things that can go wrong in a complex gaming platform like the PlayStation 3, and the repair prices scale as the problem get’s more serious. there are websites that can help you with problems like errors or PS3 laser replacement + PS3 YLOD.

Killzone 3 to najgorsza część serii. Nie oznacza to jednak, że jest zła. to całkiem dobry shooter, tyle tylko, że nie tak przełomowy jak  poprzednie epizody. a konkurencja nie śpi. Wręcz przeciwnie – żwawo biega w nanokombinezonie, strzela do Locustów i wyżyna kolejne zastępy Chimer.

Pierwszy Killzone był powiewem świeżości wśród futurystycznych FPS-ów i choć nie został obiecanym Halo-killerem, to trzeba przyznać, że pozytywnie zaskoczył  posiadaczy PS2. Przenośny spin-off na PSP porzucił perspektywę FPP, ale nie  świetną grywalność. Rzut izometryczny dobrze wpisał się w realia walki z Helghastami, prawdziwym uderzeniem była jednak wydana 2 lata temu „dwójka”. Guerrilla Games przebiło nią wszystko, co było do przebicia, ze swoim przekłamanym trailerem z E3 2005 włącznie. Holendrzy stworzyli piękną, piekielnie grywalną i niezwykle wciągającą grę. Pracą nad nią zaabsorbowali większość wewnętrznych studiów Sony, dwukrotnie przekroczyli budżet, kilka razy przesunęli premierę, ale dopięli swego. Wydali tytuł, któremu całkiem blisko do miana ideału. Czy dało się więc po zaledwie dwóch latach wydać jeszcze lepszą grę? Oczywiście, że nie. Dało się natomiast stworzyć dobry sequel. Problem polega jednak na tym, że określenie „dobry sequel” nie jest tym, czego spodziewamy się po grach Guerrilla Games…

Killzone 3 nie ma takiego otwarcia jak „dwójka”, brak w niej spektakularnych akcji i oddania klimatu starcia dwóch cywilizacji przyszłości. Zamiast tego otrzymujemy kolejne raczej mniej niż bardziej subtelne nawiązania do II wojny światowej i próbę zarysowania intrygi, a nawet rozłamu po stronie Helghanskiej. W praktyce wyszło to jednak sztucznie i nieprzekonywająco, a miejsce charyzmatycznego Visariego zastąpiła grupa rozpolitykowanych generałów i jeden przemysłowiec z wybujałymi ambicjami. Pomysł pokazania różnych frakcji w obozie wroga był słuszny, zawiodła tylko jego realizacja. Cutsceny nie zdołały oddać tego, co (prawdopodobnie) autorzy mieli na myśli. a szkoda, bo świat Killzone jest niezwykle sugestywny i aż prosiłoby się o szersze przedstawienie rządzących nim praw.

Żeby było sprawiedliwie, równie słabo przedstawiono żołnierzy ISA. Są anonimowymi wojakami różniącymi się od Helghan jedynie błękitnym kolorkiem światełek na kombinezonie, a garstka szerzej przedstawionych postaci wypada płytko i przewidywalne. Znany już z „dwójki” Sev nie robi wielkiego wrażenia, ale i tak wypada stokrotnie lepiej od bohaterskiego Rico i tchórzliwego generała Nervilla. Pomiędzy tą dwójką szybko dochodzi zresztą do  konfliktu, który ciągnie się niemal przez całą grę - jego przebieg i dynamika wywołuje jednak tylko uśmiech politowania. Jest sztampowo, a obrazu klęski dopełnia polski dubbing. Nie wiem, jak po świetnym inFamous 2 czy Uncharted 2 SCEP mógł zrobić coś takiego. Warszawski oddział Sony niby wyciąga wnioski, zaniechał np. cenzury, nadal nie jest to jednak coś, czego mielibyście ochotę słuchać. Na szczęście w raz zaczętej kampanii można zmienić wersję językową, choć nadal nie ma opcji pozostawienia oryginalnej ścieżki dźwiękowej i polskich napisów. Nigdy nie zrozumiem implementacji tego typu ograniczeń.

Jak wypada natomiast sama rozgrywka? Tak jak w „dwójce”, ale mniej epicko. Nie ma tego rozmachu, jest bardziej liniowo, a czasami dosłownie jedziemy „na szynach”, ale to akurat ukłon w stronę graczy używających Move’a. Helghaści wciąż stawiają zacięty opór, nadal można do nich strzelać zza osłon. Jest sporo rodzajów broni, w tym jedna mocno eksperymentalna. Wprowadzono też zupełnie nowe i niezwykle brutalne ataki melee czy etap z jetpackiem na plecach, co jest miłym urozmaiceniem zwykłego strzelania.

Wielu graczy i recenzentów narzekało na burą kolorystykę „dwójki”. Szara, monumentalna, niemal XX-wieczna architektura planety Helghastów kontrastująca z futurystycznymi pojazdami była jednak tym, za co pokochałem Killzone’a. Trzecia część niestety zrywa z tego typu estetyką i z klimatycznych terenów miejskich szybko przenosimy się do stalowych baz w dżungli, stalowych baz na zaśnieżonych pustkowiach czy stalowych baz w okolicach helghańskiej fabryki broni. Są też wybujałe wnętrza statków kosmicznych, czyli wszystko to, czego brak tak bardzo podobał mi się we wcześniejszych częściach.

Killzone 3 prezentuje się i brzmi ładnie, ale nie ma mowy o przełomie - teraz rządzi Crysis 2 i Gears of War 3. Chodzi zarówno o oprawę audio-video jak i multiplayer, który u konkurencji też wypada ciekawiej. Każda z tych gier ma jakiś pomysł na sieciowe starcia. W grze Cryteka możliwości nanokombinezonu wprowadzają tradycyjny deathmatch w zupełnie nowy wymiar, a GOW3 serwuje dopracowany do perfekcji cover system. Killzone 3 jest natomiast kolejną kalką mechaniki Call of Duty, a do tego ma małe i brzydkie mapy. Przynajmniej te wchodzące do podstawowej wersji, bo na rynku są już trzy DLC, w tym Retro Map Pack z levelami z „dwójki”. Na poletku exclusive’ów na PS3 Helghastów podgryzają natomiast Chimery z zaskakującego udanego Resistance 3.

Największą nowością Killzone 3 jest wsparcie dla PlayStation Move i stereoskopowego trójwymiaru. Miałem okazję przetestować grę z użyciem obydwu dobrodziejstw i przyznam, że… nie ma czym się zachwycać. Move spisuje się w „celowniczkach”, ale w FPS-ach, gdzie trzeba przecież dodatkowo sterować postacią, nie jest najwygodniejszym sposobem gry. Sytuacji nie ułatwia też 3D, które robi piorunujące wrażenie (nadlatujące prosto w naszą twarz pociski!) i piorunująco szybko męczy wzrok - taka zabawa  na dłuższą metę negatywnie odbija się na naszych oczach. no i portfelu – telewizory 3D są wciąż bardzo drogie.

W czerwcu pojawiły się informacje, że Guerrilla Games szuka ludzi do nowego projektu nie związanego z serią Killzone. I bardzo dobrze, bo ta dla jej dobra powinna być już pozostawiona w spokoju. Przynajmniej na jakiś czas, choć zakończenie „trójki” nie pozostawia złudzeń – do Helghastów postrzelamy jeszcze nie raz i nie mam tu na myśli nadchodzącego spin-offa na PlayStation Vitę.

Paweł OlszewskiOcena: 65%

Zalety: dla entuzjastów nowych technologii – wsparcie Move’a i 3D; system walki, osłon, wartka akcja; oprawa audiowizualna…Wady: … która dużo traci przez nieciekawe projekty poziomów; miałka fabuła i grubo ciosane postacie; wtórny multiplayer; polski dubbing; brak rozmachu znanego z „dwójki”

Dla rodziców: Killzone 3 nie bez powodu został oznaczony przez PEGI jako produkt 18+. W grze, tym razem także polskiej wersji językowej, pełno jest wulgaryzmów, a do tradycyjnego już strzelania do przeciwników doszły brutalne wykończenia w z wbijaniem noża w oko wroga włącznie. Gra zdecydowanie tylko dla dojrzałych graczy.

We’ve already had rumours this week that Microsoft is ramping up development for its successor to the Xbox 360 and the same sort of rumours for other companies are only likely to become more commonplace as we get into next year.

This news for Treyarch is particularly hard to decipher though as it could refer to just about anything. Curiously the job listing has now disappeared from their website, but when it was there it called for a senior software engineer to join a team ‘bringing our hugely successful game to a new console.’ call of Duty was not mentioned by name, but since Treyarch has worked on little else for years, and certainly not anything that could be described as ‘hugely successful’, we’ll take that aspect of the puzzle as read. the real question then is what the new console is. It could be the PSVita, but Activision has already formally announced a call of Duty game for Sony’s new portable (although they’ve never shown anything more than a logo) so there seems no reason to be secretive about it in the job ad. the Wii U is also a strong possibility, especially as Treyarch has handled all of the Wii versions of call of Duty so far, whether for their own games or versions of Infinity Ward’s titles. but if it is the Wii U which version of the game would it be? A port of Modern Warfare 3 or a brand new title?

Perhaps the most likely possibility is that the new console is in fact the mythical Xbox 720, Microsoft’s follow-up to the Xbox 360 that’s heavily rumoured to be unveiled at E3 next June. This would explain the secrecy, especially as next year is Treyarch’s turn to make a new call of Duty anyway. It could also potentially be for the PlayStation 4, but so far there’s been little to suggest that Sony’s new console will be announced as early as next year. There’s currently no clue as to what Treyarch’s call of Duty game for 2012 will be, although the most popular rumours suggest either a direct sequel to Black Ops or some sort of sci-fi game featuring space marines.

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Sony a dévoilé une nouvelle opération, malheureusement réservée au public américain, le only On PSN. Ce programme, notamment né grâce au récent budget de 20 millions de dollars destiné à la création de jeux indépendants exclusifs au PSN, va permettre aux utilisateurs d’obtenir un bon de 10$ en novembre s’ils dépensent 60$ en octobre. Durant ce mois, pas moins de 8 jeux exclusifs vont paraitre (ou sont déjà parus) sur le PSN : Eufloria, Rochard, Sideway new York, Sodium Collection, Okabu, Rocketbirds, inFamous Festival of Blood et PixelJunk Sidescroller, à voir dans le clip ci-dessous. Par ailleurs, les abonnés plus sont récompensés par 20% de ristourne sur chaque jeu. La plupart (voire la totalité) de ces titres seront aussi accessibles en Europe, mais pas le programme only on PSN.Mais il y a une nouvelle catégorie de jeux qui a également été annoncée et qui sera en ligne sur le Store US pas plus tard que ce mardi 4 octobre : les classiques PS2. Et la première liste a de quoi surprendre tant elle penche vers le jeu semi-culte, peu connu et souvent compliqué à trouver. Jugez plutôt : God Hand, Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire, Maximo et Ring of Red !Vous avez bien lu, il y a du Vanillaware et du God Hand qui débarquent en téléchargement dès maintenant sur le PSN US. Mais le mieux, c’est quand SCEE confirme à VG247 que le catalogue PS2 est bien prévu sur le Store européen également. Précisons si nécessaire que ces jeux PS2 sont fidèlement émulés (comme les classiques PSone) et ne sont donc ni liftés en HD ni retouchés en quoi que ce soit.Cet énorme mois d’octobre concocté par Sony et ses partenaires pour le catalogue PSN intervient quelques semaines après le premier programme PSN Play qui, bien que non composé de jeux exclusifs, constituait quand même un début de réponse au Summer of Arcade du Xbox LIVE. Après s’être montré particulièrement régulier en 2011 sur le plan des exclusivités en boîte (citons LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3, MotorStorm Apocalypse, SOCOM Special Forces, inFamous 2, Resistance 3, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One et Uncharted 3) Sony affiche de plus en plus sa rage d’en découdre sur le plan du catalogue digital, assez souvent considéré plus costaud chez la concurrence.Odin Sphere, l’avant-Muramasa The Demon Blade, fait partie des premiers Classiques PS2 à apparaître sur le PlayStation Store. On peut supposer que ce catalogue sera sans mal compatible avec la PlayStation Vita (à confirmer tout de même par Sony).

While Xbox 360 users have enjoyed the beta for two months now, PS3 users can now take part in the call of Duty Elite beta. Starting today, the service will be “activated in stages” and offers a premium membership as well.

Call of Duty Elite Beta is finally available for the PS3. while the Xbox 360 beta program started two months ago, Activision announced on Monday that the beta is available for Sony’s Playstation 3 platform as well.

“Beta testers can take their current call of Duty multiplayer experience to the next level by jumping into the Beta version of the call of Duty Elite service, as beta access will start to be activated in stages, with limited invitations rolling out effective today,” explains Activision’s press release. The beta right now is limited to call of Duty: Black Ops but will “upgrade” the full feature list when Modern Warfare 3 hits stores on November 8.

Of course, while most of the beta’s features are free, if you’re a truly hardcore call of Duty fan, then Activision would also be happy to sell you a premium subscription as well. For $50 a year, premium members get you exclusive clan benefits, MW3 downloadable content (including all the maps and “20 pieces of new in-game content”), early access and a lot of other goodies.

The question that remains is whether or not PS3 premium members can cut in line ahead of regular PS3 users and unlock more of the “stages” of the beta before their non-premium cousins. We’ve called Activision to see if PS3 premium members have to deal with the Xbox exclusivity period as well, but they haven’t responded as of press time. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we know.

Until then, if you’re interested in joining the ranks of call of Duty’s beta testers, you can sign up at callofduty.com/elite.

The first reviews have flooded the internet of Sony’s upcoming PS3 only God of War III, and it seems that Sony has yet another critical smash on its hands.

The next-gen hack ‘n’ slash outing was awarded an impressive nine from Eurogamer, a 9.3 from IGN, 94 per cent from Play.tm, an ‘A’ from 1UP and a 96 per cent from Spong.

The game continues Sony’s fine run of well-received exclusives on the format that includes last year’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and recent release Heavy Rain, which currently boasts Metacritic averages of 96 per cent and 87 per cent respectively.

God of War III will be released in the UK on March 19th.