Video Games | I Spit Hot Fire

Best Trailers of E3 (Video Games)

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Ah, E3. There used to be a time when I would go to E3 and live it up.

This was the time:

2001 to be precise. Who knew that was the peak of my women-seducing powers, sitting there with the Dead or Alive models as they promoted DOA2 for the Dreamcast?

2001 was a good year for E3. Saw Halo. Didn’t think it was all that great. Bought it anyway, along with an XBox, waiting overnight at McCarthy Ranch with Mike (if I remember, he slept through some of it while I stayed awake, that selfish bastard).

Went a few years later, if I remember right, probably in 2005. This was before RedOctane’s Guitar Hero days, so no one cared about anyone from RedOctane back then (dance pads, what?).

Anyway, let’s skip ahead to today, 2010. I may never go to E3 again, but who cares, watching high-def videos of gameplay footage (love http://www.gametrailers.com/) is a lot better than waiting in line for one hour to play 10 minutes or even better, having press cut in front of you to try it out.

And I would know.

Overall, nothing really got me super excited except for the 3DS, and I felt that way when E3 started.

Some notes:

Rage from id looks nice, but it just doesn’t seem all too great in terms of gameplay. Yeah, I guess you can be in a freely moveable world, and it looks nice, you can get on your buggy, but I don’t see the hook. Yet.
From the videos, I also agreed that Kinect for the 360 (the wii-like motion controller interface) looked just….ok. But this article has me excited, especially the dancing game- don’t think like Dance Dance Revolution, but think of actual dancing. http://gizmodo.com/5565657/xbox-360-kinect-teases-the-next-era-of-computing?skyline=true&s=i
Mortal Kombat relaunch….ah, I don’t know.
Nintendo 3DS – I am super excited about this. I cannot wait to preorder and just spend all my live saving’s on it. I have no idea what it’s like and will probably not even see it until I buy it, but I must have it. And hope that it will not get stolen like my DS did a few months ago. Included is a 3D camera – that blows my mind, being able to take real life 3D pictures and seeing them immediately.
Epic Mickey reminds me of Mickey Mania for the Genesis from 15 years ago. It sounds great, but it also sounds like a game I will always find super interesting but never actually play a lot, like Mickey Mania. My fault, not the game’s.
Star Wars for Kinect seems it will be just a long tech demo. I wonder if it can really nail the precision in which you feel like you have total control, not in terms of using force powers, but doing more agile tasks like blocking and acrobatics.
NBA Jam for Wii. This will be a winner. I’m not as excited about it as I was when I saw the first trailers, but I imagine it will be very close to the original game as long as they keep it simple, and that’s a very good thing. I wonder though, is that worth $50?
I’ve never watched Tron, and while I liked the visual look of the game, the gameplay videos I saw just looked boring.
Gears of War 3 looked like standard Gears of War. That’s not bad, and I will definitely want to play it when it comes out. I guess the standard with them is just so high, having it look cool doesn’t mean much.
Halo: Reach should be fun, but I’d like to see a Halo game focus purely on Single Player. No MP at all, put all the developer resources into an amazing, one of a kind FPS. 20 hr game, just ridiculous gameplay, amazing moments. Maybe I’m asking for Mass Effect 2, but scaled down a little more slightly? I guess I’d say the same with the Call of Duty series in the sense that there are plenty in the franchise with great MP, but SP is getting light. Why not go back to making an amazing SP experience?

After watching a ton of videos over the last few weeks, here’s what I really liked:

Video Games | ScrewAttack | E3 2010: Angry Video Game Nerd Day 3

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I like Angry Video Game Nerd in general, he’s just a very funny dude. Here’s his recap of Day 3.

Video Games | Epic Mickey | E3 2010: Exploration Gameplay Pt. 2

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

A look at Epic Mickey

Video Games | Bulletstorm | E3 2010: Stage Interview Part I HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Bulletstorm looks fun

Video Games | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | E3 2010: Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

It doesn’t make me want to play it, but Metal Gear Solid: Rising has a memorable trailer

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part I

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Nintendo 3DS – too bad you can’t really see the graphics from here.

Video Games | Dead Space 2 | E3 2010: Developer Walkthrough Part I

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Dead Space 2.

Tags: dead or alive, e3, trailers, Video Games

19.06.2010 Video Games View Comments

Photos: Fun at Video Games Live, Kuala Lumpur

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

I’m back from KL! (see my earlier post http://www.ispithotfire.com/2010/03/19/going-to-video-games-live-kuala-lumpur/)

Here’s me at the Video Games Live concert in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday:

And here’s renown composer (and VGL co-founder/emcee/host) Tommy Tallarico with Norihiko Hibino, composer extraordinaire of every modern-gen Metal Gear Solid game except the Playstation original:

There was also Jack Wall (well known for composing the Mass Effect series) and Laura Intravia there, alongside the Malaysia National Symphony.

It was a good show. Jimmy had a blast, and Bobby and Ed said they enjoyed themselves despite not necessarily being big fans of gaming, though Bobby used to be a World of Warcraft whore.

I had more of an interesting view of it all. I felt like I could have enjoyed it more. Not necessarily that the performance could have been better, but maybe I didn’t get the best of it. Yes, despite sitting in the first row.

I’m a whiner.

Here are the notes:

It was a professional performance, and in that I mean everyone was professional, they knew what they were doing. Tommy had a good vibe with the crowd, very personable. As Jimmy said, it felt like it was a group meeting and we were all just part of the fun.
The same day of the concert, World Cyber Games and a PC Fair were going on in the same convention center. I am guessing the timing was done with a purpose even if they were run by different companies.
The audience for the afternoon show was really low, definitely not 50% capacity. I don’t know how well they promoted it, but I felt like it was a bit lackluster. You would think the Games and PC Fair stuff were a natural way to attract new ticket buyers, but you really didn’t see any note of Video Games Live anywhere. It wasn’t even that easy to figure out where to go to get our tickets and then find the right auditorium for our seats. I think there was a big opportunity lost there. Hopefully, the night show did better. I think the low audience really sapped my excitement during the show.
Jimmy and I were so close – very first row – that I noticed things I have never seen. For example, Tommy played the guitar for much of the show, with the guitar plugged into the amp or speaker (I don’t know much about these things). When he played it though, it seemed like he was playing a plastic guitar, and the speakers were playing music separately, almost like lip-syncing with instruments. I could actually hear Tommy flick the chords of the guitar, and then the music would come out separately from another area. I never knew this is how electronic music worked, and this kind of affected me. This wouldn’t have been an issue if I hadn’t been so close. This audio effect is how I felt about the whole symphony actually, being so close made me feel like the sound was off. We (or I was)were actually too close for our own good. Another negative about being that close is that speakers (I think that’s what those were) partially blocked (you can see it in the pictures below) our view.
Norihiko Hibino came on to play the Metal Gear Solid 3 theme on a saxophone. That was pretty bad ass. We saw him at our hotel (Concorde, next to Hard Rock Cafe) lobby on Sunday morning, just hanging out by himself.
Laura Intravia first came on to do the opera voice for Gods of War (Jimmy thought this was hot), and later did Zelda stuff.
Jimmy and I could have gone on stage for the Space Invaders activity, but we both chickened out- I think I avoided all eye contact. Tommy picked the guy next to to us. I kind of regret this.
2.5 hrs, with an intermission in between. Bang for the buck, for sure.
I recorded the performance. It sounded ok when I first checked it out, but a bit soft in volume. Will have to tune it and hope for the best.
We decided to skip the meet and greet- it seemed like it was going to be a long wait.
Would I go again? Yeah, I think so, but maybe to a US venue at full capacity and just sitting in fairly normal seats.

See all the pictures in my Smugmug gallery:

Tags: concert, kuala lumpur, malaysia, Music, Photos, Travel, Video Games, video games live

23.04.2010 Music, Photos, Travel, Video Games View Comments

NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

I am not a very excitable person (a friend used to call me Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh). But…………I am ready for the return of NBA Jam! READY! Let’s do it! (Jimmy Thong Tran and I were talking about this last week.)

Announce the Xbox 360 version already! (Wii version official for December 2010, others later)

I won’t even pirate it. Give me a Special Edition, Special Limited Edition, Special Limited Slam Dunk Edition, whatever, I am ready to spend my cash for something ultimately worthless.

I have a history of it.

The Year: 1994. I was in the 8th grade in San Jose. I had $70 in life savings. I had heard of NBA Jam, I think I had played it maybe once in the arcades, and wasn’t any good at it, but loved the idea of the game. Dunks! NBA Stars! Cool effects like the players would get bigger as they got closer to the screen! Boomshakalaka!

Then Andy convinced me somehow to get the game with him, and I said yes. The game was $70. Seriously. Think of how much that is.

Actually, why bother, here’s the information from The Inflation Calculator:

What cost $70 in 1994 would cost $100.03 in 2009.

Yikes.

There was a preorder program at Oakridge Mall at Software Etc (now Gamestop). Put your name down for a copy of NBA Jam (SNES or Genesis version ok), and get a special package right away:

Small pack of NBA Jam basketball cards (maybe 3 or 6 cards? Can’t remember)
NBA Jam mini-pennant, a few inches long
NBA Jam Button
NBA Folded mini-poster
Paper Box that held it all in

If you don’t remember, the Jam Session cards were the super long ones that wouldn’t fit in a normal card binder. Super annoying, the failed precursor to wide-screen.

Nonetheless, it was all free, you got the bonus pack immediately, and you didn’t have to put money down, so we did what anyone do in that situation. We came back repeatedly before the game came out, and racked up the free stuff. Suckers! We probably ended up with 5-10 preorder bonus packs. In fact, I am sure I still have at least one of everything at home, but since I’m in Vietnam, I can’t take a picture of it all.

Back to topic, we had preordered a bunch and the day to purchase I finally arrived. $70? I spent it. Andy and I went to the mall after school, got the game and came back to Silverleaf Park to pick up my sister. Late.

Maybe an hr late.

She was 7.

And all alone in the park.

I told her not tell Dad, because I knew I was in big trouble.

She did anyway. Which was the right move. Sorry sis! Sorry Mom and Dad! As punk as I am now, I was certainly one back then.

Lifetime savings gone for a game I didn’t particularly enjoy in the arcades. Buying games that I end up never playing. Big theme of my life.

NBA Jam, though, I played. Wasn’t allowed to play games? Too bad, I snuck it in anyway.

Loved it. That 2010-value of $100 was well spent. I put in the hrs, did everything you could do in the game, figured out the hacks, tried out all the cheat codes, etc. My team: Chicago Bulls with Pippen and Grant. Use Pippen and when in trouble (getting blocked or couldn’t dunk for some reason, pass it out to Grant. In the original Jam for SNES, you could pass it out to virtually any CPU teammate and they’d shoot really well). And it’s true, defense does win championships. Even in NBA Jam.

A couple of years later, I ended up selling the game for $22 to one of those used game shops you’d see advertised in game magazines like GamePro or EGM.

Since then, I’ve played Tournament Edition, Hangtime, and then the next-gen versions of NBA Jam, even NBA Ballers, but none of it was good as the original. Later versions become too bloated, just more features with not more fun. I’ve even gone back to the original SNES version via emulator every 4 or 5 years. NBA Street was probably the best successor to NBA Jam, but it’s certainly much more complicated.

I’ll remember the halftime video for the SNES version until I die:

video55d55911f904 NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

And here’s the trailer and a hands-on article for the new NBA Jam:

videobe3bc8961666 NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

From: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/31/nba-jam-wii-preview/

Hands-on: NBA Jam

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 31st 2010 at 3:00AM }

You need to get the preconception that NBA Jam is part of the rigid “sports game” genre out of your mind right this second. I can understand why you might possess this notion: for gamers whose youths were spent mastering the original game’s showboating mechanics, Jam is one of the few franchises they can call up when accused of not playing sports games. For folks unfamiliar with the franchise, one might logically associate a bouncy, orange sphere with its eponymous sport: “basketball.”
Yet, based on my time with EA Canada’s Wii-make of NBA Jam earlier this month, I don’t think the “sports game” archetype — a turn-off for many non-sports enthusiasts — is an accurate descriptor for what’s going on here. Jam is a “party game” and will likely overtake Rock Band and Boom Blox as my entertainment of choice while hosting a social gathering. Provided, of course, attendees are prepared to get buffeted with an unstoppable deluge of smack talk.

Gallery: NBA Jam

nbajam031210001 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

nbajam031210002 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

nbajam031210003 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

nbajam031210004 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

nbajam031210005 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

nbajam031210006 thumbnail NBA Jam is Coming Back, and I Want it! [Everlasting Childhood]

So little of the NBA Jam you were likely familiarized with 17 years ago (seriously, it’s been 17 years) has changed in the series’ upcoming iteration. Obviously, the visuals have received a significant upgrade — backgrounds, courts and players’ bodies are rendered in 3D, and look inoffensive enough. However, each player’s head is rendered in 2D, and constantly oscillates between a myriad of still expressions and faces. (You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Shaq’s “dunk face.” It is priceless.)
Other than that, the experience remains unaltered. Controls are intuitive and accessible, mirroring those of the original. You can move, pass, swipe or shove (to steal) and use turbo with button presses on the Wiimote and Nunchuck. Shooting and dunking require you to flick the Wiimote into the air to first jump, and then flick it forward to execute the shot or dunk. As in the original game, it’s important to time your shot just right, and these Wiimote controls actually felt pretty natural when it came time to put some points on the board.

“Natural” really is the key word when describing the quick match I was placed into during my demo of the game. After about 2 minutes, fellow Jam enthusiast Kevin Kelly and I were executing offensive maneuvers that befuddled our rivals. After our eleventh fist bump, which occurred the third time the announcer informed us one of our players was “on fire,” the game’s exhilarating powers began to take root.
Though Jam is very much designed as a party game, EA Canada will include 2 campaign gametypes to help retain lonesome players’ interests. One mode, called “Remix Tour,” was mentioned during my preview but not detailed. (We’re hoping for DJ Hero peripheral functionality.) The other, “Classic Campaign,” will pit you against other teams on a tournament ladder, occasionally forcing you to play “boss fights” against legendary (and unlockable) classic players.
There are so few intellectual properties in the gaming world I can think of that would allow a remake of a 17-year-old game to lack any substantial changes whatsoever, and still end up on top of my list of most anticipated games. Based on my preview, NBA Jam seems like a vehicle for potent doses of nostalgia, but more importantly than that, it seems outrageously fun.

——–

Oh yeah, I’m excited! Time to get the emulator running….

Tags: andy, Basketball, childhood, joystiq, nba, nba ballers, nba jam, nba street, oakridge mall, san jose, Video Games

02.04.2010 Basketball, Video Games View Comments

Starcraft 2 Pwnage (Ownage) (I Win)

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

My best friend Mike somehow conned (I don’t even know how to spell that) someone into giving him a Starcraft 2 Beta invite, and he immediately started creating a ruckus, beating people left and right. Also, he’s Korean if that gives you any clue into his Starcraft/Warcraft heritage.

video20393c420069 Starcraft 2 Pwnage (Ownage) (I Win)

Yes, this is what what happens when you don’t have girlfriends.

I, on the other hand, have absolutely no real-time-strategy skills, nor any strategy skills for that matter, in real-time or real life-time.

Tags: blizzard, starcraft, Video Games, Videos

21.03.2010 Video Games View Comments

Going to Video Games Live, Kuala Lumpur!

Friday, March 19th, 2010

I’m going to Video Games Live!

(Edit: There’s now a post with photos and notes about my experience – read it here: http://www.ispithotfire.com/2010/04/23/photos-fun-at-video-game-live-kuala-lumpur/)

But what is it?

Oh, this! Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience! – From the official site: http://www.videogameslive.com/

So that means it’s a video game concert playing some of the best music from the best games in the history of video gaming. I’ll be going to Kuala Lumpur for the 2:30 PM concert at KLCC on April 17th with Jimmy Thong Tran.

It’s basically a $300 concert for me when you include the flight ($150 through Air Asia), tickets, hotel, and food. I guess that’s why it’s good to be anti-social/lonely like me- spend less money on seeing friends, going clubbing, and drinking beers, and go spend all the money saved on video game concerts. Nerd.

But at least we’re in the first row! (see below)

The tickets weren’t so bad. Those best-in-the-house (hopefully) seats were $75 USD, which is quite good.

This will be cool to go to I think. This concert series started in the Bay Area (where I’m from) about 5 years ago and has grown in popularity, adding more cities and events each year. Since I have no idea if and when I’ll return to the US or have an opportunity to go see this, this was the time to go. Plus, Jimmy and I will be in KL all weekend, so we’ll cruise round, doing whatever. I have this Banana Leaf Rice Place in Bangsar in mind that I’d like to go to for lunch.

I don’t know what to expect, but I think that’s a good thing. I’m hoping they’ll let cameras in, and I hope there’s cool stuff surrounding the event- some arcades, some cos-playing, maybe sales of video-game toys/posters/etc. I have no idea if that’s possible since the Symphony at KLCC is part of the Petronas towers and not in its own building, so not sure about the space available. I’m definitely down to buy random crap though.

Some of my wish list items for the actual concert would be to hear stuff from Halo, Donkey Kong Country (I never played much of the game, but I do like the soundtrack), Super Mario World, Sonic, Super Double Dragon, and Street Fighter 2. The event is still a month away, but I’ll write about it and post pictures once I go!

If you’d like to go and purchase tickets, try TicketPro: https://shop.ticketpro.com.my/en/Event/Detail/697/video-games-live

Edit, March 31:

Been tracking this thread on the official Video Games Live site for info on the KL event: http://www.videogameslive.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30466&posted=1#post30466

The recommendation is that you come an hr or two before the event for all the fun pre-show stuff, but not super clear what’s there and what time.

For the meet and greet, looks like only the main people will come:

COMPOSERS:

Tommy Tallarico

(Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Metroid Prime, Advent Rising, Aladdin, Cool Spot, Spider-Man, Time Crisis, MDK, Unreal 2 & Tournament, Blood Rayne, The Terminator, NFL Blitz, Prince of Persia, Pac-Man World, Knockout Kings, Madden Football, Twisted Metal)

Jack Wall

(Myst III, Myst IV, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire)

Norihiko Hibino

(Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Zone Of The Enders, 1942: Joint Strike, Ninja Blade)

PERFORMERS:

Laura Intravia

(Flute Soloist)

Tags: concert, jimmy, kuala lumpur, malaysia, Music, Travel, Video Games

19.03.2010 Music, Travel, Video Games View Comments

Mass Effect vs Mass Effect 2 [Review]

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Image by Derringdos via Flickr

“I just want to play this forever” – Mike (paraphrased)

My favorite game of all-time for the past decade has been Halo for the original Xbox. I’ve even written a good deal about Halo-related stuff (see Halo (PC), Halo: The Graphic Novel, Halo 2 (XBox), Why (Again) Halo is the Best Game Ever), though I really only love the first game. In fact, I play through Halo on Heroic difficulty at least once a year.

Finally, there’s something new to replace this tradition: Bioware’s Mass Effect 2.

I played Mass Effect (ME) for the first time and then Mass Effect 2 (ME2) back to back over a 3 week period and 70+ hrs of gameplay, finishing earlier this week, so I’m acutely aware of the differences between the games.

Mass Effect was a pretty damn good game. It reminded me a lot of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) for the Xbox, which was also made by Bioware. ME has great dialogue, characters, non-linear storyline, humor, graphics, and lots of stuff to do and explore (without being too open, in the sense that there’s no specific sense of direction).

That said, Mass Effect 2 blows the original away. After I finished ME2 this week, I thought to myself, I don’t want to go through ME1 again. It just doesn’t seem fun in comparison. Knowing that I have to (I want to make different choices in the first game’s storyline to see how they pan out) is depressing. The relative difference in games is like having to re-play a Japanese RPG with silly and frequent random battles and level grinding- yeah, play it once, sure, that’s fine. But twice, ah f*** no, too tedious. Secret of Mana for the SNES was my favorite RPG for a long time (I played it 15 years ago), and I still have never played through it again.

After playing ME1, I had a list of gripes that I didn’t necessarily expect to be fixed for the sequel. And I was okay with that. But ME2 fixes everything. EVERYTHING. Even things you didn’t think were broken were fixed, and while you may dislike some changes at first, when you think about them more, you’ll realize they make sense and Mass Effect 2 is better because of them.

Here’s another thought. Kyle didn’t like ME1 at all, didn’t really play it. Loves ME2.

When has a sequel been so much better than its original, that you can’t stand to play the first game anymore (but would love to replay the sequel)? I don’t mean like generational sequels, like Metal Gear for the NES and then Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation, these two Mass Effect games are two years apart on the same console. I can’t say this for any game. Definitely not the Halo series. I loved Halo 1, hated Halo 2, am okay with Halo 3 and Halo: ODST. Metal Gear? I own MGS 1, 2, and 3, and never got into 2 or 3.

Here are some notes on what Mass Effect 2 brings:

Autosaves: Fixed. Autosaves are frequent- you rarely need to save by yourself. Plus, saves are quick and don’t pause or disrupt gameplay.
Shooting Gameplay: Much, much improved. Feels much more fluid. You can consider it Gears of Wars-lite with RPG elements.
Ethical Questions: While ME2 still makes most decisions obvious in terms of good/evil, nice guy/dick, there are some situations that seriously challenge your inner beliefs as a person, that aren’t about right and wrong, they’re just about what you think is best. (If you have played ME2, remember the Krogan). I liked this a lot, I sat for 10 minutes thinking during one of the decisions.
Inventory: You don’t have to equip individual armor and weapons for everyone anymore, it’s much more simplified without losing that “I want to upgrade!” feel.
“Great dialogue, characters, non-linear storyline, humor, graphics, and lots of stuff to do and explore”: All still here in the sequel. Phenomenal visuals, technically, but also artistically along with a much more consistent framerate.

The only complaint I have is something that exists in most Bioware games (Mike says Dragon Age doesn’t have this problem): The Mass Effect games have a meter to monitor your decisions. If you do nice things, your Paragon meter goes up. If not so nice, then Renegade. But it’s always obvious how to pick the decision for either effect, and that’s what makes it too game-like for me. In KOTOR, your character would physically match your attitude. Be a dark son of a bitch, and you’d look evil.

I want a game that doesn’t explicitly tell you that what you’re doing is right/wrong/good/bad. I just want to make decisions naturally the way I might do if the game were real life, and I want the game to react naturally and not give me a meter to show me. The story and characters would just flow with you, and maybe in the end, there could be a summary about what kind of person you really are.

Black and White and then Fable supposedly promised that they would do something similar, but they didn’t- there was no subtlety in how you were affecting the game world. In life, most of us are clueless about how we actually are to the people around us, and how our decisions affect others around us. Let’s see that in a game! If I am a real dick in life, I want the game to pull that out of me. That’s true role playing.

Anyway, as I recommended to Jimmy, steal someone’s Xbox 360 and play Mass Effect 2. Who cares about Mass Effect 1. Don’t bother with reading reviews or whatever, just go into it fresh, play, and be amazed.

Mass Effect 2 is now the standard by which we’ll measure single player experiences, not just RPGs but story-centric shooters as well.

Tags: halo, mass effect, Reviews, Video Games, xbox, xbox 360

13.02.2010 Reviews, Video Games View Comments

The Escapist : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

The Escapist : News : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

This reminds me of Sony trying to sell legit DVDs and Blu-Rays in Vietnam. Sony is trying to sell Blu-Rays for the normal full price in the US (Over $30 USD per movie) in a country where you can have 2TB of HD-quality Movies (average movie is 5GB, so that’s 400 movies!) transferred to a hard drive for less than $20 USD.

So, unsurprisingly, it’s already cheaper to buy imported Sony game consoles than waiting for the “officially authorized” machines.

Ho Chi Minh City (TPHCM/Saigon), Halo Shop:

Playstation 3: 6,750,000 VND ($360 USD compared to $532.57 from Sony)
Playstation 2: 3,200,000 VND (longer, full coverage warranty from shop) / 2,700,000 VND ($172 or $145 compared to $239.37 from Sony)
Playstation Portable: 5,000,000 VND (longer, full coverage warranty from shop) / 4,600,000 VND ($270 or $194 compared to $319.33 from Sony))

Hanoi, XGame:

Playstation 3: 6.499.000 VND ($350 USD compared to $532.57 from Sony)
Playstation 2: 2.499.000 VND ($134 USD compared to $239.37 from Sony)
Playstation Portable: 3.899.000 VND – 4.099.000 VND (colors) ($210 – $216 compared to $319.33 from Sony)

A friend made the point that people will pay more for officially authorized products, for support and warranty reasons. This is possible, however:

You’re looking at 50-80% premiums from buying something new (gray market imported from another country) for the same thing, also new, just officially authorized.
You cannot pirate games for the PS3, so you would be buying real games and therefore, a warranty claim is legit. However, if you have a PSP or PS2, there is no one here, absolutely no one, who is buying legitimate software for those consoles. So if you’re hacking your console, you will have invalidated your warranty anyway. Even rich people (I know of some) will just pirate- and why wouldn’t you?
The most popular, trustworthy shops who are selling these modded systems and pirated software also do repairs themselves, and are quite experienced at it.
Sony sells authorized DVDs and Blu-Rays, but they’re extremely difficult to find, either in terms of information online, and in shops. I only know of one place that sells them here, and I just saw them by chance. Sony obviously won’t let a Halo Shop or XGame sell authorized consoles next to imported ones and pirated game discs, so where are you going to find these systems?
If they’re selling games, they’re going to sell non-localized games? Most Vietnamese do not read or understand spoken English that well (couldn’t handle a Final Fantasy game, for example), so non-localized games makes the value of buying legit even lower.

The reason why XBox’s and Wii’s are not officially sold here is because you can easily pirates games for those two systems. Microsoft (maybe not at this point in the product cycle, I guess) takes a loss on each system sold, trying to make it back through software, so if all software is pirated, not such a big reason to sell it officially here. I don’t even know of any places to buy legitimate 360 software. The Wii is profitable on the hardware, but overall, Vietnam is not such a big market for video games (consoles) as it is for PC games, in which companies make money off online games in which they can restrict piracy.

PC games are much more accessible to the normal Vietnamese youngster because the cost to play is so much lower. Players can rent a seat at an Internet cafe and play free games, paying only for microtransactions while a console + accessories investment is well over an average Vietnamese monthly income, perhaps even double the monthly income.

Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Greg Tito posted on 20 January 2010 1:09 am

Sony announced that it is now selling its PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and 3 consoles in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

As of January 16th, 2010, citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will be able to purchase Sony videogame consoles in their country. Vietnam is now the eighth Asian nation in which Sony sells its videogame hardware. PlayStation Portable is 5,990,000 Vietnamese Dong or US $319.33. The PlayStation 2 will retail for 4,490,000 Vietnamese Dong (US $239.37), while the PlayStation 3 is being sold for 9,990,000 Dong ($532.57). Any way you cut it, that’s a lot of Dong.

The PlayStation 3 model being sold in Vietnam is the “slim” model with a 120gb hard drive which was released last year. “While inheriting the sleek curved body design of the original model,” Sony said. “The form factor of the new PS3 system features a new meticulous design with textured surface finish, giving an all new impression and a casual look.”

Previously, if you wanted a PlayStation in Vietnam, you were forced to import it yourself. There is no mention as to why Sony did not sell its consoles in the country before, or why the sales are now allowed in the Socialist nation.

The Escapist : News : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Tags: hanoi, piracy, playstation, saigon, sony, tphcm, Video Games, Vietnam

21.01.2010 Video Games, Vietnam View Comments

Create Video Games for Windows PC and Xbox 360 with Microsoft Kodu

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Maybe if I could find a rich woman to marry or sue someone, I could find time to work on something like this. Dreams……

Microsoft has offered many products in recent years to help people get started with programming on the Windows platform. For instance, Small Basic makes it easy for beginners (including young kids) to write basic programs for Windows without having to learn any complex concepts while free development tools like Visual Studio Express are aimed at advanced programmers.

Last summer, Microsoft Research released a community game cum programming environment for the Xbox 360 called Kodu. Unlike most other video games, Kodu would let players create their own video games for the Xbox without any prior knowledge of programming.

Design Games on your Windows PC

The initial version of Kodu required the Xbox 360 console but now Kodu is available as a free download for your Windows PC as well. This means you no longer need an Xbox to design games with Kodu and you can play them on just about any computer using a keyboard and mouse (or an Xbox game controller, if you have one).

The entire Kodu program is more like a video game than a programming environment. It includes several tutorials to help you quickly figure out how to create new games, or you can look at the sample games bundled with the program for new ideas.

You can easily edit any game by pressing escape, make the changes and then jump back into playing the game with your changes. Although you cannot edit every little thing inside the game, it still gives you a nice launch pad for creating simple games.

You can download Kodu for PC from fuse.microsoft.com/kodu. Additionally, the graphics settings can be turned down to allow it to run on a computer with lower resources. Kodu requires .NET 3.5 and the XNA framework 3.1 to run — if you don’t have them, the Kodu installer will automatically download and install them for you.

In this CES video, a 12-year old girl is making a computer game with Kodu live on-stage — she’s using Xbox but you can use a Windows PC as well with Kodu.

Scratch from the MIT Media Labs is another popular tool that you may use to create interactive games and animated stories on your Mac OS X and Windows machine.

Create Video Games for Windows PC and Xbox 360 with Microsoft Kodu

Tags: hobbies, Video Games

18.01.2010 Video Games View Comments

UberNES – Nintendo Screen Saver [Cool Stuff]

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

I had an article about UberNES’ Nintendo Screen Saver bookmarked for a while, but I finally got it fully working a few days ago.

What is it? A screensaver that plays Nintendo games. Multiple ones at once. You can download videos (don’t worry they’re small) of others players’ play sessions and it’s like you’re 8 and watching your friends play again. Like most good software in life, Windows only.

It’s not so hard to setup:

Get NES roms (try Torrent)
Get the Screensaver: http://ubernes.com/nesscreensaver.html
Install and set up rom DB (read the documentation)
Watch Nintendo games being played galore- you can even jump in to any game and pick it up while it’s happening!
Geek out. (Screenshot of my own shown below)

Features

Completely stand-alone; you do not need to have UberNES in order to run the Nintendo Screen Saver

Don’t have any UberNES movies to play? No problem – the screen saver has built-in support for downloading and playing movies from the UberNES online movie gallery!

Currently, the UberNES online movie gallery contains over 100 movies that provide over two full days of unique NES gameplay footage.

Multiple movies can be played at once and tiled over the screen to create a "wall of NES games" effect

Users can press the space bar to take over for a movie and start playing the game themselves using a keyboard/joypad/etc.

Movie checkpoints are utilized to begin playing movies from various key points in movies, rather than just playing each movie from the beginning every time.

Screen saver is highly configurable – the following settings can be adjusted:

Length of time each movie is played before advancing to new one

Sound on/off

Information scrolled along bottom of NES display

Extensive video options are included

Software upscalers such as HQX, ScaleX, and NTSC provide improved picture quality in higher resolutions

Custom display modes can be selected for the screen saver to run in

Video can be routed through GDI or DirectDraw video subsystems, providing greater flexibility

UberNES – Nintendo Screen Saver

Tags: emulator, nintendo, roms, screensaver, screenshots, ubernes, Video Games

05.11.2009 Video Games View Comments

Christmas Cheer!

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

As I get older, more busy with work, it’s harder and harder to put time in the blog. I do love this blog though, posts just come in spurts. I am able to keep up my Twitter account active though, but I’m still waiting for a magic Twitter-like service with (cheap or free) SMS access in Vietnam.

Anyway, it’s nearing Christmas time (what, 2 months to go is plenty close enough for wish lists!) and this also means I’ll be returning to the US for my yearly vacation.

What I really mean is that it’s time to buy stuff! I’m mostly focused on getting some books, but here’s what I have planned for the credit card: