It seems that a lot has happened this week. Between receiving more info about the 3DS, the PSP NGP announcement, and some big-budget demos being released, there's a lot to get excited about this week. Not to mention the reminder of how many awesome games are going to be shipping this year courtesy of Ahmad_Metallic. Maybe this is a bad idea, but I thought I'd just condense everything into a single blog. Ya know, save the e-trees.
3DS vs. PSP NGP
Sony's NGP announcement is the biggest story of the week, and for good reason. New console/handheld announcements always give me that tingly feeling. It's a sudden combination of my gamer excitement and my tech enthusiast excitement that can't be simply described. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about though. So yeah, the next PSP was revealed, and you can get all the juicy details by reading either Jeff's Giant Bomb article, or the more tech-heavy Tested article by Matt Braga. I recommend checking out Braga's article.
One of the more controversial additions to the NGP is it's dual analog sticks. Some people think it's going to finally give them proper gaming on a handheld, while others think that so called "proper gaming" has no place on a handheld, and dual analog sticks are a waste of time. I'm personally excited about them. The lack of dual analog was seemingly the most criticized aspect of the initial PSP design. The way I see it, this will finally allow handheld games to play in a way in which we consider "right". I know that the argument is that people don't want to play console games on a handheld when they could play them on a 50" LCD TV. That's a valid point, but there are counters to that argument too; the biggest one being that you aren't always at home. Playing console-style games between classes, on a road-trip, or on an airplane seems perfectly plausible. I guess my point is that I'm not going to be caught up in the crowd that has grown to be very opposed to the notion of more traditional gaming on the go. This is the first time a handheld appears to have provided the tools to make this a possibility, and that's very exciting.
Wireless N capabilities, GPS, and 3G connectivity are certainly nice features to be packing as well. Then there's the motion control tech. Throw in a quad-core GPU capable of producing graphics near the level of a PS3, and my mouth is officially watering. There's a hell of a lot of technology packed into such a small package; it's really incredible. A tweet from friendly neighborhood Gary Whitta said it best when it comes to today's technology:
It's so true. People take current technology for granted. From purely a tech perspective, the PSP NGP is one of the most exciting devices I've seen in a long time.People like to say "where's my jetpack?" It's your smartphone. 10 years ago just the idea of a device that capable would've blown your mind.
These are very different devices. One will release in a couple of months, while the other may not even be out until 2012 outside of Japan. They are targeting different audiences, and really couldn't be much different from each other. For these reasons, I'm not sure there can ever be a winner and a loser. One may fail, and one may succeed, but they're such different products with such different ideas. At the moment, I plan on owning them both.
Bulletstorm Demo
The attempted humor of the game is the other huge turn-off for me. It can be amusing at times, but it just feels way too childish about 90% of the time. It's not the type of humor that I'm into at all. I'm sure other people will like it; my cousin I'm sure will love it. The guys on the Quick Look seemed to like it as well. It's just not my thing though, and I accept that. I don't want to talk about this game any longer. :P
Crysis 2 Demo
The action seems to hit my pleasure spot perfectly. As mentioned in the Quick Look, it has a lot of similarities with the recent Call of Duty games. As everyone knows though, those are great games. I've been a bit burned out of the style lately, but Crysis 2 twists that style just a little bit, and I like how it turned out. It works on the gamepad by limiting your options, but that just makes it feel more manageable. In a multiplayer setting, more manageable is key. I love all of the over the top moves you can pull off such as the slide move and the boosted jumps. It all just gives me kind of a "Halo meets CoD" vibe. I'm sure part of my enthusiasm comes from the fact that I've put these games on the back-burner as of late, but it really seems like the kind of fast-paced, crazy shooter that I could really get into.
Brad brought up in the Quick Look how he was cautiously optimistic about the game due to him not knowing how the single player would be handled. I think this is an important point as well. I didn't play enough of the first Crysis games to really get a feel for the way the story was handled, but from what Brad was saying it seemed much more free and open. That sounds compelling. If it is just another Call of Duty style level-based progression system, then I would find that to be maybe a bit bland. This demo definitely did what was meant to do though. I'm now very interested in Crysis 2, and I'll be playing quite a bit more of the demo.
The Year In Games
As previously mentioned, Ahmad_Metallic has created a list of a ton of notable releases this year. It's fun to look over the list and figure out how many games you won't be able to afford this year. I've already made a nice little wishlist in the accompanying Wishlist Thread. You can check out which games I plan to buy this year, or sometime down the road, over in that thread. I'll give you a sneak-peak: Yo I'm gonna buy some BioWare games.If you would like to explain to me why I'm wrong about any of these topics (or why I'm right!), please do. I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)
<3
--JJWeatherman
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