lost in games

To be honest i had completely forgotten that PES 2008 was even coming out on the Wii. My attention was completely drawn to FIFA and PES battling it out on 360 and PS3. When i saw this trailer explaining how PES 2008 controls will work on Wii with motion sensing i was completely taken by surprise. Although i have some concerns, this game does look promisin. At least it is trying something new.

For example, passing looks like it could be fantastic. Just pointing to a player and depending on the distance of the recipient player the pass will be a short, low one or a long ball. How many times did the game on 360 and Playstation pass the ball to a player you never even considered passing to instead of the one on you wanted to? This control promises to fix things a lot. I also like that you can point the pass into empty space.

Players who are off the ball can also be controlled by clicking on them and pointing to where you want them to go. Think of it like RTS games. This means you can have important off the ball movement in single player sessions or versus to open up the opponent’s defence. The game becomes very tactical.

There are some actions which i do feel that they might be unecessary like shaking the nunchuck to shoot. Tradition tells me that it would be more comfortable and intuitive to have a button for it. Also all the new controls seem to benefit the attacking team which may result in high scoring matches and the more defensive players or teams may be at a disadvantage.

PES 2008 on the Wii may prove to be a very good game depending on how all the controls are implemented in the game and how intuitive they are. Also crucial is online play. For the time being i have to say i am on the optimistic side.

I know that you will be devastated to hear that there will be no blog post tomorrow, October 12th.

The reason is that I will be serving my country honourably. I am participating in the demanding military exercise, Nikiforos, of the elite National Guard.

I will back with you on Monday.

Last night I was playing Final Fantasy XII (which btw is brilliant) and I got a call from my main man Mardas.

“How about some FIFA games?” he asked.

“Sure, why not. Give me 10 mins to find a save point and then I will turn on my 360”

45 mins later I finally found a save point…..We just managed to play a game and then i had to rush a shower to get to my sister’s flat for dinner.

It reminded me of an email sent from one of Edge magazine’s readers in this month’s issue where he describes how he was scolded by his wife for not joining her for dinner on time because he didn’t know how long he had left until the next save.

Compare games to a movie or a music cd where u can just pause it or at least know how much time you have left. Books also have this high tech accessory, called bookmark, and you can also check how many pages left until the end of the chapter.

I understand that developers have to balance the difficulty issue with save points but they need to understand that games need to be flexible enough to allow us to include them in our ever busy schedules. As gamers grow up they need to devote more time to family, work, the army (LOL).

Developers need to acknowledge that time management is a serious issue for gamers and especially for the increasing number of more mature gamers.

Yesterday, i talked about the new 40GB PS3 model and who i think will and should buy it.

Today i would like to quote some excerpts from N’Gai Croal’s reaction at Level Up in his article Broken Promises: Why the Elimination of Backwards Compatibility With PS2 Games Is Great For Sony–and Terrible For Playstation Fans to the news that this new model will be going to North America soon after the European launch.

Like myself he was also disappointed but he goes further to compare the format with other forms of entertainment where backwards compatibility is taken for granted and is standard practice. The gaming industry on the other hand treats this as a privilege and gamers according to Sony need to pay more to acquire it.

In fact even Sony’s current Playstation chief, Kaz Hirai promised this in 2006 with the following statement:

Like N’Gai says, we could not have put it any better ourselves.

Sony announced that as of 10 October a new 40GB PS3 version will be available for STG299 (399 Euros) while the 60GB model will no longer be produced (units are of course still in stock).

While the 40 GB price is now at a level which is a very attractive i have two things i would like to mention.

1. The 40GB model has no backwards compatibility. Any serious gamer will resent that as like myself gamers continue to play PS2 games on our PS3s. There are so many excellent PS2 games out there which we have not played and this new model makes this impossible. One will need to have his/her PS2 plugged in as well.

There is also the fact that now the console will have only 2 USB ports and no multi-memory card.

2. No must have games on the PS3 just yet. If again you are serious about games the console to own by the end of the year is the 360. The options for games on the 360 is fantastic and will grow even more by the end of the year with more exclusives like PGR4 and Mass Effect.

My conclusion

If you are serious about games i don’t think the new 40GB model will be suitable for you. If again you really want a PS3 and not a 360 then spend more the extra STG50 to get the 60GB model. I would not accept no BC and less USB ports than the 360. Especially with the PS3’s potential in a couple of years. Only 2 USB ports will not be enough.

If you are a casual gamer and more interested in Blu-ray dvds then yes i would go for the lower end model. It’s the best deal for you.

Hope i have been of some help.

After much speculation and rumours Bungie and Microsoft have parted ways. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in the developer which means that cooperation will stil be close. Bungie will also continue to support Halo with downloadable content while Microsoft will keep the intellectual rights to the Halo francise.

Bungie is known mostly for its Halo series and it appears the people there wanted the independence to make other games as well. Microsoft was probably under the option of either refusing and risk losing all Bungie employees or agree to let the company go and have first rights to publishing any new games developed by Bungie.

I believe Bungie is not a one game company as many people believe. Let’s not forget that they were behind the now classic Marathon game and the Myst series. They want to do more than just Halo related products. I for one applaud the company’s bold move to riskier territory and new products instead of sticking with the Halo cash cow.

Good luck Bungie.

After a short sweet week the weekend is once again here. My gaming will consist of Jeanne D’Arc (PSP), Halo 3 (multi),FIFA 2008. I may throw a bit of my time on RES4 (WII), NHL2008 and Dirt too.

What are your weekend gaming plans?

The Fight is over

Was it worth it? After all this anticipation was the game worth waiting for? Do I believe?

Let’s take it from the top. Once again I will split my post into three posts. Campaign, Multiplayer and Overall. Today I will be talking about the single player campaign.

Campaign

I finished the fight on the normal difficulty setting which I admit is on the easy side but I knew that I would anyway replay the game again and again in co-op on the harder difficulty settings.

When I picked up the controller and the first mission begun it all felt so natural. It is like I had been playing it all along. There was no gap between this game and Halo 2. Halo 3 has made me feel comfortable playing it without being boring and uninteresting.

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PSP Slim appears to have captured the Japanese hearts. The redesigned console has sold 580.000 since its release on 20th of September. That’s in just two weeks. The console was boosted from the release of two Final Fantasy titles, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and FF Tactics.

What is remarkable is that it has outsold the PSP’s original launch in 2004. It seems like there is some life left in this little baby which i have to admit it is growing on me. Some solid titles (Jeanne D’Arc at the moment) for it lately have brought it back in my gaming calendar.

It is for videos like this one the theatre mode was created by Bungie. And this is just a week since the game was released. Whatever next? Unbelievably lucky kill.