Ben's Week In Review: February 19
Call of Duty: Black OpsA week of Vita and Twisted Metal. ...gee, hard to complain. ;)
Don't Call of Duty fans deserve a new engine?
I will be the first to admit that Infinity Ward and Treyarch have gotten a ridiculous amount of mileage out of the engine that began its lifespan in 2005. I will also admit that the multiplayer in last year's Modern Warfare 3 was pretty damn good, and the fans seem just fine with that production (as they do with most every iteration). But you know, while I'm convinced Activision won't try to produce a new engine until they tax a team with making a Call of Duty for new hardware, I really think that's completely unfair. It's also seems to be counterproductive if you examine the long-term; you really need to look to the future.
But rather than go with the business angle of this, why not go with the sentimental. I think Activision owes the CoD fans. I think that company owes the fans big. And I think the fans have every right to demand the best experience possible for their favorite franchise; hence, a new engine. And yet, supposedly, here comes Black Ops 2 and I get the feeling that even the die-hard followers might sense staleness this time around.
Third-party devs abandoning the Vita? Nope.
Nobody really believes those ridiculous rumors, do they? I mean, I have no doubt some game designers believe they can make more money with the 3DS, or they've got projects in the hopper better suited to Nintendo's platform. I also have no doubt that many developers are skeptical of the Vita's chances. What I'm not about to believe, however, is that developers are flat-out ignoring the Vita based on a prediction...that isn't how business operates, and let's not forget that the PSP was very good to quite a few designers. You have to select the right type of project, of course, and it may take time for the Vita to develop a large installed userbase.
But to believe any developer will turn away from a new piece of hardware before it's even available in the Western hemisphere is just...too absurd for words. Let's just hope the US launch goes well; there better be plenty of Vitas to go around. Don't make that mistake again, Sony.
Personal gaming update
As you might have already surmised by my hands-on impressions and more than a few articles, we're all about taking care of PlayStation Vita coverage right now. In many ways, I'm very impressed, and I really love the software selection. Wipeout 2048 is great, Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational is loads of fun, and Uncharted: Golden Abyss is quite the experience (review coming very soon). Other reviews on the way- Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Little Deviants, Asphalt Injection, and Army Corps of Hell.
And although Twisted Metal wasn't quite the masterpiece I had hoped for, it's still a fantastic effort and the long-time fans ought to be satisfied. This week, it's all about more Vita (with some FFXIII-2 mixed in, if I can manage it), and we'll announce the winner of those two Vita games. There were a ton of people at the party in Home, too, so that was great!
Lastly, expect a video to soon arrive on our YouTube Channel that highlights the Vita and the first three games that caught my attention.
2/18/2012 Ben Dutka
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Comments (42 posts)
ZettaiSeigi
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 12:03:55 AM
0 up, 4 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 4:45:16 AM
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/19/2012 4:47:20 AM
3 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 10:55:34 AM
2 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 11:18:33 AM
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 11:42:44 AM
1 up, 0 down
Oyashiro
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 5:12:18 PM
Anyone up for some online together?
0 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Saturday, February 18, 2012 @ 9:48:11 PM
Reply
PGU: I tried the first mission of the ME3 demo(360 & PC). I really love what I'm feeling from it. The graphics don't seem to have evolved much, though. Having had a holiday season of jaw droppers last year standards were risen, I suppose. But I'm not worried about that much. I love what Bioware has done with this franchise, expecially with how they're building relationship simulation in games. It also got me thinking about AI and human behavior for games in general. Tim Sweeney during his DICE presentation commented on how we need an "invention" to make strides in AI in gaming. I agree. We're way ontop of our graphics game, but other areas are lagging. We have plenty of programmers who can code graphics but maybe the issue is that programmers just don't know much about human behavior. Now I know that sounds like sci-fi, but last week in church I saw a guy sitting in front of me that went to my school. I asked him what he's majoring in, he said he was going for his masters in psych. He said he was doing programming but switched. I was like, oh, pretty different path, eh? He said, no, not really. If you think about it, programming and psychology are a lot a like. Psychologists and counslers help reprogram the way people think. Certain thinking patterns and can produce certain behavior. It's a professional's job to figure out where the logic errors are and through behaviorial cognitive therapy, reprogram them. I was like, whoa, yeah, I like. I sort of see that more of reverse engineering. Where programming applications is typcailly from the bottom up... but if there is a science to it, there's got to be a point where those paths cross.
It also has me thinking. hmm, let's see. We have accurate voice dictation, like Siri. We have accurate movement sensory in optics. We have low-voltage processing. So how close are we to making androids that look and act like us? crazy.. sorry if i wasted people's time.
Anyway, I've been real busy with school. I did this game related 3D stuff for a project. I got to see some of it running in UDK... cool!
http://david-mason.deviantart.com/#/d4q0xox
1 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 3:09:37 AM
Does the ME3 demo contain spoilers for ME2? I don't want to play it before I finish ME2 if it does.
0 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 10:43:54 AM
2 up, 0 down
FatherSun
Saturday, February 18, 2012 @ 9:53:10 PM
Reply
Devs giving up on VITA is just absurd. lets have that conversation next year. Portable Gaming on the VITA is unmatched. Firmware can bring all the other features in line with the best out there.
PGU: Twisted Metal and small breaks with the 6 free games from PSPlus. Plus has paid for itself a few times over already. I mean we are even getting full PS3 games.
Last edited by FatherSun on 2/18/2012 9:56:02 PM
7 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Saturday, February 18, 2012 @ 10:16:31 PM
3 up, 1 down
ZettaiSeigi
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 12:00:23 AM
As a matter of fact, it appears that Sony "extended" my subscription for six months. Of course we have to put into consideration the PSN outage, but they did not have to extend it by that much. My subscription is supposed to end this March but when I checked my transaction details on the PS3, it said that it's not going to do so until September 2012.
I'm definitely going to continue my subscription as long as they continue to provide the same amount of freebies and perks. And I'm sure the cloud saving would be very useful once I have my PS Vita.
6 up, 1 down
Fane1024
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 3:15:04 AM
PS+ cloud saves apparently do not currently work with the Vita.
And, for those interested: Far Cry 2 is only free until the update this coming Tuesday, so grab if you haven't. It's a hair less than 4 GB.
0 up, 0 down
Qubex
Saturday, February 18, 2012 @ 11:47:19 PM
Reply
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
0 up, 0 down
JDC80
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 12:29:32 AM
Reply
I might ask for that 3 month PSN Plus card for my birthday and use it during the summer.
1 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 12:47:53 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 4:46:16 AM
0 up, 0 down
___________
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 1:27:27 AM
Reply
went to download it, and well, 8 hours later its still only done 12%!
WTF is PSN so god dam f*cking slow!?
i can download 10s of GBs of steam games in a hour, but a PS3 game takes 8 times that just for 12%!
WTF!?
$ony really need to pull there finger out and upgrade their god dam servers!
id much rather pay for PSN and get decent download speeds, then have it free and have to wait 6 days just to download 1 freaking game!
oh well, back to skyrim i go..........
0 up, 9 down
Jed
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 1:34:44 AM
9 up, 0 down
___________
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 7:23:08 AM
amazing how people can turn a chicken into a car.
2 up, 8 down
Jawknee
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 10:53:05 AM
His point was simple. Quit your bitching! It got old a long time ago.
5 up, 1 down
Neo_Aeon666
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 11:21:54 AM
2 up, 0 down
Jed
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 2:10:09 PM
Neo is right, I don't see how anything could take nine hours to download on PSN.
6 up, 0 down
Clamedeus
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 2:51:16 PM
Last edited by Clamedeus on 2/19/2012 2:54:09 PM
4 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 3:22:12 PM
8 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 6:51:58 PM
4 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 3:17:35 AM
@Ben
The burn would have worked better without the typo. Oh well. :D
Last edited by Fane1024 on 2/20/2012 3:21:26 AM
0 up, 0 down
___________
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 7:16:54 AM
read your comment, and hopefully you will understand why.
just a tip if you cant understand, obviously my PC is running on the same connection.......
talk about laying the mouse traps, placing the cheese in, then oops.
Last edited by ___________ on 2/20/2012 7:17:14 AM
0 up, 0 down
Jed
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 1:30:50 AM
Reply
PGI: I couldn't afford Twisted Metal this month with the Vita launching, but it will be mine first check in March. I've been playing through Resostance 3, and Ghost of Sparta on PSP, trying to catch up with my backlog that is ridiculously large. The Vita won't help that either.
Can't wait for Wednesday to get here!!
2 up, 0 down
sunspider13
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 3:06:53 AM
Reply
PGU
Before crap hit the fan I had managed to get my khajiit in Skyrim to level 48. I am having a blast with the game and the vastness and just sheer freedom of it all. A bit overwhelming when I first started but I got used to it. Highlight so far was killing an ancient dragon with a war hammer and getting a critical hit and getting the slow motion animation. Needless to say I was in shock.
I finished Mass Effect 2 and I'm going through it a second time to see if I can get everyone to survive the final mission on the second go round. I was impressed with it and I'm looking forward to ME3. I also finished Batman:AC and started new game plus. Great main storyline, side quests, Riddler challenges, all in all the total package. I'm going to reward rocksteady for their hard work by getting the dlc packs. They deserve it.
Happy gaming everyone.
7 up, 1 down
SolidFantasy
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 4:25:11 AM
Reply
I sure hope Vita developers don't abandon ship. I think the negative media is just being it's self on this one. The Vita is safe. Time will will prove that.
PGU: Back in northern Italy, can't comment as much as I would like to b/c internet is scarce. Might get a cheap gaming Asuz lap top + a vita.
Twisted metal is a buy as soon as I'm state side and I can't wait to get back to MGS HD collection. Till then FFIX provides. I'm not blowing through it. I just can't say no to the side quest!
1 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 5:26:03 AM
1 up, 1 down
___________
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 7:27:07 AM
i seriously cant understand it, i mean how hard is it!?
ive owned 2 asus laptops im my lifetime, the M50 and the N55.
the M50 had mouse buttons made out of one bit of plastic, but there was a fingerprint sensor in the middle so the bit of plastic in the centre was really thin.
so every time you pressed the buttons it would flex, obviously over time flex, flex, flex, snap and it came off.
and with the N55 its one solid thick chunk, its so hard to press down and its a bit oversized so everytime you press it it rubs against the wall making a squeaking noise.
yea its nitpicking, but seriously how hard is it to get mouse buttons right!?
they go to all the effort of making a flawless laptop, which they pretty much have, then go put the worst mouse pad they could find on it!
0 up, 4 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 9:55:36 AM
But you don't use the mouse buttons! You just tap the plate (as with most mouse pads, that's pretty common). But more importantly, use two finger gestures to scroll up/down etc. I'd say the mousepad on the ASUS laptops is one of the strengths!
Last edited by Beamboom on 2/19/2012 9:58:20 AM
3 up, 0 down
SolidFantasy
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 2:34:05 PM
@captain negative I really don't care about buttons. That's an easy fix. It's like the Debbie Downer of PSX.
5 up, 1 down
___________
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 7:25:14 AM
some times i wonder, i really do!
i dunno about you, but i get kinda pissed off when i pay 3K for a laptop, and its so poorly built the buttons are cracked within a years use.
i mean who even designed that?
i miss the good old days when things use to be built properly!
built to last as long as possible, not as cheaply as possible.
does not take a brain surgeon to figure out a thin piece of plastic will break if it keeps flexing.
or even the old toshiba i had, the quosmio X500.
no vents on the side, or the back, only underneath.
so put it on your lap, which your suppose to do hence the name laptop, the laptop cant breath and overheats.
yea, thats well designed!
0 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 4:52:30 AM
Reply
2 up, 0 down
TheAgingHipster
Sunday, February 19, 2012 @ 2:11:24 PM
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2 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Monday, February 20, 2012 @ 3:35:29 AM
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In order to shrink my backlog, I'm trying to play 366 different "things" (i.e., games, demos, basically anything) and to finish 52 games (including minis and other shorter experiences) this year. So far, I'm pretty much on track. Last year, I managed about 2/3 those target numbers.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 2/20/2012 3:37:50 AM
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Reply
Saturday, February 18, 2012 @ 9:37:49 PM
Last edited by Jawknee on 2/18/2012 9:40:31 PM