PS3 Move Misconceptions

The Playstation Move was announced at E3 2009 and there are now 25 currently announced PS Move supported titles. As with all new products, there are misconceptions in the gaming community about it. There is already confusion that needs to be cleared up.

Misconceptions:
1) You Will Need To Buy Two Move Controllers
The Playstation Move lineup currently contains NO software that has been officially announced to require two Move controllers. (EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that one title, "The Fight: Lights Out", does require two controllers. Releases October 31. However, you still will not need two for the rest of the known titles, as far has been announced.)

2) You Will Need To Buy a Navigation Controller
Joystiq reports that Sony's Anton Mikhailov proclaimed at an E3 presentation, that the Navigation controller is interchangeable with the SIXAXIS/DualShock 3 controller.

3) It Will Cost an Arm and a Leg
At the base of $90 ($40 for the Playstation Eye, $50 for the Move controller, and using your included SIXAXIS or DualShock 3), I would have to say that the price of adding Move isn't too unreasonable.
While it could get more pricey when playing multiplayer, it's likely that friends interested in playing with Move will likely have their own controllers. Siblings could join the fun for less than the cost of a DualShock 3 for many of the games.

3DS Repeats One of the PSP's Major Mistakes

Mere minutes ago, Nintendo announced their latest handheld gaming device; The 3DS. It bolsters better graphics, 3D viewing without the need for glasses, the ability to take 3D digital pictures, a control stick (analog stick), wide support from developers, and more. However, it makes a major mistake that Sony made with their PlayStation Portable.

The PlayStation Portable made the mistake of putting the analog stick on the same side as the D+pad. Even if they had just put the analog stick on the right side, then camera control would have been much easier, and there may have been more viable first person shooters.

While I am not suggesting that a Nintendo handheld would even have many FPS titles, Nintendo is known for their platformers. And 3D (I mean, what we meant by 3D before this pop out 3D stuff) platform games would greatly benefit with such an outlet for camera control. And as we have learned with the PSP, camera control with one and player control with the other when they're both on the same side, is restrictive, annoying, and difficult.

That said, I'm sure that the 3DS will have excellent games as many great publishers and developers have already declared their support. But this mistake definitely puts a damper on the possibilities.

Crytek Needs To Put Up or Shut Up About the Console Versions of Crysis 2

For the last couple of months, Crytek has bragged on about Crysis 2 being the best looking game on the PS3 and 360. They claimed that they "hit the graphical ceiling" on the PS3 and that the 360 and PS3 versions are identical (Which raises some eyebrows, considering that the Ps3 has been leading the graphical charge on the consoles for a while). So with all of this talk, when will Crytek show us some evidence of such?

What have we seen of Crysis 2 so far? A teaser trailer? Some screens that aren't from gameplay perspectives? Where are the videos/screenshots of gameplay? I mean, we haven't even seen the graphics of ONE of the versions in real-time gameplay.

And what about the questions that PR talk and videos don't (necessarily) answer? What resolution do the console versions play in? What, if any, anti-aliasing? And do they both run in competent, near identical frame rates?

So Crytek, how about you give us some REAL answers? Anyone can take advantage of PR talk.....but can you take advantage of both the Ps3's and 360's hardware?

Alan Wake Excuses Are Insulting To Our Intelligence

Alan Wake was revealed at E3 2005 as a psychological action thriller with an intense and cinematic adventure and a massive, open world. It was revealed that it was coming to the PC and Xbox 360. The funny thing is, very few of that is true anymore. Now it's a 360 exclusive and linear in gameplay. Microsoft and Remedy Entertainment are continually making up ridiculous excuses as to why they decided to make it an Xbox 360-only game.

Back in July 2009, Markus Maki, Director of Development Remedy said that Remedy was "focusing all [their] efforts on the 360 version" and indicated that they would comment on the status of a PC version later. In a later statement, Remedy said that "PC plans are currently open" but that it was safe to assume that it wouldn't be a simultaneous launch with the 360 version, and that "this decision (The decision of whether or not they'd release a PC version) lies with our publisher" Who's that publisher? Microsoft.

You might expect it to be left at that; it's just business, right? But no, Microsoft would not allow that. Instead, in Febuary (2010), they released a completely asinine excuse for it not coming to the PC. They said that "Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realised that the most compelling way to experience Alan Wake was on the Xbox 360 platform"
What makes a 720p TV (Assuming Alan Wake will even play in a 720p native resolution) any better for a thriller? The lower resolution? The BIG television? The couch? Many PC gamers DO play on their couch. Many 360 gamers play on their PC monitors.
This was obviously an ugly mess of an excuse by Microsoft, that ignored logic and the diversity of their customers.

"Why stop kicking a dead horse there?" said Remedy.
About a week after Microsoft's excuse, they claimed that they were too small of a studio. Even if it were true, did it seriously take them 4 years to realize it?

Why didn't they just stop at the fact that their publisher (Microsoft) made them halt the PC version? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Gamestop's $99 "Arcade Banjo/Viva Pinata" 360 Bundle Is NOT an Arcade Console w/Games

Gamestop is always posting things early and people manage to somehow trip over these obscure posts. Their latest is a posting titled: "Bundle - Arcade Banjo/Viva Pinata" and many are assuming this is an "arcade" Xbox 360 (The bundle without the expensive-as-heck hard-drive) bundled with the Banjo-Kazooie: Nut and Bolts and Viva Pinata, the kicker being the low price of $99.99. This is obviously not the case.

To start, we examine the category that Gamestop has it listed as. It's listed as "Puzzle & Cards" and "Puzzle". However, the other console bundles, such as the "Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Splinter Cell Conviction" bundle and the Forza 3/Halo: ODLC bundle are listed under the category of "systems".

What is strange, is that none of the Viva Pinata games, nor Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts are listed as "puzzle" games. They're listed as Action, Adventure, and simulation games. However, the mis-listing of a game bundle is a lot more likely than a $99 bundle of a current generation game system. It's incredibly unlikely that microsoft has brought the price of the arcade down to $99 AND with games.

The way it is titled is also much different from the title of the known console bundles. This listing is "Bundle - Arcade Banjo/Viva Pinata" while the 360 bundles are "Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Splinter Cell Conviction" and "Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Bundle".

So what explains the "arcade" part of the title? Simple; it probably includes a voucher for the original titles, available on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Do you want to know what the listing really is?:


This is, of course, purely speculation.

Speculation from yours truly,
Dustin The Mortician

Batman: AA 2 Cast Members

IMDB updated the cast for the upcoming sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Returning:
Kevin Conroy is back as Batman.
Mark Hamill is back as Joker.
Arleen Sorkin is back as Harley.
Tom Kane is back as Gordon.

New Characters:
Bruce Greenwood as Two-Face.
Vincent Martella, Chris Rock's white friend on "Everybody hates Chris", as Robin.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568322/

Natal/Arc will Make Healthy Competition for the Wii

Motion control has become the latest rage in gaming and for around 3 and a half years the Wii has gone without any real competition. It has remained the only system with motion controls as a main form of control and has kept the price advantage. The lack of competition and support from all sorts of non-gamers, including soccer moms, the elderly, and even airline security (Link) have kept Wii well ahead of it's HD competition sales-wise. However, the lack of competition has led to Nintendo doing little to compete.

Nintendo makes a fortune off of each Wii sold (Reportedly up to around $50 per console back in 2007), and even with the price cut, the cost of materials has probably lowered and allowed them to continue to make a killing per console sold). The price is no where near to being as low as it could be. This is unfortunately probably the last thing that the competition will fix, as the accessory prices added to the price of the consoles will only further themselves from the Wii price. Perhaps we will see an SKU without the Gamecube hookups and such. However, outdoing the competition with a lower price is far from impossible, anyhow.


The Nintendo seal of quality is dead. Once a sign that a game is generally fun and well created to save and regain trust from gamers, it is now a sign that says that the disc fits in the Wii. They just stamp "The Nintendo Seal (Note, not "Of Quality")" on any game. With all of the heavy support from the big guys planning Natal and Arc games, Nintendo is going to have to step up its game, and reaffirm its stance on quality on games other than just ones containing Mario.
Another funny take on the Seal.

Proper implementation of the Wiimote is important to seeing games advance. The wiimote (As well as his cousin, the DS touch screen) has seen some positively bizarre methods of usage. For presentation purposes (And gameplay purposes), we must see the Wiimote be used effectively. We often see it used weakly as a waggle tool. Hey, we haven't seen many games running on the Natal or Arc, but I'd like to believe they have better ideas for using them than some of the retched uses of the Wiimote.

We can hope to see the competition of the Natal and Arc create some competition fpr the Wii and drive down its price (And accessory prices) while causing the standard of quality to go up. Wii can certainly hope.