Tag Archives: sony

Review: Resistance – Burning Skies (PS Vita)

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During my summer holidays I spent some more quality time with my PS Vita. One of the games I played through was the mobile adaption of the Resistance series: Resistance: Burning Skies.

It doesn’t matter if you played the PS3 games of the series or not – this is a pretty straightforward FPS game, which will be easy to pick up for anyone playing FPS games on a console thanks to the twin analogue sticks of the Vita. The game looks really great and has a high frame rate, which seems to drop only a bit in the multiplayer matches. The game is more linear than its PS3 predecessors and has some small usability flaws you don’t wanna see in a 2012 release: The cut scenes cannot be skipped, some save points are too far away from critical scenes and require the player often to run a bit more than necessary and running controls are messed up (you gotta press down on the d-pad and up on the left analogue stick simultaneously…).

Despite these small flaws the game is great fun and I really enjoyed playing through the campaign which took me around 6 or 7 hours. After that I jumped into the multiplayer deathmatches, which caught me by surprise because it really feels like playing a good FPS multiplayer game on a home console. I played a lot of games on my previous mobile consoles but THIS is the first game, where the multiplayer part is on par with the rest of the game.

If you own a PS Vita and like playing FPS games on the console, I highly recommend to buy Resistance: Burning Skies.

Why Kinect and PS Move will fail

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Playstation Move versus Microsoft Kinect

Some days ago at gamescom Cologne I was able to spend some quality time with both Microsoft Kinect and Playstation Move. Both hardware add-ons shall broaden Microsoft`s and Sony`s audience in the casual market and extend the console cycles of both the Xbox360 and the Playstation 3. Here are some thoughts why I think these hardware add-ons won`t sell well:

1.) Technical limitations. Before testing Kinect at the Microsoft booth at gamescom I really thought this might be the best tech update for the consoles coming up next. Sadly, I must admit that after testing it I am a lot more sceptical that Kinect will improve the gaming experience a lot. Why? There is an input lag of a half or quarter second. Every user I talked to realized it during play and I think this will limit the games using the Kinect technology a lot. And there are other limitations (lower body point resolution, only two players simultaneously, bad recognition while sitting) mostly due to cost reduction of the hardware. So what we saw in the Natal demos won`t automatically work with Kinect…

Playstation Move feels pretty the same as the Wii Motion+. The hardware really looks robust and stylish and the cable connection of the Wii Nunchuck is gone. But why should I spend some money on an interface that`s pretty similar to the Wii one? Only for HD graphics? Because some old games get a PS Move update? Colour me unimpressed.

2.) The casual games bubble. I think the whole hype in the casual game market is a bubble which will explode sooner or later. Yes, the Wii sold pretty well but the majority of Wii games does not. The game attach rate for the Wii is lower than the ones for the 360 or PS3 which means that there must be some Wii owners out there who own just a handful of games or less. And now Microsoft and Sony want to convince the casual gamers who already bought a Wii to spend even more money for another console plus hardware add-ons plus games? And as a casual gamer you get a lot of free games at the moment. You have a huge amount of Free2Play-MMOGs, you have free browser and social games and a lot of free extra content for some games you already bought. Why invest money?

3.) Lean back versus stand up. I remember myself being extremely hyped after the first Wii trailers. Currently I am playing Monster Hunter Tri on my Wii (with the classic gamepad, not the remote) – but before this the console was not running for months. For core gamers the Wii is nearly dead – and even good core games like Red Steel 2 have very bad sales numbers. Motion control works pretty well for party games with friends but I know only a very few people who like to play core games for hours and hours with the Wii remote and nunchuck.

4.) Games sell hardware. I think the biggest mistake of Microsoft and Sony is to copy games that were successful on the Wii. In my opinion both casual and core gamers are unimpressed by the starting line-up for Kinect and PS Move. More party games? Another sport games collection? A light-gun shooter? Oh, a virtual pet? No, thanks. Sony has a small advantage with some core games like Heavy Rain receiving an update or Killzone 3 coming from start with the option to use Move. But both games can be played very well without PS Move – so why invest 150 bucks for something that is not absolutely needed to play the cool games? Kinect provides a new experience but the focus is on games for kids (Kinectimals) or casual gamers (Kinect Sports, Kinect Joyride). All the cool demo stuff from the early videos (beat`em up game, godzilla game and racing game) that hyped me is gone.

5.) The extension of the console life time. I think both Microsoft and Sony fear the next console generation and the dangers of a new console. Betting on the wrong horse (BluRay vs. HD-DVD, anyone?) can cost you a lot of money and both companies seem to prefer to extend the current console life time as much as they can. Microsoft`s 360 is now about 5 years old and Kinect already shows the limitations of the console hardware by being downsized from what Natal was before – of course they could have done Natal but at a much higher price point than Kinect. With the 360 being on the market with less than 200 bucks you cannot convince people to buy an add-on that costs more than the basic console. That`s why they downsized Natal.

Sony has a more comfortable situation with their hardware being more powerful on the long run but they also will try to extend the console cycle as much as they can. They are pretty straight forward in copying the Wii tech and making it slightly better but I don`t think that this will turn out to be the best idea. Sony`s main target group for their consoles has always been the core gamer (except the karaoke fans buying their Playstation just for Singstar). With Microsoft making a move into the casual game direction with a more sophisticated hardware approach, why does not Sony take the chance to strengthen the area they are good at? Sony probably would convince more new customers to buy a PS3 by strenghtening the keyboard and mouse support for future games (especially MMOGs and shooters).

In the end it does not matter which games are the ones that sell a system or hardware add-on, or if casual or core gamers buy the hardware. But I think a lot of people have some Wii remotes and a balance board at home which are not used that often. At the price point of 150+ bucks people will make up their mind if it`s worth to buy the add-ons and come to the conclusion that it`s not worth the money at the moment because there are no system-seller games out there. No hype. Both companies were very quick in building their own motion control to compete with Nintendo. It`s just a bit sad that they forgot to develop the right games for the hardware.

Picture by www.videogameszone.de

My E3 2010 Wrap-up: Microsoft Kinect, Playstation Move and Nintendo 3DS

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Before this year`s E3 in Los Angeles I was really looking forward to the press briefings of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft because of the previously announced new interface hardware. I must admit I hyped myself a bit too much with all this Natal (aka Kinect) and PS Move stuff and perhaps that is one of the reasons why I was a bit disappointed by the news I got from the media events.

I still like the idea to interact with a console like Tom Cruise was doing in Minority Report but in the end it comes down to the games which will be available for each new system. In case of Microsoft`s Kinect I was really surprised that it seems like they cloned Nintendo`s games line-up: A sports collection, a cart racer, a nintendogs-like game and some sports activity stuff. Even the Star Wars Kinect game looks lousy: Poor graphics for a next gen console, standard interaction patterns instead of realtime tracking of the laser sword and some sort of rail-shooter movement. Ok, everything will presumably work a bit more precise than on the Wii but I think Microsoft really could have done much better with their line-up. Where are the new ideas? The only highlight for me was the dancing game which is a game that would not work on the Wii. But I doubt that this will be a system seller.

What`s up with Sony? After showing some fancy bow and sword action with the Playstation Move controllers at last E3 I was waiting for some motion-tracking games for the core gaming crowd. But it turned out that Sony had the same idea as Microsoft: Both want to expand their market with the casual gamers. Sony`s vision therefore includes a cartoonish sorcerer (Hello Harry Potter!) and some casual clash of old school game heroes. Of course, some older and some forthcoming AAA-titles will be supported by Playstation Move but none of them was presented live. It always sounded like PS Move will be a type of add-on feature but nothing the games will focus on.

So it turns out that both Microsoft and Sony are trying to follow in Nintendo`s footsteps by developing their own motion-tracking interfaces. Even though both Microsoft and Sony might have done a good job with their hardware, they failed to convice me with their games line-up. There is still hope that they both do better in the future but I do not find any reason to buy one of these at their release dates this fall.

And that`s why in my opinion Nintendo made the best impression with their media event. As awaited they presented some strong Wii IPs (Zelda, Metroid) and their next iteration of the Nintendo DS, the 3DS. The new version is able to provide 3D effects without putting glasses on and has a very solid start line-up  for a new mobile console: A new Metal Gear Solid title, Resident Evil, Kid Icarus, Dead or Alive, Kingdom Hearts, Ridge Racer, Assassin`s Creed, Professor Layton and some more. Of course, Nintendo is not the only one pushing 3d gaming – Sony presented their approach which includes a tv set for 2000$+ and wearing glasses. For now, it seems like Nintendo made again the right move in terms of hardware development.

E3 2009 Wrap-Up

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The E3 is back – after a smaller show and lots of criticism in the last year, last week`s Electronic Entertainment Expo was an overwhelming success. Of course, there were tons of games but I am not going to repeat everything that you already heard on all the gaming news pages. As usual, my focus will be on the game interfaces and usability topics of E3. Here we go:

Microsoft`s “Project Natal”
Months before E3 a lot of rumors occured surrounding the news that Microsoft had a deal with 3DV, a small company located in Israel which works on 3D-cameras which will be featured in a new XBox360 addon. Well, these rumors turned out to be true as Microsoft presented the motion-sensing camera technology in their keynote last week. The system is capable of tracking not only the body movement but also the depth of the position of different body parts, enabling the software to use the whole body as an input device. I really like the idea but not being able to test it myself I am still a bit skeptical how precise the input will work and if there are any latencies due to the lack of a haptic input device. I have no doubt that all the sport and mini games will work properly BUT games with the need for very precise and direct inputs (e.g. the demoed racing game) will be a challenge for the technology in my opinion. From what I have seen I expect a similar precision the Wii controls have (what already will be a great success).

  

 

Sony`s Motion-Sensing Tech Demo
Sony showed a tech demo of their motion-sensing controller without giving it a codename. It is, in comparison to Microsoft`s camera-only approach, a combination of camera tracking and controller input. It looks like a Wii Remote with a light bulb on top, working single and double-handed. I was impressed by the very precise movement during the sword fight demo: The presenter was able to manoveur the sword under the chin of a skeleton puppet – a level of accurany the Wii certainly cannot reach – even not with the Motion Plus addon (see the video of the tech demo). According to Sony the first versions of the new nameless interface are already in the hands of third-party developers.

  

Another new piece of hardware is Sony`s PSP Go, the successor of the PSP 3000 which will skip the UMD drive and for this reason will focus on digital distribution. A lot of people hoped to see a second analog stick but Sony stays consistent to the older PSP models with just one of them. 

Wii Motion Plus and Vitality Sensor
Nintendo had no surprising news because they are only a few days away from the launch of the Wii Motion Plus addon. This little addon can be plugged onto the Wii Remote and will provide a more precise detection of movement and alignment of the Remote. Some sad news were that several games which use the Motion Plus turn out to show no considerable improvement according to journalist reports. E.g. first reports from people playing Red Steel 2 sounded a bit disappointing so it is possible that not every developer gets the best out of it or it is no significant improvement over the old Remote.

In addition to the Wii Motion Plus, Nintendo showed also a small piece of hardware called “Vitality Sensor”. It is a small box where you can put a finger into and everyone was sure that this will add up to the sports and fitness games Nintendo is doing pretty well with. 

Summary

To sum it up, it is interesting to see that all big console manufacturers now have their own motion-sensing input devices (which is no big surprise after the success of the Wii and its new control scheme). In the end, the games make the difference and both Microsoft and Sony have to prove that they are able to create great games with their new technologies.

Games in the clouds

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Last week at GDC the company OnLive announced their upcoming game-streaming service via cloud computing. The idea is simple: You only need a low-end computer or a TV with a little OnLive box and a broadband internet connection. The computer or the OnLive box will track your input and send it to the OnLive servers where your game is running. The visual output is returned to your computer or TV set which requires a minimum connection of 1MBit.

Even more interesting than the tech stuff may be the implications for the whole game industry. If OnLive or a similar service will work as intended, the retail will get into serious trouble. We will likely see new subscription or fee models, perhaps a gaming flat? For the publishers the advantage of a system like OnLive is obvious: Without retail in between the profit margins will increase a lot and, in addition, a system like OnLive has the potential to solve some piracy issues. 11 publishers already have an agreement with OnLive including Activision Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, Atari, THQ, Codemasters and Take 2.

Cloud computing could be a real threat to the next generation of consoles and gaming pcs. Why buy a Playstation 4 or a XBox720 when the cloud computing systems upgrade their hardware to offer you the best possible gaming experience? What will happen to Sony, MS, Nintendo, NVidia, Intel and AMD in the next 5 years? Is THIS the ‘one console future’ some people were talking about years ago? Of course, not everybody has a 1Mbit connection nowadays. But in five years a lot of people will.

But even when consoles and gaming computers leave our homes and we are playing via TV set we will still need some input devices. Gamepads, keyboards, steering wheels and – perhaps – wii-motes and nunchucks? Will the three big console manufacturers become peripheral device manufacturers or pure game developers like Sega did? Will they offer their own cloud computing services? Will we have to decide whether to subscribe to the Sony or Microsoft Cloud?

The next five years will tell a lot about our gaming future. Hopefully, the customers are the winners with lower-priced games and a low technical and monetary barrier to enter high-end gaming.

The Power of User-Generated Content

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At Sony`s CES Keynote some detailed numbers about Little Big Planet were given: The game sold 1.3 million copies which I think is ok but I presume as a labeled “system seller” Sony expected to sale some more copies. Really suprising was the number of user-generated levels till now: 300.000 (!) unique levels were uploaded and are free to play for the community. This is really more than I expected and I think I played at least one hundred of them… The Sony reps told the audience at CES that it would take 2 years playtime to get through all of them… with more to come.

So if you`re looking for a game with a good price/content ratio: Here it is :-)

Anti Game Usability Award 2008

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I proudly present: The first Anti Game Usability Award 2008 (AGUA 2008)!

There is no judging panel or academy – it is just me, who gives away this prize. Why? Some games do not only deliver fun but also frustration due to bad interface design or other usability flaws. This prize is dedicated to the worst usability flaw or bug of 2008 and shall be an advice for game publishers and developers to do better in 2009.

The winner of this years AGUA is….SecuRom!

SecuRom is a CD / DVD copy protection product mainly used for windows-based computer games and was originally developed by Sony. SecuRom was one of the most controversial gaming topics in 2008 (and perhaps will be in 2009), because some functions of the software are similiar to malware and users were not always informed correctly that SecuRom was part of the product they bought. Some users reported also major technical issues with SecuRom. Most SecuRom versions force the customer to activate a game via internet to control the numbers of installations. Some versions were even cancelling the installation if the software detected a cd or dvd burning software on the system (Fallout 3). The discussion was amplified by a lot of popular games making use of the SecuRom protection like e.g. BioShock, Spore, Grand Theft Auto IV, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Sacred 2.

The official reason given by the industry for the use SecuRom is to fight piracy and to prevent games being sold second-hand. But even SecuRom cannot prevent the piracy of a product. Some people even claim that e.g. Spore`s piracy problem is the result of the SecuRom copy protection (Spore was the most shared game on peer-to-peer networks in 2008).

Here is an example of what you have to do, before you can play GTA IV on the PC (Source: www.gamestar.de):

- Licence contract must be accepted.

- The disk has to be in the drive while playing.

- Install SecuRom, DirectX, Microsoft .NET Framework, current service patches for Windows, Games for Windows Live, Adobe Flash and Rockstar`s Multiplayer Software “Social Club”.

- Create user accounts for Windows Live and Social Club.

- Activate the game via Internet.

- Enter 25-digit key.

Congratulations, installation complete :-P

Luckily, I have the console version. So, just give a second – why is the pc market shrinking again? It seems like the gaming industry didn`t learn its lesson out of the DRM problems the music industry had.

There were many discussions going on game magazines and discussion boards wether the use of copy protection software like SecuRom has an impact on game reviews or not. Some magazines and reviews included the copy protection as one of the product`s features, others did not.

In my opinion, the user experience starts with unboxing your game and that`s why the SecuRom copy protection gets the first Anti Game Usability Award 2008. Congratulations! 

Wenig Überraschendes auf der E308

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Nachdem die “Big Three” in L.A. ihre Pressekonferenzen abgehalten haben, bin ich doch ein wenig enttäuscht von den Präsentationen, da ich doch mit der ein oder anderen zusätzlichen Ankündigung gerechnet habe und die meisten präsentierten Spiele schon seit Längerem bekannt sind und wenige Überraschungen boten.

Microsoft schaffte es lediglich mit der Ankündigung, dass Final Fantasy XIII nun nicht exklusiv für die PS3 erscheint, sondern auch für die 360, zu überraschen- definitiv ein herber Schlag für Sony. Die Gerüchte um einen neuen Controller oder ein Blu-Ray Laufwerk wurden vorerst nicht bestätigt; dafür gab es ein neues Avatarsystem (Mii anyone?), eine neue Benutzeroberfläche und eine deutliche Erweiterung des Filmangebots.

Die Konkurrenz von Sony konnte nur mit der Ankündigung von God of War 3 begeistern und kündigte einen neuen Online-Shooter namens “MAG” an, bei dem sich bis zu 256 Spieler gleichzeitig die virtuellen Geschosse um die Ohren jagen können. Außerdem wurde eine Erweiterung des PSN vorgestellt, von dem man ab sofort – zumindest in den USA – neben Spielen und DLC auch Filme beziehen kann.

Big N überraschte mich am gestrigen Tag lediglich mit der Ankündigung einer eigenen GTA-Version für das DS. Das Hardware-AddOn für die Wii-Remote (“WiiMotionPlus”) wurde bereits ein paar Stunden vor Nintendo`s Pressekonferenz angekündigt und bisher wurde nur die neue Wii Sports Version vorgestellt, die das AddOn offiziell unterstützt. Alle anderen Ankündigungen (“Wii Music” & “Animal Crossing Wii”) richteten sich meiner Meinung nach vorrangig an den Gelegenheitsspieler – mir fehlte ein Spiel für die Zielgruppe der Hardcore-Gamer.

Vielleicht erleben wir noch die ein oder andere Überraschung seitens eines Third Party Herstellers…?!

Meine Favoriten der E308 sind bisher:

Resident Evil 5, Dawn of War II, God of War III und Ubisoft`s neues Prince of Persia. Und, was fällt auf? Genau – keine einzige neue IP dabei…