Metal Gear Solid HD Collection Vita New Screens
Konami confirmed today that Metal Gear Solid HD Collection will see release this June on PlayStation Vita. Along with the release date confirmation, they have also shared new screens.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Genre: First Person Shooter
Origin: Japan, North America, Europe
Release: Nov 13, 2012
Activision officially announced Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which will be hitting PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on Nov 13. The story takes place in near future during the 21st Century Cold War, in which you will find all new advanced weapons. The battle will take place in several locations including China, Japan and Afghanistan.
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Genre: First Person Shooter
Origin: Japan, North America, Europe
Release: Nov 13, 2012
Activision officially announced Call of Duty: Black Ops II, which will be hitting PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on Nov 13. The story takes place in near future during the 21st Century Cold War, in which you will find all new advanced weapons. The battle will take place in several locations including China, Japan and Afghanistan.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Mortal Kombat Vita Review
As Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 proved at the system's launch, the Vita can be a very capable home for fighting games. The system's gorgeous screen and impressive hardware make for a handheld that can stand up next to what the consoles have to offer. NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat reboot is the latest fighting game to get the Vita treatment, and luckily stands as a great port of last year's viciously violent fighter.
In terms of sheer content, Mortal Kombat on Vita offers a ton of features both new and old. The entire original game that released on consoles last year is here, complete with the full challenge tower and story mode. Additionally, all four DLC characters are now available from the get-go, along with God of War's Kratos, who was a special character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If that wasn't enough, the Vita version also adds in another bonus challenge tower accessible from the menu, with challenges that capitalize both on the DLC characters as well as the Vita's touchscreen and motion controls.
Mortal Kombat on Vita brings all of the brutal combat, huge character roster, and bloody fatalities from last year's game to the system. The fast and frantic pace and combo-based mechanics are a blast to play, and the brutal X-ray moves return from the console version. While the AI can be exceptionally cheap at times leading to some real moments of frustration, the game still plays very well. Last year's story mode also returns with no changes made, following Raiden and his band of Earthrealm warriors as they attempt to change the past by fighting through the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story is pretty cheesy and is filled with some over the top voice work and writing, but is a pretty fun take that MK fans will dig.
Control is an area where previous fighters have faltered on handhelds, and where Mortal Kombat on Vita shines. The game controls extremely well, and once unwieldy fatalities have been given the touchscreen treatment and are much easier to pull off. Simple directional swipes replace d-pad presses and face buttons aren't required when using the touchscreen. If you'd like to still use the more traditional button-based control scheme for fatalities, you absolutely can.
Another great element added to the mix is a brand new challenge tower. The new tower is a completely separate group of original challenges, quite a few of which take advantage of what the Vita has to offer from a hardware perspective. Using the accelerometer and touchscreen, you'll be doing everything from juggling fighters in the air with missile fire and wiping away view obstructing blood from the screen to shaking the Vita to defuse bombs and stagger enemies.
The bonus challenge tower includes two new modes, as well – Test Your Slice and Test Your Balance. Test Your Slice is a Fruit Ninja-style mini-game that has you slashing across the touchscreen, dismembering body parts to rack up high scores, while the more difficult Test Your Balance mode requires you to tilt your Vita to balance your character and keep them from falling in a deadly pit, all while severed body parts are being thrown at you. Of the two, Test Your Slice was a lot more fun, but neither of them really seemed to add much outside of self-contained, gimmicky experiences.
However, there are still plenty of challenges that play out more traditionally, featuring the game's four previously DLC-only characters for the first time in the challenge tower. The new tower will require you to use Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger quite often, on top of the aforementioned Vita hardware abilities.
Playing through the challenge tower is definitely addictive and extremely tough, but feels rewarding as you burn your way through it. As you complete the tower and you're your way through the game's other modes, you'll earn Koins that can be spent in the Krypt on new costumes, art, and other unlockables. You'll even get some new art and costumes from the DLC characters, which were previously unavailable in the original release. Overall, the new challenge tower is a blast, offering varied gameplay and some really fun, albeit very difficult moments littered throughout.
Graphically, Mortal Kombat on Vita runs at an impressively smooth 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown. The original console experience ran at a similar clip, so being able to bring that and the smooth animations to a handheld format is a notable feat by the developers. However, there were a few consolations that happened in order to ensure the fast framerate, namely in the image quality of the character models. While the game looks great in motion, a closer look reveals that the characters look jagged, blocky, and not as detailed as their console counterparts. However, the grievance is a small one, and watching the game in motion is fantastic, as it successfully captures the fast pace and action of the original game.
The game supports both Wi-Fi and Ad-Hoc play. While there were a couple of performance hiccups in play sessions over Wi-Fi, Ad-Hoc worked swimmingly and both managed to maintain fluid framerates throughout.
In terms of sheer content, Mortal Kombat on Vita offers a ton of features both new and old. The entire original game that released on consoles last year is here, complete with the full challenge tower and story mode. Additionally, all four DLC characters are now available from the get-go, along with God of War's Kratos, who was a special character in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. If that wasn't enough, the Vita version also adds in another bonus challenge tower accessible from the menu, with challenges that capitalize both on the DLC characters as well as the Vita's touchscreen and motion controls.
Mortal Kombat on Vita brings all of the brutal combat, huge character roster, and bloody fatalities from last year's game to the system. The fast and frantic pace and combo-based mechanics are a blast to play, and the brutal X-ray moves return from the console version. While the AI can be exceptionally cheap at times leading to some real moments of frustration, the game still plays very well. Last year's story mode also returns with no changes made, following Raiden and his band of Earthrealm warriors as they attempt to change the past by fighting through the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story is pretty cheesy and is filled with some over the top voice work and writing, but is a pretty fun take that MK fans will dig.
Control is an area where previous fighters have faltered on handhelds, and where Mortal Kombat on Vita shines. The game controls extremely well, and once unwieldy fatalities have been given the touchscreen treatment and are much easier to pull off. Simple directional swipes replace d-pad presses and face buttons aren't required when using the touchscreen. If you'd like to still use the more traditional button-based control scheme for fatalities, you absolutely can.
Another great element added to the mix is a brand new challenge tower. The new tower is a completely separate group of original challenges, quite a few of which take advantage of what the Vita has to offer from a hardware perspective. Using the accelerometer and touchscreen, you'll be doing everything from juggling fighters in the air with missile fire and wiping away view obstructing blood from the screen to shaking the Vita to defuse bombs and stagger enemies.
The bonus challenge tower includes two new modes, as well – Test Your Slice and Test Your Balance. Test Your Slice is a Fruit Ninja-style mini-game that has you slashing across the touchscreen, dismembering body parts to rack up high scores, while the more difficult Test Your Balance mode requires you to tilt your Vita to balance your character and keep them from falling in a deadly pit, all while severed body parts are being thrown at you. Of the two, Test Your Slice was a lot more fun, but neither of them really seemed to add much outside of self-contained, gimmicky experiences.
However, there are still plenty of challenges that play out more traditionally, featuring the game's four previously DLC-only characters for the first time in the challenge tower. The new tower will require you to use Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger quite often, on top of the aforementioned Vita hardware abilities.
Playing through the challenge tower is definitely addictive and extremely tough, but feels rewarding as you burn your way through it. As you complete the tower and you're your way through the game's other modes, you'll earn Koins that can be spent in the Krypt on new costumes, art, and other unlockables. You'll even get some new art and costumes from the DLC characters, which were previously unavailable in the original release. Overall, the new challenge tower is a blast, offering varied gameplay and some really fun, albeit very difficult moments littered throughout.
Graphically, Mortal Kombat on Vita runs at an impressively smooth 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown. The original console experience ran at a similar clip, so being able to bring that and the smooth animations to a handheld format is a notable feat by the developers. However, there were a few consolations that happened in order to ensure the fast framerate, namely in the image quality of the character models. While the game looks great in motion, a closer look reveals that the characters look jagged, blocky, and not as detailed as their console counterparts. However, the grievance is a small one, and watching the game in motion is fantastic, as it successfully captures the fast pace and action of the original game.
The game supports both Wi-Fi and Ad-Hoc play. While there were a couple of performance hiccups in play sessions over Wi-Fi, Ad-Hoc worked swimmingly and both managed to maintain fluid framerates throughout.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Screenshots Leaked
Looks like someone got a bit too excited! Ahead of tonight's formal reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,
a series of screenshots have hit the web. The three pictures, enclosed
in this article, confirms that the upcoming sequel will have a
futuristic setting.
Two screens show a soldier under attack by previously revealed Quadrotor drones - big military airships powered by four huge rotors - while a third sees a number of these vehicles engaging in combat against an urban environment. Things are quite clearly blowing up, too.
Visually, the game is looking rather tasty, but it's also decidedly brown. That's the future, folks. It's certainly a big jump from the Cold War era that we experienced with the first Black Ops game. Are you pleased with it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.
Two screens show a soldier under attack by previously revealed Quadrotor drones - big military airships powered by four huge rotors - while a third sees a number of these vehicles engaging in combat against an urban environment. Things are quite clearly blowing up, too.
Visually, the game is looking rather tasty, but it's also decidedly brown. That's the future, folks. It's certainly a big jump from the Cold War era that we experienced with the first Black Ops game. Are you pleased with it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.
Rumour: Bayonetta 2 Has Been Cancelled
Some bad news for SEGA fans everywhere - SPOnG has heard word that Bayonetta 2 has been cancelled, following the publisher's ongoing restructure.
A source familiar with the situation has told SPOnG that progress on the apparent Platinum Games sequel was halted. The game was to include a new character, in the form of a member of the US military.
While it was not possible to ascertain from our source if Bayonetta 2 had begun development internally, the detail of a potential new character would suggest that plans were at least in a pre-production design stage.
SEGA announced a dramatic restructuring of its Western consumer business last month, following a dismal performance in the last fiscal year. Redundancies hit both the European and American offices, and a number of titles were said to be cancelled internally.
It was feared that Platinum Games' projects - which have been critically well-received but have had little success commercially - would be at risk, with a rumoured sequel to Bayonetta at the top of such a list. The original game was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in January 2010, to critical acclaim.
SPOnG has asked SEGA about the situation, to the response, "No comment."
A source familiar with the situation has told SPOnG that progress on the apparent Platinum Games sequel was halted. The game was to include a new character, in the form of a member of the US military.
While it was not possible to ascertain from our source if Bayonetta 2 had begun development internally, the detail of a potential new character would suggest that plans were at least in a pre-production design stage.
SEGA announced a dramatic restructuring of its Western consumer business last month, following a dismal performance in the last fiscal year. Redundancies hit both the European and American offices, and a number of titles were said to be cancelled internally.
It was feared that Platinum Games' projects - which have been critically well-received but have had little success commercially - would be at risk, with a rumoured sequel to Bayonetta at the top of such a list. The original game was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in January 2010, to critical acclaim.
SPOnG has asked SEGA about the situation, to the response, "No comment."
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Project Draco Officially Named Crimson Dragon
Project Draco went playable at today's Xbox 360 10th anniversary fan event in Akihabara. In addition to attendees getting a chance to go hands-on with the game, they were also given first official word of its new name, Crimson Dragon. The name had previously leaked out through overseas classification boards.
According to Famitsu.com's report from the event, Crimson Dragon is due for Xbox Live Arcade release some time this year.
Crimson Dragon is one of the high profile Xbox 360 games Microsoft announced at Tokyo Game Show 2010. It's being developed for Kinect by Yukio Futatsugi, of Panzer Dragoon fame.
Famitsu's report mention the following:
The game is a rails shooter, so you automatically progress forward through the stage. Your movements translate to direct movements by your dragon. You'll need to move around to avoid obstacles and incoming attacks.
To attack, you use your right hand, left hand, or both hands. Your right hand is used for lock on and homing attacks. Your left hand is used for powerful single shots.
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The lock-on and homing attack, while relatively weak, can strike multiple enemies at once. It also does not deplete your spirit gauge.
The spirit gauge is needed for performing more powerful attacks. The attacks from your left hand deplete a certain amount of the spirit gauge with each attack. If the gauge is filled up a certain way, you can wave both hands for a screen wiping attack -- this game's equivalent of a "bomb" attack. The spirit gauge is automatically filled up gradually with time.
Famitsu's writer was impressed with the presentation, with high praise for the graphics quality. The sound is from the Panzer Dragoon staff, according to the report.
Joining the impressions, the site shared a bunch of screenshots, which you can see here.
Grand Theft Auto V
Months after the release of the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, details on the game have remained fairly scarce. Now however, information about the direction of the upcoming sequel is finally coming to light.
“The greatest thing about the franchise’s last visit to San Andreas wasn’t the action, or story, or freedom to explore a huge, detailed world,” said Leslie Benzies, long-time producer of the GTA series. “It was the game’s meticulous attention to the protagonist’s physiology. If you ate too much, your character would become fat and sluggish; if he spent a lot of time at the gym he’d get stronger. That’s the sort of thing that gets people invested, that really makes them believe in the world of the game. With Grand Theft Auto V, we’re really pushing that to the forefront to make the most exciting open-world action game/health and personal hygiene simulator ever released.”
GTA: San Andreas’ character development mechanics will be returning in even greater detail. While its predecessor’s tracking of the player’s physical condition was relatively simple, Grand Theft Auto V will have a much more detailed system. “It’s not just a matter of going to the gym, doing some button-mashing to lift some weights, and getting stronger. You’ve got to exercise all the major muscle groups- quads, lats, abdominals, everything- as well as aerobic exercise to maintain cardiovascular health. You’ll also have to maintain proper levels of hydration, have appropriate rest periods between sets, remember to wipe off the equipment afterward if you’re using an exercise machine- all the fascinating minutiae of exercise.
“The player will have tremendous freedom to choose different training options according to the sort of development they want for their own character, whether it’s weight machines, treadmills, jogging, the StairMaster, free weights, isolation exercises, deadlifts, squats, or injecting various mixtures of anabolic steroids, amphetamines, and human and animal hormones into your buttocks. You’ll have to choose wisely, of course, or you may end up with a huge upper body and little stick legs, or be unable to throw a decent punch because you’ve developed huge biceps but neglected your triceps, or become so ‘roided up that you become an acne-covered, tiny-balled, man-bosomy rageaholic or, God forbid, a Gears of Warcharacter.”
Other physical attributes of the main character will also play an important role during gameplay, requiring players to carefully monitor and manage things like their current bowel and bladder capacity, blood sugar, hair length, body odor, breath odor, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, beard length, sperm count, sun exposure and sunscreen SPF, fingernail and toenail length, blood alcohol content, risk of dangerous interactions between prescription medications, and many other important stats.
“There will be a lot of challenging minigames to really bring the character to life,” Benzies said. “Showering, shaving, applying various creams and lotions, using the toilet, brushing your teeth, changing your contact lenses, ‘taking care of business’ when your character gets lonely, and lots of others. Videogame development is a conservative industry. I’m sure there are naysayers who will insist that fans of the Grand Theft Auto series won’t want to have to periodically interrupt the game’s usual intense intense action and excitement to play minigames that revolve around mashing buttons to successfully mix a protein shake, or maintain correct posture during a shoulder press, or douse yourself in aftershave to conceal how long it’s been since you’ve showered, but we believe gamers are a lot more open to innovation than they’re given credit for.”
Saturday, 25 February 2012
WiiU
My speech was about the potential for growth of social gaming. I am pretty sure it was taped and posted on gamerlive.tv
The Wii U comment was in response to a question about the potential for the Wii U.
I believe (and please feel free to disagree) that a large portion of the Wii audience comprised casual gamers--those who bought one or two games a year the first two years, then put the Wii aside--and that those casual gamers moved on to another platform. The "other" platform may have been Facebook games, smart phone games, tablet games, or one of the other consoles, but once they moved on, they are not likely to come back.
At the same time, I believe (again, please feel free to disagree) that the growth of smart phones and tablets has attracted many potential dedicated handheld game customers, and these people also are unlikely to come back to either 3DS or PS Vita.
Summing this up, I think the addressable market for the Wii U is around half of the market for the Wii, and I think Microsoft and Sony will compete for a portion of that market if the Wii U is priced too high. I think that the dedicated handheld market is permanently impacted by smart phones and tablets, and think that Nintendo's addressable market is probably also half of its former market.
Nintendo is in disarray because they waited too long to launch the Wii U. I know that this sounds like (and is) sour grapes because they didn't launch the Wii HD in 2009 or 2010 as I "predicted". They should have, and because they didn't, the decline in Wii and DS hardware and software sales drove them into generating LOSSES. For those of you who aren't financial analysts, losses mean that the company is worth less than it was before. Nintendo stock has dropped by over 80% in the last few years, and the market has appreciated over the same period. I'm paid to advise investors, and none have made a profit owning Nintendo stock. I don't think that many will make a profit over the next few years, because I don't think Nintendo's strategy will return them to profitability.
The Wii U comment was in response to a question about the potential for the Wii U.
I believe (and please feel free to disagree) that a large portion of the Wii audience comprised casual gamers--those who bought one or two games a year the first two years, then put the Wii aside--and that those casual gamers moved on to another platform. The "other" platform may have been Facebook games, smart phone games, tablet games, or one of the other consoles, but once they moved on, they are not likely to come back.
At the same time, I believe (again, please feel free to disagree) that the growth of smart phones and tablets has attracted many potential dedicated handheld game customers, and these people also are unlikely to come back to either 3DS or PS Vita.
Summing this up, I think the addressable market for the Wii U is around half of the market for the Wii, and I think Microsoft and Sony will compete for a portion of that market if the Wii U is priced too high. I think that the dedicated handheld market is permanently impacted by smart phones and tablets, and think that Nintendo's addressable market is probably also half of its former market.
Nintendo is in disarray because they waited too long to launch the Wii U. I know that this sounds like (and is) sour grapes because they didn't launch the Wii HD in 2009 or 2010 as I "predicted". They should have, and because they didn't, the decline in Wii and DS hardware and software sales drove them into generating LOSSES. For those of you who aren't financial analysts, losses mean that the company is worth less than it was before. Nintendo stock has dropped by over 80% in the last few years, and the market has appreciated over the same period. I'm paid to advise investors, and none have made a profit owning Nintendo stock. I don't think that many will make a profit over the next few years, because I don't think Nintendo's strategy will return them to profitability.
News
IGN reported that the 3G model of PS Vita is capable of receiving text messages from the carriers like AT&T, and the carrier can also send SMS notifications to the device; you can find the mobile number assigned to your 3G SIM card in the System Information section.
Sony will release MotorStorm RC on PSN on Mar 6, the game will run on both PS3 and PS Vita.
Capcom has released Rival Schools: United by Fate on PSN this week, this is one of the most requested classic game by players, Capcom had to re-acquire rights from various companies in order to put this game on PSN. The game has two discs, one is the arcade fighting game, the other one is a collection of mini games and simulation adventure.
Nintendo will publish a remake of horror adventure game Project Zero 2: Crimson Butterfly [Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly] for Wii in Japan on June 28. The remake will have a new 2 player cooperative mode.
Nintendo will release the card battle game Culdcept for 3DS in Japan on June 28, for 4800 yen. Nintendo announced the Game Gear Virtual Console will launch on the 3DS eShop on Mar 14 in Japan, the first batch of games will include GG Shinobi, Dragon Crystal Shirani's Maze and Sonic & Tails 2. Bandai Namco launched a teaser site for a mystery 3DS game, which is co-developed by Capcom, Sega and Bandai Namco. Koei Tecmo announced 5 cross-over characters for Shin Sangoku Musou VS [Dynasty Warriors VS], they are Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden, Ayane from Dead or Alive and Sanada Yukimura, Ishida Mitsunari & Naoe Kanetsugu from Sengoku Musou. In addition, you can also use your Mii characters as support characters. The game will have download content in future, including costumes and new weapon. The first print of the game will come with a download code to receive a volleyball uniform and judo outfit for certain characters. Nintendo announced a new Brain Age title is in the work for 3DS, which features Dr. Kawashima. This time the theme is to improve your concentration and working memory, the doctor will appear in devil form. Nintendo will release Mario Tennis Open for 3DS in Japan on May 25, and May 25 in North America and Europe. Monolith Soft is recruiting staffs for a new 3DS project, which seems to be a new role playing game. Square Enix is working with Electronic Arts to bring Mass Effect 3 outfit download content to Final Fantasy XIII-2, no release date has been revealed yet. Here are the latest Dengeki PlayStation Review scores from Japan, Asura's Wrath got an average score of 81/100.- Asura's Wrath (PS3, Capcom): 85, 85, 85, 70
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (PSV, Koei Tecmo): 75, 70, 80, 65
- Tacchi, Shiyo! Love Application (PS3, Compile Heart): 80, 70, 85, 60
- Reality Fighters (PSV, Sony): 75, 70, 85, 60
Nintendo is helping publishers to revive their old franchises on 3DS in order to build a stronger portfolio of games for the system. The first game in this initiative is Vivarium's virtual pet title Seaman, originally released for Dreamcast in 1999.Sales
Here are the latest Media Create Console Hardware Sales in Japan for the week of Feb 13 - 19, 3DS sales went up to 95k thanks to New Love Plus and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.....
| Platform | This week | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 3DS | 94,667 | 744,479 |
| PS3 | 21,993 | 216,158 |
| PSP | 14,824 | 173,291 |
| PS Vita | 12,309 | 138,826 |
| Wii | 7,874 | 109,167 |
| PS2 | 1,433 | 6,858 |
| XB360 | 983 | 10,584 |
| DSiLL | 901 | 10,814 |
| DSi | 656 | 8,307 |
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 'Redemption' trailer released
Activision have released the latest trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, featuring single-player footage from the forthcoming title.
IGN: Battlefield 3 console versions both have Install Options for High-Res Textures
An interesting nugget of news has come out of last night's Battlefield 3 preview event in San Francisco held by EA and DICE. While speaking with GamerZines, DICE's Patrick Liu revealed that the game would allow players to install content from one disc that would let the game stream higher resolution textures.
"There's a voluntary install on the 360," Liu said to GamerZines. "I think Rage did it as well, where you can install content to stream higher res textures. We're pushing that technology to the limit, and compared to our competitors, I would argue that we're the best looking game."
IGN reached out to EA for a statement or confirmation on this additional feature, and they responded:
"Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 ships on two disks with endless hours of spectacular high-definition gameplay; disk one features the stunning multiplayer, co-op levels and HD installation content, and disk two features the superb single-player campaign."
Additionally, we asked EA whether or not the game would offer the same feature for PS3 owners, and fortunately this seems to be the case. "The PS3 version requires the same install but it's all on the one blu-ray disk," a spokesperson for the company confirmed.
So, it appears that the game will offer support for HD installations across both platforms, resulting in better looking graphics in exchange for some HDD real estate.
"There's a voluntary install on the 360," Liu said to GamerZines. "I think Rage did it as well, where you can install content to stream higher res textures. We're pushing that technology to the limit, and compared to our competitors, I would argue that we're the best looking game."
IGN reached out to EA for a statement or confirmation on this additional feature, and they responded:
"Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 ships on two disks with endless hours of spectacular high-definition gameplay; disk one features the stunning multiplayer, co-op levels and HD installation content, and disk two features the superb single-player campaign."
Additionally, we asked EA whether or not the game would offer the same feature for PS3 owners, and fortunately this seems to be the case. "The PS3 version requires the same install but it's all on the one blu-ray disk," a spokesperson for the company confirmed.
So, it appears that the game will offer support for HD installations across both platforms, resulting in better looking graphics in exchange for some HDD real estate.
GameSpot - Battlefield 3 – Content Overload
GameSpot - We spend the day playing Battlefield 3 and give you a sample of what you’ll be doing on October 25.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/battlefield-3/news/6338750/battlefield-3-content-overload?mode=previews&tag=games%3Bgame_title%3B1
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/battlefield-3/news/6338750/battlefield-3-content-overload?mode=previews&tag=games%3Bgame_title%3B1
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Forza 4 Review: The best racing sim on the market
The world of Forza Motorsport – there’s no clever storyline, no rise to fame through a faceless character, just you, few hundred cars and the open road. This is more than a game, it’s an experience and one than can be tailored to any play style and level of skill. The latest game in the hugely successful franchise finally sees the addition of Top Gear, which includes the iconic Top Gear test track and commentary by the man himself, Jeremy Clarkson – I am however still yet to bump into The Stig in-game though!
The game can be played in two ways, with Kinect or with a controller and Kinect. Going into the game exclusively using just Kinect gives you full Kinect-ivity in Autovista (Forza’s new car showroom) as well as being able to drive any of the cars on one of the games many tracks using just your hands. While this is super enjoyable as Kinect is extremely responsive, there is hardly any competition to be had here. The game accelerates and brakes for you leaving you to concentrate on taking a virtual grab of the wheel and enjoying the spectacular scenery Forza has to offer, think of this mode as more like a Sunday drive in the countryside.
You can also take on a friend locally in split-screen for a head-to-head Kinect race. You can choose from a small selection of tracks and cars, but there are one or two issues with the Kinect only mode that make split-screen rather painful. Firstly the navigation of the menus isn’t great (which is also an issue in the single player modes). You can scroll through the cars and tracks by swiping your hand across the screen, sounds simple enough but the execution of this in Forza 4 is one of the worst menu navigations I’ve seen from a Kinect enabled game. Not only is it a bit of a fiddle to grab the pane and swipe across to navigate, it’s practically impossible to navigate through one pane at a time. This can be particularly annoying when playing in split-screen as you watch your opponent wrestle with the navigation to look through ALL the cars on offer. Once in-game and racing against one another, Kinect seemed to struggle somewhat with my movements, they didn’t seem to be as responsive when compared to the single player modes.
The main beauty of the Kinect only mode of Forza 4 though is Autovista. This is Forza’s car showroom and while not all the cars are available in this mode there are certainly enough to keep you entertained for a long while and I would certainly expect Turn 10 to deliver more through DLC during the game’s lifecycle. Initially not all the cars are available for you to explore and you must unlock them by completing a challenge which can be from completing time trials and races to passing as many cars as possible. Autovista mode remains the same whether you choose to explore it using the power of Kinect or by a controller – although challenges are a lot easier to complete using Kinect.
Once you have selected a car to explore you are able to virtually walk around and look at the various parts using head tracking, which works pretty much faultlessly. There are multiple points of interest on the car which when selected, you are treated to a brief narration on that part. There is also a hotspot on the car that will play the Top Gear presentation, which is narrated by Jeremy Clarkson and shot in a very Top Gear-esque fashion. This feature looks and sounds great and wouldn’t look out of place on the TV show, you learn a bit about each car and what Jeremy Clarkson thinks about them. This is a great little feature and you will certainly want to look at the other car’s in Top Gear modes.
Outside of the information hotspots on the cars you can navigate around, open doors and even get into the car all through the power of Kinect. Head tracking works particularly well, allowing you to peer around and inspect the car’s finer points and there are plenty of ‘fine’ points. The cars look absolutely unbelievable, like they are ready to leap out of the screen. The reproduction and detail in the vehicles is breathtaking, they look stunning and it isn’t until you get a closer look at the alloy wheels and the rubber on the tyres that the illusion of looking at a real car is shattered. When using a controller you can look around the car using the sticks and while the experience is relatively the same it’s more fun and immersive to use Kinect.
With such great integration to head tracking in Autovista it’s a shame that Turn 10 didn’t integrate this into the racing side of the Kinect mode. While I can see that this may have been too distracting while racing with your hands, I would have liked to of been given the option to turn it on or off. Likewise there are no voice commands available to you when in Kinect mode, which if there was, could have helped the navigation issue I experienced. The Kinect racing modes may all be played while sitting down, but you need to stand to make full use of Autovista.
The Kinect only mode is just the tip of what’s on offer in Forza, the main game is experienced with a controller, or in the case of this review, a steering wheel. Starting the game you will be treated to a Top Gear presentation about the new game before being thrust into a celebration lap of new level – the Bernese Alps. You now have the option to import your Forza 3 profile and receive a nice achievement as well as cars and credits from your Forza 3 career. Now you can pick your first Forza 4 car in which to begin your World Tour. Similar to previous games in the franchise, you begin by selecting from bog standard “small” cars – I went for a Toyota Aygo.
When using Kinect in contoller mode you can call out ‘Xbox’ and make a voice command to jump straight into a menu or mode at anytime. Don’t worry, all the possible voice commands are listed in the menu just like in the Kinect dashboard. Now, before you begin to sink your teeth into the main game you can if you wish install disc 2 to your hard drive which enables an extra 250 cars to be available in the main game. You can opt to install the whole disc or choose packs to install.
Kinect doesn’t just stop with voice commands, Kinect delivers one of the finest intergrations of the system into a game, head-tracking. To enable head-tracking you must delve into the options screen and switch it on. Here you can also tweak a variety of options to best suit you. You can adjust the sensitivity on head yaw, lean sensitivity and also adjust a setting called “head yaw with lean” which roughly means a setting to adjust the neutral position when you look straight forward. You can also adjust Kinect’s ability to clip out unwanted objects in the background. It’s an impressive set of options but does it work? Oh my word does it!
So how does it work? well as the name suggests, Forza can now track your head movements and translate them directly into the game so now you can look down and round a bend or even check your rear view and wing mirrors. Head tracking becomes even more noticeable when you start drifting around corners at high speeds, the view looks into the corner you are drifting round and through the side window rather than transfixed out front, it’s an incredible experience and is a stand out feature of Forza 4.
The thing I have loved most about using a steering wheel and cockpit view in Forza is the level of immersion it creates, it’s as close many of us will get to sitting in a real car and racing around a track. Many games have carried the better with Kinect tagline and I think that Forza 4 is the first game to really prove that it certainly is, this feature alone makes having Kinectability with Forza 4 worthwhile, I love it!
Just to make sure head tracking is a worthwhile addition, try turning it off after using it for a prolonged period of time. Instantly the cars will feel very rigid and the game will be less immersive. It’s a tremendous accolade to be able to boast the best Kinect support in a game and one that I think Turn 10 will be proud of and deserve.
Turn 10 haven’t just fiddled with Kinect-ability and intergrated Top Gear, they have also delved into the physics of the game making each of the tracks feel like a fresh challenge as you battle against the road surface and the condition of your tyres, the level of immersion just keeps getting deeper. Like previous games you can also tweak the difficulty to suit your skill. On easy, the game will assist you in just about every aspect allowing you to concentrate on steering – Sunday drivers apply here! As the difficulty increases the game gives you more and more control over the car until you are on full simulation mode and have to deal with the clutch as well as driving without any assists such as ABS (I can recommend using a steering wheel if you plan to go for this mode). You can of course also select a difficulty and then tweak individual elements that make up that difficulty, for example, you could opt for medium but instead of limited damage you can change it to full simulation. The possibilities are endless and there really is a difficulty for everyone, as you get better you can keep stepping up the difficulty until you are a racing pro.
There’s nothing worse than playing a racing game against AI that is clinical and overly aggressive, well in Forza 4 the AI has been tweaked further since the last game and while you will come across some overly aggressive drivers who will force you into a spin, you will also see plenty of errors in the way that they drive. On only my second race the AI was out in front with me hot on their heels, as we approached a tight S bend the AI bottled it and spun off the track just as if I was racing a human player, it was truly exhilarating stuff. Unfortunately though there are no options to directly control the AI difficulty in World Tour, their skill does scale with how you set up your car difficulty but there are no direct options to control their skills or levels of aggression which is kind of a shame considering how in-depth most of the options are in Forza. Playing the game in free play\quick race or by choosing to race an event from the list in career mode does allow you to set your opponent difficulty. The event list mode also allows you to set the opponent upgrades and class restrictions, so I felt it was rather odd to leave these settings out of the world tour mode.
Other than new physics to contend with in Forza 4, gameplay wise it remains the same, it’s racing, but in Forza 4 the guys at Top Gear are on hand to help “mix things up”. Bowling anyone? That’s right, knock over pins as you race around the Top Gear track and this is part of the career mode. It’s a shame that there aren’t more of these modes to mix up the standard race career. All of the different circuits of the Top Gear track are available in Forza 4 including the ability to race in the classic Kia cee’d. The only thing I found that was missing was Mr Clarkson’s voice warning me as I approached hammerhead, just like in the celeb hot laps.
As well as catering for just about any level of skill, Forza 4 also caters for a wide range in car taste, from the everyday family car up to the top of the range sports models. Finally I can now drive the family car decked out in a body kit that my wife would never consent too. The cars all feel and look great, each coming with slight differences to the way they handle. Each is so intricately detailed that I’m sure only the nerdiest car fanatic could pick holes!
The single player element to Forza 4 remains vastly unchanged, take part in World Tour, a mode that sees you make your way up the car classes through a plotted path of events across the world. At anytime you can jump out of this and take on events at your pace and at your own choosing by playing through the event list mode. Each event in World Tour gives you a set of options, you may choose to take on the track in one of three ways, these come down to making a choice as to what car class or type you would like to race in, each coming with its own unique bonus reward which is from bonus credits, driver XP or car model affinity bonus. Be warned though going for the best rewards might not be the easiest route through world tour, early on in your career you can jump from E class cars to B class if you want that large juicy reward bonus.
Progress through Forza is pretty much all about self progression and improvement. You can complete the game by chosing easy and just driving mindlessly through the games hundreds of tracks and even if you don’t finish first you can still proceed to the next stage. It’s all about the enjoyment of driving around tracks and improving the simulation experience by increasing the control you have over the car.
The new edition to single player is Rivals mode which can also be played amongst your car club in multiplayer. Rivals is a mode where you compete against other gamers lap times and scores in an effort to better them and place yourself on the line for others to beat. While playing in rivals you continue to earn driver XP and affinity XP and there are various rivals races in which to compete giving every type of Forza player something to compete in. What’s more is you don’t have to race the rival that the game chooses for you if you don’t want to, by pressing Y you can select to take on a rival from your friends list or car club. You can take on a racer from the top scores on that track, racers that are located “near you” or from any you have “favourited”. The game really does cater to what YOU want to do in a racing game and how YOU want to play it.
Graphically Forza is one of the best looking racers out there. I mentioned before Autovista mode looks truly stunning and while not quite as gorgeous, in-game racing still looks superb and will certainly give a wow factor especially if you have people over and the game happens to be on in the background – Forza is eye bleedingly beautiful, I just want to sit and stare at it’s lucious curves all day long. To be fair Forza has always looked pretty awesome but Turn 10 have upped their game further in 4. The tracks look more real than ever, the lighting engine has been improved and makes the cars look so real as light bounces off of them and coupled with a steering wheel and head tracking on Kinect you really can’t get any closer to the real thing.
Forza has always been about the community. The game has offered multiple tools over the years which have all linked in with the website. Picture and video sharing was the tip of the iceberg, Forza features a very comprehensive art tool where users can decorate their cars and create vinyl sets which they can then sell to other users through the storefront or even put one-off designs and cars up for auction. The community has also seen a strong rise in creative flair as gamers try to produce stunning pictures or gameplay movies. In Forza 4 you can now take HD pictures to upload to the website and you can record up to 30s worth of video in either web or high quality format and upload it to the forza website, this can be a lengthy process to record but worth it if you want to show off your greatest driving feats.
The lastest addition to the Forza 4 community is Clubs. Clubs is an extension of the online community that has formed over the years and is best described as a clan. Club members can race against each other, beat each others records in Rivals and best of all share cars and tuning setups. Forza loves it’s community and the attention Forza 4 shows towards this is evidence that the community is a mighty strong and active one. The only issue I found with clubs is that you have to type in gamertags manually to send out invites to join your car club, there didn’t seem a way to access your friends list to fire out invites directly.
There are plenty of modes to race online and you have direct access to invite either friends or club members into your party. The usual race modes are ever-present here but there are also several fun modes to play around with in the playground. The online will certainly extend your Forza career but for me I much prefer the solo experience although with the new club mode I can see myself getting rather competitive with one or two gamers from my friends list and club mode could open up the world of online racing to me, something I’ve never really got into before.
I’ve enjoyed past iterations of Forza but none of them have grabbed me and immersed me as much as Forza 4, it’s utterly fantastic and the best racing game I’ve ever played. Maybe it’s the head tracking but never before have I ever felt like I’m in the car so much as I do with Forza 4, in fact after thrashing the family car about the tracks I have to refocus myself when driving said car in the real world. It just feels all so right, a little too real – I just can’t see how Turn 10 will better the game in the next version which will undoubtedly release on Microsoft’s next console.
What I love about Forza is you don’t have to race on a certain track X amount of times before you can unlock a new track or buy a new car, you don’t have to be the worlds best racer to enjoy all its modes. The game caters for everyone and every skill. It’s not just a racing game but an experience and one that Turn 10 continually improve upon in every iteration. Just when you think the game is at its pinnacle Turn 10 break out the Turtle Wax and elbow grease and bring in something new and squeeze more beauty out of the games graphic engine. The competitive nature of the AI is spot on, the physics feel great particularly the force feedback coming from the road through the steering wheel, which at times makes you really feel like you have to fight against it! To top off the authentic nature of the game you will even get road rage!
If there is one racing game you buy this year make it Forza Motorsport 4 now I’m off to thrash the family car around the Top Gear race track one last time!
VERDICT 9/10
You can also take on a friend locally in split-screen for a head-to-head Kinect race. You can choose from a small selection of tracks and cars, but there are one or two issues with the Kinect only mode that make split-screen rather painful. Firstly the navigation of the menus isn’t great (which is also an issue in the single player modes). You can scroll through the cars and tracks by swiping your hand across the screen, sounds simple enough but the execution of this in Forza 4 is one of the worst menu navigations I’ve seen from a Kinect enabled game. Not only is it a bit of a fiddle to grab the pane and swipe across to navigate, it’s practically impossible to navigate through one pane at a time. This can be particularly annoying when playing in split-screen as you watch your opponent wrestle with the navigation to look through ALL the cars on offer. Once in-game and racing against one another, Kinect seemed to struggle somewhat with my movements, they didn’t seem to be as responsive when compared to the single player modes.
Once you have selected a car to explore you are able to virtually walk around and look at the various parts using head tracking, which works pretty much faultlessly. There are multiple points of interest on the car which when selected, you are treated to a brief narration on that part. There is also a hotspot on the car that will play the Top Gear presentation, which is narrated by Jeremy Clarkson and shot in a very Top Gear-esque fashion. This feature looks and sounds great and wouldn’t look out of place on the TV show, you learn a bit about each car and what Jeremy Clarkson thinks about them. This is a great little feature and you will certainly want to look at the other car’s in Top Gear modes.
Outside of the information hotspots on the cars you can navigate around, open doors and even get into the car all through the power of Kinect. Head tracking works particularly well, allowing you to peer around and inspect the car’s finer points and there are plenty of ‘fine’ points. The cars look absolutely unbelievable, like they are ready to leap out of the screen. The reproduction and detail in the vehicles is breathtaking, they look stunning and it isn’t until you get a closer look at the alloy wheels and the rubber on the tyres that the illusion of looking at a real car is shattered. When using a controller you can look around the car using the sticks and while the experience is relatively the same it’s more fun and immersive to use Kinect.
The Kinect only mode is just the tip of what’s on offer in Forza, the main game is experienced with a controller, or in the case of this review, a steering wheel. Starting the game you will be treated to a Top Gear presentation about the new game before being thrust into a celebration lap of new level – the Bernese Alps. You now have the option to import your Forza 3 profile and receive a nice achievement as well as cars and credits from your Forza 3 career. Now you can pick your first Forza 4 car in which to begin your World Tour. Similar to previous games in the franchise, you begin by selecting from bog standard “small” cars – I went for a Toyota Aygo.
When using Kinect in contoller mode you can call out ‘Xbox’ and make a voice command to jump straight into a menu or mode at anytime. Don’t worry, all the possible voice commands are listed in the menu just like in the Kinect dashboard. Now, before you begin to sink your teeth into the main game you can if you wish install disc 2 to your hard drive which enables an extra 250 cars to be available in the main game. You can opt to install the whole disc or choose packs to install.
So how does it work? well as the name suggests, Forza can now track your head movements and translate them directly into the game so now you can look down and round a bend or even check your rear view and wing mirrors. Head tracking becomes even more noticeable when you start drifting around corners at high speeds, the view looks into the corner you are drifting round and through the side window rather than transfixed out front, it’s an incredible experience and is a stand out feature of Forza 4.
The thing I have loved most about using a steering wheel and cockpit view in Forza is the level of immersion it creates, it’s as close many of us will get to sitting in a real car and racing around a track. Many games have carried the better with Kinect tagline and I think that Forza 4 is the first game to really prove that it certainly is, this feature alone makes having Kinectability with Forza 4 worthwhile, I love it!
Just to make sure head tracking is a worthwhile addition, try turning it off after using it for a prolonged period of time. Instantly the cars will feel very rigid and the game will be less immersive. It’s a tremendous accolade to be able to boast the best Kinect support in a game and one that I think Turn 10 will be proud of and deserve.
There’s nothing worse than playing a racing game against AI that is clinical and overly aggressive, well in Forza 4 the AI has been tweaked further since the last game and while you will come across some overly aggressive drivers who will force you into a spin, you will also see plenty of errors in the way that they drive. On only my second race the AI was out in front with me hot on their heels, as we approached a tight S bend the AI bottled it and spun off the track just as if I was racing a human player, it was truly exhilarating stuff. Unfortunately though there are no options to directly control the AI difficulty in World Tour, their skill does scale with how you set up your car difficulty but there are no direct options to control their skills or levels of aggression which is kind of a shame considering how in-depth most of the options are in Forza. Playing the game in free play\quick race or by choosing to race an event from the list in career mode does allow you to set your opponent difficulty. The event list mode also allows you to set the opponent upgrades and class restrictions, so I felt it was rather odd to leave these settings out of the world tour mode.
Other than new physics to contend with in Forza 4, gameplay wise it remains the same, it’s racing, but in Forza 4 the guys at Top Gear are on hand to help “mix things up”. Bowling anyone? That’s right, knock over pins as you race around the Top Gear track and this is part of the career mode. It’s a shame that there aren’t more of these modes to mix up the standard race career. All of the different circuits of the Top Gear track are available in Forza 4 including the ability to race in the classic Kia cee’d. The only thing I found that was missing was Mr Clarkson’s voice warning me as I approached hammerhead, just like in the celeb hot laps.
As well as catering for just about any level of skill, Forza 4 also caters for a wide range in car taste, from the everyday family car up to the top of the range sports models. Finally I can now drive the family car decked out in a body kit that my wife would never consent too. The cars all feel and look great, each coming with slight differences to the way they handle. Each is so intricately detailed that I’m sure only the nerdiest car fanatic could pick holes!
Progress through Forza is pretty much all about self progression and improvement. You can complete the game by chosing easy and just driving mindlessly through the games hundreds of tracks and even if you don’t finish first you can still proceed to the next stage. It’s all about the enjoyment of driving around tracks and improving the simulation experience by increasing the control you have over the car.
The new edition to single player is Rivals mode which can also be played amongst your car club in multiplayer. Rivals is a mode where you compete against other gamers lap times and scores in an effort to better them and place yourself on the line for others to beat. While playing in rivals you continue to earn driver XP and affinity XP and there are various rivals races in which to compete giving every type of Forza player something to compete in. What’s more is you don’t have to race the rival that the game chooses for you if you don’t want to, by pressing Y you can select to take on a rival from your friends list or car club. You can take on a racer from the top scores on that track, racers that are located “near you” or from any you have “favourited”. The game really does cater to what YOU want to do in a racing game and how YOU want to play it.
Forza has always been about the community. The game has offered multiple tools over the years which have all linked in with the website. Picture and video sharing was the tip of the iceberg, Forza features a very comprehensive art tool where users can decorate their cars and create vinyl sets which they can then sell to other users through the storefront or even put one-off designs and cars up for auction. The community has also seen a strong rise in creative flair as gamers try to produce stunning pictures or gameplay movies. In Forza 4 you can now take HD pictures to upload to the website and you can record up to 30s worth of video in either web or high quality format and upload it to the forza website, this can be a lengthy process to record but worth it if you want to show off your greatest driving feats.
The lastest addition to the Forza 4 community is Clubs. Clubs is an extension of the online community that has formed over the years and is best described as a clan. Club members can race against each other, beat each others records in Rivals and best of all share cars and tuning setups. Forza loves it’s community and the attention Forza 4 shows towards this is evidence that the community is a mighty strong and active one. The only issue I found with clubs is that you have to type in gamertags manually to send out invites to join your car club, there didn’t seem a way to access your friends list to fire out invites directly.
There are plenty of modes to race online and you have direct access to invite either friends or club members into your party. The usual race modes are ever-present here but there are also several fun modes to play around with in the playground. The online will certainly extend your Forza career but for me I much prefer the solo experience although with the new club mode I can see myself getting rather competitive with one or two gamers from my friends list and club mode could open up the world of online racing to me, something I’ve never really got into before.
What I love about Forza is you don’t have to race on a certain track X amount of times before you can unlock a new track or buy a new car, you don’t have to be the worlds best racer to enjoy all its modes. The game caters for everyone and every skill. It’s not just a racing game but an experience and one that Turn 10 continually improve upon in every iteration. Just when you think the game is at its pinnacle Turn 10 break out the Turtle Wax and elbow grease and bring in something new and squeeze more beauty out of the games graphic engine. The competitive nature of the AI is spot on, the physics feel great particularly the force feedback coming from the road through the steering wheel, which at times makes you really feel like you have to fight against it! To top off the authentic nature of the game you will even get road rage!
If there is one racing game you buy this year make it Forza Motorsport 4 now I’m off to thrash the family car around the Top Gear race track one last time!
VERDICT 9/10
IGN: Forza Motorsport 4 Review
IGN Writes: Like the step up from FIFA 11 to FIFA 12, there's no going back to Forza 3 now. The changes and updates are too welcome and widespread. The improved visuals, the added cars on track, the wealth of new race types, the tweaked AI and closer racing, the ferocious sound and superior sense of speed, the even better livery editor, the lot. With Forza 4 Turn 10 has crafted a driving game like no other; it's hands-down this generation's premier racing simulator.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/119/1198556p1.html
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/119/1198556p1.html
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
PlayStation Vita: Nearly Outdated Graphically
Like many gamers, we can't wait to buy PlayStation Vitas next year. Sony has the makings of a stellar launch lineup, and the concept of having a portable system a step below PlayStation 3 is quite an exciting prospect.
You know, despite the notion that Vita's nearly outdated.
Assuming Sony's powerhouse will be around for a minimum of five years, it'll be a dinosaur in at least two.
The reason is simple. Barring some complete hardware revision, developers must make due with the handheld's technology from now until the unit's final gasp. That involves spending extended time learning Vita's innards and/or pulling off some neat tricks to maximize its potential.
On the flip side, smart phones advance more rapidly than your standard video game system. When a company like Sony or Nintendo releases a handheld, it's usually in it for the long haul.
Apple, by comparison, pumps out a new iPhone every year. With each iteration, the device becomes faster and more powerful. Graphics, download speeds and other features (like the camera) improve dramatically.
Consider this quote from id Software's John Carmack, creator of DOOM.
"It's unquestionable that within a very short time, we're going to have portable cell phones that are more powerful than the current-gen consoles. People have exaggerated the relative powers. The iPad2 is not more powerful than the 360. It's still a factor of a couple weaker. But the fact that it's gotten that close that fast, that means that almost certainly, two years from now, there will be mobile devices more powerful than what we're doing all these fabulous games on right now."
That said, it's only a matter of time before an iPhone or Android powered device eclipses PlayStation Vita in raw graphical horsepower. In fact, the current iPhone 4 and upcoming iPhone 4S aren't too far behind.
Consider the following...
Infinity Blade 2
Here we have a game nearly on par with anything we've seen on PlayStation Vita, complete with game saves through iCloud and a new mode (Clash Mob) involving thousands of players. The best part? Infinity Blade 2 debuts December 1, 2011.
The Dark Meadow
Today marks the release of this gorgeous looking first person adventure from Phosphor Games, a game that sends players through a monster filled hospital. Simply beautiful, and like Infinity Blade 2, The Dark Meadow is nearly on par with Vita's launch games visually. Whether or not it's fun remains to be seen.
Shadowgun
OK, so Shadowgun isn't the deepest third person shooter on the market, but that's not the point. Madfinger Games produced a sweet looking Gears of War clone that runs with almost no hitches on a smart phone. Things will only get better from here. Oh, and you can download this game right now.
Bladeslinger
You know, despite the notion that Vita's nearly outdated.
Assuming Sony's powerhouse will be around for a minimum of five years, it'll be a dinosaur in at least two.
The reason is simple. Barring some complete hardware revision, developers must make due with the handheld's technology from now until the unit's final gasp. That involves spending extended time learning Vita's innards and/or pulling off some neat tricks to maximize its potential.
On the flip side, smart phones advance more rapidly than your standard video game system. When a company like Sony or Nintendo releases a handheld, it's usually in it for the long haul.
Apple, by comparison, pumps out a new iPhone every year. With each iteration, the device becomes faster and more powerful. Graphics, download speeds and other features (like the camera) improve dramatically.
Consider this quote from id Software's John Carmack, creator of DOOM.
"It's unquestionable that within a very short time, we're going to have portable cell phones that are more powerful than the current-gen consoles. People have exaggerated the relative powers. The iPad2 is not more powerful than the 360. It's still a factor of a couple weaker. But the fact that it's gotten that close that fast, that means that almost certainly, two years from now, there will be mobile devices more powerful than what we're doing all these fabulous games on right now."
That said, it's only a matter of time before an iPhone or Android powered device eclipses PlayStation Vita in raw graphical horsepower. In fact, the current iPhone 4 and upcoming iPhone 4S aren't too far behind.
Consider the following...
Infinity Blade 2
The Dark Meadow
Shadowgun
Bladeslinger
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