HDMI saves my PS3 from indifference

A while back I had my PS3 infused with infectious and much needed joy by the release of Uncharted 2(winner of 4 Baftas). But I have learnt that I'd only been giving the Sony system only half the chance needed to impress me. Unfairly, I had been running it through a 32" 7 year old Sony CRT. With this overight now corrected, I have to say, what a difference a slight change of setting makes!

Moving my PS3 upstairs and hooking it up to a 24" HDMI monitor ala my current 360, has opened my eyes to the beauty of the PS3 and it's media. This has obiviously been helped by playing the recently released God of War III.

With the two gaming systems sitting side-by-side, using the same outputs, I will have a much better view of how system exclusives match up to each other in the future.

Noticings, Blu-ray and ApocalyPS3

Yesterday was a bad day for the 'fat' PS3. But as the old saying goes, 'all PR is good PR' or is that just silly? Should I ask Ashley Cole or John Terry?

Now I own one of these PS3 models and have Heavy Rain waiting to be revisited. I'd also just decided to make the move into building a Blu-ray collection of my choice movies - I currently only own The Dark Knight & Dark City - and so ordered Blade Runner(Director's Cut) and Watchmen(Director's Cut) plus preordered Minority Report. To add to that, I have just been sent the Halo Legends and Dante's Inferno animated movies on Blu-ray to review. I was happily gearing this year towards being my first Blu-ray year proper when Sony decide to throw a small CPU bug into the mix. Luckily I didn't try logging into PSN or even turning on my PS3 yesterday but it does make one wonder what else Sony have overlooked. It's also made me consider buying a stand-alone Blu-ray player when I hadn't considered it before. Hmm.

Onto Flickr. I've been yearning to find a use for my account for a few years now and finally I think Noticings could end the yearning and also put my iPhone's camera to better use.

Noticings is a game based around your own photography posted to your Flickr account with uploaded photos being public and geotagged. The rules and scoring for Noticings can be viewed here and my first submission is here.

Chomp! Chomp! OK, Heavy Rain it is then...

I had been working on a nice long post, cataloging my reasons behind why I will no longer occupy space in either multiplayer or MMO landscapes, when my PC/Blogger decided to rip the words from my screen and munch happily away. Left with an auto-saved 'blank page', I just didn't have the heart to re-write the post from my notes. Call me lazy but I knew I'd luck-out trying to contain the same feeling and purpose in a re-written post. And so after completing the original Bioshock(contender for my best gaming experience of the last decade), I decided I'd spin out the Heavy Rain yarn which has kept me well away from posting.

I hope that game developers don't forgo the importance of storytelling in videogames for the throwaway importance of multiplayer. You only have to look at the number of recent game servers that are being closed down by EA to see that the multiplayer option is becoming an overused and often weak, commercial ploy. I'd rather see more games developed with the soloist in mind, like Heavy Rain, Bioshock and Uncharted Drake's Fortune(as my recent gaming examples show)than another CoD multiplayer clone.

Blame it on the weather - thoughts on the Heavy Rain demo

 

Early access to a demo? Then expect some long waits and site crashes - exactly what we got when the news broke that there would be early access to the Heavy Rain demo.

So I didn't try figuring things out to get the code, to get the demo, to then wait an eon for the download. Instead I just waited an eon for the download...but now that I have played the Heavy Rain demo, here are my thoughts:

[Reading the following may SPOIL the HEAVY RAIN DEMO experience, if you have yet to play]

What you get is an introduction to the basics(alley scene), followed by the 'sleazy scene' and a 'crime scene'. Each is fairly short but all give you time to move around each location and try out the movement/view options. I like that you can move your characters head via the left analogue stick while either remaining still or on the move. Animations and incidental sound add greatly to the setting and atmosphere, lighting also looks good and detail is clear enough even with a CRT TV - although the 'thought' text can become a little lost.

The 'sleazy scene' allows an informal chat with a parent of a victim of the Origami Killer by one of the playable characters in the game, Scott Shelby(PI). Of the two scenes, this is my favorite - we learn that Scott suffers from asthma but can handle himself in a fist fight. Little else is given away other than some great interaction between Shelby and the victim's parent. Facial animations are spot on and voice work has the empathsis on gritty noir. I hope the story holds out to be something just as special.

The forensic side of the game is highlighted in the second scene, 'crime scene' by FBI profiler Norman Jayden - the second of four playable characters that have been confirmed. Examination of a body that is found early one morning, allows the player to experience the unique(and fictional) forensic equipment at the disposal of Agent Jayden. Interesting as this looks, I do hope it is put to some good and isn't just in-game candyfloss.

20 days and counting...

Tibet brings out the beast in Nate

I've now played through both Uncharted games and I have to say that I'm truly impressed with the experience that both games gave me. Not even Assassins Creed II or MW2 could sway me from completing the single-player mode in Among Thieves - I'm now playing Drake's Fortune through for a second time but on the hard mode setting.

I've recently reviewed Uncharted 2 over at Caught in the Crossfire - close to perfect as a gaming experience can be and probably my game of the year. The excellently paced action-stained storyline has some stand-out moments but the one that engaged me the most was the Tibetan village 'down-time' of chapter 16.



I love videogames for moments like these when they are unexpected but fit in so well with the mood the game has set. The scene comes just after the cinematic chase over the outside of a moving train(chapters 14/15) and the video above highlights a few of the subtle moments that made it a highlight for me - the beast mode medal is something I initially missed. Playing ball with the children and discovering others hiding from you are very nicely scripted.

I do hope there's to be an Uncharted 3,4 and 5!

Uncharted 2 saves my PS3 from indifference

Wakey, Wakey!

I feel a secret slumber has slowly been lifted from my vision. I have new eyes for my PS3, no longer is it just a Blu-ray player with a gaming system tagged on. Instead, this second impression is of a good if not great, videogaming console that can compete with my 360, for gaming time.

And that is thanks solely to one videogaming title, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Don't get me wrong, I have tried other PS3 exclusive titles; Killzone, Little Big Planet, Resistance 1 & 2 but these didn't impress upon me anything other than a feeling of meh.

So why Uncharted 2: Among Thieves? What makes the PS3 gaming experience so much different this time? Maybe it's the combination of timing, uniqueness, refined fun and polish that made me go out and track down Uncharted: Drake's Fortune at a local Argos store, for £9.99. I'm now running through both games storylines simultaneously and it has been nothing but fun and adventure since.

I worry that this maybe the only exclusive IP that I ever enjoy on the PS3 platform(what with Metal Gear heading to the 360) but I can only hope it isn't. If nothing else, discovering how good videogaming can be(thanks Naughty Dog) on the PS3 has given me the patience to try out more titles in the future - even if they're not exclusive to the platform.

And who said first impressions last?