What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I have that awesome problem of having too many good games to play this weekend. If you’ve read my (not a) review of Hot Shots Tennis then you know that I’m loving the game. I’m going to play it more than I ought to this weekend. Last night I started LEGO Harry Potter and was totally charmed. I’ll definitely be spending more time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For more practical reasons, I should play Crackdown 2. I’ll spend some time with the game, but it’s going to lose time to the first two titles I mentioned.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

(Not a) Review of Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip

Last Saturday I spent two hours downloading Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip for Sony Playstation Portable. I was immensely annoyed that it took so long to download a relatively small amount of data. Five days later, I don’t regret the wait. This game has been a most pleasant surprise. Hot Shots Tennis for PSP is a cute combination of arcade sports and role playing that’s a tremendous value. If you find arcade sports remotely entertaining then I highly recommend this game.

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip takes Clap Hanz (Hot Shots Golf) art style and combines it with RPG elements that reminded me of Mario Tennis: Power Tour for Game Boy Advance. You start off with a pair of players on a journey to spread joy to the world through the Love Tennis Club. The silly premise is just an excuse to travel to different locations, beat dozens of players, recruit new allies, and add a bit of story to the excellent gameplay.

As you travel from location to location, there are plenty of RPG trappings to enjoy in between matches. You’ll have to talk to different characters to gather information. There are simple fetch quests. There are plenty of hidden objects and characters to find. There are hundreds of rats to kill for experience points (okay, I made that last one up). Naturally, there are “boss fights” at the end of each level. Linking it all is a surprisingly deep and thoroughly fun tennis system.

As someone that has played hundreds of hours of actual tennis, I really appreciated the addictive gameplay and subtle nuances in Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip. The different play styles — baseline, net, and all-around — are distinct. The difference between players is really pronounced. Character stats can be manipulated through the use of different outfits, racquets, and accessories. The art is cute and the RPG elements are fun, but none of it would matter if the gameplay wasn’t any good. The tennis in this game is way more than good. It’s great.

Most of you know that I’m a big RPG fan. Some of you know that I dress far better than most game writers. With all of that in mind, you can understand why I enjoyed the game’s customization system. Some of the outfits are ridiculous — horse heads, stag beetle costumes, bikinis, ninja outfits, etc. While I enjoyed seeing my players look ridiculous on the court, I loved maxing out stats through outfits. I find accessorizing fun. Sue me.

As with any great portable game, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is fun for two minutes or two hours. Even though I beat the game’s story mode last night, I know that I’ll be playing it for dozens of hours in the future. Maxing out the various characters, trying out new outfit combinations, and playing multiplayer matches (ad hoc only) with friends will definitely be part of my gaming future.

Best of all, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is pretty cheap, with an MSRP of $19.99. Again, if you dig arcade sports titles like Hot Shots Golf and Mario Tennis then I highly recommend this game. It offers a tremendous amount of fun for a relatively low price. Going into the game, I knew I’d like it, but I was surprised that I ended up loving it.

NPD Console Sales Figures Top 10 Games of May 2010

Here are NPD Group’s console software sales figures for May 2010. There were a lot of great releases in May, which is traditionally a slow month for the business. Some of your favorites made the list and there were a few surprises as well. Let’s check out the digits!

  1. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360): 945,900
  2. Red Dead Redemption (PS3): 567,100
  3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii): 563,000
  4. UFC 2010: Undisputed (Xbox 360): 221,100
  5. UFC 2010: Undisputed (PS3): 192,300
  6. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board (Wii)
  7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
  8. Alan Wake (Xbox 360)
  9. Pokemon SoulSilver (Nintendo DS)
  10. Skate 3 (Xbox 360)

Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m used to seeing more Nintendo games in the top 10. Ha! Obviously Red Dead Redemption was May’s killer title. UFC 2010 did well, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I was happy to see games like Alan Wake and Skate 3 on the list; they didn’t get as much hype and commercial time as some of May’s other titles, but they did well. Naturally, Nintendo continued to do well with Mario and Pokemon.

Anything on May’s list surprise you?

NPD Hardware Sales Figures for May 2010

NPD Group released its console sales data for May 2010. The gaming industry is still in a year-over-year decline, but will May’s console hardware sales help the business bust out of the slump? Let’s check out the numbers:

  • Nintendo DS: 383,700
  • Nintendo Wii: 334,800
  • Xbox 360: 194,600
  • PlayStation 3: 154,500
  • PlayStation Portable: 59,400

The Wii and Xbox 360 are up from April, but the rest of the systems are down. For the Nintendo DS, the difference isn’t that big of a deal since it’s trouncing the competition and continues to sell extremely well. Sony was slightly down and put up decent numbers, but not enough to compete with the Xbox 360. With a lot of gamers excited about the 360 hardware refresh, I’d be surprised if the gap didn’t widen in May.

Any thoughts on these lovely numbers? Uh…fore?!? Ha!

Speculation: CDMA iPhone 4 Ready, Verizon Yet to Sign

Here’s an interesting piece of speculation by The Loop. Jim Dalrymple believes that Apple has a CDMA iPhone 4 ready to go, but Verizon has yet to sign on the dotted line. His speculation follows the Bloomberg report that Verizon will start selling the iPhone 4 in January 2011.

Apple already has a Verizon compatible iPhone. It’s not that they have to rush around Apple HQ and start building the thing for a January launch with Verizon — it’s already there and being perfected all the time.

Here’s where my thoughts differ a little bit from Bloomberg. I don’t believe a deal has been finalized with Verizon. It’s reasonable to assume that the two companies are in negotiations and the Bloomberg article is just another negotiating tactic, but I don’t think a deal has been signed.

On one hand, you’re probably thinking that Verizon would be nuts not to make a deal for the most popular consumer smartphone on the market. On the other hand, Verizon is used to dictating terms and Apple is in an extremely powerful negotiating position. In case you have three hands, consider that Sprint — also a CDMA carrier — is desperate for new customers and Apple could dictate more favorable terms with it than Verizon.

I would love for Sprint to get the iPhone 4 over Verizon. On a personal level, it would be more affordable. From a verbal entertainer’s standpoint, it would make the market far more interesting. Despite the iPhone’s immense popularity, Verizon still has more customers than AT&T. Sprint is a distant third, but could conceivably close the gap in a very short time with the iPhone 4. It would just be fascinating to watch.

While I’m at it, here’s a poll for you:

[poll id=”57″]

Source via BoyGeniusReport

Future Heavy Rain Chronicles Delayed Due to Playstation Move

Millions of Heavy Rain fans were psyched to learn that the game will be patched to support Playstation Move. Unfortunately, motion-control support will come at the expense of original content. Instead of creating more Heavy Rain Chronicles, Quantic Dream was told to prioritize Move support. Quantic Dream founder and co-CEO David Cage told NowGamer:

We proposed three episodes about one hour long and being focused on the background of the main characters. I thought fans would really enjoy these episodes because they explained many aspects of HR and why characters are who they are. Unfortunately, Sony preferred to ask us to focus on Move to support the device rather than on creating new content.

Move support for Heavy Rain is important and I totally understand why Sony would want that over new content. It absolutely makes sense from a business perspective. As a huge fan of the game and Quantic Dream, I’m bummed that the company has put original content on the back burner.

How do you feel about this move? Would you rather have new chapters in Heavy Rain? Or are you more interested in PlayStation Move support?

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Evo 4G vs. iPhone Video Creator Suspended by Best Buy

Remember those hilarious Xtra Normal Evo 4G vs. iPhone videos I posted the other day? It turns out that the cat that made them, Brian Maupin, works at Best Buy selling mobile phones…or at least he did. His videos were viewed more than a million times, which is fantastic…to everyone except the powers that be at Best Buy. According to TechCrunch Maupin has been suspended indefinitely and is in the process of being fired:

The video in question was made by Brian Maupin, a 25-year-old based in Kansas City, Missouri. For the past three and a half years he’s been working at Best Buy selling mobile phones. He’s probably not going to be doing that anymore as Best Buy has suspended him indefinitely and is currently taking the steps to terminate him, Maupin tells us. The reason? The video.

The video became so popular (it currently has nearly 1.3 million views on YouTube) that someone at Best Buy corporate saw it. They then put two-and-two together that it was an employee at one of their stores that made it, and the hammer came down. “They felt it disparaged a brand they carried (iPhone/Apple) as well as the store itself and were fearful of stockholders & customers being turned off to Best Buy Mobile,” Maupin says.

That’s pretty crappy of Best Buy. Hopefully Maupin gets a high-paying gig that pays him for making Xtra Normal videos full time. It would be really sweet if his future benefactors hired me too. Ha!

Maupin, Bryan Danielson, and me…. There is no justice.

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Why Aren’t These Features in Google Android?

Here are some quick, random thoughts on Google Android before I head to a lunch meeting. For the life of me, I still don’t understand why there isn’t better Google Docs integration in Android. This would be a killer feature for business. I understand that there are obstacles that make editing documents difficult, but surely Google has enough resources to throw at this problem, right?

Secondly, I was amused that Google was pushing its video chat service on its blog today. With the Apple iPhone getting a ton of attention with FaceTime and Qik for Android being a faulty mess, surely Google should have a first-party solution for video chat, hey?

There are a lot of areas where Android excels and I’m a big fan of the OS, but it also has a lot of holes. Some of them can be filled with obvious additions like the ones I mentioned above. For those of you that use or are interested in Android, what features would you like to see in this fine mobile OS?

Apple iTunes Launching Cloud-Based Features “Soon”?

One aspect of Google Android that I greatly prefer over Apple iOS is its heavy use of cloud computing. All of that will change if this rumor from BoyGeniusReport pans out. According to the site, Apple is readying a version of iTunes that leverages the cloud. The purported features include:

  1. Streaming music and movies from Apple’s servers to your computers, devices, etc.
  2. Streaming music and movies from your home computers to your other computers, remote devices, etc.
  3. Wireless iTunes syncing with devices.

These features would be fantastic, though a little overdue. In addition to Android, Palm WebOS and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 have heavy cloud features. Perhaps this is a case of Apple’s self professed habit of not necessarily doing things first, but doing things right.

The BGR story also hints at new iPod devices with cameras, something RPadholic bsukenyan has mentioned being interested in.

Anyone else psyched for a cloud-ified iTunes? Or is it just me?

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