Tag: PSP

This Week’s Videogame Releases

It’s a huge week for the gaming business with Microsoft’s launch of Halo 4 leading the way. It will surely be one of the biggest releases of 2012. Are you buying it? Racing fans get a pair of goodies with LittleBigPlanet Karting and NASCAR The Game: Inside Line. Do you miss fighting alongside Goku and the gang? Then pick up Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection and raise your power level to over 9,000. Not into shooting, racing, or fighting? How about some farming with Harvest Moon: A New Beginning? As a tactical-RPG mark, I have high hopes for Ragnarok Tactics (hopefully I can find my PSP). Lastly, if you’re looking for the most bang for your buck then you should consider Mass Effect Trilogy and Saints Row The Third: The Full Package.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

It’s a pretty loaded week for videogames! Fans of fighting and scantily-clad women will want to pick up Dead or Alive 5. If football is more your thing then FIFA 13 — available on pretty much every platform known to man — will do you good. Pro Evolution Soccer 13 doesn’t have the broad availability of its competitor, but many football fans I know think its the better series. Do you love birds and hate pigs? If so then Angry Birds Trilogy should be right up your alley. A few of my writer friends were surprised by The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. Wipeout 3 should satisfy fans of high-speed racing. I usually don’t include PC games on this list, but World of Warcraft: Mists of Panderia is simply too big to ignore.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

It’s a brilliant week to be an RPG fan! Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance brings Sora and the gang to the Nintendo 3DS. Fans of fantasy RPGs will want to keep an eye on Risen 2: Dark Waters. If old-school JRPGs are your thing then you’ll want to pick up Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time for PlayStation Portable. Lots of RPG excitement on a variety of platforms!

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Coffee Talk #478: The Sony PlayStation Mascot Is…

On Friday, my industry pal Michael and I were talking about PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Obviously the game it’s most compared to is Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. The characters in Sony’s upcoming game simply don’t have the history of the characters in Nintendo’s games. That isn’t to say that the Sony characters…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Intelligentsia’s Panama El Machete, Jim Lampley’s The Fight Game on HBO, or Charlize Theron as Snow White, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

On Friday, my industry pal Michael and I were talking about PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Obviously the game it’s most compared to is Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. The characters in Sony’s upcoming game simply don’t have the history of the characters in Nintendo’s games. That isn’t to say that the Sony characters are bad or inferior; they just haven’t been around long enough to invoke the feelings of nostalgia that the Super Smash Bros. games conjure.

The conversation moved onto discussing Sony’s mascots. Nintendo has a host to choose from, like Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Samus, etc. Millions of people automatically think of the Microsoft Xbox when Master Chief is mentioned. As for Sony…there are several candidates, but which ones stand out to you? Some great characters have been revealed for PlayStation All-Stars, but most of them are relatively new. Even the game’s oldest ones — Parappa the Rapper and Sweet Tooth — aren’t exactly mascot material.

In the original PlayStation days, there was an effort to make Crash Bandicoot the Sony PlayStation mascot. That was dropped when the character went to Unviersal Interactive. A generation of mascot making was lost as Crash and Spyro made way for Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank. They were joined by great characters like Sly Cooper, Cole MacGrath, Kratos, etc.

Sony Defense Force members will say that the company simply has a lot of great games to choose from and that Microsoft put too many eggs in its Halo basket. Microsoft fanboys will argue that Sony has done a poor job at establishing its mascots. What say you? Are you a Kratos worshipper? Is Sackboy your man? In your mind, who are the best Sony PlayStation mascots?

PlayStation Vita Accessory Prices Revealed

Sony Computer Entertainment America has revealed the prices for PlayStation Vita accessories. The list includes memory cards, cases, cradles, headsets, chargers, and more. As expected, the memory cards come at a premium price since they use a proprietary format. Check out the list below and share your thoughts on the pricing (please!).

Judge the PlayStation Vita Launch Lineup (Please)!

Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced the North American launch lineup for the PlayStation Vita. The list includes first-party and third-party games. It’s also broken down by titles that will be available on day one and those that will be available during a nebulous “launch window”. Check out the list of games below and let me know what you think. Are you excited (or not)?!? Are you impressed (or not)?!? How would you rate it compared to the Nintendo 3DS launch lineup?

SCEA Launch Day Titles
Escape Plan™ (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf®: World Invitational
Hustle Kings™ (PSN Only)
Little Deviants™
ModNation™ Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust™ Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss™
wipEout® 2048

Launch Window Titles
Gravity Rush™
MLB® 12 The Show
Reality Fighters™
Unit 13™

Third Party Publisher Launch Day Titles
Army Corps of Hell © (Square Enix, Inc.)
Asphalt® Injection (Ubisoft, Inc.)
BEN10™ GALACTIC RACING (D3 Publisher of America)
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND* (Aksys Games Localization, Inc.)
Dungeon Hunter Alliance (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Dynasty Warriors Next (Tecmo Koei America Corporation)
F1 2011™ (Codemasters®)
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer (Electronic Arts, Inc.)
Lumines ™ Electronic Symphony* (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Michael Jackson The Experience (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Plants vs. Zombies™ (PSN Only) (Sony Online Entertainment LLC)
Rayman® Origins* (Ubisoft, Inc.)
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only) (Drinkbox Studios)
Touch My Katamari™ (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3®* (Capcom Entertainment, Inc.)
Virtua Tennis™4: World Tour Edition (Sega® of America)

Launch Window Titles
LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 5-7 (Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. Inc.}
Disgaea ®3:Absence of Detention (NIS America, Inc.)
NINJA GAIDEN® Sigma PLUS (Tecmo Koei America Corporation)
Ridge Racer® (Namco Bandai Games America Inc.)
Silent Hill Book of Memories (Konami Digital Ent. America, Inc.)
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted™ (505 Games)

The Best Videogame Commercial of 2011

Here’s my favorite videogame commercial of 2011. Surprisingly, it does not star Kevin Butler. I’m a huge fan of the ads starring Sony’s fictitious vice president, but the “Michael” spot outdoes them all. It’s just awesome to see so many different characters from so many different games hanging out in the same room. Worlds collide…and it’s awesome.

Consider this a warm up for next week’s Coffee Talk columns when I’ll be asking you about your favorite game, videogame graphics, electronics, etc. of 2011. For now, please let know what your favorite videogame commercial of 2011 was and embed it in the comments section if you have a chance.

PlayStation Vita Sells 321,407 Units in Two Days

Sony is off to a promising start with the PlayStation Vita in Japan. According to Famitsu (via Andriasang), 321,407 units were sold during the first two days of availability. This is nearly double what the PlayStation Portable sold in its first two days (166,074) and nearly as good as the Nintendo 3DS (371,326).

The PlayStation Vita is slated for a February 22, 2012 release in North America. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. launch compares to the Japanese one. Personally, I’m way more interested in the Vita’s launch than I was the 3DS’ launch. The initial software is just more interesting…and I have a soft spot in my heart for underdogs.

Any of you getting Vitamania yet? How do you think the Vita will fare outside of Japan? Are you surprised by the great success Sony has had with the Vita so far?

Source via Andriasang

Coffee Talk #432: Is One Account Per PlayStation Vita a Mistake?

The PlayStation Vita has been getting a lot of press on how it uses PlayStation Network accounts. Apparently it’s one PSN account per Vita. If a friend or a family member (a-huh-huh-heh-huh…member) wants to use a different PSN account…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Britney Spears being the first to one-million followers on Google+, the exciting potential of the Los Angeles Clippers, or the girls with the Dragonite tattoo, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The PlayStation Vita has been getting a lot of press on how it uses PlayStation Network accounts. Apparently it’s one PSN account per Vita. If a friend or a family member (a-huh-huh-heh-huh…member) wants to use a different PSN account on your Vita then a factory reset is required. Some people feel that this isn’t a big deal at all. Others think that it’s an antiquated approach. Today I want to hear your opinion on the matter!

From the standpoint of a traditional handheld-gaming console, I can see why some people don’t care. A lot of gamers don’t share their portable consoles. Certainly I’m a selfish bastard when it comes to my DS, 3DS, and PSP — I just don’t like other people using a device that’s so personal to me. Prior to the last generation of handhelds, portable gaming was almost always a solitary activity, so one account per device will feel right to many longtime gamers.

From the standpoint of modern devices, I can see why some people think Sony is being backwards. The Vita is more than just a portable gaming system. It’s a diverse multimedia device that competes with smartphones and tablets. Since it’s supposed to be modern or cutting edge, shouldn’t it be able to easily handle multiple accounts like many of today’s multimedia devices do? Take the iPad 2 for example; it’s super easy to switch between different iTunes, Game Center, etc. accounts on the device. A factory reset in order to switch accounts on the Vita seems excessive.

There’s a lot of information stored and pulled from PSN. In some respects, I understand why a factory reset is required. In others, it just seems like not enough thought was put into account management. What do you think? How do you feel about a factory reset being required to switch PSN accounts on the PlayStation Vita?

This Week’s Videogame Releases (Mario! Zelda!)

It’s a Nintendo sandwich this week with Super Mario 3D Land kicking things off and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword wrapping it up. In between those Nintendo games are fine titles like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Need for Speed: The Run, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Saints Row: The Third, Rayman Origins, and Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.

Any of you picking up new games this (absolutely loaded) week?