A savePoint at storpi.com

First of all, stop saying it’s a demo. People don’t pay $40 for a demo. People don’t put over 60 cars into a driving game if it’s just a demo. Granted, Prologue is a just a taste of the GT5 to come, but it is not a demo.

I’ve heard a several reviews say that Prologue relies heavily on “grinding” to get the credits to buy better cars. Since there’s only 6 different tracks, not counting alternate setups and reverses, I can see why one might have to play the same race over and over again just to get the 2,000,000 credits for an F1 racer. On the other hand, you can also make money by running the races online; a lot more rewarding, and with human players, the races are a lot more interesting.

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This past two months have been, perhaps, the most productive gaming months I’ve ever had, seeing the completion of six games: Bioshock, Lair, Heavenly Sword, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Halo 3, and Saints Row. It got me thinking that it might be cool to have progress bars on my blog to show a percentage of how far I am into the games I’m currently playing. Trouble is, how will I know how close I am to finishing so that I can figure out a percentage? Next games up though, probably Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Metroid Prime 3. That’s a lot to get through before the end of the month, and I haven’t even opened half of these.

While it’s only October (and still pretty warm, until today…) the holiday season is practically upon us. This month’ll see the releases of many pretty anticipated titles. We already got Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, (well, not me. More on that later), Folklore comes out tomorrow, and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction comes in at the end of the month. Some other titles I’m looking forward to: The Simpsons Game and Clive Barker’s Jericho.

Those last two are probably a bit off the radar for most people, one being licensed and the other being just another shooter in the post Halo 3 era of really awesome multiplayer features. They were certainly off my radar until I played the demos that were released on PSN. The Simpsons Game was actually pretty solid and the humor that they’ve got is appropriately and unmistakably Simpsons brand. I’m seeing a lot of people giving the demo fives out of ten, which I suspect come from the “Everyone’s a Critic”- mentality, but if you’re a Simpsons fan, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The Jericho demo was pretty short and didn’t really let me get a good feel for what the game would be like. There is this really neat timed button presses / interactive cutscene near the end in which a hideous monster plops down on top of you and you have to hit the right buttons to block his attacks and knock him off. I think that part is probably the best indicator for the mood of the game. You can sense the fear and anexiety in your character, something that could so easily have been lost given how heavily armed your seven man team is. I think I’ll probably rent this one first to see if I can get into it.

And I thought the news and announcements were pretty much over for the month. Not true. Sony just had a Playstation Premiere event in Tokyo and we’ve got more stuff to be excited about.

[Update] Guess what? I can read Japanese, and there’s a live blog on the things going down in Tokyo here.

1. Last week, creator of Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima said that in the interests of time, he would only be showing a trailer for the new MGS4 at E3. But, he did invite us to see a live demo of the game in Tokyo on the 17th, which is today. So while we wait for impressions of that from…
2. No Katamari for PS3. Sad, but PS3 owners are getting a brand new game from the man who brought us Katamari Damacy called Nobi Nobi Boy, which roughly translated is “Extend Extend Boy.” From the few screen shots out over at IGN, it seems like this might be like Snake (not of the Solid or Liquid variety). Hopefully we’ll see more soon.
3. Locoroco is coming to PS3, officially, under the name: Buu Buu Cocoreccho! Locoroco. The report on it from IGN is kinda vague, saying it’s 95% complete, but “It’s Locoroco, but it’s not — a peculiar extra chapter.” There’s also mention of it playing itself when you’re not playing it(?) I don’t know, but since it’s almost done, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
4. GT5:Prologue is looking really nice. The most recently trailer from today’s event shows some… stuff. Okay, I’m not a car nut, but I do recognize that the graphics are on par with the pre-rendered intro from GT4. Plus, the number of cars in a race is at least 12 and the Volkswagon GTI is in the game. GT5:Prologue is set to hit the PS Store in October. VW in da house!
5. [UPDATE] The number of cars in a race is 16. When the game starts, instead of going to a title screen, it loads up a “My Page” which lets you change users and access the Garage functions. This is to facilitate quick access to online play. For clarification, the Prologue is coming out at the end of October, and the game will show up at the Motor Show (again, not a car nut, so I don’t know which show they’re talking about).
6. [UDPATE] White Knight Story from Level 5, which missed E3, was shown. Unique features of this game include the main character’s ability to transforming into a giant, white knight in shining armor, and while in this mode, you still have the ability to control the other members of your party, who are now tiny in comparison. Another thing shown off is the character customization feature, which appears to be quite robust. Level 5 plans to have the game playable at Tokyo Game Show this year in September.
7. [UPDATE] Namco Bandai Games showed off four of their upcoming PS3 games: Tekken 6, which will arrive in arcades, in Japan, in November, and within a year of that on PS3; Time Crisis 4, arriving this year; and Soul Calibur 4, arriving in 2008. While nothing from Nobi Nobi Boy was shown, they did demonstrate the PS3’s ability to simulate a pudding type substances behavior in real time. More to come, as they say.From the Bandai side of the company, “Ninja, fighting, and robot anime games are in development.”
8. [UPDATE] Sega announced a new game, on stage wearing traditional Japanes-looking garments. It’s called Valkyrie of the Battlefield and it’s set in 1935 on the European stage of WWII. Not much was reported where I’m reading, but the game apparently has a very water color painted visual style and is being developed by the people who made Sakura Wars. Sega also has two other games in development, but since they’re not ready to be shown yet, they ask us to look for them at TGS this year. The costumes they’re wearing are a hint as to what one of the games will be about.
9. [UPDATE] Impressions on MGS4 later, but for now, there will be online play, similar to that of MGS3: Subsistence. MGS: Portable Ops will also be getting an expansion pack with new characters and a new single player mission, though the focus is online play. More as it comes, but the pack is scheduled to be released with the PSP Slim & Lite on September 20th.
10. [UPDATE] New Dynasty Warriors. 6.
11. [UPDATE] Square Enix hopes to add the upcoming The Last Remenant, running on Unreal Engine 3, to their staple of RPGs. And while there’s nothing new on FFXIII or Versus right now, they will be showing new footage at TGS and are aiming to show it in playable form in 2008. Guess they’re still a ways off. A Crisis Core : FFVII Special Edition of the new PSP will be released a week before the launch of the new PSP in Japan, with only 77,777 to be made. It’s come packaged with the game of course. September 9th. Woot!
12. They leave us with “To Be Continued at TGS”

So, what do you want? It’s going to be a good year.

I just learned a couple of weeks ago that the PS3 browser does have the ability to download video files directly to the hard drive.  So, Storpi.com presents downloadable PS Store Supplements.

This past week of E307 news was really exciting, as you can see below.  One of the new things they showed off was Home.  You’ve all seen what the place looks like before.  See what it’ll look like when it comes out!

New Locations in Home (click to download onto PS3)

Just so you know, this video doesn’t appear to have sound, but still, the open feeling of the square is great improvement over the biosphere type feeling of the original.  The game room at the bowling alley also have a lot nicer atmosphere.  I had my doubts about Home, but I think it’s actually going to be pretty cool.

Yesterday was fun. E307 continues today, though I don’t really expect too much big news to come out of the show. Still, I’ll let you know about anything that catches my eye.

1. According to PS3 Fanboy, a rumbling SIXAXIS, (which they’re calling Rumblaxis) will be released in September. However, their source, a release from Immersion, makes no mention of Sony releasing these controllers, and instead states that a company called Katana is the one releasing rumbling controllers for the PS3 for North America in that month. I think PS3 Fanboy just misread the release. After all, Logitech recently released rumbling controllers for PS3 as well. Still, an employee of SCEA did confirm to a writer at Kotaku that a rumbling SIXAXIS is coming. We just don’t know when yet.
2. Gametrailers.com is now hosting a whole bunch of developer walkthrough and other gameplay footage. The look at Killzone 2 from the SCE press conference is up, offering a little better look at the game. I might have to get that one up for download directly onto PS3’s later today. In addition, Rock Band, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Army of Two, Medal of Honor Airborne, and more!
3. An addition, make sure to watch the first Heavenly Sword gameplay video. Simply amazing graphics. The second video shows a bit of something that I think is a major improvement since the game was last shown, impact. It’s important that in an action game, your attacks feel like they have impact. In previous videos, the blades just seemed to cut right through and never looked like they were making contact. I can’t wait for this game.
4. I missed this one yesterday, but they announced Silent Hill V for Xbox 360 and PS3. Not really any details on the game except that a western developer is making it. Just like Silent Hill Origins for the PSP, which looks pretty good. In the end, it’s the music that counts.
5. Ooo, Burnout Paradise has some interesting features I haven’t read about yet. It’s kinda like Test Drive Unlimited, in that all the races and such take place in one big city, and there are other players online, up to 8, that can drive around in the city with you. Another neat thing is that whenever you takedown another player, that person’s PS3 or 360 webcam will take a picture of him or her at that moment and plaster your screen with it. It’s a neat idea, but… this game is rated Teen, right?
6. A reminder I just saw, Entertainment Tonight is going to be airing the first public trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for PS3 and 360 tonight at 7:00pm EST. The Force is strong in this one. Really strong. Joystiq has heard that not only will you Force push people into walls, you’ll push them through walls. One of the earlier concept arts actually shows what appears to be the aftermath of a Star Destroyer going up against a Force user down on a planet. (The Star Destroyer loses.) It’s Force powers, TO THE MAX!!
7. Sorry about the Killzone 2 hyping, but I just think that, like the Halo 3 trailer, the Killzone 2 trailer jumped a bit too much to really get a good look at it, so here’s another gameplay segment over at IGN.
8. One thing Wii fans have been hoping for since Red Steel was shown is some sort of one to one directly controlled sword fighting game. IGN’s interview with Shigeru Miyamoto suggests that something like that might already be in the works. In fact, it might be part of Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Games, coming out at the end of the year, in the form of a fencing game. There’s a couple links over there too with other points of interest from the interview, including the possibility that Twilight Princess will be the only Zelda game for the Wii and the possible return of Pikmin.
9. Coool. Want the music from the E307 Halo3 trailer? Here you go, courtesy of Marty O`Donnell and Bungie. There’s been some buzz on spotting new grenades and equipment and stuff from the trailer, but to that I just say, “Well, of course. They’ve never shown the single player before.” Yeah, not really into pulling trailers apart myself, but I do like to watch the fruits of someone else’s labors.
10. A video interview with Codemasters on Dirt, over at Gamespot UK, claims that the PS3 version will be the best version. Better graphics and 7.1 channel uncompressed sound. Is this 7.1 thing the future? Do I need a new receiver? Well, it’s certainly nice to see some good ports coming, like the upcoming port of Virtua Fighter 5 for 360 including better graphics and online play.
11. By the way, a demo of Dirt will be up before the game comes out for PS3 in September. Yay, demo!
12. New music for Rock Band every week? Single track, multiple tracks, and full albums? So says Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos (from Xbox 360 Fanboy). Sweeeeet, but I don’t want to get nickeled and dimed to death.
13. The Halo 3 edition, I’m sorry, Special Edition 360 is actually kinda cool. I guess it was just less than people were expecting when the “gray 360″ rumors first started. Here, it says that it’ll have a 20GB harddrive, but it’ll also have the HDMI port. Not bad.
14. Co-op in the Wii version of Geometry Wars.
15. A Ratchet & Clank demo coming to PSN! [unconfirmed by me, yet]

Well, that’s it from me for today. Work is letting out, so you can probably find your own news. Go, surf. I might see you later.

Okay, now I have a video for the very interesting looking echochrome, and I can save the effort of coming up with a good way to describe it. Check it out in the PSStore Supplements page links to the top right. I believe this game is coming to PS3 and PSP, if I recall correctly. Way to go PS team Japan!

While I’m here, a quick E307 snack that I’m sure at least one person will appreciate.  Silent Hill 5 has been announced for PS3 and Xbox 360.  First screens at IGN.

Sony’s coming up next. They’ve already made a lot of internet splashes recently with the price cut, new 80GB model, and proof that Killzone 2 does look amazing in real time. Let’s see what else they’ve got.

1. Wow. Major improvements to Home. No longer a sort of biosphere type environment, we were just shown an outdoor town square. Kinda like the clock tower square in Back to the Future, in the future time period.
2. Dang, a new PSP. It’s mostly the same, except 33% lighter, 19% thinner, better battery. What’s really cool though is that now it has output to TV capabilities.
3. New game echochrome announced for PS3 and PSP. Amazing puzzle game using perception and point of view. OMG.
4. AHHH!!! Too much NEWS!!!
5. Okay, uh, Metal Gear Solid 4 is PS3 exclusive.
6. New game from Sucker Punch! It’s called Infamous. It’s an open world game, sandbox type, the first from SCEA.  It’ll feature a character that has super powers that can be either used for good or evil!

Well, it’s over.  Sorry about the lack of updates.  I’ll try to summarize some of the most exciting stuff for you that I haven’t mentioned.  By the way, echochrome is near impossible to fully communicate without seeing in motion, so I’ll talk about it later.  First, some exclusive deals, NCSoft, the makers of Guild Wars will be making exclusive online games for PS3.  Unreal Tournament III and Haze will also be exclusive to the PS3 for this year.

Speaking of Unreal, Sony and Epic have agreed to work very closely together to get Unreal Engine 3 optimized for the PS3.  This is really great news, as so many games will be using the engine.  I think that this news sheds light on why Medal of Honor: Airborne is being delayed for PS3.  It’ll give the developers some time to get a better version of Unreal Engine 3 to use on the PS3 so we don’t end up with inferior ports anymore.

Home is going to look and feel significantly better than it does now in the beta, and launching any game from within Home has been confirmed to be available at launch.  Unfortunately, it seems that the launch will be a bit later than hoped, as it was said on stage that the open beta won’t be until the fall.  Whether this was a slip of the tongue or not, I don’t know.  We’ll see.  Another really exciting feature is the ability to send pictures wirelessly from mobile phones to virtual picture frames in Home, while a user is on the go.  In addition, a virtual digital camera in Home will be able to send pictures out of Home to a Home community website for live blogging from within Home.

There’s a lot of games coming out for the network: Pain and GT5: Prologue just to name a few.  LittleBigPlanet, Warhawk, Singstar, SOCOM, etc.  It’s going to be a great year.

MGS4 was shown in cinematic trailer form, with no gameplay, but fear not.  Kojima announced that he’ll be demo-ing the game next week on Tuesday.  All is not good though, as the game has slipped into early 2008.  Awww, but it’s okay since we have way too much to play anyways.

Truthfully, I was expecting Sony to deliver the best show and boy did they deliver.  Well, that’s all from me for the mad E307 blogging.  I’ll be back to talk about stuff as I get time to think about it.  Until then, go out and surf the web.  Cheers.

It’s officially day 1 and already it’s looking very exciting today. Microsoft kicked E307 off last night with their entertaining, but ultimately unsurprising, press conference, followed by Sony’s Killzone 2 coming out event. Let me first just say, “wow.” Killzone 2 is looking great. Check out the first realtime trailer up top on the right.

The reactions I’ve read so far are mixed. A lot of people are cautiously saying that the trailer does look as good as the original, imfamous, E305 pre-rendered trailer. Possibly because these same people were the ones crying foul the loudest over the past two years saying that the target video was impossible to achieve in realtime. Other people are genuinely impressed. Finally, people who I assume are 360 fans are still saying not impressed, most citing no reasons, others saying that the gameplay is what matters. My how the tables have turned. (see old PS2 vs Xbox arguments)

For me, I think the most impressive part of the E305 video was the animations and how lifelike they were. For the most part, that’s there along with the sheer amount of stuff happeningat any given time, but the facial animations on some of the characters just isn’t there yet. With at least six months left for development though, I think those things will definitely improve. Not bad. It’s a good day for PS3 fans.