2004/2005 Rants

Sony PSP Vs Nintendo DS

Ok, it’s old news now, and every magazine or website seems to have done a comparison, but what the hell, its still the most exciting gaming topic of the moment, so i’ll shove my oar in.

I don’t know if i’ve said this before, but i’m a sucker for Christmas. Problem is, as you get older, you get less excited by ordinary presents, desperate for someone to find you something you’ve never even thought of, let alone seen. The solution, or mine at least, is to buy the latest games or consoles, then save them till the big day. I know, pathetic, but it keeps my advent excitement levels at 9 year old pitch throughout December.

Christmas day arrived, and finally I opened the boxes of the two newest handhelds on the planet. Perhaps I have a better position to compare them as I tried them both on the same day for the first time, on the other hand, as a Nintendo devotee, you’ll probably expect some bias. I’ll do my best..

The Nintendo Touch

The DS was the first of the two consoles to get opened. Thanks to the longer period since release, I had a good selection of games. Mario DS, Feel the Magic, Sprung, Mr Driller and Ping Pals . Initial impressions were good, solid and functional, bright screen displays, handy little hole at the back to store the stylus. Initially I thought the use of a stylus was just a Nintendo-ism, you know, keep it clean and don’t wear it out. However, it’s a great way to use the touch screen, which thanks to it’s relatively small size, doesn’t supply much accuracy through my chubby fingers. One of the first things to impress you is the sound, which thanks to the positioning of the speakers, and a well devised virtual surround sound, seems to leap in and around your ears as you play.

Of course the true value of any console can only be judged by the games, and despite there being many titles available, I don’t feel Nintendo have given us a truly killer ap to experiment with. I’m sure there are many on the way. Mario 64 is probably your first port of call, and yes, this is the entire N64 original with a few tweaks and character changes. However, if you’re an early DS adopter you’ve probably already finished Mario 64 and the laborious task of doing it again to earn bonus games does little to fire enthusiasm. In the main game the stylus is not really needed and the lack of analogue stick does detract from the playability. I also suffered terrible motion sickness after long bouts of play, perhaps a problem with 3D games requiring careful concentration on such a small screen. The bonus games however are the highlight of the game, and instantly display the huge potential for touch sensitive gaming. Favourite is the catapult game, where you use the stylus to pull down the elastic and shoot missiles at incoming boos. This surely could be developed into a game in its own right. So tactile, so perfectly executed, still a pleasure to play despite the probability of me beating my high scores being so low.

Also Mario 64 offers bonus card games, which show how well suited the machine would be to more strategic pursuits. I’m sure the forthcoming Advance Wars will benefit hugely from the touch and drag nature of the system. Other bonus games do open up as you play, and the two player mode is incredibly stable and fun for a while, however it’s overly simple, and it would have been more fun to have multiplayer in the main mario game.

The other games I have vary in quality. Feel the Magic sees Sega’s Sonic Team trying to beat Wario at his own game. The mini-games it includes are well executed and fun for a while but there isn’t any multiplayer action, and it seems such a shame. It is very stylish though, with all the charm of Space Channel 5. Certainly the next best game after Mario.

Sprung and Mr Driller seem rushed. Sprung sees you choosing between sentences in a teenage dating simulation. Sounds intriguing, but never quite gets sexy enough to keep you hooked. Mr Driller has no need for the stylus at all, you quickly abandon it in favour of the joypad, so you may as well stick with the GBA version. I know what you’re thinking, typical of Namco to rush launch product to new formats, but we’ll come back to that later.

Finally Ping Pals appeals to the more social amongst us. Borrowing slightly from Animal Crossing, and the inbuilt (and brilliant) Pictochat, this communication game mixes human and computer controlled characters together, and allows you to play simple word and guessing games in exchange for money. The money can then be used to purchase different items, which in turn can be traded between players. It’s simple, and not something you would usually select for purchase, but is actually a lot of fun, particularly if you know other people with a DS.

Communication is a major factor for the DS, the pictochat system is brilliant, and you just have to keep showing it to people, drawing little pictures and sending them to someone in the room in an instant is somehow enchanting. Another triumph for Nintendo is the download system, with just one copy of the game, many people can play, and it actually works well this time, unlike the disappointing GBA interpretation.

So, it’s already outsold IPOD, it’s robust and solid to use. The stylus is ingenious and really does change the way you play. It doesn’t take long before you want to play all games that way, my PS2 has sat cold in the corner since Christmas. The only thing missing is maybe some more games, but it’s only because the machine is so tactile and so different that you have this urge to see what else it can do. Or maybe, what else can Nintendo make it do! I’m sure it’s going to be a brilliant year for this format, with Made in Wario, Yoshi, Advance Wars, Band Brothers, Animal Crossing and a new puzzle game to take on Tetris all coming out in the next few months. Make no mistake, you need a DS in your collection, and it will take an incredibly special game to make me ever charge my GBA again.

Jace Rates:

Mario DS - 8/10 : Feel the magic XX/YY - 7/10 : Sprung - 3/10 : Mr Driller - 5/10 :

Ping Pals - 7/10

Sony’s Given me a Boney

It’s the stark contrast between the two consoles which makes comparison so difficult. Slowly removing the PSP from its lavish packaging is a near monumental occasion, and when you take the console in your hands for the first time, it does feel strangly alien. Like someone has beamed this piece of technology down from outer space. The outer facia is so shiny, that once handled for the first time it will never look as good again. It seems to feed on fingerprints and frame them for all to see for months to come. Not a great asset in item designed to be held and touched. The moment you turn it on, you’re blinded by the magnificent screen, so clear so crisp, instantly mesmerising, it’s a fantastic achievement.

The discs are neat, the rear holder clicks open and closed with a confident clunk, though you feel when open the door could be damaged. It’s the kind of object you want to cherish, snuggle under your pillow when it’s bed time, take out and look at without even turning it on. It’s something your young nephews will beg to play on but you could never let them touch it. It’s an item of beauty. I did get three games with the machine, Ridge Racers, Vampire Chronicles and Lumines. Lumines simply doesn’t justify the console at all. A music based spin on Columns, lacks any of the imagination you’d expect from Sony’s only internal launch title - Fantavision this is not. Vampire Chronicles is typical Capcom 2D fighting fodder, I know I may offend many who still cherish these games, but to me the appeal of fighting games has faded so much they verge on the unplayable. If Soul Calibre 2 bored me, this one has no chance of relighting the fire. That leaves Ridge Racers.

Ridge Racer was the killer AP for the original Playstation, and thanks to the huge profits it generated, Namco have had a launch title for pretty much every format since. For me, and most others, Ridge Racer V was such a poor launch game for the PS2 that i’d pretty much given up on the series. Thankfully Namco rediscovered what made the series so enjoyable. Ridge Racers for PSP is an absolute delight, and brings back perfectly the feel of the original games. Graphics are crisp and lightning fast, the screen handles fast moving images incredibly well. It seems as technically impressive as anything on the current crop of home consoles. All the original courses are included and presented in an increasingly difficult number of championships. The front end is also very impressive and adds to the futuristic feel of the console perfectly. The only slight disappointment is the sound, not the tunes which are typical of the series, but the rather tinny internal speaker and relatively low volume, PSP is a machine which needs headphones. Overall, a tour de force for Namco, and deserves a big thumbs up from someone who had given up on the entire company portfolio.

To say the PSP is influenced by the IPOD is too easy, they are nothing like eachother. However the futuristic feeling, that overwhelming sense that this is something entirely new, was similar with both. As an electronic gadget, Sony have truly delivered. Forget the low battery time, we all complained about the Atari Lynx but that didn’t even come with a chargeable battery. You can always play it while it is charging too. How many people are truly going to want to sit on a bus or train playing with something so desirable anyway. Get one and watch out for Golem.

Jace Rates

Ridge Racers - 8/10 : Vampire Chronicles - 3/10 : Lumines - 4/10

Come on then - Try and Compare Chalk and Cheese

There’s the PSP on one side, all glitzy and glamorous, then the DS on the other, all practical and designed around a whole new gaming experience. Which will win? Hopefully both. There’s never been a financially worse purchasing decision to make, as it’s pretty imperative you own both these consoles. The DS is the best handheld Nintendo have ever made, the only hardware for some time to be able to create it’s own genre of software. The PSP is the most powerful handheld you’ve ever seen, a miracle of micro technology presented in lavish style (though just as plastic as the DS despite the look).

If I had to make a choice though, actually had to on pain of death, then it would be the DS. Not just for the revolutionary software already out there and on the way, but for the crazy other things Nintendo are bound to come up with for the device in the future. Multiplayer gaming has never been so accessible. I’ve played the DS about 80% more than the Sony machine. The PSP needs more software to show what it can do, one good racing game isn’t enough, let’s get something original on there. (Archer Maclean is working on it). I’m sure Sony have a few ideas planned, but the whole PSP launch was a rush to battle with Nintendo on home turf. At the current price, it’s no surprise they’re losing £200 per console they sell. That said, the DS is a bargain too.

I have a feeling it will be Nintendo who will have the last laugh. Remember that Nintendo initially said the DS was not being released in competition to the PSP, and with work on development of the Next Generation Gameboy almost complete, the PSP’s true Nintendo competitor should appear before next Christmas. The size and nature of the 3” Gamecube discs has long led to the belief that the systems will be fully compatible. Personally I don’t find that prospect as exciting as the DS, and that’s already here.

For the good of all of us, lets hope both companies have successful machines and can compete happily in the same market place.

Bring on the Games

If you believe the hype, this Christmas is going to be a good one. We’ve got the Nintendo DS out in late November in the US, along with several first party games. There’s a remote possibility that Sony’s PSP will make it out for Christmas in Japan too. Then there’s the software, and with a week to go, sales targets for GTA San Andreas are currently around the 15 million mark before year end. Make no mistake, currently there is no other software title on the planet with such a huge following. Even the mighty Microsoft’s Halo 2 will have the mother of a battle on its hands even to match 20% in sales.

It’s funny really, after thirty years of trying, a company finally has a handle on what the general public want. They want to be evil. You have wonder if all the religious and political debate about the previous GTA games wasn’t actually warranted. I would usually discount any criticism of games by outside organisations as enforced censorship, and lack of understanding of what software is about. However, the size of GTA’s popularity seems to prove that most normal people are far happier to shoot people in the head and steal their car than spend time completing a platform game, or forming relationships in the Sims. Actually, if you weigh it up, most of the Sims devotees are actually more interested in getting their virtual families to have sex in awkward places. If EA really want to hit the sales sweet spot, I suggest they title the next wave of Sims 2 expansions, “Miranda’s Sex Dungeon”, or “Incest Party”.

Sure, they cover violence, but sex isn’t covered particularly well by the software industry. Possibly because even they would feel grubby explaining their new release schedule to the share holders. It is what sells though. Tales of nude Lara or sex with prostitutes in GTA swept the gaming community as soon as the titles were released. It may not have changed the games scene much so far but slowly publishers are looking at sex based titles with fresh eyes, Playboy Mansion exploits the very thing Sims 2 players bought the game for anyway. There’s even a new Leisure Suit Larry headed for consoles next week. As the Western games industry often takes its lead from Japan, it’s worth noting that sex games have been a valuable part of the demographic since the early sixteen-bit days over there.

So, Mr Sony, forget the phony advertising ethos, and just be honest. How about this, Playstation 2 - let’s you Kill Rob and Shag!. I guess at the end of the day, it’s all about escapism. We all want to drop out of our real lives as soon as we hit that blue/green/grey button. It’s with the reality now contained within these games that the true morality of the population can really shine through. I’m a hypocrite too, as mowing down the pedestrians in Vice City was always more fun than doing the missions, and most of us can probably emphasize with the satisfaction a perfect head shot can give, particularly if you’ve shot the enemy in the legs and hands first! Not only do we want our gaming enemies to die, we want them to suffer.

Should we blame ourselves, should we blame the developers for making such events so real and possible. Perhaps we should blame our ancestry, our primal instincts, once again aloud to roam free without conscience, uninhibited in our virtual worlds. Whoever we blame, most of us are still hoping San Andreas can live up to the hype.

25th May 2004

What’s in a Name?

You have to wonder what’s going to happen. In ten years time there will be an amazing new racing game, and its designers will be so desperate to come up with a racing themed title while not confusing it with other games, that it’ll end up as X-Ray Racing or Boogie Kart. We’ll have this influx of great games with crap titles.

Sticking with racing games, thinking about it all the best names went first. In the early 80s we had Pole Position, Chequered Flag, Speed Duel, Night Driver, and Super Sprint. Later generations had to be a bit more inventive, Top Gear, Out Run, Virtual Racing, Rad Mobile, Power Drift, Exhaust Heat.

That’s meant that more modern games have had to search harder for a unique title, Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, Burnout. But what’s left. There are plenty of naff names for racers out there already, like Racing Evoluzione, Total Immersion Racing, Flat Out, and inevitably the situation can only get worse. Of course, it’s not just the games we play which are losing the battle of the names. The machines we play on are getting a bit weak too.

Back in the dawn of gaming, when nobody really knew what they were doing, or where the whole thing would end up, we had the Odyssey from Magnavox. Remarkable that the first ever console, launched in 1972, should still have a name which beats pretty much all the rest. Atari never did quite get the name thing until it was too late, how much more sexy would the VCS have been if it had been called the Jaguar. It probably wouldn’t have mattered, as due to its success, most people referred to the VCS as just the “Atari”, but that certainly lead to problems when it came to their other consoles and computers. It’s hardly surprising that people got confused about which games worked with what when you had such glorious titled machines as the 2600, 800, 400, 1200, 600, 7800, 5200 and later the XE, the XL, the ST. At least Atari got there in the end with the Falcon and the Jaguar, Sinclair and Commodore took the opposite approach.

When Sinclair had the ZX80 out, Commodore had it’s more friendly named “Pet”, the ZX81 and Commodore were touting their mate “Vic”. Sinclair finally think up a name for the Spectrum, and Commodore counter with the 64. Sinclair give up on names and launch the QL, while Commodore go back to names for their next machine, the Amiga. Did the names make a difference? Probably not.

Of course, computer manufacturers were usually happy to stick letters and numbers on their machines, the TI99, the TRS80, or the “1” in Oric’s case. Think of a computer with a cool name, and it had a terrible sales history. Like the Tatung “Einstein” and the Mattel “Aquarius”. Even the average selling Acorn “Electron” didn’t sell in the numbers of its big brother the BBC “B”. Numbers and letters seemed to do better for computers.

The Japanese meanwhile became passionate about names. Take Sega, obviously disappointed with the Mastersystem and Megadrive, they went for an outer space theme for the Saturn and Neptune. Some would have preferred the Saturn to retain it’s “Black Belt” prototype name. And why did the US get a “Genesis” and a “Nomad”, while we were stuck with the “Megadrive”. Hang on, that’s a pretty suitable name for a driving game of the future! It’s funny how quickly you get used to a name, I remember utter horror from gamers when the name “Dreamcast” was announced, and it still looked very strange on the front of an Arsenal shirt.

Arch rivals Nintendo have always done badly at naming machines. First the Famicom (short for Family Computer), we got the NES, just initials for a console which doesn’t actually have a name, and of course the “SNES” a Super version of a console which doesn’t actually have a name. Surely it must have grated with Nintendo that outside of Japan, everybody refered to their Super Nintendo as the “Snezzz”. Perhaps that’s why they dabbled in the use of names from then on. The Ultra 64 was re-badged the N64, but it still sounded better than “Snezzz”. As did “Dolphin”, the original name for the GameCube. Of course, gamecube is called as such to fit it with the Gameboy, which I have always thought sounds a bit gay. Then of course Virtual Boy, also supposedly to help it fit into the Gameboy series. It Didn’t.

Finally you have our current consoles. Playstation was a cool name, if you can think back to when you first heard of it’s development, it sounded exciting. It doesn’t any more does it? Say Playstation, and you think of that grey slab of plastic which is currently littering car boot sales for a fiver. Not exactly the image Sony should want to carry on to future generations. Still, it’s a brand, and as long as they can get away with sticking a 2 or a 3 on the end of it, i’m sure they will.

When Xbox was announced, everybody assumed that it was a development name, that no company would actually release the console as “X Box”. It still amazes me that in an organisation as huge as Microsoft, they forgot to finish what they started. “Hey, Mr Gates!, You forgot to name your console!!” And what now, they are developing XBox 2, and you guessed it, they’ll forget to name that too!

That brings us to the two newest consoles on their way before Christmas. The rather cool looking Sony PSP, and the Nintendo DS. Firstly Sony say they are aiming for the I-Pod market, well here’s the thing, the term I-Pod and this super smooth slab of metal and plastic you carry your music in kind of go together. I-Pod sounds like something out of Alien, it’s futuristic and groovy. PSP makes me think of urinating. Too many “P”s, and the “S” is the worst letter to put between them. Not only does it make me think of the word “Piss”, but also if said as a word creates the actual sound of me taking one. How about the Sony I-GO, or the Sony WalkStation, or something even funkier, like the Sony Pop or Sony Whiz, hang on, urine again.

As a self confessed Nintendo fan, I will admit to being a little disappointed by their new machine so far, that’s of course not to say I don’t want one. Just that with Nintendo, you always build up any future surprise into something bigger. I’m still dreaming of that VR Headset console. The technology is everywhere now. How complicated is it to mix Eye-Trek and a Pocket sized console. Who ever worked on the Virtual Reality Headset for the Atari Jaguar must sit in amazement that nothing has been done to further the concept yet. Did you know that Sony released a proper virtual reality headset in Japan for PS2. They didn’t push it, and there is only one game for it. It will become a very serious collectible, instead of becoming a leading alternative to the way we play games.

Anyway, getting carried away. What on earth do you want to go and call a new handheld console the DS for. Double Screen - we get it, but apart from all the BS jokes going around, DS just makes me think DHSS, a console for people on the dole, or DS Dip-Shit. I’m not sure the biggest revolution of the console is its second screen, surely it is the touch sensitivity of it. Why not the “Nintendo Touch” or just the “Nintendo Duo” would have been better.

I know, why am I ranting about something so superfluous as the names of things. It’s pointless, we should all be clever enough not to judge a book by its cover. I’m not sure the “mainstream” gamer is capable of that, why else does every year’s Fifa Soccer game sell in its millions. That said, maybe it’s in our nature to be attracted to a good name. That’s why a Ford Puma isn’t called a Sporty Focus, Snack-a-Jacks aren’t called Rice Crackers, and Golden Grahams aren’t called.. Hang on, why are they called that?

25th January 2004

Games worth waiting for?

Like many reading this, my own Christmas is usually dominated by some new console game, or electronic gizmo. The main reason being its one of the few breaks I have where I can concentrate on gaming. Lucky really, considering our games industry is now releasing 70% of it’s product to coincide with the period. Lets be honest, this is really tough on us hardcore gamers. Who can really afford to buy six quality games in a month, and it’s even more frustrating when you look at the preceding six months and the lack of decent games released.

Well, I did things a little differently this Christmas. Regular readers will know that i’m usually at the front of the rush in getting new games, and while that was pretty much what happened, I made myself a pledge that from October, I would not play a single new release until Christmas day. A desperate attempt to try and create my own child like euphoria on Christmas morning. I now realise there are several problems with holding back. New releases are often played and finished with before I see a review in a magazine, and the poor reviews of Mario Kart Double Dash and Rogue squadron 3 were a little upsetting when I had the games already tucked away. I vowed to not be discouraged.

So, was the wait worth it. Well, the multitude of games I had saved for Christmas certainly kept me busy, and having so many games at the same time certainly highlights their deficiencies. Each game was competing for my quality time, and while in a different climate I may have concentrated more on some of the lesser titles, if they haven’t grabbed me by now, they probably never will. So, 15 games and over 100 hours of game time later, this is my top twelve of the winter releases. (See separate reviews to see them)