It’s all handheld gaming lately and it’s all about Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP. I am 34 hours into the game and I can really see this going to 100 hours and more. On Sunday as I was playing one battle I realised that my main character, Zolos (of course) was not particularly strong and that I have been progressing through the story mode due to the strength of the rest of the team.
Did you have a similar masochistic experience with game?
I know that slavery was officiallly abolished during the previous century but over the end of last week i have been buying and selling people all over the world for a profit and increasing my investment worth total in a Forbes style ranking system.
But first things first.
Facebook for me so far has been merely a subsitute of emailing friends living abroad. Social networking and applications? What’s that? 99% of the people in there are also people that i actually know in person. There is the odd one here and there and for the most part there was no digital social networking. Nor were there any applications in my wall. The spam of invites i have continuously been receiving has also been consistently ignored with the click of a button with the same name. I was not bothered at all.
Until last Thursday. During a visit to a friend’s flat when he started talking about buying and selling people’s photos on Facebook using an application called Owned. Needless to say the majority of these were of women. Out of curiousity than real interest i asked him to explain how it works. It is as simple as it sounds. You just bid on photos and make profits when these are then acquired by others similar to regular stocks. You also get funds when you own photos get bought and sold. And at any given time someone owns the photos. Unlike stocks however you really care about some of them. Did i mention that the most traded and high valued photos are of women….? You get attached and it usually ends up with 2-3 people bidding over some girl’s photo.
As i left my friend’s flat i was more surprised by the effort and time he invested in this application more than the actual application. Could not figure it out. Sure it’s sort of fun but what’s the point? I woke up the next morning and found that a couple of my own investments had been bought and so did my own personal photo. I had a strange feeling of loss and pride combined. “Loss” for a photo of a girl i was particularly fond of but also pride cause someone actually “spent” money to acquire my own photo.
I spent a lot of my time on Friday raising funds (by sending gifts/spam to my friends) and buying back the photo i lost and also investing smartly in some promising ones. With a mixture a boredom at work and real interest in owning a photo of a real person i was hooked. Or should i say owned by a “pointless” application for the whole of Friday.
Facebook has come out of nowhere invading offices, flats and dorms. I can’t see myself or my friend bothering with Owned after 1-2 weeks but applications similar to this, which involve human interaction are getting people hooked all over and i have to say i really want to see what they will come up with next.
Finally a game to buy. A game which is not really offering anything new from its predecessor but that’s not a bad thing for the lovers of the game. I am talking of course about Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, a tactical Squad based shooter.But there are a few other lower profile worthy releases this week like Sega Superstars Tennis which seeks to replace Wii Sports in every Wii onwers library and FF: Crystal Chronicles a DS RPG which shines in multiplayer. Not bad for a quiet week in March.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (PS3, X360)
SEGA Superstars Tennis (PS3, X360, Wii and DS)
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PS2)
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates (DS).
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - The Complete Collection (PC)
Backwards compatibility has always been a problem for the games industry. It is one of the limitations that has kept and still keeps videogames from becoming a form of entertainment or art even to rival music or movies. The cyclical nature of the industry with each upcoming generation rarely supporting the previous generations does not help either. Sony promised a while back that its own systems will always support backwards compatibility. Of course as with many promises this one proved empty and the company introduced a cheaper non-PS2 compatible Playstation 3 which will eventually be the version that sells the most.
This meant that if you wanted to play an older game, like Super Mario Bros, you needed to have the NES console connected to your tv alongside the current generation’s consoles. Not very practical is it. The porting of games from console to console was a mixed blessing as the quality of the game always varied so it could never really considered a substitute. Then we had the emulators with which you could play NES games on your PC or arcades on hacked Xbox’es. But it was never going be the manner in which old games would re-establish their presence.
Thankfully now with downloadable content this is about to change. All three consoles have online stores where you can download either NES, Mega Drive, PS1 or Xbox games. There is no need to own all consoles ever made in order to play them. I know that videogamers are usually more concerned with current generation games as they are attracted to shinier graphics and more online capabilities.
But there is a legacy. And it is a strong one. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Sonic: The Hedgehog, Metal Gear Solid, Halo: Combat Evolved the list goes on and on.
Some of the biggest entertainment classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Star Wars and (Led Zeppelin) were all created before i was born and yet i have read, watched and listened to all three. The majority of the greatest games of all time are not of the current generation consoles. Aren’t you interested in playing them?
Now we can.
To be honest i had heard there would be some kind of multiplayer modes but i did not look into it. It seems that Rockstar has paid a lot of attention to the multiplayer aspect of GTAIV. As per PSM there will be 15 multiplayer modes with up to 16 players. WOW!
Read more to find these modes.
“* There are 15 multiplayer game modes in GTA IV. PSM had an opportunity to play 7 of them. The rules of each game are determined by the host.
* Multiplayer supports upto 16 players.
* Your online character is fully customizable. You can alter his race, sex, hair, clothing etc.
* The game modes featured are as follows:
1. Hangman’s NOOSE
2. Car Jack City
3. Bomb da Base
4. Bomb da Base II
5. Mafia Work
6. Team Mafia Work
7. Deathmatch
8. Team Deathmatch
9. Turf War
10. Cops N Crooks
11. Race
12. GTA Race
13. Deal Breaker
14. Free Mode
15. ????
* In Race and GTA Race, the host gets to decide which vehicles are involved, and the number of laps to be played. You can shoot and throw molotovs from the window, and even steal your rivals’ car.
* In Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, the host gets to decide the number of pedestrians, the amount of traffic, the intervention of police (or not), and the type of weapons.
* In Cops N Crooks, one team play as cops and the other play as criminals. The cops must stop the criminals from escaping. They can monitor the locations of the criminals on their GPS systems, while the criminals don’t know where the cops are.
* In Mafia Work and Team Mafia Work, you play as one of Kenny Petrovic’s mafia henchmen. You must complete hits ordered by the boss (via the cellphone) before your rivals are able to do so.
* The map used in multiplayer is the same map that is used for single player.
* A single-player mission called “Hangman’s NOOSE” features co-op. You and your friends will be able to escort a mobster, while being pursued by a SWAT team.”
Another week and a few more releases. The only major release for the 360s and PS3s of this world is Codemasters’ Turning Point which according to most reviewers has a big label on it which says “AVOID!”. I think this week belongs to the Wii with No More Heroes, Fire Emblem and Harvest Moon (remake of the Gamecube title) “stealing” the headlines. An honourable mention also to the PS2 title of Odin Sphere with its fantastic presentation.
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (PS3, 360, PC)
No More Heroes (Wii)
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Wii)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS)
FlatOut: Head On (PSP)
Odin Sphere (PS2)
There are two hands-on impressions on Civilization: Revolution from Eurogamer (link) and Kotaku (link) and their comments are extremely encouraging. In both articles the controls and interface of the game are being praised as is the streamlining of the game which makes it more accessible with shorter length sessions.
The most notable issues discussed are the stripping down of some technologies and the lessening of micromanagement available for example in cities. There are free-for-all, head to head and team multiplayer modes. Crucial to the success of the multiplayer is the fact that if a player leaves the game AI takes over and thus not ending the game halfway through a session.
I can’t wait.
Just one major release this week and it could potentially be a really good one. After all almost everything is better in co-op. I have not seen any reviews on the game yet so keep your ears and eyes open.
7/3/2008
Army of Two (PS3 and 360)
SOS! Fifteen people are trapped aboard a ship that’s going to sink in exactly 20 minutes. Their only chance for survival is the five person life raft stowed on their vessel. To make matters worse, the waters around the ship are teeming with man-eating sharks, so swimming to safety is out of the question.
A round-trip to the nearest island and back to the boat takes nine minutes on the raft. How many people will live to see dry land?
