Playstation... Orbis?

Coming out of the rumor mill recently is the Playstation 4.  What rumors is the mill churning out?  What does everyone want to know?  Well, first off, the name Orbis is being passed around all over.  Does it play all of my old PS3 games?  I sure have created a solid collection! And, most importantly, with the used game market coming under fire as of late, will Sony try to block the games you buy from friends and second hand stores instead of the developers?  Let's take a look at these individually.


Will it continue to be called the Orbis?  For now.
Try going to orbis.scedev.net/.  Brings you to a developer's site for Sony products.  Same thing with vita.scedev.net.  Or even ngp.scedev.net. All of them work!  Orbis is a code name for something that Sony is working on.  And these signs point towards another system.  It should be in development already, given that all of their competitors are already working on new systems as well, and Sony is not one to be left out of a technology race.  

Well I severely doubt that.

What about backwards compatibility?
I severely doubt that this could continue to be an option at this point.  While I would love to be able to play my PS3 games on a new system, Sony is recognizing the profits gained from re-releasing HD collections of beloved games, and if upping the quality of the system's technology is the aim here, Sony could be sitting on a cash cow by "hyperHDifying" (I just made that up.) their franchises like Uncharted and Killzone.  
Point is: I view backwards compatibility to be a slim chance.  Sony wants their customers (and their profits) to keep moving forward. 


Will the PSOrbis block used games?
The current rumor about used games on the Orbis is simply this:  That a game purchased for the system in physical form (aka NOT downloaded, but on a disc potentially) will be tied to a specific PSN name.  This means that anyone that wants to play it that is not your PSN name will have access to only limited features, if any at all. If you want to play one that is tied to someone else's name, you must 'unlock' the game by paying a fee. This also means: No used purchases, no borrowing it/trading it from a friend, no renting the game.


It seems that analysts are rife with opinions about the used games problem.  Industry analyst Michael Patchter recently opinionated to Gamesindustry.biz that killing off the used games market would be a bad idea for both Sony and Microsoft.  This would harm beneficial relationships that Sony has always had with Gamestop and basically seperate them from the entire market, as why would a used games store carry a system that does not support used games.  If Gamestop didn't carry Sony's Orbit (or whatever its going to be called), then that would be a huge step back for Sony in the "games arms race".  

"You would miss me, right?"

Another industry analyst reporter from Gamesindustry.biz, James Brightman, agrees that blocking used games sales in any way, shape, or form would ultimately give gamers more of a swing to go elsewhere: such as Microsoft or even Nintendo. 

"If Sony moves forward with this rumored plan, it'll be a huge black eye for the company from the consumer perspective. Quite simply, Sony would be taking away consumer choice, and that's never a good thing."

I know I don't have sixty bones to drop on every new game that comes out, and buying used gives me a money saving choice.  My friends and I trade games all the time, and with my personal working experience at Blockbuster, I have three solid reasons why blocking used games would hurt me.  
So will it happen?  I know companies like Activision and EA would love it to, but big companies like Gamestop would not love it so much.  I'd say the odds are just slightly more in not banning them, but only because the customer is always right.  Not the developers.
More news will be reported on the Orbis/PS4 when it appears!

Evil?  Or money-savers? What do you think?

What do you think?  Is it smart to block used games?  Or should Playstation listen a bit more to their consumers and ixnay on the anningsbay?  Let us know by subscribing and posting in our comments! I would love to hear from you!


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The Problems With Shooters

     A common complaint I hear about detractors of the FPS genre is that "they're all the same", or "they are all gray and brown", or "the only way I get hurt is when jelly gets splattered on my screen!" In my opinion, these aren't necessarily valid arguments, but I believe that they are indicative of the general fatigue that surrounds this genre.

Sponsored by Smuckers

     Unfortunately, there are plenty of shooters that break these stereotypes that just get buried underneath the dross that we have come to expect from the annual Call of Duty releases. These are games that do something absolutely new and different with the genre, but will never be as successful as a Halo or Gears of War. I thought I'd outline a few examples of some older games that break the mold of the generic shooter, and I hope that in the future we will see more games that are as pleasantly surprising as these titles are. So please, game developers, steal some ideas from these games.

Borderlands: Loot

     Certainly one of the more original titles to emerge from 2009's holiday rush, Borderlands expertly blended a Diablo-esque loot system normally found in action RPGs with a solid foundation in shooter action. Headshotting a midget and watching his skeleton dissolve in acid while blue and green shiny guns fly out of his torso is an endlessly entertainingly experience.

BLAMO!

     Although the randomly-generated weapons the game rewards as loot can affect a character's stats in a variety of ways, it never removes the player's skill as a factor. When you shoot an enemy in Borderlands, there are no secret dice rolls behind the game's screen. If you have the skill to headshot an enemy, you will deal more damage. It's this blend of skill-based gameplay and RPG elements that puts Borderlands in a special place in my heart.
     Combined with a killer co-op experience and an over-the-top, dark sense of humor, (and the promise of a sequel), Borderlands created a new hybrid of game genres that has yet to be exceeded.

Borderlands on Amazon!

Shattered Horizon: Three-Dimensional Combat

     Another indie game that was lost in the dump truck of releases in fall 2009, Shattered Horizon took the tired concept of a sci-fi first-person shooter and turned it on its head.

Literally

     A PC-exclusive shooter, Shattered Horizon's main selling point was its zero-gravity combat. Armed with only a rifle and a thruster pack, all of the battles are fought in the vacuum of outer space where an enemy could be coming from the left, right, or even above or beneath you at any time. Taking cover means that you have to ensure your safety from three dimensions. I have played many a match where I thought I was safe in my hidey hole, only to realize there was a bad guy approaching me upside-down from a hallway that I perceived as a ceiling.

     The only problem that the game has is its learning curve. It takes a few matches to get used to controlling yourself in three dimensions as you learn to strafe and yaw yourself onto target, but the reward is well worth it. This is a concept that I really wish a major developer would invest in. Shattered Horizon is multiplayer-only game, unfortunately, but if a triple-A developer or publisher could throw some money at this inventive idea, very good things could come out of it.

Mirror's Edge: Color and Movement

     At first glance, Mirror's Edge is a visually stunning game. The art aspect of this game is nuanced enough that I could write entire articles about it, but I'll keep it short for now. The game uses bright, hyper-realistic primary colors to draw interest to certain objects and areas, something that most artists know how to do instinctively.

     The unique high-contrast color scheme allows the developers to naturally draw the player's eye to certain areas of the busy industrially-themed environment in a way that seems intuitive. You can make your way through the environments without even thinking about where you are going, just how you are going to get there.
     Getting to your destination in Mirror's Edge is the core of the game experience. Vaulting, rolling, leaping, and wall-running from point A to point B are some of the most fulfilling experiences I've had in a game this generation. The fluidity of motion and the gut-wrenching acrobatic feats that Faith performs make sprinting from one kill to another in Call of Duty pale in comparison.

Loogie time

Mirror's Edge on Amazon!

     So there you go. Before you complain about the dearth of original content in first-person shooters, take a bit of time and go and explore some games that everybody forgot about. There is room for new ideas in the shooter space, and just because these games aren't on the best sellers list doesn't mean that they don't exist. So check these games out if you get the time or money, because they are sure to offer you experiences you can't find anywhere else.

Boobies are Better than Bullets

     There have been three major controversies in gaming since its inception. Everyone should be familiar with them as they are normally spurred by a controversial game that leads non-gamers to believe something that traditional gamers must either attack or defend. Are video games art? Are video games too violent? And, is there too much "sex" in video games? These questions are circular dichotomies because they are based on opinions, so never ending in nature as it were. But I offer this, are boobs really that bad?

Don't hate us because we're beautiful...

There's 2 in Every Argument
     Sex in video games has had its fun much like co-eds during spring break. Games like DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Leisure Suit Larry, The Guy Game, and BMX XXX show up every once in awhile and flash us some nips and wiggle their booties until we giggle like 12-year-olds in our uncles' skin bin. Some times these games pass us by as innocently as our memories of college while other times they result in controversies that make you wonder what the hell people are thinking, as in the famous Fox News fiasco with Mass Effect.

     I find it amazing that with all the games that display gratuitous amounts of deplorable violence on a regular basis that skate through the cable news channels, one nipple bared during the Superbowl and congress gets involved. Is the female form really so dangerous to our nation's youth that we should abstain from the mere digital image of it? Is a pair of bountiful bouncing breasts more damaging to a male's mental function than the whole of drugs, crime, and violent decapitations?

Fox News didn't cover this 

Pressed Against the Glass
     Video games, as with all art forms, are a reflection of reality. The making and breaking of worldly events inspire their creators in ways that help develop the medium that we cherish so dearly. Modern Warfare didn't create war as much as Grand Theft Auto created proliferating with prostitutes. Blaming games as a mischief training ground is like yelling into a mirror and blaming the image with a total disconnect of the refection within.
     I can understand some of the arguments about objectifying women as sex objects and find my self laughing at the lingerie that passes for heavy plate armor in some games. But allow me to be offended that anyone who would assume any male (let alone myself) would be shallow enough to treat all women like sex objects to be used and discarded simply because of a few hours spent with a video game. We cannot help the chemical reactions in our brains that turn us into babbling idiots when we see an attractive image of a woman. Furthermore, most men have mothers, sisters, daughters, ect. and we are fully capable of understanding that they are respectable females and are in no way sexual objects. Just because I find something beautiful, doesn't mean I want to treat it poorly and definitely have sex with it. That would make trips to the arboretum very uncomfortable and itchy.

In the Russian Version she actually gets naked.

The Call of Boobie
     So as the bridge across the uncanny valley nears completion, the realism of our digital entertainment will reach the point where the dreams of designers and visionaries will soon shine into our retinas. Those moral crusaders who hold tightly to their beliefs will surely cry out loud against everything from violence to drugs, and crime to nipples.
     The only thing we can do as gamers is to hold our ground with intelligent arguments to the contrary and put our money where we believe it to go. I personally not only buy new games to support developers, but ones that stand with my principles as well. When NFL 2K 5 released at $20 I was all over it. Not only because it still stands as one of the best football games ever made, but I wanted to encourage yearly releases to be 20 bucks. I did not purchase Manhunt new because I don't believe violence to be a selling point. And you can bet dollars to doughnuts I will always buy a game that has cheeky sexual themed fun just because this world needs more of it desperately. I will end my argument with a simple question: If you were walking down a beach on vacation with your family, what would be more harmful to witness? A beautiful woman tanning her naked breasts or a helpless captive being decapitated? Think about it...

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My Play N Trade Horror Story

I want to start off by saying that Play N Trade has never been my main source for video games. Now a days I enjoying electronically thumbing through page after page of great deals Amazon or taking advantage of some of the great deals at Best Buy. What drew me there today wasn't a modern game, wasn't a hidden gem I was looking to find for cheap. I was looking for nostalgia, I was looking for a Nintendo 64. This all started last night when I was at my friend's house enjoying Wrestlemania. Now I had given up on wrestling due to the lack of creativity and fun gimmicks that use to be around about a decade ago. Last night that flame was reignited. I watched by far one of the best matches I have seen in my life featuring Triple H vs. The Undertaker and John Cena vs. The Rock. It all came pouring back, my friend and I went back and forth about the old greats and much like anything I talk about it leads to video games. All it took was me saying this sentence...


Awesome Match

"Dude, and do you remember WCW vs. NWO Revenge and Wrestlemania 2000?"

We gushed talking about two of the best wrestling games we had played . They just have not come close to the fun and playability of those titles. My biggest problem was I no longer had a N64. I didn't have WCW vs. NWO Revenge or Wrestlemania 2000. All I know is that I had to get them and the next day I attempted to do just that.

Where are you N64?

A line that sticks out to me when I think of being patient is, "patience is a virtue". If you know me at all patience is one thing that I lack. I woke up today and as quickly as I could threw some cloths on and made my way to the local Play N Trade knowing that they usually carry old systems. Now for reference this Play N Trade was about 15 minutes away from my house, just so you have reference for later in the story. I made it there and asked if they had any N64's in stock and the younger guy behind the counter apologized to me and said they had only one but it was being held because there was something called a "wish list". There were seven people on it and if I wanted to add my name I was more then welcome to.

Not the actual store I was in...

Now I am no business major but if I have someone who is willing to pay for an item that I have in stock at the moment I am going to sell it to them. I tried to get him to budge, but he proceeded to tow the company line and I understood. I asked him if there were any other locations that may have a unit and he told me about a store a half an hour away. I shrugged and figured it was my day off, what is another half an hour? He called up and the store had one Nintendo 64 and a copy of WCW vs. NWO Revenge. Wrestlemania 2000 wasn't an option, but I figured one out of two wasn't bad so I went to the other store.

On arrival the gentleman at store number two seemed very nice, talking to me about street fighter and some of the hot topics in games. He pulled out the unit and the game and proceeded to sell them to me saying, and I quote, "This system has new cords and everything so it should work just fine". Now, at no point did I bring up its working order believing that they checked these things. So I walked out and hit the accelerator a little harder so I could once again be transported to my youth.

"N" as in NOT going to go there anymore

So I ran down the stair, pulled out everything that I needed, put in the game, flipped on the switch and...black screen. Whatever, I tried again....Black screen. I tried this several times before I did get it to work for a while...then it stopped again. Upset, but calm I wrapped up the system and took it to my local Play N Trade,. I walked in and the same guy was there before. He looked at me puzzled and asked what was up. I nicley placed the merchandise on the counter and told him all that had happened. At the end of my story I ended it with...

"Listen, I just don't feel comfortable with a faulty system after paying forty bucks for it."

I then presented him with the receipt. He looked at me like he had gotten a sour grape and said the following...


Kinda like this face....but dummer

"I'm sorry but I can't take it back, we are all run independantly so if I took it back we would be losing money."

I couldn't believe it. I gave him my best "sour grape face" and followed up with, "you're kidding right?" and "Nowhere on this reciept does it say that I can't return it to a different Play N Trade." He shook his head and still continued to tell me that I would need to go all the way back to the other store to return the unit. I was pissed, telling him that he may have not lost forty dollars today but lost a lot more in the long run. I left and went back to the other store and quietly returned my purchase. The second store clerk couldn't allow me to return it without giving me the, "Well, did you put the cords in right?" (Insert same dumbfounded Play N Trade confused clerk look.)

"Oh my god...That has to be it, because I don't understand how to put two cords into a machine and one into a wall and my T.V."

The moral of this story is I wasted 3 hours on this whole debocle and don't have a N64 to show for it. I wanted to not feel as if I wasted my time so I wanted to make sure to send this disclaimer out to all of our readers. Be careful with third party retailers, most of all be careful if you go to Play N Trade.

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