Backwards Compatibility Is a Crutch

So, I made a post on Facebook yesterday that seemed to have rubbed a couple people the wrong way.  "So the Switch can play GameCube games... did you misplace your GameCube?"  I figured I'd write a blog about that, although I already intended to, just to clarify why I made that post.

I would just like to state that I acknowledge the importance of backwards compatibility and have been a proponent since Sony started removing the Emotion Engine chips from later generation PlayStation 3s, thus slowly ending backwards compatibility for their products.  I still wish the PlayStation 4 had full backwards compatibility and still scoff at MS for such a low number of backwards compatible 360 games.  Why then, did I make that comment?

Because apparently, playing GameCube games on the Switch is the most important feature of Nintendo's new system, and I just think that's sad.  People should be buying new consoles to play new games, because really, if you just wanted to play GameCube games, you should go buy a GameCube, or have kept yours if you had one.  True, the Switch will now let you play GameCube games on the go, which is a great feature, but at the end of the day, you bought a new system to play old games.

As I said before, I'm a proponent for backwards compatibility and tried to champion for Sony to have BC for their PlayStation 4, but what I found out after I bought the PlayStation 4 is I started playing PlayStation 4 games with it.  My PS3 remained turned off for the most part.  Not having BC on the PlayStation 4 wasn't that big of a deal after all, because they did a decent job of keeping games coming out for the platform.  Personally, if I wanted to keep playing my Xbox One, I would have seen BC being a far more important feature, because I still have plenty of 360 games left to play.  With Nintendo and their Virtual Console, they have quite a large library of games to play on the Wii U, but not nearly enough Wii U games.

So I'm back to BC being a crutch.  People are saying that now that the Switch can play GameCube games, they'll now buy a Switch.  THAT was the selling point?  THAT was the clincher?  You didn't want a Switch for... I dunno, Switch games... but now you want one because it can play 15 year old games?  That's like buying a car, but you're still riding the bus.

Of course, it could just be that people are excited to talk about the GC BC because Nintendo has released virtually nothing about their launch library, so what else is there to talk about, and that's another can of worms entirely.  It is worrisome that with a system so close to release, we still don't know what the exact date is, the price, or what the launch titles will be.  What is 2017 going to be like?  How many Switch games are planned, and how many of those are NOT ports? It's been more than four years, and the Wii U's four month launch window drought still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  I guess if I get a Switch and there's no new Switch games coming out, I could just play a GameCube game...

Honestly, though, the main drive for a new system should be new games.  If you put out a new system and highlight the fact that it's backward compatible and will have a large library of older games, you're attracting more people to your console, which is a good thing.  At the same time, you're relieving pressure to make new games to attract people to your console who don't care about older ones, which is a bad thing, and we all know Nintendo takes forever to make games.  It really does suck for all of us.  Just remember, if you bought a Switch to play old games, you only have those old games to play because Nintendo had to keep making new games to sell their older systems. I doubt you're going to have many Switch games to play on your new Nintendo 20 years down the line...

PSVR: Day Seven

So it's been a full week since I started playing my PSVR, huh? Wow... It seems like I JUST got it!  I have to say, so far with all the games and films I've experienced with it, I don't regret buying one.  It has been so much fun!

With that said, I returned to Playstation VR Worlds today and finished The London Heist.  I had no idea I was right near the end.  I literally was on the last chapter, and it was only about three minutes long.  The game gave me the choice to either kill the gangster that wanted you to steal the diamond for you, or kill the guy you were working with, so I chose one option after the other, and accidentally fired and missed and got a third ending.  The game was fun, but I wish it was beefier, which is the problem with VR Worlds.  There's no substantial gameplay offering, until Scavenger's Odyssey but I'll get to that later.

The next game in VR Worlds that I played was VR Luge, a street luging game that has you barreling down four stretches of mountain road, but they're all very similar to each other, just different settings and obstacles.  I found this one to be very hard, because its times requirements are very strict.  After each round, you only get 25 seconds added to whatever time left you have, and if you hit an obstacle or wall, you lose considerable speed.  You pretty much have to do each leg perfectly in order to win a tour.  I tried a few times, but didn't have the patience.  It's a thrilling experience to go downhill at such speeds, though.

The final game of VR Worlds turned out to be my favorite because it was the one that felt more like a game than any other.  It was called Scavenger's Odyssey.  You play as an alien in a bug shaped quadrupedal mech who drops into a scavenging site and begins looking for an artifact.  I was able to look all around my cockpit, and it was a freaky sensation to see my body as not my body but something truly alien.  You have an energy grapple that pulls and flings objects, your standard machine guns and an ability to hope great distances and even double jump.  Any game that lets you double jump gets a +1 from me.

You aim by moving your head, and you can rotate the cockpit as you move.  Needless to say, it made for smooth gameplay.  With the help of an auto aiming system, I was able to mow down hordes of alien bugs with ease.  At times, there were energy modules that I could tap with my energy grapple and my weapons benefited with a sudden burst of power.  The presentation of the game was solid with your AI guiding you where to go and what to do.  I loved jumping from platform to platform and and letting zero gravity have its way with me.  Unfortunately, the game ended very abruptly, just when I thought it was going to take me to one final chapter.  I would really love to see Scavenger's Odyssey turned into a full fledged game.

I got Until Dawn: Rush of Blood in the mail today and I have to say, don't write this game off.  You may watch footage on Youtube and dismiss it as a cheap scare rollercoaster ride, but you have to be in the game to really experience it.  Watch Jim Sterling's review on the game.  It was his review that ultimately sold me on the game, which helped sell me on a PSVR.

Rush of Blood is a carnival horror on-rails roller coaster arcade shooter?  If there was such a thing as a sub sub genre of a sub genre of a genre.  You can play with either the dual shock or the Move controllers and I opted immediately for the two Move controllers. That's just the way VR is meant to be played if you ask me.  When I started the game, I was met with a carnival guy who rode in a car in front of me and off I went, shooting my guns at targets that popped out of booths and looking for little freaky doll baby statue things to shoot.  Occasionally, people dressed up in costumes would rush my cart and try to inflict damage upon me where I had to fend them off with my guns.  The first stage was pretty solid, but the second stage was just phenomenal.

The second stage had me literally saying, "This game ain't right!"  Lots of haunting stuff going on with ghosts, reanimated pigs and pig parts, giant clown faces and whatnot.  Also, I had shotguns, which made shooting a lot more fun, but made reloading all the time not as fun.  Still, the second stage was such a blast.  The game also has a lot of Until Dawn references, as it should, since it's based off the game, and I love being able to recognize them.  Oh, I also forgot to mention there are boards and obstacles that come your way, and you need to move your head out of its path, or you'll take damage.  The game has a deceptive sense of horror to it for the kind of game that it is.  I can already say after just playing two stages of this game, it's left more of an impact on me than Here They Lie ever did.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time to end this series. I believe I've talked about enough about the PSVR at this point that I can't really talk about anything more.  I've talked about many, many demos and PlayStation VR Worlds and Here They Lie, and now Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.  I've also mentioned how I've felt after using it.  Oh, and I almost forgot, I used it to watch Deadpool tonight.  I really wanted to watch a movie in VR and see what it was like, and since I love Deadpool so much, I decided upon that.  Aside from the crappy resolution, it felt exactly how it would feel watching a movie in a theater!

Overall, I've had a great time with this device.  I would love to pick up a whole bunch more games for it.  I want Thumper and Wayward Sky.  I would like to get more puzzles games too, such as Tumble VR and GNOG.  I'm hoping that the Within app keeps updating and I can experience new films in VR.  There's only a couple of times where I really didn't feel that well after playing the VR, but I've been seeming to build up a tolerance for it.  It's really so light an comfortable that it becomes part of you after a while.  I know PSVR seems expensive at this point, but keep in mind that considering other options, it's about the cheapest for what it can do and how user friendly it is.  Give a try.  I think you'll like it.

As always, thanks for reading!

PSVR: Day Six

Today started off really late.  I misplaced my disc, and after finally finding it, I jumped into PlayStation VR Worlds. I tried out Ocean Descent, which isn't a game at all, but more of a passive viewing experience.  You're in a cage, and it slowly descends to the depths of the ocean.  The first dive, the longest of the three, has a bit of narrative to it.  You're exploring the oceans looking for some kind of cargo.  As you descend, you view all kinds of sea life.  Eventually, you reach the bottom, suspended over a ripped open nuclear submarine, and a shark attacks you.  After it rips off a wall, you begin ascending, and the experience comes to a close.  There are two other dives, but one is just the upper half of the main dive, and the other is just viewing the coral reef.  Beautiful, but pretty boring stuff.

The second game I tried was Danger Ball.  It's practically pong in virtual reality.  You have a paddle that you control with your head movement.  You can flick your head forward for a power smash or side to side for a curve shot.  There's a tournament of six opponents, which with their own unique shots and abilities, and I made it to Round 4 before I gave up and called it quits.  I wouldn't mind going back to it, though,, to try to win it  It was pretty fun, but had my neck aching after a bit.

I also tried London Heist, and this will probably be VR World's gem.  It's a story about a jewel heist gone wrong.  The first couple of chapters were just cutscenes, being interrogated by a thick piece of muscle, and meeting a gangster.  There's some pretty nifty item manipulation going on during these cutscenes, but where the game really gets exciting is during its shooting segments.  They get you physically involved in the game, but as a result, I grew tired quickly.  I had to keep retrying the highway shoot out, because I really sucked at it. When I finished, I was done.  I really hope I don't have to started it all over from the beginning.

All the games are connected a hub that looks like a museum with a statue to represent each game.  There's a hovering ball in front of you that changes every time you change the game selection, and you can interact with.  There was a ball of water for Ocean Descent, a sports ball with lights for Danger Ball and a giant gem for London Heist.  I don't know what the others are yet, because I haven't tried them.  That will have to wait for tomorrow.

I'm glad this was a pack in game, because I could have been done with it in one night had I started earlier and had no reason to return to it.  Sorry I didn't have much to write about it. Once the next two games are done on VR Worlds, that will be it  until I get a new game.  Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is supposed to be arriving tomorrow, so if I start that, I'll play it and talk about it tomorrow.

As always, thanks for reading.

PSVR: Day Five

I was hoping to spend all day with the VR today, as it was my day off, but I didn't start playing again until after 8:30.  I was really hoping to get some endurance time in because I was interested in seeing how I'd feel after long play sessions.  Maybe I can do that tomorrow.

Anyway, the evening started with my daily play of Here They Lie, and I was right near the end!  After about a five minute walk, I come to a lake and realize that I can walk on it, so I do.  I'm nearing a building on an island and as I walk towards it, Mr. Flaming Man rises out of the water and towers over me.  It was quite the imposing sensation.  Then, a blinding light occurs and when it goes away, the lake is littered with charred bodies, glowing embers dotting their surfaces.

Dana, the woman in yellow that I've been chasing the entire time, appears and begins to tell me a bit of what's been going on.  She said she lost me and when she found me, all there was left of me was ash.  She somehow constructed a world to keep me in, which sort of suggests that it's this world, and as I reach the building and enter, I'm taken on another ride.  As I become airborne, she continues to move away from me, growing in size until she's several stories high.  She tells me that I have a choice to make, that my decision will determine if he lives or dies.

When I land, I approach a mirror, and I'm met with my reflection.  Last night, I discovered this guy is a separate entity, a literal mirror version of myself and now I'm met with my decision.  My reflection says that I can save him, save everyone on his side if I just reach out for his hand and pull him through, or I can end it all by taking a sledgehammer to the mirror.  Usually, I'm for the destructive side when it comes to games presenting me with ending choices, but I decide to reach for his hand and pull him through.  His world bleeds through the mirror and envelops mine and we're on an asteroid looking down on Earth.  He thanks me for helping him, then walks off through space towards Earth saying, "I can't wait to get started."

Well.. I couldn't wait to get finished with this game.  My thoughts about the game was that it was more of an experience, an experiment of what it would be like to be in a hellish and twisted world, then it was an actual game.  It didn't just lack gameplay, it also lacked cohesive story telling.  I have somewhat of a better understanding what was going on in this world, but for the most part, I'm still quite clueless.  I don't regret playing it, though, just paying for it.  It also helped me appreciate the other VR demos I've been playing, the ones that actually use graphics well.  My god, after seeing what other VR games look like, especially REVII, this is just unforgivably ugly.

With Here They Lie out of the way, I decided I was going to watch the short film that I downloaded last night, Alumette.  It was my first experience of a VR film, so I put my controller down and just watched.  There was no way I could fast forward, though, so I had to watch the demo part again.  I didn't really mind.  The rest of the film was just as touching, and even depressing at one point, and when it concluded, I found myself wanting more films in VR.  It was really cool to be able to get up and watch the characters from different angles and inspect the scenery free from director-assigned point of views.

Ready for more demo games, I decided to let the demo disc choose for me at random, which it does every time it boots.  It landed on Hustle Kings VR, and although I'm not much of a pool guy, I decided what the hell?  WHAT THE HELL?!  There is no option to play this demo, only to buy the game!  What's the point of putting a demo on a demo disc if the only option is to buy the game!  Screw that!

Next, I selected RIGS: Mechanized Combat League.  For starters, the graphics are pretty impressive, one of the best looking games on the demo disc.  I love how there's a virtual HUD in the cockpit of my mech.  The game's an arena combat game where the object is to score goals by going into overdrive and you go into overdrive by destroying three opponent mechs.  The game runs very smooth, and it was a lot of fun jumping all over the place running around shooting and punching mechs.  I'm not a competitive gamer, though, so I know I would grow bored of it pretty quickly, but I can easily see how competitive gamers would love to play this one in VR.

Apparently, Hustle Kings VR wasn't the only not a demo on the demo disc.  Superhypercube, a game I really wanted to try out, had no demo option either.  Just a buy option.  And with that... moving on.

The next demo, Within, is not a game demo at all.  Within appears to be a VR app that hosts a bunch of VR short films.  All but three on the menu were locked, and the first one I saw was called Verse.  It started off in the middle of a lake, surrounded by the mountains.  Beautiful scenery, a sun rising, mosquitos flying, and then a steam locomotive barrels out of nowhere, skis the surface of the water and as it plows into me, it breaks up into a flock of birds that twist and turn and regroup into clouds all around me.  Ribbons begin materializing, falling down and suspending themselves on the surface of the water, then begin to twist together into a tunnel sucking me into it where I emerge in a womb with a fetus watching me.  It was as impressive as it was freaky, seeing this huge fetus hand reach out to me and enclose on me.

The next movie was a computer animated short called Invasion about two aliens that came to earth. It was unclear what character I was, but whatever I was attracted the attention of a cut little bunny.  We watched with great interest and caution as an alien space ship landed on the frozen lake we were standing on.  Two aliens emerged via tractor beam, which abruptly cut out on them, having them land on their faces.  I laughed.  When they got up, they began to speak a language that was eerily similar to Minionese.  Each alien was adorned with an antennae, and they wielded them at me, charging up, suddenly distracted by an eagle of which they obliterated leaving nothing but floating feathers.  They turned back to me, charged again and sensing my peril, the bunny hopped in between us, drawing their fire and circling around them.  The ice they stood upon tipped over depositing both aliens into the freezing water below.  One reemerged in the background while the bunny gave me a sly look.  Shocked to be taken by surprise by such an innocent looking creature, the alien retrieved his partner, now frozen in a block of ice, and promptly boarded their ship and left earth.  I really enjoyed this film, and it sounds like another one is coming.  The aliens' names are Mac and Cheze, and I'll be looking forward to their next film.

The third film was a documentary called Venim's Reef about an ocean conservationist in the islands of Indonesia.  Although there was a lot of pretty footage, there just wasn't anything that illustrated depth.  I then went to see how much the price was for the app, and it turned out that it was free, so I downloaded it.  The app has a variety of things on it, such as music videos, a couple of SNL specials, a scene from Mr. Robot. and a lot more.  I checked out several things, and although it was cool to feel like  you were there at the taping of a show, because these videos are streamed, they're very poor quality.  I can't see this app being used that much because of it.

Back to games, I found that there was another demo you couldn't play called Bound.  I wish there was a demo, because the game looked really intriguing.  I moved on to Eve Valkyrie, a space shooter.  I have to say, it was pretty damn impressive.  It felt like you were right in the cockpit of a space fighter.  Excellent graphics lent to a great feeling of immersion and it was fun flying around trying to shoot down targets.  But it was another damn demo that was over before I could really get settled in.

Although I wouldn't really call it a game, I tried out Harmonix Music VR.  This seems more like an app.  There are four different environments and Harmonix says Music VR will work on any song.  One world is a beach, and  you can change the visual stimulation by looking at different objects.  There's the Easel, which is pretty cool.  You can paint with all sorts of different lines and colors and even put shapes into space and fling them up in the air.  Then there's Dance Party, which has these animal pinata looking things that  you can make dance by manipulating their body parts.  It was pretty easy and intuitive to get them to dance.  Then there was the non-interactive trip where you watched the game generate graphics to the sound of the music.  It's a cool "game", but I'd never think of paying for it.

Next I played an unusual puzzle game by Tim Schaeffer's studio Double Fine called GNOG.  It seems to be a game about opening lunch box shaped puzzles.  Weird, yes, I know, but this IS Tim Schaeffer we're talking about.  The demo gave me two puzzles to open, and I got the first one right away, but the second one took a bit more time.  It involves a lot of observation and experimentation.  I can see future puzzles being real brain benders.  Would be a nice 10 dollar game.

Battle Zone was up next.  Wow, it was fun!  Bright, futuristic, smooth.  It's a modern update to the old tank game of the same name, but it puts you right into the cockpit of a tank where you scuttle around the battlefield blowing up enemies.  It's pretty cool looking over your shoulder and seeing the tank changing weapons, looking side to side for the next target, and even feeling the ooomph when you hit the turbos.  This would be another nice 10 dollar game.

The final and last demo I played (there were also demos for Here They Lie and Playstation VR Worlds, but I own those) was a kooky game called Headmaster.  You're a soccer player and for some reason, you're inside a prison yard.  A voice comes over the loudspeaker and begins giving you instructions on how to hit a ball with your head.  You then hit targets for points, and the scenarios change up regularly.  It has some pretty funny dialogue as well, and I was smirking a good deal near the end.  The problem with the game, though, is that it requires a high level of precision and lots of head jerking motions so ultimately, I didn't find it much fun.

That's it for the demo disc.  It's getting rather late because I ended up making up for lost time today, and I just bucked down and decided to play all the remaining demos tonight.  I actually feel pretty good right now, but I was feeling a bit of eye strain towards the end of the demo run.  Tomorrow, I'll start playing Playstation VR Worlds.  Oh, and I'll say that I love the 3D sound.  You can actually here things from the left and right and even behind  you.  Great stuff.

As always, thanks for reading.

PSVR: Day Four

Spent a good amount of time with it today, so I have lots to talk about tonight.  As usual, I returned to Here They Lie and put almost an hour and a half in, taking a break just once, and I felt like I could have kept playing, but I decided to break for a shower.  I don't seem to be prone to whatever it was that was making me sick anymore, so that's a good sign.

The game has gotten a lot more interesting, but at the same time still very mysterious.  I've returned to the subway, and occasionally I would be stalked by a man made out of flames who pounds the ground with a giant hammer.  These were some of the best moments of the game, but like every interesting bit before it, it's over so quickly.  The coolest part I've experienced so far was when the train left from underground and was somehow in the air, passing by buildings with a Godzilla sized flame guy walking down the apocalyptic city.

The game played other tricks on my mind as well, having me waste flashlight batteries trying to navigate a looping maze, putting up walls behind me where none were before and pooling the floor with blood, and having me board a boat as it took me along some kind of hallucinogenic trip where the game finally introduced a color palette that was higher than six.

The last section of the game I played had me skulking through the remnants of a mountain town all the while avoiding those creepy skull wearing guys.  That's when the "game" started feeling more like an actual game.  I had to do a lot of observing and sneaking past and was rewarded with a check point.  I wanted to keep playing, but I also wanted to return to the demo disc and play some more demo for some much needed variety.

The first demo I played tonight was called Kitchen, and I had absolutely no idea this was the Resident Evil 7 VR tech demo I heard about.  It takes place during the opening sequence of the Beginning Hour demo where you're Clancy, the camera man, tied up in the kitchen, and the guy you were working with was trying to free you.  This tech demo just blew my mind.

For starters, the graphics are the most realistic I've experienced in VR thus far.  Honestly, this is what Here They Lie should look like.  Kitchen actually has colors and textures going for it, and that allows for the atmosphere to be un-freaking-believable.  I got serious goosebumps when the killer charged into the room and stabbed me in the leg, then killed the guy and started making noises behind me.  I twisted and turned trying to find her and nearly jumped back out of my bed when she put her hands over my eyes and swung around on me.  Intense.  I'm definitely getting RE:VR.

I played the demo for Drive Club VR and was pretty impressed with that as well.  Yet another game that really makes me appreciate VR.  You get to choose from three cars; a Ferrari, a Pagani and I forgot the other one.  I chose the Pagani and I spent a few minutes just admiring being able to see all inside the car.  When I actually sat in the car and started driving, it literally felt like I was driving the car.  Being able to look around wherever I wanted gave me a sense of realism and spatial awareness you just don't get from normal cockpit views in racing games.

Then I played Tumble VR.  Remember Tumble?  Chances are if you never took a chance on the Move when it first came out, you probably don't.  Tumble was a block stacking game where you stacks blocks of all various sizes and shapes.  It also had different modes such as Demolition where you strategically place mines on a tower and try to blow as many blocks away as far as you can.  The demo for Tumbler VR put me right in front of the action, and had a futuristic presentation to it as well.  I enjoyed what I played, and I may consider it for a puzzler if I ever want to get one for the VR.

I believe the next demo I played was Wayward Sky, and this game could be quite a gem.  It's a point and clicker and having a game such as that in VR is absolutely brilliant.  You point to different places you want this girl to go to, and if there's a puzzle to be solved, the game shifts to her first-person view, and you solve a puzzle using the Move controllers.  It's got a great charm to it, but the thing that upset me was just how short of a demo it was.  I mean, real short, probably not even five minutes.

Speaking of another short demo, that would be Rez Infinite.  I don't think the game even let me finish off the first boss.  I don't think I ever played a Rez game before, but it was a pretty trippy experience.  It's an on rails shooter that has music and sound effects that play along with the gameplay.  Everything has a digital aesthetic to it, as if representing what things would be like in a VR hacking world.  To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with it, and all this demo did was make me wish I was playing Thumper instead.  Still cool, though.

The last demo I played wasn't a game at all.  It's a movie called Alumette. Yes, a movie, and it's a really charming once.  It's based on The Little Matchstick Girl by Hans Christian Anderson and it's stile is that of a felt and and cardboard stop animation.  I found myself enamored by this movie, feeling for the girl and just taken aback that I was watching a VR movie.  I also found that the rest of the movie is free to download, which I'm doing.  I can't wait to watch the rest of it.

So far, this was my best night with the PSVR.  I'm glad that I'm not getting sick from it.  I'm guessing I just had to get used to it after a while.  Every each day continues to get better, than I don't regret buying this at all.  I JUST wish it had better resolution!

PSVR: Day Three

Another day thatI didn't get to spend as much time with the VR as I wanted.  I'll just say right now that before I started to type this blog, I took my glasses off to wipe them and I've noticed some scuffing on my glasses from being in direct contact with the VR lenses.  I'm hoping that I can buff them out with some silicon.  This could be very irritating.  

Anyway, around 8 o'clock, I decided to go straight back into Here They Lie and the game started becoming very, very weird.  I was met by one of those monster things with the animal skull mask, but it turns out that it's a man.  They've somehow degenerated into animal like behavior.  This particular guy turned out to be friendly and was leading me down a path.  He also made some pretty disgusting gestures including masturbating in front of me and rubbing his ass on my crotch.  Just disgusting....

Later on, we get to an area where I'm accosted by a guy in an animal mask, and there is a crowd of spectators.  My impomptu guide was thrown on the floor and beaten and then a guy with a lead pipe was going to finish him off.  Instead, he passed the pipe to me, and the game gave me the option to kill the poor guy or the would-be executor.  Of course, I decided to kill the executor.  I was expecting some kind of fight afterwards, but they just let me past.  

As I kept moving forward, the game continued to get stranger and weirder, but it wasn't doing anything to let me in on what was going on.  All I know is there's some kind of cult worship going on, and it's creating an extreme amount of depravity and debauchery among the game's residents.  When I started strolling through occupied areas, I came across people that exhibited behaviors from tripping on drugs, to dry humping, to suicide and even homicide.  Some had weapons and patrolled the alleyways and would kill me if they spotted me.  There was one guard who was looking over a balcony, and then I had a guy creep up behind me, shush me, and then proceeded to throw him over the edge.  He then encouraged me to throw himself over the edge.  What the fuck?  I have no idea what's going on in this game! There was even a moment where I traveled outside of my body after I was forced into a chair and had a ritual performed on me.  I really hope this game starts explaining shit soon, because I need it.  

The game is supposed to give you a rest reminder every 15 minutes or so, but I didn't get a check point until almost an hour later.  I wasn't feeling queasy like I did that first night, but I definitely was ready to take a break.  After being in the headset for almost an hour, taking it off and getting reacquainted with the real world felt great.  I'm pretty sure I won't be playing anything in VR for more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time.  I don't suggest anyone else spend more time than that. 

I played another demo on the demo disc as well.  This time, the game was Job Simulator, a kooky little cartoonish office job simulator that has you performing menial jobs in hilarious ways.  But wow, was it ever aggravating!  The game required you to stand up, and you also needed a good bit of space.  When I tried to cheat it, I found out quite quickly that when I tried to reach my hand into the snack cart, I was thwarted by my bed;  I had to get up. 

This created another problem.  Once I stood up, my VR was out of range of the PS camera, so I angled it to face upward, but that still didn't solve the problem of me needing more space.  When you start the game, it sets up to make sure you have enough space away from the TV.  I then raised the camera and set it back on a shelf behind the TV, and this gave me BARELY enough room that it was satisfied to let me play.  Also, I kept fumbling for my Dual Shock to actually start the damn game, because apparently you can't use the Move controllers to select what game you want to play from the hub.  

Job Simulator was a lot of fun.  It started out with me drinking coffee and eating donuts, and then I discovered I could throw the donuts and giggled like Homer Simpson, although we all know Homer Simpson would never, ever throw a donut.  Airborne pastries found targets behind cubicles and I'd be met with stern looks from my coworkers, who were anthropomorphized computers.  After I stopped goofing around, I had to plug my computers in, turn them on, log on, check emails, delete them all and then just when I started having fun "jobbing", the boss came in to declare 5 o'clock and we were dismissed.  The demo promptly ended.  I'd have to say it was about five minutes long, FAR too short for me.  

Now it's late, and I decided that was it.  I'm feeling little weird residual effects, like things are moving around just like if I was still in the VR. I'm just going to chalk that up to being tired.  I was tired, too, before I put the VR back on to play Job Simulator, so I'm going to say that's the reason why.  

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading. 

PSVR: Day Two

So when I got off work, I had dinner and played some Here They Lie again, and this time, I didn't feel as sick as last night.  Even though I didn't feel any nausea, I was ready to take a break from it when the second "take a break" prompt came up.  The game's getting better, and I actually had a couple of freaky moments.  There were some sections where I had to skirt around some monsters, and it got a bit intense.  I even found myself trying to poke around a corner to see if the monster went the opposite direction.

I also have to say Here They Lie has one of the coolest respawning sequences in any game.  When you die, you come back in a sea of black washed with blood and a giant red sun halfway out of the horizon.  Some figures come out of the blood, and then there's multiple spinning rings of debris that alternate to create a cool tunnel effect, something you would experience at a funhouse.  Then it all materializes and forms a door and back out you go.

I'm really hoping this game continues to get better, and I also hope I start building a tolerance for whatever caused me not to feel that well last night.

My intent tonight was to play several demo games from the demo disc, but I didn't have much time after playing some Watch Dogs and watching a movie.  I did, however, want to get at least one demo in.  When I popped the disc in, I was met with a 30 minute update so that took a sizable chunk out of what little time I had left.

There were actually many more demos on the disc other than the nine that was shown on the back of the box.  When  you start the demo disc, you're whisked into this giant open space with the PS home menu music playing.  It's kind of surreal.  Then you just scroll through groups of three demos.  I knew right away that when I landed on Thumper, I wanted to try that, and wow, did I pick a winner!

Thumper is amazing!  You're this metallic beetle on an energized track and you have to hit the X button just as patches of light slip underneath you.  There's a constant pulsating soundtrack that plays, and the gameplay is part of it; so it's a rhythm game.  It's not just a rhythm game, though; it's an experience.

The game starts you off with a boss.  The track you're riding on is being spun out of the boss's mouth, who is just a triangle but the track is also decorated with tendrils that fold out, suddenly making everything appear to be more alien than before.  You have to hit the bits of light just perfect and if you hit the final one of the segment, there's a charge up and a powerful pulse ripples down the track to the boss and damages it.  Enough times, the boss is destroyed and you move on.

There are curves that get introduced and you have to hold X and turn the opposite way in order to not take damage from the blinding light of the curved walls.  They later come so quick that you have to start paying attention way down the line before they come.  Obstacles come and you have to hold X to go into an armor mode and smash through them.  By the time you get to the last boss, which is like a calavera, you have to use everything you learned to survive the onslaught.

What really impressed me about this game was its visual style and sense of depth.  You see the track coming from a mile away as it bends and twists.  Deep into the background, it's an abyss, which causes the light from tunnels and walls to stand out so much more.  It feels like one of those arcade rides that you go to the mall and pay 8 bucks for to have an attendant strap you in with 20 other people.

I loved the demo so much that I ended up playing it again immediately.  This is the kind of game VR was made for, and after playing the almost colorless Here They Lie, this game was a giant breath of fresh air.  I have decided to make Thumper my next PSVR game purchase.  It really is something else.  If you have a PSVR yourself, you need to try this one out!

As always, thanks for reading!

PSVR: Day One

Hello and welcome to what I hope to be a series of daily blog entries that chronicles my experience with Sony's new PSVR.  I was debating for sometime whether or not I wanted to get one, and I watched people's experiences and listened to some reviews and I decided to take the plunge.  I ordered one last week, and this week it has arrived, no thanks in part to Amazon not bothering to package it at all.  They literally put shipping tape and the shipping label directly on the box.  Which reminds me, I need to file a complaint....

Yesterday, the 19th is actually the first day I had with the PSVR, and I didn't get much time with it.  I arrived from work late night, and by the time I had dinner and then unboxed it, set it all up and had a shower, it was already 10 o'clock.  I also planned to do an unboxing video and to my dismay, I realized after I finished recording, my phone wasn't recording at all.  I wanted to show off how well the packaging was inside the box.  It even had a diagram of what order to plug in everything, and the cords had numbers attached to them.  Very user friendly.

After having it all set up, I realized that I need to do a cord management project sometime soon.  Just stemming from the PS4 and VR adapter, I have two HDMI cables, two power cables, three USB cables and of course, the VR cable itself.  My PS3 is now unplugged to accommodate the VR.

The headset, as many have reported, is quite light, and fits over my glasses, although after adjusting the scope, my lenses are right on the PSVR's lenses.  You're also instructed to tighten the back of the headband after you put it on to prevent the headset from slipping off your head.  I think I might have had mine too tight last night.  It also pinches my nose just a bit, and I realized after playing for a while, I wasn't breathing through my nose very well.  I'll have to see if there's a way for me to readjust that.  Overall, I really like how the headset was designed.

The only game I played last night was Here They Lie, a horror game that played an instrumental part into finally pushing me into the decision to buy a PSVR.  I saw lots of videos of people playing, and it looked really scary.  So, it was obvious that this would be the game I started first.  I will admit, the first time I experienced it, it was pretty impressive.  It felt like I was right there on the train, and when I stepped out into the massive train station, I could literally feel the empty space.  The virtual reality effect is quite impressive.

The game itself, however, is very underwhelming, at least at first.  To be honest, I didn't get very far, and only experienced one minor jump.  The reason for this is that I started getting uncomfortable and nauseous, so I had to stop playing.   I was really hoping I wouldn't be affected by it, but that's what happened.  I'm only hoping that maybe it was because I had a large dinner, and it wasn't sitting well.  It also didn't help that I got lost in the game and grew bored of it.  Maybe I'll have a better experience with it tonight.

I know there wasn't much for me to talk about with this entry, but hopefully that will change.  I want to play more Here They Lie, and I also want to try out PlayStation Worlds, along with the demo disc.  Also, I paid 500 dollars for the launch bundle, and although it might sound expensive, it's actually a great deal.  The VR unit costs 400 dollars alone.  With the bundle, you get a pair of Move controllers, which is 100 dollars right there, a PS4 camera and a game as well.

Thanks for reading.  I hope to have more impressions with the next entry.

What Is a Link To Do?

I've been pretty much debating with myself whether or not I wanted to touch this topic, but I decided I think I will.  I will preface with Jim Sterling's Jimquisition on the matter.

If you don't have the time to watch, I'll just summarize.  Jim Sterling heavily criticize's Eiji Aonuma's reasoning for why, when people heard rumors of a possible female playable character were disappointed they weren't true, they didn't go with a playable female character.  Quoting Aonuma from a GameSpot interview.

"We thought about it," said Aonuma, "and decided that if we're going to have a female protagonist it's simpler to have Princess Zelda as the main character."

This idea was ultimately rejected, because according to Aonuma "...if we have princess Zelda as the main character who fights, then what is Link going to do? Taking into account that, and also the idea of the balance of the Triforce, we thought it best to come back to this [original] makeup."

This answer has apparently caused quite a bit of backlash.  I'm not bothered by it, honestly.  I can understand why some people are, though, because it makes it seem that it's too much effort on Nintendo's part to make up a heroine that could replace Link.  In my honest opinion, though, Link should always be the main character in The Legend of Zelda, because. well, he always has.  Putting him in the backdrop as an NPC makes about as little sense as playing a Mario game as Toad where all Mario does is tell you the Princess is in another castle.

Think for a second.  Remember when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out and it introduced Shia LaBeouf as Indy's son?  Would it still be Indiana Jones if the next  movie came out with LaBeouf as the main character with the original Harrison Ford in only a few scenes?  Indiana Jones belongs in Indiana Jones movies.  Granted, Link's name is never in the main title of a Zelda game, but it's always a given that it's Link you'll be playing as, just as Metroid will always have players playing Samus Aran.  This is where the whole debate should cease as far as I'm concerned.

Some people have yearned for a female Link for some time, but no one has ever yearned for a male Samus Aran.  My point is people accepted Samus Aran as Metroid since its inception, and people should accept Link as the playable character in Zelda.  There honestly is no need for a playable femaleLlink for the exact same reason as there's no need to change Samus to male, or hell, even change Lara Croft to Larry Croft in Tomb Raider.

I get that some female gamers feel they're underrepresented, but asking existing franchises to cater to them is nothing but politics in my eyes.  Even if Nintendo came up with a great explanation for why the playable character is female, say, Link has a daughter, it would only be seen as Nintendo taking a step to become progressive. I am all for a spin off, though.  If Nintendo wants to take Zelda out of the damsel in distress trope and make a game surrounding her own journey where Link is never in the picture, that would be awesome.

I just want to make this absolutely clear, though, just so no one mistakes this blog post as sexist or misogynistic or whatever.  I am against removing Link from Zelda just as much as I'm against removing Samus Aran from Metroid.  I'm a traditionalist first and foremost, and that works both ways for me.

The Legend of Zelda: Out of Breath From Running Wild

Check out this video:

Hundreds of gamers ran towards the playable Zelda kiosks yesterday to try their hands at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  As Kotaku states, this kind of stampede hasn't been scene since the Wii was launched in 2006.  Also as Kotaku states, some of these people have waited four hours to play the new Zelda.  FOUR HOURS!  That's a long time of doing nothing to play just a little bit of this new Zelda.  This game appears to be all the rage right now. 

But allow me to curb my enthusiasm a bit.  Now granted, I was impressed from what I saw streamed of the game a couple days ago.  However, if I was there at the E3 floor, I would not have ran against countless others just to try it.  I definitely would have played it given the chance, but not in a manic fashion like that.  Maybe it's because I've grown older and a bit wiser, but I don't view this kind of behavior as smart.  

Sound familiar?

One of the reasons why I don't go out and shop on Black Friday.  People have gotten hurt and even killed in Black Friday stampedes.  People lose their shit when there's something they want real bad and there are many other people gunning for the same thing at the same time.  An incident like what you saw in this video could have easily happened at E3.  I haven't heard of anyone being hurt, and if none were, thank God.  Last thing we need is a story of people trampling each other at E3 trying to play a video game.

"BUT IT'S NOT JUST ANY VIDEO GAME!  IT'S THE NEW ZELDA!"  

Which is funny now that you mention it.  Yes, it's not just any new Zelda.  It's a Zelda that for the first time has broken its shackles of traditional formulaic game design and caught up with the rest of the gaming industry.  "Link has a jump button now." That sentence alone should drive home what I'm getting at it.  Yes, for the first time, Link will now be able to explore a world that is open-ended and delineated, something that games have been doing since, I don't know, at least a good couple of decades or so.  

But catching up with the rest of the gaming world is a very important milestone for Nintendo.  it shows that, after hounding and prodding and nudging - even kicking and screaming, Nintendo will break away from their comfort zone.  As a result, we have a new Zelda that has generated this kind of reception, a kind of "must-play" mantra that makes people risk their well-being just to be the first few to experience it for themselves......

.... even though they've already experienced it in many other games before.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure Breath of the Wild will be a fantastic game of the highest Nintendo caliber (well, I said the same thing about Skyward Sword, and look how that turned out), but nothing in the footage that I saw was really all that new to gaming, just new to Zelda.  This also illustrates a problem I've had with Nintendo fans for some time.  They're so content and complacent with whatever Nintendo hands their way.  Even though games from other companies have achieved so much more in all facets from graphics, to gameplay to storytelling, it seems to be a major deal to Nintendo fans when Nintendo finally decides to catch up.  

"Link has a jump button now."  He finally does, and people were ready to jump each other just to try it.  

Just Say NO to Remasters

According to mynintendonews.com Nintendo might consider remastering the beloved GameCube RPG Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door if fans are vocal enough.  I LOVE The Thousand Year Door, and I feel it's the best in the series; it's the one game that all future Paper Marios should have tried more to be like.  With all my adoration for this game, though, I DO NOT want a remaster.  I DO NOT want Nintendo to waste their time remastering a game that I've already played before.  People say, though, that remastering is a good thing, because it introduces a new generation of gamers to a game that was before their time, and to that I say, there is the eShop for that.

Instead, I want a PROPER sequel to Thousand Year Door.  I want a Paper Mario that has that wonderful battle system that made me love TYD.  I want that fantastic TYD writing back.  You know what I would think would be perfect? A Paper Luigi game!  Remember in TYD when you would occasionally bump into Luigi and he would talk about his own adventures?  Make a game that lets us explore Luigi's journey during the time of Mario's Thousand Year Door!

The remastering trend is seriously getting overdone.  It's the reason why the Wii U only has two Zelda games in its library, and they're both GameCube games.  Instead of people being vocal for a remaster, they should be vocal about getting NEW games.  The Wii U's library is already barren enough without having yet another remastered GameCube game added to it.

Just to be fair, this is my same feeling towards remastering on other consoles.  Both PS4 and XBox One collections are peppered with remasters at least once a month or every other month.  I think remastering a last generation game for the current generation is nothing more than a quick cash grab, and only benefits gamers who never had the chance to pick it up for the previous generation.  This isn't like taking a game from 10-15 years ago where it can actually benefit from the extra power.  That's why I didn't care at all about the Windwaker remaster.  That game was already and still is beautiful.  TYD is still beautiful and wouldn't really benefit much from a remaster.

I've only bought a FEW remasters in my life time.  One, of course, was for ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, because Colossus strained the PS2's guts something fierce so it was nice to play it again on the PS3 without the constant slowdown. Ironically, they capped the frame rate on the PS3 because they said that having a faster framerate would dilute the wonderment.  I also bought Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, but that was FAR more than just a remaster of Metal Gear Solid   I also have Tomb Raider Definitive Edition because I was able to get it for free.

Again, however, I think Nintendo would just be wasting their time remastering a game that still holds up today.  I get the excitement over seeing a much beloved game being brought into today's current generation, but I just want people to realize that it's at the cost of a brand new game.  Remember, the Wii U has been out in 2012, and STILL doesn't have a brand new Zelda...

Resident Evil 7 demo walk through impressions

*SPOILERS DUH*

One of the reveals during E3 was the new Resident Evil, titled Resident EVII.  I love the way Roman numerals work with titles.  It was almost like they changed Biohazard to Resident Evil just because someone saw how well this title would work should the franchise move to its seventh installment.  Also announced was a playable demo that was available yesterday, but the catch is that it's only available for PS+ members, of which I don't belong.  I was so intrigued by what I saw of EVII that I simply had to try it, so I activated a 14 day trial.  For whatever reason, it wasn't available on the US PS store last night, so I had to wait for today for it to pop up.  I downloaded it, went to dinner, and then immediately started playing when I got home.

I had been hearing that the entire game's in first person, which is already starting to polarize some RE fans.  Personally, I am not bothered by it, because it absolutely worked for P.T.  Even though Capcom said they weren't inspired by the ill fated Silent Hills demo, I'd have to call bullshit on that.  Anyway, so far, the first person is working for me.  The visuals are pretty damned creepy.  Everything is decrepit and dirty and slimy and disgusting.  I decided to put on some stereo headphones because the game's audio is so subtle, it's being masked by the PS4's fans.  With the headphones on, I'm finding myself looking around every time I hear something bumped or falling over.  So far, the atmosphere is spot on for a survival horror game.  

The demo starts off with my wrists being bound, and a guy with a knife cuts me free and then the screen freezes up and brings out the title of the game demo.  Once I start, I see myself looking at the floor and then I'm slowly getting up.  I've been instructed by the game to get out of the house.  As I'm walking around taking in the scenery, I come across the kitchen.  Because of my curious nature, I'm opening everything.  The refrigerator spills all sorts of liquids.  A dead bird surprises me when I open the microwave.  A pot on the table is a dinner gone horribly bad.  Even the cockroaches want nothing to do with it and flee via my arm as I lifted the lid off.  What the hell has gone on in this house?

I open drawers, one empty, one locked.  

As I leave the kitchen and enter a hallway, I come across a cabinet that's chained shut.  I take a second and notice how the state of this hallway is in complete disrepair.  Drywall has fallen off revealing wooden innards, and neigh a painting is evenly hung.  My flashlight flickers for a second as it illuminates a massive network of spider webs.  I approach the door and open it slowly.

If only video games had olfactory feedback accessories, I would have been bombarded with a horrible stench.  I see some kind of remains of a monstrosity, but in pieces.  Flies buzz in my ears as if they were actually in my ears.  I hear floorboards creaking, daring me to enter this room.  I find a pair a bolt cutters, and just as I press X to confirm, I'm met with my first surprise as a naked moldy baby doll falls to the floor in front of me, mocking me with a squeak as I utter "Jesus Christ" under my breath.  A door at the end of this room is locked, telling me I need to locate a key.  I know what to do with the bolt cutters, so I go back to the chained cabinet.  

The game prompts me with the inventory screen and I select the bolt cutters and proceed to free the doors from their bondage.  Expecting something to jump out and scare me, I open the doors.  To both disappointment and relief, I find nothing more than a VHS tape.  I take it and add it to my inventory and head back to a TV I saw in the room I started.  As I'm walking back, I'm met with some startling noise of someone or something rattling windows and shutters.  It makes me uneasy.  I'm tensing up in anticipation of the next big scare. 

Still heading back, I notice a flight of stairs that I somehow overlooked so I halt and consider going up.  I decide to ascend and notice a blinking light on a column, an alarm perhaps?  The button is marked "STAIRS", so I'm figuring it raises the stairs.  I don't push it and decide to explore the room further.  I come across the lady mannequins that some idiot in the audience during the reveal felt it was appropriate to whistle, and then a desk and a chair, a drawer some trash bags and an empty rack.  I return to the button and press it. I go to investigate the stairs and nothing happens.  I return to the button and proceed to freak myself out as I somehow keep knocking over this damn mannequin thinking I have someone else in the attic with me.  When I get a grip, I return to the button and press it again.  It says it's not responding, so I head back downstairs.  

I freeze in my tracks as I hear what sounds like a dog growling.  I'm trying to get a location on where it's coming from and just when I think I have it, it stops, so I move on.  I open the door to the starting room and am immediately blasted by white noise, which has me turn the volume down a bit. The TV's on, screen full of static.  I put the tape in the player and it begins play.

It shows a video with two guys in some kind of house talking about making a movie, sounds like it's a documentary called Sewer Gators.  The two guys are arguing over something.  I then realize I have control of the person who was watching the two guys.   I move forward.  My footsteps tell me I'm stepping in something wet; there's puddles of water all over.  The graphics also have taken on a filter to make it readily known that is a VHS movie you're watching.  

I'm approaching the patio of a house and I meet up with the two guys apparently waiting for me to arrive so we can enter the house.  I also notice the windows are barred with chain link fence and barbed wire.  To keep something out or in? Ah, durr... I'm the camera man in this story.  They struggle to open the door, and then one kicks it in.  We enter and the two talk among themselves and I hear one of them wondering what they're doing in this house, because he used to be an anchor.  The other's giving him crap about it.  I recognize the hallway we're walking down.  It was the hallway that contained the locked cabinet. 

The two talk about the owners of the house, Jack and Margarite Baker.  While they speak, I explore.  The pot of dinner is still there, but the cockroaches aren't.  The Bakers have a son, Lucas (fuck, it would HAVE to be Lucas) and there's some pretty bad rumors surrounding him.  I open the microwave and the bird is there. The refrigerator spills nothing when I open it.  I overhear one of the guys cursing as he steps in something, ruining his shoes. I hear one of them call the other Andre, and after calling for Andre a few times, we release he's no longer with us.  He calls me Clancy, and the he I now remember was called Pete by Andre.  We start looking for Andre now. 

We go down the hallway where the stairs were heading into the starting room.  We hear a commotion on the other side of the door, startling us both.  He opens the door and we very slowly enter, calling out his name, shining our flashlight all around and finding nothing.  A sound is heard from the fireplace, so he inspects it and finds a switch.  After hitting it, a secret panel in the wall next to us opens, I press R3 to crouch and we slip in. We come across a ladder, and he urges me to go in first.  

I go down the ladder and then enter what looks to be some of cellar.  I hear water dripping from above and then I just so happen to catch Andre out of the corner of my eye.  He's facing the wall and then I immediately put the controller down and look away.  I know what's coming.  Ever seen the Blair Witch Project?  I pick the controller back up and walk up to Andre where I grab him by the shoulder and turn him around.  He's been impaled on the face on a broken water pipe!  I as Clancy scream, the weight of Andre, now freed from the pipe, falls on me and takes me down and then I see shuffling feet walking towards me, me still screaming but now swearing and I hear crunching sounds, some groans of pain and the tape ends.  

I'm back in front of the TV with an object next to it, a piece of paper.  It looks like it says "YOU" written in blood. I pick it up and read it.  It says, "I SHALL DASH YOU AGAINST THE STONES".  The "YOU" was written over "THEM"  I turn around and it looks like some kind of fuse box opened so I go to investigate.  Of course, one is missing, so that's my next mission.  Find that missing fuse. 

As I leave the room, I hear a door open and close in the background.  Thinking for a second, I think that was just the door I left from, but then I hear footsteps from somewhere.  They sound like they're above me.  I hear a clock ticking.  I'm pretty sure I didn't hear it ticking the first time I went through this house.  I decide to go back up to the attic.  

The mannequin I kept tripping over was no longer there.  I push the stairs button again, still not responding.  I head back down and then through the kitchen, back into the room where the decomposing meat was.  Upon closer examination, it looks like a cow that has been perfectly separated from front to back.  Not sure where to go, I remember the video of Pete who found the switch hidden in the fireplace.  I run back to it, find the switch and pull it.  I slip through the secret panel and go through the hidden room.  The ladder's gone, but a back door key is in its place, so I pick it up.  

Heading back out and into the room, I hear footsteps from the hallway, and I think I looked away as just the wrong time to miss the figure crossing past the door that I saw in the E3 footage.  The music is now playing to set the tone.  It's that kind of music that lets you know something's going to happen.  I go through the door, take a right and try the door just ahead of me.  Nope, locked, so this is not the door that uses this key.  

I head back down the hallway and then hear a noise that sounds like someone's dragging a metal pipe along a concrete floor.  More commotion happening as I pass the stairs, and I decide to go up them again to take a look. Nothing, so I head back down and through the kitchen to the other hallway.  SCARED BY ANOTHER GOD DAMN MANNEQUIN!  WHAT THE HELL! 

So the door at the end of the room with the bisected cow must be the back door.  It is.  I'm prompted by the inventory screen and I select the key. Just as I open the door and see the outside, I hear laughter and the I'm grabbed by a guy, jerked around where I see a man covered in blood, then he says, "Welcome to the family, son!" and punches me in the face knocking me out.

When I come to, it's the movie again of me being bound, which I know now to be Clancy, and the guy, who I now identify as Pete cutting me free.  Then he's stabbed in the back by a hideous creature.  After he done killing Pete, he jumps on me where the tape freezes on a freakish looking face.  The demo ends with a line saying, 'Join the family early 2017!'

Ok, so as good as the demo was, this wasn't Resident Evil.  There wasn't anything aside from a creepy house that connects this demo to the Resident Evil franchise.  Of course, this is just a teaser and it may not be indicative of the actual game akin to what P.T. might have been to Silent Hills.  Who knows what the rest of the game will be like?  All we know is that it'll all be in first person.  

So long as Resident EVII has some classic RE monsters, puzzling solving and combat/item mechanics, I'm good with the game being in first person.  If all we're going to get is a game about a crazy family (which is what the line at the end of the demo suggests) where all you do is stumble around in old houses, then no thanks as it clearly would not be Resident Evil.  We'll just have to see.  

E3 2016: Nintendo Conference

Well, it doesn't sound like their typical conference.  There's also no Nintendo Direct briefing for E3 this year... Their event is called Treehouse Live.  It starts out with Reggie Fils-Aime as he takes a moment of silence for the victims of Orlando, and apparently, Christina Grimmie was scheduled to appear to perform at their booth.  So sad...

Now, Reggie addresses us that every show at E3 is different.  He talks about how the booths are still being prepped, which I find funny, because the only playable one will be Zelda.  He rattles off some tidbits about the history of Zelda, and now shows off a trailer for the new Zelda.  Right away, there is no doubt that this will be the most beautiful and stunning Zelda Nintendo has made.  The graphics and style are simply wonderful. It shows Link jumping off a cliff parachuting down, running through a forest, riding a horse across a bridge, mountain climbing, chopping down a tree to use a bridge, jumping into water, swimming, shooting enemies with arrows, cooking, making blocks out of water.  So much being shown, I can't even keep up.  Combat looks typical Zelda.  The trailer ends with light shining on the Master Sword set in stone.  The game's title will be called Breath of the Wild.

He announces Pokemon Sun and Moon available on November 18, talks about new regions and characters.  He introduces some people from the Pokemon team to play the first live demo for Pokemon Sun and Moon, or I thought.  There's five people sitting talking about the history of the franchise.  This is boring me.  They show some footage from the two games and well, it's Pokemon.  I will be honest and say that I've never played a Pokemon game before, so this honestly has no appeal for me.  Back to talking, they ask the producers questions, and it has to be translated into Japanese, he answers and it  has to be translated back into English.  I just don't care right now.  This is exactly how I feel at this moment.

I know for Pokemon fans, this is good news.  They are talking about the games a lot, but for people with no interest in Pokemon games... they're talking about the games a lot.  I'm going to play some Miitomo while they keep talking. Ok, finished playing Miitomo, ate breakfast and they're STILL talking!  This has been going on for like 25 minutes now!  MOVE ON!  

Crap... I got so bored, I started doing other things and forgot to check back on the "conference".  Finally!  Zelda is being shown.  I'm watching him going through some kind of cave. There's all this rune-like technology everywhere.  Oh, and Link now has a jumping ability for the first time!  Way to catch up with a basic gameplay feature, Nintendo!  He's in an area now called The Great Plateau, which will be the only playable area during the show.  They're showing off a panoramic view of the world and it looks so incredible.  It appears that any place you see you can eventually reach.  He's climbing a mountain right now gathering mushrooms.  Climbing has a stamina gauge, He's now climbing a tree and gathering apples.  

One thing I've noticed is the interface appears to be devoid of any Zelda style.  The text balloons, the fonts, even the world map looks modern and bland.  He picked up a branch that was on fire and set some brush on fire with it.  I'm sure there will be puzzle solving involved with that.  Link's picked up an ax now and is chopping up trees into firewood.  There's going to be a lot of gathering involved.  A creature called a korok has appeared, looks like a water and plant creature with a lily pad on its back.  Link has now found the rock with the Master Sword, woops, that was just a rusty sword.  The water looks pretty good.  He's fighting some enemies with his newfound sword now.  He got a pot lid shield off an enemy.  Combat is easily recognizable as Zelda, and it looks like Link can actually pick up and use different weapons from enemies.  That's actually really cool, giving Link some more combat flexibility. 

 He's now reached the Temple of Time.  They're just having him run around it for now.  I hope they have him go in. He's got a club now and is fighting a monster using some kind of slow motion attack called Flurry?  He's found another chest and got some new pants.  It seems like the game's going to have a lot of loot collecting.  There's some kind of broken down robot he's climbing.  I'm guessing that if he goes back in time, they will be alive and kicking.  Some more wandering around and then the demo comes to an end.  I think they goofed and forgot to turn off the time limit.  *slow clap*

Looks like they got the demo up and running again, and now they have to cover some ground again.  Link is moving some explosive barrels around now.  He's laying them down next to each other and throws a club into the fire and then another to set off a chain reaction.  I got a little chuckle out of it.  So, it seems like you'll be able to play around with objects in many different ways just to have some fun wasting time.  They're going to take a break now and return with more exploration. 

Well, I thought they were going to come back, but the feed I was watching on Gamestop ended, so I guess not.  Even so, I wouldn't have much more time to dedicate to them anyway.  I'm just going to wrap this up then.  This wasn't really a conference at all, not even in Nintendo's traditional sense of not being traditional for E3.  I was expecting a normal Nintendo Direct style briefing.  Instead, we got Treehouse Live and pardon my cynicism, but this wasn't a very good move for Nintendo.  It illustrates, at least to me, that Nintendo is sorely lacking in the games department this year.  To not even talk about the NX is a huge missed opportunity, because here you have a system that's launching next year, and you STILL haven't shown a thing about it.  E3 was that venue.  You'll show it in your own way and in your own time, but there was no better opportunity to show it off other than now.  

So, about Zelda.  I'm glad Nintendo's spending so much time showing it off, but at the same time, what does that say, when they dedicate most of E3 to just one game?  Anyway, I have to say I'm excited for this new Zelda, but at the same time I'm a bit hesitant.  The one thing I think might be a problem for some people is the open world.  It's entirely changed the pacing of the more linear Zeldas and people who like that traditional style of gameplay might not enjoy that in the new Zelda.  My concern is just how much worthwhile stuff there is to do in this massive world.  If you never get bored of things you come across, that would be excellent, but if there's a ton of random collecting for things you don't need and doing things that don't serve a purpose, the whole open world will feel like padding.  I'm definitely going to pick it up for the NX, which is a shame, because that still leaves my Wii U without a brand new Zelda since launch.  

Thanks for reading!

E3 2016: Sony Conference

I apologize for any typos and mistakes I've made.  This my fifth blog today and it's approaching midnight.  I'm dead tired.  

Sony's conference starts with an orchestra and some omen sounding music.  I'm guessing this is a lead into God of War.  This is going on way too long.  Don't these companies know there are literally hours upon hours of people showing off their wares?  Let's get things moving people! Finally! A game is being shown.  A boy is given a knife by a man.  And this man is Kratos.  A bearded Kratos.  FUCKING PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE WON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP!  Jesus Christ...  They're running in the forest now, hunting for food.  They come across some monsters and now Kratos pulls out his ax and starts fighting them.  After a bridge breaks, a giant troll attacks them and Kratos is fighting while the boy is trying to distract it.  I don't know... there's something off about this game.  It's missing the excitement of the opening set piece of God of War 3. Now I know what's bothering me.  They're trying to turn it into the Last of Us.  Wander around, enjoy the scenery, have a narrative with an NPC.  I'm bored of this.  Skipping the rest.

More damn orchestra.  Shawn Layden comes out thanking the orchestra for boring people (will, he didn't say that. I did).  And then he takes a moment to talk about the Orlando tragedy.  So sad... There's something about Layden that I don't like.  Maybe its his way of talking but it's annoying and tiring at the same time.  He has that William Shattner cadence as well. 

A trailer is being shown from Bend Studios.  It shows a post apocalyptic world.  It's for a game called Days Gone.  Thanks for not showing any gameplay for it Sony! (Ed. note: Later learned they saved it for the end of the show)

Next up is a trailer for what looks like... THE LAST GUARDIAN!  So... so beautiful!  I'm getting those feels again! They show a few other monsters and a DATE!  OCTOBER 25th! Oh Sony, you tease!  Show me more!

The next trailer shows some gameplay footage for Horizon Zero Dawn.  This looks like one of Sony's best exclusives to date.  The world is so vast and beautiful.  The enemy designs are so unique.  Prehistoric meets robotic.  She's met another character, and it looks like there will be dialogue options during interactions.  She has to make it to the village, but it's very far away so she needs to get a mount.  She finds one, takes it down and starts riding it.  It's like a mechanical bull.  Then, as she passes into a clearing, there are all sorts of bizarre mechanized wildlife.  Then a giant enemy confronts her and she scans it to learn it's weak to fire.  She uses her bow and shoots an explosive canister in front of it.  Oh wow, this battle is crazy!  She whistles for her mount and is now attacking it while riding.  THIS is what you start the show off with, Sony!  THIS is your flagship title, not that God of War shit.  

The next trailer shows a guy flipping a coin in an elevator, walking down a hallway with a woman pleading to save her little girl, but then realizes its an android.  I think this is the new David Cage game.  He's sent in to negotiate a hostage taking, but it went bad.  The trailer shows that you can make different decisions to affect the game.  Detroit: Become Human is the game.  I can't wait for this one.  I love David Cage's games, even though they're not really games.  

A trailer is shown tagged with Full PS VR Experience.  A guy has woken up with a phone ringing.  The woman on the other end says, "If you don't get out, they will kill you.  Get out now."  Some idiots are whistling as the player sees a naked female mannequin.  The game is dark, only a flashlight illuminating it.  The game looks very spooky.  As he explores the house, a figure crosses on the other side of the doorway.  He opens a door only to be met with static from a TV.  A tape is found, and he puts it in the player.  There's a lot of horrific things happening on the tape.  Then, the trailer ends with some music, and the game is titled, "Resident EVII: Biohazard"  Holy shit.. will it veer away from the action heavy direction V and VI took it?  Will it actually try to be scary again? January 24th, 2017.  

Here comes the orchestra!  Here comes the boring guy Layden.  He says REVII will be fully playable in VR.  As in the Ubisoft conference, I'm not on board with VR.  Its releases October 13th at 399.  NOPE.  A video of PS VR titles plays.  The first is a space game called Farpoint.  Star Wars noise is being made and we have a space fighter game.  Battlefront X-Wing VR Mission.  Then there's a trailer that's narrated by what sounds like Mark Hamill's Joker.  Yup, it's a Batman game.  Arkham VR.  

A trailer for FFXV plays showing off chocob riding, the trial of Titan that we saw in the MS conference, and a few other gameplay scenes.  I think I even saw Ramuh for a second.  Now, they're fighting a behemoth.  Crap, and then I just realized this all for VR.  Final Fantasy XV VR Experience.  

A gameplay trailer starts playing, a futuristic title on a space ship.  A guy gets into a ship and then launches out of a hanger.  The gameplay looks pretty crazy.  Lots of fighting, and he crashes and now he's on foot fighting on giant ships.  I just realized what this is.  It's Call of Duty in space.  I know those gun sights anywhere.   Call of Duty Infinite Warfare November 4th. 

The next trailer shows some marines in combat.  Oh, Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered.  *yawns*

Layden comes back out to bore me again.  Oh, he's announcing Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2 and Warped to be remastered from the ground up for PlayStation 4.  A trailer for the new Skylanders game is shown, where Crash is a part of.  You know, I'm actually looking forward to playing Crash again.  

The orchestra of boredom plays some Star Wars music and then a video plays to show off Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  Can't wait for this game as I love the Lego games. It looks like so much fun!

Andrew House is introduced with the Boredom Orchestra to accompany him.  I thought he was going to talk about something, but instead all he does is introduce Hideo Kojima AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!  He's showing off his new game.  It shows a trail of dead crabs, hand prints and then a naked man with handcuffs stirring to find a baby and this man looks like Norman Reedus.  What is this?  The music that's playing is getting me pumped too.  Such a mysterious game.  Death Stranding is the title.  I WANT TO LEARN MORE!  The graphics looked amazing and were said to be all in game.  

The next trailer is by insomniac.  AND IT'S A SPIDER MAN GAME!  A MOTHER FUCKING SPIDER MAN GAME BY INSOMNIAC AND NOT BEENOX!  Omg... this is going to be fucking amazing!  Ok, that just woke me the fuck up! *standing ovation* My god, we might finally have a Spider-Man that isn't complete shit!

Shattner ...er... I mean, Layden comes out again to talk about games and gameplay and thanking everyone for being part of the PlayStation experience.  He now shows a demo for Days Gone. The character is on his bike, riding down the mountains where he comes across a gate.  He slips past it and enters a bunker looking for someone or something.  This has a Last of Us feel to it.  He opened a jeep and pulled an oil filter out and screwed it on his gun to make a silencer.  He just fought off a creepy looking monster and now he's on a rooftop and the ground is swarming with them.  He finds the person he's looking for, they have a tussle and they've fallen off the building  The main character leaves the guy for dead and is now running.  They're chasing after him like a living wave.  Man, they just won't stop coming!  He's in some kind of barn now, shooting into them every chance he gets, throwing a molotov and is now on the roof still running.  The demo ends with the character cornered on the top of a silo.  It has potential.  

The show closes with a montage of upcoming games.  

I'll say this much.  As much as the opening of the show bored me, as much as Shawn Layden annoyed me, as much indifference as I have towards VR, Sony's conference was actually pretty solid, aside from that boring ass God of War. You know what, before I go any further, let me just go into a rant about how pissed off that game made me.  The style of the game is completely changed.  It looks more like a Last of Us with occasional God of War fighting segments thrown in.  We don't need the walking around, enjoying the scenery and having a dialogue shit in God of War.  Leave that to other games!  God of War is GOD OF WAR! NOT TEACHING A BOY HOW TO HUNT!  The emotional direction of this game is WRONG.  Does not fit.  Is everyone trying to be Naughty Dog or something? /rant

I'm also really ticked off at Sony for showing very little of The Last Guardian.  Thank god we have a release date but for a game that's supposedly coming out in just a few months, you only give us a couple minutes of footage, and not even a demo?  You had a demo for us last year, so why not this year?  YOU FUCKING TEASE!  Anyway, thanks for giving us a release date.  Now keep it! 

Games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone look really, really good.  I'm looking forward to learning more about them.  For me, though, the biggest surprise and the game that has me most excited (aside from the Last Guardian) is the insomniac developed Spider-Man.  I have been waiting so long for a Spider-Man game that wasn't developed by Beenox, and after playing and loving Sunset Overdrive, insomniac is the PERFECT fit for the Web-Head.  

Overall, I've have to say that Sony has had the best conference so far.  They pretty much just showed one game after another, not padding their conferences with costumed dancers and long drawn out talks with Levar Burton and showing off competitive gamers no one gives enough fucks about to remember their names, just game after game after game.  Well, aside from that damned orchestra.  

E3 2016: Ubisoft Conference

Oh god... the circus conference of E3 is about to start... Every year, they do something ridiculous or try so hard to be funny... Will that be the case for 2016?  Let's see, shall we?

Yep... They have people dancing in stupid costumes... This has to be for Just Dance.  More people are coming on stage in even more ridiculous costumes.  I got to admit, though, at least Ubisoft tries to have fun with their conferences.  And yes, there's a guy with a butterfly guitar.

And... OH NO NOT HER AGAIN!  Aisha Tyler... *groans*  I love her stand up, but she always makes me cringe EVERY YEAR!  Comedians and press conferences just don't mix with me.  She and Ubisoft offer their condolences and thoughts and prayers for the victims of Orlando.  Good for them! Yup, all the dancing was for Just Dance 2017.

SHE MADE A WOOD JOKE!  *hangs self*  Then, she mocks the French.  They seem to take it in stride.  Also, it's Ubisoft's 30th birthday.  Happy birthday!  Finally, she introduces a game!  It's Ghost Recon: Wildlands.  The cinematic shows that it's going to be on an island jungle setting.  Possibly fighting a drug cartel.

Dominic Butler comes out to talk about the game. It takes place in Bolivia, and yup, they'll be fighting drug lords at the source where the coca leaf is grown. The game will be open world with a solo campaign or with four player co-op.  They also claim it's the largest open world they've ever made.  Another video is shown, this time showing off some gameplay.  It looks nice, and the landscape is vast, but so far, nothing mind blowing.  It looks this is four player co-op.  They start off at different positions and then reconvene at the enemy base.  There's a drone they send out to mark targets.  After trying to sneak around to get the target, he spots them and bolts.  Now it's a full on vehicle chase.  This is actually starting to look pretty intense and fun right now.  One guy was on a motorcycle and then got into a helicopter and now there's a firefight between two trucks.  After they forced the target off the road, they pulled him out of the truck and got in the helicopter.  Mission successful. March 7th 2017 is the release date.

A new trailer is being played now, showing off cryptic messages, dystopian scenarios and even a city engulfed in flames.  I was thinking it might have been a game like Watch Dogs, but as it turns out... it's a South Park game, the Fractured But Whole Jason Schroeder of Ubisoft San Francisco comes out to talk about it.  The game sounds like it's going to feature Cartmann and his friends as their superhero alter egos.  Matt Stone and Trey Parker come out to talk with Jason.  They say the story takes place after The Stick of Truth, which I never got around to playing, so that's something I need to rectify.  They show off the game now, and it looks EXACTLY like a South Park episode.  The footage was showing how the game sets up the character to choose its class.  Wow, the writing is so funny for something so basic as setting up your character.  I have to get this game already!  The writing continues to entertain when Cartmann sets up the new kid's back story.  They're showing off the actual gameplay now.  It looks like it's still an RPG, but it lets you move around while taking your turns. and well, there's this fart time altering mechanic... cuz yeah, South Park.  Also, you get Stick of Truth for free if you pre-purchase Fractured But Whole.  I might have to do that.  And... I did that.
It will be released on December 6th.  They leave to a trailer playing.  It so makes fun of all the superhero movies and even a Netflix tie-in. I can't wait to play this!

Aisha Tyler takes the stage to talk about the Division: Underground.  I honestly don't care about the Division so I'm going to skip this part.

Tyler is now talking about VR and a game Eagle Flight.  Three people Charles Huteau, Palmer Luckey and Jason Holtman come out demonstrate the game. There are like six different people all with Occulus head sets on.  To be honest, they all look ridiculous.  The game itself doesn't look all that impressive.  Of course, I'm sure the effect of VR is lost unless you're actually wearing them.  Doesn't look exciting to me, so in interest of time, I'm skipping this.

Aisha Tyler comes out again.  She introduces Ubisoft Red Storm's David Votypka.  He's talking about VR again.  A video is shown for a Star Trek game.  It has some Star Trek actors like Levar Burton to test out this new Star Trek game.  They're showing them more than they are the actual game, so... skipping this.

A cinematic trailer is now being shown. A giant earthquake is breaking everything up.  The world is a wasteland now.  A few warriors are fighting each other.  It shows generations of soldiers fighting from viking to samurai to knight.  The trailer was for a game called For Honor.  Jason Vandenberghe of Ubisoft Montreal comes out to talk about the game. This guy is INTO his presentation.  Another trailer is shown.  A fleet of vikings attempt to raid a samurai fortress.  Now it shows some gameplay.  The main character is running through battle with things blowing up near him.  He's hacking and slashing with a giant ax.  The melee combat looks, I dunno, slow.  It's brutal, but it doesn't look very fun to me.  Now he's scaling the fortress wall dodging things being thrown down on him.  Killing some guards, ramming some off the ledges, then a boss fight with a samurai where he hacks him to death.  February 14th 2017 is the day.

Aisha Tyler introduces Pete Young of Ubisoft Reflections to talk about a game called Grow Up, a sequel to Grow Home.  A trailer plays and shows a robot flying around a uniquely stylized world. The game comes out in August.

Tyler once more.  Some weird WWE style introduction for a couple guys in funky jump suits.  They talk about a love child between Trials and Blood Dragon called Trials of the Blood Dragon.   The trailer is bonkers, doing a mock 80s toy commercial.  

Tyler brings Frank Marshal to talk about the Assassin's Creed movie.  Skipping.

Aisha Tyler talks about the next game to be shown where she's interrupted by a hacked signal showing nothing other than Dedsec of Watch Dogs 2.  Johnathan Morin comes out to talk about the game.  The character Marcus Holloway walks the streets of San Francisco hacking random things. He meets up with a Dedsec guy to plan out a mission.  Marcus is on a lift and he flips out a drone to do some recon.  I'm actually not really that impressed with what I'm seeing.  He actually put his earbuds in and Rakim's Don't Sweat the Technique is playing for mood music.  He used a little RC vehicle to to do something to a computer, and now there's combat going on.  I love the melee weapon he uses, the billiard ball and rope.  He hacked what he wanted to, and now he's fleeing the building using parkour and makes his escape by ziplining off the building.  It was a cool demo, but at the end of day, seems pretty typical of these kind of games.

Tyler now introduces Yves Guillemot to talk more about Watch Dogs 2.  He brings out Jim Ryan from Sony Interactive. He announces that PlayStation players will get access to DLC 30 days before other platforms.  Another Watch Dogs 2 trailer begins.  It sounds like the song its set to is Run the Jewels.  As a hip hop fan, it sounds like this game's soundtrack is going to be amazing.  One thing I like about the game is that it doesn't seem to take itself seriously all the time.

Yves comes back out to talk about a new IP.  He says this is extreme sports with an open world.  The trailer begins.  It shows a bunch of different athletes doing things from skydiving to mountain climbing to snowboarding and skiing.  It's called Steep, and it looks pretty cool.  I want to play it just for the wing suiting.  Rebecka Coutaz and Igor Manceau come out to talk about the game. The game's set in the Alps, spanning many countries.  The demo starts off with a skydiver landing atop a peak and taking in the breathtaking scenery.  Now he's dropped off to do some wingsuiting.  Having played so much Just Cause 3, I REALLY want to play this!  He threaded the eye of the needle.  Wow, it's moving pretty fast.  One of his friends just wiped out, looking pretty painful.  Now they've switched to a new character doing some snowboarding.  It actually has first person mode, and I'm watching someone ski now.  That looked crazy!  Hehe, there was a scene where they showed a wingsuiter bang into a church bell.  That was hilarious!  It comes out this December.

Aisha Tyler brings everyone out to the stage to say goodbye.

So, I have to say Aisha Tyler didn't really bother me much this year.  Overall, I liked the conference, and I was also surprised by the fact that they didn't end it with Watch Dogs 2, but with Steep instead.  Man, I actually really am taken aback with Steep because of just how open and fun it looks, especially the wingsuiting.  And what I'm most excited about is the new South Park game.  Rarely does E3 get me to preorder a game, but I preordered it the moment I saw it in action.  Nice work Ubisoft.