Sony Press Conference!

I am sure many of you watched the PS4 live stream. What a show, huh? Whatever you think of Playstation, they certainly had a lot to say! Here are some (many) bullet points that seemed important to me.

The Console

Dualshock 4 looks interesting. Touch pad, headphone jack, share button and light bar. Designed with stereo camera to track the controllers’ movement. Personally, I love the classic Dualshock design they had since PS, so this will take a while to get used to.

Suspend and resume function puts system in low power state where game is stored in RAM. You can suspend games whenever you want. This will greatly reduce start up and stopping time when playing games.

Games and firmware can be updated in the background or when system in powered down. Digital titles will be playable while they are downloaded.

Seamless uploading of videos. Able to upload video while playing. Able to watch friends play live. Can assist friends by taking control of game for them. Integration with existing social networks.

Friends can post comments. Dev’s can manipulate levels and even assist gamers in real time.

Integration with smart phones and tablets.

Goal is to be able to learn and predict players’ patterns and preferences. PSN will ideally show games that players’ would be interested in.

Instantly experience any games available in the PS store

Remote play with Vita. Goal is to have all PS4 games on Vita. PS4 will act as server while vita will act as client

Goals to have all PS system games available on PS4 through cloud gaming.

They decided to not show what the console looked like... much like the Wii U reveal.

 

Games

Trailer for Knack looks interesting. Looks like a Pixar animation. Not a lot of gameplay. They showed it in remote play on the Vita. I guess they want a mascot platformer that showcases the PS4’s abilities.

 

Killzone: Shadow Fall looked gorgeous. Can’t say much for the mechanics but the scale and set pieces were quite grand. Looked a lot more colourful than past Killzone games

 

Drive club focuses on social networking and driving together. It looks like total car porn. 

 

Infamous: Second Son Just a teaser. Too little info for me to have an impression. Also I have not finished infamous 1 and 2, so I can be missing a lot of things here.

 

The Witness. Amazing art direction. The music sounds great! First person adventure game maybe? Invoked memories of Myst for me.

 

David Cage being David Cage. His old dude was creepy, but cool. I kinda yawned when he was bragging about poly counts for their character models. Seemed like more of a GDC presentation.

 

Media Molecule continues to advance player created content. Neat tech demo that showed PS Move integration. Really not sure how much a player can utilize the player created music stuff.

Deep Down graphics look super nice. Natural progression of what they have established with Dragon’s Dogma? Plus clear integration with social networking and getting help from friends. Cool. Reminds me a lot of Dark Souls/Demon’s Souls.

 

Square Enix shows the same Tech demo from the past surprising no one. They then tell us to look forward to E3 for a new announcement. Boo.

Watch Dogs looks so intriguing. The UI looks slick. The options of different things you can control appear to be extensive. The graphics are nice. I hope there is a bigger focus on hacking and tracking than shooting, but that is just me.

 

Blizzard was... ho hum. They revealed the worst kept secret that Diablo III will be on PS4 and PS3. Interesting, seeing as the PC version does not even have all the features they promised yet. “Look forward to PAX East”... They pulled a Square Enix.

 

Destiny looked cool. Music sounded sweet. Persistent online FPS from Bungie. They showed very little, but at least they showed different scenes than they showed on the Destiny live stream on Monday. They also promised exclusive PS4 content.

Well those are the main things that stuck out to me. Overall I enjoyed the presentation. I was surprised they shared specific specs on the PS4, but I guess they really want to impress the fact that the system is at least comparable to a gaming PC on some level. Before PC gamers get upset, I just want to put emphasis on SOME LEVEL. Obviously PC games tend to always run much better than their console counter parts. But Sony wants us to know that this console will be significantly more powerful than the PS3. I was also shocked that I was not bored for the most part. Most of the presenters were engaging and the developers seemed excited about the console.

I must say I am quite excited about the PS4, but as always, I will play the waiting game. It will be interesting to see what happens when the system launches and how many of their promises they will be able to deliver on. A lot of the instant streaming, social media integration and Vita integration are all speculation and goals. It will be interest see how and when they deliver on such promises.

One thing that I feel is valuable is the Vita integration. The handheld has had a difficult year due to lack of support from developers. Lack of cross-play for many games as well as lack of trophy support was an issue for many gamers as well. Sony has an opportunity to essentially re-launch the Vita with full PS4 support. The possibility for remote play anywhere at any time will allow players to have that console experience anywhere. Full trophy and cross play support should be expected for every game on the PS4. The Vita can also be used to completely nullify one of the Wii U’s main advantages: The ability to play some games on the Gamepad while the main TV is in use.

Square Enix pissed me off with their bullshit presentation, but that is a blog post for another time. David Cage disappointed me too. I didn’t expect some sort of grand reveal, but bragging about poly counts in this day and age? Really?! And the creepy old man was creep and old. But it did looks damned impressive.

I am probably most excited for The Witness and Watch Dogs. The Witness has awesome art direction and the song they had with the trailer had better be indicative of the type of music we will hear in the game! And Watch Dogs looks like the clear progression of open world games. The hacking stuff looks really neat. I just hope it is implemented well.

That’s it for me folks. More expensive video game stuffs for suckers (like myself) to spend money on! But really, the advancements of the console are clearly aiming to keep console gaming relevant as well as answering gamers’ needs and desires to be connected with the larger gaming community. Time will tell how it all shakes out.

Six Seasons and a Movie!

Nerd Rant

Spoilers for Community! This is a warning!

So October 19^th has come and gone. We are now on the precipice of a new age of Community and the fans are nervous. I know I am. There has been a lot of press surrounding the behind the scenes turmoil that the show has been suffering from. The dangerously low number of viewers, Dan Harmon, the now former show runner and the main creative mind behind the show getting let go by Sony and NBC, and Chevy Chase outwardly condemning the show as being the lowest form of comedy to the media... needless to say the show has had some hiccups along the way. But season four is here and the gloves are off! Community is back... but it is... kinda different...

I watched the premier episode and was very nervous. But I was quickly delighted when I was greeted by a multi-cam sitcom complete with a laugh track and incredibly lame jokes.

 

The meta-humor in the series is quite intact. This opening clearly making fun on fans (like myself) that were (and really, still are) worried that the show would lose its touch and become a standard sitcom. Unlike some of the other “high concept” episodes, this format was only used in short intervals, which is probably a good thing.

Alright! Time for me to sound off on what I liked and didn’t like!!!!

What I liked

Dean Pelton was in full force during this episode. His contest, shamelessly dubbed “The Hunger Deans” brought some great humor. Not only did Leonard get punched in the face by Jeff, but we also got to see the return of Annie Kim, albeit a brief one. The most amazing part of the episode, however, was the sexy dance with the Dean and Jeff. My God it was hilarious! That and Jim Rash has moves! Few men can wear a dress quite like he can!

 

There are also some great scenes with Britta and Troy. I have always been a fan of their pairing, so I was very pleased to see them spend time together, even though it ended up with Britta strangling Troy in a water fountain while he grunts “Why does this feel good?!”

The characters were all very true to themselves, and there were definitely some great throw away jokes (hipster glasses), which made me happy. The storyline for the episode is great too as it is beginning to prepare the characters for the end as Jeff is close to graduating and his friends are not pleased about it. No one more than Abed, as he spends much of the episode in a comatose state, trying to imagine life if nothing ever changed. There was also great (possible) reference to Muppet Babies! Or maybe it was just a reference to how many cartoons in the 80’s and 90’s often had “baby” versions in some sad attempt to preserve the show’s life span. Either way, it was quite funny.

What I didn’t like

Dun dun DUUUUUNNNNNN! Uh oh! Nedu has BAD THINGS TO SAY ABOUT COMMUNITY!??!?!!? Shut up! I can say bad stuff if I want!

Now this episode definitely felt different from regular Community. I am not sure if it is because I know all the background stuff behind the show, but something felt a bit off. I feel this may have been due to a few of the other characters with some lackluster storylines.

I felt that Shirley and Annie had little to do. Their idea to prank the Dean seemed to lead to very little besides Annie showing she is still in lust love with Jeff. This annoyed me a bit because I was under the impression that she had begun to be surer of herself without needing Jeff. A lot of season 3 focused on the idea of the group without needing Jeff as a crutch. That may or may not be all forgotten at this point. It is too early to tell. Pierce had little to do. It seems that the writers really did not know what to with him, playing heavily off the fact that he often has no idea what is going on. There was an episode long joke about him trying to come up with a gay joke about Jeff collecting balls, but there was no pay-off what so ever. Yawn.

Jeff himself was the A story, as he was trying to ensure that they all made it into this class (the history of ice cream) together. The antics that ensured were quite funny, but I feel this may have lacked the “episode 1 tradition”. I made that up, by the way. In my eyes, the episode 1 tradition involves Jeff being/reverting to being a complete asshole. By the end of the episode, either he redeems himself or someone else helps him find redemption. While the group was pissed that he was secretly taking summer classes to graduate early, he was working hard to get them all in the same class. Even so the group found his actions selfish. Hmm... Not sure if I buy it. But again, it is hard to match the level of assholery That Jeff presented in episode 1 of season 3 (axe to the table).

Verdict!

I have no idea! It is way too early to tell. But as far as things stand right now... If it looks like Community, and it sounds like Community, it probably is Community. But does it feel like community? It definitely has some potential, but I must see more. I definitely enjoyed the episode! Community fans, stay strong. Let’s see how this plays out J

Things to Note!

The throw away joke about the hipster glasses was awesome! The throw away joke about the Dean’s stapler being moved made me chuckle.

I’m in love with Britta. Her sexy dancing is so unsexy, it is sexy. Should I see a shrink?

Troy and Abed becoming more independent?! Again, way too early to tell.

Hilarious unintentional foreshadowing towards Chevy Chase’s inevitable departure! In Abed’s sitcom “happy place,” Peirce is replaced by Fred Willard! Unintentional comedy gold!

This episode fails the Bechdel Test hard. Come on, Annie. You are no longer defined by your obsession with Jeff!

Kevin has... Changnesia?!

Thanks for reading folks! Until next time!