MAG

I remember feeling unimpressed when I saw MAG presented at Sony's Press Conference. The demo seemed choreographed so the action was pretty weak. However, everyone cheered when they showed the map and revealed the unfathomable amount players, represented as dots. As I see more of Zipper's diary entries, my impression is definitely changing to their favor. Here's their latest one:

Sony, Drop the Price, Man

As a disclaimer, the PS3 is my console of preference.

For, a large, multinational corporation, Sony seems a little too concerned about its own image. There's no need to save face. Yes, the Playstation 3 is a great value at its current price, when you consider its tech and just that. However, prices are relevant to the market. They always have been and always will. Don't stick to your guns if it means going against gamers hoping to become PS3 owners.

I myself am hoping to purchase a PS3 this year, if there's a price drop. That's right, I don't own it, yet I consider myself a PS3 owner already. I react to their decisions as if I had a stake in it because I will, soon enough. Even at 400 dollars, it's just too expensive for me and I'm sure there's many others like me.

Yes, I know PSN's free, there's no need to buy a charger for the controller, it plays blu-ray, and it has all my favorite franchises. I've done the math and seen that's a great deal. That's why I want it, but I also want Sony to remain competitive and I want the install base to grow to the point that companies like Activision will no longer be able to use as a scapegoat for their poor sales -- EA's not complaining. I don't want Sony to take Nintendo's role for the last two generations Nintendo was more of a niche company than a mainstream platform.

Looking at Microsoft's and Nintendo's price points, Sony's console is just too expensive. Release another SKU with a smaller hard drive and a cheaper paint job if you have to.

No, I don't think it would be eating your own words if you dropped the price. I don't think anybody, who matters, would call it a bad move or a blow to Sony's image as a respectable company, or whatever.

I understand Sony would also like to begin profiting from their hardware sales. I think they need to reassess what the best route for making money will be for Sony. Licensing fees have traditionally been the way to profit for console manufacturers. On the other hand, Nintendo's third-party support isn't that great and companies have been complaining that only first-party games sell on the Wii. Maybe Sony is trying to profit from hardware sales and first-party games like Nintendo. The only difference is 150 dollars between consoles and 10 between each new release. Now, they've decreased the price of their SDK to help make PS3 development more accessible, but they've missed the high development costs and small(er) install base. Development costs are not going to get any lower.

So drop the price, Sony, please.

Motion Control is the near future

I keep reading about how motion-control may ruin gaming for any gamer who grew up with systems preceding the Wii. It is frightening to see the way people jump around in those Project Natal commercials. But as it is now, playing the Wii isn't so exhausting, unless you're playing those stupid party games where the aim of the game is to see who can make the biggest ass of him/her self. Developers aren't about to abandon the hardcore demographic and sell just carnival game shovelware for all 3 consoles. I'm sure their smart enough to figure out how to manage motion control for games that gamers traditionally play for hours at a time.

The bottom line is that the pros far outweigh the cons. Sure, you're going to have to do a little exercise, but the overall benefit is much deeper gameplay than could ever be achieved with conventional controllers -- maybe not on the Wii, but definitely on PS3 and 360. Character control limitations are what lead to gameplay limitations. And two hands can only make use of a certain number of buttons and joysticks. Conventional controllers only support games with manifest context sensitivity, with indisputable success. Just about every game has at least one context sensitive button. My point is that there isn't a game out there where you can execute all the fundamental movements that an anthropomorphic character could do.

Don't worry, I'll dumb this down. Basically, what I'm saying is that there isn't a game where you can walk, look, jump, lean, crouch/sit, move your arms, grab items, use items, and combine these movements to execute just about any action you would ever want to make in a video game. However, motion control can make this possible. This gen, I think Sony has the best chance of achieving this depth of gameplay. Aside from having the greatest precision, the Sony Motion controller reassigns much of what would normally be controlled by buttons and maintains buttons and hopefully joysticks for just the essentials.

I believe the ideal setup would be two Sony motion controllers with several face buttons, a trigger, and joystick on each. You can control movement and coarse look with the corresponding joystick. I find with the Wii that I'd prefer to look with a joystick and handle just the fine aiming with the IR sensing. The face buttons would handle actions like sitting, crouching, jumping, grabbing items. The triggers would be to use the items, tools , or weapons in hand. The motion sensing would be used to move your characters arms around to aim, swing, or just to reach for something. Leaning would hopefully be handled by the eyetoy's less advanced body motion tracking.

Imagine being able to grab a tool, say a hammer, and use it to nail something down. You'd be able to drastically alter the environment and use it to your advantage. Like LittleBigPlanet, except fully 3d and through your character instead of through a menu system. Whether you would create for art or war ,its invaluable, really. How such freedom would impact gaming, I can only begin to imagine.

It doesn't take much imagination to realize what this can do for gaming. So don't fight it, and definitely, don't fear it. Just take action, voice your opinion, and do your best to make sure the game industry continues in the right direction.

Sony E3 Press Conference

Image by Hunter X via Flickr

This is a couple of weeks late because I just started this blog. At any rate, the show was definitely filled with great content as you can easily see for yourself at G4tv.com. Sorry, I didn't take pics. I forgot to charge my cell and it died before I even entered. I did keep the wristband, the flashdrive -- you'll learn about the flashdrive near the end -- and a Playstation branded water bottle, but they don't make for interesting pics.

I'm just a Joe Gamer so attending the conference seemed unreal. I was given the chance to mingle with gaming industry icons from developers to journalists thanks to an invitation from Sony through my PSN acount via email (link leads to the email received) . I suppose I was randomly chosen though it could be that I was chosen because I live in LA.

After I RSVPed, I received another email with an affidavit attached. I had to get the affidavit notarized, fax it, then present it at the entrance. So I did just that, got my wristband, and enjoyed some refreshments until the show began. There were some PS3 kiosks but the games playable had already been released.
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Image by MarmotChaser via Flickr

After the show, I saw G4's God of War III Preview being filmed. I come out in the vid. I'm the guy with long hair and white and brown wide striped shirt at the left edge of the screen. I'm barely visible and very briefly appear. I couldn't recognize myself at first, but the later profile view cleared that up.

One thing I thought was kind of funny that I'd like to point out was when Adam Sessler pulled cigarette out of nowhere and shoved it into his mouth. It happened outside the Auditorium as he relaxed for a few minutes before having to return to the convention center. I'm not sure what it was, but something about the movement and the fact that Adam is short and thin and non-threatening was a bit comical.

I didn't introduce myself to any of these guys. I thought that simply introducing myself was too douchey and I didn't really have any questions for them except for one that someone else had already asked. And that's regarding the motion controllers. Unfortunately, Adam and Kevin responded conservatively by stating the focus of each of the big three's motion controller. Kevin however did say that as of that moment he believed that Sony had shown the best motion controller. I agree. Precision makes for great hardcore gaming and neither Microsoft nor Nintendo can offer the same level of precision.

Lastly, I found a flash drive that contained G4 scripts. I've already returned the files via email. However, the flash drive is still in my possession. I hope I get to keep it. It makes a great memento and it attaches to my key chain.