The PS4 Debuts... Without the Actual PS4
Chris Kavan - wrote on 02/21/13 at 07:20 PM CT
So Sony had been hyping their big Feb. 20th meeting for some time. Granted, most everyone knew it was going to be about their next generation system - but what would they show? The big tease is finally over and what we got was.... a controller - some game trailers - some specs and a promise that at E3 they were really going to show us the goods.
The good news is that, despite early rumors, the PS4 (as it is now officially known) will not have to be connected to the Internet to run and it will be able to play used games. Granted, they're pushing the social aspect (much like Microsoft) but people still living in the Internet stone age (often not by any choice of their own) can at least know they'll be able to play games offline. Of course my main gripe - the lack of backwards compatibility - isn't going to change - so I'm still going to be a late adopter to the next system.
Although the PS4 was nowhere to be seen, they did debut a new Dual Shock 4 controller. While it's not a …
Windows 8 on Atom Tablets: How Microsoft Entered the Handheld Market
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/16/13 at 04:46 PM CT
Back in July, I lamented the sorry state of the tablet PC and listed the three reasons I didn’t own one. As of a month ago, those reasons no longer apply. While initially I planned to buy the Microsoft Surface Pro, I was turned off on that hardware for one reason. No, not the egregious price, as I don’t foresee Windows tablets dropping below $600 as a minimum anytime soon. Instead, what changed my thoughts about an official Microsoft x86 tablet from excitement to apathy was the fact that the Surface Pro runs on an Intel Core i5 processor. My laptop runs on an Intel Core i5 processor, and the product description when I bought it said it was supposed to get up to 4.5 hours of battery life, the same as the Surface Pro… yet in actuality my laptop has a difficult time hitting 2 hours of battery life, leaving me with a similar expectation from Microsoft’s tablet. If tablets are meant to do one thing well, it’s to last a long time on a full battery, and a current-generation i5 …
The Razer Hydra: Beyond Futility, the Journey’s End
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/09/13 at 05:35 PM CT
A month ago, I began a quest in search of a motion-control solution for the PC that was comparable to Nintendo’s Wiimote and Nunchuck combo for playing FPSes. While initially it seemed my quest was one of pure futility, fraught with a confusing mixture of terrible PC controllers, big price tags, and questionable hacks, fate, it seems, was on my side. While on my Amazon.com account page processing the return of the god-awful Splitfish SFX Evolution that I bought on a whim, something on my Wish List caught my eye: Someone on Amazon Marketplace was selling the Razer Hydra for $65.
While I had initially dismissed the Razer Hydra as out of the question based on the fact that Steam, the leader in impossibly cheap software sales, is STILL selling the thing for $140; the current Razer Hydra model is not wireless; and self-proclaimed fat-faced reviewer, Aaron Steinmetz, said the controller is not good for playing “Borderlands,” the game that specifically started me on this quest; I …
Backlog: The Embiggening - February, 2013
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 02/02/13 at 01:20 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. February may be the shortest month of the year, and may immediately follow a somber month of mourning for the past holiday season, but it looks like this February there are plenty of new games being released. Will any of them be worthwhile? I doubt it!
February looks to be a light month for shovelware and licensed trash. Across all consoles and handhelds, there are only two multi-platform licensed games, an “Aliens” tie-in (I guess trying to cash-in on last year’s “Prometheus”? The timing seems off…) and a game based on Cartoon Network’s “Young Justice” series. Other than that, the 3DS is getting an exclusive “Monster High” tie-in, the corpse of the Wii is getting yet another crappy singing game, and the Xbox 360 is getting a “Fist of the North Star” game, based on an obscure anime that Xbox fanboys have probably never even heard of (talk about not knowing your audience).
In the land of non-shovelware …
Wiimote + GlovePIE: The Road to Ecstasy Leads through Agony
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/25/13 at 03:14 PM CT
During my precursory research into finding a viable, PC-compatible replacement for the Wiimote, I learned that, despite there being a large number of different motion controllers available for PC, they are all either really expensive, or absolute garbage. It seemed that the only route left to me was not to find a substitute for the Wiimote, but to force the Wiimote itself upon PC gaming. Thus I was left with no other option than to use GlovePIE, an Xpadder-style keymapper that helps a PC’s operating system make sense of the data coming through the Wiimote’s Bluetooth connection. While it may sound simple in theory, considering how easy-to-use Xpadder is, getting GlovePIE and a Wiimote to play nicely with Windows is a frustrating experience fraught with inconsistency and unpredictable behavior.
To begin, a gamer wishing to use a Wiimote for PC games needs to have compatible hardware. Wiimotes and GlovePIE only play nicely with specific brands of Bluetooth radio and work better …
Vaguely Related: Splitfish SFX Evolution
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/19/13 at 02:25 PM CT
Recently, I’ve been attempting to find some way of replicating the Wii’s pointer capabilities on Windows in order to make playing FPSes on PC a more pleasant experience. While I found numerous dedicated motion controllers for PC, all of them were either expensive, crap, or both. While a few options did fall into the acceptably-cheap price range for experimental purchase, most of those were so obviously marked-down that they raised red flags in my mind immediately. Despite the sirens going off in my head, I made the decision – against my better judgment – to “take one for the team,” as it were, and test out the Splitfish SFX Evolution.
After launching at a price of $90, the drop to $20 on Amazon.com is an obvious signal that the SFX Evolution hasn’t sold well. But maybe, just maybe, it hasn’t been selling well because the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race can’t appreciate it rather than because the controller is a piece of trash? If only that were the case…
The …
The Most Anticipated Games of 2013: The Last Hurrah for the Seventh Generation?
Chris Kavan - wrote on 01/16/13 at 05:29 PM CT
While rumors are floating around about the exact release date for the next generation of systems from Sony and Microsoft, one thing is clear, with the release of the WiiU, it's apparent that this is most likely going to be the last year for the venerable Xbox 360 and PS3. Whether it's this fall, winter, something tells me there's a good chance this upcoming holiday season will see another new system under the tree.
But you may as well go out with a bang, so what is there to look forward to this year? As I have been a PS3 fan from the beginning, it's looking like a good year. Throw in some hotly anticipated multiple platform games, and it really is looking like they did save the best for last. Here then are my most anticipated games of 2013:
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
I won't have to wait too long to check this one out, seeing as it's coming out Jan. 22 - but I have been looking forward to this since it was released in Japan last year. For one, it may be a decent …
Motion Controls on the PC: A Quest of Futility
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/12/13 at 05:01 PM CT
Last July, I wrote about the ways FPSes could be adapted to make me actually enjoy playing them. Number 4 on that list – Pointer-Based Aiming – has recently become even more important to me, as the MeltedJoystick crew is planning on jumping into the PC version of “Borderlands” and “Borderlands 2” (once the GotY version of the sequel hits bargain basement prices on Steam). Outside of Chris, the ‘Borderlands’ series is one that none of the MeltedJoystick crew would ever consider playing, especially not for $60. But with cheap prices (like $6 cheap) and a small amount of RPG elements to set it apart from more traditional FPSes like ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘Battlefield,’ even erstwhile MeltedJoystick guest-blogger, Matt, has decided to join the action and fill-out the team of 4. So, now we have the game (the original “Borderlands”), we have the players, we have gaming PCs capable of running an “AAA” game from 2009… What’s missing? Pointer controls.
I …
Does Violence in Games Beget Violence in People?
Chris Kavan - wrote on 01/06/13 at 02:48 PM CT
The recent tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has opened up multiple avenues of debate. While much of the attention has been devoted to gun control, the NRA had to weigh in and, unsurprisingly, brought up the specter of violence in the media to shift the burden of blame.
In the words of NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, taken from his speech given on Dec. 21:
"And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like “Bullet Storm,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Splatterhouse.”
And here’s one, it’s called “Kindergarten Killers.” It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn’t? Or didn’t want anyone to know you had …
Backlog: The Embiggening - January, 2013
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/06/13 at 02:32 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. Now that the Christmas rush is over, we’re left with games that could either be considered Early Birds or a month too late. Regardless of what we might think of the games released in January, it is never a particularly big month. Out of the whopping 7 games releasing this month, it looks like there might be a couple of good ones.
Now that Christmas is over, there is little reason for developers to release licensed games and shovelware. Un-savvy moms and dads of small children have already spent their game budgets for the next few months, so any titles in this category released NOW will get a chance to linger on store shelves and accumulate the nice layer of mold they deserve. That said, 505 Games is still bringing “Chimpact” to the corpse of the late DS. Seriously… it’s a touch-controlled game about a chimp that can only be played on a dead handheld. Why did they even bother?
Multi-platform games dominate the limited …
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