Well, this has been an eventful two weeks since my last article, with the official pricing of one handheld, and the official announcement of another. Not a lot of new stuff on the Microsoft front, so this article will be a little slanted towards Nintendo and Sony. First off, I want to clarify a few things about the purpose of this column, and my own gaming preferences, in response to some comments and questions I have received.
The purpose of this column is to look at the current and future prospects in the gaming world, this focuses mostly on the systems and companies themselves, rather than the games. Obviously there are so many different genres and styles of games out there that I could never hope to interest everyone, and would probably alienate a large number – so no game reviews. This also links into my second point, relating to multiplayer versus single player gaming. I have received comments that I am against multiplayer, but that’s not true at all, I just enjoy single player games more. The vast majority of games that I play offer co-op missions, which are a lot of fun, but I have never gotten into online competitive games like COD and Halo. I respect the games, and acknowledge that there have been some great games made for multiplayer only, they just aren’t my style – hence the focus of this column.
On to the news, starting with Nintendo, who has finally announced pricing and the launch window for the Nintendo 3DS system. The new entry into Nintendo’s portable gaming empire will be retailing for $249, launching on March 27. Nintendo has also announced a launch window, of approximately four weeks over with their launch games will debut. One other thing that will make a lot of people really happy, the Nintendo 3DS will feature a single friend code – no more individual friend codes for every single game.
A new DS game has made my list of stupid games & peripherals, Battle & Get: Pokemon Typing DS. This instructional game will teach kids how to type properly by spelling out Pokemon names, and normal words I hope. Many people thought the game would function through an onscreen keyboard, but the actual plan is kind of weird. The game will ship with a full Bluetooth keyboard, communicating with the system through the Bluetooth enabled cartridge. I’m not sure if Pokemon is quite the best theme for a typing instruction game, or that the DS is the right platform, but we’ll see what the future holds.
Now, on to Sony, who has finally announced the PSP NGP. The Next Generation Portable as it is called, is basically the PSP2 we have all been waiting for – I choose to ignore the multiple revisions to the PSP and the PSP Go, they never added anything drastic, except the opportunity for Sony to increase the price of the portable every time. The NGP looks very similar to the original PSP, though with a few more curves like the PSP Go. The biggest change that I am happy about is the inclusion of dual analog sticks – Finally!!! The PSP has long been haunted by the limited controls available, while developers attempt to use those controls for console style games. Console games, like first person shooters (FPS) for instance, utilize dual analog stick constantly, enabling you to move and aim at the same time. On the PSP, though many games ‘fixed’ this problem by using the single analog stick for both aiming and moving, requiring an additional button to be pressed to enter aiming mode. Unfortunately this leaves you completely stationary while you are aiming, while other people are shooting at you!
Now that Sony has fixed the issue of not having dual analog sticks, the PSP NGP now has the full controls of a full console controller, enabling developers to finally realize the dream of a console game that is truly portable. The NGP will also feature a 5 inch Organic LED display (that should help a lot with batter power) with a 960 by 544 pixel resolution – 4 times that of the PSP. The front screen will also feature multi-touch capabilities as will the rear touch-pad. Yes, a rear touch-pad, I honestly don’t have many ideas about the functionality of this new feature, though an interesting example has already been revealed. One game, focused on controlling the path of a ball across a virtual obstacle course utilizes the rear touch pad versus the more conventional motion sensor, by touching the back of the NGP you literally push out the surface of the world, allowing the ball to roll down the newly formed hill. That has some interesting possibilities for new gameplay. Of course the system will also include the now obligatory front and rear cameras, as well as the same six-axis system as the Move, GPS, and Wi-Fi. While all models will include Wi-Fi, 3G appears to be an optional upgrade for advanced models. Another interesting change is the use of flash memory card based games instead of the dying UMD. UMD, or Universal Media Disk, has been used for both games and movies on the PSP. Since the disk system was only ever used on PSP I’m not sure how the ‘Universal’ part fits in. The new flash based games will include extra space for saved games, an interesting addition.
No release date or pricing has been announced, although Gamestop was quick to set up a place-holder site, taking pre-orders for $999. This page has since been pulled, no doubt because Sony didn’t want that price to become a rumour. I for one am hoping for a competitive price for the NGP, none of this stupid ‘It’s an amazing system that people will learn is worth the money’, if you don’t set the system at a price where people are actually going to buy it – then you won’t make any money. Sony has said they want the NGP to be both profitable and affordable – whatever that means – and that it won’t be $500. Whether that means it will be more or less than $500 is still unclear, but I’m sure everyone is in agreement about which side they want it to be on.
That is the news for this issue, keep checking in for new developments and opinions on the newest tech from the big three. Sorry for the lack of Microsoft content, they are still basking in the light from selling 8 million Kinect units in only 2 months. Until next issue, good luck with midterms and assignments, vote in the election, and of course, keep on Gaming.
Leave a Reply