Playstation Vita 2000 and Vita TV Announced September 9, 2013

In the latest development in what will likely become a future history article for this site, Sony has made two big announcements today detailing the Playstation Vita.  Since it’s launch, the Playstation Vita can easily be described as a fantastic piece of hardware which has had an issue selling due to its high launch price and because of that has had a lack of decent system titles.  Today, Sony has announced its latest plans to improve the Vita and the Vita’s standing in the Handheld Console War.

First off, Sony is introducing a new model Vita, which will likely be called the Vita-2000 or Vita Slim.  It is a thinner and lighter version Playstation Vita, which will sport an improved battery and 1GB of internal memory for storage on top of an expansion slot for Playstation Vita Memory Cards.  With the recent announcement of the Playstation Vita price drop, the price of Vita Memory Cards has also gone down, so Vita owners interested in upgrading their memory might be able to find a deal right now.  The new Vita model will also now ship with a recent version USB port instead of a proprietary Vita port for memory transferring between the Vita  and Playstation or PC.  From the looks of it, the new Vita should be compliant with USB 3.0 ports.

Everything else in the new Vita’s system specifications looks to be the same with the exception of the screen.  While the screen dimensions and resolution between the PS Vita and the PS Vita 2000 are identical, the screen type will not be.  Sony will be moving away from the super high quality OLED screen in the original Vita and all PSP 2000 systems will feature LCD screens instead.  This is really disheartening as the OLED screen was one of the primary selling points of the Vita at launch, but it is plainly obvious that Sony made this decision to lower the manufacturing costs of the Vita.

The second announcement that Sony made today felt a bit like Sony reached into a conversation that I had with Twitch yesterday and put a modern twist on it, and that was the announcement of the Vita TV.  The Vita TV will be a set-top box for your HD Television similar to the Apple TV but equipped with a Vita Game Slot and Vita Memory Card slot.  Sony has promised that the Vita TV will be able to play most of the Vita’s game library with the Dual Shock 3 controller, as well as stream your PS4’s content to a separate TV in the home.  You should be able to access your entire downloaded catalog through Playstation Network as well, so you will be able to play downloaded PS1, PS Vita and PSP games that are compatible with the set-top box on your HDTV.  The Vita TV will be able to play Vita games at a native 720p resolution, but 1080 gameplay may be possible with interlacing.

Right now I’m questioning a bit of the logic behind the Playstation Vita TV’s release.  While I have to give props to Sony for offering players the ability to play Vita content on their HDTV, why didn’t Sony just take my advice from a few years ago and give players the option to mirror Vita content on their HDTV using the PS3, kind of like what an Apple TV can do with the iPhone 4S and 5, or provide a TV out port on the Vita system like the later Playstation Portable models provided?

The other issue with the Vita TV is with the lack of a touchscreen on the Dual Shock 3 controller.  While Sony could likely bring Dual Shock 4 support to the Vita TV later on with a firmware update, the Dual Shock 3 can’t really replicate all the functions of the Vita’s touch screen and rear touchpad since it has neither.  This would make playing games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss (one Vita game that I really want to pick up) difficult.  While the Dual Shock 4 does feature a single two touch touchpad on top of the controller, I do not believe it has a rear one, and many Vita games, including Little Big Planet Vita, make use of both.  The only solution to this problem that I can think of would be to allow the Playstation Vita’s use as a controller for the Vita TV.

Regardless of my concerns this does look like a step in the right direction for Sony, who is trying to improve the Playstation Vita’s image in the market just in time for this year’s Christmas season.  I just hope that Sony decides to take my advice and offers some way for players to be able to play from a Playstation Vita on their HDTV screen, either through a PS4 or Vita TV.  That would be a fine Christmas indeed.

Xbox One Release Date September 4, 2013

GameStop and Xbox.com have both confirmed that the long awaited release date for the Xbox One will be on November 22nd, 2013.  Preorders for the system’s special Day One Edition and Day One Edition games are still available.  Launch titles for the system at retail include Forza Motorsport 5, RYSE from Crytek, and Dead Rising 3 from Capcom.  Downloadable launch titles will include the latest Killer Instinct game from Rare and Lococycle from Twisted Pixel.

The Xbox One will retail for a price of $499 US.

Mario Warfare Part 4 August 29, 2013

Beatdown Boogie has released the fourth part of their exceptionally well produced series Mario Warfare.  Welcome to Smash Club.

Nintendo 2DS Announced August 28, 2013

No, that headline is not a typo. Nintendo has just announced the newest member of the Nintendo 3DS handheld family, the Nintendo 2DS.

The Nintendo 2DS looks to be a cheaper alternative to a Nintendo 3DS.  It lacks Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D screen, but is able to play any Nintendo DS or Nintendo 3DS game in 2D, as well as content downloadable from Nintendo’s eShop.

For anyone who may already have a 3DS or 3DS XL, I would not consider this an upgrade.  The device doesn’t look like it can fold in half, making the device less portable than previous version DS systems.  This was probably intended to be released for more budget minded customers who were not interested in playing their 3D content in 3D.  This seems to be unneeded as the 3DS’s 3D screen can be completely disabled, and will not work on non-3DS native content like with DS or downloadable Virtual Console games.

The Nintendo 2DS is coming October 12th, 2013.

inFAMOUS Second Son Behind the Scenes: Taking Control August 23, 2013

A new behind the scenes video for the highly-anticipated PS4 exclusive inFAMOUS: Second Son has been released.  In this video, we take a closer look at the PS4’s Dual Shock 4 Controller.  Now, from far away the DS4 may look identical to the three Dual Shock controllers which had come before it, but upon a closer look you can see that Sony did a lot to change the Dual Shock’s form factor both to cater to gamer’s needs and to improve the product in a way that takes full advantage of the improved power of the PS4.

So how does this controller handle a game like inFAMOUS: Second Son?  Let’s find out.

inFAMOUS: Second Son is coming February 2014 exclusive to the Playstation 4.

rain Developer Diary Part 2: The Music of rain August 23, 2013

I think that a huge part of the charm that rain’s trailers have had has been from the game’s music.  To me, the game’s music complements the visuals perfectly, and in the second Developer Diary for rain the game’s developers chose to focus on what went into the game’s musical production.

This video shows more than just musicians recording, it shows many of the decisions that the audio director had to make.  They chose to keep the famous song “Clair de Lune” as the game’s main theme (which is the song playing during the game’s trailers) but made the decision to add a female vocal track to the song.

Personally my favorite part of the video is a bit where you can also see some of the game’s early artwork rendered as a beautiful watercolor animatic.  That animatic was instrumental in assisting in setting the musical tone.  Take a look for yourselves!

rain is coming in October 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Xbox gamescom 2013 Showcase Briefing August 22, 2013

Microsoft has posted up an abridged video of their Xbox gamescom 2013 Showcase Briefing, and you can take a look at it here.

I know It isn’t as long as the Sony gamescom Press Conference, but Microsoft chose to put many things front and center during this event that they did not cover during the E3 Media Briefing.  In particular, they chose to showcase Indie Games immediately, to counter the belief many players felt that the Xbox One was going to be unfair to independent developers.

Watch Dogs gamescom 2013 Trailer August 20, 2013

The latest trailer for the highly anticipated multiplatform game Watch Dogs from Ubisoft has been released at Sony’s gamescom 2013 Press Conference, and along with this trailer came a few huge announcements.  Sony has promised that there will be an exclusive skin, a hacking boost, and four exclusive missions totaling 60 additional minutes of gameplay on the Playstation versions of the game.  If you were like me and hadn’t known yet which version of the game to pick up, the PS4 version will likely be your best bet.

Sony has promised that anyone who picks up the PS3 version of Watch Dogs will be able to upgrade to the PS4 version of the game through Sony’s Digital PS4 Marketplace at a heavily discounted rate for a limited time.

Watch Dogs is coming multiplatform November, 2013 and will launch on the Xbox One and PS4.

Dead Rising 3 gamescom 2013 Cinematic Trailer August 20, 2013

Those damn wasps have spread to Southern California.  Take a look at this short CGI-rendered Cinematic Trailer to see how two survivors of the latest outbreak can survive driving on the 101 Freeway.

Dead Rising 3 is coming November 2013 as a launch title exclusive to the Xbox One.

inFAMOUS: Second Son gamescom 2013 Trailer August 20, 2013

inFAMOUS: Second Son, the third entry in the Playstation exclusive series, is coming next year and Sucker Punch previewed the latest trailer for the game at the Sony gamescom 2013 Press Conference.  From the looks of it, the game’s new hero will have more than just the power to control smoke, as a new character may be able to provide him with a power we are already quite familiar with.

inFAMOUS: Second Son will be coming out exclusive to the PS4 in Q1 2014.