Limbo still haunts me

It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve played Limbo.  I snagged it pretty soon after it became available on the PlayStation Store as its reputation preceded it.  It is of course the same game that was released on Xbox Live Arcade last year.

If you had to think of a video game that could be called art, then it would have to be Limbo.  For a game that’s relatively short, with basic gameplay at its heart, it makes a big impact.  The music, the Noir visuals, and the puzzles all add up to a great little game.  In other words, it’s gameplay done right!

I’ve since moved on to playing some of the bigger releases this year such as DiRT 3 and L.A. Noire but Limbo still sticks in my mind as a small game with big presence.  It is a platform/puzzle game cut to its bare essentials, but with such high-impact visuals.

I’m not going to go on about this game anymore as I’m already treading on familiar ground here.  I just needed to get a shout out for this game, mainly for PS3 owners who like myself, will not have had the fortune of playing it last year.  A must buy!

Hands-on with Core Blaster & PSN code giveaway

Let’s jump right in, shall we?  Core Blaster is a recently released minis game for both the PSP and PS3.  To celebrate the recent launch of the game, the developers have given me 10 PSN codes to give away to my readers.

Core Blaster can best be described as Zuma-meets-PixelJunk Monsters.  On each level there are incoming waves of radioactive cores that you’ve got to stop reaching the other side, and they travel on rails.  Along these rails you’ve to purchase and build ‘core blasters’.  Cores come in multiple colours, and core blasters can only shoot cores of the same colour.

Later levels see single colour-only rails, and fast rails which speed up the cores.  The trick is that you’ve to carefully manage the location, amount, and type of blasters to ensure that as few cores as possible elude destruction.  Each blaster can only attack one core at once, so you’ve got to choose tactics wisely!

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Sony, what’s with the excessive PSN downtime?

Sometimes, you just fill up with so much frustration that you can’t make any sense.  I’ve had to calm myself down whilst writing about PSN downtime or else this post would have just been full of !@?&# and other such symbols censoring a rather exuberant use of the English language.

It’s not so much annoyance at the fact that the PlayStation Network has so much down time (or as Sony likes to call it, ‘maintenance’), it’s the fact that for Europe, it is performed at the worst possible time for our timezone.

Here’s PlayStation.Blog.Europe’s latest announcement:

PlayStation Network is offline for scheduled maintenance from 16:05 on Thursday 18 November 2010 until 01:00 on Friday 19 November 2010, GMT.

As many people have noted in the comments, this update again falls at peak gaming for Europe.  If Sony wants to tinker with the PlayStation Network 365 days a year, I don’t really care, but please, why can’t it be done either in the middle of the day or in the early hours of the morning?

I’ve had enough, have you?

PlayStation Network expands to other devices

This should be interesting.  At CES 2010 Sony announced that the PlayStation Network is going to be available on other devices such as BRAVIA TVs, Sony Vaios etc.  This will give consumers an alternative to the Apple TV/iTunes synergy, but it leaves me feeling lukewarm.  Maybe more details would peak my interest?

Details Of Premium PSN Subscriptions Leaked

Details Of Premium PSN Subscriptions Leaked– TheSixthAxis asks ‘would you pay?’  Seen as it is just a survey, they’d need to have a clearer structure for the final product to even tempt me, as each option seems to have features that every other option doesn’t have!  Even so, I’d probably go for a package with more bonus content features as opposed to greater multiplayer features.  Would these packages tempt you?

Uncharted universe expands with Eye of Indra

You all (should) know by now that I love the Uncharted series.  So when a new four-part motion comic series called Uncharted: Eye of Indra hit the PlayStation Store, I was all over it.  What’s strange is that apart from a couple of mentions, Eye of Indra has been relatively under-promoted.  Maybe Naughty Dog is just testing the water at this stage?

For Uncharted fans Eye of Indra is a must buy.  The motion comic series is a prequel (note: yes, its canon) to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune containing some enlightening back story for Nathan Drake, a plot twist, and at least one person you’re not going to expect.  Apparently this particular series is just the first of many, which is a decision I applaud.  This means that Uncharted fans can quench their thirst with an Uncharted game every couple of years with extra multiplayer DLC and motion comics to flesh out the Uncharted universe in-between games.

I got the Uncharted: Eye of Indra Multiplayer Skin Pack which includes all four parts of the motion comic and two Uncharted 2 multiplayer skins, although you can get the episodes separately if you really want to. The skins pack contains Rika for the heroes and Pinkerton for the villains.  Go check it out!

I’m not usually one for speculating, but what the heck.  Time to move on to a bit of speculation: maybe all the motion comics will simply fill in the gaps between each Uncharted game?  That leads me to guess that another series could fill in the pieces between Drake’s Fortune and Among Thieves, with another series set after Among Thieves, rather like a sandwich.  A very tasty sandwich.

I’ve dismissed the possibility of Naughty Dog taking the Uncharted series into the ahem, mostly ‘uncharted’ waters of episodic gaming.  Sure, GTA IV’s episodes seem to have worked out all right, Criterion went purely down the DLC route, but Half-Life 2’s episodes are taking a long time to deliver.  I think the DLC/episodic content for Fallout 3 is probably the best example of this sort of idea done right.  However for Uncharted’s linear gameplay, in my personal opinion it isn’t worth Naughty Dog’s time and money to go down this particular route.  Their current setup seems to be working out well so far.

Have you bought any DLC?  If so, was it worth it?

PlayStation Network gets video

It’s here!  It’s finally here!  Video will be available to purchase/rent on the PlayStation Store tomorrow (19th), or as SCEE like to call it: the video delivery service.  I accidentally came across the information just now when reading a SCEE press release on one of my old email accounts.  In the future, I can see myself using this service a lot.  Neat.

Talking Heads: Social Gaming- Is the PS3 Disconnected?

In what I hope to be the first of many different formats and collaberations on this blog, I talk to fellow gamer Rockers Delight about social gaming and how the PS3 compares against the Xbox 360 in this regard.  In the following transcript Los Havros will be denoted with LH and Rockers Delight with RD.

LH: Thanks for taking time out to have a chat!  We’re going to be talking about the PS3 and its lack of social connectivity.  I have to admit, I’m a bit confused here.  I couldn’t help but notice some of your recent tweets noting that for you the PS3 user experience feels a bit ‘disconnected’, ‘unsociable’… your ‘loner console’.

I find this area of debate fascinating, but could you expand on what you mean.  Is it simply a lack of cross-game chat, or is it more?

RD: Hey, Los Havros! You are indeed right, more than once I’ve referred to the PlayStation 3 as my ‘loner console’, most recently spurred by a 360 gamer switching to PS3 and Tweeting the same thing.

Let me point out, though, that despite my feelings of solitary with my PS3, all my real life friends are in fact PS3 gamers, not 360. So, despite being new to the console, I do actually have a decent-sized friends list.

It’s difficult to know where to start, and to also refrain from sharing all my thoughts on this at once. To sum up how social a console the 360 can be, it feels like you’re missing a leg if not connected to Xbox Live. PS3, on the other hand, wouldn’t make much difference to me if I was playing online or offline.

The fact the PlayStation 3 is sold without any device for communicating is a good starting point. It shows that connectivity between gamers isn’t a priority for Sony, unlike Microsoft who box every console with a basic headset.

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