• 2Jan 05

  All in the Palm of your Hand

  I've had a Gameboy since the year the system was first introduced. My brother and I found one each under the Christmas tree and I've been a fan of portable gaming since. Aside from the smaller designed black and white Gameboy Pocket, I've owned each iteration of the system, and in a few cases I've even purchased multiple versions (I've never had one break on me, I've just been extravagant and bought different colors or special editions). I've bought GBAs for my daughter and I've handed my systems down to family members. As it stands now we have three GBA SPs in the house and my wife and daughter and I have spent quite a few hours playing linked games, connectivity games with our GameCube, and other games where we just try and beat each other's high score.

  I've been watching the progress of the DS and the PSP. I've read all kinds of articles about how both systems will succeed/fail and I've read articles about how they will/will not be competing directly with each other. But even thought most of those types of articles can be interesting reads, I'm more concerned about whether or not the systems will be fun to play. Each has a laundry list of features, each has their own niche capabilities, and each has a pretty long list of developers signed up to make games.

  From the American/Japanese launch of the DS, and the import coverage of the Japanese PSP launch, it would seem right now most of the media is more enthralled with the PSP. Why not? The hardware looks cool, it has a lot of power under the hood, and it has a large breadth of functionality. On the surface it's what Sony said it would be. Shortcomings like the battery life and the durability of the screen have been mentioned frequently, but also glossed over a bit.

  Then there is the DS. It's under-powered compared to the PSP, not as flashy in design, still uses cartridge media, and it's existence is pulling support for Nintendo's other consoles away. The DS is flying solely on the innovations it offers: two screens, voice input, and touch screen input. The media and developers all acknowledge it offers much more opportunity for unique gampeplay.

  The DS is out now and the PSP is not expected here in America until the Spring. So it was with Christmas money in hand that I walked into a Gamestop last week, and walked out with a DS and Super Mario 64. It was more an impulse buy than a planned purchase. I had originally thought I would buy the system at launch, but the launch line up seemed sparse and there was nothing of serious note being offered for a few months after it hit the shelves. I figured I could wait until the big games started coming out. I mean let's be honest, aside from Mario DS, the line up Nintendo had to offer at launch hasn't been getting stellar reviews from the gaming press. The common critcism is that the games feel rushed, and in my opinion they are because Nintendo felt it had to get the DS out before the PSP and ride their handheld reputation as hard as it could to get a jump start on the competition. This shows me that regardless of what the suits might say at press conferences and media gatherings, Nintendo is concerned and is acknowledging the PSP is the first serious contendor to the handheld market in a long while.

  I'm confident some great titles are down the road for the DS. It is on the strength of Nintendo's franchises that my DS purchase was warranted. I would go so far as to say Animal Crossing DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, and Advance Wars DS alone is enough for me to feel the system is viable for my own gaming tastes.

  There's one other element concerning the DS that Nintendo often plays upon, and I can offer first hand evidence regarding; the simplicity of its gameplay. I mentioned earlier that everyone in my family has an SP. When I brought home my DS my daughter was immediately interested (because it's a new toy) and she started a game of Mario. The other night, before heading to family for New Year's Eve, I showed my wife one of the minigames from the Mario cartridge. It's a simple, videogame version of Where's Waldo, where you have to pick out either Wario, Mario, Yoshi, or Luigi from a crowd of same characters. There's a time limit, and Nintendo throws some curve balls at you by sometimes having all the faces move, or obscuring most of the subject's face behind other faces. It's simple and fun. Over the past few days we've all been passing the DS around trying to best each other's high scores. My wife and daughter have been bickering over who will play it next, and I of course have been left on the outside as I let them play. It's another testament to Nintendo's staunch belief that gaming should be for everyone, and it's this same testament that drives so many hardcore gamers away.

  I don't know who will win the handheld race, and I'm not too concerned because I'm sure I will spend a lot of time with both systems. My personal opinion is that each will find a comfortable market with their respective handhelds and most of their competition will come from a smaller segment of gamers that might be torn between which system to buy. The hardcore gamers already know which, if any, they plan to buy (or maybe both). Parents are already comfortable with the Nintendo brand, and the older, more casual crowd will be looking forward to playing Madden on the go. It's the spill over that they'll be battling for.

  • Posted Jan 2, 2005 2:43 pm PT
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• 1Nov 04

  Now I understand

  For me GTA III was one of those watershed moments of my gaming experience. I had never played anything that offered such freedom and yet was still so fun. I spent hours and hours roaming the streets of Liberty City, testing the limits of the police and military, and terrorizing many of the inhabitants--who were just trying to go about their digital lives. I played past midnight into the early hours of new days and I drudged through work on scarce sleep for weeks on end. I showed the game off to friends and even sold some PlayStation 2s to those few who quickly became enamored with the style of play and insane enjoyment to be had just driving around the environment.

  When I heard Vice City was coming out I had trepidations because it seemed Rockstar was putting it out too quickly to do it justice, but I still bought it when it launched. I played for a week or so straight but couldn't lose the nagging feeling I had already done this before. Yes the package was bigger, prettier, and offered some new elements. Yes there was new character and presentation brought to the series with the addition of a named protagonist and a soundtrack that almost eclipsed the game itself.

  The problem for me was that with all Rockstar added, it still felt like I was playing GTA III, and I had become burnt from over-indulgence.

  So when the noise started building around San Andreas, I had concerns again. I kept an eye on the previews to determine whether or not SA would be a slightly improved Vice City. I read with curiosity the notion of food and working out in the game and thought maybe they were trying to bite off a bit more than they could chew. I also read about how large the environment would be and I thought to what purpose would it serve to have such a large playground to jump around in, when I at times felt overwhelmed at how large Vice City is (I never felt as comfortable driving around VC as I did LC). I didn't pre-order the game assuming I'd be able to find a copy if I decided to take the plunge. I decided to look at it mathematically and let the equation determine my course of action. I ran the numbers and came up with the following:

  ((addiction to Paper Mario 2 + (Xbox Live x Burnout 3)) + impending Halo 2 release) + (responsibilities + skepticism) / (hours in a day - sleep) = hold off on GTA: San Andreas

  As it stands now if I can get an hour a day in playing games I'm lucky. I can squeeze more time in during weekends, but during the week if I get a chance to fire up a console it's for a limited amount of time. Paper Mario 2 is a large quest, Burnout 3 has been a blast to play online, and I know a lot of my time will be spent with both the single-player campaign and Xbox Live components of Halo 2 when it is released a mere 8 days from now. The number just were not working in San Andreas favor.

  However, when the reviews came in the night before, I felt the same incessant tingling in my gut that I feel whenever a big game comes out and starts lighting up the boards with huge review numbers. I watched Jeff's video review, which I thought was cryptic in its refusal to give too much away (a good thing) and I read some of the threads of the early adopters who had glowing comments to make. My equation was altered and the variable "skepticism" was reset to a value of zero:

  ((addiction to Paper Mario 2 + (Xbox Live x Burnout 3)) + impending Halo 2 release) + (responsibilities + 0) / (hours in a day - sleep) = immediately buy GTA: San Andreas

  I started playing last Tuesday night, and for the first 7 or so game hours I put in, I didn't feel like all the hype was deserved. There seemed like there was too much to do, and not enough "newness" to warrant doing it. It was like Vice City all over again. But during this weekend's play, I reached a point in the game where all doubts and uncertainties were lifted like a veil from my eyes. I won't give any spoilers, but there were elements opened up that to me were a revelation on par with the original GTA III. I became enlightened. With this new factors, I had to revise my equation one final time:

  ((addiction to Paper Mario 2 + (Xbox Live x Burnout 3)) + impending Halo 2 release) - (responsibilities + 0) / ((hours in a day) - sleep / 2) = make the time to play GTA: San Andreas

  Housework will have to suffer over the next couple of months and I'm willing to give up my health (less sleep and less gym) to further my reign of terror in GTA: San Andreas. I would recommend others do the same.

  • Posted Nov 1, 2004 5:11 pm PT
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• 27Oct 04

  I swear I didn't make any noise.

  I guess I'm just not a big fan of stealth games. This is kind of odd because I really enjoyed the PSOne and PS2 iterations of Metal Gear Solid, which are both considered stealth games. I also really enjoyed Rainbow Six 3 on my Xbox, which is somewhat of a stealth game too. I liked the original Tenchu as well. I think the major differences between those titles and Splinter Cell is you have more leeway in being able to just open up with the weaponry if you so choose.

  But try as I might I can't get into Splinter Cell. I bought the original for my Gamecube and traded it in halfway through, and I have the sequel in my Xbox right now, courtesy of Gamefly.

  I want to like it. The graphics are nice and there are some smooth moves you can pull off as Sam Fisher. The environments look highly interactive and I just dig the whole notion of sneaking into a location and doing secret missions. Problem is, I find myself getting caught even though I think I'm being really careful. What adds to this is the limited number of saves you have per level-- there's just too much to do between checkpoints. To me it's very frustrating to start from a save point, continue stealthing through a level, and then getting caught at a specific location a few times before figuring out how to get by. The rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat nature of the gameplay infuriates me, yet I keep trying to like it because I know the series has a lot of fans and critical acclaim.

  I haven't even tried the multiplayer, though from what I read on the boards, there are a lot of jerks out there playing this game on Xbox Live. I was disappointed there wasn't any type of splitscreen multiplayer, though I can appreciate it would be difficult to pull off the cat and mouse gameplay if you could see your opponent's position.

  With my continued infatuation for Paper Mario 2, and my recent purchase of GTA: San Andreas, I don't see Pandora's Tomorrow having much of a chance to win me over before it finds itself on the way back to the Gamefly warehouse.

  • Posted Oct 27, 2004 9:17 pm PT
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