Bit by Bit: August 2015

It's sad to say, but summer is coming to an end. As hard as it may be to get excited to go back to school, fall brings with it an avalanche of new game releases. With the current generation finally running on all cylinders, there will be enough games to keep every gamer satisfied for the next four months. Just counting all the Nintendo games I'm going to pick up on Wii U and 3DS in the next four months is a little shocking. Good thing I have brothers that plan on picking up the multiplatform titles I'm holding out on, such as Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront, so I can play them without dropping nearly 100 dollars on each one. You know, I need to save that money to buy amiibos.

Before we get started with this edition of Bit by Bit, I would like to announce that I'm going to Fan Expo again this year. I will be there Friday with a few friends from school to hang out, buy stuff, play games, and explore the show floor. Just like I did last year, there will be a full rundown of everything yours truly did at the show along with the return of the Fan Expo Gauntlet. So stay tuned for all your Fan Expo goodness from Silver Bit in the coming weeks.

Game of the Month
In recent years, I have grown fond of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and its challenging yet engrossing take on the JRPG genre. Funny enough, the Shin Megami spin-off series Persona that's responsible for the series popularity in the West is one I barely touched. While I own both Persona 3 and 4 on PS3, I never took on the task of playing one until I got Persona 4 Golden for Vita. Now I can't stop!

RPGs are perfect for portable play. You can pick them up to finish some sidequests or grind a few levels in small bursts, or dive into the story and dungeons as a way to spend an afternoon. It may take some time to wrap your head around all of Persona 4's mechanics and everything they entail. Once you get past the learning curve, managing social links, jobs, boosting stats, and preparing for the dungeons is a blast. I have already lost many hours just delving into all the activities you can do outside of the main dungeons.

The combat is no slouch either. It has a similar turn-based structure as most JRPGs, but adds a few new systems to make the combat more engaging. Determining which elements shadows are strong/weak against is the key to success. Couple that with powerful pile-on attacks and shuffle time bonuses, and you have the ingredients for an incredible battle system that will keep you on your toes.

I am only brushing the surface of what Persona 4 Golden has to offer. I strongly urge everybody to pick up a Vita or PlayStation TV to play this phenomenal RPG, or at the very least download the PS2 original off of PSN. I may only be 25 hours into the game, but I fully understand why it's considered one of the best RPGs of the last decade. Persona 4 Golden is that damn good, period!

Most Anticipated Toy of the Month
Rumours about a Shovel Knight amiibo were floating around the interwebs for a couple weeks now, but nothing was ever confirmed. That was until a UK retailer announced its existence ahead of Nintendo and Yacht Club Games' official unveiling at Nintendo's Nindies @ Night event in Seattle.

The Shovel Knight amiibo is being produced entirely by Yacht Club Games, and it unlocks exclusive modes and features for the Wii U and 3DS versions of Shovel Knight. The amiibo's biggest addition to the game is the Wii U exclusive co-op, which allows you to play the entire game with a friend. It will also add special challenge stages, new relics and character stat customization to both versions of Shovel Knight.

As happy as I am to see Shovel Knight get the amiibo treatment, I am even more ecstatic to see what comes from the introduction of official third-party figures into the amiibo line. This partnership truly marks an exciting new direction for the amiibo brand as a whole. Expanding the brand to outside properties may be the olive branch Nintendo needs to attract third-parties back to their systems. Plus, it offers a wonderful platform for indie developers like Yacht Club Games to get exposure on a scale they could of only dreamed of.

I have my fingers crossed for Bit.Trip, Shantae and Mighty No. 9 amiibos.

Video of the Month
It won't be too much longer before Super Mario Maker will be released to the general public. For those people like myself that cannot wait any longer, IGN has put together a series of videos called the IGN Super Mario Maker Editors Challenge to show off all the wonderful levels you can make in the game. These five to ten minute videos release every Monday, Wednesday and Friday leading up to Super Mario Maker's release and they offer great inspiration for those looking forward to creating their own Mario deathtraps. Plus, it's hilarious to watch the Mario insanity people think of and the priceless reactions from those playing.

I've included the first video in the series below, but I highly recommend watching them all. I hope to see many great levels online when Super Mario Maker launches on 11th of September.

The PlayStation Vita: Revisted

Upon its release, the PlayStation Vita was a big talking point around the industry. Sadly, it focused on the system's woes when it came to its lack of commercial success and a consistent lineup of games. This unfortunate turn of events has gone to plague the Vita for its entire life. It is remarkable that the Vita is only three years old and the system is already considered dead. Apart from niche Japanese games published by Atlus, NIS America or Aksys Games, and cross-buy indie titles, Sony and third-parties abandoned the handheld by the end of 2014 at the latest.

The Vita's life has been tragic to say the least, but I am not here to rub salt in wound. Since I recently picked it up for myself, I am here to give an honest opinion to those that may be seriously considering buying the system in the near or distant future.

First and foremost, the PlayStation Vita is a well-designed handheld, which is impressive since it is Sony's second stab at a handheld. Originally, I thought the button placement was too close together. After an extensive amount of time with the Vita over the past month, everything feels responsive and fits well in my hands. I only had a problem with the system's d-pad, which is incredibly flimsy due to Sony's decision to meld it to one plastic plate rather than making them separate buttons.

With front and rear touch screens, cameras, and motion controls on top of the traditional button layout, the Vita is filled to the brim with technology. Maybe a little too much technology. Although I fall under the belief Sony packed far too many things into the Vita, it comes down to how the software uses said technology that determines if it's all warranted. Considering Tearaway is the only Vita game out of the 14 I own that properly uses everything in the system, the touch and motion controls mostly come off as gimmicks instead of essential features.

While the Vita may not have be as powerful as the PS3 in the graphics department, the system's OLED screen, found in all original units but not in the Slim redesign, is wonderful to look at. The high screen resolution makes hand-drawn 2D art pop off the screen. It's like watching a painting in motion. Games that lean towards realism in their graphics, such as Uncharted and Killzone, don't fair as well since the Vita can't pump out realistic polygons and textures like its console brethren.

Apart from the Vita's well-documented lacking library, the system suffers from a major problem when it comes to storage. In order to save or download games, you need a memory card for the Vita. Rather than use a universal memory card like a micro SD, Sony decided to force Vita owners to buy their own proprietary cards for outrageous prices. You can find four or eight gigabyte cards for something more reasonable, but you'll run out of room quick if you start downloading PSP and PS1 games to your system. Due to Sony intentionally shortchanging consumers on memory, you might have to fork over another 50 to 100 dollars on top of the price of the Vita to get enough memory to be comfortable with.

For the 100 dollars I spent on a used PlayStation Vita, it was well worth it. I now own 14 great titles I cannot get on any other system, can experience all the PSP games that I missed out on like Valkyria Chronicles II and Patapon, and have a chance to play all my PS1 classics and cross-buy games on the go. For those that are unable to get the Vita for the same price, I suggest you do some research and determine if there enough games, features and applications to warrant spending 200 dollars or more to buy one for yourself.

Overall, the Vita is a great portable system that is superior all other handhelds on the market when it comes to power and beauty. Unless you're a hardcore gamer or own the consoles needed to unlock the system's full potential, the Vita doesn't have the library or the features to be worth spending upwards of 200 dollars on.

Bit by Bit: July 2015

I did promise back in March to be better at announcing hiatuses for Silver Bit, but I honestly didn't plan this at all.  After the craziness that was E3 2015, I didn't have much drive to write Best Games of E3 article because of the lack of playable demos on the show floor this year.  On top of E3 fatigue, I tried to write an article on collector's editions, but it didn't pan out.

Although a lot of July didn't work out as planned, I am hoping to update Silver Bit on a regular basis in August.  Fingers crossed.

Game of the Month
Two games took up most of my time this past month. The first is Radiant Historia, a turned-based RPG that has you bouncing between two parallel timelines in order to save the world from desertification.  I bought the game two years ago and spent a few hours with it before putting it down until recently.  I always enjoyed the gameplay and premise of Radiant Historia, but it's story and timeline-weaving quests are what will keep you gripping your DS or 3DS for hours on end.  In all seriousness, I play Radiant Historia a good hour or two at a time.  Sadly, I hit a grind wall around chapter four that has caused me to put the game down for the time being.

The second game and July's Game of the Month is Tearaway for the PlayStation Vita.  While I planned on waiting until Tearaway Unfolded for PS4 to dive into Media Molecule's critical darling, my curiosity got the best of me especially considering I found the game for 10 dollars new.  As cool as it would be to experience the beautiful paper craft visuals on a big HDTV, I am so happy that I experienced Tearaway on its system of origin.

Out of all the games on the Vita, Tearaway is the system's killer app.  Unlike other titles, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Killzone: Mercenary, where the use of motion and touch controls feels tacked on, Tearaway uses every feature built into the Vita in an intuitive way.  Seeing your fingers pop out of the back touch screen to dispatch enemies or watching your face play a role as the ever-present sun are just magical.  My descriptions don't do Tearaway justice; it is a game that you have to experience for yourself in order to understand how special it is.

Video of the Month
On July 12th, 2015, the video game industry lost a visionary in Satoru Iwata.  Since the tragic news broke, many lovely tributes for Iwata-san have been made.  All these tributes are amazing, but I can't showcase them all here.  I choose to highlight Screwattack's tribute video because it does a wonderful job at blending Iwata's greatest quotes and the video clips that highlight his quirky personality.

Thank you, Satoru Iwata.  You will be deeply missed.

First Byte: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Two weekends ago, Sony held an event in Las Vegas called the PlayStation Experience.  This event was open to the public and press with the keynote conference and demos streamed on Twitch for those unable to be in attendance.  A lot of big news came out of the PlayStation Experience such as the reveal of David Jaffe's new game Drawn to Death, Bastion, Shovel Knight and Super Time Force all making the jump to PlayStation and Street Fighter V being a PS4 console exclusive.  The next God of War game was even unintentionally confirmed by series director Cory Balrog during a panel at the event.  In addition to the news, the PlayStation Experience gave gamers a comprehensive look at the upcoming projects from all the first and third-party studios working on both PS4 and Vita.  It served as a great way for Sony to continue their upward momentum while simultaneously enticing undecided consumers to buy a PS4 during the holiday season.

The biggest thing to come out of the PlayStation Experience was the 15 minute gameplay demo for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.  Sony revealed the new Uncharted over a year ago at the launch party for the PS4.  Sony followed up that reveal with a brief cinematic teaser at E3 which revealed the game's subtitle and setting.  While these two teasers got many excited for Uncharted 4, I personally needed to see more to get behind the hype for this game especially since so many games have fallen short of their hype in the past year.  After the gameplay trailer from the PlayStation Experience, my doubts over Uncharted 4 are now nonexistent.  Although it was a 15 minute snippet of gameplay, Naughty Dog packed a lot of information about Uncharted's PS4 evolution into this demo.

The demo starts with protagonist Nathan Drake standing on a cliff overlooking the dangerous terrain the island setting has to offer.  This view and the following movement of the camera shows off Uncharted 4's gorgeous graphics and great water effects.  Drake then enters a nearby cave which provides ample opportunities to see that the game's platforming mechanics in action.  In short, the platforming looks to work just as great as they did in previous entries in the series.  More platforming sections follow once Drake exits the cave, but with an added twist.  He finds a spike which can be used on certain rock formations as an anchor point in order to grab out-of-reach ledges and cervices.  The demo showed a few exciting instances where using the spike while jumping is necessary to reach new areas and save Drake from falling to certain death.

As Drake makes his way around the island, he eventually meets up with some hostiles.  While this encounter lasts rest of the demo, it perfectly showcases Uncharted's next-gen evolution.  Since Drake is usually placed against insurmountable odds, stealth has played a huge part in the Uncharted series.  It certainly takes centre stage in Uncharted 4 as Drake can use the large patches of flora and fauna to get the jump on enemies and for hiding when spotted.  In addition to the stealth mechanics, combat has received some retooling especially the hand-to-hand combat.  These hand-to-hand fights look a lot more fluid and dynamic as Drake and his opponents can use the environment as a part of their offence, transition to different positions like belly-to-back and throw grapples such as an arm drag.  These new combat scenarios can even occur when platforming around a firefight.  During a particular moment in the demo, Drake is trying to climb up a cliff only to be cut-off by a boot to the face.  Drake takes the boot in stride, punches the enemy and throws him off the cliff in a similar fashion to ledge takedowns from past Uncharteds.  Instead of falling to his doom, the enemy grabs onto Drake's foot thus leading to more input in order to escape the enemy's grasp.  Moments like these should make Uncharted 4's combat unpredictable and exciting throughout the entire game.

The last thing I want to touch on from the Uncharted 4 demo is the grappling hook.  While it is only used two times throughout the entire demo, it leaves one amazing impression.  The first time we see it is in the heat of battle as an enemy throws a grenade at Drake's feet.  With only a few seconds to react, Drake jumps to the right and throws out his grabbing hook at a nearby branch with the press of the R1 button.  In that brief instant, he sours through the air directly toward the grenade-throwing enemy to deliver a devastating punch to the face.  In my opinion, this sequence is one of the most exhilarating parts of the demo and perfectly shows the combat capabilities of the grappling hook.  Aside from its use in combat, the grappling hook adds new dimensions to Uncharted's exploration and platforming as it gives Drake more versatility in maneuvering around the environment.

All-in-all, this 15 minute demo has completely sold me on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.  It looks like a spectacular showcase of the PS4's power and solidifies Naughty Dog's position as one of the elite developers in this industry.  Now sitting upon my list of most anticipated games of 2015, I really look forward to playing Uncharted 4 next holiday season.  If you do not agree with my analysis, the gameplay video of Uncharted 4's demo is included below so you can see for yourself.

Top 10 Games of E3 2014 Part 2

Welcome to the second part of Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014.  In the previous article, we took a look at the games that just barely made this final five.  E3 2014 saw some great games grace the show floor, but only a handful can walk away as the most impressive games of the show.  While all the games on this list are among the best of E3, the games in this top five could easily walk away with top honours depending on one's opinion.  To reiterate,  the only games eligible for this list are those available to play on the show floor.  Now with that reminder out of the way, it is time to count down the final five games in Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014.  Hope you enjoy and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 2014 in the comments.

5.  Sunset Overdrive - XBONE
There are only a select few Xbox One exclusives that really get one hopeful for first-party content on the machine and Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is champion over them all.  All of Microsoft's offerings nowadays seem to fall under the same experiences they delivered last generation, but Sunset Overdrive is the shining example of what happens when you give a team of creative minds full control over their vision.  Sunset Overdrive is pure unadulterated fun wrapped into an open-world third-person action game.  Stuck in Sunset City during the Awesompocolypse, the player is tasked with cleaning up the mess made by the launch of FizzCo's Overcharge Delirium XT, an energy drink that turns anyone who drinks into mindless mutated creatures known as the OD'd.  Sunset Overdrive gives players tons of options to tackle their task through fully customizable characters, a slew of creatively designed weapons and plenty of solo and multiplayer missions to complete throughout Sunset City.  Traversing Sunset City is incredibly fluid as players are able to wall run, grind rails and wires, instantly switch between grinding and zip-lining, bounce off of any surface and use other crazy acrobatics.  Although Microsoft will not push Sunset Overdrive as heavily as Halo or Forza, it is a game that Xbox One owners should not overlook this holiday season.

4.  Valiant Hearts: The Great War - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
The UbiArt engine has proven time and time again that the most beautiful games do not need to have the largest polygon count.  In fact, the art in 2D games can be just as beautiful or even more than their 3D counterparts; just look at Rayman Legends and Child of Light for proof.  Valiant Hearts: The Great War is the next title to use the UbiArt engine and the game looks spectacular in terms of its visuals and gameplay.  Valiant Hearts follows the story of four individuals as they try to survive the horrors of World War I.  Starting in different locations and allegiances, the stories of each character interconnect with one another through a common companion--a dog named Walt.  Throughout the game, the characters are thrust into various situations from sneaking behind enemy lines to blowing up bridges.  Valiant Hearts offers players plenty of puzzles to complete through interacting with the environment and other characters or sending Walt to reach areas the characters cannot normally reach.  The interplay between using the characters and Walt to solve puzzles and the mature tones of the story have me very excited to venture into the world of Valiant Hearts in the near future.

3.  Batman: Arkham Knight - PS4, XBONE, PC
In recent years, The Dark Knight has become an incredible force within the video game industry thanks to the folks at Rocksteady.  One can argue that the Batman: Arkham games are single-handedly the greatest licensed games to grace the market.  As the final entry in this acclaimed series, Rocksteady looks to pull no punches with Arkham Knight as Batman and his world are being supercharged with new abilities and content.  The moment from the E3 demo where Batman steps out onto the balcony of his hideout and peers out onto Rockstady's Gotham City will make anybody's jaw drop.  The expansiveness of this open world is breathtaking and I can see myself drowning hundreds of hours exploring every nook and cranny of Gotham City.  With how vast Gotham City will be in Arkham Knight, Batman needs another way to traverse the city than just his trusty grappling hook and cape.  For this final installment, the Batmobile has been added to The Dark Knight's arsenal.  Aside from the vehicles primary purpose, Batman can summon the Batmobile at will, use it to immobilize enemies, have it clear obstacles and launch himself into the air.  The Batmobile is not the only addition as Batman's combat and stealth abilities are receiving considerable upgrades in speed and precision.  Although Batman: Arkham Knight will no longer be gracing consoles this year, the game looks to be on the road to surpassing its predecessors' legendary quality.

2.  Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS - Wii U, 3DS
Arguably the most anticipated game of 2014, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS had one of the best showings of the show.  Nintendo went out of their way to make Super Smash Bros. the most important game of the show.  They gave fans three character reveals in Mii Fighters, Palutena and Pac Man, an incredible live tourney held in the Nokia Theatre and multiple kiosks to play on the show floor.  Seeing the two versions in motion is a thing of beauty.  The Wii U version flows at an incredible clip and all the new characters, stages and items look to fit in with the polished gameplay.  While the 3DS version may take some time to get use to the controllers as I have heard from many video impressions on the game, it looks just as polished and refined as its Wii U brethren.  Much like Far Cry 4 in part one, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS are both hard to sum up in words.  I highly recommend watching the Super Smash Bros. Invitational or one of the live demos from Nintendo Treehouse Live at E3 to see how great these games play.

1.  The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - PS4, XBONE, PC

As great as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS may be, there is one game greater than it this year.  That game is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.  Not much has been shown of Witcher 3 since its reveal back in early 2013, but CD Projekt RED let the floodgates loose at E3.  The Witcher 3 gives players a living, breathing open world to explore.  In fact, the map is 30 times larger than the previous Witcher games.  Plus the amount of freedom in The Witcher 3 is incredible as players can venture to any part of the map at any time and pick up and put down story and side quests whenever they choose.  On your way to a quest objective and feel like helping a traveler in distress along the way or starting up a whole other quest, you are free to do that without penalty.  The world is shaped around the player's choices in combat, regular conversation and pivotal story moments.  Every piece of media for The Witcher 3 from E3 has been nothing short of phenomenal from the blood-pumping pre-E3 trailer to the show floor demos.  While The Witcher 3 may not earn the same amount of money Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age or Mass Effect rake in, this game and its ambitious scope prove why anybody should spend close to 600 dollars on a next generation console.  The next generation of video gaming truly begins on February 24th, 2015 with the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Top 10 Games of E3 2014 Part 1

Silver Bit's month long coverage of E3 2014 comes to an end with the annual Top Games of E3 list.  This year yours truly is going to switch things up as this list will be a Top 10 list instead of the Top 5 lists from previous years.  Due to the change, it will be hard to contain all these games in one article.  To solve the problem, I will be splitting the list into two parts with part one covering numbers 10 through 6 while part two covers numbers 5 through 1.  As I could not physically go to Los Angeles to experience E3 in person, efforts have been made to watch as much gameplay footage available online to narrow down the best games for this list.  Like in years past, the only games eligible for this list are those available to play on E3's show floor.  Without any further stipulations, let us count down the first five games in Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014.

10.  Mario Maker - Wii U
If there is one Nintendo property that people have grown tired of over the years, it is Mario.  Mario releases may come at an accelerated rate these days, but you cannot blame Nintendo for sticking with what sells especially when they need it the most.  I will admit that Mario's 2D platformers have not added much to the formula since New Super Mario Bros. for the DS.  Mario's recent stagnation in two dimensions makes Mario Maker such a breath of fresh air.  Giving the player full freedom to create whatever 2D Mario level their heart desires in such an official form is a dream come true.  Mario Maker allows players to build levels using classic Mario assets such as blocks, warp pipes, goombas and koopas, two different styles of graphics (original NES graphics and the New Super Mario Bros. graphics) and the ability to instantly switch between editing and playing levels at any time.  Mario Maker is the next logical step in taking 2D Mario games to a whole new level.  There is an incredible amount of potential in placing the creation of new Mario levels in the hands of the players and this writer is excited to see what crazy contraptions come from it.

9.  Evolve - PS4, XBONE, PC
Coming from the minds that brought us classic cooperative shooter Left 4 Dead, Evolve looks to take competitive and cooperative shooters in a brand new direction.  Evolve is a four vs. one multiplayer shooter where the team of four has to work together to beat the one.  It might seem very unfair if the one was not a gigantic monster.  With this unique dynamic, matches involve much more than straight-up firefights.  Playing as the monster involves taking advantage of the moment-to-moment action to decide between striking the opposing team or avoiding combat in order to eat roaming creatures needed to evolve into more powerful stages.  On the other hand, the hunters need to work effectively as a team in order to track down and kill the monster before it becomes too much for the team to handle.  Matches in Evolve become hectic games of cat-and-mouse as both sides wrestle for control of territory and resources while contending with the unpredictable computer-controlled creatures that inhabit each map.  Since Turtle Rock Studios announced the game this past January, Evolve has been nothing but impressive especially with its showings at this year's E3.

8.  CounterSpy - PS3, PS4, PSV
Not much has been seen of Dynamighty's PlayStation exclusive outside the trailer found on PS4 demo kiosks across North America.  Considering CounterSpy is being published by Sony, one would have thought the gaming giant would make mention of it at their press conference.  In fact, the only footage available of CounterSpy at E3 is from the demo on the show floor.  It is a shame because of how great CounterSpy plays.  CounterSpy is a side-scrolling stealth game that has players sneaking through enemy bases in order to prevent nuclear war between the United States and Russia.  Trusted with a silenced pistol and stealth know-how, the player jumps between cover, shooting and taking out enemies on the fly.  In particular, the cover mechanics for the game are very interesting as the camera changes from a side view of the stage to slightly tilted view of the player and their sight from cover.  Overall, CounterSpy looks like a delightful downloadable that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting.  Watch some gameplay for it, CounterSpy might just surprise you.

7.  Mortal Kombat X - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Mortal Kombat has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years especially during the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube years.  With the success of Mortal Kombat 9, things have gotten back on track for the franchise.  Not to rest on their laurels, Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios are making big changes to series while expanding on successful mechanics introduced in Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us.  Mortal Kombat X's biggest departure comes in its roster and story as the game takes place 25 years after the events of the previous game.  Since 25 years have passed, the roster will consist of brand new characters such as Cassie Cage (daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade), Kotal Khan (a blood god) and D'Vorah (a human/insect hybrid) along with some returning favourites like Scorpion and Sub-Zero.  Although gameplay remains very similar to past Mortal Kombats with the return of fatalities, special moves and x-ray moves, there are some interesting additions in the form of fully interactable environments and combat variations.  Much like Injustice, combatants can use parts of the environment to launch themselves into the air, set traps for opponents or use as additional weapons.  Speaking of combat variations, each fighter has three different variations to choose from which changes their move sets, strengths, weaknesses and weapons.  With all the new additions and refinements to Mortal Kombat X, gamers all around should be excited to dive back into this fighting game franchise come 2015.

6.  Far Cry 4 - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Far Cry 3 surprised everybody back in 2012 with its excellent gameplay and vibrant open world.  Two years later, Ubisoft is at it once again with Far Cry 4.  To sum up Far Cry 4's showing at E3 in one word, it would be jaw-dropping.  Instead of having an entire island at your disposal, you now have an entire country in Kyrat.  On foot, in car and through the air, Far Cry 4 gives the player an incredible amount of choice to explore Kyrat however they want.  Gameplay gives the player the same amount of freedom as you can play solo or with a friend, use items and animals found in the environment to your advantage and freely move between modes of travel at any time.  It is hard to describe everything that makes Far Cry 4 such a standout among the sea of shooters releasing this year.  It is best to watch some gameplay footage of Far Cry 4 and see the awesomeness for yourself.

Well, this marks the end of part one.  Hope you enjoyed the list up to this point and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 in the comments.  If you want to continue reading, click this link to see the conclusion to Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014

Bit by Bit: E3 2014 Wrap-up

E3 has come and gone for yet another year.  While the event may be over, the analysis of the show and all the games shown off has just begun.  All over the net, you see all the podcasts, reviews and awards dedicated to every aspect of the show popping up in the next couple weeks.  Here at Silver Bit, the month of June usually is solely focused on E3 from the previews to the conference impressions to the wrap-up articles.  In fact, I am watching all the gameplay footage that I can get my hands on to put together the annual Top 10 Games of E3 article which will conclude the month of June.  Before we move onto bigger and better things, let us look back on the show that was E3 2014 in this special edition of Bit by Bit.

Winner of E3 2014
As a whole, E3 2014 was an entertaining and ultimately safe show.  Aside from a few unique experiences, not many gambles were taken to infuse some innovation into the industry.  Although there were a plethora of familiar games showcased, all of them looked incredible.  With the amount of detail and fidelity in the coming wave of next generation titles, I can understand the current lack of new properties as a trade-off to getting a handle on the new hardware.  There were still new properties shown at the event in Evolve, The Order 1886, No Man's Sky and Sunset Overdrive, but they have not been put on the same pedestal that Assassin's Creed, Gears of War and Uncharted were early in the previous console generation.  Apart from the focus on familiar franchises, E3 2014 did an excellent job in showcasing how great 2015 will be compared to the rest of 2014.  All of the games people eagerly desire except Destiny or Super Smash Bros. comes out next year and that fact is just a little upsetting considering there is still no killer app for this generation yet.  Guess it will come with everything else releasing in 2015.

Enough of my analysis of E3 2014, let us get down to which company won at this year's show.  Winning E3 really comes down to personal opinion and how the showcased games appeal to each individual.  This year, the three console manufacturers were neck-and-neck in their showings.  Everybody did a good job in providing gamers with the games they wanted to see and the information they wanted to hear.  As close as this arms race was, Sony impressed me the most at E3 2014.  While I am in the minority, Sony's winning performance last year only came because they did the exact opposite of Microsoft and built their hype for the PS4 around that plan.  On the software side, not much impressed last year.  However this year Sony delivered with the games and content to compliment their highly successful system.  I came out of the Sony Press Conference knowing that I need a PS4 to get the most out of this new generation.  Even though the press conference had that excruciatingly boring thirty minutes, I would take this year's great three quarters over last year's excellent one fourth any day.  Sony could have lost some ground at E3 2014 with a lacklustre showing, but they delivered and solidified their place as number one this console generation.

Surprise of E3 2014
In the last few years, E3 surprises have become few and far between.  With the internet now, the few surprises actually planned for E3 might not make it to the show itself as they are leaked in the months, weeks and even days in advance.  For a surprise to stay a surprise right up until the moment of its revealed makes the moment feel like an event especially on this stage.  There were a slightly more surprises this year in Phantom Dust, Rainbow Six: Siege, Splatoon and Codename S.T.E.A.M., but one stood tall over the rest.  That surprise came at the Sony Press Conference from Adam Boyes along with some help from a girl named Sally.  It would turn out that Sally was not a girl, but renowned adventure game designer Tim Schafer.  Sally's wish for a return to a classic Tim Schafer adventure game came true when Boyes announced the Grim Fandango HD remake exclusively for PS4 and PS Vita.  As niche as adventure games may be, this news got me very excited because I have never played the original and heard so many great things about the game.  Funny enough, I was actually wondering if Double Fine would re-release Grim Fandango on Steam or remake the game for this generation a few months back.  After thinking about it, to actually see Grim Fandango HD become reality was like Sony found a way to read my mind.  It was an incredible reveal that easily was the highlight of the Sony Press Conference and the entire show.

Trailer of E3 2014
The only thing more prevalent at E3 than the plethora of demos that line the show floor are the trailers.  Each game at the event has a trailer to get gamers excited and to permeate the hundreds of screens covering the E3 booths.  Ranging from multi-minute vignettes to short little teasers, the trailers at this year's event varied in quality.  Some tried to be incredibly dramatic while others went lighter in tone and heavy with the humour.  There were quite a few standouts such as The Witcher III's epic story trailer, Sunset Overdrive's hilarious parody of modern shooters and Super Smash Bros.'s Mii Fighter reveal which saw Reggie and Iwata duke it out in spectacular fashion.  Out of those great trailers, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U reveal trailer was the best.  While short in length, the trailer captured key details for this new adventure in the world of Hyrule.  The beautiful cel-shaded anime-inspired graphics and the grand vistas will be the first things to catch the eye, but there are much more to dig into with this trailer.  The confirmation of horse riding, more options to fight on horseback, the blend of modern technology and medieval fantasy and the dynamic open world were among the amazing features revealed through this trailer.  While early in development, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U looks absolutely incredible and this trailer is just the beginning of all the great media we will receive in the near future.

E3 2014: Sony Press Conference Impressions

Heading into E3, Sony was in the best position amongst the three console manufacturers as the PS4 has sold over seven million units.  With the immense amount of pressure on Microsoft and Nintendo to deliver this year, E3 2014 was Sony's to lose.  Could Sony pull out another show stopping performance or would they rest on their laurels now that they are number one in the current console war?

To answer that question, Sony killed it again this year.  While last year's conference only came together in the last thirty minutes, Sony kept people excited and interested throughout their two hour presentation.  There was a good thirty minute chuck that almost killed the pace of the entire conference as Sony took time to talk about Free to Play titles, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Plus and the PS Vita.  Although it may have been a dry thirty minutes, it was necessary portion of the conference because it gave important information on the PlayStation Now Beta coming this summer, announced the PlayStation TV for 100 dollars or 139 dollars with a controller and the Lego Movie video game and gave a little life to the PS Vita with games like Tales of Heart R and Minecraft.  The portion of the conference that felt completely unnecessary was the presentation of the PlayStation exclusive show Powers and the Ratchet & Clank movie.  It may have lasted close to ten minutes, but it added nothing to the conference other than a lot of eye rolling.  Aside from that forty minute portion of the conference, Sony hit everything else out of the park.  There were tons of great gameplay demos for The Order 1886, Entwined, Far Cry 4, LittleBigPlanet 3, Mortal Kombat X and Batman: Arkham Knight.  Each demo made this writer and the company watching gasp, laugh, pump their fists and get excited.  These gameplay demos sold a lot of these games as must owns to yours truly.  Along with the great demos, Sony dropped a lot of surprises at the conference like a remastered version of Grim Fandango exclusive to PlayStation, From Software's Bloodborne, Dead Island 2, Magika 2, Giant Squid's Abzu and Devolver Digital games coming exclusively the PlayStation consoles.  Sony also made a big effort in pushing exclusive content and benefits for multiplatform games on their consoles such as the Destiny Alpha and Beta coming first to PS4 and exclusive missions or enemies in Batman and Diablo III respectively.  Sony ended the show in style too as they showed off the first trailer for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.  After all the controversy surrounding The Last Guardian's false cancellation announcement, this writer thought Sony had to make an effort in showing the game is still alive and kicking.  Although The Last Guardian would have brought this conference to legendary levels, Uncharted 4 did its job in ending the Sony press conference with a bang.

After the end of every conference leading up to Sony's, this writer felt underwhelmed with the lack of legitimate surprises and games that truly captured my imagination.  Apart from the dull forty minute information dump, Sony's conference was a breath of fresh air.  Everything showcased at this conference are the reasons people play and get excited about video games.  Due to Sony's efforts on Monday, this writer is finally feeling much more optimistic about the next generation of video game consoles.  Last year Sony dropped the mic, this year they stole the show.

Grade:  A

E3 2013: Sony Press Conference Impressions

After Microsoft's multiple slip ups with the Xbox One, it was Sony's E3 to win.  The question was if Sony would be smart enough to take advantage of this huge opportunity to bury their competition.  Would PS4 walk triumphantly with gamers to back them up or pathetically limp all alone into the next generation?  It was one long haul, but those questions were definitely answered.

Sony's Press Conference had the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and everything in between.  The conference lasted just about two hours and it took close to three quarters of the conference to get to the goods.  The last quarter of this conference will easily go down in video game history.  Starting with the showcase of eight indie games on stage (Don't Starve, Ray's the Dead, Secret Ponchos, Octodad, Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty, Galak-Z, Mercenary Kings and Outlast), Sony opened up the floodgates for the announcements PS4 desperately needed.  Leading up to this point, we were subjugated to Sony's classic strategy of boring the living hell out of every living thing watching.  There were a quite a few games showed off for PS4 before this moment, but they were everything Sony showed off before.  It did not hold our attention especially after suffering through Sony confirming on-stage that the Vita is dead in the water, focusing on PS3 games that did not need to be covered and even pushing their Sony Pictures division down our throats (funny considering they took a shot at Microsoft for doing the exact same thing).  Long story short, it was not a good way to spend nearly three quarters of a video game conference.  Once Sony showed off two bombshells from Square Enix known as Final Fantasy XV (the former Final Fantasy Versus XIII) and flipping Kingdom Hearts 3!  While switching Versus XIII to XV was expected, nobody saw Kingdom Hearts 3 coming and it made this conference special.  From there on, Sony went right into the Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed IV demos that should have been at the Ubisoft conference.  Nevertheless, Watch Dogs stole this writers heart with the best demo of the conference.  Assassin's Creed IV was nothing too special especially with the amount of technical difficulties the demo suffered from.  Sony also showed off Elder Scrolls Online, Mad Max and Destiny.  There was nothing special about Elder Scrolls Online and Mad Max as all they showed were trailers.  For Destiny, Sony brought the first live gameplay of Bungie's new shooter, which was very enjoyable.  The one moment that left just as much lasting effect on those watching than the Kingdom Hearts 3 reveal was Sony's direct shots at Microsoft.  Even though publishers are pushing for DRM on consoles, Sony is standing firmly behind the consumers as the PS4 will be able to play used games and will not require a constant internet connection or to be authenticated every 24 hours.  Sony took a knife and stabbed it directly into Microsoft's heart, but those shots were not the only thing.  Sony dug their knife even deeper into Microsoft's heart with the bold announcement that the PS4 will retail at 399 dollars.  399 dollars for a PS4 is nuts.  The PS3 was almost twice that price at launch.  What an incredible way to end a conference and single-handedly put the Xbox One on life support.

While the last quarter of the Sony Press Conference was near perfection, I cannot give the abysmal first three quarters of the conference a pass.  Personally, I am not going to forget the hour and a half that we wasted just to get to the good stuff.  The Sony Press Conference is the entire two hour show, not the final thirty minutes and I believe many are forgetting that fact.  Although I still have reservations about a few features such as the Gaikai streaming service, this conference did its job and sold the PS4 to the masses.  For that fact alone, this conference deserves kudos.

Grade:  B-

Hump Day Video: Remember Me

For the past few years, Germany's Gamescom has become one of the big video game conventions of the year.  While it may not be as popular as E3, there are quite a few big announcements saved for this August convention.  With EA, Capcom and Sony having their big press conferences at the event yesterday, there is already quite a bit palpable gaming news from the event such as release dates for upcoming games and announcements for a slew of Vita and PSN games.  Even companies like Activision and Microsoft are showing off some new stuff for their big games this holiday as both Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4 are getting their full multi-player reveals at Gamescom.  There is even a rumour floating around that the next Half-Life game will be revealed at Gamescom.

Out of all the stuff revealed these first couple of days at Gamescom, it is a new IP from Capcom that has caught the eyes of many gamers including yours truly.  Published by Capcom and developed by a French studio known as Dontnod Entertainment, Remember Me is an action game set in a futuristic Paris.  In this future, everybody has brain implants that control and store their memories.  While these implants are used to govern a person's memories, they can in turn be hacked by outside forces.  The protagonist of Remember Me, Nilin is a former memory hunter that has been betrayed by her former employer and left with no memories whatsoever.  Remember Me has a very interesting premise that has futuristic Mirror's Edge/Deus Ex vibe to it.  I cannot wait to see more of Remember Me in the months leading up to its May 2013 release for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.  Right now, I got the announcement trailer and first gameplay footage of Remember Me so you guys can see why you should be excited for Remember Me.

On the Download: August 5-11

While this edition of On the Download is not as big as I originally thought it would be, but it is a packed edition nonetheless.  Got some big games to talk about this week on XBLA, PSN and Steam.  So without further ado, let us jump right in.

After some initial server problems, the newest release in Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion is up  on the marketplace.  This game happens to be Hybrid, 5th Cell's (creators of Scribblenauts and Run Roo Run) first foray into developing console games.  Hybrid is an online only multi-player third person shooter.  Hybrid takes place in 2032 where a Supercollider implosion causes a rift between our world and an alternate reality.  From this rift, a new species known as the Variant emerges.  The emergence of this new species causes a world war to break out between the Variants and a group of rebel humans known as Paladins.  Playing as either the Variants or the Paladins, players compete in 3-on-3 matches that will affect this massive online war.  Included in Hybrid are 10 maps and modes for players to compete on and tons of weapons and abilities to customize their character.  For those interested in joining this world war, Hybrid is available exclusively on XBLA for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Ever since the full reveal of the PlayStation Vita at E3 2011, there has been one game that has been everybody's mind.  That game is Sound Shapes, the latest project from Canadian-based Queasy Games that brought acclaimed PSN shooter Everyday Shooter.  Sound Shapes has finally released on PSN and good news, you can play it on both the PS3 and the PS Vita for one price of 15 dollars.  Sound Shapes is a unique blend of side-scrolling platformer with a rhythm game.  Every action in Sound Shapes from playing, composing and sharing levels all make the music in the game.  For those looking for some single-player action, Sound Shapes offers a comprehensive campaign that fuses music and artwork into a classic 2D platformer.  Many great artists from Pixeljam to Superbrothers and musicians from Beck to Deadmau5 contributed to artwork and music used in Sound Shapes' campaign.  As much as Sound Shapes is a game, it is also equal parts a musical instrument that musicians or just regular games can pick up and create their own musical levels.  All the levels you create in Sound Shapes can be shared online with friends and the entire Sound Shapes community.

Sound Shapes was not the only music game released for download this week.  Brought to you by Empty Clip Studios, Symphony is a vertical shooter in which you play through levels composed of your own library of music.  In Symphony, your music is under attack and it is up to you to liberate it.  A mysterious entity is corrupting your music as you play it.  It is up to you to play through your collection of songs in order to discover items, battle bosses, find pages of the Symphony of Souls and reclaim your music.  By completing a song in Symphony, you unlock a new item to customize your ship with in order to tackle higher difficulty levels and score targets.  Symphony also includes 6 difficulty levels and online leaderboards to keep players engaged for a long time.  If you are interested in this unique musical shooter, you can download Symphony off of Steam for 10 dollars.

Launch Station: Gravity Rush

The PlayStation Vita has fallen to the wayside since it launched in February.  Games have been trickling out bit by bit, but nothing substantial has come to Sony's newest handheld other than some pretty good ports of console games.  While the danger of the Vita becoming a port machine, much like the PSP did, is ever lingering, Sony looks to inject some much needed with the release of Gravity Rush, the newest game from their Japanese studio.

Gravity Rush started out as a PS3 game before being transferred over to the PlayStation Vita.  The transfer was due to how Gravity Rush complimented the Vita's many control options.  In Gravity Rush, you are able to control gravity by first pressing the R button then tilting the Vita or using the right analog stick to steer your character.  You play as Kat, who has somehow by coincidence has lost her memory.  Early in the game, Kat runs into a mysterious black cat that empowers her with the ability to control gravity.  Using her newly bestowed powers, Kat must protect the citizens of the floating city of Hekseville from the Gravity Storm and the mysterious Nevi monsters.  The gravity-controlling mechanic allows players to fly through the air, walk up walls or even perform devastating gravity attacks.  Hekseville is an open world for Kat to explore.  You are also able to complete side missions and fight additional enemies, which helps Kat gain experience that can be used to level up her many abilities.

Even this early in a handhelds' life-cycle, it is hard to tell if it can bounce back from such severely poor post-launch support.  It is always a possibility, but the Vita is still in dire straights at the moment.  Sony's handheld really needs a game to get people's attention.  While I do not think Gravity Rush will be the Vita's killer app, it will attract the attention of most gamers and Vita owners as it is the most original game on the system.

E3 2012 Wrap-Up

The doors at the LA Convention Center closed for the final time on E3 2012.  Today marked the final day  of the video game industry's biggest show of the year.  Now it is a time for everybody to look back at the events of this week and in my case try and watch all the big demos between work, work and more work.  Right here, right now, I want to share some of my observations over what I have watched and followed these last four days.

At the end of the day, E3 2012 did not live up to all the hype, all the media coverage and all the anticipation.  It will not be a memorable event in the annals of video game history.  It was an event that emphasized a lot of the problems in this generation of consoles and showed that the video game industry needs an injection of creativity and fast.  My friend and coworker, who I chatted with throughout all the press conferences, summed up E3 2012 in one word, safe.  A lot of the big games highlighted at E3 2012 were either sequels and/or reboots of established franchises.  Some sequels such as Rayman Legends, Pikmin 3 and Tomb Raider are fine and reasonable, but sequels to God of War, Gears of War, Forza and Dead Space are all unneeded and cause for over saturation in the industry.  With the huge development costs this generation and the evident fear of failure in this industry, publishers and many developers have lost their edge and it was shown at this year's E3.  At the end of last generation, we got the some of the most original games of that generation such as God of War, Okami and Shadow of Colossus.  At the end of this generation, we are going to get an onslaught of sequels and more of the same.  The other big problem was the lack of focus from the console developers.  Microsoft and Sony were the main offenders, but Nintendo is also at fault, which pushed a stupid Nintendo Video series on their 3DS Showcase.  Gamers tune into E3 to see games, not applications and entertainment options.  The fact that I wasted two minutes of my life listening to a Microsoft exec talk about and demo that the 360's Bing Search can now search by genre is ridiculous and unacceptable.  Also the fact Sony did not mention the 25, yes I said 25, Vita games at their press conference to give more time to Wonderbook is beyond stupid and extremely infuriating.  Save this stuff for other venues or have a whole other conference dedicated to these options like Nintendo did for the 3DS.  Putting this stuff on these hugely important conference just causes things to drag and interest to plummet fast.  If Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo want to be the talk of E3, they need to focus on the games, both retail and downloadable.  My final problem with E3 2012 was the incredible lack of surprises.  Most games were either announced or leaked before the show, so there was rarely anything unexpected.  The only real surprises were Watch Dogs, which was amazing, and Nintendo Land, which was just okay at best.  While did cheer when Splinter Cell: Blacklist was revealed at the Microsoft Conference, we all knew it was coming at some point.  Video game developers and publishers need to learn that they need to guard these games close to their chest as the media today will snatch every rumour, every little slip up like vultures.  We need more than two surprises at E3 for this event to be worth remembering.

Overall, I will have to say E3 2012 was the most disappointing E3 in a while.  I am a little more underwhelmed this year than usual.  It is because other than a select handful of games, which I will be highlight in my Top 5 or 10 (still haven't decided) Games of E3, no other game got me excited to play it.  Nothing changed about a number of games I was already excited for like New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, my opinions fell on a few games that had weak showings this year such as Halo 4 and Resident Evil 6 and some even improved like Assassin's Creed III and The Last of Us.  Did I enjoy most of time following E3 this year?  Most certainly yes.  Did I expect more than we got?  Yes I did.

E3 2012: Sony Press Conference Impressions

As the first day of E3 comes to a close, we saw Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft show their cards.  Some were more impressive than others, but ultimately today we saw what the future holds in gaming from the biggest publishers in the industry.  To close out day one is Sony to either end it with a bang or a whimper.  Surprisingly the result is somewhere in the middle.

The Sony Press Conference had a good starting and ending, but the middle dragged and bad.  The best thing about this year's press conference was that it was much better than last year's boring affair.  Sony gave a good amount of time to each demo, maybe too long for one in particular, and showcased some pretty solid games.  Much like Microsoft, Sony did jump from topic to topic with no sense of focus or direction and it ultimately hurt them and the conference in the end.  Some important topics such as meaningful additions to PlayStation Plus and pushing the PlayStation Vita as more than a port/sequel machine and game showings like The Last Guardian were no where to be found.  Sony's conference started out with the unveiling of Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream's new IP.  It was a very interesting demo that showed off the game's very realistic graphics and gripping story, but like always I would have liked to see more gameplay.  As a first look of a game that will not come out until 2014, it was a good showing nonetheless.  That was followed by PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sony's Super Smash Bros. clone, now for both PS3 and Vita.  It was a boring demo that really showed nothing new about the game.  They did reveal two new characters for the game in Nathan Drake and the Big Daddy, but who cares unless they make Kevin Butler one of the fighters.  After that Jack Tretton ran through a bunch of stuff no one really cared about before going into more demos of Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 3.  While they were new demos for each game, they did nothing to outshine the demos Ubisoft already showed off at their press conference.  Maybe manning a ship in Assassin's Creed III is neat, but the demo really did nothing to make it look that entertaining or interactive for a matter of fact and Far Cry 3's online co-op had some obvious problems with lag and loading textures.  Right in the middle of the show, Sony decided to shift gears and target the casual gamers with Wonderbook, a neat concept that Sony will never fully support in the long run.  They demoed the J.K. Rowling's Book of Spells for Wonderbook, which was absolutely terrible and soo long drawn out that I almost fell asleep due to boredom.  Also on top of that the PlayStation Move was so finicky and non-responsive that it made the demo even worse.  That was clearly the lowest this press conference could go as things got much better with a demo of God of War: Ascension, which is really more of the same God of War experience, but still good.  To end the conference, Sony went with The Last of Us.  While the demo was very impressive yet looked like it played a lot like Uncharted, I thought Sony would save at least one surprise for the very end.  After The Last of Us demo, which has got me a little more interested, the conference just seemed to end and it felt odd.

Overall, Sony's E3 2012 Press Conference was a decent event.  It had quite a few good moments, but nothing that surprised me and got me excited.  Beyond: Two Souls would have been a big surprise only if Sony kept their mouth shut and did not reveal that Quantic Dream was going to announce it at their conference.  The big dip in quality right in the middle along with the omissions of some big topics and The Last Guardian, which I now believe sadly will not see the light of day, hurt this conference more than Sony has actually realized.

Grade:  C+

Launch Station: Resistance: Burning Skies

The PlayStation Vita seems to be in a drop spot at the moment.  Since it launched in February, few games have released for the system.  It is a horrible drought of games for a handheld that really needs all the support it can get.  While no game journalist or Sony fan will admit, it is quite possibly worse than the 3DS drought last spring.  Sony hopes to give Vita owners some relief with the newly released Resistance: Burning Skies.

Resistance: Burning Skies takes place in between the events of Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. The Chimera have just begun their invasion of the US.  You play as New Jersey firefighter, Tom Riley as he fights off the Chimera invaders in order to rescue his family caught in the middle of the invasion.  Resistance: Burning Skies is the first FPS to be released for the PlayStation Vita so this game has a lot to prove as it is the benchmark for all Vita FPS's to come after it.  With the dual analog sticks, Resistance: Burning Skies exactly like the PS3 entires in the Resistance series.  As Burning Skies is made for the Vita, it features touch controls that handle other actions such as throwing a grenade or using a weapons' secondary fire.  Burning Skies also features the return of a series stable, the weapon wheel, which was absent in the last few games in the series.  Along with the single-player campaign, Resistance: Burning Skies has 8-player competitive multi-player, which includes six maps and three modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Survival.

From what I have seen and read about Resistance: Burning Skies, it looks like a serviceable FPS for the Vita.  It is a must-buy for FPS fanatics and Resistance fans that own Sony's game deprived handheld.  For any other Vita owner, it is easier to save your money for hopefully better Vita games that should be coming later this year.

Vita Wednesday: Third-Party Launch Titles

Welcome the second and final Vita Wednesday.  Last week, we took a look at Sony's three biggest offerings for their new handheld.  This week we are taking a look at the three biggest offerings from the third party publishers like Ubisoft, Capcom and EA.  If you look at the majority of the games launching with the Vita from third-party publishers land in one of two categories.  They are either a port of a recently released console game or a portable entry of an existing franchise that does not do much to make itself stand out from other entries in the series much like Dynasty Warriors Next and Touch My Katamari.  While I personally wanted to stay away from highlighting one of these two categories in this Vita Wednesday post, I will have to due to the lack of anything relatively new released at launch for the Vita.

Just as Street Fighter launched with the Nintendo 3DS, another Capcom fighter launches with the PlayStation Vita.  This time around Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 gets the portable treatment.  As the definitive version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 includes 12 new characters, new modes, new stages, re-balanced gameplay and a more robust online mode.  Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the Vita has all the modes and features that the console game has with one new mode exclusive to the Vita.  This mode is Touch Mode.  In Touch Mode, you control your fighter through tapping and swiping the touch screen.  If you are looking for a great fighting game for your Vita, no doubt Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is your game.

From the ever-creative mind of Michel Ancel, Rayman Origins landed on consoles with not much of a splash.  Released in the middle of the insane holiday season, this great platformer was fed to the dogs as juggernauts like Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim and Assassin's Creed dominated the last quarter of 2011.  Sad considering Rayman Origins is in my opinion much better game than those just listed.  If you missed out on Rayman Origins back during the holidays, Ubisoft has brought the lovably limbless hero to the launch of the PS Vita.  This Vita version of Rayman Origins has all the features of its big console brother with a few additions exclusive to Sony's next generation handheld.  Rayman Origins for the Vita has a Ghost Mode, which uses the Vita's Near functionality to receive ghost data from friends and race them in game.  Also Rayman Origins for the Vita features touch controls for the game.  With Rayman Origins coming to a handheld near you, it would be foolish to miss out on this excellent platformer yet again.

At the launch of the PSP, there was one game that caught the eyes and ears of all who played it.  It proved to many the potential of the PSP and quickly became it's killer app.  This game was called Lumines, a puzzle game similar to Tetris that perfectly blended music and rhythm with addictive block-dropping action.  Seven years later, Lumines graces the launch of the Sony's newest handheld with Lumines: Electronic Symphony.  Playing with the title, Electronic Symphony features a soundtrack filled with great electronic music.  Electronic Symphony is more focused on straight arcade puzzle action as you vie for the high score and then upload to online leaderboards.  New to Lumines, Electronic Symphony includes avatars that can gain experience, level up and has abilities that can be used to improve your score.   If you are looking to play with others, Electronic Symphony has online multiplayer.  Like every Vita game, Electronic Symphony has touch controls that can be used instead of the d-pad and face buttons.  For all the puzzle game fans out there, Lumines: Electronic Symphony is a game you should not miss if you pick up a Vita.

Vita Wednesday: First-Party Launch Titles

With the launch of the PlayStation Vita, welcome to the first of two Vita Wednesdays.  This week's edition of Vita Wednesday coincides with the release of the First Edition Bundle while next week's edition will coincide with the release of the base model.  For the next two Wednesdays, I am going preview three of the biggest launch games for the new PS Vita.  This week, we will be taking a look at big first-party launch titles.  So without further ado, let us jump into the very first Vita Wednesday.

Naughty Dog hands over the reins to the Uncharted franchise to Sony Bend for Nathan Drake's debut on a handheld.  Uncharted: Golden Abyss is set before the events of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.  You follow a much younger Nathan Drake on an adventure to uncover the dark secret behind the 400-year old massacre of a Spanish expedition.  For those looking for the multi-player from the last two Uncharted games, you are out of luck as Golden Abyss is just a solo affair.  Sony Bend looks to use the Vita to it's fullest as Golden Abyss uses each of the Vita's core features to offer a new variety of puzzles to Uncharted.  Those who are picking the Vita day one will most likely make Uncharted: Golden Abyss their first game purchase for their new system.  With the caliber of all the other entries in the series, that would be a very wise decision.

Sony's answer to Mario Kart, ModNation Racers has made its way into the Vita launch line-up with ModNation Racers: Road Trip.  Much like Mario Kart, ModNation Racers offers a solid single-player circuit to play through, but that is not the core of this series.  The core of ModNation Racers is the huge suite of creation tools.  You can create anything in the game from the racers to the karts to the tracks themselves.  These creation tools are made easier to use with the Vita's touch controls.  With just a few swipes of your finger, you can create a whole track.  One you are done creating your masterpieces, share them with your friends online.  Also you can enjoy all user-created content from the PS3 game on the go with Road Trip.

It would not be a launch of a Sony handheld without this iconic anti-gravity racing series.  WipeOut Pure launched alongside the PSP, now seven years later WipeOut 2048 launches alongside the PS Vita.  Unlike other entries in the WipeOut series, WipeOut 2048 does not take in the long distant future.  It takes place in the year 2048 in the dawn of the anti-gravity racing scene.  This new setting allows for a nice mix between modern and futuristic track designs.  WipeOut 2048 offers players 10 tracks that can be played both solo and with people online.  Also you can play anybody who has a copy of WipeOut HD with the multi-payer crossover feature.  With both ModNation Racers and WipeOut, Sony has racing fans of all ages covered at the launch of the their new handheld.

Launch Station: PlayStation Vita

After a lot of anticipation and hype, the PlayStation Vita has finally been released for the public.  On this Vita Wednesday, those who pre-ordered the Vita First Edition Bundle will be able to pick up their new handheld.  For those who did not pre-order will have to wait until next Wednesday when Sony releases the Vita on its own.  The First Edition Bundle comes with the Vita, a 4 GB memory stick, a hard carrying case and Little Deviants for 300 dollars.  When the system drops next week, the Wi-Fi Vita (the only one available in Canada) will run you 250 dollars and the games will run you as low as 30 dollars to as high as 50 dollars.

The PlayStation Vita serves as Sony's successor to the ultimately failed PSP.  The Vita addresses many of the complaints gamers had with the PSP.  The biggest complaint was the PSP's lack of a second analog, which made certain action and first-person games cumbersome to play on the handheld.  After a good seven years, Sony finally listened and made the dual analog sticks one of the main features of the PS Vita.  While the Vita has the more traditional tactile controls, Sony has added other control options to the machine in a front and rear touch screens and tilt controls.  These controls are made to make the Vita appeal to more casual gamers and to directly compete with Apple.  The Vita also sports the best graphics a handheld can pump out.  They are not PS3 or Xbox 360 quality, but they are pretty close.  Sony has ditched the UMD format for games, going for cartridges for retail games.  That means you will not be able to play any of your PSP games on the Vita unless you download them off of the PSN Store.  You are able to purchase games at retail or like old PSP games you can download them from the PSN Store.  I order to play games or download games, you will need one of Sony's proprietary memory sticks, which is not included with the base model of the Vita.  Included with the Vita are some applications such as Near, Sony's equivalent the the StreetPass, and Welcome Park, a tutorial for the Vita, you can also download apps to the system.  At launch, Facebook, Twitter and foursquare apps will be available to download.

Having grown up playing handhelds, I have a more invested interest in handheld gaming than most gamers.  Having played the PS Vita myself, I will say it is an incredible piece of technology and a great achievement for Sony.  The system is a little bigger than the PSP, but deceptively light.  The touch screens are responsive, but it is hard to judge exactly where your fingers are on the rear touch, which did hurt games that need you to hit the rear touch screen at a precise point.  The dual analog sticks nicely fit your thumbs, but they are just a little close to the other buttons that it feels a little cramped.  While my issues with the machine itself are very minor, I still think Sony did throw too much into this one machine.  It is nice to have multiple control schemes, but when they are made to be optional rather than work together that can confuse certain people especially newcomers or casual gamers.  It will ultimately depend on how developers use the system.  My biggest problem with the Vita is it's memory storage.  While the less powerful 3DS has 2 GB of internal memory and comes with a 2 GB SD Card, the more powerful PS Vita has no internal memory and the base model does not even come with memory stick, which is needed to play games.  This decision alone is one of the dumbest Sony has made ever.  You will have to pay another 20 to possibly 100 dollars on top of the 250 dollars for the Vita, to actually play games on the machine.  While the blinded fans just overlook it, Sony's refusal to include a memory stick is just unacceptable is this day and age where every game includes some sort of save system.  Other than that we will just have to wait and see if Sony will support the PS Vita through thick and thin.  Looking at Japan and lack of regular consumer interest, it might be sooner than Sony thinks.

Remembering the PSP

We are less than a week away until Sony's newest venture in the portable space, the PlayStation Vita lands on store shelves.  As gamers look to the future, I would like to take a look at Sony's first foray into the portable gaming space, the PlayStation Portable (PSP for short).  Give my views on what the PSP did right and what went wrong considering the system has been dead in the water for years now.

Released on March of 2005, the PSP had a slow start with a decent number of games.  There were a few original games such as Lumines and Crush, but the majority of the games on the platform were either ports of console games or a portable entry in the well-established franchises.  All the games I personally own for the PSP are from the latter.  For the first few years, the PSP started to build a much bigger library with some pretty good exclusives, much of them later ported to PS2 and PS3.  Around 2008, many other video game publishers pulled their full support from the PSP and the library shrivelled to crazy small proportions. You can count on one hand the number of worthwhile exclusives (not re-releases or ports) released for the PSP between 2008 and now.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  Even Sony pushed the PSP to side by putting more emphasis on their better selling products, the PS2 and PS3.  Yes, Sony did release the PSP Go in 2009, but considering how bad that new iteration of the PSP plummeted Sony likes to believe it never existed.  There were many other problems with the PSP such as the dead-on arrival UMD disc format or how easy it is to hack the machine.  One of the biggest problems is the original design of the machine.  The PSP 1000 is one heavy handheld that will hurt anybody's hands after playing it for just 30 minutes to a hour.  The weight problem was addressed with future iterations of the PSP.  The other design flaw is with analog nub.  It was a small cumbersome thing that just did not feel good on your thumb and the lack of a second nub made it difficult to play certain games on the PSP such as action games or shooters.  While there is a lot wrong with the PSP, I will say there are some incredible games for the device.  The PSP is home to my top two favourite racing games, Ridge Racer and Burnout Legends.  Ridge Racer alone is reason enough for me to hold onto my PSP.  You will fall in love with its incredible arcade racing, infectious J-Pop soundtrack and numerous unlocks.  The PSP is the only system you will be able to find Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night and both Power Stone games on the same UMD.  It is also the only place to find the excellent Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.

When all is said and done, the PSP will go down in video game history as a failure.  As the handheld that introduced me to Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Burnout, Ridge Racer and Tekken, the PSP does hold a special place in my heart, but you will never hear me say it was close to success.  Hopefully Sony used this seven year experience to not make the same mistakes with the PS Vita.  While Sony still has not proven to me that they will support this system if it doesn't sell well, we just have to wait and see as the Vita lands on store shelves in the coming weeks.

PlayStation Vita: Failing Before Hitting Our Shores

We are just over a month away from Sony releasing their successor to the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita and all eyes are set on Japan.  Last month, the PS Vita was released in Sony's home country of Japan and gamers here have been looking at its performance their to see if it will do well in North America.  In its first two days, the PS Vita sold a good 325 thousand systems.  Since then sales have taken a complete nosedive only selling an additional 72,479 systems leading up to Christmas.  New sales figures for the last week of 2011 have not been released yet, but things are not looking good for Sony's new handheld juggernaut, which .  Is the low sales just a slow start for the PS Vita or is this handheld destined to become just as sad and pathetic as the PSP?

The reason the PSP flew off shelves in Japan is the Monster Hunter games made for the system.  For one reason or another the Monster Hunter series has become a blockbuster franchise in Japan much like Dragon Quest.  Any system that has its own Monster Hunter game will immediately fly off of store shelves.  Just watch when Monster Hunter 3G releases in Japan later this year.  The lack of a big blockbuster Japanese franchise could be a reason that the sales for the PS Vita have been so low for the first few weeks.  Other possible reasons for the PS Vita's low sales numbers could be the appeal of the 3DS, which is considerably cheaper than the Vita or the price of the memory cards, which could run you 100 dollars or more, and are required to play and download games and not included with the system itself.

With the North American release of the PS Vita just over a month away, hopefully Sony can fix the woes they are having in Japan and have a successful launch.  Just remember no major video game hardware launch be it a console or handheld is perfect, there will always be problems just go back and look at every hardware launch in the last ten years.  The thing with the poor sales in Japan is that it is the Vita's home country, if it is not selling well there then how is going to sell well anywhere else?  Only time will tell, but things are not looking good for Sony.