B3yond the Report 08.06.09
Posted by Drew Robbins on 08.06.2009
A late but still great B3yond the Report brings more speculation of a PS3 price drop, the revelation that Braid is soon coming to the PS3, and an announcement that Capcom teases will "blow us away."
Welcome to a special "Yeah, it's a few days late" edition of B3yond the Report. Due to personal circumstances I couldn't be bothered to post this by its original deadline, so things were pushed back a bit. I still plan on covering pretty much the same stories I would have covered Monday, so if you just use imagination and pretend that its still Tuesday, you won't even notice a difference!
PS3 Slim on the Way?
I guess the joke's on us.
I think I speak for everyone when I say that I though the PS3 Slim was as bogus as the old April Fools jokes that EGM used to put out to make stupid people angry. The first photo shown was taken at an awkward angle in what could have been any factory, with something that looked like a photoshopped version of what a PS3 might look like if it appeared on reality series Biggest Loser. This was all some sort of elaborate joke! Well, that's what we thought anyways. It turns out that this shady looking photo could actually be of a very real upgrade to the PS3 hardware.
What prompted this sudden realization? Plenty of evidence has stacked up recently that could very well be pointing at a PS3 price drop. Sony revealed this past week that the price of parts to manufacture a PS3, the main cause for its $400 price tag, has gone down 70%. I've been defending Sony for not dropping the price for a while now, as it would have been a huge financial hit, but with this statistic I can't imagine that they are too far from being able to drop the price and still turn a decent profit.
It doesn't stop there though, even more evidence supports the theory that a PS3 Slim is on the way. Because somebody at Sony is really bad about handling secrets, a leak got out that has Sony ordering what Marcus Fenix would refer to as "ten shitloads" of parts to manufacture plenty of PS3s. Sony could very likely be prepping a huge marketing push for a sleek, redesigned PS3 to try and finally make up some ground on Microsoft. Perhaps they could even bundle Uncharted 2 or the new Ratchet game with it to make the deal more appealing.
Replacing the bulkiest system with a slim piece of hardware that will certainly look more appealing in one's living room is a good idea, but bundling it with either a game that many have called the Best of E3? Great idea.
Fat Princess Fix on the Way
Titan Studios going to work on fixing the popular PSN title's many problems.
I'll probably talk about it more in length later on during "One Man Water Cooler," but I'll get this out of the way, Fat Princess is really good. Considering I've never even purchased a DLC game on day one, it says a lot that I was eagerly anticipating last Thursday when the game launched. Fat Princess, however, was not without its problems. Much like the obese royalty that populate the game, it has many problems.
Every time a hot new DLC game hits online services it seems to have a ton of issues with online play. Usually the company responds with a statement that goes a little like this: "Well, I guess we just weren't ready for the overwhelming success of our game!" Statements like this are bogus, which is why I'm glad Titan Studios didn't say it. Their approach was more of the "Surprised husband walking in on his wife having relations with his best friend" variety. Once they were done counting the wads of cash they no-doubt made, they acted just as frustrated and upset as the rest of us when they found out that their game isn't working.
The main issue here is an issue with connecting to online matches. Speaking from experience, a person could click the "join others" button; wait for ten minutes while it searched only to be sent right back to the title screen. It got to the point where I couldn't play the game at all, making me flee for more prosperous pastures where I wouldn't be punished just for having the gall to play their game.
Titan is hard at work on a patch to resolve each issue that angry response has pointed out to them. This miracle fix has no release date, but I'd peg it for a late August release. Sooner would be nice, though, if they don't hurry up I'll be too busy with Madden to even bother with this game.
Braid coming to PS3
Hell yeah!
Up until last week, I probably would have simply disagreed with you if you called the PSN better than Xbox Live Arcade. Flower and PixelJunk are great, but I still felt like the service was missing something. Castle Crashers went a long way in filling that void, being a game that I could easily play through several times and almost never tire of it. Still though, I'm a greedy man, and I always want more. Microsoft always seems to be taking PS3 exclusives, but the inverse almost never happens…until now!
Braid is on its way to PSN thanks to Hothead games, and I must say that it's about darn time. Call me Slowpoke, but I've never played Braid. It came out during my transition between 360 and PS3, so it was out of the question as an Xbox Live Arcade title. Then it came to PC, but I was too busy with other releases at the time that I never actually got around to playing it. Now I'm getting a third chance to play a game, and you can bet your ass I won't be missing out this time.
No release date has been made available, so I'll give the vague estimate of "some time around when Castle Crashers comes out."
Playstation Store Update for the Week of July 30
Fat Princess was the big debut last week, and as I mentioned above, it came with a fair share of bugs and issues that really need to be ironed out. Much like Battlefield 1943, this might be the kind of game you are better off waiting a little longer down the line to purchase. Princesses with an eating disorder weren't alone as far as game downloads go this week, with the second part of the highly underwhelming Watchmen brawler hit PSN. For those who missed out on the first one, I can simulate it for you. Find a PS3 or PS2 controller, maybe even a PSP if you are feeling risky. Then, jam on one button for a while. It's hard for me to rag on this game considering I listed the Ninja Turtles arcade game as a favorite of mine. Heck, I'd probably even enjoy the Watchmen games, but I can't shake the feeling that this franchise would have been better suited to a different genre.
For demos, EA gave out a free demo for the next game to destroy my life in Madden NFL 10. The public demo only offers one minute quarters, but if you go out and reserve the real deal you get a nice and fancy demo offering a full-length game between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. Madden 09 really did me in last year, but this one looks like it is going to take things a step further by being extremely reminiscent of ESPN NFL 2K5.
Add-on Content comes from the usual suspects. NIS is still continuing their attempt to nickel and dime the people who buy their extremely niche games, selling a plethora of add-on packs for a dollar each. One of the four packs is free, so be sure to pick that one up if you are still jamming on Cross Edge.
I'm not even going to talk about the music game add-ons, because every time I bring up music in this column it ends up making me out to look like some kind of moron.
Retail Releases for the week of August 4th
It's the calm before the storm with retail releases. Like it or not, but for me Madden has always kicked off a few things. Most importantly, football season, but as this is a gaming column, it has always signaled for me that the drought is over. Pretty soon Beatles Rock Band will be on shelves, and before you know it we'll be playing Uncharted 2.
B3yond the Tabloids
Little Big Planet will soon be home to a slew of new costumes and level design options based around, what else, history. Who didn't want a Genghis Khan Sackboy, really?
Apparently Midway had been working on a game titled "This is Vegas." I say apparently because it was a game that people seemed familiar with that I had no idea existed. It's a free roaming (see: probably plays a lot like GTA) title set in Vegas, and despite popular belief it still exists.
Countdown clocks jumped the shark with the Metal Gear Solid debacle during May, but somehow they managed to survive. Mostly because Square likes to cling to old methods of doing things (zing!), and also because nobody else has thought of a different way to announce games. I'm personally a fan of spontaneous, out of nowhere, reveals, but as I mentioned, Square isn't, which is why they have yet another countdown clock going. It could very well be done by the time you read this, so be sure to look out for what kind of RPG they are making this time.
More Pearl Jam is on the way to Rock Band. Bashing Pearl Jam actually got me into more hot water than saying Metallica is overrated, so I'll try and rectify that situation by dropping this line that is probably only half-true: I love Pearl Jam.
Dark Void was delayed by Capcom because 2009's holiday season is too crowded. In other words, they don't want big and scary Modern Warfare 2 to come and take their lunch money.
Despite a listing which placed Star Ocean: The Last Hope as soon headed to the PS3, it has been said that this was just an error and the game will remain faithful to the 360. If you enjoyed my simulation of Watchmen, then you'll be glad to hear that I can do the same for Star Ocean. Watch a really generic anime, turn up the volume to amplify the annoying character voices, and then play a Tales game at the same time.
Capcom is now teasing a sequel that will "blow our minds." Usually I'd jump right to Street Fighter or Resident Evil, but those games just came out this year. Instead, I'm feeling that this announcement might have something to do with Mega Man Legends. That's probably a really bad guess, but you can't hold it against me for hoping that they do something good with the Mega Man franchise.
I'll wrap up this B3yond the Cinema with some footage from the latest Madden. Yes, I'm aware that the game hasn't really changed much, but I'm a football nerd, and any chance to battle it out on the gridiron is a chance worth taking to me.
Quick Hits
In case you didn't believe that I'm one lazy son of a gun, I still couldn't concoct a decent idea for the Water Cooler this week. Instead, I'll be taking a look at my week in gaming and give mildly interesting commentary. No promises on the interesting part, but I guarantee you that it will be commentary.
- We've already discussed Fat Princess, but much like the cake that populates the game, you can never have too much discussion of the game. It's an interesting take on the standard CTF gameplay you find in an FPS game, and this take on it pays off by being excessively fun. I'm not a fan of the side-modes, such as deathmatch and Snatch n' Grab (capture three times to win), but when the only object is to rescue your princess, the game is truly a blast. Right now I'm sticking to the warrior and ranger class, because I'm not patient enough to stick with the worker, and I'm historically bad as mages in games. Priests on the other hand I can play, but I find them to be mostly boring. Right now the game is just sitting on my XMB due to technical issues. I'd really love to play the game but waiting twenty minutes just to get my ass handed to me seems like a raw deal.
- My review copy of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood came in the mail this week, and my first impression was…holy crap is that a UK game? The box I received was straight out of Europe, so it's actually the first game I've owned that came from another country. Bound in Blood's single player is fairly short so I'm right about at the end now, and I can already say that this might be my number one candidate for "Best game nobody played." The western genre is way underused in games, so Call of Juarez seems fresh among the stale majority of games taking place in space or during World War II.
- Considering playing Final Fantasy VII one more time, because my brother downloaded it and put that bad boy right on his PSP. I hate the genre, but this game has a lot going for it. Even by Final Fantasy standards, VII has really freaking awesome music, and that always goes a long way in saving an RPG. Also, that crap is portable now, and that is one format I can actually enjoy the genre on.
- Rounding out this relatively quiet week is Banjo-Kazooie, a game which I've made no secret that I have a deep love for. I always feel bad about this, since I hold it so high, but I've never finished the game. Usually I get to the Desert and get overwhelmed with it because I can't stand that level. This time is different though! I just wrapped up Mad Monster's Mansion and now only have two levels ahead of me, plus I've collected pretty much everything in my path so I'm almost already set up to take on Grunty.
That's it for my brief reign with B3yond the Report, I hope it wasn't too much of a burden on you to read this, but overall I enjoyed it more this time around. I'm certainly not going back to column writing, but it's always nice to sit down and belt out a few thousand words. I'm not sure whether or not he is going to put out one last B3yond, but Mark is done with the column, so I can't really tell you who will be guiding you through the confusing world of Sony for the foreseeable future.
I do, however, know that the next few weeks have potential to be pretty exciting and full of speculation and announcements. Another thing I know is that I'm really hungry, and should probably wrap up this column now. See you in…just a few days when Fact or Fiction goes up!
No final hurrah from yours truly. Starting new semester of college + new job = no time for b3yond. Sorry everyone but my last hurrah was a few weeks ago. I'm not leaving the site, I'll still be around for various things, but no more B3yond.
Lol who knows, maybe sometime in the future you'll get another edition of Games Only a Mother Could Love.
My love for Sony may be dead *it's not, but let's just say it is*, but my love for the Sega CD lives on!
Posted By: The Salms (Registered) on August 05, 2009 at 11:59 PM
The curse continues
Posted By: Guest#6049 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:18 AM
The Cardinals vs. Steelers Super Bowl demo has five minute quarters with accelerated clock activated. The best way to get more out of the game is just utilize the hurry up offense when you have the ball.
Regardless, I think the Super Bowl demo is better than the NYG vs. DAL demo. The only reason to try the NYG demo is to put a hurting on the Cowgirls. Justin Tuck was making Tony Romo is *****.
About Cross Edge, the vast majority of DLC is free. I guess there is about 20 pieces of free DLC that expand the experience by giving you more items and quests. The charged DLC tends to be alternate costumes. So, they must be nickle and diming us with FREE content.
Posted By: David (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:22 AM
"The curse continues"
Good call.
You're a good man...
The curse indeed continues. Another reason why the new Sony news report may not be called B3yond the Report or SIXAXIS Report. Gotta stop the curse.
Posted By: The Salms (Registered) on August 06, 2009 at 03:43 AM
Damn I was just getting used to Mark and his shennanigans!!! "Beyond the report" is my second favorite column right behind Ben's "all that you can't live without" column
Posted By: Hdj360 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 09:40 AM
I thought this column was better thought out, more articulate, and overall more readable. Then I get to the end and see that "The Salms" wasn't writing. It all makes sense. Goodbye and good riddance. And to future authors - take down the fanboy images. Someone discovered Photoshop a little bit later than the rest of us.
Posted By: Satan (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 10:21 AM
"I thought this column was better thought out, more articulate, and overall more readable. Then I get to the end and see that "The Salms" wasn't writing. It all makes sense. Goodbye and good riddance. And to future authors - take down the fanboy images. Someone discovered Photoshop a little bit later than the rest of us."
If you actually read the column you would have noticed at the top it has "Posted by Drew Robbins on 08.06.2009" so great way to show your ignorance moron.
Posted By: Guest#7795 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 05:46 PM
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