The PSN Hack: what could have been done differently?
Image via Wikipedia
Sony took a lot of heat during the PSN outage caused by a hack and the theft of potentially all of our PSN account and more importantly payment card details. I think Sony were unlucky to a large degree. They were right to defend themselves against the hacker George Hotz who published details on how to hack the system which could lead to pirating games.
Sony perhaps didn’t have the most robust security measures in place and as such they were apparently pretty easy pray for angry hackers with a lot of misguided talent. It’s a shame that these people can’t do something more constructive with their technical abilities and instead choose to attack a company that is only doing what it is completely entitled to do, protect it’s intellectual property. I don’t buy the hacker’s claims that they should be able to do whatever they want to the PS3′s that they own. Sony have a fair use policy and they have a right to enforce that to protect their business.
I think the main anger from fans towards Sony was because they appeared to not rush to warn people about data possibly being stolen. Many believe that they should have warned people straight away even if they weren’t sure anything had been taken, just to be on the safe side. I agree with this and I think Sony did make an error here, but as I’m not really one to hold long term grudges on brands I wouldn’t threaten to switch to Xbox or boycott Sony products for example like some people did.
All you can really do is just hope that they really have beefed up their security to an extent where we won’t have a repeat of this scenario again in the future. I’m not going to switch to using PSN cards to pay for PSN content because of this, but I can understand why a lot of people may choose to do so.
This whole fiasco becoming mainstream news has got to be damaging to Sony. All a lot of people will see is that Sony have been hacked and lost people’s private data. A lot of these people may not have ever owned a Playstation, but they may still be put off from buying a Sony TV down the line. You’ve got to hope that this isn’t the popular opinion, because Sony certainly don’t deserve that.
This type of hacking is in vogue at the moment you could say. We’ve seen numerous hacks on almost a daily basis on all kinds of websites. From game developers to news sites and more, it appears that no one is safe. In a way, this just validates Sony and just shows that no matter how much time you spend defending yourselves against data theft, it seems that no company can avoid being breached. If a hacker group wants to do something, then it seems like not much can stop them. This is probably why Microsoft didn’t make fun of Sony at the conference, because they know that it would be like showing a red cape to a bull and making themselves the next prime target.
E3 2011
Image by ze_bear via Flickr
I think this year’s E3 has been a strong one from all three companies. Certainly a lot better than in past years, especially Nintendo who have not always brought their best in the last several years. This is a quick overview of how I think each of the three big companies conferences went.
Microsoft
Microsoft seemed to be a bit ordinary and predictable in their approach this year, and it does make me wonder who’s running things over there when you see casual games taking the centre stage at a show where hardly anyone is interested in the majority of those titles. Yes, Dance Central 2 should be a great dance game just like the first one was, but I just think they could have mentioned the game with a quick trailer and then moved on to the next game. It just didn’t seem necessary to demo it to the audience they have in attendance.
In terms of the rest of the show, no real surprises. I suppose 2 Halo games are better than one for fans of the series, but anyone could have predicted Halo 4 and that Microsoft would want to jump on Sony‘s HD remake bandwagon for some quick cash.
Sony
I don’t think Sony had the strongest of shows but it was certainly similar to last year’s in being very consistent and safe in a way while still exciting fans with great gameplay demos of titles like Uncharted 3.
The Vita name for the NGP is starting to grow on me slowly. If I had written this on the day the name was confirmed, then I would have not been in such a great mood about it, but now I can see how it may work. In terms of Vita games, I think they’re doing well for a launch lineup, with Uncharted leading the charge with many other strong titles such as LBP, Killzone, Call of Duty and more all in the pipeline as well as the traditional Sony launch games like WipEout and Everybody’s Golf. I’m pretty confident that they’ll be something for practically everyone when the system ships, unlike the 3DS on launch.
Nintendo
We knew pretty much everything about the Wii U before it was announced. Practically nothing was a surprise except the name. Which I suppose looking at it now isn’t really surprising. It makes sense for Nintendo to keep such a successful brand name going rather than risking a whole new identity for their new system.
The most exciting aspects for me to come out of the conference were the slew of game announcements. Not counting all of the games we already knew about, Super Mario 3D and Luigi’s Mansion 2 were the big stand-outs on 3DS. There wasn’t really anything on Wii that we didn’t already know about but the Kirby game looks to be the pick of the bunch alongside Zelda Skyward Sword.
Mario Kart 3D got a new trailer and now we know what the gimmick will be in this latest version, flying and underwater aspects. I quite like the idea of turning into a big glider and actually being able to control your flight rather than following an automatic path when you fly off a big jump, so I’m looking forward to this. I’ll be a little disappointed if they don’t feature bikes as they were so much fun in Mario Kart Wii but it’s not something that will ruin the game if it’s not included, likewise stunts.
Star Fox disappointed me a bit because I first thought this was a new version rather than the previously announced remake, but it seems like they just re-announced the same old game which isn’t ideal really.
A quick note on the Wii U controller. I hope they change a couple of aspects of the buttons. An analogue trigger is a must for realistic driving games and currently they’re not showing this so I hope they add those. I also was disappointed to see that they use the same design of analogue circle pads from the 3DS on the Wii U which to me doesn’t make much sense. The whole reason you would use those on the 3DS is because a traditional stick wouldn’t fit with the clamshell design of the system. Here, you’re not bound by height restrictions and as the controller is already so big, I would have expected full size analogue sticks just like the Nunchuk and Classic Controller. Not having those I believe will negatively affect precision control.
Conclusion
Overall, I think you would have to say that Nintendo had the best conference. A new system is practically guaranteed to overshadow anything else that’s shown, and it proved to be the case here.
The Vita price point of $250 was a bit of a relief but it’s still going to be expensive here. Then again, even if it comes out at the ridiculous £225 price tag the 3DS launched at, then I’ll be a lot more accepting of paying that much for this device over Nintendo’s one.
Chromebooks are finally here, but they cost how much?
Image by andysternberg via Flickr
I honestly don’t understand the pricing strategy on the new Samsung based Google Chromebooks. These go for £350 and £400 and are primarily cloud computers. The £400 3G model may be worth the price if you do get the 3G service for free, although that may be a limited time offer or for the long term but with a strict usage cap.
I really expected these to be very affordable computers, at around the £200 to £300 mark so I’m a bit disillusioned by these prices. Of course, it’s entirely possible that they vastly outperform their cheaper netbook counterparts but even that is beside the point for me. The reason I would buy one of these would be because I want a cheap but reliable and simple laptop to do the essentials of computing. If I wanted to get a more powerful laptop that I could use to do more strenuous things, then I’d buy another MacBook to replace my original one. It’s totally grounded now as it has a battery that no longer works and broken wi-fi. It won’t even run Mac OS Lion.
Overall, I think that Google will have thought everything through and I’m sure the OS itself is a pleasure to use, but I hope they get some other manufacturers to make more affordable hardware to make Chrome OS a more attractive proposition for more potential buyers. After all, it’s going to be extremely tough for them to make an impression in the market even at lower prices. Even the might of Google don’t enter the public’s mind when it comes to computer hardware and software.
My View on the Lewis Hamilton Controversy
I think Lewis really needs to change something in the way he mentally tackles a race. He’s said before that he won’t change his driving style regardless of what happens because it’s just the driver he is. That’s all well and good, but he has to ask himself if he wants to win another championship. We all know that he does, and to do that he must use a bit more strategy to win. He can attack, but do it at the right time.
Jenson Button is the perfect example of this. He has the best F1 brain in the paddock. He judges tyres and wet conditions better than anyone else, and we saw the results of that once again last night. The same applies to dry weather racing and overtaking. It may be true that most of the time he’s not quite as fast as Lewis in normal conditions, but he makes the best of what he has at his disposal, and often out races Lewis after being more steady and calculating.
Lewis should stay aggressive of course, it’s who he is as a driver, but should just make sure an overtaking move is really on before diving down the inside. F1 is a non-contact sport, which, like in Basketball, doesn’t mean contact doesn’t occur, but unlike basketball, you can’t win if you get in tangles. F1 cars aren’t touring cars or Nascar stock cars. Their front wings for example aren’t built to withstand even light touches and you have to take that into account when overtaking. The tyres of course are also completely exposed and can be punctured by sharp wings or other bodywork very easily.
I don’t want to be really critical like some people online are being towards him. After all, it’s none of our business how he drives a racing car. No one can deny though that he’s been making himself look pretty foolish in recent weeks, and it’s a trend he’s going to want to buck very soon.
What I want to see at the major E3 conferences
Image via Wikipedia
E3 is always an exciting time of year for gamers. We build it up so much, but often are left disappointed or even bemused by some of the things that happen in the big 3 press conferences, especially Nintendo’s in recent years. They’re certainly not the only ones. Sony and Microsoft have both had their fair share of awful, embarrassing shows.
This year is the time for all 3 companies to wow us and justify the mass excitement that goes hand in hand with E3. This is what I’m hoping for from each of them.
Nintendo
I think Nintendo on paper should have the most to talk about on Tuesday. We all know that their new system will be officially unveiled. From what we know, it seems that Nintendo will be going back to their more hardcore route. Whether or not they simply try to bridge the gap between being too casual and too hardcore or go fully in the traditional gaming direction is unknown, but I personally hope that they put their traditional audience first. Casual games can still exist on a hardcore focused system, but not the other way around.
If they are planning to go fully hardcore with the new system then they have to fully match Sony and Microsoft in every way. If they don’t give gamers the online functionality, community features and other functions that they’re used to, then the new console won’t be able to be considered any truly hardcore gamer’s console of choice in this upcoming generation.
Sony
The NGP will surely play a large part in proceedings on Monday night. You would assume that they’ll announce an official name, but probably not a price or release date. Generally, in recent years Sony conferences have either been ridiculed or applauded. However, the last couple, although they were strong showings, mostly focused on demos for games we already knew about, and that’s not really exciting for an event such as this. I hope they really just go all-out with new game and service announcements tomorrow, and leave the demos for the show floor, or at most a quick video montage.
Microsoft
The general trend I can see in the last few years of Microsoft conferences tend to be towards mostly showing demos for 3rd party games as well as some exclusives. Last year marked the addition of casual gaming with the kinect which I hope isn’t such a big focus this year, but I don’t see them ditching their successful casual programme. They’ve also been known to surprise people by poaching games, mostly from Sony when the PS3 was struggling. Unfortunately, you can also expect to hear news such as early releases for MW3 DLC and other things like that. Halo isn’t a series that Microsoft will be willing to give up on now that Bungie are moving on to new things, so I would be surprised to hear something about a new Halo game from another developer.
3DS Two Months On
Image via Wikipedia
How is the health of 3DS looking now, just over 2 months since launch? Well, I don’t know about you but after almost 100%ing pilotwings resort about 2 weeks after the system launched, I’ve barely touched my 3DS on. Except to rub the dust off it of course.
I don’t think anyone can deny how useless Nintendo have been in terms of giving gamers great titles to play in the launch window of the system. In this business games and systems come and go so fast that I don’t think it would be going too far to suggest that some people have simply forgot about the 3DS already. Maybe it’s just that Nintendo aren’t worried as they know they can win back the hardcore in an instant with some big announcements.
With that said, there are good things on the horizon. Big titles are going to start coming in the next month or so, and with E3 about 2 weeks away now, surely Nintendo can’t let that show go by without announcing a plethora of incredible games to get everyone excited about their next generation portable again.
The problem is, the games industry doesn’t work like other tech segments. Unlike apple, Nintendo will never surprise people by saying that a game or system comes out that very day. These things take months and years to coordinate. Unfortunately, this means that whatever they do announce won’t bolster the ailing lineup for the first 2 thirds of this year.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to love the 3DS like I have pretty much all other Nintendo systems over the years, mainly because of the awful battery life and 3D that doesn’t agree with me. I’m willing to give it a shot, and I’m keenly waiting to try out some games. I have pretty much every strong title on my lovefilm rental list currently. As far as games I want to buy and keep, Mario Kart 3D and Animal Crossing remain my top two from the games we know about. I just hope we get those this year, because otherwise it’s going to be a very long wait for some 3DS owners I know.
NASCAR The Game 2011 PS3 Review
Over the last season I’ve turned into a Nascar fanatic. I love the sport. The skill and precision required, the drivers, the noise and the competitiveness are things F1 can only dream of. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge F1 fan, but there are some things that Nascar does that no other series can match in quite the same way.
As far as games go, the series hasn’t really been represented as well as it could have been in the past in some ways. This game, while it does up the ante in gameplay and graphics terms from the last EA Sports title back in 2008, also lacks in some areas when compared to that game.
The driving mechanics, controls and graphics are all very strong in this title. I have no real concerns there. Where it fails to impress is predominantly in the presentation and career mode. The career is very linear, you simply play through each event of the 2010 Nascar Sprint Cup season, and that’s it. During each race you earn NXP which unlocks new liveries for you to use in single player quick races. It also unlocks special challenges with varying objectives which you can complete to earn trophies and other rewards, but they didn’t really do much for me. I would have preferred a far more immersive and interactive career mode instead.
During the career, you can attract sponsors by completing a list of requirements on the sponsor page in the career hub. These range from finishing in the top 10 to qualifying on pole a set number of times, as well as the obvious ones like win a certain number of races. You never really have to work hard to obtain sponsors and you can’t pick and choose, you simply seek to acquire all of them over the course of the 36 race season.
In EA Sports Nascar 09, you signed contracts with teams and sponsors, and you had to complete your objectives to keep them and progress up the ladder to the best teams and sponsors. You felt like a racing driver struggling to make it in the sport, and having to work to progress, and here you never feel like that.
Another major omission from this game that was present in Nascar 09 are both of the other major national series’ of Nascar, the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide series. This is a huge loss in my opinion as it means the career mode can’t allow you to progress through the ranks over a number of seasons like you could previously. It also means that you lose out on the experience of driving the different cars with their unique handling, as well as all of the drivers and liveries from each series. Not only this, but not all of the 43 Cup Series regulars are in the game, and some drivers are substituted from the Nationwide series, such as Danica Patrick. I think for this type of game, they could have done a better job of including the full roster of drivers and I really hope to see far more content in next year’s game as well as a much stronger offering for the career mode.
One area where the developers do go out of their way to give something cool back to the fans, they model many different liveries for a lot of the drivers, sometimes as many as four different ones per driver. For guys like Denny Hamlin who has a different FedEx service on his car each week, this is a nice addition.
Strangely, despite the variety of cars and the effort that went into creating those extra liveries, that effort and variety sadly didn’t carry over to the presentation. After each race win, your driver celebrates with champagne on the roof of their car, while the same droning crown cheer sound repeats. It’s enough to drive you mad after a while, especially because it’s so cheap that they didn’t mix things up with variations at all. I’ve seen quite a few celebrations in victory lane by this point too, and I don’t recall anyone spraying champagne at all, so maybe they were getting their wires crossed when they designed that woeful animation.
The presentation before and during the race however is actually top notch. They have nice introductions to each race with a description of the track and a look through the grid positions. In the race, the sport itself is translated into game form very well. Engines sound incredible which is fantastic as it’s one of the most important audio aspects to get right in any racing game, and many of them fail spectacularly. The spotter audio isn’t quite so great as he can get a bit irritating at times, especially when trying to be funny. I still don’t understand a couple of the things he says.
Rather than go further into the gameplay side of things, I’ll just summarise by stating that it’s very strong and racing in a pack really feels fun. When you’re alone on the track it can be less fun but it really depends on how much of a fan you are. Some will crash into the wall because of not having a car in front to use as a reference for when to slow down or brake, but others will relish the challenge of driving the perfect racing line, which is harder than it looks when you’re pushing hard.
Driving long races of around 10 to 15% length is very fun when you play on higher difficulty levels (medium or above), especially when you have fuel and tyre wear on and at the max 4x the normal rate. You can sometimes use strategy and tyre and fuel management to pit less and win the race that way. I’ve had a few races that I’ve pitted only once and had a practically empty fuel tank while crossing the finish line which was a great feeling as you think you’re not going to make it through the last lap at racing speed.
The game is a bit buggy at times which is frustrating, but luckily these bugs appear to plague the online aspect of the game far more than the offline portion which is good. Sometimes you get bugs when in career but luckily they’re few and far between. The next patch should fix most of these issues too so I’m looking forward to that.
Overall, Nascar the game 2011 is the game fans of the sport have been waiting for since 2008. It is a solid first entry from Eutechnyx which they can build on in the coming years. It is lacking in several key areas and that’s a shame, but the gameplay is so fun that it should certainly give true fans a lot of enjoyment and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. If you’re not a massive Nascar fan, then it’s probably best to start with Gran Turismo 5 as it’s overall a far superior game and better value for money. If you play the limited Nascar portion of GT5 and are left wanting more, then this is a solid purchase especially if the price drops which I would suspect is pretty likely by now.
F1: Turkish Grand Prix Thoughts
Image via Wikipedia
The Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul extended F1′s streak of exciting races to start this season. While we still had the same winner and pole sitter, that didn’t stop it from being an enthralling race in which you couldn’t predict the podium result until right near the end of the race due to predominantly the tyres.
People will undoubtedly lay blame at Red Bull’s door for being too dominant and making the outcomes predictable, but that would hardly be fair. It’s not their fault that the competition aren’t pushing them hard enough so far in the season. All they’ve done is design the best car possible under the regulations, and had drivers, one in particular that have driven them to their potential. I expect Ferrari, McLaren and possibly Mercedes to stay close to them and win multiple races this year, and not just on strategy alone, as McLaren did with Lewis Hamilton in China. We may even see Renault get back to podium clinching ways in Spain.
In other words, while Red Bull are certainly the favourites as things stand to repeat their double championship success from last year, they certainly won’t have things their own way for much longer. The other top teams have too much money and talent to let that happen.
As far as the race itself, I think it was pretty eventful, even confusing at times even for long time fans of the sport. The DRS seemed to be a bit too strong this weekend which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it allowed multiple overtakes and re-passes from the likes of Webber and Alonso, where normally one car will get past and be done with the rival, as they won’t be able to get back into the one second window for DRS deployment.
I was happy to see Rosberg and Mercedes come back up to 5th place in the race at the end after they appeared to be struggling badly on high fuel and getting passed by everyone early on. It may be true that 6th would have been the best he could have hoped for had Button not made the mistake of only pitting 3 times instead of 4, but after his strong start I think he and the team deserved it.
Williams seemed to be stronger in qualifying pace, almost getting into Q3 with Rubens, but it wasn’t to be. Points also weren’t to be once again, another blow but at least progress is slowly being made. I hope they can finally score in Spain, but they could face stiff competition from Team Lotus, who will bring big upgrades including a blown diffuser which could find them a second in pace. They’re not just looking for their first point of the season, but ever, so both teams will be intensely fighting for that 10th place.
The other midfield teams, Sauber and Toro Rosso will also be looking to stay in the points in the next round. Kobayashi thought 7th was possible after a puncture sustained with Buemi caused him to change strategy. He made a 3 stop strategy work which was impressive and finished 10th, which is still very strong considering the car he was driving as well as having to come from the back of the grid.
The final midfield team Force India will be hoping to get back to form and into the points battle too after struggling in Instanbul. Sutil finished 13th and Paul Di Resta retired 44 laps in with mechanical failure.
Virgin had a terrible weekend. First, their upgrades including the rear wing, floor and blown exhaust system didn’t work correctly and had to be removed. Adding to this, Glock’s car had transmission issues before the race and couldn’t start. Jerome D’ambrosio drove a strong race and was the only driver to make a 2 stop strategy work. Virgin also beat HRT comfortably which is good, especially as they did it without their upgrades. They certainly can’t rest on their laurels though.
Finally, a quick mention for Felipe Massa who, if you look at the race result, you would think was comprehensively beaten by his team mate. I thought so too, but then heard that he had problems on 3 of his 4 pit stops. This cost him considerable amounts of time and then dropped him back out on track in traffic, further ruining his race. Hopefully he’ll have a bit better luck next time out in Spain.
I’m excited for the next race at Catalunya in a couple of weeks. Many eyes will be on Team Lotus to see if they really can mix it properly with the midfield.
F1: Australia, Malaysia and China Thoughts
Here’s what I think quickly about each of the first 3 flyaway races of the season in F1.
Austalia
- The DRS wasn’t very successful in the first race, not long enough to make it work as desired but it did add some overtaking at least, but not enough.
- Red Bull far ahead of everyone else, good if you’re a fan of them but bad if you like close competition, something we rarely see in F1.
- Great podium by Petrov shows Renault will be right up there challenging for podiums, although probably only for the beginning of the season until Ferrari and Mercedes get their acts together.
- McLaren make massive improvement from testing.
- Lotus not as compeitive as expected, stuck in a division all their own. Too far behind established teams yet far ahead of Virgin / HRT.
- HRT embarrassingly don’t qualify for opening race, Virgin very slow.
- Vettel and Red Bull domination in qualifying and race continues.
- Great podium for Heidfeld, fantastic starts for both Renaults.
- Webber strong recovery, Red Bull still strong without KERS.
- Williams absolutely useless, once again fail to live up to expectations, neither car finishes.
- Lotus much stronger, able to stick with Toro Rosso.
- Jenson gets strong second place, while Hamilton and Alonso tangle and both lose out in final standings.
- Di Resta strong performance for first earned point, second race beating Sutil in qualifying and race. (let him past in Australia due to team order from what I understand)
- DRS more successful, tyres making very exciting racing
- Strategy decision costs all 2 stoppers (vettel, massa, alonso). Vettel lost out to Hamilton, could not defend against better grip / traction.
- Strong result for McLaren who didn’t have the fastest car
- Lotus beat Perez and Maldonado, great result. Partly due to Williams’ struggles and Perez’s mistakes and penalty but still very strong pace.
- Virgin fortunate to not be further embarrassed by HRT moving ahead of them in pace.
- Massa beats Alonso again, looks to be getting back to 2008 form.
- Paul Di Resta unlucky not to score after personal best 8th qualifying position.
3DS Launch Impressions
Image via Wikipedia
I don’t think I’ve made much of a secret of the fact that I have had reservations about the 3DS more than I have for any other Nintendo system I can remember, possibly more than any system launch from all of the manufacturers. The poor launch line-up, terrible battery life for a Nintendo handheld and justified concerns over the 3D effect causing headaches and eye-strain all added up in my mind.
Now that the system is here and in the hands of a great many gamers across the world, we come to the realization that all three of these things are definite problems, albeit some more than others.
The battery life, while not an absolute disaster is still very un-Nintendo like. My DS lite and XL seem to just go on forever, and that’s not mentioning the gameboy series. Those lasted even longer on just AA batteries. Battery technology still remains the bane of gadget makers’ existences. People like Apple, Nintendo and Sony can innovate endlessly on every aspect of their devices, but batteries just haven’t evolved to the same extent. Apple give the illusion of battery innovation, but in reality all they’re doing is just making them bigger and packing them in tighter. This makes them last longer but also has the drawback of being non-user-replaceable. I’m sure the situation will improve with the 3DS lite if that will be the name of the redesign we’ll see in the next couple of years, but I can’t see how it can improve that much, especially if a newer model will likely be slimmer.
Next on the issue list is the 3D effect. Nintendo made a great decision by putting a depth slider on the system. If it had a fixed level of 3D with no off switch or even an adjustable slider with no off then it would have been a terrible move. It’s not that a great number of people are complaining about the 3D giving them problems, but at least Nintendo have given themselves a get out of jail free card in that they can tell people to simply turn the 3D off. They’ve done about as good of a job as they could do to protect themselves from possible lawsuits, and you know someone’s going to try it.
At first, the 3D really impressed me but after that short time, I started to get a headache and felt uncomfortable. This was with 3D at the max setting. I was a bit depressed with my purchase after that and turned the effect off completely to avoid further headaches. When I showed it to my aunt and young cousin they both were fine with the 3D even at max strength. My aunt wears glasses so I was a bit surprised to find that she had no problems with it at all whereas I did. I even went to get my eyes tested for the first time ever, partly due to this discomfort. I was told that my eyes are fine so I’m still no closer to finding out why the 3D isn’t fully working for me which is strange.
When I use 3D now it’s generally only in games and even then, only at less than half of the full effect. It’s disappointing in a way but at least I can still use it to some degree. I would definitely say that it’s personally close to being as bad a situation as I was expecting, so it falls into the same category as the battery life I’m afraid.
The final disappointment is the launch library of games. There’s a couple of gems in the mix, Pilotwings and Super Street Fighter IV, but other than that, it’s very slim pickings indeed. I remember Reggie saying that the 3DS would have the best launch period of any system ever released. Even if he technically means the entire time between launch and E3, I don’t think this is what most people envisioned, as they probably thought at least either Zelda or Kid Icarus would be available at or soon after launch. Even if one of those games comes out before E3, it’s a long time to make people wait for a triple A Nintendo title for their new system. It’s also true that Reggie was talking about the North American launch, but the line-up has been similar here too.
Worryingly, the key title that is being talked about on Nintendo UK’s site at the moment is Steel Diver, the submarine game that got average reviews from most outlets in the US. It’s hardly a blockbuster game and in fact I would label it as quite a niche title. That’s coming out in May here and if it’s being pushed this much then you would have to depressingly assume that there’s nothing else in the pipeline until at least the end of may or early June. Luckily I have Pilotwings to keep me busy, and I plan to rent SSFIV soon, but some gamers, such as my brother, have only the system itself and no games. They can’t even use the web browser as it comes in a later system update. I suppose they have FaceRaiders and AR games, but despite being pretty fun and quirky, don’t have the legs to be more than a party piece to wow friends and family.
Now that I’ve gone over the three main issues with the system, I want to go into the actual aesthetics of the 3DS itself. The system looks quite nice, thinner than I thought as it looks very bulky in pictures, and the 3 tier colour scheme only adds to that effect. I would have preferred a white one but cosmos black is still nice. The blue one is very nice looking when you see it for yourself. The top seems to shift colour depending on the light and angle.
The slide pad is very nice to hold and responsive. The D-Pad can be a bit uncomfortable to use now that it’s down below where it used to be, but if you shift your hand position it becomes manageable. The face buttons and the L + R shoulder buttons are much the same as you’re used to on all the DS models. The power button is bigger and more pronounced than the XL which I like as it’s far easier to press. However, I really don’t like the select, start and home buttons as they feel cheap and hard to press. It looks flimsy and prone to wearing away over time. I hope that doesn’t occur.
The stylus is also modified. It now slots in the back of the system and is telescopic. When full length it doesn’t seem to be much bigger than the original ones were though. There’s also no way to lock it at full length which feels like a poor decision. The tip is now smoother where the DS ones all had a pronounced tip to them but there’s no real difference in feel.
As far as the interface and built in software side of things, I think it’s a fair step up from the DS. At first, the main menu looks almost identical to the DSi but you can modify the number of icons on screen at once. I prefer columns of 3 personally. The top of the touch screen has a variety of icons, the most interesting of which is the friends icon. You have one friend code now and it’s universal for all games. This is great as you can now register someone without inputting the code, by being in the same room as them. You receive their mii and can then see them online and invite them to games. It’s a pretty cool system, and it’s one of the most exciting upgrades Nintendo have made that will drastically improve the online experience. Hopefully gone are the days of playing Mario Kart with more than just your one friend by counting down and then both joining a continental or worldwide game at the same time and hoping for the best.
The built in games are actually quite impressive. As I’ve already mentioned, FaceRaiders and AR games are party pieces for the most part, but are still worth a try. FaceRaiders is the pick of them as it really does interesting things with face manipulation and the gyro of the system. My cousin very much enjoyed shooting me and her mum in the face while we made all sorts of strange expressions on screen thanks to the impressive face recognition. You do have to line up where the facial features are, but even so it’s cool to see.
AR games is impressive but it’s also far more buggy. The cameras are very slow, just like the DSi ones were. It’s like Nintendo have a lifetime supply of VGA cameras that they can’t bear to part with. This hurts the Augmented reality effect, especially in 3D. It’s disappointing that you can lose track of the AR card easily and then have to find it again. The actual game itself though is impressive, especially if you’ve never really seen AR before. Realising you actually have to move your whole body around the card in order to dodge a dragon or hit a target you couldn’t see from other angles is definitely an impressive experience. If the cameras were more responsive then it would be an experience that I’d come back to it more often than my once and only time so far.
I think it will have a very tough task to catch the DS in terms of sales I still think it will be very successful. The DS was practically the perfect device for casual gaming and Nintendo took full advantage of that with Brain Training and various other casual titles. Because of the high price and 3D effect, I don’t think it will ever be as popular with older and more casual players but I may be proved wrong.
It’s been a brave decision to go for 3D the way they have. Especially making the entire marketing push about that one feature. With that said, they’re arguably in the best position of any company out there to try such a bold move. You have to give them massive credit for taking such a risk when they could have easily played it safe with a DS2 with just primarily graphical and other technical improvements. The issue there is that they could still have been in a position to not appeal to casual gamers as much as its predecessor as those people will just say “I don’t need better graphics”.
Overall, I think despite its drawbacks and early lack of real must-have titles, the system has a strong future ahead of it and bags of potential. It’s practically impossible for it not to considering how well Nintendo has understood and dominated handheld gaming for so many years.
