What We May Play: The PS4

What We May Play

By Ed Beers

In my last blog here, What We Know: The PS4 , I covered the announcement of the PS4, and what both during and since then we have learned of the tech. Well that's all well and good but for some people, boring. So let me get to something a lot more people should be excited about, the games.

Okay yes let us get this out of the way, it's not backwards compatible, this should be clear enough that it doesn't have a cell processor but well, there it is. But to try and get use excited they instead gave us some games we're more than likely to see in the launch window... Not enough so they they will have nothing to show at E3 mind you, and not all of them were all that exciting even with a 'what if' point of view. Among the low marks were a new first person driver's seat focused 'Driver Club' game, a new IP from Capcom that from it's gameplay free trailer looks very much like Dragon's Dogma, a new Killzone game that, for a few minutes before the action really starts actually has color. And least impressive of all, Blizzard and Square Enix announcing things they already talked about. Blizzard announcing they are bringing Diablo 3 to PS3 and PS4 so you can play it offline on a couch with 3 other friends, and Square showing us the same tech demo from E3 as if they forgot they showed it already.

On the positive side though, we had some games that, while not everyone might care about, I'm excited for. Early on, we were presented to what is likely to be the PS4 try at a fresh new platformer mascot face, Knack. It's looks are somewhere between Crash Bandicoot, Katamari Damacy if it had a respectable day job to go to, and the old Wallace and Gromit animation, especially when they jump from playing it on we assume the PS4, to an on-stage Vita. Our title character, Knack, is an adorable construction able to take into his body bits and pieces of the world around him to gain powers, or let go of them to slip into smaller spaces. It was the demo of this game that made me think Sony's promise to be able to play PS4 games on a Vita was possible, though not as a first choice. Big enough PS4 game on a Vita and I'd rather not think about what one might lose between the two. But that's for when the system and games are actually out, this (Knack) still looks like a fun cute game for every age to grab onto much like Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet and Clank were in the PS2 era.

On a truly different note was that brought to us by Jonathan Blow. He was there to rub in Microsoft's face that he's working with Sony now after all the hardships he was put through. He was presenting a game genre I had not heard of or thought of would really be done. The Witness, the game he was presenting, is set to be an open world puzzle game... I mean, well I suppose one could say such a genre is nothing new but this is the first time in my life of gaming I've been presented with the idea like that. The gameplay shown was interesting enough but it all felt very, out of context and not really telling you what you're goal is in each puzzle. Though knowing creative types like Blow, my hopes are high for this to succeed.

One game I'm really looking forward to out of the announced games at this conference, is from our friends at Sucker Punch, inFamous: Second Son. This is not to be confused with inFamous 3, for it's not the 'how can you continue Cole's?' story continued, but in fact is taking place after inFamous 2, in a new city, and with a new character completely. Although certainly new to the series, the new lead's powers should seem familiar for anyone who played 2, namely dark black and red teleporting and fireballs. Yes, it does sounds exactly like the wild woman in inFamous 2, and no I don't know if our new young brash 'Fight the authorities' hero the crazy rolling in the chaos love child between her and Cole. All we got was a little video of a governmental group cracking down on Seattle claiming to be in control, Orwellian surveillance cameras watching every corner in some shadow filled control room... And our hero beating on some of their jack-booted thugs just so he could mock into one of their helmet cameras that they weren't in control... Okay the story set up sounds cliched but hey, I'm looking forward to it, cause I miss plain clothed super heroes jumping up the side of buildings and kicking enemies off the roves.

We also received, in the actual gameplay form, another look at everyone's favorite surprise announcement from E3, Watchdogs. I cannot expressed how excited I am for this title. The more I see this game in action, with it's constant flow of information, sandbox crime to stop, systems to mess with, I get more and more excited. In this gameplay sample, unlike the E3 run there is no exact mission, it's just an example of what you might come across walking around. With the constant flow of information at your hand, you pick out people to hack the bank account of, get detailed information of if they're likely to be a victim of a crime, blowing up a fuse box while chasing a criminal, and coolest of all stopping a trained and jumping onto it's roof when you've got the fuzz on your tail. Yes, during E3 we were told that this title was coming to current gen consoles, PS3 and 360, but here we were told what to expect from the PS4, namely more activity in the city at once, more reactions from the citizens on the spot. It all sounds like more fun than you can beat an abusive boyfriend with.

We also got a small tease of Destiny, the new game from Bungie now that they've stepped away from Halo. They promise that once it's complete that there will be exclusive bonus content for when it comes to the PS4, though no real detail of what that might be, or really anything about the game. Still, 3 seconds of possible maybe gameplay footage is better than nothing right?

A few days after the reveal of the PS4 we got a couple nice little teases to get use excited. Firstly there was the confirmation that the Witcher 3 will be coming to the PS4 which, while better late than never, still leaves me wanting a way to play the rest of the series on a Sony console. Secondly, and much more importantly, and I think I've pointed this out before, that the PS4 will still use a disc system, allow it's owners to play used games, and play these games while the system is offline. All these facts are important details for any console, especially in these uncertain times full of worrying rumors. Speaking of worrying rumors, please look forward to my next and last part of the PS4 overview.

What We Know: The PS4

What We Know about the PS4

By Ed Beers

In many things such as science, politics, war, and other fields, there are known knowns, and there known unknowns... And then there's the League here to give you a better look, a few days after announced, at the known and unknown of the PS4. For those who don't know, some time ago Sony announced that they would hold a live stream event to announce 'the future of gaming' on February 20th. From that point on everyone assumed it would be the first announcement of the next Playstation system. And to every journalist's disappointment, that's just what they announced... Okay no that was mean sorry. Point is they announced that the Playstation 4 exists, what the controller looks like, the focus they're going with, and what the machine holds power wise... roughly. They also showed off some cut scenes and demos for possible launch or near launch titles. But there are still things, even after they announcement that we just don't know, so let's get started.

-The Known

 Considering all the little they could have released we know a good amount about the Playstation 4, from perspective titles, to the hardware and control set up. Even, when reading between what the developers have said, what they hope to do with the this new system. Let us start with the very important, really exciting for game developers less so for gamers less their well informed part, the specs. What we have been told so far the specs stand:

• Main Processor: Single Chip custom processor
• CPU: x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 Cores
• GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-gen Radeon based graphics engine
• Memory: GDDR5 8GB
• Hard Disk: Built-in
• Optical Drive: Blu-Ray 6X Speed CAV, DVD 8X Speed CAV
• Input/Output: Super Speed USB (USB 3.0) Port, AUX port
• Communication: Ethernet (10/100/1000 Base-T), IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
• AV output: HDMI, Analog AV, Optical Digital output 

And for those who remember something about the Playstation 3 being the highest high power machine and could make the most amazing games ever thanks to the Cell processor they only they had... Well you'd remember right which is why they aren't going that route this system. Yes there were great things about the Cell, it could pull off some amazing stunts game processing wise, but the game developers had to relearn a all new way of programming in order to make any game for it. It was like speaking in English on PC and Xbox 360, but then for PS3 you have to speak an English translated through Latin but make sure it comes out as German. So when planning for the PS4 many years before, they went to the various third and first party developers and asked 'what would you want from our next system?' The developers answered two things, 'lots of memory, and programming more like the PC we're making the games on'. And with the 8 Gigs GDDR5 memory, and x86-64 AMD Jaguar 8 Core CPU, that is exactly what Playstaion, famous for 'No you use our tech that only we understand', are hoping to give the game makers. This is a good thing.

Well since we're on the details part, let's take a look at what they showed as the new controller (shown on the top of the page next to the old PS3 controller). Instead of making a small controller with a little this little that to later slap all the accessories you can think of on your bill later, they're put all the accessories together in one controller. The new Dualshock 3, you get a similar build design wise, the sticks aligned with each other and the four iconic buttons aligned with the D-pad. But in the middle, where we all expect the start, select, and playstation button, we are instead given the playstation button, a small non-screened touchpad, and a microphone. On either side of the touch pad are small buttons labels Share and Options. The share button is so that you can record and share how good or awful you are at playing a video game, they did not get into what the options button really does but that might come down to what game you're playing. Now before you start panicking about 'the end of start and select buttons', just know that I do not plan to get into that in such an early stage, so you'll have to wait till E3 or later. But back to what all this kitchen sink controller has. Along with the touchpad, and microphone, the Dualshock 4 will also have a headphones jack, six-axis like motion control, as well as an all too familiar, move like light on the back which will be picked up by a Playstation 4 Eye, which is totally not a kinect.

Now I can almost hear you ask, 'Ed, why is your last name Beers is it a mistranslation?' Well I'm not getting into that so I'm going instead into what the share button might really mean. See a while back, Sony purchased for reasons then unknown to us, the second largest cloud gaming service in Japan by name of Gaikai. With this, the Playstion 4 is promising to have a strong focus on the idea of streaming. I bring this up because of the mention of the Share button earlier, for the recording of you slamming a boss down, or failing to go up a ladder, doesn't just sit there on your PS4 taking up space that could be used for games. Instead when you hit share if you're online, you can throw that right up onto the web for others' enjoyment straight up streamed off your box. But it doesn't stop there, while they were not able to prove this during a press conference they suggested the idea of not just sitting around waiting  for a game bought from the PSN to download for 2 or 3 days, that you're streaming the video game itself, and as such can jump right into the game as it's downloading. This, is a fun idea if for no other reason than the thought of video games buffering but, if used smartly, this could be the end of how we treat the idea of demos forever. No more does a little side team pick one or two levels to put together, selecting what powers you may or may not have in the full game, and instead such as they have with the current Playstion Plus style, just play the first hour or so of gameplay straight streaming. In an even bigger promise, despite the Vita not being able to play PS2 games yet, they have the hope that they could place the whole playstation game library, from 1-4, on a playstation specific cloud allowing you to stream whatever game you want on one single system making it, not really backwards compatible but it's a nice gesture.

An even better gesture though came a few days after the original conference in an announcement from Sony proper. Specifically the head of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, putting some disturbing all be it unlikely rumors that the PS4 would be online only, or not allow playing of used games. This is completely NOT the case it can and will play used games from discs, and you will be allowed to play this stream heavy system offline. So you can relax, stop biting your nails, and demand the new Xbox to confirm that they'll promise the same.

With all that known tech and what it may mean out of the way, the following posts will be about the Games announced, and lastly the unknowns of the systems and what I think may come to pass.

The Console War has changed (A MGS 4 Parody)

(Fully aware that this is not an original idea)

By Ed Beers

The Console War has changed.

It's not about fandom, or mascots.

It's not even about exclusives, replacements, or peripherals.

It's an endless series of multi-console releases,

played by the widest spectrum of gamers.

The Console War, and it's vast consumption of money

has become a rationalized, well-oiled business transaction.

Gaming has changed.

ID-tagged users play ID-tagged games,

on ID-tagged consoles.

Online and 'seasonal' passes

enhance and regulate what parts of a game is open to them

Genre control... DLC control...

Multi-player control... Content control

Every response is monitored, and commercialized

Game reviewing has changed.

 What was an age of openness has become an age of mob mentality,

to avoid controversies over questionable content.

And he who controls the narrative, controls history.

The Console War has changed.

When game releases are under total control,

The Console War becomes routine.

LUGCast Episode 2: Dog of the Year Edition

Yes, an episode 2 did actually happen, long long ago. Wanna see what we thought far far back in the annals of time? When Sleeping Dogs was on everyone's lips? Before half the internet started complaining about AC3? Heck, even before Tokyo Jungle came out, this was on our minds... and then cause we are terrible (at the moment) at forward motion, it sat around in various computers and databases till finally, at long last... we remembered it. Enjoy.


Dogs of the Year, part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 cause Youtube is a butt

Kingdom Hearts Plot Summery Episode 1: The Phantom Premise

Ed Beers

I am writing this summery of the collective plot/s of the Kingdom Hearts franchise for the benefit of those who either a) have not played the series but wish to lean more about the series if and or when they wish to mock it since there is plenty to mock of it. b), have only played certain games in the series due to a limited number of game systems and money to spend on the games of systems and want a look at what you missed. Or c) played all the games and it just isn't adding up for them. Thank you for your patience with my writing style and for reading this,

Once upon a time, long ago, there was an old man, named Old Man Xehonort. And even longer ago, Old Man Xehonort was once a young Old Man on a journey. He was on a journey to find either a way to keep kids off his lawn, or more exactly something to complain about. He tried to just accept things as they generally were, but seeing how everyone else did that, well he was not one for mob mentality and the like. Through his studies he learned that kids these days take the like for granted. There was once a time when there wasn't so much light in the world, so little that they fought over it.

He liked this idea, he saw it as people being grateful for the like they would have, so, working through his young and middle old age, old man Xehonort tried to remake this 'Keyblade War' he had heard so much about lately. The way the war came about was pretty simple. Even longer ago, there was this big-ol-honkin' door, called surprise surprise, Kingdom Hearts. Like many doors, or at least the doors I'm told to stop trying to open without permission, it had one specific key, which for some absurd or awesome reason was also a sword. It was called the χ-blade, but they called it a Keyblade since that was less stupid, but not by much. And when the Keyblade opened Kingdom Hearts, light spilled out on the giant single world that creation once was. I think they called this event Wednesday, and on Wednesday you better get up early so you could grab yourself some light and rub it all over ya, else you're out of luck.

Well this system of light haves and have nots didn't sit right with, well everyone heck it didn't even sit right with the haves cause of how much effort it was. So all of creation split off into different groups ready to beat the ever livin' Wednesday out of each other. So they looked at the Keyblade, and made their own swords made in the shape of keys and fought over the Keyblade and Kingdom Hearts... And in the process they broke the key and lost the door... Smooth. the Key broke into 20 'pieces', 13 dark keys and 7 light keys, which trust me will be important much later on in the plot... I hope. As for the door, since it was a door to light that no longer had a key it got surrounded by darkness, and that boys and girls is why bad things happen to good people in this universe. Soon enough what little light left in the giant single world that was the universe got swallowed up, but since kids are all pure and happy and blah blah blah, the universe was split into multiple smaller Disney based words cause creation left kids in charge of making it.

Episode 1, end.

Solo-Cast 1: Now with 100% Less Pandas

I, Ed Beers, would like to apologize for SEVERAL things bout this podcast. 1, sorry for the poor quality of the audio, still figuring the exacts out for using my handheld camera's mic in place of the profession mics the team proper uses. 2, I want to apologize for trying to do a solo pod-cast at near 3 am in the morning... That's just a bad idea all together even if you're nocturnal. 3, sorry for how lack luster the news I reported on was. And lastly, I apologize for me recording it Saturday evening and Sunday morning and only getting this all up by Tuesday. Do try to enjoy

The Wii U-Have got to be kiding me

Ed Beers

Well, it was bound to happen, Ed Beers here again with the news we would have up on a LUG-Cast but well, life keeps happening, hard. So, to try and keep up with gaming news (nearly) as it comes out. And the news of the moment is, of course, the Wii U finally having a price point and release date... Joy.

Nintendo announced this Thursday that the Wii U will be coming to stores this year, November 18th in the US, December 8th in Japan. It will come in two different packs, one bare bones 300 dollar pack that comes with the system, the gamepad, 8 gigs of internal flash memory, and all the cords you need to plug it in. The other pack is a 350 dollar pack, with 32 gigs instead of 8, comes with the series of mini-games full of reference to games you wish were in the launch titles Nintendo Land, and gives you a 10% digital discount on online purchases till 2014. Though they have not spoken to how much additional gamepads will cost in the US, there is a estimated cost in Japan roughly around 180 dollars US, but there isn't much worry over that since there's no talk yet of games that will use multiple pads for gimmicky I mean original inspired gameplay.

Now the box itself, from what I understand, the inner workings of the Wii U are suppose to be better, faster, and hold more than the aging last leg consoles PS3 and 360. That might be true, I would have several ways of checking that if any of the info on what's inside the box was confirmed, could compare and contrast like people have done with the image above of Arkham City Vs Arkham City: Armored Edition or whatever fancy name they've given it. I'll try to be fair and wait for actual fully finished gameplay for me to compare when it does come out, but till then, well consider what a internally powerful juggernaut the Wii failed to be I feel justified in my disbelief.

The system will be using at least single layered Blu-ray discs for their games which at least means we won't have another format war. However it feels that having the box play actual DVDs or Blu-rays just would detract from the true gaming focused machine that it is... Right... So tell me then Nintendo, more about this TVii program you are so proud of. That's right the Wii U will have a 'free service' that allows you to watch on your TV or on your gamepad shows from other services you already pay for, like Hulu, Netflix, or even TV recorded onto your home DVR... But nah having it play DVDs would just, you know, distract you from how game focused they are now.

I, have to be honest I do not get a lot of things about all of this. Why is it coming out in the US near a month before? Why does it not come out with any games (that are likely to be around 60 dollars per)? Why does it not come with any wii-motes or nunchucks which you may or may not need for many of these games? Do they think only people who bought a Wii will buy a Wii U? Do they not want new people to join in? Why do they not want their machine playing DVDs and Blu-ray discs but are fine with video and TV streaming? Why are people drooling over the idea of spending 300 to 350 plus tax on a system without a single REAL game? ... No I do not think of Nintendo Land as a real game. I mean sure, there's the whole talk of Bayonneta 2 coming to the system exclusively, but there's barely anything else that isn't just a specialized port of a pre-existing PS3 or 360 title. I don't get wanting a version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 where you can grab a mushroom and grow giant, the game's as bizarre as is with devils and orges flying around fighting bears. I mean I didn't really enjoy what they tried to do with the Wii, but I at least understood what they were going for, what they were trying to do. I don't even have that advantage to explaining the Wii U. I don't get the price or what Nintendo is trying to do with this... I don't hope that it does badly but I'm not actively rooting for it, sorry Ten-dog, We've been tight for a long time but, I just don't get this.