Ever wonder how the game you love looks like when it first came out?
Here is a list of popular game video compilation over the years! Check them out! PS: Some videos could be rather long. Watch it when you have the time.
Halo
Metal Gear
Part 1
Part 2
FIFA Soccer
Final Fantasy
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Street Fighter
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
History of games are never boring! 🙂
Just watch this video! The future of multi-screen technology seems so fascinating!
Check out the video below which explains some of the technology used in above video!
If you still want more, check out this first video by Corning. Amazing how this advertisement is so captivating.
How I wish iPhone 5 looks just like the translucent mobile that is seen in this video!
By the way, those who are interested in the Electrochromic glass (the glass that can turn opaque and transparent at will), there is actually such a product by Samsung! Featured in the latest CES 2012, this Smart Window allows you to check twitter, recipes, flights, weather etc. Real cool stuff!
The multitouch panel featured in the video is also somewhat similar to Microsoft Surface.
Ok, the technology is still a bit far off from what is envisioned in the video. Nonetheless such surface may eventually be found in household in the future.
The seamless transfer of data between surfaces will be one of the main challenge. While Apple is actively trying to get you to buy into their entire ecosystem of Mac, iPad, TV, iPhone, Google is also doing the same with its Android, Google+ and suite of Cloud services. Microsoft is too trying to do this armed with its dominant market share of OS for PC, its Xbox game console and Window Phone 7.
Eventually at some point, a common protocol will have to be established to ensure that devices/screens are agnostic to the OS. That is an Apple iPhone should be able to communicate seamlessly with say an Android Phone. Until such standard has been established, it may be hard for us to reach the day where all their devices can converge and interact with each others.
The Beginning…
Ten years ago, if you ask anyone what mobile gaming is and they would probably think you are referring to the ‘Snake’ game on their Nokia phones. Java game came next with the release of color phones (for the younger reader, yes phone use to come with monochrome screen – see picture below) and little developer house started to mushroom developing these cool java games. Around the early 2000s,  the Symbian OS becomes dominant and a good number of Symbian games sprouted out amongst the java games.
Nokia’s N-Gage
Mobile gaming took off fairly quickly in Japan. By 2003, there were already a wide-variety of games available on the Japanese handset. For the rest of the world, we have Nokia N-Gage at that time. It was one of the first Mobile Device dedicated for gaming. However, with it’s high price tag and limited library of games, N-Gage didn’t really take off. Ok, try naming 10 popular titles from N-Gage. Erm Tomb Raider, Rayman…? Now name 10 popular games from Nintendo GBA. Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Wario…You get the point.
Furthermore, portable gaming devices such as Game Boy Advance greatly outsold the N-Gage at that time. People still prefer to have a separate device for gaming. So Nokia decided to stop producing handsets dedicated for gaming and instead overhauled N-Gage changing it into a gaming service compatible with several of its smartphone such as Nokie N96 and N85 by 2007.
Rise Of Touch-based Game on iPhone and Android
When iPhone came out in 2007, mobile games started to take off. It gave birth to companies like Rovio (makers of Angry Bird) and HalfBrick (maker of Fruit Ninja). Casual gaming is brought to a whole new level.
The entire keypad is removed. So playing games on mobile is via the touch screen which in some sense remove the barrier for the casual gamers who are not used to the idea of playing with a game pad. My mum can’t handle a PS3 controller but she plays Angry Bird with ease on her iPhone, swiping and launching bird off the catapult.
The PlayStation Phone!
Meanwhile, while every one is happily playing games on their touch screen Android, iPhone and iPad, gamers like me who is used to playing games on physical controller has to carry two devices with them, a PSP and a mobile phone. So when rumours of a Playstation Phone surface way back in 2006, I was excited about the handset. However, it took a while when Xperia Play finally launched in Singapore last April in 2011. Finally a handphone with a dedicated solid buttons for gaming! Not to mention the all familiar PlayStation X/O/Square and Triangle button!
The Xperia Play (Aka, the PlayStation Phone)
What we love:
The gamepad! The D-pad and all-familiar PlayStation buttons will make any PlayStation Fan (myself included) feel right at home! While I have a bit of problem with reaching my finger out to the shoulder button, overall, the keypads and buttons feels really good for the hands.
The speakers of the phone, to our surprise, produces quite good sound quality as well!
What we don’t like:
Instead of two analog stick found for PS controller, Sony placed in two circular touchpad. When I tried playing games with the touchpad, I find it a bit cumbersome for us as we need to slide over it a couple of time to turn our characters around or sometime the in-game camera will spin around too quickly for FPS game. It doesn’t work that well.
The 4-inch LED-backlit LCD screen, well not stellar, should be good enough for most people. However, with iPhone’s Retina Display and Samsung’s AMOLED, this older LED-backlit screen seems to lose it luster of yesteryear.
Games
I got a chance to try out some of the games on a Xperia Play. Among them were PES 2011, Minecraft and Battlefield Bad Company 2. While the game library isn’t impressive at the moment, with the device being PlayStation certified, there is a chance that more classic PS games may start to surface for Xperia Play. Love to be able to replay FFXII on the Xperia Play!
PES 2011 on Xperia Play is definitely a better playing experience than on a normal Android phone which lacks the keypad. Playing PES2011 on a standard Android Phone which uses a on-screen keypad is really a nuisance as my thumbs block out about 20% of the screen. Ok may I have fat fingers but I am just not a fan of on screen keypad. On the other hand, the Xperia Play’s entire suite of buttons really improves the experience for PES 2011. . At times, you would feel that you are playing a PSP only to realize that you are playing on the phone when someone calls you and the phone rings. However, the touchpad were really quite bad for playing the game and I end up using the D-pad.
When I was playing Battlefield Bad Company 2, IÂ had problem with the two circular touchpad again. Either I move too much to the left, or my crosshair just have problem going to where I want. This is the major complain that I have. Other than that, after playing it for a while, I got a hang of it and the game play gets better.
Cloud Gaming
OnLive on Xperia Play! For those who don’t know about OnLive (it is currently only available in the US and UK), it is a cloud gaming solution. Basically, with an internet connection, you can get to play titles like Assassin’s Creed Revelation, L.A. Noire on your mobile devices. In cloud gaming, the servers in the cloud do the hard work of graphic processing while delivering the rendered results as a streaming video to your connected devices. Your mobile devices simply act as an input device, of which your inputs are sent via the internet, and a display.
Although OnLive is already on Android, having it on Xperia Play would mean that you can play your favourite console games with a decent gamepad on your mobile! Isn’t it cool? While the only thing is that it is not available yet in Singapore. Keeping our finger crossed on that one.
Last word…
Gaming on your Mobile Phone has come a long way since the time of playing Snake on Nokia Handset. With better graphics and processing power that are inbuilt in today’s modern smartphone, gaming on your mobile phone is now gaining pace. Furthermore, people are spending more time now with their smartphone.
With PS Vita now released, there are times when I just wish Sony could smack in a GSM module into the beast and have cellphone functionality for PS Vita. Well waiting for that to happen, Xperia Play would be a good choice for Android users who is keen on a better gaming experience.
Perhaps for the casual gamers who are happy with smashing the angry birds or slashing fruits with their finger, a standard touchscreen Android Phone or iPhone should satisfy your mobile gaming needs.
For those with Kinect, Dance Central should be one of the title that you are familiar with. The first Dance Central was a breakthrough as it is the first full-body motion dancing game ever made. It leapfrogged this genre of game and shadowed its predecessor like Dance Dance Revolution.
However, the game wasn’t really complete and it has received a number of complains from gamers. Among them includes the lack of two-players and online mode. Dance Central 2 attempts to address some of those issues.
After playing Dance Central 2 for a week plus, we have decided to give it a GT score of 8.5. To cut the chase, let us drill down to the 2 major reasons on why you should buy this game.
Two-players mode
What makes Rock Band popular? It is the ability to play with your friends and participating together in the game. This is exactly what Dance Central 1 lacks in.
With Dance Central 2, up to two players can now dance together in front of your Kinect. So is this really that good? Well based on our experience, with two players tangoing, you really need alot more space. So those with tight space constraint, you might not get to enjoy the two-player mode as much. Remember the epic ‘Father-smacks-daughter-while-playing-Kinect’ video? You can expect to see more of such videos in time to come!
Overall, the experience is still great. Having to play with your family or friends together makes it easier to break the ice and get you on the dance floor. Also it makes the second player look less stupid as he is now actually playing unlike in DC1.
Break it Down
We have tried Michael Jackson: The Experience before and we notice the stark difference between how this game teaches you how to dance VS Dance Central. Already Dance Central was a clear winner. However, in Dance Central 2, the developers took great pain to make it even easier for noobs dancer like us to learn how to dance.
Firstly, voice command. Players can now choose to skip or go back to the previous move easily with voice command. Surprisingly, Xbox understand our Singlish accent better than Apple’s Siri. You can also slow down, speed up and even take a video footage of yourself!
Based on our experience, learning the dance is really simpler! Although it may be better if they can allow us to see different views of the dancer. After all, it is a 3D avatar right? Can’t we just rotate them and get a better view for certain dance step?
Conclusion
The songs collection, the improved Break It Down mode and the two-player mode is what makes this game stands out . What we feel lacking is still the ability to play online. Nonetheless, we still recommend this game as one of the must-get for Xbox 360.
iPhone 4S is sure attracting lots of attention online. This all new iPhone while similar to its iPhone 4 physically, is actually packed with more power internally. Four main features to look out for:
If you have a iPhone 4, probably it will probably be better to wait for the real next-gen iPhone 5 which is rumoured to be announced Q1 next year.
Here’s another more in-depth review from CNET for iPhone 4s
Siri
Here’s a video that showcased the potential problem with Siri for Singaporean. Siri doesn’t understand accent well! I really pity the Japanese in the video..
Spoiler: Jump to 0:57 and see how Siri misinterpret this Japanese.
Of course, it is make for the American and British accent but what about user outside this two countries? May Mr Brown’s Simi will serve us better!
Siri has a sense of humor too! See the video below:
When is iPhone 4S coming out?
iPhone 4s is coming to Singapore on all three telcos on the 28th of October 2011. Check out the individual telcos for their iPhone 4S offer.
I can’t stop thinking of Heavy Rain when I first saw this trailer for L.A. Noire. Of course, this game is not surprisingly similar to GTA since it is developed by Rockstar Games. I am glad that Rockstar moved away from GTA IV. The novelty of an open world concept whereby you can commit all sorts of vices is dying off. Personally, I find that chasing cars, killing people and racing on GTA is getting mundane and repetitive with GTA IV. I stopped at the 20th mission when I keep failing to chase down a car and having to repeat it all over again.
So now Rockstar wants you to be the good guy. In L.A. Noire, you play as Cole Phelps, an LAPD officer in the turbulent time of 1947 Los Angeles. Instead of having mission to kill a certain gang leader or to fight off some gangster, you are now presented with cases. As a detective, it is your job to interrogate suspect, interview witness and gather evidences to bring justice to L.A.
Tech
The facial express is really sophisticated and the level of details is simply amazing. Compared to GTA IV, this is definitely a giant step forward. I had to compare this with Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain.
The level of details seen in Heavy Rain, published about a year ago, managed to achieve fairly realistic facial expression as well. However, the two technologies used by Quantic and Rockstar are slightly different. In Rockstar implementation, there is a mix of 3D video with mesh animation whereas in Quantic Dream is purely mesh animation. In other words, what you see on Rockstar is essentially a 3D video of the facial expression captured by the cameras.
Gameplay
In this game, you have to solve crimes ranging from homicide to arson. While interrogating suspect and gathering evidence is part of a case itself, Rockstar also dishes out the regular high-action shooting and chasing mission. A fresh game compared to the usual GTA. And yes, this game is also having the same open world concept. You are free to explore the city. Check out the review by IGN below.
Michael Jackson: The Experience for PS Move and Kinect is due middle of this month! Personally, while I am excited about this game, I will probably not get the game immediately when it is released.
First of all, for the PS Move version, I am suspecting that the experience is going to be similar to the Wii version released in November last year. With only the capability to track the movement of an arm, I doubt the PS3 version will be any difference from the Wii where the player can perform the ‘dance’ with just a a controller in their hand. For a dancing game, this is unacceptable. The PS3 version would definitely has a better graphics. Till this stage, it is also not known if the PS3 version will support the karaoke-like feature as seen in the Kinect version. My bet is that the Move version of the game is going to be pale in comparison to its Kinect counterpart
Yes the Kinect version! As a disclaimer, I should point out that I am not a fan of Xbox nor do I play the Halo series. I have both the PS3 and Xbox 360 system. But to be honest, this game may look a lot better for Kinect than for PS Move. After the success of Dance Central (Harmonix is working on the second Dance Central as we are speaking), gamers like me are confident of what Kinect can deliver as a platform for dance game. However, we can’t assume that Ubisoft can deliver the same quality as Harmonix which after all is a veteran in making such games.
The Kinect version includes a karaoke feature whereby you will sing a portion of MJ’s song during the performance. While this maybe a bane to some who don’t like singing, this could probably be an option that can be turned off. For those who are into getting special editions of game, MJ: The Experience has a Collector’s Edition which features MJ T-shirt, poster and a microphone.
This is an extremely realistic live-action fan-made trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. For a moment or two, I thought it was another edited video of shots that are ripped off from the game but hell no! This is a real live action video! The camera angle, actors, scene and everything feel almost like the real game. Ok maybe the actor for Colonel Shepherd is needs a bit of workout. Most of the scenes are just too familiar to gamers who played COD Modern Warfare 1 and 2.
This video is so close to the real thing that some people actually believe that it is a teaser for the upcoming COD: Modern Warfare 3. To be honest, I will totally believe it if I had not known that this is a fan-made video. While no release date has been confirmed for COD: MW3, do not expect the title to be released anytime soon. We will provide you with any updates as soon as we get it. Subscribe to our new twitter page to get the updates.
Sony Ericsson’s announcement of the Xperia Play (aka the PSP Phone) does not come as a surprise as the online community has already been actively discussing about it long before the official announcement. The Xperia Play runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and user can play PSP game titles. But before you start rejoicing and sell away your PSP on GameTrader.SG, do note that Xperia Play does not come with a UMD drive.This means owner of current UMD PSP games cannot port their game over to Xperia Play.
Apart from this, do not expect Xperia Play to have a whole suite of the PSP game library. Games for Xperia Play must be converted for its Android OS and thus the PSP games from the current PS Store will not work for Xperia Play. Instead of going to PS Store, user will have to go to a separate Sony Ericsson Online App Store.
Comparing Sony’s attempt to Nokia’s N-Gage, I feel that Xperia Play may be able to garner more buyers than its N-Gage counterpart. N-Gage’s failure is caused mainly by the lack of support from game developer resulting in a poor library of titles. The greatest rival to date for Play is ironically the recently announced NGP (Next-Generation PSP). With all the attention now mainly on NGP, developers may unlikely produce titles for this new device. While we are not sure whether the conversion process of PSP titles to Android-friendly ones will require much work from the game developer, if that is true, Xperia Play may have trouble tapping on the current PSP library of games. Developers may simply feel that such investment is not needed.
To me, the price tag will now be an important factor. If Xperia Play which is running Android (my current favorite OS) comes at a competitive price compared to say Samsung’s Android phone or iPhone, I may consider getting one when my mobile plan expires. However, if the price is $150-$250 more than a usual decent android smartphone, I will rather get a NGP when it comes out.
For more information on Xperia Play, check out Engadget.com.
