Jax is an avid gamer since young. Starting from SUper Mario on NES, he discover his passion for the world of video gaming. Currently a PS3 and Xbox 360 gamer, Jax is actively looking for the 'next better game'. Jax is also the chief editor for GameTrader.SG blog.
Sonic the Hedgehog is back with a game of his own! After the success of Street Fighter 4, Sega is hopeful about releasing a new Sonic game base on the old 2D platformer concept. Being a fan of the Sonic series, I am quite excited about this new game. I had previously played Sonic 1, 2,3 and Sonic and Knuckles on my Sega Genesis way back in the 90s. It has been my favourite game on Sega Genesis ever since. Each new Sonic game introduced new and interesting features. In Sonic 2, you can dash (yes dashing is an exciting feature, you can’t do it in Sonic 1 -_-“) and it supports multiplayer! Ok not that kind of online multiplayer games that we see today. For the young people out there, Sega Genesis do not have an internet connection…oh man…do we even have internet at that time? Ok anyway, the second player can get to control an invincible Tails(an orange two-tail fox). He never dies and will just keep getting respawned after he dies.
And in Sonic 3, the playable sidekick Tails can even fly and give Sonic a lift! We just love Tails…and did I mention he never dies? And in “Sonic and Knuckles”, you get to control a new character Knuckles, who can glide in the air and even scale walls. Ok so I was eagerly anticipating this game but wait, Tails and Knuckles are not in the game?!??! Unfortunately Sonic is the only playable character! It is like going back to square one! I tried my hand on the demo today and somehow feel that Sonic 4 is more of a HD remake of the Sonic 1. Enemies remain very similar to that of Sonic 1. Maybe this is what Sega associate brand manager Ken Balough mean by ‘staying true to its root‘. To me, however, Sonic’s movement feels sluggish. The only thing that I like is the new ‘homing’ feature where Sonic will home onto a target.
Bosses from this game are also taken from the previous Sonic games. Overall, the graphic certainly improved, but hey, 16-bit Sega Genesis VS PS3, Xbox 360? It just isn’t fair. This game is also facing possible Boycotting from Fans according to 1up.com. And I will be joining them too. Somehow over the years, I now prefer Sonic in a go-Kart, or Sonic with a tennis racket.
I remember watching a funny clip on Sonic and Mario from CollegeHumour. Enjoy the video below:)
5313 km away an exciting party for gamers is ending today. It is the Tokyo Game Show 2010 which runs from 16 September to 19 September . Like a child left out of a party, I cannot get first hand news from the TGS 2010 and had to look through the net for any updates. Some interesting upcoming games were showcased at the show. I will now provide a run through of these titles:)
1. Ni no Kuni
This game is a team-up between Studio Ghibli producer and Level-5, a Japan based game developer. There is a PS3 as well as a Nintendo DS version for this game. Studio Ghibli is well known for creating wonderful animated films such as Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. Ni No Kuni has a rather sad story line. It follows the adventure of a 13-year old boy who mother died suddenly. In order to revive her, he heeds the advice of a fairy and enter a parallel world called “Ninokuni”. For any who had watched Ghibli Studio’s production, the scene of the game has an uncanny resemblance to other Studio Ghibli’s film. As a matter of fact, the studio has been employing computer 3D graphic technology in some scenes of their animated film for some years. This may explain why some of the scenes of Ni no Kuni has flavours of Studio Ghibli’s animated film. The DS version is scheduled to be released this holiday season while the PS version will only be out next year.
2. The Last Guardian
This beautiful game about the friendship between a boy and a giant creature (that looks like a dog and eagle) named Trico is set to warm the heart of the player. Hmmm, but I do wonder what kind of game can the developer made that surround just these two characters. While it is announced that this game is going to be an action-adventure puzzle game, I hope that this game will not just be a level of puzzle after another. We will have to wait till late 2011 for this game to be released.
3. Metal Gear Solid Rising
Snake has retired but can Raiden bring new life to the MGS series? In MGS: Rising we get to slash enemies playing as ‘Ninja’ Raiden. The ‘free slicing’ mode allows the player to cut through space freely. The physics seen in the video above is really cool! For all you MGS fans out that, this game is due 2011 on Xbox 360 and PS3.
4. Deus ex:Human Revolution
For those who prefer the English version, here is the link.
This game is the third part of the action game series Deus Ex by British video game developer Eidos Interactive (it was later bought over by Square-Enix). Just watching the video makes me wonder whether this is a game or movie. This title is available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
5. Final Fantasy Versus XIII
This is a video leak from TGS 2010 for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In this video, we can only have a very vague idea of what this Action-RPG game is going to be like. A scene of the player slashing a behemoth was shown in this trailer. It gives us a rough idea of the kind of slash and kill game play that FF versus XIII is going to be. Instead of the usual turn-based attack of FFXIII, now I really get to cut down a real behemoth! Cool!
6. God of War: Ghost of Sparta
GOW is now on PSP! We don’t have to wait long for this one, it is going to be released this coming year end holiday.
7. Gran Turismo 5
More video released for TGS 2010. Get ready to be blown off by the new stunning visual effects! GT5 is out end of this year.
8. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
A revive of the Castlevania franchise, this new title has Hideo Kojima’s input as an advisor. Looking to be a cross between Devil May Cry and God Of War, we will see soon whether this game can indeed revive the Castlevania series around October of this year when it is released.
Going 3D?
Sony who is pushing for 3D gaming in TGS 2010 even had a 3D panel at TGS 2010. Currently, Xbox 360 is unable to serve 3D content to players unlike PS3. But wearing a pair of glasses and the need to burn a hole in your pocket to get that 3D TV may put off players who are thinking of going into 3D gaming. Especially with the ‘glasses-less’ Nintendo 3Ds coming out probably before next April, players will be spoilt. Wearing glasses to play game? No way! Well, it might be still too early to see whether 3D gaming to kick off. But until the price of 3D TV drops, it is likely to be a barrier for most gamers to go 3D.
So that’s it. A round-up of the games featured in TGS 2010. Of course there are games that I have not covered. Among them we have, Asura’s Wrath, Yakuza: Of the End, Fable III, Killzone III, Monster Hunter Portable, Patapon 3, Tokyo Jungle, Dance Evolution and many more. Darn…they should have a Singapore Game Show too. I guess our gaming industry is just not matured enough.
The video below shows the possible future games we could be seeing with the all new PS move due released on the 15th of September in Singapore!
I like the chameleon demo (3:05) where the person ‘moves’ around the tree branches as a chameleon. The movement looks intuitive to me and is definitely novel. The other demo at 4:47 is the ability of PS Move to create the skeleton for the upper body movement. However, how far would game developers be able to make full use of this technology is still pretty much unknown. A point to note too is that in some of the demo, there is a need for two PS Move controllers. This mean that Sony may have a problem with pricing for the upcoming war with Microsoft Kinect which needs only a single Kinect Sensor Device.
Also few game titles have been announced so far that make use of the PS Move interface such as Little Big Planet 2 and Sorcery. However, not all of these games required PS Move. Some of which is PS Move Featured meaning having the PS Move controller is optional.
With all the marketing hype about the PS Move, (Sony even engaged some kawaii girls to promote PS Move, see video below), I was contemplating whether to get one myself so I went online to look at the games offered for PS Move. Sadly, none of them prove to be promising enough and I began to wonder whether PS Move is really going to change the way we play games.
I was at Comex today and chanced upon a demo of PS Move! Although I didn’t get to play it, the demo was not really inspiring and did not entice me to pre-order from the booth.
The reason is that the two games I saw were unimpressive and looked like a Wii game to me. The first game was “Start The Party!” where I saw a kid swiping flies with the PS Move controller. The game seems so Wii-like and uninteresting. Perhaps it can keep your kids entertain for a while. Sony’s attempt at entering the market cannot depend on game like this and they would have to find game developers who can make use of PS Move to make novel family-oriented games.
The other game I saw was called “Kung Fu Rider”. Basically it is a game where you control a guy on an office chair cruising down the street of perhaps HongKong (judging from the background). The player has to keep shaking the controller up and down for the person to move. Other than the wacky expressive character in the game, I feel that this game is again too Wii-like for my taste.
Anyway the pre-order was sold out! Wow…Singaporean sure have the money!
To sum it up, PS Move needs a breakthrough game that can utilize the new controller in a way we’ve never seen before. It should be able to change the way we perceive game playing and truly bring a new experience to the gamers. I would patiently await the day for this game before jumping onto the bandwagon!
I remember watching a funny clip on Sonic and Mario from CollegeHumour. Enjoy the video below:)
