Wasting Time: Weekend of March 11th

This week was quite a big week for new releases for you nerds out there, and I ended up partaking in just about all of them. The two 100 pound elephants in the entertainment room this week were the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the first season of Game of Thrones, while the other being the exciting conclusion to one of the greatest sci-fi adventures to hit gaming, Mass Effect 3. If medieval backstabbing and intergalactic conversation wheels are not your thing, Capcom's newest fighting game crossover Street Fighter X Tekken was released this week as well. My wallet cried out to me when I dished out the cash for all three this week, so here's whats up:

Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360 version)

Bioware's Mass Effect series is easily one of the best franchises in this generation of gaming, with the second entry being one of my favorite games of all time. It was a no-brainer that the third entry in the series was a must buy for me, seeing as I am a huge fan of elegant sci-fi worlds and adventures. I put about three hours into the game so far and have been impressed with what I've witnessed. Mass Effect 3 basically feels like the last game but with some notable enhancements in the shooting physics, the health system, and the presentation.

Shooting mechanics feel more solid this time around with guns packing more of a punch when fired. Bioware adopted a health system similar to Halo's where an armor bar and health bar represented by four quadrants are displayed on screen; once the armor bar depletes, the quadrants on the health bar start to drop and will not recharge until health packs are picked up. The way Bioware opens and presents the story to the player makes more of an impact this time around, making the player invest in the motivations of Shepard far more than the previous two did. The biggest letdown I've witnessed is the inability of the game to properly transfer your created Shepard's face into ME3 if you started with ME1, thus forcing you to recreate your face that never really looks the same. I'm really looking forward to playing more.

Street Fighter X Tekken (Xbox 360)

Typically I am not a fan of fighting games, with the exception of the Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur series. It isn't that I dislike fighting games, it is just that the value relies solely on competitive play, and the fighting game community is BRUTAL. Playing fighting games online (especially Capcom fighters) can be extremely discouraging for new players due to how dedicated die hard fans are to mastering the game and ensuring victory. Plus, I feel like dishing out the cash for an expensive arcade stick is sort of a requirement for any player to be able to properly compete on the online battlefield. Lag has always been an issue for online play too and SFxT is no stranger to input lag. Still, I've been wanting to pick a fighting game to dedicate myself to and attempt to become good at and this game is the one I picked.

The game itself looks great, animates very well, and introduces a new fighting system that isn't just another cash-in on the same old Street Fighter IV engine. The Tekken characters actually play quite a bit different and require a whole different approach to attacking your opponent. The need for a compatible duo of fighters is much stronger than in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, so experimenting with all of the fighters is a must. I found myself performing much better in this game than SFIV and MvC3 on the single player front, but online I still cannot win a single ranked match. I'm trying not to become discouraged too much and end up selling the game, but I can honestly say I am pretty frustrated that I cannot find anybody online around my own skill level to play and have fun with. We'll see how I feel when I sink more time into the game.

Game of Thrones (Blu-ray)

I am a sucker for medieval battles, swords and bows, kings and queens and giant battlefields. Even though I have not read any of George R. R. Martin's novels, I have been really looking forward to watching Game of Thrones. Seeing as I do not have HBO (nor do I intend to), I had to unfortunately wait for a DVD release until I could experience this groundbreaking series. Now that I have my hands on it and am currently 7 episodes in, I can happily say that the show certainly lives up to the hype. The actors are all fantastic and seeing Sean Bean on the screen again as a medieval solider is exciting. The cinematography is gorgeous and the production values match those of a 100 million dollar Hollywood blockbuster. The Blu-ray presentation is fantastic with great sound, breath-taking HD transfer, and a ton of extras. What I was not expecting was how explicit the show is and how often times it can be uncomfortable to watch. Game of Thrones is littered with explicit sex scenes, nudity, rape, incest, gore and uncomfortable situations. As shocking as the show may sometimes be, it all makes sense in context and time period and presents itself in a way that the viewer can easily swallow. I've been rather addicted to Game of Thrones and I will be sad when the season ends, knowing I will have to wait another year until I get more.

One release this week that I'm interested in but didn't get around to was the Blu-ray release of Tarsem Singh's The Immortals. The film's reviews didn't fare so well, but I've heard the visual style is outstanding (which is to be expected coming from Singh) and that if not taken too seriously it can be a fun film. I'll give it a look later this upcoming week.

Digging into the Playstation Vita: Part 2

The OS:

Anybody with an Android phone will feel right at home on the Vita’s operating system, which closely resembles most smart phone and tablet devices. Many functions typically found on most smart phones (including iPhones) are implemented in some shape or form into the Vita OS as well. For example, if the user wants to re-arrange the app icons on the “desktop” and edit/delete them as well, you can do so by holding your finger down on the touch screen until an editing mode appears and allows you to play around with the apps, which works the same on both iOS and Android devices as well. Sliding your finger up or down will switch pages and allow you to view more apps on the device. Sliding your finger left or right will switch pages to already launched apps and even allow you to view a screen that shows everything currently running on the Vita in one multitasking menu. If you want to edit the background colors or add wallpapers to the background, you can do so by holding your finger down on the screen to bring up the editing menu and tap a background design function. You can even have each page of the Vita’s menu display a different color or different wallpaper as well, but each added page resets the background to the Vita’s default, which means you will need to re-edit the background for each new page, which can be annoying.

Each Vita function displays as a floating bubble on the screen. When a bubble is touched, a launch page pops up giving you the option to launch the app, view downloadable content, visit associated web pages, view PSN store links associated with the app, and view the app’s e-manual. This all-in-one screen makes it very easy for the user to find everything they need associated with the game in question, which I like quite a bit; no longer will you need to scour the PSN store looking for the game or it’s DLC. Games still need to be installed onto the system and OS similar to the PS3, but this time load times are much quicker and everything is done automatically. The OS also includes a handy screen shot feature that allows you to take in-game screen shots by holding the PS home button and the start button together. These photos are added to the Vita’s photo galleries and can be edited and uploaded to social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Vita’s operating system includes many of the functions you will see on most smart phone and tablet devices. Your typical functions like photo viewing, music player, web browser, camera applications, and video are all here on the Vita. The applications made famous by modern gaming consoles are included too, like Trophy support, various chat functions, and content managers for PC integration. The Vita also includes remote play support for cross-compatible PS3 games, a nifty Welcome Park app that teaches new users how to use the Vita’s various features, and of course the PSN store as well. As you can see, the Vita has a pretty full-featured set of tools. I would have liked the Vita’s settings menu to be a little more full featured (some functions seem to be missing or thrown into some other app’s menus) and Playstation Network functions a little easier to find.

Not all of the apps built into the Vita are high-quality though. The web browser likes you load in data as you scroll down the pages, so viewing web pages can be sort of a choppy experience. The camera functions do not really give you a whole lot of tools to play with besides your typical bare-bones features. The PSN store does not seem to utilize some of the cooler functions found on the PS3, like Playstation Plus support, but it does the job well and future updates could correct this. I seem to not be able to display album artwork on the Vita’s music app and the organization of the menus do not make the player’s interface very attractive to use like the ones found on iPods and Zunes. The Facebook and Twitter apps actually go above and beyond and give the user an experience other than your typical smart phone by giving an all-new attractive interface and quicker navigation.

Overall, the Vita’s OS is pretty full-featured and easy to use, but folks who are new to the OS systems found on smart phones and tablets may have a hard time adjusting to some of the more advanced functions. New users may have difficulty setting up the Vita for the first time since a goofy little infinite loop occurs when users attempt to integrate their PSN accounts, but the OS will not allow it until a system update is performed; the user basically has to choose to not use their PSN account, create a new temporary account, download the update, delete the temporary account, and THEN sign into PSN before it works. Not all of the included apps function as well as I would like, but I’m sure Sony will implement many new OS enhancements later down the road. Out of the box, the Vita’s operating system performs quickly and accurately and should not gather too many complaints.

The Games:

The Playstation Vita launched with a total of 25 games, some of them PSN exclusive (Escape Plan, Super Stardust Delta) and I currently own four of them with a fifth game coming in the mail. So far I own Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and Rayman Origins (I have Hot Shots Golf coming in the mail). The majority of the launch titles are fairly well reviewed with only a small number of them that didn’t fare so well in critics’ eyes (Dungeon Hunter: Alliance and Shinobido 2 being two of them) so the launch lineup for the Vita is a fairly good one. Lets get into the games I’ve had experience with so far.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is yet another enhanced version of the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden. The game is technically the same as the PS3’s Sigma, but this time some touch screen controls were added along with a new mission mode. Honestly, I found the new touch controls to be a bit useless, but thankfully they’re all optional. The game looks and plays just as well as it did before, but the troublesome camera still exists. Any gamer who has not experienced this classic action game will certainly not want to pass this one up.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a title I’ve always wanted to play but just never got around to it. I absolutely loved the Dreamcast version of Marvel vs Capcom 2 so I decided to pick up MvC3 as one of the Vita launch titles so I could finally get some time with it. I’m not much of a fighting game fan, but I try to be; the community is so hard to fit into and modern fighters have a huge learning curve. From my limited time with the game, it seems very faithful to the console counterparts from what I can tell. The game looks gorgeous, animates well, and has a lighting quick framerate. Some of the backgrounds do not animate much, so I’m not sure if the console versions were similar, but Capcom may have slightly scaled back on the backgrounds animating like they did with the 3DS Super Street Fighter IV; although, seeing as I have never played the console version, I cannot confirm this. The game controls well, includes all of the modes found in the console versions, and performs pretty well online. Any fan of fighting games may want to look into it.

Next up is Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the game I was looking forward to the most out of the Vita’s launch lineup. Coming back disappointed from Uncharted 3, I didn’t really know what to expect out of Golden Abyss, especially since it is developed by someone new (Bend Studios). To my surprise, Vita’s Uncharted adventure is a very faithful one. The game looks very similar to the original game, controls as you would expect, and has a campaign that lasted a little longer than the one found in Uncharted 3. The only problem is that some of the touch controls are forced on the player and can be sort of annoying, like the need to finish a melee attack up with a finger stroke on the touch screen. Thankfully, most of the touch controls are optional in Golden Abyss. Collectables are handled differently this time around too, which has Drake taking pictures and solving hidden puzzles as well as finding treasure. I did finish the game (which took me around 9 hours) and found it to be a very enjoyable game compared to the last three, and somewhat more enjoyable than Uncharted 3. Just do not expect massive set pieces out of this one.

Seeing as Rayman Origins is considered one of the best games of last year and I have yet to play it, I picked it up on the Vita. A platformer of this type feels very good on a handheld so I figured quick pick up and play sessions would work well with Rayman Origins, and it does. The gorgeous high resolution artwork has not been lost at all on the Vita’s screen and the framerate is as silky smooth as ever. The tight platforming controls work great on both the analog stick and the d-pad while all of the game’s content (with some Vita exclusive additions) all happens to be here. Even though the game’s price tag is $10 higher than the console versions, the small level structure works well for a handheld, so the Vita version has some appeal for on-the-go gaming.

I’ve spent a little under two weeks with the Playstation Vita so far and I am still rather impressed by it. Only time will tell whether or not the handheld will perform as strong as a Nintendo DS or even better than it’s predecessor. If Sony does intend to keep Vita owners out of a gaming drought and have the handheld widely supported with quality software, the Vita may end up being the ultimate gamer’s handheld.