There is something exciting about the proposition of Call of Duty on the go. Sure, the game has been criticized for being formulaic as a first person shooter and lacking a storyline which gets you emotionally invested but it is fun. Isn't that what matters?
I figured the best way for me to relay my impressions is to report weekly. I received my order from newegg the day after official retail release in North America so consider me an early adopter. The following posts on this blog will go through my weekly experience with the game. The likes, dislikes, recommendations, updates from Nihilistic/Sony/Activision, etc. Recommendations will be in later posts as I get to 100% completion of all the modes.
Multi Player: I had issues with connectivity on my first few matches. Disconnects would abrubtly end matches and set me back to the lobby. I was able to get back into matches pretty quickly but obviously an annoyance if you are a first time player. There were a few occasions where the game would crash and go back to the live area screen with a prompt asking me to send a report. I did download patch 1.01 and I know patch 1.02 is in progress by Nihilistic/Sony/Activision. I called it a night since its possible a majority of these issues are due to server stress. In the morning, I played for about 45 minutes with no connectivity issues and crashes. I was able to level up from a rank of 2 to 8 pretty quickly and maintain my kill/death ratio that I would typically have playing the console version of the game. All the mainstay components of COD are there from a multiplayer prospective. Classes, Tags, Perks, 2 weapon layout, ranking system based on points collected, killstreaks, etc.
Single Player: I did not play much of the single player as I've haven't completed any of the single player campaigns on recent COD console games. The only ones I've finished are MW1 and MW2. I did the intro mission and the first mission on regular difficulty, earning a single star. Yes, I did die a few times trying to get accustomed to the controls and it did take some time getting used to it but persistence pays off. The video plays explaining the story of the first mission but to be honest, I had a hard time paying attention. If you do, I recommend an earplug because it is difficult to hear the audio through the Vita speakers. I went through the first mission in approximately 7 minutes. Onto the next mission.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Release Schedule through December for Vita
Compiled by UberTag from NeoGAF and subject to change
NEXT TUESDAY
Orgarhythm (digital)
Street Fighter x Tekken
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
OCTOBER 26th
DJMax Technika Tune (retail)
OCTOBER 30th
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
DJMax Technika Tune (digital)
Jet Set Radio (digital)
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Ragnarok Odyssey
Smart as...
NOVEMBER 6th
Dokuro (digital for Canada & Mexico)
Legends of War: Patton
When Vikings Attack (digital)
NOVEMBER 13th
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
NOVEMBER 20th
Persona 4: Golden
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
DECEMBER 11th
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
NEXT TUESDAY
Orgarhythm (digital)
Street Fighter x Tekken
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
OCTOBER 26th
DJMax Technika Tune (retail)
OCTOBER 30th
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
DJMax Technika Tune (digital)
Jet Set Radio (digital)
LEGO Lord of the Rings
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Ragnarok Odyssey
Smart as...
NOVEMBER 6th
Dokuro (digital for Canada & Mexico)
Legends of War: Patton
When Vikings Attack (digital)
NOVEMBER 13th
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
NOVEMBER 20th
Persona 4: Golden
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
DECEMBER 11th
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Friday, October 12, 2012
Transition to Portable Gaming - Enter the VitaDad!
I wrote a blog sometime ago about the transition that I'm making into portable gaming due to lifestyle changes.
Transition to Portable Gaming
What exactly were those changes? Consider the following (important factors underlined):
- Married with 3 children all under the age of 4
- Work in the financial industry so hours can be hectic
- Commute is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes one way into New York City on a bus
- Although its nice to have 3 HDTVs in the house, the primary TV is engaged by 3 little children who refuse to give up the TV controller
- A wife who would like to spend time watching Netflix, specifically Bollywood movies when the children are asleep. A wife that would like to spend time with her husband is a wonderful thing! (can't complain)
Does any of the above sound familiar or applicable to you? There aren't enough hours in the day to allocate to you and when it happens, there is ALWAYS something that comes up. There are a few constant things though. First, I will always have a long commute if I want to work in NY. Second, the wife and kids need me to be present in the living room and not hiding in my "man cave". Speaking of the "man cave", it's been turned into a play room. With my comfy couch and bus seat time, I'll get approximately two to three hours a day of handheld gaming versus two to three hours of console gaming a week. I think my platform choice is obvious considering those metrics.
Enter the term, VitaDads, which characterizes this type of gaming dad who wants to play console quality games but doesn't have the time or television to play it on. This term is another fine addition to VitaBro and VitaMuffin, identities that came from a Vita thread on the NeoGAF forums. As funny as all this sounds, individuals on the forum have raised their hand and have identified themselves being in the same situation. Yes, we are all young fathers and more importantly VitaDads!
Transition to Portable Gaming
What exactly were those changes? Consider the following (important factors underlined):
- Married with 3 children all under the age of 4
- Work in the financial industry so hours can be hectic
- Commute is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes one way into New York City on a bus
- Although its nice to have 3 HDTVs in the house, the primary TV is engaged by 3 little children who refuse to give up the TV controller
- A wife who would like to spend time watching Netflix, specifically Bollywood movies when the children are asleep. A wife that would like to spend time with her husband is a wonderful thing! (can't complain)
Does any of the above sound familiar or applicable to you? There aren't enough hours in the day to allocate to you and when it happens, there is ALWAYS something that comes up. There are a few constant things though. First, I will always have a long commute if I want to work in NY. Second, the wife and kids need me to be present in the living room and not hiding in my "man cave". Speaking of the "man cave", it's been turned into a play room. With my comfy couch and bus seat time, I'll get approximately two to three hours a day of handheld gaming versus two to three hours of console gaming a week. I think my platform choice is obvious considering those metrics.
Enter the term, VitaDads, which characterizes this type of gaming dad who wants to play console quality games but doesn't have the time or television to play it on. This term is another fine addition to VitaBro and VitaMuffin, identities that came from a Vita thread on the NeoGAF forums. As funny as all this sounds, individuals on the forum have raised their hand and have identified themselves being in the same situation. Yes, we are all young fathers and more importantly VitaDads!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Righting the Vita ship - Part II
In part I of this two part blog post, I discussed the need for BC (backwards compatible) parity and the "Pub Fund for Two" concept. One is a functional necessity while the other calls for a business development objective. Structurally, Sony is positioned to reach both goals if they are convicted long-term. Historically, the PlayStation brand of products have been supported for an average over seven years with some arguing that it overextends.
The next part of this two-part blog addresses identity. What is the PlayStation Vita? How does it differentiate itself from competing products? Why should I purchase a Vita? These are questions that a potential buyer will ask themselves before making a purchase. This blog will also address these purchase decisions and whether the current price of the product matches the value exhibited by the platform.
Vita: Finding Yourself
The identity of the PlayStation Vita is critical to it's marketing campaign. As a portable/handheld device, it will immediately draw direction comparisons and contrasts to iOS, Android, and rival platforms like the Nintendo 3DS. The Vita needs to market itself on it's core value propositions and not try to be the Swiss army knife of portable devices. Let Apple and Google fight each other in that market with iOS and Android. It doesn't make fiscal sense to directly compete. Apple and Google have created a new market for their type of business to flourish so you aren't going to eat into their base or profits anytime soon, if at all.
So PlayStation Vita, who are you?
The next part of this two-part blog addresses identity. What is the PlayStation Vita? How does it differentiate itself from competing products? Why should I purchase a Vita? These are questions that a potential buyer will ask themselves before making a purchase. This blog will also address these purchase decisions and whether the current price of the product matches the value exhibited by the platform.
Vita: Finding Yourself
The identity of the PlayStation Vita is critical to it's marketing campaign. As a portable/handheld device, it will immediately draw direction comparisons and contrasts to iOS, Android, and rival platforms like the Nintendo 3DS. The Vita needs to market itself on it's core value propositions and not try to be the Swiss army knife of portable devices. Let Apple and Google fight each other in that market with iOS and Android. It doesn't make fiscal sense to directly compete. Apple and Google have created a new market for their type of business to flourish so you aren't going to eat into their base or profits anytime soon, if at all.
So PlayStation Vita, who are you?
- You are a dedicated handheld gaming device who's primary function is to play games. All other functions like video, audio, e-book reader, etc .. are ancillary
- You offer console quality experiences on the go supplemented by budget titles through the following venues ->PS One, PlayStation Mobile, PS Minis, and PlayStation Portable
- You offer up the ability to remotely play select PS3 titles with more titles to be announced
- You offer cross platform functions like cross save, cross play, and cross buy
- You're design allows for the handheld to be used as an additional controller for select PS3 titles
- You have addressed one of the major design flaws of the original PlayStation Portable, two analog sticks
- You have taken some of the more important "network" features an implemented them as part of the Operating System -> friends lists, cloud saves, cross-game chat, party chart, auto-updates, etc.
Friday, October 5, 2012
TGS and Post TGS Announcements for Vita
What is or isn't presented at gaming conventions like TGS (Tokyo Game Show) might be indicative of the overall health of the gaming platform. It is less so today than it was five years ago with the advent of the internet but they are still very much attended and watched through web streams. Although it's easy to get this information from the web, I thought it would be good to collect all info and present in one spot.
(Gundam Breaker screenshots from the-magicbox.com)
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
Oboro Muramasa
Valhalla Knights 3
Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke Sequel
God Eater 2
Phantasy Star Online 2
Gundam Breaker
Demon Tribe (no screens)
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus (no screens)
Toukiden (no screens)
(Gundam Breaker screenshots from the-magicbox.com)
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
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Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus (no screens)
Toukiden (no screens)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Righting the Vita ship - part I
Intro
Although I feel its unnecessary at this point to write about this topic, the business side of me wonders what I would do if given the opportunity to resolve issues for Sony. After approximately seven months of being released in North America, there certainly have been lessons learned and steps I believe need to be taken to "right this ship".
Keeping the Base Happy
As of today, there have been roughly 2.5 to 3 million PlayStation Vitas sold globally. This means 2.5-3 million buyers of your product that have made a commitment and hopefully a long-term investment. You'll need to energize the base, as recently seen at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions last month. The base is typically your early adopters, the fans that have purchased the hardware and ample amount of software on day one. There is eternal optimism on the long term viability of the system and they are always looking for a reason to defend their purchase and are willing to promote the system by word of mouth. How does Sony bring those users in and revitalize them?
The first step is a consistent flow of backward compatible titles for the PSP as well as the PS One. This is not only an additional revenue stream but a much needed factor in Vita adoption. A large part of why PSP users have not upgraded to the PS Vita are (1) they've installed custom firmware and (2) their UMD discs are rendered useless. SCEJ did offer a UMD-to-Digital download program but it failed to launch largely due to the negative feedback received about the pricing model. This makes availability all the more important. However, games like Final Fantasy Type-0 and Crisis Core from Square Enix are not available in digital format and fans have been clamoring for it since the release of the PS Vita.
[As of 9/29/2012]
PSP digital titles - 392
PSP games on Vita store - 282
PSOne digital titles - 181
PSOne games on Vita store - 73
% PSP moved to Vita = 72%
% PSOne moved to Vita = 40%
Conclusion - the Vita must provide at least 90% parity with titles offered on the PSP digital stores. By the end of 2012, it should have 360 PSP titles available for download on the PSP games section of the Vita store. In addition, there must be at least 160 titles PS One titles. With 90% parity to what exists on the PSP digital store, future buyers of the hardware are assured a decent back catalog of titles.
Pub Fund for Two
One of the most innovative business decisions Sony has made in the last five years is the "Pub Fund". The "Pub Fund" is a funding initiative where smaller developers are given "funds" to create and co-market new and innovative content for the PS3/PSP/PSN. Some of the more prominent titles that have been created using the "Pub Fund" have been hits Joe Danger and Tales from Space: About a Blob. By all accounts, titles produced under this initiative have been a critical and commercial success.
It is time to extend this initiative to the PS Vita. If a game is given a "Pub Fund" allocation of $2 million to create content for the PSN on the PS3, I propose that this same developer be given an additional $500K-$1 million to port the content to the PS Vita with cross-play/cross-save functions (these allocations are estimations). This will allow the developer to hire additional resources and convert code in parallel thereby keeping to the original project timeline.
The argument can be made, why not just create exclusive content for the Vita? The PS3 has already plenty of content available on the PS Store. Yes. However, if the marketing and product strategy is to push cross play/buy/save, content must be on both platforms and there must be a top down policy to make this a priority. As much as I respect and understand Sony's focus on letting the developer create content on the platform it wants to create it on, this will fragment the same user-base it is actively marketing.
Conclusion - Through the "Pub Fund for Two" initiative as well as other creative business deals with larger publishers, Sony must make an internal target of having 75% of PSN content published at the same time for PS3 and Vita by end of 2013. Even with development and marketing shifting to the PS4, I see that percentage increasing to 90% by end of 2014.
Although I feel its unnecessary at this point to write about this topic, the business side of me wonders what I would do if given the opportunity to resolve issues for Sony. After approximately seven months of being released in North America, there certainly have been lessons learned and steps I believe need to be taken to "right this ship".
Keeping the Base Happy
As of today, there have been roughly 2.5 to 3 million PlayStation Vitas sold globally. This means 2.5-3 million buyers of your product that have made a commitment and hopefully a long-term investment. You'll need to energize the base, as recently seen at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions last month. The base is typically your early adopters, the fans that have purchased the hardware and ample amount of software on day one. There is eternal optimism on the long term viability of the system and they are always looking for a reason to defend their purchase and are willing to promote the system by word of mouth. How does Sony bring those users in and revitalize them?
The first step is a consistent flow of backward compatible titles for the PSP as well as the PS One. This is not only an additional revenue stream but a much needed factor in Vita adoption. A large part of why PSP users have not upgraded to the PS Vita are (1) they've installed custom firmware and (2) their UMD discs are rendered useless. SCEJ did offer a UMD-to-Digital download program but it failed to launch largely due to the negative feedback received about the pricing model. This makes availability all the more important. However, games like Final Fantasy Type-0 and Crisis Core from Square Enix are not available in digital format and fans have been clamoring for it since the release of the PS Vita.
[As of 9/29/2012]
PSP digital titles - 392
PSP games on Vita store - 282
PSOne digital titles - 181
PSOne games on Vita store - 73
% PSP moved to Vita = 72%
% PSOne moved to Vita = 40%
Conclusion - the Vita must provide at least 90% parity with titles offered on the PSP digital stores. By the end of 2012, it should have 360 PSP titles available for download on the PSP games section of the Vita store. In addition, there must be at least 160 titles PS One titles. With 90% parity to what exists on the PSP digital store, future buyers of the hardware are assured a decent back catalog of titles.
Pub Fund for Two
One of the most innovative business decisions Sony has made in the last five years is the "Pub Fund". The "Pub Fund" is a funding initiative where smaller developers are given "funds" to create and co-market new and innovative content for the PS3/PSP/PSN. Some of the more prominent titles that have been created using the "Pub Fund" have been hits Joe Danger and Tales from Space: About a Blob. By all accounts, titles produced under this initiative have been a critical and commercial success.
It is time to extend this initiative to the PS Vita. If a game is given a "Pub Fund" allocation of $2 million to create content for the PSN on the PS3, I propose that this same developer be given an additional $500K-$1 million to port the content to the PS Vita with cross-play/cross-save functions (these allocations are estimations). This will allow the developer to hire additional resources and convert code in parallel thereby keeping to the original project timeline.
The argument can be made, why not just create exclusive content for the Vita? The PS3 has already plenty of content available on the PS Store. Yes. However, if the marketing and product strategy is to push cross play/buy/save, content must be on both platforms and there must be a top down policy to make this a priority. As much as I respect and understand Sony's focus on letting the developer create content on the platform it wants to create it on, this will fragment the same user-base it is actively marketing.
Conclusion - Through the "Pub Fund for Two" initiative as well as other creative business deals with larger publishers, Sony must make an internal target of having 75% of PSN content published at the same time for PS3 and Vita by end of 2013. Even with development and marketing shifting to the PS4, I see that percentage increasing to 90% by end of 2014.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Vita Remote Play - update
One of the biggest factors in my purchase decision for the Vita was Remote Play. The Vita has the ability to map all input of a Dual Shock 3 controller so the possibilities were endless in trying to remotely play PS3 titles. Interest peaked when custom firmware users uploaded videos of the Vita playing titles like Battlefield 3 and Red Dead Redemption. There is still hope for this type of technology but it was sure slow to get off the ground.
The release of the Vita remote play saw limited support and by limited I mean using PSP remote play as a common denominator (ie Lair, Pixel Junk Monsters, etc). Suffice to say, the technology did not improve as it felt like a copy and paste effort from the PSP to the Vita. During TGS (Tokyo Game Show) 2011, Sony's Shuhei Yoshida demonstrated their flagship title Killzone 3 through Vita's updated Remote Play. It wasn't perfect but it was indicative of things to come. Unfortunately, it wasn't until Q3 of 2012 that this potential was realized. Four PS3 titles were patched. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD and God of War Collection (GoW I and GoW II). The only title that I've tried myself has been Ico and can confirm that the execution of Remote Play has been relatively flawless if using the PS3 has an access point. There isn't data yet that measures the latency of control input of the main character but it's been minimal to next to nothing. It greatly helps connectivity if the Vita is in close proximity to the PS3 and in my case, it was less than 10 feet.
Image quality, on the other hand, could improve. Even in the camera shots provided below, it's evident that there's still a bit of artifacts on the screen. It's not enough to detract you from playing this title through Remote Play but with better hardware in future PlayStation consoles, I an only see this improving with the integration of Gaikai.
(screenshots of Ico HD)
The release of the Vita remote play saw limited support and by limited I mean using PSP remote play as a common denominator (ie Lair, Pixel Junk Monsters, etc). Suffice to say, the technology did not improve as it felt like a copy and paste effort from the PSP to the Vita. During TGS (Tokyo Game Show) 2011, Sony's Shuhei Yoshida demonstrated their flagship title Killzone 3 through Vita's updated Remote Play. It wasn't perfect but it was indicative of things to come. Unfortunately, it wasn't until Q3 of 2012 that this potential was realized. Four PS3 titles were patched. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD and God of War Collection (GoW I and GoW II). The only title that I've tried myself has been Ico and can confirm that the execution of Remote Play has been relatively flawless if using the PS3 has an access point. There isn't data yet that measures the latency of control input of the main character but it's been minimal to next to nothing. It greatly helps connectivity if the Vita is in close proximity to the PS3 and in my case, it was less than 10 feet.
Image quality, on the other hand, could improve. Even in the camera shots provided below, it's evident that there's still a bit of artifacts on the screen. It's not enough to detract you from playing this title through Remote Play but with better hardware in future PlayStation consoles, I an only see this improving with the integration of Gaikai.
(screenshots of Ico HD)
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