It Only Does...

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Sony has been making a big deal with their "It only does everything campaign". Today I want to examine some of the PS3 won't do. So not only does it not do everything, it does less today than last week, last year, and since launch.

• PS2 - Nope. First there was full hardware based backwards compatibility. Sony removed that and said, well most games will play using software based backwards compatibility. Then Sony removed that feature. WTF? I mean they have the software, yes they would have to maintain it and fix bugs, but don't they have to do that anyways with the PS1 games they support via PSN?
• SACD - Think of this as a CD in DVD form to get much higher quality. Adoption is low, so Sony just killed PS3 support for it.
• Other OS - The most recent change to date.

Here's the thing. With the first change, backwards compatibility, consumers were informed that this feature was not present. In fact, I have a launch 60 GB for this reason. As for the other two, taking away features that a console had, this seems just plain wrong.

Sony sites security concerns. This is using fear, uncertainty and doubt to have consumers just accept the change. It is crap. The console has been hacked. You cannot undo that. It only took over 3 years to do it and hardware modification. I hear people say, well it is about pirated game. Bull.

The BluRay disc it self could be copied, why not disable the BluRay drives? Furthermore, someone could download a hack, so why not pull the web browser as well. Oh and what if someone finds an open port they can exploit, should Sony remove WiFi and Ethernet support?

I'm pissed off. I was hoping this was simply an Aprils Fools joke. Looks like I'm a fool for believing Sony wouldn't renege on their promises. They held out all of 222 days after having a rep say that. Now I know reps can be miss informed, but I would have expected a retraction much earlier.

Telling me, I can either use Other OS or play BluRay but not both is simply not acceptable.

Especially when your tag line is, "It only does everything."

Warhawk Tournament

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Earlier today, Dylan Jobe, president of Lightbox Interactive (and former member of Incognito Entertainment, developers of Warhawk), announced a new tournament on the PlayStation Blog.

In Dylan's post he said "Many of us here in the States have been spending way too much time staring at our brackets so we’re opting not to do a traditional 'bracketed' tournament based on teams or clans. Instead, we’re going to make this competition more accommodating of the individual player by hosting special Capture the Flag Servers that players can join and play on. These servers will have their stats tracked separately for the duration of the competition, specifically Points earned ...  [and] the top 50 players that have earned the most Points on these designated servers will win the competition."

Now, this tournament is obviously designed to get players to return to Warhawk, so that the announcement of Dylan's next project (unofficially named 'Starhawk') will reach more people. 

But so far it doesn't appear to be working.

Many people are disappointed. Several years ago the Global Gaming League hosted an Official tournament, and everyone on the winning team was rewarded with a "champions blade."

This competition will end much the same. The winners will receive a champions blade (exactly like the 2007 GGL one) ManlyMisfit, a Warhawk General who has been playing for some time, said "Umm… I already have a champions blade… This 'tournament' is a good idea. But you SHOULD NOT give out the champions blade again. Simply because the majority of people WITH a champions blade would come back to warhawk IF the prize was worth it."

Another user, chemicalgroom, voiced his opinion, saying "Count me among the disappointed. It’s a team-based game; having a tournament that rewards individuals with the most points on an aggregate basis simply encourages video-game addicted lunatics to do whatever they can to steal kills and flag captures from teammates." Then he continues " Your no.1 player will be a well-known racist and homophobe who plays 24/7 and exploits a known glitch that you never fixed. Will you have your picture taken with him, Dylan?"

What really needs to be with this game is a patch. This game is full of glitches, and if fixed, many players would race back. Dylan has claimed in the past that Sony is in control of whether they can release a patch, and that they have denied them several times.

To me, this tournament seems to be a poorly constructed advertising technique that rewards players that live in their mother's basement and cheat  play for 20+ hours a day.


Originally posted at http://sonic42blog.blogspot.com/2010/03/warhawk-tournament.html

Game Review - Battlefield Bad Company 2 - 2nd Review and Tips

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So I've been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2. I've spent more than 24 hours online and started though the single player mode.

This is a long post and covers lots of different aspects. In an effort to combat the simple tl;dr, this post is split up into several different sections, so here's the TOC:
Multi-player Review - The Bad
Multi-player Review - The Good
Multi-player Review - Overall
Multi-player Tips
Single Player Review - The Bad
Single Player Review - The Good
Single Player Review - Overall

Multi-player Review:

The Bad

In less than 24 hours of online play I've unlocked all the vehicle and recon upgrades, which is sad. While it encourages play in other classes, those other classes start off pretty bad. Take for example the medic: you start out with a light machine gun and a pistol. Add in a grenade and knife you're good to go. Except, you're a medic, how do you heal someone without a med kit?

Once you actually unlock the med kit, advancing in the medic class is easier, but it is just a little weird. What would have been better is to start everyone off as assault and then unlock classes. X number of long range hits, you unlock the sniper class. Y number of savior kills (killing an enemy who's shooting at a team member) you can be a medic. Z number of blown up vehicles, you should be a grease monkey. This would have made a lot more sense then a medic who can't heal.

While it is unlikely that a game developer will be reading this post, I still want to put out this proposal, if you're going to have to unlock weapons, Why not unlocking classes as well based on performance? Help guide the player to where they can do the most good for their team.

Also, from time to time I'll encounter a glitch or two, such as I had a reverse repair gun for a while yesterday. I couldn't repair an empty tank, but I should as hell could tear it apart.

The Good

Despite my previous reservations with the game, as it turns out the multiplayer isn't a knocked out in a weekend. It really takes some skill and practice to get good. While sometimes your team just steamrolls the competition, more often than not the battles are well balanced. I mean my best game to date is one where as defenders, we lost.

I also learned something, you can get a road kill with the UAV. That was a learning experience.

Overall

The multi-player aspect has some real replay value. It may seem easy, but there's some real effort needed to become a well rounded player in game. When you start getting good with one class there's another to try.

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Tips

First, I cannot stress enough using the select button to highlight enemies. Especially as a recon, that is your job. Spotting enemies gets you points when they are killed as well as gives your team a chance to react. Don't be a douche and try to get the kill without spotting, spot first then shoot.

Stay with your vehicle. Until it blows up. Not kidding about this one as well. I can't count the number of times I've seen a tank run up the enemy base, and then everyone jumps out since it is damaged. Why not put a bow on the gift at that point? 1 engineer with a repair gun and you've just handed the enemy team a shiny new tank.

While we're talking about vehicles, take them when they spawn. If you leave a vehicle at your spawn, the enemy will take it if you don't.

Get behind the enemy force. Especially important for recon, with expanded ammo packs. A single recon behind enemy lines can cause havoc.

Spawn on your team mate behind enemy lines.

Give the recon some ammo. 2 "motion mines" isn't a lot. The can be the difference between win and lose in a close game. Spawn on your snipers and drop off a crate.

Oh and about spawning on snipers, if you spawn on a sniper who's in a nest, get away. You're drawing attention to them and going to get them killed.

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Single Player Mode

The Bad

My biggest complaint so far with multiplayer mode is the trigger based story line. For example there's a scene where you have two guard towers and 3 guys standing around. The game instructions is to jump down follow the river and take the towers and such out from the side. That seemed like a piss poor idea to me, so I took out both towers with single shots and then the 3 guys on the ground. Quick, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

There's no movement, nothing. As soon as I hit the river, people start spawning out the banks. WTF? Even if I took everyone out, why weren't they camped out down there? I much prefer an Uncharted like approach to the baddies, it allows me to choose the style of combat rather than have it forced upon me. Is that really too much to ask?

Additionally, there's some glitches in the dialog from time to time. These same glitches appear to affect multi-player as well.

Finally, I keep trying to spot people in the single player mode. Yeah, that doesn't work so well. I use spotting in multi-player all the time and having it in single player would certainly help in identifying enemies.

The Good

The game play is smooth and the story line is interesting. It's fun and shouldn't be too bad to complete on any level of play. It also appears to be reasonably long, could be knocked out in a weekend.

Overall

Despite the glitches and slightly different controls, the single player is fun and interesting. Worth playing though once at the very least.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - First Impressions

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I have a headache this morning. That headache is left over from last night.

That headache is from too much BFBC2. Now let me say I've played through the first couple missions of the single player mode, so this will focus mainly on the multi-player mode.

And really, the online play is what drove me to buy this game. First let me say the demo and the game are different beasts. The medic doesn't start with a defibrillator or medpack. The engineer can't repair anything. The infantry can't restock anyone. At least not until you unlock those items for each class. This is not like the demo at all.

Also, it seems the point values are too low. 34,000 points to get the ultimate sniper rifle? In just a couple of hours I had 7,000 points. Within a few days it should be possible to unlock the sniper completely. A far cry from the determination that games like Warhawk demand to make general.

That said, the game controls are tight and it is a lot of fun. I played on my own some, then with an online friend, and meant to quit. I didn't and played for a while longer on my own again. I have the 15 sets of dog tags to prove it too.

I love the dog tags, great to know who fell into your knife range. To my victims, well enjoy the respawn screen.

The game play was enjoyable, but in looking at the leader board, more than a few game shops must have broken the embargo. As of 10 PM PST last night one of the top players had 36 hours in game. To do that, there has to be at least enough players to start a game so WTF? I would expect the game developers to reset the stats just at release time. How does one spend 36 hours online playing with multiple other people when the game was released less than 24 hours before?

Oh and, there's this note inside the box that early adopters (before April 1st, 2010) who buy the game will get two free maps on the first day and free access to maps later on. At first I thought this meant I had to go to the online "store" in the game to get these updates. Turns out I didn't have to download a thing, they are already included.

On my wish list, I would put a training or play alone mode to get used to things like the helicopters and such. I haven't figured out a way to do this yet. Also, if there were more specialty items (such as the repair wrench) per class, that would be awesome.

So bottom line, is the game worth the money? Yes, if you don't let the leader board thing bother you.

As for single player mode, I've still got to play that. The online game is just too much fun.

24 Hrs Without PSN

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So by the comments you'd think Sony sent a representative to kill someone's grandmother.

"I hope Sony gets sued to absolute oblivion over this."

- slashdot.org (salty language, beware)

Really? Good ol' American entitlement there. Yes, some games were not playable for almost 24 hours. Oh the horror. You might have to talk with your parents or see the sun. And you should have seen how upset people were getting that they might be missing a trophy or two.

"I don’t even care if they offered me a slim to replace my old one. I want my trophies back and thats[sic] all I care about.
Far as I’m concerened[sic]: if they can’t get me my trophies back they’ve lost a customer for life, and I’m taking as many people with me as possible. It’s harsh, but I’m speaking the truth."

- psblog

Am I the only one who feels this is a slight over reaction? Being the first product to ever show a bug like this, I'm sure no one has ever had to cope in the past. Some people resorted to removing the internal battery, something I strongly recommend against.

The spectacle was fun to watch as I worked through the day. And then, the problem day passes and everyone is happy again, well almost.

Now I'll say, this is an inexcusable error by the PlayStation team, and this will definitely be a learning experience. Just think about the online sales? No PSN means no store. That said, the fan reactions are just as inexcusable. 24 hours without one game console. If that represents a life changing event, you probably should seek help.

The Ctrl-Alt-Delete comic is reproduced with permission from the author.

Is Your PS3 Borked Too?

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So, not playing too much PS3 right now. Like a vast majority, I'm getting an error on log in.

Since this appears to be related to internal time tracking and leap years, I'm going to diverge a little bit and discuss the strangeness of our calendar.

For example, everyone knows that every 4 years is a leap year. This is a LIE. In truth, the rule is more complex but not too much more. Here's how the rules work.

• If the year is evenly divisible by 400, it is a leap year
• If the year is evenly divisible by 100, it is not a leap year
• If the year is evenly divisible by 4, it is a leap year.
• It isn't a leap year.

Now I know the math inclined are going, but wait a minute, 400 is evenly divisible by 100, and 100 is evenly divisible by 4. Yes, that's true, but the first match wins of the rules.

Yes, this means that 2100 will not be a leap year. Look it up for your self, if you don't believe me.

So what the heck does this have to do with the PS3 issue? Well without trying to excuse Sony for this bug, I'm trying to show the day/time rules we live by are a little, well, insane.

It does seem likely that this is a leap year bug. Understandable? Yes, given the date/time rules we have, but excusable? Not on your life.

This is one of the specific cases that should be tested for. And while some people claim, "this is the first even non-leap year since the launch" well that's true. The launch was on November 11, 2006. If you're trying to say that Sony wasn't testing the hardware February of 2006, you're just plain nuts. I guess it is just a game of wait and see right now.

Reality. Worst game ever.

The Forecast Calls for Heavy Rain

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So for the last several weeks, I've been hiding in a cave. No, not literally, but metaphorically, I've been avoiding gaming sites and other such news.

Only coming out the play a little BFBC2 Demo or Warhawk, I've been just hiding out while I waited for the storm. It finally came yesterday, traveling at an average speed of 142.61 mph, it finally blew in yesterday.

Of course I'm talking about my copy of Heavy Rain. Here at Full Frontal Gaming, we don't get to review games before they come out, so you'll have to excuse our lag. That said, from just the first few hours, it became clear that this game is a must own.

Starting off with first impressions. The UPS guy delivered the game to my office. I was there to pick it up as it came in the door. I ripped open the yellow envelope and protective plastic covering to reveal this jewel. I opened it up to find a small square of paper, pre-printed and the instruction manual.

Spending the next 4 hours concentrating on work, was a Herculean task. Some how I marched on and finally, it was time to go home. The wife was out so I popped the disc in. Immediately there was an update to the game, version 1.01. It downloaded and installed in just a few seconds. Then came the install onto the hard drive. 4 GBs of space needed. The install seemed slow to me. I'm sure you guys are aware there's several different speeds of USB, 1.0 1.1 and 2.0. Most devices these days support USB 2.0. Using raw speed, one can in theory transfer 4 GB in approximately 70 seconds. Also considering that a BluRay disc is 50 GB, it certainly should have USB 2.0 speeds right?

Well, my dear reader, do not fret too much. Quantic Dream has taken care of you. Remember that square in the case. Well, during the install you get to do some origami yourself. Best use of a prop to distract the user from install time I've ever seen.



Due to a small emergency I couldn't finish my figure before the game finished installing. That said, it left up the instructions and I now have the bird shown above.

So the game then gives several different levels. It took me a couple of looks to figure out basically it is easy, medium and hard, since they didn't call it that.

After selecting your level, you get to play some with the controls. Let's just say, leaving the door open as you use the bathroom, such a guy thing. The most impressive parts of this open sequence include the juggling and drawing pieces. Not only did it look good, it really felt like I was helping draw up the plans for a new house. The only thing I'd note it there's sometimes very little warning before a task must be done gently (meaning slowly). The camera angles can be problematic sometimes, but nothing your typical gamer can't handle. I only ended up walking in circles once or twice. Especially problematic was the mall scene, where not only did you have these camera transitions but you are trying to push through a crowd.

And while I'm talking about the crowed mall, I've got to say, it really did feel crowded. It is kind of like Assassin's Creed in that respect. You really did have to shove your way through as you ran through the mall.

Without giving too much more away, I'll say there's a possible fight scene early on. Yes it was mostly quick time events, but they made sense usually (though only after you saw what the result was). Additionally the character thoughts add new depth to the game.

So I'm just starting, not anywhere near done with the game. There's been reports of finishing it in approximately 9 hours. With so many different endings though, this could be a very long game.

Once I finish the game, I'll post a full review, but as first impressions go, this game (if you can even call it that) is awe inspiring and awesome.

Avoiding Heavy Rain Spoilers - *SPOILER FREE*

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So I'm convinced that Heavy Rain will be an awesome game. So much so I actually pre-ordered the game, something I don't normally do. With approximately 13 days to go until I have the game in hand, avoiding spoilers is a little harder than normal.

First there's the Demo. While I'd love to get my hands on the game early, the demo has to give away some of the story. Even if it is just the first chapter, it would only drive me nuts later on.

Second, the trophy list. Almost all the trophies for this game are hidden trophies. Why? Well the trophies are based on the story line. Thus the trophy list its self is a spoiler, once it is populated.

So if you're like me and want to enjoy the entire story line, I'd strongly recommend skipping the demo/trophy list. Remember, what is seen cannot be unseen.

Demo Review - Battle Field Bad Company 2

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Finally, I can tell you why Battle Field Bad Company 2 is a must have game.

Is this because EA finally realized that the little gaming blogs matter? In a word, No. Is this because DICE feels that a Full Frontal Gaming review is needed to boost sales? Wrong again. Is this because the demo came out and I can base the entire post on that demo? Bingo.

Controls

I don't know about you but for me this is my first stop whenever playing a new game. Too many games have bitten me with things like inverted x/y look and stupid default control placement. Note to game developers: Would you please, for the love of god and country, allow players to place commands on buttons rather than forcing a particular layout or set of layouts? I know you think you know what we want, but really, I may want to use a different button than L3 to crouch, or circle to enter/exit a vehicle.

From the demo there's basically 4 layouts for ground combat, 4 layouts for air combat and 4 layouts for vehicles. If you don't like the layouts, tough. That said, the layouts seem to work and getting used to them isn't a problem.

Game Play

The multiplayer experience is very good. You get points for protecting/attacking objectives and more for helping your squad. And as mentioned on here before, most elements can be destroyed in the game. I say most not all which at first seems to detract from the game (it certainly detracts from the realism); however, there are elements which you cannot destroy for good reason. Take for example the objectives. If you can get a tank close enough, forget planting a bomb you can just blow the objective up. That said, if the attackers could just drive over the objectives it would make for a very boring and predictable game. As a result some pillars and other game elements cannot be destroyed.

Speaking of predictability, there's one thing that's bothered me. I have no insight into which game I'm joining. Once you start playing, you could be on the losing team. The game doesn't seem to balance the teams out so sometimes you just have to leave.

Speaking of leaving, I found it really hard to actually quit a game. Let's say you join and you're the attacker. When the game is over, you play the same map again as the defender. And the intermissions are short, with lots of stats to look at. You can easily spend a couple of hours without ever realizing it.

Audio

Nice and crisp. You'll hear things differently if you're indoors compared to out doors, and proper language for the team you're on. I hope you speak Russian. (I think. I don't speak the language.) It would be nice though, to talk to your whole team from time to time.

Visuals

Good. While there may be a glitch or two from time to time (like a tree that's floating in air) it works. Oh did I mention, shooting at the trunk of a tree with a sniper rifle can take it down? Good to know if you need to clear out the cover the other team is hiding behind.

Other

This game is a must buy before you add in the single player mode. It'll be a contender this year for sure. I recommend your local Mom and Pop game shop first, but if that's not around, Amazon is a good choice.

Scores:

• Explosions - Yes
• Controls - 8/10 (More layouts/custom layouts would be good)
• Game Play - 10/10
• Audio - 10/10
• Visuals - 8/10
  
• Rating - 9/10
• Get the Demo - Yes.
  

• Get the Game - Yes.
  

WTF - Suing Over Game Points

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So last week I ran across this article. Yes I know this is America, where in some cases the right to sue is considered more sacred then freedom, but seriously WTF?

For those who haven't read the article, it breaks down like this. Guy buys Microsoft points for downloading games/media. Guy uses points but has extra left over. Guy cries fowl over the extra points which number too few to buy anything else.

I'm sorry, has this person been living in a cave? Or more likely, is he just trying to get a quick buck? Take the average video arcade for example. You put a dollar in and you get 4 tokens. Those tokens aren't worth jack outside of the arcade. You won't get your money back. So you try to maximize your enjoyment with the tokens you have. Demanding your money back for unused tokens will likely get you laughed out of the arcade.

Similar systems are in place everywhere. For example gift cards, if this guy actually gets Microsoft to pay, why shouldn't he go after Visa for left over money on gift cards?

And before you say, well it is Microsoft, they have plenty of money, think about it for a minute. If all the consoles have to re-engineer their stores (because this is standard across the consoles) then the money for the developers has to come from somewhere. That likely means an increase in prices for downloadable games. I've always believed the price on downloadable games is too high, as there's no media, manual, or shipping costs, but this gives companies the justification to raise prices.

Once again, this is just funding lawyers in order to get something from a big company. It is fraud, and it should not be tolerated. Gift certificates and other systems just like this have existed my whole life, I don't have trouble reading and understanding the fine print. Downloadable games on consoles is in it's infancy and lawsuits such as this will hurt all gamers.