PS4 Unboxing!

Watch it on our YouTube channel!

the Playstation Super Slim is true, coming out September 25th and October 30th

Playstation, as much as we enjoy your entertainment, you really suck at keeping secrets. But hey who's whining? We now have a Slim Slim!

Sure this isn't new next generation console news, but the good news is that these Slimmer than Slim little guys hold so much more memory. This time around, Sony said it completely redesigned the internal architecture, resulting in 25 percent less volume and a 20 percent lighter design compared to the current PS3; both have been cut in half compared to the original. Aesthetically, it maintains the same general style and will be available in black or white (however a white model for the US release is still uncertain)."With the extra HDD capacity which has been extended from 320GB and 160GB, users can store and enjoy more and more entertainment content including games, music, photos, and video on the new PS3," Sony says.

The first will be released on September 25th and will be a 250GB bundle for $269, the second will release October 30th and will be a 500GB console for $299. Sure it's not cheaper than the Slims now, but at least they don't exactly cost more so either. Will I pick one up? Sure Probably since I need to replace my broken one anyways.

What about you guys? Does this sound like an interesting thing for Sony to do, or is it just another wasted money grabber? (note: still unknown but unlikely that this will play PS1 and PS2 games, but given that so many of those games are already available in HD anyways, does it really matter?)

The Pros and Cons of Video Game sequels

Video games tend to mostly be good, but usually there are bad or horrible ones. However some both bad and good get sequels that either help or corrupt a franchise.

We live in a world where sequels to almost anything is both welcomed and expected. Usually it's for continuing story and plot sequences, other times it's just an excuse to improve one gameplay or graphics, but in the end the developers have some kind of logical reasoning behind making sequels, or is it logical? Here are the Pros and Cons to what may or may not make a sequel worthwhile...

Pros:

• Much needed enhancements: Usually beginner games, or firsts in a series, are usually bland or simplistic when first released. This is not a problem at all, for the first is to nearly get people interested and to get their attention and awareness for when any future installments come out. I'm pretty sure that Bungie had no idea at the start that Halo would become this big when they were just releasing the first Halo game way back on the original Xbox. Even look at Killzone, the first game wasn't exactly worthy of a gold medal, but its sequels did amazingly well all due to Playstation fans remembering the first back on the PS2. One last example would be High Moon's Transformers games, the first was just a mere set up to prove that an actual fun Transformers game was possible, and now a sequel is coming out with lots to offer. While sometimes graphics and gameplay may change, as long as it achieves what the first one started it'll be great.
• Story frenzy:  Sequels sometimes tend to do best when they are the continuation of an unfinished story. Gears of War for example ended on a cliffhanger, with a woman at the end speaking about the humans having no idea what's in store for them and the war. A cliffhanger like that helps to make Gears of War 2 that more more of an anticipation. What about Darksiders? The first could've concluded there and then but instead decided to show the other three horseman awakening from their eternal slumber. This opened a lot of "what's next" questions which led to the excitement of Darksiders II. 
• Great build up:  A good sequel is possible to show up without you ever noticing, this can sometimes be a bit of a complication for sales or anticipation. So a sequel that is able to praise itself with the right amount of appraise should most certainly be... well appraised. New Super Mario Bros 2 was the equivalent of having a hammer continuously bonk you on the head for the entire week that it was Present at E3, which of course isn't a bad thing to do especially for Nintendo, since they understand the kind of popularity that Mario is. Dark Souls also did a fine job advertising, it even had TV commercials which in our lifetime is a rare opportunity. But more recently Halo 4 has been doing a fine job at advertising. I've noticed that it's cinematic trailers have been popping up in movie theaters just before the film starts.

Cons:

• Zero Effort:  The only thing worse than a bad sequel is a bad sequel that shows. This is usually done when a game company, new or the same from the first entry, make a sequel just for either A: the money, best examples would be all the guitar hero, rock band, and dancing games (not that every entry they made was necessarily bad), B: complications, a company could be in debt and have no choice but to make a new game ASAP, especially sequels to well known earlier entries, or C: Brainwashed, the creators can tell when a game they make is loved and so they believe all the fans will immediately buy any kind of sequel, no matter how bad, just think of all the people in disbelief when they first played Crackdown 2 (Geoff was one of those people). Basically, the argument is that some game creators will work next to nothing to make a good sequel because they can simply do it.
• What goes up, brings something else down:  Most game companies try to improve on a dislike or downgraded quality from the first game. Sometimes doing this will ultimately ruin another factor in the game. Example: Force Unleashed II had an amazing improvement on the battle statistics and new useful force powers, but it seems as though that was the only thing Lucas Arts wanted the reporters to know about, cause the rest of the game was too short with a less satisfying story. Perhaps a game could even have nothing new to it at all, even when it is shown to the public as being new. Resistance 2 was an anticipated sequel to the original, but in the end that game ultimately was nothing more than a rehash, it's a good thing Resistance 3 fixed those wrong doings.
• The worse that could, can, and has:  This goes to all the many other wrong happenings you can imagine. Character changes, unrelated story lines, or new stupid mechanics are of the few too many that haunt gamers everywhere. What could happen is that Call of Duty Black Ops II will try too hard to be new, what can happen is Sly Cooper 4 not living up to expectations, and what has happened is all the wrongs in Prototype 2.

Controversy:

• New company in charge:  Usually a sequel will head straight to a new company for a sequel due to the original makers being either busy or uninterested. This usually tends to be a raised flag for some people (or however the saying goes) because they believe the new company will destroy the boundaries that the original set. However most others would give congrats to the newbies, getting excited for what new and interesting improvements can be made. This is neither a pro or a con, or perhaps both, let's just say it extremely varies.

Really not all game sequels are horrendous, games like Infamous 2 or Super Smash Bros Brawl have been prime examples of games that stay true to the original. Heck, I'm playing Darksiders II now and I am amazed by how they were able to make it basically the original again while still bringing in many new things. What are your favorite sequels? What are your most hated sequels? any future sequels you're either excited or worried for? Any games you think need or don't need sequels? Please Comment!

E3 2012 reveals- PART 8

The conclusion...

Sure there is still a butt load of games to be mentioned, we also have to give input on the new Unreal Engine 4, but overall I believe we are officially done with E3 excitements, especially since it ended a week ago.

To recap, Nintendo easily had the best conference this year, which means they essentially won yet again. Sure most were not pleased by how the Wii U was presented, mostly due to the recycle of everything we knew of the Wii U last year, but despite it's still nice to know a legit Next-gen console will actually be coming out soon. Sony is said to have second best, or the best by those who disliked Nintendo's conference. Sony had Wonderbook, Battle royale, tons of Vita games, and Last of Us to truly get people upbeat. Microsoft is considered third place by a majority, sure they had Smart Glass and Halo 4 but that's about it. Any other news spreconed is either multi-console games or Kinect crap. What was your favorite conference? Did any announcements of games or accessories get you excited?

E3 2012 reveals- PART 5

EVERYTHING SONY:

We will recap all the major announcements from each of the three leading gaming companies. To start off, we'll take a look at all the major Sony announcements from their conference:

PLAYSTATION ALL-STARS: BATTLE ROYALE FOR THE VITA ALSO!
The game will also have a Vita version, as well as cross-platform play. In addition to that, Sony unveiled two new Characters for the game. One is Uncharted's very own Nathan Drake, the other is Shockingly unexpected, Bioshock's own Infamous Big Daddy! Still no word on characters from Resistance, Infamous, Jak and Daxter, LittleBigPlanet, or even the Crash Bandicoot games, but they are a certain.

PLAYSTATION MOVE RACING WHEEL ANNOUNCED
Sony doesn't really show off their move stuff in commercials or ads, but that doesn't mean they don't care about it. Yesterday Sony announced a new racing wheel attachment for the move controller, which is nice since this year many racing games were revealed. Sony already revealed that it will work for new and existing games such as LittleBigPlanet Karting and Grand Turismo 5, and the wheel is set to release this year in Fall for a price of 40 bucks... seems fair right?

ASSASSIN'S CREED III / PS3 BUNDLE TO RELEASE OCTOBER 31ST!
Assassin's Creed III will obviously be a major release, so Sony was smart to announce a special PS3 bundle that includes not only the AC3 game but also a special DLC. The bundle will come out October 31st, same day as the actual games release.

MORE VITA NEWS AND GOODIES
Vita had a bad start, but it's future seems very bright. Sony announced that LittleBigPlanet Vita will also have cross-platform play using a very unique DLC, they also announced two very popular PSOne classics being rereleased: the original Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII. They also announced other Vita games coming out such as Call of Duty: Declassified and a unique Assassin's Creed III: Liberation game that stars a Female Assassin!

HTC TO RELEASE PLAYSTATION PHONES
Sony announced new Playstation-certified smartphones that will use a new function called Playstation mobile, which allows connection between Android or other devices... Cool, right?

AUGMENT REALITY FOR PS3'S WONDERBOOK
The Wonderbook is a flat platform that when used in conjunction with your PS3 and its PS3 Eye camera, uses augmented reality to expand what would normally be a book to include graphics and other visuals on your TV. Sony has done a similar thing with its EyePet series, also by Sony's London Studios.
Wonderbook has brought on Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to create Book of Spells for the Wonderbook. Not the best thing shown at Sony's E3 conference, reports even mention problems accociated with it, but this will still make for a great interactive game for family and children in general...

[EDIT:] Shadow of the Colossus will become a Movie!

Josh Trank, the director of Chronicle, is a huge gamer. So really it's no surprise that Trank made a deal with Sony to create a Shadow of the Colossus film. This movie has been talked about since 2009.

Learn more at: Geekflix
(p.s. sorry for using the Last Guardian pic, if it bugs you :/ )

[EDIT:] very sorry for the delay of the Geekflix post, things have gotten so busy that I had no time for the "publish" button. But it's on now so go check it out!

Sly Cooper 4 will also be playable on the Vita

Sly Cooper's major return for the PS3 is close, hopefully closer, but now it's not just gonna be a console release.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will also have a Vita release out on the same day as the PS3 versions. While some controls change a bit (for example: the Vita doesn't have R2 or L2 buttons) the game will pretty much be the same. The best part is that the game can cross platform, which means you can play it on your PS3 then convert it to your Vita when you have to go somewhere so you can still play where you left off. How cool is that!?

Sly Cooper 4 has no real release date yet, but it will now be released for the PS3 and the Vita...

the PSP is basically Dead

Yes the handheld is still a huge hit in Japan, but what is its status in America? Or anywhere else for that matter? Reports have revealed that a majority of smaller Gamestop stores are getting rid of anything that is PSP or PSP related for the sake of bringing in the new products such as games for the Vita, 3DS, and even early preparation for the Wii U.

This was clearly going to happen sooner or later, Sony has done very little with the Portable for the last two years or more. It is now clear that Sony has all its handheld interests in the Vita, and that PSP would just die off similar to how the DS killed the Gameboy, or how the 3DS will potentially kill off the original DS...

Despite all this, a few of the Larger Gamestop stores will still have PSP products, but they'll forever be seen as an old school product possibly next to the PS2 and PS one games.

Sony's financial crisis: the good and the bad

It's now no secret that this year Sony has been through Hell. Ever since the major Japan Earthquake the company hasn't been doing well financially. With their 6.4 billion dollar loss, what can we expect to see in Sony's, and especially Playstation's, future?

LAST YEAR: while the Playstation did win over the other consoles with HD remakes and major exclusives, the console itself has not sold much. In 2011 the PS3 sold 13.9 million units, down 400,000 units from the year before. the PSP also has its go, with 8 million units now down to 6.8 million units (of course this doesn't matter too much for Sony since their eyes are now on the Vita) and even the old PS2 was able to sell 4.1 million units, sadly being down from 6.4 million from the year before. And please, don't get me started on their TV's, which are down 18.5 percent year over year...

TODAY: Sony says that despite last years PS3 decrease of sales, the console is still a mere 3.3 million units away from Xbox 360 sales worldwide, which is really good especially since the Xbox was one year ahead of PS3, and analyst suggest that if the PS3 came out the same year as the 360 did then they would actually be winning the race. The PSP continues to still be a huge hit in Japan. And the Vita, while having a very slow start, is now starting to grow in sales. The games for the PS3, especially exclusives, are now and still selling very very strong.

THE FUTURE: Sony has announced at the upcoming E3 2012 they will be revealing 20 games, which shows how prepared they are to compete with Nintendo's Wii U. Also there is a possibility of the Vita getting a price cut this year too, meaning that sales will start to hugely increase for the handheld. Besides the 20 games for PS3, you can expect the Vita to get lots and lots of new games in its future, which is good. Sony seems to have plans to work more closely on it's Video game corner of the industry, which is huge news for any gamer. And while Sony is still expected to reveal the PS4 in late 2013, they still have complete faith in the PS3 to stay strong against the 360, Wii, and the upcoming Wii U.

I'm not sure what questions to ask, but what are people's thoughts on this?

Soul Sacrifice gets a new teaser, looks more and more like a Dark Souls/Demon's Souls game

A new teaser showing tidbits of gameplay has surfaced, and it Definitely looks strangely familiar.

Sony could be launching a third soul entry in the franchise, still it is unclear if this is a game in the same series, what we do know is that it'll be a PS Vita exclusive. Check out the video below:

PS Vita goes white, Crystal white to be exact

The Vita had a really bad start with sales, even worse than the 3DS, but now sales are just barely starting to increase. But it turns out that Sony is going white... Crystal white.

Check out the next Crystal White Playstation Vita, it is coming out in Japan on June 28th for a reasonable price. There's still no word on whether this will go stateside, but the system is still region free and people will more than likely demand it, plus this would be a great way to further campaign the new-gen system along with what the 3DS is doing.

Would you like a white colored Vita? Or is the original black good enough?

Playstation All-stars Battle Royale announced / Tom West impressed

That's right, and oh jeez. Playstation is making a game that is extremely similar to "Super Smash Bros." games, the difference? It is different!

This game has huge similarities with Nintendo's title, having all company-based characters beating the crap out of each other on a big open level that's unique and whatnot. But there are indeed striking differences, for example: pretty much all of Nintendo characters are E rated fighters at best, Sony however has multiple characters from all types of ratings (Kratos=M, Sackboy=E, Sly Cooper=T, etc.). Another difference is that this game, as far as we know, actually uses life bars instead of the hit point strategy in Smash Bros.. The background also constantly changes, now we aren't sure how this works exactly. The background can go from having Patapon's marching (like the picture above) to becoming a LittleBigPlanet forest world. It seems as though you can pick the actual level stage, like the one above being Hades underworld, and probably picking what backgrounds appear. Agian, nothing is for sure at this point.

Yeah it takes an idea from Nintendo, but all games basically take ideas from somewhere. And I am personally impressed with this game. I don't care if it's Nintendo, Playstation, or Xbox even, I just want to play my favorite characters and beat the crap out of others :D

Now here's a thought, will Xbox do something similar in the future?

So far the only characters revealed are Sweet Tooth, Fat Princess, Kratos, Helghan soldier, and Sly Cooper but many more will be revealed in the coming months. No release date for this game is confirmed?

What do you guys think? Is this a good idea to make a Playstation version of Smash Bros.? Or do you nitpick and believe that creativity is dead?