Posts tagged PSN
Sasquatch Soapbox: Why this is the right time for a new NBA Jam
Oct 14th
NBA Jam is back. Available now for Nintendo Wii and soon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the standout basketball game franchise is ready for a proper revitalization. As I wrote in a recent Retrospective, NBA Jam’s formula of fast-paced 2-on-2 is still addictive, and the simpler gameplay allows anyone to catch fire and dunk from the free-throw line.
What you may not realize, though, is this is a perfect time for a revitalization of the NBA Jam franchise. From both a gaming and a source material standpoint it’s a suitable time to bring back the franchise. This is a great time to bring back the boomshakalaka.
How EA Sports’ Online Pass Will Change the Used Game Marketplace
May 12th
Once the millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of labor hours have resulted in a finished, big-name console video game, how do publishers and developers earn their money back? From gamers like us buying titles at a store.
However, not all purchases are created equal. This is why Electronic Arts announced on Monday the continuation of its value-added online program, now called the EA Sports Online Pass. It appears to be much like programs in Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Mass Effect 2′s Cerberus Network, for instance, grants access to free add-on downloads, including weapons, armor, and short missions. This is a project that is reportedly referred to within EA as Project Ten Dollar. Gamers who purchase one of EA Sports’ catalog of games this summer receive a code in the package which, after being inputted into the game, allows you access to bonus features. Since the code is only good for one use (and one PSN or Xbox Live account), if you don’t buy the game new, you have to pay $10 for a pass of your own.
Review: Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
May 6th
Resistance: Fall of Man can be thought of as a modern first-person shooter captured in its adolescence. It arrived on the tailwind of the best and brightest PlayStation 2 and Xbox shooters, and it follows their lead with panache, sporting engaging firefights, creative weapon designs and exciting combat. But unfortunately, it suffers from last-generation conventions that leave the player feeling beleaguered too often by mazes of corridors, uneven pacing and a sorely missed online cooperative play mode.
Yet in spite of feeling a bit frayed around the edges and worn with age, Resistance is an undeniably fun and engaging journey that’s still worth taking.
Review: Flower (PSN)
Mar 31st
Just a heads-up: this is going to be brief. The less I say about Flower, the better. Read the rest of this entry »
A feeble attempt to review Noby Noby Boy (PSN)
Mar 2nd
I wish I could explain to you what in the world Noby Noby Boy is. But frankly, I think it’s one of those rare, anomalous bits of software that asks the player to re-define his or her own concept of a game.
The YouTube video posted at the beginning of this entry is something I put together. Utilizing the game’s built-in (and brilliant) video function, I was able to record a few minutes of gameplay footage. BOY stretches and twists, shrinks and expands, consumes the world around him and flies through the air. I could have recorded more, and maybe generated a few random environments for BOY to explore, but it wouldn’t add much to the discussion. With Noby Noby Boy, what you see is what you get — even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense. Read the rest of this entry »