Posts Tagged ‘Playstation 3’

Final Fantasy XIII: Style Or Substance?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Final Fantasy XIII is a matter of weeks away, which means those of us lucky enough to own both an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have a difficult decision to make. Okay, so you know the technicalities behind why the PS3’s superior Blu-Ray format pwns the 360’s sub-standard DVD, right? The jist of it is; Blu-Ray single layer capacity = 25GB. DVD single layer capacity = 4.7GB. A significant difference, huh? What this then leave us with, is the fact that Final Fantasy XIII will look hotter running on the PlayStation 3.

This is where tricky decisions come in, the kind of choices that change lives, people! I’ve said from day one of buying my PlayStation 3, which I rarely play, that it would only serve as a Blu-Ray player and for exclusives my 360 fangirlism otherwise wouldn’t see. The rule was simple; any multi-platform releases would involuntary be bought for the Xbox.

Personally, I’m faced with this decision for the first time, as the sheer detail of Final Fantasy XIII means that, while the experience is somewhat preserved on the Xbox 360 by shipping the game on 3 discs, CG has been compressed, and environment/character detail is lower. Basically, it’s not going to look as good on my Xbox as it will on my PlayStation. Therefore the choice should be simple, right? But factor into that my love of Achievements, my gripes with the PlayStation, and the simple fact that gaming without Xbox Live leaves me feeling limbless, I’ve got to weigh things up.

I can experience the full beauty of the Final Fantasy universe on my PlayStation 3, but I’ll feel 100% disconnected and solitary when I do so. I can’t invite a friend who’s also playing into chat with me to talk about our experiences, where we’re at in the game, or keep one another company through some of the inevitably tedious parts JRPGs always posses. I won’t feel the petty delight of an Achievement pinging up and boosting my overall GamerScore I’ve honed for two years. And these, my friends, are important things to me.

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Posted in General Gaming | 10 Comments »

Aside: I Hate My Xbox

Friday, October 16th, 2009

To say I have a love / hate relationship with my Xbox 360 is an understatement. It gives me great pleasure by offering a platform to play amazing exclusives on, not to mention an easy way to connect to friends while playing these amazing exclusives. But it also has a very evil side, which I’ve been discovering on a daily basis recently.

My console refuses to read discs. All discs. Even though there are zero scratches on these discs. My console requires to be booted up three times before the game actually begins, simply because my console enjoys freezing on various parts of the process (the Xbox logo, the dashboard, the game etc). My console prompts for discs to be inserted, despite there already being a disc inside. Give it up, Xbox! Can’t you just work?

I’m on my third Xbox 360, which, given the fact I’ve been gaming on the Xbox for 4 years is a poor, poor figure. Especially as the above symptoms suggest I may well be heading into 4th RRoD territory. This time I’m not going to threaten I’ll jump ship because I now own a PS3, and I certainly won’t be trading anything in for a Wii, but I will be very angry at myself for remaining loyal to Microsoft. I’ll be even angrier towards them for being, well, shit. I dream of the day Apple make gaming consoles (I kid, I kid).

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Posted in Asides | 13 Comments »

Aside: Social Gaming - Is The PS3 Disconnected?

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Los Havros and I recently had an in-depth chat about the social aspects both the 360 and PlayStation 3 possess; a conversation spurred by my recent purchase of a PlayStation 3, and a few negative Tweets directed at the social features it seems to lack. Hopefully we’ve pulled off a nicely done debate, steering clear of any fanboyism (and fangirlism).

I’m sure Los Havros would like you to chime in with further discussion just as much as I do. It’s an interesting area of debate, and it’s great hearing from both sides of the argument. Even more so from gamers who have experience with both consoles. Discuss!

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Posted in Asides | 7 Comments »

Hands-On With The PlayStation 3

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Two weeks have passed since I purchased an 80GB PlayStation 3 bundled with Metal Gear Solid 4 and an anorexic controller. In case you haven’t noticed, and were one of the many people to assume, I haven’t given up on my 360. In fact, that’s all I’ve been playing lately. Why? Not because the PlayStation 3 has left me bored or failed to live up to any expectations. It’s because I’m unashamedly addicted to Lego Batman.

PS3

But back to the PlayStation 3… This is the first time I’ve ever had any hands-on time with the PS3 (and this is the first time I’ve ever owned two of the current gen consoles). I’ve never stopped off at HMV to give it a whirl at the PS3 booth, despite the console and HDTV combo looking mighty fine. None of my friends are big into gaming, so mainly they own Wii’s or last generation consoles, if anything at all. It’s crazy to think that 2 years down the line, I still hadn’t tried one of the many great PlayStation exclusives.

That changed when I bought Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Choosing what PS3 exclusive to go with was a tough choice (all multi-platform releases will be bought for the 360), with a toss-up between that, Killzone 2, Resistance: Fall of Man, and LittleBigPlanet. Oh, and inFamous. With my love for Tomb Raider showing no sign of fading, I opted for the Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft character, Nate Drake. And I’m glad I did - I think it’s been a fantastic introduction to the PlayStation 3, with strong story development, amazing chemistry and dialogue between characters, and, of course, gorgeous graphics and stunning scenery.

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Posted in General Gaming | 14 Comments »

What I’m Hoping For From 2009

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Can anyone believe it’s been a whole year since, well, last year? I remember having my doubts that 2008 would top 2007, seeing as the latter was so rich with stellar 360 releases. Truthfully, I feel I can’t even pass judgement about whether games were better this year seeing as I’ve currently missed out on a bunch of the big triple-A releases with my one-game-only-at-a-time ethic. But what I am entitled to do at this time of the year is share with you what I hope 2009 brings us in regards to gaming.

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Posted in General Gaming | 7 Comments »

New Xbox Experience Looks Kind Of Shite, No?

Friday, October 10th, 2008

I know it’s unfair to condemn something before it’s even made its way to our 360s. After all, as my post regarding my hatred of sci-fi and my consequent love of Mass Effect proved, you can’t judge a book by its cover. But what you can do is develop initial impressions then rant about them on your blog!

Everywhere I look at the moment, various updated screenshots of the New Xbox Experience are being published onto the internets, yet friends of mine and readers of this blog have been fairly quiet on what their initial impressions on it are. From the moment this new-look and dramatic overhaul of the dashboard was revealed at E3 this year, I’ve been anti-NXE, mainly spouting much abuse towards the ridiculous Avatars we have to adopt.

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Posted in Rants | 9 Comments »

Missing The Memo About The Demise Of The Xbox

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

I’ve always been under the impression that the Xbox brand is of a pretty solid stature in the gaming world, particularly down to the continuous success the 360 is achieving. Even though I wasn’t much of a gamer prior to this generation, I know the GameCube-PlayStation2-Xbox era saw the PlayStation 2 firmly stand as the King of console gaming, with both the GameCube and Xbox under performing sales-wise in comparison.

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Posted in General Gaming | 8 Comments »