Viva La Vita?
Preface
Before the advent of the modern smartphone (the iPhone, really), portable gaming was something that only a select few gaming companies could pull off. In America, that was almost entirely Nintendo’s responsibility. The Gameboy’s many evolutions always proved to be the most exciting way to bring gaming outside your house, with things like the Sega GameGear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Bandai’s WonderSwan and even the crappy Tiger electronic games far in Nintendo’s rear view mirror.
Nintendo’s main handheld competitor eventually became Sony, who released the PlayStation Portable the same year Nintendo released their DS in 2004. Sony’s PSP brought extremely high quality graphics to the portable market, something most gamers hadn’t ever seen before. Regardless of that fact, the PSP never quite overcame the dominance of Nintendo’s handheld market and was pretty much always second place.
With iOS, Android and other smartphones now dominating the market, portable gaming is available to anyone with a modern cell phone. Granted, these games aren’t as “in depth” as devoted handheld console games, and smartphones lack the input methods that handhelds have, but they’re massively popular and a proven staple of modern gaming. Nintendo’s latest handheld, the 3DS did uncharacteristically poor in sales, and has struggled against the iron fist of Apple’s iOS.
The next entrant into this race is the PlayStation Vita. Sony’s newest handheld is hoping to stand out in a market that’s now filled with competitors. I’ve had the opportunity to use it a couple of times, once at E3 and more recently at a Vita event, and I wanted to offer my opinions on the device itself and its role in the portable gaming market.
The Hardware
First things first, the Vita is gorgeous. It’s a beautiful looking piece of hardware and it’s obvious a lot of care went into its design. It’s pretty large; it fills up a back pocket pretty easily, and then some. The screen is massive and bright, and looks fantastic in motion. The Vita is also very light; it feels like it should be substantially heavier for its size, but it’s not. It’s sturdy and a joy to hold. I can see getting tired of holding it after extended gaming periods, but that can be said for any handheld console or gaming controller.
The rear touch panel is also very nice, and pressure sensitive, which is something I didn’t know until I used it a second time.The dual thumb sticks feel pretty great, they’re basically mini analog sticks and work just like you’d expect. These will make first person shooters and games with a controllable camera so much better to play.
Overall, I’m extremely impressed with the hardware. Sony seems to have hit it out of the park. I’m not totally sure what the battery life will be like, but employees at the event mentioned “3-5 hours during intense gameplay” or “6-8 hours during video playback”. They said to expect “even more” when just browsing the web or listening to music. I’m not expecting it to be anything incredible though.
The Software
Once I found the power button (it took me a few seconds) the boot up time was quick and I was flung into the Vita’s touch-based OS. A superfluous “peel the page corner to unlock” is the way you enter the OS, and it feels a little contrived. It wasn’t terribly obvious at first and I ended up trying to press multiple buttons before I figured out I had to peel the corner of the screen to unlock the device.
The orb themed design Sony went with is unique, and has some neat visual flourishes when you swipe from menu to menu. Swiping up & down will navigate through the system’s apps and games, and swiping left will bring you to the multitasking area where your different running applications will appear.
One thing I was perplexed by was how to actually launch apps/games. Once you tap the respective icon on the home screen, you’re presented with a large graphic/screen representing the icon you touched, and another button to actually launch the app. I felt this was an unnatural extra step and everything should just launch when you actually tap the icon.
Included in the OS are some basic apps you’d expect; Music & Video, Camera, Store, Messaging, “Near” (a location-based social app), Welcome Park (more on this soon) and other basics like Settings and Memory management. One thing of note is how certain apps can’t even open without a memory card present. When I tried to open the Camera app to check out the cameras, I was presented with a full screen window saying to take photos I needed a memory card. The only thing I could do was go back to the main menu. I couldn’t even see through either camera! This was really bad UX and users who opt not to get a memory card off the bat will be confused and angry that there’s core functionality missing. But I’ll touch on the memory card issues soon.
“Welcome Park” is an interesting collection of minigames that use the Vita’s different input methods to teach you the basics of the system while playing some fun games. One game used the gyroscope to control a skateboarding character while avoiding obstacles and shaking the Vita to jump. Another minigame, my personal favorite, was a reflex based game that required you to tap on numbers in order on the screen. It’s very simple but very engaging. One round of the number game requires you to tap the back touch screen at varying pressures to make water jump higher or lower. It’s pretty impressive and a unique kind of input I haven’t really seen in touch-based gaming yet. Pressure sensitive touch is going to be really cool to see implemented in games. Other “Welcome Park” games utilize the cameras to do some AR magic similar to the 3DS. Overall it’s a welcome addition to the system, if not under utilized (very similar to the 3DS’ included minigames).
I’m not going to go in depth about any of the games I’ve played for the Vita in this post, but I can assure you that the quality of the launch titles is impressive. LittleBigPlanet is the standout title along with Uncharted and both of these games will make the Vita worth owning at launch. Some incredibly creative things have been done in these games (and the other launch titles) to take advantage of the Vita’s technology, and seeing them in action can’t help but make you smile. When technology and software are designed to this level of synergy, you can’t help but be impressed with the devotion and care Sony & Co. have taken with crafting this new handheld. It’s obvious that the Vita is a massive gamble and that everyone is on board to make sure it’ll do well and impress consumers.
It’s because of this care and creativity that I’m so perplexed by some of the decisions Sony is making with the Vita.
Opinions
Whether Sony and Nintendo like it or not, iOS and Android are now their competitors. Say what you will about the differences in “depth” of smartphone games vs. their handheld counterparts, they’re in the same market now and immensely cheaper. In a world where consumers can buy AAA titles for $1-$7, selling other mobile games for $40-$50 is going to be pretty difficult. But it’s not even the pricing of games I’m concerned about, it’s the Vita’s requirement of memory cards.
Sony is planning on selling memory cards that will cost between $30 for 4GB and $120 for 32GB. Selling a dedicated game console at $300 is already a gamble, but expecting consumers to plop on another $120 for the same amount of space they already have on their iPhone is a tough sell. At that point, you’re spending $420 for a PlayStation Vita with 32GB of storage. And it’s really only a gaming device…not like the iPhone which is also a, well, phone, and a mini computer that can run anything from word processors to synthesizers.
Worst of all, some games and apps will actually REQUIRE a memory card, and apps like the Camera app, won’t even open without one inserted. How archaic is selling an amazingly high tech piece of hardware with zero storage space? It doesn’t make any sense and it boggles my mind. There are rumors that Vita games will sell cheaper as downloads on the PlayStation Store…if that’s true, the investment in a memory card makes a bit more sense, but still inconvenient. Imagine the amount of gamers and parents buying a Vita who will have no idea they need a memory card, only to find their or their kid’s brand new copy of Uncharted telling them they can’t play without it. Not a good thing.
The Vita is technologically impressive and the games being made for it look great, but some of the early decisions Sony is making challenge the thought that they’ve learned from their past mistakes. Using the Vita has gotten me excited to have one, and I can’t wait to get it in my hands. The positives of the handheld seem (for me at least) to outweigh the negatives, but I hope Sony realizes that iOS is a massive threat and some of their typically terrible business decisions will need to be tweaked to seriously contend in a now congested market.
Any questions? Send me a message on Twitter: @MatthewRex
The Big Forza 4 Problem…
Forza Motorsport 4 was released last week, and with it a brand new wireless racing wheel from Microsoft. This accessory was obviously a planned piece of the new Forza puzzle, being released on the same day and touting support for the title.
There are some downright shocking missteps regarding the wheel itself and its communication with the game, with blame falling on both Microsoft and Turn 10 studios, the game’s developer. Let’s start with the actual hardware.
The wheel itself feels great in your hands, that’s for sure. The triggers are meaty and really have a nice feel. The grip is good, just about everything about the look and feel of the controller is fantastic. There are, however, two major setbacks. The first is the lack of bumper buttons. Having no LB or RB buttons on an Xbox 360 peripheral is downright maddening. Almost every game uses them, including most racing games. What boggles the mind is that even Forza 4 itself uses them by DEFAULT, and the wheel cannot navigate the menus without plugging in another controller, but I’ll get back to that. Having no LB and RB would seem ok if the game supported controller mapping or a layout without them, but shockingly enough, not every racing game will go back and retroactively patch to work without these two buttons. Sure, I haven’t gone through and tested every racing game for compatibility, but I think it’s a safe bet you’ll run into some issues.
The second big problem with the hardware is the complete lack of a headset jack. That’s right, you can’t plug in your first party or third party Xbox Live headset into this wireless racing wheel. The cynic in me wants to think that this is Microsoft forcing a purchase of their wireless headset on me, but I find that hard to believe. Microsoft’s Xbox division is a lot of things, but blatantly leaving out support for one product in favor for another just feels like a colossal failure. Especially if you use any kind of headphones with your home theatre (like I do at night, so neighbors don’t kill me). If you’d like to chat with your friends while using the wireless racing wheel, you’ll either need to buy Microsoft’s wireless Live headset, or setup a Skype call or something similar. It boggles the mind.
And now onto the software, Forza 4. This is a Microsoft Studios product, developed with this wheel in mind. Product synergy is nothing new, and like I stated earlier, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that this wheel was engineered specifically as a must-have accessory for die-hard Forza fans. This is why it was an incredible shock to me at how broken the connectivity between game and device truly is.
To start, the recognition of the device seems immediate, in the main menu you can use the d-pad to navigate up and down, left and right. But once you enter in any sub-menus, the game changes. The d-pad’s left and right directions begin to get ignored, and interactivity with certain features require mandatory use of LB and RB buttons; buttons Microsoft cleverly omitted from this wireless wheel. That’s right, there are actually lots of examples in Forza 4 where you are downright unable to progress without signing out of your Xbox Live profile, turning off the wireless wheel, turning on a regular controller, and signing back in. This includes the brand new AutoVista mode which right out of the gate requires you to push “up” on the analog stick…a stick that doesn’t exist on the wheel. It gets worse, because by default, the game won’t even let you shift gears in manual transmission without the LB and RB buttons.
If you want to do any car customization, which includes custom paint jobs or tuning, forget it. Want to pick a track? Forget it. Navigate menus? Tour the brand new AutoVista mode? Hope you’re ready to sign out of your profile, power down the wheel and turn on a wireless controller…and then do it all over again to get back to racing with the wheel.
It’s things like this that really blow my mind. How on Earth could this happen? How does the hardware and software it was made for, all created by the same company, not work? How are there not options to play the entire game, menus and all, with this new peripheral? How could this wireless controller not include an audio jack like every other wired or wireless controller? The questions add up, and I’d love to hear them answered.
All this being said, I don’t want to run back to the store and immediately return the wheel. Why? Because once you’re in the game and racing, it feels absolutely fantastic. Microsoft did a great job on one single aspect of this experience, and thankfully, it was the most important one. I have a good feeling a lot, if not most of the software related problems will eventually be patched. Hopefully keeping me from needing to sign in and sign out. If this does happen, I’ll be pretty happy with my purchase, for the most part.
I’ll be able to tell all the competing racers online the same thing too…if they’re in my Skype chat room.
On Steve Jobs…
When I think about my life, and where I am…what I do…he’s responsible for the tools I use and the things I create. It’s hard not to cry. I think a lot of us, if not most of us, can say our lives have been greatly influenced by Steve’s work an incredible, immeasurable amount. Let’s remember him and aspire to change the world the way he helped to.
Thanks Steve.
Presenting: Gears of War 3
As you may or may not know, Epic’s Gears of War 3, the final in a trilogy, is coming out in mere days. I’m a big fan of the Gears of War series, Epic Games and NECA Toys, so another photo project was in order.
My last gaming toy piece was also based on a game by Epic and a figure from NECA. That was my Presenting: Bulletstorm piece.
This time, I wanted to portray an image a bit more somber, something that fit the dark mood of Gears 3’s promotional stylings. Once I got Marcus and the dead Locust set up, I took several photos with different angles and lighting configurations.
After I found my favorite angle & lighting, I took the photos into Photoshop, and then, some extensive editing and color correcting later, the piece was finished!
I’ll be getting some prints made to send over to Epic and NECA along with prints of my Bulletstorm piece. I think everyone will enjoy seeing them!
Thanks for taking a look, hopefully I’ll have some more stuff like this up soon.
The Journey
Ok so not really $100 Billion, but still.
I’m at the end of my most recent journey…a journey that has ended in a wonderful opportunity and something I’m quite proud of. Here’s the lowdown:
I was let go from TinyCo in May. It was a shock to me. I didn’t see it coming, I had no warnings or guidance about it at all. Looking back, it was probably for the best. TinyCo discovered my portfolio online and approached me about a UI Artist gig there. They told me they thought I could raise the bar of quality across the board on their games and help them ship world class products.
The longer I stayed there, despite loving my coworkers and the work I did, the more I started to notice this wasn’t the case. None of my differing opinions were really welcome; In my opinion the priority was focused on maintaining the curve, not being ahead of it. (They weren’t really even that into games, believe it or not.)
So while I was very upset at being let go, I think it was a blessing. I won’t deny TinyCo did a lot for me…they got me to California…which is probably the most important thing that’s happened to me. For this, I’m eternally grateful. But it was time to move on.
I immediately began a job search, and sent out several resumes and portfolios. My first interview was with ngmoco:) and was immediately hired as a contract Junior Designer in the Internet Marketing department.
(I also interviewed at Whiskey Media, and was offered a role. Sadly, it fell through; obviously it wasn’t meant to be.)
I started working at ngmoco:) as a freelancer within days of my offer. The people at ngmoco:) are amazing…it’s a really cool company with huge ambition and great employees. However, the role I was in wasn’t the one I dreamed of. I was far away from UI Design and creative work, which is what I feel most passionate about at this point in my career.
Eventually I was contacted by Zynga. They wanted to interview me for a couple of different UI-focused roles. I interviewed with the Web Division and Mobile Division for UI Artist positions. After a few interviews and phone calls, I was offered a full time position in their Mobile Division. This is where I’m heading. I’m incredibly excited to be joining a company who’s leading an industry and working with people who genuinely enjoy games. Half of my interviews took twice as long as they should’ve because we got started on rants about Mass Effect and L.A. Noire. I have a feeling that there’s a lot of great work to be done and that I’ll be a part of a lot of fun and exciting projects with great people, and I’ll do tons of learning to boot.
It’s been an arduous journey, and one that I couldn’t of made without some great friends and fantastic colleagues. I can’t wait to start this new chapter of my life at Zynga and make some amazing games that the world will love playing.
Obviously I’ll keep you all informed…thanks for reading and let’s party!
M
This would sharpen you up and make you ready for…
I’ve put together my first piece that I’ll be getting printed and selling. Based on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, one of my favorite films. It’s going to be done as a three-color silk-screened print on some nice French Paper.
I’m trying to gauge interest for orders, to see if it’s worth the initial investment. There probably won’t be many made, and when I’m inevitably famous, this will probably be worth some serious dough! ;-)
It won’t be expensive either, I can’t imagine more than $15-$20.
Let me know what you think,
M
I Love Amazon…
Every time I’ve ever had an interaction with Amazon’s customer support, about anything, they’ve excelled at making me feel like a customer they respect and appreciate. They take steps they don’t need to, and they strive to make things right…every time. There really isn’t more you can ask for from a company. I will happily continue my Prime subscription until I die!
Now only if Amazon would start a shipping service…
My Support Email To Amazon:
—-
Amazon’s Response:
In Response To Brink…
I’m afraid this “zero hour” patch Splash Damage implemented hasn’t fixed any of the problems in the 360 version of the game. Even though I ripped the disc to the hard drive, the game still takes several seconds to load textures in at all times. If I make a 90 degree turn and then turn back, all textures had disappeared and needs to take another 10 seconds to load. This happens at a consistent pace. The game is still heavily aliased and blurry. Buildings & characters in the distance are so blurry and jaggy that it (no exaggeration) looks like an original Xbox title. The skybox and textures in the entire game are so heavily artifacted and suffer from so much banding it looks like it wasn’t put through QC at all. The quality of the art design is so high, and the character models in the menus look great- why does it render down to an Xbox quality display once I’m in-engine? It really looks like something is wrong, like something is seriously broken. This game does not display or run like a game on a modern console is intended to. To be quite honest, the game looks, runs and feels like it’s playing below 480p and getting up-res’d to 720p on my television. Everything is just so low quality it’s hard to believe anyone even looked or playtested the 360 version prior to launch. And these are just the graphical issues, which admittedly, are the tip of the iceberg. Myself and five of my friends were unable to play online at any point last night due to extreme lag. And I’m not talking about small lag, I’m talking “I can’t even move forward without getting rubber banded 20ft in every direction” lag. For a multiplayer game, this is an unprecedented cockup, and once again, looks like it was never even playtested. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I’m a big fan of Bethesda and have enjoyed Splash Damage’s previous titles, but the heinous condition of Brink on the Xbox 360 is something you should be ashamed of. I’d love any of the SD/Bethesda team to see how this game runs for us, in our home conditions, and honestly confess that they’re proud of their work. I just wish there was a way to know if any of these is something that can be fixed, or if this is the “official” product and it’s running as intended. If that’s the case…well, it’s just really sad.
Droids for Sale
Hello! I’ve got some cute stuff here for sale. I’ve been tracking down these elusive Android mini collectibles for about a year and I finally managed to order some. I got about two cases in and have several duplicates to sell! A couple are common (2 in 16 pieces), one is rare (1 in 16 pieces), and the Cyanogen Droid is an ultra-rare piece, not listed on the box or booklets.
I was going to list them all on eBay but wanted to offer them to my friends & followers first. I’m selling them for $15 each shipped, and $50 each shipped for the ultra-rare Cyanogen version.
If you’re interested, please drop me a line at matt[at]matthewrex.com. We can set up an exchange! If you have any of Series 1 and would like to offer a trade, I’d be interested!
Thanks for looking, and let me know if you have any questions-
M
Bluebot (x2 Available)
Designed By Google
2 in 16
Greeneon (x1 Available)
Designed By Google
2 in 16
Iceberg (x2 Available)
Designed By Andrew Bell
2 in 16
Rupture (x1 Available)
Designed By Doktor A
1 in 16
Cyanogen (x2 Available)
Designed By Andrew Bell
?? in ??
The Doctor Returns
This weekend, The Doctor returned to the airwaves and it couldn’t of been better. The premiere was fantastic, and I can’t wait for the rest of the new series. After being so smitten with the premiere, obviously iPhone wallpapers were in order.
Over the course of the new series I’ll definitely be making more, but for now, here’s the first batch! Enjoy!
