This image has threatened traditional gaming since around November 2006.

It’s been a year of worry for the traditional gamer. Whilst gaming might seem to be an ever growing past-time, some of the traditional elements which make up the industry have seemed fragile. Publishers have been busy shutting down traditional developers, especially those famed for 3D racers, but beyond too.

We have seen shops such as Gamestop starting to seriously invest in alternative delivery platforms such as their own tablet and streaming services, fearing a fast-arriving dead end to their current business model. Indeed in the UK, where GAME have been less aggressive in moving into new areas of the business, we are witnessing the start of what will be a contraction of its street presence over the next five years. HMV, too, are struggling and are being quite open about the idea that they might not be around in the next 2-5 years in any shape or form.

Alongside this we have seen traditional hardware providers, such as Microsoft and Sony, in effect pour cold water on the idea of an early start to the ‘next generation’ as it is only really now that they are generating real profit dollars from their investment in current hardware and software. Whilst they might feel the urge to produce something new in the face of the soon to be released Wii U, both companies will resist in the knowledge that they have healthy, steadily improving install bases and technology which still won’t look outdated, even compared to the Wii U. I suspect they have noticed that the current generation of hardware is actually perceived to be cutting edge by many consumers today, despite being very behind suped up PCs. Hence there is little demand to bring a new, expensive console solution to the market in these difficult economic times.

Look, look I got some new plastic! But no games or applications to use with it!

Nintendo’s own year has been a difficult one, until the final quarter came around with the upturn witnessed in the holiday season. The launch of the 3DS was undermined by a range of mistakes. A high price, which did not actually put off day one early adoption but which did kill day two, three and further afield purchases. This drop in sales and consumer relevance was then compounded by the device having no actual new software (quality or otherwise) for months after release! It was almost as if Nintendo itself was surprised by the release of the console. One suspects that this observation might be closer to the truth than some might realise. Could it be that Iwata suddenly panicked when he saw the drop off in DS hardware and software sales in late 2010 and early 2011, and thought a hardware launch, which was due for November 2011, should be brought forward? Could it be that he actioned this change of timeline, forgetting that the software development teams couldn’t speed up, pro-rata?

This would explain the lack of software, both in terms of game titles and the also slightly unfinished operating system, which is still having parts of its online functionality added by firmware to this day; but which the software team have admitted were due to be there from day one.

Indeed Nintendo have taken a bashing on behalf of traditional gamers everywhere. Analysts the world over have decided that Nintendo could be the RIM (the makers of Blackberry products) of the games industry. Everyone likes to be the one who can call the end of the world (just ask the Mayans) and analysts are as human as the next guy (really they are) and Nintendo was their punching bag in 2011. The narrative went like this – people are moving from dedicated gaming devices to iPads and smartphones. Why spend £30 on a game, when you can get freeware or £1 software? The logic was sound, but too simple. People will always buy something they want, you just need to give them something they actually want, and come the end of the year Nintendo seemed to be achieving this. The 3DS sales are now running ahead of all predictions and confidence is not only building in the platform, but in the traditional games market in general. What started as a bad story for Nintendo and the industry as a whole has started to evolve into a success story.

Of course the area of growth which has probably received the most headlines, is the continued march of the social and casual gaming market. This encompasses everything from the Just Dance franchise, to the exponential growth of the Farmville type experience. There is no question that the online ‘Sim’ style of gameplay is not only hugely compelling but ideal for multi-platform, cloud play. Users can switch from the PC to their tablets, and in theory continue on the Sony Vita, as many of these games start being released in the platform agnostic HTML5 coding language. Indeed as televisions become ‘smarter’ with their own implementation of Kinect-like experiences, merged with an appstore, we can expect to see continued growth in the use of such genres. For hardcore gamers, this can be seen as a threat, as it potentially pulls funding from the type of projects they would traditionally welcome. Indeed if one looks, as an example, at Disney Interactive, it is moving evermore into this social and casual space and further away from traditional AAA game titles.

Should we as traditional gamers be worried by this? Probably not. Firstly the world is not black and white (even though according to my dad, when he was a boy it used to be – just look at old films back from when he was a youngster he tells me) and hence some of us also play those social games (maybe less so the dance titles). After all they are really very similar to RPGs, but often the character is the ‘farm’ or ‘restaurant’. However it also means that those AAA titles that are released get an increase in funding, and hence we should see an ongoing rise in production values and overall quality. The end of year titles released in 2011 are probably the best evidence for this. The range of software in your local GAME or Gamestop is reducing, but who can dispute the quality of Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and the top shooters, MW3 and BF3?

Let us not forget the great games that have come out on XBLA, PSN, Android/iOS and recently on the 3DS, which is starting to have some quality digital titles. If you are a dedicated gamer, and not just someone who dives in to kill some time, you have never really had it so good.

What will 2012 bring to the story? For sure, we will see the ongoing decline of brick and mortar shops. Boxed product will still exist, and we will probably continue to see the ongoing investment into ‘limited edition’ versions which will help to prolong the life of this boxed product. However for many they will only order via online, postal only services. Shops will simply start to close or become trading and part exchange locations.

Game of the Year 2012?

The year ahead, when it comes to software, is going to be a very exciting year. Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, MW3 map packs and BioShock Infinite (have Take 2 already sewn up 2012?) are already in our consciousness. The 3DS has some superb first and third party exclusives arriving in early 2012 too, and the industry will have the US and European launch of the Vita to look forward to.

The Wii U will release. Nintendo will see this as a slow burner, as the Wii at its new price is still selling strongly. However for those wanting to upgrade it could spoil the party for the current levels of PS3 growth and Xbox steady sale projections. Why? Because for those who already have a Wii (and only a Wii) and are considering what to step up to then if the Wii U ticks a number of boxes, it’ll be the natural platform to choose. What are those boxes?

• If the Wii U has the same range of ‘adult’ software as the 360 and PS3 in addition to being 100% backwards compatible with all their Wii content.
• If it allows them to play all the new Mario titles, along with new Nintendo only IP. Expect Nintendo to make a push to position the Wii U as the first console to take MMOs seriously with a controller designed for them.

The ultimate home based tablet and server solution?

If the above happens, then who would not buy the Wii U over one of its HD counterparts? Those of us already with a Wii and 360, or PS3 will probably fail to become early adopters. That’ll be fine by Nintendo though, as once the new inevitable Mario games and Pikmin are released, and once the hardware does eventually drop in price, they know we will still invest.

What Nintendo decides to do with its online provision for the Wii U though is very exciting. Nothing is really known, but all the rumours suggest a very open online service, perhaps with multiple portals such as EA’s Origin and Steam. However, if they could be linked with a single Wii U identity (not a friend code!) it suggests a range of delivery services, offers and perhaps even streaming services being offered through the platform, alongside its own propriety content.

2012 could be Take 2's year, at least when it comes to Metacritic scores. Sales will surely follow.

As the economy continues to stumble, the games industry will clearly find that growth and expansion is stunted by the social and economic factors around them. Yet if any leisure industry will succeed in these tough times, it’ll be ours; and 2012 will be another step forward.

We are heading into London to a Sony event where they are showing off the PSVita. Sony has huge hopes for this powerful, hardcore gamer-centric portable system. So they should too. As much as there is huge demand for both casual and social games on phones and tablets, it is clear that high quality, hardcore games struggle on those platforms; partially due to the economy around them not supporting the type of investment a 3DS or PSP game requires, partially due to lack of battery life, or down to the fact that FPS and third person games just don’t transfer well to touchscreens.

Hence the PSVita could become the tablet of choice for gamers. Especially 18-35 year olds. With its high res 5 inch OLED display, comprehensive touch and hardware controls and superb wireless connectivity options, it has the potential to become relevant to a subset of gamers who are potential tablet consumers who value Uncharted 3 more than Angry Birds.

However, as with the 3DS it will come down to the games. If the games can justify a shelf price of 30 pounds then consumers will justify owning the device. If the games are just cynical releases such as overpriced tablet conversions, low on content hours, or just rubbish then the device will fail. This preview event will probably be one of the last opportunities to assess that launch line up and potential prior to release in February.

Well, impressions of the hardware itself were very positive. It feels comfortable in your hands and the weight is acceptable for long play sessions. However it is not really a commuting device, due to its footprint. For long journeys and for use at locations once you have arrived, it is perfect. Nine out of Ten iPad users never take their device out and it is seen as a coffee table device when the TV is being used for something else, and the PSVita could become the tablet of choice for gamers.

The screen is remarkable, the contrast ratio on it seems better than many expensive LCD screens. Indeed whilst playing a couple of games next to their PS3 counterparts (see below) it was clear that the PSVita looked better than the Sony TV sets next to them. Playing games and watching movies will be a pleasure on this screen and will be a great selling point.

However, let’s run through a selection of the games on offer:

Reality Fighters

This game has great customisation options. Using the cameras you can put yourself in the game, altering your digital alter ego utilising various settings. It’s purely a gimmick from what I could see, but the comedy element is certainly there. There are tons of options to change the look, size and dress code of your avatar. You can also choose various ‘comedy’ fight styles.

The game has various online and local multiplayer options and it could be really fun with friends. However as a singleplayer experience or serious online brawler, it seems too lightweight and gimmicky. It would make a nice ‘pack in’ with the system or cheap digital release for launch to show off some of the features, should Sony choose to take it down that direction.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

We only got to play a small slice of this game, and it’s very similar to a recent play-through posted on the web. Nate is stuck in a burning building (isn’t he always nowadays), has to do some climbing to escape and then he acts as a sniper, shooting bad guys off in the distance protecting his companion.

If looks sell, then this games sells the system. It looks like a PS3 title, based on the little we have seen. We hope they have some more open, outdoor levels in the real game so that we can see if the PSVita can do those graphics away from small areas of play.

Our only problem with the game, based on this very small demo, is that Uncharted feels a little too much like a ‘Sony Bend’ game and not a Naughty Dog game. If you have played any of the Syphon Filter games on the PSP you’ll know what I mean. Those were great games, but enemy AI and the ‘situations’ were a bit simple and basic. We felt we were playing through a level of those games, especially with the sniping section. It is only a demo, so let us hope the game is more intelligent, and not just Syphon Filter in Uncharted’s clothes with nicer textures and more polygons.

ModNation Racers

Sony’s alternative to Mario Kart; some of us have never truly taken to this game, simply as the handling is so spongy. However this might be no fault of the game, and simply be a result of us (like most other people) being conditioned for Mario Kart. Either way that spongy handling is still there, which is a little disappointing. It does look like nice; but to be honest the PSP version looked nice too.

What makes this version stand out is the online functionality and, more importantly, the superb track building tools which use both touchscreens. These are used in ways which are very natural and intuitive. For example on the track editor you can raise or lower elements (such as scenery or the track itself). Tap on the front screen to raise and tap on the rear screen to lower. This best demonstrated how the touchscreen can suddenly make not so new ideas far more accessible, and the rear screen takes that logic to a new level.

MotorStorm RC

This was a lively little game. To be honest, there is very little Motorstorm about it. It is not a traditional 3D racer, but one which harks back to the 16 bit days of off-beat racing games, such as Skidmarks on the Amiga. As with Skidmarks it’s very non-offensive fun. Races are very short, so the game has that ‘just one more go element’. The game is one of the first to offer the ‘buy one copy for both PS3 and PSVita’ technology. Whilst PS3 users and Vita users cannot play against each other, all online leaderboard and community features will be shared.

This will be a digital, PSN release and it will be one of the launch titles. If priced fairly this will offer compelling and honest fun gaming, something often missing in modern videogames.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Not a lot to say here. It is Marvel vs Capcom, in your hands and with terrific graphics. If you want a serious fighter in your hands you’ll want this. It is fast, fluid and looks amazing. There seemed to be a huge list of characters to choose from, and it was comfortable to play.

We think it’ll be the only (serious) fighter at launch, but it also looks like it’ll be setting the standard for the others that follow at a high mark.

Little Deviants

It’s a minigame collection. A little bit Super Monkey Ball, a little bit Face Raiders (from the 3DS) and a little bit this and that from every other mini-collection on the market!

This has been relegated to a title which is simply a tech demo to show off the PSVita’s control options. Based upon the lack of people playing it at the event, it’s fair to assume that it has not garnered a whole lot of interest.

This is because people’s assumptions seem on our experience largely true. Once again, as with Reality Fighters, this might be better as a pack-in, a Wii Sports title for the PSVita to help move units off the shelf. However if this game is priced at £30 or above it’ll surely bomb. Most of the game modes are not memorable and most people would have played something similar elsewhere. The AR games built into it are very similar to the software packed into the 3DS.

I’m sure there is more to this game, but we will have to wait till its formal release to see and experience it.

Super Stardust

A PS3 favourite. What can we say? It’s Super Stardust on the Vita. It looks amazing, the controls are superb too. Dual stick controls (as you would expect), face and shoulder button use and touchscreen controls for some weapons. Additionally you can control a camera which lets you see more of the above or across from your ship by gently tilting the Vita.

The tilting doesn’t change the gameplay and you don’t ever need to do it, but it adds real depth to the graphics, and can be useful to plan strategies if you can keep a couple of steps ahead of the game.

F1 and Ridge Racer

Both driving games were generally underwhelming. Ridge Racer looks very competent, with high res graphics, but it seems like a cynical release to cash in. Locations might be high res, but they are quite dull. F1 also looked competent; but I felt that despite the lower resolution, driving games might actually be better on the 3DS, due to that much underused 3D screen. Games where you are going at speed into the distance can really benefit from that third dimension, possibly more than extra high res textures.

FIFA 12

This is FIFA, in your hands. No other way to say it really. Well visually it is, anyway. The game, from what we experienced, lacked the new defending technology, but the graphics seemed almost the same. FIFA on the old PSP played well, despite only having one control stick – so even though the Vita has two, the difference is less pronounced than with other genres.

However, the touchscreens add some really great depth to the gameplay. Shooting can (if you wish) be controlled by swiping the rear screen, but more importantly, passing can be triggered on the top screen. Simply press where you want the ball and the player will try to pass it there, even if they are not currently pointing in that direction. It’s not a replacement for traditional button play, but for situations where you see a possible ‘play’ (even if your player and teammates are not all in the right positions, or facing the right way), then touching is a superb way of triggering a counter attack.

This could be a system seller.

WipEout 2048

This was simply blinding. It looked amazing. It was fast (locked at 30 frames per second I think the developer said – which on an OLED screen is better than 60 frames on a LCD), has all the features a WipEout game would have, and a great selection of tracks. Controls were as you would expect, in addition to tilt control, which felt really comfortable.

One of the really cool elements was the implementation of Cross Play. This meant that Wipeout HD (on PS3) users could play alongside PSVita users where the tracks were the same, both with local play and with online play. We tested this feature using local wireless and it was seamless. We also have to point out that the game looked better on that cool OLED screen.

WipEout has become a smaller franchise in recent years, but the Vita could see it blossom again and become the mainstream racer it once was.

Gravity Rush

Beautiful is not often a word associated with games, but once in a while a game comes out which is lovely to look at. It is not trying to be realistic or fluorescent in tone, but is simply mind expanding. Gravity Crash is beautiful to look at but also to play.

How can we explain it? Well it is a third person brawler (in some ways to its detriment as it could be a puzzler, like Portal with some more imagination), where you can shift the centre of gravity. Your main character can fly through the air, suspending and switching the perspective on the fly. It is beautiful and is fully realised by taking advantage of the control set of the Vita. The dual sticks, the motion controls and traditional buttons all come together to allow the gameplay to flow along without it feeling clumsy. That, you see, is why it is beautiful. The gameplay is allowed to develop and involve you, as the hardware is able to display and perform the code the way the designers have clearly intended it to be experienced.

The demo was short and didn’t explain much about the setting. All that was clear was that you play a young girl, who has a cat as a friend, who doesn’t understand where she is or how she can control gravity.

I’m sure the story will be bizarre to match the gameplay, but that’s just fine. Along with traditional IP such as FIFA and WipEout, this should be one of your launch purchases.

It comes in a BLUE box!

PSVita Summary

So to summarise, the launch line up does have some real gems. Sony will need to work with its third party developer to make sure there is a constant flow of new games soon after launch. A 3DS style vacuum of games to follow till August 2012 could kill the system, so we hope the games we saw were only the start of a constantly growing line up.

However, with FPS games not even shown off and with at least Resistance confirmed for release soon after launch, and third person shooter Unit 13 recently announced, it seems Sony are on track to offer a comprehensive selection to any early adopters.

A true tablet for gamers is what the Vita offers. The platform has the potential to offer superb £40 games, digital games at £5 and possibly ‘marketplace’ style apps for 80 pence. We also saw some of the serious apps, such as Twitter, the web browser (not fully working) and other social-orientated applications which shows that this could be a hardcore gamer’s one stop shop for media consumption, and a true player in the portable digital market.

• Format: PSP (PSP Camera required)
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
• Developer: Novarama
• Players: 1-4
• Site: http://uk.playstation.com/psp/games/detail/item392092/Invizimals%E2%84%A2-The-Lost-Tribes/

Imagine: you’ve bought a new CD, one with a generous number of tracks. The first few songs show innovation yet are somehow comfortingly familiar; you like this disc. Before long however things get a little too experimental, and it doesn’t work; it’s just unwelcome noise. Then another good song, another failure; you see a pattern. The biggest problem is that there’s no way to skip straight to the good songs on this CD. Turn this album into a game via the magic of imagination, and you have Invizimals: The Lost Tribes.

Let’s get the story out of the way. As terrible as it is, it’s the least of the game’s worries. I:TL makes a real effort to tell a deep and engaging story, but you’ll wish it didn’t. It’s all live action, with a sprinkle of cheap special effects thrown in. The best thing about it is the impossible-not-to-love Brian Blessed but, for the most part, he’s thrown to the sidelines to make way for actors and actresses you don’t know (and after this, wish you’d never begun to know). The sets, direction, and desperate acting are reminiscent of the nineties fad for FMV games (this is not a good thing). Best of all, these sequences are unskippable. Oh joy!

The basic idea is that you find and capture the eponymous Invizimals (oh, like ‘invisible animals’ – clever!) and then pit them against other Invizimals in fights, like some kind of evil dog trainer. Yes, it does sound rather like… you know, but it differs in various ways. First of all, you have to ‘find’ each one. This is set up as you progress through the story, but doesn’t really work as well as it’s supposed to; while the on-screen characters are babbling about you finding Invizimals in, say, Greece or Thailand, you’ll always be sweeping the PSP camera’s view over your sofa, floor etc. in your search.

Is it just us, or does this one look like Michael Caine? No? Never mind.

In a quite frankly stupid decision (not the last), each Invizimal is ‘hiding’ beneath a particular colour, meaning you’ll usually be scrambling around for objects rather than floors or tables. How many dark purple surfaces do you have in your living room? Worst of all, without 100% perfect light the camera struggles to recognise colours correctly, rendering the whole idea utterly pointless. Once you’ve managed to get the ‘scanner’ to accept a place the Invizimal is hiding, you can get on with the capture.

In theory you’re supposed to place the ‘trap’ (the specially marked piece of card bundled with the game) on the spot the scanner was happy with, but any surface will do. After an overly simple minigame lasting a few seconds, you’ll trigger a video of one of the characters talking to camera, explaining how to capture the Invizimal. There are 150 Invizimals in total, and each has its own minigame you need to complete in order to capture it. It seems odd that there’s no menu allowing you to replay any you’ve already done, but then there are few – if any – good enough for you to want to replay them. Mostly they’re inoffensively forgettable affairs, but some are downright infuriating.

The developers have now and again used the presence of the camera to mimic a gyroscope, which is a great idea – until you try it out, when you immediately realise that it is in fact a really, really stupid idea. You need to tilt the PSP at fairly steep angles to have the game recognise what you’re doing, meaning that it’s very easy to lose sight of the trap – which you will do again, and again, and again. Once you’ve repositioned and centred the system to reactivate the AR imagery, more often than not you’ll be in completely the wrong position (and frame of mind) to tilt quickly enough, and you’ll be another step closer to failure – which means scanning again.

Combat, in ‘club fights’ (essentially optional fights to level grind) and tournaments, is actually great fun. A mix of turn based and real-time combat, stamina bars and delays between activating moves prevent you from spamming attacks while guarding is entirely manual; timing your guard perfectly will reward you with a perfect or near-perfect defence. Each Invizimal has two standard attacks (minor stamina use, average damage), one quick attack (major stamina use, difficult to defend against), and one strong attack (major stamina use, major damage but slow to perform, so easier to defend against). This forces a tactical mindset during matches, especially as there is a kind of ‘rock paper scissors’ effect between certain classifications of Invizimal and certain types of attack.

Once captured, you can name an Invizimal whatever you like. The biggest challenge of the game is resisiting the urge to be rude here.

It’s not usually clear which classification each Invizimal falls into, though this does at least become (fairly) obvious during a fight. Of more concern is levelling your creatures. You’ll need to do at least some grinding, as it’s not long until you come up against your first fight unwinnable with level 1 Invizimals. Though fights are fun enough for grinding to avoid becoming frustrating, it seems almost pointless when you realise there’s usually a ‘boss’ waiting to be captured around the corner, already several levels above most of your horde.

These fights are separated regularly not only by unwelcome movies and occasionally frustrating minigames, but also by virtual jigsaws (each with a time limit) and initially confusing lightbeam redirection puzzles. Some of these are optional; why on Earth others were made compulsory in order to progress is beyond us, especially as they jar horridly with what should be the focus.

You can fight matches locally, a good reason to buy the game if you know other Invizimal fans. Online matches are an option too; but lobbies are few and far between, and packed full of high-level creatures. Not much of an option unless you’ve finished the main quest and/or are up for some serious grinding. In fact, the online aspect sums this game up nicely – there’s fun to be had here, but you’ll have to work for it.

• Format: PSP (PSP Camera required)
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
• Developer: London Studio
• Players: 1
• Site: http://uk.playstation.com/eyepetadventures/

The oft-ignored PSP camera is getting some love from Sony at the tail end of 2011 with two Augmented Reality animal sequels. EyePet Adventures is likely to be the one to catch most people’s proverbial eye, with not only a PSP prequel but also a few PS3 cousins. The idea in Adventures is to meld a virtual pet with a more traditional exploration-based gaming experience; though unfortunately, with one foot in each genre, its legs are spread so far apart it loses its footing and does itself a mischief.

After wading through the poor scripting and acting (which never gets any better) of the semi-animated intro which introduces players to the concept of the EyePet explorer’s club, you can call the eponymous EyePet into your living room, kitchen, stranger’s garden etc. This is achieved via the ‘Magic Card’, a sturdy, um, card marked with the iconic EyePet pawprint. Place the Magic Card on a flat surface (the game insists this should be your floor), point the PSP camera at it from a safe distance, and the game knows where to magic up the AR trickery.

When you load (and, unexpectedly, install) the game for the first time, you can’t actually do very much with your adorable bundle of fluff. You can make him/her/it follow an icon around the floor, take photos as and when you wish of your new friend wandering around the environment, and… that’s about it. This is where the explorer craft comes in. Thanks to the magic of AR, it breaks up through the floor and takes your EyePet down to a surreal world containing creatures such as giant snails, octopodes, and hanging vines ready to ensnare the unwary. If you live in a flatblock and your child starts giving the family downstairs strange looks after playing this game, you know why.

In the foreground is the official Critical Gamer EyePet, Tim. In the background is a graphical glitch.

Despite carrying the ominous name of The Underworld, this is not a place of danger, suspense and fun. It is in fact a place of, well… boredom. You move the craft (piloted by a generic EyePet silhouette) around this environment with the analogue stick or d-pad, collecting EyePet tokens that act as the game’s currency and items suspended in bubbles. You also… no, actually, that’s all you do. Although you unlock and buy upgrades for the craft which let you through previously impassable areas, and there is some basic interaction with objects and creatures now and again, the overly simplistic principle remains the same. Despite this the lack of any kind of map prolongs the agony longer than necessary, meaning many an older family member will be roped in to cover this part of the game.

This screenshot makes things look much more exciting than they are; and you're right, it isn't a very exciting screenshot.

The good news is that you should unlock well over half of the game’s content (including all six AR games) within an hour of play, and you can retreat to the inside of the craft – which acts as a sort of hub – at any time. It is here that you spend collected tokens on craft upgrades (you can buy new colours for it too – woo-hoo!) and clothes for your EyePet. Most interaction – or, more accurately, lack thereof – with your furry friend takes place here too. Want your EyePet to go to sleep? Go to the appropriate area, press triangle, and watch it sleep till you wake it up or quit the game. Want to feed it? Go to the appropriate area, press X, and watch as cookies fall into the food bowl and the EyePet eats them. Want to wash your EyePet? Select the appropriate area, press the triangle button, and watch steam crawl over a shower curtain. Doesn’t that sound like huge fun for your child? In all fairness, young kids will enjoy buying and using the various costumes, colours and styles for the EyePet; but that’s hardly a game in itself with great longevity.

Returning to the Surface (i.e. your floor) after enough time looting the Underworld will allow you to dive into the AR games, each with three levels of difficulty. The obligatory target shoot with moving targets is well done, and the only game that encourages you to move the PSP around for success – and is therefore the game most likely to frustrate young gamers as they find the camera loses its ideal line of sight with the Magic Card, and the play area disappears. Collecting treasure by hopping from raft to raft while tentacles attack isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds, and digging for treasure on a desert island while scaring away crabs is distinctly ‘meh’. Defending a mini castle from rats while avoiding scaring off the knights who toddle in is a nice idea, but too easy; and herding two types of sheep (white run away from you, black follow you) into pens is well done and again a good idea, but not one that will hold interest for days or even hours.

This is the game that briefly threatens to hold your interest for more than a few minutes.

You can simply have your EyePet wander around the play areas without activating the games. This is a nice touch, and makes for new photo opportunities (you can take pictures at any time during gameplay, including the Underworld, which are saved as jpegs on the memory stick). It’s far from enough to save the game however, which suffers from a chronic lack of content and, most unforgivable of all, a distinct lack of fun and interesting ways to interact with your EyePet. Even the small selection of AR games are less complicated – and fun – than those which come pre-installed, for free, on the 3DS.

• Platform: PSP (also available on other platforms)
  
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
  
• Developer: Virtual Toys
  
• Players: 1 (2 via local multiplayer)
  
• Site: http://uk.playstation.com/psp/games/detail/item395065/Cars-2-The-Video-Game/

The poor old PSP may be on the way out – especially with the industry getting excited at the sight of the shiny new PS Vita on the horizon – but it’s not going to go down without a fight. Cars 2 is the latest multiformat title to help plump up the PSP game library; but what do you get once you scrape off the Disney movie license?

First impressions are good. There’s a quality CG intro to get you in the mood for mildly anthropomorphised automobiles, and the car selection screen reveals a generous selection of over 20 characters from the film (though most need to be unlocked). They all look exactly as they should and, though the voice cast seems to be a mix of original and stand-ins, the mimics do a very good job. Unfortunately, the further the game strays from the superficial Disney presentation, the more it struggles to cling on to the player’s attention.

The structured part of the game is a series of missions from the C.H.R.O.M.E organisation of the film. These missions therefore act as a story mode. We say ‘act as’ rather than ‘make’, as the only attempt to tell a story is via text and stock illustrations on the loading screens between missions (and the looong loading times ensure you’ll have plenty of time to read). In fact, even using the word ‘missions’ is disingenuous; more accurately, what we have here is a series of races.

There are five types of race. Battle Race is, in theory, the main attraction; though only a small portion of the races use this mode. Think Mario Kart and you’ll immediately have the basic idea. Race around the track for X amount of laps against opponents, using weapons randomly assigned from boxes you drive through to slow them down whilst avoiding or jumping over obstacles. You also have a four segment energy bar, filled with separate pickups. You can use each segment for either a speed boost or brief invulnerability to attacks (but not crashes); or save up all four for a longer, faster boost. Several problems conspire to stop this being as fun as it might sound.

Firstly, the isometric 3D perspective used – as opposed to a behind the car and/or cockpit view – can be problematic. It gives the (certainly intentional) impression of toy cars racing round a toy racetrack, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The combination of highly detailed backgrounds and a vaguely cinematic camera that swings round corners proves to be a double edged sword, however. As previously mentioned, there are obstacles; obstacles that force a restart no matter how fast or slow you were travelling when you hit them (thankfully, the spawn points are never more than a few steps back). Some are too tall to be jumped, and the choice of perspective means you sometimes only have a split second to swerve. Worst of all, a few tracks feature foreground details that, on occasion, obscure such obstacles until you’re a nanosecond aware from being a cheerily designed car wreck.

These races only ever feature four cars – including yours. Presumably this, and the young audience in mind for the game, influenced the decision to resurrect the practice of ‘rubberbanding’ that has been all but killed in the games of today. This means that if you fall behind, the other cars will politely slow right down until you catch up. We once deliberately crashed into the same obstacle several times, yet caught up with the race in a matter of seconds (on the highest difficulty). It also means that, no matter how careful you are to avoid crashing and no matter how well you use your boosts, at least one car will magically catch up with you if it looks like you’re in danger of making a decent lead for yourself.

Race is the same setup without weapons, while Against the Clock is basically a checkpoint run. Eliminator knocks out the racer in last place at the end of each lap, and Attack… Attack has the most potential. Here you go round and round the track until time runs out, destroying as many infinitely spawning ‘lemons’ (er, yellow cars) as you can. Each race has bronze, silver and gold trophies to be won (the game also has ‘badges’ in lieu of PSN trophies) and achieving gold in some of the Attack races actually presents a challenge. Although the idea is very simple, it requires more skill than the other modes. You’ll need to keep a close eye on when and where the lemons turn and swerve – to ensure that your attacks don’t miss – as well as watching for turns and obstacles as usual.

There are only 25 ‘missions’ (including the tutorial) and, no matter the chosen difficulty (which can’t be changed) and age of the player, virtually everybody will get through them all in no more than 3-4 hours. The ending encourages you to achieve gold in them all if you haven’t already, but it’s questionable how many will be interested enough. That aside, there is only Free Play – where you choose the mode and track for yourself – and multiplayer. We were unable to test the multiplayer element, being as it is local only. This seems like a real missed opportunity, as online play would have added a whole new – and likely much more attractive – dimension to the experience.

This game only does a few things particularly wrong, but the main problem is that it does nothing particularly right. Things are perhaps best summed up in the way the sixteen tracks have been designed. Visually they’re very well done, with the London areas being a particular highlight. They all feel the same though, sharing the same hazards, basic layouts and game modes. After half a dozen tracks you have, in essence, played the whole game.

• Format:PSP and PS3 Mini
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Tower Studios
• Developer: Vivid Games
• Players: 1
• Site: http://www.tower-studios.co.uk/

Do not dismiss this game because you have not got a PSP or do not use your PSP. Why? It’ll work on the PS3 and up and coming PS Vita. And why is it so important we bring this to your attention? Because this game is great, amazing value, and possibly the first PSN Mini which is a must have. Seriously. We’ll set out the argument below.

As with the IOs version the original metallic palette has been considerably brightened up.

If you recall we have already reviewed this game for iOS devices, and we gave it a ‘safe’ 7/10 score. It was the same great game of Speedball 2 that we could remember, but somehow some of the atmosphere seemed left behind and this was acerbated by a poor man’s compromise between tilt controls and a touch screen virtual joystick. For all the criticism the PSP has received over the years about only having one thumb stick, it is ironic that near the end of its lifecycle it receives a game that was designed for only one thumb stick! This was originally an Amiga game, and that platform utilised joysticks, which mainly only had one fire button and one simple control stick. The PSP is in its element here, and the game equally plays well on the PS3 (more on that later).

Speedball 2 is rugby, handball and Australian Rules Football combined in a future setting. It’s faced paced, and it involves scoring points in multiple ways. Methods of scoring include throwing the ball into the opposition’s goal, bouncing it off mechanisms in the field of play, or just by knocking out opposition players.

The graphics are sharp and the sound is as good as we remember on the Amiga, and seems to have been sharpened up a little; but that might just be psychological. Either way the presentation is excellent, with clear menus and updated graphics for team selection, and the whole package is very high quality.

Updated Menus make the game more accessible and smarter for 2011

The game has no multiplayer mode which is a real let down, but which is a problem with the Mini format, used to get this game to market. Multiplayer Speedball 2 would be amazing over PSN, and perhaps if this Mini does well Sony might be encouraged to request an upgraded PS Vita/PS3 version which is a full PSN release. What the game does offer is a full ten season career mode, a quick match mode and a challenge mode (which is really the career mode broken down into its individual elements). Additionally the game comes with its own form of achievements and trophies encouraging different styles of play.

In our previous review we had discussed the little known fact that there was a version on the GBA. We thought that it was a near perfect conversion of the game. The iOS version seemed a step back from that, but this PSN Mini version is a step in the right direction. We dug out our coveted GBA conversion (which is almost identical to the Amiga in every way) and overall we can say that this is an improvement on the original! The only two remaining issues are the already mentioned lack of multiplayer and that compared to the original, the characters don’t always seemed to be connected to the floor when running. This might simply be an illusion caused by a wider range of colours being used in the newest build; or it’s because the player animations have been tampered with, leaving an undesired effect visible to the player.

We really can’t stop emphasising how this game really suits this gaming platform. It is not just player movement which is far more fluid, but in addition the ability to curve the ball is given extra refinement with the implementation of proper analogue control.

Speedball has always been a great concept, and the original developers, The Bitmap Brothers, struck upon a timeless gem. The iOS version is still very good; but if you have a PSP lying about and/or a PS3 this is a must have download. Most PSN Minis are throwaway titles, but this will keep you coming back and back for a quick fix. The game looks just fine on the PS3 (a higher res build would be lovely, but this will suffice), unlike many Minis which don’t scale that nicely to a large HD screen.

If you want a hard hitting, addictive sports game which gives instant gratification get this now. Heck it’s only £2.49, which is less than the IOs version. Hopefully if enough of us get it Sony will see fit to commission a full PSN release with multiplayer, both local and online.

The 3DS false start has caused some to fear the end of dedicated handhelds

Many analysts are claiming the death of the dedicated handheld console way too early. Article after article points out the huge number of smartphone sales and app adoption, and from there leap to the conclusion that this in some way means that there is no future in the dedicated handheld market. I disagree with this position and see that there is room for a strong dedicated handheld offering from the major gaming manufactures. That is not to suggest that I’m blind to the changes taking place in this sector, nor does it mean that I think there will always be a market for dedicated handhelds. I’m open to a world without them eventually, but I would argue it’s way too hard to make that call at present.

So why are ‘experts’ stating that this market is dying? Well clearly there are a ton of smartphones out there, and many are able to play high quality games. However there are five strong reasons why, for the next generation at least, handheld consoles have a role for the serious gamer.

Firstly, if you play games a lot on the move on your phone the batteries cannot cope. This means you’ll find yourself rationing or unable to make phone calls. With their primary purpose being able to make and receive phone calls, it is a major disability when the battery cannot allow such calls to take place. Even emailing a lot can drain the battery on most smartphones, which is why many business people choose to carry a blackberry for email and another phone for calls. Whilst batteries are coming along leaps and bounds, and the CPUs which drive these machines are improving drastically, the extra ‘oomph’ these improvements deliver are fast consumed by the increase in graphical quality and screen fidelity demanded by the consumer, content creator and hardware designer.

Secondly, apart from the Experia Play, all the devices lack credible physical controls. For some forms of games this is not a problem at all, and some have blossomed because of it; but it clearly leaves out a very large number of game genres (especially those adopted by the hardcore) from being experienced in their optimum environment. The hardcore might be a minority term; but it’s a rather large minority who are willing to spend large amounts of money on games and hardware if the content justifies the financial investment (I’ll get onto that in a moment). The hardcore complained about only having one analogue stick on the PSP, so we are hardly excited about having none on the iPhone. Devices that emulate a control stick via the touch screen create a new problem as fast they attempt to solve an existing one. Have you played Street Fighter 4 on the iphone? The controls are not bad, but I can’t for the hell of me see what’s going on as my thumbs are on top of the actual graphics. Now I’m sure some can live with this, but for those that justify this and go out of their way to tell me it’s acceptable, let me pop round to your house when you are watching Avatar in HD and stand in front of your TV wriggling my bottom.

Physical buttons are no fad!

Thirdly, the software ecosystem and dedicated IP offered by the two differing types of devices vary greatly. The smartphone with its app store has allowed a huge amount of content to be generated and sold at amazingly low prices. This is great for the consumer, especially consumers who have never purchased mainstream games before. Additionally, some hardcore gamers also enjoy this content. Apple’s App Store has been good for the genres which were being overlooked on traditional consoles. Additionally, in the case of the latter years of the DS, it has helped make a mockery of the type of software Ubisoft and others were putting out priced at £30 but offering little more than a 79p app. However, this same marketplace is unable to sustain AAA titles, except once in a while. Yes, the iPhone might have its own version of Splinter Cell, but it is a different, cheaper to produce game. Would we have ever seen the iPhone version of Splinter Cell take the lead with regard to design and publishing priority? I can’t imagine such a reality, unless Apple bought Ubisoft and made it an Apple only developer as way of selling more hardware (always a possibility moving forward).

An ecosystem with such low consumer prices cannot offer a return on investment similar to that provided by traditional consoles. Is it easier to make money on the App Store? For sure, in theory, if your app can get noticed. However, is it easy to make hundreds of million of dollars? Not at all.

Will Apple ever own an IP in the world of gaming?

Additionally, Apple do not yet own or publish internally commissioned content. Perhaps one day they might; after all they have bought music software businesses and other developers as a way of capturing other markets. Yet, at present they do not and hence they lack strong IPs, which can drive the sales of hardware. It could be argued that their best IP is the App store itself along with iOS, but that perhaps is not as strong in the long term as Mario, Uncharted, or LittleBigPlanet. An App store can be replicated, but quality IP cannot be (ask Gameloft).

You see, the handheld is to the videogames industry, what the Cinema is to the film industry. The movie industry needs cinema and to an extent huge HDTVs. The experience of seeing a film on such a large screen with amazing sound is unique and consumers love it. Hence movie studios are able to invest in quality IP that makes the most of the cinema experience and justifies the high price of the tickets demanded of consumers. In turn, the dedicated handheld with its physical controls and larger, or double screen viewing experience is a perfect stage for major games such as Ocarina of Time or Uncharted, which would not see the light of day on a smart phone.

Fourth reason; whilst on paper many of the devices can provide superb graphics, many are often behind the curve in contrast to the dedicated consoles. This is because with the case of the PlayStation hardware it launches well ahead of the curve and it’s only near the end of its life that phone based hardware really catches up. It can be argued that this differential is fast reducing, however, as the smartphone has to always be running phone, messaging and other services; in reality, they can never truly throw their full processing weight behind running a game. This is why even the 3DS graphics look great compared to phones, which are technically more powerful – just compare Resident Evil Mercenaries on the 3DS to the ios version.

Fifth, the price of smart phones, or at least the ones that can really rival dedicated handhelds, are very high. If bought out of contract they can cost close to £500 (iPhone) and the iPad price is £400-£600. The iPad is often mentioned as a handheld and even home based console competitor. Let’s remember a PS3 costs around £250 and does so much more – it’s a daft claim to argue they are in the same space in reality. The PS Vita in comparison is looking at being £280 at launch, with the 3DS already selling new for around £170. The argument goes, that the software for the 3DS and PS devices are much more, but see point three above – it’s not a like-for-like comparison and the hardcore market knows and understands this. That’s why they still buy Call of Duty every Christmas for £40 as well as Angry Birds. The hardcore perceive them as two distinct offerings.

It'll do everything you know, like a tablet, except it's aimed at serious gamers...

The 3DS has had a dismal launch but if the price stabilises around £150 by Christmas, then with a strong boxed retail line up and with a good range of £2-£8 content on its excellent eShop there is no reason why this won’t be a platform which performs excellently over the next 3-5 years, appealing to old and young alike.

The PS Vita could end up being the tablet for game lovers. It is clear that for many hardcore gamers the iPad is too large, too expensive and lacks physical inputs. If the Vita also has amazing (and flash enabled) browsing, full media capabilities, perhaps even ebooks, then it could end up being perceived as the gamers tablet of choice. It’s not by chance that Sony have moved away from the small screen format of the PSP Go, and decided on a screen large enough for a quality web experience, but more portable and manageable than that of the iPad. It’s also no surprise that the device might offer compatibility with the Android market, offering the best of both worlds from an app perspective.

Will we still be playing on dedicated handhelds in 15 years? Even I don’t want to look that far ahead, but if gamers still want physical controls, AAA content and as long as there between 50-200 million of them worldwide then this will be enough to justify companies existing to provide a solution to that demand with dedicated hardware. For the immediate future though, expect to see 3DS consoles and PS Vitas on birthday and holiday season gift lists for the next 5 years.

Angry Birds has been a HUGE success. It's no fad, there will be other similar successes, but that doesn't mean that this form of gaming will replace hardcore titles. However, the game can also exist on the 3DS and PS Vita and add value to their entertainment offer.

Sony Conference: June 7^th 01:00am GMT

Sony has had a brilliant year! …(*audible cough*). The only thing I predicted for this conference on Twitter was an on-stage suicide. Let’s see if I am correct. It better be good. I stayed up to cover this! Obvious games will be Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3.

• 3D glasses are being handed out to the audience. Oh dear. Things running a little behind as a result. At least I think that’s the reason. Wouldn’t it be fun if the conference was hacked? Someone comes out wearing a V for Vendetta mask they win the internet.
• Still more waiting. Crowd control is apparently to blame. …I don’t know either.
• Here we go. Finally. The command is given to have glasses ready, probably means Uncharted will be opening the show.
• PS3 generic advert begins, NGP seen also and Move. All to terrible dance music. A (presumably) 3D trailer than starts showing a few different games. Very…underwhelming.
• Focus then moves to N4G or whatever they chose to call it briefly before the Move again. This seems like space filler – is this really the start of the conference?
• Jack Tretton takes the stage. About time. He looks a lot more tired than usual. Get on with it, Jack.
• Straight onto PSN outage. Good man. An apology to their third party developers, retail partners and finally consumers. Glad they didn’t try to work around it. I mean it isn’t a genuine apology, it’s a well rehearsed one, but still.
• Too much talking after that about Netflix and such like. CinemaNow access also revealed.
• Jack moves to Uncharted, as expected. Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra take to the stage to display the game. As usual the game looks good. Drake is on a fairly large boat in a storm searching for something. The movement, while obviously trying to imitate the boat moving on choppy waters, seems very strange at times.
• Tension seems to build as he makes his way deeper into the ship. I sense a water themed catastrophe in the near future. He is caught by guards but quickly escapes and accidentally also makes the ship spring a leak. Who’d have figured?
• Water is slowly flooding the area while fighting continues. The ship overturns along with everything else. Platforming gameplay next and decent water effects. Gameplay ends abruptly to applause.
• There’s chat about the multiplayer, the Beta begins June 28^th. They announce a partnership with Subway in the US for some reason. Ends with a full 3D trailer. Release date is November 1^st.
• Jack’s back talking about Insomniac Games and Resistance 3. Marcus Smith is there to demo, wearing a jacket at least two sizes too big for him.
• He is playing in 3D. Shield Drones, shoot the drone to make the enemy vulnerable. Various weapons are shown off, many of them the typical weird variety you expect. The demo then skips ahead to a chase type sequence showing off some action in the background and pretty visuals. Doesn’t last long and cuts off very abruptly.
• Jack moves on to talk about a sharpshooter bundle for R3. Because you all wanted to buy it for $150 with a shooter, camera and Move set up.
• Next he talks about two ‘special collection’s. God of Wars Origins collection, remastered to HD. Same for Ico and Shadow of the Collosses. Playable in 3D.
• “Playstation is the ultimate solution for 3D.”
• He’s talking about pricing now. “Breaking the pricing of 3D.”
• A PS branded 3D display for affordable access to 3D. Interesting dual screen feature no split screen. No idea how that works but it sounds very interesting.
• This Fall people can get active 3D glasses with Resistance 3, HDMI cable for $499 (including the display I think – I hope).
• Now Jack’s wasting space with Move. From 2K Sports a couple of guys come on (complicated names) to give a sneak peak and tedious basketball simulator 2012.
• Does it really say a lot about your previous game if the only accolade it had was having Michael Jordan on the cover?
• Pro cameraman tip: try not to get other on-stage camera men on camera with their mouth hanging open gawking at the person there with them.
• Some NBA person is on stage now. Good point for a toilet break. Go now. I think I’ve heard of that guy actually, but not for good reasons. Must have been found not guilty. Moving on.
• Jack back again chatting about Move and a new title. Two more names I’m not attempting come to the stage to talk about Medieval Moves. Audience told to put on 3D glasses.
• You can slash, throw weapons or use a bow without inventory screens it’s down to the motions preformed. It seems quite responsive, far more so than the Kinect stage demos. You seem to be playing as a child skeleton of some kind. Looked a little interesting, but also aimed at the younger gamers.
• Infamous 2 next…seems a little pointless given it’s released tomorrow but I suppose they know the world is watching and are whoring as much as humanly possible.
• Further down the line there will be player made missions.
• This links Jack well into Little Big Planet and integrating Move to that.
• The next game on display is Starhawk. A trailer plays. No real gameplay but battles are shown using a variety of vehicle types on land and in space.
• Where is Jack going now? Something from 2002. A family friendly series? Oh, Sly Copper I think it was called. Hundreds of people email him about that? Really? Sly Cooper Thieves in Time coming 2012.
• Time for publishing partners. Something from EVE Online creator. A new game called…Durst, I think. PS exclusive. A console shooter directly connected to EVE Online to create one ‘why-brent’ universe (accents are fun).
• Trailer plays. First thought was “This all looks a bit Halo.” Second thought was “This all looks a lot like Halo, with a dash of Modern Warfare.” ISK (EVE currency) comes into play near the end of it. Land battles for EVE basically? Really hard to tell what’s going on. Sleep deprivation may also be to blame. Dust 514 was the name. I have no idea what I just saw.
• Closed Beta at the end of the year.
• Time for another guest, but not before a 2K trailer of Bioshock Infinite. The trailer was entirely in-game footage. Not enough people have done that this year.
• Ken Levine starts chatting about the game. Goes back to an interview he did a while back where he talked badly about Move. I assume by the squirming that he is about to announce Move compatibility. He’s babbling. Get on with it, it’s obvious.
• Yup, Bioshock Infinite will have Move in some capacity.
• From his back pocket he pulls out an NGP (and calls it that). Doesn’t show anything on it and walks off. Thanks, Irrational Games, for an irrational presentation.
• On the same blu-ray, people who buy Infinite get the first Bioshock for free on it.
• Saint’s Row 3 next. Exclusive ‘game mode’ on PS3. Out November 15^th. Implied Move for that as well, but not sure.
• Talks a little about the co-op Kirk/Spock Star Trek game, apparently it will also be Move compatible. There will be an exclusive digital-only prologue to it. Some ‘early’ pre-alpha footage is then shown. Coming 2012.
• EA content is next. Jack reveals three more PS3-exclusive bonuses to certain games. SSX – Mt. Fuji course. Need for Speed The Run – seven additional super cars. Battlefield 3 – Battlefield 1943 on the blu-ray.
• Kazuo Hirai takes the stage. The guy everyone knows and loves. They really gave him the job of announcing THE price we all want to know?
• He chats a little about connectivity and the outage. Good man. Thanks for the fans. Moves onto portable entertainment. Here it comes. Get ready for it.
• Or not. Something called Playstation Suite. For Android Smartphones. Alternate name: Playstation Steam? Hard to tell, not many details given.
• Chatting about the PSP. Then NGP. “Breaks traditional boundaries of entertainment”. Duel touch pads, duel cameras, AR experience. Here it comes for real now. Dip into your pocket.
• The official name is Playstation Vita, to no one’s surprise. “What does Vita mean?” - that all the good names were patented.
• Two analogue sticks. 5” screen. Front and rear touch pad. Six-axis. Front and rear cameras. Eh, never before seen? Did no one buy him a 3DS? 3G and Wi Fi versions. He’s building up to the price here.
• They will be partnering with at&t, to a mixture of boos and strange noises from the crowd. That’s the US though, other territories will follow.
• A feature called ‘Party’ to use voice chat no matter what game they are playing. That sounds familiar. Social connection tool called ‘Near’. That sounds familiar too.
• Scott Rohde takes the stage with him to chat about Vita and show some demos. Mentions advanced technology never seen before on any hand held. Uncharted Golden Abyss follows.
• Visuals are a clear improvement on the PSP. Large screen size doesn’t seem overbearing at all. No specifics given about specification, but they mention real time shadows and other graphic features.
• Can use traditional controls or screen when climbing. Six-axis tilts to make jumps in certain directions when hanging. Touch controls work as do the standard ones.
• ‘Painting edges’ is next, coated numerous climbable sections, like stacking up commands.
• Fairly impressive overall, but we need to see more than Uncharted.
• Next is a “Social Action RPG” compatible with PS3. Called Ruin. Some microphone problems as they come on. Guy speaking sounds nervous. Combat begins, assuming they don’t mess up something here. Looks very Diablo style.
• Other players are rivals. Isn’t describing it well,nerves are getting the better of him. Footage is fairly boring. The player is apparently attacking the lair of a rival. Player stops on Vita and picks up where he left off on PS3.
• Next on stage is Mod Nation Racers. Not exactly interesting. Also: wearing a rugby shirt to a presentation like this gets on my nerves. The player uses his finger to trace a course in seconds. Back touch panel used to make mountains, that’s fairly fun. Touching the front touch panel pushes down the land to make lakes and the like.
• More Vita connectivity with the PS3 being discussed. Titles which play on both, cross-play. Now talking about LBP and it being on Vita. A trailer of it plays. Shows some very creative uses for what Vita can do. Can share costumes with PS3.
• Still no price given yet.
• Publishing partners on Vita now. From Capcom. Street Fighter X Tekken. A very cheerful gentleman from Capcom Japan takes the stage to chat about the game via translator.
• There will be a Vita version of the game. Awkward pause waiting for applause. Audience eventually gives in.
• They also announce that Cole from Infamous will be appearing in it. They then show a video of him in action. Showing it off doesn’t last long, probably because it’s still heavily in development. There were no health bars or a visible GUI.
• Wrapping up Vita now by the sounds of it. Apparently 80 titles are in development. A video of some of them plays before Kaz returns to the stage. Wipeout. Locoroco. Some kind of snooker game. Something that looks like Tenchu. Dynasty Warriors.
• Kaz is back. Here’s the price. Come on. Nope…release date. Holiday season this year. Price! Wi-fi only model $249. 3G model is $299.
• Jack is back, Kaz is gone. Chatting about what’s been seen tonight. Points out Vita launch titles will be amazing. Won’t take much to beat 3DS.
• And that’s it folks. A little underwhelming, I was expecting a big finish of some kind.

Everyone will be talking about PS Vita, the 3D screen and of course the prices of both packages. Game wise there weren’t any real surprises.

Sony have just detailed what loyal customers are to receive as an apology following the recent PSN outage. Along with a free 30 day PS+ subscription (60 days free for current subscribers), UK PS3 users will also be able to download two games from the following five options: InFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Wipeout HD/Fury, Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty and Dead Nation.

PSP users get a choice of two games from the following four choices: LittleBigPlanet PSP, ModNation PSP, Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation. The games may be reasonably old, but they are all pretty decent, and we couldn’t imagine them handing out copies of Killzone 3, although we had had our fingers crossed.

Angry about the PSN outage? How about a free copy of LittleBigPlanet?

Current Music Unlimited subscribers also get 30 days free service, and there is talk of there being free movie rentals, and Home items as well. Sony have also announced that worried customers are also entitled to a full year of identity theft insurance for free. We think these offers are pretty good, and do help smooth over the lack of service; but will it be enough to put gamers’ trust back in Sony?

The free content will be available to download when the PSN Store comes back online, which should be before the end of the month. Sony do say that you only have 30 days to download your free games from when the offer starts, so we suggest keeping your eyes peeled. More details are available on the PlayStation Blog.

• Format: PSP
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
• Developer: Pyramid, Japan Studio
• Players: 1-8 (1-4 Co-oP, 4 Vs 4)
  
• Site: http://www.patapon-game.com/

The Patapon franchise has quietly been passing its time on the PSP since 2008, mixing RPG elements with real time rhythm-keeping battles against wildlife, enemy tribes and huge Archfiend monsters. Patapon 3 tells the tale of the latest adventure of the humble Patapon tribe, picking up shortly after where Patapon 2 left off.

If you are entirely new to the franchise it may be a little daunting when you first see the adorable little eyeball-centric Patapons taking to a silhouetted battlefield, singing and dancing as they fight. The ‘rhythm of the earth’ essentially keeps the beat around the border of the screen and using this you can time the commands you give your Patapon army to attack, defend, charge, jump or retreat; with bonuses being conferred the better you are at keeping the correct four-beat rhythm. Throw into this RPG elements outside of battle as you collect equipment, level up characters, complete quests and manage items – and you have a game which is far more complicated than its appearance may suggest.

Unlike the previous two titles which saw you playing the role of the Patapon God, this time around you are given a choice of which of three Superhero Patapon you wish to play (each focusing on either attack, defence or support). This hero is saved from the mass-petrification curse that befell the tribe after accidentally freeing the evil Archfiends at the end of the previous game. Though this might sound fairly heavy, the story is for the most part portrayed in a cute cartoon like style with the Patapons often quipping jokes, silly comments or making self-aware references to what’s going on.

It isn’t just the hero you select that has a choice of classes and it, along with each of your Patapon units, will unlock around six other classes to change into. Gone is the generic army management previously used, with the focus now being on your hero and three other units which are far more customisable overall. This also means a lot more management of statistics and equipment, but a general ‘optimise’ option is there for those more interested in the questing side of things.

Like the previous two games the story plays out across numerous locations around your base of operations with side-quests and generic repeatable areas unlocking as you go. The Patapon games are notoriously quite challenging and this is the hardest of the lot, so even more grinding is required beyond the already high amounts previously needed. Often, areas rated at the level your Patapons are at will prove too difficult until either you level once or twice more above the recommendation, or pump money into upgrading equipment.

What doesn’t help is that along with a vast amount of patience being required on your part, an equal or greater amount of concentration is also demanded. Keeping perfect rhythm is not an optional advantage – it’s necessary. Without filling your ‘fever’ bar with exact commands you will often be utterly destroyed and will not gain access to powerful summon attacks. The slightest mistake (particularly with the summon command which is a five-beat input within a four-beat rhythm) will result in fever being lost and all bonuses instantly disappearing – not to mention starting from scratch towards trying to fill it again. The bottom line is that if you suspect there is any reason you won’t be able to focus for five to fifteen minutes for a quest without being interrupted, you should not start playing.

Perhaps at this point you are thinking that you could just pause the game. Once or twice while playing we were interrupted and wished we could do the same – especially during multi-floor dungeons which require starting over from scratch if ended prematurely. Patapon games have previously been criticised for not including the ability to pause and at first we thought this was just the same. Imagine our surprise when we learned that somewhere in the training ground you could learn a new command which would pause the game.

This was strange as we had already completed that area; but it turns out that only by pushing through to the very end of the first training mission could you earn the pause command. Despite coping well enough with keeping rhythm and progressing through the plot at a fair pace, after two hours of attempting this we were forced to give up earning the right to pause the game.

Assuming you can put up with frustration and copious grinding (and you enjoy rhythm games) then the singleplayer experience will offer something to you. The focus of Patapon 3′s development has been on multiplayer aspects however. Either online or locally you can make a team of friends to tackle missions together (including bonus quests against huge powerful beasts).

Due to ongoing PSN problems we were not able to test the online functions at time of writing. Local play is flawed slightly though unless you have a large circle of friends who all purchased the game; because if you only go into quests with one person’s superhero you will be at a huge disadvantage.

Patapon 3 is an interesting game. If you can put up with the problems mentioned above there is some fun to be had here that could appeal to a wide range of ages. It is not a game you could play on the go or with distractions around you, nor is it a game that could be played for any great length of time – unless you find hearing PATA-PATA-PATA-PON in your head even when not playing acceptable.