While Sony has made several blunders in the current gen console war one of the biggest was allowing Call of Duty 4 to go multi-platform. The game has become such a runaway success that it could have single-handedly changed the face of the war as we know it. Perhaps equally as big was allowing Grand Theft Auto 4 to go multi-platform. Although the game sold about 45/55%  on the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively, there are rumblings that the next installment in the GTA series may become a Playstation exclusive by default.

Wait, what the hell are you talking about?

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The new PSP better look like this fan-made prototype

Do you want hard facts about the PSP 4000? Too bad, you’re not going to get them. As it stands right now, about the only thing we know for certain is that the PSP 4000 will be receiving a complete aesthetic overhaul.

I have, however, taken it upon myself to throw in some delicious speculation as to the specs, look and future of the PSP. Crystal ball reading after the jump.
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Halo Killer. WoW killer. If you have a First Person Shooter, you want to be a Halo Killer. If you have an MMORPG, you want to be a World of Warcraft Killer. Overtaking these games becomes an end unto itself, but not for the reasons of simple sales. Of course, the games that usually must be “killed” are often not the objectively best games, but are often games that have defined themselves as the standard that all games must measure up to.
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While Goldanas has already posted a thread about the onset of age and how it affects the vidya, I would like to throw in a little parallel to his personal feelings.

One thing I am beginning to get bent out of shape over is the kind of legacy I will leave. My entire childhood and most of what I would now call my adulthood has been spent with the vidya. For better or worse, my past is tied to the vidya. One of the big apprehensions I have about one day not playing video games is the fact that I will, in essence, be killing off what has been a large part of both my history and identity.

At the same time however, because our childhoods were electronic, they can be effectively captured in our various forms of modern media storage. With the advent of emulators, all of the games of your childhood, regardless of when you were born, become available. While this is very comforting, it is also very frightening. It seems scary to me that the exact experience can be immediately transferred to someone else. Perhaps this is why I have been putting more emphasis on the tactile aspect of my childhood.

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Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of bullshit about this generation sucking and people waxing nostalgic about the last gen as the pinnacle of gaming. Let me just say, I’ve been around the block for a long time. I can assure you, this generation isn’t as good as the last generation; Not because this generation sucks, but because it isn’t even over yet. We are only 3/4 years into what will ultimately be an approximately a 10 year generation. Now, I’m going to field a couple of complaints about this generation and tell you why you all suck for complaining.

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I never wanted to write an article about fanboys, but after a bit of work and a lot of painful nights on 4chan, a couple of different insights have sprung on me and i feel it necessary to share them both as a means to hopefully prevent fanboy rage but also as a means of showing how it will continue to get worse and worse as time goes on.

For those of you who weren’t around back in the day, I can assure you that there were console wars back in the day of SNES and Sega. In some ways they are similar, in regards to the blatant smearing and misinformation that corporations like to engage in, on the micro-level however, the war wasn’t nearly as bad.

The internet has been around for a long time, but back in the day, even if you had the internet, you probably didn’t use it to look up video gaming websites. Chances are however, that if you had the internet, it was as slow as the morning after your 18th birthday. The internet was slow, intolerable, and most people didn’t even have it. Simply put, the rapid improvement of the internet has now only allowed a higher rate of transmission for fanboy antics, but also allowed more people to become embroiled in the war in the first place.
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Have you ever fired a gun in real life? I have. I’ll make this perfectly clear to you.

You cannot, under any circumstance imaginable, run and fire at the same time and hope to be accurate.
It does not work. Period. You arms move, your legs move, your head moves, your body moves. It does not work.

HOWEVER, Resident Evil’s tank controls also do not work. Slowly turning 180 degrees around is not how one operates in real life. If you so desired, you could slightly turn your body, turn your head and reverse your arm. POOF, you can now fire behind you while standing still. The problem with RE’s tank controls is that they create tension due not to the game, but to the crappy controls. The fear comes from knowing the limitations of the controls and knowing that you are at a severe risk of getting cut in half with a chainsaw if you don’t turn fast enough. Hell, even if you do discover the 180 turn function, it’s still not good enough. This is not good gameplay design.

Solution? It’s simple really: Meet me half way.
If a guy is coming at me with a chainsaw, i’m not going to turn around, run, then turn back again, hoping he isn’t right behind me. What RE 5 needs is a limited mobility system. What is that? The ability to WALK and fire. You should be able to strafe (left to right) as well as backpeddle while firing. This gives you the ability to put a bit of distance between you and your enemies while still having a decent ability to fire. Keep in mind, I never said you can’t walk and fire, just run. Of course, this must come with a slight penalty in aiming, something I am sure most people would take the risk with, especially when being chased by a chainsaw zombie.

Unfortunately, the official word is that there is no movement whatsoever. There is strafing, but no firing while strafing. For me, this was a deal breaker. Perhaps Metal Gear Solid 4 spoiled me, or perhaps RE 5 just has terrible controls. I understand that Capcom has a need to appeal to the people who bought Resident Evil 4. Using the same bosses and enemy animations is a good start, but the clunky controls are simply unacceptable, even to someone receptive to new things such as myself. Either way, if you plan on getting it, I sure hope you enjoy it. Don’t expect to do any co-op with me anytime soon though.

Admit it, you’ve noticed the plethora of space marines tromping around in your favorite vidya. They are white, bald, gritty and probably don’t wear helmets so as to improve their peripheral vision, lower their wind resistance and generally improve their bad-assery rating. Every once and a while you may get one who is vaguely ethnic, or has some hair, but for the most part, they are all the same. And for a good reason.

Simply put, space marines kick ass.
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Christ Air is Left Right Circle

The next installment of The Input arrives with a simple question: Is gaming a fad?

Let me prefice this article with a story. Around the time when I was in grade 8, a game was released that took the world by storm. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Finally we had an accessible and fun skateboarding game. You know what came after? Skateboarding merchandise, visits to the Board Kennel (my local skateshop), constant practicing and even more iterations of the game .The reason I make these comparisons is because they seem to reflect the current state of the gaming world.

1: The Wii, not unlike the board kennel, has a license to print money. Their product is now crucial to accesing the “new” culutral group. That being said, the same thing is happening then as it is now: People access the object, and don’t use it. Legendary are the stories of unopened Wii’s, mirroring the pristine skateboards of my friends.

2: Mainstream Media outlets begin to incessantly cover the fad, proclaiming it to be a paradigm shift. Years later, it barely gets any recognition. The skatepark was packed with kids a month after Tony Hawk’s was released. In 2009, the regulars are still around with a smattering of youngsters to boot.

3: Professional leagues or organisations arise to govern the fad, only to fade into obscurity (much the same way MLG is doing right now.)

One also has to wonder about the future. What is going to happen to gaming in the future? The heavy popularity of extreme supports has helped to keep the X-Games alive years after the fad has passed, but does it do more harm than good? Is the Wii’s appeal to the casual gamer analogous to Skateboarding? or will it have a much more severe affect? If video gaming is a fad, will it finally become the paradigm shift people expect fads to be due to a longer than normal exposure to the fad as a result of the terrible market conditions we face today?

Let us know what you think!

Billy: It’s no fair, Portal got a 90 on Metacritic while The Last Remnant only got a 65! It’s just a fucking tech demo! Why are reviewers such sheeple?

Dad: Watch your fucking mouth you little bastard. Just because Portal is a tech demo doesn’t mean it automatically deserves a lower score. And besides, you liked Portal, didn’t you?

Billy: It was ok, I guess. Definitely not as good as The Last Remnant, but worth playing.

Dad: Exactly, the likelihood of a tech demo being not worth playing are highly slim. Even if the story is lacking, the entire game is based around the tech being demo’d. As such, the sheer using of it is fun. You remember Assassin’s creed right?

Billy: Of course I do, stabbing people is so fun in that game, and the free climbing mechanic was the bomb.

Dad: Jesus Christ, what kind of games does your mother let you play? I need to hit her more often. Anyways, Assassin’s creed had a shitty story. So did Portal, so did Mirror’s Edge, so did Psy-ops: The MindGate Conspiracy. But all of their games had cool mechanics worth dicking around with.

Billy: Well, all of those games are based around one thing. That’s so shallow. I’m glad I take money out of mom’s purse, otherwise they wouldn’t be worth buying.

Dad: Well, how else are they supposed to develop the mechanic? It starts simple and becomes more intricate as time goes on. Wait, you take money from your mom’s purse? You ungrateful little prick.

Billy: Just wait dad, before you strangle me, I just have to say, some mechanics would be pretty cool in other games.

Dad: Of course they would be! They don’t make tech demos for fun and let them rot you abortion. You want to see the portal gun in the new Half Life? Or the Mirror’s Edge free climbing mechanics in a Battlefield series? It’s more likely than you think. Especially if they don’t fuck it up. You could turn a good game into a fantastic game!

Billy: Yeah, we might get a Star Wars game where using the force is intuitive and useful as well!

Dad: Did you get into my weed stash? Stop dreaming boy.

Billy: Fine, Fine. I know that will never happen. But what about the price? EA was crying because Mirror’s Edge didn’t sell well.

Dad: Well, the games could stand to be a bit cheaper. All I ever hear is how people WOULD have bought it if it was 20 bucks cheaper. I guess it’s up to the developers to find the sweet spot between production values and gameplay when making these games so as to finally arrive at a price wherein the consumers will eagerly buy the game despite its deficiencies and be able to make a profit. That being said, seeing as you stole mother from your mother, I’m guessing you bought it for full price, Am I correct?

Billy: *gulp* Y-yea, I did haha. Did you want to come play it with me?

Dad: Yes of course, Just let me go find my belt first.

Fin

And the moral of the story is: Don’t buy tech demos until they are cheap. Also, don’t forget to write the company a letter about how great their game is, even though you haven’t bought it yet. They will appreciate the sentiment.