Initial E3 2013 Reactions: Day 1

Einhander: Square's SHMUP Masterpiece

For the longest time, Square has been known exclusively as the "Final Fantasy people" by those who only know them for that long running series. Square is responsible for some awesome titles that aren't even tied to their landmark RPG series, especially during the days of the first Sony Playstation. One of their most underrated titles is a shoot em up that features an interesting play on traditional power up mechanics seen in other titles in the genre, an incredible soundtrack, and visuals that have held up much better than most titles from that console generation.

Einhander, which is German for "single handed" has a rather typical "Earth vs. Somewhere Else" storyline. That "Somewhere Else" in this case being being the Moon, or more specifically, the Moon colony of Selene. The game takes place during the second war between the two factions, with the player controlling a lone fighter from Selene sent to disrupt Earth military activity and be a general nuisance. Everything in this game as far as story goes has been done before, so what makes Einhander such a great experience for Shoot Em Up fans? The victory for Einhander lies in it's gameplay, haunting soundtrack, and it's shadowy visuals.

R.I.P. PS2

Sony has recently pulled the plug on their venerable Playstation 2 console. After almost 13 years in production, and almost 150 million units sold, Sony is ceasing production of the console that housed the resurgence of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, allowed Kratos to become the most violent console mascot in history, and provided us with just as many horrible moments as any other console in history (Fugitive Hunter, Anyone?). With that in mind, good night to Sony's Playstation 2, arguably one of the three greatest consoles in history.

Record Of The 16-Bit War: Nintendo, Sony, And Phillips Walk Into A Bar

Today's video takes a look at the history behind the Super NES CD-ROM drive that never happened

Record Of The 16-Bit War: Skyblazer

Today's video takes a look at Skyblazer for the Super Nintendo from Sony Imagesoft

Is The PSVita Worth The Purchase? F$*# YEAH!!!

Today's post comes from Daniel Francis, who's music has also been featured here in the past. You can find him on twitter @_DFrancis.

So after about 3 debates, 4 changes of my mind and pricing systems I finally decided to purchase the PSVita. Now from sources I’ll choose not to disclose (ry...) sorry... I felt as though I was making a mistake by buying this system. Sure enough my concerns were taken away with the unboxing of this powerful system. This system is a solid choice for any gamer so let's jump into the pros and cons of this system since that's why you’re reading this.

Pros: The PSVita’s best feature has to be cross-platform gaming. Being able to play PS3 owners online using your PSVita is a pretty cool feature. Processor power for this device is on par with current gen home consoles. It's basically a ps3 (minus the resolution and bluray) in your hand. The PSVita also comes equipped with front and rear mounted cameras, high resolution pictures, Skype should be coming soon, and cool video play back. The weight and feel of the PSVita feels right so PSP owners will make the adjustment very nicely. Controls are solid. The buttons are small but responsive, and the analog controls are decent as well. The major question mark that gamers had, the rear mounted touchpad, handles great. The game prices vary from $30-$50 which isn’t bad considering how a comparable version of the same game for PS3 will cost around $60

Cons: The PSVita is priced at $250 or $300 for wifi and 3g. Now this is high as hell knowing most gamers can get a console game for less. Why pay this much for a handheld? Well, the next gen consoles are all rumored to drop this year and next, and like the PSP, Sony knows the vita will be around for the next 6 years. The vita has a very small library of games right now, much like the PSP. New titles will be dropping soon so unless you like playing Marvel vs. Capcom for 3mths until the newest games drop don't get this.

The little things that gamers will need for the PSVita to properly work are always the most expensive. The memory cards are such little things. Unlike the PSP memory cards which you could buy for 10 dollars, Sony decided to designed their own. It's small as hell easy to lose and they start at about $30. It comes in 4 GB, 8 GB, so on and so on, but don't even bother buying the 4 gig because it’s a waste. Sony has also basically made this thing unable to be modded. So if you were thinking of considering modifying this system don't even bother because right now you’ll be highly disappointed.

I honestly don't have a lot of negative comments about PSVita. This is probably the 1st handheld console that will give you the feeling that you got your money’s worth. I say check it out it’s worth the money and with new gaming titles like Modern Warfare, Madden, and others on the horizon; the PSVita is going to be a dominant player in the portable gaming world.

Skyblazer: Sony's 16 Bit Gem

Once upon a time, before the Super Nintendo CD-Rom debacle that gave birth to the Playstation, Sony was a hit or miss game publisher who released games under their Sony Imagesoft label. Most of their games were basically cash in merchandising that was attached to movies. Those games ranged from Good but not great (Hook for the Sega CD) to utterly abysmal (Hudson Hawk for the NES). Their best achievement as a third party in my humble opinion is a little known SNES platformer named Skyblazer. It is a well crafted platformer that gave gamers a pretty good spin on the tried and true gameplay and storytelling mechanics found in earlier games. What makes Skyblazer such a great game is the way those well worn components are pieced together.

Every piece I've ever read on this game talks about how minimal the story is, even though the game tries to force it's reliance on the story early on. I tend to agree, since it's used as nothing more than a device to justify Sky(the main character) going through the land fighting monsters. Like I stated a few sentences back, Skyblazer follows the well worn damsel in distress pattern made popular by dozens of other games before. This time, instead of saving a princess, Sky is charged with rescuing a sorceress. The main antagonist, Raglan, is very reminiscent of Satan from the Ghosts 'N Goblins games. Come to think of it, This game has moments where it feels like a much easier version of Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts for the SNES.

Gameplay wise, Skyblazer is as solid a game as you can find on the SNES. The platforming feels solid and the inclusion of a climbing mechanic adds a little strategy to a sometimes formulaic gameplay style. combat is handled using standard punches and kicks, as well as special moves acquired after beating boss characters. There's also a sprinkling of shoot em up levels throughout the game. The level design in Skyblazer is actually pretty good, even if most of it is very linear, and sends Sky through treetops, under water, over cliff sides and valleys, and other diverse environment types.

It says a lot that a game like Skyblazer had a production staff of less than 15 people, and the graphics and gameplay still hold up after almost 20 years. If you interested in tracking down a copy, it typically goes for far less than $20 on most auction sites, a mere pittance for such a fantastic game. Skyblazer may be one of the last gems released by Sony before they got into the console business themselves.

So, The SNES Is The Great Grandfather To The PS3

Over the years, Sony and Nintendo have gone from collaborators to bitter rivals. Many of Sony's moves in the video game market have been executed with the intention of breaking Nintendo. They got into the market by taking a concept that was originally intended to be a CD-Rom add on for the SNES and modding it into the original Playstation console. Much of Sony's success came from wooing away third party support from Nintendo in the mid 90s.

It was always strange to me that their relationship soured, as Sony had released several great games for the SNES including Extra Innings and Sky Blazer. Also, Sony's CD-Rom technology was being used everywhere, including by Nintendo's chief rival Sega, so one would think the partnership for this SNES CD add on would be a win for everybody involved. Money and Ego got in the way, however, and led to Sony jumping into the video game market strictly off the back of that unused tech and a desire to crush Nintendo under their heel.

a funny thing happened though, and Sony's rise in the home gaming market seemed to mirror what Nintendo had done during the 80s The NES came out of nowhere much like the Playstation did. The most popular games on Sony's systems tend to be first party exclusives, much like Nintendo, both are major players in the handheld market (though Sony is just starting to get the buzz Nintendo did with it's Game Boy line), and a growing number of gamers are fiercely loyal to one or the other. I have gone on many message boards and noticed the almost ingrained hate for Nintendo that owners of Sony's systems have and vice versa.

The quality of each company's second home console has been a tale of the same story told on different days. Much like the SNES was superior technically to the NES in every category, so was the PS2 considered a major jump over the original Playstation. With the good also comes the bad, as both the SNES and PS2 both suffered from huge amounts of shovelware that came as a result of folks figuring out that parents buy anything tied to kid's favorite movie or cartoon.

At the end of the day, a corporate rivalry led to the creation of the Playstation, and while the consoles came at different points in the game industry, their evolution seems to have mirrored each other. So the next time you hear of see a Fanboy waxing on about how great Sony is or how great Nintendo is, let them know how dependent one had to be on the other to get to this point.

The Ten Biggest "What Ifs" in Video Game History

I've been a Gamer as long as I can remember, and every now and then, I get this feeling that something promising just didn't pan out. What that in mind, I decided to share my top ten list of the biggest "What Ifs" in video game history.

10. What If the Apple Pippin had caught on as a viable game console? I mean, Steve Jobs doesn't screw up too often, but if they would have adjusted a few things, the pippin could have been an influential console.

9. What if EA Sports never got that NFL exclusivity? It was really convenient that EA got the NFL license on the heels of 2K Sports launching their NFL 2K5 game at $19.99, this took a big chunk of Madden's sales. Had they not gotten exclusivity...well, things would have been a helluva lot different.

8. What if Final Fantasy would have remained a Nintendo exclusive? Final Fantasy was supposed to be an exclusive title for Nintendo's 64 bit console, at that point called the "Ultra 64", but when Square realized how expensive their big game would be on a cartridge based system, they jumped ship to the upstart Sony Playstation. This wasn't the first tension between Sony and Nintendo, but I'll get into that later.

7. What if Sega was still making consoles? Sega has always made quality games, but since they left the console market, their offerings haven't all been that good. My theory is that stubborn pride won't let Sega put a good Sonic game on a Playstation.

6. What if those FMV games on the Sega CD were actually good? If those grainy abominations were good, we'd probably still be playing sequels to Night Trap...and nobody would benefit from that.

5. What if you actually had to know how to play guitar to play Guitar Hero? Honestly, we'd have gotten that Prince edition with the purple guitar by now. If you didn't know, he doesn't want you guys having his music in a video game, he wants you to learn how to play a guitar...

4. What if Street Fighter II never caught on? Capcom would have been okay, but I'm not sure about SNK, since the Neo Geo was known as a fighting game system. Those fighting games were by and large the spiritual offspring of SF II, and without it, SNK would have had to seriously readjust their plans.

3. What if EA would have bought out Take Two Interactive? If Take Two would have accepted the buyout offer from EA, most of the shelf space in your local video game store would be monopolized by games with the EA logo. Not a good look if you like options.

2. What if Sony and Nintendo didn't have that falling out in the 90s? If Sony and Nintendo could have come to an agreement on licensing, we would have gotten a CD add on for the Super NES in September 95, not the Sony Playstation. That, my friends, would have been huge.

1. What if the crash of 1983 never happened? Honestly, the crash was almost a blessing in disguise, a lot of companies making shitty games and consoles got phased out, and the ones capable of thriving survived. The market is in danger of another crash with more and more shovelware being pumped out. Quality at times takes a backseat to profits and if they aren't careful, small developers will once again take over the gaming market.