Warner Bros. Interactive have finally announced, what we all wanted to hear, Batman will be returning to a prequel to both Arkham Asylum & City, with Batman: Arkham Origins. The game will focus on a younger, a less sharp Batman and his initial encounters against various supervillains within the Batman & DC lore. Game Informer also says, “Developer WB Montreal is using Rocksteady’s custom modified Unreal engine to create the game.” Although Rocksteady isn’t helming the developing, Warner Bros. has enlisted Eric Holmes, as creative director on the game, and who has also worked on Prototype and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Additionally, Warner Bros. has announced a handheld Arkham game, a spin off, titled Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. Apparently, the game is styled after Metroid games, and takes place after Origins, on the consoles story. Blackgate is being developed by Armature Studios, who is behind the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Both games will hit shelves October 25th, Arkham Origins on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC, and Blackgate on Vita and 3DS.

As the fans file into the stadium, players are warming up, the coaches talk to various players, trainers giving last minute treatment to players, and then everything settles in, and in a few moments, the umpire will yell, “PLAY BALL” and the first pitch will be thrown! I give you Sony’s exclusive Major League seasonal game, MLB 13: The Show. I’ll preface this review as; I haven’t played a baseball game since MLB All-Star on the N64 back in 99 or 2000. So I can say, without a doubt, definitely a fresh look on it. And I can say I love this game, and all its 9 innings of glory. I don’t exactly enjoy watching baseball, unless its in-person, but this game makes playing, whatever position you fancy, as simply just down right fun.

I’ll start off with what everybody wants to do, play baseball. Be it defense or swinging the lumber. The game makes each experience, be it, in the regular season for the majors in a franchise or minors with Road to the Show, or playing with a RTTS player in the majors, a fluid and seamless experience. The game just makes everything fun. For playing a team versus team game, pitching, if you haven’t played any of the previous The Show games, it takes some getting use to. But once you find the one that suits you, you’ll love it. I’ll say this, Pulse pitching, which entails, a circle around a smaller one, that pulsates, and its fun, but it can be annoying to get the mechanics down, especially with the lower rated pitchers. Fielding is easy, with various indicators for the ball while it’s in the air, and easy to use controls for getting the ball to the necessary cutoff man or base. And also, controlling multiple runners on base is simple and easy. Also, a great note you can customize the game to all the mechanics of gameplay, to fit our style and need. Going along with that, you can run an franchise controlling every aspect from bring guys up from AAA to postseason runs, the game will have you playing hours, and potentially years if you choose.

Let’s move onto the gameplay of the mainstay and titular of the game, Road to the Show. This is the bread and the butter, super fun, and amazing. You start with creating a baseball player, with all the sliders to your content. And then you can either choose, to get put onto a MLB teams AA or AAA, or allow yourself be drafted. As I said, up above, you have settings that you can change to fit your play style. As you progress in your career, you get monthly goals, experience for playing and various correspondences between you and your management. But the gameplay remains the same, as if you were playing a team versus team, but you’re locked into a single player, your player. As you play, the game allows you to fast forward through games, and only playing in plays that you can directly affect or while batting. This cuts down on the time of watching or playing 9 whole innings. The base running is simplified with an up or right to advance running, and down or left, to return to previous base. As you play, you’ll learn nuances and baseball related skills to continue to progress. Its solid, and minus a few camera problems, like when you’re running to snag a fly ball in the outfield, and its over your head, the camera naturally, get closer to your player, but sometimes, when you’re running, the camera will have a slight seizure and cause you to miss an easy out.

The presentation and the sounds of the game are simply astounding and full encompassing. Three of the best instances, when you play RTTS as a Minor League player, the stadiums aren’t full, the atmosphere isn’t all encompassing as I said before, but you get the feel of being, in the start of your career. While when you get to the “Show” it’s simply loud, you hear the crowd, and when you make a play or an amazing stand as a team, you’ll hear the roar of the crowd. And when you’re playing team game, you can hear that same in a team versus team game. The commentators:  Matt Vasgersian, Eric Karros, and Steve Lyons are great and talk about the action, either in RTTS for just you, or end of inning recap or during your full game, but they tend to get dry rather quick. But as you play, in whatever mode, you get the atmosphere of being at the park, from the sounds of the ball being hit, the glove catching the ball, the umpire making a call, and the roar of the crowd after a bad call.

The game’s graphics are great, and look amazing, minus the grass, which looks like a weird version of astro-turf for gaming. But player’s faces, those of the professionals look like they’re real counterparts. I’ll admit, if they could add in the ability to see uniforms ruffling from movement, and also, the crowd… the day I see a crowd, that actually look like people and not some weird, graphical code dump for the crowd, it’ll be the day. But the game and its graphics, to its gameplay and its fun, to climbing your way up either in a Franchise or RTTS, MLB 13: The Show is worth the price tag and just simply fun and amazing. And I’m happy I picked it up!

The Sony Conference event, started off light, and on time, with an cavalcade of the history of PlayStation brand through the years; from the PlayStation to the current generation, PlayStation 3. Everything was intermingled with the Dual Shock controller, being focused at some point and other PlayStation item as well. But within the first few seconds after the MC or main presenter, Andrew House began, he announced that Sony is indeed bringing the PlayStation 4, with the release window of Fall of this year. As he continued to speak, he talked about how the developer as well as the consumer is the focal point of the PS4. He additionally wanted it to be known, that the PS4 would be an central hub for all entertainment purposes for next generation.

The specs of the PS4 have definitely come back down to earth, from the cell processors and its raw power to a more easily programmable, but still power X86 CPU and an Advanced GPU, which easily allows 1st & 3rd party developers to get the most out of it. Sony is additionally giving, what all developers wanted, 8GB of unified memory and a supercharged architecture, again, which is catering to the developers, since Sony learned from previous PS3 development, and the grips most developers, that weren’t 1st party had to deal with. And from the out of the gate, a larger internal storage, which will come in handy with what will be explained next.

Sony has completed an massive infrastructure of involving mobile devices and primarily the Vita as the on the go version of the PS4, with turning your PS4 into a server of sorts. With the mention of the Vita, the games from your PS4 with the of Gaikai Cloud computing, which was acquired by Sony last year, is allowing for your catalogue to be on the go with you, mainly with the Vita but with other devices as well. With the Vita on the go, being more integral than before, it was shown by transferring, a new game for the PS4, called Knack, to the Vita as it was played, without missing a beat or any downgrade of graphics to the Vita’s clearly smaller screen. Also, Knack, slightly reminds me of the 360 launch game called Kameo, but that may just be me.

Next, is the new PS4 controller, which is simply called Dual Shock 4, its almost the same design as before, but with a touchpad where the Sony logo and Start & Select buttons were on the Dual 3. This gives the controller, a look of being a bit heavier, but it’s one of those things, people were saying the Dual 3 was too small, and cumbersome. With the touchpad comes, the integrated share button, right on the controller. It looks to be out of the way from accidental sharing, but convenient. Also, the light on the front of the controller, is continuously sending information to an almost Kinect like device, which is a stereo camera, which will track the controller as your playing.

The Share button takes me into the complete social integration as well other steps Sony is taking to further advance the PS4, with 5 words, each explaining the functionality of the PS4. First was Simple. Allowing for developers, be it, big companies or Indies to develop more easily for the PS4, and for the consumer to simply share and gain games for their PS4, more easily than ever before. Second, was Immediate. This was explained in the way of, a second chip, specifically, for background downloads, updates while playing a game either online or offline. Also, allowing for almost immediate, see what I did there, pick up and play from a suspended state of the game, even when its turned off. Third was Social. This is the heavy integration of the Share button.

The PS4 will be partnered with Facebook and Ustream, to allow for a better PSN profile, almost Facebook like, but Sony tailored. Also, with the Ustream and Gaikai, you can stream gameplay or upload screenshots or bits of gameplay directly to Facebook and other social media, and allow for immediate access by your friends on the media site as well as, your PSN friends, all the while retaining your anonymity, if you want. With the ability to stream, you or your friends can sit in on one another, if the person allows it, to watch them play, or even “pass the controls onto them” for help if need be. Also you can leave comments while they’re playing, be it helpful or even trash talk. Fourth was Integrate, allowing for the consumer to continuously, regardless of location or device do almost anything with the PS4. Finally was Personalization. This feature, is like smart shopping where, over time collected data from your purchases, from the PlayStation Store, or actual disk, and give you games and content, already fully downloaded to your PS4, and you’ll have to do is hit the buy button.

Moving back to Gaikai, Dave Perry, mentioned that, over time, the PS4 will have the catalogues of the PS1, 2, and 3, able to play digitally on the PS4, with the use of its technology. Also, with the service, they are adding, the Free to Try ability, giving the consumer, the ability to play actual full games, not a shortened version or a downgraded version, and buy at any point and time during that trial, and all without hassle.

After the beginning, they began to show games, videos, and live demos, from both 1st party and 3rd party. First up was Guerilla Games, with live gameplay of Killzone: Shadow Fall. The game is brighter than previous versions, and looks amazing. Next was Evolution Games, game Drive Club, a team based driving game about challenging the World as a team or Club, with a heavy integration in mobile devices for the challenges. Next, was Sucker Punch, bringing us back to the world of Infamous, the game calling Infamous: Second Son, and I was giddy with joy over this announcement, and I can’t wait. After which, Braid developers, Jonathan Blow, with the next game for the PS4 at launch, with The Witness, this has 25hrs of unique puzzles, and the music amazing with a Celtic feel.

Quantic Dream, creators of amazing Heavy Rain, showcased its pushing of the PS4 with a live demo of rendering facial and eye design and emotions with amazing lighting and textures, and small nuances. Media Molecule, the creators of Little Big Planet, shows full use of the Move with an sculpting and allowing your dreams to be created. This gave way to a recorded live performance of a show featuring “puppeteers” of a musical performance. With that, House mentioned that it had full support from, almost, if not, every major 3rd party developer for the PS4.

Capcom, with Yoshinori Ono, showing a gaming engine code named Panta Rhel, built specifically for the PS4 and a game being developed in conjunction with Panta, called, Deep Down (Working Title), showing beautiful lighting, character models, and amazing action, that seemed to be what real time action will be. Square Enix, showed the tech demo running the Luminous Engine by Hashimoto Yoshihisa, and the other Hashimoto, Shinji saying a new Final Fantasy title is in opening stages of development and more information released at E3. Ubisoft Montreal, showing an live demo of Watch Dogs running on the PS4. And the game looks amazing, and can’t wait till I get my hands on it. Blizzard, with Chris Metzen, announced that Diablo 3 will be coming to both the PS3 & PS4. And finally, the last announcement was from Activision’s Eric Hershberg, bringing Bungie’s new IP Destiny, to the PS4 as well as, the PS3, with exclusive content to the Sony family. All gameplay trailers, demos and videos will be on our site as well.

Sony came out hard hitting in this press conference. Showcasing that they have learned from their previous mistakes in the current generation, and looking forward to showing why Sony’s PlayStation was always a bright star, and not a waning one, as they were saying Sony was. Sony, came out saying, contest us now Microsoft, we will see you on the field of battle come this console launch. And Sony certainly means business, this generation.

“JET GRIND RADIIIOOOOO!!!” proclaimed exuberantly by Professor K. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Jet Grind Radio or, Jet Set Radio as it’s called in Japan, has been given the re-release and HD coat of paint, and the original Japanese title, Jet Set Radio. Now the question is: Can a decade or more game from the Dreamcast, hold up well, or crash and burn? This reveiw will primarily focus on the PSN and XBLA versions, there is an Vita version out as well.

I’ll start here, if you remember the game fondly, for everything that it gave you, and revolutionized gaming at the time. Guess what, every single thing holds up from the previous incarnation on the Dreamcast. I’ll go with good first. Sega kept the game exactly the same, to the game’s features as the first time it was released. Simply amazing, beautiful, and nostalgia factor off the scales. The graffiti in crisp 1080p, character models even more streamline with the up to HD quality. But I’ll start with the graffiti, since it’s the star of the show, more than the weird story, control the airwaves, and control Tokyo-To and the taggers story. Every single graffiti from the first is back as well as a dozen new ones, which Sega picked to be in the game. Link to the reveal video here:

Congratulations to the winners, personal favorite is Snack Attack! That is all. But additionally, they also kept the create your own graffiti feature in game… sadly, XBLA version didn’t have it included for some reason. Sega, also, added a better camera to the game, allowing for better controls while skating, and when the camera slightly reverses during certain tricks and moments after tagging walls. It’s not a bad thing, that the game remained the same. Also, the music, the music wasn’t touched, but reduced number, and it remains the same selection of pop, punk, rock, hip hop, instrumental, and electronic. The music and the graffiti made the game a cult classic, and I’m glad, they kept the music the same, while adding new graffiti to the mix. Plus, best GGs in the gang, are Cube and Garam… He’s the weird version of Spider Man and a foot ninja… look!

The guy on the far top left, that’s Garam, and on his left Cube

Now, onto the bad; remember, all the bad from the first version of the game on the Dreamcast. Well, they all persist in the HD version. I’ll start with controls… Seriously, remember having the inspector a 100ft from you and you have to finish that last graffiti with a full circle and half circle on the analog, and you’d be done finish the board? And for good measure, throw in, your one shot from restarting. And end result, you getting shot in the back, because your control wouldn’t register the freaking half circle. Yup my friend, that’s still present, love it or hate it. Even with the improved camera, it still has those moments where, you skate down the hall towards the Poison Jam for the boss fight, and you can’t avoid them, because the damn camera changed, and controls were inverted, yup still there. Also, with the new camera, it also, has rather random moments of pop-in and popup during levels. Also, another bad translation to HD, was the music during the cutscenes, tend to skip. Last thing, loading times, I don’t exactly remember the loading from the first iteration, but in the re-release, they seem rather long, but that could be me. Not a rage worthy long, but long load times, but a slight nuisance all the same.

Those new to the game, will probably guff at the simplicity of the controls and the feel of not doing the tricks, and everything being automated. But those who remember the game for what it really was, a romp through Tokyo-To, tagging everything from walls, to water towers, billboards, helicopters, rival gangs and the Inspector, you’ll love everything about this game, like first time you played it almost 12 years ago. The game style, humor, music, and fun have all translated well, as well as the quirky things that made you want to jump into the game and hunt down the GGs yourself. Even with the time that has passed on the game and franchise, the game with its new HD paint, character models sporting still very few polygons, and the game is worth the price tag.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale seems like your typical Super Smash Bros clone. But thankfully, I am here to say while it borrows heavily from its predecessor it stands on its own two feet as a viable party fighting game that can even be played at a very competitive level.

When you decide to purchase PlayStation All-Stars, you’re quickly informed that this game has Cross Play integration. What that means is if you have the PlayStation 3 copy and a friend has the PS Vita copy, the two of you can play over the internet. Luckily, if you get the PS3 copy of the game, it comes with the PS Vita version for free. While I have played the Vita version, my review is solely based on my time spent with the PS3 version.

Once you load the game and you get past the boring text, you’re greeted with an awesome opening cinematic that sets up the mood for what will entail. PlayStation All-Stars is a fighting game that takes some of Sony’s biggest names and pits them in an all out battle. Unfortunately, the roster is a good size but seems to be missing some pretty obvious omissions while including weird ones. For example, why is the Big Daddy from Bioshock in the game while Crash Bandicoot isn’t?

Nonetheless, every character feels as if they were ripped from their game and put into this taking all of their key aspects with them. Superbot nailed the feel of every character along with making the game quite fun and simple yet deep and engrossing.

The goal of the game is to rack up kills. The only way to do so is to hit your opponent with your super attack which you earn in the game by doing normal attacks on your opponent. This mechanic can make for some pretty awesome fights which can sadly last for a very long time. But, the more you learn the better you get with the supers and how to get them to come out without any problems. There are three levels you can fill your super meter up to. Each comes with its own risk and reward.

Playing this game is a real treat to the ears as characters sound exactly as they should along with the awesome sound of every punishing blow being laid upon someone. Plus the soundtrack isn’t too bad either, even though there are a few less than stellar pieces of music in the game.

The visuals are great giving every character an awesome look that makes them seem fitting in the universe. The stages are mash-ups of previous Sony titles such as Little Big Planet and Buzz! It doesn’t hurt that everything is colorful as really draws attention to the player. Too bad the stages can be a bit distracting because you want to know what is happening in the background.

The story isn’t really in the game. Each character has their own beginning and ending while encountering a unique rival to fight but nothing really to gloat over. Even the final boss is forgettable and apparently he was a Sony mascot at some point in the company’s lifespan.

But the real treat is the very fun and addictive multiplayer. It supports local and online versus for up to four players. While there aren’t many game types you can customize practically every bit you choose.

The online is fairly well with very minimal to no lag. The best part is that you can either choose to play by yourself or bring a local friend with you to partake in the fun.

The game is pretty stacked with features overall. It has challenge mode for each character along with and awesome character customization suite that you can use the more you level up every individual character. There is also a pretty sweet combo trial mode to help you understand the game better and a move list trial to assist in familiarizing yourself with a character.

All in all the game is just pure fun. Sony & Superbot Entertainment plan on updating the game with free items, characters and stages in the near future for free and it’s definitely worth it. Sadly it is missing some characters one would hope to see and the lack of a better story is a bit depressing but it’s still a great game that any Sony fan should own.

8/10

“Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted.” The contradictory maxim of the Assassins Order’s creed; I will try to give you everything that, I believe is the truth about the Series in my eyes. But there will be things that contradict what I say. That is what the Assassin’s Creed Series embodies through and through. The series burst onto the gaming scene as one of the few video game franchises to gain renown outside of just video games. It encompasses the area of complete franchise with clothing, comics, books, and eventually a movie. Only a few other franchises have done any of this, those being Halo and Gears of War. The franchise has managed multiple stories bound around the ongoing struggle between the Assassin’s and that free will and thinking for humanity against the Templars and that free will should be subjugated and humanity guided behind a veil.

A quick, recap of all five of the main games in the Assassin’s Creed series. Assassin’s Creed is the first, introducing you to the modern protagonist Desmond Miles, and his ancestor via the Animus, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad. Altair is disgraced during a mission and busted back down to beginner in the Order, and is tasked with taking down various enemies to humanity. Uncovering the truth leads to both Altair and Desmond further into the conflict of Assassin and Templar. Continuing on, Desmond escaping with the help of Lucy and being united with fellow Assassin’s Rebecca and Shaun. As they dive back into the Animus, you are introduced to another ancestor, hot-head and ladies’ man, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and his goal of revenge against Rodrigo Borgia, which takes him all over Italy battling the Templars and meeting amazing people who are instrumental to the Order. As Ezio is tempered over his journey of revenge, he gains revenge by stealing the Apple from Rodrigo and leaving him broken, and sparking the Assassin’s on the hunt to prevent the World’s destruction from the warnings of Minerva, in the real World. 

But as Desmond unlocks their extensive memories, he uncovers the world ending doomsday, of a massive solar flare that will wipe out all of humanity on December 21, 2012. And the Assassin’s now race to both prevent the end of the World, with the help of First Civilization, and Abstergo at the same time. As the story continues to unfold with the most recent release, Assassin’s Creed III. Additionally, check out the review of it here Assassin’s Creed III, at  Real Otaku Gamer.

As for the good that comes from the Assassin’s Creed franchise, its the amazingly well done story. Each game, comic, Facebook game, and book, being necessary and well weaved together

for the whole. Each game is fantastically paced, albeit the first Assassin’s Creed was a little slow, but that was to be expected, with an entirely new IP. Each main character, from Altiar to Ezio to Connor to Desmond, each is developed thoroughly, giving you a look into their past, to see how they changed over time to their present day selves. The games follow the stealth
The bad can range from multiple and heavy to miniscule. I’ll start with the gameplay holes, like the stealth in the series is very very not there. It’s not on the level of fellow Ubisoft game, Splinter Cell, where the shadows are your friends, but more so like Tenchu, get seen in the wrong areas, and start looking for an exit strategy. Additionally, the actual fighting can get repetitive and you can easily from game to game, spam the counter button and never be touched, unless, the story says so. The graphics and draw distances are amazing, but the game will slowly but surely, blur into just a set of color schemes, repeated NPCs, and multiple, non-landmark buildings looking the same. Each game in the series, improves on the last but still fails in what it attempts in the first place. Another gripe about the game is, after about the first day or so of playing any AC game. It turns into a repetitive play, get your hands dirty, dry, and repeat. From the fetch all the feathers, to find all the other random collectibles, fun at first, but it will surely drain you in the long run.action genre, but I would more so call it, stalking action, which fits well for what happens in the story and the gameplay mechanics. Stalk your prey from on high; close behind or within the crowd, to blend in. Speaking of gameplay, the combat is rewarding and visceral, each counter and combo, dealing more death to quickly dispatching multiple opponents and fade back into the crowd. Additionally, the voice acting from the top to the bottom is amazing and well done. Even though at some points, they can seem a little stilted.

Assassin’s Creed is a well done franchise of media, which can come at gamers, in many different forms, each with its own distinct personality. Even though the game on the grand scale is amazing, it does fall short on some of the many things it does in each game. Assassin’s Creed as a franchise, is amazing, and surely will continue on for some time, depending on how Assassin’s Creed III will end and the story of Desmond will play out. But from the looks of it, and the way they merchandise, the Assassins and the Templars will forever be locked in a secret war that humanity will rarely ever see, or hear about

Sony Computer Entertainment will release nasne in Japan on August 30 of this year as a networked recorder and media storage device retailing at 16,980 ¥ (about $207, includes tax). To put it simply, it’s a network where you can watch or record live television from several Sony devices and store data such as photos and music. With a 500GB hard disk drive and access to digital terrestrial and satellite television broadcast, it packs a lot of memory other devices do not have. As Sony’s president and CEO Kazuo Hirai says, it ” will give users more freedom to enjoy television in new ways by enabling them to watch programs on various Sony products through dedicated applications.” A weakness of the product is devices can only be used with the same home network as nasne, giving not much space for on-the-go entertainment. Also, one nasne device can only record one television program at once, not distinguishing it much from other DVRs. One will be able to use nasne with Sony computers, smart phones, and gaming consoles. Below are Sony devices that can be used with nasne.

PlayStation 3

PS3 users can watch and record television via a LAN cable using an upgraded version of ”torne” which will come bundled with nasne. Up to 4 nasne units can be used at once on the PS3.

Playstation Vita

PS Vita will use an application that will allow watching and recording via Wi-Fi connection. The application will be available sometime this year.

VAIO PC

“VAIO TV with nasne” will allow watching and recording live TV via Wi-Fi or LAN cable, the application will come out concurrently with nasne and be available to Windows 7 PCs via “VAIO Update,” a free update service for VAIO users. Many other things can be done via the PC. The recorded programs can be transfered to DVD or Blu-ray disc or stored in the PC’s HDD or SSD. A maximum of 8 nasne devices can be connected to VAIO PC and keywords can be used to look up television programs.

Sony Tablet/XPeria

Television can be watched via Wi-Fi. The application “G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU” will allow to schedule recordings.

No word yet on whether it will be available in countries other than Japan.