Shawn Vermette

Roundtable: PlayStation memories

September 22, 2010

Features / Opinion / by Shawn Vermette /

This month marks the 15 year anniversary of the US release of the PlayStation. Since its release, it has gone on to become the top selling video game system ever. To celebrate the occasion, our staff shares their favorite memories of gaming on the PlayStation and what it meant to them.

Justin Last: I did not get a PlayStation until well after the PS2 was released. When I picked up my PS2 I came home with Red Faction and two PSX games: Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3. Red Faction sat unplayed for about six months because I was too wrapped up in these old SRPGs. My eyes were opened to whole new genres. After the SRPG I picked up Final Fantasy VIII and fell in love with the JRPG. And then the 3D platformer with Spyro. And then the Metroidvania with Symphony of the Night. By the time I owned my PS2 for a year I easily had five times as many PSX games as PS2 games. I may not have played them brand new, but Sony and the PSX are largely responsible for my eclectic taste, and I thank them for that. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have Valkyria Chronicles, Burnout Paradise, and Uncharted 2 waiting to be played in the other room.

Andrew Passafiume: The original PlayStation was the system that got me back into console gaming after my parents had sold a lot of my older games. It was definitely not the worst system choice to go with, especially with the first game I played being Final Fantasy VII. Despite how poorly it has aged, FFVII was a landmark achievement in cinematic presentation and RPG game design. This was only the first of many games that we would see on Sony’s first console.

The second big one, for me at least, was Metal Gear Solid. It brought video game cinematics to a whole new level and presented the player with a very well written and compelling storyline, something I had not seen too often in games before it. For me, the PS1 was an RPG goldmine, with many classic titles and buried treasures to explore. It was also the king of third party support and exclusives, with many games that just were not available anywhere else. I can say, without a doubt, that I would not be nearly as invested in video games, their development and the culture surrounding them without the PlayStation.

Chris Rasco: The PS1 was a great console because it marked the beginning of the console wars between Sony and Nintendo that has really drove the industry forward. Unfortunately, the PS1 was never my primary gaming system. In fact, I hardly had any games at all for it. The 2 most notable titles I had were Tenchu and Street Sk8er. The only reason I picked up Street Sk8er was because I was obsessed with the Top Skater arcade game. Browsing the list of 2000+ titles available for the PS1, it’s almost mind blowing to see all the great franchises that got their start there and all the amazing games that I flat out missed out on.

Looking back, the most amazing thing to me about the PS1 really was the chain of events that led to its creation and to see what Sony has been able to do with that foundation and how they’ve built on that technology.

Graham Russell: When I was a kid, my friends and I could really afford just one system, but we wanted to play everything, so we worked it out to get different ones. (The guy that bought the Saturn is still pretty mad at the rest of us.) Anyway, my memories of the original PlayStation are rather warm ones, and they’re almost completely about multiplayer. There was a lot of Twisted Metal, a lot of Tony Hawk and the occasional random rental we found.

Now, though, the ones I look back on most fondly are the single-player experiences, and it’s funny, because those carry no nostalgia with me. I’m talking Final Fantasy Tactics, Suikoden and Rayman. On the other hand, the games I play now are influenced heavily by those multiplayer sessions in the late ’90s.

Shawn Vermette: I’ve been into games, at least a little bit, ever since my parents brought home Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. However, the PlayStation is the console that turned me into a full-fledged gamer and greatly broadened my gaming horizons. Before the PlayStation, all I played were Mario games and arcadey sports games. After the PlayStation came out, though, I was into RPGs, strategy games, realistic sports games, and racing games. The first game that really opened my eyes was, like Andrew, Final Fantasy VII. I discovered this game when my neighbors were playing an imported Japanese version of the game. I couldn’t understand a thing that was happening, but the cutscenes blew me away. When the US version arrived, I was once again, spending every day after school hanging out with my neighbors, playing through it with them. I was swept away with the story and the graphics and the cutscenes. I’d never seen such a thing from a video game before and I was hooked.

Later on, I managed to get a PlayStation of my own, and once again was enraptured by a Squaresoft RPG- Chrono Cross. It did once again for me, and this time for my brothers, what Final Fantasy VII had done for me years earlier. I had ‘fallen’ off the gaming path, and Chrono Cross brought it all back for me. The amazingly convoluted, yet so addictive, story, the cinematics, the graphics, everything brought back to me why I had loved games. Since then, I’ve never stopped gaming, and because of that, I’ll always fondly remember Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Cross, and the system that made them possible- the PlayStation.

DJ Hero 2 tracklist revealed

September 21, 2010

News / by Shawn Vermette /

Activision finally revealed the entire on-disc tracklist for DJ Hero 2, and it provides quite an eclectic mixture of songs and mixes. For those fans of the original game, DJ Hero 2 looks to provide even more great music than before. A full listing of the songs is detailed after the break. READ MORE

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale

September 20, 2010

PC / Reviews / by Shawn Vermette /

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale reminds me of the Rune Factory series. It takes two completely disparate genres of games, an item shop sim and a dungeon crawler, and blends them together in a way that not only makes sense, but is also fun and enjoyable to play.

As you might expect, being an indie title localized from Japan, the story is delightfully quirky and unusual. You will play as Recette, a young girl who is forced into running an item shop when your father takes out a loan from a fairy finance company then skips town to become an adventurer. As you are the sole inheritor of your father, the finance company has come to you, requiring you to work to pay off his debts.

The tycoon aspects of the game are very thorough. You must manually purchase, make, or find everything you sell in your shop; you get to haggle over the prices you buy and sell items for; you can take advance orders for items; even customize the look of your shop. There are even economic fluctuations where items change in value, scarcity, and want. This adds more strategy to the game as well, as you’ll want to stockpile when things are cheap, and sell when they are expensive. Everything in the game can be bought or sold, just not immediately. Did I forget to mention that this is an RPG as well? Like all RPG’s, you must level up your merchant level, through successful bargaining and haggling, in order to gain access to everything there is to do in Recettear. Want to buy items from customers? You have to be level 2, tired of that drab wallpaper? Reach level 3 and you can change it. Advance orders? Level 8 will allow you to accept those.

The dungeon crawling is simpler than the item shop management, and for good reason- it isn’t the focus of the game. Dungeon crawling is simply a means to an end, finding new items that you can sell for 100% profit. It also features a leveling system where the adventurers you hire level up as they fight and kill more enemies. As they level up, they can fight longer and harder and make it deeper into the various dungeons, allowing you access to more and better loot.

Technically, the game looks solid. The graphics won’t blow you away, but they aren’t meant to. Everything is bright, cheery, and charming, and the music supports this feeling. The music reminded me of the Harvest Moon music as well. It is bright and cheery, but after awhile it gets very repetitive.

Recettear is a very hard game as well. The loan payments you must make come weekly, and the amount increases staggeringly. Knowing this, however, the developers made it so that you don’t have to start over from the beginning if you fail to make a payment. You can keep all the items you’ve got in inventory, 1,000 pix (the game’s currency), and start over from Day 2. The game will keep track of how many times you have to restart though. This provides plenty of incentive to try to reach those loan payments without fail, but you’ll also never feel that it is impossible, just very difficult. Once you beat the game, you’ll also gain access to more game modes, giving you a number of ways to continue playing the game even after you’ve beaten it.

I’m usually not a fan of indie games, but Recettear has won me over. The quirky story, the mild RPG elements, and the deep and enjoyable item shop management make this a worthwhile game. And for just $20, it is a great value for PC gamers as well.

Pros: Item shop management is engaging; Difficulty keeps you engaged; Dungeon crawling gives a nice change of pace; Multiple game modes extend the replayability

Cons: Music can get repetitive

Snackbar Speculator: Vanilla-where?

September 19, 2010

Features / Speculator / by Shawn Vermette /

This week we watch our panelists’ scores plummet while discussing HD remakes and yet another appearance by the 3DS.

Current score

Andrew Passafiume: +355

Graham Russell: +134

Eric Schabel: +65

Shawn Vermette: +210

Results

Duke Nukem Forever returns

Duke is indeed returning, as Take Two announced recently that Gearbox, the studio behind Brothers in Arms and Borderlands, was taking the reins of the Duke Nukem franchise. There’s no news on how much of the game will be based on the original work by 3D Realms, but no matter how you slice it, Duke Nukem Forever is alive again.

Andrew 80% = +30

Graham 50% = +0

Shawn 65% = +15

3DS release date and price to be announced by TGS

The Tokyo Game Show came and went with no mention of the official 3DS release date or price. The good news is that we won’t have to wait much longer, as Nintendo has announced they’ll tell us the release date, among other items, on September 29th.

Andrew 10% = +40

Eric 55% = -5

Graham 85% = -35

Shawn 90% = -40

Xbox Live Gold price hike

This rumor has been fermenting for a long time now, but we’ve finally gotten word of its confirmation. Unfortunately for Xbox 360 owners, Microsoft has announced that starting on November 1, the price for monthly, quarterly, and yearly memberships will increase across the board. Monthly memberships will now cost $9.99 rather than $7.99, quarterly will now cost $24.99 rather than $19.99, and yearly will now be $59.99 instead of $49.99.

Andrew 65% = +15

Graham 5% = -45

Shawn 15% = -35

Odin Sphere, Muramasa to be rereleased on XBLA and PSN

Odin Sphere is widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful PlayStation 2 games ever made, and Muramasa was similarly lauded on Wii. Now, rumor has it that both will look even better soon, upgraded with HD graphics and prepped for release on PSN and XBLA. No word yet from Vanillaware regarding this rumor, but the Australian ratings board now lists both as being multiplatform.

Andrew: I can see both Odin Sphere and Muramasa selling rather well as downloadable titles; both games lend themselves well to that format. Side-scrollers in general seem to be a perfect fit as downloadable titles, and I think it will give Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners a chance to catch up on two games they may have missed. Muramasa especially, considering it was a Wii exclusive title. Odin Sphere: 85%, Muramasa: 85%

Graham: Foreign ratings boards are a godsend for leaking things, aren’t they? And they’re usually right. I’d say Odin Sphere is slightly more likely to release for two reasons: first, it hasn’t had a modern system release like Muramasa on Wii. Second, it would likely be the first to release, and poor sales or other concerns could see the project tabled before a second release. Odin Sphere: 90%, Muramasa: 85%

Shawn: These are games I’ve heard a lot about but never got a chance to play. Considering the large amount of sales ports of older games seem to rack up, I think it makes sense to rerelease them on XBLA and PSN too. Odin Sphere: 75%, Muramasa: 65%

3DS to be released in November

Well, TGS has come and gone with no confirmation of the launch date for the 3DS, but that hasn’t stopped more rumors from coming up. The newest rumor was started by a Japanese accessory maker’s tweet mentioning a new line of products for Nintendo systems releasing in November. Now, it could be the standard holiday order coming due, but why mention it if it is just the normal order?

Andrew: Both the tweet and the account itself were gone in a matter of hours after the information leaked. I’m going to guess that it will be released by the end of November at least in Japan, and probably here in the States around the same time. I think that release window allows them to get in quite a lot of sales in a short amount of time, like the original DS and Wii before it. But at the same time, these rumors pop up all of the time, so for all we know we won’t see the system out until early next year. 80%

Graham: Yeah, let’s be clear here: the rumor is a November release in Japan. It’s entirely possible that releases elsewhere will be delayed. (Personally, I hope not. Ever since one left my hand at E3, I’ve felt a void in my life. A 3DS-shaped void. And preferably a shiny blue one.) I think the deleted account means it’s more likely to be true, but who even knows at this point? Oh, right. We will before the end of the month. 75%

Shawn: I think that Nintendo needs to either release it in November of this year or wait until next summer, but then, I didn’t pass my marketing classes so I could be missing something. As far as the rumor is concerned, I think the fact that the Twitter account disappeared, along with the tweet, says something about its veracity. Unfortunately, that doesn’t tell us much about when the 3DS will come to the US. Due to my responses previously on this subject though, I’ve got to say I believe we’ll get it here before Christmas. 70%