MetaFilter posts tagged with videogames and PS3

Demon's Souls

Prospero — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:32:33 -0800

"Demon's Souls, an Atlus-published action-RPG out this week on the PS3, is way too hard for you. We say this without knowing a thing about your skills and with no equivocation." Demon's Souls was released this week in North America, and its reviewers are coming to terms with its staggering difficulty level. "We're not in the business of reviewing games we don't finish, so I'll say right away that I did not finish Demon's Souls. [...] Because of this, we will not be giving it a review score this week. [...] It's not that I didn't want to finish it. I truly do, and I look forward to doing so. [...] My problem is that I died far too often. You'll see: you will die in minutes." "[Its] punishment systems ensure that life has far greater value than in most games, especially as the incessant autosaving ensures restoring from a back-up is impossible. As such, you inch forward, shield up, knees-a-knocking. Demon’s Souls is the antithesis of the fashionable approach to gaming. It encourages mastery over mere perseverance and every reward is so hard won as to make it almost unattainable." "You may have heard this already, but let me say this, just to make sure: Demon's Souls is hard. This is not the same kind of hard that comes from too many enemies attacking at once, from having your level too low to fight a boss, or from having too many guards to take out, lest you be seen. This is a game where you may defeat a tough opponent through attrition and pain, winning with nary a sliver of health left before letting out a battle cry and promptly mis-stepping into a pit that kills you." The game's US publisher is keeping a running total of the number of deaths occurring in the very first area after the tutorial--before the evening of the release day had even begun, the death toll stood at 3,479. (From that link: "I have a copy of the game in transit and I am kind of terrified. Waiting to receive a copy of the game is like being on death row.") Demon's Souls is probably best described as an action RPG with roguelike gameplay elements--however, it marries those elements (along with the uncompromising difficulty of many roguelikes) to graphics and sound design that are characteristic of big-budget, mainstream console games. (Here's an interesting analysis that focuses primarily on the emotional effect of the game's design decisions). It's considered the spiritual successor to the King's Field series, also developed by From Software. There are two wikis for it--one that covers the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and North American versions of the game, and another, hosted by Atlus, dedicated specifically to the North American version. (Previously on MeFi, we discussed the design of difficult games.)

X-Rayed X-Boxes (And Other Video Game Consoles)

Effigy2000 — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:28:39 -0800

Reinier van der Ende, an x-ray technician at the largest hospital in the northern part of the Netherlands, decided to combine his work with one of his hobbies and proceeded to x-ray his collection of video game consoles, peripherals and game cartridges. Here are the fruits of his labour. There's also an x-ray of an X-Box 360 that dosen't appear to be part of the main set (it's part of this subset). No indications of whether its red-ringed or not, though. [via]

relaxed, free and without worry

zabuni — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:46:10 -0800

Noby Noby Boy is out! What is Noby Noby Boy? The creator speaks: "At this stage, it's too early for me to sum up this game in one word." Why was it made? "Seriously, I don’t know. When I figure it out, I’ll share it on this blog." A bit more cogent explanation follows: Noby Noby Boy is a PS3 downloadable game from noted Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi where the players "control a pink worm with feet named BOY, and move, eat objects to stretch your stomach, jump to any height you choose, and stretch lengthwise by pulling yourself in opposite directions, ". The goal is the game is well..."absolutely nothing at all".

Friends Help Friends Who are Under the Weather.

Del Far — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:50:08 -0800

The Console War Is Officially Over (Via)

Master the Art of the Quincy

Effigy2000 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:31:10 -0800

HOME is out for the Playstation 3, and as Penny Arcade has observed, it really is "nothing more than a cumbersome menu, a rampart over which you must hoist yourself to accomplish the most basic tasks." But it's not a complete waste of time. Where else can you have the joy of observing someone being Quincyed? Here's a video of Quincying in action. Observe the quick change, the expedient retreat of the male suitors, the provocative pelvic motion. Here's how to master the art of the Quincy, should you be so inclined.

LittleBigPlanet Recalled

yellowbinder — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:52:12 -0800

LittleBigPlanet, the highly anticipated create your own platformer game by Media Molecule, originally set to release next week, has been recalled. The reason? Apparently one of the music tracks used in the game, "Tapha Niang" by Grammy Award winner Toumani Diabate, contains verses from the Qur'an. As it's a no no to mix Islamic holy text with music, Sony has pulled the game after complaints. The problem has been fixed, but no new release date has been announced.

O RLY?

bardic — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:41:58 -0800

Why does Bill O'Reilly hate ~~black people~~ nerds?

The 3 is pronounced "x"

WolfDaddy — Tue, 31 May 2005 09:08:32 -0800

The best E3 wrapup I've read this year. Also the only E3 wrapup I've read this year. But there are pictures! And amusing musings! It's also by Our Boy Mefite kevspace .

A Gamers' Manifesto

Tlogmer — Mon, 23 May 2005 11:34:34 -0800

A Gamers' Manifesto

AsiaInsider — Sun, 24 Mar 2002 04:47:47 -0800

Future Development for Sony and the PSX2 and PSX3. Now that the Game Developers Conference is over what do you think of the plans for the PSX3? It may even have an IBM architecture underneath.

zeoslap — Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:58:25 -0800

Playstation 3 chip to be designed by IBM. The three companies (Sony, IBM, and Toshiba) aim to design a "super-computer on a chip" with a wide variety of consumer applications, they said in a joint statement.

"The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue super-computer, operate at low power and access the broadband internet at ultra-high speeds," the statement added

Wowzers!