Archive for March, 2007

I tried Resistance’s online multiplayer modes last night and before I continue, I’d better explain something first. I’ve never played any game online before. In fact, I’ve been opposed to online multiplayers for a good few years. I’d associate online gaming with PC geeks and weirdos with super PCs who spend 20hrs a day mastering their skills and screaming abuse at noObs (or whatever else newbies are called) down their headsets. It just wasn’t a side of gaming I wanted to experience.

That all changed when I got my PS3 and free access to online play. I thought I’d give it a shot saying as it’s part of the PS3 experience now. So I clicked on multiplayer on Resistance and downloaded an update which took 8mins. Once that was done I wasn’t sure what each mode involved so just chose a free for all death match with 15 players on the Rooftops map. I promptly got my arse kicked and finished 15th but man, it was a lot of fun!! I killed 3 people and died 9 times with 4 assists but it was mad hectic fun!

I then got invited into a 20 man team battle (40 players) with someone on my buddies list. This took a while to set up as you can’t access the messages you receive in the XMB while you’re playing a game so you have to quit the game to find out if your buddy wants to play or not.

Once it was set up I had a great time. The highest I ranked was 13th out of 20, and my average kills and deaths was 4 and 9 for most of the time I played, which was over 30mins. Yeah I suck but FPS aren’t my favourite genre and I’ve never played online before so

I haven’t tried MotorStorm online play yet but people have said it’s easier to organise arranged play with people on your buddies list.

I can imagine it being a lot of fun if your buddies have headsets on and you taunt each other during play. I doubt I would wear a headset with strangers though. I’ll probably buy one at some point.

I’m sure Insomniac said Resistance would be using global servers soon. Let’s hope so. It would be great to arrange a PS3Blog meet up on Resistance, with our readers and writers doing battle!

So I finally cracked and bought the PS3 today. I tried to resist the temptation and wait for some decent bundles where you actually saved money on the games and accessories but I could wait no more! I got the PS3 with Resistance for £465 from my local GAME, which is a saving of £0 if you bought them individually.

I also received a gift from Henning in the post, in the form of MotorStorm, so thanks a lot Henning!! I’ll go easy on you when I play you in Resistance in the future*

I unpacked the box to be greeted by a shiny object that looks superb and weighs quite a bit. It didn’t take long before I had plugged it in to my 32″ 100hz wide screen SDTV using composite and the SCART adapter that came in the box. I then connected my PS3 to my wireless hub, which was a very simple task and took very little time. I then tried to register and activate my user ID I registered last December but forgot the password and eventually had to set up a whole new master account with a new ID.

The XMB is very sleek and easy to navigate. Nothing is complicated and everything is easy to locate and fiddle about with.

My first major port of call was to slide MotorStorm in to the PS3 and check out how it looked on my SDTV. My friend came round for the official unveiling so I had a 2nd pair of eyes to see whether it would look rubbish. It looks incredible! Seriously, I was blown away with how good it looks on my SDTV. I had seriously considered holding off buying a PS3 until I got a 1080p HDTV as I was worried my TV wouldn’t do it justice, but my fears were misplaced.

My first race using a bike ended in disaster with a 15th place finish but the best moment was when I crashed and was promptly run over by a 4×4, all in slow motion, which had my friend in fits of laughter!!

It’s a fantastic title with great visuals and it’s a lot of fun to play once you figure out the best route to take. I wish your vehicle wouldn’t explode so easily though. I haven’t tried it online yet.

I then tried Resistance to see whether it would also look good on my SDTV. Most people that have bothered to play the game for more than 1hr have all said the game improves immensely in the graphics department the further in the game you get, so I think I’m in for a treat as the game looks great. It’s a very solid FPS but I’m not the biggest FPS fan so I can’t really comment.

The SIXAXIS pad is great. Nice and light and it fits comfortably in my hand, although I keep forgetting it has no wires so I keep checking for the wire only to find none.

I then paid a visit to the PLAYSTATION Store and downloaded Genji 2 to see just why Amazon is selling it for £20. It’s rubbish! The camera is a joke and I can’t understand why they didn’t use a fully controllable camera. It ruins the game and made the demo pretty much unplayable. I couldn’t target any enemies so I just had to hope they got in the way of my wild swings. I also couldn’t switch characters, even though the demo says you can. I wouldn’t play it for free.

I’m currently in the process of downloading GT HD Concept 2.0 (full game as it says next to it) and F1 CE so hopefully they will fare better than Genji 2.

I’ve added a few people to my friends list and sent and received a message from one of them already. I wish you could send a message to them while you’re playing a game rather than having to exit the game to do it.

I then decided to try out a couple of PS2 games to see how they worked. I tried Red Faction which played with no problems and still looks good but compared to Resistance it’s looks very old. I tried FFXII which seemed to work without any problems but I didn’t try either for very long.

I think I’ll use my PS2 to finish off FFXII and use the PS3 to play God of War 2 when it’s released next month.

I haven’t tried storing any music, photos or vids yet (don’t know if I will any time soon) but everything I’ve done so far has been great with no problems. It’s also pretty much silent 99% of the time and it’s been on for the past 6hrs.

I’m off to give Resistance a good play.

*Please go easy on me Henning!!