Linger in the Shadows

Playstation 3 going old skool. Finally a PSN title that is called a game but isn't a game. It is digital art. Linger in the Shadows is the kind of experience that was normal in the old days. About a decade or two ago people used to have Commodore 64s or Amigas. In those days it was quite normal to have 'demos' to play on those machines. Some people showing of what they could make and push the limits of the hardware. It was this digital art that had the most beautiful thing ever seen on those machines. Now the first project related to that scene has jumped to the latest console.

Linger in the Shadows is a piece of interactive digital art. During the experience you can control the view to extend the experience. But I shouldn't try to explain it because it isn't possible, you should experience it. If you like the old demos on the Amiga, you are sure to like this one. It brings back memories, especially if you find the Hidden Part, the best thing ever made on PS3. The project doesn't push the limits of the PS3 and doesn't look as good as some games do. But you should keep in mind that this piece of work is build by a handful of people and not a massive 100 man team. It's good to see some of those old concepts back on the new gaming devices and I hope to see all the greeted groups to return a greet in their piece of digital art on PS3.

WipEout HD

Defy gravity and fly. Wipeout has finally made it onto the PS3. After Wipeout 2097 and Wip3out on the PS1 there hasn't been a good Wipeout game until the PSP versions. Wipeout Fusion is enjoyable and has some great loopings in the tracks that weren't in the earlier version, but the game strayed from the metal race tack and let us fly through the desert, like the Star Wars pod races. It didn't feel like Wipeout, if I want to pod race I'll fire up Lego Star Wars (Yes the Lego version, because Lego games are great fun).

Wipeout became great again when the PSP came out and with it Wipeout Pure, which like the name suggests got back to it's roots and delivered pure metal track flying. It gave the same great feeling as the PS1 versions did. After skipping Wipeout Pulse I can now enjoy it also on the PS3. WipEout HD contains the tracks from Pure and Pulse, so it is a good thing I skipped Pulse, now I have some new tracks to enjoy. The new zone mode is looking really great, awesome colors which change every zone. And besides getting those gold medals on every track and every race type, we can also hunt for trophies. The hunt continuous when I WipEout the weekend.

Being bad on the Battlefield

Finally I can say I'm being bad on the Battlefield. After a good session of Bad Company last night I made it into the Leaderboards. It would have been sooner if the LocoRoco's didn't need my help. Before my vacation I was close to making it on the board, but not playing for two weeks didn't help. This week I've been gathering points with some really nice sessions where I got 500+ points. As of today I'm one of the 50000 top players of a total of 350000 players (VGchartz.com) and counting. Currently I'm ranked 48876, but that's gonna change in the near future.

Vacation on the LocoRoco planet

It has been a month since my last update. I've been away for a few weeks and been to the LocoRoco planet to save the litte critters from the mojya creatures invading their planet. I never got around to play the game and seeing the news about a LocoRoco 2 coming to the PSP it was time to finally play the first. A really cool visual, musical and most of all addictive game. One of the best PSP games of last year that just fits the idea about this handheld device exactly. Small and fun levels that are a joy playing. But you need to take care, because saying 'one more' after each level won't get you enough sleep that night.

After being away for a few weeks I decided to also change the header image of the site. The idea is to update it every month with an image about a game that is scheduled for release soon or that has new (visual) information leaked on the net. I guess it's obvious which highly anticipated game is scheduled for release next month.

Boulderdash

Peviously I talked about GTA being the best game ever, but Boulderdash is also a game that is way up this list. Recently I played the new Boulderdash Rocks on the Nintendo DS, which I also intend to get for the PSP. But that proves to be a little problematic. Although the game was released in March it isn't available in the stores. The DS version is widely available, but de PSP version is nowhere to be seen. But that's not the thing I wanted to talk about. As said I played the DS version of Boulderdash and it's nice, but it doesn't give the same satisfaction as to original C64 version did. Non of the remakes give the same feeling and enjoyment as the C64 version did. Boulderdash is probably the only reason why I fire up a C64 emulator. Games don't have the be graphically excelent to be great games. Games should just be playable and provide fun and the original Boulderdash has this. It a game that I still choose to play over all PS3 games.

Resistance Retribution

Announced on the E3 last week a new chapter in the world of Resistance. Resistance: Fall of Man was one of the best launch titles on the PS3. It had a great story and the gameplay was diverse. It's one of the few games a played through twice, the second time being the story on the Hard setting. Which was a good challenge with a lot of retries on some sections, but it payed off, it was really satisfing when I beat it for the second time. Resistance: FOM was also the first online game experience I had. I've played countless hours online and I enjoyed it. It a completly different experience than the single player, but one that fits nicely in the Resistance Universe.

With Resistance 2 coming to the PS3 this year, we get a new bigger and better experience in the Resistance Universe. But next year we will can also battle the Chimera on the PSP as Resistance Retribution will be available. In the Resistance Retribution the story is played in a different part of Europe with another soldier infected by the Chimera virus and surviving it. I've seen the first trailer with gameplay footage and it looks really great on such a small machine. It looked like R:FOM but then on the PSP. I'm really looking forward to this game, so I can get the Resistance experience wherever I go.

www.moonshyne.nl

Today is the release of my new website. After first dropping all my game related blog info on my personal website, I decided I wanted to split the different kinds of information between more personal information and more business information. The site name is the same as the name I use on the Playstation Network and is a good link between and games and me. This site is going to reflect my game experience, my games and the game related news and sites I come across. Enjoy.

First PS3 Trophy

After pulling the update for Super Stardust HD I couldn't win throphies even when I succesfully updated to firmware version 2.40. I cursed Sony to deny us the fun of winning throphies even after having succesfully upgraded to have trophy suppport. Now firmware 2.41 is out, the patch for Super Stardust HD got also online. Finally I got around to win some trophies and my first 'Hero of Lave' trophy is in the pocket. Tomorrow I'll be hunting some other. Also can't wait to get the update for PAIN and the release of Pixeljunk Eden to win more trophies. I can't help it we are genetically programmed to collect things.

GTA IV: Crazy Helicopter Pilots

GTA IV the best game on the market this moment. No I don't want to start a discussion about Metal Gear Solid 4 vs GTA IV. GTA IV gives the players the freedom to do what they want in Liberty City, which is more appealing to a bigger audience than the story based MGS 4. This freedom result in some really funny moments in the game. Last night I was playing GTA IV online and the mode we were playing was Bomb The Bass II. Halfway through the mission the team steps into a helicopter to fly to a ship where some bombs need to be placed to sink it. The four of us were sitting back in the helicopter until the pilot sets us down on or near the ship. Only halfway there the pilot steps out of the helicopter falling to oblivion. A great action that put a big smile on my face, because the three of us were left in the helicopter with no one to fly it, which made it go down with nothing we could do about it. There is no way to take over the controls or jump out and use a parachute like in Just Cause. A parachute would make a nice addition to GTA V in Vice City!

GTA IV more of the same

As stated in an earlier blog post GTA is one of the best game franchises to date. That's the only reason why I got the newest installment for my PS3 on release day. After playing the game a few hours in the last couple of days the question arose why is this such a great game. Most people will say it looks better than the earlier version, of couse the next gen consoles are more powerful, so you can expect better graphics. Basically GTA IV is more of the same. You jack a car, drive to someone who has a job and drive around town to finish the job, not getting killed. Why is this been there, done that gameplay still enjoyable. It's the story. The story is the reason why you wanna play on. Just around the time I thought that the game was more of the same the first plot twist came around. It's when Nico tells his cousin the real reason for coming to America, the land of opportunity. You just want to know how this evolves and keep playing and playing. It's gonna be late again tonight.