Now I Must Wait for TGS with More Anticipation

Since I'm tired of Vita Stock Pictures.

It was just recently said that Sony will be showing off 31 Vita games at TGS, not to mention some PS3 and PSP games as well in what I can only call a brilliant plot to destroy me completely and utterly from the wait.  Okay, not really, but the knowledge that A) there's going to be 31 Vita games shown off as well as B) More than half of them (18 out of 31) are 'Previously unannounced' games.  Now, I want to believe that we're going to see even more new IPs and new games and whatnot announced, but I know a few of them are going to be, and, well they just -have- to be, games that are already sort of 'announced' but not officially announced.  Things like anything with "(Working Title)" in them during previous teaser videos and the like.

Now, to fully predict and/or plot out what I figure these 18 games to be, I have to first post the list of 13 that are -going- to be shown at TGS.

• Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend
• Dynasty Warriors Next
• Asphalt: Injection
• The King, the Demon King, and the Seven Princesses: New Little King's Story
• Mahjong Fight Club
• Shinobido 2
• Virtua Tennis 4
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• Gravity Daze
• Hot Shots Golf Next
• True Night of the Kamaitachi
• Disgaea 3 Return
• Ridge Racer

So, nothing we haven't really seen yet except True Night of the Kamaitachi that I...hadn't even heard of before now.  Excuse me a moment...Aha.  It seems to be a...really cool sounding murder-mystery game with multiplayer modes centered on racing to solve the case first.  Iiiiiiiiiinteresting.  Anyways, looking at that list, it's basically stuff we've seen already in the trailers and the like and/or have just been recently announced.  Mahjong Fight Club and Asphalt:  Injection don't ring any bells with me, but I'm not really about to go look them up right now.

So, I'm not really sure as to what I'm guessing will be there as an unannounced-but-you-know-about-it-already game and what will be new, but at the top of that list (and not because of my obsession) would be LittleBigPlanet Vita.  So far, it's had some real show-off time and some trailers, but I just can't help but think the final name isn't going to be "LittleBigPlanet Vita", so bringing it to TGS to show it off with a finalized name would be the time to do it.  But...I'm just not sure what that would be.  With only three main installments so similarly named (LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, and LittleBigPlanet for PSP that is just called LittleBigPlanet) I'm just not sure what they could do to it except confuse it more by, again, just calling it LittleBigPlanet, calling it LittleBigPlanet Portable or by giving it a subtitle that will draw away from the name recognition.  But...after saying that, I guess I -could- see it being named "LittleBigPlanet Vita".

Resistance:  Burning Skies is mysteriously absent from the list, but given that it's already been announced, it can't be one of the 18 games.  (Unless unannounced simply means "We didn't put it in the Press Release")  However, Killzone, which we've seen a trailer for, hasn't been officially announced to my knowledge, so having that would only make sense to reinforce the, aherm, "Hardcore" line-up.  That's not said with any malice or anything of course, as I don't begrudge the games.  Just that my only exposure was a short-lived attempt at playing the first which...didn't go well, and the surprisingly decent, but still unfinished runthrough of Killzone:  Liberation on PSP.  Granted, different type of game entirely, but it was a proper entry into Killzone cannon, so it counts.

Following in the tracks of LittleBigPlanet as it always seems to, I don't believe ModNation Racers for Vita has been properly named either, so having that there with a final name and showing off more extensively with the track-making and the like seems like a good idea to give people the idea of just how easy it is.  I never really got into Modnation Racers since I played the Beta and...well, I just wasn't feeling anything beyond the creation aspect (then again, I don't generally like Racing Games) so I've sort of steered clear of news for it, but it's one of those things that just isn't 'for me' and as such, I'm not prepared to call it poor or anything.  But on the same note, Modnation Racers Vita is likely a miss for me, so I'm not about to get excited at the prospect of it being announced.

While there's other games I could throw out there, like the unannounced version of Mortal Kombat and the Bioshock game Ken Levine informally announced at E3, those are...well, pretty damn western and TGS is a Japan-centric event.  (Expecting the games I mentioned above might even be pushing it, especially with Killzone)  So if that's all I can figure on the what we know already, but aren't 'announced' yet games, what about the other 15 games (if I'm proven right).  The answer is largely, "Well, I don't friggin' know", but I do have some ideas.

Given that it is a Japan-centric event, as I mentioned above, and it's a Playstation anything, the first thing that comes to mind is Hideo Kojima.  Now, I would be willing to bet anything that he will be there to announce something, but the something is fairly up in the air at the moment.  He could just formally announce the Zone of the Enders HD Collection (And/or Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) for Vita, since the Collections will be utilizing 'Transfarring' and that mostly seems to mean "Moving saves from Console to Portable and vice-versa".  Given that we know this, but we don't know, officially, what capacity ZoE/MGS will be playable in on the Vita, some sort of announcement at TGS seems like the most prudent decision.

Still, I can't help but hope for a little more.  Give us something surprising, Kojima!  Announce a remastered Metal Gear Solid 1 for the Vita to complement the rest of the collection.  Bring back Snatcher.  (Note:  This won't happen)  Make Metal Gear Ac!d 3.  Do something that I can hear and then go "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh" for hours and then post frantically about it here!  It will please me.

Given Squeenix's long-standing support of Sony's Platforms and general enjoyment of Handhelds in general, expecting an announcement from them for a Vita game is pretty much a guarantee.  Again, the what is a little difficult to pin down, since the possibilities are endless, but we can make a few broad guesses here.  Given that it's Squeenix, a port is the highest possibility here, perhaps of Final Fantasy Type-O or something older like Crisis Core which wouldn't exactly be unwelcome in either case.  Then again, something 'new' isn't out of the question, and in that case, I would guess something Dissidia related since, well, that's just what they're doing at the moment.

I'm sure there's likely more to be guessed at, but that's about all my brain can muster up at the moment.  Still, it's exciting to just think about what could be.

All Sorts of Vita News....Mmmmm...

I'm sure you guys all know that if there's anything I like, it's news about the Vita, something that I grow more and more excited for every day..  So GamesCom has been quite a thing for me, what with all the things confirmed, announced and shown off for it.  And even though my allergies are making these words crawl through the haze in my head to get here at the moment, I still want to point out the more noteworthy bits of news that we learned about.  (Which are, of course, all of them.)

First up, and arguably the most forgettable of the news, is the fact that there will be downloadable apps for Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Foursquare which is....well, not great news, but pretty good.  I know I use my PSP to check my Twitter and update it, which, well, you all know as well, and while I don't have much use for the other three apps, the fact that they'll be available for download for free is nice.  Note that "Available for Download" is key, since it likely means they won't come pre-loaded on the Vita so you can just pick what you like rather than have a useless Foursquare app staring at you every time you go onto that app page or however this UI is going to pan out with all these apps and buttons.

Seriously, before today, I had never heard of Foursquare.  And this news did prompt me to wiki it which...well, it looks interesting.  It's like a sort of meta-game you play with your friends and/or the entire internet, that lets you log where you go and give you points and awards for visiting the same places again and again or something.  Like I said, it's fairly interesting, but the wiki article does, of course, point out the inherent, er, issues with such a service, and I don't know if those have been addressed or anything properly yet, but while interesting, I doubt I'll be using it, especially since it sounds like Near far outperforms it in terms of prizes for going out of the house.

Secondly, which is....kinda sorta less necessary to know for those of us who just intend to play on the Vita, is the knowledge that Vita Dev Kits are dirt cheap (comparatively speaking).  Where the PS3/PS2 dev kits were/are fairly expensive (The figure shown in the article is "PS2 and PS3 devkits cost €20,000, while PSP ones cost €15,000", but those may be long out-dated numbers.), the Dev Kits for Vita in Europe will start for a paltry 1,900 Euros plus tax.  I don't know the exact exchange rate or anything like that, but four figures seems, all in all, pretty nice, especially when that four figures is on the low-end of it all.  Hopefully this means that it'll never be 'too expensive' to develop on the Vita and as such, we'll never have such a drastic games drought.

Finally and most importantly, was all the wonderful games news that we got, not only updates to games we knew about but also brand-new reveals shown off just recently.  Clearly, we all know that I'm going to show off the trailer for LittleBigPlanet Vita, right?  Right.  This one focuses a lot on the fact that you'll be able to take pictures and inspiration from anywhere you go and shows it off in, well, a pretty good way.




Of course, the end result isn't exactly what was built and would take at least a little while longer of tweaking, but still it's seeming fairly user-friendly.  I imagine the sticks will be what you use for a little more precise work but more methods of input are always good, I say.  Also, that music.

Up next is my second most anticipated game for the Vita at this point, Uncharted:  Golden Abyss.  Finally a trailer that shows off how the game looks in cutscenes and in-game.  Which, unsurprisingly, both look exactly the same.



If I had to pick any one thing out of that that I didn't like, it'd just be the girl's hair; something about it looks slightly off.  But, eh, such is the issue with video game hair, unfortunately.  The rest?  The rest is spectacular.

And while I'm going to be looking forward to Resistance: Burning Skies and Gravity Rush (newly named), the announcement of Escape Plan is something that is fairly interesting, so I thought it would bear reason to show it off.



Maybe it's the music playing (really, how many times has that song been used to show off a game?  Yet it works every time.) or the Clerks font on the in-betweens, or just because the game really shows off some form of character with just what we've seen, but it looks like it'll be a contender for our attentions.

LittleBigThings: I Think Sony Likes It Too

Mostly because they keep acquiring the developers involved with the games.  Last year, Media Molecule became a Sony First-Party Studio, and now Double-Eleven has signed an exclusive deal with Sony, ensuring they'll be around to fuel the Vita on (and possibly do something for PS3, if they so choose) for quite some time.  While not being wholly bought like MM, this is still something to ensure Double-Eleven will be around to show some support to the LittleBigPlanet franchise.  I couldn't be happier, of course, since this means my addiction will be fueled one way or another.

I admit, I was a bit worried when I heard Media Molecule is 'taking a break' from LBP, since, even though it is well-deserved, it means at worst, no LBP game for a while or another, possibly-unfamiliar studio mucking about with it.  Though, for whatever reason, Double-Eleven inspires confidence in me; confidence that I will decide whether or not it's placed well when I have LittleBigPlanet Vita in my hands.  From the looks of the game so far, however, I'm not seeing a whole lot wrong.  I don't even really know how you can muck up the game!

....Aside from doing what LittleBigPlanet PSP did, by cutting out the Multi-player, dropping out of post-release support early, taking major short-cuts with the design tool, and hampering the gameplay by taking out three whole layers of play.  (Two 'thin' layers and a 'walking' layer, I believe.  Possibly only one 'thin' layer.)  But even then, LittleBigPlanet PSP was fun!  Somewhat forgettable and frustrating at times, but fun nonetheless.  I'll have to dig it out again sometime and do a run through some more of the levels, see if I can't pick up the last bit of those items, since, without multi-player, the only obstacle in getting them is finesse which I appreciate greatly.

I should clarify before I end the post:  LittleBigPlanet PSP was quite wonderful, and I enjoyed my romp around with it.  Anyone who was eying it as one of their Welcome Back freebies was doing themselves a service; doubly-so if they got it.  But we all know that we quickly become spoiled with things, so when said things are missing, we tend to get a more harsh view of the overall product.  So when I couldn't sit down with LittleBigPlanet PSP's creator and make something with the ease of use as the PS3 version, I did get a bit put-off.  And some of the platforming levels are, quite frankly, balls-out difficult to Ace, to the point where I'm not sure I'm capable of doing so.  However, the charm was there and that's more or less what you want from a LittleBigPlanet game so, more or less, they accomplished their goal.

LittleBigThings: Vita News and a Blast from the Past

As we all learned today, LittleBigPlanet Vita is being developed by Double11 Studios in conjunction with Tarsier studios who has worked on the console versions of both LittleBigPlanet games as well.  It would be nice to be able to link to their Wikipedia page here, but apparently they aren't big enough for one.  So all we have to go on is the fact that Double11 Studios was formed by Ex-Rockstar employees (according to Joystiq) and y'know?  That's probably enough.  Everyone was pretty delighted with the game at E3, and the idea that they're working with people with experience with the series, I'm sure we'll end up with something of a delight.  Hopefully, it'll end up being a bit better on the technical side than LittleBigPlanet PSP, though it's entirely possible that is will.

Speaking of LittleBigPlanet PSP, I finally cashed in my Welcome Back rewards today from PSN and picked LBP PSP as one of my PSP games because, well, a digital version will be nice when Vita rolls around.  I thought I was being clever by waiting to activate it towards the end of the month so I'd get two months worth of Playstation Plus content to browse through (Which, I think, will mostly work), and all the store issues would be cleared up and I'd be able to just claim my free games like that.  That was not the case!  And, in fact, I had to go about the method illustrated here to get them, which was a bit bothersome, but they're all in my download list, ready for me whenever I, and my internet, are ready for them.

I can't think of a smooth transition to type here, so, fuck it:  we're gonna talk about my LittleBigPlanet levels yet again.  As always, the above is my level I made a while back, Journey's Fall, and the reason I bring it up tonight, is for the fact that the other night, I stumbled across the notebook I had way back when I was planning it, with the notes for it, the blank page for JF2, and the notes I drew up for a Saw-themed level which, hey, I might just actually make.  Because I actually do have quite a bit for it done already (conceptually, of course), and I just like the Saw franchise that much.

Essentially, the level will drop the Sackboy (or girl) into a fairly identifiable area for the series (Not that I'm going to recreate an area, just the trademark look, hopefully) and begin with the normal Jigsaw doll in the TV.  I'm working with Cinematic Cameras currently so hopefully I'll be able to -really- work them out and have them for that part if nothing else.  The general theme that Jigsaw lays out is that you, the Sackboy (or girl) are there because of something a good majority of the people on LBP could generally be there for, the 'crimes' of the community:  Heart4Hearting, Purposefully/Maliciously One-Starring (Or, now, Sad-Facing), False Grief Reporting, and Poor Teamwork Skills.  So the first step, like other helpful programs, is to admit your problem, your 'crime'.

I'm not sure if I want to just have the player tackle only one, or just throw them into a gauntlet of all four, because, hey, the player could be guilty of any combination of all or none of what's presented; and it's not like it matters in the grand scheme of things.  While perhaps not original (Unfortunately, I've seen my share of Saw-based levels and I don't think any of them ranked above poor) I'm hoping I can put some work into it to make it really shine.  Once I get a more solid layout drawn out, I may even post it here (either edit it into this post and then remark about it on my Twitter to lead you back) or just make a new LittleBigThings article.

Who knows, maybe the Journey's Fall Remake might actually have been worked on by then!  (Spoiler:  It will be.)

LittleBigThings: Water water everywhere...

So I finished the Pirates of the Caribbean DLC today, though, unfortunately did not get everything.  Not only is there a nigh-arbitrary x2 section in one of the levels, later on there is an even more arbitrary x4 section in the same level.  I'm not sure if I care enough to bother for them, honestly.  I got what was important out of the pack already:  The Water.

Awww yeah.  We wanted it, we got it.  Mostly.

Before this, you were merely stuck with using glass and/or poisonous gas in varying shades of blue to depict "water" in your levels, and even as is, it's not entirely optimal, as it's merely a switch that floods the level, but to a degree you adjust, and one that can be altered on the fly with switches.  Still, it works; you swim in it, they give you a scuba pack if you want to put that up, ensuring that you won't drown, or you can add bubble stations to recharge the 30 second air limit.  Not a concept any of us should be unfamiliar with, certainly.

Quality-wise, I'm not sure what I think of the PotC levels and, in fact, I was trying to think while playing it, since I knew I was going to report it here.  The levels retain a charm that is distinctly LBP, one that you can't mimic without flaw, but the actual enjoyment of the levels is middling.  Not unenjoyable, but not exactly fun.  Not difficult, but you don't manage to simply walk through every level and get an ace.  Especially the boss-fight, which, on first attempt, befuddled me as to how I would even manage to ace it, seeing that it seems very nearly random regarding your chances.

This is part of the Kraken fight.  The part with the tentacles.  Clearly.

It's very very near lazy, I'm loathe to admit.  You are on the boat, and there's four cannons on it, the second tier requiring you to grab something on a piston to get to.  Said piston might also shield you from the flaming cannonballs that the enemy ships shoot into your ship from the top.  Of course, they might drop the cannonballs directly onto your little stuffed head as well.  With the space as cramped as it is, it's hard to prevent such a fate, and instead, better to simply hope it doesn't befall you.

The bossfight's pattern is rather simple; it starts with you between two ships.  They shoot cannonballs at you, you can use the cannons to destroy them, but there's little point beyond points (possibly, I don't even remember if you get any for sinking a ship), as, at certain points, they'll move off to let the Kraken's tentacles come up from the briny depths to wiggle threateningly at you, and sometimes encroach on the ships borders, killing you if you happen to be in line with their destination.  No projectiles, no real impact, just a line of poison gas behind the tentacle that is sure to hit you if you're not far ahead of it.  The point is to use the cannons to destroy them, of course.  The balls have sensors that dissolve the green bits as they pass by, and you need to dissolve the top and a good amount of the sections beneath that before it's defeated.  You have to do this twice per stage, as there's two tentacles at all times.  And you have to do this three times.  Three sets of two, if I didn't make that clear.

When you defeat them, the enemy ships swoop back in and shoot at you until they stop and another attack of the tentacles occurs.  And then when you beat that, you just have to go to the scoreboard.  It manages to be wholly underwhelming despite the significance you might think it would have, given that it's a Disney/MM colab.  And honestly, that's mostly the problem; despite it being the Pirates of the Caribbean DLC Pack, if there were none of the licensed stickers or the costumes, you wouldn't know the difference.  It is very generically 'Pirate' which almost didn't really strike me until now.

Still, at no point was I specifically annoyed or disappointed with the pack.  I may focus on the fact that at no point was I specifically enjoying it either, they both deserve an equal say.  If you want Water and any and all chances for new materials and the like, having the Pirates pack won't do you a disservice.  But if you're not much of a creator or don't really think you need the tools, it's a safe pass.

Quick Note - Bleh

I really really hate having so many quick notes, but my sleeping got all messed up today, and I got a bit of bad news and it's really just pushed me into "Bleh" territory, so I can't really concentrate enough to write something out.  But I can mention what I've been up to today at the very least, presenting, as I always try to do in these daily posts, content.

Snake?!  This was a sneaking mission!  Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!

I remembered from the other day that I lacked the content from the MGS DLC in LBP for reasons that I've vowed to stop mentioning, so I decided to go back through it today after waking up at 8:22 AM for absolutely no reason.  I forgot just how enjoyable they were, and, honestly, how impressive they are when compared to LBP1 proper.  (Which, after LBP2 just seems a lot more frustrating for some reason)

I did remember, however, that I used to think they were hard.  Not in the sense of getting through them, but in getting through them with the "Ace", as in, not dying once.  In general, Acing a level proves a slight challenge, depending on what it is, but there is usually a challenge if there is meant to be one.  However, on this run-through, I found that it was actually no challenge at all.  I don't know if my early morning had anything to do with it, or if I've simply come a long way, or maybe I just got lucky, but with no more than a few hours of play, I walked away from the MGS Pack with everything.  All five levels aced, played, and 100%'d.  And it was satisfying.

Tomorrow?  The Pirates of the Caribbean  pack, which I've not actually finished completely (in the Ace, 100% sort of way) yet.  Hopefully my....whatever it was carries over as well!  (Because after that, I'll likely make a clean break back to LBP2.  After getting to the end of the Terrible Oni level in LBP, and being killed by his sword after he exploded and it flew right at me, I'm prepared to accept that, yes, I aced everything on LBP1 already, and no, I don't need to do it again, because I want to be sane.)

And yes, I know that I could play them on LBP2, but, well, it just seems right to play on the first, alright?  (And this has absolutely nothing at all to do with LBP1 already being in my PS3 and me being too lazy to switch it out.  Nope.  No sirree.)