The PlayStation 4 is Real

Aside from my raging disregard for freaking polygons, I'm kind of excited about the PlayStation 4.  Let me tell you why:

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I didn't know that I wanted to do this.  I didn't know myself to be a slightly vain person who wanted to instantly share their awesome(read: terrible) game play with the world, but I AM.  I can instantly stream my super awesome Mortal Kombat X: The Reckoning videos with everyone I know and then put it on Twitter?  I'm in, instantly(quite literally).

More exciting than the superficial "look what I can do" opportunities are what developers can do with this for  potential matchmaking opportunities.  Imagine a group of people watching a best of 3 fighting game or a 3 lap circuit waiting in the wings to take on the winner or top 3.  Granted, this is not so different from things available on PC, but the divide is getting narrower and I want to embrace it as it comes.

Download And Play?

Yes, yes, I know that this is a feature held by hundreds of PC games.  I understand that it isn't anything new, but it's such a great feature for a console generation that is guiding us slowly, but surely, to digital media.

Me: "Man, that game got great reviews and is right up my ally for style, I want to play it, NOW"

PS4: "Ok"

Me: "I'm not joking... NOW"

PS4: "Ok"

Simple, I know, but it's a world of difference for my time crunch.  Also: demos.  I hate waiting for Demos.  Now, I don't have to.

Getting Vita in the Game

I've had absolutely no reason to get a PS Vita.  None.  I don't regret not having one and I don't feel the need to get one... Until PlayStation 4 lets me play it's games on a Vita.  I've already sold my soul to Nintendo's Wii U(Also a decision I stand by), so why wouldn't I be excited for another system employing the same methodology and(for me) world changing control schemes.  Asymmetric game play is what I want all the time for now and forever.

What I Miss

PlayStation 2.  That's the last Sony game system I've owned and it was arguably the greatest game system I've owned.  I believe that Sony can deliver that again.  I believe that in their misguided search for poly-mega-flopagons, they create a sandbox for developers to make some of the most beautiful and rich games on the market.  I hope they do it again.

Am I upset that they don't have backwards compatibility right now? Yes.  Do I think that 90% of what was said during the announcement was graphical nonsense? Yes, but at the heart of the matter, this is a console on which some of my favorite medium's great games are going to be built.  I can't help but be excited for the prospect.  No matter my allegiance, I want great games.

There are other things to be excited about, but nothing rang true like these bullets did.  In the meantime, I have some Scribblenauts to play.  

Battlefield 3 and the Perils of an Open Beta

I am of the opinion that public or at least a large private multiplayer beta testing is border line required for the successful launch of a multiplayer game.  Now the definition of a successful launch is far from objective, but to me a successful launch does not include heavy tweaking to balance issues, reworking crashed servers, and a host of launch bugs that make the online experience more trouble than it is worth.  The high traffic with a huge cross section of people playing in public betas is a great opportunity for developers to learn and tweak before a games launch.

The Battlefield 3 Beta has been supremely effective at nailing down the necessary data for their designated servers.  What it hasn't done so well is advertise for the upcoming blockbuster.  I get the feeling from the blazing internet that people are unhappy with the performance issues in the Battlefield 3 Beta.  That may have been an understatement.  I've read about 10 blogs and articles concerning the issues(graphics, glitches, and host connection issues) and most of them seem to think that the upcoming entry into an established franchise is going to be complete rubbish based on this beta.  People are citing cancelled pre-orders and disappearing vehicles as proof that this game doesn't have what it takes to be a great game.

I'm not quite as militant, mainly because I didn't experience the same issues.  I played for about 4 hours and was booted from a game once, and never experienced any of the vehicle glitches.  The graphics were obviously rough around the edges(the character models weren't as crisp as I've seen in preview videos and there were some textures that popped in a little late, nothing life altering) and some of the animations seemed a little twitchy.  On the whole, however, I really enjoyed my time with Battlefield 3.  Rush Mode was as compelling as always, the ebb and flow of combat as attackers gained ground or the defenders pushed back felt good, and, even though I was on an XBox 360, I enjoyed the number of players in the matches.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the much larger battles of the PC arena, but my PC was occupied at the time so I'll take what I can get.

There was a time that if a game was plagued with issues at release, it was dead in the water, but now with patches and updates, a lot of issues can be solved post release.  I don't think that this is a bad thing.  I'm glad that developers have the opportunity to rectify issues with their games post release, but it is a little irritating when the first impression isn't up to par and patches take time to prepare and release.  During that time, I just spent money on a product that is far from satisfactory.

I'm glad that DICE decided to run the beta.  This gives them the chance to prepare their servers, maybe tweak a little balance, and iron out any bugs that occur when their systems are stressed by high levels of traffic.  I would rather a developer let me try their game for free to help them solve issues than to fix them post launch, post payment received.  At the same time, I hate the bad press Battlefield 3 is getting because they gave us a free opportunity to try their game.