Skyward Fire

xbox 360 goodness by somberguy

For masses, E3 2009 started off with a bang set forth by the Microsoft keynote, the two biggest announcements of the same were Project Natal, and Metal Gear Solid coming to the Xbox 360. Project Natal is Microsoft’s very own Full Body 3D Motion Detection technology, that uses a 3D camera, and the SDK currently seems to support face recognition, voice recognition and fully body motion scanning in real-time. Project Natal is something straight out of what you might have seen in Minority Report, and the possibilities with this are endless. Check out the Keynote preview below.

The demo at the Keynote showed immense accuracy, specially while reading the limbs. But I have some major doubts regarding the same in my mind, which I’m sure the folks behind this are madly working to fix, most important of which is bringing down the manufacturing costs. Considering the fact that this is supposed to work with finger movement detection & detection of facial expressions of many people at the same time, the resolution and the processing capability needs to be massive. Come to think of it, finger detection is needs intense precision, and is very highly unlikely, at least for the time being.

Although, it’s just too early for this to hit the streets. With proper software backing, more hardware improvement & add-ons, and as mentioned before, bringing down the costs have a long way to go. For now, one can only say that demoing Project Natal was more of a marketing move. Being given the chance of opening up gaming’s most celebrated public events, Microsoft just had to overshadow competition, and build excitement & expectations that will be carried forward to E3 2010. And they’ve successfully done that. Gizmodo has a great gallery of the entire demonstration and a detailed report available here.

It was more than a year ago when Sony made it’s acquisition move over the UK-based company Evolution Studios that had the World Rally Championship franchise for the PS2 under it’s belt. It was the first Motorstorm game in the summer of 07, that pushed Sony to go ahead with the deal in hopes of establishing another (off-road) racing genre for it’s current generation console. Motorstorm, in itself, was a very attractive product, and it’s sequel is no less. You can check out the trailer here.

The game impresses on first run, and all the tracks look amazing and are dangerously addictive, with an opportunity to take up more than one route. The game has 16 tracks with 4 different lighting options, and every combination is of an awe-striking diverse design. They left no stone unturned when it came to perfecting the flaws present in the previous game, including major improvements within the vehicle classes.

Pacific Rift Boxart by radoxist

Some of the texture work, the lighting, the motion blur and the water & other dynamic natural elements are just too good. The intensity of geometry & physics within the game has been magnified with some astounding detailing. The sunlight is a subsequent improvement to the lighting, and it’s just as satisfying as the game itself. The track deformation sequences are sophisticated too. The frame rate is more stable than the prequel, and Evolution deserves due credit for that. Technically, the game is more sound than Pure. The vegetation’s interaction & animation deserves plus points too. You don’t have to install the game, but during load times which don’t span to much time, a whole lot of media is cached on the hard disk.

Compared to Motorstorm, it’s easier to choose & play from amongst so many new events. Though the core game play remains the name, not that I was expecting the slightest change. The offline split screen feature was also a stimuli for many gamers that went on to become a purchase decision factor. The multiplayer component allows you to pick a server from over five regions. Unlocking trophies for various achievement eventually unlocks some amazing extras. Somehow, voice chat seems like the gamers’ kryptonite, and there’s scope of improvement there. Since I noticed no lag issues during continuous multiplayer game play, I doubt the weak voice chat had anything to do with my connection. Also, the lack of static pointers is a bit disappointing. Though an update of the game is in the works, which is to supposedly fix issued related to backing up saved data and other stuff about which more information can be found out here.

A major add-on that is crucial in many races, is the brand new Sixaxis tilt. It’s very helpful when it comes to balancing your vehicle and cushioning the jumps without actually having to break the speed. While handling the quad bikes though, switching to analogue sticks is highly recommended. Getting hold of the various controller techniques might take some time initially to understand and get habituated to, but once you’re through that part, they come off as a breeze. The same goes for the various tracks which might seem a little extensive, but once you get the idea of the geography after some exploration, it all comes down as easy. The 5.1 surround support with artists like Death From Above 1979 & David Bowie is fascinating. These artists have hardly been previously featured in various racing games, thus adding to the beauty of Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

There’s news on a PSP port of the game, and a sequel, which there’s no reason to doubt, since this is a franchise with a lot of room for improvement and there’s a whole lot to be worked upon.

Skyward Rating – 8/10

Deals on Amazon -- PS3

The latest and maybe the most important invention in mankind’s history since the discovery of powerful video game consoles, the cell processor and the various games that we play in modern times has been invented. Yes, I am talking about the Time Machine (was just finished last week) and I am going to be the first one to use it and will be using it to travel back in time to the date 22 June 1965 and location Wermelskirchen, Germany. “Why that particular date?” you might ask; well that was the unfateful day when the infamous Uwe Boll was born and I will make sure that he does not grow up to become a movie director and make vomit inducing movies out of uber-cool games (Farcry anyone?).

Are you still reading this? OK, so now that I have your attention, here’s the real deal.

The time machine has not yet been invented ( I bet I had gotten all your hopes up for time traveling to the Mesozoic era and playing Turok first hand, but sorry people, maybe in the next century). What this article is really about is .. well .. ACTION FIGURES!!

Yes you read that right.

What do you understand when i say the word “Action figure”? According to our wonderful Wikipedia -”An action figure is a poseable character figurine, often made of plastic and other materials, and often based upon movie, comic book or video game characters.”

Now that you have a basic idea of what it is, allow me to elaborate in my own words what I think an action figure is, first of all and quite simply it is a magnificent piece of art amongst other things. It is also a faithful replica of your favorite game, comic or movie protagonist which you can keep in your room, on your desk, in your display shelf and many other possible places to basically appreciate the work of the hard working creators and designers who made the character for that movie or game in the first place.

Now if you are going to say that these things are for kids then my friend let me tell you how hugely mistaken you are. Action figures are a big deal in this time and to support that claim here is a little fact for you guys – Today Action figures are a 1.5 billion dollar business and one of the few segments of the toy industry that actually grew in the last few years. The majority of people that buy these are in their twenties and their thirties and are really not kids anymore. Let’s look at an example shall we – If I buy and wear a t-shirt that says ‘Metallica Rocks’ then it’s cool, and I am just expressing my love for their music? But if I buy an action figure of James Hetfield and keep it on my desk then that’s kiddish, eh?? Oh pleassse … and you say I need to grow up. These days there are companies solely devoted to making action figures and nothing else like Mcfarlane, NECA, Mezco, SOTA along with many others.

It’s less about play action for the collectors than it is about getting it right. The overall look and feel of a figure by which i mean the sculpt, the paint job, articulation and capturing the intricate details (like say the mandibles of a predator or the chains of Kratos) has to be awesome.

Nowadays with every new blockbuster movie or a great game there are licensing deals for making action figures and collectibles of the characters.It started with Star Wars and became a rage from then onwards. May that be movies, sports, games, comics even music bands there are action figures of almost everything. And it is a great way of immortalizing that particular moment or the character in 3D and it is also a way of just showing your likes and dislikes, like “Hey, I like God of war and that’s why I have a 12 inch Kratos standing on top of my desktop monitor.”

I am an action figure collector myself and have been one since as long as I can remember. Sadly in our great country India, this hobby is almost non-existent, but I wish to change that and I hope this post will work as a catalyst for the same. Here’s a link bunch for some fantastic action figures from my very own collection. Keep a look out for more on action figures right here!