[Please Note: This is a pre-launch review based on European retail units, some system features may change or vary depending on your region]

Last year I called the Playstation Vita “the best device I’ve ever held in my hands” after just three hours of play time. Now that I own a Vita not only do I stand by that statement, I actually believe it more now than I did then.  Of course when it comes to gaming devices software will always take precedence over hardware but until our game reviews start rolling out next week I thought I’d give a quick review of the WFi unit which will be hitting European and American stores on February 22^nd.

A Look At The Vita's Bubbly Main Menu

On the surface the Playstation Vita is an absolutely gorgeous piece of technology. The 5” OLED multi-touch display is beautiful; the compact d-pad is the best I’ve felt in years and the dual analog sticks have the potential to revolutionize portable gaming like the Nintendo DS did back in 2004.

In term of controls, the Vita has the full suite of buttons found on the PSP in addition to a rear touch panel, six-axis motion sensors and both front and rear facing cameras. The face buttons are surprisingly small and are raised further than the inputs found on the Playstation 3’s Dualshock or the PSP. The L & R buttons aren’t analog but their curved shape feels great beneath your index fingers. On the down side, nether one of the Vita’s cameras are great especially in low light situations. They’re good enough to allow for some pretty sweet in-game features but if you were hoping to capture Kodak moments you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Games and Applications Reveal The Great Potential Of The Vita's Cameras

They say ‘Seeing Is Believing’ and with the Vita that really is the case. Once you power on the device its hard not to gawk at the stunning 960 x 544 display. This coupled with the system’s impressive specs and outstanding graphical capabilities make the Vita a joy to behold. Launch titles such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss look comparable to some PS3 games and things will only improve once developers familiarize themselves with the hardware and learn how to maximize it.

As you probably know by now, Sony has ditched their XMB interface for the Vita in favour of a new icon-based menu. Each of the system’s games and applications are presented in the form of badges which can be rearranged across up to 10 vertically scrolling pages.

From any one of those 10 pages you can swipe the screen to the right to view any of the apps which are currently running in the background and from there you can either ‘continue’ them or ‘close’ by peeling down the top right corner of their display image. Tapping the home button while on the Home Menu displays your background applications in bookmark form for even quicker access.

Limited Web Browser or Uncharted? Hard Decisions Need To Be Made!

It’s worth noting that the entire Home Menu is touch based and does not support regular controls. I found this to be slightly frustrating when using my Vita on the train whilst wearing gloves but navigating with your finger does feel natural and allows you to speedily zip from one app to the next.

Out of the box there are a handful of apps pre-installed on the Vita which are pretty basic but help the system feel connected to the outside world. Below is a quick rundown of each of these applications:

The Playstation Vita Is Now The Best Way To View and Sync Trophies

“Trophies” lets you view and sync both your PS3 and Vita trophies in a beautifully presented app which almost puts the PS3 to shame.

“Friends” allows you to view which games your PSN buddies are currently playing and compare trophies with them in a matter of seconds rather than minutes (take notes PS3!). At the moment PS3 users can’t see your Vita trophies or games but I’m hopeful that this will change once the system is officially released.

“Party” lets you create group of up to 8 friends so you can finally cross-game chat on a Playstation device!

“Photos” lets you view your photo library, take new photos or record video using the Vita’s ok-ish cameras.

“Welcome Park” is an interactive tutorial which shows off the Vita’s hardware and rewards you trophies for not sucking!

“Maps” lets you view where you are in the world in case you forget. This is probably only useful if you own the 3G Vita but not a smartphone.

 “Connect Manager” is a brilliant tool which allows you to transfer data to and from your Vita via a PS3, PC or Mac.

We Support The PS Vita, But The Vita's Web Browser Doesn't Support Us

“Web Browser” lacks both HTML 5 and Flash support.

“Remote Play” is back allowing you remotely log in to your PS3 from from anywhere in the world using your Vita. It’s a great concept but unfortunately most PS3 games and app’s don’t support Remote Play. Retail games can’t be played remotely either and of the 200+ PSN games I tested only Peggle and the PixelJunk games worked.

“Music/Video Player”  Thanks to Content Manager, transferring music and video content to your Vita is an extremely quick and simple process. I don’t think I’ll ever use the Vita as my MP3 player and the lack of AVI/DivX support renders the Video Player completely useless for me. I guess Sony didn’t get the memo that MP4’s are dead.

“Group Messaging” is a pretty standard messaging app that lets you converse with your Party or compose/respond to PSN messages.

Interact With Other Vita Owners Who Live Close By With "Near"

 “Near” is the Vita’s most interesting app and lets you see what games Vita owners around you are playing. It also lets you view and accept challenges from near-by players and share your feeling on each game so you can discover what titles are currently popular amongst your peers.

And finally, “Playstation Store” allows you to check out the latest PSN releases and download games and apps directly to your system.

Additional apps such as Netflix, Twitter, Skype and Music Unlimited will be available to download once the system has been released and I’m hopeful that YouTube, Facebook and some neat photo apps will follow.

Display Your Downloaded Vita Games With Pride

At the moment almost 300 downloadable PSP games and Playstation Minis are currently playable on the Vita and Sony promises that more titles will be made available “In the coming weeks” (click here for more info).  I would have loved if PSone and PSN games were also supported but currently neither one of them are. I spent a few minutes playing God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta on both the PS Vita and the PSPgo and as expected the game looked remarkably better on the PSPgo’s smaller display but felt better on the Vita.

As much as I’ve enjoyed my time with the Vita, it still has many flaws which prevent it from being a device that I’ll take to work with me on a daily basis. The main reason for this is the sheer size of the device.  Unless you own a pair of Hammer Pants the Vita probably won’t fit in any of your pockets but even if it could you’d refrain from doing so out of fear of damaging the raised analog sticks. Therefore carrying around the Vita requires both a bag and a protective case with is hardly ideal for any portable product.

Another issue is the system’s battery life which gives you roughly 4 hours of game time with max brightness and WiFi turned on. Thankfully the system charges relatively quickly when connected to a power supply and the ability to charge via USB makes it easy to keep your battery juiced up once you’re indoors. Finally, the lack of internal storage is a bummer and forces users to invest in Sony’s proprietary (and slightly overpriced) memory cards. A courtesy 4GB card should have been included with all Vita’s, especially since it would have encouraged users to start shopping on the Playstation Store.

The Vita Just Isn't The Same Without One Of These.

While the issues above may seem like a deal breaker you’ll quickly find that none them really matter when you’re scaling gorgeous environments as Nathan Drake or speeding down the futuristic streets of Wipeout 2048. Maybe I’m in the minority but I’ll gladly sacrifice a bit of battery life and portability to have amazing console-like experiences on the London Underground.

Simply put, if  you love your PS3 or you’re looking for handheld device that celebrates hardcore gaming the Playstation Vita is an essential purchase. Sony went all out to ensure that Playstation Vita would live up to the initial promise of the PSP and it looks like they’ve finally succeeded.

Enjoy the video.

Don’t forget there is still 2 more days left until the February 10th deadline for the Safe House giveaway. We have a lot of entries so keep up the good work: Enter Now!

Movie drops this Friday Feb. 10th.

In Amalur you are thrust into a world full of diverse populations, political turmoil, factions disputes, and everything in between. Rather than playing through an environment that feels like it is catering itself to you as the “hero,” you enter into an already rich universe. R.A. Salvatore has done an exceptional job creating the world, and you can tell how much work must have gone into it.

Overall, you begin the game as a dead person. You are able to customize your race, appearance, etc and then suddenly come back to life. After getting through the tutorial, you discover that you were the test subject for something called the “Well of Souls” and it has thus resurrected you. Upon this resurrection, it turns out that you are now a blank slate, as opposed to the rest of the denizens of this world that are strictly governed by the notions of fate.

There are characters in the game called “fateweavers” that are essentially accurate fortune tellers. In the world of Amalur, fate and destiny guide everything. It is a law, like gravity, that is basically always held true. However, once you discover you are not bound to a stable destiny, and can instead forge your own path, things start to get tricky.

The game takes a lot of interesting turns, and it is very enjoyable to experience. The dialogue and voice acting are all top notch, but the character animations during dialogue is very bland and boring. Nothing but the mouths move on the characters, and after seeing what other franchises are doing in this department nowadays, it is a bit disappointing to see purely emotionless characters on-screen. With that being said, it is an incredibly engrossing tale full of tons of hours of main quest content, epic battles, side quests, and even fully developed factions. Amalur’s story rivals anything on any other medium today.

"Some areas will have you amazed at how lifelike, yet still colorful the environment seems

The game also sports another big name: Todd McFarlane. As the art director, he has created some truly fantastic visuals. Each area has a very specific style and feel, and the flashiness of the combat is top notch. Given how much action can be onscreen, I am truly amazed that my PC never stuttered once. The visuals are quite the sight to behold, especially if you use some of the flashier weapons and spells like I chose to!

All is not perfect in this department though, as some of the textures could be a bit sharper. Some areas will have you amazed at how lifelike, yet still colorful the environment seems, but then you will notice a blurry or unfinished looking texture. This is compounded by the fact that my version on PC suffered from some pretty bad pop-in most of the time. One of the great things about giant open-world RPGs is getting to see the huge world spread out before you. You get that effect here for sure, but as you are running you will see entire bushes, or details suddenly appear in front of you. Maybe this will not be as big of an issue on console, but I had all the settings maxed out during my play time.

Moving on to the most important topic: gameplay. In case you didn’t know, the game designer from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion signed on for this game, which is incredible. The best way that I can describe the gameplay, combat, etc. in this game is for you to picture yourself playing a third person action RPG like Fable, but add in the fast and frantic combat of a game like God of War. Combat is incredibly satisfying and extremely exhilarating. Stringing together combos, parrying attacks, dodge rolls, flinging spells, and so much more. The best part is that no matter what type of character you play (warrior, mage, rogue, or some combination of the three) combat is equally intense. Mages in Amalur don’t have to be squishy, and rogues don’t have to sneak ALL of the time to be effective. As the player, you decide what type of character you play.

The game encourages you to mix and match your play style, rewarding you with different destinies and ability enhancements if you do so. Leveling up is based off of a generic experience system, but once you level up, you have three different facets to consider. First, you choose to increase your non-combat skills. These include things like lockpicking, detecting hidden objects, persuasion, mercantile, blacksmithing, etc. Once you increase one of those stats by one point, you move on to the abilities screen. Here you have three points per level and three different branching trees: Sorcery, Might, and Finesse (pertaining to the mage, warrior and rogue archetypes respectively.) Once you visit this screen, you are then taken to the destinies screen. Depending on how many points you have invested into the different trees, you unlock destiny cards that grant passive bonuses to different archetypes.

For example, if I have invested 40 points in the sorcery tree, I will unlock a few different sorcery destinies to choose from that might offer bonuses to mana regeneration, or elemental resistances. Furthermore, if I had 20 in sorcery and 20 in might, I could open up some combination categories to mix and match more effectively. You can pick and choose what destiny to equip at will in your menu, so you are definitely encouraged to experiment. And, if you are unhappy with skill choices down the road, since you have no fate and choose your own path, you can reallocate all your stat points for a simple fee!

Following on the heels of these great features, is the music. Each area has a specific theme that plays as you are adventuring, then it will begin to get more intense as a battle occurs, towns have a different feel, as well as dungeons. Every NPC is fully voiced and each enemy has all of its own unique sounds. This is definitely a game worth cranking your speakers for, to really get immersed in the environment.

"There is little else on the market that offers the depth and enjoyment that Amalur offers.

Overall this is one of the best action RPGs of this or any generation. It blends the action of God of War, with the intricate world and RPG nature of Elder Scrolls into one seamless package. This is not to say the game is not unique, as it truly is. There is little else on the market that offers the depth and enjoyment that Amalur offers. If you like some action in your RPGs or a little bit of RP in your action, you should definitely do yourself a favor and check this one out. It deserves to be in talks for Game of the Year come December, don’t forget about this one!

The game launches on February 7^th, 2012 in North America for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC! Let us know what you think about it in our comments below!

“It’s being developed like a remaster, but the visuals will be much more improved compared to the original game”

So I guess we should just expect the same game with some significantly enhanced visuals, hence it will indeed just be a remaster. Why Kitase suggested it would be more than this remains to be seen.

In other Final Fantasy news, Final Fantasy XIII-2 was released in the Western world last week and quickly became the UK’s top seller for the week. The game failed to live up to previous Final Fantasy sales figures, selling only 524,000 week one copies (in Japan), which are pretty small numbers for a FF game.

Look out for a review of FFXIII-2 coming soon.

When sports fans think of snowboarding video games, the SSX series immediately comes to mind as being one of the best in the business. Since debuting back in 2000, EA Sports has continued to evolve the series from one generation of consoles to the next. Originally titled SSX: Deadly Descents then later shortened to SSX , this release is expected to set the bar by creating a more realistic open world atmosphere along with keeping the same core gameplay experience that fans have come to know and love. It’s safe to say that even if you aren’t a hardcore snowboarding fan, this game is guaranteed to have enough firepower to peak you’re interests and then some.

The videos below feature pre alpha gameplay footage as well as a 3 part video series detailing the massive worlds that you’ll be exploring once the game drops later this month.

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Official Website

Also added for the Vita version are 150 totally new challenges in the challenge-tower mode. Over half of these will take advantage of the Vita’s multi-touch functionality. As you’ll see in the video, one of these requires you to wipe blood from the screen with your finger, as not to obstruct your view.

Add all this new content with the ability to compete with other players over Wifi, and you’ve got yourself a decent Mortal Kombat experience for the Vita.

Let us know what you think of the video.
Don’t forget to jump over to the PS Blog for more details on some of the touch-screen related challenges.

Back in January of 2010, Vigil Games and THQ embarked on the journey of creating a game inspired by the controversial phenomenon known as the Apocalypse. Aptly titled Darksiders, the hack and slash action-adventure title went on to receive numerous accolades for both story and character development. As The Horseman War, the player is given the task of preserving the balance between Heaven and Hell by forcing a truce between both kingdoms. The end result is a series of events that lead to a renewed war requiring the assistance of the remaining 3 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. In Darksiders 2, Death becomes the main character and thus introduces a new style of play and personality into the mix.

The developer diary below dives deeper into the Death character and shows various gameplay sequences to give you an idea of how the franchise has evolved. Darksiders 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC this Summer and as a Wii U launch title later this Fall.

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Official Website

“In response to press speculation the GAME Group plc confirms that it is in on-going dialogue with its lending syndicate to reach agreement on revised terms for its facilities,

As part of these discussions, the lending syndicate is reviewing a strategic plan of the company which includes a review of its overseas operations. A further announcement will be provided once discussions with its lending syndicate have concluded.”

What this means is that they may be able to gain funding from lenders in exchange for the sale of their overseas business. Yesterday the state of GAME was in question as Metal Gear Solid HD and NeverDead were pulled from their website due to their inability to purchase new stock.

During the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, 2K games previewed clips of their upcoming Dubai based third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line. Several months later, I had a chance to get a hands-on look at the game during an E3 2010 private session. I walked away from my early impressions with a sense of excitement and curiosity as to how they would be able to accomplish all they set out to do with this title. Granted that Spec Ops is already a popular series in it’s own right, the focus of this game expands to include a darker themed narrative, dangerous sandstorm environments, and critical squad-based tactical scenarios. When you then add the element of decision making into the equation, you have an experience that can truly be rewarding if done right.

The developer diary below provided by GameTrailers dives further into expressing the core mechanics of gameplay and story. While no firm release date has been set, 2K games has mentioned that they are aiming for a launch sometime in 2012. As soon as I get word on an official release date, I’ll be happy to let you all know.

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Official Website

We cover a lot of issues plaguing GAME’s reliability as a retailer, and we speculate what the future may bring. It’s a very intriguing topic, and Rameez Quadri delivers tons of insight based on his experience.

Be sure to share your own thoughts with us below, and if you have anymore information definitely don’t hesitate to let your voice be heard.

News Source

Duration: 32 minutes
Notes:
- Anyone who pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid HD shouldn’t worry about receiving their order.
- Hear more from Rameez Quadri at The Epic Network, or on his Twitter.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker was announced in 2010, but it is finally coming out this year. The film will be set in Orlais, which is a rival force to Ferelden where the majority of the games plot has been set. For those who played through Dragon Age II, you’ll be intrigued to know that Cassandra, the character who probed Varric for information during the narrative will be the main character in the animated film.

Watching Cassandra’s story in Dawn of the Seeker is said to give us some new insight on the state of the conflict seen in the previous games. Creative Director Mike Laidlaw speaks more on the film during the video below. The film is produced by Funimation, and we can look forward to it at some point during 2012.

If you would like to see the remaining classes in action then be sure to follow the official website over the coming months leading up to May 22nd. Purchasing the game on release will secure you a code to gain early access to the Resident Evil 6 demo.

Enjoy the trailer!

Back in May of 2010, Remedy Entertainment released the psychological thriller Alan Wake exclusively on the Xbox 360. While the game went on to receive favorable reviews from both critics and fans alike, there remained constant concern over whether the game attracted enough people to justify creating a sequel. Luckily for fans of the series, the creative team heard the responses and secretly continued to work on the vision.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is not a direct sequel to Alan Wake, but rather a separate game that expands upon the universe while exploring conflicts with Alan’s evil alter ego, Mr. Scratch. Remedy described the game as having a very pulp-fiction oriented style in regards to story and cinematic presentation. The big draw behind this game is that it’s expected to have the same time length and high quality as most retail games, but with the exception that it will be a download only game over the Xbox live Arcade. If done right this could be a game changer for how Microsoft decides to do more of their franchise titles moving forward.

Just as the GameTrailers video details below, American Nightmare is expected to have both a Story Mode and Arcade Action Mode. The Arcade Action mode is similar to Gears Of War’s Horde Mode, in the sense that the premise centers around you surviving a night full of enemy encounters. New weapons and creatures have also been added to make for a more engaging experience.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare will cost 1200 Microsoft Points ( $15.00) when it releases on Xbox Live Arcade on February 22, 2012.

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Official Website

From the mind of Ken Levine , creator of BioShock and designer of System Shock 2 , comes one of the most heavily anticipated RPG first-person shooters of 2012. BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel to BioShock, but rather a new concept set in an air suspended city on the brink of political unrest during the year 1912. The main protagonist in the story is Booker Dewitt, a former agent gone rouge who takes on the task of infiltrating the city and rescuing a young woman named Elizabeth. With the growing war between two factions, Elizabeth holds the key to victory for either side and thus must be kept out of harm’s way. Fans of the original BioShock can expect an intriguing storyline full of memorable characters and dramatic twist plots at every corner.

With no firm release date set and news still circulating everyday, you can expect to hear more about this game over the course of the next couple months. If you haven’t yet had a chance to experience BioShock, I would highly recommend you give it a try. Then and only then will you appreciate the series and see firsthand why the game is on everyone’s radar.

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Official Website

PS3 gamers are once again at a disadvantage, as this access will grant Xbox 360 users the demo 60 days before PS3. The demo will arrive for Xbox 360 on July 3, and the PS3 version won’t arrive on PSN until September 3rd (4th in Europe).

Dragons Dogma was originally expected to launch in March, but now will release two months later. It is said to be one of Capcom’s most expensive games. I guess this Resident Evil 6 demo just added even more value to it.

Resident Evil 6 was the topic of conversation for days after Capcom confirmed the release date for November 26th 2012. It’s definitely a highly anticipated title, and I’m sure this announcement will allow Resi fans to give Dragon’s Dogma a try even if they didn’t plan to previously.

Mass Effect 3 releases March 6th (US), March 8th (Au) and March 9th (EU).

Starhawk is the follow up to 2007′s Warhawk, which I was a huge fan of. The game will follow on with Warhawk’s core mechanics, but this time around there will be a single-player mode included, which was scrapped in Warhawk. With the game including tower defense styles of game-play, Starhawk is said to resemble a Real-Time Strategy game played in Third-Person. One of the first RTS games I fell in love with was Herzog Zwei for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis – and the reason I loved Warhawk so much is because it reminded me of that game. So it’s clear that if you loved Warhawk (and Herzog Zwei for that matter) you’ll absolutely adore Starhawk.

The game also includes flying mechs. A player can respawn into a landing craft which they can steer with in a limited range to reach the battle field. There are also 32 player online battles. Starhawk also has a co-operative survival mode.

I think it’s safe to say that Starhawk will go down as one of the most slept on games in 2012.

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Official Website

Song produced by Sak Pase, Video directed by Hype Williams.

The game will release for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Agenda:

- Mass Effect 3 figures and DLC
- Guild Wars 2 release confirmed
- Xenoblade Chronicles info
- Kingdoms of Amalur demo Impressions
- Final Fantasy X Remake is going to be awesome
- Our hopes for Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Skyrim Mods
- Dungeons & Dragons Spotlight
- Much more

Duration: 65 Minutes
Feedback: gswaby@thekoalition.com

Another gaming icon joining the mix is Mega Man, but before you get too excited I encourage you to check out the trailer first!

As someone who hates small characters in fighting games I was really worried about the inclusion of Pac Man and Mega Man but after seeing gameplay footage of them both I’m pretty happy the results. Die-hard Mega Man fans will probably view this as a slap in the face but that’s partly why I love it so much.

Well played Capcom!