Encouragement, New PC, Geforce 3d Vision Glasses, Playstation 3, iPhone gaming

Encouraged by a friend to continue writing I am once again faced with the task of trying to think of something worth writing about. Since my last post I have been busy gaming (and studying) with a host of new toys. This post is purely mechanical and almost soul-less, merely here to get shit up to date.

The iPhone, PlayStation 3, a powerful new computer, and Nvidia 3D vision glasses have come into my possession since my last update. This is the first time I've had the luxury of playing every game released across all platforms.

The PC has taken center stage for me. Considering the tone I carried with my previous posts about the PC slowly being fazed out of the picture this is a welcome development. My PC has a Intel Core i7 processor, a Geforce 285 GTX video card with 2 gigs of video ram, 6 Gigs of Ram, and a terabyte of hard-drive space.

Gaming in 3D does not give you a dramatic advantage over 2 dimensional displays. First Person Shooters are considerably more immersive, however, the increased depth does not really make the act of shooting any easier. Identifying what direction you are being shot at is easier since you get a better impression of where the bullets are coming from.

Technically the image seems cleaner, which makes sense, you are essentially doubling the resolution by mashing two images into one.

While I thought that First Person games would benefit the most from depth, it is actually Third Person games that seem the most pleasing to my eye. By default Nvidia drivers disable the ability to adjust convergence, that is, where "within" the screen things are center. Things behind the "center" point appear to stick out of the screen. Enabling the ability to adjust convergence is easy and necessary in order to enjoy the full benefit of this technology for Third Person games (for First Person games you do not want to adjust convergence at all). I ended up replaying Mass Effect 1 in 3D which, despite the odd visual problem, looked fantastic. When my character was behind cover bullets would literally fly past my character.

My quick impression on the PlayStation 3 (the first Playstation I have owned) is that it is a worthy and at times more impressive competitor to the 360. Killzone 2 was a cool, Gears of War in First Person, shooter. Uncharted 2 was one of the best games I played last year and infamous was a kick ass open world game that I enjoyed more than Assassins Creed 2.

The iPhone as a gaming platform has a lot of technical issues to over come. There are games that feel right at home on the device like Real Racing, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, and Beneath a Steel Sky. There are also games that "work", like N.O.V.A and Eliminate Pro. In the end it mainly boils down to learning to deal without physical buttons; something I don't really have a problem with thanks to the iPhones responsive touch screen. Virtual d-pads work fine and virtual analog sticks are manageable once you learn to "roll" your thumb on the screen rather than drag it.

Despite owning a DS and a PSP (modified with emulators even) i'd still rather just use my iPhone to game portably at this point purely for convenience reasons. With games like Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars arriving on the device for 10 dollars it is becoming a true competitor.

Silent Hill Shattered Memory's for the Wii was a refreshing change of pace I recently played through. The game is a showcase for narrative driven experiences in video games that I'd like to write about more thoroughly. Dead Space Extraction, a light gun like shooter, was also a nice distraction. I missed out on the arcade craze so it was a fun novelty for me.

So there we go, shit's up to date! There's a lot of games I played last year that I wont bother posting about. Frankly I was beginning to feel fatigued with gaming, maybe it's the lack of originality in most main stream games, but there are still gems being released.

2010 shows a lot of promise, 3D has rejuvenated even the simplest games for me. I hope to see more 3D ready games this year (there are currently 4 games that support it fully, but most games work well with it regardless); thanks to Avatar I get the feeling Nvidia will sell a few more 3D vision kits. A lot of people may see it as a gimmick; I see it as a compliment to what we already have. Frankly I feel it is in the same league (in regards to gaming) as the HD push was. The technology could use some improvements (ghosting is a bummer) but all in all i'm excited to see what people will do with it in the future.