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PS3's Lair Playable Via Remote On PSP
Next Generation has confirmed with Sony a rumor working its way through fan boards: Lair is playable via remote on the PSP. That is, you can load up the game on your PlayStation 3, and then actually play it on the PSP's small-but-beautiful screen. This is functionality that Sony has been hinting at since the PS3 was announced, but up until now remote play has been restricted to music and movies stored on the console. Kotaku notes in their writeup that you need to play through the tutorial first on the console proper if you want to do this. The PSP doesn't have the buttons the game uses to brake.
Now it can be terrible on -two- systems!
Now maybe they could do this with a game that's worth playing.
Rob
Why would anyone want to play a PS3 game via the use of a PSP as a remote as opposed to just playing it on the PS3? Is there some added functionality here that I'm missing, or is this just geeks at Sony wasting effort?
My understanding is that no, it doesn't. The PSP is missing the second shoulder buttons that you need for fast turns and other buttons. Why it was left on is anybody's guess. Perhaps it was as a proof of concept for future games.
Remote play is a cool feature but it introduces a small but very noticeable latency. This is not surprising considering the PS3 has to stream data to the PSP where it is reconstituted. But it means remote play has a lag of 200-300ms. So it might be great for RPGs and other turn based or slow games, but not so good for racing games, shooters etc.
Remote play also has limited application since the PS3 must be fully powered to make it work. I don't know if Sony intend or can implement a low power state or something similar to wake on LAN. It's something that would make the feature a lot more useful.
Well thank goodness! It sure isn't playable with the PS3 on it's own!
Too realistic... that's an interesting take on it. I guess most people prefer a less realistic take on dragon flying.
I really wish there was a slashdotscanner ala wikiscanner to prove that you're the same AC who's always posting about Wii controllers being gimicky and "bolted" on.
Super Stardust HD and Warhawk are far and above worth playing.
Other than that... Echochrome and GT5: Prologue look like all we've got for the rest of the year worth picking up, (maybe Heavenly Sword if you really like the genre), and Everyday Shooter whenever it is released.
There's also Home in the next few months if you find it interesting, but not everyone does. Working for a PS3 related website... I have to say that LittleBigPlanet almost seems like it's worth the purchase of a PS3 by itself, but I still want to play it before I give it too much praise.
Sat int he press section at GDC and saw Phil and company playing the game... it was like objectified fun. I'm way more excited about LBP than I am abotu Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario is one of my favorite memes in games.
If you're looking for an excuse to get a PS3 though, it really is quite excellent as a multimedia center. Stick a 300 or 120 GB notebook drive in there, download Red Kawa's video encoder for the PS3, and you can put dozens of your favorite TV episodes or movies on your TV, ready to watch at any time, or on your PSP if you have one when the TV is in use. Blu-Ray is actually starting to come into its own now as well, and HDTVs are starting to become more reasonable.
By GDC next year, I expect that people won't have to look for a reason to buy a PS3 anymore. That doesn't excuse the lack of reasons right now however. Right now, it's very touch and go. If you have the money, I can tell you that you won't be disappointed with your purchase. If you have to scrounge the extra cash to manage a PS3, you will probably be frustrated by its current state of games and such.
FanFictionRecs.net
I'm not necessarily a sony fan ( dont feel strongly about them either way, certainly not enough to be considered fanatical). I do have a PS3, though, so here's what i thought of the games i am familiar with.
I played the Motorstorm demo and hated it. (I'm not really into off-road racing so it is probably a good game for which i am not the target market).
F1 Championship Edition is a good game and lots of fun if you like Formula One. The big downside is that if you play career mode, it takes between 2 and 3 hours at a time to play it. You have to do practice, then qualifying, then race before you can save your progress. Because of that, I haven't gotten very far in career mode. Once i'm more familiar with the tracks, i'll probably skip practice and skip a lot of time in qualifying and then it'll take about an hour between save points, but right now i'm not good enough to skip the practice.
Fight Night Round 3 has the same problems it had when i played it on my friend's xbox 360 (the biggest problem being it's a buggy piece of crap). When it behaves, it's pretty fun. When it starts threatening to stop the fight if you dont defend yourself, while your opponent is pinned to the ropes eating punches and tells you that you need to fix your cut, but doesn't show a cut in the repair interface, it will make you want to throw the controller across the room.
Virtua Fighter 5 is fun if you like fighting games. I really like it and it is as good as previous versions were. (i used to play it in arcades...not so much on consoles, so i dont know how the previous ones were on consoles)
I haven't bought it yet, but i did play Warhawk a little bit at a friends house this weekend and it was pretty cool. I really liked flying the fighters. The ground combat sucked, but that has more to do with me hating console interfaces for first person shooter (or 3rd person shooter) type games.
For downloadable games, I liked Blast Factor and flow. They were both pretty good.
However, Super Stardust HD is fantastic and probably my favourite game on the console. I have a rivalry going with a friend of mine on it and it really makes for some good motivation to try and beat each others' high scores.
They also release demos of some of the games in the store so you can try them before you buy them.
Another thing i like about the store is that i can choose what i want to buy and when i check out i can put exactly the amount of my purchase in my "wallet" and pay for it. I really like not having to convert cash to points and not having my money tied up in their online system when i'm not actively trying to buy something.
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
I seriously think if LAIR did have an alternate control scheme that it would be scoring anywhere from 7 upwards in most reviews. Considering the minimal amount of money and time it would have required too, it would have been money well spent. If they have any sense they'll patch the game as soon as they can. It might repair some of the damage and cause some reviewers to revise their scores.
I'm confused as to how you know how well Lair is doing at the cash register. I wouldn't mind if it did do well, since that would give the PS3 leverage, but the only thing I've seen is that it's #1 on the PS3 list at GameStop, which isn't saying much in and of itself. Especially since it doesn't show up on the overall best-sellers list at all.
Rob
So. . .how's the Sony boycott going?
You haven't actually played Lair, have you?
-- toolie
The biggest complaint so far in the reviews is the awful control scheme.
Yeah. I remember when we went from the single-joystick, four-button controllers to the scheme both Microsoft and Sony use, and Nintendo used on the Gamecube. Everybody complained about how complex it was.
I played Lair for the first time tonight, and after just a few minutes, I could do things with the combination motion-control and joystick/buttons that you couldn't dream of without the motion control. I can assure you, the control scheme is *not* awful.
My only complaint is, the control scheme is different for one-on-one fights, as opposed to the general melee fighting. Both control schemes are decent (though I prefer the melee controls). I found myself getting used to it after about an hour, though. A few more hours, and it'll be second nature to switch back and forth.
I really enjoyed it, and found the control scheme very nice. It's substantially more complex than Warhawk, but it's also way cooler.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
Better be careful, it probably violates the EULA if you attempt to load it on a different platform... you know, like trying to rip your DVD to AVI?