Another cross-platform release, another clear example of the PS3’s graphical weaknesses.  Based on the demo, Mirror’s Edge is a pretty awesome game that will hopefully provide an exciting first-person experience without being focused on combat.  It’s also filled with lots of straight lines and outdoor lighting, which means it’s easy to see that the PS3 version has no anti-aliasing while the 360 does.  Aliased lines are not as bad in HD as they were when comparing PS2 and Xbox games, but it’s still noticeable.  So the 360 version would be an easy choice.. ..except I prefer the PS3’s controller for this game.  Ah well.

Speaking of aliasing, I’m still hard at work on my game’s renderer.  As it is using deferred shading, I can’t use multisampling, so I think I’m going to have to try some sort of shader-based edge-detection anti-aliasing if it looks too bad.  I’ve added HDR output and blooming though, and it’s looking pretty spiffy.  I just need to get a game out of it.

So with the addition of the Xbox 360, I now have every one of the current generation of game systems.  I don’t know how I’m lucky enough to have these fall into my lap; I certainly couldn’t afford the retail price for all of them!

Anyway, because I’m in the minority of people who has had a PS3 a lot longer than a 360 (rather than the other way around) I thought someone somewhere might find it interesting to get my impressions, comparing to the PS3, with what will hopefully be a balance between “more comfortable with the old” and “oooh new and shiny it’s the best ever”.

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Play more with Konami ID

hahahaha.
LET ME IN DAMN IT, I WANT MY METAL GEAR ONLINE

Yes, I’ve been totally slacking off lately. Now that it’s a new year, I guess I should go back and document the holidays.

Just to finish off on my birthday, we went out to eat at the Chinese place in town (well, in the nearest town that’s not this one) and I’ve decided we shouldn’t bother again. It’s just too blah. I’d rather do the buffet thing for Chinese, I think.

Anyway, Christmas! Christmaaaaas! Financial schedules this year had us down to the wire on presents, which was hard for one particular thing I wanted to get Amy - a pair of Kershaw Komachi kitchen knives. I’d spotted them on Amazon and thought they looked cute, and then when I heard they perform pretty well, I decided on them to go along with the other things we got Amy (vintage Aquarian tarot set, Arrested Development season 2, Brian Regan CD) but Amazon didn’t have the chef’s knife in stock, so I waited. And waited. And I knew they wouldn’t get any in time for Christmas. I then thought I’d just buy the full set of four knives, but by the time I got paid, that too was out of stock. I managed to find the knives at knifeworks.com and placed the order - then got told they were out of stock the next day. I couldn’t find them when we looked in Target, or in Bed, Bath & Beyond. I was almost going to buy a single Henckels knife or that Rachel Ray coppertail knife, but then decided I wasn’t going to pay 40 bucks for something that was made in China. Then, the weekend before Christmas, I happened to check on Amazon one last time, and Target had them in stock! One two-day shipping option later, and Christmas was saved.

This year was a difficult one with Sam, because it’s very much a transitional phase. For the first time, music CDs and DVDs were the first things bought, not action figures. We did grab a couple of figures to round out the presents, but in previous years it’s been all about the action figures, so we were hoping it wouldn’t be too much of a disappointment this year. Luckily, he loves his Gorillaz and Weird Al DVDs, so I think we did good.

What did I get? Well, I was surprised to find that a copy of We Love Katamari had been sitting in the bathroom cupboard, hidden in a tampon box, for over a month! It was such a nice present because even though I throw out plenty of suggestions, I know I’m hard to buy for, and the game is something I’ve been wanting since buying the first one. Then I amassed a very surprising amount of money and gift certificates, so guess what that turned into? Mario Kart DS bundle! At last!

New Year’s.. Let’s not talk about it. It was a lot of swearing and plumbing that ended in $53 of chromed brass pipe.

After seeing a couple of pictures of the actual unit (oo-er), the red DS in the Mario Kart bundle actually looks pretty sweet. It’s probably one of the few red things I’d willingly own After a playing a bit of Mario Kart 64 recently though, I’ve come to realise that I’m probably going to get schooled online when I eventually get my DS.. ..so maybe I should stick to the calming environment of Animal Crossing.

I also just found out that Hideki Naganuma - awesome Jet Set Radio musician - did the soundtrack for the new Sonic Rush game on the DS, which makes it instantly desirable. I’m not a massive Sonic the Hedgehog fan, but I quite enjoyed the copy of Sonic Advance that Sam picked up for the GBA at a garage sale.

Another item I’ve been wishing for will definitely have to wait - Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence has been pushed back to next year. I almost wonder if I should grab a cheap copy of the original MGS3, but the new features in Subsistence tell me I should wait.

And of course, my Xbox chooses now to apparently start dying. We’ve been having trouble opening the drive tray lately, and tonight it took several attempts and some just leaving it sit there for 10 minutes before it let me eject the disc.

*sigh*

So the 360 is here. I’d usually talk about how I felt left out of the fun by not getting one at launch, but Amy has already discussed that over at GamerDad.

It’s such a great article, because it’s true - if the cost were a little lower and they were actually to be found in stores, I probably would be trying to wrangle one, because my initial disinterest has been replaced by excitement about the new Live Arcade and the fact that they are already supporting far more legacy games than I expected. There are a few 360 titles I think look good - Kameo and DOA4 of course - but on the whole I’m most interested in the indie and classic titles available on Live Arcade, and the promise of something on there in the future from my hero Mizuguchi. Plus I’d be able to start filling up my Gamercard. Poor thing looks so empty.

Again though, the point is moot, because there aren’t any consoles available and likely won’t be for some time. Not that I was expecting to get one, but I was thinking there would be a few in the local K-Mart, but no, all 17 sold out immediately to people who starting lining up outside at 5am. In Algona, Iowa. Amazing.

So where does that leave me and my lust? The Nintendo DS, of course. Selling off a bunch of stuff to raise money for a DS, only to have to use it to pay bills and such was probably the low point of the year for me. But what can you do? Snakes on a plane, man. I can still look forward to playing it when I get a better cashflow, grabbing a new router and playing Mario Kart and Animal Crossing online. Can’t wait.

I got your videogame / giantess fetish site right here, folks.

I’m currently wheeling and dealing in order to buy a Nintendo DS with little to no monetary outlay. This is mildly annoying to Amy, because she thinks that ruins any chance of an awesome Christmas surprise. I think this is crazy. There are plenty of awesome Christmas surprise gifts, some of which I will now ruin by mentioning:

- Getting a US copy of Rez on the PS2 for a reasonable price (e.g. it goes on eBay for almost 100 bucks, which is not reasonable), or getting a Japanese copy from Play Asia or the like for much cheaper

- Ditto for another PS2 title, Gitaroo Man

- Ditto again for an old PS1 game, Intelligent Qube

- Noticing I have an incomplete collection of Azumanga Daioh DVDs and completing the set

- Whatever volumes of Beck manga are out that I don’t have (hint: I only have the first volume)

- Any of the more current games I’d like, such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence which should be out next month, Taiko Drum Master, Shadow of the Colossus, or older things like Ico etc.

- A Gamecube to replace the one I stupidly sold. They have a bundle deal with Super Smash Bros. Melee, you know

- A cute model from Hobbyfan

- Pocky is great

- I’ve been buying Mai Hime figures. I only have #4 and #6. The others would be swell. Although really, I could take or leave #5

- There are Metal Gear comics that I never bought

- I had an Amiga A500. I miss it. I always lusted after an Amiga A1200. I always wanted a Commodore 64. The Intellivision was cool. I’m just sayin’

Continuing the arcade nostalgia, I was thinking how even the name of a particular game is connected to a place with me:

Bubble Bobble/Combat School/Dragon’s Lair/Outrun/Karate Champ/Marble Madness/many others - Galaxy 2000, Paignton (I loved this place)
Mr. Do! - Southend Pier
Pac-Man (cocktail) - some hotel in North Wales with “dragon” in the name
Iron Horse - Torremolinos, some open-air arcade
Pac-Land - “that one decent arcade in that little town overshadowed by Great Yarmouth”
Spy Hunter - the ferry on the way home from the middle school France schooltrip
Commando - Greasy Dom’s cafe
Breakthru - that one cafe in Spain
Asteroids - that youth hostel in London where we stayed for the school trip in primary school
Hyper Sports - Torquay. That kid tricked me out of my game by saying he’d help me!