Playstation 3 Slim

Rumors have circled the interwebs for the past year of a PS3 Slim in development. Recently a Japanese Economics magazine released an article stating that the Slim was already being finished up and would be announced as the Tokyo Game Show this year to start shipping in July.

This comes as a bit of a surprise considering that the slim versions of both the original Playstation and the PS2 came later in their life cycles. When one considers how long Sony has touted its beloved PS3 is supposed to last, the release of the PS3-slim comes even earlier (relatively) in the PS3’s life cycle.

While that fact isn’t enough to make me completely skeptical of the news, Sony’s patenting of backwards compatibility tech makes me think that not only is a Slim on the way, but that this new model will reincorporate the backwards compatibility oft discarded for revamped PS3 models. Considering that the PS3, sexy in sleek black though it is, is as bulky and as much of a pack nightmare as Microsoft’s original XBOX was. I’m excited at the prospect of a new PS3 model, but without a price cut, how much can a diet really provide for the ever-ailing PS3 sales figures?

5 Stereotypes About Female Gamers (That Need to Change)

If marketing statistics are to be believed, anywhere from 25-45% of devoted gamers are female (and if we can’t believe focus testing marketing statistics, what is there?) Regardless of where on that range you choose to believe (probably the low end since this site has had 1 female writer for the 4 of us “Junkies”), this still means that there is a very serious female gamer population out there. Since these rare women move among a stereotypically socially awkward slice of the population (irony right in the intro), they can be victims of stereotypes themselves. The problem with these assumptions is  they lead people to being patronizing and even offensive (e.g. not all people sleeping in the streets want a dollar, some people are just that tired). So, let’s try to move on to a more realistic and down to earth age of gaming after we consider these 5 Stereotypes Surrounding Female Gamers (that need to change).

5. Female Gamers Only Play DS

I put this one first to point out a sad truth about stereotypes: that they’re often based in truth. In fact, statistics show that at least half of all DS owners are female (52% according to this article).

However, the problem with stereotypes comes when you let a fact like that statistic lead you to painting a broad exclusionary picture. Yes, black people like fried chicken, but EVERYONE does (and should), so just like that information shouldn’t change how you interact, don’t let this statistic (unless you want to use a DS with Nintendogs to try to pick up chicks).

I guess there may be a chauvanist subtext to this that female gamers simply can’t handle hardcore games which makes the meat heads think-

4. Girls in Games Need Saving

This is just the result of video game upbringing. We all started our formative years rescuing the damned princess, so, with that and natural masculine instinct, we all think that the girl on our team is talking to us because she needs our help.

If a girl is on the mic during an online gaming session, she’s talking to you for the same reason you’re talking to the other guys you play XBL with: to communicate strategy and enemy positions while you play (although if you’re the kind of guy who really needs the advice not to ask her what kind of underwear she’s wearing, I doubt you’ve read this far because of the lack of boobies).

Conversely, there’s always an aggressive targeting of the girl when she’s an adversary which is the result of an interesting mental acrobatic within the male mind “I want her to like me, but I don’t want her to think I suck or am letting her win, so I have to try extra hard to beat her so she doesn’t think I’m taking it easy on her.”

Believe me, I’ve seen it happen, and we need to realize: the nature of a video game is that we’re all playing as equal avatars, so she doesn’t need saving anymore than she needs you to play differently to prove anything. This also applies to the stereotypical “white knight” who will defend the girl from immature guys making fun of her, and then use this as his “in,” because after all-

3. Girls Only Play Games to Get Hit On

Another a priori based conception: we’ve all seen that girl who shows up at a party, and starts trying to play Madden because the guys are. I guarantee you, that was a one night thing, and that girl only did it because she was hitting on one of the guys who were also playing.

I’m talking about devoted girl gamers (not well endowed whores), who play video games on their own time because they legitimately enjoy it. Sorry guys, there aren’t too many girls out there with nerd gamer fetishes, so even if she were looking for a guy, she wouldn’t be looking for one over a romantic game of Call of Duty (the game of love). If a girl’s playing games online with you, she’s looking to pwn some n00bs just like you.

However this is not to say that-

2. Girl Gamers Don’t Exist as Dateable Women

Funny how the stereotypes go both ways, right? A girl shows up in your game of Halo, and suddenly, it’s open season. However, talk to the average male gamer about women, and the idea of meeting a girl face to face who he doesn’t have to hide his gaming habits from, or end them for seems like an impossible dream. Fact is, this one confronts a negative stereotype about gamers in general: you have to be social. Beyond just playing Social Slayer with your mic on, go out and meet some people in person, and compare interests.

Girl Gamers get out, so odds are if you do too, you could meet one and, here’s the tip: since you’d share that interest, making a game-date night is a perfectly acceptable option. Dinner ‘n’ gaming is a wonderful formula. Let her see your setup (after you’ve tidied up) and give her a selection of games. Don’t patronize just because you think-

1. Girls Can’t Play “Hardcore” Games

Yes, Girls play Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, etc. so do a lot of guys. Girls also play Halo, Guitar Hero, and yes, they play Call of Duty. They actually play them, as in, they’ll cap five head shots off your so fast after you respawn that you’ll think the game is FUBAR.

Even if they’re not as much of a nerd as you are, they can still share the interest a bit. Game Scoop and Podcast Beyond are quality humorous podcasts, and I’m sure you can have a laugh over a site like this one. In the meantime though, try not to be too much of a condescending ass to the girl gamers you do encounter. It’s 2009 people, leave that shit on the elementary school playground.

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Fallout or Get Out: Fallout 3 Review

Bethesda studios can call this one their masterpiece, Fallout 3 has been surpassing gamers’ wildest expectations of what open world gaming can truly be and mean in this generation of console technology. Forget GTA IV if you haven’t already, this one is the true king.

Fallout 3 is set in a not-so-distant future in Washington D.C. where nuclear war has ravaged the land and country itself. You begin the game as a member of an underground Vault community until your father disappears from the vault and you escape in his pursuit. You then emerge to the outside world, a ravaged landscape filled with all sorts of dangers and detail of an obliterated wasteland.

Detail is what defines this game: from the moment you emerge from the vault, your camera slowly comes into focus (since it’s the first time you’re seeing sunlight) and the arid landscape slowly takes form. The land is vast and rife with all sorts of secrets that make exploration worthwhile for both aesthetic and pragmatic gameplay reasons. The landscape is littered and filled with not just scenery, but life also: mutant wildlife roams ready to attack you, super mutants, ghouls, raiders and scavengers can be found all around. On occasion you may even pass on the periphery of them encountering and reacting to one another in a display of how truly realistic this world is.

The game looks gorgeous, and you’ll find yourself marveling at the scenery and character models and designs of the various monsters and other inhabitants of the wasteland in your adventure. While the PS3 version does have some texture lag problems, they’re usually the sort of thing you’ll barely notice out of the corner of your eye before the game catches up and corrects the issue. In short, the game is gorgeous, and may just be too pretty for its own good.

More than just the aesthetics, the gameplay itself is what pushes this game beyond all common bounds. It begins with your character; your first act in the game is design your character (choose a gender, name and design their face to the most minute detail). After that the real customization of your character (and subsequently the game you’ll play) begins. Your character, like any person, has a number of personal attributes (Strength, Endurance, Intelligence, Charisma, Perception, etc) and these inform natural affinity towards specialized skills (Repair, Medicine, Guns, Speech, Lockpicking, Sneaking and about twenty others).

By choosing to distribute your skills towards a given characteristic or skill, you’re leaning your character towards a certain style of gameplay, and thus changing the entire game you’ll be playing and the experience you’ll have. Devoting attention to Strength and Guns, for example, makes you a bit more prone to simply plodding along and getting into fights to solve problems. If you’re a loquacious Odyssean like I made my character (devoting points to Charisma and Speech primarily) you gain special options and ability to convince people of certain courses of action and are led to a completely different experience. Each time you level up you’re given access to numerous skill perks to choose from (one per level) that allows you to increase your skill and truly develop an affinity for a particular style of play.

That leads to the other great part of this game: the true depth. In every conversation you have with Non-Playable Characters (NPC’s) you are given a series of options of how to respond and lead conversation to a unique end. Charisma can lead to options that might not be available to a more Strength inclined player, and Intelligence can offer its own unique options, as can Perception.

This depth goes from the conversation to the game world itself. My friends and I have each logged about the same amount of time on our respective games at this point, but the missions we have discovered by talking to people and traveling around have us facing completely different challenges, areas and experiences. In short, you’re a truly free man(or woman) in this world and you control your actions in this world almost as much as you do in this one. It’s a classically annoying moment when playing games like Grand Theft Auto IV I’d tell my non-gamer friends that it’s an open world game, only to show them a mission briefing cutscene and have them ask me: “Why can’t you kill that bitch?” and having no real answer other than the game needs you not to for the sake of the story. Not so with Fallout 3, at any moment you are free to be polite and negotiate and be the good errand boy, and you are just as free to pull out a gun and cap the person who was trying to use you in the face. Just be aware that you’ll face consequences for your actions. In short, this isn’t just open world, it’s damn near real world gameplay, if the real world were a post-nuclear holocaust wasteland, but hey, stranger things could happen.

While this depth and gameplay seems to push this game to the level of godhood, it is humanized with some flaws and hiccups. First, do not come into this game expecting a First Person Shooter just because of the presentation, it’s primarily an RPG and thus allows for automated fighting and aiming if you so elect. Although this can be circumvented and you can play it as a traditional FPS, the controls are a bit slow and clunky for it to really encourage this and you’ll be challenging yourself more than you probably should.

Besides, the auto-aiming system in the game (V.A.T.S.) is limited by regenerative AP, so you can’t rely on the system. The V.A.T.S. system does make for some cool slow motion kills (I defy anyone reading this not to blow a super mutant’s head into four pieces in slow motion and not be astounded). The game can be a lot to take in at first, and the average gamer will need to be ready to absorb a lot very fast when they’re dropped into the Wasteland, but a challenge is always a good thing and this challenge is worth it. I played the Playstation 3 version of the game and found the presentation gorgeous, but not without its stumbles: textures were occasionally a little slow to catch up and render (especially in the Wasteland) and there are some framerate stumbles and stutters that may raise an eyebrow, but nothing damning of the experience by any means.

Fallout 3 is by no means perfect, but what it gets right is what any game should get right to construct a memorable and immersive experience for its players. Its wrinkles are more than endurable for the sake of such an experience. Beyond the base qualities of core gameplay that Fallout 3 gets right though, is its superlative creation of a world for you to explore and the sheer freedom and depth of possible experience you can have with this game, and this is one experience that any gamer who owns a console or capable PC should be sure to get a hold of.

Score: 9.5/10