First Look: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

As I promised you guys in my last post, I was going to have a surprise for all you MGS fans out there. Lets take a look at Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Yes it is Ground Zeroes guys. The game has no release date yet but it takes place in the MGS chronology right after MGS Peace Walker and right before the original Metal Gear. What does this mean for us? Well, we will get to see how Big Boss decided to start Outer Heaven, because this is the story that lead to it. The game is also being presented as the prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5, so I guess from this game we will see the reason for MGS 5 happening. The game was slated to be released on Next-Gen consoles, but latest information indicates that it will actually be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The demo in the video is actually on a PC that has about the same Specs as a PS3 so you can expect it to look just as good. So what is the plot behind Ground Zeroes? Well here is what we know so far, Big Boss or Snake as he is better known is on a mission to rescue Pacifica Ocean and Chico Libre from Camp Omega, the one you see at the start of the video. If you do not know who Pacifica and Chico are, they are characters that were introduced in MGS Peace Walker. The demo gives you the rest of the details of the information available which is not very much for 14 minutes of gameplay, but hey we all like surprises right? The announcement of two MGS games being developed at the same time is certainly a welcome surprise as both of them look like they're going to be great games even though they seem very different. If you haven't read my last post on MGS Rising Revengeance don't forget to do so or you'll miss out on some great footage and information on the game. This is not all the information though, as the same day the trailer above was released another surprise piece of information was given to the audience. The Metal Gear Solid movie is actually a work in progress, it is being produced by Columbia Pictures, and at the helm of the movie is Avi Arad, the producer as such films as the Spider-Man Trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, the Blade Trilogy and pretty much every Marvel movie. If his history of movies is any indication we can expect something good for MGS, and if Hideo Kojima is to be believed he will not allow MGS to be made into a bad movie. Hideo Kojima also confirmed MGS 5, saying that the game will go back to it's infiltration and espionage roots, but that it would also add social interactions with other characters like the ones in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He also said the MGS 5 would involve asking characters for favors through these interactions, although he was not specific it seems it would involved things like helping you out in missions by providing distractions, offering you transport to places or things of that nature. This is for now all the information we have available on the MGS franchise, but be sure that we will keep updating you of any new developments, and if you haven't watched the video on top make sure you do so, you wont regret it.

First Look: METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE

Oh, do I have a surprise for fans of the Metal Gear franchise! As some of you may already know the next Metal Gear game will be featuring Raiden once again, but this time he will pretty much be a cyborg with a sword that can cut through anything if the trailers are to be believed and brute strength to match that robotic body of his. The game doesn't make it clear if he is more robot than human or human than robot but it does make it clear that Raiden is a bad ass! Initially the game was supposed to be an interquel between MGS 2 and MGS 4. Later information revealed that it was going to be MGS 5 but now it is being advertised as a game that takes place about 4 years after MGS 4 but it is not a sequel to it, it is more of a side story or spinoff. I hope this means we can expect a MGS 5! The plot of the game has not been fully released but from what we can gather Raiden now works for PMC's by training their armies or protecting important people. He will apparently start the game in his MGS 4 High tech ninja armor, but during one of his VIP protection missions he will get attacked by other cyborg enemies that kill his VIP and leave Raiden for dead as he agonizes after his defeat. Raiden is then given his black ninja armor which is stronger than the white one he originally wore but it also requires constant recharging. As you can see by the trailer Raiden's main weapon is his sword which is actually being called a HFB or High Frequency Blade. Apparently he will not be using projectile weapons in the game except for the rocket launcher we see in the trailer, but it would seem that guns pose little danger to Raiden and yet his HFB poses and incredible amount of danger to his enemies. I will not spoil any other part of the game with extra information we have on it, but if you've been reading this and haven't watched the trailer you should definitely get to it before reading my next post because I am sure you will be very pleased by the news on my next pose if you are a Metal Gear fan or just a fan of awesome games.

Drake's Reviews will no longer be scoring games on their first look as many elements are changed before a game is released and it is unfair to judge a book by it's cover and then have the cover changed on us :)

PS Vita: Is it living up to the hype?

I get a lot of questions of my opinion on Sony's latest handheld gaming device, the PS Vita. Before I give you my opinion though, let's talk about what the capabilities of the PS Vita are as well as the pros and cons of the device.

What the PS Vita is: Now I wont be getting into every technical aspect of it I will give you a small run down of the PS Vita as a whole. It's front control layout is pretty much the same as a standard PS3 controller, and it has a 5-inch multitouch screen. It is compatible with bluetooth and you can access the internet via Wi-Fi although there is also a 3G version of the Vita. It also has an L and R buttons on the left and right shoulders just like a PS3 controller. The Vita also has a rear touchpad, two 0.3 Megapixel cameras, one on the front and one on the back, six-axis motion, stereo speakers and a microphone. A GPS receiver is only available for the 3G version.

What the PS Vita isn't: It's not a device that you can open and switch the battery, although they have announced an external battery option, but for now if your battery messes up your device must go off to SONY to be fixed. It's not a device for long hours of play, Sony says it gives you 3-5 hours of play per charge but that is only with no sound, no network and the default brightness of the screen. Lastly it is not a cheap device the graphics on it are awesome and the capabilities of the device are great but all this comes at a price. The 3G version costs $299.99 and you need a contract with AT&T for it's 3G capabilities, the Wi-Fi version will only set you back $249.99. Memory cards for the device come in different capabilities at different prices. There's a 4GB card for $25 an 8GB for $35, a 16GB for $60 and a 32GB card for $100, these are all Sony cards by the way it is not compatible with others. All this information is for the most basic needs of the Vita.

Vita games: There isn't much selection on Vita games yet and prices vary but the cheapest I've seen Vita games for is $20, they can range from $20-$50 but $50 games are a bit rare now and there's also the $70 Persona 4 Golden edition but because it is a special edition the game costs more.

My opinion on the PS Vita: Ok so what do I really think of this system, well let me start by saying that I am a Playstation fan, but I am also unbiased in my reviews, I do not think one system is superior to another or that just because it is a PS product it's going to be awesome. Let me start by saying that I think the Vita is one of the worst gaming investments I could make. First of all the machine is touted as having awesome capabilities, I dare you to name one without having to go online and looking for them. That's major problem with the Vita it offers so much but it doesn't really deliver, it's easy to say yeah you can access Facebook and the Internet and other apps but honestly it is a weak argument on Vita's behalf it is not incredible by any means, I've seen cell phones with the same capabilities it's pretty much standard these days on cell phones to have all that, so where does the Vita excel? Certainly not in the cameras either I mean 0.3 Megapixels really? I used to have a cell phone about 3 years ago that had a 1 Megapixel camera, Sony really dropped the ball on that one. There's also the games to discuss, at launch, the pros of the Vita looked really good, the cons where that it was mostly full of games available for the PS3 and very few titles exclusive to the Vita that have been nothing special so far. Going to the Gamestop website I can see 38 games available but not all have been released yet. Some of the titles that look good include, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Silent Hill: Book of Memories, FIFA 2013, etc. Pretty much games that are side stories or the same as available for the PS3 like Metal Gear collection HD, Mortal Kombat and Little Big Planet. So what about the sales of the PS Vita? First week of release in Japan 325,000 units were sold, that is an amazing number. Second week of release sales dropped an amazing 78% at 24,000 sales hitting an all time low of only 12,309 units in February. As of June 30th, 2012 the Vita has managed to sell 2.2 million units worldwide. If we compare that to the DS sales combined meaning DS, Lite, XL without including the 3DS that system has sold since 2004 152.05 million units that is 19 million units a year. The Vita has been out for a bit over 8 months and has only managed 2.2 million units. The DS is about half the price of a Vita so let's divide that by 2 and you still get 9.5 million units the Vita should have sold to be on par with the DS. The Vita has sold 2 million games, New Super Mario Brothers DS alone has sold 29.09 million copies as of March 31st 2012. Between April, May and June the Vita managed to sell 400,000 units, in that same time 100,000,000 PSP's were sold. Well Drake surely backwards compatibility will safe the Vita right? Not quite so my friends, the Vita is backwards compatible with your PSP games, unfortunately only in the digital form, so unless you want to buy all the games you already have in UMD format for your PSP you're out of luck. What does Sony have to say about this? They said that sale expectancy for the Vita is right where they expected it to be in some areas but not in others and they refuse to say which others. That sounds like this girl I was trying to date before, my expectancy of going out with her was good in some areas because we live in the same city, but not in others because she doesn't even know my name. (I just made that up, seriously!) Moving on, the resale value of the Vita, I called Gamestop to ask how much they would give me for it, $70 was their quote, that is incredibly low and it has a lot to do with the fact that not many people are buying it and we all know how Gamestop works, you sell them your $60 game for $25 if you're lucky and that is in store credit by the way and they turn around and sell it to people for $55. What does that say about the Vita? Ok let's imagine a world where a company like Sony really wants to do something for it's customers in order to sell more units, what would Sony do? Offer a price drop like Nintendo did of course! NOT! They think it's too soon for that, but what they did do for the customer is give them a firmware update. Firmware 1.80 for the Vita does something awesome for your Vita, it locks your memory card to a single account and deletes any other accounts you had saved in it, ta-dah! Say you share your Vita with your significant other and you guys play the same game(s) and you don't want to ruin each other's save files. Well simple, your better-half can make their own account and leave your game intact and vice-versa. Well Sony just said no to that. You want another account, buy another memory card because you're made of money and Sony wants that money. So where does the Vita excel then? Well in bundles, the latest bundle is $249.99 and it will include Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation, which on it's own would be $39.99 so you're saving $10. I really want to play that game, I just don't want to pay for a Vita and you know why I don't want to pay for a Vita? I don't want to pay for one because of the question in the title of this review. Let me answer that question for you, is the Vita living up to the hype? NO! And with the latest firmware I feel they are flipping off the customers that bought it in the first place. I think Sony forgot that the customer is what keeps them in business, it's awesome to make something as innovative as the Vita, but making a system is only about a quarter of the battle, you have to offer games with it and please we're tired of shovel-ware, you know those games you just shove in our face to say your console has more games like the Michael Jackson Experience, seriously this game on the PS Vita feels like a slap to the face it was bad in consoles and now in a handheld it's just downright insulting. 

Well my readers this has been my opinion of the PS Vita I hope I save a lot of you some money, and if your opinion is different than mine, feel free to tell me why in the comments section. Your opinions are always welcome!

Drake's Reviews Score 4 out of 10