Sony announces new portable: Next Generation Portable or NGP!!!

Finally after all the speculation of the impending announcement of the PSP2, Sony has unveiled the new portbale, dubbed Next Generation Portable, or NGP if you like. Personally I am very very excited. I mean look at this piece hardware...its so sweet!!

The specs that Sony has provided in their massive demo and announcement event in Japan makes the NGP a true generation leap for the portable market. Below are the specs (taken directly from Kotaku.com)

"The Full Specs

• CPU: ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
• GPU: SGX543MP4+
• External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
• Rear touch pad: Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
• Cameras: Front camera, Rear camera
• Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in microphone
• Sensors: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
• Location: Built-in GPS, Wi-Fi location service support
• Keys / Switches: PS button, Power button, Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), Shoulder buttons (Right/Left), Right stick, Left stick, START button, SELECT button, Volume buttons
• Wireless communications: Mobile network connectivity (3G), IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）"

Twin analog sticks?( not mentioned) Check. Big ass OLED screen? (not mentioned) Check. Cameras and touch pads? Check. Its even PSP compatible and that in my opinion is a master stroke!!. The NGP is really hitting the the market hard and the games which were on show are quite mind blowing. Uncharted and MGS 4??. I mean seriously??!. A few weeks ago someone from Sony mentioned that the graphic for the new PSP machine will be like the PS3. THEY WERE NOT LYING!!!. Go check Kotaku.com and check out some of the game videos from the event. You will become a believer!!

I knew Sony had something up its sleeves after seeing how calm they were in the face of new Nintendo portable, 3DS. And today they have come out firing in all cylinders! Why do I get the feeling that people at Nintendo must be shitting bricks at this moment. With a launch date of around the holiday season, I cannot wait. Sure the 3DS wil have have a 7 month head start but if Sony can provide a great launch day line up then I guess Sony will be set.!!

Finished Tales of Vesperia!!

The Tales of series has to be one of the most underrated JRPG franchise out there. I mean most of the gamers I know don't have any interest in playing any game from the series for some inexplicable reason. Personally I cannot get enough of this superb franchise. I got my first Tales fix when I played Tales of Legendia for the PS2 and become a fan of its anime-esque visual and its fast and flashy game play and since then I have played and finished Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss and both these games were amazing. Even games which have scored a bit on the lower side have not been ignored in the form of Tales of Symphonia 2 and Tales of the World. This series is that awesome!


Tales of Vesperia caught my attention when it trailers hit the Internet in the summer of 07 and needless to say I was smitten by is amazing production values. No seriously, the incredible anime like visuals were totally out of world and the classic Tales game play was back in full force... in glorious HD. But to my dismay it was a 360 exclusive. The thing is as soon as the trailer and announcement of a US release came to the fore, my 360 got its first RROD attack and soon enough the machine was died. I was really annoyed and vowed never to buy another 360 again. Sure that mantra changed when the game was released to glowing reviews by the gaming fraternity for its inspired visual and the classic JRPG strappings. Every day I would browse the net watching video reviews and read reviews. And then I snapped. Soon enough I got a new 360 (a UK one) in late 2008, thinking that the UK release was around the corner. As it turned out I had to wait 8 months for the damn game, and that was infuriating as best!.

It was love at first sight the moment I put on the game and the introduction played out. Every cut-scene felt like an episode from a high class anime series, all the characters facial animation were astounding. I mean this game is easily the best looking game ever made which have anime like aesthetics (Naruto games included). Some of the backgrounds of the dungeons and towns are stunningly good, like the forest ruins of Kiev Moc or the town of Halure. Look, I am all for realistic looking games and all but when a game looks this good with its cartoony presentation I just can't help myself for wanting more games to look like Tales of Vesperia. There was one moment in the game when my party reaches a cliff hanging over the vast ocean which totally made the game's visuals stand out.

Turn-based battle systems are good if they are done with some pizazz and panache, but sometimes an action orientated system takes the cake. Same is the case with all the Tales games as the pioneer of action based game play in an RPG. Tales of Vesperia takes the formula to great heights as the battles are fast. Most battles don't even last more than 2 mins and that makes the monotonous element of RPG fresh and fun. Controlling a single character and having indirect control of the AI party members and doling out massive combos. My combo meter reached 43 hits once but I have seen monster combos of more than a 100 hits. The bosses were the most fun as implementing attacking tactics made many boss encounter outrageously fun. Oh yeah Tales of Vesperia has one feature which have been missing for sometime: a world map. The world of Terca Lumireis is vast and travelling on foot or a boat was truly epic!

Characters in Tales of Vesperia are really good. They deftly avoid the arch types of JRPGs and come off as human. Yuri, Raven and Judith were the stand out characters with their deep storyline yet the remaining characters were also very well fleshed out. Character interactions were awesome with often witty and amusing banters that the main leads have with each other. I have not heard such natural dialogue delivery in a JRPG since Persona 4. The voice acting, thank God was top notch. There are no annoying voices in the game. All the characters were voice appropriately but I loved the gentle yet sultry voice of the buxom Judith (who was also as my favorite character in the game for obvious reasons).

As many JPRGs are trying their best to present focused storyline (i.e Final Fantasy XIII), Tales of Vesperia's plot is involving and rewarding, The story is rife with twists and turns, ancient technology and races and political angles. Such plot lines were usually found in many JRPGs of the PS2 era, but in the HD era such twisting plot lines have been replaced. Many game sites nominated the story of Tales of Vesperia in the Best Story category, much to my surprise (my conspiracy theory, which will be discussed in another blog post), but after playing through the game I agreed with such an assessment.

Anyways 2 years of dedicated play, I finally finished the game I (re)bought a 360 for with a grand play time of 57 hours and 29 mins, and was greeted to a great ending. It will be a shame if Tales of Vesperia becomes the last localized game in the series after Namco Bandai reported punishing losses in 2009. With a PS3 exclusive just being announcement in the form of Tales of Xillia, I really hope that game does make it out in English. Till then I look back fondly with the time I spend with Tales of Vesperia. My rating: 9.3!!

Finished Final Fantasy XIII

So four days I finally got to the conclusion of Final Fantasy XIII with a total play time of 6o hours and 51 minutes. As I struggle to deal with the fact that I have finished the game, I now look back fondly with the time I spend on the game. Let me start with a statement: I don't give a rat's ass about the lower than expected reviews that the game has received and nor do I really care how many people ended up hating the game for some odd reason. Final Fantasy XIII is one of the finest JRPG this generation and easily the best looking game ever made.

The battle system was really well thought out and it was a total blast to get into battles. The system reminded me a lot of the ones found in Final Fantasy X-2 and the Tales, and job system making a subtle return was also cool. In my opinion all RPGs should have some sort of a job system and FFXIII version was pretty neat. I would have loved a little more depth in the character development like the ones in FFX and FFXII but this game's character development was still good (as compared to another high profile shooter...errr action RPG)

If I talk about the characters I think the game had some very decent ones, esp the main lead Lightning with her tough as nail exterior yet a soft and gentle heart. I mean if you take a look at some of the 'emo' main leads from the very popular FFVII and FFVIII or the over the tops one in FFIX and FFX, then Lightning finds a perfect balance and hence making her an awesome character.

A special mention HAS to go to Sazh. The first time I heard him talk in the game I was like '..ok so this guy is the comedy relief..'. But kudos to the Square-Enix for making him a fascinating character and the best thing was his awesome black American demon, making him one of my most characters in games.

Do not make me mention Vanille and Hope. I though the runt in FFXII was a bad idea, but these two were not good at all. Initially I thought Hope would be like Vivi from FFIX, but ended up being quite irritating. But one that same gauge, Vanille was quite incredible. I mean she has to be the worst FF character ever conceived. I hated her voice, hated her cheery disposition and her stupid fishing pole. I still dunno how and why such a character was thought up in the first place

Fang and Snow were pretty solid and I generally did not have any problems with them on the whole.

Ok now to the negative part. I though the story was a big missed opportunity. Its not to say the plot was bad, but it was not great. The pacing of the plot was on fast forward and it not have the serpentine quality of the FF of the past, and that is quite a shame really. But honestly when the game ended and I witnessed an incredible conclusion, it made up for this fact. The ending was EPIC.

Anyways 4 years of waiting and 9 months of playing the game non stop, I felt the game was worth the wait and in the end I was really satisfied with this game. My rating for this game is a 9.2!