General gaming news

[Arachna]

Holy shit, I'm in total euphoria now after reading this.

Sony Planning PS3 Gardening Game
Watch rather than play.
by John Tanaka

US, May 30, 2008 - The latest from Sony Japan's development lab is a game that encourages players to watch rather than play. The company unveiled today Shikitei (unofficially, "Four Season Garden"), a downloadable PS3 title where you build a garden and watch what happens.

Sony refers to Shikitei as an environmental simulator rather than a game. Your objective is to design your garden, planting trees and placing lights and other items as you see fit.

There's some heavy technology going into title to drive the simulation. Tree branches and growth differ for every tree you have in your garden, all driven by computer program.

Seasonal and time changes are included as well. As winter approaches, snow will begin to build up, adapting realistically to the shape of your garden and its elements. In spring, sakura trees will grow pink; in fall, leaves will turn orange. As night approaches, you'll see reflections of the evening sky in water.

The title will feature over 150 items, including trees and even animals like cats, birds, and rabbits. As these items are obtained, they're added to a growing item encyclopedia which can be consulted at any time. Items are added through over 40 item packs that will be sold through the PlayStation Store following the main game's release.

There's more but I don't want to post it all in one hit in case some people go into a seizure brought about by extreme joy.

Seriously though, it does have plenty of potential. They could implement the sixaxis so that you use it to guide the seeds into the ground and as you cover it with soil the rumble gently pulses. Maybe they could even have an online leaderboard so people can find out who's the best virtual gardener across the world.

I hope they include some in-game songs to inspire you to keep gardening, such as "Rock you like a hurricane". This is shaping up to be the ultimate game to play with friends while hammered.

[Pyro]

...

[Tyche]

As a home owner who couldn't make yeast grow, I'd love a gardening simulator. Maybe it'll help the curb appeal of my house.

[Maxxthepenguin]

PS3 has won, it's over

[Tajin]

PS3 has won, it's over

Because there are not that kind of games on the DS or any other Nintendo plataform right ;p
Also hi2u SimAnts, The Sims, etc.
Plus, its downloadable, who the fuck cares?

[izembo]

i think there was some implied sarcasm there <_<

[Tajin]

Yeah I noticed it too, but you just don't fuck up with the PS3 at 10~ days of MGS4 release


9.9 IGN UK btw

[izembo]

any word on how many maps MGO is coming with?

[Maxxthepenguin]

Yeah I noticed it too, but you just don't fuck up with the PS3 at 10~ days of MGS4 release


9.9 IGN UK btw

8 Eurogamer

[Tajin]

The heathens!

[Maxxthepenguin]

lol you havent even played it yet

[Tajin]

I have it on my signature, do you really expect me to give it less than 5 stars / 10/10 ?

However I'm willing to point its weak points, but then again being a fanboy and waiting so long for it, don't think anyone will take my opinion very serious.

[BRP]

eurogamer review seems odd to me(almost... troll-like in appearance!). He hardly mentions of gameplay at all. Just talks about the story without spoiling it. I would think gameplay would be the only thing you'd bother to mention. It felt like I was reading a lot of nothing or a lot of the obvious(long cutscenes?!). In fact, if someone were to make a fake review without playing the game it would sound a lot like that.

[Pyro]

Maybe they gave low review scores to MGS4 and Ninja Gaiden II so that they would get lots of traffic to their site because everyone wants to read the review that doesn't give as good of a score as everyone else.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Maybe they gave low review scores to MGS4 and Ninja Gaiden II so that they would get lots of traffic to their site because everyone wants to read the review that doesn't give as good of a score as everyone else.

Because nobody can have an honest, differing opinion...

Why does everyone think that reviews that deviate from the norm are all just seeking attention? :/

eurogamer review seems odd to me(almost... troll-like in appearance!). He hardly mentions of gameplay at all. Just talks about the story without spoiling it. I would think gameplay would be the only thing you'd bother to mention. It felt like I was reading a lot of nothing or a lot of the obvious(long cutscenes?!). In fact, if someone were to make a fake review without playing the game it would sound a lot like that.

Um no. Read the review again before implying stupid things like them not playing the game.

[Kazen]

Maybe they gave low review scores to MGS4 and Ninja Gaiden II so that they would get lots of traffic to their site because everyone wants to read the review that doesn't give as good of a score as everyone else.

Because nobody can have an honest, differing opinion...

Why does everyone think that reviews that deviate from the norm are all just seeking attention? :/

Because usually they just want attention.

[BRP]

If they deviate from the norm without explaining why... I think it's justified to raise suspicions. When you write a review you are giving me your opinions/observations backed by solid reasons and facts. Without those strong legs, I won't consider it stable and dismiss it.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Maybe they gave low review scores to MGS4 and Ninja Gaiden II so that they would get lots of traffic to their site because everyone wants to read the review that doesn't give as good of a score as everyone else.

Because nobody can have an honest, differing opinion...

Why does everyone think that reviews that deviate from the norm are all just seeking attention? :/

Because usually they just want attention.

Well, all websites want attention. The questions is whether every low score is just born because people want that attention....and that idea is ludicrous to me. People are actually allowed to not like the game as much as everyone else. I would definitely give GTA4 an 8ish score just because I felt like it was an 8ish game.

[Maxxthepenguin]

If they deviate from the norm without explaining why... I think it's justified to raise suspicions. When you write a review you are giving me your opinions/observations backed by solid reasons and facts. Without those strong legs, I won't consider it stable and dismiss it.

Ive seen 100% positive reviews for Boom Blox that get 8/10s. Thus is the imperfection of numbers.

The eurogamer review definitely mentions major flaws. "Even keen students of Metal Gear lore are going to struggle to follow this tangled tale. Laden with sentimental sermons and metaphors for the evils of war, struggling under the weight of the resolving the plots of four previous games and the personal destinies of characters as diverse as Raiden, Meryl, Naomi, Vamp and Eva, it is in all honesty a mess. Motivation and consistency fall by the wayside and by the end it's totally unclear who is on which side, or what's at stake. Maybe that's deliberate, but it doesn't work, and the hours of talking-head exposition involved are too steep a price to pay for this muddled closure." It's a very plot centric game, so this is a major flaw.

"Only the new Stress and Psyche meters don't really gel with the flow of play; we suspect they come into their own in the highest difficulty settings, but at that level, Metal Gear Solid 4 is an exercise in teeth-grinding masochism for specialists only. Metal Gear Solid has always been either too easy or too hard, and too possible to get through by sloppy cheating or simple attrition, and that hasn't changed."

"It's everything you've seen, heard about and expected from Metal Gear Solid 4. The relatively weak second act is more of the same in a much less compelling setting - a rather unconvincing, blandly designed South American backwater - and ennui starts to set in."

"(Take note, however, that there are several minutes of install time to be endured, not just at the start, but before each act - albeit graced with a fantastic animated graphic of Snake smoking next to some health warnings.)"

"An unbelievably lengthy and self-indulgent epilogue - you can't call it a cut-scene, it's an entire film in its own right, and a deeply boring one too - is how Solid Snake's career comes to a close. Too bad, but no hard feelings; you can ignore it if you wish. The drawn-out sentimentality is fitting, in a way. Snake may have started out as a gruff, two-dimensional cliché, but he bows out very gracefully in Metal Gear Solid 4, assuming the mantle of the world-weary samurai, or the enigmatic nameless cowboy from a spaghetti western, as if it were always his. David Hayter's voice performance isn't much more than an attempt to create the gravelliest, throatiest croak ever recorded by man, but as such, it's heroic."

And the conclusion:

"You're sorry to see Snake go. But should you be? Guns of the Patriots is a frustrating, fractured game that turns Metal Gear Solid's world upside down several times over, but never changes it. It just burrows deeper into what fans love and detractors hate than ever before, and it will make few converts. It's a crying shame, given how many genuinely classic gaming moments there are here, given the countless exquisite creative touches, but Metal Gear Solid 4 is its own worst enemy. You could not ask for a funnier, cleverer, more ambitious or inspired or over-the-top conclusion to the Metal Gear Solid series, but it's definitely time to move on.

We love you, Snake. Don't come back."

[BRP]

I wish he went more in details about stress/psyche systems, because that's the only true gameplay element out of what you quoted. Yeah complaints about installs, confusing story, and such are all valid, but the review still lacks a lot of gameplay details. I don't really care about the score, so much that the essay seems to not touch on some really important areas.