It’s been quite some time since the PS3 was released, and yet, somehow the PS2 almost managed to out sell the PS3 in North America during the month of July–roughly 120,000 to about 108,000. It’s no surprise that the recession has taken its toll on the industry. Many gamers are resorting to spending cash on cheaper consoles, and waiting before purchasing the newest games. It’s scary to think that Sony has out marketed themselves, but let’s face it, $99 is a good price point for a console, and when your system lacks games, it’s going to have a hard time going up against something with the established game library that the PS2 currently boasts.

On the other hand, this isn’t really that bad for Sony, considering they’d be outselling themselves. I also wouldn’t be too worried about the PS3 making a rebound. With the rumored price drops, a slimmer console on the horizon, and the holiday season creeping up on us, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before we see those sales numbers reversed. Most developers seem to be pushing their release dates closer to the end of the year, and some are even going as far as to move them into next year. As a result, it creates a waiting game that we’re all forced to play.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]

A new patent has surfaced on the net showing the potential for PS2 emulation via the Playstation 3’s cell processor. This could mean that before we know it, every PS3 owner might have access to the entire PS2 library, instead of just the early adopters who purchased the console in it’s infancy. Sony is still behind in sales and could use as much help as possible to overtake Microsoft’s current lead. Unfortunately, there’s no news on if this is only going to provide emulation through retail discs, or if it’ll pave the way for digital distribution of the library via the Playstation Network.

We’re also left in the dark regarding when this might be implemented. While it’d be nice to see digital distribution become an option, I’d hate to have to repurchase my library should Sony decide to lock out the emotion chip emulation in previous consoles. I doubt that’d happen, but greed has led to terrible decisions in the past. This leaves me wondering, will anyone consider picking up a PS3 should this feature be made available in the near future? The original details of the patent as reported by The Mirror are listed below.

The patent describes a means of directly emulating the PS2’s Emotion Engine chipset using the PS3’s Cell Processor. Those with a keen memory for PS3 hardware models will recall that when the console first launched in the US, the original 60GB came with full PS2 backwards compatibility via an Emotion Engine chip.

In the UK we weren’t blessed with the same hardware backwards compatibility support, but in those early days there was a software solution that at least makes most games run to some degree. More recent PS3 models, including the 40GB and 80GB versions, have dropped backwards compatibility altogether, after the Graphics Synthesizer was removed to lower production costs.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]

I’ve decided to start a few weekly features where we simply summarize the newest titles being releases here in the US. For your convenience, we’ll be linking each title to PriceGrabber.com so that you can easily click on them to find the best deal from multiple vendors. I’ll also try to include links to metacritic just incase you want to view some scores before laying down some cash for these.

For this weeks releases, hit the jump! (more…)

Loyal robo-pets, soccer-playing androids and so many Baby Alive dolls have not come so far that an ancient advanced civilization in a game world can’t do better. In the world of Tokobot, archeologists have dug up the ancient advanced technology of magnetized, Bomberman-as-LEGO robots that take the player as leader of their a communal hive-mind. While I can’t elaborate much more on a story I don’t remember, we can view it as ancillary to the main action-attractions of this game. The versatile (and cute) AI’s follow you around and take the formations you choose to form bridges over gaps, ladders to unreachable heights, or spokes for your character to wield in whirling enemy death.

It’s an artistically-simple, but pretty enough game on PSP–meaning it’s a little weak for PS2 in Tokobot+ Plus, but graphics are graphics. The high point comes in the polygon deformation and transformation that ensues whenever you bonk your enemies, and the fluidity of animation in general. Cartoony and fun, the visuals indicate nonetheless accurately which objects you can interact with, how far to jump, and facilitate all the other requisite elements of a good platformer. Tecmo has never had a problem making a technically-competent game. Solve button-puzzles by assigning individual tasks to your wee charges, find and upgrade the Tokobots towards the ultimate goal, and um… enjoy.

With a vintage vehicle slated to roll off the line in two short weeks, Mega Man hype has hit a fever pitch. At least it has with me. Whether you celebrate with me or not, I’m starting early by revisiting the Blue Bomber’s other classic series, gathered (in large part) in Megaman X Collection. In reimagining their strongest-selling action series for the Super Nintendo in 1993, Capcom wound up creating an entirely more vicious, theatrical, and sophisticated animal. Unfortunately, it sort of broke loose and went on a rampage of mediocrity after X4–but, having come out before the PS2’s X7 and 8, the Collection only goes up to X6 anyway. That’s a lot of guaranteed good… seriously.The games paint a picture of humanity’s greatest hour, as a robotic race of ‘Reploids’ emerges to be tasked with all the hard menial labour we so want to escape, and with generally helping people. Early on, the series echoes Asimov’s short stories and foreshadows the dangers of mass production and free will among robots, which leads to an epidemic of virus-infected, ‘Maverick’ reploids. Later, I feel the creators lost sight of the most novel aspects of their creation and, most famously, just killed Zero off in every game to be brought back later. TOO much drama.The games are old, the graphics 16- to 32-bit 2-D. But like all Capcom efforts, they were well-executed at the time and remain the best-in-class today. They threw in the Rockman X3 CD audio and anime cutscenes for this release, and of course the later Playstation releases offer more where that came from. It’s all, uh, mega-rockin’. Plus there’s that crappy racing game that had previously only appeared in Japan and Europe to add some value to this package–but really, that’s what first, second, and third are for.

I admit, coverage here has tended heavily toward the most pick-up-and-play of titles. Today’s suggested gaming material ought to satisfy the want of blog and blog-readers’ alike for a game longer than a television commercial. It comes, after all, from a very cinematically-inclined developer. 

A tale of two warriors, tens of tournaments, tons of weapons and innumerable recruits, LucasArts’ turn-based strategy RPG, Gladius, equates to watching a Star Wars film somewhere between 20 to 50 times. While it boasts an original cast, setting, and storyline, Gladius’ battle system is greater still, built for solid, tactical appeal. As one would expect, sharp visuals (quite so by 2003 standards) and a blockbuster-scale soundtrack round out the package.

It’s easy, really, since your PS3 will emulate the PS2 and, depending on the model, more or less faithfully emulate its games. Now, the catch: when I’m eyeing a PS2 game I’d like to see upscaled, it’s most likely a game I’ve played before, its save file residing within the copious data on my Memory Cards. Out of the box, you’d have no choice but to start anew on your PS3 hard disk drive, because the PS3 doesn’t natively bear a Memory Card port. If I have to start over, I could just buy the newer, assuredly better version, right? (n.b.: not always right, so read on.)

Is this a scam to get you to shell out for another single-purpose, little plastic doohickey of dubious craftsmanship? Partly, but consider that the Sony Memory Card Adaptor for PlayStation3 is a fairly inexpensive investment, especially compared to new games, and well worth the money for anyone who’d still like to spin the oldies from the PS2’s tremendous game library.

Plus, as a first-party product with a very specific function, it can’t be that faulty… just, back up those saves early and often, wilya? It’s good practice anyway.

My soccer expertise may extend only as far as putting the spotted sphere into the netted receptacle, but I do know a fun game–better, apparently, than TopTenREVIEWS.com, and whatever reviews they pulled to get the mediocre average score seen here. The beauty of FIFA Street 2 is, someone like me can get out of it the same value as someone who posesses vast knowledge of line-side violations and player formations, or of the 320 professional ballers who make up the roster. (I don’t even know whether I’ve embarrassed myself in writing that sentence… )

This is not authentic football (yes! I know one F), and with no aspirations to that end, I have no problem understanding the self-evident truth of FIFA Street 2. EA BIG! has made it easy-to-play, pared it of anything but the primordial rules of competition, and given you the stats you need not to choose a crappy team (or purposely do so to equalize an uneven multiplayer playing field). Video tutorials and training modes ensure that you get a handle of Passing, Shooting, Tricking, and the rest, which mostly comprise single button presses and only ask that you do more complicated maneuvers for your own enjoyment. The graphics give national flavour to the venues, and as always, the players look and move pretty good. Character Creation and court customization can go a long way to making the Street games more fun–but like choosing a blue ball on the Amsterdam court, you’ll lose sight of the real fun if you tamper too much.

Just be sure to enjoy the beautiful game in 2, because apparently the recently-released third FIFA Street sucks.

What happens when an otherwise straight-laced racer gets the car chase treatment, with slo-mo stunts and spin-outs everywhere? When police choppers drop toxic barrels and the cops lay spike strips, but your flashy ride barely takes a lick? It’s Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, the 2002 PS2/Xbox/Gamecube offshoot of EA’s long-running Need for Speed series that adopted wailing sirens, exotic sports cars, and the ability to use both as you either play the cop or the speed demon. Whether you throw everything you’ve got at some hapless speeder and bust them in ‘Be the Cop’ mode, or opt to test your memory of how to recover from a spin in the many Career modes, you’ll bank points towards the purchase fo specially-tweaked NFS edition cars and have a pretty damn good time of it, too. NFS HP2 omits the customization (read: ‘Pimp my Ride’) modes popularized in more recent games in favour of the real challenge of working with what you’re given and actually, y’know, racing. A good selection of original musical accompaniment and European-inspired tracks also encourage hitting the pavement, and probably help explain the game’s Greatest Hits status (which also makes it a steal.) Definitely a racing game worth owning.

In their rush to make it big first on the new hardware, a lot of the preponderance of early PS2 RPGs received some harsh critical panning. Shadow Hearts was not surprisingly among them–it showed hastily-drawn development lines around its every component, it had weak-to-crippling voice talent, and it barely eked past PS1 levels graphically-speaking. A sequel to Koudelka, a short PS1 RPG that had some reviewer difficulties of its own, Shadow Hearts may have seemed an unlikely candidate for a further sequel… but not to me.

I really enjoyed Shadow Hearts’ thematically-mature story of necromantic, murderous intrigue and dark contracts with destiny, despite all its less desirable qualities. When Aruze realized it had done something good, but just good enough, the idea clicked to work harder on the sequel, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant leaped and bounded past the previous production in all its values. Fully-voiced cutscenes with people who actually tried, seriously upgraded visuals that ditched the single-screen prerendered look for giant Christo-European locales, and an opening movie that kicks the crap out of everything edgey and angsty that Final Fantasy ever tried: this is what makes a Covenant. This is what makes you want to join it.