Afterhours 3: Consoling the Console

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Featuring John “MusiM” and Scott “Artisan002”.

Music by MusiM. Buy the new album at musim.bandcamp.com.  Add MusiM on Spotify/Facebook for a tracklisting of the background music (Lounge and a Floor playlist).

Welcome to the third hardly occasional podcast of the Carousel Afterhours, where we just go without any sort of plan or intention or limitation except not so much this time.  This time its all about the upcoming Playstation, Xbox, and Steam boxes.  We (mostly Scott) get pretty techy too.

News: Playstation Vita Updates

Several pieces of important information have come out of Sony’s TGS presentation as well as web updates concerning the PSV.

Battery Life

Silconera.com posts that the Vita’s battery life will be 3-5 hours when playing a game using headphones with WiFi and Bluetooth turned off.  But the Vita can play video for 5 hours or simply play music for 9 hours.

Multitasking

The 90’s are back my friend except instead of multitasking on PC’s we get to multitask on our game devices.  The Vita allows for web browsing while a game is running, playing music while looking at pictures, and accessing your PSN account.  Evidently the 3DS already does most of this.

So…  Many….  Games!

The amount of games scheduled for the PSV is slightly staggering.  Granted most of these games target a niche audience and really the list is from Japan’s launch which we’ll only get half of, but here are a few highlights: Metal Gear Solid HD, Zone of Enders HD, Persona 4 The Golden, Unnamed Shin Megami Tensei Title, Unnamed Level 5 RPG, Ys IV Remake, Final Fantasy X Remake, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Katamari Damacy, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.  So add all those to the Uncharted and Resistance stuff we already knew.

News: Stuff to Know about the PSV

That’s Playstation Vita right? PSV, sounds much better. Its Sony’s new crazy handheld and maybe we need to get everyone’s info on the same page. So let’s rock some specs and factoids.  And maybe a rumor or two identified as such.

  • Its region free
  • $249 Wi Fi only / $299 with 3G
  • AT&T current exclusive 3G provider
  • CPU – ARM Cortex A9 (4 core)
  • GPU – SGX543MP4+
  • 5 inch 16:9 capacitive multi-touch screen (960 x 544)
  • Rear capacitive multi-touch pad
  • Game and memory cards are proprietary 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32 GB
  • DLC and updates intended to install on game cards
  • Front and rear camera
  • Mic and Speakers
  • Dual analog sticks
  • G and N type wireless and Bluetooth
  • Games will include Uncharted, Wipeout, Little Big Planet, Ruin, ModNation Racers, Dragon’s Crown, and a Bioshock title
  • Due in most regions this fall
  • Battery life not currently known
  • Cross game chat
  • Augmented Reality capability
  • No official word on internal storage or RAM size, only rumors.  If there is internal storage, there probably won’t be much.  RAM size might not be known until the demo units get sent out or someone steals one and sells it to Engadget.
  • Transfarring 
Sources:

PSN Updates

We will not be covering video games on this next podcast so here is an update on the PSN facts as they appear.  Updates have been appearing with rampant frequency on the Playstation blog so we will endeavor only to provide once a week updates on the situation.

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Videogame Review: SMT: Digital Devil Saga

Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga is an RPG with a linear storyline for the Playstation 2 released by Atlus.  The voice acting is top notch featuring Steve Blum and Crispin Freeman among others.  And in turn, the story is fantastic as well.  The game uses the engine from Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.  If you like RPG’s and don’t mind a well written, well acted linear story that doesn’t make much sense towards the end, then this game will be awesome for you.  Its extremely hard to write an intro for this game so I’ll just leave it at this: Dude, demonic cannibals.

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Videogame Review: SMT Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) :Nocturne is probably one of my favorite games of all time and it is a game that many should be thanking.  Persona 3 and 4, Digital Devil Saga, they all owe their fighting mechanics to Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.  Oh yes the system has been there at least since the first Persona hit United States shores, but this is the system and graphics engine that has been used and reused constantly since Nocturne’s Ps2 debut.  This game is pretty much an under appreciated piece of history.

SMT: Nocturne is a turn based RPG with a large world that is explored in sections.  The biggest difference between Nocturne and other RPG”s is the inclusion of a robust demon fusion system, consisting of around 200 fusable demons.  Add a skill inheritance mechanic and the customization options are fairly limitless.  For the world you explore the inner side of a sphere filled with demons and various factions all petitioning god to remake the world in their own image.  Did I mention it is a highly philosophic game as well?  Unfortunately the adult working a 40-50 hour work week will probably never have the time to fully explore the game.

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