Skylanders, this generation's Pokemon?

Currently invading the shores of your children's imagination and wish lists everywhere. Skylanders, the new toy/video game from Activision, combines action figures with video-games for an exciting new experience. Skylanders is a toy brand and a video game, where the action figures that you buy, 'come to life' in the video game for you to play.



The whole system works like this, you buy the Starter Pack for your game system of choice, X360, PS3, Wii, or 3DS, which comes with the game, 3 figures, and a 'portal of power'. When you place one of the figures on the portal, it comes up on the video game for you to control. As you play through the game, the figure you use  levels up, gaining new abilities and treasure, which is saved unto the physical toy, which you can then take to play at say your friend's house and play with your exact customized creature. The game is multiplayer, and you and a friend can have your figures on the portal at the same time, and can play through all the levels together. There is a slew of different figures available for you to buy separately and collect, which makes the replay-ability of the game pretty huge.

Sklyanders was released in October of 2011 and went into 'sold-out' status for the Holiday season, and has maintained it even today. I've seen individual figures on Ebay and Amazon for upwards of $80-100, so the demand right now is at a high.

Due to high sales, Activision has already announced additional new figures due out later this year to expand the game even further, so expect your coffers to be emptied by your children's demands.

FREE Motorstorm RC Driving for PlayStation Vita

For those early adopters out there, lets hear a big hurray! As you'll be able to download the new game Motorstorm RC for PlayStation Vita starting tomorrow completely for free, courtesy of Scion, direct from the Playstation Store on your Vita. This is a sweet deal for those of us who jumped on the early Vita train, so get your Vitas ready for some free loving tomorow!

February Game Purchases

Lets call out all the games the Early Adopter bought this month. I suppose as an experiment this should be interesting, having to publicly log my game purchases throughout the year, will this affect the amount I end up purchasing? Either way lets do it.

• Vita Wipeout 2048
• Vita Hot Shots Golf
• Vita Uncharted 
• PS Vita First Edition Bundle System
• PS Vita 16GB Memory Card
• Vita Fifa
• Vita Lumines
• Vita Ultimate Marvel v Capcom 3

So there she is, I suppose not too bad, kinda Vita heavy, but it was launch month, plus through the use of trade ins and giftcards, the hit on the old wallet wasn't too terrible.

Anyone else out there want to share, lets do some therapy ;)

To C.E. or not to C.E.

One of the latest 'incentives' to sell games by video game publishers aside is the infamous Collector's Edition. The usually have a special packaging, may or may not contain some plastic figure, statue, art-book, soundtrack or extra character and run you an extra $10-$20 on top of the normal $59.99.

The quality of said bonuses vary but the majority are 'worthwhile' if you are fan of the particular game. While some publishers merely throw a tin can with a code for redeemable mp3s or something (Demon's Souls, I'm looking at you) Others go a little further and have the nice cases, or a huge statue or figure (Skyrim's dragon statue, and Marvel v Capcom 3) Either way I must admit to being a sucker for steel-cases and statues. Being a 'Geek' I feel like a lot of us do, and the bonus figures and whatnot often look cool displayed on your desk or shelf. Nevertheless, I have been burned in the past, namely on that blasted Halo 3 CE that was half the cost of an Xbox, and only real draw was a scale Spartan Helmet, which you couldn't even wear.That particular rarity could be found littering the aisles of most major retailer for years after, and often at bargain basement prices.

Damn you Master Chief!

Bookends are now a trendy CE bonus

This is not to disway my fellow gamers from buying collectors editions, if you are a fan of the game, and have a little extra to spend, great. But one thing you should probably realize, is that they will probably not go anywhere in value, as they aren't 'Collectors' items in the true sense. And function mainly to grab a little extra cash from our pockets.

The one motto I try to live by, is that if something says that it's a Collector's Edition, then it's probably not. As these things are something that's intrinsically natural in and of itself. That misprinted baseball card, or low print run comic book that becomes famous for something later on down the road are things that become valuable or a collector's item, not a video game direct from a manufacturer with a sticker slapped on it that says so.

So long as we realize this, though, and don't mind parting with the extra scratch, go for it. At least I do from time to time.

EA's SSX Out tomorrow

For those of us who are, I guess 'old-school' now, tomorrow marks a pretty awesome day. EA is relaunching one of their best games from the PS2 era. SSX.

The demo is out now on PS3 and X360. I recently downloaded it this past weekend, and I gotta say, it was a blast. Jumping out of a helicopter, gliding down the the mountain top using a squirrel suit, then shredding down the mountain, taking ramps, going through tunnels and half pipes, all the while busting out some cool looking tricks. This game is gonna have legs, so I plan on snatching it up tomorrow.

Vita Week: The game deals

According to the adscan for the 2/19 Target ad, they'll buy 2 get 1 free on all PS Vita games. From 2/19-2/25, the lowest priced game rings up free when you buy 3!

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315488

This is perfect timing for the retail release of the Vita, time to stock up adopters!

Vita Week: PlayStation Vita - Unboxing pics

PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle (Front)

Figure since I didn't go a proper video, that I'd at least post up some pics of the unboxing. I present for your viewing pleasure the Vita First Edition Bundle unboxing, in all it's glory.

Side

Side

Back

Bowser was astonished at the size of the box, it really knocked him back.

Bowser figures that he'll try to be helpful with this unboxing

Inside the box, is the actual Vita in it's retail packaging

Underneath the Vita box is the 4GB memory card, a package of AR Cards, and the Lil Deviants game.

Vita box opened, sparse contents within, mainly a welcome paper, the USB and Power cord, as well as the AC adapter where they plug into.

 Sexy untouched PlayStation Vita

 Closeup of the analog and dpad

Closeup of the second analog and buttons

Vita Week: PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle

Finally here, after almost a year of waiting. The PlayStation Vita: First Edition Bundle. What's in the box you ask? It's the 3G/WiFi Vita Model with an exclusive carrying case, Lil Deviants game, and a 4GB memory card, plus the ultimate in early adopter bonus, getting the system a whole week ahead of the general public. I must say, that's a mighty nice bonus.

The first thing you'll notice about this little beauty is the size of the screen, a full 5" OLED screen, its a massive and beautiful sight to behold. Next, once you've got your hands on it, is the weight, not too light, not too heavy, but somehow right in the middle, it feels substantial while not being too overwhelming as to tire your hands.

The dual analog sticks feel like real, albeit small joysticks, not a sliding little nub like the PSP or Nintendo 3DS, feels great, and well overdue on a portable console.  The shoulder buttons feel good, with enough give to let you know it is registering your presses. The D-pad is a little spongy, but I think I live that, as it feels as if it will be perfect for fighting games, not too stiff.

The buttons are a tad small, smaller than the PSP, but I gladly give that up to make way for the size of the screen. Only the PlayStation button, Select and Start feel a little hard to press, as they are recessed into the system itself and makes it so that you have to press 'into' the button to let it register.

The touch screen interface is very responsive, think iPhone, as there is no lag as some other devices have shown. All in all, this is a very sexy piece of hardware, the only fault I can give it, is that it is a lint, and fingerprint magnet, I can barely touched it, and boom, fingerprints.

So far, I've only played Wipeout, but wow, those graphics are awesome, you will not be disappointed when you turn it on. A serious step up in graphics from the PSP, and these are just the launch games, can't wait to see what the next year or two have in store.

Speaking of the PSP, I've been successful in transferring my savegames I backed up onto my PC to the Vita, a very easy process once you've downloaded the Content Management software.
I was very afraid that I'd lose my saves from my old PSP-3000 once I moved onto the Vita.


You can find those instructions over here at PlayStation's manual site for the system.
So those are just my initial impressions, I'll be sure to put up some more stuff soon.

Vita Week: The Games

For those that don't know, Sony has unvieled a brand new and exciting portable game console; The PlayStation Vita. Featuring dual analog sticks, 5" OLED touchscreen, as well as an industry first Rear Touchscreen. Very exciting stuff for a geek like me. The official release date for the system is February 22nd, but if you are an early adopter, you can opt to purchase the First Edition Bundle of the system, which nets you a 4GB memory card, an exclusive carrying case, and most importantly, early release of the system on February 15th.

So the PlayStation Vita First Edition Bundle comes out tomorrow Feb. 15th, and I am very excited to get my hands on my system tomorrow. Amazon was nice enough to ship me the games, memory card, and screen protectors I'd preordered a little early, so I figured I'd through up some quick picks of the goods.

What we've got here is Wipeout 2048, HotShots Golf: World Invitational, a 16GB Memory card, and the Sony Screen Protectors. 

So, first off the boxes on the games look like some sort of mini Bluray box, skinny and tiny enough to fit more or less in the palm of your hand and inside a little sparse, having only the game and a slip of paper with an activation code.

 

Honestly, I must admit, that I miss having a physical instruction manual in my games, as it seems that all the Vita games will now have solely in-game manuals. The games are now cartridge type games, instead of the UMD disc based games of the Sony PSP. This move will probably give the system a little bit better battery life than its predecessor.

The other striking move by Sony, is the use of a new proprietary memory card type designed solely for the Vita. Opting not to use Sony Memory Sticks, or even the ubiquitous SD cards. This is probably designed to combat the rampant pirating that afflicted the Sony PSP. These memory cards are mighty tiny, and seem like they could be easy to lose, if you have a few of them knocking about.

So, I've got my games, and memory card ready to go, I am eagerly awaiting tomorrow to get my system, I've never held the actual unit yet, as I like to save the surprise and not try any of the demo units, so as to experience all to myself.

So stay tuned, the update will be up tomorrow!

Astro A40 with wireless Mixamp

So, yesterday FedEx dropped off my new surround sound headset, the Astro A40s. After much anticipation, I finally got these badboys on my ears and hooked up. First things first, the package as a whole comes as two pieces. 

The wireless MixAmp. 

This is the brains of the operation, where everything plugs into. It has two components, the Tx Unit, where you have your optical input, and optical output (incase you want to pass audio through) and the Rx Unit, which is where the actual headphones plug into. So the Tx Unit, requires a power supply, and sits near your console/tv. The Rx Unit wirelessly receives the audio from the Tx and can sit in your lap, or clip to a belt.

The A40 Headset

These are the headset unit itself, which despite the look, are actually quite light (to me). There is also a place on each side of the headset to plug in a mic to, which beats a lot of the other headsets on the market, which mainly just have the mic hardwired on.

Initial reactions: Wow. Mind you I haven’t put a lot of time on these, only having them for a day, but they are fantastic. I am impressed at the sound you get out of these thing. I mean I was playing a bit of Dead Space 2 last night, and as I’m walking down a hallway, I heard something creeping up on me from the back, I didn’t see it on the screen mind you, I actually heard the bastard coming from the rear, and had time to turn around and light em up. That alone, mind you put the smile on my face, which instantly made me forget about the price tag on these thing. 

I’m loving the Voice/Game volume adjuster on these things. As I have a set of Logitech G36s for the PC, which are another 7.1 surround headsets, but EVERYtime the action gets intense (guns blaring, zombies munching) the Voice volume just goes away. I don’t know how many times I’ve missed my teammates in L4D2 cry for help, when we were in the middle of some big gunfights. But the Astros make that a thing of the past, I can definitively set the balance as i see fit.

Now, these are just my impressions, and I’ll prolly put some more detail as I play more with em. But I ran through the Bulletstorm, Killzone3 demos. Dead Space 2, Blur 2, and COD: Black Ops. And they just sound awesome, crystal clear, good bass, great directional sound. Just an awesome headset, everything I wanted in a headset. And they damn well better be for the price.

The one thing I do have to say as a downside, is that the wireless MixAmp only accepts optical in, whereas the wired one, accepts RCA jacks i believe, so you’d be able to plug your Wii. In my case however my television (luckily) has an optical output, so anything plugged into it, I can have feed into my headset. Wii, Home Theater, PS3, Xbox, Cablebox, etc. Its friggin great. No more waking up the kid & wife.  


Check out what are pretty much the premier 7.1 headphones here at Astrogaming