First and foremost, Ratchet & Clank A Crack in Time is out!! I made sure to avoid as much info on it as I could since getting early impressions of it from E3 because I wanted to find out what the game had to offer as I was playing through it. Thus far, after playing for about an hour and a half before work, I love it. The gameplay is the same as ever, but there are some enhancements. It seems like it has a bit more of an open "world" design to it, which strangely enough, I like. I am not a big fan of the open world designs, but with the way the R&C games are designed, having a bit more freedom is a good thing. Plus you can now fly Ratchet's spaceship around areas of space, which is very cool. Previously, flying the ship was limited to shooter levels. Here you have the freedom to fly around sectors of space, which is a great addition. Already this is shaping up to be a great addition to the franchise. Here's hoping the rumors that this will be the last game in the franchise aren't true. But if they are, I do hope it makes for a fitting conclusion.

Last night I finished up Uncharted 2, after a healthy amount of playing the last two days. It was fun, it was entertaining, it was challenging, and got me thinking about the reviews for Uncharted 2. I remember playing through the original Uncharted and really enjoying it. Some reviews didn't quite agree, but they were still very good (in the 8.5-9). Particularly this is in relation to Gamespot's 8.0 review. Then along comes Uncharted 2. Having just finished it, the single player isn't all that much different from the original's. The pace of the game feels a lot better, and a bit tighter, but otherwise I didn't pick up on any aspects to the game that would warrant such a huge leap in scoring. Except one thing: the multiplayer. Now granted, maybe I just didn't pick up on any subtler improvements, like the gun and/or melee combat, partners helping out more during the game, etc. But still, the single player didn't feel any different. It still played the same way, had plenty of challenging sections, told a very good story and looked great. And yet Uncharted 2 gets 9.5s & 10s, whereas Uncharted got 8s, 8.5s & 9s. So that got me thinking: Does multiplayer make that big a difference?

I first want to start by saying that I do have plenty of memorable multiplayer gaming memories, and I'm not opposed to multiplayer, mostly of the local multiplayer variety. My beef stands with online multiplayer. I was disappointed to find out that Uncharted 2s co-op was online only. Naughty Dog couldn't add a split screen local co-op?? But more to the point, online multiplayer isn't that good. Yes, you can play with a lot more people online, not to mention its a lot more accessible, in comparison to local multiplayer. But what happens when the online community latches onto a new game? Or others potentially abusing mechanics makes playing multi unbearable? Or the community is just not pleasant to play against/with (thinking of the "Halo 2 kids" phenomenon here)? Or any other random complaint I could lodge at it.

What it came down to was how the game would stand up over time. Someone I work with has been playing various old games on an emulator for awhile now, and that got me thinking of more modern games and how we look back on them. Say in 5-10 years, when we are on new consoles (PS4??), I would assume some games from this era would still be supported online, but who is still gonna be playing it then? So looking back on a game, the multiplayer value of it drops dramatically, while the single player value stays where its at. Short term, should I really be worrying about something like this? I highly doubt it. Why do I think about it?? Because I prefer single player games and I don't like it when it seems like developers focus more on the multiplayer side of a game as opposed to its single player side. I remember when Ratchet & Clank went multi, with Up Your Arsenal, the third game for the PS2. It had multiplayer for the first time, yet I absolutely loved its single player. So maybe my argument isn't very valid. But I do fear the path that's being taken by developers this decade. Far too many RPGs are being taken the MMO route, which negates any potentially intriguing story since MMOs can't really tell a story (unless the KotoR MMO, The Old Republic, proves me wrong). FPS games are a dime a dozen, and seem to only focus on the multiplayer, and FPS games aren't very story dependant, but still, games do tell stories, even shooters.

Of course, after typing all that out, it feels weird thinking about this argument. Perhaps I just don't get the appeal of online gaming. Maybe its because I prefer genres that typically don't have multiplayer components. Whatever it is, I just hope that online multiplayer doesn't take down single player. Uncharted 2's single player was very good, on par with the original in some aspects, better in others. Ratchet & Clank has always been a terrific single player game, and I don't want to see it go away any time soon.

Enough rambling. Time to finish up work and get home to play more R&C!!

Picked up my preordered copies of Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 on tuesday. So far I've played more Brutal Legend than Uncharted, but I've enjoyed both of them. I've played thru the first few missions in Brutal Legend, 21% completed according to the ingame stats. I'm not a big heavy metal fan, but Brutal Legend does an incredible job taking that musical genre and creating a world around it. As for Uncharted 2, the reviews have surprised me more than the game itself. I really enjoyed the first Uncharted, so after playing the first two chapters of 2, I'm not surprised the quality of the game, as well as the storytelling, has kept up with its high standards. The glowing reviews are very impressive, and I'm happy to see a 1st party PS3 exclusive receiving this kind of attention.

Well, October 5th would be the official first day I was fully moved into my house! I spent the night last Saturday, and we finished moving the last of my stuff on Sunday. As of about 5pm Sunday the move was complete, and I say Monday was my first full day living here. It is a very different feeling. On the one hand I miss how nice my parents house was in terms of space and how it looked. Not to mention the food supply. On the other hand, I have an entire house for my stuff as opposed to two bedrooms, so I'm not cramped and when I come home from work I don't have to keep the TV at a lower volume so I didn't wake them up or anything. Not that I want it cranked up, but it is nicer to be able to turn it up some, especially for Rock Band. And that is another big point. Now if I feel like doing a little drumming or vocals at midnight or 1am or both after downloading new music I can. That is a great feeling. The one thing I certainly won't miss is the commotion that accompanies my nieces and nephews on the weekends.

Busy gaming period coming up. Picked up NBA 2K10 on Tuesday. I got the Anniversary Edition because I wanted the footlocker, which is very cool. The game has been just as good as I was expecting. The "new" My Player mode, aka bball version of MLB Road to the Show with a little 24/7 mixed in, is pretty neat. At times it can be frustrating when you make a play but get negative points for it (like driving the hoop and putting up a shot in traffic and getting bad shot selection; not like the CPU takes better ones, plus its not like it was a 26ft 3). But overall it is a very fun mode to play. I'm gonna have to try out a big man position, as my guy is a PG.

When I got my iPod Touch I wasn't really expecting it to kinda turn into a gaming platform for myself. Somehow it did. As much as I would like either a DS or a PSP for at least a half dozen games on each, I haven't yet. Probably the biggest reason has been my iPod. Seeing as its my media player, the fact that there are some decent to pretty good games is a huge mise. The PSP was attempting this but the problem was space. The fact you needed memory sticks wasn't good. I really like the idea of the PSPgo, with the internal memory, although I'm not positive all digital games was the best idea (not a terrible idea though). But since it just came out for $250, its hard for me to really consider it. If it came out sooner, possibly. The DS is a pure gaming platform, but seeing as I've been down that road before, its hard to make a case for it. Still both systems have a lot of games I would love to try, but having an iPod that has games makes it tougher to consider a DS/PSP, not to mention my own sordid history with pure handheld gaming platforms. Let's Golf has been the most played game, and best purchase, so far for me. It plays like Hot Shots, and it does a fine job of it. Most of the others I've tried haven't been as good, but they haven't been terrible either. Surprisingly I found the 24 game to be okay. The levels are very short, but it plays just fine. Secret of Monkey Island was translated very well and was a great choice for the iTouch. The rest has just been meh for the most part.

What I've really been looking for has been an RPG for the iTouch. I've purchased two, and I've looked into a couple more. The two I picked up are Zenonia (comparable to 16-bit action RPGs, aka Zelda, with a Diablo like mission/item structure), which I've really enjoyed so far. The other is a port of a Sega CD game, Vay. That one is like the old turn based RPGs, like Phantasy Star, Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy. That one seems fine so far. What I would love to see is a Final Fantasy-like game, and that is why I tried Vay. I've also heard Dungeon Hunter is good (basically a Diablo-clone), as well as HYBRID (made by same people as Zenonia). At the moment though, Zenonia is the one that will probably get the most playing time. Plus it was only $3 so it was a very good deal.

I'll leave it at that for now. I want to take a shower and get ready.