For 4 years, I’ve been waiting for this moment, and now, it’s finally here.
Look at it, look at it. It’s so preeetty…
And now that I’ve finally gotten my mitts around a copy of the game, I’m going to gush even more about it like some excited little girl. But importantly, I can now try it out for myself and neglect my work. 800 real-world cars (!!!), including the Nissan GT-R, the Ferrari F2007, and the Le Man Prototype Audi R8 race car, and around 40-something tracks. Yes, I know, most of the tracks don’t really exist in the real world, and you don’t see what all the fuss is about because you’re boring, but still, 800 cars… That’s pretty awesome. And with so many cars and tracks, it seems like a game I’ll be playing for a really, really long time to come. My CAP score screams in horror as I spend hours playing the game everyday, but I love Gran Turismo. Until I get my results…
And that’s not the only drawback with this game. It may have a “Challenge” mode, where you learn more about driving on a track through series of challenges, but there’s no career mode… which is fine actually. Also, I can race with a maximum of 3 other cars at the same time. Yes, not 1, not 2, but 3 opponents. That’s even more than the number of girls I’ve dated.
So exciting…
But then again, the silliness of a 4-car race is justified by, and probably caused by, the frame rate of 60 frames/sec(which is almost unheard of for a driving game on the PSP), and the mostly immaculate modelling of the cars. No grainy, vague looking shapes here. The shape of each car model faithfully conforms to the appearance of its real world counterpart. You can really tell which car you’re looking at just by looking at the shape of it, because here, unlike in NASCAR, a Ford Mustang really looks like a Ford Mustang, which is brilliant. And it’s not just the shapes of the cars that are accurate. You can really discern the different handling characteristics of each car as it pitches and rolls through the corners as well. And if you’re driving a Ferrari Enzo or a McLaren SLR or something that’s supposed to have spoilers that extend at higher speeds, the spoilers actually do that in the game! The first time I drove up behind the SLR in the game and watched the spoiler come up on the SLR, I was so impressed, I drove into its rear end.
It’s this attention to detail that makes Gran Turismo stand out from the rest of the games out there, especially on the PSP, because it’s first and foremost a simulator. If you’re a fan of arcade-style racers, you probably won’t be very fond of this, because this is something that actually requires you to brake 200m ahead of a hairpin turn. It requires you to drive sensibly, and driving sensibly is good. All drivers should learn how to drive sensibly. That way, we’d have fewer women driving on the roads…
One thing that did bother me though, was that you can only purchase cars from 4 manufacturers at any one time. The manufacturers randomly rotate after every other race or event that you enter, so theoretically, you should eventually see all the cars from all the manufacturers after a few lifetimes, when they’ve all become obsolete. I wouldn’t mind this too much, but my PSP seems to be incredibly fond of Nissan, Toyota and Mazda, which is annoying, because I don’t want to buy Nissans, Toyotas or Mazdas anymore. But that’s pretty much the only thing I don’t like about this game. Otherwise, it’s a simulator, and simulators rock. Especially good ones.
After all, who needs 3 girlfriends when you can race 3 other cars around the Nordshleife?
Many thought it would be nothing but vaporware, relegated to the depths of the eternal trash can of development hell. But my faith in Kazunouri Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital has finally paid off – the reason that I really got my PSP is finally here!
Well, at least it’s going to be here. First announced with the original PSP, and with its latest announcement on the same day as the new PSP Go, it’s been christened Gran Turismo Mobile, and is set for release on the 1st of October this year, which means I’ve gotta wait 5 more months to get my hands on it. Unless it gets delayed again, in which case, I’ll probably have to wait for a PSP Come before I get any wind of it again… But my faith in Kazunouri Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital shall prevail, and I trust they will deliver on October the 1st.
And the new Gran Turismo 5 makes me wanna get a PS3, because it just looks absolutely stunning:
I feel so infatuated now…
Here are some trailers for the latest Simpsons video game, and they’re so funny!
It’s like some corny Japanese remake of the Simpsons in a video game! Comic Book Guy turns into a sumo wrestler, and there’s even a faux-Pokemon battle between Homer and Jimbo. Some of you may recognize Mr Sparkle from one of the episodes of the Simpsons, where Homer found this Japanese brand of soap powder called “Mr Sparkle”, with an uncharacteristically cute likeness of Homer (with big pearly eyes) for a logo.
I’m SO gonna buy this when it comes out on November the 6th for the PSP…
Sony has finally announced the redesigned PSP yesterday during an E3 conference in Los Angeles. At first glance, it doesn’t look that much different from the original PSP, but…
(Photos: Gamespot) New PSP on the left, with the old one on the right.
It’s thinner, lighter, loads games more quickly, all without sacrificing battery life. And, as Kaz Hirai (President of Sony Computer Entertainment) said, probably the coolest feature of this new system is the ability to output video onto an external display, which is something the original PSP couldn’t do. Sony is set to release the redesigned PSP by September, and the older version will be phased out.
Which kinda makes me wonder if I should have waited 2 whole years just to buy the new “B-spec” PSP, instead of buying the original one back in 2005.
Hmmm…
Nah.
So I saw this video on CNet Editor, Veronica Belmont’s blog, as well as her thoughts about it. I tried to post a comment, but I think it went into her spam folder. Anyway, it might seem inappropriate that Jack Thompson uses this tragedy to highlight his point that violent video games are the root cause of violent behaviour, such as the Virginia Tech massacre, but hasn’t that been the norm in the aviation industry with tombstone technology?
Then again, air crashes and massacres are 2 entirely different things.
I don’t know a lot about Jack Thompson, but I think Veronica and many others have misinterpreted his point of view, in this video at least. From what I can tell, he’s not saying that violent video games like Counterstrike and the Grand Theft Auto franchise will make otherwise normal people more inclined towards displaying violent behaviour. His point is that individuals who are already inclined towards such behaviour could be desensitized by playing these violent video games, to the point where they don’t feel any remorse or guilt after killing human beings in real life.
I think that’s a valid point of view, but I don’t agree with it.
I see violent video games as a sort of pressure relief valve, a non-destructive way of venting a person’s anger. So it could actually help to reduce violent physical behaviour in individuals by providing an alternative outlet for a person to release his anger.
Besides, violent people are attracted to violent video games just as wannabe pilots are attracted to flight simulators. Playing violent video games is an effect of a person’s inclination towards violent behaviour, not a cause. So there really is no basis for the accusation that such games are the root cause for violent behaviour.
It is fun to note that after the interview, the news anchor concludes by saying “Alright. Jack Thompson – an attorney who specializes TERRIBLY in these crimes…”
