January 06, 2005
Sony shifts 1 mn copies of GT4 in 2 days
Unsurprisingly, Sony would seem to have a hit on their hands with Gran Turismo 4. Impress Watch reports that a million copies were sold in the first two days after the December 28 release, contributing to the 36 mn copies the series has racked up so far.
Along with this announcement comes a reminder that next up in the series will be GT for Boys, aimed at younger gamers, and Gran Turismo Mobile for the PSP, which is scheduled to be out this spring in Japan.
[Via Impress Game Watch (Japanese)]
Gran Turismo 4 first impressions
While we're not having much luck laying hands on a PSP thus far (the Y7,000-or-so premium that shops with stock are charging doesn't turn us on much), we did come by a copy of Sony's long-awaited Gran Turismo 4 today. After a couple of hours play, here are a few scrambled first impressions:
Graphics
We really have no choice but to tackle this one first. While we have to confess that we tend toward the Sunday driver end of the spectrum when it comes to gaming and aren't totally up on the standards of realism that may have been set by other PS2 titles, our bones tell us that something special is going on. There are points when the race replays come close to the experience of watching motor sports on TV, especially if you switch over to the display mode, in which the visuals get treated with a series of lighting and exposure effects. A good job has also been done on the drivers in the open-top cars available--considerable study has obviously been put into replicating things like the wrist flick with which people who are really really good at it execute gear changes. When playing the impression is marred somewhat by the fact that your eyes inevitably tend to go from rushing expanse of asphalt to corner marker to track map and back again, but there's definitely a greater sense of realism and detail--trees, sky, grass are more finely drawn, camera flashes go off in the stands as you roar past, and so on. We did notice the occasional lag with redrawing the scenery in the rearview mirror, and there are times when pre-start sequences or replays for night races max out the hardware to the point where things momentarily go jagged, but overall, we could exchange this paragraph for a single word: Wow.
Sound
The impression is helped by the sound. The music's been improved, so while the dubious lightweight heavy metal instrumentals are still there, there's a good quota of dance tracks that are more, well, 2005. More than that, though, the cars sound better: things like the Dodge Viper come off with an intimidating rumble that adds a lot to the pre-start adrenalin. There's also more ambient sound--the thing we liked most was the wind noise, which adds a lot to the sense of speed when you're cranking it up the straights.
Cars
Our first reaction in arcade mode on getting to the car selection screen was to start giggling. The range available is unbelievable; even without unlocking any of the hidden extras, you get everything from modern-day Aston Martins to classics like the AC Cobra, with more obscure vehicles like the Jensen Interceptor (and for some reason, all sorts of antique hatchbacks) thrown in for good measure. There's also a nice option to search for cars on a timeline. This being the democratic world of driving games, however, no amount of LeMans-quality machinery will stop you being thrashed by some computerised bastard in a 1970s Toyota unless you get your game on.
Gameplay
While we don't recall having too many problems tapping our way around the track with a non-analogue controller for Gran Turismo 3, our instinct with GT4 was that analogue was the only way to go. It definitely feels like you need a more delicate touch to get around the track than in GT3. That said, the Sunday League races in Gran Turismo mode still offer a pretty lenient learning curve for the uninitiated. The variety of races on offer in GT mode looks to be way more extensive than in GT3, too, though we didn't have time to do much more than scratch the surface in a first try. One thing we'd note is our impression that more races require a license than in GT3, and that you'll probably want to pass the test for at least the basic license early on in the proceedings if you want to open up enough competitions to keep things interesting.
Conclusions
The approach has obviously been to improve on what's there rather than reinvent, and the game will be immediately familiar to anyone who's played previous titles in the series. However, the greater range of races, tracks and cars, and the quality of the graphics, sound and driving experience should ensure that anyone who was into GT3 should find that GT4 gets them revved up all over again. We'll have to put some more time in to determine whether there's enough in there to hold our interest over the long term, but things initially look good.
November 11, 2004
Oodles of Gran Turismo 4
Sony Computer Entertainment has just held a grand launch for the much-delayed Gran Turismo 4. Impress Watch has tons of screens, plus news of a Nike tie-up that has resulted in a GT4 limited edition with the game and a pair of trainers in a carbon fibre case, plus a Nike-designed car that appears in the game.
[Via Game Watch (Japanese)]
Videos of PSP Ridge Racer in action
We're still gripped by indecision about whether to opt for a DS or PSP, or just snag one of each, but the PSP definitely gets a leg-up from the video Nintendo has released of Ridge Racer. Assuming these are an accurate representation of what it'll look like on the handheld, we'd definitely spend money to carry something like this around with us.
Via Impress Watch (Japanese)
July 13, 2004
Closeups of the PSP
Impress AV Watch got their sweaty mitts on a working PSP at Sony's PlayStation Meeting, and have all sorts of closeups of the little critter. Even if our enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by the wild reports that the PSP's battery will have to be worn on your wrist and that it will only support ATRAC3 (the latter perhaps only wild in the sense that Sony is contemplating messing up its flagship product), this still looks chilly cool. The idea of 16-player gaming over WiFi also sounds deeply agreeable.
Could someone send some of those paramilitary-looking right-wing guys in black trucks round to the bit of Sony that developed ATRAC and have them chant about it being an instrument of Western imperialism that's a blight on the Japanese race or something, please? Nothing else seems likely to stop them.
[Impress AV Watch (Japanese)]
June 16, 2004
Brain trainer
Japan Toy Show gleanings: (We're getting all this off the web, we should note, since we couldn't make the thing itself.) Another item on Sega's stand was the Brainpower Trainer, developed with Tohoku University professor Ryuta Kawashima, which forces you to repeatedly tap the answers to simple sums into a calculator-like device and points out your mistakes to the whole class when you get them wrong and makes everyone laugh at you. All right, not really. Kawashima is a popular author of several books of brain exercises, so we assume he knows what he's talking about. If we're going to be cynical about it, though, we suspect you'd probably do just as well with a Y1,000-ish book instead of this Y5,000 device if you were in the market for a cerebral tune-up.
[Via Impress Game Watch (Japanese)]
Return of the Megadrive
Japan Toy Show gleanings: 16-bit fans will doubtless be delighted to see that Sega's bringing back its Megadrive, after a fashion, as a low-priced controller-shaped device that includes a few classic games (Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, etc.).
Those who have taken more than a cursory glance at ThinkGeek will doubtless be familiar with the existence of this kind of thing, but this may be the first 16-bit model to hit the market. Should cost about Y4,000.
[Via Impress Game Watch (Japanese)]
April 21, 2004
The halcyon days of the beef bowl on your PS2
May sees the impeccably timed launch of a PlayStation 2 game that puts you in charge of a branch of gyudon (beef bowl) chain Yoshinoya. The timing is ironic since given the continuing import ban on US beef, none of the major gyudon chains are actually serving the dish.
The game involves, as you might expect, things like getting customers to their seats, taking their orders, and making sure that the beef, onions and rice come out even. The customers who visit your restaurant are a little snapshot of the times: company presidents struggling against the recession, advanced robots (?), potters (potters?), and so forth. If you run a happy ship, the beef bowls start glowing and your customers start spinning around.
Out on May 27 in Japan, and should cost Y3,990.
[Via Game Watch (Japanese)]