"Medal of Honor" Closed Beta Impressions

This past Tuesday, the Medal of Honor Closed Beta popped up on my PS Store. I had hoped it would come out soon enough and to my luck, it did, but I feel a little short handed. I have had betas before and have usually enjoyed them completely.

The problem with this beta is, it feels as if the game is still in the Alpha stages of development. Texture glitches occur occasionally, the server synchronization is horrible and the graphics just don't seem as crisp as they could be.

To start off, getting killed in multi-player is beyond easy. As soon as you see a red splash on the screen, you are pretty much dead unlike in Modern Warfare 2. On the other hand, when you are trying to get a kill, 1 of 3 things can happen; the synchronization can change in favor of you or generally, your opponent. You can have the suppression mechanic work against you and throw off your aiming, allowing your opponent to get the kill, and then finally, you can get the kill if you can keep you sights on the enemy.

When it comes to the fluidity of gameplay, it is all over the place. The classes are fairly balanced like how DICE always does it, but the engine running the multiplayer just doesn't seem built for low bandwidth players like myself. This is really too bad considering that I had no lag issues in a beta for the 256 player multiplayer game MAG, but I can't stop having issues with Medal of Honor. This is actually a consistent problem with DICE products. I have Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1943 and I have also played the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Multiplayer demo, and in all of these, their are considerable lag issues. I think they should talk to ZIPPER INTERACTIVE about streamlining the fluidity of gameplay.

Now in terms of fun, once I started learning the tricks of this game, I started to feel drawn back to it, even over the multiplayer giant Modern Warfare 2. This strikes me as odd because this means that there is something there, but they are just having trouble presenting it.

Hopefully through all the of the comments, impressions and responses on the beta, DICE will pull it together and put out a fully finished product in the end. Overall, in Medal of Honors current multiplayer state, it would only get 5/10

A Month in Review, PlayStation Plus

To be honest, I should eat any skepticism I have concerning the team at Sony. PlayStation Plus is exactly what I would want from a company that I invested so much in from the beginning. I have nearly gotten my initial $50 dollar investment back in one month. This program is something that I plan on renewing every time I have too.

Well let's see what I have recieved this week and then we will see how much I have received in total from the PlayStation Plus subscription package.

Week 4
-Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Early Access Demo
-Heavy Rain Origami Swan Avatar ($0.49)*
-Bloody Escape Theme ($1.49)*
-Hulu Plus Preview

Week 3
-Gravity Crash ($9.99 DIS 50%)**
-MAG: Raven Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-MAG: SVER Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-MAG: Valor Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-LittleBigPlanet Sackboy Avatar ($0.49)*

Week 2
-QORE: Episode 26 ($2.99)*
-minis: Fieldrunners ($6.99)*
-MAG: Raven Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-MAG: SVER Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-MAG: Valor Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-King Zumo Theme ($1.49)*

Week 1
-Rally Cross PS1 Classic ($5.99)*
-Age of Zombies minis ($4.99)*
-Warhawk Fallen Star Pack ($1.99)*
-Cuboid ($9.99 DIS 20%)**
-Cuboid Add-on Bundle Pack ($4.99)*
-Fat Princess: Fat Roles DLC Pack ($4.99 DIS 20%)**
-Collision Theme
-Fat Princess: Blue Princess Avatar
-Fat Princess: Pink Princess Avatar

I am thoroughly pleased with the amount of content that I have received and I am sure that Sony is thoroughly pleased with my recent purchases. The total amount of content and discounts that I have received since day one totals to $45.83. That total is awesome, but the next part of this is what Sony loves, the amount of money that they have received. Sonys total profits since my subscription have been $66.97. This is more than double the amount that I had predicted that Sony would get from the average non-PlayStation Plus user.

In conclusion, their happy, I'm happy and the PlayStation Plus service is superb.

*Prices in parenthesis are normal price. All this content is free to PlayStation Plus users.

**The price in parenthesis is normal price. DIS denotes the discounted percentage for PlayStation Plus users.

Week 3 Savings With PlayStation Plus

Well I am astounded by the amount of content PlayStation Plus offers me. Here are the savings that it has brought me this week:

-Gravity Crash ($9.99 DIS 50%)**
-MAG: Raven Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-MAG: SVER Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-MAG: Valor Dynamic Theme ($1.49)*
-LittleBigPlanet Sackboy Avatar ($0.49)*

This is an additional $9.96 in savings bringing my total savings to $40.86. THANK YOU SONY!!! I have almost been paid back the $50 that I initially invested.

*Prices in parenthesis are normal price. All this content is free to PlayStation Plus users.

**The price in parenthesis is normal price. DIS denotes the discounted percentage for PlayStation Plus users.

What a Wedding Cake Should Have

The perfect wedding cake topper for a gamer guy and his girl! I think this will be the one I chose for my wedding since my fiance loves it.

The Savings Keep on Coming with PlayStation Plus

Since my original posting about the "Economics of PlayStation Plus", PlayStation Network has given out new free content to PSN Plus users:

-QORE: Episode 26 ($2.99)*
-minis: Fieldrunners ($6.99)*
-MAG: Raven Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-MAG: SVER Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-MAG: Valor Character Avatar ($0.49)*
-King Zumo Theme ($1.49)*

This is an additional $12.94 in savings bringing my total savings to $30.90. This is staggering, considering I received this amount of return within the first 7 days of subscription.

*Prices in parenthesis are normal price. All this content is free to PSN Plus users.

"Ninja Assassin" Movie Review

Very violent and action packed from the beginning. The structure was tweaked beyond the normal but it works in this instance telling 3 stories at once. As this is a science fiction piece, they had to set up the universe and its rules, which they did very well. The heart situation is one example that stands out. The movie definitely forms its own rollercoaster ride that goes up and down. The action sequences keep your heart racing and the story sequences give the character meaning and purpose. The twist does definitely re-engage the audience. The final battle gives the character even more purpose than some of the story sequences which makes you vote for him to win. When he seems to be losing the fight, you see no way for him to recover but in the end, he surpasses the master and is the true ninja.

-Overall Score: 9.5/10

"Get Him to the Greek" Movie Review

This is definitely not a date movie. If you take your girlfriend or wife, she may be appalled as mine was (But it was her idea). This buddy/comedy movie sets everything up right and gives you no loose ends on the details. The characters are set up perfectly and follow a very nice character arc. The situations the two buddy's are put into are very awkward and can be very disgusting but come out to be very funny in the long run. Clues and details about each character pop up as the movie progresses and they don’t leave or forget anyone for long, e.g. fatty's girlfriend. There is a very nice twist at the end and the movie was wrapped up very well closing any questions the audience may have had and giving a nice sense character change.

-Overall Score: 8.5/10

"The Killers" Movie Review

This movie starts off just like a buddy movie showing the two main characters daily routines. When they meet, it's funny as the guy is speaking French and she pretends to understand as she stares at him because he has no shirt. This is good because the people are not what is funny but it is the situations in which they are put. These two end up getting together and a significant amount of time passes but you get lost as they don't explain the time shift very well. The Point of Attack comes right on time with a suspicious postcard that turns out to be a coded message from his former boss. This starts an onslaught of funny assassination attempts on his life, all performed by different people. The wife joins in to try and help him unwillingly as they are thrown into these dangerous situations. As it gets more and more dangerous, only one clue, or piece of the puzzle is revealed and that is that he has a $20 Million dollar bounty on his head. In the end, everything is wrapped up with the big reveal and the twist, but there is no difference between the two. Everything happens so fast and furiously that it takes a moment to sink in who is good and who is bad. The ending feels very rushed as if they wanted to beat out the movie Knight And Day.

-Overall Score: 7/10

"The Ugly Truth" Movie Review

This movie was absolutely hilarious. It had built the characters very well. In the beginning, these characters were complete opposites. One believing in love, but never able to find it, and the other not believing in love at all. This gave them great tension and belief. In a comedy movie, its not funny characters that give it its appeal but it’s the situations, and this movie hit it off right. The guy threw the girl into so many things and her responses to them made us laugh. Another good thing for a movie to possess is a believable plot and it hits the spot again. Anyone can relate to at least one of the many story elements that the Mike or Abby character experience. I know I have experienced many of those things, and if you pay attention to each of the lessons and think about them, you'll find that each and every one of them is true. The character arc is very noticeable throughout the movie showcasing how each character teaches one another something and they begin to evolve to their final form. In the end everything comes together seamlessly in a final fight and then the guy gets the girl.

Overall Rating: 9/10

The Economics of PlayStation Plus

PlayStation Plus is Sony's premiere service for premium content on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable systems. Many people have lost sight of what this service is all about. For first party games and content, Sony doesn't have to spend a dime other than their internet bill to let people download games from their servers. When the average PS3 user buys something on PSN, they may only spend $30 per year on content, since disc-based content is still the primary source for said content.

If PS3 users buy into to PlayStation Plus, they get:
-1 Full PSN Title per month
-1-2 minis per month
-1 PS1 Classic per month
-Free Content such as themes, avatars and DLC
-Subscription to QORE
-And DISCOUNTED ITEMS

The buy-in incentive is the FREE content, but when users see the discounts that they get each month, their like, "dang I need to get this before they raise the price." When these users purchase this content at the DISCOUNTED rate, then Sony receives more money on top of the $50 buy-in, essentially doubling their profits. The average user however will not be aware of this.

Now, I did buy into PlayStation Plus, and for the most part, it is a very solid looking program and if users do not purchase any of the discounted items but do download everything that is free, then they will definitely get their moneys worth in content within the first 2-3 months, paying off their years subscription. I for one have received $17.96 worth of free content without spending a dime. This is where Sony intentionally took this Plus package.

Users get more content and Sony gets more money. This is the perfect "WIN-WIN" situation.