playstation

Last of The PS4 Games

PS4 Games: Final Releases Before The Big Launch

July 22, 2020 Happenings

Without further ado, the announcement of the PS5 launch has meant that I’ve to say farewell to the PS4 games which have seen the last of its 2 major releases in successive months. Since it’s the end of a fruitful and glorious journey before the big launch of PS5, to say the least, it made complete sense therefore to get the special editions of The Last of Us Part II and the Ghost of Tsushima, but I will come to that in a bit.

Although launched in 2013 I caught up with PS4 gaming only a few years down the line after it was announced that the ‘Uncharted – A Thief’s End’ would be the final instalment with Nathan Drake’s adventures. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of treasure hunting and adventure games, including the Tomb Raider series. But back then I was still finishing up with my PS3 game catalogue and such titles like Sleeping Dogs, Spec Ops: The Line, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Burnout Paradise, Guacamelee, The Last of Us, just to name a few from a long list keep me busy — it’s a different discussion on why I couldn’t complete most of them after experiencing the game graphics that PS4 had to offer!

My most fundamental memory of the PS4 games would be the design of the DualShock 4 controller, and the innovation of the TouchPad, etc. It’s most striking example was inFamous – Second Son where you could use the controller to draw graffiti on the buildings or emulate a DNA test by putting your finger on a certain corner of the touch-pad. Just brilliant!

Why Sucker Punch added touch controls to Infamous: Second Son

PS4 Games Have Its Own Aura

I’ll always be a fan of the action/adventure genre and without a doubt, some of my favourite titles on the PS4 will always be, the Tomb Raider trilogy — Definitive Edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of Tomb Raider, the Uncharted franchise that includes the Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Uncharted: A Thief’s End, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (I can’t wait for the next Uncharted title on PS5). Then comes the remastered versions of Burnout Paradise and The Last of Us, and last but not the least, the 19th-century sci-fi adventure of The Order 1886. To say the least, I’ve mostly played exclusive titles (check below), and to that coveted list, I will now add the final PS4 games of The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima.

Some notable PS4 Releases over the years.

There wasn’t a dull moment ever during any of those immersive gameplays, except for that one boss fight in inFamous – Second Son that made me abandon the game completely. Admittedly, I’ve only played a handful of titles on my PS4, mostly exclusives like I said, and persisted with some franchises that I’ve carried forward from my PS3 experiences. For instance, the expansive landscapes and the treasure hunt of the Uncharted series, the stealth gameplay and the gruesome puzzles of Tomb Raider, or even the sheer joy of racing a Renault Cleo through the rainy environs of the Bandipur sanctuary in India in Driveclub. Now with rumours abound of PS5’s backwards compatibility with PS4 games I’m definitely playing some of them again. For now, I will enjoy the last exclusive titles on PS4.

Quite Different Special Editions!

Speaking of which, I was disappointed with the Ghost of Tsushima Special Edition straight up. For example, the special edition pack for The Last of Us Part II bough just a month apart was loaded with goodies such as the artbook by Dark Horse Comics; a treat for art & illustration lovers, then there are double discs which include the soundtrack of the game.

Basically, when you buy the Special Edition (SE) of any PS4 game it shouldn’t feel like you missed out on a whole lot of stuff simply because the high-end Collector’s Editions have tons to offer but are always sold out no matter what! The SE is a way of rewarding the customer with stuff that’s really worth cherishing.

Coming from that experience I had a lot of expectations from the Ghost of Tsushima special edition pack but I was totally misled. There was no book included with it – it comes only with the Collector’s Edition which is always hoarded, and the rest of the items were a digital-only download. Going forward, my only wish is that Sony/PlayStation defines standards for what constitutes a ‘Collector’s Edition’ versus a ‘Special Edition’, and give it’s content a uniform structure across its marketing strategy.

TLOU_Special Edition

Playstation Knobs That Could Have A Unique Tone

June 7, 2020 Design
Playstation Buttons

If you’ve been a kind of a gamer, you can’t miss out on those 4 colourful ubiquitous signs of the PlayStation controller. On the other hand, there are chances that you completely miss their significance beyond using them as primary controls for interacting with the game environment. PlayStation logo and product designer Teiyu Goto explains the real reason behind choosing symbols over alphabets, which previous generation consoles were already doing, and it makes total sense:

Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that’s what I wanted.

Techcrunch

It’s not so much the design or the use of geometric shapes which are just perfect for a suggestion method & recall during the gaming interaction, but the colours of the ‘circle’ and the X that has got me all knotted up — based on Goto’s theory the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision markers should have been green and red. Ultimately, the buttons serve a different purpose today regardless of their conceptual origins. Speaking of which, maybe the red and blue for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ might find its inspiration from the Japanese traditions and culture?

It’s widely noted that more often than not colours are mere tools for marking a differentiation on the user-interface with the element, just like the four different shades of the geometric shapes. Today, one could conclude that the green, red, blue, and pink tones on the Playstation consoles are not just any colours but elements that are identified by an entire gaming generation as the basis for creating a strategy with a recreational intent, and for making advancements into the story. The time to make those subtle changes in the colours might have passed a long time ago.

PS4 HDD Upgrade For Endless Gaming

December 2, 2018 General

My first PS4 came in mid-2016, it was the Uncharted 4 Limited Edition 500GB HDD console and coinciding with the final release of Nathan Drake’s adventurous saga. I was excited and proud to lay my hands on it not only because it was my first PlayStation 4 console but it represented the ethos of the Uncharted series, a gaming experience which I had always loved and still love to this day! It’s nostalgic in some sense since I picked up this game for the first time on my PS3 in the last decade.

A closer look at the PS4 Limited Edition Uncharted 4 console. Words aren't enough. #playstation #ps4 #uncharted #design

The Background 

Despite the odds, in which I wrote a Reddit post on my ordeal a long time ago, to my utter shock, I recently ran out of disk space! I received a notification that the system was unable to download a crucial update of ‘Shadow of Tomb Raider’ to lack of HD space and I hate deleting my games lest I want to return to it in the future. However, it was shocking also because I never realised in the 2 years since owning this console that I might have played a lot many games! Then considering my older PS3 lasted out its life on a mere 120 GB without having to delete a single game, I think I might have grossly misjudged the size of PS4 games which I learned are normally somewhere between 30-40 gigs.

Since I have loved building Legos I have zero hesitation in tinkering with electronics, so I decided to upgrade the PS4 HDD and get myself some room for gaming. It did some reading to understand the technicalities and it turned out to be a simple 30-40 minute job, while the best part is that Sony does not consider an HDD upgrade as a violation of their product warranty terms. So I thought it best to leave some learning from my experience here for the sake of the future.

Continue reading…

PS Vita – A Diehard Fan’s Ultimate Eulogy

September 24, 2018 General Happenings Technology
PS Vita
The PS Vita (Metallic Red) version which was exclusively launched in Japan in 2016. 

I was kind of expecting this update for some time now so there were no surprises for me in discovering that Sony has decided to put an end to the manufacturing and supply of the PlayStation (PS) Vita through 2019. This handheld gaming platform which received a well-deserved upgrade 4 years ago in the form of PS Vita Slim is sadly going to be buried forever. Personally, I was never able to push the potential of the gadget, which I bought when it launched in North America in 2014; beyond playing the Uncharted – Golden Abyss, with other exclusive titles such as Killzone Mercenary and WipeOut 2048; and Mortal Kombat. In fact, it was the storyline of the Uncharted series that kept me hooked to the Vita for the duration of its gameplay and I bagged the Platinum trophy as well, but it also left me lurking in the dark about why some of the other more popular franchises such as the Second Son or Crash Bandicoot (available on the Switch) for that matter, weren’t introduced on this handheld platform. Presumably, Sony’s gaming studios were more focused on developing games for the PlayStation 4.

Continue reading…

Lara Croft & The Mayan Jungle Adventure!

September 15, 2018 Design General

I was pretty excited to grab my copy of the ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ (SOTR) this week, and a good 2 days before the official launch since I preordered. It also happens to be my first PS4 steelbook case title. The ‘Croft Steelbook Edition’ is a limited edition title that includes a Season Pass, 3 additional weapons & outfits, original game soundtrack, and 3 Art Cards which are basically artworks of Lara Croft in action. Besides everything, I was drawn towards the ‘Season Pass’ which was a deal breaker for me in the sense it gave me more side missions to play apart from the main story; I’m told, there are 7 Challenge Tombs, each with new narrative side missions, as well as 7 Weapons, 7 Outfits, and 7 Skills available with the DLC ‘Season Pass’. Let me also say this, that it’s a gorgeous design of the steelbook case inside and it feels like I’m holding an ancient document.

I am looking forward to diving into SOTR after experiencing the storyline in the cult prequels of the ‘Tomb Raider – Definitive Edition’ and the ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider – 20 Year Celebration’ both with out-of-world gaming and storytelling. Effectively I’m completing a trilogy, and until I play the entire SOTR I’m not sure if this would be the final episode with Lara Croft and her tryst with destiny — it’d be really tragic after Naughty Dog wiped clean Nathan Drake’s existence from the ‘Uncharted’ series (another of my favourite franchises), but keeping fingers crossed for Lara’s upcoming adventures.

For the time being though, I will bask in the glory of discovering & collecting numerous ancient relics & documents (called ‘collectibles’) and completing the challenges, then beat the extraordinary tomb puzzles and fight the battle-hardened forces of the evil Trinity forces but this time in the deep jungles of South & Central America laced with awesome environments and screenplay. I may detest the end of Lara Croft’s exhilarating adventures just as I did with Nathan Drake, but not so soon.