This post is incredibly late, but I’ll go ahead anyway. I had just bought a PS3 around a month ago, after over 15 years of not being able to play my own console. I had been a PC gamer throughout the whole time, and I can now afford indulging in what I had been deprived of and what my friends had been able to play with throughout my adolescence. This is a blog entry on my first month with this thing, as well as the first game I decided to finish with it.
My PS3
Having bought a PS3 just when the PS4 is three months away from release may not have been the smartest choice, but I did get mine for only PhP 5,000. The last console I’ve played on my own was my Sega Genesis that I stopped playing when the AC adapter broke, coincidentally at the same time when I got my first PC. Because of this extended console hiatus, my hands have become unaccustomed to pad controllers.
Another thing that my PS3 has let me do is finally use the Timeleak capture card I bought on eBay more than half a year ago. It turns out though that HD capture isn’t very obedient, so I can only capture up to 720×480 interlaced, so the picture I’ve been getting is rather crappy. I borrowed by friend’s HDMI splitter for purposes of streaming and recording, but it doesn’t really help with the HD problem. Maybe it’s actually HDCP rearing its ugly head, but I’m not educated enough in the intricacies of console livestreaming as of now to know for sure.
… or maybe this thing really is just a piece of shit. I’m not sure though since there are videos on YouTube of people using the same capture cards to record in 720p.
Perhaps I’ll need to have something like the AVerMedia Live Gamer HD in my checklist to finally get quality footage for sure. I do have a CDRKING Game Capture Box as spare equipment, but I’ve yet to test if it actually works better than this Timeleak. If so, I’d be quite disappointed.
The First Games
This PS3 came with a Sixaxis controller and two games — Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Vanilla) and Assassin’s Creed. I had always wanted to learn the first one, but it was the second one that I’ve spent more time with so far. I also bought Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, and Midnight Club Los Angeles through the Rockstar Collection.
I then screwed around in PSN and bought Journey and Wipeout HD after finding a source for PSN Cards, which is PCGameSupply. The site does charge extra for them, but at least I get to have funds for PSN since Sony doesn’t seem to acknowledge the existence of the Philippines. Seems like my friend BJ is right about the advantage of having an Xbox 360 over a PS3 in terms of the restrictions imposed on the latter.
Despite having these new games that I’ve never played before, for some strange reason that can only be explained by some metascience, I decided to play Assassin’s Creed again for kicks.
Playing AC1 Again
I had finished AC1 on the PC around 4 years ago in the neighborhood gaming cafe, and I thought of doing the same for the PS3 since I own a copy now. I may even get the subsequent games if I’m so inclined, especially since I haven’t finished those.
For the most part, I still remembered how to play the game, including the usual trick of spamming attack while holding R1 to get a counter quickly when an enemy suddenly attacks while you’re hitting someone else. In this playthrough, I just went high profile all the way and blasted through each mission, doing the bare minimum.
I was then reminded how I hated those informant missions that had you kill targets within 5 minutes without being detected. The best way to kill the targets is to lock onto them and throw knives from the rooftops. The problems then are beating the time limit, making sure that you have a clear shot at them, and having enough knives to kill them all. This shouldn’t be a problem, but I seem to lack the patience for this one for some reason. That was why I avoided them in this playthrough yet again.
Soon enough, I beat it and had to look at the mumbo-jumbo symbols again in the ending. During the first time, I was kind of thrilled to see all the 2012 and Yonaguni stuff. Nowadays though, I’ve had my fill of tinfoil hat stuff. While the game is pretty good, I don’t think I’ll be touching it again anytime soon.
What’s Next?
I may play Journey and write an entry about it, then I’ll go with Red Dead Redemption next. I don’t know if I can make videos about them due to the sorry state of my capture card. I’ll have to figure out my future in console gaming, as ludicrous as it sounds. There will be videos on PC games coming though.
