PlayStation LifeStyle » Josh Fernandes

DualShock and Awe #8 – Big E3 Reveal

Josh Fernandes — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:30:57 +0000

What will Sony’s Big E3 reveal be this year? Listen in as the guys go over what the surprise will likely be.

DualShock & Awe – The Last of Us Looks Awesome Minicast

Josh Fernandes — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:42:59 +0000

How could we not talk about the latest trailer for The Last of Us? Every time Naughty Dog shows off this game, it looks better and better. Listen in as the guys discuss the trailer, as well as what they expect Sony to show of The Last of Us at E3. Also, we announce the winners for the retail copies of Disgaea 3 for the Vita. Some of the entries were….colorful to say the least.

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DualShock & Awe #7 – Rumormill Episode

Josh Fernandes — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:53:35 +0000

The past week was packed with a ton of rumors that the guys just had to talk about. Delaying Bioshock: Infinite over multiplayer? Dead Space 3 with co-op? A new Dark Cloud game? Ok, that last one I made up, but a man can dream. Listen in for all this and more. Also, don’t forget to check out all the great community posts being published on the site.

As always, subscribe to us on iTunes or we will be very disappointed in you, and head on over to playstationlifestyle.net/live for live gaming sessions with Josh.

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DualShock & Awe #6 – PlayStation All-Stars: The Good and the Bad

Josh Fernandes — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:05:44 +0000

Today, we talk about PlayStation’s answer to the Super Smash Bros. series. PlayStation All-Stars lets four friends wail on each other with Kratos and Fat Princess, but will it be any fun? Listen in for all this and more.

As always, be sure to check us out on iTunes (link below) or out RSS feed (link is also below).

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Also, feel free to call in to our podcast at 331-222-7757 and ask us questions, or email the podcast at podcast@playstationlifestyle.net.

The First 30 Minutes of: The Walking Dead

Josh Fernandes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:48:34 +0000

The Walking Dead is an award winning comic book series created by Robert Kirkman that also has a well known TV series adaption. Telltale games has taken the concept and turned it into a decision based video game. Josh Fernandes from the DualShock & Awe podcast is here to walk you through the first 30 minutes of the game. Check out this video if you want a good idea about how the gameplay works and how the story is laid out for the games….also, see how much of a klutz Lee can be.

If you would like to see more of the game, be sure to stop by playstationlifestyle.net/live every night at 9 pacific to watch Josh play through more of the game, and also subscribe to the DualShock & Awe podcast on iTunes. Also be sure to leave any comments on the format of the videos below.

If you would like to see more of the game, be sure to stop by playstationlifestyle.net/live every night at 9 pacific to watch Josh play through more of the game. Also be sure to leave any criticism on the format of the videos below.

DualShock & Awe Minicast – This is the Stupidest Thing in Gaming History

Josh Fernandes — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:55:49 +0000

If you have seen the latest patent from Sony for a Move peripheral, then you might be losing faith in Sony. The guys on the podcast couldn’t figure what this thing would be good for, and this leads them into a discussion about some of the best and worst controllers that have come out for gaming devices. It’s surprising how a controller can feel great at the time, but then feel really awkward after not playing with it for a few years.

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And don’t forget to call our podcast at 331-222-7757 and tell us which luxury item you would bring on a trip to space, if you could only carry one to win a copy of StarDrone for PS3!

Also, feel free to call in and ask us questions, or email the podcast at podcast@playstationlifestyle.net.

DualShock & Awe #5 – Sony Needs To Be More Like Apple

Josh Fernandes — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:00:57 +0000

Yes, it’s a surprising conversation this week considering that most of the guys on the podcast don’t use Apple products. Sony is restructuring their company to focus more on gaming, but should they go even further than that? Does Sony need to produce fewer products in order to give them the attention they deserve? Plus, listen to the podcast to find out who won the $20 PSN competition for the best impersonation of a videogame character!

Also be sure to email the podcast at podcast@playstationlifestyle.net or give us a call at 331-222-7757 with any questions for the crew or comments about the week’s news in order to have your voice heard on the podcast.

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DualShock & Awe – Obscure Games and Free $20 PSN Card Giveaway Minicast

Josh Fernandes — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:04:44 +0000

We have another mega-minicast in terms of length and all the content we packed in. We go over the great suggestions you guys gave us for your favorite obscure games. Your suggestions were so great that we decided to hold another contest for a $20 PSN card. All you have to do is leave us a voicemail at 331-222-7757 and give us your best impersonation of a videogame character. This week, we also scored an interview with the winner of Season 3 of The Tester, Achilles. Look for that at the very end of the podcast (so if you don’t care about the show, don’t worry).

Also, be sure to enter the community art contest to win yourself a real life scarf modeled after the ones in Journey, which can’t be won anywhere else.

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The First 30 Minutes of: I am Alive

Josh Fernandes — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:31:02 +0000

We are starting a brand new feature here on PSLS where we play through the first 30 minutes of newly released games. Sit down with Josh from the DualShock & Awe podcast as he fights his way through a desolate city filled with scavengers in I Am Alive. This game has climbing puzzles, violent machete fights, and cans of cooked beans. What more could you want for $14.99 on the PSN store?

If you would like to see more of the game, be sure to stop by playstationlifestyle.net/live every night at 9 pacific to watch Josh play through more of the game. Also be sure to let us know if you like this feature and if you have any suggestions to make it better!

The Best PS3 Dynamic Themes

Josh Fernandes — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:06:24 +0000

Dynamic themes are a great addition to any gamers’ PS3 experience. Unfortunately, most themes cost a few bucks, and you can’t be certain that you will like the theme until you use it. Instead of having to comb through every single theme on the store, we’ve rooted out the best ones for you right here, both paid and free on PS+, and we even have video previews to let you see them in action.

Best Paid Themes

Flower

This is a great theme because of the sound effects and the simplicity of the theme. The theme shows a very tranquil, green field. Every few minutes, some flower petals blow by the screen. It’s a very relaxing theme to have on your PS3, and the sound effects are the same piano key hits that are present in the game.

Pixeljunk Monsters

The best thing about this theme is that it is easy to read the text. The background is all dark green and brown with white text so its all very easy to read. Every few minutes, Tikiman will run across the screen. It isn’t distracting which is exactly what you want in a dynamic theme.

OddWorld: Stranger’s Wrath

This one shows the view of one of the cities, with tall grass blowing in the foreground at the bottom of the screen. I don’t know how they did it, but the creators of this theme managed to make a dirt brown color scheme look beautiful.

Bacon

This is a dynamic theme of….well, bacon. This dynamic theme actually looks pretty good, and staring at that delicious bacon will definitely make you hungry. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Digital Blasphemy: Fluorescence

This is a really cool theme that has neon mushrooms on screen that just gradually change color. It’s very clean looking and a nice, relaxing background to have.

Digital Blashpemy: Tears

There are a few different dynamic themes under the title of Digital Blashpemy and they are all really good ones. Definitely check them all out, but the two listed here are probably the best ones. The Tears dynamic theme shows a night sky as meteors fall to Earth. It isn’t distracting at all, and like the Fluorescence theme is a really soothing background.

Skyrim

This theme is very impressive and one of the best on the store. It features the dragonborn standing off to the side of the screen with smoke that swirls around him. There is some cheesy text in the bottom left that says “The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim” and the theme would be better if that wasn’t there, but it is still a great theme.

Hitman: Absolution

This is very similar to the Skyrim theme, so it really comes down to which game you liked more in order to decide which is better. Agent 47 is standing to the side of the screen with only his only his torso and arms visible…so actually, it may not be him at all, just some random guy in a red tie. Anyway, he is holding a gun with smoke trailing off the barrel of the gun. Like all the other themes, it’s just a small amount of movement to make the theme feel alive, but not enough to where it gets distracting.

Shatter

This theme is incredibly simple with a ball that flies across the screen to break a block. The movement is a lot more subdued than in the game, so rather than having action packed chaos in the background, the background is actually very tranquil.

Uncharted 3

Nathan Drake is always in some kind of trouble, even in his dynamic theme. Nathan Drake is standing in the desert by a wrecked plane with no help in sight and a jammed gun. Like all the other themes, it isn’t distracting and easy to read the text.

Free for PS+ members

Journey

This theme switches between several dynamic images. The pictures are environments from the game, such as the desert and one of the caves. 1 out of the 5 images that are cycled through is a little hard to read text but the rest are great. Just a little bit of movement in each one. Also, its got cool sound effects.

Wakeboarding HD

This is one of the few themes on the store to take advantage of silhouettes, and is probably one of the better themes on the store because of it. All the movement is contained to the bottom of the screen, so it isn’t distracting at all. Also, this theme is composed of nice orange and blue colors that look great on an HD screen. It’s too bad the game wasn’t as good as this theme.

I Am Alive

This shows a destroyed city landscape with the main protagonist standing off to the side. A fire burns in a barrel and smoke and fire embers float across the screen. The small amount of movement in the theme fits really well with the desolate image on the screen.

Infamous: festival of Blood

This features Cole standing to the side of the screen with electricity arching around him, birds flying and smoke swirling in the background. There are lightning flashes that can be a little distracting, but they happen right behind whatever you are looking at so it isn’t all that bad. This has a lot more movement than the other themes in this list, so if you like a lot of movement then this is the one to get.

Dark Souls Dynamic theme (Japan Only)

These are actually free to everyone. The only problem is that you have to go onto the Japanese PSN store to get them. These have just a little bit a movement like the Pixeljunk Monsters theme, so they aren’t distracting and most of themes allow the user to read the text easily. Although you probably want to stay away from the Way of the White and Warrior of Sunlight themes.

PSN Review – Closure

Josh Fernandes — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:59:12 +0000

Do you like puzzles? How about perception based puzzles? Now I have your attention. Closure is a puzzle game that was originally developed for the website Newgrounds. Recently, the indie developer, Eyebrow Interactive, has created a version for release on the PSN with a bunch more levels. Is Closure just some cheap, internet time waster, or will it shine bright on the PSN? Find out after the jump.

The gameplay in Closure is much like the puzzle game, Echochrome, where if you don’t see something then it doesn’t exist. Most of the levels are shrouded in dark, and if the player steps into the darkness, then they will fall and have to restart the puzzle. This goes for keys and other objects, as well. The player will have to manipulate light sources in order to navigate levels and solve the puzzles. There are some really cool implications of this gameplay style. First of all, everything has an air of mystery about it. Everything is in dark and you don’t really know what is in a level. Even with spotlights, handheld lights, and hanging lanterns, there will still be areas of a level that never get lit up, and so you never know what is over there. There are also static images in the background that can only be partially be seen by the player. Some provide atmosphere, while others give subtle clues about what to do next. This game is as much about learning your environment as it is solving the puzzles contained within in it. Now, it may seem like not being able to see a puzzle you are trying to solve would be a bad thing, but the game never gets frustrating. Sometimes, you might need to take a leap of faith or activate a platform just to see what it does, but I never found myself wandering around a level with no clue what I was supposed to be doing. The layout of the levels light sources, platforms, and other objects always give strong hints about where you should be and what you should be trying to do.

The difficulty and complexity of the game keep it interesting and engaging. Initially, it starts out very simple in order to give the player a feel for the game. Then it starts playing around with new types of light sources. Then it starts introducing levels that are harder to navigate, and then it will start introducing even more light sources. The game goes back and forth between introducing harder environments and introducing new light sources that the player will have to figure out how they work. Water also plays an important role with some objects that float and some objects that sink. The mechanics are all very simple, so getting accustomed to some new gameplay or light source doesn’t take much time. Eventually, you will need to get to the point where you will need to think about the puzzle as a whole and try to make connections between different parts of the puzzle. This is where the game really shines, and figuring out the relationship between two things that at first seem unrelated is very satisfying.

The game runs into some issues with collision detection and some of the jumping puzzles. Oftentimes, the player will be required to drop a key in a precarious position. Not only is it hard to tell exactly where the item will fall, but sometimes the key will fall off the edge when it seems it shouldn’t. It is also hard to tell how dropping items onto each other will affect them. Sometimes they push each other out of the way and sometimes they don’t. This could lead to some frustrating parts where the player keeps causing keys to fall off ledges. Jumping and getting close to edges also has its glitches. Much like the keys, sometimes the player will fall off an edge when it seems they shouldn’t. The game doesn’t require a lot of long distance jumping, so the issue doesn’t come up that much, but it is very frustrating when it does happen. Luckily, there is a quick reset button for when you screw up a puzzle.

The style and aesthetics of the game are simply amazing. Everything is in black and white and has a feel of being very dark and grimy. Lines shake and move around to make the entire level seem as if it is alive. The drawing style itself give the impression of some dystopian future created by Tim Burton. The music also fits really well, which mostly consists of drum beats and ambient noises.

Closure is one of those puzzle games that challenges a player and looks good while doing it. Like all great puzzle games, it follows the philosophy of “easy to learn, difficult to master.” Learning about the mechanics of the game is simple, and woven into the gameplay well enough that it is actually fun to learn about the game. Anyone who picks up this game will find hours of challenging gameplay, but ultimately a great sense of accomplishment that comes with any good puzzle game.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ Challenging, Fun Gameplay

+ Aesthetics Are Amazing

- Some Mechanics Are Clunky

DualShock & Awe #4 – Could the PS3.5 be like the Apple TV?

Josh Fernandes — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 02:30:51 +0000

The three amigos (Josh, Cam, and Eric) are back this week and ready to dive into the future. With all this talk about the next PlayStation and the next Xbox, it got us wondering if our view of the future of gaming was all wrong. Could it be that the next PlayStation is going to be something along the lines of the Apple TV, with it being a disc-less device used mainly for PSN games and Netflix? Also, if Microsoft goes ahead and splits up their hardware into gaming and casual, how will it affect PlayStation? All this and more in the latest episode.

This week, we also lament the news that Resident Evil 6 will continue the trend of being a heavily action oriented game – all we want is the more survival/horror based gameplay that we saw in Resident Evil 2 and more recent games like Dead Space.

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DualShock & Awe – Bad Ending Minicast

Josh Fernandes — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 02:21:19 +0000

It’s time for another minicast! The controversy over the ending of Mass Effect 3 ending was too big for us to pass up. We give our own spoiler-free thoughts on the issue and ask the community to come up with examples of other games that should have had a different ending.

Too many games end up fizzling out before the end, or wrap up the story in a very lazy way, and of course there are those games that are so bad that you don’t even get to the ending.

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DualShock & Awe #3 – The Future of Gaming is Kara

Josh Fernandes — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:05:13 +0000

We have a slightly smaller podcast this week, as Josh and Eric sit down to have a one-on-one conversation about the latest week in gaming. One of the biggest things to come out was the release of the Kara video by Quantic Dream. Heavy Rain had some impressive facial animations, but so did other games like Uncharted 3 and L.A. Noire. Quantic Dream’s next game is sure to blow them all out of the water with their next game, with truly incredible animation.

I’ll tell you what isn’t getting another game, Sonic 4. Yes, Sonic 4 was originally supposed to get 4 episodes, but now it is getting only 2. In addition, the Resident Evil Collection is coming with the two Wii games and not Resident Evil 1 & 2, which may or may not be a huge mistake. Listen in to find out.

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PS3 Review – Order Up!!

Josh Fernandes — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:45:00 +0000

Cooking simulator Order Up!! originally released on the Wii back in 2008 and now has made its way to the PS3. Cooking simulators are fairly rare on Sony’s behemoth, so will Order Up!! be the game to pick up simply by default, or will it prove that its core gameplay can stand the test of time? I’ll tell you one thing, don’t try to use it as a cookbook….it turns out real life doesn’t have easy to read cooking meters.

Order up!! is first and foremost a cooking sim game. The core gameplay is getting orders from patrons in your restaurant and preparing the food. Each order will have individual components, such as having to chop a tomato for a hamburger or grating cheese for an omelette. Each action will be graded, and the higher you are graded, the more the patron will tip you. All the actions required to prepare food are simple gestures with the Move controller, with some tasks focused on speed and others on precision. The game also works well with a regular controller, just with analog stick movement subbed in for the Move controller. Playing with the Move definitely feels better, but either control scheme works fine. Food will generally need to be flipped or stirred to prevent it from burning, so if you put on multiple items to cook, then the game becomes a sort of juggling act to keep all the items from burning until they are done.

What? No cheese, onions, or ketchup? What kind of burger is that!?

There is a little bit of strategy involved in the game. Once you have a meal complete, it will sit on the counter until you ring the waitress to take it out. If a table has more than one patron, then all the meals will have to be ready before you can send the food out. While food is on the counter it will cool down, so it’s important to make sure the different meals get done at the same time. So, there is definitely some time management required of the player, however, all that matters is the final stage of the preparation. A player can make all the ingredients for a couple different dishes, and then complete the last step for every dish and get the food out without a penalty. Preparing multiple foods at once is where a lot of challenge and fun comes into the game and it would have been better if there was more of an incentive to try and cook as many meals as once as possible.

The game also features some RPG style restaurant management. Different aspects of your restaurant can be upgraded, such as getting a faster oven, buying new menu items, and hiring staff to complete different cooking tasks for you. Although some upgrades make it easier to earn money, the main goal is to earn stars for your restaurant. This is achieved through upgrading your menu. There is also the ability to buy special spices to use in your cooking which will result in a better tip – or you could just visit the black market dealer to buy secret recipes for your menu. These RPG style features add a constant theme of progression throughout the game, which helps to give a sense of accomplishment.

Switching between food stations is easy...watch that pot!

In all, Order up!! is a great game to play with kids. It has elements of some of the best cooking sims and restaurant management sims, and is able to combine them to create a fun gaming experience – for a few hours. The gameplay is far too simplistic for older gamers who will have the game deconstructed to the bare basics in a matter of hours. In other words, easy to learn and easy to master results in a mildly repetitive game.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ Fun, Intuitive Gameplay

+ Great Use of Move Controls

- A Little Too Simplistic and Repetitive