Free Fists of Plastic!

There's something of a deal going on at the Playstation Store right now, and that deal is Ragdoll Kung-Fu: Fists of Plastic.


I remember when this game was originally released for the PC via steam, but since then it has apparently made the move to consoles, remaining a downloadable title.
The game is free for one week on the Playstation Store, and since it is quite fun, I highly recommend adding it to your hard drive.
You get yourself a little plastic action figure/ragdoll, customize to personal preference, and then beat the crap out of similar characters. You aim your attacks with the left stick, punch with square, kick with triangle, jump with X, and block with circle. There are some SIXAXIS dependant special moves as well. At first these seem completely unnecessary (and probably are) but it's somehow fun to jerk your controller left and watch your character go flying left on the screen.
The single-player mode is really just a set of tutorials, and there's no online functionality, but if you have some live, tangible friends by your side, there is fun to be had. The lack of online play really hurts the game, but you CAN fill in slots with bots, and since the game is at it's best with all 4 player slots filled, you would be best served to make use of said bots. The multiplayer has standard modes like deathmatch, king of the hill, and capture the fish (flag) as well as the somewhat unique Dodgeball. Dodgeball still plays like a deathmatch but has a deathdealing dodgeball that will kill any player it hits in a single blow and is probably the most standout of multiplayer modes. There's a decidedly Super Smash Bros. feel to the game, with the fast-moving chaos of fighting and random weapons/powerups that fall from the sky, but Ragdoll Kung-Fu definitely does not live up to the same standard of quality as Smash Bros.
That said, the chaotic gameplay, jerky motion-sensitive special moves, and general sense of humor make this game a worthwhile download...while free. Once May 21st hits and the game goes back to its regular retail price of $10 however, you'd be better off spending your money elsewhere. And good luck getting the annoyingly catchy theme song that plays from the XMB out of your head. "Aaaaaahhhhh Ragdoll Kung-Fuuuuu..."

PS3: 2.4 and beyond...

Maybe i should have said 2.41 after the whole system crash debacle, but my system worked just fine with 2.4 so i'm stickin with it. But i digress. The point of this entry is that i can now say that when it comes to the Playstation 3 vs Xbox 360 argument the PS3 is the superior system in every way. Up until 2.4 i could go through the strengths and weaknesses of each system and say that came out basically even, and it was just a matter of preference. Also up until now, the only reason my entries leaned more towards PS3 was because i could only afford one system and went with the PS3 because it's online network was free and it had a Blu-ray player to show of my shiny new HDTV (I always knew Blu-ray would win out over HD-DVD anyway).
So now, yes, i'm afraid i must say that Playstation 3 is truly the superior system. But i can't just make a statement like that and not back it up, can i? Allow me to elaborate...

Hardware: The PS3 is simply a more powerful system. It is, if you're arguing with your monitor or even shaking your head right now, you are flat-out wrong. There is no way to make this a matter of opinion, the PS3 has more powerful innards; it is better, stronger, faster (let's call it the 600 dollar box instead of the 6 million dollar man though). This more powerful hardware means multiplatform titles will look better on PS3, although it's unlikely we'll see a bigger difference than we did from the PS2 to the original Xbox as that's roughly the same discrepancy in processing power. It hasn't shown very often thus far, but that can be easily attributed to the 360's year headstart (making it the more common lead development platform) and the genuinely new hardware of the PS3. PC gamers know how long it took before developers were properly able to take advantage of multithreaded games with dual core processors, and the PS3's Cell is essentially a septuple core processor! whoa. This should become even more apparent once we get studios really using PhyreEngine. Also, the PS3 never had any Red Ring of Death epidemic.
Media: One word: Blu-ray. Whether or not you like it as a movie format, (which i honestly don't understand to this day, it has nearly double the storage capacity of HD-DVD and twice the transfer rate) it's benefit to gaming is tremendous. With the increase in complexity of modern games come an increase in the amount of data that needs to be stored. And even if you can't wrap your head around that, consider how we needed these new formats just to have HD movies and that all these modern games are in HD. There ya go. Metal Gear Solid 4 had to be cut down to fit on a dual layer BD! That's a 50GB disc! How exactly are you going to fit that on an 8GB dvd? Yeah, i don't know either...but Kojima is a helluva lot smarter than i am.
Hard Drives: Yep, i know, the 360 has 'em too, hell so did the Xbox (so did the PS2 actually, but it came way to late for any good support) but the big advantage is that EVERY PS3 has a hard drive. This is important to developers, because that means they can account for this resource in making their games. 360 developers have to base their game on a system without a hard drive and maybe throw in some extra functionality or advantage for the users who do have one. Quite a step backwards on Microsoft's part.
Exclusive titles: Ok, so Sony was kinda weak here for a little too long, but they're picking up now. Besides, does anyone remember the 360's launch library? Uuuhhhh, ew. I'll take Resistance over Perfect Dark Zero anyday. But back to the present, they've got Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank Future, Heavenly Sword, Motorstorm, Warhawk, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Folklore (cult hit though it was) to name...the ones that i can think of right now. Now let's consider the worthwhile 360 exclusives: Gears of War (i've got that on my PC), Mass Effect (yeah, that one too) BioShock (yep, that as well, with better graphics and controls even. Oh yeah, and it's on it's way to PS3 with exclusive content) Halo 3 (i'm pretty sure it'll follow the first 2 and make it's way to my PC as well) Now let's have a look at the future. There's still Killzone 2, Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet, InFamous, Motorstorm:Pacific Rift, Valkyria Chronicles, Heavy Rain, The Agency, oh yeah and a version of Alone in the Dark that's actually enjoyable. I think i hit on pretty much every genre there, right?
Controller: Microsoft copied the DualShock, they've even admitted to this. Go back to the earliest days of the Xbox and you can find interviews and such with Msoft representatives saying that their goal was to combine the DualShock and Dreamcast controllers into what they came up with. And originally i was kind of torn between the new functionality the SIXAXIS offered and the force feedback the 360 controller gave me, but now there's the DualShock 3. And at least they didn't go with the Sidewinder looking boomerang controller. It may have been an attempt to copy the "wow" reaction elicited by the Wii-mote, but it still opens up new gameplay possibilities. Have you tried flying a Warhawk with motion control? It's a blast! (once you learn how to do it) Or how about the crazy soul-capturing spazfests in Folklore? That's just fun. And there's still new possibilities to be had. If i can digress for a moment to share one of my ideas with you: imagine a first-person shooter that has an enemy on the ceiling above you, instead of looking up to shoot it down, you simply tilt the controller sideways, pointing the gun straight up without adjustin your point of view, and BAM! Hells. Yeah. (i thought of this while watching Pineapple Express, watch it and see if you can figure out when)
Network: It's free. You Xbox fanboys can throw out "Live's only $50!" all you want, free is still free and 50 bucks is still 50 bucks. And 50 bucks can still get you a new game...yeah. This is really where the 2.4 firmware comes in. Also worth mentioning the firmware updates in general, it's nice knowing that i could have some cool new feature added to my system at anytime so long as there are enough people around the world that want it too. But now every little feature Live had and the PSN didn't, it's got it now. Cross-game friends lists? check. Downloadable shows and movies? check. (in HD even!) Easy to navigate online store? check. Achievements? check, but they call 'em trophies.
Now let's get into that; trophies. Worldwide bragging rights. No longer can you gloat just about how you outscore your bud in whatever online came you've played him in, now you can brag about how you've outscored him in gaming in general. w007! indeed. Not only that, but the trophy system is better, in my opinion. Each challenge bested doesn't get you an arbitrary number of points, it gets you a defined, universally recognizable trophy. The whole world participates in the Olympics right? Yeah, we all know what Gold, Silver, and Bronze stand for. (and mostly Platinum, I know the ladies do)
And then there's Home. Also free, like the network in general. With home, rather than just sending text messages to people you already know...somehow, you can walk your virtual ass around a virtual world, or into the virtual apartment of your virtual friend to set up some virtual games. That's virtually the shit!

So yeah, let's sum this up: Better hardware + better storage format + better controllers + better games + better network = better system. Period. That's not to say i don't like the 360, i actually do, very much. It's got some worthwhile things going for it (Live can still be crossed over to PC gamers...when they implement it) but now, when someone asks me which system is better, instead of saying "Weeelllll, what kinda depends on what kind of games you play and what kind of TV you have..." i say "Playstation 3, beyotch!!!"