Nathan Drake is back for his greatest adventure ever. After a lot of peril and pain in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Drake actually succeeded in getting rich. But now he is back for some more action in the Sony PS3 title Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. When the game starts we find Drake relaxing at a beach side resort, an old friend by the name of Harry Flynn approaches Drake with a proposition to go to Istanbul, Turkey and rob a museum of a valuable artifact. And so begins Drakes latest adventure which has achieved some of the highest ratings including Game of the year.

The game starts off with Drake hanging off a snowy mountaintop by a train. You make your way up this maze-like train to get to the top of the mountain and the game takes off from there. You find yourself in multiple environments. From snowy hillsides, to museums in Turkey, to a civil war ridden city; you’ll always see something new. And the puzzles and mazes are abundant. Thankfully you have Drake’s trusty journal to help you through these puzzles.

For instance, a lot of the puzzles require you to match a real thing in the game to a picture in Drake’s journal, and that would open a door. Some of them require you to navigate around the environment, making impossible jumps to the top, and aiming a beam of light into a mirror to open a door. But, no matter what kind of puzzle you are faced with, they’re all fairly challenging and will keep you guessing for a way to solve them.

The game isn’t too terribly hard. Although I only played it on easy so I could pay attention to the story, I did go back through and try to beat it on hard. The gunfights get a little more challenging, but all it takes to get through it is some strategy and planning ahead. And for beating it on an even higher difficulty, you can unlock Crushing difficulty, which should add even more strategy and planning to the game.

The game is full of love, deceit, treachery, and more twists than you can count on one hand. After being betrayed by a friend, you find yourself racing an evil tyrant to Marco Polo’s treasure, which turns out to be bigger than they could have ever imagined. Like being immortal big.

The controls are generally the same as the last game. L1 to aim, R1 to shoot, L2 will be your grenade button. X will allow you to jump, O will put you behind cover, [square] will be your melee attacks, pressing L3 will switch aim sides, R3 will be zooming in if you have a scope, and the arrows will be how you can choose a gun. Picking up guns will be [triangle].

The games’ in-game achievements give a little more depth to the campaign. For completing certain things in the campaign (usually the same as a trophy) you get money, which you can spend on skins, cheats, guns, and a lot of really cool things to make your in-game experience better. This also adds replay value to the game. Going back through and earning the trophies and in-game achievements is always fun. And now you actually get rewarded for it in the form of game currencies which can be used to buy upgrades for the game itself.

The graphics are mind blowing. They’re top of the line for video games. And, they stay flawless in multiple environments. Whether Drake is covered in snow, or soaking wet, the game still looks flawless. The music in the game is interesting as well. Depending on the environment, the music will change. If you are trying to solve a puzzle within an ancient temple, you’ll get a nice mysterious background sound to go along with it.

Sounds in this game go a long way. Especially with surround sound. It almost felt like I was Drake. You’ll hear muffled sounds, warning yells, and enemies yelling from behind you. You’ll generally know where the enemy is and you won’t be snuck up on.

The multiplayer option which supports 1-10 players looks like it would be great, but we never got a chance to check it out. I was faced with an “Error syncing models” problem that wasn’t allowing me to connect to the servers. But, from videos that I’ve seen on Youtube, it looks like it plays very well.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a must have third person action adventure shooter which provides improved graphics over the previous version.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, Reviews

Tagged: game, PSP

Sony PS3 Game – Uncharted 2 Among Thieves Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 19, 2011 at 12:02 pm.

The RealView V-Screen Depth Enhancer accessory for PSP 1000, 2000, and 3000 uses patented “depth enhancing screen technology” to give an almost 3-D appearance to the screen.  RealView says the V-Screen works especially well with racing and platform games.  The V-Screen also incorporates a protective case for your PSP.  It’s available in the US through a few retailers, including Amazon.com for $42.04.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, News

Tagged: PSP, Video game accessory

Breathe Life Into Your Old PSP Games with RealView V-Screen Depth Enhancer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 27, 2010 at 7:31 am.

Sony are to announce a new version their fantastic Playstation Portable games console this week at the E3 Video Games show in Los Angeles.

Videos and photos of the ‘PSP Go’ have already been leaked on-line, revealing a much smaller and lightweight console, compared to the PSP Lite and PSP 3000.  The new model has also dropped the use of UMD disks.

In a leaked video, Sony’s senior production manager for the PSP, John Koller said “It’s got a 3.8 inch screen, it’s 43% lighter than a PSP 3000, will come with 16Gb of flash memory, will have Bluetooth support and all the content is digital, so the UMD drive goes away, so it’s going to be something that consumers like – downloading straight to a hard drive”.

Although no definite date has been given for a release of the new console, details of this are expected on Tuesday.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear

Tagged: PSP, PSP Go, Sony

Sony PSP Go to be unveiled at E3 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 1, 2009 at 7:31 am.

CoreCases is probably not a company that you’re familiar with yet. If their current offerings are any indication, that won’t be the ‘case’ for very long. I think they are going to give Innopocket a run for their money with their cool aluminum Sony PSP, and Apple iPod covers. Today I’m going to take a look at their Apple iPod shuffle case and their Black Sony Playstation Portable case.

Apple iPod shuffle Case

Made of light weight anodized aluminum and available in 6 colors (Silver, Green, Pink, Midnight Blue, Skye Blue and Black), this is a case that be worn around your neck, on your belt or in your pocket.

The case consists of 2 parts. A top shell and a bottom shell. The shuffle rests inside the neoprene lined bottom shell and the top shell slides shut over it to totally enclose the device. Perfectly lined up cutouts allow access to the nav button, earphone jack and Power switch. The earphone jack cutout is large enough to accommodate 3rd party earphones.

The back of the case has a removable metal belt clip. In the picture above, you can also see the the locking pins for the top shell.

Accessing the Power switch while the shuffle is in this case is actually easier (for me at least) than when the shuffle is not in a case. Something about the metal around the sliding switch makes it easier for me to activate. The only reason that you would need to remove the shuffle from this case is to charge it.

A simple white ribbon neck strap (not pictured) is included that can attach to the top right corner of the player.

I like this case quite a bit. The price is nice and it actually makes the shuffle feel and look more expensive.

Sony Playstation Portable Case

This case looks great and has a little something extra that might make you pick it over a similar one from Innopocket.

Made of Black anodized aluminum, the case is molded to fit the Sony PSP shape without adding much weight and bulk.

You might wonder what that silver dot is on the back side of the case. I did too when I first saw it. I didn’t realize that it was a magnet until I opened the cover though. Keep reading…

When the cover opens, you see the face of the PSP. Access to all of the controls is at your disposal. The case does not get in your way at all. The cover has 2 built in slots for Memory stick duos.

Here you see the reason for the magnet. Open the cover all the way and it snaps to the mating magnet on near the hinge of the front cover. In this position, you can set the case and PSP on your desk to view video content. Pretty nifty!

There are two things about this case that are a bit problematic. One thing that could use some improvement would be the grip-ability of it. It’s pretty slippery. I would like to see either a rubberized surface or some grip strips.

The other thing is the fact that you can not open the disc slot while the PSP is in the case. So, no game swapping.

If these two issues don’t bother you, for less than $15, you can keep your PSP protected and looking good with this case from CoreCases.

Filed in categories: Portable and Console Gaming

Tagged: Case, Metal, PSP

CoreCases Sony PSP and Apple iPod shuffle Cases originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 5, 2006 at 4:01 pm.

Protecting the gorgeous display on the Sony Playstation Portable is a big deal to owners of this popular handheld gaming device. Besides housing the PSP in a case when it is not in use, you also have to consider some type of protection when you’re actually playing games on it. Brando has a simple product that might just take up permanent residence over your PSP’s display. The Crystal Cover II is a plastic screen protector that covers almost the entire face of your device, giving you see-through and play-through convenience.

When you buy this product, you receive a thin plastic cover and a replacement thick rubber joypad cover.

The Crystal Cover rests right over the existing display and is held in place with 2 screws that thread into the PSP.

When attached, the cover adds very little to the weight and size of the gaming device.

The included rubber joypad cover may be an asset or hinderance, depending on the player. At first I thought it would work out much better than the thin profile one included with the PSP. But once I started playing games with the new pad in place, I realized that the additional height made my thumb cramp up. So, your milage may vary.

There are cutouts for the 2 sets of buttons on either side of the PSP. These cutouts match up perfectly allowing easy game play.

Viewing games or video content through the Crystal Cover II is just as nice as when this protector is not in place. The only problem that I noticed was the fact that dust under the cover tended to show up as black specks on the screen, reminding me of dead pixels. Also the Crystal Cover seems to scratch pretty easily… I guess it’s better that it get scratched other than the PSP though.

The bottom line is that this product will protect your display from scratches. I’m just not sure that it’s any more valuable than a stick on protector or just using a bit of caution.

Filed in categories: Portable and Console Gaming

Tagged: Plastic, PSP, Screen Protector

Brando PSP Crystal Cover II originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 30, 2005 at 7:56 pm.

I think most of us will agree that despite the $250 price tag, the Sony PlayStation Portable has become a very popular handheld gaming device. The PSP costs about $100 more than the Nintendo DS, which seems to take it out of the realm of a kid’s play thing, and puts it into the hands of us bigger kids: adults with disposable income. PSP accessories appear to be a booming business. There are chargers, speakers, screen covers, and cases. Like most high end devices, we want to protect them from scratches and everyday wear and tear. But how much disposable cash will adult PSP owners part with to protect their “toy” in style? Do they have enough to pay within $70 of the device’s original cost? Are they nuts for even considering it?

For those of us in the PDA community, the name Vaja goes hand in hand with quality and luxury. Now hardcore gamers can join the club with the i-Volution Leather Suit for the Sony PSP. This all leather play-through case is the snazziest one for the PSP that I’ve seen to date. If we just want to judge it solely on beauty, it wins hands down. But with a price tag of $180 (without personalization or a custom logo), this case better be great. Is it? I’ll give you a tour, then you can be the judge.

This case is available in 29 solid color versions, or 15 combination color versions. I received the Black and Red combo version for review. Like many times before, the first thing that hit me as soon as I opened the box, was the overwhelming scent of leather. Yum! Next was the feel of the smooth leather.

Vaja has outdone themselves with this case design. It is quite innovative. The bottom shell of the case splits into a top layer and bottom layer. The PSP slides between and gets snapped in place by two metal snaps. When in place, the PSP is not going to fall out of this case as the leather has been expertly molded to fit the exact shape of the PSP body.

The leather that makes up the top part of the ‘holster’ is flexible, yet rigid. There is one cutout that allows for full access to all of the buttons on the face of the gaming device. The bottom portion of the case is also rigid and slightly padded.

The screen cover part of the i-Volution is very stiff… almost like a quality guitar case. Inside are 3 Memory-stick Duo slots. These slots look like they might be spring loaded, but they are not. As such, it is somewhat difficult to remove the cards once they are in the slots.

A cool feature of the cover is the ability to fold it under the main portion of the case to act as a stand. In this orientation, you could watch a movie on the PSP while resting it on your desk.

When the cover is closed, the PSP is almost entirely protected by leather. The only parts of the PSP left exposed are the shoulder buttons, lanyard attachment point, and Memory-stick Duo slot cover.

The i-Volution is a play-through case. By all rights, you really shouldn’t have a need to remove it from the case once it is snapped in. The cover hangs down below your hands while holding the PSP. This allows for comfortable game play.

The cover also can be folded out of the way so that you can easily swap game discs.

As far as design and aesthetics, the Vaja i-Volution case has no rivals. This thing is just plain gorgeous. It’s made extremely well, and feels comfortable to hold while playing games. The only real problem with this case is the price. Paying $180 to protect a $250 device seems crazy when you could buy the $12 Brando Aero case and use the other $168 on games. Of course there are going to be people that will buy this case because for them it’s all about style. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that… If you have the cash, it’s yours to spend as you see fit. For me, I would save the $$’s and spend it on games instead. But that’s just me. Which type of person are you? Are you one of those people that will buy one?

Filed in categories: Portable and Console Gaming

Tagged: Case, Leather, PSP

Vaja Sony PSP i-Volution Leather Suit Case originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2005 at 11:39 am.

In the past couple of months, we’ve looked at several options for protecting your Sony PlayStation Portable from everyday wear and tear. Now PSP fans have yet another choice for protection, with the leather Clip Case from Brando’s Workshop. Available in Black smooth grained leather with contrasting white stitching, this case is made in the same ‘book style’ that we’ve come to expect from Brando branded cases. This one has a simple design that is suited for less rugged activities. You won’t want to rely on it for your next camping trip or off-road adventure, as it’s best used for transport to and from a gear bag or briefcase.

This product gets its name from the clear plastic clip cradle system that is used to hold the PSP in the bottom half of the case. The clip is molded in such a way, that the PSP can snap into it securely, allowing for full play-through use of the device. A plastic post in the bottom left corner of the clip, mates with a screw hole on the bottom of the PSP. This keeps the PSP from sliding horizontally out of the cradle.

When snapped in, you have access to all of the PSP’s buttons and important features. The only area that is difficult to access, is the MemoryStick Duo slot. The clip keeps the PSP elevated from the bottom of the leather case, so that you can even swap game discs, without needed to remove the PSP.

The bottom of the case where the PSP is located, is lined in a velvet like material. The PSP really doesn’t come into much contact with this material due to the plastic clip. The upper portion of the case, has 2 recessed MemoryStick Duo slots, and 3 card slots. The card slots are business / credit card sized, and can not hold extra game discs. I’m not exactly sure, why you would need business card slots in a PSP case, but they are there if you do…

The cover of the Clip Case is held closed with a strong magnet snap. When closed the PSP is only protected completely on one side. The left, right, and front edges are almost fully exposed. That’s why I mentioned at the start of the review, that this case isn’t recommended for hardcore use. Actually playing games while the PSP is in the Clip Case is fine. The screen cover doesn’t seem to get in the way as it just hangs over the back of your hands.

I would have to say that this is my least favorite PSP case so far. There isn’t anything physically wrong with it, it is made very well, and looks nice. But, I still prefer the cheaper Brando’s Aero case as it can hold some extra games in addition to the PSP. While it isn’t play-through, I don’t mind removing the PSP when I want to play games. That said, if this is the style of case that you prefer, the Clip Case from Brando’s Workshop will probably make you happy.

Filed in categories: Portable and Console Gaming

Tagged: Case, Leather, PSP

Brando WorkShop Sony PSP Clip Case originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 16, 2005 at 6:38 am.