I gave them such a pasting that they don’t really want to talk about it afterwards! Whilst I acknowledge that I’m no pro gamer, I do offer some tips so that your team functions: 1) actually communicate with each other so that; 2) you can actually flank someone, 3) you don’t both go down the same narrow alley as you’ll both be blown to pieces by a grenade, and 4) you don’t throw a flash bang grenade in close proximity leaving your team sitting ducks. That is all.

For Uncharted fans Eye of Indra is a must buy.  The motion comic series is a prequel (note: yes, its canon) to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune containing some enlightening back story for Nathan Drake, a plot twist, and at least one person you’re not going to expect.  Apparently this particular series is just the first of many, which is a decision I applaud.  This means that Uncharted fans can quench their thirst with an Uncharted game every couple of years with extra multiplayer DLC and motion comics to flesh out the Uncharted universe in-between games.

I got the Uncharted: Eye of Indra Multiplayer Skin Pack which includes all four parts of the motion comic and two Uncharted 2 multiplayer skins, although you can get the episodes separately if you really want to. The skins pack contains Rika for the heroes and Pinkerton for the villains.  Go check it out!

I’m not usually one for speculating, but what the heck.  Time to move on to a bit of speculation: maybe all the motion comics will simply fill in the gaps between each Uncharted game?  That leads me to guess that another series could fill in the pieces between Drake’s Fortune and Among Thieves, with another series set after Among Thieves, rather like a sandwich.  A very tasty sandwich.

I’ve dismissed the possibility of Naughty Dog taking the Uncharted series into the ahem, mostly ‘uncharted’ waters of episodic gaming.  Sure, GTA IV’s episodes seem to have worked out all right, Criterion went purely down the DLC route, but Half-Life 2′s episodes are taking a long time to deliver.  I think the DLC/episodic content for Fallout 3 is probably the best example of this sort of idea done right.  However for Uncharted’s linear gameplay, in my personal opinion it isn’t worth Naughty Dog’s time and money to go down this particular route.  Their current setup seems to be working out well so far.

Have you bought any DLC?  If so, was it worth it?

People have been complaining that PlayStation Home simply lacks things to do, content etc.  And we’re all told that to attract consumers, ‘content is king’.  So where is it?  Well, in the article ‘Sony: Home is the “perfect storm” for publishers‘ by gamesindustry.biz, Sony describe Home as a platform upon which third parties can engage directly with PlayStation gamers with their own content.

It’s all now starting to make sense: all those who have chastised Sony for lack of content (I’ll hold my hand up, including myself), Sony isn’t trying to populate Home with a small collection of spaces released so far.  In reality, Sony is hoping to showcase the potential of the service with its own first party spaces and projects, tempting  publishers and developers going forward to provide the majority of content for Home, and to secure for themselves a lucrative slice of the pie.

They say they’re not in the business of creating the content for the Home platform, but rather creating “that initial spark” from which other developers and publishers can take ideas from those examples and build on them.  The release of the EA SPORTS Complex marks the first ‘big ticket’ space from a 3rd party developer and publisher with which to engage with current customers and potential consumers.  Of course, any content going forward needs to offer something for the user.  Note the massive failures of ‘Coca Cola land’ and the like from presenting a bland, shallow, corporate offering in Second Life that users stayed clear from.

Sony say that they have given gamers what they want: a social network for gamers that allows them to focus on their passion for gaming.  A clever insight starts with the obvious, that gamers don’t game 24/7.  Well, what better way than to keep gamers’ attentions by filling gaps between their play sessions within Home?

With the promise of three new spaces every month, a wide range of development support, and most crucially the blessing of the consumer, the future of Home looks very promising.  In my assessment, it’s just going to take us a little more time to reach that stage, after all I’ll give Sony credit where credit is due: it certainly isn’t easy building a content platform from scratch.

Content like Xi, the EA SPORTS Complex, and the Red Bull Air Race is just the beginning.