Spotlight on: Spinnerette

There's a new hero squirting sticky white fluid everywhere: meet Spinnerette

I've never been an enormous fan of superhero comics; far be it from me, a fan of super-sonic hedgehogs and bright blue weapon-stealing robots, to say that adults can't enjoy something fundamentally aimed at children, but therein lies the problem - Marvel and DC tried to grow up with their audience, and it went about as well as you'd expect for adults clinging to their childhood. Trying to slap a welcome layer of self-knowing deprecation on top really doesn't help either; it just adds layer after ridiculous layer to a pair of universes that manage to reboot and retrograde themselves all the time, yet can never bear to completely drop something from the increasingly tangled Christmas lights that are their respective continuities. I'd go on, but this paragraph ended up running to five hundred words more before I deleted it in favour of simply moving on to today's comic, Spinnerette.

Tongue firmly in cheek, Spinnerette avoids the trap of straight-up parody, instead playing out as a relatively by-the-numbers comic that comes with its own collection of quirks, be it the League of Canadian Superheroes announcing themselves in both English and French or lead girl Heather being sued by Marvel after using a fancy dress costume for her disguise. Everyone has their own quirks; the male Green Gable is forced by tradition to follow his female superhero ancestors by wearing a dress, and Kat O'Nine Tails uses her prehensile tails to be a part-time masseuse. Heather, meanwhile, learns to her dismay while trying to shoot webs from her wrists that, true to a spider's anatomy, her webbing shoots out from her butt; close enough, at least, to make using it an off-puttingly awkward affair in early chapters.

Author KrazyKrow apparently has plans for the future, including a spin-off featuring the lead trio's Canadian counterparts, but none of it is likely to see the light of day without support and recognition. So, head on over to http://www.krakowstudios.com/spinnerette/ to start reading.

Skullkicking some sense into publishers

Well there's a first. In a staggeringly gutsy move, a Russian comic book fan has contacted the creator of Skullkickers and asked if he would provide textless copies of the comic, to make it easier for him to translate it into Russian and pirate the series across the internet.

What he says does make sense, though; with no translation of Skullkickers available, the only reasonable way for Russians to read it is by wiping the comic clean and re-writing the dialogue from scratch. What I want to know is, why hasn't the comic book industry thought to do this themselves?

Manga is by far the best example to look at; despite a strong fanbase in the west, manga publishers often take months to translate and release English language copies; in the case of Fullmetal Alchemist, Viz Media played catch-up for a while after obtaining the rights to the series several years after its original publication, then slowed the pace until US volumes were coming out at a steady pace, a little over a year after Japan. When teams of unpaid amateurs are buying, scanning, emailing overseas then scrubbing, translating and re-writing mere hours after release, it seems incredible that the actual, paid translators aren't able to bash out an English copy in a week, even accounting for quality control and general bureaucracy.

I've long used the rampant piracy of manga as a prime example of the folly of failing to secure a narrow window for international releases, as well an excellent argument for allowing fans more participation in the things they love. Why turn up your nose at free labour? By all means give us professional, localised releases, publishers, but in the space between international releases, sell the blank slates and let the fans fill them themselves; they sure as hell aren't going to stop doing it if you don't, and recognising their efforts brings the potential for greater profits, a better relationship with readers and a stronger, more enduring fan base. And isn't that what we all want?

On the subject of bears

During the many, many trips to the loading screen, Skyrim offers the useful hint that bears, while as deadly as one ton of razor-tipped furball should be, will generally leave you alone if unprovoked.

Lies. Absolute, god-damned lies, issued forth from the mouth of Loki himself. I don't know if my Argonian moisturises himself with steak tenderloin when I'm not looking, but those lumbering fuckers can't get enough of me. The second they clap eyes on me, they come tearing over hill and dale with all piss and vinegar, yearning, aching for juicy reptilian ribs.

And this isn't just me belly-aching. They become as single-minded as a worker ant crossed with The Terminator; a pair of grizzlies charged through the entire Riften town guard, a group of nearby traders and a god-damn dragon, such was their lust for my flesh.

My solution of blowing them downhill with a gust of kick-ass Dovahkiin breath didn't go quite as planned, as it sent the two-dozen warriors I'd been sort of banking on at this point careening towards sea level like skittle pins. On the plus side, they were stopped short when they broadsided the dragon.

But in all seriousness, screw you Bethesda. Just... the hell with you.

Review: Sonic Generations

It's taken an uncharacteristically long time, but Sonic is finally back

As I said in my preview of Generations, I ended my review of Sonic Colours on a fairly bum note. As much as I liked the direction that Sonic Team had taken, I felt that the core gameplay hadn't stepped up its game enough to stop the series sliding back into mediocrity as time goes by and standards continue to rise. I wanted to see Sonic Team stripped of development privileges and to have the series turned over to a third party developer, on the assumption that Sonic Team weren't capable of learning any more lessons. Now, I'm not so sure.

My criticism of Colours was based on the assumption that its flaws were endemic to the gameplay style itself; raw speed seemed to inevitably lend itself to unfair deaths, endless collisions and reaction times beyond the reach of man. It made the new pseudo-racing style feel like a dead-end, one that didn't offer any opportunity for further development and only really had the option of getting faster and more linear. Let me tell you, for a long-term Sonic fan it feels good to be able to say that that is now, very apparently, not the case.

Retro|Spective: Wario Land 2

Barge, kick and elbow your way through with Nintendo's surliest anti-hero

Wario is an unlikely hero, all in all. His story begins in Super Mario Land 2 for the original brick-sized Game Boy, where his appearance as the final boss was that of a bulbous headed, slightly lop-sided and blood-curdlingly ugly troll. He was less of an evil counterpart to Mario and more of a badly deformed twin who the plumber's family bundled into a special home and quietly forgot about; to look at him back then you'd be forgiven for being a bit mystified as to how he could have achieved enough popularity to completely supersede Mario in the next series instalment and transform into a whole new franchise in his own right.

But do so he did indeed, and over the course of two games his appearance was refined from a doughy-faced gremlin into a sneering, leering slab of pork, his frame squat and bullish in comparison to Mario's inoffensive jolliness, with a series of bad-tempered kicks and shoulder-barges and an irate throwing arm comprising his attack range. Here was a character that was, and still is to this day, a delightfully blunt antithesis to Nintendo's pantheon of heroes, bashing his way with bloody-minded abandon in search of nothing more than filthy, filthy riches. Wario is an absolute jerk, and as is generally the case with video games, being bad is always so much more fun than being good.

Digital Remix: JD Harding

This week: video games! Next week: Much the same!

Poor lad Harding is having a difficult time selling his remixes to the masses right now, so this seems to be the right time to big him up and give him a shout. He doesn't stray as far from the beaten path as the OverClocked crowd, but if you're looking for a fresh take on the video game music of the 8 and 16 bit eras that amounts to more than just swapping out instruments in FL Studio then I'd suggest taking a look.

And if you find yourself digging his chops, why not throw wads of money at him at his Bandcamp page?

Spotlight on: Dorkly Bits

There are plenty of video games parodies about, but few that are as self-assured as this. Dorkly Bits shares the anarchic sense of humour of Family Guy, with everything from Samus Aran getting a lesson in gender politics from her agent to the horrifying truth behind Tails' immortality, but brought together from sprites ripped from the very games they're parodying.

It's amazing what you can do with a Photoshop chop-job and the liberal application of Flash, but there's a professionalism that belies the retro graphics; occasionally you'll spot an eyeball not quite where it should be, but the transition from original to modified sprite is pretty seamless overall, and they do a great job of recreating the feel and physics of each game when necessary.

It all adds up to a world we know and love from bygone years, with a real yet surreal twist. If you want to show your support for Dorkly Bits, head over to http://www.dorkly.com/originals and consider buying a copy of this magnificent beast:

Series Review: Torchwood - Miracle Day

Like Jack himself, Miracle Day is a tale of immortality that has no idea when to end

I've never been much of a fan of Torchwood, ever since the slick, technological powerhouse from Doctor Who was relegated to a grot-infested sewer in Cardiff for its first series incarnation. That dark and dingy downgrade exemplified the core problem I had with the spin-off; it wanted to riff off of the no-holds-barred sci-fi nonsense of Who, but was too enamoured with its own ideal of being gritty and adult to ever let itself do anything entertaining with the concept. Where Doctor Who could let its childish wackiness set the pace and tone, Torchwood was in desperate need of its own pace-setter.

Children of Earth proved to be an excellent turnaround for the series in that regard, more than halving the series run of thirteen standalone episodes to just five instalments with one continuous storyline. It was leaner, punchier and, most importantly of all, didn't flop about from point to point like a cat trying to mindlessly pounce on a laser pen dot. And if that seems like a strange analogy, I'm afraid it pretty much sums up where Miracle Day goes wrong.

Series Review: Doctor Who - Closing Time

INT. AN ORDINARY HOUSE, DAY

THE DOCTOR

Oh come on, it's the
penultimate episode of the
series; do we really have
time to piss the story
up a tree like this?

JAMES CORDEN

I'm such a terrible father!

If only I weren't such a

useless shit I might

be able to cope!

JAMES CORDEN'S BABY

I'm the most well behaved

infant in the world, what

possible issues are you having

that couldn't be dealt with

by even semi-competent

parents?

Digital Remix: Sonic the Hedgehog part 1

It's time to showcase the many excellent remixes of a series steeped in memorable music

Excellent music has been a constant across the entire Sonic series, regardless of the quality of the games; the combination of a cartoonish cast and a healthily unrestrained approach to balls-to-the-floor set-piece design is reflected in a legacy of varied, catchy and energetic tunes.

As you'd expect, this has led to a pretty diverse portfolio of remixes and rearrangements, and there are way too many to contain within one post. With that in mind, I'd like to present to you an entire album this week, one of several pulled together by the OCRemix community and one with more than a few highlights to pick out.

Spotlight On: Squeedgemonster

No webcomic this week, just big, bright monsters as far as the eye can see

Squeedgemonster is a big fan of her fantasy creatures - all horns and claws and big fang-filled grins - but combines them with the bold and clean lines of a graffiti artist. The result is a range of leering and dangerous characters, exuding an air of ominous, deep-seated malevolence, yet full of colour and life and sheer exuberant vitality. If monsters and furry-themed album covers don't do it for you, Squeedgemonster recently knocked out a batch of drawings for Shark Week, which avoid being too caricatured while still retaining the energetic style that is so immediately and obviously hers.

The picture to your right is one of several bits of artwork she's done for http://www.lapfoxtrax.com/, and features one part of their duo of musical shark girls, Mischief and Mayhem; I can't honestly say their music does anything much for me, but it would be fairly remiss of me not to mention what is arguably the soundtrack to her art, especially when it ties in so heavily to the two characters she draws more than any other; besides, their site links straight to their store, should you fancy adorning your walls or self with her work, which you really should. It's slightly annoying that Squeedgemonster isn't taking any commissions right now, as you'd probably be seeing something of hers at the top of this blog right now if she were, but until she does, please do enjoy Mayhem about to toast someone with the evil cousin of Bullet Bill.

See more at http://squeedgemonster.deviantart.com/

Digital Remix: Cheetahmen theme

A pair of excellent remixes from two of the worst games in history

Action 52 was a baffling and distressing addition to the NES library; based on illegal Taiwanese carts that ripped dozens of legitimate games at a time, sold for an astonishing $200 and home to some of most the incompetent programming committed to screen, it was little wonder that the compilation was never officially licensed by Nintendo.

Possibly the most incredible part of the saga is that, despite being so abominably awful it couldn't even receive official licensing, Active Enterprises apparently believed that the star of the piece, The Cheetahmen, would be successful enough to spawn its own toy range, perhaps even more. The discovery of a fifteen hundred-strong cache of cartridges for Cheetahmen 2, re-purposed from old Action 52 carts, only further demonstrates that human folly really does know no bounds.

On the face of things, there really isn't anything too special about the one and only tune to be found throughout the two Cheetahmen games, although it made a perfect soundtrack for Syoban Action (more on that in a few posts' time...). But in the hands of the OCRemix community, a pair of excellent remixes have come forth, and both have their own unique charms.

The first is a punchy techno track highly reminiscent of the Timesplitters series:



The second goes for a more retro bent, and would be perfectly at home with the jazzy sounds of Sonic 3. Enjoy them both.

Free Game Giveaway: Super Mario Crossover

Is Mario the true hero of the Mushroom Kingdom? Simon Belmont disagrees. And so does Mega Man and SOPHIA and Samus and...

Hacks and tributes to Super Mario Bros are ten a penny these days, but SMC goes to astonishing efforts to recreate the classic NES platformer, from graphics to physics, without a change in sight; having done so, it then throws in a slew of classic 8-bit characters to find out if Mario really is the best man for the job, in his own video game.

From Simon Belmont to Mega Man, a host of NES classics are represented here, and while their various powerups have been modified to fit the three-tier mushroom economy of Mario's world, they all accurately represent their respective franchises, and it's equally fascinating and nerve-wracking to see them duke it out with Bullet Bills and Cheep-Cheeps; Mega Man has serious problems against the Lakitus in particular, as his inability to aim upwards makes for a frantic and powerless mess of a run, constantly stopping to bring in Rush so he can bounce over high obstacles. SOPHIA of Blaster Master fame, meanwhile, proves to be an unstoppable juggernaut, as her jetpack and multi-directional fire make short work of both Lakitus and tricky jumping segments.

Free Game Giveaway: Octodad

This week, a game that makes everything a hassle

At roughly an hour in length, Octodad is definitely more of a taster than a fully fledged game, but with a sequel in the works and an indie team in need of both support and encouragement to see it through, it's definitely worth taking some time out of your afternoon to experience it.

Octodad puts you in the odd-fitting shoes of a cephalopod trying to pass himself as a human; cleaning the fridge, playing football with his son and fetching his daughter her favourite stuffed dolphin are all taken in his bandy, slippery stride.

These mundane tasks are rendered monumentally infuriating by the controls, which manage to simulate his plight with merciless efficiency. Movement involves holding the mouse button that corresponds with a given leg, dragging it across the screen and then letting go, dragging back and repeating with the other foot. Hand control involves much the same, and requires precision tentacle-groping to snake your slimy mitt past picture frames and flowerpots to grab whatever it is you have your eye on.

Retro|Spective: Dynamite Headdy

This week, Fruitbat looks at an often-overlooked Megadrive classic

Ask any gamer what Treasure are famous for and ten times out of ten the words 'Gunstar Heroes' will be the first thing to come out of their mouths. It's still being re-released on all three current gen consoles, and rightly so; Treasure's first game blended platforming and arcade shooting perfectly, and has aged surprisingly little over the years.

Gunstar Heroes exploded on to the scene with passion and style, so it's easy to see why Dynamite Headdy tends to get overlooked. It isn't that the game doesn't get any recognition, but any acknowledgement of it always ends in '...but I thought Gunstar Heroes was better'. Maybe it is in certain ways, but the two are very different beasts, and as tightly made as Gunstar Heroes is, it simply can't hold a candle to the sheer madcap inventiveness and baffling uniqueness of Headdy's adventure.

Spotlight On: The Abominable Charles Christopher

For the first installment of Spotlight, Fruitbat looks at the abominably good Charles Christopher

Sometimes I think that Abominable could be the next great newspaper cartoon, if the internet hadn't rendered them completely obsolete, and if webcomic readers and tabloid readers intersected on the great Venn diagram of life in any way shape or form.

And don't think for a minute that I'm placing it side by side with the likes of Marmaduke and Fred Basset (the British equivalent, in so far that they both contain dogs and make you burst into peals of inconsolable despair). No, this would stand tall with the likes of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes, a comic that delivers humour and poignancy in three-to-six panels, wrapped up in a quality of artwork that is pretty much lost in the current sea of mediocrity.

Free Game Giveaway: ROM CHECK FAIL

This week, Fruitbat looks at an arcade-style oddity

Like the very best arcade and puzzle games, ROM CHECK FAIL concerns itself with one simple idea that spawns endless possibilities, both for victory and defeat. That it features a healthy dose of nostalgia is very much in its favour, too.

Each of the game's twenty levels feature a single screen festooned with level blocks and a set of enemies, which need to be cleared in order to advance. What makes the game so unique is that every element of the level - from player to enemy and music to background - is randomised based on a tidy collection of old-school video games. In any given level you might find yourself pitting Pac Man against the Space Invaders, or the ship from Defender against an army of Goombas. Every player and enemy behaves exactly as they do in their respective games - getting caught as the Space Invaders ship spells trouble, as you can only move left and right, but Link and Pac Man are free to roam the screen at will.

Welcome One and All!

It's a brand new Fortress! Where posts are as punctual as British Rail and factual accuracy is a thing of the past!

Seriously though, with my workload chopped in half (who knew you could work as little as 40 hours in a week?) I'm finally in a position to spend some quality time with my Fortress, and with it will come new articles posted on a weekly basis of all things media (but mostly games, if I'm being honest), as well as some new sections including but not necessarily limited to:

Free Game Giveaway

Man, there sure are some good games out there, and some of them won't cost you a dime! They may be short, a little rough around the edges and occasionally demand runtimes that they should really have the foresight to package with the installer, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve your love, and that's why I'll be featuring them.

Retro|Spective

Like a vintage car, all games have to fall out of fashion and grow old. But unlike a vintage car, they can stay spotless for evermore, without rusting or bits occasionally falling off. Some even improve, like vintage wine! The ones featured in Retro|Spective are my favourites, hand-picked and Fruitbat-certified.

Digital Remix

If there's one way in which video games haven't aged a day, it's in the music department. Retro tunes are as catchy as they ever were, and their synthetic beeps have only retained their charm. From the early days through to the modern day, many is the tune that can be rejuvenated and made new once again by a catchy remix. Check in here for some of the best.

Artist Spotlight

Thanks to the internet and the advent of digital galleries, finding a raft of talented artists and decent webcomics has never been easier, to the point of being ridiculously overwhelming. Since I love rummaging through both galleries and webcomics, I'll be showcasing my favourites in the hope that they can become yours as well.

Series Review

I'm damned if I have the time to pick apart a TV series episode-by-episode, week in, week out, but once the dust has settled and things have run their course, I'll be giving my verdict on whether it was all worth it. Series' both new and old will find a home here.

That's all for now; welcome to the Fortress, and enjoy your stay!

Sonic Generations

Hands-on with the demo

A few months back, I concluded my review of Sonic Colours on a fairly bum note. For the most part it was a fast and fun platformer, and it showed that Sonic Team still have huge creative potential, but they just didn't have the skill to match the creativity with tight, slick gameplay. Judging by the newly released demo of Sonic Generations, I'll be needing to give Sonic Team a little more credit come November.

Tomb Raider

A retrospective that shows why this is one fruitbat who is psyched for the upcoming reboot

The original Tomb Raider games are, without question, the scariest games I've ever played. Well, I say played; after being mesmorised by the very first game on a friend's PC I was compelled to pick up the sequel a few years later. I made it as much as five levels in before the jitters and the willies ganged up and assaulted my nervous system, forcing me to quit to desktop with shaking hands.

There's something, by which I mean several somethings, that I find terrifying about the old-school Tomb Raider. Partly it's the golem-esque thugs who stride towards you in complete silence, not even flinching at a shotgun blast delivered point-blank to the chest. Partly it's the sudden and monstrously unfair traps that wipe out your health bar in a furious storm of pixellated blood. But really, what makes Tomb Raider 1 through 5 so knee-knocking, so breath-catching and so utterly memorable is the pitch-perfect design and atmosphere.

Where next for consoles?

As all three manufacturers announce new consoles for release within the next three years, what can we expect from the next generation of consoles?

How have consoles and games grown in the last generation? A wider variety of controls like Kinect, Wii Remote and multi-touch; better social tools like Steam groups, friends lists and Facebook updates; a sideways leap into movie rentals, digital comic books and television services; even smaller, indie games like Braid, Limbo and Stacking have gone from being marginal titles to some of the biggest on the download stores.

Video games are changing fast and no-one is entirely sure what the next big step will be or when it will hit us. Consoles of the future are therefore in need of flexibility and reactivity, with as few stumbling blocks to unexpected change as possible. With that in mind, I'd propose the following improvements for the next wave of hardware:

1.5 is the new 2.0

Are console bolt-ons the next step?

The console life cycle has started wobbling in the last couple of years; there's barely been the faintest hint that a new home console is on the way, and if the Kinect is anything to go by then Microsoft, at least, is more interested in shoring up the 360 than moving on to another console. And let's be honest here, exactly what point would there be to a new console? The Wii is suffering from an image problem rather than a lack of horsepower; a HD upgrade and an enormous GUI overhaul would be a better option than dropping the console entirely. And as for the PS3 and 360, what would a better model offer? Once upon a time you could look to the ever-advancing PC and arcade markets to see where better capabilities would improve the play experience, but what do either of them offer that consoles don't? Crysis 2 does little new in raw mechanics despite looking pretty as all hell, and the underlying physics aren't proving much of a problem for current gen consoles. And despite native support, console gamers still aren't giving a single shit about the potential of the keyboard and mouse combo. Most of the current innovations in gaming are coming through firmware patches, peripherals and the online arena; what part of that equation requires a new console?

Fruitbat's week: Chiptunes, Mega Man 2.5 and real life Mario Kart

Let's set the mood with a bit of music: through the 80s and early 90s, chip music was the definitive way of delivering catchy beats in your game; because consoles weren't able to play music files like a CD player could, they had dedicated audio chips into which a set of data was fed, which told the console what sounds it should play - like playing the piano from sheet music, essentially. Take that same chip data and port it to another console and you'd have a similar but slightly different sound, like this Megadrive port of Super Mario Bros. It's a fascinating way of creating sound and the distinctive digital beeps are still alive today, in modern music, the retro reboots Mega Man 9 and 10 and the chiptune scene, notably Anamanaguchi, who gave the Scott Pilgrim game its soundtrack. I'm still yet to find anything that tops the very best of the NES era, but that just goes to show what can be achieved with the right talent. So, please check out the video for a few examples of original compositions, or try this one to see how Capcom are still kicking it old school as late as 2010.

With those bleeping in the background (or not) this is the perfect time to introduce Mega Man 2.5, a fangame that throws the 8-bit Blue Bomber into a Paper Mario-esque world of perspective-warping platforms. Speaking as someone who has waded in the rough waters of fangamedom before, it doesn't surprise me in the least to see that progress is going slowly, but while the announcement of this fan-built game is pretty old, a recent trailer definitely seems to comfirm that development is in full swing. The game seems less ambitious in its scope than the original video, which, given the state of progress thus far and the creator's grounding in animation, definitely seems to mark it out as proof of concept rather than a playable game. But with a full co-op mode, calls for more programmers and enormously expansive levels, this has the potential to provide an outing for the series that will rival the upcoming Mega Man Universe in originality. The fangame scene has only been growing stronger, with enormous groundwork laid out by Sonic fans trying to recreate the complex physics of the hedgehog's adventures, and this marks a step beyond mere recreation and delves into the realm of savvy reinvention; definitely one to keep an eye on.

And since we're on the subject of re-imaginings, here's a video of a Frenchman bringing Mario Kart into the real world to a worryingly insane degree.

And that's all until next time.

Meet the NGP

PSP successor confirmed

About five hours ago, Sony held a press conference in Japan to announce the PSP2, also known as the NGP (Next Generation Portable). Given that the current PSP had its share of misguided flaws, especially the PSPgo, it's encouraging to browse through the features currently announced and see that Sony has managed to fix a few of them, especially when I look back through my wish list of PSP2 features from early last year; there's no Cell processor in there, but a quad-core ARM processor will do just as nicely. And there's a few other things that have left me feeling impressed:

A touch pad on the rear

I called this months ago, less because I thought that Sony would actually implement it and more because it's a great idea; frankly, its inclusion has given me hope that Sony still has it in them to deliver smart hardware choices that its rivals don't offer, after playing catch up for the last few years with the PS3 and generally flailing about with the PSP.

Anyone with a modicum of hand-eye coordination will be able to match their fingers behind the console to points on the screen in front of them, theoretically meaning that we could play fully-functional touch screen games without our fingers obscuring and smudging the screen. This is a step forward that not even Apple have thought to do yet, and if it works it'll reflect well on Sony as a console maker.

Flash card storage for games, updates and DLC

The removal of the UMD is no great loss, but even better than the switch to flash drive is that all updates and DLC will be stored and integrated with the game on the same cartridge, making data transfer between systems an absolute breeze. The original PSP stores such data on the memory stick, which means that actual downloaded games tend to get lost amidst a forest of separate icons for updates and DLC; it may amount to housekeeping more than anything else, but for the sake of convenience this is an important feature.

Infinitely better analogue sticks

Aside from the fact that there are two of them, pictures clearly show that the analogue sticks are just that: proper sticks, not just sliding nubs that cripple your thumbs. They'll be more prone to damage when being shoved in bags or pockets, but I'd be very surprised if the inevitable carry cases don't account for that.

Key franchises right from the off

Enough said. Even if they don't make the console's launch, names like Killzone and Uncharted carry a lot of weight. The fact that they're on their way and comparable to their PS3 counterparts is enough to have faith that the console will have a few essential titles in its first year.

No news yet on the price (expensive) or battery life (short) or even the release date (er... not yet), but head over to Kotaku for big, glossy pictures of the unit. It sounds like a console with potential, and it'll remain to be seen if Sony can overcome its predecessor's stagnation and keep pace with the 3DS. Expect to hear more about this in the coming months.