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You’d just have to know that once I finally acquired a terrific 1080p HDTV, that some jerky company somewhere would ruin my good feelings about life in general. This time, it’s Sony.

Jumping head-first into the 3D bandwagon, Sony has announced it will introduce the first 3D TV sets to the world market in 2010… less than a year from now! Furthermore, they plan to make the PlayStation 3 compatible with the new technology.

Of course, this is a highly risky move by Sony; it took forever for the market to settle on 1080p as the ideal HDTV standard, and it was even messier as Blu-Ray fought and ultimately won out over HD-DVD as the high-def DVD format.

And now, just as the world is slowly catching up to HDTV, Sony wants to make everyone’s set obsolete by introducing high-def 3D televisions? Really? A few Myrtle beach vacation rentals wouldn’t suffice?

Truth is, there are three or four 3D technologies that are at the forefront of technology right now, and all but one of them require special glasses. No word yet on which format Sony will choose for their sets, but it’s certainly anything but a stable 3D format at this point, so if they choose wrong… watch out.

While the PS3 will likely contain support for 3D TVs as promised, I expect that the real full support for HD3DTV won’t come into its own until the introduction of the PS4… which probably won’t emerge until 2014 or so. But count on Sony to make 3D the centerpiece of the PS4, much in the same way HDTV gaming was the centerpiece of the PS3 experience.

Sony’s PlayStation3 is an advanced piece of hardware, no doubt about it, but sometimes they are too brainy for their own good. Take the HD/1080p thing as an example.

We recently bought a Sony Bravia 1080p HDTV to complement our PS3, as well as everything else we own on our entertainment stand. That includes an Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 was easy to move to 1080p resolution; you just click it in a video preferences box and, if the source goes that high, so does the picture. Simple, right? Don’t even need an HDMI cable for it.

The PS3 wasn’t so easy. We bought an HDMI cable for it, but for some reason our 1080p games like Prince of Persia were displaying in 720p only. It’s like expecting to go to Valley Fair and all you get is a trip to a neighbor’s back yard swing sets.

So I read the Prince of Persia box. The text clarified the matter… kinda. “Full 1080p display,” the box read, “is possible only when your PS3 is connected with an HDMI cable to a display with HDCP.”

What?

Turns out HDCP is some copy-protection scheme for high-def. OK, whatever, but the Bravia should fit that bill, right? Certainly! It’s made by the PS3 makers, after all… Sony!

So I called Sony’s Bravia customer service. They blamed the PS3. I contacted Sony’s PS3 customer service. They tried to blame the Bravia and the HDMI cables. Finally they admitted they weren’t sure why it wasn’t working.

After many hours of email exchanges, a Sony rep’s misunderstanding of my problem gave me the clue to solving it. “Don’t turn off 720p,” he advised, and then went on to some useless blather.

Turn off 720p? I scoured my Cross Media Bar and found the display control for my HDMI cable. Sure enough, if I chose “Custom,” I was able to turn off 720p. I popped in Prince of Persia. Voila! 1080p Prince of Persia began to display flawlessly!

So, now, that’s my adventure in PS3’s maze of “high tech high def” adventures. Now I know that to get 1080p to display… using all Sony equipment, no less… all I need to do is turn off 720p as an option and all those games that are 1080p via HDMI with an HDCP monitor will indeed display in true 1080p glory on my Bravia.

Nice to know.

Of course, if I want to pop in a PS3 game that doesn’t support 1080p, I have to go back in and re-check 720p, or the game will only display 480p.

Yeesh. Ever heard of plug-n-play as a concept, Sony?

Clearly not.

Even though it’s not the total revolution hoped for, I’m excited about the PSP Go! The design is a big improvement and while the lack of a touch-screen is a disappointment, it should make the PSP platform far more competitive with Apple’s iPod Touch.

The PSP Go, of course, is like taking the original PSP and putting it on diet pills for about a month. It’s lighter and smaller than the original PSP design, and it finally sheds those awkward UMDs in favor of a bunch of flash memory.

Certainly sounds worthwhile, even as we hope for an even more revolutionized and competitive PSP2; though now, that’s not likely to appear until 2010 at the earliest.

It’s buggy, it’s crowded, it has bland graphics, few options and some of the worst physics and collision detection I’ve encountered in any PS3 game. And yet, despite all that, the Bowling Alley on the public beta of PlayStation 3’s Home service has been more addictive than anything I’ve playing in years.

How addictive? Maybe not addictive enough to commemorate on rubber stamps, but certainly the Bowling Alley on Home has become a default destination for me every time I’ve fired up my PS3 for any reason.

Mostly, I think, it’s because of the incredible social aspect; every player is a real, live human being just like you, and the social aspect of getting to know your fellow players overcomes all the deficiencies of the Bowling Alley application.

Sure, there is plenty of room for improvements to be made; Home is rife with largely uncontrolled profanity, hate speech and other nasty talk. It is also wholly unequipped to deal with the near-constant sexual harassment that takes place in Home, especially to its female inhabitants. Frequently, bowling alleys will be filled with as many people getting up on your avatar’s personal space, dancing suggestively and ignoring requests to piss off. There is virtually no intervention by moderators, and no penalty system for acting, frankly, like an ass.

Yet despite all that… the Bowling Alley on Home has seen way more of me than anything else of late… even the excellent Prince of Persia title, which is a lovely game in and of itself.

As the sequel to Sony’s first-party survival horror title on the PS2, Siren, Siren 2: Blood Curse has been announced officially for the PlayStation 3 system, and will be distributed in unique fashion; rather than arrive on a single Blu-Ray disc at retail, the game will be delivered in 12 distinct episodes over the PlayStation Network.

The intial release is scheduled for this summer, although Sony’s press release did not detail whether all 12 episodes would be released simultaneously, or whether they would arrive over an extended release schedule. One thing’s for sure, though, you won’t be able to get it on your laptop, as the title is a PS3 exclusive.

Finally, this weekend, my wife and I were able to get enough together to acquire our long-awaited DualShock3 controllers for our PS3. Since she’s a bit of a gamer, too, she was just as excited about this as I was.

I was able to put up with, but have never really liked, the Six-Axis controller. Playing a game with it was like trying to breathe wearing too tight a corset. Motion-sensitivity is a nice gimmick, but sacrificing force feedback was not worth the cost. I wish Sony would have patched things up with Immersion long ago, but at least it’s done now and finally here.

The first game I used it on was Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. I’m not much of a racing fan, but I’ve always loved the Gran Turismo series, and this installment is one of the first games to have full DualShock3 support built in.

I noticed that with its return, the force feedback feature is now a bit more sedate and subtle. But that’s fine with me. It’s just good to have my controller shake when it ought to once again.

I had a chance to try an iPod Touch first-hand recently. Basically an iPhone without the phone, you don’t need great cell reception in order to take full advantage of the device; it works off any wireless network for some of its online features, rather than a cell network.

The design of the iPod Touch is revolutionary and fun, but it reminds me an awful lot of the Nintendo DS. Which raises the question: could videogames merge into the iPod design in a more full-scale way, eventually?

For two generations of hardware now, the same three companies have dominated the platform wars: Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. But such standardization is rarely maintainable. Some new company always comes along and tries their hand at things rather successfully, upsetting who the “big three” are in any given generation.

Sony was that company when they introduced the original PlayStation. Microsoft stepped up when Sega fell off.

Could Apple be the next corporation to wet its toes in the videogame market?

I can imagine it: a handheld system with HD-quality video, touch controls, an FM tuner, the ability to act as a personal organizer, a full-scale MP3 and MP4 player, with wireless internet and an optional phone feature, all in a size that slips into a Blackberry-sized cell phone holster.

The name?

Apple iPlay.

It could happen…

Wild ARMs, as a series, began as one of the first RPGs Sony itself produced for its young PSone platform. Sporting a mixture of wild west and fantasy influences, it marked a slightly different take on the RPG formula popular at the time. A PSone sequel was released and two previous PS2 outings have been unleashed on the world from a rotating selection of game publishers.

The latest home for the Wild ARMs series is XSeed Games, who have published a PS2-remix of the first Wild ARMs title, Wild ARMs 4 and now the latest installment, Wild ARMs 5.Throughout the series, the core elements have stayed true to its origins; a mixture of wild west and fantasy elements, as well as a distinctive style of turn-based RPG combat.

That is one element that gets a bit of a twist this time out; while the combat is still turn-based, a dash of grid-based tactical RPG style is tossed into the soup for a fresh flavor; for the most part, it works in livening up the works, at least for a while. Some squares on each battle grin are aligned with particular elements and can offer strategic advantages or disadvantages in battle; when multiple party members line up in the same square, devastating combo moves can be opened up, although they reveal themselves over time. The downside is, in a return attack, all party members sharing the same square share damage, meaning that several characters can fall at once instead of separately.

The game was released in a special anniversary package that celebrated the first decade of Wild ARMs games. That packaging includes a collectible art book that series fans ought to find appealing. Yet that’s just the “wrapping paper,” as it were. The package itself is a nice step forward for Wild ARMs as a series, as the game now seems fully at home on the PlayStation 2; unfortunately, it comes to the PS2 table a bit late as most games are now gearing up for their big PS3 premieres, and even Wild ARMs 5, for all it’s merits, trails a bit behind other late PS2 RPG releases like Final Fantasy XII, Rogue Galaxy and others.

Also, the story stretches credulity, even on fantasy terms, in a James Bond, “oh yeah, right, that’d work” fashion. For example, in one early sequence, one of our protagonists is tossed from a train riding a wood rail bridge high atop a desert floor; the hero-tosser also tosses down a hand grenade and we’re supposed to buy that the impact force of the exploding hand grenade below him cushions his fall to the desert floor, allowing him to land unharmed below.

Happens every day. And twice on Sundays. Right?

Still, as good as it is to be sojourning through another tale of the world of Filgaia, the wrinkle lines are definitely beginning to show on the series and its execution. Though the names change over the sequels, the tales remain just a bit too familiar and one gets the sense that it is well past due for the Wild ARMs formula to undergo an extreme makeover. If the series devolves any more, it will be about as fun as a colon cleanse. While the essential idea of a wild West RPG can still hold a lot of appeal, it’s time to mix things up a bit in terms of the style of tale told.

As potentially the final PS2 installment of the series, Wild ARMs 5 will satisfy most series fans, even if it converts no skeptics. However, when the first PS3-era edition of Wild ARMs debuts, I believe it will require more than just prettier graphics to help the series feel fresh and new. In the meantime, this final walk with an old friend through a familiar neighborhood will stir up all he proper sentimental feelings for longtime series fans.

Sports games have had a hard time adapting to the handheld market, even the wide-screen Sony PSP. While a game on PS3 or Xbox 360 can come across like the Cartier of sports games, put the same thing on a handheld and suddenly it’s not just the graphics that suffer, but the AI, the feature set and more.

Of course, this year’s version of Sony’s NBA title, NBA 08 for PSP, is hardly a great example of depth and versatility. Even on PS3, the game lacks depth, still neglecting to add a much-needed franchise mode, and this time around axing the “popular for the last couple years” storytelling mode, The Life.

Apparently, Sony’s sports game folks think gamers on the go actually WANT their sports games to lack depth. Why else would they also deny users the ability to increase quarter-length in season mode from four minutes to something a bit beefier, like eight minutes? In fact, most of the user options are well hidden in the game’s interface, and even when you can track it down and set your user file to preferring 8-minute quarters, often when you save that and start a new season mode, you’ll find yourself playing 4-minute quarters anyway, with no way to even change that up.

It’s disappointing in the extreme, especially since Sony’s finally found a way to make their controls for the game on PSP a bit more accessible. Not that you’ll be facing CPU opponents who are all that crafty; the AI in the game is a funky, unpredictable beast that at times will play rock-stupid, letting you go up 20-8 in a half, but then often goes into unstoppable mode in the second half, outscoring you 38-10. There’s just no consistency to it.

Online play is built into the game naturally and looks like it might work well, but like its PS3 cousin, I could not find any opponents online – at all – to play against to more fairly evaluate the online mode.

The graphics in the game are acceptable by PSP sports game standards, but not by any other unit of measurement, and it makes one wish 2K Sports would get off their butts and bring both NBA 2K8 and College Hoops 2K8 onto the PSP. So far, though, no luck on that score.

Another area where the game falls apart is in roster accuracy; I put the PSP version of the game to the same “Minnesota Timberwolves roster accuracy” test that I used on its PS3 big brother. Again, NBA 06 for PSP is an utter failure on roster accuray.

Amazingly enough, the game is even worse than the PS3 version containing all-different roster errors, though the most eggregious is, once again, the complete MIA status of draft pick Corey Brewer. I mean, I can understand missing second-round pick Chris Richard. But Brewer was the seventh overall pick in this year’s NBA draft. How the hell do you screw that up? (And yes, they have the draft accounted for, because Kevin Durant and Greg Oden are in the game.)

Once again, that’s unforgivable.

About the only thing NBA 08 for PSP has going for it is a feature called Block Party, in which you get a ton of mini-games you can play online against human opponents. The company also claims it will offer weekly roster update files, but I already downloaded the first one and it still didn’t correct any of the terrible roster inaccuracies with the Wolves. It just looks like Sony would rather pretend Brewer doesn’t exist that patch him into the game. Whatever.

Also, there may be more mini-games available via download, perhaps as many as one a week, so the novelty of those might help maintain interest over the course of the season.

But I’ll take accurate rosters, deep features and a kickass franchise mode over Block Party any day of the week and twice on Sundays. After making strides the past couple seasons, Sony’s NBA franchise is strictly NBA D-League material.

One of the weaknesses of Sony’s NBA 06 for PlayStation 3 is the lack of roster accuracy. I always use the team I know best – the Minnesota Timberwolves – as a gauge of the desired roster accuracy. This season, that is an approach that is particularly effective, because of all the all-season changes to the Wolves’ roster.

There was, among other things, a complex 7-for-1 deal that sent franchise player Kevin Garnett to Boston in exchange for five players and two draft picks, off-season moves involving buying out the contract of Troy Hudson, trading Mike James to Houston for Juwan Howard, and the drafting of Corey Brewer.

NBA 08 for PS3 fails on at least two counts with Minnesota Timberwolves roster accuracy. Even after downloading the latest roster update from the PS3 Network, top draft pick Brewer is completely MIA in the game. Also, Hudson is still on the roster. The presence of Hudson might be forgivable, but considering Brewer was the number seven overall draft pick this summer, his omission is simply unforgivable from a roster accuracy standpoint. I searched other teams’ rosters and even the free agent wire and he’s simply not there. Intolerable!

From a game mode standpoint, Sony stubbornly refuses to add a franchise or dynasty mode to the game, meaning a single 82-game season with playoffs is all you get. This makes the inaccurate rosters even more objectionable. It also renders trades essentially meaningless because you can essentially stack a team to be good for one season and never have to worry about the long term good of the franchise. Refusing to offer a great franchise most is a pet peeve of mine and renders the game about as useless to me as if they included something ridiculous, like, oh, say, a shopping mode where you could buy golf apparel ladies and men enjoy.

Another disappointment is the player models. While Sony boasts NBA 08 is optimized for 1080p “True HD” display, the level of the graphics is still not where one might expect it to be, which lends the sense that if 2K Sports or even a “lousy at hoops titles” EA Sports ever got their act together, they could really blow NBA ‘08 out of the water.

Speaking of modes, the storytelling mode the company has experimented with the past two seasons, “The Life,” is replaced this season with a feature called “Game of the Week,” which actually pulls you out of your immersion in the franchise you’re choosing to run for a season.

All these objections stated, there are several good features in NBA ‘08. It offers a wide variety of online play options, for example, although during my time playtesting the game, I was unable to find a single online opponent, even once, with all the filters turned off! Granted, I received the review copy a bit early, but this was a huge disappointment and limited my ability to fully evaluate how the game played online.

The graphics are nice in 1080p, even if they still feel a bit too videogamey. I’d love to see a company serious about sports game graphics embrace 1080p and really rock my world with a near-photographic realism approach to an NBA game.

The controls work well in traditional mode, but the SixAxis motion controls were nothing to write home about. The sound work was fine, though lacking any real star power. And the music catalog was severely limited. I’d still love to see some sports game designer truly take advantage of the PS3 hard drive and allow you to import your own .mp3 collection into a sports game. I’d love to crash the boards to the sounds of Evanescence. Haven’t found it yet; if it’s here, I’m missing it.

The stat-tracking is minimal and ultimately, the strongest point to NBA 06 is the challenge level of the game. Sony does a good job of making opponents solid, not just videogame wireframes you can slip past easily to perform monster dunks.

Defense is palpable in the game and even on the easiest mode, the game AI will challenge you unless you have a couple great three-point shooters on your team and you’re skilled at hitting the money-wedge on the shot meter for those outside shots. But go up in game AI skill level and even that won’t be a help, since you’ll actually be challenged to play smart basketball and take wise shots.

So, once you’re on the court, NBA ‘06 actually plays pretty well. But when it comes to the details, the devil’s having his way with Sony, ruining a game that, if it were more accurate, had more and deeper modes and an active online community of devotees, could be a whole lot better than it is. For now, it’s a solid choice for casual game players, but not my pick of the season for dedicated NBA fans.