Chris Morris on the Gizmondo

CNN Money has an article on the Gizmondo launch here in the United States. The device actually came out nearly a year ago in the UK, which only adds to the number of downfalls writer Chris Morris notes that Tiger Electronics saddled their portable gaming system with.

Between the high price, lack of stellar games, poor hardware design and forced advertisements on a portable gaming device, the Gizmondo comes across as an almost perfect example for how not to compete in a new market.

Grant Theft Auto PSP

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the Sony PSP

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the Sony PSP handheld and after an hour of play I have to agree with most of what’s being said about the game.

Right now, this is the killer app that will help move a good number of people off the fence about Sony’s portable gaming console. Though there are a few concessions made in order to fit a console-sized game into a 1.8GB UMD disc, such as a slightly smaller pedestrian population, GTA: LCS does much to improve upon the original GTA III for the PS2.

F.E.A.R.

I purchased F.E.A.R. for the PC yesterday …

F.E.A.R. Screenshot

F.E.A.R. Screenshot

This the perfect game to release within two weeks of Halloween, with an interesting combination of first-person shooter action and the atmosphere of japanese horror movies like Ringu or even American classics like The Exorcist. Evidently, the critics seem to agree.

The game isn’t perfect, of course. Monolith delivers some amazing graphics, particularly in their use of bullet time effects, but much of the game world really could have used a bit more of the polish that Valve put into Half Life 2. On the other hand, the game nails its target atmosphere and succeeds at the fear-factor the hype machine assigned to Doom 3 before gamers got a hold of it.

Another spot in which the game really shines is in enemy AI. Opposing soldiers will sneak around obstacles, move objects out of their way and into yours and generally be annoyingly good at close-quarter tactics.

If you’re looking for a good spot of intense single-player action and horror for the PC and have a machine with enough power to run it, get F.E.A.R. now while the Halloween mood is at its strongest.