yes, the controls on PS3 were slow, and were not precise. it would keep rotating even when i stopped pushing the sticks. anybody else have this problem?

krokus

They need to add a reset-puzzle button. I got stuck on the Subjective Absence tutorial.

On a side note, abusing falling and quick rotating so that your character falls onto places he shouldn't is fun.

RabidZombie

@TheIrishNinja: $20 is a maybe.

$10 is a serious maybe.

$5 is a "why the hell not!"

Free is -- well, free is how it's going to end up, being that I am an influential superhuman being, so hmmm.

Still, the voice grates. It very much grates. It doesn't belong. I'd rather I just die and then start over without anyone making a comment on it.

I recently had a houseguest, see. I'd wake up in the morning and be in the living room looking for my iPod Shuffle, or vacuuming, and literally every atom of my body trembled in fear of being asked "What are you looking for?" or "Are you vacuuming?"

I really can't abide such unnecessary words!

The instant they're spoken in such a situation, your freedom is torn off from your body, like the worries of the world from a meditating Zen monk, only in reverse.

In a game like Echochrome, with, you know, such a stoic atmosphere -- not even touching the "avant-garde" accusations -- having a voice say "Oh No" when I fall is like . . . yeah, like being asked if I have the hiccups, when I clearly have the hiccups, in my own house, by a person who should be looking for a job.

To put it lightly.

108

The big difference on the PSP version, according to the promo video, is the level creator.

JET

natiahs

@jaz: I was wondering what L1 was doing. I pressed it and it just seemed to kind of rotate the camera slightly off from where I had set it. R1 will come in handy, but they really should speed up camera rotation using the stick without having to press an extra button. Like I said, they did it perfectly with the PSP's little nub, so I don't see why the PS3 controls have to be so slow.

@RabidZombie: I see. I'll have to try this out again when I get home.

psycoking

Just tried it. Even though it's just a few levels I'm glad to see it's really as smooth and easy to control as it looks. The PSP version is a definite buy for me, though it has been since the movie first hit.

Lots of games are jumping on the "breaking physical space" bandwagon lately, but that's fine with me since there are countless ways it hasn't been done yet!

fuchikoma

@joelface:
Stage 3: buy a real mannequin...

LittlestLamshi

i liked it. pretty fun IMO. uses rumble too....

Akmed

@psycoking:

Snap only works on connecting paths, and only when the paths are close. In the tutorial, it seems to work regardless to where the guy is, but in the demo levels it only seems to work when the guy is extremely close.

RabidZombie

You can also play the PC demo here:
[tserve01.aid.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp]
This demo allows you to make your own levels and play them.

DaveKap

Thanks for the tip Luke! I will be firing up my Japanese PSN account as soon as work ends! It will be interesting to see if this lives up to the hype I have made in my own mind :)

crashlanding

@psycoking: ah, didnt know about those movements, thanks man!

@108: not even $20? and i didnt mind the chick's voice at all, its not like she takes from the whole thing being avant garde or something.

@jaz: ah, speeding up the camera helps too, you guys are great for this.

TheIrishNinja

huh, wonder why we got the shorter version. anyway, thanks for the heads-up, kotaku! im loving the demo but cant seem to finish the 3rd or 4th level after the tutorial, there's just so many planks and no way back up that i can see yet....anger. anyway, its awesome.

TheIrishNinja

I will definitely be downloading and trying this out. It looks interesting, but I've never been a huge puzzle gamer (not good at them, unfortunately), but maybe this game will be able to sway me...if not at least entertain me for a little bit. The decision of whether or not to purchase it when it releases will be the bigger issue!

@Sloopydrew:

Regarding the differences between the PS3/PSP versions, the PS3 version is going to be $20 I think, and come with 50 levels, and the PSP version is 100 levels for $40. So it's not really a ripoff, it's just more like:

If you own the PSP and PS3 you get a pretty decent choice - Is the game worth $20 or $40 to you? If you own only one of the systems, you're stuck with only that one option, which is kind of crappy.

Zhabin

@joelface:
Step 1) Stop running joke into ground

Step 2) Make a new joke

Step 3) ???

Step 4) PROFIT!!!

c-lin' Fanboy

Nice im going to be playing this all day at school!! (^_^)Thanks for the heads up!

GUNDAM-RX-78-2-Still HATES! God of War 1

@psycoking: Holding R1 speeds up the camera rotation. (L1 activates sixaxis tilt control, but I can't imagine wanting to control it that way.)

jaz

@psycoking: The super slow camera movement was my only real gripe with the game as well (only played ps3 so far). I missed a couple 'moves' (not sure what else to call them) because the camera just didn't get me to the right angle quick enough. Overall a pretty cool game and a very innovative concept ... I think I'll be picking up the PS3 version because a) it looks better b) the controller is more comfortable and c) I'm not sure I'm going to have the patience to do 50 levels let alone 100.

LX

Yeah, just played this demo.

Not even going to say it's too short -- more like it gives me that vintage "Gyakuten Saiban feel, where I knew both how to solve the mystery and how to explain it, I just can't quite find out how to rotate the screen sometimes, and by the time I've died enough to solve the puzzle, I don't feel like I earned it.

Also: the woman's voice, saying "Oh no!" when I die?

I reallllllllllllllllllly don't fucking need that. When your game is in black and white and features a single violin for music, a woman speaking English with a clunky Japanese accent really, really, really isn't necessary.

I hope you can turn it off in the full version.

Then again, who the hell am I kidding? I'm not going to pay $40 for this lol!

And that's the straight dope!!

108

The controls for the PS3 version were kind of slow. The PSP controls were much smoother. The PS3 version also forgot to mention some of the extra controls, which are jotted down at the bottom of the PSP screen. Pressing triangle puts you into "thinking" mode and stops your character from moving. Pressing X makes your character walk faster. Square is marked as "Snap," but nothing happened when I pressed it.

For those of you wondering what the differences between the PSP and PS3 versions are: the PS3 version has English VO on top of the Japanese subtitles, where as the PSP version only has the subtitles; The last level of the PS3 version has one extra small platform that looks like it didn't fit on the PSP screen; and you can't skip the PSP tutorials.

Echochrome is cool so far, but the demo is disappointingly short. It took longer for me to sign up for my Japanese PSN account than to play both demos through. The game has a very zen feel to it, which I enjoyed. However, I hope they speed up movement acceleration on the PS3, as the slow speed often left me with a sense of urgency that breaks the games otherwise melow atmosphere.

psycoking

This was a lot of fun. I'm surprised. It didn't look like something I'd enjoy.

scarlet

I'm actually impressed with how good it is.

PirateThom

@Psudonym: Press start and you can skip the tutorial :)

Astrofox

@Frank: when you activate your account for a new region, the old activation data is deleted.

But in my experience, when you copy over some data from the original account it will overwrite the activation again, and any data from the original account will be back in working order.

Accordion

Downloading both as I read this

Ruisu

Echochrome is awesome, I <3 sony's games.

Rorsha

The PSP demo is downloadable from the PSP Demo Center as well. No need to switch PSN accounts just for it...

[www.pspdemocenter.org]

Or, for the long route, you can download it from the official website.

[www.jp.playstation.com]

HiddenAway

If I activate my PSP for Japan, my US account will become invalid.

Should I still go for it?

Frank

Heres another one.

[www.japanesepsn.com]

FIRST!!!

@ProroK: *gulps, and goes for it*

On a side note, you double-commented. That's okay...I was having a hard time looking for my question. <_<

Frank

@Frank: not sure if the app has changed in the months since I made mine, but I just put in a fake address in (according to a guide I used) and it worked perfectly

DragonSphere

Ohh ohh, you have to say your 18 years or older or else you have to make a sub acount. I get it now.

Gigith

[epilepticgaming.ggl.com]

Great video guide by djWheat from epileptic gaming, how To create japanese account, and dont worry about fraud, if it is considered "fraud" we will all go to jail :D

ProroK

I can't be the only one who wishes that they just let you play the three stages from the start screen. Fantastic, otherwise.

Psudonym

Game looks great - will be downloading it this evening after work.

My PSP is getting more and more use these days and not just for writing homebrew or emulating the SNES ;)

johnnywashngo

[epilepticgaming.ggl.com]

Here full video by djWheat from Epileptic Gaming how to create Japanese account

@Frank man dont worry, we will all go to jail if its considered "fraud" :P

ProroK

Well all the guides on how to make a Japanese acount are wrong, it's totally changed.

I guess they changed it to keep people from doing this so easily.

Gigith

@RiouV97041: The problem is I'd have to enter a Japanese address, and I'm a bit worried about fraud.

Frank

Awesome game.. i cant get enough of the demo.

ProroK

Any chance of an actual link to the store?

CartBlanche

Still satisfied with my Japanese account. So far the English (England not language) one has been lacking on cool stuff.

Rurik

@JoshuaC: Not really, everyone does it and Sony knows it.

@Gigith: It is that simple. Make an account, download, install, play.

RiouV97041

@JoshuaC:
not really...
if they would ban everyone with a foreign account, PSN would be empty and unused ;)

Garo

@joelface: Really? There's no way it's that simple.

Is it really that simple?
Have you tried it?

Gigith

Does Sony get all pissy when you make Jap accounts like MS?

JoshuaC

@LittleBigPlaneteer:

So why would anyone pick up the PS3 version? I guess, if you don't own the PSP, but wouldn't you feel robbed?

Sloopydrew

Looks like I'll be making a Japanese PSN account tonight

psycoking

@Gigith:

step 1) make japanese PSN account

step 2) download echochrome off of japanese ps store

step 3)??????

step 4) PROFIT!!

joelface

@Sloopydrew:

PSP version has twice as many levels. Like 100 to 50

LittleBigPlaneteer

@Gigith: Or better yet, just have a link that says "Japan stuff"

Gloibin

okay leaving office right now

okay not really

will play this tho

108

Great!!!

Garo

The title should be "Japan gets Echochrome Demo" that way I wouldn't get my hopes up for so long.

Gigith

@Sloopydrew: I think they said some junk that the PSP one has more content, but of course things might have been lost in translation or I just read that story completly wrong.

Keanu

Are the PS3 and PSP versions identical?

Sloopydrew