Unless you’ve downloaded the expansion pack to the downloadable PS3 twin-stick shooter “Super Stardust HD,” you will have a hard time convincing me that it’s not the most graphically-impressive game on Sony’s machine.

And, yes, I’ve played “GTA IV.” I’ve seen “Killzone 2.” But nothing quite blows me away like a level of Endless on the $5 “SSHD” expansion called “Solo Pack.”

What exactly have the game’s Finnish developers at Housemarque accomplished?

• They’ve doubled the base game’s output of 10,000 objects on the screen.
• They believe they’ve almost maxed the PS3 graphics chip.
• And now they’re thinking about making music-based levels and revealing to Multiplayer other expansions they have in the works.

Read on for more on all of that, from a developer that is pushing the PS3 to impressive lengths …

[Images Courtesy of IGN]

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On Thursday I…

*Manipulated “Metal Gear Solid 4” very, very briefly. As in five-minutes-briefly. I watched somebody else play for 45 minutes. Controls were a sensible evolution of the series’ previous schemes. Graphics were impressive even for someone who has seen all the trailers and gotten used to the look. Cut-scenes were as spirited, compelling and hilarious (intentionally!) as ever. Still need to read my Non-Disclosure Agreement to see what more I can say and when I can say it.

*Played a tiny bit more of “Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core” (Or is it “Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII“). I am hoping that the game won’t let me spam the X button to victory the whole time. If it’s that easy I can’t commit

*Bailed on “Overlord,” the “Pikmin“-meets-”Fable” Xbox 360 game that has been a pleasant surprise discovery. So why’d I bail out if I was having fun during my first five or six hours with the game? I saw a report that publisher Codemasters is probably making a sequel. Given the rough edges on this first “Overlord” — a strange checkpoint system, a lack of an in-game map and, most importantly, controls and A.I. that don’t allow the player to effectively guide a diverse group of goblins — I feel like I should wait for the second draft.

*Fell in love all over again with “Super Stardust HD,” thanks to the game’s new downloadable expansion. Is there a more impressive use of the PlayStation 3’s processing might than the game’s new survival mode? [EDIT: I meant "endless mode," which is far more impressive.] At 10 million points, I started seeing a level of detail and frenzy that I had never seen before in a twin stick shooter or anything else.

Next: Back to “Universe At War” and “Super Mario Galaxy” this weekend?

UPDATE: For those interested in comparing scores, I’ve started a new group called on the Desktop Tower Defense” leaderboards called “GOTY” I’ll post any new scores there.

What are the top 10 games of 2007, as determined by one Stephen Totilo? (That’s me).

Over at MTVNews.com, we’re letting my opinion be known.

Yeah, I left “Assassin’s Creed” off. Sadly, I had to leave my beloved “Picross DS” off too.

My 10?

My number one is the free, browser-based “Desktop Tower Defense.” Seriously. Play it for free in your web browser right now.

You tell me why I’m wrong. But the fact is, I’m not.

Also charting are: “Crackdown,” “Halo 3,” “Rock Band” (ka-ching!), “Geometry Wars Galaxies” on the Wii and more.

Full list here.

(And for the record, this list does not reflect the judgment of MTV Games, the MTV Multiplayer blog, TRL or Tila Tequila)

This is the final round. The week-long short-session Vs. Mode between me and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal draws to a conclusion in rather segue-ready fashion.

In this last round, N’Gai and I dissect “Nucleus,” “Pac-Man Championship Edition” and “Diner Dash,” among others.

And then your favorite Multiplayer blogger brings it home with the discovery of a short-session, itty-bitty game that might be better than “BioShock” at the very aspect of gameplay that “BioShock” is best at.

Say it ain’t so! Or say it is so! Or… say what? The surprise game is revealed in the last letter of this exchange, after the jump.

And guess what game we’ll be tackling in our next Vs. Mode? Get ready, Ken Levine.

(As always, Vs Mode is co-published on N’Gai’s “Level Up” blog.)

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Today’s third round of Vs. Mode picks up in mid-stream. I had just asked Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal if he agreed that “Super Stardust HD” is the first of a new wave of high-end small games. His reply kicks off today’s round. Dust off round two if you need a refresher.

In today’s exchange we finally get past our impasse (sorry folks, N’Gai just isn’t interested in a “Space Invaders” with really advanced artificial intelligence). Instead he has ideas for a sequel to “Everyday Shooter.” Me? I suggest that a rush of small games may change the way we all relate to games.

An excerpt from me that might remind my fellow bloggers who attended a Game Developer’s Conference Sony event as the thing I kept asking Phil Harrison about:

I’ve argued that the cost and length of new retail games narrows most gamers’s experience. Rentals and demos aside, gamers wind up playing just a few new titles a year and/or are unlikely to try many games outside of whatever genres they’re comfortable with. The widespread availability of small games to console gamers can change that. I feel like we’ve all been given a new (or newly refined) mechanism to experiment with and enjoy a broader array of games. It’s like we all just went from having broadcast TV to 500-channel cable.

This feels healthy to me, as it seems like it will speed the feedback loop of creativity and consumer reaction. And it’s all hinging on getting new thing after new thing.

Read the rest of the exchange after the jump. And in the next round, we’ll start breaking down some specific games. Enjoy!

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Previous Vs. Modes had gone so smoothly.

But as I alluded to in the intro to the first round of this latest debate between me and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal, this one was a little rocky.

We planned to talk about what we found so intriguing about recent short games: the “Super Stardust HD“s and “Pac-Man Championship Edition“s of the world.

Somehow, though, we spent time debating my wild theories about making photo-realistic “Pac-Man” games and “Space Invaders” with really, really, really good A.I. What you see at the end of today’s round is consternation. Do we pull through and start talking about specific games? Stay tuned Wednesday.

But for today, I invite you to click through and explore this second round, as N’Gai and I debate whether this short-game renaissance is going to die soon and whether games can really go the way of YouTube. Much telling-each-other-we’re-wrong ensues. And we still keep the 500-word limit! Wonders never cease.

(All rounds of this, including today’s, also appear at N’Gai’s “Level Up” blog.)
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Welcome to another Vs. Mode confrontation. In previous installments, Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal and I have debated “God of War II,” the “Halo 3” beta and the adults-only “Manhunt 2.”

Yes, yes, that last exchange was a bit lengthy.

So N’Gai and I thought we’d do something that’s really hard for us this time: be succinct.

Our topic, fittingly, is short-session gaming. Sound nebulous? We’re talking about all those downloadable games and quick handheld games that are occupying more and more of both of our gameplay time. We like the short stuff. He and I have battled it out on the “Super Stardust HD” leaderboards. (My top score dwarfs his, naturally). And we’ve both been hooked on short handheld games: he on the PSP version of “Gunpey,” me on the DS version of nirvana (AKA “Picross“).

So we decided to do a Vs. Mode on this stuff, as an attempt to figure out what’s great about the short games and what big games could learn from them. This one started tame — a little too tame for my taste. But before I could get too upset about that, I had N’Gai trashing my so-called Grand Unified Theory of Best-Selling Games and I accused him of using the old-man defense one time too many.

Where else will you read a verbal brawl of this intensity? Nowhere else.

(Unless you count N’Gai’s blog Level Up, where he co-publishes these exchanges, and the court filings of the Epic v Silicon Knights lawsuits)

Read on at the jump for Round 1, consisting of our first four 500-words-max e-mails. Round 2, in which I just about lose my patience with this guy, arrives Tuesday.

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