Results tagged “PSP”

The 3rd Birthday is going to melt half of your face off in sheer awesomeness when it releases, according to Square Enix's Motomu Toriyama, so to speak. Why only half? That's because Final Fantasy Agito XIII is going to melt the other half.

It may not live up to the nigh-unrealistic expectations he's giving it, but it admittedly has potential. The game itself has a very Crisis Core-esque look to it, which should be expected given it has some of the same core team and the same director: Hajime Tabata, who's also directing The 3rd Birthday. It will presumably hit shelves sooner than its belated older brother, Final Fantasy Versus XIII since gameplay footage of this actually exists.

It was originally going to be an MMO-like game back when, like The 3rd Birthday, it was originally intended for cell phones. Again, Square Enix found some sense and realized they wanted more than the inhabitants of Japan - or people with Japanese cell phones - to play this game, and moved it to PSP. In that move, it abandoned most of the aforementioned MMO-like system for one that's similar to a lot of RPGs. Its battle system will be similar to Crisis Core's, which itself was an evolution of the one found in Final Fantasy X-2, and will accommodate both single-player and multiplayer gameplay. Summons will also be fully controllable a la Final Fantasy X.

Plenty of gamers thought this would be Square Enix's answer to Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Online, but that's not quite what this is. It's an RPG first, and at this time, we now know what their answer to those games is. More on that tomorrow.

The story has a political background this time around. Your playable characters will involve some of the top students at Peristerium School of Magic, located an island separate from the rest of the continent in the world of Orience. There are four countries that signed a peace treaty that stated no other country was to invade the other. But it's broken when Commander Cid of begins his invasion of other nations with his army of l'Cie soldiers. The school setting might invoke memories of Final Fantasy VIII, but the beginning of the conflict is pretty different. Upon seeing the invasion, a bunch of students form an alliance to stop Cid.

The word "Agito" means "to put in motion" in Latin, and it also happens to be the highest rank all the students aspire to make it to. Yeah, there's definitely a SeeD-esque vibe here. Given the plot details we have already, its Latin interpretation has a lot to do with the game too.

There have been twelve characters revealed so far, all of which are school students that wield a variety of weapons. It shouldn't be a surprise to see characters that wield swords or guns, but there's also one that uses cards. Wonder how he uses them. The last time we had a Final Fantasy title that was heavily political, we got Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm not gonna go all Toriyama-style here and hype this to heaven, but it at least sounds promising.

If you're wondering about the release date, you'll just have to keep doing just that, because Square Enix refuses to disclose a release date. It's likely going to make it out sometime next year if everything goes according to plan. And there should be a nice re-reveal at this year's Tokyo Game Show, granted it's not moronically shown behind closed doors again. But I don't think that will happen.

It's been a long time since we've seen Aya Brea, but The 3rd Birthday for PSP has finally resurfaced. And this time at an American press event! The game, a sequel to the Parasite Eve titles on PSOne, managed to make its way into Square Enix's E3 booth a couple of weeks ago in the form of a hands-off demo. Nice to see it's been shaping up, because many of us were getting a little worried about its fate after being relegated to behind closed doors showings and hidden trailers at the Tokyo Game Show for the last two years.

Square Enix (Squaresoft when these games originally released) has been a fan of switching genres for the PE games previously, a tradition The 3rd Birthday doesn't break. The first game was a clever amalgam of RPG and horror, not to mention being short for an RPG of that era. But Parasite Eve 2 was more of a Resident Evil-style survival horror title. Fans are pretty split on which was better, though more of them side with the first game. And true to style, here we have the third game: a third-person shooter.

But don't fret! It could be a good third-person shooter, according to a few journalists who saw the game at E3, and behind closed doors at the Tokyo Game Show prior to that.

You also might be wondering why the name "Parasite Eve" has been left out. Either Square Enix no longer owns the rights to the name -- it was originally a book, from which a movie and games were spawned -- or they don't feel it's worth paying for. Either way, don't bother looking forward to a PSOne Classics release for the last two games.

Details on the game finally started trickling out of last week's Famitsu and Dengeki Playstation. If you've been following the game for a while, you probably already know (and your heart sunk at the fact) it was originally announced for cell phones. The development team decided to switch it to PSP when they realized they wanted people outside of Japan to actually experience it. The main concept art has been changed from one depicting a very active and elegant metropolitan New York to a picture showing an image far more harrowing and derelict. This is because the cell phone game was originally going to be episodic (like Kingdom Hearts: Coded and Final Fantasy IV: The After), and the first image depicted that first episode. The PSP version will include everything, so the team wanted to depict a later event.

It contains a twist to differ it from the usual third-person shooter: it seems similar to Geist in that it contains a mechanic, known as the "Overdrive" system, that allows Aya to take over the bodies of other soldiers. She isn't very good at combat, so she sends her consciousness out to battle in place of her via transferring her likeness to NPCs. Aya was previously both a rookie NYPD officer (PE1) and an FBI agent (PE2), so apparently she's learned nothing from her experience in combat - or perhaps it's a story related issue. She's now a federal agent for CTI, which stands for Counter Twisted Investigation. A name only a Japanese development team could think of. Like its predecessors, this game takes place around Christmas; the story begins on December 24th, 2012.

"Until Final Fantasy Agito XIII comes out, this will be tops on PSP," claims scenario writer Motomu Toriyama, who directed Final Fantasy XIII. I think he means both games are going to cause your PSP to implode in glee after you finish them or something. If it's a messy implosion, don't say you weren't warned in advance.

The game direction is in the very capable hands of Hajima Tabata, who's also directing Agito XIII. You may have heard his name before; he previously directed the superlative Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. It's a collaborative project between Square Enix and HexaDrive. The 3rd Birthday's release date is currently a vague "winter," but it was featured in the PSP montage from Sony's E3 2010 conference for games due for release by the end of the year, so that may be a clue. Personally, I think it would be neat if they released it right before Christmas to be timely.

Edit: Now with Square Enix press shots without the obtrusive Famitsu watermark!

Information courtesy of AndriaSang.

Uh oh, Mac Fans! Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads have been on airwaves for a good while, so long that a random person likely couldn't tell you precisely how long they've been on unless they've been analyzing them carefully. Well, Apple is officially done with them. The ads sent plenty of mixed messages, and it was uncertain as to whether it actually sold Macs or merely irritated people. The ads are already gone from Apple's website, and have been replaced with ads telling you why you want a Mac.

The manga industry has fallen on hard times lately, along with the anime industry. The most recent casualty is CMX Manga calling it quits. They will officially be a memory in July, though fate of the ongoing titles you're collecting from them have an as-yet unknown fate. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of Tenjho Tenge manga fans cheering right now, but it's never great when people lose their jobs, or when the manga industry shows further signs of weakening.

(Not to defend their silly censorship, of course.)

The PSP may be the best selling console in Japan this year, but its life has been tough outside of that country. Sony knows this, and they're not about to give up. They're currently prepping an ad campaign to let people know that this thing still has some life left in it. Hopefully they're successful, because its upcoming lineup is very good. They realized they needed to keep it alive long enough for XSEED to localize all of those Falcom games!

Pac-Man had its 30th birthday last week, and Google celebrated by having Pac-Man playable on its home page during Friday and Saturday. Chances are anyone who worked on a computer outside of the house during those two days got absolutely nothing done. It was one of the most evil, despicable things Google has ever done. And it was great.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project set the longevity record for operating on the surface of Mars Thursday with it's still-operating rover: Opportunity. "Still-operating" is in that sentence because NASA also had another rover on Mars called "Sprit," which they lost contact with on March 22nd. Opportunity is passing a record set by NASA's Viking 1 Lander back in November of 1982. 

So today is the PSP's Fifth Anniversary.

Though the PSP has seen better days in America and Europe, it's actually doing pretty great in Japan. In fact, last week, Media Create reported that the PSP duo outsold the DS family in Japan. The use of "duo" means that I'm also including the PSP Go in there, despite it constantly selling worse than the 360 and PS2. Considering that, you can expect that the software situation is perfectly healthy there. And with that, a bunch of great games have released recently, and are upcoming. Why yes, I am going to talk about them.

You could also say that Nippon Ichi Software has seen better days, and I'm sure they're hoping that their new three PSP games can help them for the rest of this fiscal year, which, as you might know, end this month.

Classic Dungeon is a, well, classic take on a dungeon crawler. The game has a 3D Dot Game Heroes-esque character creator system where the player can make their own main character to traverse through dungeons with. It doesn't look like it fully embraces the roguelike genre, but it appears to share enough of its qualities that fans of that genre (however minimal) should find something to like. Well, as long as they don't find the mishmash of graphical textures too much of an eyesore. It only sold around 7,300 copies in its sales debut in mid-February, but that may not be too bad considering that it was pretty low budget. It's unknown whether the game will release outside of Japan, and admittedly its chances don't look too hot.

Team Disgaea's newest game, Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku (aka Zettai Hero Modification Project), is the one that needs to be the most successful, given that it's not a low budget project and doesn't have the backing of a previously successful franchise. The game is a parody of Japanese Super Sentai shows, and stars an incredibly average main character who witnesses the death of a super hero. Given that he's the closest person to him at the time, he has no choice but to take over. It just released in Japan on March 4th, and though impressions from importers have been good, its sales have been a bit less than satisfactory. It actually has the lowest debut for a Team Disgaea game thus far, selling 31,000 in its first week. A release outside of Japan is currently unknown.

NIS's third title is a sequel to a spin-off: Prinny 2: Dawn of the Great Pantsu War. In the sequel to last year's Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero, the Prinnies from NIS' popular Disgaea games are on a quest to reacquire, um, Etna's panties. Really. If you were hoping for the subtitle's implications to be incorrect, I'm afraid you're mistaken here. But despite whatever risqué humor the game may have, the sequel to last year's platformer should be pretty good if they're really refining a few of the problems it had. They're also adding an easy mode (called "Baby Mode," oh boy) this time around. The game releases in Japan next Thursday (March 25th). It would be a little ironic if this game didn't make its way outside of Japan, given that this game was greenlit because of how well the first game sold in America. It sold better here than in Japan. This is the same company that's localizing Disgaea Infinite, which his nothing but a visual novel, so we'll probably hear something soon about a localization.

Aping Monster Hunter's style has become popular in some Japanese games recently, especially for PSP games. God Eater from Namco Bandai is one of the newest ones on the market, and it's apparently pretty good. It's also selling well, having sold over 520,000 copies in Japan since its release in early February, making it one of Namco Bandai's best selling games this generation. That's something they desperately needed after the losses they took last year. Unlike the other games discussed here, this one has actually been confirmed for a North American release in Q3 2010 by D3 Publisher, which is now a subsidiary of Namco Bandai.

Speaking of Monster Hunter, the game that will undoubtedly be the best selling game in Japan this week was announced on Tuesday: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. After how the second game actually saved the PSP from oblivion when it released, and after selling a plethora of copies, no one should be surprised to see a new one coming. No, the surprise here is that, unlike what fans speculated, it isn't an enhanced port of the Wii title: Monster Hunter 3. This time around, the PSP entry is a brand new game with an ancient Japan theme, and Capcom promises that it will be more feature rich than MH3. An English PR is on Capcom Japan's website with the name Monster Hunter Freedom 3, but Capcom USA hasn't officially announced the game. At least not yet.

Also, at the moment, anyone who purchases a PSP Go in Japan will receive a free copy of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. That means the Go will actually outsell the PS2 and 360 in Japan! For a week.

For it to continue, I suppose every territory outside of Japan needs its Monster Hunter-style game. By that I mean it needs a key piece (or pieces) of software that will signify to gamers that the PSP is still alive and well, and assure some people that it's not a waste of space. As it stands now, it seems the system from here on out will only have the occasional game that will sell really well, while most of it will struggle to find a place on retail store shelves. It's a pity, and Sony has no one to blame but themselves.

I've been seeing a lot of talk around the internet about how the PSP is on its deathbed lately, with people saying it has been for a while. This is not true in the least. I'll acknowledge that there was a time when the PSP was seriously in the doldrums - the latter half of 2008, specifically. But since then, the system has renewed itself with plenty of great software that, unfortunately, most people probably haven't played. And there's plenty of software on the horizon as well, and it sadly looks destined to be ignored.

Ignoring the colossal flop that was the PSP Go (or however you're supposed to write that), the PSP actually kept up the momentum with a steady stream of software after the aforementioned hibernation period. It's a shame that so few seem to realize it, though, and software and hardware sales have been pretty bad all around recently. Well, except for Japan, where its sales have been pretty brisk ever since Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (aka Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) released. Heck, it would have probably been in the same position there if it hadn't been for that one game.

So, I'd like to talk about some of the games coming out:

Given the mixed reaction to Metal Gear Solid 4, Kojima Productions decided to go back and produce a sequel to the franchise's most well-received game, Metal Gear Solid 3. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker takes place around seven years after MGS3, and will apparently tell the story of how Naked Snake becomes Big Boss.

Did you know that Peace Walker was originally going to be called Metal Gear Solid 5? It's something that appeared on Kojima Productions' blog, and it helped in getting some people to pay attention to the game. But there were plenty of fans of the series keeping an eye on it before that: those who played the demo and realized how much the controls actually worked on PSP this time around. It's the exact antithesis to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops' horribly awkward control setup.

There was also a bundle for the game announced earlier this week, which includes a Green PSP. With the announcement, it was also revealed that it's been pushed back from May 25th to June 8th in America. That's kind of a shame, but it's really for the better when you consider how packed of a month May has suddenly become; though it still has nothing on March. If you're interested, Konami is going to be releasing ten gameplay videos, presumably up until its release in Japan on April 29th. The second one just went up today, complete with English subtitles.

It took a long time, but Square Enix USA finally officially announced Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep on Tuesday, though they didn't offer any more clarification about the release date than Game Informer did in their article a few months back (which is "summer 2010"). BBS has received quite a bit of fanfare from people who imported the Japanese version when it released back in January. Some have even called it the best game in the franchise. It's probably better than 358/2 Days on principle, since this one actually has quite a bit of content that's actually new.

The release date is kind of a shock, too, considering how the last few Kingdom Hearts games have all had quick localization times. Again, the official release date is summer 2010, but I'd be surprised if they actually meant "not before August," which would have it release in almost the same time frame as Dissida last year.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 was another one of the titles to cause an uproar across the internet, when it was announced that the sequel to the PS3 game was going to PSP because of lower development costs and faster development time. It's going right along with the aforementioned Peace Walker, Okamiden, and Dragon Quest IX in games that have gone portable to find a new audience, and joins Okamiden in that since the last game didn't sell all that well. Ouch.

But the good thing is that VC's gameplay should transfer perfectly to a portable system, and that the game didn't do anything that couldn't be replicated on the PSP's screen. Well, except for the obvious stuff, like the graphics. The story also takes place within a student academy this time around, though it takes place in the same world as the original. It released in Japan in January, and will come out here sometime this summer.

In their recent financial report, Atlus of Japan posted a nice profit from the last fiscal year, and noted that Atlus USA helped with that. It specifically mentions that Shin Megami Tensei: Persona for PSP was one of the games to help them with those profits. And here we all thought PSP games didn't sell.

And now, Atlus is releasing Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable for PSP on July 6th. It's unsurprising considering the above, sure, but Persona 3 was also Atlus' fastest selling game until Demon's Souls came along last fall. People who haven't played it will find this version a little easier to digest because it's portable, and anyone who's already been through it may want to play it for the new female scenario, along with other extras (like a fully controllable party).

Though I only decided to choose four games to look at here for upcoming PSP games, there are plenty more that you should look out for. I'll be looking at a few more tomorrow. Or the day after that. Whenever.

Though I don't own, or plan to own, a PSPgo, I always like to check and see what's updated to the Playstation Store every week. In case you haven't noticed -- and if you haven't, that's perfectly OK -- Sony's been updating the store recently with a plethora of PSP games for either current or potential go owners, or people with PSP's already that want to download their games digitally. The most distressing aspect of the updates themselves thus far is that even though plenty of games have made their way to the store, there are still plenty of games missing.

Well, unless you're Japanese of course, since its store has just about every retail game available on the store already. On the opposite end, you have a store like Europe's that's reeling for more games. Many of us here have already shared some thoughts on why we think the PSPgo is a bad deal, but another one of the problems is the limited lineup you're forced to stick with if you own one. Take Dissidia: Final Fantasy, for instance, a game that released at retail on August 25th. Well, it just released digitally today for $39.99, the same price it's going for at retail. That's the same price most, if not all, new games go for on the store, even though a retailer like Amazon is selling a game like Dissidia for a much cheaper price.

The worst thing here is that's the only Square Enix game previously released at retail available on the store. Games like the Star Ocean titles, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, and even Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII are still MIA, not to mention most of Namco Bandai and Konami's games.

But the most popular game still conspicuous by its absence is still Lumines, one of the best, if not the best puzzle games on PSP. Portable systems always need a good puzzle game that can be played in either short bursts or long sessions, and Lumines would be the definitive choice to fill that role.

Unfortunately, it's not coming anytime soon. While developer Q Entertainment would have no problem uploading the game to the store, there are a few hindrances on the publishing side that will ensure that it won't be uploaded for a few months, if ever. They explained that they have no problem working with Namco Bandai to get the game up, but they've unfortunately lost the rights to two songs used in the first game. The situation pertaining to whether Namco Bandai is interested in reacquiring said songs and having it uploaded is another question.

I don't know about you, but I'd hate to be robbed of playing certain games because of either rights issues or possible corporate laziness. A lot of this has made me rethink my stance on digital distribution, something that I was all for under six months ago. It's a little difficult to gain a little perspective on the situation until you see it happening before you, and realizing how much power publishers have over the consumer is honestly pretty frightening.

Team 17 director Martyn Brown described digital distribution as being a "win-win" situation for both the developer and publisher, but at this point, I'm having trouble agreeing with him. Sure, we do have programs like Steam and GOG.com that constantly offer deals and minimal DRM stipulations, but the console arena will likely never be like that because of it being a more closed source. Unless publishers and console manufacturers are willing to be more open about how games are distributed, the future of digital content on consoles looks pretty distressing.

The PSPgo released in Japan this past Sunday, one month after releasing in America and Europe, and mostly anyone who was ever curious about Sony's new all-digital product was looking to see whether it would actually succeed or be a massive bomb. It's had a rather middling start everywhere else, and as you can see from the image above, the thing is quite a popular attraction. Just look at that crowd!

Yeah, sure it is. Famitsu's early numbers reported that the go only sold a mere 28,000 units on its launch Sunday, placing it right between the Wonder Swan Color and the Neo Geo Pocket. That's not very good! But really, it seems like Sony knew beforehand that this thing was going to bomb by proceeding with a why-the-hell-not price drop of the 3000 a month before the go even launched, to 16,800 yen (around $185).  That makes the price gap between the two incredibly steep. Not even the added portability is enough of an incentive to pay the go's 26,800 yen price (that's $294). Yikes.

And now they're trying to give potential consumers even more incentive to avoid the go. Sony of Japan announced earlier today that they will be releasing new Value Packs for the 3000 in Japan. In addition to the usual Piano Black, you can also choose from Pearl White, Radiant Red, and Vibrant Blue. The Pack includes a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, a cleaning cloth to keep the screen clean, and a very stylish little pouch. They're very similar to the Value Packs released at the launch of the 1000, and the fact that these are coming out in December in Japan, when the PSP celebrates its 5th anniversary, definitely isn't a coincidence. There will also be a special bundle for the "Best" version of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (aka Monster Hunter Freedom Unite). The Value Packs will release on December 3 and retail for 19,800 yen ($218), the price of the 3000 pre-price drop; the Monster Hunter bundle will be 18,500 yen ($203), and releases on December 10.

Of course, my question is: Why don't we get things like this? Whatever, Sony. At least give us the pouch.

It's almost pretty clear that the go is going to go nowhere (a hyuk!), with its release being an even worse scenario than the Game Boy Micro Nintendo released in late 2005; though at least that still played your old games! The thing is, that was only a test for Nintendo to see how a more, uh, "hip" audience would receive a more stylish device, an audience that didn't know they liked video games until the DS and Wii came along. Nintendo even said it was a limited edition device, so they didn't take too much of a loss on it. Unfortunately, the go is (was?) aiming for quite a bit more than that, so for the market to reject this is going to be pretty bad for Sony. I'm still hoping the PSP itself manages to stick around, though, because its current and upcoming lineup are pretty spectacular.

...but that might all soon change.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?, a creative, minimalist gem of a game from NIS made a splash in the months leading up to its release (if you haven't downloaded the demo for your PSP, get on that). However, some interested gamers hit a snag when the game was only released digitally.

Weighing in at a paltry 41MB, it was an obvious choice for Sony's push to migrate to downloadable games. It would certainly be a waste of the comparatively vast amount of storage a UMD had to offer.

We won't go into the misgivings some have over digital distribution, you've probably all heard them before, and that isn't that point here — This is news.

NIS America has taken note of Badman's fans request to have a hard copy of the game, and has made an offer: If 1000 pre-orders are made for a UMD version before November 13, it will go into production

However, don't go running to your local GameStop. These pre-orders must be made online at NIS's official shopping Web site, Rosenqueen (for those of you hoping for a brick-and-mortar method, you'll have to wait for a thousand of your friends to make it happen for you). Pre-orders are offered at $19.99, plus shipping. Customers will not be charged until the game is actually printed and shipped [UPDATE: It appears PayPal customers are charged immediately], which NIS estimates will take about a month after closing the pre-order.

In an internet age where hundreds of customer-driven petitions clamoring for products fall on deaf ears, NIS's offer turns the tables by soliciting support. If this trial proves not just successful but wildly successful, other companies may take note. This could lead to a whole new consumer-controlled business model, where we have the opportunity to vote for new games with the most persuasive ballot we have: our dollars.

Perhaps XSEED could duplicate NIS's experiment and offer to translate and box Retro Game Challenge 2 if enough people were willing to pre-order it almost a year in advance.

Badman cover-art mockup courtesy NIS America.

Today is one of those kind of days where two separate news posts end up being rolled into one for the sake of timeliness. So I'll begin with two big news stories in both the world of video games and anime, exactly in that order.

So here we are on the advent of the all-digital PSP Go's release in America and Europe, and to commemorate this occasion Sony has decided to, uh, rebrand their lineup of physical software? They have, actually. Somewhat similar to the way that Sony has rebranded the PS3 with the release of the slimmer iteration, PSP covers will also sport an alternate design, though the results aren't quite as extreme in this case. The first game to arise with this new design was Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Tag Force 4, but now plenty of other games will appear to sport the cover as well in America.

Again, it's really not that much different from the initial design, this time with the same psuedo-gray label the new PS3 covers have instead of a solid black. Interesting that they didn't change the look of the logo to match the new PS3 one now, though that seems to be the Go's job if its box is any indication. I can't say I feel too good about the yellow bar dividing the logo(s) at the top and the box art, which looks hideously out of place. At this point, plenty of American game covers are popping onto the web pages of retail sites showing the design, but we're not going to be the only territory receiving this; Japanese PSP titles are also receiving it.

Aside from these, it also looks like Gran Turismo for PSP will also have it in Japan, which should make it the first title released to have the new design (it releases worldwide tomorrow). I didn't use that cover here because the only picture I can find of it is at Play Asia, and their enlarged version has an awfully obtrusive watermark on it. As of this writing, I can't find any European covers with the new design, but that's not assuming they won't have it eventually.

So all of this begs the question: is a rebranding of the PSP's software line, however minimal, really necessary?

Absolutely. The intent of this is Sony basically saying that, no, the PSP is not finished yet; despite what the abysmal lineup from last fall and brick & mortar retailer selections would have you believe. Only a year ago, it seemed like the system had nearly completed an atypical four year cycle, but all of a sudden the software lineup has completely rejuvenated. And that's happening worldwide too. For the last two weeks, Japan's Famitsu Magazine has featured more PSP games than DS games, which further adds to the evidence of a resurgence of development for it.

Whether the design is right for it is another question. I really think it would have been perfect if it wasn't for that yellow strip, which looks horribly out of place. The new PS3 covers have a red strip separating the logos and art, which is a fitting "cool" color for the console itself. Whether you like them or not, you'll have no choice but to have them on your shelf.

(Well unless you're buying a Go, that is.)

In what you could call one of the least surprising things to ever happen, it looks as if Europe is getting a turn to get their own Gran Turismo PSP-3000 don't-buy-a-Go bundle. The best thing is that they're getting the same PSP Japan is getting, including the sleek black PSP that's not as standard as your eyes would initially lead you to believe. The Gran Turismo emblem in the lower right corner is how you can distinguish it from the usual black model. Of course, this also means that us in America are getting a little shortchanged by only getting the same silver PSP model included in the Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters bundle.

I'm not sure how the price of this model compares to the PSP Go that includes a semi-voucher for Gran Turismo in Europe - given that you register your Go on Playstation Network between October 1-10 - but I'm willing to bet it isn't as much as a bank account destroyer. The blog post about it on Sony's European blog didn't specify a price. How peculiar! It's almost as if they don't want to say it lest it will further diminish hype for the Go. If that's the case, then I'm sorry guys; you actually did that when you announced the price. Whoops.

Speaking of Playstation Network, the American iteration actually had a rather nifty update yesterday. A PSN game for Playstation 3? And three PSOne Classics titles? OK, the fact that there were three of them is nothing special. The fact that they're all actually good titles is the shocker. People have fond memories of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, and Syphon Filter 2 was finally uploaded to the service, despite the first and third titles in the franchise being there for years. The third game is the Konami published - no, not Suikoden II - Silent Hill, the very same game that was uploaded to the service last year but was pulled off just as quickly. So, uh, if you want it, you'd better get it fast! I'm a little puzzled as to why they'd upload this now when the remake is coming out in November.

Also speaking of Playstation Network: that simultaneous retail and digital release of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona? No longer happening, if the email directly from Atlus is valid (and I'm sure it is). It's been pushed back until October 1, the same day that Sony will be (supposedly) uploading every other game for the PSP Go's launch. So now, it'll be guaranteed to be lost in the shuffle, which is fantastic. In a bit of good news, NIS America revealed that they'll be uploading all of their games onto UMD Legacy that week, and that they'll all be on sale for 50% off between the period of Oct. 1-7. No word on if this includes the recently released Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (the focus of their blog), but some games are mentioned by name. Some of them could be a great deal when they're on sale and if they're given a discount for being digital. No word on if this refers to any other games, either.

With something good like this happening with Sony Computer Entertainment of America, I'm pessimistic enough to assume that they'll buck the trend next week, and we'll be back to the usual doldrums. Of course, it would be nice to be surprised.

Alternate title: Flipping My Lid

I used to think that the reason Amazon wasn't allowed to send certain games to Canada was because of a lack of French on the covers of the games they had in stock, and a lack of availability of a Canadian edition.  But when I got Dissidia: Final Fantasy in the mail last week, I was surprised (and downright pleased) to see absolutely no French cluttering the packaging, and upon opening the case, I found a reasonably-sized manual inside, rather than a 150 page epic, half of which would've been in a language I cannot read.  It might as well be in Japanese or Egyptian.

Interestingly, when I received the rest of my shipment the following week, most of the rest of the games were also in English only, so I would love to hear Amazon's reasons for denying me access to most of their game library.

So Dissidia (and the pre-order bonus CD) came from Amazon, and I knew I would get hours and hours of enjoyment out of the game, based on the demo I downloaded from the PlayStation Store.  And it turned out that I had a lot of fun micro-managing things between battles.  Every time I mastered a skill, I went back into the menu system, looking things over, seeing what other skills I might want to add.  Every time I finished a story, I was in the PP Catalog, eager to spend my hard-earned points.  As I spent more and more time playing, I quickly realized that only about one tenth of my time was actually spent in battles.  (A lot of it was spent waiting for stuff to load, but still.)

And then, about three hours into the game, my PSP broke.

Naturally, I was angry and frustrated at that point, but I resisted slamming the PSP against the table, which would've made the problem worse and potentially irreversible.  It is, of course, not a Nintendo product, and not indestructible.  But if I ignored it, the problem wouldn't fix itself, and the PSP's function as a game player would be severely hampered.  What happened was, the lid that keeps the UMD in place came off one of its hinges, so the first thing I tried to do was snap it back into place.  I quickly found out that, the way the hinge was designed, it should've been physically impossible to have come loose in the first place, even when the force of my knee was applied to it.  So I wiggled it this way and that, tried brute force a couple more times, and then tried unhinging the other side to see if it would come loose, and if so, try to gain some kind of insight as to how to put it back together.

At this point, I was ready to declare Hammer Time, but I didn't want to bust up my PSP further, so I resisted the urge.  It was bad enough that one entire side of the lid had come off, and the door was swinging loose.  Rather than continue to apply brute force and possibly break the lid further, I decided to look up a tutorial or two on-line and figure out how to take the device apart.  Turned out, most of the tutorials were for the 1000 series, and mine is a 2000 series.  It took some digging to find a tutorial that even mentioned the 2000 series, but I eventually found one that mentioned both the 2000 and 3000 series PSPs, both of which have more screws than the 1000 series.  So I started with step one and took out three of the screws in the back, then stared hard at the sticker that said that if I tampered with it in any way, the warranty would be voided.  I sighed, figured my problem could only be solved in this one way, and peeled enough of the sticker away to reach the fourth screw.  Once it was out, I turned to the screws on the top and bottom of the device.

They wouldn't budge.  I suppose I had the wrong screwdriver.  I mean, I guess it's possible to have one screwdriver for each kind of screw in existence, but only if you're so obsessed with tools that you improve things in your own home all the time and build hot rods and have a low rated home improvement show on cable, but between visits to the emergency room, and all the projects for personal and work-related use you'd be involved with, there wouldn't be time to play video games and write about them.  So I made do with what I had, and the screwdriver would've worked, if the screws hadn't been so tight.  I suppose, from playing the PSP for one and a half years, that all the sweat that had accumulated must've somehow rusted the screws in place without visibly showing any of that rust.

After two hours of struggling with the screws, and with numb thumbs, I gave up.  I tried to press the lid back in place once more and almost growled in frustration.  Getting it back into place was as physically impossible as jarring it loose in the first place, and yet it was loose, so it should've been possible to fix it again without even opening my PSP.  Yet the simple act of taking the screws out had defeated me.  So I sighed again, this time in frustration and anger, and put back in place the four screws I'd successfully removed, put the battery back in (two of the screws, including the one that voids the warranty, are behind the battery), put the battery lid back on, futilely tried to press the UMD lid back in place, and then flopped down in my chair in front of the computer.  As I was reviewing the website I'd found earlier, I absently applied just a little pressure on my PSP as if it would help to snap the lid back in place, when brute force hadn't done it.

That's when I realized that I had just snapped the lid back in place.

Video of the Week

Memo to Square's casting department: you dropped the ball with Kefka's voice.  He just doesn't sound demented enough to be the clown prince of the Gestahl Empire.  If you want to hear the voice of the person you should've hired for Dissidia, here you go:



In your next game that features characters from Final Fantasy VI, I hope you fix this unfortunate oversight.

Currently Playing: Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP; see above)

I just wish the game was more epic, like past Final Fantasy games.  What's really captured my attention though, is:

Currently Playing: Picross DS (DS.  Duh)

At the rate I've been playing this game, I'll end up finished in about a week or two.  Those puzzles are so damn addicting!  And yet Canadians aren't allowed to buy this game from Amazon.com unless they went through a special section of their site.  What, are Canadians going to use a game where you draw pictures with numbers to burn down the White House again?  Hell, we didn't need the help of such a device the first time, why would we need it the second time?

Looking Forward To: Ōkamiden: Chisaki Taiyou (DS)

This is a game I'm taking a lot of interest in.  I don't know if it's going to make it over to North America.  Then again, I didn't think the original game would either, but Capcom surprised me, twice.  Please, Capcom, if you're never going to make another Breath of Fire, at the very least bring Ōkamiden over so we can play it!

I am a little wary, though, since the game is starring a small, cute wolf called "Chibiterasu".  Chibi, for crying out loud.  They'd better not ruin this for me!  Can't deny it, though, she (I'm assuming it's a she?) is cute.

Bottom line: Ōkami sequel + DS = it's about damn time, doubled.  I'm looking forward to a game controlled by the touch screen that doesn't suck, and where the shapes actually mean something.  I'm sorry, Lost Magic, but you did kinda suck.  And the control scheme for the DS seems perfect for Ōkami.  I really, really, really hope this makes the trip over the Pacific.  Maybe I should learn Japanese, just to be on the safe side.

Note: next Adventures In Canadian Gaming, if current scheduling plans work out, will be posted September 17, then return to its regular once-a-week schedule.

Boy isn't that title just clever? Man, wow.

But anyway, you're probably aware that Sony has a new model PSP releasing this fall. It's considerably smaller, and what some people would label as being, you know, actually portable in the greatest sense (i.e. it should fit in your pocket even with a case). It also has 16 GB of internal flash memory, which should speed up load times even faster than they would from a Memory Stick Pro Duo. That's good and all, but existing owners aren't going to be convinced by the system not being backwards compatible with their existing lineup. Oh, and the screen is half an inch smaller, and you can't change the battery as easily either. It's also somewhat distressing that Sony still hasn't announced a way for us to convert our UMD purchases to digital form, given that we're only a month away from the product's launch.

And honestly, there isn't much to entice potentially new owners that didn't own a PSP before. As of this writing, there are only 48 UMD legacy games available on the American Playstation Store, and Europe has only a little more than that -- though they are getting some games day and date. Meanwhile, Japan has plenty of games available already. Sony's European division also announced at Gamescom two weeks back that customers who purchase a PSP Go and register within the first ten days get Gran Turismo free, and they should given how exasperating the price is there (at £224.99, which is considerably more than even the original PSP retailed for at its launch there). Meanwhile, America will also receive a bonus upon purchase: Rock Band Unplugged. Lite. It's obviously not the same as the existing retail version, only including five tracks, and I'm left wondering how Sony thinks consumers are going to see that as a deal.

But hey, they're keeping their promise to keep the current PSP alive, and selling it to you in multiple bundles. From the time period of July to December, there will be five (and maybe even six) PSP-3000 bundles existing on the market, all of which look pretty good. And one of them is a Rock Band Unplugged bundle that makes the aforementioned American PSP Go bundle look like a total ripoff in comparison. You also have the "Girlz Play Too" Liliac bundle around, and the recently released Dissidia: Final Fantasy bundle (exclusive to Gamestop). There's also an Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines bundle coming to coincide with the release of the game in mid-November. And there will undoubtedly still be some Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters bundles lying around.

The last sentence of that last paragraph was a hint of what's coming, as Sony Computer Entertainment of America today announced another bundle, this one for Gran Turismo. Its innards are detailed in the blog announcement today, and it looks pretty nice. It also looks like this will be the new annually released bundle, the evidence being the release timing and the fact that the Size Matters bundle is out of stock at various retailers. With all of these offers, I'm getting the feeling that SCEA doesn't have that much faith in the PSP Go, and that they're already preparing to go on and pretend it that won't phase them too much.

But it's not just them either. During Gamescom, Sony's Japanese district announced their own Gran Turismo bundle, this one including a variant of the Piano Black model. It's nice to see that they're really abiding by the promise to keep the 3000 on the market simultaneously with the go, but you'd think they were deliberately trying to make the 3000 a better bundle.

A lot of gamers, existing owners especially, observed the PSP Go dubiously, touting it as an overpriced machine that actually looks like it costs less to create than the 3000 model. It's almost hilarious to see that Sony is apparently attempting to fuel that argument with bundles that are definitely a better deal than what the Go offers. So the questions remaining are what customers will choose come this fall, and whether the Go will be any success at all.

Edit: Totally forgot to mention the prices of the digital software, and how they'll stack up to their physical iterations. Apparently, in America at least, they're going to cost the same price. It was already confirmed that Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is going to be priced similarly across both formats, and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge will follow suit. I didn't even notice that the PR included in yesterday's Gran Turismo PSP-3000 bundle announcement on the Playstation Blog says that the game by itself will also cost the same price on both formats. So despite all digital versions costing less in Japan, it looks like most of America's games will be the same price for both, which is kind of a slap in the face to digital purchasers. So there you go; now you have another reason not to buy the Go.

It was officially confirmed at Gamescon last week, the PS3 slim is real and it'll arrive on store shelves next month. Like the new PSP Go, this latest news comes another one of Sony's worst keep secrets. At a lower price of $299 consumers, developers, and retailers are getting exactly what they've been asking for from Sony. Demand on Amazon.com via pre-order is already high, making the new PS3 the current best selling video game item on that site. The new PS3 features a smaller design and uses a third less power. Sadly, PS2 backwards capability is gone for good. Although it may come as little consolation, at least you can play all of your old PS1 games on the PS3 without any problems. If backwards capability means a lot to you there are alternatives. 60GB PS3 models are now selling at GameStop.com for $330.

A new Persona 3 game has been confirmed for the PSP and will be simply titled Persona 3: Portable. The game has been confirmed as an enhanced PSP port due to release in Japan on November 1st. Siliconera reports P3: Portable will feature both the original male protagonist and the choice of a new female protagonist. Players will have to choose a gender at the start of the game and events in the game vary between the different protagonists. Other game changes include new music, and the ability to directly control every party member. It's unclear if this title will see a release in the West, but given the popularity of the Persona series the possibility is very high. Unlike this newest Persona release we do have a solid estimate of when Final Fantasy XIII will make its way to the West. A simultaneous PS3/Xbox 360 release in spring 2010 is all but confirmed, and Xbox 360 owners can expect the game to span three discs compared to one Blu-ray disc on the PS3.
 
While on the subject of Blu-ray, in Japan the disc format is big business. Not surprisingly, anime makes up about 50 percent of Blu-ray disc sales in Japan. Although Blu-ray sales are up, DVD sales are down by 20 percent and other forms of media such as manga, music, and video games are also down. With such bleak news it seems as if online video streaming will become more important than ever for the anime industry in the future. On the domestic anime distribution side FUNimation, Bandai, Viz Media, and even 4Kids understand the importance of online streaming. It's just a shame that as soon as 4Kids began to stream the original uncut episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! online the project was suspended due to rights issues in Japan. Furthermore, because of these rights issues the original Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh won't be seen in any other medium outside of Japan either. If you bought the first few DVDs a few years back consider yourself lucky.

A national broadband network that consistently achieves high speeds may be more than a pipe dream in the future. Currently, plans for such a network are still being debated by the regulators. The regulators in charge of such a plan would be none other than the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Unfortunately, it's become painfully obvious that such a plan is off to a bad start when the FCC itself is clueless about the term "broadband" and asks the public for a definition.

Even if government regulators are clueless at least we have scientists to turn to for other solutions. Namely, mathematical formulas on how to counter zombie outbreaks and attacks.


Image courtesy of Joystiq.

Edit on August 25th at 8:21am: Added more details to Persona 3: Portable. Previously I mentioned there were very few details about the game, but in fact the opposite was true. I apologize for any confusion my original article may have caused. Thanks to Geoffrey for pointing out the additional Siliconera articles!

There was plenty of Sony news from yesterday to absorb if you pay attention to what they're doing. The big gaming pubs are covering the announcement of the slimmer PS3 en masse, though anyone who doesn't even pay attention to gaming news always knew it was only a matter of time for that. But I think the most interesting news is the confirmation of PSP Minis, which are small 100 MB (or lower) downloadable games for PSP. The service for them is due to launch at the same time as the PSP GO, and though the initial lineup is pretty mediocre (i.e. it's a typical launch for a service like this), I think it has some promise. It's basically an assault on the iPhone/iPod Touch gaming and app division and DSiWare, but primarily the former.

Like the games for Apple's aforementioned devices, it could be a good way for smaller and/or independent developers to gain some kind of notoriety. Of course, it also has the potential to be put to good use by some more mainstream developers who would like to work on something different for a change. It could be used for developers who have excellent ideas and can put them to use without draining much of a company's resources. And, unlike the iPhone, the PSP has standard gaming controls, which could help with games that have a more conventional approach.

The best thing that could come from this is that it could force Nintendo to actually put some effort into DSiWare, and actually give people a serious reason to own a DSi. Nah, probably not, since they're already making enough money off of the console's sales themselves.


Though the lineup for Minis (which, by the way, is quite a terrible name) is merely OK, some titles look good. If you haven't played Pac-Man: Championship Edition on 360 or various mobile phones yet, you'll get your chance now when it launches as a Mini title. In addition to that, there will be 50 games by the end of the year, which is quite a bit. Given the rate Sony's American and European divisions upload games to Playstation Network, I'm not sure if they can handle it -- especially the American division. I'd like to see this pan out sooner rather than later, and see a bunch of companies jump on the service. A company like Capcom, for instance, would do better at porting Mega Man 9 to this instead of releasing a puzzlingly awkward version of Mega Man 2 for the iPhone. A rudimentary example, I agree, but companies will have to start somewhere.

If you want to see a preview of the initial Minis lineup, there's a pretty good reel at Joystiq. Just don't expect to see anything breathtakingly impressive just yet.

It's no surprise that game companies want to try and appeal to every demographic, girls included. The thing is that most publishers don't really know what this, merely trying to feed them shovelware that appeals to their supposedly "cute" sensibilities. Now, Sony is trying to get into the mix with a special bundle including Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show on UMD, and a bunch of other goodies that the girl gamer. Because, like, Girlz Play Too and stuff!

Yeah, I don't even...what? To say Sony's marketing team is merely misguided is to be a little easy to them. Honestly, this is pretty embarrassing. Needless to say, I don't think this will actually work out the way they think it will, especially the website. (Though I do applaud its efforts to sell Loco Roco and Patapon.) I do like the Lilac PSP, though that probably says more about me  Interestingly, Korea and Hong Kong are also getting bundles for this PSP, though with a different game.

It will come bundled with Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, and apparently appeals to people who like Ivy since she's the centerpiece. I like this bundle more than the Hannah Montana one, but I like Soul Calibur, so that makes me biased. I'm not sure what the demographics of those two countries like, so I'm not sure if this is genius or insanity at work. So uh, here's to you Sony of Hong Kong and Korea.