Results tagged “psp games”

For the last couple of months I've been collecting video games. Some games are in the form of collector's editions and others are Xbox Live Arcade games. Finding the time to actually play the games has been something of an issue lately. Fortunately I did make time to try out one new game and found it interesting enough to share my first impressions.

Hideo Kojima is a crazy dude.

Given the prevalence of them in previous Metal Gear Solid titles, fans of the series expected there to be some bonus crossovers and in-game advertising in some form for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Though Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater had some advertising for Calorie Mate, it also had a bonus game that was a crossover with Ape Escape. It was a mode where you, as Naked Snake, shot at a bunch of monkeys with sirens on their head, who also tried to shoot at you. Zany? Well yeah.

And that's not even mentioning the plethora of softcore porn pics that are spread around in every game since Metal Gear Solid 2 - some of which can lead to some interesting (and hilarious) cutscenes. They also appear in magazines that you can use to distract soldiers. There are also the bonus Rumble Roses outfits that appeared in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Just to make sure you didn't know this game was definitely Japanese before.


But yeah, the bonus stuff and advertising. For some reason I can't comprehend for the life of me, Metal Gear fans across the internet are appalled with Kojima Productions including a plethora of advertising and bonus modes in Peace Walker; as if they don't want to acknowledge that the series has done this in the past plenty of times. Granted, they are upping the ante ten-fold here, but its all to be expected given Kojima's sense of humor.


With Peace Walker, there will be a mode where you can fight dinosaurs from Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (or Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for anyone not in Japan). And as you can see, it looks unbelievably silly; yet therein lies what makes it gorgeous. And I'm sure Konami will also find the money they make from this tie-in gorgeous. There is also a tie in with Assassin's Creed II, though that one is perfectly fitting, and it probably would have been a bigger part of Metal Gear Solid 4 if the first Assassin's Creed didn't receive such a mixed reaction.


The game will also feature tie-in's with Doritos, Mountain Dew, Axe Body Spray, Sony, numerous Japanese gaming magazines, and more. They're really going all out with this.

And that's not all! Square Enix also teased that they had a special announcement to make this week. Speculation for what it would actually ranged from tame (Final Fantasy IX on US PSN, which is somewhat reasonable given their mention of it coming to Japanese PSN soon) to positively insane (insert Kingdom Hearts III here). The actual news? They're producing a series of Play Arts figures for this game. This is why it helps to keep your expectations very low whenever a company announces an announcement.

You can't help but wonder why Konami's going through with all of the advertising for this game. The ostensible reason is that Kojima Products merely wants to inject some humor in a video games franchise they know really doesn't take itself seriously, but there may be more to it than that. While this game may not have a budget as big as its predecessor on PS3, it's definitely big for a PSP game. And it's something that may not sell as well on a system that's nearly dead outside of Japan. An awfully sad predicament for a system with such a great lineup, but it's likely true. The game hits Japan three weeks from tomorrow, with an American and European release on June 8th and 17th, respectively.

So today is the PSP's Fifth Anniversary.

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.

You may remember Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? from earlier this year on PSP, and how it was originally scheduled to be released on UMD in mid-July, but cancelled in favor of a digital-only release. It may have been better for NIS America, given how most retailers weren't planning on carrying it -- including Gamestop -- but the game was aimed at a niche audience, an audience that happens to care very much about physical products. And given the abundance of clever writing the game has, it would have made the instruction booklet a thrill to read. A pity it wasn't fated to happen.

However, NIS America tried to make amends a couple of months back by attempting to print the game if they received 1,000 preorders. Unfortunately, they didn't receive half that, and Badman seemed destined to remain only digital. Well, unless you imported, or plan to import, the European version.

Fortunately, all isn't lost, as Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security! will release on UMD and digitally when it releases in America in February 2010. But the best news about this release is that it will also include the first game on the same UMD as a bonus feature. The game will require you to input a secret code to access the original from its main menu, however. This should hopefully assuage the fears of anyone who wanted a physical copy, so now you can spend that time wondering how a secret code that's given out months in advance qualifies as a secret code.

While the retail version will go for $29.99, the digital version of Badman 2 will go for the reduced price of $19.99. It's always nice to see that someone has a grasp on reality when it comes to digital downloads. The first game is only going for $9.99 now in its digital form, so you'll basically be paying the same price* if you want to buy both games separately from the Playstation Store. Also, a demo for the second game is now available on Playstation Network.

*OK, you're actually saving $.01 with the digital version, but eh, details.

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.

My, what a fitting time for a Darkstalkers post!

But actually, this entry mainly exists because Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower was just released on Playstation Network for PSP in America this past week, and since a new audience, however minimal, are going to be playing this game for the first time, they'd probably want to know how good it is. It's very good, actually, and one of the best 2D fighting games on the system. It's also an excellent port of a game that ties with Last Blade, in that it's one of the most horribly underrated fighting game franchises in existence.

Actually, The Chaos Tower is a bit more than a port of any of the older games - though it is a port of the Japan-only Dreamcast title Darkstalkers Chronicle: For Matching Service. It includes most of the elements from all of the previous games, similar to what Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition did for the Street Fighter II series. There weren't too many significant differences between each installment of the franchise, and not all of them were given home console releases either, especially outside of Japan.

For anyone who's never heard of the franchise and likes fighting games, this is now the time to give it a try. It actually inspired the gameplay systems of quite a few games in the genre, and most people probably don't even know it. The gameplay you see in the Capcom-developed Marvel games and Arc System Works' most venerable fighting franchises (Guilty Gear, Blazblue) takes cues from this game. The latter titles also take another cue from this game, as its characters and setting are incredibly bizarre.

Indeed, Darkstalkers has an incredibly colorful cast of characters, and they're all unique in their peculiarity. Your usual fighting game will only have a few off-hand characters for the sake of balance, just to make sure that not all of its characters are "normal." That actually describes Darkstalkers entire cast, as not even its normal-looking characters are exempt of craziness.

Someone like Donovan, for instance, looks like your average guy at first glance, until your realize that (a) he's half-vampire, (b) his sword is actually a living being, and (c) he travels around with a strange-though-intriguing young, emotionless female companion (Anita). And Baby Bonnie (B.B.) Hood is even worse! A young girl who resembles Little Red Riding Hood to a tee; well until she whips out her Uzi. They're all weird, sure, but that's part of what makes them appealing. Capcom designed them to be bizarre but not repugnant, and you'll definitely find one character that you'll want to stick with.

( Oh, and B.B. Hood the best character in the history of the genre. Fact.)

The good thing about a 2D game is that most of them will always look great in the future, especially if they're preserved well. Darkstalkers is no exception to that, as each character is given various animations to make them look as exaggerated as possible. It was a game that, at the time of its original release (way back in 1994), used the anime-style fighting game graphic design in the best way. Yet another way in which it inspired Guilty Gear, whose unique style relies on the same technique.

Darkstalkers is also the game that made chain-combos popular. Chain combos are executed by pressing one button after the other in order to string together a quick-though-easy combo. A beginner's example would be light punch, medium punch, and then hard punch, with minimal timing required. The characters whose learning curves are low will all be able to perform that combo, but anyone who requires some practice may have other bread-and-butter combos. As you practice and get creative, you'll be able to perform larger and more complicated chains. Overall, they're much easier to deal with than Street Fighter II and IV's link combos, which themselves require incredibly strict timing and rhythm to perform. Street Fighter Alpha would later incorporate the chain combo system found here.

Darkstalkers characters also have movesets similar to what you'd find in the average 2D fighter, with some characters requiring either circular motions to perform special techiniques, while others require charging. That's perfectly OK, unless you're using a PSP-1000, whose directional pad and wonky square button couldn't be more unfriendly for this game. You'll want to use these techniques to finish off chain combos to maximize damage.

This game, The Chaos Tower, also sports a new mode called...uh, The Chaos Tower. It's similar to the World Tour mode in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where you'll have to fight various opponents while surviving with three chosen characters. It's not as tough as surviving the mission mode of a Guilty Gear game, but things will naturally become more difficult the higher you go up. It's nothing that will replace the main experience, but it's a fun diversion.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems with the port. Anyone who likes to preserve the original aspect ratio of their games may find a problem here initially, as the widescreen view is achieved by stretching the game's previous 4:3 ratio to fill the screen. Fortunately, you can turn this off, but it's a shame that Capcom didn't put enough care into the game to make a true widescreen image. Perhaps too much effort for what was essentially a low-cost port job.

If you've ever wanted to play a Darkstalkers game, this is definitely your best option. It's a shame we couldn't have had all of the games individually like the Darkstalkers Collection that was released for PS2 in Japan back in 2005. Unfortunately, these days Capcom doesn't see the franchise as a profitable venture, so it's unlikely that we'll ever see another game in the series ever again. Though given how Arc System Works still makes games similar to this one very well, maybe they could have them develop a new one. A game with Street Fighter IV's graphical style wouldn't be so bad either.

If you were ever considering purchasing Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, you only need to ask yourself two questions: have you ever had a passing interest in the franchise? Or, if you've played it, have you ever thought about how good it would be to have what's essentially a portable version of Soul Calibur IV? If you answered yes to either of those questions, you're in luck! For Broken Destiny is an essential purchase. And really, when you know that, who needs a review?

Ah, but I have to adhere to tradition, and you'll have to suffer through text describing the game in precise detail.

Or maybe you don't have to suffer. There's something peculiar about the questions asked above, in that they only raise further questions. Why is Broken Destiny a good buy for someone who hasn't even dipped in the water of the franchise before? Who would want to play a portable version of IV with no online? The latter could easily be answered by the fact that the online is a laggy mess and is pretty much dead now because of it, but though Namco advertised the game as a beginner friendly game, it offers a lot for veterans as well.

You may not have thought that Soul Cailbur IV, originally released for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 last summer, could faithfully be replicated on PSP. With this, Namco felt determined to prove to us that they could, and the results are pretty spectacular. Broken Destiny includes all of the regular characters from the franchise - that means no Star Wars characters or broken bonus characters, and that's good - along with two newcomers: Dampierre, a hilarious con artist whose style will make you laugh enough that you won't realize he's kicking the crap out of you. The second is the franchise's requisite guest character, this time in the form of Kratos from the God of War franchise. I hate to use the word "cheap" to refer to anything in a fighting game, since a lot of people who play them like to blatantly misuse the word, but Kratos here is the definition of it. Though it's not like Namco cares to balance the Soul Calibur franchise anymore.


But they sure are concerned with it looking nice. Namco was somehow able to replicate the console version's visuals incredibly well. You could say that it's basically IV in standard definition, but merely saying that doesn't emphasize how good it looks playing on a PSP. In fact, it looks quite a bit better than Soul Calibur Legends on Wii, which probably says quite a bit about how sorry of a sack that game was. And here people (me included) thought Tekken: Dark Resurrection would be the pinnacle of how good a PSP fighter could look.

Since Broken Destiny doesn't have any online play - though it would in some form if Sony bothered to release Ad-Hoc Party for Playstation 3 outside of Japan - it has to rely on robust single-player modes to keep its longevity. And to this end, it...well, kind of succeeds. Within the game are four specific modes of play: Trial, Gauntlet, Quick Match, and, if you have the benefit of knowing someone else with the game, Versus Match. Of course, there's also a Training Mode.


The Gauntlet is, well, mostly what you'd expect. It's a mode that does an excellent job in teaching the player what basic moves they'll need to know to win a match. For anyone who's never played a Soul Calibur game before, it serves as a great introduction to all of the mechanics. But that's not all it is, as it also provides some of the best and most clever dialogue exchanges the franchise has ever had, and that's entirely because it doesn't take itself seriously. Characters you wouldn't expect humor from will suddenly be hilarious. It's not canon, of course, but that doesn't stop it from being entertaining. It's a nice break from the serious-though-insipid normal storyline, which really isn't present at all in this game.

Trial Mode is, more or less, a slightly enhanced version of the arcade mode present in every Soul Calibur mode, though it's less fulfilling. And that's a shame, because it would've been perfect for a portable game. There's something nice about a short, fulfilling arcade mode that can be digested in about ten minutes, so it's a shame this doesn't have it. Trial gives you specific rules you have to follow, dealing with either offense or defense; your score will be higher depending on your performance. Endless Trial almost qualifies, but it's more of a "Survival Mode" than anything, and fighting mostly custom characters isn't as enjoyable as fighting the main characters.


Speaking of custom characters, yes, this game still gives you the ability to create your own character with one of the move set of one of the main characters. Anyone who's played Soul Calibur IV competitively can tell you that this is both a blessing and an absolute nightmare. Having someone of your choice paired with someone you created is nice in theory, but it's precisely what breaks this game. A trick people like to use is creating a small custom character with the move set of a large character. Someone big like Astaroth will have a number of moves that can are punishable between animation frames, but a smaller custom character using said moves can get away with it unscathed. Astaroth is a big character, meaning he's a big target, but a smaller character could easily use moves he couldn't get away with, making things a bit unfair.

(This means that, yes, you can go ahead and cleverly call it Soul Calibur: Broken Gameplay.)

But thankfully this game isn't really intended for much competitive play, though if you're looking for competition, plenty of it can be found within the Quick Match mode. Quick Match has a setup very similar to that of an online lobby, with each opponent having a specific tag and title. It also displays that opponent's win and loss record in order for you to gauge how good your opponent is. The fights you'll have aren't completely similar to fighting a human opponent, given how there isn't much reliance on outsmarting your opponent or mix-up games (or cumbersome lag that plagued the online portion of the console game in spades), but damn does it come close. Some of the opponents, hilariously, love to spam the same move over and over again in a sometimes-failed attempt to exploit a common weakness human players may exhibit. Exactly what tends to happen online! No rage-quitters here, though.


Most of the music and stages are the same that were present in the console version, but a few have a little variation. The Athens stage has another version that takes place during sunset instead of daylight, though its original is still present as a stage. Meanwhile, two stages were unfortunately removed entirely in the transition. Still, what's here is good, and their remixed music is some fantastic stuff.

Keep in mind that this review was only for those of you who are concerned with detail, as the conclusion is still in my lede: Broken Destiny is a great game for beginners, and veterans of the franchise will like that it perfectly replicates the console experience on a portable system. Gamers with plenty of experience with the franchise will also find Quick Match addictive and portable friendly, thanks to its rapid pace. It may not be the most balanced fighting game around, but it's definitely fun.

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.)

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 Thursday, and that means there will be an update to the Playstation Stores in America and Europe. Today, we received the hilariously controversial Fat Princess and Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 -- whose Xbox Live Arcade version isn't releasing until August 26th because of the Summer of Arcade II, by the way. But the Playstation 3 isn't the only system to receive updates to its service; the PSP iteration, via Media Go on PC or PSP, also receives a few necessary updates.

So we did get some PSP games on PSN and another PSOne game (another freaking Spec Ops game; thankfully it's the last one). Out of those, I found the most interesting one to be the UMD Legacy version of Pocket Pool. At first glance, you'll assume that it's just a budget game made to appeal to anyone who wants a cheaply priced pool game on their PSP; that's the same assumption I made. Little did I know that there was quite a bit more to it than that. A lot more.

Here's the description from the game's page on Playstation.com (which prompts your birth date upon arriving on it, and that says something):

Grab your stick and go head-to-head with the Dream Models in Pocket Pool for the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. With 13 different types of pool, including 9-ball, 8-ball, Rotation, Black Jack and Snooker, there's a game of billiards to satisfy any pool shark. And when you're up against the Dream Models, wins mean more than just a notch on your cue - they unlock video clips and image galleries of the luscious Dream Models.

Yeah, so what the. If you want to see them, there are screen shots on that page, and videos can be found via a Google search. You know, just so you know I'm not making this up. If you, uh, want to play it, it's available for only $10.

Also hitting Playstation Network today is Strikers 1945 Plus for PSP, which is only being released digitally here despite being released on UMD in Japan. That's perfectly understandable, too, because though I'm sure it's a superlative port of both Strikers 1945 1 and 2, shmups -- a distinctive term referring to a Japanese arcade shoot 'em up, or "bullet-hell" shooter, if you prefer -- don't sell that well at retail outside of Japan unless they're bundled with a plethora of other classic games. It's only $12 too, so it sounds like it's worth your money. The other PSP game is some game no one's ever heard of or cares about called Brave Story: New Traveler.

Nah, just kidding. New Traveler actually gets my ringing endorsement because of how completely enjoyable it is. It doesn't break any new ground as far as Japanese RPGs are concerned, but it doesn't need to. Anyone who enjoys a good light-hearted RPG should definitely pick this up if they haven't, and I believe that it's the best original (i.e. not a port or remake) RPG on PSP. I'm sure Justin Joseph would also give it a recommendation if he was writing this. It's available digitally today for $14.99 (and only takes up 147 MB of your memory card), but if you prefer a retail version, Amazon.com is still selling new copies for $19.99.

In news totally unrelated to this topic: I'm happy to see that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled received a price reduction. Seriously, this game had no business being priced at 1200 points ($15), and thankfully Ubisoft and Microsoft decided to wise up and reduced the price to 800 points ($10). That's great! Now to see who else will potentially buy it so I can possibly play with them.

Almost anyone who is anticipating the release of Dissidia: Final Fantasy in the US received their first ability to test the game yesterday, as a demo hit Playstation Network yesterday. I'll admit that the game initially alerted the cynic in me. A 3D fighting game "dramatic progressive action" game with all of the Final Fantasy heroes and villains? And character designs from Testuya Nomura. The ostensible origins of something horrifying, I think, given Square Enix's track record on games that aren't RPGs.

But I'd heard good things from importers who were reliable, and that made me anxious to actually play the game. Well, from what's presented here, it's quite superlative. Thankfully it contains a fighting system that's more -- but not entirely similar to -- Power Stone, and less Ehrgeiz. Dissidia has your favorite characters fighting within an action/RPG-live environ, realizing every fanboy fantasy conjured by the GameFAQs forums in stylish-yet-deep and satisfying action. This means that you don't have to feel guilty playing this game. That's good!

The demo gives access to more popular characters like the Onion Knight, Cecil, and Terra, while also giving players the chance to try out less popular ones like Cloud and Sephiroth. They all control great too. And while Cloud and Sephiroth will undoubtedly be the all-too-often go to characters ('cause they're, like, so cool), Onion Knight has a good amount of speed to stand a chance, while Terra is a very good long-distance fighter. I had the easiest time going through the demo as Sephiroth, which I'm not sure is a sign that I'm getting better at the game or that he's overpowered (it's probably the latter). As for Cecil, well he's definitely the most intriguing character presented in the demo. He almost has two different move sets, one for his light side and the other for his dark. He also transforms between them constantly like some super hero, which is pretty neat.


Another surprise about this demo is how robust it is. Though you have five selectable characters at your disposal, you don't fight against any of them. You'll go up against Warrior of Light, Firion, Squall, Zidane, and Tidus from the light side, while fighting Garland, Cloud of Darkness, Golbez, Kefka, and Jecht from the dark side. All of the characters are featured with English voices, and they all sound good. I was also thrilled to realize that Johnny Yong Bosch is voicing Firion. Though I don't think anyone who sick of hearing him as a lead character is going to like that, including Angela.


I was pretty surprised with how good games like The World Ends with You and Crisis Core turned out, and it looks like Square Enix has impressed me again. I doubt the final iteration will be a crushing let down compared to the demo, so this is definitely worth looking forward to. The game hits US retailers on August 25th (a month from tomorrow), and releases on September 4th in Europe. If you want to play the demo, you can either access it through Sony's new Media Go program. You can download it through your PSP, though the former option is much less hassle considering how sluggish the system's internet is. It's only 79MB, so it won't take up too much space on your memory stick.

It probably shouldn't be such a surprise to hear that Lunar: The Silver Star Story is receiving yet another remake in the form of Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star, this time for the PSP. It looks like Game Arts is taking more inspiration from Falcom's Ys series -- it did previously with the game's features, like anime cut scenes, which more than just Lunar took inspiration from -- in terms of how many times a single game can be remade (though Ys is still winning that race). The internet may be negatively approaching its look, but I happen to like it.

Hopefully, this will be what the Lunar series needs to reinvigorate itself. After the last remake, Lunar Legend, they probably couldn't go any lower unless the development team decides to be collectively incompetent and think cribbing ideas from Lunar: Dragon Song is a good idea. But it doesn't look like that will happen, thankfully. The overworld graphics and town aesthetics look pretty nice, taking some advantage of the PSP hardware while keeping the look close to the colorful original version. People think it resembles something from a Korean fanmade game, but I don't know what they're talking about. This looks far better than, say, the Final Fantasy I & II anniversary editions for PSP, especially the character sprites.

The real question here will be whether they can spice up the battle system, which seemed fine back in the mid-90s but feels incredibly clunky and sluggish these days. The main purpose of this remake should be to take Lunar into the current generation in terms of implementing generally accepted current day RPG conventions, but it's hard to gauge how much is being planned based on some of the battle screen shots. In fact, you could also easily infer that the battle system is the same found in the original and PSX version, which would be a letdown. Though it would be an improvement over the "reimagined" one found in Lunar Legend, though.

Despite some minor (I hope) initial setbacks, I think this remake could be beneficial to the original game and the franchise.I played the original, but for some reason I never finished it because of how dated it all was. Though I was considering digging up the old game and playing through it again, I think I'll rectify that with waiting for the remake, which is bound to be localized. Despite some companies' best efforts to squash it, Lunar actually still commands a dedicated fanbase that has fond memories of the original, and they're people that would still throw down the cash for a quality remake.

Images courtesy of Famitsu.