If you're looking for a news story to restore your faith in mankind, this ain't it -- while en route to a monthly chemotherapy treatment for a brain tumor (the day before his birthday, no less), 7-year-old Kyle Springs and his family stopped in Dallas for a Denny's breakfast. As they left the building, with unassuming bellies full of Moons Over My Hammies, they discovered their car had been burglarized, and that thieves had absconded with Kyle's backpack, medical records, medication, and PSP.
The only uplifting facet of this otherwise soul-shattering tale is the fact that the Dallas police department had raised over $1,000 for Kyle within two and a half hours, replacing the PSP and games that he had lost in the parking lot heist. Unfortunately, the nefarious gentlemen who made off with the young man's handheld have yet to be brought to justice -- what kind of sentence do they assign people who steal adolescent cancer patient's portable electronics the day before their birthdays, anyways? Does Texas allow "jettisoning from an airlock into the infinite twilight of space" as an acceptable punishment?
Today marks the third birthday of Sony's PlayStation Portable. Our sister site PSP Fanboy takes a look back at the 50 biggest moments in the platform's history. From the worst marketing disaster to what sold 77,777 copies on its first day, everything is covered.
Watching this trailer may embed some niggling questions in your mind -- questions like: Is it safe to run on top of trains? Why does Cloud have black hair? Who at Square Enix decided that story-rich fantasy and gut-crunching metal were a good mix? However, this video should eliminate any question in your mind that a spiritual sequel to a 3-disc RPG masterpiece could fit on a UMD. Focusing mostly on summons, a Final Fantasy staple, this trailer has pushed our excitement for Crisis Core far beyond our apprehension towards the game. We just hope the final product has music of a more ... listenable variety.
The PSP has been gaining a lot of momentum lately, both from an increasingly impressive stable of games and the constant updates to the already feature-rich firmware, which seem to come every time you turn around. In fact, let's turn around and see what we find. ... Hey, it's firmware 3.93!
This one, we'll admit, isn't a huge leap forward, just 20 new players for the internet radio feature (we're also assuming there's some under-the-hood modder thwarting as well). But hopefully it's a nice, free surprise on your Tuesday morning.
You're heard the critics lavish praise on the monochromatic, perspective-twisting goodness of echochrome, and now you PSP owners can finally take the game for a spin. How, you ask? Why, with a free, downloadable demo of course. Our friends at PSP Fanboy have all the instructions.
We hope you dig the demo, because without a release date for the game currently, there's not telling how long you'll need to make this sliver of echochrome last. Enjoy.
Having broken free from the Chains of Olympus and creating another popular portable game with Daxter, Developer Ready at Dawn says it's done making titles for the PSP. Speaking with Next-Gen, GoW: Chains of Olympus' director Ru Weerasuriya expresses that he hopes other developers continue to up the ante on the PSP, but concludes, "As for us, our work on the PSP has come to an end. But who knows, we might come back to it in the future if the right opportunity arises."
Ready at Dawn is currently putting the last touches on its recently "delayed" port of critical darling Okami. Up next for Ready at Dawn is ... well, actually we don't have a clue.
"Chains of Olympus doesn't quite live up to the other God of War games." (4) "Ready at Dawn didn't mess with the franchise's proven formula whatsoever, which is ... one of our ... gripes for the game." (3) "Gameplay-wise, nothing much has changed ... You still run around and beat the beejezus [sic] out of enemies and then meet up with the occasional boss fight." (5) "I wish that Ready at Dawn had added something new the canon rather than just re-using what's been done in the past." (7)
"The game feels a bit too familiar ... [and] at times you do feel like you've played the game before." (7) That said, "the game is missing some of the features from other God of War games. ... you won't find the ability to use your blades on grappling points, the Icarus Wings, Rage of the Gods, rope traversal, rope swinging, a fourth magic, etc." (4) "I find myself disappointed ... that the game doesn't quite have the same feeling of showing you something new around every corner that the previous games did." (4)
"The game is also brutally linear: you're constantly running from point A to point B, stopping to administer the occasional beatdown." (5) It could also be described as "a very linear experience, (3) that "may be a touch linear." (9) "Toward the end, combat got pretty repetitious, relying really heavily on the mechanic of blocking you into a room and not letting you out until you finished taking down the waves of enemies." (1) "It would have been nice to have seen a little experimentation here or there to mix things up. (3) "Altogether, ... the game feels like a bit less of an adventure and more of a straightforward action game." (4)
We know that most of you haven't read an instruction manual since the days of Gyromite -- not that we can judge you. Aside from the occasional steamy Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction, we try to avoid video game literature as well. Lucky for us, IGN recently cracked the narrow spine of the God of War: Chains of Olympus instruction manual and discovered this treat on the back cover -- an advertisement for a new God of War game for the PS3, presumably the third chapter in the series.
While the series' tremendous sales success and God of War II's cliffhanger ending didn't leave much room for doubt that the threequel was on it's way, we didn't think we'd be hearing from our good pal Kratos so "soon" after the release of Chains. Ah, well; no rest for the familicidal, as they say.
Ready the troops, it's time to march (pata-pata-pata-pon) into battle (pon-pon-pata-pon) with Patapon, a delightful rhythm-based action/strategy game standing proud and alone in a new genre. Patapon is another jewel in the ever-increasing library of notable games for the PSP and at only $20 you shouldn't even bother reading the reviews below -- just go get it! Pata-pata-pata-pon!
IGN(92/100): "While LocoRoco appeared to have the cuteness crown with enjoyable play for the PSP, it looks like it will have to move over – the time for Patapon has come. If you own a PSP, make sure you go to the stores and you get a copy of this game. Your game collection will thank you, and you won't be disappointed."
1UP(90/100): "Patapon poses a serious challenge over its 15 hours (some arcane objectives and explanations don't help); it's not very portable (no pausing, headphones required), and some players won't enjoy the backtracking necessary to buff up their army or the unforgiving economy of the collectibles (you'll often find yourself with far too many items and not enough ka-ching). But it atones for its faults with understated strategic depth, an astounding sense of reward (both literal and whimsical), and an inspired difficulty curve that sticks with you to the end."
EuroGamer (80/100): "While Patapon has got the same quirky sense of style and visual charm as [LocoRoco], it doesn't offer the same easy breezy gameplay. Instead, it offers an imposing amount of depth and a considerable amount of micromanagement. Which isn't necessarily a criticism - it's just that forewarned is forearmed, and if you're nuts about LocoRoco there's no guarantee that you'll go bonkers for Patapon, because it's complicated, and it can be frustrating. But then it can also be rewarding and yes, it's absolutely charming and that counts for a lot."
North American gamers who wish to live out their long held fantasies of frolicking through Escher's world of Relativity will get their chance this summer, when Echochrome, Sony's perspective swapping puzzle platformer, will be made available for download on the PlayStation Network. In the usual fashion for Sony developed games, Japanese gamers will be able to pick up the game long before the rest of us -- some time in March.
No news has been heard about a stateside release date for the pricier PSP version of the game, though Siliconera is claiming that a Sony rep told them the handheld edition is "up in the air". This isn't a death knell for the portable port -- we don't know why they'd cancel the U.S. version, considering that Japan's March release date is for the PSP as well. We'll let you know when we know a more definite release date for the two versions, until then, we suggest enrolling into some sort of MENSA organization in order to garner the massive, genius brain you'll need to navigate these impossible constructions. Update: The PS3 version is on track for a Spring release.
Chris Eden from Sony Computer Entertainment made mention of PLAYSTATION Store on PSP in his Game Developers Conference session. Currently, players must use a PC in order to download content and transfer it to the PSP. Going forward, PSP fans will be able to download games directly to their systems from within the PSP itself. "Access native PLAYSTATION Store on PSP via wireless hotspot," the slide notes. "Purchase and download content direct to PSP (no USB cable)." Launch is currently "TBA." More details are promised for the future. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long.
If the test we performed during Podcast 37 was any indication, the Skype feature which was recently made available to PSPs, while neat, probably doesn't cut it when it comes to your main form of mobile communication. However, we can't be expected to carry around our cell phones and our PSPs. We only have one pair of multi-pocketed cargo pants, and, well, they really don't do much for our figure.
We might be in luck -- a recent issue of Sony Magazine has stoked the fires of a finely aged rumor that a PSP phone is currently in the works, possibly under Sony Ericsson. One article briefly mentions that a "PSP-style phone is apparently in development," and that the device could hit retail "as early as February." While it wouldn't be the first time Sony released a handheld upon an unsuspecting public with little to no fanfare, we would think we'd hear about something like this more than a month before it hits store shelves. We mean -- part gaming device, part mobile phone? The world's never seen anything like this before!
After offending the easily offendable with slightly off-screen sex in God of War and God of War II, it seemed like a no-brainer that the somewhat adult mini-game would making a return for the PSP's Chains of Olympus. Well, that mini-game has now been revealed through an NSFW video posted of GameTrailers.
This time around, the urn and peeing statue that maintained the camera's focus in games past have been replaced with a deliciously suggestive candle (pictured above), which we have to say is an improvement. We can't help but wonder, though, where they'll go next for their suggestive imagery. Rock formations? Vegetables? A lighthouse? Hmmm, they'll probably be OK.
Apparently, a student had the system turned off and in his pocket in the middle of band practice when, all of a sudden, it melted through his jean pocket, sending him to the hospital with second-degree burns on his leg. Sony has yet to comment on the incident, though their website reminds PSP owners that using third-party batteries and charging equipment is likely to cause such an accident -- as will playing the trombone within a 5 foot radius of the system, apparently.
In a beautiful showing of coincidence, the game occupying the system at the time of the meltdown supposedly was, you guessed it, Burnout Dominator.
