Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Sony planning new clampdown on PSP piracyhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/19/sony-planning-new-clampdown-on-psp-piracy/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/19/sony-planning-new-clampdown-on-psp-piracy/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/19/sony-planning-new-clampdown-on-psp-piracy/#commentsFiled under:

Speaking at Sony's Devstation developer conference in London last week, SCEE president David Reeves affirmed that admitting a problem can be the first step in solving it. "There is a piracy problem on PSP," Reeves told an undoubtedly shocked MCV. "We know about it, we know how it's done." Ah, so they have internet access then.

It's not all bad news, however, as Reeves pointed out that piracy "sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales," even if, "on balance," it makes Sony unhappy. PSP sales have given the manufacturer a lot to smile about, especially in Japan, but piracy takes its greatest toll on software, an equally important source of income. According to Reeves, new plans are already afoot to clamp down on digital swashbucklers, though given how quickly said plans are usually foiled, we imagine new strategies (and firmware updates) are constantly required.

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]]>David-ReevesPiracyPSPSCEELudwig Kietzmann2008-06-19T20:00:00+00:00PSP Firmware 4.00 available nowhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/psp-firmware-4-00-available-now/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/psp-firmware-4-00-available-now/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/18/psp-firmware-4-00-available-now/#commentsFiled under:


After updating the firmware on our PSPs to version 4.00, we were initially quite perplexed by the lack of obvious new features for our beloved portable 'station. This prompted a quick Google search from within the XMB, which pointed us to this Joystiq post explaining ... wait a minute. XMB Google search? That wasn't here before, was it?

The update is now available for download via the network update or through our pals at PSP Fanboy. They tell us 4.00 also adds the ability to change video playback speed with the Up and Down buttons. We'll be sure to try that on all the, err, interesting videos we're busy googling.

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]]>FirmwareGooglePSPPSP-FirmwareUpdateXMBLudwig Kietzmann2008-06-18T13:15:00+00:00Crytek shows interest in PSP developmenthttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/17/crytek-shows-interest-in-psp-development/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/17/crytek-shows-interest-in-psp-development/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/17/crytek-shows-interest-in-psp-development/#commentsFiled under:


Crytek is known for cramming high-end graphics into titles that are just as capable to give your PC a hernia as they are to entertain. However, with the Crysis developer now done with PC exclusives, the company has adopted a new strategy, one that apparently includes the PSP.

A new job posting on the developer's official website notes that the company is currently seeking a PSP programmer with multiplatform experience to work out of its Budapest office, suggesting that Crytek's next project following the recently announced Crysis Warhead will target Sony's handheld. Of course, nothing is known about the developer's PSP agenda or whether that includes plans to somehow squeeze its CryEngine technology into a more bite-sized format. That leaves us wondering if we'll someday be playing Crysis on the go, or if Crytek has something entirely different up its high-def sleeves.

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]]>crysiscrytekdeveloperfar-cryfarcryjobpspJason Dobson2008-06-17T09:31:00+00:00Rumorong: Ready at Dawn not going Wii-exclusivehttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/rumorong-ready-at-dawn-not-going-wii-exclusive/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/rumorong-ready-at-dawn-not-going-wii-exclusive/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/rumorong-ready-at-dawn-not-going-wii-exclusive/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A snippet from the latest issue of GamePro claims that Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus dev Ready at Dawn has ditched PSP development in favor of producing Wii-only titles. Joystiq contacted RAD (pretty cool acronym, huh?) president Didier Malenfant, who was quick to squash the report (although we can't be sure he didn't thwap it with a Wii remote left over from porting Okami to Nintendo's console).

Malenfant further tells Joystiq that his company "[doesn't] have any Wii titles currently in development." RAD had previously hinted at plans to create games for current-gen consoles after finishing Okami Wii, and just today confirmed that it has two all-new games underway. So, two new games in development, none for Wii ... rumorong!

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]]>chains-of-olympusdaxterdidier-malenfantokamipspready-at-dawnwiiRandy Nelson2008-06-11T20:10:00+00:00Ready at Dawn talks abandoning the PSP, piracy and being originalhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/11/ready-at-dawn-talks-abandoning-the-psp-piracy-and-being-origin/#commentsFiled under: , ,


When it comes to developer Ready at Dawn, creating games for the PSP is just so last week. But while the company has closed the book on any PSP aspirations, going so far as to mail its entire stock of dev kits back to Sony, the developer of both Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus has played the reason for abandoning PSP development close to its chest.

It's a mystery, but mysteries give us headaches, so we tracked down Ready At Dawn's president, Didier Malenfant, to find out why exactly the studio has turned up its nose at developing for Sony's sexed-up portable. "We feel like we've done everything we wanted to do with the PSP," admitted the exec. "We have new projects on other platforms and we like to focus on one thing at a time."

Even so, Didier championed the state of PSP development, stating matter-of-factly "Good games sell. Who would have thought?"

Following news of Ready at Dawn's PSP plans, or rather lack thereof, some suggested that piracy might have been a contributing factor in driving the developer away from the platform. We asked Didier if he considered piracy on the PSP to be a real problem.

"We sold over 2.3 millions copies of Daxter and are on track to beat that with Chains of Olympus so we're pretty happy with our sales," he responded. "Could we sell more games if piracy was non-existent? Maybe. But we don't target the market that could be, we target the market that is."

Didier wasn't ready to offer specifics concerning the company's upcoming projects, though he told us that Ready at Dawn is now working on original IP, a first for the now five year old studio. "We have two original IPs in development and some neat ideas with an existing IP. Most of that stuff is next-gen, but we'll see as we move forward what turns into games and/or what goes in different directions."

Wrapping up, we'd be remiss if we didn't question Didier on the off chance Ready at Dawn might want to revisit PSP development in the future, though the exec was noticeably coy. "You can never say never so we're not going to say you won't see any ports of our future games on PSP," he commented, adding that "as far as targeting the PSP specifically like we did in our first two games, we currently don't have any plans for that."

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]]>chains-of-olympuschainsofolympusdaxterjoystiqfeaturespspready-at-dawnreadyatdawnJason Dobson2008-06-11T05:00:00+00:00Ubisoft still 'strongly supports' PSPhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/10/ubisoft-still-strongly-supports-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/10/ubisoft-still-strongly-supports-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/10/ubisoft-still-strongly-supports-psp/#commentsFiled under: ,


While some may be giving Sony's handheld the cold shoulder, Ubisoft has come forward to give the old girl some love, caressing the PSP's supple buttons and running fingers down her sexy back ... lit display. The company recently told GI.biz that it views the portable as an important component of the video game market, reaffirming that it "strongly supports the PSP."

The comments were made as part of thinly veiled damage control following criticisms by Ubi's UK managing director Rob Cooper last week levied at Sony for its "directionless" PSP strategy -- particularly compared to the gangbusters success enjoyed by the DS. Even so, it's a course the publisher is keen to keep following, confirming that it plans to publish 12 or so games for the portable this fiscal year. What names exactly will make the leap to the PSP remain unknown, though Ubi notes that at least some of these will include the company's "top-selling brands," giving us reason to think that Sam Fisher and that cel-shaded Prince may be unbuttoning the PSP's potential very soon.

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]]>portablepotentialpspsonysupportubisoftJason Dobson2008-06-10T13:30:00+00:00Sony offers PS2/PSP dev kits for educationhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/06/sony-offers-ps2-psp-dev-kits-for-education/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/06/sony-offers-ps2-psp-dev-kits-for-education/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/06/sony-offers-ps2-psp-dev-kits-for-education/#commentsFiled under: ,

College game design courses are great for learning how to program games on a PC, but for the most part, getting access to console development tools has meant going to work for a licensed console developer. Sony is looking to change that with it's new PlayStation-edu program, which provides PS2 and PSP development kits for
"computer science and engineering students who want to understand how the hardware works in the PlayStation consoles."

The program isn't a charity -- schools will have to purchase the dev kits from Sony -- but the package comes with demo code, samples, documentation, and access to a support web site and forums. Seems like a good way for Sony to divert student developers' attentions towards their products and away from Nintendo-affiliated Digipen or Microsoft's XNA development tools.

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]]>academiaclassescollegedev kitdevelopment kitDevelopmentKitDevKiteducationplaystation-eduPS2PSPSonyKyle Orland2008-06-06T20:15:00+00:00Japan getting 'Metallic Blue' PSP, 'Cinnabar Red' PS2http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/japan-getting-metallic-blue-psp-cinnabar-red-ps2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/japan-getting-metallic-blue-psp-cinnabar-red-ps2/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/03/japan-getting-metallic-blue-psp-cinnabar-red-ps2/#commentsFiled under: ,


Like an enormous -- and enormously spoiled -- child whose tantrums can shake the entire planet, Japan gets all the cool stuff, all the time. The latest, albeit limited-edition, gifts bestowed upon it are a Metallic Blue PlayStation Portable and a Cinnabar Red PlayStation 2. The portable system will be available in a standard Value Pack (complete with cloth, pouch, D Terminal AV cable and, don't laugh, a 32MB Memory Stick), as well as a 1 Seg Pack which includes a 1GB memory stick, carrying case and 1 Seg tuner. They'll be out on July 17th for ¥23,800 ($231) and ¥29,800 ($289), respectively.

The Cinnabar Red PlayStation 2, slated to become available on July 3rd, will fetch a price of ¥16,000 ($155). And in case you were wondering, Cinnabar is actually some kind of red-tinted rock. We were under the impression that you could toss back shooters and eat delicious cinnamon rolls in there.

[Via Engadget]

Source -- Blue!
Source -- No, Rehhhhhhd!

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]]>Cinnabar-Red-PS2ColorsJapanMetallic-Blue-PSPPS2PSPSCEJSonyLudwig Kietzmann2008-06-03T15:25:00+00:00PSP is 'gateway drug' to other Sony hardwarehttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/23/psp-is-gateway-drug-to-other-sony-hardware/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/23/psp-is-gateway-drug-to-other-sony-hardware/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/23/psp-is-gateway-drug-to-other-sony-hardware/#commentsFiled under: ,


"For us, the PSP is a very high growth, high margin business and something that is a very good product for us," said SCEA senior marketing manager, John Koller, speaking at today's 6th annual Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference in New York City. As conveyed by GamesIndustry.Biz, Koller's message was all about the fortunes of the PlayStation Portable, set loose in a world where handheld gaming has grown beyond its smaller screen size, both commercially and socially.

"In the past, it was a small screen experience. It was something that was very difficult to have from a social perspective," Koller explained. "Those things have changed." And with change comes, well, a lot more change. The kind that rattles in your pocket. Says Koller: "For us, the PSP is a very high growth, high margin business and something that is a very good product for us." He allegedly likened it to a "gateway drug," with first-time gamers (users?) eventually following their noses to Sony's PlayStation 3. The images there are like, so vivid, man.

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]]>John-KollerPS3PSPSCEASonyLudwig Kietzmann2008-05-23T17:55:00+00:00Sony announces Madden NFL 09 PSP bundlehttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/sony-announces-madden-nfl-09-psp-bundle/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/sony-announces-madden-nfl-09-psp-bundle/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/21/sony-announces-madden-nfl-09-psp-bundle/#comments
Let's say for the sake of argument that you are a fan of American football, and in this purely hypothetical scenario you also like to get your gaming fix while on the go. If this is the case then Sony's latest PSP bundle is likely right up your alley, grouping together the portable version of EA's upcoming Madden NFL 09 with a North American-exclusive "metallic blue" PSP.

Shipping August 12 with an asking price of $199.99, the bundle will also pack in a documentary on UMD titled NFL: In Just One Play alongside a 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo. In addition, the so-called Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack will include a PSN voucher to download SCEE's London Studio's Beats rhythm game, an odd bedfellow for the latest sports offering, though we suppose after players tire of going long and letting virtual pigskins slip through their fingers they'll appreciate having something else to fall back on.

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]]>breaking-newsbreakingnewsmaddenmadden-nfl-09pspJason Dobson2008-05-21T09:05:00+00:00Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 hitting the greens on June 3http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/hot-shots-golf-open-tee-2-hitting-the-greens-on-june-3/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/hot-shots-golf-open-tee-2-hitting-the-greens-on-june-3/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/20/hot-shots-golf-open-tee-2-hitting-the-greens-on-june-3/#commentsFiled under: ,


Are you a fan of the professional golfing scene, but wish that Tiger Woods' head was a tad more hydrocephalitic? Feel disappointed when your long drives aren't punctuated with high-pitched squeals and rainbow trails? Whether you're a soon to be fan or a returning wedge-wielder, we're sure the news of a North American release date for the sequel to the PSP's premier anime-inspired golf simulator, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, will bring tears of joy to your dinner plate-sized, sparkle-filled eyes.

Sony recently confirmed that the game, appropriately titled Open Tee 2, will hit store shelves June 3, and will tout an 16-player online tournament mode (making up for the original game's complete lack of online support) and an 8-player ad-hoc match play mode. If you've never been exposed to Clap Hanz' peculiar take on the ancient sport, you can get the full version of Open Tee the first on the Playstation Store for $10.99 -- a mere fraction of the cost to hit the big boy links, and without all that pesky walking.

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]]>claphanzgolfhot-shots-golf-open-tee-2hotshotsgolfopen-tee-2openteeopentee2pspreleasedatesonyGriffin McElroy2008-04-20T16:30:00+00:00Thieves steal 7-year-old cancer patient's PSP the day before his birthdayhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/30/thieves-steal-7-year-old-cancer-patients-psp-the-day-before-his/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/30/thieves-steal-7-year-old-cancer-patients-psp-the-day-before-his/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/30/thieves-steal-7-year-old-cancer-patients-psp-the-day-before-his/#commentsFiled under:


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?

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]]>cancerdallasdennyskylekylespringspsptheftthieftumorGriffin McElroy2008-03-30T14:30:00+00:00Retrospective: Three years with the PSPhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/24/retrospective-three-years-with-the-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/24/retrospective-three-years-with-the-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/24/retrospective-three-years-with-the-psp/#commentsFiled under:


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.

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]]>featurespsppsp-2000psp-fanboyretrospectiveRoss Miller2008-03-24T15:45:00+00:00New Crisis Core trailer shows off summons, butt rockhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/new-crisis-core-trailer-shows-off-summons-butt-rock/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/new-crisis-core-trailer-shows-off-summons-butt-rock/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/new-crisis-core-trailer-shows-off-summons-butt-rock/#commentsFiled under: ,


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.

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]]>cloudcrisis-corecrisiscorefinalfantasyfinalfantasyviipsprpgsquaresquare-enixsquareenixGriffin McElroy2008-03-22T20:30:00+00:00PSP gets firmware 3.93 todayhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/18/psp-gets-firmware-3-93-today/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/18/psp-gets-firmware-3-93-today/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/18/psp-gets-firmware-3-93-today/#commentsFiled under:

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.

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]]>firmwarepspsonyJustin McElroy2008-03-18T13:00:00+00:00Get the echochrome demo on your PSPhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/06/get-the-echochrome-demo-on-your-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/06/get-the-echochrome-demo-on-your-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/06/get-the-echochrome-demo-on-your-psp/#commentsFiled under: ,


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.

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]]>demosechochromepspJustin McElroy2008-03-06T11:50:00+00:00Ready at Dawn ready to move away from PSPhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/ready-at-dawn-ready-to-move-away-from-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/ready-at-dawn-ready-to-move-away-from-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/ready-at-dawn-ready-to-move-away-from-psp/#commentsFiled under: , ,


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.

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]]>pspready-at-dawnAlexander Sliwinski2008-03-04T18:25:00+00:00Nega-review: God of War: Chains of Olympushttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/04/nega-review-god-of-war-chains-of-olympus/#commentsFiled under: , ,

"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)

Control-wise, "the more intricate attack moves are simply lost to the somewhat 'floaty' control nub on the PSP. There are times that I'm sure I nailed a combo only to watch it come apart mid-attack." (8) "Kratos' rolling dodge... [is] still a little awkward," (6) and "some things, like accidentally setting off magic spells, can ... be off-setting." (2) "I didn't like ... the quick-time events requiring analog nub action ... that analog nub just can't measure up to an analog stick.." (1)

"The puzzles were for the most part a little too easy," (1) "very simple," (4) and "on the simple side." (9) No, the puzzles "aren't all that difficult by and large." (3) "They tend to either have obvious solutions or -- in a couple of cases -- be so obtuse that you'll spend hours just trying to figure out how to get out of one stupid room." (6) "There's a puzzle that's not particularly intuitive thanks to the fixed camera and lack of cues," (2) and "one -- which involved dragging around a lot of very heavy statues that were incredibly slow to move -- got downright irritating. (1)


As far as enemies, "if you can imagine lining up the creatures from previous installments and then mixing and matching their abilities a tad, you pretty much know what to expect." (3) "Towards the end of the game the developers increase the difficulty by forcing you to take on more enemies in a smaller space rather than introducing newer/harder enemies." (7) Put simply, "the enemies weren't as varied as before," (5) and "it would have been nice to have seen something a little more inventive here, even if it was only one wholly unique creature." (3)

"Playing through this title there is certainly something missing - bosses." (8) "I'm slightly disappointed with ... the short list of boss fights." (3) "The game could have used more unique boss fights and big memorable moments to put it on par with God of War I and II." (4) "While there are bosses punctuating the overall 'levels', there are few that are the size and scale of the large statue in God of War II, or Ares in the first God of War." (8)

"The game is a smaller overall package than we've come to expect from the series." (4) "The game is relatively short in length," (9) and "not as long as the console counterparts. (1) "The story is short ... between five and six hours the first time through," (4) or "probably seven or eight hours." (1) Either way, "it'll be a brief experience for the voraciously hardcore." (2) and "another level or two wouldn't have hurt." (6)


Otherwise, "there are a few more frustrating moments that take some patience to get through. (2) "The smaller screen cuts into some of the game's graphical prowess," and "there aren't as many neat-o fatality animations either." (5) "Enemy AI is a bit mixed in the game. ... I did have a few times when I could walk up to some of the archers without them attacking." (7) "There are a whole lot of unskippable cutscenes littered throughout the game ... we really don't need to see the same scenes play out again every time we're unlucky enough to die before the next checkpoint." (6) "The storyline ... isn't as strong as in previous games," (2) and "it isn't quite up to the par set by the other titles in terms of an expansive and cohesive storyline." (8)

Welcome, greek mythology fans, to the latest installment in Joystiq's Nega-review series. As always, this Nega-review takes the small, negative points from many overwhelmingly positive reviews and compiles them together into a horribly scathing whole. While positive context may have been removed from some excerpts, everything inside the quote marks was indeed intended as a negative in the original review.

While you might think it would be hard to put together a review for a game that many are calling the best PSP game ever made, it was surprisingly not that difficult. Reviewers tended to agree that the game's linearity, familiarity, and simplistic puzzles were the weakest points. Much of the small criticism of the game came largely in comparing it to the hugely successful PS2 versions -- perhaps an unfair standard for a PSP game, but one that shows just how high the title stands above others on the same system.

Also see: Chains of Olympus Meta-review

Sources:
(1) GameTap
(2) GameSpy
(3) IGN
(4) 1UP
(5) GamePro
(6) GamesRadar
(7) GamingNexus
(8) GamingTrend
(9) GameZone

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]]>chains of olympuschains-of-olympusChainsOfOlympusCoOgod of wargod-of-warGodOfWarnegareviewPSPReady at DawnReadyAtDawnSonyKyle Orland2008-03-04T08:00:00+00:00God of War III confirmed on Chains of Olympus manualhttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/01/god-of-war-iii-confirmed-on-chains-of-olympus-manual/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/01/god-of-war-iii-confirmed-on-chains-of-olympus-manual/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/01/god-of-war-iii-confirmed-on-chains-of-olympus-manual/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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.

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]]>chains-of-olympuschainsofolympusgod-of-wargodofwargodofwarchainsofolympusgodofwariiiPS3PSPsonyGriffin McElroy2008-03-01T11:00:00+00:00Metareview: Patapon (PSP)http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/29/metareview-patapon-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/29/metareview-patapon-psp/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/29/metareview-patapon-psp/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


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."

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]]>metareviewpataponpspAlexander Sliwinski2008-02-29T03:00:00+00:00