B3yond the Report 10.06.09: PSPgo Launch Coverage, Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe and the PSP Minis
Posted by Jon Seddon on 10.06.2009
I devote most of this week's update to all things PSPgo and the games that support Sony's brave new move into a fully digital future.
This week feels like a week where the only news was the release of the PSPgo, which is perhaps good news for Sony, but I'm not sure it's going to get such an easy ride at retail. Whether you're going to buy it though will depend on the availability of decent games and those key features that you can't get elsewhere. This week I take a look at what you get for your money and help you decide whether it's worth taking the plunge for the first time or upgrading to the new portable.
Top Stories
PSPgo is Go!
The PSPgo might well prove to be the lowest key console launch of all time, with only the PSP 3000 getting less attention at retail, but even then we didn't get retail outlets refusing to stock it. I picked mine up from my local game store on Thursday and to give the store credit they did show quite a lot of interest. However, this was due to the fact that it was the first one they'd sold and not because of the exciting new product! The failings of the PSPgo have been written about extensively and I'm not here to knock it, so let's get on with talking about the latest PSP evolution.
My old PSP 2000 compared to the sleek new model
The PSPgo comes in a rather diminutive box, but it wasn't until I took it out that I realized quite how small it was. I've handled them before at Gamescom, but they had the security clamps on them and so appear much bigger than they are. It has the size and weight of some recent mobile phones and the sparkly white finish and smooth sliding action give it a feel of quality. With most of the buttons now below the screen, it definitely feels different in your hands and I prefer the new location of the analogue stick, which is both smaller and easier to move than previous iterations. The number and type of ports has also been revised with just a headphone socket, a proprietary edge connector (similar to an iPhone) that handles both charging and USB/ other peripherals connectivity and a slot for the new M2 memory cards. I try not to be cynical, but why Sony moved from their old Memory Stick Duo format, forcing me to be buy the new memory standard has not been communicated. Perhaps the M2 format supports more than the current 16GB limit currently available.
Elsewhere in the box, you get the cable that connects your PSPgo to your PC or PS3. This also plugs into the mains adaptor meaning one less cable to carry with you when traveling, if indeed you ever do want to take a USB cable. Finally you get a CD with the latest version of Sony's Media Go software for managing your content.
With 16GB of main storage, you might expect Sony to furnish you with some demos, but on switch-on the system is blank other than a video explaining how to get at all that digital media. Another unexpected feature was the need to download firmware 6.01 as soon as you connect to the PSN store. This adds Bluetooth tethering, supposedly allowing you to use your mobile as a permanent connection to the Internet, but so far I haven't been able to get further than it recognizing my iPhone. If anyone does know the magic required here, then be sure to let me know. I find it staggering that they weren't able to get the right version of firmware on the device before it shipped, especially when firmware 6.0 was released less than a month ago. The other surprising element of the addition of Bluetooth, is the lack of fanfare, that might end up making the PSPgo as versatile as you can imagine a permanently connected console could be. That's assuming that people can get them to work - forums seem to suggest I'm not the only one struggling.
Apart from some teething problems with Bluetooth (do you see what I did there), I absolutely love my latest toy. Sure, it does what the old one did, but it looks really cool, feels better in my hand and once I have a full library of games on it, I no longer have to put up with the sound of that disc spinning.
PSPgo Launch Library
Sony have done a rather excellent job of getting PSP games on their store with about 100 games available on launch day, ranging from premier new titles like Gran Turismo to older stuff like Lego Indiana Jones and Sega Genesis Collection. Pricing ranges from $9.99 to $39.99 for the newest games and a full list is available here..
Given that we're in the brave new world of a digital only console, pricing will probably take some time to work its way out. Does the convenience of buying games with immediate delivery make it worth $40 digitally when you can buy the UMD for $36 at stores like Amazon. You can't help but feel that someone is getting screwed in that deal and I don't think it's Sony. It's also curious to see the big differences on older titles with online prices sometimes over double the bricks and mortar price. No doubt the market will decide - if we don't buy digital games, then they will make them cheaper.
Here's ten games available digitally that are worth buying if you're new to PSP
1. Gran Turismo
2. God of War Chains of Olympus
3. Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
4. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
5. Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
6. Crush
7. Lego Batman
8. Loco Roco 2
9. Motorstorm Arctic Edge
10. Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe
One last feature of the PSPgo I wanted to mention was Bluetooth tethering for Dual Shock 3 controllers. That's right, you can plug the go into your tv, tether it to a Dual Shock and play your PSP game with a proper controller on your big screen. A bit daft perhaps, but still a better way to play Chains of Olympus, which gave me incredible hand cramps on my 2000.
PSP Minis - what's all that about then?
As I've written before PSP Minis are Sony's way of delivering games quickly at reasonable prices, but until launch day, we didn't really know what reasonable prices meant. Last Thursday, the first 7 games were released and whilst there were no $1 games, prices as low as $4.99 means that they're worth a look.
What's on offer then:
Alien Havoc (Creat Studios). A game that involves you abducting cows, whilst being chased by fierce farmers in a top down game that could be fun, but could end up simple and repetitive. $4.99.
Tetris (EA Games). Doesn't need any introduction other than to say that it's the first time Tetris has made it to the PSP. I believe this actually a port of the iPhone version. A lot of people are complaining that this is too expensive at $10, which it is when compared to the iPhone version, which I think is half that price. $9.99.
Hero of Sparta (Gameloft). Another game that's been ported from the iPhone, which itself was a bit of a copy of Chains of Olympus. On the PSPgo you can control your hero better than you ever could on the touch screen, but again it's significantly more expensive compared to the iPhone version. If you don't have Chains of Olympus, you can buy a digital copy of that for only $9 more than this, but if you've already finished that then this is a decent stab at the hero action game. $6.99.
Brainpipe (Digital Eel). A port of a PC game that is very hard to describe. The developers describe it - ...a unique gaming experience. The ultimate objective is to transcend humanity. You do this by navigating the tunnels of your mind, exercising your hand-eye coordination while relishing in the funkadelic sights and sounds of your inner self. Collect the illuminated glyphs while avoiding the nasty obstacles. They may look all nice and shiny, even warm and inviting, but each brush with them brings you one step closer to eternal darkness! I'm none the wiser from that description either and the fact that the game makes a lot of the ease of playing without buttons makes me worry about how it will play on the PSP. $4.99.
I've included a video to see whether you can make any sense of it.
Fieldrunners (Subatomic Games). One of the best examples of the tower defense genre that's been ever so popular in the last year or so. Again this was originally an iPhone game and yes it's cheaper on the phone, but the PSP version has some new tower types and new enemies and if you haven't played it it's well worth a look. It does face some stiff competition from Pixel Junk Monsters Deluxe, which was also released on the PSP last Thursday, although Q Games' masterpiece is $20. $6.99.
Sudoku (EA Games). It's the classic Sudoku gameplay and that's about it with reasonable graphics and not half bad controls. $4.99.
Funky Punch (Solus Games). Another iPhone port, this time of a fighter, which might be one of the rarer genres for the iPhone, but is well represented on the PSP. Cartoony graphics, simple controls and a lack of content make this seem a bit of a waster of time. If you want a decent fighter you can pick up Soulcalibur or King of Fighters which are more expensive but an all round better bet.
Uncharted 2 Beta Available for all
And now for some non PSPgo news! With just days to go now, Naughty Dog have made the second beta of Uncharted 2 available to everyone to play. A bit odd calling it a Beta seeing as the reviews of the game have already been wrapped up. I guess there's a chance to change some of the multi-player balancing before the game ships and then there's always patches. The Twitter functionality I mentioned last week is already a casualty of public opinion and will be shelved for the time being, so I guess there's already going to a patch.
Anyway, the 1.6 GB of beta gives you another chance to try out the multi player aspects of the game, which after all is the only part of the game in question. As well as the team death match modes that the original beta provided you also get to play the 3-player co-op levels and also a mode called plunder, which involves collecting rather hard to carry treasure.
At the moment it really does feel like a beta, rather than a demo with extremely long waits in lobbies between games and it still restarts my PS3 every time I finish playing. During actual play though the game is ready to go with the same stunning visuals and animation you'll see in the single player. I particularly enjoyed one deathmatch game where most players were equipped RPGs with almost infinite ammo. Long range rocket exchanges will never get old.
Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe First Impressions
After the interesting but ultimately disappointing Pixeljunk Racers, the follow up, Pixeljunk Monsters was a bit of a surprise hit on the PSN early in the PS3's life. It's a tower defense game, but as it was the first of the genre it sold well and launched Q Games into the top flight of the PSN developers and each subsequent game has been highly anticipated. Q Games like to make 2D games that are simple in concept, but challenging and madly addictive, which make them very suited to the PSP. To coincide with the launch of the PSPgo they have released a version of Monsters in a new deluxe version. The deluxe of the title signifies that you are getting both the content of the original and the Encore expansion.
The simplest way to describe it as a tower defense game where you control a character called TikiMan who can build towers to defend his home. Each level has a maze-like layout with the mazes bordered with trees. TikiMan converts trees to towers by spending coins with different types of tower available for different amounts of coins. The enemies drop both coins and gems with gems allowing you to research new tower types. That's basically it although different monsters are effected differently by each of the tower types, which is where the strategy comes in.
I'm not an expert on the original games content, but I think this version adds some additional tower types and whilst you don't get Trophies you can still fill your Tiki Hut with your challenge awards.
What has been added this time though, which is pretty amazing bearing in mind the platform, is an online co-op mode, allowing you to cooperatively tackle each level with another player. All the gold in the level means there's a bit of a mad dash to get your share, but otherwise you're supposed to work together to win. I suspect it will instill a similar feeling to the competitive/ cooperative New Super Mario Brothers Wii might come November.
Basically the game looks like the PS3 game, has more content and a new online mode, so if like me you've held out on buying the console version then from an initial view it looks like this might be the time to jump in.
Capcom - Buy New Versions of this Year's Games Next Year
With the announcement of Super Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition, Capcom are giving fans the chance to buy their favorite games again next year. Companies are well known for releasing Game of the Year editions of their best sellers, but usually they add content that's available as DLC, which gives new players the chance of grabbing a bargain, without punishing the early adopter (too badly). Capcom however have decided to release new versions of their games that aren't available elsewhere, giving fans the dilema of whether to spend out again for what could be argued should be DLC.
Super Street Fighter IV will give you 8 more fighters including T. Hawk, Jury and Dee Jay. The update will tweak the online play with rumors of a lobby system and some refreshed game balance giving you one more combo. Because of these changes you won't be able to play against owners of the original disc and according to Capcom these changes couldn't be included as DLC. The new version will apparently be available at an attractive price with some kind of bonus for owners the original version.
Resident Evil 5 AE is the motion controlled update that also contains an additional mission featuring a flash-back for Jill that takes her back to the mansion from previous games. You certainly can't imagine the update being available as DLC as the motion controls are supposed to completely change the way you play the game, which has to be paid for somehow. What frustrates me though is the fact that they have added some extra content and the content is real fan service stuff. Who wouldn't want to set the power of the PS3 on the classic scenarios of the PS1 games? I've got no real interest in playing through the whole game again, but I do want the extra content.
Whether Capcom realize it or not, they are playing with fan fire and I certainly won't be giving them more money to repeat my experiences unless the pricing is really attractive or the extra content really does add to the experience. I did buy RE4 and Okami for Wii, but in my defence, I hadn't played through either game when I bought them and a new console does make you do crazy things.
Capcom aren't alone though with Lucasarts also re-releasing Force Unleashed with content unavailable without buying the disc. I really hope that sales of these games don't encourage this as standard practice or the likes of Activision will be trying to resell us Modern Warfare every couple of months.
The PlayStation store was obviously all about PSP this week with its 16 gazillion pieces of content, but don't think for a minute that there wasn't something worth looking at for PS3 owners.
Two new full games, two excellent demos and some decent DLC make it worth a look.
Digger HD
This is a modern take on the Dig Dug arcade game of old, but the developer's Creat prefer to call it inspired by the 1980s PC game. However you want to remember it, it's a game that requires you to dig through single screen levels liberating treasure and avoiding monsters. Yup - sounds like Dig Dug. $9.99.
Uno. It's been a card game for years and an XBLA game since the beginning of the 360 and now it's a PSN game as well. It's supposed to be coming to PSP as well, but no news about since the original announcement. Hopefully, it won't be a Minis game otherwise it won't have any multiplayer, which would rather ruin it. $9.99.
Need for Speed Shift and Brutal Legend demos are well worth downloading this week. The Brutal Legend demo is a bit good.
You can also get some Watchmen costumes for your sack people, and two new add ons for Fall Out 3. Operation Anchorage is passable, but The Pitt is a decent addition and well worth the $9.99 asking price.
Its time for the basketball games to go head to head and once again it looks like 2K's game is coming out on top. The most notable release this week is From Software's Demon's Souls game, which I talked about last week. I'm also interested to see how GTA fares on PSP - ultimately I thought that whilst DS game was a staggering achievement, the platform required too many compromises. The PSP has just enough grunt to provide a full GTA experience with a proper soundtrack and better fidelity in those visuals. I previewed Star Wars when I played it at Gamescom and whilst I don't expect it to set Meta Critic alight it's worth a look.
PS3
Disney Sing It - Pop Hits
NBA Live 2010
NBA 2K10
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Hero
Demon's Souls
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
PSP
Obscure: The Aftermath
NBA Live 2010
NBA 2K10
Naruto Shippuden Legends: Akatsuki Rising
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Hero
What I've Been Playing
I've been away a lot of this past week, so thankfully I've had my PSP with me, but I did get a chance to play the Brutal Legend demo.
Motorstorm Arctic Edge.
It's just like Motorstorm only in the palm of your hand! On close inspection, the crashes lack the drama of the PS3 game and the engine sound is a bit reedy, but BigBig Games have got closer than I think anyone expected. It's the full experience with a wide selection of vehicles, lots of tracks with lots of routes and championship modes. I've completed the first 5 events in single player, but I haven't explored the multi-player yet, but with it's support for ad hoc and infrastructure modes, there should be plenty to go at.
IL-2 Sturmovik. Still enjoying this one, now playing as the Soviets hoping eventually to move on from arcade mode to the much more challenging realistic mode where an uncontrollable spin is only ever a joystick yank away.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. It's taking some clever tactics and some serious grinding to get past the later levels. This has been eased somewhat by recruiting Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday from last week's space based levels.
Gran Turismo. I don't care how much of the game made it to the PSP, when you first see cars travelling at 60 fps on your little screen, you feel a certain pride in your platform. So far, I've only played a few of the challenges and a few single player races, but there's enough here to keep me busy for a while. Not sure whether I'm going to find enough to make me want to collect all cars, but it makes a good first impression.
Minis are certainly a better start for Sony than Nintendo's awful DSi ware games and if I ever get my Bluetooth tethering to work, the PSPgo might justify its existence in my life. At the moment I'm keeping my PSP 2000 and my library of games, but at some point I might have replaced enough of my UMDs to justify packing it away. For most people though the older PSPs do everything that the new slinky model does and ultimately Sony will have to reduce it's price and that of it's software to make it a winning prospect.
Next week is the release of the Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend so join me for my impressions of these mega games and the news that matters.
Capcom is a bunch of money grubbing douchebags. "Can't be given away as DLC" my ass. They are also claiming that it will "max out the PS3/360" yeah right...
Posted By: Oi vey (Guest) on October 06, 2009 at 07:33 AM
I did not share any of your problems with the Uncharted multiplayer. My only problem was starting out as level 1 and being pitted against people who were level 40+, knew the levels backwards and repeatedly kicked my ass.
I guess these are the people who played the first game on 'crushing' whilst I struggled with 'normal'.
Still, as my first multiplayer shooter experience it was fun if frustrating. But I am going to be getting the game anyway so it doesn't really matter.
I downloaded the Brutal Legend demo but I have been playing the Fallout expansions all weekend and not checked it out yet. It will have to work hard to win me over though.
Posted By: Squishy (Guest) on October 06, 2009 at 09:10 AM
"I don't care how much of the game made it to the PSP, when you first see cars travelling at 60 fps on your little screen, you feel a certain pride in your platform."
That kind of fanboy crap is why they can release halfassed games.
Posted By: lol (Guest) on October 06, 2009 at 01:16 PM
I agree with squishy on the beta. I never really had a problem with the wait times, mine were actually some of the fastest of any game I've played online. I agree that there are team balancing issues as well. The only real problem I had was when my college decided to f**k up the wireless somehow and since then I have not been able to get online.
Posted By: Ben Jamin' (Guest) on October 07, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Copyright � 2011 411mania.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
Click here for our privacy policy. Please help us serve you better, fill out our survey.
Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use.
