State of Gaming on the PSP (My Take on it)

[kyyubidx]

Hi there folks,

I want to start a discussion on the state of gaming on the psp and hear opinions so I'm going to start by giving my take on it.

Its mid-2008 right now and I remember when I bought my PSP back in end 2006 I was hyped up about it. Today I feel shrouded in uncertainty. I have looked at almost all major gaming sites (IGN, GameSpot) and sites that make calculates average points for games (GameStats and MetaCritic) and I always see that the PSP has better rated titles than the DS though the PSP has much fewer games but still I have not had a game since Crisis Core that hooked me to my console (which, btw, I do not intend to get rid of ever). THe only games I have beat on the PSP are Crisis Core (love it or hate it, its the best FFVII spinoff), God Of War: CoO, both Budokai DBZ games, Daxter, MK: Unchained, and one or two more). But still I feel something's wrong...

I can tell what's wrong though... Apart from MK: Unchained all the games I beat on the PSP were originals. THe PSP lacks original games and this E3 didn't help much (one more LocoRoco, one more Patapon and a Resistance title) but those are only coming Spring 2009. From now until then what do we have? The usual anual rif-raff: Fifa 09, PES 09, NBA 09, Football Manager HH09, SD! vs. Raw 09, and one Star Ocean (which is a port, well a remake... my point is its not an original) and with luck we might get Dissidia: Final Fantasy by the end of the year (Squeenix did announce a few months back they were going to start releasing the games in all regions at the same time - we do know the game is coming this year still).

Were does this leave us? Is this enough? DS got Civilization: Revolution, Guitar Hero and others... Is the PSP dead as far as games are concerned? Or is this just a bad phase? I want to hear your opinions...

On a more positive note I am hyped up for Dissidia, KH: Birth ny Sleep, Resistance, LocoRoco 2 and Patapon 2...

(sorry for the long post but I'd like to hear opinions)

EDIT: thanks to jamotto for remembering me: Star Wars: Force Unleashed in September... Plus there's the MIA GT: Portable...

[wraggster]

moved to psp news forum thanks for the post

[Shadowblind]

Im looking forward to Resistance, Kingdom hearts, and Patapon 2. Other then that, I don't really see any other good games on the horizon. Loco Roco 2 maybe. Still, the PSP has potential, its just that nobobdy really wants to exploit it much.

[kyyubidx]

(thanks wraggster I am honored)

Shadowblind is right though... The potential is there but no one taps into it... Oh... I forgot that Valkyria Chronicles might also be an interesting title... Still... Spring 2009... But if you can make games the level of GoW and Crisis Core on the PSP you can do much more... Sony need to get its focus on games for the PSP... But they are only pulling for the PS3 =\

(i am currently following the UbiSoft conference should anything arive I'll post it here...)

EDIT: Conference is over and nothing for the PSP. Petz was announced for the DS though... I am wondering where are the half-dozen titles that they promised last month... CAPCOM's conference is at 4.30pm... Its my last hope though... Maybe an RE title, DMC or the localization of MOnster Hunter Freedom 2nd G

[uberjack]

There are lots of great games already on the PSP (I'm sure more are coming too). Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, the original Metal Gear Seri... Wait a minute... You don't mean that the PSP actually has its own games, do you?

[jamotto]

As long as the game is fun I could care less if it is original. I'm looking forward to N+, LEGO Batman: The Videogame, Pipe Mania, Air Conflicts, Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Resistance looks intriguing. I sure hope though that they get around to making a Syphon Filter for the PSP as they need to finish the story!

[kyyubidx]

Now that you mention the original MGS, I remember when almost a year ago Sony promised over 1,000 PS1 games over PSN... I wondered where they ran to :P We barely have any on the US/EU PSN Store and even the JP Store doesn't have THAT many... Its just lazyness on Sony's part...

[texinick]

I think the problem with the PSP is on several fronts.

GAMES: Yes, too many ports. A lot of the games just don't work well on the PSP either. Medal Of Honor Heroes? I'm sure many like it, but I found it hard to try and set my sites on a couple of flashing pixels. These games just don't work on the portable platform (in my opinion). The DS has a heap of great puzzle games, and I think the PSP needs more of this type of genre to be useful. Most portable gamers have a short amount of time to play, and therefore don't want to get stuck into long levels, and big load times.

HARDWARE: I don't know about the US. But here in Australia, Sony don't seem to give a damn about the state of the PSP market. They release features that can't be used because required accessories can't be purchased. Is this really the way to do business? If you add a feature, make sure it's usable from day one. When Apple released the App Store a few days ago... we could all use it immediately. The video out cable for the PSP slim wasn't available for MONTHS after the release of the slim. So what was the point in people getting a slim? The Skype feature was added MONTHS ago. We still can't buy a headset for it here in Australia, Sony's reply... 'The SOCOM headset works'. Wacko! I don't want SOCOM thanks!. We're not likely to get the GPS add-on here, apparently the cost is likely to be too high. My suppliers don't even have the Go!Cam listed anymore. My suppliers don't do UMD's anymore either. The PSP, IMO, is not looking good in Australia.

FEATURES: Sony try and tell us this is the device that does everything, yet many of these features are missing key features. Call me petty, but when I listen to music, I want the screen OFF. If I turn it off, and then hit a shoulder button to skip a track, the screen comes back on. Why isn't there any form of automatically sleeping the PSP? What if I want to listen to music at night, and have the PSP go to sleep after x minutes? Stop adding more useless features (more musical visualisations) and start finishing off the existing features. I won't ever use my PSP for music, it just doesn't compete with an iPod. Maybe it's fine for other casual music listeners, but for those that listen to a LOT, it just doesn't cut it.

OTHER: My biggest problem with Sony is their COMPLETE omission of ANY Mac solutions. The PSN PC store, the new Video service in the UK. The Media Manager etc. NONE OF THIS works with a MAC.

I've had a PSP since it launched in Japan. And all I ever use it for is playing Sudoku!! Since the iTunes App Store launched, my PSP is now gathering dust, and I can't see me picking it up anytime soon.

Phew!! :^)

[kyyubidx]

If we were to talk about features there's a lot the PSP is missing that it could have that is actuallu useful... But yes, texinick is right the PSP is on too many fronts...

VIDEO: I gave up video on my PSP because its so incompatible that I can't even bother trying to convert a video that I'm going to delete 25min later...

MUSIC: More incompatibilty... If it wasn't for LightMP3 I wouldn't be able to use FLAC or OGG which (guess what Sony) are FREE! Stop visualizers... When I listen to music I don't look at the PSP for 5 minutes thinking "how beautiful" -_-

PICTURES: well... that one is useful... sort of... for changing wallpapers.. yay! -_-

Sony need to focus on gaming and gamers... Not trying to compete with Apple and Nintendo at the same time... And maybe Nokia too...

[wolfpack]

To me, the PSP was pulled out perfectly but needed more support and it was missing a few features but other than that, it was flawless.

To me this is what was needed or fixed:

It needs larger memory cards (im a memory hog, i cant help it)
More music support (though i never used Ogg or Flac, there are others that use it)
Better video support (c'mon, support avi's and wmv's without the hackers/homebrewers trying to do the work, youre the professionals!!!)
Make UMD Movies cheaper (i mean when the UMD format for movies was alive and kicking anyways, not now as they are dead), because i mean seriously, theres more movies on DVD and that tends to make more sales, if you curbed the prices a bit down more, it would be a heck of a lot better (5 - 10 dollars a movie)
And finally (this should be the first one on the list because it is a GAMING handheld)
MORE GAME SUPPORT FROM EVERYONE
Ubisoft? Square enix? That just doesnt cut it! We want lots of more developers tinkering with this handheld and harness the power of it. Rockstar did it with GTA. I know others can as well.

Thats just my list right there. The handheld itself is nearly flawless... The companies decisions and what they did with it... Far from it. I see more games and probably better games out in Japan, that dont get translated or even make it to the US or the UK. Japan has lots of support over there... Us... its a slowly dying handheld. The only thing thats saved it (and i guess in a way put it in a grave due to piracy) is the homebrew, the homebrew isnt illegal but how people download and play PSP games without paying for it kinda threw it down. If sony supported homebrew from day one, the psp couldve been saved by locking out any feature of ISO loading.

Thats my 2 cents.