Demotopia!: Resistance: Retribution

I wonder if I would have been more into this game if I had played its console counterparts first. That’s not to say that Resistance: Retribution is bad, but to me it was very close to being just another zombie nazi alien shooter. It had a nice little cuttie (my new term for cutscenes, get on board) to set the story, but within that first minute and a half, there were at least five names, three characters, and multiple references to the first game, and through my own fault I was buried in an alien (pun definitely intended) plot.

As an independent game though, RR played solid, and in the rare moments that the environment was at least a little brighter than extremely dark, it looked really good. However, I know that the intense and brooding look of the Chimera is one of main attributes of the Resistance series, but the small stature of the PSP screen makes them look more gray blobs clinging to a black wall. The action was done really well, and sported some of the best PSP shooting I’ve played yet. There is an auto-lock on to the baddies which negates the need to micro-manage the aiming. a-la the Medal of Honor: Heroes, and makes firefights fun.

I still think that Syphon Filter is just about the best shooter on the PSP, even though I’ve really only played about two other ones, but from the looks of the demo, Resistance: Retribution, seems like it could be close second. I just highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the first games though, lest you be set adrift in a sea of “Umm…what”?

MSNBC’s PSP Games of the Year List Is…Pretty Good.

I’ve given MSNBC’s game coverage a lot of grief in the past, but they recently posted a list of their top 10 PSP games of the year that was as fair as it was informational. The PSP has finally been putting out a semi-constant stream of games lately (better five years late than never), but don’t really get the press that other systems do. This list was a nice round-em-up, and and actually got me interested in playing some of these games.

So here’s their list. If you’re a PSP aficionado, or just someone that likes throwing their opinions around, let me know what you think.

1. LittleBIGPlanet

2. GTA: Chinatown Wars

3. PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe

4. Half-Minute Hero

5. Patapon 2

6. MotorStorm: Arctic Edge

7. Beaterator

8. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

9. FIFA Soccer 10

10. Resistance: Retribution

Demotopia! LittleBIGPlanet PSP

Right off the bat, LittleBIGPlanet on the PSP looks beautiful. It is obvious from the get-go that no expense was spared in the graphics department during the game’s jump to an even littlerBigPlanet. It still maintains that intentional kinda-real but kinda-fantasy look that the console version has, and because the PSP screen is so small, it actually looks a little better sometimes because you don’t get lost in visual details. I can say without a doubt that this is the best looking PSP game to date.

As far as gameplay, the one level that the demo contains pretty much sums up what you find in the console version of the game: Sackboy, platforms, collect-em-ups, and even a song so catchy that you’ll be nodding to the beat while you’re swinging from sponges. Through no fault of its own, however, using the PSP’s awkwardly placed analog nub really starts to cramp on the thumb even after only level, especially with the amount usage and lack of a D-pad movement option.

Overall, LBP PSP is a very impressive feat, and fans of the console version will most likely be fans of this one. Give the demo a try, it’s free you cheap bastards.

The Future Is Not Looking Good

According to the trailer for the film (posted after the break), two things are going to be happening in the year 2012. First, the world is going to end. Whatever, it’s getting lame anyways. But secondly, and more importantly, we are still going to be playing PSP-2000′s! What? Not even PSP Go’s, either. Just normal-ass, UMD-using PlayStation Portables.

So, movie, you’re telling us that in three full years, Sony will still have not put out anything better than this? To be fair, it does take place on December 21, so maybe Grosse Point Blank is planning on getting his moppy-haired kid whatever the newest DS model is for Christmas.

No More Remote Play For Me

Now that I have the two halves of the PlayStation whole, I thought I would check out the oft-overlooked “Remote Play” feature because I have pretty much no idea what it does. After a little fumbling around trying to get the my PSP and my PS3 talk to each other, I dove right in…promptly slamming my head on the bottom of the shallow pool that is Remote Play.

There really isn’t a whole lot to it. There is a relatively small library of games that utilize the service, very few of which I would really even want to play. As a whole, it just seems unnecessary, and just a general waste of development time and space. I can’t imagine a time where it would be useful to me to boot it up on both systems, leave my PS3 on, go somewhere other than my house but still in a WiFi area, and play Lair.

Maybe I’m missing some awesome thing that it does and I’m not giving it its due props, but I just really don’t see the point of Remote Play.

I Just Bought A Damned PSP!

Well, maybe not “just,” but it was less that a year ago, and with the minimal use it’s had so far, I would definitely still classify it as new. Now, if these rumors are true, and a new PSP model, rumorifically dubbed the “PSP Go!” is real, I would have to buy another new PSP to not use.

I don’t have money trees growing out of my urethra, people, and I can’t keep buying all the new PSP’s, DS’s, DSP’s, STD’s, and whatever other newly molded piece of plastic you come out with. If the rumors/rumours are true, this new handheld better offer something damned awesome.

Via Joystiq/the internet.

Glad To See The PSP’s Getting Some Love

Happy Monday, everybody.

I don’t know if you are all as excited as I am (read: mildly) about the flurry of PSP news that’s come out in the last few weeks. Assassin’s Creed, God Of War, Rock Band, GTA, Tenchu, Silent Hill, and some more that I forgot are some of the games that have at least been rumored to come out fresh on the PSP, just in time for the (again rumored) new PSP-4000, releasing later this year.

I still believe that the PSP is a remarkable piece of equipment and has the capabilities to produce a lot of good times, but the lack of software support/rampant piracy has held it back from realizing its true potential. I’m hanging onto mine for now in hopes of a brighter future.

Listen, I’m Just As Disappointed As You Are

For some reason, even though all threevue of us played all the way through it and generally really loved it, we continue to snub Mass Effect Assassin’s Creed. It wasn’t even mentioned in our 2007 GOTY list, and our Threevue Review of it gave it only the equivalent of a B+! If that wasn’t crazy enough, the boner-inducing news that there will be an Assassin’s Creed for the PSP came out today, and it didn’t even get a mention! Oh, by the way, did you hear that there will be an Mass Effect 2 Assassin’s Creed 2? You didn’t hear it here, I’ll tell you that.

So I guess we’re trying to say it that we are sorry. We will try and give great games their due from now on.

It Just Slipped My Mind

You know what’s a little sad? For a moment, I forgot that I owned a PSP.

I was reading on Joystiq that there is an expansion pack coming out for the game Echochrome. While reading, I thought to myself, “Man, that game looks fun. I wish I had a PSP so I could play it.”

Well, friends, I do have a PSP. A PSP-2000 that I just bought earlier this year, but haven’t even taken out of its protective case since I was on a flight home from California this summer. I really wish there was a steady stream of good games that came out for it, like it’s handheld counterpart, the DS, but there’s just not.

Maybe I will download Echochrome, and force myself back into the playing it regularly. Yes, right after I finish Professor Layton.

Cheapskate: Free TV

File this under “super awesome but will probably be taken offline abruptly at some point because it totally can’t be legal to have this site”: SurfTheChannel.com.

Last summer I used a site called tvlinks.co.uk to watch the entire first season of Six Feet Under while on a cross-country road trip, and it was serviceable. It did have its share of issues, to include loooong load times (I would queue up an episode, go grab dinner, and then watch it) and pretty crappy quality.

SurfTheChannel.com is a site to behold (yeah, intended) by comparison, with hundreds of episodes of your favorite shows of the past and present. The other night my wife and I snuggled up to the pilot episode of Thundercats (well, I watched it and she dutifully ignored it). It loaded quickly, and the full-screen quality wasn’t half-bad. It has movies too, including those in the theater right now, which verges into totally-illegal-to-host territory, so I didn’t check those out.

So yeah, this is just about perfect for anyone with a laptop, or anything that gets the internet…PSP perhaps? Man, I’m just itching to get an iPhone now. Unlimited portable TV!

My Bags Are Packed, And I’m Ready To Go

I’m leaving for California tomorrow today, and I don’t think I’ll be short of any in-flight entertainment. I’m carrying on my PSP with three fully charged batteries of different capacities; the remains of past Sony handhelds that have since departed us. I’m also bringing my R4-ed out DS, you know, for all my homebrew games. I’ll of course have my iPod with me, in case I’m craving some hardcore Peggle action. If for some reason I feel like reading (not likely), I’ll have the book After Dachau by my second favorite author Daniel Quinn, or I can choose from one of three different magazines I’m bringing. Variety is the spice of life.

I plan on playing Daxter throughout most of the flight, or at least until I hit the inevitible moment where I have absolutley no clue what to do and I need to consult a walkthrough. I also never finished Hotel Dusk on the DS, which I was really into for awhile. Maybe I’ll give that another go. At least if we crash into the ocean, I’ll die doing what I love most: alienating myself from the rest of the world. Love ya!

P.S. This also means that I probably won’t be posting for about a week. Now I’ll know how Tyler feels. Try and carry on without me.

Portable Platforming in a Plane Over the Pacific (and some potential penguin penetration)

On Russ’ recommendation, I picked up Daxter on the PSP as the game that I’m going to try to play all the way through on my trip. I got it used at Gamestop for about 9 bucks, which seems like a pretty good deal. Even though I’ve never played a game in the Jak & Daxter series, I’m looking forward to this one; it got good reviews, and was made by Ready At Dawn studios, the geniuses that gave the world God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Between the six-plus hour flights both ways, and the hours that I am bound to spend driving up and down the California coast, I think I should definitely be able to finish the game. I’m not sure how long it is, but most PSP games are relatively short. It’s just too bad I won’t be back in time to do the ol’ Gamestop shuffle.

The Sky’s The Limit

I’m going on a trip to the mainland (that’s what we here in Hawaii call the continental U.S.) next week, and one of the things I’m most looking forward to are the flights. Not because I enjoy making obligatory, meaningless conversation with strangers, but because it will be no less than 12 hours roundtrip solely dedicated to portable gaming.

When I travel, I travel prepared. I’ll be carrying on my DS and PSP, and even my iPod has games on it that I want to play, like Peggle and Phase. What I really want to do, though, is to buy and play all the way through an entirely new (preferably PSP) game in-flight. I went to Gamestop the other day to see what I could pick up, but I didn’t want to jump into something without being prepared.

So what are some games I should pick up and take with me? I’ll already be taking Patapon and Professor Layton, but other than that, I don’t know. I was really thinking about the Call of Duty PSP game, but the much less than stellar reviews are keeping me away. Thoughts? Suggestions? Donations?

Crap, Now I Kinda Want To Get This PSP

I couldn’t have cared two craps about a new PSP until I saw the picture above, and it’s not-too-shabby $200. And it comes with a free movie, Superbad, as well as a voucher to download a Syphon Filter game through the PSN channel for free.

It’s got me re-thinking the whole deal. I have until June before they start selling it anyway, so I’ve got some time to ruminate.

psp love

The most recent PSP firmware update, 3.93, is supposed to be out today. I tried to get it, but my PSP still only recognizes that 3.80 is the most recent one. Maybe I’ll be able to download it a little later.

I remember when I first had a PSP back in ’05, and the updates were 1.50, 1.51, and so on. It sure has come a long way. The PSP is surprisingly getting more and more popular, and it’s nice to know that Sony still cares enough about it to release constant updates and high quality fresh titles.