Posts Tagged ‘ psp ’

Dissidia Final Fantasy 2

YouTube – DISSIDIA 012[duodecim] FINAL FANTASY JF2011 Trailer.

The PSP fighting game which brought together the main heroes of every Final Fantasy game ever made (and I do mean every game every made, what ever were they thinking when they brought in Shantoto for FFXI is beyond me, she was more like an anti-hero to me) against their corresponding nemesis has a sequel. Yes, Dissidia Final Fantasy is coming back with the addition of Lightning from FF13.

But judging from the trailer. There’s a whole lot of new characters as well. Vaan fron FF12, Yuna from FF10, Laguna fron FF8, Cain fron FF4?, and Tifa from FF7.

I was already impressed by the first game, this should be nothing less. But I wish Square-Enix would bring to the PS3. It would be a refreshing change from all the Street Fighters and Tekkens and all the other brawlers out there.

Dissidia Final Fantasy 2 comes out in Japan and the US on March 2011.

Persona 3 PSP coming to North America in July

Official Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Website

Good news to English speaking fans of Persona. Atlus is bringing one of the last great RPGs of the PS2 to English speaking shores on the PSP. But this version is no port. It’s a brand new story and you get choose if you’re going to play a male or female character. One of the big draws of the game is the in-game social aspect where you try to “win” your classmates as you try to juggle your life between fighting shadows at night and studying to making friends during the day. It pretty much puts you in the shoes of the character.

Atlus just  has so much love for it’s fans that they bundle the soundtrack with the game which is unseen in other game publishers and what took Sega ages to decide whether or not to bring Yakuza 3 over to countries that speak another language other than Japanese. It takes them less than a year to bring over their titles. Persona 3 FES was once feared never to see western shores made it. I applaud Atlus for bringing over these games. I do hope that they get their PS3 game done soon and bring them over as well.

FREE car update for GT PSP

The Gran Turismo PSP car pack is now available for free at the PlayStation Store.

The update includes the following cars.

2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in the Black M color
2008 Citroën GTbyCITROËN in yellow
2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV in an exclusive blue color
1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400 in Arancio orange
2002 Ferrari Enzo Ferrari in Giallo Modena yellow.

Enjoy!

Super sized Nintendo DSi

Nintendo announced a few days ago a new extra large DSi. It will be first released in Japan with other regions to follow in 2010. It is originally meant for “older” gamers who want a bigger screen to read and more space to use the stylus.

The DSi LL is about and inch larger than the current DSi. I guess the bigger screen also does not help with the battery life either as the the DS Lite still has the longest playtime for the handheld. Notice the bigger stylus. Now it really looks like a pen.

Judging from the screenshots, the bigger screen seem to have better graphics than it’s predecessor.

But I also know that the graphics are originally made for a specific resolution. Thus any graphical improvement if any is limited to the size of the displayed image and not from the image itself. In short, the bigger screen will not improve the quality of the graphics. Think of it like you just zoomed in an image and you’re seeing the bigger pixels.

Will I get one? I think not. If you already own the previous incarnations of the DS then there is no need to pick this one up. Unless you want to get your parents or grandparents a DS then this should be the right thing. But then there’s the issue of the cost. In Japan, the DSi LL will set you back ¥ 20,000 ($220 USD, or Php 10,000++). This practically puts it in the same price range as the PSP Go which retails at ¥ 26,800. Unless Nintendo phases out and drops the price on this thing I may even consider a purchase. But still, I’m still very happy with my battered DS Lite which I got a while back and the DSi doesn’t have anything that interests me right now.

I’ll wait until my current DS (knocks on wood) to die before I even think about picking this one up or if they release something so earthshaking on the DSi platform that I really must have. I think this is a safe step up for Nintendo by giving more of the same features as the original DS but incrementally adding features to keep a new crowd interested. Much like what Apple does with the iPod.

The Nintendo DS LL will be released on November 21 in Japan and early 2010 in North America and other territories.

Gran Turismo PSP Review

After it was teased to gamers before the PSP came out it finally has. We only had to wait for five years. So when I heard that the game was finally coming out I knew I had to get my hands on it when it came out. So come October 1 I logged in to the PSN and picked up the game.

I always start with the license part in every Gran Turismo game. But this time they call them “Driver Challenges”. It’s practically the same thing as the acquiring the super license. Although it’s not required to finish the challenges in order to race in certain tracks, it is highly recommended to start here to get a feel of the controls of the game. Unlike its console counterpart, completing a section with the gold trophies does not give you a car. Instead it rewards you with credits corresponding to the time you set. You can only earn the credits once. For example, if you come within the silver time, you will earn the credits for both silver and bronze. But if you try the challenge again, you will not earn any more credits unless you get the gold time.

Prolonged playing cramps my right hand. The X and the O button is a bit difficult to grasp for driving. I’m not sure how the playing experience will differ if played on the PSPGo.

Some users who purchased the game on the Playstation Network did not get the 2000 Nissan GT-R Spec V.

Now on to the good and the bad.

Sweet!
– You start with 100,000 credits. It’s a very generous amount compared to the credit situation in GT4 and GT5 Prologue where it seemed forever to earn enough money to buy a decent car let alone earn enough to afford to tune it.
– You can change the in game music with your own collection.
– There’s no damage.
– There’s barely any tune up or parts for you car.
– Buying the UMD format will still allow you to install it in the memory stick but still requires the disc to play (DRM reasons).
– Selection of cars is pretty good. Sure the Toyota GT 2000 is not there. Or I haven’t unlocked it just yet but there’s a good selection. It actually seems like there’s more car manufacturers in this game than in GT4 for the PS2.
– Selection of tracks is amazing. Most of the tracks in GT4 is in this game. I spent a few hours just going through the entire Nurburgring Circuit over and over again.

FAIL!
– The soundtrack. I’m not a fan of the music of the game and you can’t choose what to hear. Unlike the GT3 and GT4 will allow you to pick exactly what music you will hear while racing. Mac users have to use Nullriver’s PSPWare to allow you to sync your music and movies in your iTunes folder to your PSP. Or unless you’re geeky enough to know the file path to just copy the tunes over.
– There’s no damage.
– Not all the car dealerships are available at one time. Only four are available on a given day. You’ll have to check from time to time to see the cars available for purchase on a given day. Take note that one race does not always translate to one day.

Purchased from the Playstation Network using a PS3 and transferred to a PSP-1000 on a 4GB Memory Stick.

What did we get right on TGS 2009?

Sony
– GT5 Demo – yes Release date -No
– FF13 No exact release date for North America, New demo yes
– No LBP or Assassin’s Creed demo for the PSP
– Demo and playable MGS: Peace Walker
– No dev kit announcement.
– No God of War 3 other than the demo will be part of the GOW PS3 bundle pack to be released in the coming weeks.
– No release date but more playable demo of White Knight Chronicles

Nintendo
– Yes – Wii price cut
– No – DS price cut
– No Wii Zelda Game
– No HD Wii
– No new controller
– Motion Plus technology not exactly a big thing for Nintendo

Xbox
– Still no handheld.

Pleasant surprises of the show:
Sony
– Playable MGS: Peace Walker PSP
– Playable Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep PSP
– Tekken 6 on the PSP
– Yakuza 4 PS3
– Lunar: Silver Star Harmony PSP
– Final Fantasy Agito XIII PSP
– Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday PSP
– Final Fantasy Versus XIII PS3
– Persona 3 Portable PSP
– Sony Wand device to be released in Spring 2010

Nintendo
– 4th! (Yes I did say 4th) Professor Layton game DS
– Final Fantasy Gaiden: Warriors of Light DS
– Phantasy Star Zero DS
– Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
– Okamiden DS

Xbox 360
– Forza Motorsport 3
– Nier Gestalt (Square-Enix action game)
– Alan Wake
– MGS 4 using Natal controllers

Multiplatform
– Resonance of Fate

From the list above I was surprised at the number of Square-Enix games that were shown. No sign of anything they acquired from Eidos yet. Maybe next year in the GDC. Sony showed a lot of games especially on the PSP. Nintendo was also focused on it’s own handheld as well. I only mentioned those that caught my eye. So the Bayonetta, Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 2, Crackdown 2, Assassin’s Creed, I have a tendency to ignore since those games are covered to death by other gaming sites/ blogs and I don’t play them.

There was also Sony’s display of hardware including a 250 GB limited edition FF XIII PS3 bundle and a peek of all the accessories to be released for the PSP Go.

All in all this year was a pretty good show with nice surprises even if overall attendance was down by 10k.

TGS 2009 Predictions

The Tokyo Game Show is the last major show of the year and is highly anticipated as the gaming industry is expected to reveal it’s holiday lineup and upcoming games. It is also notably one of the few shows that is open to the public.

This is an interesting year for gaming. All three consoles are more or less mature now in their deployment. The much awaited games have already been released for each console with the exception of the PS3 which still has to release any of it’s exclusive games.

The gaming industry isn’t doing so well with the closure and/or acquisition of others. It looks like all the games will be released in the 4th quarter while leaving a drought of games in the middle of the year which translates into lower sales figures compared with the year before.

While all three consoles will be present, all eyes will be on Sony and Nintendo as it is their home turf. The Xbox has had some success in Japan but is largely overshadowed by the home team.

This year’s keynote will be given by Kaz Hirai of Sony.

Sony
-Playable demo Gran Turismo 5 with release date for Japan
-Release date for Final Fantasy 13 North America
-Playable FF13 apart from the demo
-Playable Assasin’s Creed and Little Big Planet on the PSP
-Kojima Productions trailers (no hands on demos, just tech demos of MGS: Peace Walker)
-Introduction and release of PSP store and PSP mini dev kit
-Playable demo of God OF War 3???
-Release date and demo of White Knight Chronicles for North America???

Nintendo
-Wii price cut (practically confirmed)
-NDSi price cut or DS price cut. (I expect this around the same time the PSP Go is released or near December)
-New Wii Zelda game
-HD Wii announcement?
-New Wii controller with integrated Motion Plus included.
-More playable games using the Motion Plus technology

Xbox360
-I’m still waiting for that hand held.

What are your thoughts on TGS this year?

PSP Go!

According to 1UP.com, a new PSP is underway and will drop the UMD format and gain an internal flash drive. Still no second analog stick though. It will be first shown to gaming industry folks in this year’s E3 conference in Los Angeles.

The PSP Go also known as the PSP-4000 is a major update to the handheld and will be released in Japan in September. North American fans will have to wait until November. With the loss of the UMD drive, it is also expected that Sony will unveil in Playstation Network store with 100 PSP games ready for download.

The public hasn’t been kind to the PSP over the years. After a hotly anticipated launch in 2005, the price of the handheld and quality of games pretty much held back its growth compared to that of the Nintendo DS. The PSP was almost left for dead until recently where a revamped game lineup and a lower price tag is giving life back to this once promising console.

The past year hasn’t been that good to Sony. The PS3 is getting it’s sales figures kicked by the Wii and the Xbox in North America while the PSP is almost holding it’s own against the DS in Japan but it now has to compete with the iPhone/iPod touch in the handheld gaming landscape. Piracy of the console is quite high. Maybe it is time to release a new PSP.

This PSP cannot be like the ones released in the past 12 months. They were just lighter, video out, built in microphone and so on. But not really a big jump from the original model. Which is why I’m still using the same PSP I bought four years ago compared to when the DS Lite came out which I got right off the bat. I hate the UMD format. It breaks easily and there’s no cover for the part where the disc is going to be read. The UMD is worst kind of portable medium ever created. It’s something you buy and give to your child.

This new PSP in my opinion is pretty much a risk for Sony. They are releasing a new handheld in depressed economic situation, dropping of the UMD (even though is a good thing), and no backward compatibility. Unless they plan on an exchange program for you to trade in your UMDs for a downloadable version or an add on for us early adopters to play these games. There must be something big under the hood of the new PSP for me to drop my soon to be legacy version for this one.

Rumor puts this announcement in E3 to be held in the summer.

99

What is it with the number 99? Whether it be 99¢ or $99, there seems to be an attraction to the number. For the US, I understand it to be more related to taxes. But somehow through the years, one is more predisposed to buying an item that costs $99 than let’s say if it were priced at an even $100. Even if the difference was just a penny.

Which brings me to the “magical” $99 console.

Back when I wasn’t earning much and could only afford one console, the obvious choice was the PS2. I had wanted a Gamecube because of such innovative games such as Pikmin and Animal Crossing but it was just out of my budget. Then came the near holiday announcement of Nintendo in 2003 that they would be dropping the price of the console to $99. I then immediately went on Amazon and bought one. When the PS1 went down to $99, I got one as a back up to my existing console.

And now, the best selling console so far, the PS2 has entered into it’s twilight years into the magical 99 dollar price tag. Gaming sites have called the price drop, “on the wrong console”, and others, just a shrug. They already own one. Or two.

My take on the whole thing? They should’ve dropped the prices last year. The writing was on the wall that the PS2 wasn’t selling as well as it used to. Most game development for the PS2 has either shifted to the PS3 or to other consoles. Not to mention that the PS3 didn’t do so well last year compared to it’s competitors.

It’s never too late to drop prices on their products. It might have done them more good if they dropped the PSP to $99 as well. That would’ve made more sense since the DSi is coming out in North America in a couple of weeks.

As for the PS3 dropping to $99, that’ll be the day.

Resistance Retribution on the PSP

The last very very good AAA game I played on the PSP was God of War and Final Fantasy Crisis Core and that was a year ago. Now I can add Resistance Retribution to that short list.

I’m not a big Resistance Fan. I didn’t pick up the game when I got my PS3 and still didn’t get it when it became part of the Greatest Hits line (note: lower priced). So picking this up was sort of a big thing for me.

As a newcomer to the series, the game has enough cutscenes to get you oriented with the setting and the story so far.

Controls are pretty well mapped. Although it took me a while to get used to the changing of weapons. It doesn’t ruin the experience of the game. The secondary function of the weapon is a bit tricky since it involves the directional button.

Checkpoints are well placed but it can get frustrating at times when wave after wave of enemies come rushing in and the next checkpoint is still over that ridge.

Boss battles are relatively easy. (Of course I was playing easy, I don’t play videogames to lose, I play to win) with exception of a few. There are times where you may run out of ammo. Let’s put it this way, there are ammo boxes and health packs all over the place. Just not always where you want them. (Hello boss fights?!)

Overall it’s a solid shooter and a must play on the PSP.

I have no review for multiplayer. Because of this game I may have to pickup Resistance 1 and 2 for the PS3 to unlock the additional weapons for the game.