Last week I caved in and bought a PSP Go. I didn't make it as long as I expected to; as a matter of fact, I actually ended up getting one on the launch day. I think it was mostly Sony's fairly incredible bombardment of the PlayStation Network with downloadable titles, most of which I've never played.
What's Good:
Disgaea 1 & 2 - I absolutely did not expect these two games to make it onto the service. $15 is an amazing price for the first Disgaea (my used copy of the game just a couple of years ago on the PS2 was over $40).
Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? - This great action sidescroller is a steal at $9.99, especially considering that it's still $39.99 at retail.
Brave Story - Critically aclaimed, classic-style JRPG that did not get a lot of attention when it was originally released on UMD.
God of War: Chains of Olympus - This one was expected, but not at the $15.99 price-- 20% cheaper than it currently is at retail. It's a fair price, and I much prefer not having to lug around the UMD.
What's Bad -
Loco Roco 1 & 2 - Great that these two are up on the service, but the pricing is a little strange. $15.99 is great for Loco Roco 2, but what's the deal with $22.99 for the original game, which is now over three years old?
Motorstorm/Gran Turismo/Soul Calibur - The $39.99 price is absolutely ridiculous for these titles. Sony should discount digital versions of new releases like they do for older titles.
Rock Band Unplugged: Lite: The idea of a completely "a la carte" Rock Band game is pretty smart; honestly, I'd rather have a cheaper version of the game that I can use to pick-and-choose which songs I want to play. The problem: there is no full version of Rock Band Unplugged up for download, but all of the songs are available through Rock Band Unplugged: Lite. If you want the full version of Rock Band on your PSP, expect to pay $80 for what you can get for $30 if you had the cheaper PSP 3000.
What's missing:
Lumines 1 & 2
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
Mega Man Powered Up
Maverick Hunter X
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
FFVII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy: Dissidia
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
PSP Go: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
You wouldn’t think it from the complete lack of marketing hype and momentum from Sony, but today’s launch of the PSP Go is actually pretty monumental for the video game industry and media in general. Sony, the ultimate parade leader for proprietary media (remember the long dead Betamax?), has taken some bold steps towards digital-only media with this new machine, having axed the clunky UMD drive (again, all proprietary) from its nearly five-year-old portable gaming system.
The move to all digital media for video games has been predicted since Microsoft included a hard drive and Ethernet port in its original Xbox back in 2001, but no one really expected the first all-digital device to hit so soon. Really, the technology has been around for a number of years, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all made baby steps with digital content. It seems like a no-brainer—digital content cuts out manufacturing and shipping costs associated with producing a game while also providing a direct link between the consumer and the creator; hypothetically, it would mean more money for the developers who would pass on the savings for cheaper games all around.
The problem? It’s the middleman-- big-box retailers who would lose millions in yearly sales if casual shoppers weren’t browsing the aisles for the newest space marine shooter. These retailers threaten to pull support for Sony and Microsoft’s other products if they dare to undercut the stores online; it’s cutthroat boardroom meetings that kept you from being able to download Halo 3: ODST at its midnight launch. Sure, Microsoft and Sony have both tested the waters, but retailers made sure that these have been nothing more than small splashes instead of the big waves that they should have been. Sony has launched a couple low-profile games online simultaneously with the retail releases, but at the same time pricing these games at a disadvantage over the retail packages that were always bundled with an accessory for added value. Microsoft just recently began to offer full games for download over their own online service, but all of the games are old releases that aren’t readily available in stores and are even priced significantly higher than the retail boxes.
With all of the sales politics, it’s no wonder that the PSP Go is just another half-attempt from Sony. The Go represents a series of missteps from the company, who has let retail pressures turn their would-be revolutionary machine into dead weight.
Sony has not placed the PSP Go as a replacement for the existing PSP system; the old model with still be manufactured and sold in retail stores as well as physical copies of new games. It shows Sony’s lack of faith in digital distribution, and as long as the company is printing UMDs for releases, consumers will be paying for shipping costs if they’re buying online or at a register.
Sony has priced their downloadable games on the PSP Go drastically too high. $40 for a portable game is too steep even for a complete retail package; for a downloadable game that cannot be resold and may be lost if Sony ever shuts down its servers, it’s preposterous.
Did I mention that all of your existing PSP games are useless if you upgrade to the Go? Traditionally, digital content services, like Steam on the PC, offer a method to register your existing games on to the service, allowing you to download your already purchased games over the service without having to spend any extra cash. In Europe, Sony has offered a limited program that allows previous PSP users to download up to three free games from the service for use on a new PSP Go, and the European version of the handheld comes preloaded with the new Gran Turismo game, a $40 extra download for North American users.
The games are expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the system itself. When the original PSP launched in early 2005, it cost $250 and came with a copy of the newly released Spider-Man 2 movie, headphones, and a carrying case. The PSP go comes with nothing of the sort, has a smaller screen, and no UMD drive. Besides the added onboard flash memory, it’s technically a downgrade from the original model, not to mention that the hardware is now almost five years old. The price: still $250.
But even with all of these launch stutters, the PSP Go is the start of something big. As broadband penetration grows and hard drive sizes reach into the terabits, video game brick-and-mortar retailers will go the way of record stores, and Sony will be able to say that they fired the first shot.
The move to all digital media for video games has been predicted since Microsoft included a hard drive and Ethernet port in its original Xbox back in 2001, but no one really expected the first all-digital device to hit so soon. Really, the technology has been around for a number of years, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all made baby steps with digital content. It seems like a no-brainer—digital content cuts out manufacturing and shipping costs associated with producing a game while also providing a direct link between the consumer and the creator; hypothetically, it would mean more money for the developers who would pass on the savings for cheaper games all around.
The problem? It’s the middleman-- big-box retailers who would lose millions in yearly sales if casual shoppers weren’t browsing the aisles for the newest space marine shooter. These retailers threaten to pull support for Sony and Microsoft’s other products if they dare to undercut the stores online; it’s cutthroat boardroom meetings that kept you from being able to download Halo 3: ODST at its midnight launch. Sure, Microsoft and Sony have both tested the waters, but retailers made sure that these have been nothing more than small splashes instead of the big waves that they should have been. Sony has launched a couple low-profile games online simultaneously with the retail releases, but at the same time pricing these games at a disadvantage over the retail packages that were always bundled with an accessory for added value. Microsoft just recently began to offer full games for download over their own online service, but all of the games are old releases that aren’t readily available in stores and are even priced significantly higher than the retail boxes.
With all of the sales politics, it’s no wonder that the PSP Go is just another half-attempt from Sony. The Go represents a series of missteps from the company, who has let retail pressures turn their would-be revolutionary machine into dead weight.
Sony has not placed the PSP Go as a replacement for the existing PSP system; the old model with still be manufactured and sold in retail stores as well as physical copies of new games. It shows Sony’s lack of faith in digital distribution, and as long as the company is printing UMDs for releases, consumers will be paying for shipping costs if they’re buying online or at a register.
Sony has priced their downloadable games on the PSP Go drastically too high. $40 for a portable game is too steep even for a complete retail package; for a downloadable game that cannot be resold and may be lost if Sony ever shuts down its servers, it’s preposterous.
Did I mention that all of your existing PSP games are useless if you upgrade to the Go? Traditionally, digital content services, like Steam on the PC, offer a method to register your existing games on to the service, allowing you to download your already purchased games over the service without having to spend any extra cash. In Europe, Sony has offered a limited program that allows previous PSP users to download up to three free games from the service for use on a new PSP Go, and the European version of the handheld comes preloaded with the new Gran Turismo game, a $40 extra download for North American users.
The games are expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the system itself. When the original PSP launched in early 2005, it cost $250 and came with a copy of the newly released Spider-Man 2 movie, headphones, and a carrying case. The PSP go comes with nothing of the sort, has a smaller screen, and no UMD drive. Besides the added onboard flash memory, it’s technically a downgrade from the original model, not to mention that the hardware is now almost five years old. The price: still $250.
But even with all of these launch stutters, the PSP Go is the start of something big. As broadband penetration grows and hard drive sizes reach into the terabits, video game brick-and-mortar retailers will go the way of record stores, and Sony will be able to say that they fired the first shot.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The PSP Go is One Step Forward but Two Steps Back
You wouldn’t think it from the complete lack of marketing hype and momentum from Sony, but today’s launch of the PSP Go is actually pretty monumental for the video game industry and media in general. Sony, the ultimate parade leader for proprietary media (remember the long dead Betamax?), has taken some bold steps towards digital-only media with this new machine, having axed the clunky UMD drive (again, all proprietary) from its nearly five-year-old portable gaming system.
The move to all digital media for video games has been predicted since Microsoft included a hard drive and Ethernet port in its original Xbox back in 2001, but no one really expected the first all-digital device to hit so soon. Really, the technology has been around for a number of years, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all made baby steps with digital content. It seems like a no-brainer—digital content cuts out manufacturing and shipping costs associated with producing a game while also providing a direct link between the consumer and the creator; hypothetically, it would mean more money for the developers who would pass on the savings for cheaper games all around.
The problem? It’s the middleman-- big-box retailers who would lose millions in yearly sales if casual shoppers weren’t browsing the aisles for the newest space marine shooter. These retailers threaten to pull support for Sony and Microsoft’s other products if they dare to undercut the stores online; it’s cutthroat boardroom meetings that kept you from being able to download Halo 3: ODST at its midnight launch. Sure, Microsoft and Sony have both tested the waters, but retailers made sure that these have been nothing more than small splashes instead of the big waves that they should have been. Sony has launched a couple low-profile games online simultaneously with the retail releases, but at the same time pricing these games at a disadvantage over the retail packages that were always bundled with an accessory for added value. Microsoft just recently began to offer full games for download over their own online service, but all of the games are old releases that aren’t readily available in stores and are even priced significantly higher than the retail boxes.
With all of the sales politics, it’s no wonder that the PSP Go is just another half-attempt from Sony. The Go represents a series of missteps from the company, who has let retail pressures turn their would-be revolutionary machine into dead weight.
Sony has not placed the PSP Go as a replacement for the existing PSP system; the old model with still be manufactured and sold in retail stores as well as physical copies of new games. It shows Sony’s lack of faith in digital distribution, and as long as the company is printing UMDs for releases, consumers will be paying for shipping costs if they’re buying online or at a register.
Sony has priced their downloadable games on the PSP Go drastically too high. $40 for a portable game is too steep even for a complete retail package; for a downloadable game that cannot be resold and may be lost if Sony ever shuts down its servers, it’s preposterous.
Did I mention that all of your existing PSP games are useless if you upgrade to the Go? Traditionally, digital content services, like Steam on the PC, offer a method to register your existing games on to the service, allowing you to download your already purchased games over the service without having to spend any extra cash. In Europe, Sony has offered a limited program that allows previous PSP users to download up to three free games from the service for use on a new PSP Go, and the European version of the handheld comes preloaded with the new Gran Turismo game, a $40 extra download for North American users.
The games are expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the system itself. When the original PSP launched in early 2005, it cost $250 and came with a copy of the newly released Spider-Man 2 movie, headphones, and a carrying case. The PSP go comes with nothing of the sort, has a smaller screen, and no UMD drive. Besides the added onboard flash memory, it’s technically a downgrade from the original model, not to mention that the hardware is now almost five years old. The price: still $250.
But even with all of these launch stutters, the PSP Go is the start of something big. As broadband penetration grows and hard drive sizes reach into the terabits, video game brick-and-mortar retailers will go the way of record stores, and Sony will be able to say that they fired the first shot.
Halo 3: ODST Review
Originally published in VSU's The Spectator
It’s debatable. Certainly, ODST is a much different game than any other Halo, but not for the reasons you might expect. As far as gameplay goes, expect ODST to play almost exactly like Halo 3; strange, considering that Bungie themselves have long preached the differences between Halo’s machine-altered-space-savior Master Chief and The Rookie, a relative weakling whose type has served as measly cannon-fodder since Halo 2. The Rookie might be a little slower and jump a little lower (and I mean just a little), but you’d be hard pressed to find any other difference; he still chunks grenades like a major league pitcher and flips jeeps like they were made of Styrofoam. Bungie definitely played it safe when it comes to Halo’s grenade and gun formula, and in a way it’s very disappointing.
Oddly enough, it’s ODST’s narrative that has received the biggest overhaul from Halo tradition. Taking the view point out of Master Chief’s helmet has allowed Bungie to do some interesting things. Gone is the overly dramatic space opera from the previous trilogy of games; instead, players are treated to a smaller scale story about a scattered squad of soldiers. The plot is typical why-were-we-sent-here war movie fare, but it remains entirely more interesting than Halo 3’s creepy Spartan/computer love story.
Another first for the Halo series is the game’s open-world hub city, New Mombasa. For the most part, your character is free to roam through the alien-infested metropolis, seeking out clues to the rest of your squad’s disappearance. New
The one new multiplayer mode is Firefight, a cooperative enemy hunt that’s nearly identical to Gear’s of War 2’s Horde mode: players’ team up with three friends to take on endless waves of ugly aliens. ODST changes it up from Gears of War’s similar mode by giving the players a communal pool of lives and resources to draw upon; it adds an extra layer of strategy and makes the game that much more interesting.
Also in the package is a second disc containing the original Halo 3’s multiplayer in its entirety, including all 24 available maps (three of which are brand new). The disc is great for Halo fans who skipped over the downloadable map packs, but a waste of space for people who paid a premium for the maps when they were first released.
Is ODST worth the $60? Yes and no—if you have two or three friends who are interested in sinking some time into Firefight with you, and you missed out on the downloadable map packs, then you’ll easily get your $60 worth out of the game. If you have no interest in the game’s co-op modes, then save your cash-- the too-short campaign can be easily finished in less than a rental.
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