While I am a tri-console gamer, who spends most of his gaming time on the 360 and splits the rest between the Wii and PS3, I am also a huge PSP gamer. I’ve had a PSP since launch and even had to replace my PSP recently after I wore the analog nub out playing God of War: Chains of Olympus. True story.
I’ve been pretty pleased with 2008’s PSP offerings, God of War alone is a killer app for the system and there’s been a ton of other great offerings including Patapon to satiate my portable gaming desires.
But then, it all dried up. Where the heck are all the good PSP games in 2008???
I’m tired of the second rate ports. When Iron Man is touted as a “great game” for the PSP, then you know you’re portable console is screwed. I’m tired of all of the half baked JRPGs, bland Strategy RPG’s and boring Action RPGs. Basically, anything with a PG at the end of it’s description means that I’m gonna pass on it.
Unfortunately, lately on the PSP, that’s all that’s being offered. The question is: Why?
Ready at Dawn Studios, the great developers that brought Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus, are done with the PSP. They’re not going to make games for it anymore. It appears, from this story in Joysitq, that the Ready at Dawn team is looking to tackle bigger games for the main consoles. That’s too bad, really. You can point to their work on Daxter and God of War as being, arguably, two of the best examples of what the PSP has to offer gamers. Losing them as a PSP exclusive developer is like Bungie saying, “yeah, we’re not going to develop any more Xbox 360 games anymore….”
So, what’s next for the PSP this summer and the fall? Secret Agent Clank? The buzz on the game isn’t that great. Space Invaders Extreme? Maybe a sleeper hit, but honestly, it doesn’t excite me. Maybe Lego Batman?
Quite honestly, that previous paragraph doesn’t really get me excited for gaming on my handheld. I see a mediocre third person platformer and two ports. It doesn’t look like there’s any great studios to fill in the void that is PSP gaming for the second part of 2008. After a slam bam first six months, there doesn’t appear to be anything to get excited about on the horizon. I thought this was the year for the PSP?
Maybe instead of being the PSP’s “year” it’s more like the PSP’s “month…” I sure hope not.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 kim andre // Jun 11, 2008 at 10:08 am
lego batman xD seriasly LEGO GAMES suck lol
i whud reather played COD 4 whit lono that played a lego game xD
2 kim andre // Jun 11, 2008 at 10:08 am
and that seys alot…….
3 8bitBass // Jun 11, 2008 at 10:50 am
yeah I too have a PSP and it is either a feast or famine. This year has been nice with Jeanne’D'Arc, Crisis Core, God of War, and well that is about it. You are right abou the future, it doesn’t look too good. Perhaps it is time to go back and play some of the older titles (and load times) you may have missed.
Perhaps it is time to get a DS instead? A new castlevania is comming out for it, not to mention a remake of FFIV and Dragon Quest IV.
4 tee // Jun 11, 2008 at 10:53 am
i don’t know about writing off secret agent clank as a “mediocre third person platformer”. The first psp ratchet and clank game was brilliant, not quite as good as daxter perhaps but still in my top ten titles for the system.
…but i gotta say you’ve hit the nail on the head as far as the main thrust of your article goes. late last year saw the releases of the latest wipeout and syphon filter revisions, and the beginning of this year gave us final fantasy and the brilliant god of war. but now what? sure, i’m looking forward to secret agent clank but… one game does not a system make. it honestly seems like sony are winding down the psp in the west, even though the hardware is still selling reasonably well - not to mention the fact that the psp is absolutely killing it over in japan (they must really see something in monster hunter portable that escapes us gaijin…). Perhaps we’ll see something at E3? But this console definitely needs a lift, interest in it is evaporating in the hardcore community. it’s rare to see a popular psp-related article on n4g.com or a big psp post on neogaf.
but yeah, good article.
5 PacManPolarBear // Jun 11, 2008 at 10:53 am
Midnight Club: LA Remix & Samurai Showdown Anthology are the only two games coming out for PSP that I plan on buying before the end of ‘08.
Talk about bag on Lono, there really is nothing coming that comes even close to hype worthy. Even Midnight Club LA will be available on the PS3 and 360…I’m only getting it for PSP because I always end up playing my racing games more on PSP.
Choice pick too. She would not look half as hot licking a DS.
6 Nox1979 // Jun 11, 2008 at 3:01 pm
great article and I totally agree it’s looking pretty rough. I’m beginning to wonder if the lack of titles and developers coming to the PSP has anything to do with the homebrew problem and people pirating games. I have two psp’s I just bought my second psp the God of War bundle and gave my older fatboy model to my girlfriend because she loves the psp as well and have never run homebrew because if we as gamers don’t support the system and buy the games, developers are not going to develop for the system, but it looks like we may be seeing the aftershock of pirated games on the psp, if you think about it most of the really good titles were published by Sony and hardly any decent 3rd party stuff, where is the 3rd party development? I’m not sure what to make of it, you definitely don’t see this problem with the DS.
7 anthonyjh // Jun 11, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I bought my PSP the day it came out. Haven’t touched it since. There are just no (nor have there ever been) any games that appeal to me on it. It’s a shame man, the little gizmo is amazing. Some of the best hand held hardware I have ever used. The software just isn’t there though…
GOD DAMN PIRATES!
8 fluffy_nuts // Jun 12, 2008 at 7:16 am
Your right, a good PSP game is hard to find, I mainly use it as a media player, but if you want, try out Jackass: the game, Worms 2, Harvey Birdman or Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, anything else is pretty much a waste of time
9 The Fly 2008 // Jun 24, 2008 at 5:53 am
fluffy_nuts you just recommended several games that Clank would blow his nose into - What about Tekken, God of War, R&C, both GTA’s and tons of other games that are already available? The PSP has established its greatness and every so often a huge portable gem of a game is released. It’s the impressive console quality of these portable games, not the quantity of new (and cheaply made) titles released. Instead of releasing more game remakes and ports (which the PSP was ALSO critisised for - even though the best DS games are ports, Mario Kart, Mario 64 etc), developers now tend to take their time with PSP games. That’s what DS fanboys forget - “I bought a psp and haven’t touched it since” if I may say, it’s hardly intelligent buying a console you see no games you like for (I suspect lies are afoot). Criticising the PSP because it’s popular as a media device? How many people bought a PS2 because it doubled as a DVD player? Some DS owners believe that because the DS exclusively plays games, it must be a more efficient games machine. This is a pathetic view and underlines their lack of a decent pro against the PSP. DS outsells because girls and kids love them // I believe it’s the PSP’s complete superiority over the DS which brings it such hatred and ridiculous critisism about a lack of games - I mean how many games do you want in your portable collection - couple of thousand?
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