The Video Game Revue

PAX 2007, PSP

Busy! Pretty much the only time off I've had (and am going to have) in the last while is to attend PAX 2007 with Sunny. I've been meaning to post about the Sumo chairs, demoing cards games (including Eye of Judgment, which was much better than I expected), free Bawls, etc. etc. Suffice to say that it was an intense and amazing experience. I'll summarize some interesting bits in points form:

- Nintendo DS users out-numbered PSP users something like 20:1.
- Halo 3 looks good!
- It's frustrating to demo BioShock in 20 minutes given that the opening cinematic can't be skipped.
- World of WarCraft: The Trading Card game is mostly a rip-off of Magic the Gathering with a less elegant combat system.
- Rockstar Games had a really unimpressive showing (Midnight Club LA? What about GTA4 and Manhunt 2?!)
- Pink Godzilla will happily sell you a factory sealed copy of Suikoden II for $250, among other rarities.
- Sunny discovered Trackmania Nations.
- I discovered Quake 4 multiplayer.
- "Sumo" turned 180 degrees spells "owns."
- One can easily stuff a whole backpack full of freebies from the exhibition area (assuming one isn't too picky, of course; but there is good stuff to be had.)

I do have more to say about PAX, but I lack the time and energy to get into that right now. :( With any luck, I'll be able to revisit the topic later. What I do quickly want to talk about now is the PSP.

I bought a PSP to take to PAX, which turned out to be a really good idea. Three games in particular have shaped my PSP experience to date: Loco Roco, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and Jeanne D'Arc. Sunny got hopelessly addicted to Loco Roco and I was barely able to pry the PSP out of her hands over the course of the weekend. :) Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has so far exceeded my expectations, particularly in terms of story intensity and relevance to the Metal Gear saga. Portable Ops also exhibits the same addictive gameplay that has made the Metal Gear Solid series great. Finally, Jeanne D'Arc is a masterful blend of the gameplay styles of Disgaea and Fire Emblem, with some of the same stunning visual style of Dragon Quest VIII. In short, all three of those games are extremely powerful titles, especially for a hand-held system.

I have been completely blown away by the raw power of the PSP and the quality of its best titles. Since the release of the DS Lite, I'd whole-heartedly supported the DS as the best of the hand-held platforms, and lamented the PSP's spotty library. This trend seems to be turning back the other way: although the Nintendo DS is still an amazingly strong platform, the majority of the up-coming handheld titles that I want to play are PSP games. The hi-res display of the PSP also makes it a particularly potent platform for RPGs. I can hardly wait until Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness comes out, and I still haven't played Tekken: Dark Resurrection. To put it another way, I've had my Wii since launch (last November) and my PSP since PAX (a week and a half ago), and already my library of PSP games is as large as my library of Wii games.

Speaking of Wii games, I've been sitting on a copy of Metroid Prime 3 for a whole week now and haven't had the chance to play it. :( And don't even talk to me about BioShock--by the time I get around to that, it might even be a "Greatest Hits" release. However, after another month or so of stress at work, I should have some time off coming my way; the plan it to catch up on gaming in the fall.

posted by Parappa @ 12:39 PM