May is shaping up to be a very exciting month for PSP owners. A number of highly anticipated games will be released in the coming few weeks, with something to keep fans of just about every genre happy. For example, flight-sim aficionados get more air combat thrills in the form of Heatseeker, while those looking for a more relaxed RPG experience have the first PSP version of Harvest Moon to look forward to. One of the most influential arcade game makers of all time has a compilation of old and remixed classics sliding quietly onto the PSP this month. Taito’s Power-up collection deserves a look for classics such as Space Invaders and Elevator Action. Of all of the releases coming out this month, we are most excited for Driver ‘76 and Coded Arms: Contagion, if only to see whether the developers have been able to realize these games’ full potential. As usual, we have done our best to compile and cross-check these release dates with reliable sources, but these are always subject to change until the moment the game clerk tries to upsell you on a pre-order.
Sony PSP Releases:
Asphalt: Urban GT 2 (May 3) — This racer from Ubisoft looks about as poorly-conceived as its title.
With the Japanese release of The Lion War rapidly approaching, the hype surrounding the game has already reached the kind of fevered pitch usually reserved only for home console titles. However, nobody commands fan loyalty in Japan like the Final Fantasy franchise, so regardless of the platform, people are pumped for this game. Judging from the newest screenshots released onto the web, it appears as if the PSP might just be the ideal place for this remake, given its cinematic aspect ratio and crisp display. This portable version of the venerable original Final Fantasy Tactics introduces a few new features, including some never-seen-before characters and an entirely new job class. Competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes over local wi-fi round out the package.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War ships this May in Japan, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the game to come our way as well.
We have already established that I suck at most rhythm games, but there is just something awesome about PaRappa the Rapper that keeps me coming back for more, even when I get my butt handed to me by the onion chopping master or the flea-market rasta frog. These memorable characters and innovative style helped make PaRappa the cult favorite that it is today, and now a whole new generation of aspiring freestyle rappers can take the experience with them on their PSP.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) announced today that they will be bringing the game to North American audiences in June. The title is already availabel in Japan, where it has been met with mixed results. Many fans of the original complain that this new iteration does not contain enough new material to make it worthwhile. However, this issue has apparently been rectified, because Sony is reportedly offering 8 additional songs for download using the PSP infrastructure connectivity. Personally, I am less concerned with the new material, because I have not yet mastered the original tracks, and I still have a grudge thowdown to wage against that whack master onion.
So in the midst of some heavy procrastinating I was doing today, I came across a nifty little site called Googlefights. There is nothing really to recommend this service, other than to the desperately lazy like me who just can’t be bothered to go on Google ourselves to look up the number of results that a given word returns. Plus it has cool stick men who fight while you wait. After tiring of finding out which washed up 80s child star still commands the biggest web presence (Gary Coleman by a long shot), my attention turned toward more important matters. Below are the results of the more interesting video game grudge matches that I staged while avoiding more productive tasks. Continue onward to find out who took the championship title in such contests as Zelda Vs. Final Fantasy, Diamond Vs. Pearl, and in the featherweight category, Gizmondo Vs. N-gage.
Round 1: The D stands for “dominating Sony’s face”
European publishers Virgin Play announced today that they are bringing an on-rails zombie shooter to the Nintendo DS called Dead n’ Furious. The game places you in the shoes of zombie-hunter Rob Steiner, whose feet literally move you around each level while you pick off the undead with your dead-aim stylus skills (careful not to hit the not-yet-undead!). If the screenshots below bring back memories of light-gun shooting in the arcade — albeit on a small scale — that is probably a good thing; this is undoubtedly the kind of feel the developers are aiming for. According to the makers of the game, players will not be entirely constrained to a single route through each level. Some levels will apparently feature multiple paths and endings. Cooperative multiplayer over local wi-fi will also be included when the game ships later this year.
Between this and the upcoming survival-horror game The Ward, we look forward to seeing more mature-themed action games on the DS.
Back in August of 2005, Nintendo released Nintendogs, a dog-caring sim for the DS which proved to be a massive success with many types of gamers and non-gamers alike. Since then, a steady stream of pet sims have been released to try to cash in, most of the time copying Nintendogs and ending up doing a bad job of it. Cat fans were disappointed with the low quality of the game Catz. And since then they have waited for another cat-caring sim to put their cash on. Unfortunately, Purr Pals is no better than Catz, being yet another cheap copycat of Nintendogs (pun intended). Continue reading to find out why we think this cat should have been left in the bag, and why this game is not the highest point in the Nintendo DS back cat-a-logue [OK, that's enough with the cat jokes! Here, look at this cute macro -- ed. ]
As a twitch shooter fanatic, I am somewhat disappointed at the small number of arcade shmups on the PSP. Sure, there was Star Soldier, but the 180-degree flipped control scheme was more of a gimmick than a credit to the gameplay. Every Extend Extra was a real treat, and worth every shmup fan’s money. But once you have played it to death, what’s next?
Well, it looks like developers Playlogic might have you covered on this front. Their upcoming game, Xyanide Resurrection, promises some intense 3D space-shooting action on the PSP, and the best part is that it is coming very soon! It is unclear why this game has snuck beneath the radar of most mainstream gaming sites, but from all accounts Resurrection is set to ship this May to North America and Europe.
In this prequel to the Xbox title, you once again play as executioner Drake. Your last job of transporting the evil Witch Aguira to her execution place did not work out as intended, and Aguira – the destroyer of planets and civilizations managed to escape her sentence. Now you are in a strange world where physical laws don’t necessarily apply – you are in a world Aguira creates using the powerfull Xyanide and her mind. So get in your craft, adjust it’s powers to your needs, and jettison off in a world created by your worst enemy. Everything here will be hostile towards you, and you will need the lighting fast reflexes of a pilot to avoid the waves of enemies dispatched from the inter-dimensional spirit world. [Wow, I will have some of whatever it is they are smoking... ed.]
Game Features:
Innovative Video technology allows fully interactive three-dimensional levels in cinematic quality.
Branching story and level structure which leads to 5 different endings (and difficulty levels).
15 levels spanning across 5 worlds.
Over 35 enemies with both predefined and adaptive behavior.
30 bosses with each their own behavior patterns and fighting tactics.
Multiplayer modes using WiFi technology; Co-op and competitive.
PVG editor in chief Kris “sucks at DDR” Erickson expressed his aversion to rythm-based games earlier this week, when he claimed he wasn’t getting much use out of his DS. Those of us who love rythm games know that this is exactly the type of game at which the DS excels. With the innovative and unique touchscreen features of the Nintendo handheld, it’s hard to understand why more companies haven’t exploited the system’s potential in the rhythm genre. Fans of music games have largely been ignored by Western developers; only one rhythm game currently exists for the DS in North America. It’s called Elite Beat Agents, and, not surprisingly, it is the localized version of a Japanese rhythm game called Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. Unfortunately, the future continues to look bleak for fans of tapping to the beat here in the West, with only a handful of music games currently in the works. That doesn’t mean that we can’t still get our music fix, however, since Japan is getting a lot of promising rhythm games that might be worth importing. Continue reading as we take a look at some of the most promising titles below.
Ready at Dawn, masters of Internet hype that they are, have made us wait long and hard for our first tidbits of information about what promises to be one of the megaton PSP releases of the year. Today we bring you the first trailer for God of War PSP, which finally shows off some of what we can expect in terms of gameplay. Mechanically, the game looks very similar to the PS2 sequel, and despite the horrible quality of the streaming video, this looks like it will be another knockout graphical presentation on the small screen. [Update: Sony also announced today that they are giving away free UMD demos of the game while supplies last. Hurry and claim yours here.]
Market analysts are a little bit like Paris Hilton and the Anna Nicole Smith story — the mainstream media just can’t seem to get enough of them. Whenever a new product or pricing scheme is announced, reporters rush to gather the opinions of what I can only imagine are corporate suits who wouldn’t know a fun game if it rolled over their city and absorbed them into its mass. Wedbush Morgan’s video game industry analyst Michael Patcher weighed in this week on the future prosepcts for the (now cheaper) Sony PSP, and he had some supportive comments for the beleaguered company. We already know that the DS is dominating every market in which the PSP is a competitor, leading many to conclude that the PSP has been a “failed” experiment. Patcher takes a different view, arguing that the PSP is not really in direct competition with the DS at all:
“I don’t think Sony will “beat” the DS, nor do I think that they aspire to do so. Nintendo has something different to offer with its touch screen and deep library of first party titles, and Sony is not in a position to compete with that offering. Rather, the DS is like a souped-up GBA, while the PSP is like a miniature PS2. Games for the two devices are different, and the gaming experience is quite different. I think that the only people who care about the DS-PSP sales battle are the media.”
May is shaping up to be a very exciting month for PSP owners. A number of highly anticipated games will be released in the coming few weeks, with something to keep fans of just about every genre happy. For example, flight-sim aficionados get more air combat thrills in the form of Heatseeker, while those looking for a more relaxed RPG experience have the first PSP version of Harvest Moon to look forward to. One of the most influential arcade game makers of all time has a compilation of old and remixed classics sliding quietly onto the PSP this month. Taito’s Power-up collection deserves a look for classics such as Space Invaders and Elevator Action. Of all of the releases coming out this month, we are most excited for Driver ‘76 and Coded Arms: Contagion, if only to see whether the developers have been able to realize these games’ full potential. As usual, we have done our best to compile and cross-check these release dates with reliable sources, but these are always subject to change until the moment the game clerk tries to upsell you on a pre-order.
We have already established that I suck at most 
So in the midst of some heavy procrastinating I was doing today, I came across a nifty little site called 
European publishers Virgin Play announced today that they are bringing an on-rails zombie shooter to the Nintendo DS called Dead n’ Furious. The game places you in the shoes of zombie-hunter Rob Steiner, whose feet literally move you around each level while you pick off the undead with your dead-aim stylus skills (careful not to hit the not-yet-undead!). If the screenshots below bring back memories of light-gun shooting in the arcade — albeit on a small scale — that is probably a good thing; this is undoubtedly the kind of feel the developers are aiming for. According to the makers of the game, players will not be entirely constrained to a single route through each level. Some levels will apparently feature multiple paths and endings. Cooperative multiplayer over local wi-fi will also be included when the game ships later this year. 
Back in August of 2005, Nintendo released Nintendogs, a dog-caring sim for the DS which proved to be a massive success with many types of gamers and non-gamers alike. Since then, a steady stream of pet sims have been released to try to cash in, most of the time copying Nintendogs and ending up doing a bad job of it. Cat fans were disappointed with the low quality of the game Catz. And since then they have waited for another cat-caring sim to put their cash on. Unfortunately, Purr Pals is no better than Catz, being yet another cheap copycat of Nintendogs (pun intended). Continue reading to find out why we think this cat should have been left in the bag, and why this game is not the highest point in the Nintendo DS back cat-a-logue [OK, that's enough with the cat jokes! Here, look at this cute macro -- ed. ] 
PVG editor in chief Kris “sucks at DDR” Erickson expressed his aversion to
Market analysts are a little bit like Paris Hilton and the Anna Nicole Smith story — the mainstream media just can’t seem to get enough of them. Whenever a new product or pricing scheme is announced, reporters rush to gather the opinions of what I can only imagine are corporate suits who wouldn’t know a fun game if it rolled over their city and absorbed them into its mass. Wedbush Morgan’s video game industry analyst Michael Patcher weighed in this week on the future prosepcts for the (now cheaper) Sony PSP, and he had some supportive comments for the beleaguered company. We already know that the DS is 