I’ve seen lots of discussion on which is better, the Sony Playstation Portable or the Nintendo DualScreen, so I thought I’d help break it down a bit for people that are confused about which to buy. Let me first start of by saying, they are both amazing systems, and they are both worth owning for different reasons, I’m not here to say “lol ds sucks” or “haha psp eats horseshit”. You could say I’m exploring the best of both worlds.

Let’s get down to content then shall we? Let’s start with what each can do briefly
(Not Included = Purchased Function)

So when someone looks at this they think “gee they seem similar”, well they are and they aren’t. The Nintendo DS is similar to the Wii in terms of games; there are good games there, most of which by Nintendo, but you have a library of kiddy shit. The Nintendo DS does feature some amazing titles such as Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Elite Beat Agents, etc, but much like the Wii you’ll find that the games are cartoon-y and sometimes childish, not that it’s a bad thing.

The Sony PSP is a pirate ship. I kid you not, the PSP modding community has grown so widely and done so much that the PSP is now a pirate’s best friend, next to a PC of course. The fact is, while the PSP may have a smaller library of good games, and features some games that are PS2 ports; you can easily obtain games from other consoles to play.

The bottom line is: the PSP is a handheld made more for functionality; the Nintendo DS is a handheld made more for games. So if you’re looking for more a less expensive media center in your pocket, go for a PSP, if you’re looking more for portable gaming, go for a DS.

As a bonus, here’s a list of recommended games for each handheld.

DS Recommended Games

PSP Recommended Games

2009 will definitely be a year to look forward too. Obviously Obama being in office and Bush getting the hell out will be a great way to start things off, though what does the rest of the year entail, especially for gamers? Fortunately, I managed to grab a crystal ball off the E-bay that’s supposed to give a glimpse of the future. Apparently the old owner died of some sort of ancient Mayan curse, or something.

So, gather around all ye faithful, and let’s take a look and see what we’re in for in the new year.

Nintendo: There is no doubt that Nintendo is making bank with the Wii, choosing to cater to the non-gamer crowd more so than it’s own fan base. The sad thing, though, is that the most loyal of Nintendo fans are now feeling left behind by Miyamoto and company. According to my crystal ball, that trend is likely to continue onwards through 2009, with the brunt of non-shovelware titles being released consisting of ports and multiplatform titles. Hope is not lost, though, as developers are slowly but surely working on games that take advantage of the motion sensor controls, and (*gasp*) aren’t shovelware. One such game is the controversial title Madworld, coming from Platinum Games (comprised of former members of the dissolved Clover Studios), which will attempt to bring a comedic, ultra-violent side to a console that has developed a “family” image. Other games to watch are a new Tenchu game, as well as a title that will serve as a prequel to the Overlord series.

On the handheld side, the DS is also dominating, and will likely continue to do so through 2009 when the DSi hits shelves worldwide (the system has already been released in Japan). Unlike the Wii, the DS library is becoming more varied, as developers are finally noticing the potential of the system. The roster for the DS looks very promising, and include a new Dragon quest game, an Atlus RPG, and even a handheld version of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. The DS shows no signs of slowing down in it’s control of the handheld market.
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Dee Jay Gee 2x returns with the second episode of Smooth Talk, Game Talk.

Today it seems, things get a little iRate.

Brought to you by Gamer Blag.

Keep it sexy.

”Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades”

Crisis Core : Final Fantasy VII is the first good FFVII spinoff. Instead of being a gigantic clusterfuck of fanservice that was Advent Children or plain old crap like the Dirge Of Cerberus game, this game is actually worth your time.

The game tells the story of Zack Fair, Soldier 2nd Class (later 1st Class) and follows his adventures until his eventual demise that leads (indirectly) in to the original Final Fantasy VII. The plot of the game is quite interesting with some new characters together with some old ones returning. I`m happy that the game only has two scenes of over exaggerated Advent Children action and both of which turn out to be virtual reality, the rest of the game is down to earth in terms of action by Final Fantasy standards.

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I watched the Ghostbusters: The VideoGame Atari Live trailer.

There are no words.

Welcome to Freeware Editions: Cave Story, in which I will point you, the reader, in the direction of free games you should play. In this first edition is a very well put together game (which most of you should have heard of, and if you haven’t – you need to play this game!)

Cave Story is an action adventure/shooter game brought to you by a one man development team – Studio Pixel. Quote, the main character, shoots his way through hordes of blue blobs (and other evildoers) in a battle of truth and justice to save Mimigas (humanoid rabbit type creatures) against an evil doctor! If it sounds epic, that is because the game is simply that – epic on a very large scale.

My vague plot analysis aside, there actually is a plot – and it is decent, if not above average. I don’t usually get swayed by plots or characters in videogames, but I ended up falling in love with the Mimigas and disliking the Doctor.

As for gameplay, overall, it’s quite good. The game is not that difficult, although there are a couple spots where the difficulty spikes a little. The controls are very tight, there are a plethora of different weapons to choose from, and there is more than one ending to the game. What’s even greater is that there happens to be an optional dungeon at the end, aptly called Hell (and believe me, it deserves that title).

The graphics are fitting and well done. It is obvious that Pixel put in a lot of effort to make the game look as polished as it does, and the music is simply remarkable.

What makes the game remarkable is the reception it received upon release. Many magazines and blogs have praised Cave Story, and thus made it one of the most popular free games today. For many, this is the first ‘freeware indie’ game that they play. Cave Story’s impact on the gaming world can be seen today, as more and more gamers are taking it upon themselves to create their own games.

To put it simply, Cave Story might not be the best game ever, but it is still very deserving of a playthrough. If that can’t convince you, it’s free!

Cave Story is available for the PC, and has been ported to Linux, OSX, the PSP, and many other places that I don’t know about. There is also a WiiWare version coming out sometime soon, with improved graphics and music.

You can find anything you need at cavestory.org, a tribute site to the game.

Disgaea : Afternoon of Darkness is the enchanced port of the PS2 Strategy RPG Disgaea : Hour Of Darkness. The original game was developed by Japanese developer Nippon Ichi Software, published in America by Atlus but the PSP version was published by NiS America. The European version is published by Koei. Now, I am aware that there was a recent DS port but as far as I know the PSP version still remains the best version, therefore I will be reviewing the PSP version.

Gameplay

Now, the gameplay in the game is standard SRPG gameplay, you play on a isometric map divided in to a square grid resembling a checkerboard. Your objective (which sadly, never changes) is to dispose of all enemies on the map. You have the standard RPG commands such as attack, use skills unique to your character`s weapon or the character himself or herself. You also have the option to throw enemies, allies or Geo Cubes. For most of the time you will forget that you have the ability to throw things but if used effectively you can use the throw to a great advantage, such as throwing a weakening Geo Cube in to the Panel type that the enemies are standing on or throw an ally further than he can move by himself. If you throw an enemy of the same kind on top of an enemy, these two enemies will combine and level up. This works great for grinding but this might get you screwed over by creating an enemy too powerful to take on.

This game is a giant grinding fest that demands you to donate tens to hundreds of your life to the game. Nippon Ichi is particulary famous for creating SRPGs that demand you to grind a lot. Sure, you can breeze past the first few chapters without that much grinding but not grinding will come back later and bite you in the ass. Somehow I have currently made it to chapter 12 but I constantly have my ass kicked, therefore that leaves me only one choice : grind some more. Grinding actually replaces strategy in this game, as no problem can`t be solved by grinding and you don`t really have to use your head that much, but hey, that`s a thing most SRPGs suffer from, Disgaea just suffers from it more than a regular SRPG.

To mix things up a bit, the game also sports a mechanic called ”Geo Panels”. The squares on the map that glow in different colors are Geo Panels and if Geo Cubes are put on them, all panels of that color gain effects such as Invincibility or Bonus EXP or stat boosts. At the beginning these panels will mostly be to your advantage but later you will be cursing them for screwing you over so.

Anyway, by killing enemies you gain Mana which can be spent in the Dark Assembly to create more characters. The characters come in two types, Human Characters and Monsters. Human characters come in various classes such as Warrior, Mage, Monk, etc. and can use various weapon types, altough you should probably just stick with a weapon that is made for the specific class as Weapon Mastery rises faster with that type of weapon. For regular characters, their special moves are decided by their weapon type and mastery. As the mastery gets higher, the character learns new weapon-type specific special moves, which are the only moves regular characters learn and there is a wide variety of weapon types to chose from, such as swords, staffs, fists, guns, etc..  By defeating certain enemies for the first time, these enemy types become available in the Dark Assembly for creation. Monsters learn new, monster-specific special moves by leveling up.

There are also special characters such as Laharl, Etna, Flonne, etc. who join your party at certain plot points, usialy at the end of the chapter or by completing a bonus mission. Special characters learn both weapon-specific special moves and character specific moves by leveling up.

Plot, music, bonus content.

The plot of the game tells you the story of Laharl, the son of the deceased Overlord of the Netherworld and his servants as he goes on his quest to become the new Overlord and some other misadventures. The game is split in to seperate episodic chapters, most of the game`s chapters act as seperate scenarios but the final chapters of the game pulls everything together and connects everything. The game is humorous and charming. Most of the story is told trough portraits and dialouge boxes but there are some in-game cutscenes. There are multiple endings.

The soundtrack is solid but there are no truly memorable tracks. The English voicework is pretty bad but luckly you can change to the Japanese voice track which isn`t that bad. The PSP version has omitted the game`s themesong since Atlus holds the copyright to it.

The PSP version also has an extra story mode called Etna mode where Etna accedentaly kills Laharl and replaces him as the main character. Also the PSP version has multiplayer which comes in three modes, ”Defeat The Leader”, ”Battle” and ”Capture The Flag”. Also the PSP version is the only version to support widescreen.

Get this game if you like strategy RPGs, you won`t regret it.

9/10

Or more accurately, he said that today’s DRM strategies are “just dumb.”

Yes, in today’s world where draconian measures are being taken to make sure that the local consumer is dissuaded from getting an illegal copy of this or that latest game, Valve’s own Gabe Newell has given his opinion. It’s not the ICE BURN he’s been famous for (his cracks about the Sony PS3 probably still makes Kaz Hirai wince every now and then) but it’s the truth. His complete statement:

Left 4 Dead is developed entirely by Valve. Steam revenue for our games is not shared with third parties. Around the world we have a number of distribution partners to handle retail distribution of our games (i.e. make discs and boxes). EA is one of those partners.

As far as DRM goes, most DRM strategies are just dumb. The goal should be to create greater value for customers through service value (make it easy for me to play my games whenever and wherever I want to), not by decreasing the value of a product (maybe I’ll be able to play my game and maybe I won’t).

We really really discourage other developers and publishes from using the broken DRM offerings, and in general there is a groundswell to abandon those approaches.

One can remember the furor raised with the PC version of Bioshock installing Securom stealthily onto the rigs it was being played on. And then there’s the Mass Effect PC version debacle, where users had to get their licenses re-verified online for them to keep playing. Oh, and who can forget SPORE?

Yes, we know that piracy is a problem and that it cuts into your profits. But never assume that everyone is going to pirate your game – there are people willing to pay good money for it, and Valve’s electronic distribution system (namelyl Steam) is a step in the right direction. You know what else is good, developers? Making sure that our money is worth it. Don’t give us a broken game, give us a good solid game for starters. Then give us extras (an artbook, an exclusive freebie, doesn’t have to be something expensive but something nice and awesome would do). If people see that the retail version of the game has lots of security bullshit then naturally they’ll opt to get the illegal copy. That’s how people are. Don’t think about changing them, instead think about how to deal with it instead.

Hopefully this sends a message out to all developers. Gamers won’t pirate your game if you don’t give them reason to, or you give them enough incentives to purchase the retail version.

Square Enix have done quite a pretty admirable job of milking the Final Fantasy series for all its worth – and while their efforts have been nothing short of rage-inducing, it’s nice to know that they’re not above tossing us a fanservice-laced bone once in a while. This bone is the latest Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation Portable, namely Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a fighting title that lets us pit the protagonists and villains of the series in awesome-looking battles. The what-if possibilities, as well as the epic rematches made conceivable with Dissidia are enormous, and we see one of the latter being played out in a fresh gameplay trailer. Yes, you guessed it, it’s Sephiroth versus Cloud, fighting in the lifestream. Definitely something to watch.

The graphics are amazing, the action fluid, and the sound nothing short of intense. Make no mistake, we’re still a bit iffy about the 3D movement – this often leads to a cat-and-mouse chasing sequence that makes play not only annoying but frustrating – but from th e looks of things, you’ll be able to continuously dash and jump towards your opponent, making combat the fast-and-furious affair it should be. And the limit breaks are pretty awesome to watch, too.

You can view the trailer here.