When it first came out some three years ago, Persona 3 was a surprisingly fresh and interesting entry in the Persona franchise specifically as well as the Shin Megami Tensei series in general. Combining dungeon crawling mechanics, randomized dungeons, and the standard combat formulas that had made the series work as well as it had for years with interesting time-based stipulations, dating simulator-esque conversation systems that leveled up your ability to create new Personas, and literally hundreds of hours of gameplay, Persona 3 was an interesting and well developed game at the time that completely reinvented the franchise it was a part of and generated a lot of positive publicity for parent company Atlus. After the release of an expanded version of the game, Persona 3 FES, as well as a sequel in Persona 4, Atlus has decided to re-release the first game a third time on the Sony PSP. Dubbed Persona 3 Portable, the game includes many of the enhancements and expanded social links introduced in Persona 3 FES while also incorporating several enhancements from Persona 4 and the option to play through the game as a female protagonist, complete with new Social Links, among other things. Granted, Persona 3 wasn’t exactly begging for a re-release, considering that the other three games mentioned in the above writing have come out at about a one per year schedule, but the necessity of the title is somewhat less important than whether or not the game is a worthwhile addition to your PSP library in the first place, so let’s take a look.

Persona 3 Portable essentially tells the same story as its predecessors with minor changes here and there, but if you’ve never played the prior two releases, some explanation is warranted. You take on the role of the protagonist, who you can name as you see fit, who is moving into a dorm and joining Gekkoukan High School as the game begins. This would be a very boring game on its own, of course, so upon arriving, you’re basically thrust into a big “we need to save the world” plot involving a mystical tower, supernatural powers and ethereal evil. As it happens, your character is one of the gifted few who can perceive the Dark Hour, an hour that elapses exactly at midnight, outside of the perception of normal folks. During this hour, beings known as Shadows can run amok, killing people who accidentally find themselves trapped in the Dark Hour and afflicting people with something known as Apathy Syndrome, which basically makes you a gibbering mess who cries out about the end of the world. So it’s basically like watching Glitter, only less painful. Of course, your character isn’t simply able to perceive the Dark Hour, said character is also capable of fighting the Shadows by way of summoning a Persona, which is meant to be a manifestation of your internal self made corporeal, complete with the ability to cast spells and such. This ability essentially puts you in the position of joining up with the school’s Shadow Hunting club, SEES, who have two goals: scale a mystical tower known as Tartarus with the intention of discovering what its purpose is, and eliminate twelve powerful Shadows that will appear on every full moon with the intention of banishing the Dark Hour once and for all. Nothing is as simple as it seems, of course, as you will discover by playing through the game, and there are a lot more elements to what it going on than first meets the eye.

Now, Persona 3 had a fairly acceptable plot when it first came out, but Persona 3 Portable doesn’t really do a lot to expand upon said plot, other than adding in some new dialogue bits here and there. The problem with this, aside from the obvious “if you’ve played the prior games you’ve played this” issue, is that the plot of Persona 3 Portable doesn’t hold up as well as it did when it first came out. This isn’t to say that the plot is BAD, mind you, so much as it is to say that it’s underwhelming when compared to the other three games in the series. The character development isn’t as in-depth as it was in the other games, specifically Persona 4, and while the game tries to get around this by offering a female protagonist option and the male party members as social links when playing as her, this isn’t quite the same thing as installing said party members as Social Links from the start. This, of course, is because I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO PLAY TWO HUNDRED HOURS OF A GAME TO GET ALL OF THE PLOT IF I DON’T HAVE TO. You can’t really explore Junpei and Yukari’s personal motivations in one session, period, and the game doesn’t do a good enough job on its own of really exploring these motivations when compared, again, to how Persona 4 handled this thing. For example: when Akihiko has his big epiphany and evolves as a character, it’s a powerful scene that makes sense in context and shows that he’s grown as a person. When Junpei does it, yeah, it’s his crowning moment of awesome, but it’s not really a moment of personal growth or evolution, it’s just him getting pissed and evolving because he lashed out on someone. Persona 4 makes a big deal about character evolution and personal growth stimulating the evolution of the characters, but Persona 3 has a few scenes where the story seems to go “Oh, okay” and evolve the characters just to get on with things, which is weak in comparison. The ending still feels generally unsatisfying, the whole “you work for a major corporation but have to buy your own gear” concept is still inane, and the female protagonist story arc is mostly identical to that of the male protagonist story arc, except with new Social Links that don’t add enough to the experience to be worth buying the game again and a couple new events that, again, don’t add enough to the experience to be worth buying the game again.

Persona 3 Portable looks good on the PSP, though there are some noticeable losses in the conversion from the PS2. The models and such are somewhat lower resolution, obviously so in many respects, though when compared to other games on the PSP they look pretty good all around. The models also lack a lot of the animation of their PS2 counterparts, especially their faces, which basically are static texture maps, but, again, this is a small complaint. The game has also removed most standard overworld maps, replacing them with static images and hot points you can interact with by moving a cursor over them and pressing a button. While this greatly simplifies the act of interacting with the game world, it’s also visually basic in comparison to how the previous games in the series handled things. The cutscenes from the prior games, both animated and in-game, have also been removed, and have instead been replaced with talking head scenes, similar to how Social Link scenes worked in the prior games, only with no in-game graphics to accompany them. The visual changes made to the game were obviously made in the spirit of reducing the pressure put upon the disc space and system loading, and they’re interesting enough that they don’t hurt the game significantly, though fans of the console releases may come away disappointed. The audio, thankfully, is in no way hurt by the move to the PSP. The voice acting is as plentiful and as well done as ever, and additional voice acting has been added in, both to change some dialogue when dealing with the female main character and to add some dialogue to Social Links, similar to how Persona 4 would occasionally voice otherwise text-based scenes. The music is as fantastic as always, and some new tracks have been added to the game, mostly when playing as the female main character. The sound effects are pretty much fantastic all around as well, both in and out of battle, and while very little has been noticeably added to this section of the audio, what’s here works.

The gameplay of Persona 3 Portable, as with the two games it’s derived from and Persona 4, is pretty simple at its core, though once you scratch the surface all sorts of complexities come flying out. Most of your time will be divided between wandering around the city of Tatsumi Port Island (as I understand it), talking to the populace to glean information and upgrades, or hacking your way through monster-filled dungeons, earning money and experience points to upgrade your characters. Combat and navigation are a breeze, as you’d expect, and combat is purely turn-based, meaning if you’ve navigated a menu in your life, you’ll have no problem navigating the combat here. Combat itself works as most RPG fans would expect: you’re given a team of allies to fight alongside against teams of monsters, and each goes in order from first to last until everyone’s gone, which starts the turns over again. All of the standard elemental concepts most games have been doing forever are here as well, as each monster and character has different degrees of ability in fire, ice, wind, lightning, light, dark, and strikes that dictate their ability to resist these attacks (or take additional damage from them as the situation dictates), as well as different stats (Strength, Magic, Endurance, Agility, and Luck) which dictate the character’s base abilities to take and give damage. Again, none of this should be surprising to fans of the genre, and most folks should grasp all of this fairly quickly.

Where the game begins to come into its own is with the actual Personas themselves. Your characters all come equipped with Personas when they join your team, each with its own specific abilities and elemental resistances/weaknesses, making them vauable/useless as the situation dictates. Your main character is not hampered by such restrictions, however, as he can summon any Persona you can fuse, allowing you to be the party Swiss Army Leader, changing your functionality as needed in the heat of battle. This allows you to not only change up your tactics as needed, but also allows you to plan ahead for whatever boss encounters you might face. Your allies will see their Personas level up as they do, which keeps things uniform as far as they’re concerned, but your Personas level up at a much slower rate, meaning a Persona that was impressive five levels ago is now lagging behind. That’s where the Velvet Room comes in. The Velvet Room is essentially a Persona science lab of sorts, as it allows you to fuse your Personas together to make brand new models as needed. This is where you’ll end up getting most of your Personas from, as fused Personas are also more powerful than those you acquire otherwise. Fusing Personas is a tricky endeavor at first, as you have to take into account the levels of the Personas being fused as well as their Arcanum Sign (think of this as their ‘type’, more or less) in order to have an idea of what the resulting Persona will be. There’s also the consideration of HOW you would fuse them together, as you’re offered a few different options (some build basic Personas, while others are meant for special Personas that can only be built a certain way), thus allowing you all sorts of interesting ways to create the ultimate internal killing machine. Your allies are more or less attached to the Personas they earn when they first come into their own, which is done for storyline purposes (these Persona are supposed to be the embodiment of their “true self”, while your character really doesn’t have a “true” self, since, well, he’s you), however, meaning that you have to also pay attention to who you select for battle before you go out into the Shadow Realm; exploiting enemy weaknesses allows for extra turns, added damage, and the ability to dog-pile on the enemy for massive damage, but enemies can exploit your weaknesses all the same, so it helps to pay attention to what you need to stay alive in battle.

Navigating dungeons is done from a third-person, behind-the-back perspective, allowing you to rotate the map to see your surroundings as needed. You can see items and enemies in the world as you run around, which can allow you to grab items and avoid combat (or sneak-attack enemies) as you see fit. The combat of Persona 3 mostly takes place in the gigantic tower known as Tartarus, which is a multi-story tower divided into sections that open up as you defeat various major boss monsters in the story. Each section of Tartarus is filled with enemies, treasure and teleportation devices that return you to the entrance, and the visual patterns of each section change somewhat as you progress. You’re also given an overhead map to look over as you move through the dungeons, which allows you to see where you’re going and where you’ve been, and as you progress, your support characters Mitsuru and Fuuka will show treasures and enemies on the map, which is also helpful for planning out how to navigate. As you fight your way through Tartarus you’ll reach floors containing sub-bosses every so often who you’ll have to take out in order to proceed, and each section has a gated off endpoint that only opens once you’ve defeated a major boss. The various major bosses you’ll have to face show up at pre-determined points in the story, for the most part on each full moon, giving you a set time period in which you will need to complete the tasks set before you. Persona 3 Portable retains the exhaustion system from the prior game, where characters would become tired as they engaged in battles and such in Tartarus, but it removes the negative performance aspect of this system, as well as the need for characters to leave the team and return to the dorm once they were returned to the ground floor, thus removing the noticeable negatives of the system overall. The Shuffle Time lottery system from the prior games is back in full-form, meaning that you can potentially grab Personas, healing, cash or weapons from a series of shuffled cards, though the possibility exists of getting nothing or, worse, summoning the Reaper, a powerful Shadow who pretty much chases you through the floor until he catches and kills you, you kill him (which isn’t likely to happen early on), or you leave the floor. He’ll also show up if you putter around too long on a floor, which is a good incentive to keep moving if nothing else.

Outside of the combat, there are also a ton of things to do in the game, most of which revolve around your Social Links, your personal skills, and other novelties. Many of the characters you meet, including some of your own allies, forge Social Links with your character relative to their Arcanum that allow you to improve your ability to summon Persona of that Arcanum, essentially allowing for experience point boosts upon summoning them. Maxing out a Social Link will allow you to summon the highest level Persona from that Arcanum, which makes paying attention to these links worth the effort, as these Persona are amongst the best in the game. As with prior versions of Persona 3, upgrading Social Links doesn’t directly affect much more than the ability to summon higher level Personas, but Persona 3 Portable does incorporate the upgrades that came from maxing the Social Links of your party members into this version, including group attacks and the ability for allies to take a death blow for you, which is a nice addition. There are also personal stats to work on, of which there are three (Academics, Courage, and Charm), each of which will open up new conversation options throughout the game, open up new Social Links, and improve how others see you, depending on how you advance them, which makes them worth upgrading as needed. The game also offers part time jobs to take on, new missions to take that allow you to save trapped people who are stuck in Tartarus, and changes around some of the mechanics of the game from prior incarnations, such as how Fusion skills work (they require items now and are not available by default) and how Tired status can be fixed (you can use items to nullify it now), among other things, so this isn’t the exact same game it was before all the way around.

The main game is about one hundred hours long or more (no, really), depending on the things you do and the choices you make, and with two endings to unlock, you might well think that’s enough for the game, but apparently Atlus thought otherwise. You can also play through the standard New Game Plus, which allows you to carry over your Persona Compendium (where your Persona are registered when you create and improve them), personal skills, levels, inventory and money, among other things, into a new game. Aside from that, there’s also an additional dungeon, Monad, on top of the main Tartatus Tower, which is really rather vicious to play through, as well as hidden bosses to face, the option to change elements of the ending in a New Game Plus, and Persona 4 cameos to see depending on your chosen gender. For those who have never played the game, Persona 3 Portable is easily the most complete version in terms of main game content available, and even for those who have played the games, the game includes all of the main content from Persona 3 FES, as well as some interesting new changes and added content that make the game worth checking out for fans who want some more of the game.

That said, while Persona 4 felt like a yellow coat of paint and some house repair on the old frame of Persona 3, Persona 3 Portable feels like someone hung up some wind chimes and stuck a few garden gnomes out front of Persona 3 and called it a new game. The game does a few new things here and there, and yes, many of the changes (being able to control all of your characters, for example) are for the better, but that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t feel like the exact same game with some visual changes and minor additions squeezed in. The combat is mostly identical to that of Persona 3 and virtually spot-on identical to that of Persona 4, and there are no noticeable mechanical differences here from those two games. That these mechanics are improved all around when compared to Persona 3 is hardly enough of a motivation to make this re-release worth playing on its own, and if you bought both Persona 3 and the FES expansion pack, it’s going to be VERY hard to accept buying yet ANOTHER hundred hour game that is mostly the exact same thing.

It also doesn’t help that many of the issues that have come along with the games from the beginning still afflict Persona 3 Portable, sometimes in an even worse capacity than before. The prior games, given enough time and dedication to a rigorous schedule, COULD be completed almost entirely in one playthrough, though most players would find that they would have to play the game twice to see everything there was to see. Persona 3 Portable REQUIRES you to play through the game AT LEAST twice to see everything it has to offer, if not more, thanks to the multiple protagonists and added S-Links, and assuming that you’re willing to follow said rigorous schedules to see everything as quickly as possible, you could be playing the game three or more times through. I mean, yeah, okay, this isn’t the biggest complaint one can lay against a game, and it sounds kind of silly to badger a game for offering too much content, but by the same token, who WANTS to play a game for three hundred hours just to see all of the Social Links to fruition, especially when the rest of the game makes no noticeable changes from one iteration to the next? The game also follows its predecessors in making Rush sporadically useless by making multiple enemies, especially on later floors, invulnerable or resistant to physical attacks, and while I was expecting this thing, it bears noting, once again, that Rush Combat is more than likely going to end up getting you killed if you’re not paying attention. The game still also ends if your character suffers an Instant Death attack or dies in battle, much like in every Shin Megami Tensei game of the past ten years that isn’t Digital Devil Saga, and as this happens a not-insignificant amount on any difficulty beyond Easy, casual players will also want to be mindful of the fact that the game is a significant challenge, though Easy Mode alleviates this somewhat by giving you ten extra chances, while the newly introduced Beginner Mode allows you THIRTY retries, in case you’re really, really bad at the game.

Which, unfortunately, brings us to the final, and perhaps largest, complaint against Persona 3 Portable: at the end of the day, it’s still a complete remake of a game that has already been remade once, and as remakes go, it’s not nearly impressive enough to justify its existence or price tag. It’s very much a hacked-down port of the console game, as virtually every animated cutscene has been removed from the game entirely, as have the various non-dungeon overworld zones, leaving the game with static maps and visual novel-style talking head cutscenes for everything. This somewhat makes sense from a disc space perspective… until you realize that, compared to something like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which is significantly larger than its PS2 predecessors in terms of content, this game doesn’t seem like nearly as significant an expansion. Adding a female protagonist is nice, to a point, as are the expanded Social Links available to her, but the fact is that these are minor additions to what is, in essence, the exact same game as Persona 3 FES, only without “The Answer” included. The game is also technically unimpressive, as aside from the visual step down, lack of cutscenes, and lack of 3D environments in non-dungeon environments, the game is also a noticeable loader, even with the game installed to the memory stick. Battles can take a noticeable amount of time to load at various points, and the game will often have a several second gap between dialogue popping up on screen and audio being played that wasn’t present in the PS2 version of the game. While it might be unreasonable to expect the game to LOOK exactly like the PS2 release, it shouldn’t be unreasonable to expect it to be as finely tuned as said game, which this most certainly is not.

The bottom line here is that Persona 3 Portable is still a fine game, and still worth owning if you’ve somehow missed out on Persona 3 or are looking to see the new content, but while this is one of the more in-depth versions of the game available, it’s really not the best, and it offers nothing worth owning if you’ve played the prior games. The story is the same as it ever was, for good or ill, and while the female main character does add some additional Social Links to the game, this doesn’t really do much to change the story overall. The game looks fine for a PSP title, though the visuals are noticeably cut down from their PS2 counterparts, and the audio is still as good as ever, though only the female main character really gets anything new in this regard. The game plays as well as it ever did, and features many new gameplay changes, both from Persona 4 and all its own, so that players who have played the prior games will have something new to see, and there’s plenty of depth to the game thanks to the new additions and the option for two different main characters. That said, the game feels mostly identical to Persona 3 FES with some elements from Persona 4 thrown in, can require two or more full playthroughs to see everything the game has to offer (meaning two hundred plus hours of play), and can be frustratingly challenging on anything beyond Easy difficulty. Further, the game doesn’t feel like a solid enough port of the original game, between the general lack of originality, the complete removal of virtually all in-game or animated cutscenes, the noticeable drop in visual quality, the lack of “The Answer” and the obvious loading times and audio stalling. If you don’t have a PS2, you missed the original games on the PS2 or you’re a big fan of Persona 3 and haven’t gotten enough of the game yet, you’ll find plenty to love about Persona 3 Portable, but if you’ve played the game once already in either incarnation you’ve seen a good bit of what this release has to offer, if not most of it, and in that respect, spending another forty dollars on a game you’ve already played with a few new additions is hard to recommend.

The Scores:
Story: ABOVE AVERAGE
Graphics: GOOD
Sound: CLASSIC
Control/Gameplay: GREAT
Replayability: CLASSIC
Balance: GOOD
Originality: BAD
Addictiveness: GREAT
Appeal: MEDIOCRE
Miscellaneous: MEDIOCRE

Final Score: ENJOYABLE GAME.

Short Attention Span Summary:
Persona 3 Portable is, for better or worse, a port of Persona 3 FES for the Sony PSP with more content, worse visuals, a lack of the substory “The Answer”, and some technical flaws. If you’ve missed the original releases of Persona 3 or are a huge fan of the prior games and want some more, Persona 3 Portable will scratch that itch nicely, but it’s not the best version of the game available, and anyone who’s played it already will find this release of the game to be more of the same. The story itself is adequate enough, if not perfect, and the choice of male or female main character differentiates the Social Link options for those who want a different experience from one to the other. The game still looks fine, if not as good as its console counterparts, and the audio is as good as ever. The game is still easy to play, offers a good range of challenge for the player and plenty of variety across the game, and thanks to some changes and improvements, either all new or borrowed from Persona 4, the gameplay is generally quite good all around. The game is very lengthy and in-depth, and thanks to the multiple difficulty modes, New Game Plus options and added content across two main characters, offers plenty of reason to come back for fans of the game. However, there’s little originality to the product, as it’s basically a straight port of Persona 3 FES with some new content added in and some elements from Persona 4 tossed in for good measure. Further, the game still features the same issues as the prior games, such as the need to play through a one hundred plus hour game multiple times to see everything and the odd gameplay and difficulty quirks, and this particular iteration of the game feels like an underwhelming port, between the content cut from the game and the odd technical issues that pop up frequently enough to be easily noticeable. If you’ve missed out on the original games or want to go through the game for the added content, Persona 3 Portable is a fine enough game to be worth checking out, but it doesn’t do enough to be worth the asking price if you’ve played the game before, and isn’t the best version of the game available.
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Hi Everyone – It’s time for the weekly PlayStation Store Update.

To get you ready for the mega lifestyle event known as Comic-Con, be sure to check out our Comic-Con Collection on the PS3 Store in the New Releases category (US/CA stores only)!

PlayStation Plus

LittleBigPlanet – Sackboy Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus
subscribers)

File size: 100 KB

MAG Raven Dynamic Theme (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 2.55 MB

MAG S.V.E.R. Dynamic Theme (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 6.25 MB

MAG Valor Dynamic Theme (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 5.42 MB

Resistance Aftermath Multiplayer Map Pack (PlayStation Plus price $3.00, original price $5.99)

Gravity Crash (PlayStation Plus price $5.00, original price $9.99)
**This promotion is only available from the PlayStation Store. Within the Demo, the full game is only available for the original price.

Updates

Myst – Sale (now $14.99, original price $19.99)
MLB 10 The Show PSP – Price Drop (now $29.99, original price $39.99)

Downloadable Games

Landit Bandit ($9.99)

Landit Bandit is a 3D helicopter adventure game. The game
combines modern game technology with a retro punch for a unique experience.

• Single and multiplayer splitscreen campaign with 6 different worlds and 20 levels
• Online scoreboards and Trophies
• Multiplayer splitscreen, with coop and duel modes

ESRB Rated: E10+
File size: 111 MB

DeathSpank ($14.99)

For uncounted years the wanderer DeathSpank has been a Dispenser of Justice, a Vanquisher of Evil, and a Hero to the Downtrodden. Throughout his adventures DeathSpank has searched for a powerful artifact called….The Artifact. Forged by unknown hands for unknown purposes some unknown time in the past, The Artifact is now within DeathSpank’s reach, but what is The Artifact and what evil tyrant seeks to steal it?
ESRB Rated: T
File size: 1.00 GB

Game Demos (free)

Blur Multiplayer Demo
Blur Multiplayer Demo – Powered-Up Racing: This Demo features competitive game play for up to 20 racers, and a variety tracks and game modes.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 2.00 GB

DeathSpank Demo
For uncounted years the wanderer DeathSpank has been a Dispenser of Justice, a Vanquisher of Evil, and a Hero to the Downtrodden. Throughout his adventures DeathSpank has searched for a powerful artifact called….The Artifact. Forged by unknown hands for unknown purposes some unknown time in the past, The Artifact is now within DeathSpank’s reach, but what is The Artifact and what evil tyrant seeks to steal it?
ESRB Rated T
File size: 386 MB

Add-on Game Content

BUZZ!: The 90′s Quiz ($5.99)

Relive the greatest moments of the first decade of the 1990′s! Laugh and compete with your friends over trivia that defined the 1990′s in this BUZZ!: The 90′s Quiz. This pack features hundreds of new questions to play in your favorite BUZZ!: Quiz TV and BUZZ!: Quiz World game modes for your PlayStation 3 system. Download this quiz pack today and turn your party into the ultimate trivia showdown.
File size: 52 MB

NCAA Football 11 – NCAA Power Pack ($29.99)
Power up your NCAA Football 11 experience with all the Dynasty Time Savers (Recruiting Reports, Recruiting Advisor, Coach Seminar, Toughest Places to Play Boost, Max Player Training, School Pitches Improvements, Unlock All Promises, and Pipeline State Addition), Road to Glory 5 Star Recruit for ALL Positions, the ability to save 120 TeamBuilder Teams on your console, NCAA Football 11 Online Pass, and Commish of 5 Online Dynasties.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Pipeline State Addition ($1.99)
Get an extra Pipeline state to help with recruiting in Dynasty Mode.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Recruiting Advisor ($1.99)
In Dynasty Mode each week your Recruiting Advisor will bring useful information to your attention.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Recruiting Reports ($1.99)
See where every team in the nation is spending Recruiting Time in Dynasty Mode with the Recruiting Reports.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – School Pitches Improvement ($1.99)

While in Dynasty Mode this item will give some of your pitches used in Recruiting a boost.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Toughest Places To Play Boost ($1.99)
This item will give your team a massive boost for Toughest Places to Play in Dynasty Mode.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Unlock All Promises ($1.99)
Get a jump on your Off-Season recruiting in Dynasty Mode by unlocking all the promises early.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Defensive Back ($0.99)
Gives your created Cornerbacks, Strong Safeties, and Free Safeties in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Defensive Line ($0.99)
Gives your created Defensive Ends and Defensive Tackles in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Linebacker ($0.99)

Gives your created Middle Linebackers, Right Outside Linebackers, and Left Outside Linebackers in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Quarterback ($1.99)
Gives your created Quarterback in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Receiver ($0.99)
Gives your created Wide Receivers and Tight Ends in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – 5 Star Running Back ($0.99)
Gives your created Halfbacks and Fullbacks in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – All 5 Star Recruits ($5.99)
Gives all your created players in Road to Glory Mode a 5 Star Rating.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – All Dynasty Time Saver ($11.99)

Unlocks all of the Dynasty Time Savers: Recruiting Advisor, Coaching Seminar, Toughest Places to Play Boost, School Pitches Improvements, Maximum Player Training, Unlock all Promises, Pipeline State Addition, and Recruiting Reports.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Coaching Seminar ($1.99)
In Dynasty Mode this item will improve the recruiting of your Coach and help you convince players to stay in school.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Commish Of 3 Online Dynasties ($9.99)
This entitlement will give you more space on the NCAA Football 11 Online Dynasty servers which lets you control more than one Online Dynasty. You will be able to control up to maximum of 3 Online Dynasties as the commissioner with this entitlement.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Commish Of 5 Online Dynasties ($14.99)
This entitlement will give you more space on the NCAA Football 11 Online Dynasty servers which lets you control more than one Online Dynasty. You will be able to control up to maximum of 5 Online Dynasties as the commissioner with this entitlement.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Max TeamBuilder Slot ($9.99)
Gives 120 slots to download teams from the TeamBuilder.
File size: 100 KB

NCAA Football 11 – Maximum Player Training ($1.99)

This item will give the maximum amount of Player Training in the Off-season of Dynasty.
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Clear Soul Pack Extra Volume ($3.99)
“HELLO-O-O-O…
Hmhmhmm. I got some precious items from my “friends.”
I have 50 “Clear Soul: ATK,” “Clear Soul: DEF,” “Clear Soul: INT,” “Clear Soul: RES,” “Clear Soul: SPD,” “Clear Soul: HIT,” “Clear Soul: LUK,” and “Clear Soul: HP”…I wonder why they only gave me souls.”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – High-Level Armor Pack ($2.99)

“Master Kanata, I brought some armor from Master Shuten’s private collection:
Three speech spirits, comprised of the “DemonGod Kotodama,” the “Deity Kotodama,” and “Ashura Kotodama.”
Also, an “Ancient Code,” “Genocidal Code,” “Origin Code,” and “Eternal Code.”
Plus, three spaces: “Planetary Space,” “Lost Space,” and “Cluster Space!”
If you equip them wisely, you can grow even stronger…!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Macaroon’s Black Market Pack ($1.99)
“Hmhmhm… Finally, it’s Macaroon’s turn to shine.

Behold the following items I will now introduce!
A pack of Clear Souls: “ATK,” “DEF,” “INT,” “RES,” “SPD,” “HIT,” “LUK,”and “HP.” 30 units of each kind!
If you use all of them, you’ll instantly become mega-strong! How can you pass on this great chance?!
Huh? Of course… it’s not free. Are you trying to extort me? Please pay for it. I take Credit Cards. Oh, and don’t forget your receipt. It’s mega-important.”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Paternal Love Pack ($1.99)
“I can give my dear son gifts every once in a while, y’know?
Here. 5 “Elixirs,” 5 “Life Elixirs,” and, unbelievably, 30 “EMT Sets,” 10 “Life Vessels” and 10 “Anchors!” Finally, here’s your allowance I’ve owed you these past several hundred years: 1,000,000G!”

File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Super Galaxy Pirate Pack ($2.99)
“Love Power,” “Phys Protection,” “Great Hit,” “Ultra 777,” “Volcanic Energy,” “Fairy Buster,” “Old Master,” and “EXP Charger.”
With these, the day I become the ruler of the entire universe as the greatest universal beauty is right around the corner!

Yo, Prinnies! Get to work!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Super Treasure Pack 1 (free)
“Huh?! You want my treasure collection?

If you want it, give me money comparable to its value. Understand?
If you don’t have enough money for it, delicious sweets will do.
But remember this: I won’t be satisfied with just any cheap sweets.
If you fail me, you better kiss your life good-bye. …Huh? You’d rather pay money?
Better safe than dead? Lame. Well, then, grab some stuff around here.”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Super Treasure Pack 2 (free)
“Hmhmhmm… I collected some really rare items!

I’m sure your adventures will advance smoothly with these!
Um! It feels good to do something to help someone. Don’t you think, Prinny? Shall we go?

Prinny 1: “Uh, we still have things to do, dood. You can go home first.”
Prinny 2: “Did she leave, dood?”
Prinny 1: “Yep, she’s gone, dood.”
Prinny 2: “Don’t think you can get this without giving me something nice, dood. Oh, no compromising, either.”
Prinny 1: “No installments either, dood.”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Synthesis Encyclopedia Complete Edition (free)

“Urgh… I can’t find “Synth Manual 32…”
That should have all the healing item recipes. I hope I didn’t misplace it.
Ah, hey, Riz. I… uh… What? You had it?
You’re going to hit Lucius with it until he passes out? …Riz, that may be a little cynical of you.”
File size: 100 KB

Guitar Hero
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Afterlife” – Avenged Sevenfold ($1.99)
• “Almost Easy” – Avenged Sevenfold ($1.99)
• “Scream” – Avenged Sevenfold ($1.99)
• Avenged Sevenfold Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Afterlife”, “Almost Easy”, and “Scream” by Avenged Sevenfold. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 39 – 59 MB (singles), 143 MB (track pack)

Rock Band

Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Get Out” – The Vines ($1.99)
• “He’s a Rocker” – The Vines ($1.99)
• “Orange Amber” – The Vines ($1.99)
• “Outtathaway” – The Vines ($1.99)
• “Ride” – The Vines ($1.99)
• The Vines Pack 01 ($8.49) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: The Vines Pack 01. This pack includes “Get Out”, “He’s A Rocker”, “Orange Amber”, “Outtathaway”, and “Ride” by The Vines.
• “Future Perfect Tense” – Sweet Billy Pilgrim ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over” by The Devil Wears Prada ($1.99)
• “The Girl at the Video Game Store” by Parry Gripp ($0.99)
• “Top Back” by Alias Unknown ($0.99)
• “Trippolette” by The Andrew Buch ($1.99)
• “You All Everybody” by Drive Shaft ($0.99)

File size: 14 – 35 MB (singles), 90 MB (track pack)

Avatars

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Avatars ($0.49) (x3)
File size: 100 KB

Super Street Fighter IV Avatars ($0.49) (x3)
File size: 103 – 113 KB

Crash Commando Avatars (x4) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Crash Commando Avatar Bundle ($1.25)

File size: 400 KB

Game Videos (free)

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Remix Trailer Feat. Eminem
File size: 45 MB (HD), 72 MB (1080)

Landit Bandit Developer Diary 1 Trailer
File size: 94 MB (HD)

Landit Bandit Developer Diary 2 Trailer

File size: 108 MB (HD)

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Vietnam Announcement Video Trailer
File size: 31 MB (HD)

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: Lechuck’s Revenge E3 2010 Trailer
File size: 69 MB (1080)

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: Lechuck’s Revenge Making Of Trailer
File size: 396 MB (1080)

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 E3 Trailer
File size: 78 MB (HD)

KINGDOM HEARTS: Birth By Sleep E3 Trailer
File size: 343 MB (1080)

Grandia PSone Classic Trailer
File size: 31 MB (SD)

SingStar Dance Trailer

File size: 73 MB (HD), 115 MB (1080)

echochrome ii Trailer
File size: 87 MB (HD), 145 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Trinity Universe Custom Theme 12: Violet ($1.99)
File size: 5.1 MB

Trinity Universe Custom Theme 13: Pamela ($1.99)

File size: 6.01 MB

Zenescope’s Wonderland Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 5.36 MB

Wallpapers (free)

Fat Princess Fat Roles Wallpaper 2
File size: 932 KB (1080)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Groovin’ Blocks PSP ($9.99)
It’s time to get your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system groove on! Groovin’ Blocks is the ultimate combination of challenging puzzle game set to irresistible musical beats. Match three or more gems and watch them disappear; explode gems to the beat of the music to double your multipliers and increase your score! Groovin’ Blocks features three skill levels from casual mode to fiendish hard mode.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 44 MB

Game Demos (also available from PS3 Storefront) (free)

Gladiator Begins Demo

Gladiator Begins Demo Version lets you create and customize your own gladiator (male or female) to battle it out in the colosseum.
ESRB Rated M
File size: 132 MB

Game Videos (free)

KINGDOM HEARTS: Birth By Sleep E3 Trailer
File size: 32 MB

SingStar Dance Trailer

File size: 11 MB

echochrome ii Trailer
File size: 14 MB

Grandia PSone Classic Trailer
File size: 15 MB

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You know, it’s been a good year for gaming. Out of the thirty-four games I’ve reviewed this year, only six have received a “mediocre” or less rating from me. Meanwhile there have been a dozen games I have deemed “good” or better, which is pretty unheard of for me. In fact, 2010 has had the highest average score I have given to games that I’ve reviewed since 2004, and I only reviewed 40 games that year.

Well if the latter half of 2010 continues to supply me with god awful games like Mystery of the Crystal Portal, expect my feelings to change drastically. I went in to this pretty optimistic. I like adventure games. I like hidden object games. I like puzzle games. The preview on PSN looked neat, so when DJ (Our head of Public Relations) let me know we had a review copy of this, I happily said I’d do it. After all, I may primarily play adventure games on the PC, but 2010 has been a great year for console point and click titles, as Disgaea Infinite, Secret Files: Tunguska, and Heavy Rain have shown us. So what made Crystal Portal one of the worst games I’ve sat through all year?

Let’s Review

1. Story

To be honest, MotCP doesn’t have much in the way of plot. The main character is Nicole Rankwist, a reporter in the 1920s. Her father disappeared after making a huge archeological discovery, one of which he hasn’t actually told anyone the specifics about. Nicole goes to her father’s home, finds his diary and then travels the world trying to track him down. You’ll go through six levels, each based on a different region of the world and ethnic stereotyping. In each area, you’ll complete multiple hidden object puzzles and then a level ending puzzle. After you collect all five pieces, you’ll go back home and well, solve the mystery of the crystal portal.

Here’s where things get stupid. After you travel the world, gathering the pieces of the portal, you go home and discover your father has already gathered the pieces and then you have to find the pieces in his secret basement. Then what the hell did you spend the past three hours collecting, you might ask? I HAVE NO IDEA. The ending cinematic is not only insipid and anti-climatic, but the game ends abruptly with a “To Be Continued” bit of nonsense that just proves there was no real story to the game and that the extremely crappy narrative bits were thrown in just to explain why you are doing the hidden object puzzles in the first place. There is no characterization or depth to Nicole. She just blindly runs around the world collecting objects and solving puzzles because she read in her dad’s diary he went there that one time. The few other characters you encounter have but a few line of dialogue, and most of it is throwaway lines like, “Hey, I lost my horseshoe. Can you find it for me?” Then when you find the horseshoe amongst the hidden objects, you get a “Thank you.”

Really this is just horrible in about every way it can be. There are some great hidden object games out there that are coupled with a really fun story. Games like Vampireville, Three Cards To Midnight or Becky Brogan. Mystery of the Crystal Portal is not one of them and it’s easy the winner of the “Worst Story of 2010″ award simply because there is next to none, and what little there is looks like it was written by gibbon with a typewriter. Ook Ook.

Story Rating: Worthless

2. Graphics

First up I do want to point out that Nicole is drawn VERY Asian, yet her father’s picture is VERY Caucasian? Adopted? Is the Mother Asian? We never know because there is no real plot!

Anyway, nearly everything in the game is a static image. There are exceptions to this, such as when you complete a collection of hidden objects. Then you get animation on the screen for a few seconds. What a sad, sad award. Baby Turtle gave you more than that. Still, the backgrounds themselves are nicely rendered. There isn’t a lot of detail, but it’s one of the better looking PSP Minis titles in terms of backgrounds.

The real problem comes with item collecting and finding. MOST hidden item games give you a list of items to try and find. MotCP gives you silhouettes with little to no detail. This doesn’t sound bad at first until you encounter a need to find a necklace and there are ten on the screen. It also happens that sometimes the item doesn’t actually match the silhouette due to being at a different angle. The items in question will only take the shape of the silhouette if you pick them up. This is pretty bad, as you can image, as it means you will sometimes be forced to guess and check.

Overall what’s here is acceptable. Backgrounds are nice but items themselves lack detail and are rather sloppy looking. Character portraits are jaggy and at times the graphics actually hurt the gameplay due to the silhouette issue.

Graphics Rating: Mediocre

3. Sound

There isn’t a lot to talk about here. There is no voice acting and sound effects are limited to a twinkling noise if you get an object right and a negative scratching noise if you pick up something you can’t actually pick up. Music gets a thumbs in the middle as none of the tracks are offensive, but they aren’t very catchy either. They are merely non-annoying background tracks you ignore while searching for items.

Sound Rating: Mediocre

4. Control and Gameplay

Okay, I’m just going to say it now: MotCP is the WORST hidden object game I have ever had to sit through. Let’s start with the actual controls. You use the analog stick (or the left one) to control the pointer as if it was a mouth. The problem is that this is like trying to steer a tank. The controls are sluggish and fairly unresponsive. Even worse, there seems to be lag over what are known as both manipulative and key items, so that you can slide right over them without the cursor changing. This of course means you won’t know those are items you can interact with until things finally click together.

I also mentioned the issue with the hidden object list being in picture form rather than words and the confusion that goes with that, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the REAL issues. You see, you can find items and pick them up from the get go, but none of them count until you find a “key item.” When you find a key item, you click on it and a set of silhouettes comes up. Then you take an item you find and drag it on to the correct silhouette. When you find all the items, the key item is “done” and you get a little animation. The problem is, you don’t know WHAT the key items are until the cursor changes when you go over it, and as I mentioned before, sometimes that simply doesn’t happen. Worse, some key items don’t trigger until you complete other key items, which means you could have clicked on an item a dozen times to see if it was a key item, only to find it wasn’t… only THEN to find it now is. ARRGH.

You can actually pick up items for non activated key items, but not always. It’s a strange and frustrating mess as you’ll have items that you’ve picked up but that you can’t put anywhere as the key item hasn’t triggered. Even more insane is that some hidden items that you need for a currently active key item can’t be found until you’ve finished a different key item, even though that first key item is currently active. Again I say ARRRGH.

Perhaps stupidest of all is that sometimes when you click on a key item to pull up the collection of collectable item silhouettes, part of the silhouette is covered up. Perhaps it goes off the edge of a screen or it’s behind an icon like the hint box or your diary. Whatever the case, you simply can’t see the full item. At first I thought it just wasn’t aligned for the PSP, so I put it on my PS3 and tried my HDTV’s different screen shapes. Same problem occurred on any setting I chose. Then I also discovered some items you need to collect have this same problem. They literally cannot be seen because they are covered up by something else on the screen that is fixed and immovable. This means in order to find them you have to use the “hint” function and wait for something to get sparkly on your screen like a vampire from Twilight. When you just can’t find an item and are forced to use this, before how angry you will get when you notice the item is in a corner of the screen obscured by things that you could have never found because it would be impossible. Then you have to click blindly hoping that the item will be caught by your cursor, which is in itself a crap shoot due to the click detection issues and because where the end of the pointer is doesn’t actually match up with where the game thinks you are clicking, so it is blindly groping around for those covered up items. Honestly, it feels like the backgrounds and item placements were done and then the things like the key item boxes, your diary and other onscreen implements were just laid on top and no one bothered to check to see if items you needed to collected were now covered up and impossible to see!

There are also items that can only be found by opening a box or moving something, yet once again, sometimes the game doesn’t register that you can do this by changing the cursor into the magnifying glass it is supposed to. Other times it just simply won’t let you. In the Russian level I needed to find a bunny, and I could see its ears under a snow bank. Clicking on the ears didn’t work. Trying to move the snow didn’t work. Eventually after I collected other items, without any rhyme or reason, I could finally move the snow aside.

Simply put, Mystery of the Crystal Portal is one of the crappiest games I have played this year, and I seriously can’t believe this was allowed to be released to the public. A kind part of me held out hope that it was just a bad port to Sony’s systems, but a quick check showed me that even the original PC game got less than positive reviews. The bottom line is this is a huge waste of your money. Hell, I want MY money back and this was a free review copy.

Control and Gameplay Rating: Worthless

5. Replayability

There’s not a lot of replay value to hidden object games unless the story is really good. Often times though, these type of games randomly generate the list of items you need to find, which also helps. In MotCP, it is always the same list of items. This means the game will always be exactly the same every time you play it. Considering how awful it is, you probably won’t play it a second time, much less finish the first time, even if it is only two to three hours long.

The game does give you “achievements” and I suppose you can try and go back and gets the ones you missed, but you earn nearly all of them just playing the game outright and the others are time limit based. This inclusion might seem like it increases the replay value on paper, but in practice it only applies to people with severe OCD. Bottom line, this game is a “one and done” title without any redeeming qualities to make it worth a second look, if that.

Replayability Rating: Worthless

6. Balance

Well, this is another area where MotCP falls flat on its ass. You can pick up items (but only some and only sometimes) that aren’t attached to your current key item(s). You can’t get some items attached to your current key item(s) until you complete other key items. You can’t see some of the items on the screen even if you zoom in or out and are forced to use help. The game uses silhouettes of items you need to find but then they don’t actually match the on-screen items they are meant to represent! This is a failure in just about every way the damn thing CAN fail.

Balance Rating: Worthless

7. Originality

Well, as horribly designed as the game is, and as horribly craptastic the system is implemented, it IS an original way to do hidden object games. Most give you a full list and let you go at that. Here you have to find the list, and then it is in tiny parts. There are also objects you sometimes have to move or open, but that bit has been done before, and in a far better fashion like you can see in Vampireville. So while MotCP is a game I wouldn’t wish on someone I hated, it does do some pretty innovative things for its genre – it’s just that those innovations are all awful ideas or are implemented horribly.

Originality Rating: Decent

8. Addictiveness

The two and a half hours it took me to beat this game were excruciating torture. I would have stopped at the halfway point due to all the bugs and gameplay issues if it had been my own purchase, but as this was a review copy, I was stuck playing this thing until the end. This is the first game this year I can truly say I hated. Other low scoring games like Iyar and Sands of Destruction had some good qualities I could name. Mystery of the Crystal Portal, on the other hand, is a title I have tried really hard not to swear about in this review. I hated every moment of playing this. Words cannot express how much.

Addictiveness Rating: Worthless

9. Appeal Factor

I always say that every game is someone’s favourite and even the best games have people that hate them. That being said, I can’t imagine anyone who would enjoy this thing. I mean, I like hidden object games, but this was one of the worst things I have played in years. Honestly, for the same price a MotCP ($4.99), you can get some awesome games from Big Fish games for your PC. Want to stick to the PSP or PS3? You can get Hysteria Project, Spot the Difference, Interpol and more. I understand that some hidden object fans will overlook the awful controls, the horrible engine issues and the near lack of a story, but again, some people will like anything. It IS playable, after a fashion, and it only crashed once for me (on the weight puzzle), so a rare or twisted person might find enjoyment in this. Everyone else should steer clear.

Appeal Factor: Dreadful

10. Miscellaneous

Okay, Mystery of the Crystal Portal is a buggy, poorly designed mess and is THE worst hidden object game I have ever played. You can find a hell of a lot better ways to spend the $4.99 this game costs. It’s pretty hard to do worse. The only redeeming thing about this game is that your genitals don’t burst into flames from playing it.

Miscellaneous Rating: Worthless

The Scores
Story: Worthless
Graphics: Mediocre
Sound: Mediocre
Control and Gameplay: Worthless
Replayability: Worthless
Balance: Worthless
Originality: Decent
Addictiveness: Worthless
Appeal Factor: Dreadful
Miscellaneous: Worthless
FINAL SCORE: VERY BAD GAME!

Short Attention Span Summary
Mystery of the Crystal Portal is, without a doubt, the worst hidden object game ever made. Please do not buy it. The plot is non-existent and the game is one of the most horribly designed things I’ve ever played. The engine is buggy, there are detection issues, the game’s “Key Item” system is horribly flawed to the point where you wonder if there was any quality control involved, and some items don’t actually fit on the screen or obscured by menu buttons making them impossibly to find. The bottom line is – don’t buy this.
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There are two downloadable releases for the PS3, and neither one is a big deal. The biggest name is Family Feud. This is like any other Ludia release; it captures the personality of the show reasonably well, but will leave most nostalgics wanting more. If anything, the show itself is done in by the fact that Richard Dawson is too old to do the show while doing a contestant’s daughter (fun story: he actually married the daughter of a contestant. Remember that when you see old episodes, and he’s doing everything but finger-banging someone right in front of their parents), but if you just like the game and want to play it with friends, this is worth the $10 cost.

Secondly, we have Monkey Island Special Edition 2: Lechuck’s Revenge. I’m not going to pretend I’m very knowledgeable about this series; I’ve never been an adventure fan, and couldn’t tell you the first thing about any of these games, with or without the demo that this comes with. Ashe Collins is reviewing this, and I’m going to leave it to him. I’m the last person that should be telling anyone on whether or not to buy Monkey Island.

Other than the Monkey Island demo, there’s one more, for Death Track: Resurrection. I did not have high expectations going in, and sure enough, those expectations weren’t met. Controlling your car is a nightmare; even just a small shift to one direction sent me careening nose-first into the wall. Furthermore, there’s no real way that I can see to defend yourself from weapons; you know you got waxed when you blow up. I can’t justify buying this game for even the most desperate arcade racing fan, though anyone interested should know that the game IS on sale this week for half off. Unfortunately, $8 is still too much for a heavily flawed game.

The PSP is where the lion’s share of the news is. The big release of the whole week is the downloadable version of Persona 3 Portable. I’m about to offend a large part of my inner circle, but here goes… unless the female protagonist offers the greatest JRPG gameplay in the history of the medium, this is not a $40 game. I’m growing a little tired of Atlus shoving this game down our collective throats; first, we had the original Persona 3, and most people – not named Alex Lucard or Mark B. – can agree that was a good game. P3 retailed for $40 on day of release. Then, they came out with Persona 3: FES, which added some extra content for $30. That was OK. Now, we’re getting the third version of this game, with only a few additions (though I hear that the female protagonist is a new experience for old-time fans), and they’re charging another $40 for it, not just for the UMD version, but the PSN version as well. Are you serious, guys? Unless HUMONGOUS changes have been made to this game, this is $110 combined for a game that is inferior to Persona 4 in almost every fashion. That doesn’t make it a bad game by any stretch – it isn’t – but I’m in the camp that says this price has to come down a spell.

Then again, I’m agape at the feedback this is getting. Persona 3 PSP has a 94 rating on Metacritic, with a bunch of 100s. Some of them are from bad sites who only have scores to be on Metacritic in the first place, but some people who’s JRPG opinions I value, like Destructoid’s Dale North, are all over it. Even my friend – RPGFan writer Elizabeth Maas – bought a PSP specifically for this game. Just saying the things I have about it are going to make me a social pariah (more than usual) for the next couple weeks. At the very least, I recommend getting the UMD version, and seeing if you can get Junpei’s hat in the deal as well. $40 for a years-old port is way too much if you’re just downloading it, but at least anyone that agrees with me can wait for the inevitable Persona 3 PSP FES for less.

LATE EDIT: I’m being told by said friends that they added a lot of changes to P3′s battle system, essentially putting in the good parts of P4′s system. I’ll be honest: this is issue #1 I had with Persona 3. It still doesn’t address others I personally have – I prefer P4′s story, pacing and all – and still don’t think this is a $40 game, but at least the #1 problem that Persona 3 had – an extremely unfriendly battle system – was addressed, so good on Atlus for that.

There are two more releases which I’m going to shunt into one paragraph. The latest overpriced movie license is Despicable Me. Needless to say, unless this is another Arkham Asylum and we just don’t know it yet, $30 is too much money. Finally, there’s Chameleon Legacy for $5, which I… cannot find *any* information about online. At all. Even Sony’s official description is lacking, to the point where I had to ask “wait, is this a misplaced minis game?”. There’s so little information about this, I’m actually going to drop the $5 and get a review out about it, because that’s how we roll here at Diehard GameFAN.

There’s a PSP demo out, for Patapon 3. Unfortunately, it’s a multiplayer demo, which means I haven’t yet been able to sample it because my internet is wired and my PSP isn’t. However, just the introductory stage reminded me of how much I love Patapon, and it will be interesting to see how Sony integrates WiFi play into the mix.

That’s it for the notables of this week. A reminder that Alex Lucard has a write-up about the second week of Playstation Plus over here, which is starting to confirm some fears I had about the service: the first week was the blinding light, and we’re starting to see a lot less good stuff in even the second week it’s been up, including one game that received a bigger price drop than the previous week, something that’s surely going to annoy some people. With that said, while I’m critical of it – moreso than last week – at least it’s not LIVE Gold. Nothing can be worse than LIVE Gold. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who’s going to go back to playing Persona 4 again. By the way, it’s better than Persona 3 and goes for about $20 nowadays.

The full Playstation Network update is under the cut.

PlayStation Plus

Qore Episode 26 (July Single episode Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File Size: 1.74 GB

Field Runners (Free to PlayStation Plus Subscribers)
File size: 29 MB

MAG Raven Character Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus Subscribers)
File size: 106 KB

MAG SVER Character Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus Subscribers)
File size: 109 KB

MAG Valor Character Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus Subscribers)
File size: 112 KB

King Zumo Theme (Free to PlayStation Plus Subscribers)
File size: 5.88 MB

Super Stardust HD Sale

Super Stardust HD (PlayStation Plus price $5.00, original price $9.99)
Super Stardust HD Team add-on Pack (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)
Super Stardust HD Solo add-on Pack (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)

TikGames/Creat Studios PlayStation Plus Sale
Hamsterball (PlayStation Plus price $3.99, original price $9.99)

Updates

Hamsterball – Sale (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

Death Track: Resurrection – Sale (now $7.99, original price $14.99)
Worms – Sale (now $7.99, original price $12.99)
Hamster Ball Unleashed – Sale (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Breakquest – Minis – Sale (now $2.99, original price $3.99)
Normaltanks – Minis – Permanent Price Change (now $2.99, original price $4.99)

Qore

Qore Episode 26: July 2010 ($2.99)
Episode 26 of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network takes viewers back to the Helghan homeworld in Killzone 3, previews Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, chats with the creator of the PlayStation Move controller and explores Osaka, Japan.
File size: 1.74 GB

Qore Annual Subscription: July 2010 ($24.99)
Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can freely navigate through the content.
File size: 1.74 GB

Downloadable Games

Monkey Island Special Edition 2: Lechuck’s Revenge ($9.99)
More Pirates! More Adventure! More Monkeys! Relive the second hilarious swashbuckling misadventure of the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood in signature special edition detail. Overcome the wrath of the evil zombie pirate LeChuck with all new direct-character controls, an interactive object highlight system, behind the scenes art viewer and creator commentary featuring the original developers of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge!
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 1.14 GB

Family Feud ($9.99)
“SURVEY SAYS!” Family Feud is fun on your PlayStation 3 system! Just like on TV, the game pits 2 families against each other in a contest to name the most popular answers to survey questions posed to 100 people. The first family to get 300 points wins, and moves on to the Fast Money round for a chance to win $20,000! With a multiplayer mode played on one PS3 or online through PlayStation Network, Family Feud has never been so entertaining!
ESRB Rated E

File size: 251 MB

Game Demos (free)

Death Track: Resurrection Demo
The demo version of Death Track: Resurrection – a new action racing game developed by Gaijin. Players travel to a future in which the world has been plunged into chaos. Traditional sports have been replaced by more aggressive and violent types of entertainment. Powerful cars and spectacular road battles are performed by world-renown and feared drivers compete for glory and huge cash prizes.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 232 MB

Monkey Island Special Edition 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Demo

More Pirates! More Adventure! More Monkeys! Relive the second hilarious swashbuckling misadventure of the wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood in signature special edition detail. Overcome the wrath of the evil zombie pirate LeChuck with all new direct-character controls, an interactive object highlight system, behind the scenes art viewer and creator commentary featuring the original developers of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge!
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 1.14 GB

Add-on Game Content

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel – Iron Man ($1.99)
Tony Stark isn’t the only person with an Iron Man costume, now Sackboy has his own version of the legendary home-made hero costume to use when the need arises! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel – Thing ($1.99)
Fortunately for Sackboy he doesn’t need to be exposed to dangerous quantities of cosmic radiation to become the Fantastic Four’s lead clobberer Thing, he can simply put on this awesome costume. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel – Dare Devil ($1.99)
There are plenty of times in LittleBigPlanet when you simply cannot believe your eyes! In the event of this happening, Sackboy need simply dress up as blind superhero Daredevil to overcome this problem. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel – Doctor Octopus ($1.99)

For those times when Sackboy feels the need to hatch yet another world domination plan and take on the heroic tendencies of any web-slingers out there, the Doctor Octopus costume is just the thing. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel – Mystique ($1.99)
While Sackboy may be the master of costume changing, rather than shape changing but that isn’t going to stop him dressing up as Mystique. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel Costume Pack ($5.99)
Look out “True Believers”, your favorite Marvel heroes and villains have landed on LittleBigPlanet! Grab this costume pack and you’ll be ready for action with 5 costumes of your favorite Marvel characters including Iron Man, Thing, Daredevil, Doctor Octopus, and Mystique! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.

File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Marvel Level Kit ($4.99)
Look out “True Believers”, your favorite Marvel heroes and villains have landed on LittleBigPlanet! Grab this level kit to build your own “Marvel”-ous levels! This kit includes 4 new Levels, 1 Background, 3 Music files, 24 CREATE objects, and 156 Stickers! NOTE: To download this Costume Kit, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

ModNation Racers: Sweet Tooth Mod and Kart Bundle ($1.99)
Race as the iconic character Sweet Tooth, from the longest-running PlayStation-exclusive franchise, Twisted Metal. This ModNation Racers Sweet Tooth Mod AND Kart bundle pack will let you race as the dark clown inside of the sinister ice cream truck that’s perfectly suited for car combat. Download this pack today!
File size: 100 KB

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Package ($14.99) (Also available in French)
More epic new multiplayer content has arrived for Modern Warfare 2! The Resurgence Pack delivers five incredible new multiplayer maps. Take the action to exciting new locations, then battle across legendary landscapes from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
File size: 346 MB

Dragon Age: Origins – Leliana’s Song ($6.99)
Assume the role of Leliana, a young bard involved in a criminal ring that deals in political secrets. Accompanying her mentor Marjolaine on a high-risk mission, Leliana soon finds herself entangled in a game of intrigue that she cannot escape with just her beauty, charm, or stealth. The only way out of this game is to kill or be killed.
File size: 439 MB

Skate 3 – Danny Way’s Hawaiian Dream ($6.99)

Danny Way has been living the dream for years, now you can skate his Hawaiian dream…an enormous skater’s paradise loaded with everything from original street terrain to flowing skateparks and Danny’s signature Mega-madness. Drop in for a Hawaiian blast.
File size: 106 MB

Aliens Vs. Predator Bughunt Map Pack ($6.99)
Welcome to the killing grounds of BG-386. Prove your skills on four new multiplayer maps spanning jungle swamps, dropship crashsites, industrial complexes and ancient temples. Rainstoms batter you, fog hides your predators with only a flash of lightning to show the way through, and a fiery death awaits the unwary.
File size: 416 MB

MotoGP 09/10: GP Class Season 2010 Update (free)
The new 2010 season content update pack gives you the all new GP class bikes and riders for the new season, as well as the world famous Silverstone track not seen in MotoGP since 1986. The content is used in all game modes to extend the game-play.
File size: 777 MB

Trinity Universe – Gift for Everyone Pack ($0.99)
“A heart-warming gift from Mizuki! I gathered some good stuff for you.
You better treasure it! This should blast me into the stratosphere of stardom!
Well, um, can you prepare boxes for everyone?
…Um! This is perfect!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Low Income Prinny Pack (free)
“I got Clear Souls for “ATK,” “DEF,” “INT,” “RES,” “SPD,” “HIT,” “LUK,” and “”HP,”” dood.

Now we’re unstoppable, dood.
…Well, there’s no way we have enough to say that, dood. It’s not our problem if this imbalances your party, dood! ”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Middle Ability Pack ($1.99)
“Keh, hehehe… Hahahahaha! I’ve entered many dungeons, found many hunting points, and crushed numerous monsters these past few months.
Finally… finally, I found this useful ability! As long as it exists, that violent Valkyrie is a mere wad of gum stuck to the bottom of my boot!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Mid-Level armor Pack ($1.99)

“(Take 32: 2 hours into the recording session.)
I… I will talk about this Mid-level Armor.
This product pack consists of “Byakko’s Kotodama,” “Seiryu’s Kotodama,” “Suzaku’s Kotodama,” and “Genbu’s Kotodama.” Plus, “α Code,” “β Code,” “γ Code,” “Ω Code,” “Dark Space,” “Shine Space,” “Aurora Space,” and “Heartful Space”… They are all hairy…”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Miyu’s Managraphic Pack (free)
“I’ll do my best to draw your portrait! P-Please let me try. I promise it’ll be good!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – My Secret Savings Pack ($0.99)

“Ugh… I’m tired.
But, I think we’ve collected quite a lot!
5 “Cure Herbs” for fatigued bodies, 5 “Relief Krauts” that’ll heal an entire family, 5 “Life Stones” for emergencies and 5 “Anchors” so your home won’t drift away. Plus, we still have 500,000G left over! I’m so fantastic at budgeting!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Phantom Dungeon Rumors Pack (free)
“What in tarnation is this dungeon? I reckon’ we’ll find some mighty fine treasure.”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Technician’s Pack ($1.99)

“Oh! Our weapons got upgraded! They’re probably cool, and fierce, and badass now! Tsubaki, can you buy this for me? What? You will?! All right! Let’s go on another adventure right away!”
File size: 100 KB

Guitar Hero
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” – Queen ($1.99)
• “Killer Queen” – Queen ($1.99)
• “Somebody To Love” – Queen ($1.99)
• Queen 2 Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Killer Queen”, and “Somebody To Love” by Queen. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 29 MB – 51 MB (singles), 108 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Bad Moon Rising” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Born On The Bayou” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Down On The Corner” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Fortunate Son (Original Version)” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Green River” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Proud Mary” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Run Through The Jungle” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Travelin’ Band” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Up Around The Bend” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• “Who’ll Stop The Rain” – Creedence Clearwater Revival ($1.99)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival Pack 01 ($19.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Creedence Clearwater Revival Pack 01. This pack includes “Bad Moon Rising”, “Born On The Bayou”, “Down On The Corner”, “Fortunate Son (Original Version)”, “Green River”, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, “Proud Mary”, “Run Through The Jungle”, “Travelin’ Band”, “Up Around The Bend”, and “Who’ll Stop The Train” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Rock Band Network

• “1348″ by Umphrey’s McGee ($1.99)
• “Battles And Brotherhood” by 3 Inches of Blood ($1.99)
• “Henchmen Ride” by Testament ($1.99)
• “So Says I” by The Shins ($1.99)
• “The Funeral” by Band of Horses ($1.99)

File size: 13 MB – 74 MB (singles), 267 MB (track pack)

Avatars

Dark Stalkers Felicia Avatar ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Dark Stalkers Morrigan Avatar ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Flower Avatars (x4) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Flower Avatar Bundle ($1.49)
File size: 500 KB

Game Videos (free)

Naughty Bear Trailer
File size: 62 MB (SD), 84 MB (HD)

Transformers: War For Cybertron Multiplayer Trailer
File size: 56 MB (HD)

Dragon Age: Origins Leliana’s Song Trailer
File size: 31 MB (HD)

Shank E3: Animatic Trailer

File size: 33 MB (HD)

Skate 3 Maloof Money Cup Trailer
File size: 54 MB (HD)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II E3 Trailer
File size: 308 MB (1080)

Pulse 7/6 Edition
File size: 329 MB (HD)

PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap Trailer
File size: 52 MB (HD), 86 MB (1080)

PixelJunk Shooter 2 Trailer
File size: 45 MB (HD), 75 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Trinity Universe Custom Theme 09:Flonne ($1.99)
File size: 6.6 MB

Trinity Universe Custom Theme 10: Etna ($1.99)
File size: 6.2 MB

Trinity Universe Custom Theme 11: Prinny ($1.99)
File size: 5.5 MB

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Premium Theme ($2.49)
File size: 10 MB

Azmodeus Dark Angels Premium Theme 4 ($1.49)
File size: 7.6 MB

Wallpapers (free)

Blue Toad Murder Files Wallpaper
File size: 940 KB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable ($39.99)
Terrible creatures lurk in the dark, preying on those who wander into the hidden hour between one day and the next. As a member of a secret school club, you must wield your inner power—Persona—and protect humanity from impending doom. Will you live to see the light of day?
The award-winning RPG is now in the palm of your hand! Greatly enhanced and featuring a new female protagonist with another perspective on the story, no RPG fan should miss this.
ESRB Rated M
File size: 1.07 GB

Despicable Me ($29.99)
Be Despicable! (It’s fun!) Despicable Me: The Game lets players of all ages experience the thrill of being Gru, one of the world’s greatest supervillains who is planning the biggest heist in history – stealing the moon.

• Assemble an army of minions
• Use new gadgets and weapons
• Master air combat
• Build an awesome rocket ship
• Play as Gru or as his nemesis, Vector, in multiplayer air combat (PS2)
• Based on Universal Pictures’ new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me, in theatres July 9, 2010.

ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 324 MB

Chameleon Legacy ($4.99)
Chameleon offers players simple controls that are easy to get into along with competitive play as you attempt to match colors on your playfield. The game features several playable characters along with a bonus character. A variety of different modes and rule sets bring great replay-ability to this addictive game.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 27 MB

Game Demos (also available from PS3 Storefront) (free)

Patapon 3 – Multiplayer Demo
Download the Patapon 3 Multiplayer Demo today and send us your feedback to make the best Patapon game yet! For more information, please visit http://www.pataponpsp.com.

ESRB Rated RP
File size: 110 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Widget’s Odyssey – Minis ($1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 51 MB

The Mystery Of The Crystal Portal – Minis ($4.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 85 MB

5-in-1 Arcade Hits – Minis ($3.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 17 MB

4X4 Jam Minis ($6.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 51 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Heroes in Uniform Costume (free)
With this fabulous free Cop costume your Sackboy will really look the part whilst he lays down the law! NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.29 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Heroes in Uniform Pack ($2.99)
Is your Sackboy a bold firefighter, a courageous cop or an intrepid paramedic? This emergency services themed pack is absolutely bursting at the seams with new costumes and stickers for any crisis. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.43 MB

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 7/6 Edition
File size: 55 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Azmodeus Dark Angels PSP Theme 13 ($1.49)
File size: 565 KB
http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/playstationwrapup.jpg
http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/psnlogo.jpg

Way back then, I was simultaneously bitching and praising the fact that the PSN update for that week sucked. There was just nothing of note at all, to the point where I actually broke out The Brave Little Toaster to express how bad it sucked. I figured this week would be better, just by default.

Boy, was that an understatement. We have a LOT to report, including the debut of Sony’s paid membership programme, Playstation Plus.

The first thing anyone’s going to have to do before logging into the PSN this week is load up a new firmware update, this one to 1.40. It’s 100% mandatory, but at least heavy PS3 users will get something out of this. For me, personally, the biggest deal is the ability to upload videos to hosting sites like Youtube… or it WOULD be, if the system wasn’t so bloody finicky about it. The first restriction is that anything grabbed before the 3.40 firmware update can’t be used with this system. That knocks out all of my previous videos from MLB ’10 The Show, but even after making a new one for testing purposes, I couldn’t upload it, ostensibly because it was copyrighted content. Therefore, I really can’t use this “new” feature for anything worth anything. That’s fine, because it still leaves me with plan B: transfer any videos I want to upload to a thumb drive and upload them to Youtube through any of my computers. There are too many restrictions for this to work well.

There’s also heavier Facebook and Picasa integration for those that care about that kind of thing. Photos that you have on your PS3 can be uploaded to any of those two sites. I was able to test it with a couple of snapshots I took while working on my review of 3D Dot Game Heroes, and it worked surprisingly well; logging in is quick (so long as you’re using a USB keyboard, at least), and the upload process was painless. It created a new album for me at my request, who’s evidence is viewable in this screenshot. There’s also an option to import photos, probably through either a camera via the data cable or via a USB drive (I don’t own a digital camera that can test this with; my “camera” is my iPhone, and they’re too cool to allow people to load their photos from their phones painlessly. Also, their camera sucks, but that’s here nor there). This works well, though I question how many people this is going to work well for; most people that would upload photos have easier systems via their computers. This would be great for me if every game allowed you to take screenshots the way 3D Dot Game Heroes does. If I could find out a way to just take a screenshot of whatever’s on my TV without having to buy expensive hardware (ie, a TV Capture Card for my desktop), I would never be beholden to PR assets ever again.

One more minor change is that they now allow you to compare, via friends lists, trophies that you or your friends have. It’s very similar to how the 360′s gamerscore system works; call up their trophy list, and after a sync operation, it compares your level to theirs as well as showing how you stack up. It’s minor, but it’s good for trophy whores. There’s a more detailed list of what this update carries at IGN, though Greg Miller wrote his piece more like a creepy Sony evangelist than an actual journalist. Don’t worry, I’m not done with IGN yet.

This brings us to Playstation Plus. On the surface, it’s a great subscription, more for what it doesn’t do (force you to subscribe in order to play games online, something I’ve been extremely critical of Microsoft on) than for what it does. I don’t know if this is just Sony trying to wow us onto the service during the first week, but there’s a lot to like. For one, it allows free game downloads, including of games like WipeOut HD (normally $20, this time free) and PS one game Rally Cross (normally $6.99), as well as other freebies such as avatars and themes, and discounts on other games as well. As I’m about to get into, there’s a LONG list of games that are discounted for Playstation Plus subscribers, as well as a 60 minute trial of InFAMOUS that lets you pick up where you left off once the trial’s done. Also, for $50 for the year, you get three extra months, and in addition, there’s still Sony’s regular price reductions and sales to think about (though I figure the quality of those will dissipate over time now). As I’ve said, on the surface, it looks like a great deal.

However, there’s one thing that I had to find buried in an old post on Sony’s blog, and couldn’t find on the main page for the service on Sony’s website: any free game you download isn’t yours. It’s essentially a rental. Let’s say you buy the service for three months, download WipeOut HD, and everything is grand. Three months later, you decide it was fun, but you’re not going to re-up the service. Guess what: WipeOut HD is no longer available to play; you either have to sign up for Plus again, or buy the game. Hope you didn’t buy the $10 Fury DLC pack, because if you did, it’s now useless.

Sony needs to stop calling these “free” games. They’re rentals, and it gives me worries that it’s going to lock customers into the service to “keep” their games. It’s somewhat similar to Gametap when Gametap didn’t suck, but the language needs to be made clearer, both when purchasing the service and in Sony’s documents. As it is, this is disingenuous at best.

With that said, while it’s not everything it’s cracked up to be, Playstation Plus is definitely a preferable service than Xbox LIVE Gold. LIVE Gold isn’t a good service because of what it gives, it’s a necessary service for most because Silver actively takes things away; not only do you not get sales and other perks, but you can’t play online at all, which renders some purchases either crippled (like Snoopy’s Flying Ace, which heavily relies on competitive play) or flat-out useless (like those $15 Modern Warfare 2 maps everyone seems to love, and online-only games like Team Fortress 2). Though it’s a luxury, heavy Playstation users, so long as they read the Terms of Service and know what they’re getting into, can get into Plus and know they’re going to get their money’s worth. I would definitely avoid buying DLC for the free games, especially for those of you in Europe that got LittleBigPlanet.

Like with the 3.40 update, there’s an in-depth look over at IGN, but unlike that one, I don’t even consider it informative, because Greg Miller and Colin Moriarty have penned what is easily the worst piece of journalism I’ve seen outside of Dualshockers. Their piece isn’t a Q+A, it’s a bukkake session with these two numbnuts at the bottom of it. When I read that piece in my effort to actually learn something about Plus that I didn’t feel Sony was telling me, I seriously asked Alex if these were the same people that did All I Want for Xmas is a PSP. I expect this kind of thing at partisan websites or small Blogspot blogs, but to read this slobbery coming from IGN – by two people who are supposed to be professionals – is shameful and degrades us all. Furthermore, for all that money they seem to bring in, they can’t hire an editor? “I don’t have computer”? Really, Greg? Go to your fucking rooms, you two. Don’t come out until I get bored.

For the sake of space, I’m going to direct people interested in the Plus deals to scroll down to the bottom, below the cut. I’m going to spend the rest of this time talking about the other games available outside of the sevice.

The PS3 game available this week is a big one, in that it seems Sony’s going the way of Microsoft’s Games on Demand service: InFAMOUS, which recently achieved Greatest Hits status, is available for $30. Alex Lucard reviewed the game when it came out, and he liked it, which is impressive because he’s not normally a fan of sandbox games. I’d definitely say this is worth it, and the price is right around what Gamestop is charging, though anyone worried about space needs to be aware that the game is almost 7GB. Also, again, for Playstation Plus subscribers, bear in mind that there’s a free 60 minute trial of the game.

There’s one demo out, for Lego Harry Potter. I talked about this when it came out on the LIVE service in the beginning of the month, and admitted that though I didn’t really get anywhere, I wasn’t a Harry Potter fan and couldn’t really give the game a proper once-over because I didn’t really know what I was doing or looking at. Sure enough, Ars Technica loves the game, and who am I to argue? The demo is good to at least get a feel for the game before plunking down for a $50 purchase, and I’m sure fans of the license will have a better time than I did.

On the PSP, we have a whopping three new releases. The first one is Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip. The Hot Shots Golf series has always been spot-on in terms of quality, but the first Hot Shots Tennis was a pretty hit or miss affair on the PS2. Fans of Mario Tennis don’t really transfer over, and there were a lot of flaws. That said, early reviews have been positive so far, though I would take those sources with a large grain of salt. My gut feeling on this is to wait for a demo or some more reviews before biting the bullet on a purchase; the price is good, but I would need some guarantee that I’m going to be playing this more than a week.

Secondly, we have Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play, a four year old compilation of Midway hits, the biggest of which are Mortal Kombat, Rampage and Sinistar, among others. Arcade compilations on the PSP sound like a good idea, but never execute well; my experiences with all of them have been that they run like shit, and this one’s no exception. You never want to hear “not 100% perfect” and “long loading times” when it comes to compliations, and this one hits both of those negative checkmarks. The game is $10, but I don’t think it’s worth it; get the PS2 compilation packs instead.

Last, it’s Bejewled 2 PSP for $10. Whoever hasn’t heard of Bejewled 2, raise your hand… OK, didn’t think so.

That’s it for what is an eventful week. New firmware, new service, new games… looks like my vacation is over. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who is no longer allowed in the Video Game Journalists treehouse.

The full Playstation Store update is under the cut.

PlayStation Plus

inFAMOUS Full Game Trial (Free and Exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 6.88 GB

WipEout HD (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)

File size: 977 MB

Rally Cross (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 103 MB

Age of Zombies (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 21 MB

Warhawk Fallen Star Pack (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 66 MB

Collision Theme (Free and Exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 3.6 MB

Fat Princess: Pink Princess Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 100 KB

Fat Princess: Blue Princess Avatar (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
File size: 100 KB

Fat Princess: Fat Roles Expansion Pack (PlayStation Plus price $3.99, original price $4.99)

Midway PlayStation Plus Sale
Gauntlet II (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)
Mortal Kombat II (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)
Rampage (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)
Rampart (PlayStation Plus price $2.50, original price $4.99)

TikGames/Creat Studios PlayStation Plus Sale
Cuboid (PlayStation Plus price $7.99, original price $9.99)
Cuboid Booster Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $2.99)

Cuboid Bundle Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $4.99)
Cuboid Level Editor (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $3.99)
Hamsterball (PlayStation Plus price $7.99, original price $9.99)
Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos (PlayStation Plus price $7.99, original price $9.99)
Magic Orbz (PlayStation Plus price $7.99, original price $9.99)
Magic Orbz Booster Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $2.99)
Magic Orbz Jungle Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $2.99)
Magic Orbz Winter Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $2.99)
Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom (PlayStation Plus price $7.99, original price $9.99)

Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom Booster Pack (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $4.99)
Smash Cars (PlayStation Plus price $11.99, original price $14.99)
Smash Cars: Virus Run (PlayStation Plus price FREE, original price $2.99)
Wakeboarding HD (PlayStation Plus price $11.99, original price $14.99)

Updates

FIFA Soccer 10: FIFA Ultimate Team – Sale (now $2.49, original price $4.99)
LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival – Permanent Price Change (now $7.49, original price $14.99)

Don’t Let Me Down (Slowly) by The Main Drag – Permanent Price Change (now $0.99, original price $1.99)
Super Stacker – Permanent Price Change (now $6.99, original price $9.99)
Trine – Permanent Price Change (now $9.99, original price $14.99)
Section 8 – Sale (now $14.99, original price $29.99)
LittleBigPlanet Saktue of Liberty Costume – Free (1 MB) **Limited Time Only

Downloadable Games

inFAMOUS ($29.99)

A massive explosion rips through six square blocks of Empire City, leveling everything and killing everyone in its path… everyone, except you! Feel what it’s like to be granted incredible powers… how you use them is up to you. The consequences of your actions will affect you, the citizens, and the city around you. You’ll develop and grow your powers, and eventually uncover the purpose of it all.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 6.9 GB

Game Demos (free)

Lego Harry Potter Demo
Connect the bricks from Privet Drive to the Triwizard Tournament and experience the magic and adventure of Harry Potter and his friends through the first four movies and books – LEGO style! Explore Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learn spells, brew potions, and relive the adventures of the beloved series mixed with the humor and customization unique to LEGO games!
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 743 MB

Add-on Game Content

Fat Princess: Fat Roles ($4.99)
Ninjas, Pirates and Giants! OH MY!! Now you can add three new classes to Fat Princess and gain the upper hand against your enemy! Download the Fat Princess: Fat Roles Expansion pack today to add the new classes and expand your battle royale experience!
File size: 100 KB

PAIN: Sergeant Jay Character ($0.99)
Load up your PAIN launcher with some serious authority using the Sergeant Jay downloadable character! Jay finished his training at the top of his class back in the day, and he is always looking to enforce the full extent of the law on anyone who misbehaves. His old school outfit and hat show off an imposing stature, capable of withstanding plenty of PAIN. Download Sergeant Jay today and start putting others back in line!

File size: 100 KB

DJ Hero: Dance Party Mix Pack ($7.99)
Get ready for some of the hottest singles to ever hit the dance floor, remixed to really set your turntables on fire: “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga vs “Girls On Film” by Duran Duran, “Buttons” by Pussycat Dolls and “S.O.S.” by Rihanna. For all song credits please visit www.djhero.com.
File size: 41 MB

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Classic Costume Pack ($3.99)
Download the seventh pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, Gen and Fei Long are included. Show everyone that legends never die, and never go out of fashion! Only available for use with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 100 KB

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11: Waialae CC ($9.99)

Take on Waialae’s beautiful championship course that is nestled between Hawaii’s spectacular Koolau mountain range and the stunning blue Pacific Ocean. Test your skills on this top rated course design that features a unique layout.
File size: 185 MB

Trinity Universe – Healing Idol Pack ($0.99)
“I want to give you a thank you gift for always cheering us on!
10 Life Pieces, 10 Blessing Nuts, and 10 Silver Ore!
Plus! I’ll even add 3 Anchors and 100,000G to that!
Please keep supporting me until I really become a super idol!
100,000 G, Life Piece x10, Blessing Nut x10, Silver Ore x10, Anchor x3

File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Kanata’s Adventure Pack (free)
“Oh! 10 Cure Grass and 10 Relief Grass!
And this is… an EMT Set?!
That’s why I can’t stop going on adventures!
Cure Grass x10, Relief Grass x10, EMT Set x5
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Monsters Souls Pack (free)

“Beep… beep… beep!
I took these home after I mega-crushed some monsters!
300 Monster Souls and 300 Small Souls. I also got 100 Beast, Orc, Bird, Undead and Fairy Souls.
Isn’t Macaroon so awesome?!”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Their Voices Pack ($1.99)
“All of our secret battle voices (including mine) will be unlocked!
Hm-hahahahaha! Grow intrigued by my heroic voice! Yes, I am the Dark Hero Luci…Gyahh!

Hey, Valkyrie! Don’t kick me during my explanation! ”
File size: 100 KB

Trinity Universe – Universal Beauty Pack ($1.99)
“Hmhmhm. Hmhmhmhm.
I’ll give you “Friendship Power,” “Magic Protection,” “Mind’s Eye Lock,” “Luck Disabler,” “Vitality Surge,” “Fairy Supporter,” “Black Satellite,” and “Big Bang Nova”…I prepared a great collection of Meteorites, one unit per color. If you buy this, you will be the hero of this game.
Friendship Power, Magic Protection, Mind’s Eye Lock, Luck Disabler, Vitality Surge, Fairy Supporter, Black Satellite, Big Bang Nova”
File size: 100 KB

Guitar Hero
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Fireflies” – Owl City ($1.99)
• “Just Dance” – Lady Gaga ($1.99)
• “This Love” – Maroon 5 ($1.99)
• Pop Track Pack 01 ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Fireflies” by Owl City, “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga, and “This Love” by Maroon 5. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 37 – 42 MB (singles), 116 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Burn It To The Ground” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• “Figured You Out” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• “Never Again” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• “Photograph” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• “Rockstar” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• “This Afternoon” – Nickelback ($1.99)
• Nickelback Pack 01 ($9.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Nickelback Pack 01. This pack includes “Burn It To The Ground”, “Figured You Out”, “Never Again”, “Photograph”, “Rockstar”, and “This Afternoon” by Nickelback.

Rock Band Network

• “American Dream” by Silverstein ($1.99)
• “Battle Royale” by The Word Alive ($0.99)
• “Kick Some Ass ‘09″ by Stroke 9 ($1.99)
• “Sick” by Bif Naked ($1.99)
• “Undone” by All That Remains ($1.99)

File size: 24 – 37 MB (singles), 196 MB (track pack)

PlayStation Home Add-Ons

PlayStation Home Starter Pack ($4.99)
The PlayStation Home Starter Pack has everything you need to get started in Home. Take advantage of this great value now!
File size: N/A

Avatars

Final Fight: Double Impact Poison Avatar ($0.49)
File size: 110 KB

Mega Man 10 Avatar ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Super Street Fighter IV Avatars (x5) ($0.49)
File size: 109 – 122 KB

Game Videos (free)

Backbreaker Trailer
File size: 19 MB (SD), 24 MB (HD)

Singularity: Cause And Affect Trailer
File size: 72 MB (HD), 126 MB (1080)

Voodoo Dice – Launch Trailer
File size: 49 MB (HD)

MAG Interdiction Mission Pack Trailer

File size: 53 MB (HD), 91 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers PSP Launch Trailer
File size: 69 MB (HD), 115 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Percy Jackson Theme (US Only) ($1.99)
File size: 5.63 MB

Trinity Universe – Theme 01: Kanata ($1.99)

File size: 4.18 MB

Trinity Universe – Theme 02: Tsubaki ($1.99)
File size: 6.35 MB

Trinity Universe – Theme 03: Rizelea ($1.99)
File size: 6.51 MB

Trinity Universe – Theme 04: Lucius ($1.99)
File size: 6.6 MB

ModNation Racers Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 3.11 MB

Terran Marines Premium Theme ($1.99)
File size: 8.41 MB

Terran 3020 Premium Theme ($1.99)
File size: 8.35 MB

Wallpapers (free)

Fat Princess Fat Roles Wallpaper
File size: 385 KB (HD)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play ($9.99)
Arcade Action Anywhere! Now you can play Midway’s classic arcade games anywhere. anytime.
ESRB Rated M

File size: 448 MB

Hot Shots Tennis: Get A Grip ($19.99)
“Take the fun and excitement of Tennis anywhere in a whole new Hot Shots Tennis adventure for your PSP system. Ace, volley and smash your way
through a brand new cast of Hot Shots characters. Travel around the globe unlocking exotic venues, courts and crazy Hot Shots equipment! Do you have the skills to take on the challenge?”
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.05 GB

Bejeweled 2 PSP ($9.99)

For gem-matching fun on the run, play the best-selling Bejeweled 2 now available on your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system! Match sparkling gems three at a time to make them burst in showers of color and points. Match four or more to create flashy power gems that boost your score and your mood with brilliant cascades and combos. Every match is high-carat fun!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 57 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Mahjonng Solitaire – Minis ($2.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 8.84 MB

Arcade Darts – Minis ($3.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 23 MB

Stellar Attack – Minis ($4.49)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 34 MB

Egypt Engineering An Empire – Minis ($3.99)
ESRB Rated E

File size: 21 MB

Hello Flowerz! – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 14 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival – Official Strategy Guide ($1.99)
Check out the official strategy guide for LocoRoco Midnight Carnival! Explore full detailed maps of all levels AND replay movies! Zoom-in on details and information! All pages include in-game music for your viewing pleasure! Refresh your memory on basic controls, as well as tips and techniques!

File size: 328 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Fantasy Level Kit (free)
Help yourself to a luxuriant free background. With elegant icy mountains and a shimmering river you can add a fantastic fantasy feel to your level. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.13 MB

Bundles

LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival Bundle ($9.99)
Experience the newest LocoRoco adventure to it’s fullest in this incredible bundle that includes the full game of LocoRocoTM Midnight Carnival , additional levels with the Midnight Carnival BuiBui Level Pack, and a special Midnight Carnival Strategy Guide!

File size: 531 MB

Game Videos (free)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Walkthrough Video #2
File size: 15 MB

ModNation Racers PSP Launch Trailer
File size: 11 MB
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The saga of Big Boss, aka Naked Snake, continues in this latest installment of Metal Gear on the PSP. A sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, the game picks up 10 years after the third installment and four years after Portable Ops. This time around, Kojima was at the helm on the portable title instead of acting as producer. Does this version of Metal Gear Solid continue the long-weaving story trend, or is this a return to a slightly more simple Metal Gear story? Well the answer to that is yes and no.

Story/Modes
The single player missions play out just the same as the multiplayer ones, as this is the first Metal Gear game to be co-op. You can have people join in on any of the missions (that allow more than one person) to help you defeat them, and it asks you before each mission if it’ll be single or multiplayer. The downside is that this can only be played co-op through ad hoc and not on the actual network, so unless your friends are into it, be prepared to brave some of the more daunting missions alone if you don’t have a third party solution to get your PSP games online.

Our story starts out in 1974, with Snake/Big Boss, at one of his training camps for the soldiers in his Soldiers Without Borders (Militaires Sans Frontières, the precursor to Outer Heaven) group, headed by the guy that gives you most of your MSF missions and updates, Miller, who was introduced in Metal Gear 2, and was Solid Snake’s ‘contact’ in the first Metal Gear Solid. Word comes in that someone wants to hire the MSF, Costa Rica. It appears that they’ve been invaded by a hostile force and since Costa Rica’s constitution won’t let them have a military, they’ve decided to send out emissaries to hire the MSF as a private army to eliminate the threat.

At first Naked Snake isn’t interested at all and is ready to send them packing until Galvez, one of the two people looking for help, brings up The Boss. Supposedly she’s still alive, which would mean that Snake’s mission and battle with her in Metal Gear Solid 3 was not all it appeared. Using Paz, the girl Galvez brought with him as an excuse, Snake accepts the mission to go into Costa Rica, while secretly hoping to find out the true fate of the Boss.

After infiltrating Costa Rica, Snake meets up with a resistance group of guerrilla fighters, led by Amanda Libre. Her brother Chico gets captured by some kind of AI controlled machine and Amanda chases after. Snake helps her out and vows to help get her brother back and runs into the first of the real AI controlled machines, the Pupa, and the father to Otacon from Metal Gear Solid, Huey Emmerich. Snake takes out the Pupa and recruits Emmerich to stop the launch of a tactical nuke from the device that Huey constructed, Peace Walker, the precursor to Metal Gear.

At the same time, the beginnings of Outer Heaven start with Snake building up the MSF with a base, its own weapons development, training, military for hire operations, and its own Metal Gear development line. There are a LOT of references here to the various games throughout the series, more from the first Metal Gear Solid game than anything as the situation really echoes what went on with Solid Snake in Alaska. While there are parallels, this is very much its own story, not bogged down by the weirdness introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2 with the Patriots and the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo and their further craziness in Metal Gear Solid 4. It’s a straight up sneaking action game with a straight-forward plot and surprising depth on the MSF base construction end of things and the usual insane boss fights typical to the Metal Gear series. My only real complaint is that the echoes of Metal Gear Solid seem blatant and wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so in your face about it. At one point Huey mentions that this all seems familiar and Snake comments that it must just be deja vu. It’s a funny bit, but really it’s the cornerstone to the series, taking down a renegade group with their Metal Gear, and there could have been a bit more to make this one stand out a bit more and possibly more references to what happened in between this and Portable Ops.

Story/Modes Rating: Great

Graphics
This has to be one of the best looking games on the PSP, with a few exceptions. While the cutscenes are mostly done using the paint and line art with motion added to them, the combat looks great, the textures, effects and lighting are all well done. And if you move into the MSF section you can get a look at the models of different weapons and characters and all of the people models up close look absolutely stunning. The only thing I have to ding it for are the cutscenes done up in the art style instead of the full blown scenes we’ve gotten from the series before. It’s an interesting style that tells a story well, and so far unique to the series on the PSP, but there was just enough of a tease moving into boss battles where the cutscenes were fully realized that left me wanting to see what they could have done with the PSP’s hardware.

Graphics Rating: Great

Sound
The sound design on this game is superb. With a stellar voice cast including David Hayter and Steve Blum and a number of others, some returning to play the younger versions or ancestors of characters that come later in the series, the game has this solid Metal Gear feel to it. While we don’t get a musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams, the one we do get from the Kojima Productions is far from sub-par and in fact is extremely well done. The theme that the AI units plays isn’t terrible, which is a huge saving grace as each time one of the units shows up it’s blaring it from its speakers.

Some of the boss battles actually incorporate being able to track the sound, which is helpful to know when the next attack is coming from. It’s great to see a company putting so much effort into a PSP game where usually the result is well below any acceptable standards of actually wanting to listen, or is such an assault to the ears you have to turn the volume off. Peace Walker does an amazing job visually and excels that with its audio.

Sound Rating: Classic

Control and Gameplay
The game controls are customizable in several configurations, but the one I found worked best was what some people have referred to as the ‘stripped down’ version of Metal Gear Solid 4. It may be stripped from that game, but the controls feel right at home on the PSP. In the set-up I’m using you move around with the analog stick, the face buttons are how you look around, you fire by pressing the left button to go into weapons look mode and then press the right button to actually fire at your targets. The directional keys handle moving into your menus. The left brings up your secondary items like rations or the FRS or the sound analyzer. The right directional button brings up weapon selection. Pressing up reloads your weapon while pressing down puts you in crouch mode or allows you to lay down.

My one single complaint about the controls is that you can’t adjust the turn rate of looking around with the face buttons. There is an auto-aim feature, but it doesn’t auto-target the head, which makes it a bit difficult when you’re trying to go for no kills in a mission or no alerts as pegging someone in the head is the only way to guarantee the sleep dart knocks them out in one hit. It would have been nice to be able to up the rate at which the face buttons move your view around so it’d be easier to keep up with the movement of the enemy soldiers.

Gameplay has changed up a bit from the last entry into the series on the PSP. Instead of going in a team you go in solo, that is unless you decide to co-op it. Yeah, that’s right, this version of Metal Gear Solid has gone co-op. The only issue I had with this is it’s not infrastructure, so if you want to play it over a network you’ll have to use a third party means to do so. Playing with friends though is sheer awesome. Most of the missions allow for a number of friends to join in co-op and it makes missions that much easier, but as much as I’ve heard complaints about not being able to do it solo, you just have to find a strategy that works. I did over half the game without help, and the boss fights can be tough, but you just have to manage your resources carefully.

So while you can’t swap over to another team-mate if you’re alone, they’ve given you the option to call in for a supply drop, which can be very handy in a boss fight when you’re out of rations, out of ammo and running low on hope. One of the things that really separates this one out, though, is the depth that goes on outside of the main storyline missions, all of which are repeatable. There’s also training missions you can go on or side ops, most of which you either gain experience with your weapons on or you can pick up resources like more soldiers for the MSF, or even vehicles.

The MSF mother base is also expandable. You start having a combat team and then they add in a mess team, and R&D team, a medical team and an intel team. In missions you have a Fulton Recovery System, a system much like in The Dark Knight that’s based on an actual CIA practice to get men out of tight situations which is a godsend from Portable Ops where you had to drag your ‘new recruit’ back to your truck. Here you just knock them out, grab them with the Fulton and send them back to Mother Base to consider joining you and the MSF. As you expand your teams and raise their levels, you unlock things your R&D team can research and build for you using your GMP, or Gross Military Product. You GMP is based off the ratings of the men you’ve put in your combat unit and it goes up as they gain experience in the unit and on Outer Ops.

After you recruit Huey to your team, things get even more interesting as you’re given the ability to begin designing and building your own, Metal Gear. It’s slow going when it first comes up as parts are hard to come by and the only way to get them is by taking down the AI bosses and enemies you fight and pulling their boards and equipment in the fight. At this point as well you get an option to send your combat teams and mechs out on Outer Ops, mercenary ops that help you level up your team and get resources, but the one big problem is that if you send untested troops in you may actually lose members of your team instead of gaining from it. The Brig returns from Portable Ops, where unwilling recruits go, but if your team is injured or sick, there’s a sickbay where they can go. The better your medical team is the faster people recover. There’s also a morale issue. If your Mess Hall team is terrible, be prepared to lose some people due to not being able to feed them and a general lack of interest in your goals.

There is a lot more to this game than appears when you first start playing, and there is a bit of thought to put into expanding your base, especially if you don’t have enough points at the moment to build new gear. Sure there’s a solid action game on the surface, but with the MSF and the way it’s set-up there’s even more depth to it than was present in Portable Ops. One bonus with this game is that in co-op mode, if you take down the boss and pull boards out of the AI, or capture another soldier for your team, both people playing in the co-op get those parts and that captured soldier. It was a welcome addition and I’m thoroughly enjoying building up what will one day become Outer Heaven and the first true Metal Gear.

I did mention co-op, but there’s a player versus player area as well that’ll keep you coming back, pitting your skills versus other players, but again, it’s ad hoc, so if you’re looking to play against more than just your friends be prepared to hop onto a third party method of getting that PSP online for play against someone across the country. Something else I should mention, as the single player enemies do this as well, is that you can heal team-mates that are down. If you plug away at someone and there’s another person around the downed man and you don’t take him out, he can revive the guy who’s near death, making things a bit challenging if you’re low on ammo and short on time. The same goes for your own team as well though. If your partner gets a little too out in the open and gets taken out by a tank, you have a chance to revive them.

The missions here are fairly short, which is good because you can’t save in them. One of the nice things that goes along with this having short missions is that you can choose your load outs very nicely. You’re limited to weapons and items on you. So when you get to the boss fight, you get a ‘to be continued’ message and that mission ends and the boss fight is a mission in and of itself that you can change your entire load out for including camouflage, something the designers of Final Fantasy XIII could have learned a bit on. It suits the handheld and more than makes up for not being able to save during a mission.

Control and Gameplay Rating: Incredible

Replayability
One of the perks over this game from Portable Ops is the co-op in the single player areas. You also get graded on each mission you do, but the beauty of that is that you can go back in and try for a better score, or to try to get more of the POWs or soldiers captured with your FRS, or if you want to grab more parts for your own Metal Gear. With the Story Ops, the Extra Ops and the Outer Ops all stacking up with building up your MSF Mother Base, there’s a lot to keep you coming back, especially as the game keeps going after the story mode is done.

There are POWs to find, there are different nicknames to unlock for completing different tasks, much like a built in trophy system and extra points to unlock to compete with your friends for rankings. While starting over will wipe out all that work building everything up, I can easily see people coming back to this game time and again for how solid it is and the whole idea of being able to build up your own Mother Base, and of course your very own Metal Gear.

Replayability Rating: Classic

Balance
While the game is fairly solid and follows the price point standard of the PSP, there are a few issues. It is tougher on single player if you’re not constantly working on unlocking items or doing the side missions if you’re not playing co-op. If you’re playing it single player be prepared to play it smarter and not be as gung-ho or reckless. You’ll have to be sneakier and a lot more creative if you’re not playing with friends, but then, that’s been the Metal Gear style for a long time now. Tactical Espionage Action was the name of the game only Operations is in instead of Action.

There is a ton of content in this game for the price. This easily has as much content in it if not more than any of the bigger console versions of Metal Gear Solid. You’re really getting your bang for the buck with this game and it’s well worth getting if you have a PSP and are a Metal Gear fan. Even non-fans could easily get in on the game without really having to know the history of the series with the way the game is structured. Would it help? Sure, but there’s enough there that you’re not going to be totally lost if this is your first foray into the Metal Gear world. And if you’re really clever there’s even a peak into the Monster Hunter world in some hidden levels.

Balance Rating: Amazing

Originality
This is the latest in a long line of the series. The control scheme is similar, the plot seems to be something of a retread with some totally new elements and some not so fresh. There’s been another in the series on the PSP with some similar mechanics. The one thing that really separates this game from the rest of the series, though, is the co-op. Being able to take a friend into main missions or up to four of them into boss fights really makes this game even more interesting. While you could build up your army in Portable Ops, this one ups the ante by letting you build your own Mother Base, send your troops out on Outer Ops to up their skills, and even building your very own Metal Gear. While the game tanks a little being in that long series of games, it really brings something fresh to the series and makes it much more accessible for the portable audience.

Originality Rating: Enjoyable

Addictiveness
I love games that tempt me to take my PSP everywhere. From the doctor’s office, to playing in the car waiting to pick someone up, even on a trip to the bathroom when you know you can get just one more mission squeezed in while you’re squeezing something out. Peace Walker is addictive as hell and I love it. While I’d enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 4, I like to play my games, and the installs between chapters was grating. This game has restored the fun I had with Portable Ops and the original Metal Gear Solid and I really want to see another entry in this series on the PSP. I know I’ve mentioned it a number of times, but I love geeking out like Otacon in a hentai shop while I build my own Metal Gear.

Addictiveness Rating: Unparalleled

Appeal Factor
A co-op Metal Gear game. Those words alone should have fans of the series interested. The game is smooth and polished, and the biggest complaint I had with Portable Ops in dragging new recruits back has been fixed with the FRS to swipe them out quickly wherever they lay by helicopter. Then there’s the sheer amount of missions in this game between the Extra Ops and the Story Ops. Peace Walker has a lot going for it and even though it’s on the smaller handheld and not the large system it really has that big game feel to it. Honestly, if we had gotten this on the PS3 instead of MGS 4, I wouldn’t have shed a tear. If this game had an infrastructure option it’d be damn near perfect.

Appeal Factor Rating: Classic

Miscellaneous
One thing that has been bothering me is something that was stated on the package that the memory needs of the game are 33 megs on the back of the package. That’s the minimum. To get full functionality of the game and cut down on load times you can install from 300 megs up to 800 megs onto your PSP memory stick, or on the PSP Go onto its internal memory. So if you’ve got a smaller stick, and don’t like load times, be prepared to sack something on your stick. I had to drop several games from my stick because I only had 138 megs left on a 4 gig stick. It would have been nice to know before I started the game that I needed to make the room to be able to play the game with all the bells and whistles.

Is it a ridiculous amount? No, it’s not, not really. Plus, I’d actually love to see more games utilize the install method to cut down on UMD load times, but be honest about it on the package not just in a small blurb in the instruction manual. Even then the instruction booklet only mentions the 300-ish meg install, not the full 800-ish meg install. Unlike MGS 4 though you won’t have to install different chapters to your memory card as you move through the game which is nice. The install size aside, the game is relatively bug free and I’m very happy to have it in my handheld at all times at the moment.

Miscellaneous Rating: Above Average

The Scores
Story/Modes Rating: Great
Graphics Rating: Great
Sound Rating: Classic
Control and Gameplay Rating: Incredible
Replayability Rating: Classic
Balance Rating: Amazing
Originality Rating: Enjoyable
Addictiveness Rating: Unparalleled
Appeal Factor Rating: Classic
Miscellaneous Rating: Above Average
FINAL SCORE: INCREDIBLE GAME

Short Attention Span Summary
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is an interesting entry into the Metal Gear series. While adding new depth to the game on the PSP, Peace Walker adds an element many fans including myself would have loved to see in the game, and that’s co-op. Take your friends into missions and boss battles and enjoy the mayhem an extra set of eyes and weapons bring. While the game seems like Portable Ops with co-op, the game adds a level of depth not seen in the other games by giving you the ability to build up your own base, send your army into mercenary battles, and for many fans, the holy grail, building and customizing your very own Metal Gear, and thereby tying Naked Snake forever to the events of the first Metal Gear. Naked Snake’s past is an interesting place to play and the characters that link to the other games pop up here again. Addictive as hell and highly polished, there’s enough for action fans, and for fans looking for a little more though that’s there too. Even better news is that it’s less of an interactive movie where you run the action sequences and more of a game.
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Thankfully, Grace Chen, who I have had a rocky “relationship” with, felt my pain, because she made my week easy. No demos, no games worthy of attention, the DLC sucks… this is a shitty week for people who actually like things worthy of attention, but for someone who researches things he writes about, it’s easy as pie, because there’s no work to do! Thanks for sucking this week, guys!

The Playstation 3 release is the third episode of Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, titled They Stole Max’s Brain. The Notorious M.A.S. reviewed the PC version of Episode 2, and liked it, though noted that this was definitely designed around consoles. Of course, you need to own the season pass to even be able to download this, but if you’re waiting on our review, we’re going to have a different reviewer for the PC version of Episode 3. Mohamed’s PC hasn’t been able to join him in New Zealand, so the third episode will be reviewed by DHGF newbie Mel Ngai.

All of the other PS3 content is add-on; a $10 pack for MAG here, another $10 golf course for Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’11 there (I’ll fully eviscerate that load of bollocks in my review later this week), more stuff for Little Big Planet, the focus of this week seems to be to make people spend more money on games they already spent $60 on. I find this disturbing, as usual, but I’m the only one, apparently, so it will continue.

To be fair, there’s a lot to talk about in terms of sales, especially for fans of modern Sonic the Hedgehog games:

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Add On Bundle – Sale (now $6.49, original price $12.99)
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DLC 2 – Metal Sonic & Death Egg Zone Track – Sale (now $5.49, original price $7.99)
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing – Ryo with Forklift Character – Sale (now $3.49, original price $4.99)
Sonic The Hedgehog Very Hard Shadow – Sale (now $1.49, original price $2.49)
Sonic The Hedgehog Very Hard Silver – Sale (now $1.49, original price $2.49)
Sonic The Hedgehog Very Hard Sonic – Sale (now $1.49, original price $2.49)
Sonic Unleashed Apatos & Shamar Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed Chun-Nan Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed Empire City & Adabat Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed Holoska Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed Mazuri Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed Spagonia Adventure Pack – Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99)
Sonic Unleashed: Unleash My Desire Bundle – Sale (now $8.99, original price $17.99)
Sonic Rivals – Sale (now $10.99, original price $15.99)
Sonic Rivals 2 – Sale (now $13.99, original price $19.99)
Sonic Rivals: Set My Pulse Bundle – Sale (now $17.99, original price $29.99)
Blue Toad Murder Files: Episode 1 – Sale (now $1.49, original price $7.49)
Kick-Ass – Sale (now $9.99, original price $14.99)
Warhawk: Fallen Star DLC – Sale (now $1.99, original price $7.99)

It should be noted that I don’t think there’s been a good Sonic game outside of the GBA or DS since the Genesis days, so the big Sonic sale – for the character’s 19th birthday – is useless to me. However, I like the price of the Fallen Star DLC – that’s a heavy bargain for a lot of value – and it should also be noted, for the Sonic set, that I’m the only person on the staff who seemingly dislikes Sonic All Stars Racing.

On the PSP, we have TNA Impact: Cross The Line for $30. Let me take this opportunity to explain to our readers the hardest thing – bar none – about this industry: dealing with PR. I previewed this game back in April, when I went with Aileen to meet reps from Southpeak. Southpeak/Deep Silver’s PR rep is a woman named Aubrey Norris, who is delightful to deal with. I enjoyed my time with her and the developer for the game Nail’d as much as I’ve enjoyed any meeting with anyone in my four years in this industry. She even told me that her goal in life is to make our own PR guy DJ Tatsujin – an extremely stoic man – crack by sending him emails with more smiley faces, emoticons and ASCII hearts than any one email should contain. She’s a blast.

So when I wrote the preview for TNA Impact, I did something I’m not proud of, and hope I never have to do again: I glossed over the fact that I hated the game.

Here’s the thing: Cross the Line is little more than a port of the 360/PS3 versions of Impact that both Mark B. and Lucard hated so much. They were bad games, and almost nothing was changed on the PSP. My experience with the single player mode showed a deeply limited system and extremely cheap gameplay, as well as some of the most unresponsive controls I’ve experienced in a wrestling game. This is a $30 purchase, but I wouldn’t even take this game for free unless I had to review it. Stay away. Trust me, just stay away. Even TNA fans should avoid this. Sorry, Aubrey.

Shockingly, that’s it for this week. There’s literally not one thing worth buying unless you’re a devoted MAG fan, but at least this was a quick write. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who is going to use his extra time that he would normally be using researching things playing Grandia. Thanks again, Sony!

The full PSN Update is under the cut.

Updates

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Add On Bundle – Sale (now $6.49, original price $12.99)
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DLC 2 – Metal Sonic & Death Egg Zone Track – Sale (now $5.49, original price $7.99)

Kick-Ass – Sale (now $9.99, original price $14.99)
Warhawk: Fallen Star DLC – Sale (now $1.99, original price $7.99)

Downloadable Games

Sam & Max Episode 3: They Stole Max’s Brain (free with purchase of Episode 1)
You wouldn’t want to see freelance shamus Sam when he’s steamin’ mad. Someone has snatched his little buddy’s noodle, gunning for control of its inner powers. Now Sam’s going all noir to get it back!

Was it the giant gorilla? The two-bit rat? Or the fishy dame who runs the greasy-spoon? The trail of The Devil’s Playhouse is getting twisty, and Sam’s rolling up his sleeves, smackin’ heads and throwin’ slugs to crack the case.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 411 MB

Add-on Game Content

MAG – Interdiction Mission Pack ($9.99)
Interdiction; the act of halting an enemy’s advance through destruction with firepower. Featuring new armor, medals, ribbons and Trophies, cut off your enemy’s advance on neutral battlefields, fighting to seize control of command posts in all-new missions utilizing convoys to survive the offensive onslaught.

File size: 440 MB

LittleBigPlanet – Summer Solstice Costume (free)
Celebrate the coming of Summer with this limited edition costume for Sackboy! Available for a limited time!
File size: 1.04 MB

ModNation Racers: Princess Mod ($0.99)
Help Princess fulfill her dream of wearing a real crown by putting her in first place in ModNation™ Racers. Surprise the competition with her dainty looks as you boost, drift, and draft your way into the winner’s circle! Princess includes several Mod accessories for you to Create within the Mod Studio including a Tutu, Tiara, and Stampable Jewels! Download this Mod today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Princess Kart ($0.99)

Bring a little royalty and class to the tracks of ModNation Racers with Princess’ Kart! Princess’ Kart includes a fully-designed Kart body, as well as Kart parts for you to Create within the Kart Studio including a Carriage Body and Seat, Magic Mirror steering wheel, and Carriage Wheels for tires. Download this Add-on today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Princess Mod and Kart ($1.75)
Princess will bring some royal class to the MRC! Don’t be fooled by Princess’ deceptively dainty style and kart, she has enough skills to rule the track and take the crown. This ModNation™ Racers Princess Mod AND Princess’ Kart bundle pack includes a fully-designed Mod, Kart, as well as several related parts and accessories for you to Create within the Mod and Kart Studios. Download this pack today!
File size: 200 KB

Tiger Wood PGA Tour 11: River Course At Blackwolf Run ($9.99)
Bring your “A” game and prepare to play one of North America’s most challenging and scenic courses. The Wisconsin based course features vast rolling greens, grass topped dunes and deep bunkers. Tee off at this award winning course today!
File size: 141 MB

Red Dead Redemption: Outlaws to the End Co-Op Pack (free)
The Outlaws To The End Co-Op Mission Pack lets up to four players join forces and take on the Dying West together. Missions include raiding gold mines, clearing the outlaw-infested town of Tumbleweed with cannons and Gatling guns, battling rebel insurgents across the river banks, and more in 6 new co-op missions. With new Trophies and Challenges, this extensive co-op pack brings hours of gunslinging action to your Red Dead Redemption experience.
File size: 15 MB

Just Cause 2: Bull’s Eye Assault Rifle ($0.99)
Blows the ’standard’ assault rifle out of the water!
File size: 481 KB

Just Cause 2: Chevalier Classic ($0.99)

No agent should be without a hot set of wheels.
File size: 2.1 MB

Just Cause 2: Monster Truck ($0.99)
If you can’t go through it, just go over it!
File size: 3.27 MB

Just Cause 2: Rico’s Signature Gun ($0.99)
A signature gun adapted for Rico’s shooting style.
File size: 406 KB

Just Cause 2: Tuk Tuk Boom Boom (free)
Try out a true weapon of mass destruction in the new and improved Tuk Tuk.
File size: 2.22 MB

Lost Planet 2 – Killzone 2 Helghast Assault and Scout Character (free)
On the lost planet of E.D.N. III, only the toughest survive and they don’t come much tougher than the helghast Assault and Helghast Scout troops. The most feared units from Killzone now get to take on Lost Planet 2’s pirate factions and the deadly giant Akrid. helghast Assault and Helghast Scout are available now as an exclusive download for PlayStation 3 system owners.
File size: 5.4 MB

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Shadaloo Costume Pack ($3.99)

Download the sixth pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Balrog, Sagat, Vega, M.Bison and Seth are included. Don these new threads and take down all of your rivals in style! Only available for use with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 100 KB

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Onslaught Mode ($9.99)
Expanding the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online multiplayer experience, Onslaught Mode delivers the first online co-op Battlefield action to the PlayStation 3 system! Up to 4 players can team up and put their squad skills to the test across 4 enhanced multiplayer maps fighting against A.I. forces and new enemy vehicles such as the Mark V patrol boat.
File size: 100 KB

Skate 3: Black Box Distribution Skate Park ($2.99)
Hone your skills and rip like the pros of Zero, Mystery, and Fallen by skating their private training facility, a park with a little something for every skater.
File size: 1.52 MB

Guitar Hero
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Damned If I Do Ya (Live)” by All Time Low ($1.99)
• “Dear Maria Count Me In” by All Time Low ($1.99)
• “Weightless” by All Time Low ($1.99)
• All Time Low Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Damned If I Do Ya (Live),” “Dear Maria Count Me In,” and “Weightless” by All Time Low. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 32 – 34 MB (singles), 95 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “7 Things” – Miley Cyrus ($1.99)
• “Can’t Be Tamed” – Miley Cyrus ($1.99)
• “Fly On The Wall” – Miley Cyrus ($1.99)
• “See You Again” – Miley Cyrus ($1.99)
• “Start All Over” – Miley Cyrus ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Creepy Doll” by Jonathan Coulton ($1.99)
• “HTML Rulez D00d” by The Devil Wears Prada ($1.99)
• “Jumper ‘09″ by Third Eye Blind ($1.99)
• “Paralyze” by Finger Eleven ($1.99)
• “Requiem For A Dying Song” by Flogging Molly ($0.99)

File size: 23 – 31 MB (singles),

Bundles

Blue Toad Murder Files Episodes 2-6 Upgrade ($25.49)
If you already own episode 1, upgrade to the full season of Blue Toad Murder Files for a special discounted price! Played solo or up to four players locally, can you unravel the secrets of Little Riddle? This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 1.57 GB

Blue Toad Murder Files: Episode 1-6 Bundle Pack ($26.99)
6 great episodes for a special discounted price! Played solo or up to four players locally, can you unravel the secrets of Little Riddle? This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 1.98 GB

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Add-On Bundle ($6.49)
Sonic is racing into his 19th year, so to celebrate we’re offering you an exclusive bundle deal – get the Ryo with Forklift Character Add On and Metal Sonic Death Egg Add On for Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for a whopping 50% off – now only $6.49 for a limited time!
File size: 149 MB

Flower Soundtrack Bundle ($4.99)
Flower lets you take control of the wind as you explore and navigate beautiful, lush environments using only the SIXAXIS wireless controller, for an interactive escape that takes you on an emotional journey. Download both the original soundtrack from Flower and the Flower dynamic theme at this special bundle price.
File size: 129.4 MB

Avatars

LittleBigPlanet – World Cup Avatars (x32) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Flower Avatars (x5) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB

Flower Avatar Bundle ($1.75)
File size: 500 KB

Game Videos (free)

Alpha Protocol Launch Trailer
File size: 46 MB (HD)

PS3 Themes

World Cup Soccer Dynamic Themes (x22) ($1.99)
File size: 1.94 – 2.07 MB

Battlestar Galactica Dynamic Theme ($2.99)

File size: 4.83 MB

2 Dollar Special ($1.99)
File size: 6.01 MB

American Soccer Girl ($1.49)
File size: 4.54 MB

Steam Punk ($1.49)
File size: 5.37 MB

Wallpapers (free)

Anarchy: Rush Hour Wallpaper 2
File size: 147 KB (SD), 926 KB (HD)

Anarchy: Rush Hour Wallpaper 3
File size: 107 KB (SD), 879 KB (HD)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

TNA Impact: Cross The Line ($29.99)
Wrestling so real you feel pain! Enter the ring and experience the adrenaline-pumping action, the drama, and style of the world’s premier professional wrestling organization! This is total nonstop action. This is wrestling. This is TNA.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 928 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Burnin’ Rubber – Minis ($3.99)
ESRB Rated E

File size: 2.4 MB

INFLUENCE – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 52 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

BUZZ! Quiz World: National Geographic Prehistoric Quiz Pack ($2.99)
The world famous National GeographicTM archives brings you the ultimate quiz about a time when dinosaurs ruled the world! This pack features hundreds of new questions to play in any of your favorite BUZZ! Quiz World game modes for your PSP or PSPgo system. Download this quiz pack today and turn your party into the ultimate trivia showdown.

File size: 67 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Unidentified Sacking Objects Costume (free)
USO’s (Unidentified Sacking Objects) have been spotted in your area. What’s green, has one eye, and a purple raygun? This wonderful new costume! NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.16 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Unidentified Sacking Objects Pack ($2.99)
USO’s (Unidentified Sacking Objects) have been spotted in your area. Make sure your levels are out of this world with the amazing Unidentified Sacking Objects pack. 4 costumes and 12 great new stickers will help send your Sackboy into orbit. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.27 MB

Game Videos (free)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Walkthrough Video #1
File size: 25 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Battlestar Galactica PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 539 KB

2 Dollar Special PSP Theme 1 ($1.49)
File size: 577 KB

2 Dollar Special PSP Theme 2 ($1.49)
File size: 630 KB

Steam Punk PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 556 KB

American Soccer Girl PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 513 KB

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I have a love-hate relationship with Sting. I like the idea of their games and their attempts to try new things, but I find the finished products to be somewhat or deeply flawed, be it in gameplay, story, or both. Evolution was a second rate but adorable roguelike. We have three staffers that have played both the Saturn and Wii/PS2 versions of Baroque, and all agreed that the game had issues. I hated their remake of Wizardry for the Wonderswan, yet enjoyed Rivera on the same system, while loathing Atlus’ localization of the game for the GBA and PSP. Yggdra Nation was flawed and dull, Dokapon Kingdom was fun with friends but god awful boring when played by yourself and finally Knights in the Knightmare was a great idea in theory but not very well implemented.

With all this in mind, there is something about Sting’s games that make me keep coming back for more. That brings us to Hexyz Force. Chris Bowen wrote a preview for this game a month ago, but now it’s time for the actual review. Does Hexyz Force continue Sting’s streak of innovative but flawed games, or have they made something appealing to RPG fans of all walks?

Let’s Review

1. Story

Hexyz Force actually features two plots for you to peruse that form an overall story. By choosing each main character and following their plot, you get half of the events that make over the overall plot for the game. Both characters’ events cross over from time to time, but both stories stand on their own for the most part.

Both stories are also wildly different in tone, plot and characterization. You have Cecilia the cleric and Levant the warrior. I made the mistake of choosing Cecilia’s tale first since I always pick the cleric when given an option of characters (magical healing yay!). Cecilia’s tale is exceptionally boring and is filled with unlikeable characters. Cecilia herself is a ditzy, lazy goof of a priestess who takes neither her faith nor her job seriously. Then when the sky turns black and monsters start killing villagers, she is revealed as the Maiden of the Staff, the chosen warrior-priestess of the kingdom, and then spends the rest of her tale whining and bitching, while trying to get out of her destiny. The cast and crew she meets along the way had me actually rooting for the bad guys.

Meanwhile Levant’s story is actual quite fun and filled with a lot of political intrigue. Levant’s best friend Alex is the king of the humans and his kingdom has been fighting with demihumans for decades. It turns out to broker a deal with the elves in hopes to stop the bloodshed on all sides, Alex becomes engaged to the princess of the elves. At the wedding announcement in an elvish village, the princess is assassinated and this drives the king crazy with rage and grief. He takes to wearing a helmet that covers his face at all times and he decides to commit complete genocide on the demihuman races. Levant, who is actually quite racist as you will see regularly throughout his story path (shades of James in Koudelka) stands up to his old friend and master when innocent lives on both sides are lost due to his actions and is thus marked for death. Levant manages to escape with the help of the king’s half sister and a lygar (lion-man furrie thing) and ends up siding with the demihumans, who he is still well, let’s just say he keeps calling them the equivalent to the “n-word” throughout the first chapter. Making friends all the way, Levant.

Both stories intersect with the fact both Levant and Cecilia are Hexyz, beings that wield Ragnafacts – weapons made by (or from) the gods of this world. Both characters are on a quest to prevent the upcoming Time of Judgment from ruling in favour of Destruction, where all life shall be extinguished. Instead, if the characters can tip the scales in favour of Creation, life across the world shall be saved. No pressure, right?

Overall, I hated playing through Cecilia’s story, but found Levant’s to be rather interesting. Both stories follow RPG clichés from beginning to end in this relatively journey, but at least you get two wildly different stories so if you find one to be dull, you can always try your luck with the other. It’s nowhere as good as the option you would find in say, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 which does roughly the same thing as this game and gives you SEVEN characters to choose from, along with less linearity and an action RPG combat system, but it’s like getting two games for thirty bucks. Now if only Atlus would do that with both Persona 2s, eh?

Story Rating: Above Average

2. Graphics

I’m just going to be blunt – holy hell is Hexyz Force ugly. This game looks like very early (or very bad) PSX graphics at its best and during the wandering bits, degenerates even further to 16 bit quality. Seriously, I’d rather look at Shining Force 2 than this as its more visually impressive and well as being over a decade old. This, my friends, is an ugly game feature some of the laziest and ugliest character designs I’ve seen on the PSP. The overworld, the battles, the character designs, the animation, and the backgrounds all look horrendous.

Even the anime cut scenes are less than impressive compared to what else is available for the PSP. Hell, the umpteenth remake of Lunar: The Silver Star for the PSP uses the same video footage as we saw on the PSX and Sega Saturn and those look better. There’s just nothing kind I can say about the graphics here. Characters are unimaginative and lack detail, dungeon designs are dull and lackluster. Even bosses look like scrubs. The visuals are sloppy and poorly done across the board.

Graphics Rating: Bad

3. Sound

A decent chunk of the game is voice acted, but it’s not what I would call good by any means. Much like the graphics, the voice acting harkens back to the 1990′s in terms of quality, which is to say – not good. Irene, Levant’s love interest and fellow Hexyz sounds like a transsexual or a less sultry Dr. Girlfriend. The rest of the actors range from bad to passable, but with the same few bits of dialogue running through battles consistently, you’ll be looking to play with the volume muted outside of cute scenes.

The background music is actually pretty good. I found the tracks in both games to fit both the mood and style of the game nicely, which is impressive as tracks do overlap both scenarios.

There’s really not a lot to say about sound effects. Most creatures make the same noises and a lot of attacks sound similar. What’s here is acceptable for two shorter JRPG’s, but none of the aural aspects are really up to the usual quality seen in Sting titles. Especially Baroque.

Sound Rating: Mediocre

4. Control and Gameplay

I wasn’t very impressed with the actual gameplay in either scenario in Hexyz Force. You spend most of your time running through overly large dungeons. Thankfully the game eschews random battles and goes for set monsters on the screen. If you touch a monster from behind, you get to go first, if they do it to you, they get a sneak attack and your team order is reversed and if you both touch head on, it’s a normal battle. This is fairly standard stuff used as an alternative to random battles and one I prefer. However, whenever you go back to a previous screen, the monsters have regenerated and they are ALL faster than you so good luck trying to really out run any of them. This mean you will be fighting a lot. Of course all this means there is no quick save option for you and save points only occur at certain locations. Because you know, being able to save at any time in a portable game just makes sense so why would Sting put it in there. Thumbs down for that one.

Battles are as boring and vanilla as turn based battles get. You and your opponents are on opposite sides of the screen and characters go in order of speed. Characters walk up slash and walk back. Repeat until over. This can be pretty boring, so Sting has attempting to mix things up by giving characters Reaction Points. Every attack costs at least one reaction point and once you are out, all you can do is defend. In an odd game design, when you heal your character from the menu screen, only hit points are healed, not RPs. This is pretty stupid, although not as bad as the lack of quick save. The only ways you can get RPs back are by defending on your turn, finding a healing fountain (which you first have to purify through a battle before you can use, making this another strange/stupid design decision) or by leveling up. Out of the three options, leveling up is the most common. You level up constantly and quickly in this game so you should rarely run out of points unless you are only using your strongest attacks.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that you earn FP as well as XP. FP are used to power up each character’s main weapon. You can increase the overall power, learn new attacks or the “resonation” of the Ragnafact, which lets you attack sooner and makes attacks cost less RP. Of course, all characters share the same pool of FP and each advance is rather expensive, so you’ll have to decide who gets the bonuses and which ones. This reminded me a lot of the Magical XP from the Sega CD version of Lunar: Eternal Blue, and we all know how well that turned out…

Overall, I found playing either scenario of Hexyz Force to be dull, archaic, and slow. The battle system is heavily flawed and boring, with no need to even bother trying to learn or utilize things like Hexyz charges as your battles will be done long before they can come into play. Yes, even boss fights. Hexyz Force is simply an unremarkable and deeply flawed game

Control and Gameplay: Poor

5. Replayability

With two very different scenarios and the ability to customize each of your characters weapons, you can get a lot of mileage out of Hexyz Force if you actually find the game enjoyable or rewarding. On paper, two full storylines for $30 is a nice deal, but you’ll have to have some pretty big JRPG fanboy blinders on to ignore the issues with this title. In that case, you’ll be able to come back to this regularly as you play through each scenario.

Replayability Rating: Above Average

6. Balance

Although both scenarios are pretty easy, Cecilia’s story is noticeably harder in the beginning if only because her team consists of two characters and Levant’s has a total of three. In either case, most enemies can be defeated in two or three attacks, and bosses in about two or three rounds. In both scenarios I only ever lost a battle (earning a “game over” screen) once. So if you are looking for a highly repetitive game that is easy as it is dull, Hexyz Force is right up your alley.

In all seriousness I was shocked at how easy this was at first, but then I remembered Sting only makes games that are highly difficult for most gamers (Knights in the Knightmare) or games that are extremely easily (Baroque) with no real in-between. Hexyz Force offers no challenge or any real depth to the battle engine. Instead, you’ve got one really well done story and one that would have Chris Bowen letting loose a string of profanity I’d have to edit out of his review.

Balance Rating: Poor

7. Originality

There is nothing in Hexyz Force that hasn’t been done by countless other games already, and said games have done it better. The morality system in this game is black and white, allowing a mere two choices of “Creation” or “Destruction.” Compare this to other RPGs with multiple endings and paths. Hell Ogre Tactics was less linear than Hexyz Force and had twice as many endings. That game is fifteen years old. I can think of 16-bit games with better graphics and dozens of games with a similar but better battle system.

Hexyz Force is one of those games that really doesn’t do anything right. Now that doesn’t mean the game is awful or even bad. It’s just simply a very lackluster title without any real thought or care put into it. It comes across half-assed, especially compared to Sting’s other titles. There is no real innovation or even creativity here. This is just as generic as a JRPG can get, save that you get two on the UMD instead of one. Deeply disappointing here.

Originality Rating: Bad

8. Addictiveness

I couldn’t wait to put this game down. When I had finally finished Cecilia’s story, I was like, “Thank Cthulhu! The game was too easy, the level designs were insipid and uninspired, monsters were mostly palette swaps and the characters on either side of the fence were unlikeable. Then I remembered I had Levant’s story to go and, oh my, did I swear like a sailor on nickel beer night. Thankfully though I actually liked Levant’s story and the different characters it contained. Still, the only thing enjoyable there was the story itself. It was the same sub-par combat and progression system. When all was said and done, I was more than happy to move onto other games like Disgaea Infinite and 100 Classic Books. Hell, I finished those after Hexyz Force but wrote those reviews first so I could get the taste of Sting’s latest foul up out of my mouth.

I play way too many RPGs, especially JRPGs for my own good and Hexyz Force is down there with Iyar Chronicle and Sands of Destruction for the worst I’ve played in 2010 so far.

Addictiveness Rating: Poor

9. Appeal Factor

I can’t really think who will like Hexyz Force save either the most diehard Atlus faithful, JRPG apologists who like any JRPG that comes out, or people with shockingly low standards. As I’ve said throughout this review, Hexyz Force is simply a dull and uninspired game, lacking any of the depth or heart even the BAD Sting games have shown. However, every game has its audience and there will certainly be some people who cling to this simply because it is the same trappings and gameplay style they have always known, even if it’s not very good. Still, if one is looking for an easy or simple JRPG, Hexyz Force does at least fit that bill.

Appeal Factor: Poor

10. Miscellaneous

Your first clue that something was wrong with this game and that Atlus knew it was the price point. Two games for $29.99? Atlus usually prices their games over the general MSRP most publishers follow. $34.95 for DS games and 39.99 for PSP games. As such, this was a bit of a red flag going in for me, and I should have heeded it. Yes, it’s night to get what boils down to two $15 RPG, and honestly, you get what you pay for in that respect. Neither scenario is bad over all; it’s just neither game is good in their own right, They are simply lackluster experiences easily overshadowed by better games for the PSP. I mean, when you hold this up to say, Crimson Gem Saga, and you see Hexyz Force for what it is. CGS held to the generic turn based trappings as well, but the encounter system was superior, battles were far more fun, the graphics were vastly superior, the localization and plot were incredible and the customization of your characters was deeper and more involved. Hexyz Force is simply a below average game made by a developer that still has yet to make a truly solid across the board title.

Miscellaneous Rating: Poor

The Scores
Modes: Above Average
Graphics: Bad
Sound: Mediocre
Control and Gameplay: Poor
Replayability: Above Average
Balance: Poor
Originality: Bad
Addictiveness: Poor
Appeal Factor: Poor
Miscellaneous: Poor
FINAL SCORE: BELOW AVERAGE GAME

Short Attention Span Summary
As long as you keep in mind that you are getting two $15 quality RPG’s in the $30 title that is Hekyz Force, you should be okay. Neither scenario is anything special, with boast boasting graphics and battle systems far behind what other JRPG’s have offered as of late. The game is quite dull, and it’s exceptionally easy, so many gamers will find proceeding through one of the storylines, much less both, quite monotonous. Neither scenario does anything truly awful – it’s just two low budget RPG’s using the same battle system packed onto a single UMD. There are far better JRPGs for your PSP than this one, so it’s only worth purchasing if you are a big Atlus or Sting fan, or you just simply enjoy every JRPG that has ever been released.

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I’m a pretty big Disgaea fan, but then most of us are here at DHGF. The original won our 2003 Game of the Year award and Disgaea 2 went on to win our Turn Based RPG of the year award in 2006. However between the three Disgaea titles, their PSP re-releases, and other titles like Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom, and La Pucelle, there has been a bit of a complaint that Nippon Ichi has been squeezing blood from a stone regarding SRPG’s. To battle that claim we saw the release of the platformer Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? in 2009 and now we have the straight up adventure game Disgaea Infinite which is more akin to the point and click titles seen on the PC. It’s been a bad year for Adventure games on the PC, but consoles have had some fun ones like Heavy Rain or Blue Toad Murder Files. Was Nippon Ichi able to make an adventure game work on the PSP or are visual novels a genre better left to Japanese audiences like the poor old Phantasy Star ones I had to import back in college?

Let’s Review

1. Story

The following synopsis might sound a bit weird to those who haven’t played a Disgaea game but bear with me. Someone or something tries to assassinate the Overlord of the Netherworld, Laharl. He accuses the Prinnies (souls of the damned that are trapped in the form of purple penguins who always say the word, “dood”) of the plot and thus docks their salary for all eternity. As money is needed to escape the Underworld and move on to a new life/existence, this is the worst fate possible for these wretched souls. One finds a mystical watch that lets its soul travel through time with the ability to possess other bodies in an attempt to change fate. Every time the Prinny fails to prevent the assassination, he has to go back and try to save the day all over again until he finally changes fate. Think of it as Disgaea meets Groundhog Day meets Shadow of Destiny. In the process, Prinny discovers a vast pudding cup and rocket fuel conspiracy, along with the fact that once he prevents the original explosion, there is still more work to do.

The story is very amusing and I caught myself laughing at the hellish but comedic hijinx of the Disgaea crew all over again. A few members of the Disgaea 3 cast shows up for a nice chunk of the game, and the two protagonists from Disgaea 2 have cameos, so there is a wonderful amount of fan service here. About the only thing missing are Zetta and Pram and this would be a big “I love you” from Nippon Ichi to its truly diehard fans. I will say that the story isn’t very accessible to people that haven’t played the first Disgaea or watched the anime, so that hurts the game a bit, but for those that have followed these characters for the past seven years, you’re getting a full story but without any of the SRPG grind-fest that some may have grown weary of.

Story Rating: Good

2. Graphics

The game consists of two kinds of visuals: Static images for each character that represent their mood whilst talking and animated scenes that look like they are straight out of the SRPG’s. For those not familiar with the latter, it means you are getting fully animated sprites. While the visuals aren’t pushing the envelope of the PSP by any means, the sprites are highly detailed and as story is the true motivation here, we’re able to see characters do things and moves in ways they wouldn’t be able to on a grid based battle system. Even the static images have a degree of animation to them when they switch from one to the other.

Nippon Ichi is definitely not a company known for making games with next gen level graphics. Indeed, their titles are often referred to as being a generation or two behind what is currently possibly. As this game is a visual novel, the graphics actually work quite well. You’re not going to be visually impressed by Disgaea Infinite by any means, but you will be impressed by the level of detail and imagination that went into the sprites, so that’s something.

Graphics Rating: Mediocre

3. Sound

In what is easily my favourite aspect of the game, every line of dialogue in Disgaea Infinite is spoken. What makes this even better is that all the actors who have played these characters have returned so Barbara Goodson returns as Laharl, Michelle Ruff plays Etna, and so on. This is a real treat for Disgaea fans and even more so to see Mao interact with Flonne and crossovers of that nature. That cast does an exceptional job, and as the game is 95% story, the voice acting NEEDED to be top notch to keeps things moving, especially as you’ll have to hear some segments half a dozen times or more. Without quality voice acting that could have made parts of this game a grueling chore instead of repeatedly amusing.

Disgaea Infinite also features a fun soundtrack with some tracks I am pretty sure I recognize from other Nippon Ichi titles. However the music is often put on the backburner due to the constant talking in the game. If you listen for the music though, you’ll definitely hear a score that is almost as good as the assembled vocal cast.

Overall, you really couldn’t ask for better here. You have all of the characters played by their original actors and actresses and a “best of” soundtrack. Both combine to give longtime Disgaea and/or Nippon Ichi fans a true auditory feast.

Sound Rating: Classic

4. Control and Gameplay

Previous Disgaea games were SRPG’s, meaning that you had battles on a grid based map where characters moved according to agility or speed and leveled up as you would in any other RPG. As this is an adventure game, or more specifically an adventure game from the visual novel sub-genre, things are a lot more passive. In fact there is very little game play at all save for hitting buttons at the right moment in order to change the plot or what scenes you witness.

The game flows as follows: You possess other characters by using the shoulder buttons and if you are possessing the right character at the right time, you can hit the triangle button to trigger “Mind Control,” which will then give you a choice of three dialogue options. When you choose one of these, the story’s outcome will change either slightly or dramatically. You’ll then continue to do the same thing by each game hour until you hit either a failure (as in not preventing the negative consequence from happening) or a positive change. Getting a failure result causes your Prinny to go back to the beginning of the series of events and replay them until you successfully change the eventual outcome, which then moves the game onto the next sequence of events and gives you a new starting point. For example, when you prevent Laharl’s assassination, you then move on to the next series of events which takes place between Hour 13 and Hour 25 (It’s Netherworld time dood!)

It’s not very complicated but there are controls to also let you quickly play through events, skip events entirely and even rewind time back to your last time checkpoint. You also can skim through your Diary to see clues and events that have unfolded, or a “Data Base” which gives you a list of terms, people and locations, complete with amusing commentary.

Disgaea Infinite is no more complicated than its point and click style adventure game brethren, it is easily accessible to gamers of all skill levels. Of course, the key is being able to switch host bodies at the right time and make the correct dialogue decisions, which will take trial and error.

The controls might be a little too passive for some gamers, but the engine is as solid as any other well made adventure game.

Control and Gameplay Rating: Good

5. Replayability

Although a decent sized chunk of the game might feel repetitive as you attempt to retrace your steps and change the future for the better, you will discover there is an extensive array of paths to follow. In fact there are over a dozen endings for the game which floored me, especially as most adventure games have only a single ending, or a second one if you are very lucky. The first ending I got actually provided the setup between Disgaea 1 and 2, and shows why a certain character from the first game went to the Netherworld in the second. I rather liked getting that one, although there are a lot of other funny (and weird) ones to collect. My data base was only 60% full when I achieved my first ending, so that shows you how much more there is to do and see in this game.

For any genre, fourteen endings is astounding, but for an adventure game, it’s nigh unheard of and this might provide the most replayability I’ve ever seen in this genre.

Replayability Rating: Unparalleled

6. Balance

The game’s progresses solely through the choices you make, if any. Who to posses, when to possess, and what to say when you are given the rare opportunity to controls the how the game unfolds. For some this is a positive as it involves you using your mind and deductive reasoning over your hand-eye coordination or battle strategies. For others this is a negative as it can boil down to extreme amounts of trial and error. It all depends on the type of gamer you are and your patience level.

I enjoyed the fact that the game automatically listed things in your diary that you could (or should) try, along with any important plot points you discovered on the many paths you have travelled. Paying close attention to this diary should help gamers who aren’t used to adventure games, or aren’t the type of person who writes things down while gaming ala mapmaking for RPG’s like The Bard’s Tale or Shining in the Darkness. Other gamers with a solid memory or eye for detail will probably eschew the diary to just see how many possibilities they can exhaust on their own. Either way, help is there if you need it, albeit said help does range from cryptic to hitting you over the head with the correct path to take.

Balance Rating: Good

7. Originality

According to the official website for Disgaea Infinite, the game was inspired by a 2008 game named Infinite Loop which has the same premise, only more serious. Infinite Loop, like 99.99% of all visual novels was never released in the US, but if you have ever played the PSX classic Shadow of Destiny (also released this year for the PSP), than you will have played a more active version of one of these novels. In fact, Shadow of Destiny is very similar to Disgaea Infinite in that you change fate at least once, only to discover a new path that you will need to change things more than once.

I will say this is the first visual novel I can recall actually playing in English aside from a fan-made translation of Tsukihime. It’s also the first outright comedic visual novel I’ve ever encountered as well along with being a huge departure from the usual Disgaea gaming style; even more so than the Prinny platformer was. So even though the overall theme and style of this game has been done several times, it’s the first real visual novel brought over to North America as well as the first farcical one I can recall. Kudos to Nippon Ichi for taking a big chance here. Let’s hope it pays off for them.

Originality Rating: Mediocre

8. Addictiveness

Although there is a lot of (plot) backtracking in Disgaea Infinite, each loop through the day’s events can be quite different from the previous day. I actually beat the game in two sittings. The first was just working out the solution to Laharl’s would-be assassination and then the other was trying to get all the endings I could. I actually played the game to the point where the PSP’s battery died on me. I didn’t even pay attention to how long I had been playing – that’s how much the game sucked me in. You have a cast of great characters, an unusual story line, a giant puzzle to solve complete with multiple endings based on your chosen route AND a large dose of comedy, which most gamers are sorely lacking these days. This was just the game I needed after a month and a half break from reviewing video games.

As a long time adventure game fan, I found Disgaea Infinite to be exactly what I wanted from this genre. It’s wasn’t Grim Fandango, but it was far superior to a lot of comedic adventure games I’ve had to play on the PC like A Vampyre Story or Ceville

Addictiveness Rating: Great

9. Appeal Factor

This is the only chink in Disgaea Infinite‘s armour. Most adventure game fans in North America these days are casual gamers as well as PC gamers. There really isn’t a lot of cross over between adventure game fans and SRPG fans aside from myself that I’ve encountered (Maybe lil’ Chris Bowen in the 80′s). The problem is that although mainstay adventure game fans MIGHT have enjoyed Disgaea Infinite, the game really isn’t inviting to people other than thought that are already very familiar with the characters. This will leave a lot of point and click fans scratching their head wondering who these characters are, why they are acting this way and most of all, confused as to what decision to take and then why choice X was the right one. These are all questions that can easily be answered by diehard Disgaea fans, but only by them.

At the same time, most Disgaea fans are primarily RPG gamers, and SRPG grinders at that. The fast paced nature of the game, along with a more passive gameplay style might alienate the core audience. At least they won’t be put off by the repetition. God knows Disgaea fans are used to that with hundred level dungeons or so.

At the end of the day, this game is only going to be enjoyed by people that cross between adventure and RPG gaming while also having a good idea of what the world of Disgaea is about. For those few gamers, this game is a steal at only $19.99. For everyone else, the game isn’t very inviting to people new to Disgaea which is ironic as the gameplay is as casual as it can get aside from hidden object titles.

Appeal Factor: Bad

10. Miscellaneous

At only $19.99, Disgaea Infinite is an amazing deal and well worth picking up if you’re a fan of the series in the slightest. If you’ve grown weary of grindfests or SRPG’s, now you can enjoy the characters in a purely story driven fashion. If you’ve never touched the series because you can’t stand SRPG’s, but you liked the anime or what you heard about the characters, this is a great way to dip your foot into the Netherworld pond and see if it’s worth trying the older titles. Know that if you do the latter though, you will be a bit confused as to what is going on and way.

Regardless, this is a great price for a fun title and I enjoyed my time with Disgaea Infinite as much as I enjoyed my time with Heavy Rain, albeit for wildly different reasons. This is definitely one of the best adventure games released this year, and as a long time point and clicker gamer on my PC, it blows my mind more than a little than Sony’s systems are the place to be for adventure gaming this year.

Miscellaneous Rating: Great

The Scores
Story: Good
Graphics: Mediocre
Sound: Classic
Control and Gameplay: Good
Replayability: Unparalleled
Balance: Good
Originality: Mediocre
Addictiveness: Great
Appeal Factor: Bad
Miscellaneous: Great
FINAL SCORE: GOOD GAME!

Short Attention Span Summary
Disgaea Infinite is exactly what I look for in an adventure game. It features a great cast of characters, some excellent voice acting and the controls are simple and fun, allowing the story to take center stage. The only downside with the game is that it’s not very friendly to gamers new to the Disgaea world, which will leave them unsure of what is going on and why. This is a bit of a contradiction considering the gameplay style is extremely casual, but longtime fans of Laharl, Etna and the Prinnies will love this game for what it is. Plus it’s only $19.99 dood!

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Related to my sleep issues: be wary of Claratin. I took one of those last night, passed out at about 3AM with every window open, and didn’t move until 2PM. Thank goodness for self-employment. On a positive note? I can breathe again!

The most hyped release for the PS3 is Joe Danger, for $15. There’s no demo for this, but I don’t think we really need one because judging by trailer videos, I’m very comfortable in calling this “Excitebike 2010. This is what would have happened if the old Game Boy game Motocross Maniacs didn’t suck. At the very least, it looks like a fun time, and though one could kill it for being little more than an Excitebike wannabe, I once called Trials HD “Excitebike for sadists”, and that didn’t stop it from being extremely fun.

LATE-ADDITION EDIT: The only site who’s reviews I trust as much as our own – Ars Technica – just put out a review, and recommended it. “At first glance Joe Danger may look simply like a modern take on Excitebike, but it’s much more than that.” Well, then!

Second, the PSN is graced with a combat racing game that has been out on the PC for awhile, and is also twice as expensive as the PC version: Death Track: Resurrection. Resurrection is the spiritual successor to the original Death Track, which was an extremely ahead of it’s time first person driving/combat game for the PC in 1989. However, the new game – which is now over two years old – didn’t perform well in reviews, and the PC version is available for $7, which is less than half the cost of the PSN’s $15 version. This one’s an easy pass, if you ask me.

Next, we have what looks to be a big week for Sam & Max on the service. First, we have the first episode of Sam & Max: The Penal Zone for $9, which The Notorious M.A.S. reviewed for us last month. He gave it a nice write-up, but actually recommended the console controls because of how poorly the game played on the PC. For an episodic game, the cost seems a bit on the high side, but the Sam & Max games are almost always top-shelf. Secondly, there’s a sale on the season entitlement for Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, bringing the price down to $25, from $35. This seems like a great deal, but I’m hearing alarm bells. The PSN made a big deal out of a $5 sale for the package, and also out of keeping the package together; this is the first time you can’t buy Sam & Max games separately. Now, after the big push to get early buyers, they’re dropping the price to below that level? For one, it seems like a “fuck you” to the early adopters; I’d be pissed if I bought the package early. Secondly, it makes me wonder just how poorly this set is selling. I don’t know if it’s because you can’t buy them separately or if the market just doesn’t care about Sam & Max anymore, but whatever it is, it’s disconcerting.

Finally, we have Voodoo Dice, which I wrote about here. This is the third system it’s seen a release for, and if you only own a PS3, you can at least try the demo.

On the PSP, they unleashed the hounds! The first game we see is Metal Gear: Peace Walker for $40. This is the second PSP Metal Gear game that’s been a part of the series canon, and takes place after Snake Eater, apparently because Naked Snake has become the new Solid Snake. I normally balk at PSP versions of bigger names, but this game has reportedly seen as much development time and personnel as MGS4, so at the very least, it seems to be a AAA PSP title. However, these games also have a history of sharp price downturns, so if you want it, grab it, but if you’re on the fence, holding off a few months might save you $20. Either way, Ashe Collins will be reviewing this title.

Secondly, we have Metal Slug XX, which is also known as Metal Slug 7. This one’s been reviewed twice; Lucard reviewed the original DS version, and Ashe reviewed the PSP game. They both enjoyed the game, and recommend it to Metal Slug fans. I will warn anyone going in that if you’re looking for anything innovative, you’re going to be disappointed, but to be fair, the last few “innovative” Metal Slug games were disappointing. Jesus, I think I’m the only person other than Lucard that still OWNS those games. Neo-Geo Pocket fans, represent!

Finally, Disgaea Infinite is out for $20. This is categorized as a visual novel by NIS, though I’m… not really sure what to call it by looking at the trailer video. It’s weird; it’s got all of the personality one would expect from a Persona game, some combat, and a completely cracked out story. In short, they turned a niche franchise into an even more niche franchise. It’s unreal! Then again, this is why we love NIS. As for the game itself, Alex will be reviewing this.

For the PS one, we have Bloody Roar, a poor man’s, furry-inspired Tekken. If you want a really good 3D fighting game for the PSX, track down a cheap copy of Tekken 3.

Sale-wise, we have a lot of things on sale, in addition to the Sam & Max season:

Stand O’ Food Permanent Price Drop (now $2.99, original price $4.99)
Manhunt 2 Permanent Price Drop (now $14.99, original price $29.99)
The Warriors Permanent Price Drop (now $14.99, original price $19.99)
Dissidia Final Fantasy Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Greed Corp. – Sale (now $5.99, original price $9.99)

The two big names here are Greed Corp. (a decent little strategy game with some elements of tabletop games like Catan) and Dissidia. We reviewed Dissidia a while back, and honestly, this is the price to get it at. I wasn’t a huge fan of it – I didn’t like the combat, and the story sounded like some horrible fanfiction crossover idea – but it’s still a pretty good game, and definitely worth $20.

That’s it for this week. It’s a great week to be a PSP owner, and Joe Danger looks good for $15. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who is STILL groggy, and it’s 10PM! What the FUCK is in that stuff!?

The full Playstation Network update is below the cut.

Updates

Stand O’ Food Permanent Price Drop (now $2.99, original price $4.99)
Manhunt 2 Permanent Price Drop (now $14.99, original price $29.99)
The Warriors Permanent Price Drop (now $14.99, original price $19.99)

Dissidia Final Fantasy Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Sam And Max – The Devil’s Playhouse – Full Season Service Entitlement – Sale (now $24.99, original price $34.99)
Greed Corp. – Sale (now $5.99, original price $9.99)

Qore

Qore Episode 25: June 2010 ($2.99)
Episode 25 of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation®Network returns to action with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, talks sequels with 2D gaming gurus Q Games, rocks out with Green Day Rock Band, and joins Perseus in the Clash of the Titans.

File size: 1.49 GB

Qore Annual Subscription: June 2010 ($24.99)
Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can freely navigate through the content.
File size: 1.49 GB

Downloadable Games

Death Track: Resurrection ($14.99)
Death Track: Resurrection introduces high speed vehicular chaos as players battle using 10 futuristic vehicles, all with upgradable parts and weapons. Death Track takes place in 10 post-apocalyptic city tracks including New York , Paris, Bangkok, London, Moscow, Tokyo and more. Players can enter this world alone or with a friend using split-screen, or join a game with 8 other drivers to really crank up the mayhem.

ESRB Rated T
File size: 2.02 GB

Joe Danger ($14.99)
Download and play the death-defying thrill-ride starring Joe Danger, the Master of Disaster! Race, ride and defy death to thrill the crowd and break world records! Combo, boost and pull ludicrous stunts to fill Stadiums and put Joe back on the podium. Race against your friends or take on your rivals. Play in the sandbox to make and share your own Stunt Spectaculars. Exclusively on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 261 MB

Sam & Max Episode 1: The Penal Zone ($8.99)

Wield psychic powers against fearsome foes in this epic comedy saga. The game starts with a bang in Episode 1 as intergalactic gorilla invader Skunk’ape sets his sights on Max’s newly discovered mysterious powers. While mastering these abilities – future sight, teleportation, shape shifting, mind reading – and investigating their source, Sam & Max must fend off Skunk’ape and get him banished to The Penal Zone.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 524 MB

Voodoo Dice ($9.99)
Roll the dice in a mystical world filled with exploration, puzzle-solving, and adventure. Voodoo Dice is an innovative, challenging puzzler that plays with your mind as you solve puzzles in unique and interesting ways.
Encounter a funny and original universe, with great style and vibe, to defeat your enemies and solve enigmas.
Travel through 60 single-player and 20 multiplayer levels in a quest to conquer the voodoo universe!

ESRB Rated E
File size: 131 MB

PSone Classics

Bloody Roar 2 ($5.99)
Transform and do battle as a human-animal hybrid in this classic 3D fighting game! Put your strength to the test and fight your way to the top! Download this PS one Classic today!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 312 MB

Game Demos (free)

Voodoo Dice Trial
Roll the dice in a mystical world filled with exploration, puzzle-solving, and adventure. Voodoo Dice is an innovative, challenging puzzler that plays with your mind as you solve puzzles in unique and interesting ways. Voodoo Dice will win you over with its addictive gameplay and hundreds of paths to victory in this trial! Go further with 60 exciting single-player and 20 challenging multiplayer levels in the unlocked version.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 131 MB

Add-on Game Content

Smash Cars: Virus Run ($2.99)

The dynamic and tricked-out multiplayer racing excitement intensifies in the Smash Cars: Virus Run Add-On Pack. The new Split Screen feature lets players race their RC car against a friend as they twist, turn, grind, and perform tricks as only Smash Cars can! Plus, the new Virus Run six-player online mode presents new rules, new races and a cool new playground location, featuring a skate park and half pipe.
File size: 2.17 MB

Burn Zombie Burn In Space DLC ($2.99)
Space… the final frontier? Join our hero Bruce on his continuing mission to rid the Galaxy of the Zombie menace!
File size: 21 MB

Hustle Kings – Snooker Game Pack ($2.99)
It’s time to make your big break with the Snooker Game Pack for Hustle Kings, featuring new cues, balls, and tournaments to test your skills.

To use this download, you will need Hustle Kings. Download Snooker Game Pack for Hustle Kings today!
File size: 66 MB

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Challengers Pack 2 ($3.99)
Download the fourth pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Juri, Ibuki, Cody, Adon and T.Hawk are included! Create a new legend with these new costumes! Only available for use with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 100 KB

Skate 3 – Maloof Money Cup 2010 NYC Pack ($4.99)
Compete in one of skateboarding’s biggest annual contests. For the first time ever, the Maloof Money Cup travels East to New York where you’ll skate the course and battle with some of skating’s heaviest hitters in fierce competition for the ultimate purse.
File size: 60 MB

Death Track: Resurrection – Hari 108 ($0.99)
Do you want to be the fastest and best-armed player on the track? Then this exclusive car is for you! As one of the best vehicles in the game, it will allow to you to pass others with ease, destroy opponents with impunity and be the best competitor on the track! Don’t take our word for it, though; buckle in and find out for yourself!
File size: 134 KB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain – Ethan Costume ($1.99)
The best thing about Sackboy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like Ethan Mars from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain – Jayden Costume ($1.99)

The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like Norman Jayden from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain – Madison Costume ($1.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like Madison Paige from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain – Origami Costume ($1.99)
The best thing about Sackboy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like the Origami piece from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain – Shelby Costume ($1.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like Scott Shelby from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: Heavy Rain Costume Pack ($5.99)
Download this costume today and dress up your Sackboy to look like your favorite characters from the PlayStation 3 thriller, Heavy Rain. Includes Norman Jayden, Madison Paige, Ethan Mars, Scott Shelby, and the unique Origami costume. Plus, the Costume Kit includes over 60 stickers to decorate your own levels. NOTE: To download this Costume Kit, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

ModNation Racers: Vamp Mod ($0.99)

Start your next ModNation Racers race as Vamp! Kart around with the attitude of a an immortal vampire, and add an undead twist to your races. Vamp includes several Mod accessories for you to Create with in the Mod Studio including a Gothic Jacket, Vampire Hairdo and Cape! Download this pack today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Vamp’s Kart ($0.99)
Vamp’s Kart will have you cruising around ModNation Racers setting fear into the hearts of your competition with a dead serious kart! Vamp’s Kart includes a fully-designed Kart body, as well as Kart parts for you to Create with in the Kart Studio including a Casket Body, Casket/Pillow Seat, and Wooden Stake ornament. Download this pack today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Vamp Mod and Vamp’s Kart Bundle ($1.75)
Vamp is ready to tear up the race track with his frightening kart and a style that will surely get your blood flowing! This ModNation Racers Vamp Mod AND Vamp’s Kart bundle pack includes a fully-designed Mod, Kart, as well as several related parts and accessories for you to Create with in the Mod and Kart Studios. Download this pack today!

File size: 200 KB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 17: Death Kit ($2.49)
This kit might have everything you need to send someone to hell. Contains [Halper Scythe], [Alfa Beld Spear], [Gate of Hell], and [Mighty Ring].
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 18: Virgin Kit ($2.49)
This is the exact opposite of the sexy kitten kit. Contains [S. V. Rouge], [Langguth Sword], [Princess Bustier], and [Princess's Tiara]. It’s a bit of a shame that it’s not as revealing… Which one would you prefer?
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 7: Additional TP ($6.99)

This will increase your TP by a mind-boggling 30,000TP! TP can be exchanged for items and skills at an [Adventurer's Guild]. Since TP is obtained according to the maximum number of hits, this is recommended for those who are struggling to deal hits!
File size: 2.33 MB

Tiger Woods (x50) ($0.99 – $9.99)
File size: 101 KB – 137 MB

DJ Hero: 2 Mix! (free)
DJ Hero is giving you a taste of the never before heard mixes that will be released with DJ Hero 2 this October! For a limited time only, download “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga ft. Colby O’Donis vs. “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” by Deadmau5. This one is on us! But you gotta get it by June 14th and then it’s gone until DJ Hero 2 releases this Fall. For all song credits please visit www.djhero.com.
File size: 14 MB

Guitar Hero
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “God Save The Queen (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• “Il Canto Degli Italiani (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• “La Marseillaise (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• “Lied Der Deutschen (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• “Marcha Real (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• “The Star-Spangled Banner (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette (free)
• The National Anthem Pack Pack (free) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “God Save The Queen (GH Version),” “Il Canto Degli Italiani (GH Version),” “La Marseillaise (GH Version),” “Lied Der Deutschen (GH Version),” “March Real (GH Version),” and “The Star-Spangled Banner (GH Version)” by Steve Ouimette. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 22 MB – 28 MB (singles), 120 MB (track pack)

Rock Band

Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Cherry Waves” – Deftones ($1.99)
• “Hole In The Earth” – Deftones ($1.99)
• “Minerva” – Deftones ($1.99)
• Deftones Pack 01 ($5.49) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Deftones Pack 01. This pack includes “Cherry Waves”, “Hole In The Earth”, and “Minerva” by Deftones.
• “The Great Escape” – Boys Like Girls ($1.99)
• “Rock Ready” – Crown Of Thorns ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Collapsing” by Demon Hunter ($1.99)
• “Don’t Let Me Down (Slowly)” by The Main Drag ($1.99)
• “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” by of Montreal ($1.99)
• “Mechanical Love” by In This Moment ($1.99)
• “The Mob Goes Wild” by Clutch ($1.99)

File size: 29 MB – 43 MB (singles), 108 MB (track pack)

Music

Official ModNation Racers Soundtrack ($7.99)

File size: 90 MB

Game Videos (free)

Dante’s Inferno – Trials Of St. Lucia Walkthrough Trailer
File size: 166 MB (HD)

Joe Danger Trailer
File size: 61 MB (HD)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Announce Trailer

File size: 90 MB (HD)

Red Dead Redemption – Official Launch Trailer
File size: 88 MB

PS3 Themes

Wakeboarding HD Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 877 KB

ACR Premium Theme ($1.99)

File size: 7.87 MB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker ($39.99)
The world-renowned stealth-action series returns in a new chapter hand-crafted by Hideo Kojima himself! The year is 1974. Join “Snake,” (a.k.a. Big Boss), in pursuit of a mysterious armed force that threatens peaceful Costa Rica – “A Nation without a Military.” Experience the thrill of cooperative stealth on your PSP system and the legendary gameplay that is METAL GEAR SOLID PEACE WALKER!
ESRB Rated
File size: 1.38 GB

Metal Slug XX ($19.99)
The excitement of the arcade comes to your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system with the series’ uncompromisingly crazy “run-and-gun” gameplay and a 2-player ad hoc mode that lets you and a friend take on the challenge together! Classic characters Marco, Tarma, Fio, Eri, Ralf, and Clark return once again to take on General Morden and his new and improved Rebel Army.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 166 MB

Disgaea Infinite ($19.99)
Wrongly accused for the failed assassination of Overlord Laharl, a lone Prinny sets off on a quest through time to clear the Prinny Squad’s name. Possess characters, control their minds, and solve the Netherworld’s most bizarre mystery of exploding pudding!
ESRB Rated T

File size: 154 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Lock ‘N Chase – Minis ($3.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 2.58 MB

Cubixx – Minis ($3.99)
ESRB Rated E

File size: 29 MB

Vibes – Minis ($5.99)
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 60 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3: Korean 707 SMB (free)
Download the new Korean 707 SMB Multiplayer Character + MK5KA4 Compact SMG for use in multiplayer.

File size: 823 KB

SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3: British Special (free)
Download the new British Special Air Service Multiplayer Character and AS50 Sniper Rifle for use in multiplayer.
File size: 839 KB

SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3: German Kommando (free)
Download the new German Kommando Spezialkrafte Multiplayer Character and F2K Improved Assault Rifle for use in multiplayer.
File size: 842 KB

SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3: Australian Special (free)

Download the new Australian Special Air Service Regiment Character and TAR 21 Improved Assault Rifle for use in multiplayer.
File size: 883 KB

Game Videos (free)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Opening Movie Trailer
File size: 11 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Pinball Heroes: ModNation Racers PSP Theme

File size: 531 KB

Pinball Heroes: WipEout HD Fury PSP Theme
File size: 470 KB

ACR PSP Theme 1 ($1.49)
File size: 509 KB

ACR PSP Theme 2 ($1.49)
File size: 527 KB

PSP Wallpaper (free)

Armored Core Last Raven Wallpaper 3
File size: 48 KB

Armored Core Last Raven Wallpaper 4
File size: 51 KB

Armored Core Last Raven Wallpaper 5
File size: 67 KB

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As someone who’s had an interest in the Armored Core series, I’m always somewhat excited when I have a chance to play one of the games, if only because I like customizing giant robots. From Software has stood behind the series for over a decade now, from its awkward beginnings on the PS1 through its gradual expansion and development on the PS2 until its streamlined current gen releases, and as a fan, it’s been fun watching the series grow and evolve. While the console market has generally received a new Armored Core title every year or so, handheld systems generally haven’t seen too many of the games for various reasons. From gave the franchise a try on the PSP back in 2005 with Armored Core: Formula Front, to limited success, but in the last few months they’ve taken a more simplified approach to bringing the franchise to the portable market by porting older games in the series to the PSP as downloadable titles. This is, in theory, not a terrible idea, as updated versions of the classic games would be a good way for newer fans to experience the roots of the franchise, and fans of those games would more than likely welcome the chance to revisit some of their old favorites. Armored Core: Last Raven Portable, the most recent updated release, would also certainly qualify as a classic in the series, as it was the last game of the Armored Core franchise to be released on the PS2 and a generally good entry in the series overall. As a PSP release, however, Last Raven Portable simply doesn’t work for exactly the reason fans of the franchise could have predicted: converting a game that uses pretty much every button on the controller to a system with less buttons has the effect of making the game mechanically unfriendly at best and a completely unplayable mess at worst.

The story of Last Raven Portable is identical to that of the PS2 game, so if you’ve played through that game, you know the score. The world of Armored Core basically revolves around massive corporations and small radical movements waging war by way of recruiting Armored Core pilots to blow up people, places and things, as well as each other. The story this time around picks up after the events of Armored Core: Nexus, with the world in shambles and everyone scrambling to create some sort of order. The major corporations of the world have united in the wake of a major world catastrophe and the fall of the Raven’s Ark (the mercenary group that managed the Ravens, or AC pilots) to create “The Alliance”, a major corporate body controlling all of the world’s resources. Of course, no major corporate alliance goes unopposed, and in this case the opposition comes from a Raven known as Jack-O, who creates a terrorist organization of sorts known as Vertex to oppose them. As the game begins, Vertex has announced that they will launch a massive offensive in twenty four hours, and both sides are essentially demanding every Raven join up or die. The basic gist of the story is pretty much what fans of the franchise have come to expect: you, as a new mercenary, take on missions, make decisions on who to assist and who to attack, and generally dictate the fate of the world through your actions. This was pretty new in Last Raven, though it’s since become a normal part of the series. Since you are, for the purposes of the game, nameless, faceless, and genderless, the communications you have with hiring bodies, other Raven pilots and your operator are often fairly nondescript and direct, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. From Software has had a lot of practice at this sort of storytelling and it shows, as the story actually manages to come together fairly well and makes a decent amount of sense, no matter what story path you choose or which side you help or harm throughout your play sessions. The story is also fairly well connected to Armored Core: Nexus, if you’ve played that, which makes the experience more involved for long time fans of the franchise, as it makes your previous time spent with the earlier game feel like it MEANS something when you pick up the next game in the series.

Last Raven Portable looks good on the small screen, and the visuals are mostly on par with the game’s PS2 counterpart in terms of overall impressiveness. The AC’s look imposing and are well animated, as are the smaller, less impressive MT’s and robotic enemies, though some enemies, such as groups of soldiers, look poor up-close. The environments are generally well rendered, and while some of the more closed-in environments tend to look similar to one another, the open-air environments generally look varied and exciting when you’re battling within them. The various special effects, from laser blasts to explosions and beyond, are also very well done, as they are in most Armored Core titles, and the HUD visuals and the various menus to navigate are clean and well formatted, so you can get all the information you need immediately, even if you don’t always understand it at first. The music in Last Raven Portable is pretty outstanding, as is usually the case, as it features fitting electronic music, alternating between ambient haunting tunes, fast-paced driving beats, and swelling epic tracks depending on the mission and the situation you find yourself facing. The voice acting is generally solid, and while some of the acting from the extras is cringe-worthy, the voiceovers from the principal players in the story are generally well done all around. The sound effects are also quite well done all around, and fit the futuristic mech combat concept of the game perfectly, mixing the violent crashing and explosions of ballistic combat with the high-tech whines and whooshes of futuristic energy weapons beautifully.

As we noted back when we were discussing Armored Core: For Answer back in 2008, the gameplay of the Armored Core franchise is really where the games begin to shine… as well as where the franchise tends to lose players. Unlike that game, however, Last Raven Portable is set up under the older control scheme that was used in the later PS2 titles, and while the controls are revamped a bit for the PSP release, fans of games like Armored Core Nexus and Armored Core: Nine Breaker will probably have a decent idea of what’s going on here, while fans of the more modern Armored Core 4 or later might have some learning to do. You’re offered a couple of default control schemes to choose from, as well as the ability to customize those control schemes to work as you see fit, allowing you to cobble together a control style that’s right for you, which isn’t too daunting. Aside from the obvious ability to look around, move around, strafe, and so on, movement in your AC isn’t limited to slow ground combat, thanks to your boosters. You can fly around, zip along the ground, use the boosters for a quick boost forward/backward/sideways to avoid fire, and enable Overboost (high speed boosting that drains your energy in a hurry) when needed to close or increase the distance between you and a target as quickly as possible. As this is a PSP release of an older Armored Core release, boosting drains your energy meter (a meter at the top of the screen that indicated your AC’s energy output from its generator) significantly, leaving you only able to do it for a few seconds at a time, depending on the weight of your AC and the parts equipped. You’re also given several different weapons and mounting locations for them, between your arms, back, and shoulders, which you can switch between and use at the press of a button. Each weapon has different effects and uses, so you might use a heavy gatling gun and a laser blade with back mounted missile launchers and shoulder mounted retaliation missiles, or missile arms, a back mounted rocket launcher and grenade launcher, and shoulder flares for confusing enemy missiles, or whatever, and all of these weapons are simple to enable and use. You’re also offered up a few other novelties, depending on your AC layout, such as “Overboost”, which we discussed previously, and Exceed Orbit, which deploys autonomous devices to shoot at enemy forces, among other things.

The game isn’t all boosting and shooting however, as you’ll spend more than a fair amount of time back at your garage, customizing your AC and taking missions and such. This amounts to little more than menu navigation, of course, but what you do in these menus is what ensures success or failure in your commissioned missions. Aside from being able to take on missions and Arena Battles (one on one fights against other, CPU controlled AC’s) from the garage, you can also shop for new parts for your AC and customize it in many, many different ways. As you complete missions, new parts can potentially be unlocked, either in the shop or as bonuses for completing a mission, each for different sections of the AC (weapons, heads, cores, generators, Firing Control Systems, and so on), and each with different effects. The effects these components will have on your AC are all spelled out fairly neatly on-screen, in basic and advanced formats, to give you full numerical representations of exactly what the piece you’re equipping will do to your craft. For example: a heavy set of legs will most likely improve your overall armor points, shell resistance, and weight capacity, but might reduce your Armor Point score, energy resistance, and movement speed, or a light head might improve your camera response, aiming capability, and Armor Point score, but might reduce your heat displacement and defensive abilities, or what have you. Each piece you can equip will, in some form or fashion, have an impact on your AC’s performance, and you will have to take this into account as you design it: do you want a fast, light AC that can run rings around foes, or a heavy AC with tons of weapons and armor to decimate foes with pure might? These choices will determine the best loadouts for you, from mission to mission, which will mean spending time adjusting your craft beyond sticking things onto it and calling it a day, but thankfully you can save several designs as needed.

Beyond that, however, there are also several other things the more customization-minded player can sink their teeth into. You can totally redesign the color scheme of your AC across its body parts and weaponry, and whether you simply want to customize one uniform color scheme or you want to completely recolor each and every piece on the unit you’ll have the options you want at your fingertips. Decals can also be attached all over the AC, for those who like to totally customize the appearance of their units from the ground up. You can also tune your parts by devoting up to ten points to up to five categories, which can reduce weight, increase armor, improve cooling, and other such things. These tuning improvements allow you to tweak parts, allowing you to improve performance in specific areas as your needs dictate. These things aren’t necessary to plow your way through the story of the game, but for anything beyond that, they will certainly be something you will want and need to consider. Last Raven Portable also includes some specific elements that other games in the series do not, such as the ability to damage and destroy specific AC components and the ability to cause your own or enemy AC’s to overheat, which causes persistent damage over time until the AC cools down, and these sorts of elements will need to be considered when designing an AC to ensure optimal performance and survival rates.

Now, Last Raven Portable isn’t just about plowing through the story mode, and while you can certainly do that, as there are over seventy missions to cut through across six different ending paths, that isn’t the only thing to do with the game. You can also play the game against up to three other players in competitive battles, with or without part restrictions, in ad hoc play. There’s no option to play the game online, but with something like XLink this isn’t a problem, so long as you’re willing to get it working, so even if you don’t have any friends to play against you can still play against others with a little effort. Beyond that, you can also go through missions over again once you’ve completed a path, as well as secret parts to uncover in various missions, and between these options and the fact that there are multiple endings and rewards for achieving high rankings on missions (IE the less ammo you burn through and the less armor points you lose, the higher the ranking of the mission), you’ll have plenty to do if you’re into the game.

That said, no matter how much joy you can derive from building AC’s and blowing stuff up, you may not be able to deal with the complexity and difficulty of the experience long enough to get your money’s worth from the product, and even if you can, Last Raven Portable comes with its own problems.

There are, if boiled down to their most basic essence, three notable problems with any Armored Core game, as we’ve discussed before, and this certainly holds true for Last Raven Portable. The first is that the game, while certainly challenging, is oftentimes unbalanced in its difficulty, to the detriment of the experience. Fighting against lower powered foes (IE those not in AC’s) is generally pretty easy from the beginning of the game to the end, and even an unskilled pilot can generally plot through weaker foes with little to no issue, given enough ammunition and armor points. Facing down other AC’s, however, is often either a gigantic pain in the ass or a cakewalk, depending on weapon loadout and AI exploitation. Now, it should be noted that if you are facing down an opposing AC alone, in an open area, especially higher ranked AC’s late in the game, it’s entirely possible to be ripped apart by your opposition unmercifully, which is half of the balancing issue. Having to redesign your AC depending on the mission and opposition will be fun for those who like the genre and the concept, but everyone else is going to get tired of this after the third time they’ve had to do this thing. Now, the OTHER problem with balancing is that, in closed environments or when working with powerful allies, missions facing down other AC’s can be exceptionally easy, largely because of stupid opponent AI and powerful allies. While exploiting stupid AI behavior can occasionally be useful to a player, when

1.) this is occasionally the ONLY way some players will be able to beat the game in the first place, and
2.) this is a tactic I personally exploited against Nine Ball in the original Armored Core, a game that came out thirteen years ago,

it’s time to make some balance improvements in your AI. In fairness, this isn’t a problem in MOST cases, but when it does pop up, it’s noticeable.

The second significant problem is the fact that the Armored Core franchise is the Madden of giant robot combat, in that we pretty much get a new game once a year whether we’re ready for it or not, with some nominal changes and a bunch of the same content we’ve come to expect, and this is especially notable because Last Raven Portable is a re-release of a PS2 release, meaning that if you’ve played that, THIS IS THE SAME THING. While it’s fair to say that Last Raven Portable is a significant improvement over, say, Armored Core and the two expansions based off of that game, it’s functionally identical in many respects to Armored Core Nexus, and in many respects feels more primitive than Armored Core 4 and Armored Core For Answer all around. It’s not that the game is BAD so much as that the game isn’t even moderately original that hurts it here, both because it’s a re-release of an older title and because it wasn’t especially new and exciting when it came out in the first place.

Now, when discussing most Armored Core titles, the biggest problem with the game would inevitably be the fact that the franchise as a collective whole isn’t really accessible to many people after a certain point in the game, simply because you are going to have to spend time tuning your AC and learning what works and what doesn’t in order to make significant progress, which will turn some people off. As a casual experience, a player can have a lot of fun with the game to a point; there’s a large tutorial at the beginning of the game and the first several missions are balanced enough that a less-skilled player can jump into them and figure out what’s going on without much trouble. But eventually, that player will hit a wall, and even if they can manage that, there’s no guarantee they can get through what comes after. From there, they will have to go through the game around five more times (to earn all of the endings), earn S ranks in the various missions, blow through the Arena, and so on in order to get everything from the game they expected to, and frankly, many of those people won’t be able to make it through ONCE simply because, even though the franchise has been simplified significantly, it’s still not simple enough for anyone who doesn’t want to learn stats and battle tactics and weapon effects and so on to manage their way through.

When discussing the PSP releases in general and Last Raven Portable in specific, however, the BIGGEST problem is that the control scheme is horrendous and the franchise simply DOES NOT translate well to the system. Formula Front was adequate in that it was basically a game where you COULD play the game, but could also set the AI to play in your stead, and the mechanics were designed with the PSP in mind. These PS2 translations, however, are games that literally make use of every button on the controller. EVERY. ONE. You’d be using all eight functional buttons, the R3 and L3 buttons AND both sticks to play the games, so that we understand each other. Translating that experience to a hand-held system with six buttons and one stick means, in simple terms, that you’ll be fighting to find a control scheme that doesn’t end up getting you killed while fighting with it. Speaking as someone who had to deal with the unfriendly controls of the FIRST game, Armored Core: Last Raven played perfectly fine on the PS2, and if you want to play the game, you would be better served buying that instead, because the PSP controls are hideous. When you have to set weapon change options to the D-Pad because you had to set the face buttons to look around and the triggers as your left and right weapons, this is not conducive to proper play and it makes the experience, at best, awkward and at worst, unplayable. This coupled with the fact that Last Raven Portable is one of the harder entries in the series, thanks to the ability to have parts shot off and the ability to overheat your AC, among other things, makes the game an unpleasant experience for anyone who isn’t used to how the franchise works, and a disappointing one for anyone who is.

Armored Core: Last Raven is one of the better entries in the Armored Core franchise, despite its flaws, but you wouldn’t know it after playing Last Raven Portable, both because the game now has to compare to more accessible entries like Armored Core For Answer and because the PSP version of the game simply isn’t any fun to play. Those who can get into the game will find an experience brimming with personality and style, featuring exciting, challenging combat, tons of depth and substance, and a significant amount of replay value waiting to reward their patience. For those who lack the patience or the desire to learn the mechanics of the game, however, the unbalanced AI in AC battles and not insignificant learning curve will turn them off, those who are worn on the franchise will have no reason to pick up a remake of a game they’ve already played, and everyone else will be put off by the fact that you’re forced to fight against the controls as often as you’re forced to fight against the enemy. If you’re incredibly patient, willing to learn the mechanics of the game, or a REALLY big fan looking for a fix (and you don’t still have the PS2 game lying around), Last Raven Portable is a mostly adequate game that will keep you interested on the go, but for most people, picking up the PS2 release of the game or one of the next-gen releases will be a far better choice all around.

The Scores:
Story: GOOD
Graphics: GOOD
Sound: GREAT
Control/Gameplay: BAD
Replayability: GOOD
Balance: POOR
Originality: DREADFUL
Addictiveness: MEDIOCRE
Appeal: BAD
Miscellaneous: BAD
FINAL SCORE: MEDIOCRE GAME.

Short Attention Span Summary:
Armored Core: Last Raven Portable is an inferior port of a good game that is unlikely to please most players, as it’s not as good as the game it’s ported from, not as accessible as the newer games in the series, and in general not an especially friendly product. The story is still good, the graphics still look nice, and the audio is still solid all around. The game is certainly as in-depth as ever, thanks to the heavy amount of depth in the series overall, and there’s really a lot to like about the game if you’re patient, between the deep gameplay, large amount of content to see, and four player multiplayer that can be jury-rigged to work online. However, the Armored Core series is often not easily accessible to new players, the AI is as unbalanced as it ever was, the game isn’t especially original thanks to the fact that it’s a remake of an older game in the series, and frankly, this PSP port is a bear to play and not very fun as a result. Hardcore fans of the series who don’t have a PS2 handy might find some fun to be had with the game, but otherwise, there’s no point to owning this game when you can buy the newer current gen games or pick up the PS2 game if you look around, leaving Last Raven Portable as a game that is unlikely to be worth your time unless you’re a dedicated fan.
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Translation: to hell with the witty lead-ins. Let’s get this shit over with.

The big name to hit the service this weekend is Tecmo Bowl Throwback. Quite simply, this is a remake of the SNES version of Tecmo Super Bowl with 3D models, with the catch being that going from modern to the full SNES game is only a button press away. Doing this in the middle of gameplay seamlessly shifts between modes, with very few noticeable differences in gameplay. There’s no demo of this game available on the PSN, but not only is there on Xbox, I actually own the full version. I can recommend this for fans of the older games, because while it’s not the best version of Tecmo Super Bowl – I’m partial to the NES game – it’s still very good, and the only real differences between modern and classic mode I can find are that field goal kicking is easier in the older game, and it’s a bit easier to judge where you’re going in classic mode as direction changes are instantaneous. Still, this is a great package for $10, with or without the NFL/NFLPA license.

Also on the service is Planet Minigolf, a $10 mini golf game that celebrates having sixteen themed courses and a course editor. There’s a trailer video of the game on Sony’s blog, and in this 2:23 trailer, I counted thirteen seconds of actual gameplay footage, with over a minute being dedicated to showing celebrations and “witty” commentator comments. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed, and when I noticed there was a demo, I didn’t go in with high expectations. They were justified, as the gameplay is *BRUTAL*. There are three different control schemes, but three click and analogue are preferable because they give more “style” points. No control style is really good, because it’s so hard to determine power; most of the time is going to be spent overshooting easy shots, especially in analogue control. I finally got frustrated on about the seventh hole and ended the demo. If I can’t even get through your nine hole demo, then your gameplay needs to cook a lot longer than it did. With that said, good on these guys for putting a demo out! I wouldn’t have bought the game anyway – their gameplay trailer showed me that they had a lot to hide with the game itself – but more companies need to put their demos out on day of release.

There’s also a PS one Classic that was a pretty decent release back in ’98: N2O: Nitrus Oxide. The best way to describe this game is to marry Tempest and WipeOut together, though the look of this game makes me think it’s a bit more psychedelic than WipeOut. The big thing about this game was that it had a soundtrack done by electronica group The Crystal Method, and though I am not familiar with them – that sounds more like DJ’s milieu – it was a big deal because the game was able to be taken out and listened to like a regular CD, something I’m almost positive the PSN game doesn’t allow. My issue with the game itself is that the graphics are simply too dated; I had trouble distinguishing what I had to shoot with the rest of the stage, which is something I’m certain a HD remake would fix. To be fair, I also think the PS3′s smoothing technology would do a world of good on this, so call this a recommendation for the game, but if you like the kind of music that The Crystal Method is known for, I would just buy the game on eBay; you’ll probably pay $10 (on average) more for it, but if you like the music, it’s worth it.

This is going to blow your minds, but that’s it for new content this week. Normally, this would have me foaming at the mouth, but just get a load of the games being mentioned in the permanent price drop section, because they speak for themselves:

Ape Escape: On the Loose Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)
Hot Shots Golf Open Tee Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)
SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)
Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $24.99)
Twisted Metal: Head On Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $19.99)
LittleBigPlanet PSP Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Resistance: Retribution Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Secret Agent Clank Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Gran Turismo PSP Permanent Price Drop (now $19.99, original price $39.99)
Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Permanent Price Drop (now $7.99, original price $9.99)
Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 – Minis – Sale (now $1.99, original price $4.99)
Stand O’ Food – Minis – Sale (now $1.99, original price $4.99)
Obscure: The Aftermath – Sale (now $14.99, original price $29.99)

There’s some BIG names in that list. Gran Turismo, I reviewed, and while I was bearish on it at $40, I’m more comfortable with it at $20. Be wary of Secret Agent Clank; it’s a big name, but Aaron Sirois killed it. As for Hot Shots Golf Open Tee, Aaron reviewed the second game, and stated that there wasn’t a lot of “crossover” between the first and second game, so for $10, this seems like a good purchase. For Soldner X fans or shooter fans, not only is the price of the first game down, they’re bundling the two together for $18. We’ve received a code for Soldner X-2, and I’ll be the one bringing that review out within about a week.

While this is a short week for new content, the bevy of price drops will keep people that were put off by the high cost of entry on the PSP’s AAA names busy, so it’s best to keep the new content for another week, I think. Good show overall. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who suddenly finds himself in a time crunch. Could someone tell me what it’s like to sit back and play a game solely for entertainment again?

The full Playstation Network update is under the cut.

Updates

Ape Escape: On the Loose Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)
Hot Shots Golf Open Tee Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)
SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo Permanent Price Drop (now $9.99, original price $15.99)

Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Permanent Price Drop (now $7.99, original price $9.99)
Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2 – Minis – Sale (now $1.99, original price $4.99)
Stand O’ Food – Minis – Sale (now $1.99, original price $4.99)
Obscure: The Aftermath – Sale (now $14.99, original price $29.99)

Downloadable Games

Tecmo Bowl Throwback ($9.99)

The legend is back! Tecmo Bowl Throwback is a remake of the classic Tecmo Super Bowl, with the same rules and fast-paced gameplay as the original, but with the option to play it in brand new high definition 3D graphics. Switch it back to old school in real time with the same graphics and music from back in the day!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 213 MB

Planet Mini-Golf ($9.99)
With 16 courses rich in detail and gameplay, online play, and the ability to create and share courses with other players, Planet Mini-Golf offers the ultimate high-definition minigolf experience.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 743 MB

PSone Classics

N2O Nitrous Oxide ($5.99)
Pilot your Tunnel Runner into the Nitrous Oxide filled tubes of Neptune and destroy the emerging race of genetically mutated super warriors who threaten planet Earth. Download this PSone Classic today!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 70 MB

Game Demos (free)

Planet Mini-Golf Demo
With 16 courses rich in detail and gameplay, online play, and the ability to create and share courses with other players, Planet Mini-Golf offers the ultimate high-definition minigolf experience. Try out the free demo now!

ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 417 MB

Add-on Game Content

Dead To Rights: Retribution GAC Pack ($4.99)
“GAC Pack” features four new modes of play, including the all new Assault on the 87th Precinct and Riot Control Mode. In Assault on the 87the Precinct, take control of 3 different type of GAC soldiers in their efforts to liberate Grant City’s 87th Precinct. In Riot Control Mode, fend off waives of GAC assault forces as Jack and Shadow while playing for style and speed to achieve a maximum score. Also in the GAC Pack, new skins for Jack and Shadow, Action Mode which turns rounds into explosive rounds, Noir Mode allowing for replay of the game with authentic Noir Visuals, Trophies and Scoreboard support.
File size: 639 MB

Lost Planet 2 Map Pack #2 ($4.99)

Explore two extra battlefields in this Map Pack for LOST PLANET 2. “Dockyard Battle” takes the fight to the overland battleship construction site seen in Episode 4 of the Campaign mode, while “Frozen Wasteland” is a remake that returns you to the frozen tundra of the original game’s fan-favorite map.
File size: 65 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 15: Emperor Kit ($1.99)
Contains [Altis Rod], [Ring of Epsilon], [Heaven's End], and [Imperial Guard]. You might be referred to as “Emperor” by your friends if you equip them all…
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 16: Legend Kit ($1.99)
Contains [Rage Blaster], [S.O.C.], [Extra Frame], and [Chaos Frame], which are believed to have been created by a legendary blacksmith. This legendary power could be yours…
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 5: Additional PP ($4.99)
This will increase your PP by 1,500PP! PP are shared points for your entire party and can be used to increase anyone’s stats. You’d have to defeat tons of enemies to collect this much PP. Don’t miss this opportunity!
File size: 2.33 MB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Sex Type Thing” by Stone Temple Pilots ($1.99)
• “Between The Lines” by Stone Temple Pilots ($1.99)
• “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots ($1.99)
• Stone Temple Pilots Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Sex Type Thing,” “Between The Lines,” and “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 34 MB – 51 MB (singles), 121 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Don’t You Evah” – Spoon ($1.99)
• “Got Nuffin” – Spoon ($1.99)
• “I Turn My Camera On” – Spoon ($1.99)
• “Trouble Comes Running” – Spoon ($1.99)
• Spoon Pack 01 ($6.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Spoon Pack 1. This pack includes “Don’t You Evah”, “Got Nuffin”, “I Turn My Camera On”, and “Trouble Comes Running” by Spoon.
• “Alive” – P.O.D. ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Disengage” by Suicide Silence ($1.99)
• “Forever In Your Hands” by All That Remains ($1.99)
• “Get the Hell Out of Here” by Steve Vai ($1.99)
• “The Future Soon” by Jonathan Coulton ($1.99)
• “The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)” by Flight of the Conchords ($1.99)

File size: 17 MB – 30 MB (singles), 85 MB (track pack)

Bundles

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype + Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Bundle ($17.99)
The ultimate shoot ‘em up experience for your PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. This bundle contains both Soldner-X games (Soldnet-X 2: Final Prototype & Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer) in one
attractive package.

File size: 2.32 GB

Avatars

Super Street Fighter IV Avatars (x3) ($0.49)
File size: 109 KB – 122 KB (each)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype (x5) ($0.49)
File size: 100 KB – 131 KB (each)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Avatar Bundle ($1.49)

File size: 531 KB (each)

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 6/1 Edition
File size: 317 MB (HD), 536 MB (1080)

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Debut Tease Trailer
File size: 36 MB (HD), 60 MB (1080)

Medal Of Honor – Leave A Message Trailer

File size: 68 MB (HD)

Death Track: Resurrection Trailer
File size: 75 MB

Red Dead Redemption – Revolution Trailer
File size: 54 MB (HD)

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days – Arcade Mode Trailer

File size: 69 MB (HD)

LittleBigPlanet 2 – Announcement Trailer
File size: 91 MB (HD)

ModNation Racers: Spotlight – Huck Gee
File size: 231 MB (HD), 394 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers: Spotlight – Kevin Butler

File size: 132 MB (HD), 230 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

ModNation Racers: Launch Theme 1 (free)
File size: 2.41 MB

ModNation Racers: Launch Theme 2 (free)
File size: 2.11 MB

ModNation Racers: Launch Theme 3 (free)

File size: 1.90 MB

Voodoo Crucifixion ($1.49)
File size: 5.98 MB

Flower Fantasy ($1.49)
File size: 6.09 MB

Futbol Premium Theme ($1.99)
File size: 4.90 MB

Say Cheesecake ($1.99)
File size: 3.30 MB

UFC Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 10 MB

Wallpapers (free)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Wallpaper 5
File size: 180 KB (SD), 919 KB (1080)

PlayStation Store for PSP

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Telegraph Crosswords – Minis ($2.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 8.49 MB

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 6/1 Edition
File size: 50 MB

ModNation Racers: Spotlight – Huck Gee
File size: 39 MB

ModNation Racers: Spotlight – Kevin Butler
File size: 22 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

ModNation Racers PSP: Launch PSP Theme 1 (free)
File size: 605 KB

ModNation Racers PSP: Launch PSP Theme 2 (free)
File size: 598 KB

ModNation Racers PSP: Launch PSP Theme 3 (free)
File size: 592 KB

Armored Core Last Raven Custom PSP Theme (free)

File size: 563 KB

Voodoo Crucifixion PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 461 KB

Flower Fantasy PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 652 KB

Futbol PSP Theme 1 ($1.49)
File size: 434 KB

Futbol PSP Theme 2 ($1.49)
File size: 383 KB

Vampires PSP Theme 3 ($1.49)
File size: 407 KB

Vampires PSP Theme 4 ($1.49)
File size: 465 KB
http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/psnlogo.jpg
http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/playstationwrapup.jpg

Seriously, I don’t mind a bad content week. Even if that was the case this time around, they happen, and really, last week’s update was so awesome that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Besides, it’s not like Sony’s pulling a Nintendo and forgetting a good 33% of their downloadable market, and simultaneously But then I see a bunch of stuff on the network that reminds me of how badly we’re going in terms of paying more money for less content. The second hand market is dying, and the only thing people can do is to continue blindly forking money over like sheep. It’s the kind of week that pisses me off specifically because of the implications on the future, not so much because the content is bad.

Now that I’m sufficiently in a bad mood, let’s plant on a fake smile and plow through this shit one more time.

Despite the negativity of that opening, we actually have a positive game to start out with. Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype is the sequel to 2008′s Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer, and the best way I can describe it is “R-Type in bullet hell”. It’s a very pretty side-scrolling shooter, and while it’s not for novices, the first game was outstanding, and the second game looks just as good. It’s $13, and the first one is $10. They’re both worth the price for sh’mup fans.

There’s also Super Stacker for $10, which I can best describe as a video game version of Jenga. The object is to stack objects as high as you can. It sounds simplistic, but there’s 100 levels to play, so there’s some replayability here. Unfortunately, there’s no demo so I can’t really verify anything; check back in about two months for a demo. Kinda like what happened with Hamster Ball, which I talked about in a piece that I started off with the line how hard is it to make a God damn demo?”. When I mentioned this game, I said I wouldn’t give it any attention unless someone could convince me that it was more than a second rate knockoff of Super Monkey Ball. I’ve tried it, and sure enough… it’s a second rate knockoff of Super Monkey Ball. Next!

There are two other demos out. The one that really got my attention was PixelJunk Shooter. I’d not tried it before because I’m allergic to buying games without being able to try them, but now that I’ve tried it, I might have to. For those that don’t know how the game works, you’re a ship that’s looking to get drillers out of strange planets, which are being mined for their natural resources as humans continue to act like locusts and destroy everything they touch. It’s got a simple play mechanic – right stick aims, left stick flies – but this is combined with some great interactivity with each planet, and a heat gauge that could melt your ship. A lot of thought went into this game, and I enjoyed the demo thoroughly. Though I’m confused… this game’s been out since mid December. Why are they coming out with a demo now?

“For those that haven’t already heard, PixelJunk Shooter 2 is in full production, full steam ahead, anchors away and all that…commotion to that order” (source)

Oho. You cheeky bastards.

Finally, we have a demo for Green Day: Rock Band. I’m not sure when these three punk kids who made the Dookie album became so mainstream, but whatever, we’ll roll with it. I didn’t try this demo because it’s pointless for someone who owns no Guitar Hero peripherals to try a demo of a Rock Band game, so safe to say, this is a good one for Rock Band owners, and not much else. It needs to be mentioned, however, that this demo expires on July 13th.

We have two new games for the PSP. The first is Hexyz Force, which I previewed a couple of weeks back. I don’t really see the need to repeat myself here, but needless to say, fans of old-school JRPGs should be excited for this one. I know I am, and once we receive our review copy, I’m going to dig in. The second game is ModNation Racers PSP, which I was critical of a couple weeks ago when I played the demo. However, remember when I mentioned that this was “one for the GameFly queue”? Yeah, uh, forget that, because also available this week is the code that will be necessary for PIRATES (or anyone who buys the game used, naturally) to play the game online, or do anything requiring the internet. The cost of this online pass? FIFTEEN MOTHERFUCKING DOLLARS. OK, enough of this shit. It’s one thing when companies steal EA’s idea of Project Ten Dollar and charge money to take their games online if bought secondhand. I don’t like it, but I’m fine with it when they tell people, before the game comes out, that they have to do things this way. After all, the $5 code that THQ is requiring to play UFC Undisputed ’10 online, we had a lot of advanced notice on, and $5 doesn’t make a used game more expensive than new. Not only is the $15 Sony is charging for an online pass for a game that virtually requires online access obscene, but once again, they didn’t tell us ahead of time. “Oh, that? Yeah, we’re trying it. It’s in trial. Shut up, guinea pig. Back in your place”. What, should I be thankful that this pass only costs $15, instead of $20?

In short: ModNation Racers for PSP sucks to begin with – the controls are way too loose – and now it’s a shitty product as well. Furthermore, at this point, I have to consider any SCEA PSP game toxic now. They’re not going to be honest about what we’re buying.

Of course, the PS3 version is already seeing mods come out, including some nice little cross-promotion between MNR and Sony’s other big “mod” title, LittleBigPlanet. This is perfect for people that like ultimately paying over $100 for one game.

A PS one “Classic” came out as well, called Delta Force: Urban Warfare. The game itself isn’t even really worth a mention – it’s one of those crappy, low-budget games that came out well into the PS2′s lifespan when the only companies making PSX games were either small publishers or EA Sports – but I mention it here because this is the first classic game I can think of on the PSN that is mandated as being only for the PS3. Know that if you buy this game, you will not be able to take it on the go. I’m not sure why, though the first thing that comes to mind is that they integrated right analogue stick control into the game, which is an admitted nice touch. However, the game is crap to begin with, and I’m not throwing $6 down the tubes to find out.

The Spring Fever sale indicates this is Prince of Persia week, which means that Prince of Persia Classic is on sale for 50% off at $5. Three other games – Heracles Chariot Racing, Wakeboarding HD and Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars: Battleball Arena – are all 50% off as well. None of them are even worth the reduced price.

In terms of content, this is a decent week; some good demos, and a good new PS3 game are all nice. But I can’t avoid the soapbox when I see that it costs almost as much to take a game online as it does to buy it used nowadays, and I hate being lied to. I also don’t like that $60 doesn’t buy a new game anymore. Maybe that makes me an asshole – I’m sure I’ll hear it if it does – but at least I’m an asshole with principles. Until next time, I’m Christopher Bowen, who’s just going to go and play some old NES games and think back to a time when I was too ignorant to care about this shit.

The full Playstation Store update is under the cut.

This week Spring Fever highlights the Prince of Persia franchise. 50% off Prince of Persia Classic ($4.99 now; regular $9.99). Offer good through Monday, 5/31.

Updates

Heracles Chariot Racing Permanent Price Drop (now $2.99, original price $4.99)
Wakeboarding HD Sale (now $7.49, original price $14.99)

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars: Battleball Arena Sale (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

Downloadable Games

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype ($12.99)
Twenty years after the Virus Wars, you return to Gota IV as part of the newly formed Söldner-X defense force. Your target: to free the galaxy from the D’aarg, a technologically superior race that is threatening mankind. Staged across seven unique action-loaded levels, Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype delivers a must-have shoot ’em up experience, blending classical gameplay with astonishing audio-visuals.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.49 GB

Super Stacker ($9.99)

Who doesn’t love to play with blocks? Super Stacker is a physics puzzle game where you need to stack your blocks and keep them aloft until the timer say so! Sounds easy enough, but with 3 different play modes and over 120 puzzles you’ll have to prove you are a Super Stacker!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 76 MB

PSone Classics

Delta Force Urban Warfare ($5.99)
Playable on PS3 only (Disponibles sur PS3 seulement) After a series of successful terrorist bomb attacks and failed Delta Force operations in South America, it becomes apparent that unrelated terrorists groups are beginning to work together. Suspecting some greater cause, and unsure of who can be trusted, the Director of the CIA requests that John Carter, an experienced Delta Force operative, work alone and undercover to eliminate this threat.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 112 MB

Game Demos (free)

Green Day: Rock Band Demo
Experience Green Day like never before – as part of the band. Perform guitar, bass, drums, vocals (including 3-part harmonies) using the award-winning Rock Band technology. There are two songs available in this demo. Demo expires on July 13th.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 238 MB

Hamster Ball Unleashed Demo
Hamsterball Free Demo! Take control of a hamster-in-a-ball and run the most frenzied race of your life! The clock is ticking and EVERYTHING is out to stop you – with crazy obstacles, unexpected twists and dramatic drops, each level will challenge you in new and inventive ways! Race solo, against a friend, or battle up to six buddies in Sumo Mode. You better buckle up, ‘cause this ain’t grandma’s hamster in a wheel.

ESRB Rated E
File size: 126 MB

PixelJunk Shooter Demo
Download the PixelJunk Shooter Demo! Pilot a subterranean exploration vehicle to explore the interior of diverse cave-like complexes. The player must affect the surrounding and dynamic terrain to safely rescue survivors scattered about the cavernous environment. Both environmental elements and enemies, including bosses will attempt to hamper the player’s progress.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 55 MB

Add-on Game Content

Lost Planet 2 – Monster Hunter Armor
The ultimate Rathalos armor from the popular Monster Hunter series is now available as a customization option! Now you and your teammates can go hunting, Monster Hunter style, in Co-op Campaign mode for the most dangerous game on E.D.N. II — giant enemy Akrid!
File size: 3.65 MB

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Femme Fatales Costume Pack ($3.99)
Download the third pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Chun-Li, C.Viper, Sakura, Rose and Cammy are included. Make these gorgeous and dangerous femme fatales even more stunning! Only available for use with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 100 KB

BUZZ!: World Soccer Quiz ($5.99)

Test your knowledge on the world’s most popular sport, soccer! Start your own trivia tournament about players from around the world and see who will be crowned champion of this BUZZ!: World Soccer Quiz pack. This pack features hundreds of new questions to play in your favorite BUZZ!: Quiz TV and BUZZ!: Quiz World game modes for your PlayStation 3 system. Download this quiz pack today and turn your party into the ultimate trivia showdown.
File size: 51 MB

LittleBigPlanet – ModNation Racers Pack ($1.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the ModNation Racers Pack today and get a costume for SackBoy of the hero of ModNation Racers “Tag”! Also included in the pack are 20 ModNation Racer’s themed stickers to decorate your levels! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

ModNation Racers: Van Man Mod ($0.99)
Put some throwback style into your ModNation Racers repertoire! If you want to relive the days of denim and afros, this Van Man Mod pack lets you deck yourself out with a retro twist. This ModNation Racers Van Man Mod pack includes a fully-designed Mod, as well as several related parts and accessories for you to Create with in the Mod Studio. Download this pack today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Super Nova Kart ($0.99)
This Super Nova Kart will have you cruising around the tracks looking calm and relaxed during the over-the-top karting action in ModNation Racers! This ModNation Racers Super Nova Kart pack includes a fully-designed Kart, as well as several related parts and accessories for you to Create with in the Kart Studio. Download this pack today!
File size: 100 KB

ModNation Racers: Van Man Mod & Super Nova Kart Bundle ($1.75)
Van Man may look like a passive racer thanks to his retro style and relaxed Super Nova Kart, but don’t be fooled! Van Man knows how to speed his wheels ahead to the finish line without busting his denim! This ModNation Racers Van Man Mod AND Super Nova Kart pack includes a fully-designed Mod, Kart, as well as several related parts and accessories for you to Create with in the Mod and Kart Studios. Download this pack today!
File size: 200 KB

Burn Zombie Burn! Strategy Guide – Skinny App ($1.49)

Burn Zombie Burn! Hints and Tips from the doublesix games team including unlockables is now available through this Strategy Guide. To survive you must shoot, burn and explode as many zombies as possible before they overwhelm you. Burn Zombie Burn! is a third-person shoot ‘em-up in the classic coin-op tradition but with all new mechanics.
File size: 55 MB

Just Cause 2: Black Market ‘Boom’ Pack ($1.99)
A whole pack of must-have downloadable content to help you to cause maximum chaos by land, sea and air.
File size: 2.69 MB

UFC Undisputed 2010 Online Unlock ($4.99)
Gain access to UFC Undisputed 2010’s all-new Online Camps feature where you can form fight camps and leagues to participate in ranking and champion tracking systems. This will also unlock the Online Exhibition and Online Leaderboard features. Join forces, train like real-life UFC fighters and go online to compete against other camps in the virtual UFC world.
File size: 2.54 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 9: Rust Kit (free)
A rusty, three-piece set that contains [Rusty Sword], [Rusty Bracelet], and [Rusty Ring]. I hope you’ve had your shots…
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 10: Sexy-Kitten Kit (free)
It contains the very sexy [Black Frame], [Black Bustier], [Angel Halo], and [Angel Wing]. Try and equip your favorite girl with them.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 13: Four-Gods Kit ($0.99)

Four Gods’ four-piece set. Contains [Seiryu's Sword], [Genbu's Gauntlet], [Byakko's Bracelet], and [Suzaku's Ring]. You might be blessed with the Yellow Dragon’s aegis if you equip them all.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 14: Meu+ Koron Kit ($1.99)
Contains [E.O.M.], [Tenma Sword], [Lollipop Stick], and [Floating Stone]. Become a hero and save the world, or make it rain takoyaki. It’s all up to you!
File size: 2.33 MB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “7 Things” by Miley Cyrus ($1.99)
• “Falling Down” by Selena Gomez ($1.99)
• “Here We Go Again” by Demi Lovato ($1.99)
• Band Hero 1 Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “7 Things” by Miley Cyrus, “Falling Down” by Selena Gomez, and “Here We Go Again” by Demi Lovato. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 33 MB – 37 MB (singles), 103 MB (track pack)

Rock Band

Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “10’s” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “13 Steps To Nowhere” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “Drag The Waters” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “Floods” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “Living Through Me (Hell’s Wrath)” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “Suicide Note Pt. II” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “The Great Southern Trendkill” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “The Underground In America” – Pantera ($1.99)
• “War Nerve” – Pantera ($1.99)
• The Great Southern Trendkill (Album) ($15.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: The Great Southern Trendkill (Album).

Rock Band Network

• “A Little Faster” by There For Tomorrow ($1.99)
• “Being Here” by The Stills ($0.99)
• “Juke Joint Jezebel” by KMFDM ($1.99)
• “The Complexity Of Light” by Children of Nova ($1.99)
• “We Are Not Anonymous” by Unearth ($0.99)

File size: 16 MB – 44 MB (singles), 363 MB (track pack)

Avatars

PAIN Avatars (x10) ($0.49 each)
File size: 100 KB (each)

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Avatars (x10) ($0.49 each)
File size: 100 KB (each)

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Avatar Pack (x2) ($1.49 each)
File size: 500 KB (each)

Super Street Fighter IV Avatars (x4) ($0.49 each)
File size: 100 KB – 125 KB

Game Videos (free)

Bioshock 2 – Kill ‘Em Kindly Trailer
File size: 50 MB (HD)

Bioshock 2 – Rapture Metro Trailer
File size: 76 MB (HD)

True Crime Hong Kong Reveal Trailer
File size: 58 MB (HD), 96 MB (1080)

3D Dot Game Heroes Minigame Rap Trailer

File size: 32 MB

Iron Man 2 – Launch Trailer
File size: 70 MB (HD)

Iron Man 2 – Prologue Trailer
File size: 120 MB (HD)

ModNation Racers: Spotlight: Jesse Hernandez
File size: 163 MB (HD), 275 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers: “The Starting Gate” Trailer
File size: 80 MB (HD), 134 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers: Kevin Butler Commerical
File size: 24 MB (HD), 38 MB (1080)

The Fight: Lights Out Video
File size: 110 MB (HD) 189 MB (1080)

Sport Champions – Zindagi Games Video

File size: 118 MB (HD), 204 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Mafia II: Official Theme (free)
File size: 4.05 MB

Wallpapers

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Wallpaper 1
File size: 99 KB (SD), 484 KB (1080)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Wallpaper 2
File size: 149 KB (SD), 708 KB (1080)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Wallpaper 3
File size: 206 KB (SD) 849 KB (1080)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Wallpaper 4
File size: 228 KB (SD), 1.06 MB (1080)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Hexyz Force ($29.99)
An unrivaled value for your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system! With graphics, animation and load times all optimized for the PSP system, this classic-styled RPG crams even more value into the game by offering gamers two epic storylines in one game. Play as Cecilia, a young Cleric who is handed great responsibility, or Levant, a gallant knight who is swept up in a war that spans empires. Fate has chosen its champions, now it is your turn.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 564 MB

ModNation Racers ($29.99)

It’s creative kart racing on the go! ModNation Racers PSP lets you create your own racing experiences anywhere you go. With unparalleled creative tools, make your own characters, customize karts, and design tracks on the fly. Test your racing skills in single player mode and race against a wacky yet fierce cast of characters on over-the-top tracks! Challenge others both online and offline, then share creations for endless fun. Download it now!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.06 GB

Pinball Heroes Bundle 2 ($9.99)
Slamming back into your PSP system is the all new Pinball Heroes Bundle 2! Featuring 4 all new tables from your favorite PlayStation games: ModNation Racers, Fat Princess, WipEout and MotorStorm!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 98.3 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

VT Tennis – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 27 MB

Robin Hood: The Return Of Richard – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 53 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Sack Circus Extravaganza Costume (free)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. LittleBigPlanet’s critically acclaimed “PLAY, CREATE, SHARE” experience, makes its way to the PSP system with a completely new Sackboy adventure. Start clowning around with this crazy new clown costume. Download this free costume from the Sack Circus Extravaganza Pack. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.46 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Sack Circus Extravaganza Pack ($2.99)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. The extraordinary Sack Circus Extravaganza Pack offers 4 fantastic costumes, and 12 great new stickers to give your levels all the razzmatazz they need. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.5 MB

BUZZ! Quiz World: World Soccer Quiz ($2.99)

Test your knowledge on the world’s most popular sport, soccer! Start your own trivia tournament about players from around the world and see who will be crowned champion of this BUZZ!: World Soccer Quiz pack. This pack features hundreds of new questions about soccer to play in any of your favorite BUZZ! Quiz World game modes for your PSP or PSPgo system. Download this quiz pack today and turn your party into the ultimate trivia showdown.
File size: 32 MB

ModNation Racers PSP Online Entitlement ($14.99)
The Online Entitlement is used to activate the Online and Infrastructure features of the ModNation Racers game for the PSP system. For those purchasing the game second-hand, the entitlement will also need to be purchased and entered into a PSN account prior to activating the Infrastructure and Online features.
File size: N/A

Game Videos (free)

3D Dot Game Heroes Promo #5 PSP Trailer
File size: 4.37 MB

ModNation Racers: Spotlight: Jesse Hernandez
File Size: 27 MB

ModNation Racers: “The Starting Gate” Trailer
File Size: 13 MB

ModNation Racers: Kevin Butler Commercial
File Size: 3.63 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

UFC PSP Theme (US Only) ($1.49)
File size: 547 KB

Non-Game Themes: Nightmare Before Christmas ($1.49)
File size: 437 KB

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http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/psnlogo.jpg

Give Sony and their third party developers credit: today, they said “you want demos? HERE HAVE SOME DEMOS!”. FOUR playable demos are available, all for the PS3! That’s enough to make me start this piece well into Wednesday morning. Add those onto some other big releases, and we have an absolutely LOADED PSN update.

The most notable demo is for the PS3 version of ModNation Racers. I was critical of the PSP demo last week, but this one is much better from a gameplay perspective; it’s not nearly as loose as the PSP demo. One thing I did notice – a lot – was that the catch-up logic was unreal. I had times where I got hit by one weapon after another after another after another in the last lap of a race, and went from first to eighth with no way to come back. If you hated Mario Kart’s blue shells, you will DESPISE this game. With that said, what little I was able to gleam from the *extremely* limited demo indicates that there’s a powerful track editor that *might* let you send any creations over to the main game, and that the game has a fair bit of personality to it. However, the demo was very small; you could only edit one track, one rider, and couldn’t see a lot of what was in the main game, even on the editing side. I should rename this demo “Not Available In This Version”, and I feel they could have given us a *somewhat* better look. Regardless, kart racing fans should look into the demo at least.

The second big demo was for Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’11. This was a much more fleshed out demo, as EA is known to do. The Ryder Cup is in this year’s game, and the demo actually simulate a quick one with three holes from Celtic Manor, which was nice. Furthermore, to tout the new XP system, all XP gained in the demo will transfer over to the full game, which makes your created golfer better. They’re making “drop XP on whatever you want!” sound like it’s an amazing system, but I remember things like this working in the 16 bit era. What I’m really interested in is how they’re going to get some semblance of balance back into the game. Playing online in Tiger Woods has been useless for years unless you routinely shoot into the 50s – yes, 50s – because the game has been exploited to death. The new “focus” bar is looking to improve that, as it looks to ensure that people only power boost, add spin or boost their accuracy at opportune times. Unfortunately, I can see this meaning that everyone either 1) purchases DLC to make their golfer super orgasmic out of the box, or 2) just takes Tiger Woods. I’ve not been high on the Tiger Woods series in years – not one game we’ve seen on the new systems has been as good as ’06 on the PS2, at least to anyone actually paying attention – and I’m not 100% sure this is going to break the trend. It’s a nice try by EA, at least.

Third, we have a demo for a game that was also released this week, a rarity on the PSN: a demo for Rocket Knight. I remember picking up the original Rocket Knight Adventures for the Genesis recently, figuring it was just another mascot game from the 90s. It was absolutely amazing; well put together, colourful, full of personality, and challenging. It was a great game, and Konami’s brought it back. This time around, your character is easier to control, and I flew through the demo – two full stages! Hear that, Square-Enix? – in no time. I definitely want more. I am not sure really how else to describe how games like this work, but imagine a really good arcade game from the early 90s – if you’re too young to remember that, picture how all of us talk about the arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and use your imagination – and there you go. It’s $15 to purchase the whole game, and I will be doing so.

The fourth demo is Iron Man 2, which is for a game that’s already out. Unsurprisingly, A.J. Hess didn’t review it highly.

Another PS3 game being released this week is The Price is Right. For $10, you’re basically buying the Wii version of last year’s game. Unfortunately, The Price is Right 2010 is a much better game, adding a lot of TPIR games into the mix; as it is, there’s only 19 pricing games in this version (each show features six of them), and though it’s nice to have video and show highlights of older shows, a lot of those can be found on Youtube, or even on CBS’s website for the newer version. I’m not one of those people that MUST watch TPIR with Bob Barker hosting, but the initial Wii version wasn’t very good. However, that version initially sold for $40; at $10, if you’ll excuse a lazy line, the price might be right for most.

It also should be noted that Sam & Max: The Tomb of Sammun Mak is out for those that bought the collection. Again, this is not something one can individually purchase; you have to purchase the entire collection, or nothing at all. Mohamed Al-Saadoon gave a somewhat positive write-up to this episode.

Lo and behold, we also have a PS one Classic, and it’s not a crappy casual game that came out at the end of the system’s lifespan! In fact, it’s a big name! Unfortunately, anyone picking up Bomberman Fantasy Race thinking it’s going to be another classic Bomberman game is going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, this is a racing title where you ride an animal to the finish line. The controls are very spotty, and while it’s nice to have an unlimited supply of bombs to attack with, the controls screw everything up so hard that it’s hard to get any real fun out of this title. This is for serious racing or Bomberman fans only, though those two audiences are mutually exclusive for the most part.

On the PSP, we have a BIG name release: Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. This is a return to the Sands of Time canon, which happens to coincide directly with the new movie. Metacritic’s been somewhat tepid on it, but I’m hearing a lot of scuttlebutt from other DHGF staffers – i.e., people I trust – who are saying that it’s very good. It should be noted that the biggest complaint I’m hearing about this game is that it’s too much like The Sands of Time, so if a direct sequel to that is your thing, this is worth the money. Though, for $40, I would look for a UMD version before downloading a 508MB game.

In terms of sales and price drops, the Spring Fever sale is for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, at 50% off for $7.50. Anyone who doesn’t own this by now should; it’s a great way to bring back a classic, especially for online gamers. The single player AI is a bit goofy – bad case of Mortal Kombat Syndrome – but if you like playing against others, this is easily worth the money. I have a suspicion that anyone who wants to own this owns it by now, but one warning for those that don’t: get an arcade stick if at all possible. You will not be competitive with the fanatical online players if you do not. Also, two classic Williams arcade games are available at permanent price drops: Joust and Championship Sprint are both $2. These are great prices for these games, though the ports are pretty bare-bones. Since the minimum PSN purchase is $5, I recommend putting aside money for these when buying something else.

Four demos! A PS3 game for the causals! A not totally sucky PS one game! A big PSP release! What a week! Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who is ignoring all of this in favour of the surprisingly good Last Rebellion.

The full PSN update is under the cut.

This week Spring Fever celebrates the Street Fighter Franchise. 50% off Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ($7.49; reg. $14.99). Offer good through Monday, 5/24.

Updates

Joust Permanent Price Drop (now $1.99, original price $4.99)
Championship Sprint Permanent Price Drop (now $1.99, original price $4.99)

Dynogems Sale (now $1.99, original price $2.99) *Offer good through Monday, 6/7

Downloadable Games

Rocket Knight ($14.99)
Sparkster makes his triumphant arrival on next-gen consoles with Rocket Knight, the newest entry in the beloved 2-D side-scrolling rocket action series. Our favorite opossum hero returns home after 15 years to find the kingdom of Zephyrus in shambles. Use your wits and Sparkster’s trusty rocket pack to dodge and defeat a menacing wolf army threatening the lives of the people.
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 429 MB

The Price Is Right ($9.99)

Come on down to play the fabulous Price Is Right game! Feel the thrill of playing in Contestant’s Row and through different pricing game challenges, including Plinko, Cliff Hangers and Punch-A-Bunch and many more of your favorites. Try your luck as you spin the Big Wheel for the chance fabulous prizes and a huge pay-off at the Showcase! Featuring authentic theme music, stages and Rich Fields’ announcer audio create a true-to-show experience!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 890 MB

“Sam & Max” Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak (free with purchase of Episode 1)
Epic 5 Game Saga
After facing a pillaging primate from outer space in the series premiere, Sam & Max cross paths with even stranger characters in this episode — their own great-grandparents! In this game, the strange Devil’s Toybox at the center of the trouble grants even greater and stranger powers, in a mystery with a transcontinental-railway whodunnit and a true riddle of the ages – one that only Max’s new emerging psychic gifts may solve.

ESRB Rated T
File size: 482 MB

PSone Classics

Bomberman Fantasy Race ($5.99)
Race at the biggest amusement station in the Galaxy and compete against wacky animals. Download this PS one Classic today!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 149 MB

Game Demos (free)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 Demo
Play the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 demo and collect Experience Points to hit the ground running with your golfer in the full version! Plus, collect even more Experience Points by sharing with friends. Within the demo, play 3 holes on 2 brand new courses, Liberty National and Celtic Manor, and also experience 2 brand new features – customizable Ryder Cup matches and a brand new game mode called True Aim. Screens featuring the myriad of new features for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 are also included. Download today!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.68 GB

Rocket Knight Trial
Sparkster makes his triumphant arrival on next-gen consoles with Rocket Knight, the newest entry in the beloved 2-D side-scrolling rocket action series. Our favorite opossum hero returns home after 15 years to find the kingdom of Zephyrus in shambles. Use your wits and Sparkster’s trusty rocket pack to dodge and defeat a menacing wolf army threatening the lives of his people. Download this demo now!
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 429 MB

Iron Man 2 Demo
Download the Iron Man 2 demo. Suit up as Iron Man or War Machine. Check out THEIR incredible firepower and powerful NEW melee moves as you take on EPIC enemies from the Roxxon corporation. Full game out now!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 1.53 GB

ModNation Racers Demo
Be among the first to test drive ModNation Racers on the PS3 system! In this free demo you’ll experience kart racing for a new generation as you boost, drift, and race your way through the Alpine Drop track, and with up to 4 player offline split screen. Plus, preview the game’s revolutionary Creation Station tools! Create your own Mods, Karts, and Tracks which can be saved and imported to the full game later! Download this free demo today!
ESRB Rated E

File size: 985 MB

Add-on Game Content

Dragon Age: Origins – Darkspawn Chronicles ($4.99)
The city of Denerim, jewel of Ferelden, girds itself for war. As a hurlock vanguard, you alone hold the power to make thralls of your fellow darkspawn and drive them into the heat of battle. Heed the archdemon’s call–Denerim must burn!
File size: 341 MB

Split/Second – All Vehicle Unlock ($2.49)

Instantly unlock all Split/Second vehicles and get a full garage without needing to win any credits in season mode!
File size: 5.47 MB

Split/Second – Time Savers Pack ($4.99)
Unlock all vehicles, game modes & tracks for the ultimate Split/Second experience! Instant access to all the explosive game content!
File size: 5.47 MB

Split Second – All Track And Mode Unlock ($2.49)
Unlock all track & modes without playing through Season Mode. An instant collection of all content for Quick Play and Online racing!

File size: 5.47 MB

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Specact Assault Kit Upgrade Pack ($1.99)
Special Activities Unit. Unique uniform and a camouflaged M16A2 gives you a visual edge on the Battlefield. The pack also includes 3 new awards and one Trophy.
File size: 100 KB

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Specact Engineer Kit Upgrade Pack ($1.99)
Unique SPECACT uniform and a camouflaged UMP-45 gives you a visual edge on the Battlefield. The pack also includes 3 new awards and one Trophy.
File size: 100 KB

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Specact Medic Kit Upgrade Pack ($1.99)

Unique SPECACT uniform and a camouflaged MG3 gives you a visual edge on the Battlefield. The pack also includes 3 new awards and one Trophy.
File size: 100 KB

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Specact Recon Kit Upgrade Pack ($1.99)
Unique SPECACT uniform and a camouflaged M95 SNIPER gives you a visual edge on the Battlefield. The pack also includes 3 new awards and one Trophy.
File size: 100 KB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 7: Academics-And-Sports Kit (free)
Contains [Magic Blade], which increases both magical power and physical damage; [Partisan] and [Battle Frame], which dramatically increase physical damage; and [Shiny Fang], which is used for combining items.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 8: Power Up+ (free)
Assorted items that are more powerful than the generic [Power Up]. Contains two each of [STR UP+], [VIT Up+], [INT Up+], [AGI Up+], [LUK Up+], and [Max. HP Up+]. Just wait until you use them!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 11: Massacre Kit ($0.99)
Assorted equipment that raises certain abilities to superhuman levels. Contains [Magic Hand], [Vajra Rod], [Carrot Sword], [Madu], [Ymir's Claw], and [Hidden Seeker].
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 12: Animal Kit ($0.99)

Contains [Chicken Emblem], [Hiyoko Charm], [Mugen's Claw], [Sarnga], [Soul Sucker], and [Revive]. Perhaps this will show you what it feels like to be an animal.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 3: Reinforcement Point Pack ($4.99)
A set containing 500,000G and a whole lot of ability points (500PP, 5,000TP, and 250,000EP). Is this what you need to become invincible?
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 4: Additional G+Ep ($3.49)
It’s a bonus package of G and EP with a whopping 5,000,000G and 1,000,000EP! EP points can be used for equipment and to reinforce active skills. With this, you can upgrade your characters however you want!
File size: 2.33 MB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Livin’ On The Edge” by Aerosmith ($1.99)
• “Love In An Elevator” by Aerosmith ($1.99)
• “Rag Doll” by Aerosmith ($1.99)
• Aerosmith Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Livin’ On The Edge”, “Love In An Elevator”, and “Rag Doll” by Aerosmith. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 42 MB – 59 MB (singles), 156 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Beat It On Down The Line” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• “Cumberland Blues” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• “Scarlet Begonias” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• “Throwing Stones” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• “Touch Of Grey” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• “U.S. Blues” – Grateful Dead ($1.99)
• Grateful Dead Pack 03 ($9.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: Grateful Dead Pack 03. This pack includes “Beat It On Down The Line”, “Cumberland Blues”, “Scarlet Begonias”, “Throwing Stones”, “Touch Of Grey”, and “U.S. Blues” by Grateful Dead.
• “A Girl Like You” – The Smithereens ($1.99)
• “Only A Memory” – The Smithereens ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Days Without” by All That Remains ($1.99)
• “Energy” by The Apples in Stereo ($0.99)
• “He Sleeps In A Grove” by Amberian Dawn ($1.99)
• “Sequestered In Memphis” by The Hold Steady Fake ($1.99)
• “Talk About” by Dear And The Headlights ($0.99)

File size: 17 – 60 MB (singles), 204 MB (track pack)

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 5/18 Edition

File size: 252 MB (HD), 438 MB (1080)

Brink: Container City Preview Part 1 Trailer
File size: 187 MB (HD)

Brink: Container City Preview Part 2 Trailer
File size: 176 MB (HD)

Brink: Container City Preview Part 3 Trailer
File size: 190 MB (HD)

Brink: Freedom Of Movement Trailer
File size: 162 MB (HD)

Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Trailer
File size: 80 MB (HD)

Dante’s Inferno – Trial Of St. Lucia Editor Trailer
File size: 207 MB (HD)

Dante’s Inferno – Trial Of St. Lucia Trailer

File size: 50 MB (HD)

Dragon Age: Origins – Darkspawn Chronicles Trailer
File size: 39 MB (HD)

Blacklight: Tango Down – Madness Of War Trailer
File size: 62 MB (HD)

The Price Is Right Trailer
File size: 15 MB

Lead And Gold Gangs Of The Wild West Release Trailer
File size: 45 MB (HD)

After Burner Climax Launch Trailer
File size: 32 MB (HD)

Section 8 Tutorial Video Trailer
File size: 75 MB, 205 MB (HD), 367 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers – Hero Showdown Trailer

File size: 80 MB (HD), 135 MB (1080)

ModNation Racers PSP – Behind the Scenes
File size: 165 MB (HD), 280 MB (1080)

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Teaser Trailer
File size: 45 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Non-Game Themes: Phineas And Ferb Premium Theme ($1.49)

File size: 3.77 MB

Non-Game Themes: Surrogates Theme ($1.49)
File size: 6.4 MB

Beach Breeze Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 3.03 MB

Desert Sunset Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 3.77 MB

Mountain Escape Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 3.97 MB

DP Space Odyssey Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 4.81 MB

Music

echochrome Soundtrack ($2.99)

File size: 71 MB

echochrome Piano Remixes Soundtrack ($2.99)
File size: 45 MB

echochrome Soundtrack Bundle ($4.99)
Download a bundle featuring the original soundtrack with 13 tracks, plus the Piano Remixes with six additional tracks, and receive a special bonus.
File size: 1.78 GB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands ($39.99)
This new installment in the critically-acclaimed franchise marks the return to the Prince of Persia Sands of Time storyline. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands includes many of the fan-favorite elements from the original series as well as new side-scrolling gameplay innovations designed for the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. With Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, choose your power and unleash your destiny!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 508 MB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Manic Monkey Mayhem – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E

File size: 16 MB

Supermarket Mania – Minis ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 36 MB

Add-on Game Content (PSP) (also available from PS3 Storefront)

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Turbo! Level Kit ($5.99)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. Put the pedal to the metal with this massive vehicle-based pack. Race, battle and bounce your way through six completely new levels. And the fun doesn’t stop there, with hundreds more bits and pieces to fill your Popit, you can create turbo-powered vehicular contraptions of your very own. NOTE: Manual Update required

File size: 1.15 MB

The Eye Of Judgement – Card Expansion Pack Volume 3 ($1.99)
Expand your digital card collection with the third add-on card pack! Give your duels an upper hand with 5 unique cards not found in the full game, including rare and ultra rare cards. Add these cards to your deck for unique combinations to win battles against the computer, or head-to-head online against other players. Unlike other cards, these can’t be traded or earned any other way. Download the add-on cards today!
File size: 1.51 MB

BUZZ! Quiz World PSP: National Geographic: Undersea ($3.99)
The world famous National Geographic archives brings you the ultimate quiz on aquatic trivia. This BUZZ! Quiz World quiz pack for your PSP or PSPgo system features hundreds of new questions about everything undersea to play in any of your favorite BUZZ! Quiz World game modes. Download this quiz pack today and turn your party into the ultimate trivia showdown.
File size: 98 MB

Game Videos (free)

3D Dot Game Heroes Full PSP Trailer
File size: 7.87 MB

Pulse 5/18 Edition
File size: 42 MB

ModNation Racers – Hero Showdown Trailer
File size: 14 MB

ModNation Racers PSP – Behind The Scenes Trailer

File size: 26 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Non-Game Themes: Surrogates Theme ($1.49)
File size: 507 KB

Non-Game Themes: Alice In Wonderland Premium Theme ($1.49)
File size: 597 KB

Non-Game Themes: Tinker Bell And The Lost Treasure Theme ($1.49)

File size: 610 KB

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http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/psnlogo.jpg

When the first game came out, back when the game’s title referenced the famous Dark Knight, NIS’s last minute decision to pull the plug on a UMD release loomed over its release, even as its oddball gameplay caught the attention of a niche but devoted audience. In spite of any controversy, the game seems to have done well enough for itself, as the demo for the second game came out last December, portending its coming. However, the first game and the demo for this game were taken down temporarily and the release of the full game delayed to accommodate a strongly worded (to say the least) request for a name change. Those who still have the version with the old name, then, have a collector’s item (or would, if digital copies could be traded or sold secondhand).

Let’s see how well the game formerly known as Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! 2: Time to Tighten Up Security measures up to its predecessor.

Like in the first game, What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? 2 – henceforth referred to as My Lord 2 – places you in the role of the God of Destruction (depicted as a pickaxe), who has just been woken up by Badman. From then on, he serves as your own personal adviser, as well as the one you constantly have to protect from invading heroes. This time, you travel to five different continents on the surface (no land must remain unconquered, after all) and conquer them all one by one so that the Overlord Castle can rise up from the water and loom menacingly over those mere mortals in a grand show of dominance. The quirky humor and pop culture and RPG references return, with such names as “Byson’s Punch Out”, “She’s Just a Girl, the Girl U Want”, and “Firlion”; there’s even a allusion to Albert Camus and his famous book The Stranger (NISA sure covers all their bases). Naturally, they’ll only be funny if you understand those references, and NIS did a good job in coming up with jokes and references that would make sense to and be amusing for those outside of Japan.

In terms of modes, you’ve got Story mode, which is self explanatory, Training mode, where you can learn the basics and tackle various challenge missions, and a brand new one in Badman’s Chamber. There’s a Downloaded Stories section in Story mode, though nothing is available as of yet. However, I imagine NIS will rectify that sometime in the future. Challenges can range from beating a stage with very little dig power to creating a certain amount of a specific monster to keeping your Battle Power below a certain threshold while still managing to defeat a hero. In addition to those, there’s now the aforementioned Badman’s Chamber mode, which acts as a sandbox wherein you can set how much nutrients and mana are in the soil, which monsters will emerge (you can only select monsters you’ve already unlocked), and how much dig power you’ve got (which you can set it to infinite if you wish). You can even add more monsters without digging, though you can only do so with monsters you picked before creating the dungeon. It’s useful for when you want to brush up on how the ecosystem works, experiment with mutations (more on that in a bit) and dungeon layouts, and just sit back and watch your monsters go about their business without any impudent interruptions. You can save your creation and load it up whenever you feel like it. It’s like having your own personal virtual demonic antfarm – charming, isn’t it? Of course, if you feel like siccing your monsters on some hapless heroes, you can do that as well – can’t let a perfectly good dungeon and legion of monsters go to waste, after all.

The graphics look identical to the ones in the first game, save for some new sprites and corresponding animations. The retro 8-bit style fits the nature of the game, so there wasn’t a real need of an overhaul in that area, and their quirky style still work well. That’s not to say there weren’t any additions on the graphical front. The little live feed box that pops up from time to time when heroes are in the dungeon helps you keep track of what’s going outside your field of vision, and the heroes’ scrolling comments are amusing to read. You can also turn these off, if you prefer. You can also see what kinds of monsters can be summoned in the loading screen when you start an area. The soundtrack received some new tracks as well, with each continent having its own theme. The tunes from the previous game return as well. However, oftentimes you’ll be hearing the same songs a lot, and while they never become grating, you’ll probably stop noticing it after a while, mainly due to all the multitasking you’ll be doing (ah, such is the life of a destructive misanthropic god). Badman retains his sniveling gibberish, and the heroes shout out random babbling as they make their way through your dungeon, which actually suits the overall feel of the game more than full voice acting would.

The flow of this game is much like the first game, though a number of mechanics have been added or tweaked. For the uninitiated, here’s a basic rundown: you dig underground to develop a self-sustaining ecosystem and build up an army with which to repel and crush intruding heroes before they reach Badman and invade his privacy (no, not like that) while dragging him kicking and screaming to the surface. It’s a ruthless circle of life in there, with the strong feeding off the weak; those higher on the food chain pyramid feed on those lower than them, and those on the bottom of said pyramid absorb nutrients or mana from surrounding blocks of dirt and distribute them into the adjacent blocks. Mushrooms also sprout up randomly, and poking them with the pickaxe will disperse mana (blue mushrooms) or nutrients (green mushrooms). The color of the soil and amount of nutrients and mana it contains determine what monster will emerge when you dig it with the pickaxe. Once a monster has sufficiently gorged itself on the flesh of its fellow inhabitants, it will lay an egg and reproduce (well, they ones with the equipment to do so, anyway). In addition, some creatures – namely Wookiemons, Golems, and Ladies – also give your other monsters a boost or hamper heroes, either through an ability or just by existing. Aren’t symbiotic relationships grand?

That being said, you can’t just dig pell-mell; you’re limited by the amount of Dig Power you have remaining, and the only way you can get more Dig Power is by beating a stage, so you have to make every dig count. In addition, there’s a new tool in your arsenal: Dungeonquake. When activated, mutations are canceled, and heroes become stunned. This consumes Dig Power, however, so use it only when you really need to and have Dig Power to spare. Dig Power has another use: after each stage, you can invest some Dig Power into a monster type to level them up. While it makes those monsters stronger, it also leaves you with less Dig Power for the next stage, so choose wisely. Like everything in life, however, there’s a catch: after you beat a continent or challenge, you lose the upgrades. Sorry, them’s the breaks. Where you dig matters as well, as what monster emerges from a rune depends on which level of soil the rune is dug out.

Monsters can now mutate, depending on the environment in your dungeon, the ratio of monster types, and the ratio at which they increase and die. The game will announce when a monster is about to mutate. You can mutate your monsters by starving them (you sadist you), which will result in giant breeds. Giant breeds sometimes eat each other and gain more power and vitality, as well as change color and split into two when they have enough nutrients or mana. However, because of this cannibalization, it’s difficult for them to multiply, and they’re also slower. Abnormal breeds, on the other hand, are highly reproductive and can inflicit status effects like paralysis and poison, but they have weak attack power and little vitality. They come out whenever their regular types are being eaten by predators to the point of near extinction. However, if a pure breed emerges, that’s a warning that the creatures can’t handle their environment much longer, and they don’t reproduce or eat. If they mutate again, they revert to their regular types. Each time a monster is born, your Battle Level (how strong your army is) rises; the stronger the monsters, the higher the Battle Level. At the end of each stage, you receive a rank ranging from D to S (with S being the highest) based on how much Dig Power you have remaining, how high your Battle Level got, and how long it took you to beat the stage.

Of course, it’s impossible to forget those bellicose heroes, who come along and cause a clusterfluster in your meticulously constructed dungeon. Vexingly, heroes can now set save flags, meaning that when they’re killed, they’ll revive at the place they put down the save flag. Luckily, a poke of the pickaxe handily takes care of that problem, as well as most of the other things they litter the dungeon with. The only thing the pickaxe can’t touch are torches, which heals the heroes’ HP (curses). The pickaxe also can’t touch the monsters heroes summons. While it gets confusing when those summons mixed in with your monsters, you can generally tell which is which by the fact that they’re attacked your monsters, not the hero. Heroes’ motivation (indicated by an arrow to the left of their names) lowers as they wander the dungeon, use skills, and are pummeled by monsters; the less motivation they have, the more they lean towards support skills. Conversely, the more motivation they have, the more aggressive the skills they use. However, Lady-type monsters can slow the rate at which their motivation increases. Killing heroes (and monsters dying) will cause mana and nutrients to be distributed in the surrounding soil.

Is all of this making your head spin? Fear not, for the all-knowing Almanac can be consulted at any time whenever you pause the game. Thanks to Badman’s Chamber, you can also hone your dungeon growing skills unfettered. The training missions provide you with a good introduction to various aspects of gameplay, though if you’ve played the first game you won’t need to do much adjusting for this game (except perhaps triggering certain mutations).

There’s a lot more this time around, and you could theoretically play forever trying to improve your rank, go through stages in different ways, and tinkering in Badman’s Chamber creating different dungeon layouts and monsters. There’s also completing the Almanac and unlocking every monster. Even if you build your dungeon the exact same way, your army won’t be quite the same as last time, which keeps things from feeling monotonous. This also helps making retrying areas less tedious, which you likely will end up doing at some point (trust me on that). Still, even when I failed a stage, I kept wanting to tackle it again so as to conquer it and go on to the next stage. There were times when I got tired of trying to get through an area in Story mode and would attempt the Challenge missions instead. Since those come with less commitment and a strict time limit, and finishing one often provided enough motivation/inspiration to face that troublesome area again.

One issue with the first My Lord game was that you had no way to save any progress, which is particularly demoralizing when you’d gotten far in an area only to be squashed. However, this time around, you can save anytime by choosing “Quit Game”, which will save the state of your dungeon as paused data. However, once you load that save, it’s gone, so you can still end up having to replay an area should you fail. Still, it’s a big help if you need to stop suddenly, and while failing a stage will still sting, being able to retain some of your progress (you can save between areas as well) takes away some of said sting.

While the game seems easy enough to play on the surface, there’s a lot of micromanagement involved, and understanding the underlying mechanics of mana/nutrient distribution and mutation is essential to using them to their full efficacy and your advantage. You also have to keep an eye on multiple things and constantly turning gears to keep the ecosystem going. The two main factors that contribute to your odds of emerging victorious are balance and strength in numbers. However, forming a concrete strategy can get difficult, as the randomness of the monsters’ behavior can throw off any plans you may be trying to put into action, and triggering a particular mutation can turn into a waiting game. You’re also dependent on the whims of those that form the base of the food pyramid. There were times when I’d go to dig up a block with the monster I wanted, only for a Spirit/Slimemoss to absorb enough nutrients/mana from that block that a different monster came out instead. Observation, learning which way a hero tends to head first, and trial and error will also help you through those tough stages, but it can still take a few tries and a little luck to break that wall.

Given that this is a sequel, it’s not quite as much of a groundbreaker as its antecedent, since that already blazed the trail. However, this did build up on a lot of aspects from the first game, and there’s not much out there that plays similarly to this. The mutations add variety to your fiendish army and help the ecosystem feel more alive. The nature of the game screamed for a sandbox mode that would allow you to build and observe an ecosystem without worry of any dastardly heroes trampling it, and thankfully that was bestowed upon us in the form of Badman’s Chamber.

The quirky nature of this game limits the scope of its appeal to various demographics. Being able to retain some of your progress and the sandbox mode makes this a bit more user-friendly. In addition, the fact that the game is now available on UMD as well as on PSN gives it much needed exposure and accessibility since it’s more widely available. The fact that the UMD version comes with the first game sweetens the deal, and those that didn’t pick up the first game can have both games in one package – handy, right? However, not everyone will have the patience to acclimate themselves with the way the ecology, mutations, and heroes’ attack patterns all work. Furthermore, those that didn’t take to the first game probably won’t find this to be their cup of tea either, despite the new features.

It seems NIS listens to its fans well, because even though their offer to put the first My Lord game on UMD fell through due to an insufficient amount of preorders, they still decided to offer this game in both UMD and digital formats, thus pleasing everyone (and hopefully this was also a positive indication of how well the first game did). As a bonus, the UMD version of this game also includes the first game. If you input the code “L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R” in the UMD version, you’ll unlock the first game. However, doing so in the digital version just earns you a long and somewhat amusing lecture from Badman. On top of that, if you have clear data from the original game, you can unlock more challenges, which provides some incentive to play through the first game as well.

The Scores
Story/Modes: Good
Graphics: Above Average
Sound: Above Average
Control and Gameplay: Very Good
Replayability: Great
Balance: Above Average
Originality: Very Good
Addictiveness: Great
Appeal Factor: Poor
Miscellaneous: Very Good
FINAL SCORE: GOOD GAME

Short Attention Span Summary:
What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? 2 took what was good about the first game and built onto it. The dual format release curtails the controversy that plagued the first game, thus making everyone happy. However, the learning curve is just as steep if you haven’t played the first game, and not everyone will want to try to transverse it. Those who stick it out will have their efforts rewarded.
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For those of you who saw the name “Sting” and started thinking of Riviera,Yggdra Union and Knights in the Nightmare, cue either a sad groan or relief, depending on your tastes, because Hexyz Force is a lot more vanilla than those older games. That will actually come as a relief around these parts; Lucard and I both hated Riviera, and I wasn’t too high on Yggdra Union, either. What I see when I watch Hexyz Force in action is something closer to Crimson Gem Saga, which I loved. It’s a bit more traditional as far as JRPGs go, with the caveat being two different stories, each of them taking 25 hours each.

In Hexyz Force, the main story is that the Emperor Alex has gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and wants to eliminate all non-human races. His subordinate, Levant von Schweitzer, does not approve of this, but is reproached by his emperor, and scheduled for execution when the story cuts the player in. While not exactly inspired, the story does set up both perspectives. The stories are that of Levant, which puts you right into the thick of things from the start, and of Cecilia Armaclite, a 17 year old cleric that has been described by the developers as “naive” and an “airhead”. My Weeaboo Sense is screaming “TOKEN MOE ALERT! TOKEN MOE ALERT!”, though in the context of this game, this perspective is welcomed at first when contrasted with Levant’s more serious tone. Though the stories cross paths at a few points, they’re separate for the most part, and show the story as two sides to the same big plot. This is an interesting idea, as well as the main selling point of the game, and it will be interesting if Sting accomplishes their goal of having the quests be separate enough to go through each one. It should be noted here that Atlus have told me that there will be a New Game + option.

Sting and Atlus have made a big deal about making this game more playable for short bursts of gameplay. They made the R trigger a speed-up button that speeds up battles, walking, and text, for people that might need to get to a save point ASAP to avoid burning their battery out, or who are coming up on a bus stop. This is a nice feature, but one glaring omission for me was the fact that a quick save/field save option wasn’t put in. There’s also not much in the way of load times, though they can be completely mitigated by either installing the game from the UMD or purchasing the game via the PSN, making for a very smooth experience. This is positive for someone who still has memories of Last Remnant, and especially positive on a handheld format. Furthermore, the install is only about 80MB, which is great for people with small memory sticks that don’t have a lot of space left, like Aileen.

The battles revolve around standard JRPG elements such as selecting actions that date back to Dragon Quest, but the innovation here is an element system that strengthens a gauge at the top right of the screen based on what the element is; if you chain elements together, that gauge strengthens until someone – either you or an enemy – breaks that chain, getting a stronger attack. This adds a level of risk/reward to combat; do you continue to add to the chain, knowing your enemy could use that against you, or do you break it early and go conservatively? Other than that, Hexyz Force seems pretty vanilla. There are skills that can be developed, but they’re tied to weapons instead of to characters. There are also no real shops; items are developed by combining elements and other smaller items together in what sounds suspiciously like an alchemy system to me. I’m not a fan of them, but that’s a minor complaint. One thing I did find interesting is the use of FP, which counts as currency, skill points, and heal points all in one. This seems limiting, but I can see the strategic implications.

In terms of story progression, there is a morality system in place that changes the ending, depending on choices made throughout the game. Most of the time in other games, the choices are so black or white that you have to be trying to get a bad ending, with choices that amount to “save the world” or “kill small puppies”. The people at Atlus gave me an assurance that the morality system in Hexyz Force won’t be so cut-and-dry, which we’ll have to see for ourselves.

Hexyz Force comes out on May 25, 2010. It will retail for $29.99, in both UMD and downloadable versions. There will be no “spoils” with the UMD versions, such as a soundtrack or any of the goodies that Persona came with; Atlus made it clear that they wanted to keep the game affordable for a general audience. Here’s hoping my good vibes turn out to be accurate.

(Thanks to Destructoid for allowing us the use of their screenshots)

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The full PS3 release is World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. It looks like a generic rally racing game with sprint cars. That’s about all I can say, but judging by this video, there’s a lot of cars on the track, some floaty physics, and dirt specking up on the camera, until there gets to be too much and it cleans itself off. I’m not sure if this is worth $20, especially with all the top-notch racers we’re going to see soon, one of which I’m going to talk about in a bit. I haven’t had a chance to sample the controls, but judging by this IGN review of the XBox 360 version, there’s not much going on here. Judging by third-hand information and my own eyes, I’d recommend to skip this one, especially with the lack of a demo. I’d advise people that own a 360 to save that money until Wednesday, where they can use it on Rocket Knight instead and still save $5.

The racing game that DOES draw my attention is Split/Second, who’s demo came out today. NOW we’re talking. Having played the demo, I can best describe Split/Second as being similar to Blur, with a healthy dose of a chase movie to boot. It’s a standard racer, with charge points being given for drafting and drifting. These points can be used to interact with the stage, or as most of us would call it, “blow shit up”. You can have helicopters drop things on the people ahead of you, which causes them to fly into the stage and take out others, and everything is nice and sharp. Furthermore, I like the tight controls that didn’t send me sprawling all over the track. I’m impressed, and while I’m not sure this is $60 worth of game, I’m at least willing to put it in my Gamefly queue for when it comes out next week.

Continuing with the racing theme is the PSP demo for the long awaited ModNation Racers. This is a lot closer to Mario Kart than any of the games I’ve talked about so far, with the only real differentiating factor being a boost gauge that fills up based on airtime, tricks, or drafting. Other than that, it’s got standard power-ups, alternate routes, and the usual goodies you’d expect from any other kart racer. I’m not fond of how loose the controls are – I had a hard time staying off the wall – but that could be an issue with the default racer. There’s also a way to create tracks, but I haven’t screwed around with that. I would say, if the demo appeals to you, the game will appeal to you. Personally, this is another one for the Gamefly queue.

There is a full PSP release as well, for Harvest Moon: Hero Of Leaf Valley. I’m not really sure what can be said about Harvest Moon at this point; almost every game in the series has had the same set pieces, with the exception of the inspired but flawed Innocent Life, and there’s not much new to say about the game. The cost is $30, and fans will be interested. I’ve never been able to get into Harvest Moon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a quality series.

In terms of sales, there are two bundles on sale: a Popcap bundle for $25 that includes five games, and a Midway classic bundle that also includes five games, this time for $15. I’m not really a fan of the fact that these are only bundled; ala cart purchases aren’t supported for discounts, but at least the Midway pack is decent, if a little underwhelming. I guess the Popcap bundle is OK if you’re really into Popcap games, but even $25 seems a bit heavy when we all know Steam is going to go apeshit and put their entire Popcap collection on sale for some insane amount. I own all of these games on Steam because of this, so I can’t really give a firm recommendation on this bundle, even for $25. There are also some sales, listed below, none of which really get my blood going:

Tetris minis Sale (now $6.99, original price $9.99)
Zombie Tycoon minis Sale [Also available in French] (now $2.99, original price $7.99)
Section 8 Sale (now $14.99, original price $29.99)
Tokyo Police PS3 & PSP Theme Permanent Price Drop (now $0.99, original price $1.99)
Echoes minis Permanent Price Drop (now $0.99, original price $2.99)
Unbound Saga Permanent Price Drop (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Free Gravity Crash Dynamic Theme with purchase of Gravity Crash (Full Game) ($9.99)

Finally, there’s a bunch of DLC this week, including some DLC for Bioshock 2 and an “unlock everything” download for the newly released Skate 3, but what gets me is that Record of Agarest War is STILL getting DLC bundles. That’s impressive – considering they’re all free – and also notable, because the XBox 360 doesn’t have any DLC – paid or otherwise – for this game, despite the fact that they have the more fully-featured version. I’m not sure if there’s a reason for it – if I find out, I will update this piece and let you all know – but all these goodies are making the decision on which version to buy harder than it should be for fans.

That’s it for this week. Racing fans are going to have a field day, whereas fans of other genres still have enough goodies to get them by. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who suddenly has a desire to play the Gamecube version of Mario Kart, despite the fact that he doesn’t like Mario Kart.

The full Playstation Network update is under the cut.

This week Spring Fever celebrates Sony Online Entertainment titles packaged into the following bundles!

PopCap Spring Fever Bundle ($24.99)
Kick off the spring season with all your PopCap favorites brought to you by Sony Online Entertainment! Can’t decide which game you want? Get them all! The PopCap Spring Fever Bundle includes Bejeweled 2, Peggle, Zuma, Heavy Weapon, and Feeding Frenzy 2 Shipwreck Showdown, so get yours now for some crazy unbeatable fun!

ESRB Rated E10+

Midway Spring Fever Bundle ($14.99)
Celebrate spring with all your favorite classic Midway games, brought to you by Sony Online Entertainment and available for one week only! Get ready to re-live all of the classics. The Midway bundle includes Mortal Kombat II, Championship Sprint, Gauntlet II, Joust, and Rampage World Tour!
ESRB Rated E-M

Updates

Tetris minis Sale (now $6.99, original price $9.99)
Zombie Tycoon minis Sale [Also available in French] (now $2.99, original price $7.99)

Section 8 Sale (now $14.99, original price $29.99)
Tokyo Police PS3 & PSP Theme Permanent Price Drop (now $0.99, original price $1.99)
Echoes minis Permanent Price Drop (now $0.99, original price $2.99)
Unbound Saga Permanent Price Drop (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Free Gravity Crash Dynamic Theme with purchase of Gravity Crash (Full Game) ($9.99)

Qore

Qore Episode 24: May 2010 ($2.99)
Episode 24 of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network jumps into the action with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, dukes it out with UFC champ Jens Pulver, takes it to the next level in LittleBigPlanet 2, and returns to PlayStation Home.
File size: 1.73 GB

Qore Annual Subscription: May 2010 ($24.99)
Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can freely navigate through the content.
File size: 1.73 GB

Downloadable Games

World Of Outlaws Sprint Cars ($19.99)
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars is the first game that lets you race on your favorite dirt tracks, against your favorite sprint car drivers or your friends online. Your career will take your across the country to build your racing empire. Win races, win cash and sponsorships to upgrade your car. See if you have the stamina to be the next World of Outlaws Champion..
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.88 GB

Game Demos (free)

Split/Second Demo

In Split/Second you trigger devastating explosions to decimate drivers and change the track!
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 752 MB

Add-on Game Content

LittleBigPlanet: More Animals! – Hippo ($0.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the “More Animals!” Hippo Costume today! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: More Animals! – Fly ($0.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the “More Animals!” Fly Costume today! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: More Animals! – Turtle ($0.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the “More Animals!” Turtle Costume today! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: More Animals! – Peacock ($0.99)

The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the “More Animals!” Peacock Costume today! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

LittleBigPlanet: More Animals! – Costume Pack ($2.99)
The best thing about SackBoy is that you can make him look and act exactly as you want. Download the the “More Animals!” Costume Pack today and get the Hippo, Fly, Peacock, and Turtle costumes! NOTE: to download this costume, you must already own LittleBigPlanet.
File size: 1.04 MB

Bioshock 2: Exclusive Characters ($1.99)
Passion, drama and adventure. Find yours with 2 brave new characters for the multiplayer experience. Mlle Blanche de Glace, the internationally acclaimed actress, or Zigo D’Acosta, one of Rapture’s great sailors.
File size: 101 KB

Bioshock 2: Kill ‘Em Kindly (free)
What’s your golf handicap? Take this chance to turn your handicap into your enemy’s with this fresh melee mode where every blunt object is a golf club. No putting.
File size: 8.81 MB

Bioshock 2: Rapture Metro ($9.99)
As one of our valued Sinclair Solutions testers, we specially invite you to enjoy the pleasure of Rebirth! But only if you are truly dedicated and fully ranked up. However all testers are eligible for the 6 new maps in Rapture Metro.
File size: 1027 MB

DJ Hero – Domination Mix Pack DLC ($7.99)

Downloadable Mix Pack for DJ Hero featuring Wolfgang Gartner, Danny Byrd, Darude, and Josh Wink.
File size: 62 MB

Lost Planet 2 Map Pack #1 ($4.99)
Download two new battlegrounds in this Map Pack for LOST PLANET 2. In “Helix,” fight in a multilayered NEVEC ocean research facility at the bottom of the ocean. “Back to the Island” brings the new weapons and abilities of LP2 back to Island 902, a remake of the classic map from the original LOST PLANET.
File size: 74 MB

Super Street Fighter IV: Super Shoryuken Costume Pack ($3.99)
Download the second pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Ryu, Ken, Gouken, Dan and Akuma are included. Mix things up with your favorite Shotokan characters! Only available for use with Super Street Fighter IV.
File size: 100 KB

Batman: Arkham Asylum Game Of The Year Edition: Play As The Joker Challenge Map Pack (free)
Become The Joker in Challenge Maps only available on the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. Experience a whole new set of unique fighting moves as well as Joker’s demented tricks and gadgets. This downloadable content is for the Game of the Year Edition only!
File size: 107 MB

Batman: Arkham Asylum Game Of The Year Edition: Prey In The Darkness Map Pack (free)
Test your combat and Invisible Predator skills in 2 new locations, the Arkham Pumping Station and the Abandoned Glasshouse. This downloadable content is for the Game of the Year Edition only.
File size: 70 MB

Batman: Arkham Asylum: Crime Alley Challenge Map ($3.49)

Experience the unique FreeFlow combat system in this all new Combat Challenge Map, set in the iconic Gotham location of Crime Alley. You will face 4 consecutive waves of The Joker’s henchmen armed with a range of weapons.
File size: 54 MB

Batman: Arkham Asylum: Dem Bones Challenge Map ($3.49)
Enter this villain’s nightmarish world and experience a unique combat challenge that will test you to the very limits.
File size: 43 MB

Skate 3: Time Is Money Pack ($6.99)
If you are busy, or just plain lazy, Time is Money will unlock all locations, skaters and gear, and Skate.Park objects that can be earned by playing through Skate 3’s career and online modes.
File size: 1.52 MB

Nier: The World Of Recycled Vessel ($6.99)
The diary of Nier’s wife opens a gate to a strange world where an unnamed warrior battles powerful Shades. Engage in 15 nightmarish battles to unlock bonus costumes, weapons, and a special quest.
File size: 470 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Add-On Dungeon 5: Generation 5 Deep Forest Naruvia (free)
An add-on dungeon for generation 5. Embark on one last adventure into the [Deep Forest Naruvia]!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 5: Ellis Kit (free)

We’ve prepared five items that increase your magical power. This powerful kit comes with [Adaka], [Shield Sword], [Bird Eye], [Magic Frame], and [Seed of Happiness]. It’s a must-have for any aspiring sorcerer.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 6: Power Up (free)
Assorted items for increasing one’s stats. It contains two each of [STR Up], [VIT Up], [INT Up], [AGI Up], [LUK Up], and [Max. HP Up] . Train your favorite character with this set.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 2: Service Point Pack (free)
A set containing 5,000G and a whole bunch of ability points (50PP, 500TP, and 500EP). This special package has more stuff than the Trial point package.
File size: 2.33 MB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Juke Box Hero” by Foreigner ($1.99)
• “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd ($1.99)
• “Take the Money and Run” by Steve Miller Band ($1.99)
• Classic Rock Track Pack 3 ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Juke Box Hero” by Foreigner, “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and “Take the Money and Run” by Steve Miller Band. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.
• “Face Down” by Alpha Rev ($1.99)
• “Low Day” by Capra ($1.99)
• “You’re All I Have” by Snow Patrol ($1.99)
• Alternative Pop Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “Face Down” by Alpha Rev, “Low Day” by Capra, and “You’re All I Have” by Snow Patrol. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 31 MB – 58 MB (singles), 116 MB – 132 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Breaking The Law (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “Grinder (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “Living After Midnight (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “Metal Gods (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “Rapid Fire (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “Steeler (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “The Rage (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “United (Live)” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• “You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise” – Judas Priest ($1.99)
• British Steel Live Pack ($14.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: British Steel Live Pack. This pack includes “Breaking The Law (Live),” “Grinder (Live),” “Living After Midnight (Live),” “Metal Gods (Live),” “Rapid Fire (Live),” “Steeler (Live),” “The Rage (Live),” “United (Live),” and “You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise (Live)” by Judas Priest.

Rock Band Network

• “I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?” by A Day To Remember ($1.99)
• “Mordecai” by Between the Buried and Me ($1.99)
• “Remedy” by Seether ($1.99)
• “Tongue Twister Typo” by Blackmarket ($0.99)
• “When I Get Home You’re So Dead” – by Mayday Parade ($2.99)

File size: 20 MB – 42 MB (singles), 291 MB (track pack)

Game Videos (free)

God of War 3: Chaos Trailer
Download the GOD OF WAR® III — Chaos Trailer. IN THE END, THERE WILL ONLY BE CHAOS… God of War III finds Kratos raining carnage and destruction upon the Gods who have betrayed him and the entire Ancient Greek world. Armed with his deadly double-chained blades, Kratos will take on mythology’s darkest creatures while solving intricate puzzles on his merciless quest to destroy Olympus and the mighty Zeus himself.

File size: 75 MB (HD), 122 MB (1080)

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Turbo! Level Kit Trailer
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. Put the pedal to the metal with this massive vehicle-based pack. Race, battle and bounce your way through six completely new levels. And the fun doesn’t stop there, with hundreds more bits and pieces to fill your Popit, you can create turbo-powered vehicular contraptions of your very own.
Download the Turbo! Level Kit trailer today! NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 52 MB

3D Dot Game Heroes – “The Hero Your Hero Could Be” Trailer
Watch this short vignette to find out how awesome your hero could be if he was created in the 3D Dot Game Heroes 3D character editor. Retro chic meets modern sleek in this, the ultimate love letter to retro gamers. Seamlessly fusing new and old, the golden era of gaming is felt in every detail of this adventure.

File size: 35 MB (HD)

Crysis 2: “The Wall” Trailer
Experience the first trailer for Cryteks new genre defining shooter: Crysis 2.
File size: 145 MB (HD 1080)

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City Network Trailer
The all new trailer for Grand Theft Auto’s highly acclaimed downloadable episodes, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
File size: 49 MB (HD)

Kick-Ass Trailer
This Kick-Ass Trailer shows this third-person action fighting game based on the movie of the same name. The game takes the player through different mission areas of New York, facing petty thugs and even powerful mob bosses. The player’s main goal is to bring justice back to the city — at any cost, including frantic Superhero action.
File size: 72 MB (HD)

PS3 Themes

3D Dot Games Heroes Theme (free)
File size: 2.97 MB

After Burner Climax Premium Theme ($3.99)

File size: 5.43 MB

Gravity Crash Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 1.94 MB

PS3 Wallpaper

Kick-Ass Wallpaper
File size: 402 KB (SD), 1.89 MB (HD)

Kick-Ass Wallpaper 2

File size: 321 KB (SD), 1.55 MB (HD)

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Harvest Moon: Hero Of Leaf Valley $29.99
The tranquil town of Leaf Valley is scheduled for demolition! The heartless Funland Corporation is going to bulldoze the town and replace it with an amusement park unless its citizens can find a way to stop them! You’ll need to grow crops, raise animals, and mine ores and gems to help save Leaf Valley and your family farm. With a branching storyline and multiple endings, how you choose to save the town is up to you!
ESRB Rated E
File size: 120 MB

Game Demos (also available from PS3 Storefront) (free)

ModNation Racers PSP Demo
Be among the first to test drive ModNation Racers on the PSP system! In this free demo you’ll experience kart racing for a new generation as you boost, drift, and race your way through two over-the-top tracks using any one of six racers. Plus, get a taste for the game’s revolutionary Create tools with the Track Studio preview! Drive your idea of the perfect track into existence for the included Track Theme, then tweak it and test drive it.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 135 MB

PSP minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Busy Sweets Factory (PSP Only) ($1.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 5.84 MB

Love Cupid (PSP Only) ($1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 6.49 MB

Quiz Animania (PSP Only) ($1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 11 MB

Add-on Game Content (also available from PS3 Storefront)

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Wilderness Costume (free)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. LittleBigPlanet’s critically acclaimed “PLAY, CREATE, SHARE” experience, makes its way to the PSP system with a completely new Sackboy adventure. Get these free costumes from the Wilderness Theme Pack. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 2.51 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Wilderness Theme Pack ($2.99)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. Download a new set of costumes and CREATE materials to create your own Wilderness levels! The Wilderness Theme Pack includes 5 Costume items, 13 CREATE Materials, 15 Stickers, 1 Music kit, and 1 Background. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 2.64 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Sackfari Explorers Costume (free)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. LittleBigPlanet’s critically acclaimed “PLAY, CREATE, SHARE” experience, makes its way to the PSP system with a completely new Sackboy adventure. Get this free costume from the Jungle Sackfari Explorers Theme Pack. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.35 MB

LittleBigPlanet PSP – Sackfari Explorers Theme Pack ($2.99)
PLAY, CREATE, SHARE…Everywhere. Download a new set of costumes and CREATE materials to create your own Jungle Sackfari levels! The Jungle Sackfari Explorers Pack includes 4 Costumes and 12 Stickers. NOTE: Manual Update required
File size: 1.46 MB

Game Videos (free)

LitteBigPlanet PSP – Turbo! Level Kit Trailer
File size: 10 MB (SD) (HD)

3D Dot Game Heroes: “The Hero Your Hero Could Be” Trailer
File size: 4.37 MB (SD)

3D Dot Game Heroes: “Dot-Mart” Trailer
File size: 4.16 MB (SD)

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Draganov PSP Theme 1 ($1.49)
File size: 554 KB

Draganov PSP Theme 2 ($1.49)
File size: 539 KB

Disney Princess and the Frog PSP Theme ($1.49) (US only)
File size: 580 KB

PSP Wallpaper (free)

Armored Core: Last Raven Wallpaper 1
File size: 31 KB

Armored Core: Last Raven Wallpaper 2
File size: 30 KB

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One PSP demo, one huge PS3 demo and a fight with my controller later, and I realized I had a LOT to do. This week is loaded!

Therefore, though this update is late, there’s a lot going on on the network. If you’re going to move your date back presumably to preempt Microsoft’s update, do it in a good week.

Though it pains me to say this, the biggest news of the week isn’t a game, it’s paid DLC. The Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack is online. Whoop-de-fucking-do. Playstation owners get their DLC maps over a month after XBox owners because Activision decided it was OK to alienate half of their userbase to get some money from Microsoft, and are now bestowing them upon us as if it’s Moses coming down to give the Ten Commandments. And for what? A few maps, a good portion of which are repeats from MW1? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: anyone who buys this crappy package for this much money is a fool, and can’t complain in the future about DLC prices, ever. Activision is bleeding you dry, and this process will not stop.

The new PS3 game this week is Lead and Gold: Gangs Of The Wild West, which can be described as a Western-themed, third person Team Fortress 2 with an emphasis on being together to make teammates stronger. The two big innovations the game makes is that it’s possible to revive teammates, and there is also a reward system heavily slanted towards finishing objectives instead of being a lone soldier. However, the amount of modes is thin, there are not a lot of character classes (four, instead of TF2′s nine), and the game is cursed with the same problem that other console based shooters have – a reliance on the controller – though being a third person shooter somewhat mitigates that problem. Lead and Gold is $15, which seems like a good price for what you’re getting, and though I’m not fond of online-reliant console games, for that price, you’re not losing much if things go tits-up eventually. If this were a PC game, I’d own it by now.

EDIT ON MAY 6, 2010: Whoops! Looks like I was wrong – and the game’s website was uninformative – because Lead and Gold is available for the PC as well. Still, after Chuck Platt’s tepid review, I’m not sure I want to spend my money. Oh well, another $15 saved.

There’s also a big name demo, especially around these parts: the demo for UFC Undisputed 2010, the sequel to DHGF’s Sports Game of the Year, is out. After a lengthly explanation as to what the new features are in this year’s game – a heavy emphasis on social interaction seems to be the key – you’re allowed to either fight an exhibition or try out a small tournament using fighters out of the light heavyweight division. I played the demo extensively, and enjoyed it, though I had the same problem I did with last year’s game: I am completely and totally incapable of winning any way other than a knockout. I am buggered when it comes to submissions, and I don’t have any clue why. Of course, I don’t play a lot online, and that’s where Matt Yeager and Aaron Sirois say the game excels, so I would advise you take their words for it. The full game comes out soon, and I can all but guarantee that someone more knowledgeable of the game – probably Aaron – will be reviewing it.

There are a whopping FOUR new games for the PSP, and a demo. The biggest name we have this week is Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake. For $20, you get a port of the popular PS3 title, and the ability to play it portably. Best of all, it got a favourable writeup from D.J. Tatsujin in his day-of-release review, so for $20, while the UMD version is preferable, this is a good buy.

Second to come out is What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2, the sequel to Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This!?, which Aileen gave a positive review to. This game made headlines specifically because it had to be renamed to avoid a copyright conflict with Warner Bros. over the Batman name; NIS decided it was better to just change the name than to win a Pyhrric victory that would destroy them. Though the name change is unfortunate, Aileen had some things to say about the demo when it came about. It should be noted that though this is only $20, the UMD version is highly recommended, since it comes with both this one and the first game for those that missed out on it the first time around. Judging by sales figures, most of you should be getting the UMD version. Aileen Coe is working on a review of this game as I speak, but spoiler alert: she likes it.

The last two releases are Iron Man 2 The Video Game for $30, and Armored Core Last Raven for $15. The latter game is another in the Armored Core series that has never had a lot of mainstream critical success, but might be popular with mech fans. The former is a movie tie-in, and at $30, I absolutely want to see some reviews first before dropping $30 on a downloadable movie game. No matter what, though, four full games – two of which are confirmed good games – is a tremendous coup.

There’s also – gasp – a PSP demo, this one for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to demo this one. See, ever since the latest firmware upgrade to allow 3D gameplay, I haven’t been able to connect my controller wirelessly. Therefore, since I can’t actually move my controller, I can’t transfer the game to my PSP, since they both require the same data cable. However, this is a sequel to a game Aaron reviewed, and was keen on. He’s a big fan of the series, so when this comes out, I think we can rest assured we’re going to get an educated opinion on this game from one of our more prolific writers.

In terms of sales, Sony didn’t hold back this week, either. The Spring Fever sale has a war theme this week, with half off sales for SOCOM US Navy SEALs Confrontation and Warhawk, both $15. Also, the paid DLC for SOCOM is half off, down to $7.50. There’s also a sale on Prince of Persia items, with both PSP games being sold at half price, and the DLC for the main game also going for half price. A lot of these are sales we’ve seen recently, but they all have an impressive pedigree at the very least.

Overall, this is a HUGE week for the Playstation Network. A new update time, some big games, and lots of content contribute to make me a happy motor vehicle. Until next time, this is Christopher Bowen, who is going to require being hit with a blunt object if he forgets the update again next week.

The full update is under the cut. Please bear in mind that due to the update times throwing things out of whack, this is the last time we will be including the Comic Store in the update, because they update on Wednesdays now.

This week Spring Fever celebrates War titles! 50% off Warhawk (PS3) and SOCOM US Navy SEALs Confrontation (PS3) both $14.99 each, regular price $29.99. Also find SOCOM US Navy SEALs Confrontation Cold Front DLC on sale for 7.49, regular price $14.99. Offers good through Monday, 5/10/10.

Updates

Prince of Persia: Epilogue DLC Sale (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Prince of Persia: Revelations Sale (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords Sale (now $7.49, original price $14.99)

Downloadable Games

Lead and Gold: Gangs Of The Wild West ($14.99)

Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is a 3rd person shooter delivering an intense team based multiplayer experience. Relive the violent era of the Wild West as it ought to be with adrenaline fueled action and fast paced gunfights. Fight gritty battles in beautifully rendered classic western settings. Test your mettle in genre specific game modes and levels tailor-made for satisfying team play.
ESRB Rated M
File size: 732 MB

Game Demos (free)

UFC Undisputed 2010 Demo
So you want to be a fighter? This is how! Choose from one of 4 selectable fighters and challenge the best in exhibition mode or an 4 man tournament. UFC Undisputed 2010 features the most authentic MMA action while boasting the best fighters in the world. After one round with all the new features and key improvements, you’ll embody the essence and spirit of a real fighter. Are you ready to be one?
ESRB Rated T
File size: 970 MB

Add-on Game Content

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package ($14.99)
The best-selling PlayStation 3 system game of all-time just got bigger, with more epic multiplayer content! The Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package delivers 5 additional action-packed multiplayer maps, including brand-new battlegrounds and legendary fan-favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. French version also available.
File size: 318 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Add-On Dungeon 3: Generation 3 Magma Val (free)
An add-on dungeon for generation 3. It’s time to reunite with old friends at [Magna Val]!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Add-On Dungeon 4: Generation 4 Tresor Island (free)
An add-on dungeon for generation 4. Embark on an exciting journey to the mysterious [Tresor Island]!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 3: Recovery Kit + (free)
An advanced recovery kit. It contains [Recovery Grass], which recovers more HP than [Grass]; [Charm Herb], which removes certain effects; [Stone of Life], which revives characters to 50% of their maximum HP; and [Resurrect], which removes the inability to fight.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 4: Combination Pack (free)

A package with [Moonlight Flower] and [Tree Spirit Soul], two items useful for alchemy. We also threw in a [Lucky Charm] for, you know, luck. Don’t worry–if it doesn’t work out the first time, this package contains two of each item!
File size: 2.33 MB

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Different People” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “End It On This” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “Happy Now?” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “Hey You” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “Sixteen” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “The Climb” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “Tragic Kingdom” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “World Go Round” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• “You Can Do It” – No Doubt ($1.99)
• No Doubt Tragic Kingdom: The Deep Cuts ($14.99) – Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track pack: No Doubt Tragic Kingdom: The Deep Cuts. This pack includes “Different People,” “Happy Now?,” “Tragic Kingdom,” “Hey You,” “The Climb,” “End It on This,” “World Go ‘Round,” “You Can Do It,” and “Sixteen” by No Doubt.
• No Doubt Tragic Kingdom: The Complete Album ($19.99) – Experience the full Tragic Kingdom album by No Doubt, including the five tracks previously released in the Rock Band Music Store (please note: if you have already purchased these songs, it is possible to purchase them again).
• “According To You” – Orianthi ($1.99)
• “Deartest (I’m So Sorry)” – Picture Me Broken ($0.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Bodies” by Drowning Pool ($1.99)
• “I Know What I Am” by Flight of the Conchords ($1.99)
• “Little Black Backpack ‘09″ by Stroke 9 ($1.99)
• “Semi-Charmed Life ‘09″ by Third Eye Blind ($1.99)
• “Survive” – by Lacuna Coil ($1.99)

File size: 15 MB – 52 MB (singles), 326 MB – 494 MB (track pack)

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 5/4 Edition
Join host Christina Lee for PULSE presented by the PlayStation Network. In this edition we get the skinny on the new Fat Princess title for your PSP system, check out a free pack for MAG, plus we list the top downloaded add-ons of the Spring season. New video releases include The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
File size: 267 MB (HD), 444 MB (1080)

3D Dot Game Heroes Trailer
Evil has plagued the kingdom of Dotnia, and they are in need of a hero. Will it be you? Retro chic meets modern sleek in this, the ultimate love letter to retro gamers.

Seamlessly fusing new and old, the golden era of gaming is felt in every detail of this adventure.
File size: 59 MB (HD)

EyePet Video
Welcome the newest member of your family into your home – EyePet. Using a PlayStation Eye camera and PlayStation Move motion controller, EyePet is virtually projected into our living room where he can play and interact with you and your family. Not only does EyePet live in your world, but you can also interact with his digital environment. EyePet is the first 3-D animated pet for the PS3 system, and is the perfect addition for any family!
File size: 64 MB (HD), 104 MB (1080)

Dead Space 2 Reveal Trailer
Watch the first trailer for Dead Space 2. The nightmare returns in 2011.

File size: 54 MB (HD)

PlayStation Move Video
Using advanced motion sensors and the PlayStation Eye Camera, your every movement is mimicked on-screen in breathtaking Blu-ray powered HD.
Take core gaming to a new level or bring your whole family in on the adventure with a title line up that will excute every gamer.
File size: 115 MB (HD), 179 MB (1080)

Kevin Butler Video
PlayStation Move is the most immersive gamine experience possible. Using advanced motion sensors and the PlayStation Eye Camera, your every movement is mimicked on-screen in breathtaking Blu-ray powered HD, only possible on the PS3 system. Take core gaming to a new level or bring your whole family in on the adventure with a title line up that will excite every gamer. Step into the game with PlayStation Move.
File size: 73 MB (HD), 121 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Drops ($1.49)
File size: 13 MB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Fat Princess: Fistful Of Cake ($19.99)
Sound the trumpets! The highly-anticipated PlayStation Network title Fat Princess is bringing its comical medieval fun to the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and with a host of added features. Frantically-paced and strategic, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale on the PSP system. Download the game today!

ESRB Rated T
File size: 167 MB

Armored Core Last Raven ($14.99)
You can build your own AC units with more than 500 parts to choose from. New features such as Ad-hoc multiplayer function enhance your game experience. The game save from AC3 Portable and ACSL Portable can be carried over to this game.
ESRB Rated T
File size: 804 MB

What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord!? 2 ($19.99)

My Lord, God of Destruction! Resume your role and protect me, the Overlord from the throngs of hypocritical human heroes by digging a dungeon and balancing the monster ecosystem! With more stages, heroes and monsters than in the original, and new systems to exploit, you’ll be ready to bring the badness back in this strategy game of increased underworldly proportions.
ESRB Rated: T
File size: 115 MB

Iron Man 2 The Video Game ($29.99)
Iron Man 2 is an action adventure game that takes you beyond the movie into the comic universe. Suit up as Iron Man or War Machine, customize your suit and weapons and battle skyscraper tall enemies. Iron Man brings unrivaled speed and agility. War Machine brings heavy artillery. You choose!
ESRB Rated: T
File size: 727 MB

Game Demos (also available from PS3 Storefront) (free)

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 Demo
The demo for the most advanced NARUTO Shippuden handheld action fighting game has arrived! NARUTO Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 is the heir to the Ultimate Ninja series, combining completely revamped 2D Ninja fighting with 4-player multiplayer action! Download the demo now!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 67 MB

Add-on Game Content

What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord! 2 – Day Without Badman DLC ($1.99)
When the Overlord leaves the dungeon, you are tasked with the responsibility of protecting his (rather annoying) daughter. These new levels, monologues by the Overlord’s daughterm put you in charge of defeating a myriad of heroes for the sake of a damsel who is not so distressed.
File size: 610 KB

What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord! 2 – My Name is Shota DLC ($1.99)
Face off against Shota, the original main hero, as you get a glimpse of his side of the store. These new levels are narrated by the tragically unskilled and unlucky hero as he struggles to survive the rugged and adventurous life of those who answer the call to action.
File size: 596 KB

PSP Minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Sneezies ($2.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 9.65 MB

One Two Boat Racing (PSP Only) ($1.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 5.32 MB

Ramen Heaven (PSP Only) ($1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 6.6 MB

Finger Connection (PSP Only) ($1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 6.3 MB

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 5/4 Edition
File size: 91 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Drops PSP Theme 1 ($0.99)
File size: 320 KB

Drops PSP Theme 2 ($0.99)

File size: 480 KB

Comic Store Update

• 2000AD Prog # 1678
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 561
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 562
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 563
• The Amazing Spider-Man (2003) # 564
• Archie # 603
• Atomic Robo Vol.2 # 5
• Daredevil (1964) # 6
• Daredevil (1964) # 7
• Daredevil (1964) # 8
• Dead, She Said # 3
• Donald Duck and the Giro d’Italia # 1
• Donald Duck and the Giro d’Italia # 2
• Donald Duck Baba #
• Donald Duckling and Betty Lou’s Love
• G.I. Joe # 16
• G.I. Joe: Cobra # 9
• G.I. Joe: Operation HISS # 2
• G.I. Joe Origins # 15
• Kong: King of Skull Island # 3
• Ritual # 3
• Serpent Wars # 2
• Shaun the Sheep # 5
• Sonic the Hedgehog # 2
• Star Trek: Captain’s Log # 1
• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Transformers # 6
• Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers # 1
• Transformers: Nefarious # 3
• Ultraheroes # 5
• Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 # 5

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After a stellar 2009, the PSP’s library has dried up a tad, but it is still running strong thanks to the launch of PSP Minis and the handheld’s digital delivery platform. As such, it’s still refreshing when we see Sony roll out with a new original company-exclusive series that displays the uniqueness of its freshman portable effort. Tomorrow sees the release of Titan Studio’s Fat Princess on the PSP, under the subtitle Fistful of Cake, this time re-developed by SuperVillian Studios. A few slices had to be taken from this cake in order to accommodate the jump from the Playstation 3, however, the premise and extra content hold up well in the transition, even though there are some annoying caveats to keep in mind if you have an eye on this treat.

Much like the original version, Fistful of Cake oversees two armies – one blue and one red – duking it out in blood-soaked medieval-style combat. The premise is one of capture the flag, however, Fat Princess obviously substitutes a fair damsel in place of a flag. Carrying out your mission could be as simple as running straight through the opposition’s defenses and hiking back to your castle with the princess in tow, however, in video game fashion, of course, there is more to the premise. The princesses can be fattened up with magical cake, temporarily making them much harder to carry. In the meantime, the rest of the map unfolds with strategic warfare that sees players donning hats that assign them classes such as warriors, archers and mages, along with critical workers that gather up wood and stone materials to build barricades, ladders and catapults while also being able to upgrade the various hat machines for more powerful and versatile classes.

Fistful of Cake introduces a single-player “The Legend of the Fat Princess” mode that lays down an overall story. The princesses of the two warring factions used to meet up in gatherings, but upon discovering the magical cake in the forest, their craving for the cake creates a difficult situation for both kingdoms. Not too far into the mode, it is discovered that the craving curse can only be cured by the kiss of a prince and when it is declared Prince Albert (ugh …) will be in the area in the near future, the war between the two kingdoms becomes serious business as each king does everything in his power to make sure their daughter is the one that secures the prince’s affections. The story is hardly amazing, but it does a fair job in a genre that probably in most cases wouldn’t even attempt to craft an expanded narrative. Fortunately, Tom Kane (most notable recently for his work as Mr. Herriman on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) provides narration and commentary during the game, and his gruff, gentlemanly voice is a perfect fit for the fairy tale nature of the game, bumping the story’s appeal up quite a bit.

Thankfully, the title gives players quite a few modes to fall back on. Not only can the story mode be played on multiple difficulty settings, but the player can tackle a battle in free mode that allows for a healthy selection of modes that include four modes original to the PSP version. A survival-type mode also allows players to enter an arena and forsake the strategy elements of the main game to fend off enemies for as long as they can stay alive. Ad-Hoc and infrastructure modes allow for multiplayer, although the PSP version cuts the number of players allowed in a game. With features that allow a player to customize their avatars, extra maps and other exclusives, and a large number of different modifiers, there is actually a lot to do and see in Fistful of Cake, definitely giving players their money’s worth.

Even though the game is making a move to the PSP, the title doesn’t suffer too much in its presentation. The audio is still in the player’s face with satisfying combat sound effects and gruesome weapon blows that spill buckets of blood, and each tune is appropriate to the situation or stage, which really drives the action. Tom Kane’s commentary can be repetitive, but not only do the phrases alert players to happenings in the battle, hearing the various internet memes in his voice is sure to give most players a good chuckle.

Visually, the game makes great use of vivid colors, which really bring the environments to life. The menus and storybook sections feature cute-style handrawn art that is quite unique and humorous, and the menus are clean and filled with humorous descriptors of each option. The characters, on the other hand, suffer a little due to the zoomed-out nature of the maps. The soldiers are fairly jaggy around the edges and it is hard to discern much detail in the model or animations, which can really put players’ eyes to the test when groups of soliders meet in combat. In all, though, Fistful of Cake’s presentation really comes through to provide quality visuals and audio for the player to soak in.

The gameplay in Fistful of Cake is pretty straightforward, offering up very responsive controls. Characters control fluidly and most of the time respond as the player would like them to. Occasionally, there will some issues in picking up items, and it is at times a chore to reach up to the d-pad to attempt to control any CPU teammates in the area, but otherwise, the control is scheme is comfortable and makes sense. Likewise, the gameplay is just as straightforward, as while there are numerous modes of play, each one has a simple concept and the player is given a lot of freedom in accomplishing most of the goals.

Unfortunately, the biggest slam against Fistful of Cake is made evident when the player doesn’t have any humans to fill in the slots in their army. I’ll use the term “intelligence” loosely when describing the AI, as your CPU companions will do some downright frustrating things to make your mission two hundred percent more difficult than it should be.

In the mode where players are required to drop a bomb off in the opposing throne room, my AI would carry the bomb all the way to the goal. The bomb must set for about five seconds before going off, but at the last second, one of my CPU soldiers would pick up the bomb and kill everyone in the area with the explosion. Whatever. The final straw, though, came when the CPU did this to me three times in a row. You’ll also be constantly fighting against your CPU worker class for resources. In the mission where players must assemble an altar in the middle of the map, your CPU workers will be far more interested in wasting your resources to build ladders and gates and upgrade various hat machines. Even in the most simplistic of missions, I never know what my CPU teammates are doing because they sure aren’t interested in helping me nab the opposing princess, even when I attempt to utilize the feature to command units to tag along with me. In all, the CPU seems to have its own agenda no matter the goal of the current battle and these instances really grate away at an otherwise fun strategy title.

When you can actually click with your army and get things done, Fistful of Cake is actually quite rewarding, providing players with a satisfying blend of action and strategy. The game’s presentation and unique premise, combined with its humor, craft a very appealing title, and even with its downsides, Fat Princess is still a winner. There are six exclusive maps to provide more value and all of the maps feature quite a variety in environments and throw out some tricky terrain to traverse. There is a good variety of modes even for a single player, though the oafish AI might drive down the replay value and addictiveness the title would otherwise have. With a review copy prior to launch, I wasn’t able to test out the multiplayer, but future players can look forward to four versus four matchups. While this would still leave CPU drones on your teams, at least then you could look forward to up to three other (hopefully) competent soldiers to back you up. Fistful of Cake has the makings of a great title; unfortunately, the AI issues are seriously a big enough of a drag to hold the title back a few notches from “must-buy” territory.

While Fistful of Cake is a port of a PS3 title, you won’t really find anything else like it on the system and a number of refreshing changes have been made to provide exclusive content. If you can find a way to shake off the frustration the AI will no doubt dish out to you, Fistful of Cake is worth every penny. It’s got a lot of charm and solid gameplay to back it up, but players won’t get the most out of their time with the game unless they dive into the online or local multiplayer.

The Scores
Story/Modes: VERY GOOD
Graphics: GREAT
Sound: INCREDIBLE
Control and Gameplay: ENJOYABLE
Replayability: ABOVE AVERAGE
Balance: ENJOYABLE
Originality: GREAT
Addictiveness: GOOD
Appeal Factor: GREAT
Miscellaneous: GOOD
FINAL SCORE: GOOD GAME

Short Attention Span Summary
Fistful of Cake is what the PSP really needs right now – Sony-exclusive titles with a ton of charm and appeal. This Fat Princess remake features a ton of solid gameplay, unique strategy elements, great presentation and exclusive game content that provides great variety. There are a few technical issues, but interested gamers will really have to take some narrow-minded AI into account. Your CPU drones will do things that will make you triple facepalm and these instances really drag the game down a bit. Outside of these issues, Fistful of Cake is fantastic game that will give PSP owners a great distraction for only $19.99.
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She not only screws up my schedule, she taunts me while doing so. While a layperson would say “Chris, she has no idea who the hell you are” and “will you stop listening to those voices in your head?”, I know. Oh, I know! First, her Playstation Network updates came later and later, at one time coming out after 9PM EST. SOME people would say “Chris, she’s based in San Diego, they don’t really care about you people on the East Coast”, but I’m sure it’s something sinister, a sinister plot to KILL MY… bedtime. You might call me crazy, but people are out to kill Glenn Beck, and no one can doubt him as a sane, rational man!

Then on Thursday, a reprieve: the Playstation Update was up at almost 5PM EST. Oh glorious days, I thought! Grace and her army of angry Leprechauns have stopped their siege, and I’ll be allowed to go free, or at least get to bed at a decent hour! Then, Grace dropped the backbreaker, likely while laughing at the top of her evil base at the top of a volcano: the Playstation Store is going to update on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays, pushing this column back to Wednesday mornings instead of Friday. This actually screws up my schedule, as I now have to dedicate a separate night to editing and doing this column. A hit to my schedule that I’m 100% CERTAIN was intended by her for that purpose! Just let me live, Grace Chen! JUST LET ME LIIIIIIIIVE!!!

Needless to say, this is the final week we’re going to see this update on a Friday, as well as the last week before I get sectioned by “The Man”, presumably because I’m… what’s the term they used… oh yeah, a “danger to others”. Just because I have coordinates of Grace’s location and a dartboard with her picture on it loaded with darts, doesn’t mean I’m a danger! How dare they!¹

¹ – I do not have coordinates on Grace Chen’s location, and actually think she does an outstanding job managing the multi-faceted Playstation Store and its multiple divisions. I also don’t own any dartboard, and prefer my dart playing to be done with friends at a bar. Please don’t call the authorities on me.

Before they take me away and give me my happy drugs, let’s look at what Sony put out this week. This is actually a meaty week in terms of content, with the PSN store getting one HUGE game, in more ways than one.

The biggest game coming out this week is Record of Agarest War. This is the latest SRPG from Idea Factory, and while that’s normally not a bad thing, I’ve been burned before by them. Furthermore, the marketing for the game has been absolutely shameful, playing up wanton sex as if this was a Dead or Alive game, despite the fact that the game features virtually none of those elements according to Alex Lucard, who’s played the Japanese version. Then again, we don’t know what’s been put into the game since its localization; the fact that this is an AKSYS localization doesn’t give me or Alex much hope. My recommendation on this is to do what I’m doing: wait until Alex gets back from his vacation later this week and reviews this. The Japanese game was good, but we’re not sure of this localization. At $45, this is expensive at first glance, but the download is a whopping 9GB and the game has a lot of content, so there will be bang for the buck here. Furthermore, there’s already add-ons that help the gameplay experience along which are all free; take note of that, Namco Bandai. It should also be noted that while the PS3 version is download only, there’s a physical copy on the 360 with extra… um, goodies that runs $60. The 360 version is better from reports I’ve heard, so the PS3 version is really for people that either don’t have a 360, want to save $15, or are not willing to walk into a Gamestop and tell the clerk “I’d like the Really Naughty Limited Edition of Agarest War, please”. Guess which category I’m in.

Also out for the PS3 is the game based on the movie Kick Ass. Surprisingly, a licensed game is only $15, which seems a good cost for value; most licensed games are much more expensive. However, this seems like a song we’ve heard before; a licensed game that is a third person beat ‘em up. If that doesn’t scream “wait for a demo”, I don’t know what does. I normally don’t like judging games or books by their covers, but considering the history of movie tie-ins, I think caution is warranted.

On the demo front, we have a demo for Wakeboarding HD which, in a stupid manoeuvre, I forgot to mention the week it was released as a full game, probably because I was so frustrated at the lack of a demo. Ironic, that. Anyway, I’ve played the demo, and was bored; picture a mix of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater mixed in with Wave Race 64 and some horrid collision detection, and you’re set.

On the PSP, we have the release of the downloadable version of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa for $40. I can’t speak for the PSP version of the game, but I’m playing – and will review – the 360 version, and so far, I’m confident in calling the whole series a pass unless the price comes down dramatically. The console version is FIFA ’10.5 with a fresh paint of World Cup paint, and while qualification is a great addition, I’m not sure there’s enough there to warrant a full price purchase for most football fans unless they didn’t buy FIFA ’10. I would recommend these games only for those in countries who are under-represented in other football games. It IS nice to be able to qualify for the World Cup as Canada, so that’s something to consider for Canadian readers. Finally, it should be noted that there are two separate versions: one for English gamers, and another for French. It’s not like the console version, which has different languages programmed in.

For the first time since Grandia, we also have a notable PS one release! Star Wars Dark Forces is a first person shooter set in the Star Wars universe, which should be like catnip to fans of the series. However, a few things should be noted before people decide to drop $6 on this: 1) this is a 1996 era release, so this is before a lot of the things that we’re used to when it comes to console FPS games, like the dual analogue stick. Secondly, this is a port of a PC/Mac game (remember when games used to be developed for Macintoshes? Yeah, me neither), and was slagged by reviews at the time on a poor framerate and poor, “dated” visuals. If a game’s 3D visuals are “dated” for 1996, imagine how it looks now. The framerate issue was the biggest killer to me; the game sputtered like Thomas the Tank Engine on me. I would give this a pass except for the biggest, die-hard Star Wars fan. If anything, it’s a piece of history; this game actually pre-dates The Phantom Menace by three years.

In terms of specials, the only ones that really matter are the Spring Fever special on the PixelJunk series. Each individual PixelJunk game is $5, with a three for one bundle running for $10. Each game except Racers did well with reviewers, so the bundle is not a bad pick-up, though it’s also the same price to just get the two exceptional titles.

That’s it for this week. One huge game, one game for fans of Kick Ass, and a lot of DLC which will all be chronicled below. Until next week, this is Christopher Bowen, who swears he’s not going crazy. Honest! You can all take me out of this white jacket now…

The full Playstation Store and Comic Store update is below, under the cut.

Please note – PlayStation Store will be moving to a Tuesday publish starting next week 5/4.

This week Spring Fever highlights the PixelJunk Franchise! Up to 50% off all PixelJunk PS3 Games. Offers good through Monday, 5/3.

• PixelJunk 3-in-1 Pack (Bundle) (Sale price $9.99, regular price $19.99)
• PixelJunk Racers (PS3) (Sale price $4.99, regular price $6.99)
• PixelJunk Eden (PS3) / PixelJunk Monsters (PS3) / PixelJunk Shooter (PS3) (Sale price $4.99 each, regular price $9.99 each)

Updates

• LittleBigPlanet: Street Fighter Costumes Sale – Chun-Li, Guile, Ryu and Zangief (now $0.99, original price $1.99)
• LittleBigPlanet: Street Fighter Costume Pack Sale (now $2.99, original price $5.99)
• Fortix Minis Sale (now $3.99, original price $4.99)

Downloadable Games

Record of Agarest War ($44.99)

Leonhardt, a young military officer, must sacrifice his life, his soul, and his future to seal the pillars of the gods on each of Agarest’s five continents. Will his children—who suffer the same fate—find a world of light, or one of darkness, at the end of their long battle? Only the future will tell…
ERSB Rated T
File size: 9.01 GB

Kick-Ass ($14.99)
Kick-Ass is a third-person action fighting game, and it is based on the movie of the same name. The game takes the player through 12 different mission areas of New York, facing petty thugs and even powerful mob bosses. The player chooses any of the 3 Superheros, Kick-Ass, Big Daddy, or Hit-Girl. Each Superhero has their own special and unique weapons for fighting. The player’s main goal is to bring justice back to the city — at any cost.
ERSB Rated M
File size: 949 MB

PS one Classics

Star Wars Dark Forces ($5.99)
Follow Kyle Katarn, ex Imperial Army personnel, as he works as a mercenary for the Rebel Alliance. What dark secrets will he find? Download this PS one Classic today!
ESRB Rated T
File size: 309 MB

Game Demos (free)

Wakeboarding HD Demo

Wakeboarding HD Demo contains two missions and tutorial. Grab your board and hold on tight! The Demo drops players into a high-speed, water-filled, arcade experience to maneuver through tracks, perform high-flying tricks, collect bonuses and avoid dangers. Show your skills and wreak havoc as the bright and colorful tropical paradise resort transforms into an action-packed extreme playground.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 119 MB

Add-on Game Content

Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 4: Death From Above ($7.49)
Episode 1 required to play. As the death count of Little Riddle rises, the funeral of the latest victim provides the backdrop for the latest act of villainy. Who will be next to suffer in the hands of the evil mastermind? Join the Blue Toad detectives to solve the puzzles and mysteries of Little Riddle. Episode 4 of 6. This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 366 MB

Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 5: The Riddles Of The Past ($7.49)
Episode 1 required to play. Your super sleuth instinct has uncovered the true criminal of Little Riddle but you need solid evidence to convince the law before they throw you out of the village. Can you convince the Inspector in time or will the trivialities of the villagers get in your way? Episode 5 of 6. This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 381 MB

Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 6: Flight Of The Felonious Fugitive ($7.49)
Episode 1 required to play. The felonious fugitive is on the run and only a Blue Toad detective can stop them. With the support of the villagers and finally the Inspector can you catch the criminal and put an end to their crime spree once and for all? Episode 6 of 6. This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 385 MB

Blue Toad Murder Files Episodes 4-6 Bundle Pack ($14.99)

Episode 1 required to play. Purchase episodes 4-6 for a special discounted price. Played solo or up to four players locally, can you unravel the secrets of Little Riddle?
This product supports the following languages: In-game speech: English; On-screen text: English.
File size: 1.11 GB

MAG – Fast Attack Gear Pack (free)
Strike fast, strike hard and get out. With the Fast Attack Gear Pack, the enemy won’t know you’re there until it’s all over. This gear pack has everything for the soldier that craves speed with additional survivability: a reinforced light armor package combined with all new Special Edition Sniper Rifles provide the best of both worlds.
File size: N/A

Just Cause 2: Black Market Aerial Pack ($1.99)

A pack of must-have downloadable items to help you to cause maximum aerial chaos.
File size: 3.71 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Add-On Dungeon 1: Generation 1 Holy Island Of Erin (free)
An add-on dungeon for generation 1. An uncharted adventure awaits you on the [Holy Island of Erin]!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Add-On Dungeon 2: Generation 2 Trum Coast (free)
An add-on dungeon for generation 2. A new frontier waits to be explored along the [Trum Coast]! Note: Can only be reached if you have chosen the coastal path
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 1: Recovery Kit (free)
A set of recovery items. It contains 3 [Grass] that recover HP, 3 [Cure Grass], and 3 [Fragment of Life] that recover the inability to fight. These items are necessities for all adventurers. You’re in good hands as long as you have this with you.
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Item Pack 2: Skill Set (free)
A set of skills. It contains [Heal], which recovers HP; [Refresh], which removes any status abnormality; and [Capture], which makes it possible to have monsters join your party. [Capture] is an especially reassuring skill to have. Don’t miss this chance to get it for yourself!
File size: 2.33 MB

Record Of Agarest War: Points Pack 1: Trial Point Pack (free)

A set containing 1,000G and a bunch of ability points (50PP, 100TP, and 100EP). Try it for yourself.
File size: 2.33 MB

Megaman 10 Endless Attack ($2.99)
Test your skills on a stage without end. Try to break the record for getting the farthest. Results will be displayed in the Leaderboards. Not compatible with Trophies or Challenges.
File size: 1.28 MB

Megaman 10 Special Stage 2 ($0.99)
Gives you another Time Attack Stage to try, including a new Boss at the end! Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Trophies or Challenges.
File size: 1.16 MB

Megaman 10 Special Stage 3 ($0.99)
Gives you another Time Attack Stage to try, including a new Boss at the end! Results will be displayed in the Rankings. Not compatible with Trophies or Challenges.
File size: 1.15 MB

Super Street Fighter IV Super Challengers Costume Pack 1 ($3.99)
Download the first pack of alternate costumes for Super Street Fighter IV! New costumes for Hakan, Makoto, Guy, Dudley and Dee Jay are included. Throw on your new gear and go to town on the opposition.
File size: 100 KB

Dante’s Inferno Trials of St. Lucia ($9.99)
ESRB Rated M

File size: 1 GB

Guitar Hero 5
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “After Forever” by Black Sabbath ($1.99)
• “Into the Void” by Black Sabbath ($1.99)
• “Sweet Leag” by Black Sabbath ($1.99)
• Black Sabbath Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack featuring “After Forever”, “Into The Void”, and “Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

File size: 51 MB – 58 MB (singles), 159 MB (track pack)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visit www.RockBand.com.

• “Again” – Flyleaf ($1.99)
• “Thunderbirds Are Go!” – Busted ($1.99)
• “Tomorrow” – Silverchair ($1.99)

Rock Band Network

• “Burn It Down” by Five Finger Death Punch ($1.99)
• “Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords ($1.99)
• “Lady in a Blue Dress” by Senses Fail ($1.99)
• “Push Push (Lady Lightning)” by Bang Camaro ($0.99)
• “Stick Stickly” – by Attack! Attack! ($1.99)

File size: 24 MB – 33 MB (singles)

Game Videos (free)

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – Ted Price

ModNation Racers presents a series of videos that showcase creative individuals from different walks of life. Watch as Gaming Icons, Vinyl Artis, and Professional Drivers express themselves in ModNation Racers. In our first episode, meet Ted Price, founder of Insomniac Games, as he shares his thoughts on his love of the industry & science fiction while he uses ModNation Racers to make Ratchet and Clank’s girlfrends!
File size: 170 MB (HD)

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – David Jaffe
ModNation Racers presents a series of videos that showcase creative individuals from different walks of life. From Gaming Icons to Vinyl Artists, anyone can express themselves in ModNation Racers. In our second episode, David Jaffe, legendary creator of the Twisted Metal and God of War franchises, shares his personal take on game development, his impressions of ModNation Racers, and his feelings on the custom Kratos and Sweet Tooth Mods.
File size: 151 MB (HD)

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – Sucker Punch

ModNation Racers presents a series of videos that showcase creative individuals from different walks of life. Watch as Gaming Icons, Vinyl Artists, and Professional Drivers express themselves in ModNation Racers. In our third episode, we talk to the talented crew of Sucker Punch Productions! What do the creators of Sly Cooper and InFAMOUS do when they get their hands on ModNation’s Track Studio? They recreate Empire City of course!
File size: 158 MB (HD)

UNCHARTED 2: Siege Expansion Pack – “The Highrise” Flythrough Trailer
Download the flythrough trailer for “The Highrise” multiplayer map from the “Siege Expansion Pack” today!
File size: 43 MB (HD)

UNCHARTED 2: Siege Expansion Pack – “The Museum” Flythrough Trailer
Download the flythrough trailer for “The Museum” multiplayer map from the “Siege Expansion Pack” today!

File size: 61 MB (HD)

3D Dot Game Heroes “Dot-Mart” Trailer
Where do heroes do their shopping? Watch this short vignette and find out! Retro chic meets modern sleek in this, the ultimate love letter to retro gamers. Seamlessly fusing new and old, the golden era of gaming is felt in every detail of this adventure.
File size: 34 MB (HD)

Skate 3 Demo Trailer
Team up and throw down with the SKATE 3 Demo, available now.
File size: 46 MB (HD)

Topatoi: Bundle Trailer

topatoi for the PlayStation 3 system is a platform/adventure saga that brings your screen to life with classic platforming gameplay over a variety of interactive and colorful levels in full 3D. Watch the trailer for both “The Great Tree Story” and “Pillar of the Skies” episodes today and get the feeling of the mysterious worlds of topatoi.
File size: 87 MB (HD)

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Reveal Trailer
Spider-Man is back! In this action-packed adventure explore four dramatically different parallel universes, each with its own Spider-Man armed with unique strengths. Explore stunning environments, wield explosive powers, and face epic boss battles against extraordinary foes. Two worlds are known. Two more will be revealed. Experience the Spider-Man like never before: Four unique worlds. Four distinct Spider-Men. One unparalleled experience!
File size: 76 MB (HD) 126 MB (1080)

PS3 Themes

Megaman 10 Dynamic Theme 3 ($2.99)

File size: 353 KB

Shatter Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 3.61 MB

White Knight Chronicles International Edition – Travelers Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
File size: 5.67 MB

Winter Wonderland ($1.99)
File size: 5.21 MB

Frisco Sunset ($1.99)
File size: 4.49 MB

Black Oil Crud ($1.99)
File size: 2.46 MB

NBA Premium Theme (x14) ($1.99)
File size: 4.95 MB – 5.23 MB

Dragunov ($1.99)

File size: 8.45 MB

PS3 Wallpaper

Tecmo Bowl Throwback Wallpaper (free)
File size: 101 KB (SD), 506 KB (1080)

Music

Shatter Soundtrack ($5.99)
File size: 208 MB

PlayStation Store for PSP

Downloadable Games (also available from PS3 Storefront)

2010 FIFA World Cup ($39.99)
EA SPORTS celebrates the single largest sporting event on the planet with the only official and exclusively licensed videogame on the PSP system for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.14 GB

2010 FIFA World Cup – French ($39.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 1.13 GB

PSP minis (also available from PS3 Storefront)

Normaltanks ($4.99)
ESRB Rated E10+
File size: 9.63 MB

Reef Aquarium ($4.99)

ESRB Rated E
File size: 8.27 MB

Car Jack Streets ($4.99)
ESRB Rated T
File size: 84 MB

Pile Up! Bakery (PSP Only – $1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 6 MB

Pinball Duel (PSP Only – $1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 7.1 MB

Music Quiz (PSP Only – $1.99)
ESRB Rated E
File size: 34 MB

Game Videos (free)

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – Sucker Punch
File size: 27 MB

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – Ted Price
File size: 29 MB

ModNation Racers: Artist Spotlight – David Jaffe
File size: 24 MB

PSP Themes (also available from PS3 Storefront)

NBA Premium PSP Themes (x14) ($1.49)
File size: 352 KB – 397 KB

Black Oil Crud – Dab PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 292 KB

Black Oil Crud – Glop PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 430 KB

Sushi PSP Theme 1 ($1.49)

File size: 564 KB

Sushi PSP Theme 2 ($1.49)
File size: 581 KB

Bare Elements – Data PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 453 KB

Bare Elements – Fire PSP Theme ($1.49)
File size: 365 KB

Comic Store Update

• 2000AD Prog # 1677
• Archie # 3
• Atomic Robo Vol.2 # 4
• Bill Willingham’s Pantheon # 4
• Dead, She Said # 2
• Donald Duck and the Alternative Lives # 1
• Donald Duckling and the Future Plans
• G.I. Joe # 15
• G.I. Joe: Operation HISS # 1
• The Lexian Chronicles # 3
• Sonic the Hedgehog # 1
• Star Trek: McCoy # 1
• Star Trek: The Movie Adaptation # 3
• Transformers # 5
• Transformers: Nefarious # 2
• The True Story of 1900
• Vampire Hunter D Volume 1 # 4
• Wizards of Mickey # 6
• X-Mickey # 12
• Zombies vs. Robots: Aventure # 2

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