Archive for the ‘PSP’ Category

The internet is abuzz yet again about the PSP Phone. The rumor-that-won’t-go-away makes a return in this supposed magazine scan, which displays the supposed device. The image illustrates how both gaming and phone calls would work in this effort by Sony Ericsson.

For those of you new to the loop, the existence of the Playstation phone has been hinted at and repudiated several times already, but a couple of days ago the rumour mill started grinding after somebody found mention of the device in a box-out in Sony Magazine.

The picture above is the most recent development, and, alas, a mock-up. A fake. A phoney. The Playstation phone may or may not be coming, but it almost certainly won’t look like this.
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One of Sony’s most revered and best selling franchises- God of War- is headed to the PSP. The original GOW appeared on the Playstation 2 in 2005 and was named Game of the Year by over a dozen publications. God of War II was released in Spring 2007 and offered more of the bloody, combo-filled action and intriguing Greek mythology that gamers loved in the original. Now, Sony is attempting to recreate that GOW magic and bring it portable. I was able to get some hands-on time with this much anticipated title at Sony’s media event in NYC, and from what I’ve played, it seems God of War’s transition to the Playstation Portable will be a successful one.

Co-developed by Ready at Dawn (the team behind Daxter on PSP) and SCEA’s Santa Monica Studios, the premise behind Chains of Olympus is to provide a backstory to help fill in the gaps; COO is not a prequel or sequel to prior God of War titles. In God of War, Kratos was deceived into killing his wife and daughter and denounced his service to Ares. To seek forgiveness for his sins, Kratos pledged himself to the Gods and the brutal crusades he embarked upon became famous. In Chains of Olympus, you control Kratos while he was a mere mortal during his service for the Gods and face feared creatures from Greek mythology.

Visually, there is no doubt in my mind that Chains of Olympus is the best looking game on the PSP, with graphics and animation quality on par with God of War II for the PS2. Through I only played through an enclosed dungeon level that didn’t scroll or show dramatic angles that the series is famous for, Kratos animated smoothly and the demonic foot soldiers were very detailed. These guys were tough, too; they blocked my waves of chain swinging combos with their shield and only dropped their guard after a strong attack. I took on one of the mini-bosses, and he was so large he took up most of the screen. Through the liberal use of Efreit magic available to Kratos, I was able to weaken him with a fire spewing genie until the famous button-sequence minigame opened up. The minigame was challenging, affording a very short timespan to hit the indicated face button.

The controls on the PSP felt just fine, although the developers had to improvise as the PSP has less buttons than a Dual Shock controller. While rolling used to be performed with a flick of the right analog stick on the console versions of GOW, you now have to hold both shoulder buttons and push the analog stick on the right-stick-less PSP. Similarly, magic attacks are accomplished using a combination of the triangle and right shoulder buttons.

God of War: Chains of Olympus is scheduled for a March 4th 2008 release and I regret to report that as of now, there are no threesome sequences planned.

God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) [Trailer]


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Sony has confirmed that the GPS and Camera accessories will be released in North America by the end of the year. Secondly, SCEA reps revealed that Sony is working on a first party keyboard for the PSP that is set to be released in the middle of 2009.

Over a year ago, the PlayStation Portable’s camera and GPS receiver went on sale in Japan. The photo-snapping add-on also hit the market in Europe in 2006, and its global-positioning cousin has been confirmed to arrive in the territory later this year.

However, to the frustration of North American gamers, neither the GPS nor the camera have been dated for the region–until now, anyway. Today at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony Computer Entertainment America reps confirmed to GameSpot that both peripherals will be available on this continent by the end of the year. Unfortunately, they could not give a more specific time frame.

SCEA reps also revealed today a welcome surprise for PSP owners weary of its cell-phone-like text entry system. They confirmed that Sony is working on a first-party keyboard for the handheld gaming system for release in mid-2009. When asked if said keyboard will resemble the mock-up that was shown off at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the reps demurred. “We’re looking at several designs, but can’t tell you anything more specific,” a rep said.
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