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[DECK'ARD]

Rage Racer tracks confirmed in Ridge Racers, or Lumines confirmed for launch would definitely tip me towards PSP.

I'm more interested in Lumines than anything else on either machine actually. Closely followed by Made In Wario DS. Meteos sounds interesting, but is lacking in Rez-ness. If I got a DS it would be for Made In Wario and Feel The Magic.

 

[Meier]

Still looks decent to me.. Dynasty Warriors and Minna no Golf within a week of one another is quite strong for a Japanese machine.

 

[Miburou]

That list reminds me of the Japanese N64 launch list, but without Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64.

Your trolling reminds me of your usual trolling, which never was witty or smart.

 

[border]

What are the multiplayer options for Dynasty Warriors and Minna no Golf ?

 

[WarPig]

Still looks decent to me.. Dynasty Warriors and Minna no Golf within a week of one another is quite strong for a Japanese machine.

Strange though it may sound to Americans, those are indeed the games that are gonna move hardware in Japan. I'm interested in seeing whether Ridge Racer as a franchise has any legs left over there -- Ridge Racers is obviously a good-looking example of the series, but I wonder whether there's a fanbase left to welcome it.

DFS.

 

[Jonnyram]

Lumines box art is sweet. 19 Nov at 12:30 huh? I don't know whether I'm going to have more chance from home or work... or the net cafe at work. These online rushes are always a pain

 

[john tv]

Strange though it may sound to Americans, those are indeed the games that are gonna move hardware in Japan. I'm interested in seeing whether Ridge Racer as a franchise has any legs left over there -- Ridge Racers is obviously a good-looking example of the series, but I wonder whether there's a fanbase left to welcome it.

DFS.

I think it's going to sell well... what's a PS launch without Ridge Racer, after all?

 

[drohne]

ridge racer, minna no golf, and vampire chronicle is a bad launch? well, perhaps if you're coming from a position of blanket contempt for playstation franchises. in which case i'm sure psp isn't your portable choice anyway.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

ridge racer, minna no golf, and vampire chronicle is a bad launch? well, perhaps if you're coming from a position of blanket contempt for playstation franchises. in which case i'm sure psp isn't your portable choice anyway.

IAWTP.. but that said.. A lot of PSP's titles... wouldn't you rather play on the PS2? Big screen and all? I mean.. Namco fucked up RR:E.. and they are making a PSP sequel to the franchise. Looks brilliant and has me interested but I'll rather wait for reviews. I love RR4. VC is great and all (*feliciity rulez) but wouldn't you want a PS2 version + this is just more Capcom rehash. How much life is left in this particular franchise? And you can play two player or wifi (haven't been keeping up with PSP news).. As for minna golf - the jpn crowd would love it (see IAWTP) but isn't it more of the same, just a port?

Aside from Lumies and that Konami FPS.. I really don't see much newness to the PSP lineup - the only sense I get... as a handheld is that it prolongs the PS2 generation that has been around like 8 years?

That said, can't wait for Impressions from the japan based Gaffers.

 

[AniHawk]

Doesn't look weak at all. Armored Core, Dynasty Warriors, Lumines, Ridge Racer, Metal Gear, Minna no Golf, Vampire Chronicle = rather strong launch in my opinion. Guess we'll have to wait and see how good they are, but that's a nice string of good franchises.

 

[drohne]

as opposed to the startling newness of the ds lineup? headlined by a port of mario 64, the fourth wario ware game in the last couple years, and the zillionth installment of gameboy wars? and unlike the psp, the ds stakes its legitimacy on "newness."

consoles rarely launch with their most ambitious or forward-thinking games. the psp has several solidly enjoyable games from a decent variety of genres. that suits me fine.

 

[Jonnyram]

Here's what the PS2 launch games sold in their first week (Famitsu data)

1. Ridge Racer V - 233,391
2. Kessen - 101,844
3. Street Fighter EX3 - 76,389
6. DrumMania - 43,158
7. Eternal Ring - 42.734
12. A-reisha de Ikou 6 - 17,842
16. Mahjong Taikai Millenium League - 9,906

The week after, these games kept selling (about 30% of 1st week sales) and Fantavision was released with 26,987 sales for the week.

With the PSP, I'd say MinGol and Shin Sangoku Musou will definitely be the biggest sellers, but if there's only 200,000 hardware units, I wouldn't expect killer numbers from any of the releases.

I'm interested in what effect the PSP and other games will have on each other. The launch day will be measured on its own up against 3-4 day sales of Winning Eleven Tactics, Gundam vs Z-Gundam, Taiko 5, Rockman Exe 5, and the second week of DS sales. The rest of the stuff is going up against Powerful Pro 11 Final, MGS3, Tales of Rebirth, Jungle Beat and Super Robot Wars GC. It's quite a heavy period to release new hardware in.

 

[Catchpenny]

Minna No Golf is the only launch game that appeals to me personally, but this is a good if not great launch. Particularly for a portable system.

Border, Dynasty Warriors doesn't have multiplayer, from what I've read. It looks like a rush job in general, basically a port of the third game with a few additions and tweaks. Minna No Golf has LAN play, thankfully.

 

[Soul4ger]

as opposed to the startling newness of the ds lineup? headlined by a port of mario 64, the fourth wario ware game in the last couple years, and the zillionth installment of gameboy wars? and unlike the psp, the ds stakes its legitimacy on "newness."

consoles rarely launch with their most ambitious or forward-thinking games. the psp has several solidly enjoyable games from a decent variety of genres. that suits me fine.

Conveniently ignore games like Feel the Magic and Puppy Times. It's okay. No one will remember those if you act like they don't exist.

 

[drohne]

i said "headlined by," not "consisting entirely of." and i genuinely attempted to name the ds's most promising software.

feel the magic looks neat.

 

[nitewulf]

Conveniently ignore games like Feel the Magic and Puppy Times. It's okay. No one will remember those if you act like they don't exist.

well, are those gonna be "games"? granted i think the puppies are very cute and the art in feel the magic is swank-psychedelic-sexyliscious.
anyway, PSP is solid enough just for ridge racers as far as i'm concerned. looks fantastic, arcade style racing, 24 tracks. good.
but why the f*ck are you ppl going on about lumines? it looks like a trippy block puzzle game!! whats so special about that exactly?

 

[kaching]

A lot of PSP's titles... wouldn't you rather play on the PS2? Big screen and all?

Why? After years of listening to people talk about how shitty PS2 visuals are, you'd think they belong on nothing better than a portable

Seriously, why do some of you think this is a compelling argument against the PSP? Does the ability to render more advanced 3d visuals suddenly render handheld gaming obsolete in your minds? Did you really think portable gaming would stop short of achieving such visuals?

What I'd rather be doing is playing any game I own whenever and wherever I have the time and the inclination...but my 50" TV and 5.1 speaker setup happens to be a major hindrance to that. The conundrum is really no different than the one I have if I want to watch my DVDs or listen to my music collection on the go. The tradeoff for portability and availability has always (thus far) required downsized assets. This is not a suddenly new issue that the PSP faces alone. The issue is no different for DS.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Why? After years of listening to people talk about how shitty PS2 visuals are, you'd think they belong on nothing better than a portable

Seriously, why do some of you think this is a compelling argument against the PSP? Does the ability to render more advanced 3d visuals suddenly render handheld gaming obsolete in your minds? Did you really think portable gaming would stop short of achieving such visuals?

What I'd rather be doing is playing any game I own whenever and wherever I have the time and the inclination...but my 50" TV and 5.1 speaker setup happens to be a major hindrance to that. The conundrum is really no different than the one I have if I want to watch my DVDs or listen to my music collection on the go. The tradeoff for portability and availability has always (thus far) required downsized assets. This is not a suddenly new issue that the PSP faces alone. The issue is no different for DS.

yes true but different. The PSP looks like a device that could do with video out wherelse the DS doesn't. The fact that PSP does have PS2 quality Gfx and has no such option is a bit dismal imo -

I don't think PS2 visuals are shitty aside from a few launch titles.

 

[Jonnyram]

What I'd rather be doing is playing any game I own whenever and wherever I have the time and the inclination...but my 50" TV and 5.1 speaker setup happens to be a major hindrance to that.

I think most people agree with you, but the argument is that we can't play them on our 50" TVs with 5.1 speakers, even if the graphical/sonic quality is of that level. If the graphics are great, and the sound is amazing, it is such a shame that we are "restricted" to playing them on a tiny screen with headphones when we are at home.

 

[Renegade]

I think that this is, hands down, probably the strongest launch of any handheld. If Dynasty Warriors is a simple port of the console game, then it can be skipped. There are other titles that make up for it. I do not see why people are so pessimistic in regards to the PSP. Could it be fear?

I know Nintendo has to be squirming in their seat in regards to the DS price.

 

[drohne]

psp games wouldn't look as good on a tv as they do on its display. the psp's resolution is somewhat lower than that of current consoles. it's not as low as the gba's -- gba games look terrible on a tv -- but the difference is still significant. video out sounds desirable in theory, but i'm not sure it'd be desirable in practice.

 

[Jonnyram]

Here's what the PS2 launch games sold in their first week (Famitsu data)

1. Ridge Racer V - 233,391
2. Kessen - 101,844
3. Street Fighter EX3 - 76,389
6. DrumMania - 43,158
7. Eternal Ring - 42.734
12. A-reisha de Ikou 6 - 17,842
16. Mahjong Taikai Millenium League - 9,906

For comparison with the PS2 launch numbers, here are the GBA software figures for the first week:

1. Super Mario Advance - 219,551
5. F-Zero - 116,116
6. Power Pro-kun Pocket 3 - 74,549
8. Yugioh - 61,325
11. Kuru Kuru Kururin - 57,145
12. Rockman EXE - 43,048 (wow, this series has come a long way!)
13. Mr. Driller 2 - 42,525
17. Napoleon - 26,152
19. Castlevania: COTM - 22,224
27. Wai Wai Racing - 12,063
29. Monster Guardians - 10,210

 

[Insertia]

I think most people agree with you, but the argument is that we can't play them on our 50" TVs with 5.1 speakers, even if the graphical/sonic quality is of that level. If the graphics are great, and the sound is amazing, it is such a shame that we are "restricted" to playing them on a tiny screen with headphones when we are at home.

o_0

Why is it when the 'PSP games should be played on PS2' arguement comes up, it's assumed that everyone owns a 50" HDTV with surround sound systems.

 

[soundwave05]

PSP visuals will not look so hot blown up on a TV screen. The resolution is considerably lower than standard NTSC TV.

 

[pilonv1]

I better think twice about lugging a widescreen TV around with my PSP then!

 

[Jonnyram]

Why is it when the 'PSP games should be played on PS2' arguement comes up, it's assumed that everyone owns a 50" HDTV with surround sound systems.

I was mocking kaching's post... I can only dream of having such a setup. I'd be happy to play PSP games on my 21" Trinitron, even if they are low res. It's difficult to say something sensible without having someone else criticize it from a different viewpoint. Hell I can criticize my own views. Basically I'd like to have the choice between playing a PS2 and PSP version of new games like Lumines and Ridge Racers (after all, people will have that choice for MinGol, Dynasty Warriors, Mojipittan, GT4, etc. etc). But I know that development along this route may divide the industry.

 

[kaching]

Come on, Jonny, you quote the first sentence of a paragraph that does on to explain exactly the issue you're referring to. I understand the logic, but the point is that it's nothing new...it's as old as portable gaming. Why is this suddenly a big issue for the PSP and notably not leveled at the DS? The visuals on offer in any generation of handheld gaming device were previously experienced on much larger screens first. I doubt that anyone would suggest that the absolutely ideal screen size for most games, regardless of their level of visual tech, is really something in the 2-4" range. But that's ALWAYS been the tradeoff for taking games with you and having the ability to play them where larger screens and generally more involved A/V setups would be very impractical.

Being restricted in this way is really no different from being restricted from playing any of the games in my PS2, Xbox or GC libraries when I'm on the bus, train or anywhere that doesn't provide me easy access to a TV and a power source.

 

[Jonnyram]

I'm actually not interested in 3D graphics on a handheld. I don't want to watch movies and I don't want something that is insanely immersive. I don't know what kind of situations all you people play handheld games in, but for me it is either on a commute, at lunchtime, or in the toilet when I'm dropping the kids off. I don't care about 3D on the DS either, and I'm not likely to play DS on the move as it is not the easiest machine to play without a sturdy surface to balance it on.

PSP is great technologically and DS has some nice innovative ideas (for the gaming industry, at least). But whatever their initial sales may be, I can't see either of them having the same longterm impact as the GB/GBA because they encourage development of games that are not best suited to handheld environment. MinGol and Lumines are fine, but surely they will be in the minority, just as their PS2 equivalents are.

 

[Kon Tiki]

or in the toilet when I'm dropping the kids off.

:|

That is the first time I heard it called that.

 

[kaching]

I'm actually not interested in 3D graphics on a handheld. I don't want to watch movies and I don't want something that is insanely immersive. I don't know what kind of situations all you people play handheld games in, but for me it is either on a commute, at lunchtime, or in the toilet when I'm dropping the kids off. I don't care about 3D on the DS either, and I'm not likely to play DS on the move as it is not the easiest machine to play without a sturdy surface to balance it on.

As your personal preference, I certainly haven't got a problem with any of that. It's the attempts to apply this as a general issue that's somehow unique to the PSP that I disputed.

PSP is great technologically and DS has some nice innovative ideas (for the gaming industry, at least). But whatever their initial sales may be, I can't see either of them having the same longterm impact as the GB/GBA because they encourage development of games that are not best suited to handheld environment. MinGol and Lumines are fine, but surely they will be in the minority, just as their PS2 equivalents are.

The technologies packed in the DS and PSP are simply means to an end, but the end goals are not dictated by the technologies themself. If the legacy of handheld gaming dictates a certain kind of game experience to be successful, both of these devices are more than capable of accomodating that, as well or better than the GBs and GBAs before them.