PSP Go; the benefits of digital distribution

It has come time for the PSP to have yet another annual update, this year’s model being the PSP Go.

That’s right, in the past 4 years since the PSP launched it has seen 4 different designs. There was the original design. The Slim, last year’s marginal upgrade to the Slim 3000 and now the PSP Go. One thing that can be said about the Go is that it is a huge change for a system that has seen only small tweaks in the past 2 or three years.

First of all the UMD drive? The current PSPs primary method of playing games and movies has been dropped entirely. In its place is the mass internal storage. The Go will have 16 GB of internal memory with a Memory Stick Micro port for expandable memory. Basically they plan on making future PSP games digital rather than on a disc. But this raises a few interesting points.

First of all, this would be the first time I can think of where a console or handheld has switched media types half-way though its life-cycle. Abandoning UMDs entirely for the new model means that there is a sizable back-log of PSP games that cannot be played on the PSP Go. Since Sony has said they plan on continuing support of the PSP-3000 even after the Go has launched it leaves people who haven’t purchased a PSP yet but plan to with the choice of the more compact, digital-only PSP Go or the more versatile PSP-3000 with its readily available UMD library of games.

But there is a bigger issue here than just a PSP with no disc drive. What does the PSP Go mean for the future of videogames at large? The PSP Go may be one of the most important gaming platforms this generation for one simple reason; digital distribution. I mean, fine, the iPhone/iPod Touch predates it with its digital-only distribution for games and applications. The difference is that the iPod Touch is not meant to be a machine solely for playing videogames, the PSP is.

Digital distribution has been around for a few years now with the Xbox Live Arcade, Wii Ware and the Playstation Network, but this would be the first time that a gaming platform used it for its primary gaming media.

Why is it so important? For starters, the used game market has been a thorn in publisher’s collective sides for a long time now and digital distribution seems the logical way to counter it. Assuming the method takes off it makes the most business sense. Since games don’t need to be printed, an unlimited number of units can be sold with no manufacturing or shipping costs to publishers. That coupled with the fact that digital games can’t be resold to the used game market and you have a solid business model. It even benefits gamers too. You never have to worry about a game being sold-out or being discontinued. Game availability will also be immediate since there is no need to wait for the games to be shipped to retailers. Theoretically games prices in digital form will go down since there are no shipping, packaging and printing costs to the manufacturer. All this can be yours if you are willing to give up the shiny new packaging of games on disc.

Imports: Dragon Quest IX to hit retailers tomorrow!

While North America impatiently waits for Modern Warfare 2 and Halo ODST as their most anticipated games this fall Japan is about to get their own most wanted game in Dragon Quest IX, hitting retailers tomorrow.
The day that millions of Japanese and a few faithful importers have been waiting for is nearly upon us.
Dragon Quest IX is the newest in the main-line Role-playing game series and the first in the series to debut on a handheld and feature multiplayer as well as a handful of other new features, such as the ability to customize what your hero looks like.
According to polls taken in Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu, Dragon Quest IX has never dropped below the #4 most wanted spot by Japanese consumers in the past two and a half years.
Square-Enix is yet to give any official confirmation of a North American or European release date, but it is expected by most later this year or early 2010.
For those who don't mind the language barrier imports of the game are available at play-Asia for just short of $70 American.

Review: knights in the Nightmare

Complex, bizarre or just plain weird; these are some ways someone may describe Atlus’ new action/Strategy game for the Nintendo DS, Knights in the Nightmare.
There is no doubt that Atlus USA has a reputation for bringing Japanese oddities of gaming to the English speaking world. The latest of which is Knights in the Nightmare (or KitN – pronounced Kitten), developed by Sting, a company known by their cult-like followers for combining gameplay elements from different genre to make some truly unique Role-playing games. Past efforts from Sting include Riviera: the Promised Land and Yggdra Union, both released on the Game Boy Advance and were later ported to the PSP.
KitN is a genre mash-up that combines a strategy RPG with a bullet hell arcade game. The easiest way to think of it is like Final Fantasy Tactics meets geometry Wars. You play as “the wisp” the soul of an undead king seeking revenge for his usurped kingdom. As the Wisp you have the power to recruit units in the form of your fallen comrades. The Wisp can temporarily raise the dead and send them into battle. Each level will have you controlling a small squad of 2-4 units on average against a group of monsters or one big boss monster to take down.
The gameplay itself is what sets KitN apart from just about every other strategy game ever made. In the game you have no HP, no life bar, you cannot die. Your individual units take no damage and cannot be hit. Instead you have to watch your “time”. Since you are controlling your units they are more like tools than actual characters. However they each have a vitality gage. Each action drains them of vitality, once it runs out they fade away forever. Likewise, you have a time game that drains with each action and once that runs out it ends the phase of battle. Each mission has a set number of phases you have to beat the enemy within. If you run out of phases it is game over.
There is another way to lose time and that is being hit by “bullets”. Each enemy type has a number of projectiles they will hurl at the Wisp. You move in real time around the battlefield with the stylus, trying to avoid time sucking bullets and multitasking by activating your knights to unleash their special attacks to wipe out enemy monsters.
As for your Knights, there are six unit types that range from Ninja-like hermits to the horse-mounted Lancers. Each mission gives you all the knights you need, usually, and they will fade away after combat unless you use a particular item on them. Each unit responds to a particular item, if you have it in your inventory (the game will highlight it if you do) and use it on them they will be added to your roster permanently. When using these knights in combat you are allowed to bring a handful of weapons into combat. When you have a weapon that corresponds to the unit type on the field you simply drag and drop it on the knight and they will start to charge their special attack. Once it’s charged you simply let go when an enemy makes the mistake of entering your attack range for a flashy attack animation.
It can be hectic and fun, but by the last quarter of the game it really starts to wear thin. All the enemy encounters start to feel the same only broken up by the occasional boss fight.
There is way more to the gameplay with the ability to transoul weaker units to strengthen more useful ones, hundreds of weapons to keep track of, upgrade and fuse together and more than 100 individual knights in the game, but to go in depth with it all would be too much to list in one review.
Visually KitN is nice looking with some well done sprite work and 3D effects but it won’t blow you away. It does, however, have some great character designs and style that maintains the tone and mood of the game which stays fairly grim throughout the game.
The music is also great complimented by the 40-song soundtrack that Atlus packed in with the game. There is a great variety of battle themes to keep it from getting too repetitive. The voice work on the other hand is awful. Units will cry out little catch phrases with every attack and it completely overshadows the games great music. Sadly there is no way to turn the voiceovers off either. Strangely enough there is no voice work during the story though.
As for the story itself, it is enough to get you going, but ultimately with 100+ characters it is hard to feel connected to any of them. Since the heroes get very little development at all the villains end up making up most of the established cast and you even may find yourself sympathising with some of them more-so than the wisp and it’s plight.
KitN is a highly original game that is fun for a while but wears thin near the end. The game is worth a play though and those who really dig the style may want to try replaying on the higher difficulty levels you unlock by beating the game on Normal mode. Ultimately it is not a great game, nor a bad game, just a flawed gem.

Nintendo Demo-Play; what it means to gamers.

It is not unknown that Nintendo has chosen to target a more casual market, but Nintendo has taken it to another level with the newest feature for future Wii and DS games; Demo play.
Demo-play is somewhat misleading in its name. It is not the ability to play demos of new games soon to be released on the Wii or DS. Demo-play is the most recent feature from the Japanese mega-publisher to be incorporated into New Super Mario Bros. For the Wii to start with other games planned in the future. It could more accurately be called auto-play since the idea behind the feature seems to be to allow the game to play itself.
Nintendo is trying to further destroy the barrier for non-gamers to get into gaming by implementing demo-play. The basics of the mechanic seems to be that if a gamer gets to a point in the game that they feel is too difficult they can use demo-play to get past it. Once activated Demo-play will basically play the game for you until you’re past the part that gave you trouble. Some games may also feature an ability to skip levels or chapters or acts at will (a function present in last year’s Alone in the Dark game).
What does this mean for the hardcore gamer? Not a lot it would seem at this point. Since it is an optional feature nobody is forced to use it. It may be argued that Demo-play will give the developers an excuse to crank-up the difficulty in newer games since now if a more casual player comes across one of these harder challenges they can just skip over it. However that is yet to be seen.
Is it the downfall of gaming as we know it? Not really, but it leaves one to wonder what is the point in playing a game if there is a feature available that is designed for the sole purpose of sucking the challenge out of it. Most gamers would agree that the reason we play video games is to face challenges and overcoming them.