Decker

More news along with that info:

PSP Attack Plan
Sony slashes prices, adds to the Greatest Hits Library, and bundles the PSPgo with games.
June 1, 2010
by Greg Miller

Today, the PSP fights back. After having to deal with years and years of people complaining about the system having no games, about the games that are coming out not being that good, and about the PSPgo not being worth its $250 price tag, Sony's changing things.

A bunch of titles are dropping to $9.99 and becoming known as "Favorites," four games are getting added to the PSP Greatest Hits catalog, and the PSPgo will now be bundled with three games.

Kicking off the push is a plethora of games from both Sony itself and third parties dropping to $9.99. Joining this price point from Sony:


Ape Escape: On the Loose

Buzz! Master Quiz

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee

LocoRoco 2

Patapon 2

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe

SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo

Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow

Twisted Metal: Head-On

On the third party side, look for:

Justice League Heroes

Manhunt 2

Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection

Silent Hill Origins

Sims 2

The Warriors
Sweetening the PSPgo pot is the addition of SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3, LittleBigPlanet, and Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters. The system will still cost $250, but now when you buy it (look for specially marked boxes), the box will include voucher codes for those three games. Meanwhile, Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance: Retribution and Secret Agent Clank are being added to the $19.99 each PSP Greatest Hits library.

All of these are June projects, so look for new items on the store shelves soon.

Decker

BTW : I bought Pinball Heroes Bundle 2 for my trip last weekend. I was pretty disappointed. It's not as clever or original as the last bundle. The games featured this time were WipEout, Motorstorm, ModNation Racers and Fat Princess. The problem (besides few of those series having much nostalgia or originality associated with them) is that three of the four series are racing series. As a result, two of the tracks (Modnation, WipEout) have multiple elevated tracks and very few table obstacles. For me, that makes for some boring tables. Motorstorm goes a different route with a more traditional table, but it too is pretty boring and has only a few bumpers and one truck obstacle in the center.
Fat Princess is clearly the best, most original table. The problem is that the top half of the table is only available after you've managed to extend the bridge over the lake in the middle of the table. I'm still trying to figure out the rules, but for now I'm sort of stumped. If you could buy the tables individually (and I don't think you can as of now), I'd get that one as it is pretty and unique. The others are all okay, but nothing too great in my opinion. Would it have killed them to have given us God Of War and Ratchet & Clank tables instead?

fujishig

I don't see how this addresses either of the first two complaints, only the third one, and with a bundle at that. I think I'm just bitter because I'm an old-school fat PSP owner, and this is supposed to attract new people (I guess).

Decker

"Hey, the games might be old and not so good, but they're cheap now, so quit your whining!".

In reality, they must be realizing what $10 - $13 can get you on an iphone now and this is their response. At least that's my guess.

kndy

Does anyone know if the upcoming 4000 release will be UMD-based? Anyway, it's cool to see a good number of games drop in price. Still need to pick up "Patapon 2".

Decker

Patapon 2 is great -- a STEAL at $10. The sequel demo is out already, iirc.

Had not heard about a PSP-4000 at all. If one were in the wings, you'd expect to hear about it at E3 last month.

For those that didn't see it yet, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is $19.99 at K Mart this week. A smoking deal on what's apparently one of the best MGS games anywhere. I'll pick it up this week for sure.

Drexl

Well, I'm thinking of getting a PSP. Is the 3000 really bad with the interlacing? I can't seem to find any new 2000s for a reasonable price. I don't want the Go.

And, this would probably push me to get PS Plus.

Chris_D

I know that my 2000 is indeed pretty awesome. But, also, the interlacing issue seemed to die down pretty quickly and I haven't seen any 3000 owners actively complaining about it.

Baron Of Hell

I have the the god of war one that I think is a 3000. I don't have any problems with it.

PixyJunket

The screen on the 3000 is excellent. It's better than the 2000 but perhaps only subtly so. The whole interlacing things was an overly exaggerated internet bandwagon thing.. ONE exaggerated picture taken out of context and copied to every "blog" blindly. There's a reason you haven't heard about it since, it was never an issue.

Raul3

Yep, no issues with my PSP 3000 either.

Daryl

That's what I have - the GoW edition is the 2000. Love mine.

Drexl

Damnit, why won't Amazon Marketplace in the UK ship video games to the US? They'll ship movies and CDs, but not games. I was wanting to get that Ridge Racer 2 that was never released here, and they're selling copies for just 2 pounds.

slop101

I got MGS: Peacekeeper for the PSP, and while I can see that it can be a pretty great MSG game (lots of depth, great gameplay), it's practically unplayable with the PSP controls. I tried and I just can't hack it - I keep dying/getting caught ONLY due to control issues. You pretty much NEED two analog sticks and four shoulder buttons.

Further, it's not at all conducive to portable gaming - it's a home-console game all they way. I don't understand why they didn't give this an HD treatment and release it on the PS3. They would've made much more money on it.

tlwizard

Amazon just had one of their "damaged box" ones go on Warehouse deals for $86. Just as a heads up for you or anyone else looking for a deal on a new PSP.

(also I think the Madden bundle is only $170 and comes with a bunch of stuff.)

Drexl

Well, I bought the system last week, but thanks anyway. I'm actually thinking of getting Madden on the PSP this year, so I'm kicking myself for not waiting on the bundle. But, I didn't know about it until a few days after I got the system. It came with MLB The Show, but I played that a lot on PS3 and kinda got tired of it.

Does it bother anyone else a little that the face buttons don't have the colors like on the home consoles? You know, like green for triangle, blue for X, etc. Actually, it's not the buttons I care about, but rather the in-game prompts. Since the buttons are black and white, so are the prompts. The colors are easier to quickly process visually; in bad lighting conditions I might mistake a square for a circle. I guess they did it for looks, to almost hide the buttons, but I don't think the colors would have detracted much.

PixyJunket

Ys SEVEN. Two weeks.

http://www.worldofys.com/

The limited edition comes with 60 page artbook, soundtrack CD and a huge cloth map of the world of Ys.

I'm double-dipping for the English version and it'll be worth it.

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BEST PSP GAME EVER BEST PSP GAME EVER BEST PSP GAME EVER BEST PSP GAME EVER BEST PSP GAME EVER.

Noonan

So tempting. Do I pick Ys up at launch and play it right away or wait until after I finish Kingdom Hearts? That would put it dangerously close to the DS Final Fantasy release date. The next few months are huge for handheld rpg'ers.

PixyJunket

Ys comes out in two weeks, Kingdom Hearts in four.

Ys is pretty brisk.. it's longer than other games in the series though. You should be good to get both at release and that leaves over a month for 4 Heroes of Light.

Oh yes.

Noonan

I haven't played a Ys game since the original 1&2 on TG16. About how long would you say it is?

PixyJunket

I would say Ys Seven is between 20-25 hours long, depending on your play style.

Past games averaged around 10 hours, for the most part.

Drexl

Is there any way to get the analog nub to work as real analog in PSone games? I know you can switch to "Type 4," but that just maps the D-pad to the nub, which doesn't give you the 360 degree range of movement or different speeds. Even the custom config seems to do that as well.

PixyJunket

Nope, afraid not.

It's likely not supported because analog on PS1 is still dual analog and the PSP doesn't have the second stick.

Drexl

Wow, just wow. I'm surprised it even made it out the door that way, let alone that it hasn't been addressed since.

I don't mind fewer buttons (no L2/R2) and the loss of the right analog stick. Most games didn't use the right analog anyway. But some games from 1998 on just aren't the same without one analog.

PixyJunket

Well, it only affects PS1 games and all of them were developed for digital first. If they had analog support, it was secondary and optional.

Any games that REQUIRED the dual-analog controller aren't on PSN for PSP (some are there and play on the PS3).