Thursday November 5, 2009
As promised, I've checked out the PSP Minis game Zombie Tycoon so you don't have to. Except you might want to check it out for yourself, because I really liked it. Yes, zombies have been done to death, and so have silly takes on horror, but somehow it still works.
Zombie Tycoon is a strategy game, but it's not so complex that non-strategy gamers should avoid it. I rarely play strategy games because I lack the patience, and if I wanted to exercise my brain that much, I'd write a scholarly article or do a science experiment or read some philosophy. Zombie Tycoon will certainly make you think, but not painfully hard. If you prefer, you can think of each level as a puzzle.
Anyway, read my review to find out more, then head over to the PlayStation Store if it sounds like something for you. Halloween may be over, but zombie fun is good any time of year.
Thursday November 5, 2009
About's Guide to Mobile Gaming, Damon Brown, just posted a great interview with John Carmack of id Software, legendary for creating the first-person-shooter genre almost single-handedly with Wolfenstein 3D. Among the questions Damon asked was why id Software hadn't developed for the PSP or DS. Carmack answered,
Actually, we got the SDKs and the hardware specs, but we never got around to producing.
It seems that John Carmack thinks handheld games systems are on the way on in favor of gadgets that do many things, like the iPhone:
My guess is that dedicated game systems won't be here much longer - we'll have devices not committed just to gaming. We're not there yet, as the dedicated game machines still have the better specs, but it will be easier to make the iPhone and similar devices into a cool gaming machine than it would be to, say, turn the PSP into a phone.
It's interesting to think about. After all, many high-tech items do seem to be going to multifunction way. On the other hand, the old wisdom about devices that can do many things, but do none of them particularly well (or as well as a standalone device) still seems to hold. Sure, there are always people who will buy the tv with the video player built in, or the printer that also scans, photocopies and faxes, but the true television junkie knows that if you buy your tv and your player separately, you're going to get better hardware, and a graphic designer will probably choose a scanner and printer specific to their needs, and not whatever comes built in to a multifunction machine.
Now, I'm not saying the iPhone sucks in comparison to the PSP. I have both (and a DS, too), and I love them all, but for different things. Yes, I play games on my iPhone, but I play casual games, and puzzle games, and the occasional graphical adventure. For serious handheld gaming, I play on my PSP. Despite the About team's 5 reasons you should buy one handheld over another articles (PSP here and DS here), I think most of us agree that the different handhelds (and consoles, too) have different strengths and play very different kinds of games. Choose one based on your gaming preferences, or choose them all if you want to play everything.
Anyway, read Damon's interview with John Carmack for more on id Software's iPhone development. (The PSP stuff is one page 2, if you want to skip to it.)
Wednesday November 4, 2009
Come December, Japanese gamers will have even more choice when they go to buy a PSP. Five more choices, in fact.
To start with, there will be four Value Pack bundles, each including a different color of PSP-3000, power cord and AC adapter, battery, cleaning cloth, pouch and memory stick. The colors are Pearl White, Piano Black, Radiant Red and Vibrant Blue.
Then, December 10 will see the release of a Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G bundle, that will include a blue PSP-3000, power cord and AC adapter, battery, and a UMD copy of the Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G game.
Source: Kotaku
Monday November 2, 2009
PSP games scheduled to be released in North America this week:
PSP games scheduled to be released in Europe this week:
PSP games scheduled to be released in Australia this week:
UMD movies scheduled to be released this week:
Release dates are collected from a number of sources, so there will occasionally be errors. Please note that some games may be released in some parts of the world and not others.
