Late Post with Music

So, you will notice that I posted late today.  Well....I didn't post yesterday, so in fact I missed a day.  That is because it was storming!  And I know you're like, "But Mogs, the Twitter Sidebar didn't say so!" and to that I say, "I know."  Because, you see, I post on twitter from my PSP when I'm going to be late, and my PSP was otherwise occupied by a game of Phantasy Star Portable 2 with Kaseius in which we I got so many rares.  I didn't even notice the time (not that there was much I could do since it was still storming) til the tail end of the session when I realized "Oh, I.....I didn't post, did I?"  And no, no I did not.  But I'm rectifying that!

Because I like music, I'm doing a music post for today (will likely do another post tonight) and in theme with what I just said, why don't we just go ahead and start this off with the main theme for Phantasy Star Portable 2, since I really really enjoy it.



You don't actually hear the whole of that in the main game which made it all the better when I listened to it prior to getting the embed code for here.  One of the comments suggests it's actually the Japanese version of the song, and, y'know what, whatever, it's close enough.  And pretty righteous.  I can't really pinpoint what it is about the song that I like, but it's one of those songs that I just can't stop listening to.  It's precisely why I haven't set it as the theme for my MC's (or any of my other characters for that matter) Room, because I would never leave if I did so.

Moving on fairly starkly, this is actually the first song that popped into my head when I decided to do a music post tonight.  Buying a game and having it include the soundtrack was, by all means, a completely foreign concept to me when I first picked this game up and at first, I was like "Well...that's cool, I guess."  I hadn't really paid attention to a lot of video game music besides the songs from Chrono Trigger, because I was fairly convinced that game music just didn't get any better than that and that no other game was worthy of a try or something.  Basically, I just tuned a lot of it out, is my point.  Now, while Chrono Trigger still has a fantastic soundtrack, I do open myself up to other games, and this was one of the first that made me do so, and mostly because of this song.

Grandia 2, when I got it on the Dreamcast, was pretty wonderful.  I believe I was just getting back into RPGs (the last one before that being either Skies of Arcadia, as I don't remember when that came out, or Ogre Battle 64) and it provided a nice pace that I found easy to move into.  I don't remember much of the story now, but at the time it was enjoyable enough, and the characters were fairly developed enough for me to really enjoy.  From what I remember, this played a lot when a certain character, Millenia, was around, whom I thought was pretty awesome as well, so it really worked out.  So without further ado, this is "Dangerous Zone" from Grandia 2.



No mistaking why I like this song, that's for sure.  The guitar is awesome, there's friggin' righteous keyboard parts, and it's just so high energy that it makes me want to punch things.  Manly like.  (Like that's hard to do with me, right?  Yakuza up ins.)

Speaking of Yakuza, I must say that I've become infatuated with the main theme for Yakuza 4, titled "For Faith".  It's....actually kind of a pretty song.  I'm using pretty loosely here since I can't think of a better way to describe it.  It's just nice sounding and powerful, if you're at all attached to the source material, as we know I am.



If you, the reader, could do me a favor, I have a standing argument with a friend who argues that the song is depressing to listen to.  While I accept there's a tinge of sadness in it (rather, that's what I attribute to the 'power' of it), I don't think it's depressing whatsoever and just think that it's a wonderful sounding song.  So if you could weigh in on that, that'd be just lovely.  I don't ask for a lot, y'know?  Just do this one thing for me.  (You don't have to.)

So, with that, I head off to bed as I have a rather long day ahead of me that starts in.....six hours.  Heh.  Happy Listening!

Weekly Wrap-Up in Gaming - August 21 - August 27

Earlier this week, I managed to finally beat Darksiders.  It was a long, oftentimes difficult journey, and at parts, I wasn't sure that it was honestly worth it.  I didn't really care for the last.....hour or so of gameplay prior to the end-fight as it just seemed a little....not arbitrary, but it could have been considered a little better.  Even when I took to the final boss fight, I couldn't help but find a thing or two to complain about, but when I won?  When I finally got that ending, all I could do was sit back and tell myself that yes, it was indeed worth it.

That said, there were quite a few cracks in the armor that only seemed to get bigger and bigger as the game went on, which only frustrated the whole experience more than necessary.  Again, I know the core of most of the frustrations were that I was trying to play the game on Apocalyptic first clip (and, well, -did-, getting like five trophies when I beat it for my efforts.  That was almost worth it alone.) but some of them were very, very clearly design.  Design like the previously grumbled about Voidwalker sections, and, well, every part after that.  (Which isn't much.)  It's hard to say much without spoiling the ending, but I will say that a collect-a-thon is something you base the start of a game around, or throw in towards the start or middle, not something you throw in at the end as a 'key' for the final boss encounter.

Then the final boss itself honestly lacked the sense of scale and grandeur that even some of the other, less-important fights had.  Admittedly, the first part of it was fun for me, if a little paint-by-numbers, but it just went off the deep-end there at the end in a way that honestly would have been better served if they took a page from the pages Uncharted:  Drake's Fortune and made the final boss less about 'fighting' the boss and more about 'getting' to it.  But oh well, it honestly wasn't too challenging, offered more good than bad, and lead directly into the amazing ending that was wholly satisfying.  Even if the whole of Darksiders was 100% worse than it was, that ending alone would have been enough to place Darksiders 2 solidly on my radar, so suffice to say it is there.

In a move sure to surprise no one, after I felt I was sufficiently done with Darksiders for now (Got the Abyssal Armor, but didn't have the desire to go for more than that with the Lifestones and Wrath Cores and such), I took it out, looked at my games, saw Yakuza 4 and remembered "Hey, I shelved that for DW7, and then got distracted" and quickly sought to remedy this by throwing it into the PS3 and starting a new game.  I mean, sure, I was only at the end of Akiyama's section with my last game, but this was an excuse to start the whole game over again, and that's not an excuse I'm going to overlook because, despite not playing it for...er...five months(?), you all know the Yakuza games are my bread-and-butter.

And honestly, that's why I think I haven't played it for so long.  It's one thing to say you love a game and play it compulsively, but it's a whole other thing to say you love a game and not have to play it to prove as much.  Jumping into Yakuza 4 again just feels natural.  It's a game where I'm not going to get rusty at it, I'm not going to become disinterested because of the passing of time or anything, it's just a game that'll always be there, ready for me when I'm ready for it again.  Other games are challenges to clear, things to get through to see what the hype is about, or things to enjoy, but, much like inFamous 2, Yakuza (of any number) for me is just pure, condensed fun.

And it proved that much when I started it again and won my first (non-tutorial) fight by kicking bicycles at a guy until he fell over, unconscious, walked over to him, grabbed the sword he'd been carrying and proceeded to take out his partner by engaging in a HEAT action, slamming the hilt of the sword into the back of his head over and over again until he fell to the ground and spiked it against his head. (Not the blade part, Akiyama apparently doesn't know how to use a Sword in HEAT)  Grinning in glee, I went around, looking for my next fight and had a right bit of fun by throwing the guys I encountered around a few times and soccer kicking their faces in.  I'm not sure why I had my reservations about Akiyama the first time I started Yakuza 4, honestly; the dude is a fucking boss.

I think one of the best things to say for the game is that it's not a chore to look for sidequests/sidestories like it could be in other games.  Sure, you don't know where all of them are without extensive searching or checking a FAQ, but that's not really an issue as Kamurocho is just a wonder to explore, and I honestly know more about the map layout there than most of the surrounding areas.  Which is....kind of hilarious really.  At one point, the game is like "Go here" and I said to myself "Oh yeah, I just need to make a left here, go straight for a while and then right", like I was telling someone else how to get to the store from my house.  There's just that level of familiarity there which I find a little amusing, personally.  Of course, it won't be that way with the new areas for quite a while, the rooftops and the underground malls and such, but that just adds to the thrill.

I also put some more time into Phantasy Star Portable 2 this week, but, well, that's been the same as always.  I'm slowly edging towards higher levels (My MC is now level 94) but the keyword is 'slowly' and it's not without frustration.  You might have noticed a recent tweet on the sidebar yelling about how everything has a ton of HP and, well, it's true.  It's really rough throwing down against a single enemy for the amount of time you apparently have to, not to mention the damage they deal, but I've been managing to do so enough times to get by.

So, there's that!  Been a pretty good week this week, I should say.

I Am Obsessed with Making Characters

I've honestly never thought about this before, but I honestly think I have a problem with making characters in video games that I honestly have no intention of really using.  It's been going on for a while, I know; way back in Phantasy Star Online, I had, er.....probably ten characters, since I had a few VMUs, and two of them were the type that lacked a screen, but you could slide a switch and it was a -whole other- memory card.  So, since you could only have one character per card, I could just tick between them to pick which character I wanted.  Of course, I mainly only used my main, a HUcast named Raynor (which has since become a trend with my PS games), but I had so many characters.

I guess with PSO, it served a purpose, at least since you could only get certain things depending on your color ID, which depended on your name (some sort of algorithm) so you just may not see some things if you were Pinkal instead of Yellowboze.  But then again, like I said, I barely played any other character except for Raynor because I just wanted him to get higher leveled and I saw any attempt to play any other character an impediment to that, since EXP took quite a bit to gather after a certain level.

Yet, whenever I'm presented with a character creator, I can't help but freeze up for a moment, not really knowing what to make.  Staring down a blank slate like that, knowing it can be molded to whatever I want, it's almost terrifying in a way, since, what if I don't get what I want?  Then I'm -stuck- with it.  'Forever'.  As in the case of White Knight Chronicles, had I not lost my save file, I'd be stuck with the short-ish, green-haired, uh.....elf-guy that I made.  At least, he kinda looked like an elf.  Maybe sort of like Magus but with green hair.  Whenever I looked at him, there just seemed....something off, but the knowledge that I could fix him for a -fee- was not a tantalizing one.  Whenever I pick the game up again, I do believe I'll be going in with a gameplan unless the game has saved my character through Geonet or something.  (I'm sure it hasn't.)

The latest in this long line of giving shape, form and a name, yet no attention has been Phantasy Star Portable 2.  I'm up to six characters (out of eight allowable) now, and the highest after my main is level, er...28.  Keeping in mind Raynor is 86 or so.  Which is a fairly wide margin!  I don't know what it is, really, but I guess I just like making characters, just to see what I can come up with, to maybe use them at some point in the future for something.  But I guess it serves no negative purpose other than bugging me every now and then.

I wanted to make this longer and add a couple more pictures but either IGN is down, or my router is being a dick.  Considering I'm already annoyed from a long day.....bleh.

Weekly Wrap-Up in Gaming - June 27 - July 3

I've actually got a few games to talk about this week, so hey, here we go!

Clearly, as indicated above, the first game I'm going to discuss here is inFamous 2, which I just beat on my evil karma runthrough last night, meaning I've experienced both sides of the story.  And, aside from a few dead drops, I would say I've experienced the whole of the story, which means I think I'm fairly qualified to talk about it here, in broad strokes of course, to prevent spoilers.  Of course, if you just don't want anything influencing your take and haven't beaten it yet, do go ahead and skip down to the picture of LittleBigPlanet 2 for that section.

First off, the evil ending has actually forced me to amend my statement of "Nothing is wrong with this game" to "Okay, there's a couple things wrong with this game".  I don't know if it's because there wasn't this big, game-changing revelation at the end to mimic the first game, or the 'finality' both endings bring (in their own ways), but it just felt like it was flopped about.  inFamous 1 clearly gave us a game that knew it wasn't going to be the only one of the series, whereas, to me, it felt like inFamous 2 sort of wanted to get everything in and end it, much like some would say other games have done (MGS4 for example), and while I don't agree with that as a blanket statement, I feel like it happened here, and it didn't work.

While I did like the theatrics present in both endings, in all I just didn't like the story those theatrics presented, not only because they gave that sense of finality, but because they gave a bit of finality even though there's obviously still more story to be had here.  There is a fairly obvious hanging thread of story left by the time the game closes, and while it's not a big one, it's big enough to notice and likely big enough to hook into for the next game, should they choose to do one.  (Which they should, given that they're actually not making Sly 4, lazy bums.)  (I'm kidding.)  I guess it does speak for the game, in that they managed to really try and change the tone so it wouldn't be 'more of the same' like most people will complain about in sequels, but maybe they did a bit too much.

And another, quick little complaint I have, is that they still haven't figured out how to properly trigger a goddamn "Hard" mode trophy.  Look, Sucker Punch.  Just because I didn't set it to hard until after the tutorial fight at the beginning doesn't mean I didn't play through the entire goddamn game on Hard, so give me my goddamn trophy.

Still, it's a fantastic game, and I certainly don't regret the money I put into it.  And if inFamous 3 were announced tomorrow, my hype meter would be off-the-charts.

I did put some more time into LittleBigPlanet 2 this week, not only because it's the only thing my Nephews want to watch, but because I'm on the ever-ongoing journey towards acing the entire story.  While I only added a few spades to the badges on my planets, those spades (indicators of Aced levels, if you didn't know) were hard-fought and they indicate that I'm that much closer.  And as I mentioned at the start of the week, I've been dabbling back into the level creation aspects but I don't have much to show for it -just- yet.  As always, once I do, I'll likely be posting it up here first.

It's amazing to me, the depth that LittleBigPlanet 2 offers everyone, simply because I can go into the MM Picks tab or the Cool Levels Tab, pick any level there and be absolutely blown away by what I get there.  The looks of some of the levels, the designs oftentimes leave me wondering just what in the hell they did to make it look so beautiful and how I can do that.  It's a sort of humbleness that isn't exactly harmful, but it's humbling nonetheless and really does sometimes kick you in the gut, because you can make a level, sure, but it's not going to be -that level- that you just played.  Still, if you get your own level good enough, it might just be -that level- for someone else, and that's always the hope.

The only real frustration with LBP and LBP2 for me lies in the collection aspect, if merely because you have some levels that take forever to navigate, with four people, just so you can trigger some thing at the very end of it to get one or two items.  There's a little unbalance with the effort : reward ratio, is basically what I'm getting at, and while it's fun playing with friends, I would more prefer it to be optional; something you don't have to worry about when you just want to gad about in levels with your pals.  Of course, the netcode is a matter of contention as well.  I'm not sure how much improved LBP2's is now, as when I played it online it was merely okay at best, but then again, that was directly after it launched.  Still, just a little complaint in the face of such a light-hearted, fun game.

The last game I can talk about here is Phantasy Star Portable 2, which I sort of fell back into playing thanks to the lack of computer for however long that was.  I've been playing it since and have found that I'm in that rut where the enemies you can defeat give you jack-all for EXP, whereas the enemies who give you a good bit of EXP will knock you flat on your ass with one hit simply because the gear available hasn't caught up to the challenge necessary.  That's probably the only time it's really just not fun to play the game (Same as it was back with Phantasy Star Online) and unfortunately leads to a lot of "Well, I'm done" feelings and falling out.  We'll see how it goes with me, but I don't know.

The prospect of getting to a similar level to my PSO character does seem nice, but at the same time, that's a looooong gap between where I am (83) and where my old character was (somewhere in the 100s, maybe upwards of 120).  Not only numerically, but just in the amount of time each one of those levels will take, barring some better gear.  But I jumped that hump last time, I can do it again!

That's about it for this week's games.  I did play a couple other things, but nothing that I could talk about at length here.  Until next time!  Whenever that may be.

What I Did on My Summer Vaca- er, Hiatus

So, if you paid attention to the handy-dandy gadget I put on the sidebar with my twitter feed, you no doubt saw that I implemented that at just the right moment, for directly after, I found a real use for it:  informing you, the readers, that my computer had gone all pear-shaped.  So, I hope you saw that at some point!  Because it's not an intentional outage that I went through, I assure you, merely something out of my control.  The skinny of it is something the internet has, no doubt, told you anyway:  Never buy Norton Anything.  Norton Anti-virus, Internet Security, what have you, just don't shell out the money.  It can, quite possibly, get infected in such a way that it turns into a megalomaniacal super-tyrant who will ruin your computer if not stopped.  And the means of stopping it involve completely wiping the computer.

Thankfully, the guy who fixed our computer has been doing things with computers since I was a kid, so he knows what he's doing, and the important things that were on this computer were saved.  So no worries on that.  He even optimized it (and gave it a half-gig more of RAM, bringing the total up to, uh, 1 gig) for us and it works like a dream now.  A....ten year old, technological hurr-durr of a dream, but a dream nonetheless.  So hopefully, everything will be cool on the computer front.  If only Windows would, uh, stop updating.

Anyways, you likely don't care about that.  You care about what the title says:  What I did with my, er, 'time off'.  And I'll tell you what, it was a lot.  I'd like to make special mention to my PSP for being awesomer and awesomer every time I want to do something with it.  Thanks in part to the world going all mobile-sites, the browser in the PSP is a little more capable than the days or yore, and while it's still not perfect, it's a fine stand-by while we wait for the real treasure:  The Vita's browser.  Which...I imagine will just be the PS3's browser.  But hey, it works fine, and it streams youtube videos.  Hopefully we'll see that on the Vita as well, since that's the only thing that could have made the hiatus more bearable.

I'm sure it'll surprise no one (especially if you kept up with my twitter) that the bulk of my time away was spent with Sucker Punch's latest gem, inFamous 2, which has me feeling all sorts of things; the majority of them being good.  I will open by berating Sucker Punch for making the same mistake in this game as they did the last:  Holding out on us with the really good mobility powers.  Without spoiling too much for you, at a certain point, you get a power that makes getting up to higher places much, much easier, in a way that I akined to being Electric Spider-Man, but that point is not in the first half of the game, much like the Static Thrusters weren't that soon in the first game.  Which is not a good thing!  Stop holding out, Sucker Punch!

My only other gripe would be, in a surprising twist, too much of a good thing.  Namely, quite a few powers locked to the R2 key.  Two are in my head off-hand (one of them being a good side power, since that's what I beat the game on), and it's just too much of a hassle to switch between them.  They both make mobility really, really excellent, and it's just a shame that you can't swap one of them with a different key to make use of the both of them in a quick, easy, and efficient way.

Aside from that, the rest of the game made me various, various degrees of happy, save one part.  Which, if you've beaten the game on good, you know what part and I'm not saying anything else.  Suffice to say that I had to tell myself repeatedly that it's a comic book game, and comic books do that sort of thing all the time and keep going, so I'm not going to worry too much on it.


I know I focused more on the things I was "Ehhhhhh" about, but you have to look at the facts here:  I spent probably 20-30 hours playing inFamous 2, beat it one and a fourth times, and I have precisely three gripes about it, two of which aren't really even bad.  If that's not enough of an endorsement for you, I could very likely gush here for paragraphs about what I loved about the game, but I can just narrow it down here:  Everything I didn't mention above.  Alright?  It's all just perfect.  Go buy it.

Also on my list of things I did, was delve back into the wonderful world of LittleBigPlanet the Second, which made me wonder why I ever left to begin with.  And then I looked at the stack of games I've yet to even touch still and mouthed a silent "Oh yeah" to myself.  However, LBP2 has likely carved out a niche in my everyday while I watch my nephews at least, since they just love love love watching the movies people have created in LittleBigPlanet 2.  Which makes it easy on me too; I can just load it and enjoy as they do!  Though, I do love playing the game, of course.

And of course, dipping back into LBP2 has also meant a resurgence of my ever-long desire to revamp my single published level, Journey's Fall, that I have come to think of as the half-finished manuscript on my coffee table.  I'm proud of it, but it's not done, and I don't know what to do with it; or rather, I do know, but I can't will myself to do so.  And while I might show it off to people who come around and get positive feedback, it could likely never get finished.  Though I really do intend to finish it.  And I do have a few ideas.  We'll see if LittleBigThings will make a comeback, though.

Also on the rather long list of accomplishments is the fact that I have, indeed, scratched one game off of my "To Finish" list:  Grand Theft Auto:  The Lost and Damned.  Though, that's the only positive note about it, as TLAD is, for a lack of a better term, completely and totally poor.  I wanted to like it.  I really did.  Because I liked GTA IV!  At least, I did.  Coming back to the mechanics after such an extended period of time made them feel archaic by comparison.  It was rough getting back in, especially considering the lovely missions and the absolutely fabulous mid-mission checkpoint system, but after I got them back down...well, I managed to finish the game.  (I will note, that obviously, I hated the missions and checkpoints.)

Note to Rockstar for future reference:  If you have a goddamn shootout with five waves of people and then a bike chase to kill even more people on bikes, maybe you want to put a checkpoint somewhere in there.  I cannot put into words the amount of frustration one feels when you're down to just one guy left to kill and you end up dying.

Twice.

Only to have to restart the whole goddamn thing over again.

Twice.

Especially if one of those times is, technically, your own fault because you don't remember how to switch weapons on a vehicle.  Gee thanks, game!  What am I going to do with goddamn pipe bombs on a motorcycle against other guys on motorcycles?  The answer?

Accidentally kill myself.

Yeah.  That was just.....I'm sure you can imagine what it was.  And all in all, I can appreciate the scale of the later missions, but that doesn't mean I liked them or thought they were done well.  While the last missions arguably reaches Three-Leaf Clover levels of grandeur, the execution is much less appealing and even becomes a bit sloppy, like the rest of the game.  (I know it's just an expansion, but it's full-featured enough.)

Directly after, I started up The Ballad of Gay Tony, and it's like friggin' night and day.  The Ballad of Gay Tony, I only got through the first mission before I turned it off, but I was happy while playing it.  Because it was fun.  The animation is noticeably better, the voice-work is wonderful, and the direction is just much, much better overall.  I do believe I'm going to have fun with it.  But time will tell, of course.

Rounding out the list of things I did is the all-encompassing term of "Portable Gaming", by which Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Rune Factory 3 were my main games.  Anyone from the school of Phantasy Star Online will appreciate the gravity of the statement, "I got my main character from Level 80 to Level 82" whereas everyone else will likely shrug at the two levels of advancement.  But those of us that know, know, that that is not something to shrug over.  As for Rune Factory 3, I had my second child on my main file and started a new one because why not with the intent on getting all the girls to like my character so he'll have supreme pick when it comes time to get married.

I might even be forgetting a thing or two here, but the short of it is that the computer is back and better than ever, and I had a lot of free time in the meantime.  But now Kupowered is back in business!

Playstation Vita has killed my ability to think coherently.

For the moment, my mind is pretty much stuck at going "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" and not stopping.  Mostly because of LittleBigPlanet Vita.  (Tentative Title.)  But also mostly because of the Playstation Vita itself.  Two models, as we all knew, Wi-Fi only and 3G/Wi-Fi model, with the 3G one using AT&T as its carrier.  The Press Release makes mention of "pricing" through AT&T, so I'm expecting Data plans, so I'm just going to spring for the Wi-Fi only model unless something comes up to change that.

I'm gonna have to just link you to Chance's recap of the Keynote until I can form more and more proper sentences.  But, yeah, I am pretty much super excited at the moment.

Edit:  Alright.  I'm more composed now.  Did anyone notice that I spelled 'coherently' wrong in the initial posting?  Boy, that's a bit embarrassing.   Anyways...

After what I initially referred to as "cockteasing" by Kaz Hirai, who insisted on bringing up the Vita, subtly, talking about the PSP, referring again, vaguely, to the Vita and then bringing up Playstation Suite, the NGP, then announced, finally and officially as the Playstation Vita.  After bringing it up and doing the usual talking on it's high points, I, as I'm sure everyone watching, was just chomping at the bit to know a price.  And when one wasn't provided by the time he was already handing it off to someone else to talk about the games, I'm sure more than a few people felt a creeping dread.  Knowing Sony, this was their ploy to raise excitement and then crush it finally and completely with some insane pricepoint at the very end of it.  It wouldn't be the first time and, unfortunately,  it likely wouldn't be the last.

But rather than some evil ploy to smash dreams and bring ridicule upon themselves, the entire section of the presser was perfectly engineered to bring about the highest amount of excitement one could get from it.  "Here's what it can do.  Here's what the games look and play like.  Here's some of the cross-console possibilities."  Essentially, "Here's all the shit it can do that makes you think we're not going to compete with Nintendo on price."

And then, Kaz came back out, and brought the excitement, the interest to its apex...to then bring down waves of gratification as they did what no one expected, truly expected them to do:  Priced the base model exactly at the price-point of its direct competitor, the 3DS, at $249.99.  Then, less surprisingly, as this point had been mentioned before in the rumors, its partner price of $299.99 for the 3G/Wi-Fi model was announced, with AT&T being tapped as the exclusive provider of 3G for the system.  Still no real word on what all you'll be able to do with 3G on the thing, but a deal with AT&T likely means a data plan, which means a lot of people will likely not shell out for it unless there's something else in it for them.  Still, being that it's got 3G -and- Wi-Fi, so long as you're not supposed to sign up right there in the store and it comes with a little something extra, a memory stick or something, it might not be a bad thing.

So yeah.  With everything we've seen for the Vita so far (Not only E3, but the stuff from waaaay back, when it was first announced, even) and everything we know now, the Vita is looking like a sweet deal.  It's going to be rough for Nintendo to try and convince everyone that you're getting the same amount of bang for your buck; and touting 3D might not be the only way around it.

Konami's attempt at best E3 Line-up is respectable

Do you see this image?  This image right here, above this line?  Yeah.  You see it.  And you better get used to seeing it, because it is officially a thing that is happening.  Contrary to what the tagline says, the Metal Gear Solid Collection (Featuring, as it shows on the image, MGS2, 3 and Peace Walker) will be a multi-platform release on both the PS3 and 360, so not only will 360 owners (who presumably never owned a PS2) be able to play MGS3 without buying a 3DS, but they'll be able to take a swing at Peace Walker as well.  Of course, PS3 owners have the edge, seeing as Konami stated that the version of Peace Walker is 'Transfarrable'.  No, I'm not making that word up.  Anyways, PS3 owners who also own Peace Walker will be able to treat the game as one of the upcoming "PSP Remasters" in that you'll be able to move your save from one game to the other.  If that means PW will be locked out of Trophies/Achievements, I don't know, but we'll see.

Also announced by Konami today was a Silent Hill Collection, which bundles Silent Hill 2 and 3 together.  That's about all that's known about it.  Do you need to know much else, though?  It's Silent Hill 2.  And it's Silent Hill 3.  They are together.  On one disk.  The consoles it'll release on are technically unspecified at the moment, but PS3/360 is expected.

And finally, the third Collection announced was....wait for it...

HELL.

YES.

The Zone of the Enders HD Collection will, obviously, feature Zone of the Enders 1 and 2 (Sorry, no Fist of Mars for the GBA.  Let's all shed a solitary tear.) up-ported in the usual Collection style, etc. etc.  It will be amazing.  Because the games?  They are amazing.  And they will be even more amazing when they're in the Haitch Dees.  The collection also touts another "Transfarring" feature, but just for what, it's hard to say, as it's tied to a "Future announcement".  Say...the Sony E3 conference is in the future...

(I am really, really, really hoping this means a Zone of the Enders game in PSV.  I will buy seven. 

....not really.  I will buy one though.)

NGP gets a (possible) name: "Vita"

Take a look above, as it's the first (possible) picture of the NGP (from Joystiq.) that actually isn't a stock photo from what I've seen.  Sure, it's more of a mock-up than anything, but my point stands.  Anyways, that's not explicitly the point, so much as the latest addition to the overall look:  What may possibly be a logo.  When I started suggesting possibilities for alternate names (a whole one and a half of them, I guess) I never would have come up with the name "PS Vita", and when presented with it, I'm sure my reaction was the same as most everyone else:  "W...what?"

Now, while it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue right away, nor does it lend itself to accurately giving you an idea on what it even is, I can kind of understand the thought behind naming it the Vita, if, of course, they do name it that.  Or, at least, I can throw a couple reasons out there and suggest it was on their minds so it doesn't look like five guys sat around a table playing Scrabble until the letters just sort of fell into place.

Now, a quick googling will lead you to the quick revelation that "Vita" means "Life" in a couple of languages.  Given the PSP's lackluster appearance (not actual performance), a good way of shedding that image would likely be to launch a campaign built around that point, claiming to "Breathe new 'life' into portable gaming" or something of the sort.  Really, so long as they manage to keep away from psychic babies and (as much as I didn't personally mind him) Marcus, pretty much any ad campaign for this will be fine, not even necessarily pointing out the Vita part.  Still, taking a cue from Nintendo and incorporating the console name into the message ("Wii would like to play~") would likely be a good idea.

A very slightly less quick googling will also bring up the fact that "Vita" is also a different form of the more common word "Beta", which we all know is the second letter of the Greek Alphabet and is pretty much usually synonymous with "second", with the common example being "Beta" being the second phase of a game's development.  Given that this will be the second Playstation Handheld Device, well, that just sort of works nicely.  Not very many people will know that right off, which is a bit unfortunate, and naming it the "PS Beta" would likely raise more than a few eyebrows, but for what it is, it's not exactly offensively bad or anything, so it'll work.  We all got used to calling the Wii "The Wii", and it obviously hasn't distracted from its success.

For my own opinion, while I'm not exactly impressed right off with it, after looking into it, I think it's a fairly 'smart' name, even if it's a name that will allow all, and you'll have to excuse the meme, the haters to continue to hate.  Which, hey, there will be detractors for everything, and no matter what this was going to be named, there was likely going to be a lot of vocalizations against it.  While this makes it a bit easier, it's not starting something that wasn't going to happen anyway.

Of course, it could be an elaborate hoax, or we could have another "Move" situation, where we all sort of accepted that would be called "Arc" until a Microsoft patent forced "Move" to win by default.  We'll just have to see how E3 goes.  And, for what it's worth, I really hate ending E3 related articles with "We'll just have to wait" because it's such a crap thing to do, really, but, hey, it's not like I'm a psychic or anything, and I don't want to state rumors or unannounced things here as fact.

Update!:  Evidence just keeps a-comin'. In there, there's some source code for a Playstation website where there is clearly a couple instances of the phrase "PS Vita".  So either this thing is going to be called the PS Vita, or something is going to be named the Vita!  (Or it's still just an internal codename.)

E3's Coming, Which Means the NGP is Too!

My goal is to make every picture using this stock photo with obvious photoshops on it.

Since it was announced, and the specs were put out for us to say what we predicted correctly, there actually hasn't been a lot of NGP news.  Partly for the fact that people have a lot more sensational Sony news to report lately, and mostly, from what I can figure, well, the general lack of anything new coming out for it, tech-wise.  Which is a bit interesting, as either Sony is doing a good job at keeping this under wraps, or people are just waiting for E3 to get closer to really put info out there for maximum interest.  And, given that it's just about time, hopefully we'll start seeing some info coming out.

But definitely, definitely what we're going to end up getting from E3 will be a name, a price, and hopefully a release date.  So basically this post would be me saying what I expect as I have been known to predict things NGP-related.  Some launch games to be announced would be nice as well, and while I expect a couple to be tossed out, I don't expect a full list at all.

First off, as far as the name goes, I have a few thoughts on it.  I'm not sure what I expect the full name to be, but I could definitely see them sticking with the NGP, since it's stuck this long.  The name "Next Generation Portable" won't stick, but they could easily swap out the Next Generation part for something that also starts with NG.  The only other thing I can think of is "New Gaming", which is mostly worse than "Next Generation" but you get where I'm coming from.  My lack of being able to think is just not helping my point, is all.

The fact remains that they very likely could go with "PSP2" as the name, given their numeric scheme for names, but many will argue, likely for little reason other than to detract, that associating it with the PSP directly is one way to really kill interest in it.  Since the PSP 'failed' so hard, you see, despite selling somewhere in the neighborhood of 67.8 million units worldwide.  And as much as I disagree with that, I wouldn't mind a name other than "PSP2", though will happily accept PSP2 if that's what they really end up going with.

It's working so far.

The big sticking point on everyone's minds whenever the NGP comes up is what the price will be.  Obviously, Sony hasn't proven themselves to be quite reasonable with past pricing schemes, but we can always hope they'll have learned their multiple lessons on the subject.  Prices anywhere from $200-400 have been thrown around, as well as $999 for people who don't know what a placeholder is, but the general consensus is somewhere in the middle.  For the simple fact that there will be two models, one with wi-fi only and one with 3G as well, an obvious price discrepancy will be in place between the two of them, so you have to think of a high-end and a low-end.  My actual, actual guess at the price is $249.99 for the Wi-Fi model and $299.99 for the 3G model.  As much as I hope both could be lower, that's really looking like what the picture is.

Which, given the 3DS, the thing that everyone expects to completely smash the NGP, is priced at $249.99 as well, would be a very good move, especially if you really push everything that makes the two different.  (The second touch panel, second stick, PSN support, trophy support, etc.)  One would hope upon hope that Sony really resists the urge to add the customary "Ours is better" extra cost, bringing the pricing up to $299.99 and $349.99, if only for the fact that people will harp on the high-end of that.  Only time will tell on that front, though.

I can't wait til we get actual pictures of this thing instead of stock photos.

As far as launch games, I'm not too sure any of the titles shown off so far will actually make the launch window, instead relying on 3rd-Party Support to carry it, if only to show that 3rd Parties are, in fact interested in developing for the thing.  Although, if anything, I could see the Resistance title being in the launch line-up if just for the fact that it started on the PS3 as a launch, so it would be nice to have that sort of parity.  And despite my love for Uncharted as a series, and my high-opinion of Naughty Dog, I just don't think the Uncharted game will be a launch title.  And for every bit of me that hopes that it will be, I hope that it won't be either, since it will likely be -the game- to be released on it shortly after launch that will start getting people to really get it, since it shatters the perception of "Well, launch titles usually suck, just gonna wait" that people normally have after a new system comes out.

One thing that does have me a little annoyed, re: the games now that the facts have come out, is the fact that there's not going to be any on-board storage for the NGP.  If anything, that's one advantage the PSPGo clearly had over any other PSP, as it meant you didn't really have to splurge on cards to put all your games on and, instead, you had everything right there.  And not only that, if I remember the rumors clearly, then the sticks that the games come on will have the storage needed for the DLC and patches post-release which could likely end up messy unless you can leave a good portion of storage free.  Hopefully that will change in a way that lets your memory sticks be sort of a catch-all for that sort of stuff, but it may be an issue of 'it's gotta be that way'.  Again, one of those wait and see deals.

With any luck, this thing will see a release date that puts it firmly in the the Holiday season everywhere, which would help get it on Christmas lists everywhere.  The flip-flopping of "It will be delayed" and "It won't be delayed" after the Japan crisis has that sort of in a gray area, but I imagine things have been sorted well enough on that.  Regardless, whenever it releases, it will be high on my get-list, provided the price is right.

On Themes and Wallpapers

A staple of pretty much every form of technology out there now is the ability to set your own themes or, at the very least, your own wallpaper, to make your device even more yours, to suit your needs, etc.  With the PSP, we've been pretty lucky, as not only have there been -copious- amounts of wallpapers out there since day one (since it's just a simple matter of resizing images), but tools, completely legit ones, are out there for whomever wants to make their own icons to really pull it all together.  Now, it hasn't been acted on in a big way, but still, it's an option.

I really only thought about it the other day when, with the help of a new friend, I went about finding some Holiday themed wallpapers for my PSPs background for me to change every now and again.  Er, when the season requires, rather.  Anyways, thinking on it, after getting a few nice pics, I started thinking ahead, to the NGP, since, well, there is a good chance it will be out this year or early next year.  And that's when I realized something that unsettled me quite a bit more than it should have.

It's going to be quite a bit more difficult with Live Area to do nice wallpapers.  I'm assuming, of course, that you can't hide some of those icons, or at least push them to a lower 'page', which is not only a possibility, but probably the reality.  It's a little disheartening, really; I'm not even sure if we'll be able to customize the background of the NGP, and even if we will, as I said, it will be difficult to get something nice without a little DIY work.  Unless, of course, you don't mind giant circles all over your pictures of kittens, anime scenes, or what have you.  And likely, the buttons are as they always will be, meaning there won't be any real cohesion between the background and icons.  The theme of it all.

It's a bit petty to actually be bothered by, admittedly.  And maybe there will be some way around it, but from where I'm sitting, looking for anything, anything that I may have to watch out for, lest it kill my desire for this lovely piece of machinery, is something that I have to do so that I may compensate for it beforehand.

Still....doing a search for iPhone backgrounds instantly throws one into a sea of them, and we know how many icons those things can have.  Perhaps it won't be such a big deal after all.

Hype On - NGP News Round-Up

So, there's no denying that NGP news is likely something I can't get enough of, and after a few pretty significant pieces, I wanted to kind of bring them together to catch people up in case they haven't been paying quite as much attention as me, which would not be hard.  So lets kick this off!

Number 1.)  Possibly the most recent bit of news, NGP games will be dual-released.  As in, Physical and Digital releases, same-day.  This is a trend that has started with the PSP fairly recently, and hasn't stuck that well, but for those that have gone that extra little mile to do it, we who appreciate the work involved salute you.  Even if I don't really get into the Digital Sales thing, (I only did once, thanks to a sale) having the option is just wonderful for those who prefer it and, most of all, it ensures that everyone can buy your game.  I've covered it before, but the developers that can release a digital version of their game, yet don't, are out of their goddamn minds.

Or, perhaps they're just waiting on

Number 2.)  There have been talks, ideas thrown about, of PSP games getting NGP re-releases.  Which, obviously will face the problems that one could expect; people groaning that some companies might decide to re-release PSP games in lieu of doing a digital version (Which might be negated by number 1), that the games might have little, if no, extra work put into them (I'd certainly be a little annoyed if the games were pure-and-simple ports), and that they might even be at an 'inflated' (read:  Standard with proper NGP) prices.  I'd hope that any developer that decides to take advantage of this idea, if it comes to fruition, plans for it carefully.  Using the example of Peace Walker, I'd certainly hope there would be dual-stick support at the very least not to mention making use of standards other NGP games will, i.e. possibly using the touch screens, coughtrophiescough, perhaps slightly updated graphics/frame rates.  We'll just have to see how that works out.

Speaking of things we have to wait and see about with anticipation..

Number 3.)  The Price.  Now, this is by no means confirmation, and, in fact might not even be all that reliable, but even the mere notion that Sony could manage to push out a model of the NGP at $250 is nothing short of a fucking miracle and gives me hope.  The $350 Price-tag on the 3G-Enabled model is less enticing, especially considering who knows how 3G will be handled, but done right, it would certainly be worth that extra money.  (As in, no BS plans and a reasonable cap)  Again, it might not turn out this way, but Ubisoft is pretty big and any reason to imagine that I could shell out the same amount of money for a 3DS and receive, instead, an NGP, is reason enough to speak of.

That's the biggest bits of news concerning the device lately, and certainly there will be more to come.  Hopefully with more pictures.  Because I left this one picture-free on the basis that I've shown the best ones so far already.

Finally, I can write about the NGP without gushing (too much)

It's weird.  Everytime I think about the NGP, I end up being at a complete lack of words.  A few nights since its announcement, I've wanted to actually sit down and type out something coherent about it, I sit here looking at a blank screen for about half an hour before saying, "It's going to rock" does not an article make.  I mean, we know it will, if you're open to actually believe a Sony product can be good (Which a lot of people aren't willing to believe, currently!).

So, I guess I can at least try to pin down why I'm excited for it, even though it might be a little premature.

1.)  The second stick.

Now, I know I'm not alone in this, and I can certainly understand why some people might not have wanted a second nub/stick, since, theoretically, it could just promote developer laziness, which has been a problem for games on Sony consoles lately.  But where one man sees developers saying "Let's put this console game on the NGP with no portabilizing at all", I see developers going, "FINALLY, a second stick, let's make magic happen."  If not third parties, then we can at least (mostly) count on first and second parties to put some neat things on it.  Also Sega.  (Yakuza and VC plz, if you're not intending on putting VC back on PS3)

The fact that we have sticks and not nubs does raise a few questions; how will that affect the portability?  How reliable could they be?  Those are just questions that we'll have to wait for time to answer, really.  Personally, my PSP has always been in a case since I bought it, and cases will be built for the NGP specifically to accommodate it, so I'm none too worried there.  But I can see how it might be an issue for others, so let's hope there's some sort of retractable elements to the sticks or something.

2.)  Physical Media is here to stay.

Sure, I don't think anyone honestly thought the NGP would go with a DD-Only format, thanks to the PSP Go, but it certainly could have, and I would hope policies are put in place going forward to 'encourage', at the very least, Day-One Digital versions of games as well, for anyone who has embraced our Disc-less Overlords, but for the more curmudgeon-y of us who like our games to be something tangible to be felt and held, and for some of us, trade-able, this is welcome news.  Going with carts/cards is a bit of a strange way about it, but likely a good one, as it lacks the battery-draining ability of a spinning disc.

Again, for everyone that didn't believe a DD-Only approach, they thought as well that there would still be no UMDs anymore, and, well, they're right again.  This does leave those of us with UMD copies of games in a bit of a limbo; sure the NGP can play PSP games, but not the ones that are just discs, leaving the thought that a double-dipping might be necessary....for the games that can be double-dipped on, anyways.

There's probably not a lot that can be done about this, honestly; Nobody could have thought, when the PSP was being developed and eventually released, "Say, do you think maybe four years down the road or so, that all the games for this could be bought through the internet?", which means it's hard to blame anyone for the state of the PSP selection on the PSN store.  A lot of the devs could be out of business for all we know.  And some games have a legitimate reason that they're not up; Lumines for example, hit the brick wall of music licensing which could stop just about any game.  And for the ones that could be put up, but the companies just won't for whatever reason (SQUEENIX), well, there's not really a lot that can be done about that, either, considering it costs money to submit your game for PS Store purchasibility, given the QA that it has to undergo.

You would think intentionally screwing people over by not allowing them to buy your game would cast a negative light on the developers, but more often than not, anyone complaining will say that it's Sony's fault, because, well, I guess Sony has the right to do whatever it wants with other people's games?  That's the reasoning that I can figure out, I guess.  Really, people, It's not Sony's fault.  "But they should make developers put PSP games on the PS Store along with Phsyical copies!"  Yeah, because forcing people to take any extra steps/costs with a PSP game at this point would be a good idea, right?

3.)  The Touch Pads.

I admit, I was a skeptic at first when all the talk of touch pads, track pads, and the like were being tossed about.  I really had no idea what a rear touch pad could be used for, and honestly, I still don't have much more of an idea aside from possibly being used in an L2/R2 function for games that might require it.  (Which will no likely be constrewn as Watered down console ports, but bleh.  Bleh, I say!  Games are games)  There have been a few usages for it shown off, all sort of, for lack of better term, "gimmick-y" (at least, what I heard, the Uncharted game having it used for rope-climbing of all things.  Optional, even.) but if anyone has learned anything this generation, it's that some developers can take any gimmick and make something really neat of it that makes you think "Yeah, this could be rather vital going forward."

That's pretty much what I'm telling myself; at least with the front touch-screen, we have a fairly good idea on how it will be used, but the back ones are fairly untouched territory.  Hopefully it's utilized early and not allowed to fall to the wayside undeservedly.  A little hard to predict, obviously, but everyone's always so easy to take Nintendo's "innovations" at face-value, so why couldn't it apply here?

The obvious 4.) here is the Games, but we all know some of what to expect; the rest will simply be a welcome surprise and icing on the cake.

PSP2 - What'd I get right?

So the PSP2 is a thing that is happening.  Eventually.  Tonight's meeting was little more than to show it off and give everyone a little idea of what -could- be on it; much like Nintendo's E3 3DS reveal (except there were one or two actual 3DS games shown on it, Kid Icarus is all I can think of).  What you see above is the PSP2, codenamed NGP (for Next Generation Portable) with an actual name forth-coming.  Also, price forth-coming.

So, what all did everyone get right?

- Less broad but more high than the original PSP (PSP dimensions: 17X7.4X2.3 cm) - More or less, yep
- 5" OLED multi-touch screen (12.7 cm) - Yep
- Multi-touch trackpad - Yes?
- Resolution: 960 x 544 - Yes, surprisingly (At least, if this is 4x of the PSP)
- Quad core ARM Cortex A-9 - No Mention Update: Looks like it.
- PowerVR SGX 543 MP4+ - No Mention
- 512MB LPDDR2 RAM (1GB devkits) - No Mention
- 16GB flash + SD slot - There's a stick slot, no data storage mention
- Wifi, 3G, bluetooth - Yep
- Acelerometers, GPS, gyroscope, front and back camera - Yes
- November 2011 - "Holiday this year"

What else?  Here's the full-list of features shamelessly stolen from here.

• 5 inch OLED – 4x the resolution of the current PSP
• 3G plus WiFI
• GPOS
• Sixaxis Motion Sensing
• Electronic Compass
• Front and Rear Camera
• Microphone
• Dual Analog Sticks (Not Nubs)
• Flash Memory – memory sticks instead of UMD – like DS carts
• PS3 quality graphics
• Touch Front Screen
• Touch Pad on Back
• Augmented Reality Games

• Coming this Holiday Season
• will include a new service called LiveArea which will keep you upto date with news on all your games.
• LiveArea will let you see what others are playing in your area - this will be extremely popular in Japan and huge Metropolis cities like Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, etc...
• Trophy Support
• Will be able to connect to Mobile Networks
• Augmentation will allow you more control on your games. As you move, you affect the game you’re playing: shown in action during Uncharted and Hot Shots Golf Previews
• PlayStation Suite (revealed earlier) will work with NGP
• PSP games currently available for download WILL work with new unit.

 So I hadn't even thought of the mics or the cameras, but we all should've seen that coming.  I called the dual analogue sticks (though I will admit, I expected nubs, rather than sticks) which was not hard at all to call.  Also Physical Media.  Also PSP BC (with DD titles).  One can assume PSOne/Minis BC still, as this is compatible with the Playstation Suite, which in itself, will be compatible with PSOne games.  I made easy calls, and hey, I got them.  Go me!

Also, they showed off Yakuza:  Of the End on the thing.  All of my money.

Update:  Here is a chart.  It is full of Chart-y goodness.

 

And here are the games they showed off on it, though they were just demos and proof-of-concepts and the like.

* Monster Hunter 3rd

* Hot Shots Golf
* Uncharted
* Lost Planet 2
* Wipeout
* Yakuza
* Dynasty Warriors
* Metal Gear Solid 4
* Call of Duty
* Dungeon Defenders - an upcoming PS3 game by Epic

PSP2 - My Thoughts, Predictions, Expectations

For a rather long time now, the PSP2, Sony's theoretical successor to the PSP, has been a rumor tossed about with no real basing aside from eventuality.  The PSP, no matter what some might tell you, was most certainly not a flop, having sold an estimated 62 Million units as of last year, and, while it's had its fair share of problems (Mostly in the piracy column), there's been no indication that, in a business sense, there should not be a follow-up device.  So, really, it's been more of a "when" than an "if" for a long time now.

Well, actually, ever since September it's been less "when" and more "soon".  Netherrealm, back in the hustle in bustle of the goings-on, let it slip that not only did they have a prototype to work with, but that it was, in fact, "Powerful", so much so that it was worth a mention in the same breath as stating that they weren't planning on releasing the new Mortal Kombat on everything day-one, including the newly-announced (at the time) 3DS.  Could it have been a fluke?  Possibly, maybe moreso if he hadn't elaborated on the PSP2, making it known that he knew what he was saying, but then again, he might've just been in another thought.  These things happen.

Well, since then other people have all had things to say and speculate, going so far as to say that this Thursday, at the just-announced Playstation Meeting, it will be announced officially for the first time.  (Can I put more links into that sentence?  Theory says yes, but practice says I shouldn't.)  And honestly, with the thread of the 3DS looming in the background, ever-presently, there's no reason not to at least announce it right now, unless it's going to take the better parts of two years to get it into consumer hands.  So, going with the idea that it will be announced, and that a whole bunch of specs have been "leaked", I'm going to go through them, and say what I expect, what I hope for, and what we all shouldn't hope for, even though it would be majestic.

One of the earliest, most-referenced mock-ups of a then-theoretic PSP2.  Unlikely, but damn sexy.

The latest word (From here originally) was one of the larger lists of specs so far, featuring:

- Less broad but more high than the original PSP (PSP dimensions: 17X7.4X2.3 cm)
- 5" OLED multi-touch screen (12.7 cm)
- Multi-touch trackpad
- Resolution: 960 x 544
- Quad core ARM Cortex A-9
- PowerVR SGX 543 MP4+
- 512MB LPDDR2 RAM (1GB devkits)
- 16GB flash + SD slot
- Wifi, 3G, bluetooth
- Acelerometers, GPS, gyroscope, front and back camera
- November 2011

Which, I don't know, a lot of that goes right over my head, but none of it sounds too far-fetched aside from, perhaps, the Screen resolution, possibly the GPS, since that might not be so easy to license.  I'm not sure I buy 3G being in it, but we'll just have to see, as that's seeming to be a little more, er, standard in mobile things.

Now, as far as what we do know, since it's been in just about every rumor since the conception, is that the PSP2 will almost definitely have two analogue sticks which may just be crucial to the strategy.  I can't tell how many complaints have been leveled at the PSP for only having one stick (admittedly, a few from myself even at times), and given that the 3DS will be the one with just one this time, anything that can be made out to be an objective advantage is necessary.  Even when people start complaining that it's a 'nub', well, at least there's two of 'em, buddy which means no padding the face buttons just to swivel the camera around.  So that's not just a hope, but that's a down-right prediction from me, and an easy one to make, no doubt.

My other definite predictions for the PSP2 are, no doubt some form of physical media (with the most likely being flash sticks, ala 3/DS) and at least one touchscreen.  If all the specs leaked so far are accurate, this thing could stand the potential to have two or even three, depending on how the rear situation is handled.  Sometimes I've heard a sensor pad, sometimes two, sometimes a multi-touch sensor bar, etc. etc.  So if nothing else, we can relatively easily say that it'll have at least one screen of the touch variety on there.  Physical media is almost a given, being that the less-than-lukewarm reception of DD-only design by some companies who will remain nameless goddamnsqueenix has been one of the more-poked topics concerning the PSP being 'failed'.   Granted, if it's DD-only or get out, that'll solve your problem of devs not making DD versions of their games for your system, but it might also stop them from making games for your system.

Another mock-up.  Equally sexy, still very unlikely.  I would eat this up, though.

 Now, what can we hope from the PSP2 at least semi-realistically?  Well, for one, PSP backwards compatibility would be a nice start.  I would almost guarantee it, but what with the whole GeoHot/fail0verflow nonsense having gotten out and demolished the PS3/P securities both, it's hard telling for sure.  Given that people are able to actually sign software on the PS3/P systems, that might have been a fatal blow for BC in the Sony systems.  Given that they require the key that has been put out there to run, having said key on the new systems might just leave the security open from day one, which no company wants to do.  Before this whole thing happened, I was willing to go out on a limb and not only suggest full PSN-PSP BC (as in, the DD-games, which in turn, might spurn some people on to put their games up) but PSN-PS3 BC as well, meaning some PS3 PSN games would have be able to be played on the go.  Perhaps not every game, certainly not the full PS3 DD games, but some.  Which of course, sounds nice and all, but whether it's simply possible now (from a business sense, not a technical one) is up in the air, leaning towards falling on the Not good side.

But hey, as long as they get to run Linux and other little piddly homebrew things they could just make on the PC on the PS3, anything and everything is totally worth it, right?  Right?  (Not right.  Damn it.)

BC that I'm willing to go out there on a limb for is continued support for the PSOne Classics.  They're extremely cheap to do and sell, and likely well-worth the cost, since all it's putting the Devs out on is the ESRB rating and Sony's QA support.  I can't see the PSP2 not play PSOne games, since, hey, that's a potential bullet-point.  Continued support of Minis is more expected than not, as well, but that may fall into the same categorical limbo as PSN games.

What we're likely dreaming for this to deliver, but won't be able to is pretty easy to point out.  If the PSP can play PSOne games, the PSP2 should play PS2 games, right?  I'm putting an almost non-zero chance on this happening, because, not only would it be difficult in theory to make portable versions of the parts that are absolutely positively necessary for PS2 games, but controls are an issue as well.  So far, we all know that it will have two sticks, but there's still only two shoulder buttons (L and R, instead of L1, L2, R1, R2) as far as any of the reports are saying.  Is it possible that that's where the rear touchpad/bar/sensor/thing comes into play?  Absolutely.  Would I expect it, in a way that if it's not delivered, I will be angry?  Of course not.  Because I don't realistically expect it, and neither should you.  If anything, it would be that much more of a surprise if it happened.

And the final issue that floats somewhere in between "What we can hope for, and possibly recieve" and "What we can hope for, and be stupid for wanting it" is the notorious issue of pricing.  Sony's no stranger to starting way high in the price-zone to come down later on, with the intent on making a profit per-unit-sold for at least the better portion of its lifetime.  Which is a strategy that they sorely need to ignore for this.  The 3DS is out there, price-wise.  It's $250, which to normal people is a lot and given that it's that high at least partially because of the E3 reaction, makes it a perfect opportunity to strike.  What everyone expects Sony to do is go, "Oh, $250, well our product is better so let's make it more expensive!", which is exactly what should not happen.  It is the anti-thing to be done, make no mistake about it.

I'm not exactly sure just what price they can set on the PSP2 to ensure a profit-per-unit with it also being a viable price to, y'know, be sold at, since I'm not really knowledgeable on those things.  Is it possible that they could sell the thing for $350 and still lose money on it?  Sure, and that would be a damn shame, since it would point to them needing to have used less expensive things to start with.  But if they want this thing to be anywhere near viable, it's got to, at the very damn least, be $299 or less.  Anything above that is lunacy bordering on financial suicide given that the console they sell is $300, and absolutely no other gaming thing is above that price currently.  The very very best thing that they could do is put this thing at $250 to compete directly with the 3DS or, even more optimally, sub-$250, even if it's just in the $210-230 range.  If just to get that first blow against Nintendo to let everyone know that they're trying.

So my main bullet points for a PSP2 have been thus:  1-3 touch screens of some variety, 2 sticks, physical media (with a download option as well), PSOne/Minis support, Possibly PSP BC, PSP-PSN BC, PS3-PSN functionality, and, for best results, <$250.  Is it realistic?  I don't know. Will it be worth more than $200 if it doesn't have PSP/PSN/PSOne/Minis support?  Hell no.  Which is what really really worries me about this whole thing, since it very well may not be viable unless there's some sort of technomancy they can work around to make sure the PSP2 can't be compromised in the exact same fashion as the PSP, which, rest assured, will be the first thing a good percentage of PSP2 purchasers will attempt.  If Sony's forced to put out something that will only play PSP2 games and do all the fancy multi-media things, it'll almost be DOA based solely on that.  If it's 'competitively priced' at that, then it's almost assured.

It's definitely something we'll have to wait and see on; after all, it's only a day away, but that doesn't make the anticipation any easier/less worrying.