Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Given the gimpy arm I never did get a chance to go over this, but I will now: If the DS Launch Lineup sucks, so does the PSP's. Of the 21 games set for launch in Japan, half of them are puzzle or board games. Of the rest, none scream BUY ME BUY ME, and if none of the DS games really show off the system's qualities... well, the PSP's lineup hardly shows off the magnificent hardware.
And yes, I have heard the PSP defence. It goes something like this:
- "What did you expect? We knew the lineup would suck."
Yeah, we pretty much knew GT4 or other killer apps would miss launch. Still doesn't change the suckiness of the current lineup.
- "Besides, the PSone and PS2 lineups sucked too!"
Yes and no, at least from the Japanese launch perspective. I'd argue that the PSone lineup was pretty good. I do remember genuine excitement for games like Ridge Racer and Toshinden (the "Virtua Fighter killer" -- snicker). With the PS2, things were definitely worse. PSP has more big names in the mix, though from a personal perspective, I don't want any of them (and hey, this is my blog, so my opinion counts).
- "Have fun playing Ridge Racer with a stylus!"
Shut up Patrick.
- "Who cares, people are going to buy it anyway."
Guilty as charged.
Sadly, when I saw the lineup, it was less "alright, is there anything here that will make me buy a PSP at launch?" and more "Damnit I need something for my launch PSP!". I am definitely buying one. I just need to weed a game out from the chaff to play on it.
And that's why I'm so annoyed with the lineup. I don't want to blow $250 on a PSP for... Tiger Woods. Or Need For Speed. And I'm definitely not getting Metal Gear Card Game (I hate card games, and that this is a MGS one only adds insult to injury). Minna no Golf is a slight possibility, but Ridge Racers is the most likely pick. This also annoys me because as fun as the basic Ridge Racer formula is, I get the feeling that we've moved on from that and I don't know whether Namco has. When you've got racing games like Burnout 3, Project Gotham 2 and GT3/4 around, does Ridge Racer still cut it? The formula was wearing thin by RRV (only the "OH MY GOD PS2 POWAAAAAA" thing really kept it at bay), so I really really hope they can take things in a new direction with Ridge Racers.
Going back to the DS comparison... the PSP has more games that really show off the hardware in Ridge Racers and Metal Gear Card Game, but on the flipside I'm probably more interested in the DS's lineup. I was thinking that it was funny how that worked out, but really it's not because that's how it always is. Even at E3 I remember the general sentiment being: DS has neat games, but gee whiz isn't that PSP hardware something? It was probably the same thing with the PS2 as well, but that sure delivered.
Basically: I whine too much, and I need to rid myself of the burning desire to have every gadget right away, I reckon, before I attain true happiness. Though if you ask me about my state of well-being on the 12th of December I'll probably say I'm the happiest person on Earth or something.
Posted at 6:35 AM
