Poor old PSP. With the recently released 3DS and the ever looming presence of the coming NGP you might be forgiven for forgetting about the little thing.
Indisputably, the PSP has been overshadowed by its new competitors in the hype stakes - and we're hearing less and less about exciting new titles.
So how come Sony still believes there's life in this old pup yet? Because there most definitely is. Here's our guide to four new games which promise to make Sony's first handheld console a force to be reckoned with in 2011...
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Out: April 21
Final Fantasy IV is a game that has seen more re-releases in its time then most other Final Fantasy games combined, so what possible reason could there be to buy it in its umpteenth iteration?
Patapon 3
Out: April 15
The weird, yet charming, rhythm-action-war-god game series makes its return, bolstering the PSP's roster of great titles yet to be released.
Encouraging you to spread the fun, Patapon 3 has a greater emphasis on multiplayer with friends being able to join you on missions either locally or online and even a competitive mode that even allows for 4 on 4 battles.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
Out: April 15
Atlus' Persona series is somewhat of a cult hit with JRPG fanatics with many arguing that it has managed to single-handedly rejuvenate the genre.
For the first time in the series, P3P introduces a female protagonist and offers different social links and relationships that players can pursue meaning that even if you've experienced the world of Persona 3 once before, there's plenty to come back to.
Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy
Out: Now
Despite one of the most pretentious sounding game titles ever, Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy is a flagship title for demonstrating what the PSP is really capable of.
Comments
26 comments so far...
KingPepper on 7 Apr '11 said:
And..............i am still waiting for you to say 4 decent games. NGP here i come if that is what you call decent i might as well throw my PSP1 in the bin.
lordirongut on 7 Apr '11 said:
The PSP is still awesome and I have all of these either bought or preordered. I don't get all the hate to the system - it's fantastic and has served me incredibly well. I know I'm alone in this, but I honestly prefer it to the DS.
paulhudd on 7 Apr '11 said:
Bit late for April fools isn't it?
Come on, where's the reason to dust it off?
pop_is_dead on 7 Apr '11 said:
PSP was great 6 years ago.. huge screen, ability to play movies, games, use the internet.. however things have moved on in the portable arena and while it has always been far superior to the DS it has never been perfect. I hated using the useless slidy button thing and UMD's are painfully slow for loading times. Mine has been sat in a drawer for years and nothing has come along to tempt me to dig the little fella out. The four games listed here hold absolutely no interest for me so i'm afraid it's bye bye PSP hello NGP.
humanhand on 7 Apr '11 said:
It's fashionable to call something dead. Rock is dead. Punk is dead. Teh PSP iz dead. No it's still alive, people play it all of the time, and they still make games for it. That said, I'm not trying to say the PSP is the greatest handheld ever... When it comes down to it I don't want to re-buy my PSP library, when (I'm assuming) at some point, most of the popular games go on digital sale for the NGP. So there will always be a reason to keep it around, for the foreseeable future at least. PEACE WALKER!
dm_1782 on 7 Apr '11 said:
Yeah so anyway Im going to go and play Super Street Fighter IV on my 3DS now, thanks for that PSP update but let me know when something worth my time is coming out.
Fr33Kye on 7 Apr '11 said:
Dissidia is awesome, i need to get the new one. Great fighter, very different from its genre, i was playing this morning. I would consider it better than street fighter, but that kight be because it felt fresh. It recycled characters but brought something new to the table. I havent played patapon though. I havent even bought peace walker yet
.
gideonseer on 8 Apr '11 said:
Given the amount of reviews of PSP games CVG hasn't done, I'd say CVG thought PSP was dead. I wrote this months ago on this site, asking why countless games were released on PSP and CVG covered barely any of them. PSP is still a great portable, showing its age a bit now but still great with some classic games. Its terrible crime was to only have one analogue stick, effectively killing the chances of decent FPS's. Thankfully NGP has sorted this. Have to say, am more excited about NGP than 3DS. Had a go with 3DS in John Lewis and Game. Was nice as a novelty, but can't see me getting too excited about it unless they bring out a must have game. I'd get a 3DS at some stage but doesn't excite me the way NGP does.
BeauBeau on 8 Apr '11 said:
It's not dead. It's just crap.
armbar on 8 Apr '11 said:
But it still outsold the 3DS in Japan last week!
Channel4 on 8 Apr '11 said:
^^ I take none of you have played Persona 3 then......
If you've ever liked any JRPG (even if you've only played FFVII) you really should get Persona 3 portable, it's brilliant.
backcue on 8 Apr '11 said:
funny how people think its dead yet its outselling the 3DS in some territories.... Played my cuzins 3DS. Was not blown away at all. Isn't it just a DS with 3D? The 3D was really poor too, shocking in fact, I couldnt even watch my cuzin play it, but when I did it play it wasn't great. Rant over, Sorry if I offended anyone
rbt2 on 8 Apr '11 said:
I disagree about your verdict on 3DS. That didn't offend me at all. Your spelling of cousin did, however.
rustym on 8 Apr '11 said:
I still like my PSP but mainly for playing psone classics.
Ghost of sparta is now platinium so if I see that for less than £15.00 Il be picking that up sharpish.
Guessing resi evil for psp announced in 2009 will never see light of day on original psp, probably be for NGP/psp2 now
metallicorphan on 8 Apr '11 said:
my PSP battery died on me and i didn't bother replacing it
I hardly wanted or played any games on it(Port Ops ,Crisis Core)...but i did like the PSP for it being a media player,i loved downloading stuff and watching it on the bus to work
razors edge on 8 Apr '11 said:
Best 2 hours I ever spent with the PSP were watching The Smoking Room series one on UMD. Apart from that it always underwhelmed me in the games department, a shame really very nice piece of kit.
a.d on 8 Apr '11 said:
Only now are we seeing some decent PSP games Dissidia is good, 3rd Birthday looks alright etc. But my PSP has been unused for for at least 2 years. I played the first God of War PSP and that's probably my favourite game and probably the only game i really like on it. The GTA's were not that good. other than that i only played a bit of Fifa on the go and Street Fighter Alpha Max was alright.
But on the 3DS front, i love it like i've never loved a handheld before.
sevvybgoode on 8 Apr '11 said:
I did about 2 hours ago...
http://forums.computerandvideogames.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=124099
Like i said great kit, mediocre choice of games. Half of the PS2 ports have been fudged due to control issues or dont suit portable play. Some of the minis are ok and i loved the patapon/loco roco games for the couple of hours they take but barring RPGs its deader than that Monty Python sketch.
The Emu stuff is incredible though, every PS1, SNES and Megadrive game plus MAME and MVS titles on a relatively decent control setup is awesome. Well decent for some games but pity the pad is terrible for fighters eh?
Through the PSP i have got my 10 year old to play Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, Ogre Battle and others and now hes addicted to them. All his school mates play Beyblade or Wii crap but his favourite games are Disgaea and SOTN. He even lambasted the simple mechanics of line based RPGs against grid based ones on his way home from school to me.
But to pretend its still relevant as a platform outside Japan is naieve. Piracy has well and truly shut down nearly all western development.
And its release list is emptier than Peaches Geldofs head...
MattyR95 on 8 Apr '11 said:
The problem is that the games aren't different enough from consoles, console versions are better. But when a portable does offer something different it is received better, things like monster hunter and peace walker etc which promote co-op, teamwork etc.
markyR on 8 Apr '11 said:
A new Syphon Filter game is the only one I would get excited about. Not any of the games above interest me at all.
RetroSteveUK on 8 Apr '11 said:
I have a PSP Go and I play it most days. It'll continue to be cherished until I get my hands on an NGP, then it's EBAY time!
Diomedes1977 on 9 Apr '11 said:
Tactics Ogre ,The 3rd Birthday ,Final Fantasy Type-0 ,Dissidia 12 ,Persona 3 Portable ,Final Fantasy IV complete ,Patapon 3 ......a great 7th and last year for the PSP!.
jtthegame on 9 Apr '11 said:
psp sucks. at least my ds's hold power. psp dies even when i have not touched it
rustym on 9 Apr '11 said:
yeah that is annoying, i found my old gb advance sp after bout 4 years untouched and it held power, leave psp for a day or 2 and its drained
xxx128 on 9 Apr '11 said:
The psp is the only platform with decent content this generation. Yeah i am not into mediocre massmarket bs hype products they try to sell me as "games". The psp is the best selling platform in japan week after week, i guess that says alot about current home consoles.
sevvybgoode on 12 Apr '11 said:
Nope... It says a lot about Japans love affair with Monster Hunter (Persona and DJ Max help too).
If you think the PSP has a great library that rivals any other platform this generation than youre mental. Most of it is bad PS2 ports and the rest is RPGs...
I love my PSP and id reccomend anyone to get one but thats mainly due to the insane price (£50 in some places) and ability to CFW them.
Im absolutely loving Doodle Pool and MiniSquadron V2 at the moment but barring Japan its dead. And its release schedule is smaller than a 12 year old Keira Knightleys chest.