Yesterday on the Playstation Blog, SuperVillain Studios (who are doing the port for thatgamecompany) confirmed that flOw is indeed coming to the PSP, and that it’ll be released March 6th through the Playstation Store PC site. This updated version of the game will feature multiplayer via ad-hoc. Pricing details are currently unknown.

I bought flOw when it came out on the PS3 and found it to be relaxing and fun, something to play in between my usual, more action-packed games. I’ve been meaning to buy the expansion pack actually, but now I am more interested in thatgamecompany’s new title they are currently working on, “Flower”.

 
The March issue of EGM should be arriving for subscribers around this time, and as usual Quartermann has some rumors for us, and particularly juicy ones at that!

The one I am most interested in is that Dead Rising 2 is in the works (ya think?) for multiple consoles, but instead of Capcom developing it directly, a Los Angeles based developer is taking care of it. Dead Rising 2 rumors seem to have become a sort of fad, something that people will throw out there just for some news. I hope this rumor has more going for it, as I want my damn sequel already! Dead Rising is still one of my favorite 360 titles, and I can just imagine what crazy shit they come up with for this one. More goofy outfits and ridiculously powerful weapons based on other Capcom games please! Maybe a Phoenix Wright outfit! DO THIS.

The second rumor I am most interested in (but would be even more if I didn’t buy a PSP) is that God of War: Chains of Olympus will be heading to the PS2 eventually, much like the Grand Theft Auto games for the PSP, or more recently, Silent Hill: Origins and Twisted Metal: Head-On. I would rather control Kratos with two analog sticks up on the big screen, but it is more a matter of if I am willing to wait for its release. I bought the Grand Theft Auto games for the PS2 because I didn’t own a PSP yet, and controlling those games on the PSP would be a bitch.

There are some other rumors, like that Team ICO’s third game is soon to be revealed (YES!!), and that Everyday Shooter, which was released on the Playstation Network on the PS3 will be headed to the PSP. Oh, and something I couldn’t give a damn about, the unveiling of a PS2 motion sensor controller we’ve heard so much about, meh.
 
 

Thanks to 1Up

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops arrived in the mail a few days ago. Sadly I don’t have a wireless setup right now (in the process of doing so), so I have been focusing on the single player aspect of the game, which I would like to complete before venturing online anyways. The only other Metal Gear game I’ve “played” on the PSP was the Digital Graphic Novel, and it feels strange playing a full-fledged MGS game that is canonical on a handheld like this. It’s just so….different. And while the basic gameplay has generally remained the same from Snake Eater, there is so much more added to the experience that at the beginning I felt disoriented. Gradually I am getting the grasp of things and am slowly learning the more complicated mechanics of Portable Ops.

I have found the transition into the game’s story to be a smooth one, since the past events of Snake Eater are discussed in the very beginning. The music is familiar, and I am impressed by the game’s graphics, namely the character models like Big Boss (I have a cat named after him!) and Roy Campbell. Since the same artist for the Digital Graphic Novel does the cinematics for this (Ashley Wood), I am not caught off guard by the change in style from 3D models. I am glad to have voice acting this time around, although I’m still thrown off a little when there aren’t any voice overs, just like I was when I played the MGS game on the Gameboy Color or the original Metal Gear games. Thankfully I’ve replayed the series so much that their voices have become embedded into my brain, and I can conjure them up at will.

I’m still getting used to the recruitment aspect of the game, and organizing my squad and equipment. I generally skip the reading of instruction booklets nowadays, and failed to include rations or medical kits in my limited inventory, and instead carried around ammo for a weapon I had yet to obtain. This mistake cost me my life, or should I say, Big Boss’s life while in the midst of capturing a female doctor. Lucky for me, I had my buddy (and only recruit) Jonathan to take care of the rest for me.

As I said, there are several differences between Portable Ops and your traditional Metal Gear Solid games, differences I am still adjusting to. I am enjoying myself though, and will even more once I get the hang of it all.

While working on my Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations post, I started playing the first game I’ve received from GameFly in a long time, Final Fantasy for the PSP. Instead of waiting until I beat it and then writing a large post on it, I am going to write shorter, more frequent posts as I actually play through the game and my memory is still fresh. Then, I will write my final thoughts on the game and include links to my previous posts for those wanting more details. These LTTP posts are sort of reviews in a way, and if it works out then I’ll continue to do my reviews in this format. I won’t know until I try!

I only started it a few days ago, and have played about 20 minutes of it so far, but I have been caught off guard by the differences in certain gameplay elements that I have become used to in modern RPGs. For one, when I walked into the first ‘dungeon’ (castle called Chaos Shrine) without leveling up my party (I was just exploring), and three of my party members were K.O.’d, I was surprised when I returned to the world map to discover that they still all had zero HP! At this point in the game Phoenix Downs are 500 gil, and I don’t exactly have enough money for those yet, so I returned to Cornelia (the starting location of the game) to stay at the Inn. Well, that was 30 gil wasted, because for some reason I expected the rest to revive my characters. I was wrong. So then I found the priest, and for 40 gil each, he was able to revive the members of my party. I was also surprised to find out MP isn’t restored after battle. I didn’t learn this until I frivolously used Fire spells with Gungho, my black mage. I certainly will have to level up more before wandering into unfamiliar locations, and be more frugal with my choice of magic spells for now.

As to be expected with a Final Fantasy game, I am really digging the music. So far, my favorite tunes include the soothing melody of Cornelia, which sets the tone perfectly as the clouds above gently pass over the town, and the more violinistic (new word!) tune of Castle Cornelia, letting you know you’re in the home of the King.

My party consists of:

Charls – Warrior. I always name my characters in RPGs Charles, but this is before they introduced the seven character limit I guess.

Biggs – Thief. Any FF fan can guess why I named him that. I should have added someone named Wedge too probably…

Luca – White Mage. Nothing interesting to say on her.

Gungho – Black Mage. Gungho is a pretty bad-ass name huh? I could have named him Vivi but that would screw up Final Fantasy IX.
 
 
That’s all I have to say on the game for now. I plan to get heavily involved with it this weekend, so I’ll have more to post on it soon.

Oh, and while this is common in many RPGs, I hate it when NPCs get in your way of a path and won’t move! It’s like, “Get out of the way buddy, I have a world to save!” you know?

Yesterday, Atari, Inc. announced that Atari Classics Evolved is in development by Stainless Games Ltd. for the Playstation Portable (PSP). Set for a Fall 2007 release, Atari Classics Evolved will feature plenty of old school gaming. Presented in both original and evolved versions, Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Centipede, Lunar Lander, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout, Tempest, and Warlords will all contain their original gameplay while showing off new and up-to-date graphics. Players from around the world can compare scores with the online leaderboards, and the game will feature peer-to-peer wireless compatibility for titles that have multiplayer capabilities. Matt Rush (Producer) said:

“We are looking forward to providing gamers with the experience of the iconic Atari catalog on a handheld platform. Offering these Atari classics in both their elemental and contemporary forms should excite both old-school and next-generation gamers alike.”

Along with the 11 updated titles, over 60 original Atari 2600 titles will be included too, such as Canyon Bomber, Crystal Castles, Night Driver, and Yar’s Revenge.
 
 
So who wants to get their ass kicked in Pong?

The major announcements from Metal Gear’s 20th Anniversary event are over! Here is a summary of what happened:

Metal Gear Portable Ops+ was shown first. As the Konami and Kojima Productions logos appear, a piano piece starts to play. Big Boss starts talking about how he is only living while in battle, and that he has to find his own reason to fight, that he has to pass on what’s been handed down to him. New levels (one of which is the Metal Gear Rex hangar from MGS1), new soldiers, and new gameplay modes are shown, including one designed for the single player game titled “Infinity Mission”. Near the end of the trailer, Old Snake is shown.

Metal Gear Solid 2 Bande Dessinée was “announced”. It is basically the same as the digital graphic novel released before for the PSP, but this time it is based on Sons of Liberty and features full voice-work. I put announced in quotations because this has sort of been known for a long time now.

Next, Metal Gear Solid 4 information was revealed. Famous Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto is doing the voice for Vamp (for the Japanese version of course. We still get the awesome Phil LaMarr). Also, Eva returns! Sadly, she is all old and unattractive now. Thank god she doesn’t walk around with her breasts out any more or this game may have to be rated AO. She still shows a bit too much skin for my taste though. She wears a brownish/tan overcoat with an all black outfit underneath coupled with black boots, and she has her pistol hanging from her right hip. Her cheeks have caved in some with age, and she wears dark black eye-liner along with her extra fluffy blonde hair. Hopefully she won’t make any sexual advances towards Old Snake *shudders at the thought of two old soldiers making-out*. Afterwards, a real-time demo of MGS4 was shown. The trailer will be released on the Internet for all to see in a few hours, so I won’t go into extreme detail.

Needless to say, the game is looking great. Snake can access the Solid Eye Scope through the usual L2 Menu, and use it to zoom in on his surroundings. In the trailer, Snake zooms in on a patrol unit in the distance, and afterwards walks over to a statue and brings up the Camouflage sub-menu, selecting the “Statue Cam”, causing him to take on the appearance of it. Just like in one of the trailers shown before, Snake grabs the statue’s crotch as a nearby patrol unit passes him. Once they have left his vicinity, he goes back into the sub-menu and removes the camo.

Other interesting tidbits on the game are as follows:

When you hold up enemies, you can now pat them down. So instead of just aiming at soldiers and scaring them into giving you items, you actually feel for yourself. Once you get what you want, an option to take out the enemy is by hitting them in the crotch with your fist, causing them to go unconscious.

When near walls and such, a prompt at the bottom of the screen appears allowing you to press the Triangle button, causing your camo to take on the look of whatever you are near.

Snake has a knife that has an electrical charge to it. This can be used to bring down enemies when you shock them with it.

Along with aiming in the first-person, you can now move too! If you don’t aim in the first-person, the camera will go to an over-the-shoulder-view. It seems you are able to switch to Snake appearing on either the left or right side of the screen when aiming this way.

During the demo, just like what was seen in a previous trailer, Snake hops in an empty oil drum and rolls into a couple of enemies, knocking them out. Snake, being so dizzy, ends up throwing up everywhere. As was revealed recently, this can be remedied by looking a some…um…dirty magazines. What’s cool though, is that you can actually flip through the pages while looking at them in first-person view! Don’t get too excited though; as with previous Metal Gear games all the babes are in bikinis and other revealing attire, so no nudity for you!

After a certain event in the game, you gain control of the Metal Gear Mark II, which can be selected from your inventory. When controlling it, you can switch to first-person to view things from its perspective. Snake uses it to shock a soldier unconscious using the tentacle we’ve seen before. The Mark II can also cloak itself completely invisible, making tasks with it much easier for you.

The Metal Gear Online announcement came up next! 16 players can play each other at once, but in the demonstration shown it was a 6v6 match. The basic concept of MGO is hide and seek. Instead of just seeing your teammates’ names over their heads showing you their location, you actually can see their silhouettes, which pulse every few seconds. They can even be seen through walls or cardboard boxes, letting you know exactly what they are doing. You’re able to scout and gather information on the enemy, which is automatically shared with your teammates. The game is played from a detached third-person perspective, but when you aim you weapon, the camera zooms in behind you (most like Splinter Cell), unless you choose to go into first-person instead. When you hold an enemy for a long enough time (or possibly kill them), you tap into their information system, which lets you see the enemies silhouettes too! After you die, you’re able to quickly select your weapons and items before respawning. Dirty magazines make a return from Subsistence. In the demo, Kojima strangles the enemy who becomes distracted with it until he is unconscious, spanking him afterwards =D.

The most enticing news in regards to Metal Gear Online though is that there will be a closed beta! Sign-up starts the 24th (today) and goes on until August 6th. The actual Beta will run from August 20th until September 3rd, and is limited to only 3,000 people. The Kojima Productions site should have more information soon.

After Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear Solid Mobile was announced for phones. It is fully 3D and takes place in the the world of MGS3.

Screens and the Metal Gear Portable Ops+ trailer from tonight’s event can be found at Kojima Productions, and they’ll also have the MGS4 trailer later on too.

And that’s it! All of the major announcements have been covered here, and I’ll let everyone know when the MGS4 trailer is available to watch. I shall now go to sleep!