Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PSP to Launch with Five Online Titles

Posted by Zonk on from the better-than-playing-alone dept.

When the PSP launches in the states, it will be accompanied by five online enabled titles, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Gamers will be able to challenge friends in short range ad-hoc games, but will also be able to compete against other PSP owners via an 'infrastructure' mode. From the article: "What this means, in effect, is that players will be able to connect to wireless hot spots - either at home or in wi-fi enabled public locations - and play games across the net in this manner."

12 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. 5 titles = about what you'd expect by MBraynard · · Score: 3, Insightful
    My guess before RTFA was racing games and sports titles. Then I read the story - confirming my suspicions.

    Don't new systems require a killer app at launch?

    1. Re:5 titles = about what you'd expect by rabbot · · Score: 3, Informative

      They dont need killer apps anymore. There are so many fanboys for all the systems that it really doesn't matter what they do. These people will love and support them.

    2. Re:5 titles = about what you'd expect by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Yeah, and look how it killed the PS2. You have to feel sorry for Sony, with that being such a collossal flop and everything."

      I can't say I understand the relevance to this compared to my original post. I said it was a downside, not a downfall. Boy I'm sick of these "They were successful, therefore every single move they made was 100% right." fanatical posts. Never mind that Sony has little reason for its users to stay loyal from generation to generation. No no no, we love our PS2 and don't want to hear a lick of criticism about it.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. The key to online is doing it right by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sure you can play against thousands online, but how does it rate skill to match you in a game. Starcraft did it right with the chess rating system, nothing else comes close. With a chess rating system, you're matched with people of your skill level and you're ranked accordingly. The good rise to the top, while the unskilled strain to get better. Warcraft 3 failed to have a good rating system, but instead had one where you constantly 'leveled' and had less to do with how skilled you are, and more to do with how many games you played. Halo 2 has a leveling system much the same way, but its arguably harder to rate fragfest because you could encourage campers who don't want to die in order to preserve their rating. But with straight up head to head competitive games, I haven't seen anything close to the plain old chess rating system... well tournament systems are good too.

    Without a good rating system, random punks think they're the best at a game when they really haven't experienced playing against the best. Strategies don't evolve as fast as they do in a good chess rated system. Some games aren't deep and don't have a lot of strategies so they don't want to see their shallowness come to bare. But games that have deep strategies or try to have deep strategy should use a good rating system. As you advance in your rating, you come to witness new strategies which you can learn to beat or assimilate into your own bag of tricks. When you play an online game that doesn't have a good ladder/tournament mode, you never get to see the fully evolved version of combat. You may see someone do something strong here or there, but you don't get to experience strong play consistantly to know what is competitive and what is plain cheese(cheese being a strategy thats really powerful, but easily countered by a good player).

    --
    God spoke to me.
  3. Re:Great! by RogueyWon · · Score: 2, Informative

    Still not encountered a cheater on X-Box Live, after over a year of fairly regular play. Lots of lamers and screaming 13 year olds, but no cheaters.

  4. XLink Kai by cipher+uk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    xlink kai supports psp lan games over the internet. Need For Speed Underground Rivals Ridge Racer AI Series GO AI Series Mahjong AI Series Shogi Ape Escape Academics Armored Core - Formula Front Darkstalkers Chronicle - The Chaos Tower Dokodemo Issho Lumines Mahjong Fight Club Mahjong Taikai Minna No Golf Puyo Pop Fever Ren-Goku - The Tower of Purgatory and its rather simple to set up. just need windows/linux/mac running the xlink engine and a wireless reciever.

  5. Two Words by fwitness · · Score: 2, Informative

    Killer App.

    I love my DS, but it's taking quite some time for devs to ramp up development and figure out what to do with all those new controls. The PSP is gorgeous and does standard games well. Add online via wifi, now you've got a hit. All they need is decent support. I'll keep both my PSP and the DS, but I think the PSP is going to be my favorite for the next year or so, provided the battery lasts that long. :)

    --
    -- I have fans? Wow.
    1. Re:Two Words by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My little cousin has the DS, I tried this thing out and was terribly disappointed. Don't get me wrong the graphics are insane compared to the earlier gameboys. But that's about it. The games are like lean trim down versions of whatever gamecube has to offer.... and that's not much.

  6. Sony had to do this. by SetupWeasel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since the PSP does not support single disc multiplayer, they had to come out with online play quickly to ensure that a person who bought a game like Twisted Metal would be able to play multiplayer. Otherwise any multiplayer oriented game would be next to worthless as the game library gets larger.

  7. Re:Great! by SkyWalk423 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unfortunately I'm fairly sure you're mistaken. Microsoft has always had a strict "no patching" policy with regard to XBL-enabled games. The Ninja Gaiden team treaded in the gray area with their expansion/patch, but with this sole exception I don't think any game has been "fixed". Lord knows Halo 2 is screaming for a patch to fix all the exploits, but I doubt it's coming.

  8. PSP? by webhat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is it just me, or does anybody else read PSP as Paint Shop Pro?

    --
    'I am become Shiva, destroyer of worlds'
  9. Re:Connecting to hotspots? Does the DS? by MoriaOrc · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ever heard of humor? :P

    I own an XBox and a PS2 and the fact that online play for the xbox is built in (unlike in PS2) and is well supported (unlike in GC which has few online games) makes it a way better system then the other two. That doesn't mean it isn't much heavier/bulkier then the other two (especially with the new small version of PS2, though mine is an older one). The weight is something I know all about because I lug it around to play LANed with friends alot.

    And anyway, my use of humor doesn't invalidate the point that PSP is going to be better then the DS in online play, since it comes with WiFi based online play out of the box (even if none of the online launch games look like they are going to be spectacular) and the DS doesnt and never will support anything more then close range P2P connections AFAIK.