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PSP Devs Should Pony Up
President of development house 'Ready at Dawn' Didier Malenfant has given a short interview to GamesIndustry.biz. In the piece, he lays out his feeling that developers are to blame for the lackluster title library of Sony's handheld console. From the article: "'Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game, or We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analog stick.' 'Those are all excuses,' Malenfant continued - observing that the original PSone controller didn't have any analog sticks, 'And there were great games on that.'"
'Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game, or We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analog stick.' 'Those are all excuses,' Malenfant continued - observing that the original PSone controller didn't have any analog sticks, 'And there were great games on that.
This guy understands what's going on.
The Gameboy Advance (SP) has one directional pad, two regular buttons, and two shoulder buttons. Yet, we get brilliant software for it, and it's only sold, what, a few dozen million systems?
The DS, ignoring the touch screen, only boasts an extra two buttons. Though I guess the industry has proven that you really can't do anything with those things, huh, guys?
I think it's more that the developers that are trying to utilize the power that the PSP possesses are too used to having all sorts of controls and control combos associated with it. It would be as if Amazon decided to boot its store and just make a book review site. Sure, they could do it, but they couldn't make just a book review site- eventually they'd turn it right back into the Amazon store, because they don't have any constraints, and are used to the bigger feel.
But you don't need a large amount of controls to have a good game. I've been playing Wario Ware, Inc. for a few weeks now, and at any time it is using one of the regular buttons and the d-pad at most during gameplay. And it's quite a fun game.
Another part of the problem is that too many developers may be trying to continue the "PSP is just a system to port to" thought process that seems to abound (I've seen few original games that aren't ports or rehashes). When going from a Splinter Cell game on the PS2 to the PSP, of course you're going to lose something because of the new layout. So, make a new stealth game. One that isn't Splinter Cell (yes, I know that's hard, bear with me a minute) and fashion it such that it works with the controls.
I am a Nintendo fanboi .. so I thought I'd get that out of the way. That doesn't, however, preclude me from making observations.
... "Oh ... stupid UMD movies"
.. all Nintendo machines, all with very good battery life.)
I was at Futureshop the other day, just checking out the GCN and DS titles and stuff, and walked by what I tought was a HUGE rack of PSP games. I thought, wow, WTF? I didn't know they had that many games. Then I looked a little closer
I don't think I ever saw any PSP games actually (not that I was looking for them or anything).
So here's the thing, if you don't blame the devs, who else can you blame for the poor showing of PSP games? Sony? Maybe. Perhaps if they weren't pre-occupied with trying to re-sell movies they've already sold to people in a more usuable form (aka DVDs) then they might perhaps be a little more focused on something that might actually sell the system. GAMES! From what I've obvserved, there are 3 kinds of people that have purchased the PSP. 1) The pissed off kind that thought they'd get some games. 2) The people who bought this solely for home brew purposes. 3) The pissed off people who conceded defeat and now only use it for home brew stuff.
There are a lot of nice things about the PSP (admittedly). The device itself is a quite sexy. The screen is pretty nice. My complaints would be that it's a little large, UMDs suck, Memory Sticks suck, analog stick isn't in a good position for long term play, battery life (it's not as bad as some people claim, but I expect a little more from a portable gaming machine. Just look at the past machines that sold well. Hmmm
Again, yes, I am a Nintendo whore, but these were just my observations/opinions.
AirSpeak - http://itunes.com/apps/AirSpeak
Yeah, load times are ridiculous in some games, there was a video of the PSP version of Smackdown vs. Raw where it took almost 7 minutes to load. It got removed, but there's another video where someone has time to play another game while waiting for it to load.
Sony needs to open up the development on the PSP.
1. Make development kits available.
2. Allow PSP's to run homebrew. Now I don't mean stolen ISOs or the like.
3. Start a community site so players can upload games.
3a. Offer the ability for a homebrew(r) to charge for their game ($1 here, $1 there).
3b. Sony can get a cut, profit for everyone!
-zariok-
The DS has been selling pretty damn well compared to the PSP. Now, part of this is due to the fact that Nintendo has a very strong fanbase and I'm certain that a large part of it is also because the DS is much cheaper, but the main reason it's been selling so many units is because it has some great games. I know that's the reason I bought one. Last year during E3 I kept hearing about the new games on the way for the DS and I realized that I seriously needed to own one. Sure, none of the games out at the time were really that good, but the first wave of greatness was just about to drop.
That said, let's look at some of the top games for the DS and see why the PSP couldn't have done them as well (ignoring such things as licenses, we're concentrating on gameplay).
First up is Mario Kart DS... lots of people are pointing to this as one of the killer apps for the system and considering it introduced the wi-fi connection it was perfectly positioned. At it's core it's a racing game with an online component. The PSP would have no problems producing an excellent racing game along the same lines and also have the same wi-fi access built in. Yes, it sold largely due to the strength of the franchise, but every franchise has to start somewhere once people start innovating. No excuse here.
Next up is Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Turn-based strategy game that's the direct sequel to the same franchise on the GBA and which started earlier, but was only released in Japan. Considering it ran on the GBA there's no reason the PSP can't have something like this. It uses simple graphics, but that's part of the charm. The deep and involving gameplay is the reason people have become hooked on the series. If it was a PSP title it probably would have had online multiplayer as well, but Nintendo launched it before the WFC. Again, no excuses.
Next up is Nintendogs. Ok, it's not one I personally own (unlike the previous two titles) and it doesn't really appeal to me, but it does appeal to a lot of people out there. Admittedly it relies pretty heavily on the unique features (touch input, microphone) of the DS so it's not really an option on the PSP. I'm also willing to bet that they wouldn't want to try it even if it was possible because it would make the PSP look less "hardcore". Still... they have a valid excuse for not making a game of this type.
Our next title is Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Again, sequel to a GBA game, but with features that take specific advantage of the DS (4 buttons, two screens). The fact that it's a sequel of a GBA game means it's still possible on the PSP, it would just be a tad different. As it is it's a unique twist on the traditional Japanese-style CRPG. Again, no reason why the PSP can't do it.
Moving right along and we have Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Ignoring the nicety of having a second screen for status and map info the only thing that makes it DS-specific is the seal system. Most people agreed that the game would have been better without it. Would the pretty graphics of the PSP have been cool if we had the same gameplay though? Certainly.
Kirby: Canvas Curse is our next game and one that makes specific use of the touch screen. It's a creative and interesting way to use the technology and that means that the PSP couldn't have done it. Sometimes that's just how things are and you can't blame PSP devs for not trying it.
Meteos. Well, it's a puzzle game by the same guy who did Lumines. Sure it uses the touch-screen in a pretty important way (the game is too fast to really play with the gamepad), but the point is that the PSP can and has made a puzzle game of a reasonably similar nature. Even more it's one of the top titles for the PSP. Way to go.
Moving into upcoming games we have the hotly-anticipated Metroid Prime: Hunters. From the First Hunt demo it's pretty apparent how useful the touch screen is to replicate using a mouse, but first-person shooters have come out for the PSP so it's entirely possible to do it. I have to say I'd think there woul
Perhaps it's because people think "I love GTA and I'd love to play that game but I'm not dropping 250$ on a handheld just to play it, I'll rather stay with my console GTAs". A killer app isn't really a killer app if an acceptable substitute is available on another platform many people own already. Of course all market predictions assume that what has worked as a killer app in the past will work as a killer app in the future but I have my doubts. It may work for Zelda but that's only because there's been quite some time since the last Zelda incarnation that was deemed a killer app (OOT, Wind Waker wasn't as popular). GTA San Andreas wasn't very old when GTA LCS got released so people didn't have enough of a craving for GTA to buy a new system over it.
I think that's also why the GC didn't perform as well as the N64, it simply didn't deliver as many unique killer apps and just offered last gen's killer apps with updated graphics (but weaker gameplay). With the exception of Metroid Prime it had no truly unique experiences that people wanted. MP3 might work if the Revolution's controller makes enough of a difference but otherwise it won't be a system seller either.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.