If you believe Sony, the PSP's on a 10-year lifecycle -- as of today. That means, we've got five years until the PSP is obsolete and portable games are being beamed directly into our brains or something.
Rather than sit here and let the announcements and leaks come as they may, IGN has decided to pull together a quick list of the five things we'd like to see out of the PSP before 2015.
DVR ON THE GO
OK, this first one is a bit of a cheat because it's something we want the PlayStation 3 to get as well. See, over in Japan, there's a DVR add-on that lets you record TV shows to your PS3 to watch later -- you can watch later on you PSP too, if you like. We want that here. Considering how much as we travel, a PSPgo chockfull of Man vs. Food and Lost episodes is crazy exciting. Besides the awesomeness of having TV on the go, this would finally give the PSP worthwhile functionality to hold over the heads of the DS and iPhone, as well as a reason for the general consumer to buy a PS3 and PSP at the same time. Synergy!
A SYPHON FILTER FINISH
You guys are really a bunch of bastards, Sony Bend. Don't get us wrong, your games are great, but you hung every Gabe Logan fan out to dry! Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow ends with one hell of a cliffhanger, and rather than let us know what's going on with our boy Gabe, Sony Bend went and put out Resistance Retribution. That game was awesome, too, but what the hell is going on with Logan and Lian Xing? I know the Syphon Filter games were critically acclaimed but never sold gangbusters, but you can't let the Gabe Logan franchise end the way it did in the last PSP outing. No, not like this.
3G AND ANOTHER STICK
If the PSP-2000, PSP-3000, and PSPgo didn't clue you in, Sony loves a good redesign. We're willing to bet that in the next five years, we're going to see yet another version of the PlayStation Portable. If that's the case and we're going to buying another handheld, let's get some things right: let's add 3G and another analog nub.
Do you play a lot of PSP online? Some do, but we're willing to bet most don't. The PSP is a portable system; it's meant for train rides to work and time to kill between classes. Most of these opportune moments aren't happening in wi-fi hotspots. Let's draw up a contract with some carrier to have 3G and the ability to play wherever we are. Even if you're not taking part in deathmatches, it'd be nice to be able to download movies, Minis, and firmware on the go. The second stick is something we've been wanting for forever, and we're not stopping for the next five years. We're sick of saying the controls were "pretty good" for the PSP, and we're tired of workarounds to move the camera.
Let's get another stick and move the camera however we want. Yes, we know it's late in the game to add the ability to play wireless games from wherever you are and the ability to rotate the camera with your right thumb, but we don't care. These additions would make hardcore gamers happy and get developers to a point where they could make good games and be thinking of making franchises on the PSP2 -- because that system better have this stuff.
MINI BOOM
You know what we love at IGN? A good Mini. Sadly, there isn't a ton around at the moment. Yes, there are great titles out there, but there's also a lot of stuff that isn't worth your time. In the next five years, we want to see the balance shift so that the majority of Mini content is as good as Fieldrunners and Age of Zombies. Also, drop the prices. Sure, some of these games have more content than an iPhone title, but the $2.99 price tags are hard to swallow when these things are so "hit or miss." If you're going to have a game as simple as whack-a-mole with one map, it should be 99 cents, tops.
PATAPON3
What can we say: we're Patapon addicts. Somehow, this franchise won our PSP Game of the Year award for two years running, and we haven't heard a peep on a third installment. Please, don't "Syphon Filter" this game. Give us Patapon 3 and make it bigger than ever. Give us more slots on the evolution tree, bigger bosses, more songs, cuter mini-games, and a robust infrastructure mode. Most importantly, though, promote this game. These cute little one-eyed buggers should be the flagship of the PSP -- they can bring in hardcore gamers and girlfriends alike.
Rather than sit here and let the announcements and leaks come as they may, IGN has decided to pull together a quick list of the five things we'd like to see out of the PSP before 2015.
DVR ON THE GO
OK, this first one is a bit of a cheat because it's something we want the PlayStation 3 to get as well. See, over in Japan, there's a DVR add-on that lets you record TV shows to your PS3 to watch later -- you can watch later on you PSP too, if you like. We want that here. Considering how much as we travel, a PSPgo chockfull of Man vs. Food and Lost episodes is crazy exciting. Besides the awesomeness of having TV on the go, this would finally give the PSP worthwhile functionality to hold over the heads of the DS and iPhone, as well as a reason for the general consumer to buy a PS3 and PSP at the same time. Synergy!
A SYPHON FILTER FINISH
You guys are really a bunch of bastards, Sony Bend. Don't get us wrong, your games are great, but you hung every Gabe Logan fan out to dry! Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow ends with one hell of a cliffhanger, and rather than let us know what's going on with our boy Gabe, Sony Bend went and put out Resistance Retribution. That game was awesome, too, but what the hell is going on with Logan and Lian Xing? I know the Syphon Filter games were critically acclaimed but never sold gangbusters, but you can't let the Gabe Logan franchise end the way it did in the last PSP outing. No, not like this.
3G AND ANOTHER STICK
If the PSP-2000, PSP-3000, and PSPgo didn't clue you in, Sony loves a good redesign. We're willing to bet that in the next five years, we're going to see yet another version of the PlayStation Portable. If that's the case and we're going to buying another handheld, let's get some things right: let's add 3G and another analog nub.
Do you play a lot of PSP online? Some do, but we're willing to bet most don't. The PSP is a portable system; it's meant for train rides to work and time to kill between classes. Most of these opportune moments aren't happening in wi-fi hotspots. Let's draw up a contract with some carrier to have 3G and the ability to play wherever we are. Even if you're not taking part in deathmatches, it'd be nice to be able to download movies, Minis, and firmware on the go. The second stick is something we've been wanting for forever, and we're not stopping for the next five years. We're sick of saying the controls were "pretty good" for the PSP, and we're tired of workarounds to move the camera.
Let's get another stick and move the camera however we want. Yes, we know it's late in the game to add the ability to play wireless games from wherever you are and the ability to rotate the camera with your right thumb, but we don't care. These additions would make hardcore gamers happy and get developers to a point where they could make good games and be thinking of making franchises on the PSP2 -- because that system better have this stuff.
MINI BOOM
You know what we love at IGN? A good Mini. Sadly, there isn't a ton around at the moment. Yes, there are great titles out there, but there's also a lot of stuff that isn't worth your time. In the next five years, we want to see the balance shift so that the majority of Mini content is as good as Fieldrunners and Age of Zombies. Also, drop the prices. Sure, some of these games have more content than an iPhone title, but the $2.99 price tags are hard to swallow when these things are so "hit or miss." If you're going to have a game as simple as whack-a-mole with one map, it should be 99 cents, tops.
PATAPON3
What can we say: we're Patapon addicts. Somehow, this franchise won our PSP Game of the Year award for two years running, and we haven't heard a peep on a third installment. Please, don't "Syphon Filter" this game. Give us Patapon 3 and make it bigger than ever. Give us more slots on the evolution tree, bigger bosses, more songs, cuter mini-games, and a robust infrastructure mode. Most importantly, though, promote this game. These cute little one-eyed buggers should be the flagship of the PSP -- they can bring in hardcore gamers and girlfriends alike.