PSP Minis

1. 

   onmode-ky
   Member

   I don't know why I didn't think of this before: two genres that are big in Japan but have pretty poor representation anywhere else: visual novels and dating sims. Visual novels play more or less like "choose your own adventure" books (i.e., user interaction is mostly multiple-choice questions on what to do or where to go next; most people don't consider these to be games, but hey, I like a good story), and dating sims, uh, play like simulations of dating. I think the closest thing I have experience with would be the recent Sakura Wars V release from NIS America, which combined dating sim elements with strategic warfare. The date thing in FFVII is also similar. Anyway, both of these are genres which almost never appear in the US, and I think SCEA actively tries to keep visual novels out of the North American PlayStation marketplace. However, if Minis are looser in terms of content policies, we could finally see if the market is willing to play these even if Sony doesn't think so.

   Of course, making a game from one of these genres then comes with an element of risk. You might end up with rather poor sales. If you're going to make one of these, the story and/or characters will have to be really good to get people's attention and break the stigma.

   Love the idea of a side-scrolling shooter featuring Ace Armstrong on foot!

   Isn't that kind of game called "run-n-gun"?

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   Jasper Nikki
   Moderator

   JRPGs, or Chess with intense gameplay, or any board game collections.

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   Carson
   Member

   thats actually a fantastic idea onmode-ky! Those sort of games really would fit best on minis.
   

   Isn't that kind of game called "run-n-gun"?

   
   IDK, to me, "run-n-gun" is AoZ or AZD, where you run in any direction and shoot independently from that direction (at least thats what comes to my mind when I hear "run-n-gun").

   Posted 1 year ago #
4. 

   Takao
   Member

   We just got a visual novel on PSP a few weeks back with Disgaea: Infinite. Those games seem like such a chore to play.

   Posted 1 year ago #
5. 

   JeremyR
   Member

   Indeed, I bought Disgaea Infinite when it came out and played it for 20 minutes. It's not that it's bad, it's just seems like a lot of work to play.

   Posted 1 year ago #
6. 

   onmode-ky
   Member

   I checked what Wikipedia had to say about "run and gun" (they don't hyphenate it), and it seems to encompass both scrolling and multidirectional formats. At any rate, "side-scrolling shooter" in my mind means you can't control the rate of scrolling, only, at most, the direction (e.g., bidirectional: Defender, Fantasy Zone; multidirectional: Bosconian, Time Pilot). In a run-n-gun, you can stop the scrolling motion.

   Takao, JeremyR, can you elaborate on what you mean? I have Disgaea Infinite, too, but I haven't opened the package yet. As far as I was aware, it just played like a typical visual novel, where it's more or less like reading a book (with voice) until you get to a decision branch; nothing chore-like in that that I can see. Is Infinite different?

   I'm in the middle of a comedic visual novel in my PSP, as well as a demo for a PSP visual novel that just came out a couple of weeks ago in Japan, Second Novel. Neither of them have shown any particularly tedious properties so far (except for my being slow at reading Japanese :) ).

   Incidentally, if you look up Second Novel, most of the English references to it mistranslate the subtitle and also summarize the plot incorrectly. . . .

   Posted 1 year ago #
7. 

   volcane
   Member

   As for FPS games, I don't think they'd work on Minis. The audience for those games are usually enamored in big name franchises, and rarely touch anything else. Not only that, as Minis are cross-compatible between PSP and PS3, there would be an issue with the controls. Many have complained about the few FPS games on the PSP because of the lack of another analog stick forcing the camera to be mapped to buttons. This isn't going to fly at all when someone who owns a PS3 plays the game and finds out they're only allowed to use one analog stick.

   This is definitely a good point.

   There are a number of FPS titles that (while certainly begging for dual analogue sticks) have worked more or less adequately on the PSP (Resistance Retribution, for instance, which I enjoyed a lot and even played multiplayer online albeit a little haphazardly). However, I suppose that the Minis are special because they can be played on both a PSP and on a PS3 so there needs to be a control mechanism that can make the best of the PSP hardware while at the same time making use of the enhanced controllers on the PS3.

   Perhaps the FPS game could simply have two control systems - one for the PS3 and another for the PSP. The player would have to put up with the PSP constraints while playing on the mobile device.

   Mind you, if you go for a 2.5D style FPS (such as Doom or Duke Nukem), then the need for dual analogue sticks is less important.

   It will be interesting to see how the new Dinosaur Hunter game works out. It is an FPS style game and has a pretty good control scheme on the PSP. I've bought the game but I don't have a PS3, so I can't see how the PSP/PS3 control system translation is handled.

   Has anyone with a PS3 bought Dinosaur Hunter and could comment on how the control system works out when used on the PSP and PS3 systems?

   Posted 1 year ago #
8. 

   Carson
   Member

   It will be interesting to see how the new Dinosaur Hunter game works out. It is an FPS style game and has a pretty good control scheme on the PSP. I've bought the game but I don't have a PS3, so I can't see how the PSP/PS3 control system translation is handled.

   Has anyone with a PS3 bought Dinosaur Hunter and could comment on how the control system works out when used on the PSP and PS3 systems?

   
   I've not played it, but it would be the exact same thing on ps3, except most people like the ps3's analog stick better.

   Perhaps the FPS game could simply have two control systems - one for the PS3 and another for the PSP. The player would have to put up with the PSP constraints while playing on the mobile device.

   
   at first I thought that would never happen since minis are really psp games that are emulated on ps3.
   But that reminds me of something that leads me to think it just might be possible....
   do any of you remember the super game boy? (my cousin had one so I do.) It was an attachment for the snes that could be used to play gameboy games,
   and one of the coolest things about it is that some of the games played on the super gb were altered for it.
   for example you could play multiplayer on the snes for some games (without the need for a link cable).
   hypothetically, I believe it could have been used to take advantage of the extra buttons on the snes, effectivly making the gamefile two versions optimized for each console!

   The concept of ps3 minis emulator isnt that different from the SGB therefore, I strongly believe that the same logic can be applied (the minis file has specific instructions for the ps3 to read ie dual anolog controls)

   For the developers who have contact with sony, I implore you to run that by them!
   a simple modification to the developement software is all it should take, and it would be quite an astounding feature!

   Posted 1 year ago #
9. 

   thumbbandit
   Member

   I had a snes and a super gameboy, and Wario Blast had a multi player feature as well as displaying more than 4 colours (the gameboy could only display 4 shades on its monochrome screen). ;)

   Posted 1 year ago #
10. 

    Rein
    Member

    Adventures, even text-adventures would make me happy. The PSP platform as a whole needs adventure games.

    80s classic handheld LCD games (mostly all kinds of funny small puzzles) converted to the PSP would be awesome too.

    Posted 1 year ago #
11. 

    Rein
    Member

    A small (ice) hockey game wouldn't be bad either. The PSN Store doesn't offer any hockey games for the PSP as far as I know.

    Posted 1 year ago #

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