I'm getting married

[Green Gibbon!]

I tried reading the manual, but they use all this damn kanji. Japanese would be a breeze if the writing system didn't incorporate fucking hieroglyphics.

Not that I'd have read the manual even if it were in English.

[Nova]

Beyond all hope of wisdom and salvation am I, for I finally gave in to the temptation and bought a PSP. I'd ordered Lumines in anticipation of my eventual purchase of the system, but I discovered, once the game was in my possession, the anticipation became unbearable. My zen is weak.

But damn, it's a sexy little piece of hardware. My DS, like all Nintendo systems, is solid and feels sturdy and crisp. My PSP, on the other hand, is like a glittering gem, beautiful yet fragile. It's one of those things that you always feel bad after holding even though you can't resist the temptation to touch it in the first place. Its gloss is easily fouled by the slightest invasion of dust or fingerprints, yet its beauty, when unsoiled, is unrivaled by all the stars in the night sky. I would put my dick in it if there were a port reserved for that purpose.

It's thinner and altogether smaller than the DS, but it's nearly twice the weight. It's surprisingly comfortable to hold, because it sure doesn't look like it's been designed with ergonomics in mind. The buttons are all solid, but of particular note is the little analog pad. It's like a tiny disc that slides over a larger plate. It's pretty swell, though I can't imagine using it to play any action games. My only complaint with the layout is that the ever-important start button is lumped in with the "extra" buttons, such as those used for adjusting screen brightness and volume. This makes it difficult to pause on command...

The screen, of course, is the star feature. It's a difficult sensation to describe, but for the first time when playing a handheld, it doesn't feel like I'm playing a handheld. Everything on screen is clear and crisp. There's no blurring and plenty of room for everything, plus you can see it easily at arm's length, so there's no hunching and squinting involved. Playing a handheld game has never been this painless.

You have to charge the battery (a two and a half hour affair) before you can even turn the system on to test it, which kind of sucks, especially considering it's hard not to be on the edge of your seat wondering how many dead pixels will turn up the first time you power on. And oh, there are dead pixels - three in my case. I feel a bit silly after all my ill-informed grumbling about this, though, because after seeing the thing in action, I have to admit that the dead pixels are a moot quibble. They're totally invisible unless the screen is utterly black, which it never is in the course of a game (or movie, if you intend such use out of it).

The battery life is probably a significant complaint, but being that I'll never play mine far from an outlet anyway, it's a non-issue for me. Also, regular headphones won't work, you need the actual PSP-branded headphones, and they're the ear-bud variety, which I hate. Still, all things considered, I really do think this is a better piece of hardware than the DS, in nearly every aspect. At least until its version of the Disc Read Errorâ„¢ surfaces.


And then there's Lumines, quite probably the most unique puzzle game I've ever played, which is a feat in a genre that offers very little room for expansion. For starters, the arena is much larger than the genre's characteristic vertical pit... you've got alot of space to work with. The object is to create blocks of connected colors... it's a bit difficult to get used to initially, because your first instinct is to create rows. It definitely isn't as instantly engaging as the Tetrises and Puyos of the world, but once you get into the swing of it, the experience is altogether different from anything else in the genre. The flowing meter that passes horizontally across the screen once every few seconds initiates combos, so there's a constant pressure to make the chains as large as possible before the meter hits, and also to time your block-dropping so as to allow you the longest opportunity to construct these combo trails. Like a rhthym game, the music and graphics change to reflect your performace, so if you're kicking ass and have combos going all over the screen, you get a fast-paced beat and lots of flashing lights and effects, and if you start struggling, the music slows down and becomes as unnerving as a teacher gazing over your shoulder during an exam. You feel the heat from the very start, but when you're rolling it's quite exhilerating. There's a flow and rhythm here that's very unusual for the genre, and while it's not as addictive as something slower paced and more thought-intensive such as Puyo, it definitely has its own thing going, and a wonderful thing it is.

The versus mode is also really unique. Both players work in the same arena, which is divided in the middle by a thin wall. By creating combos, the wall will move closer into your opponent's side of the arena, giving you more space to work with and him less. It's a really interesting and successful way to get the essential tug-of-war mechanic going.

Each stage has a different visual and musical theme, "skins" as they are called. By progressing in the challenge and versus computer modes, you unlock new skins which can be played anytime. It's a really great motive to keep playing, and since each stage looks and sounds totally different (right down to sound effects), it keeps the game fresh as you progress (a solid run can last quite a while). The only problem with this is that I can imagine growing weary of the first couple of themes as I play them over and over and over hoping to achieve higher levels. It hasn't happened yet, but I haven't made it past level 3 yet...

There's also a Puzzle mode which I imagine is alot of fun, except that I haven't been able to figure it out yet. What are you supposed to do, exactly?



So I'm happy with my PSP and happy with Lumines. The only other game that looks interesting at the moment is Mercury. I'm interested to hear some thoughts on that if anybody's given it a whirl. Incidentally, I also picked up Meteos, though I haven't started it yet. I'll post some impressions on that later, after I (eventually) tire of Lumines.



By the way, I'm not really getting married.

Congratulations, you own a crystal glass…why dont you get it Plasticfied(You know like a ID card)? Oh yeah, that would force you to always play the same game…

[Ngangbius]

These things called games come with things called manuals for a reason!

It's my brother's game so god knows what he did with the manual.

[Dunjohn]

Speaking of manuals, and I think it's about time I dragged someone else's thread off-topic for a change, I discovered this thing called the "options menu" in Sonic Advance 2 that I can't for the life of me remember seeing last time. It says the Right shoulder button is set to "trick." This doesn't seem to do anything in the game. Whassit for?

Also... how do you get into the special stages again? My manual's long since gone.

[Lizard]

The R-tricks is used in midjump to give you an extra jump to fly higher or longer. However they can only be used in a non-spin jump, in other words when you jump on a spring, trampoline etc. Just hold R and press the d-pad in the direction you want to go.

To get into a special stage you have to find ten emblems that are spreaded out on a stage plus finishing the stage. Now here comes the frustrating part, you must find the emblems every time you want to enter the special stage and they must be taken in order. Miss one and you will often find that you must restart the whole stage again. Criminally frustrating which, together with the bosses, makes SAdvance2 into the most annoying traditional sonic game ever imo.

[j-man]

Plasticfied(You know like a ID card)

...laminated?

[Delphine]

Plasticfied is the greatest unnecessarily made up word ever.

[Psxphile]

To get into a special stage you have to find ten emblems that are spreaded out on a stage plus finishing the stage. Now here comes the frustrating part, you must find the emblems every time you want to enter the special stage and they must be taken in order. Miss one and you will often find that you must restart the whole stage again. Criminally frustrating which, together with the bosses, makes SAdvance2 into the most annoying traditional sonic game ever imo.

Seven, not ten. Hm, I was recently playing SAdv2 with no access to any kind of FAQ and was astonished to find that even after all these months of neglect I could still locate and collect all the necessary emblems with little difficulty. Route memorization goes a long way, I guess. It's kinda like classic Ninja Gaiden, if you play it enough times you instinctively know exactly where to jump, when to slash and when to stop before you're mauled by multiple incoming birds of prey, even years after the fact.

[Locit]

Concerning the puzzle mode I think you just fill up the blocks outlined in the background. I say I think because I haven't even beaten the first level.

[Dunjohn]

Dude, I got Sonic Mega collection a few months ago and was happily making beelines for all the hidden super-rings in Sonic 3 until my brother saw me (grabbing that one in the secret wall down under the water in Ice Cap 2) and pointed out that we'd never owned this game, just borrowed it for a few months back in the nineties.

I felt like such a hopeless case.

[Green Gibbon!]

Concerning the puzzle mode I think you just fill up the blocks outlined in the background. I say I think because I haven't even beaten the first level.

That's what I thought at first, but aside from the fact that it would be utterly impossible because you can't make blocks stand on their sides, I cleared the first stage with less than half the screen filled. I think it might have something to do with making blocks disappear in a certain pattern, or something.

Kudos to Mizuguchi and his boys for confounding the entire GHZ. It isn't often that happens.

[Baba O'Reily]

Nova's a retard who likes to stick suffixes where they don't belong to refute points that were irrelevant in the first place.
BUT HE'S NEVER WRONG.

[Locit]

I have solved the mystery!
You make the shape out of the very blocks themselves-
Instead of filling up the cross shape, you make a cross shape out of four individual colored blocks.
Do I get a cookie?

[tornadot]

I got the PSP and I like it's look better than the DS (Which I did own at one time)...don't have any games for it but I want DarkStalkers...

[Dunjohn]

Question for all you Americans: How much do DS carts cost over there? Specifically, New York? And are they compatable with European DS carts?

My sister's going over there in a week or so and I'm wondering if I'd save much by waiting 'til then to get stuff. I presume there's a wider range, too, given the eariler release date. Anything actually good?

[Green Gibbon!]

There's no region lock on DS games. Game prices are about $30-$40. I don't keep up with exchange rates, but I imagine it's virtually the same price as in Europe.

[Dunjohn]

At the moment there's a good 20% difference between euro and dollar. That'd be about E24-E32. Excellent. Forty five euro minimum here.

[Omni Hunter]

I also believe it's about 2 dollar to the quid at the moment. That's a good rate meaning that the games should be £15-£20 over here.

[j-man]

If I remember from my trip to NY (woo) the exchange rate was like 1:1.89.

[Omni Hunter]

Result! Looks like I'll get my games from the US then.

[Green Gibbon!]

I finally started messing with Meteos. I've only given it two sittings so far, so these are only initial impressions, but off hand, I'd say comparing it to Lumines would be like comparing Tekken to Virtua Fighter.

Blocks fall randomly and wildly from the top of the screen, and the object is to line up rows of 3 horizontally or vertically by moving pieces around with the stylus pen. The main problem with this is that when there are alot of pieces on screen, it's difficult to pin-point the one you want and slide it to exactly where you need - those pieces are small and there are alot of them.

The biggest issue here is that there is no evident strategy involved. Since you have no control over the falling of pieces or even control to move them horizontally in space, there's not much you can do but sit and wait for a lucky stack. There are awkward moments where you can't really do anything but sit and wait for the right blocks to fall, letting the extras pile up as they will. I would say this alone qualifies a puzzle game for damnation, but try this one on for size:

I'm not sure yet if it's as dire a flaw as it seems, maybe there's some hidden depth I've yet to tap into, but so far I've had altogether better luck by simply sliding the stylus pen across the screen randomly and wildly. Combos initiate like mad. In fact, it seems like an altogether better solution than playing legitimately, because you make combos much faster than you could by observing and reacting to the rainbow of colors on screen, and you don't have the added stress of trying to touch and move microscopic pieces one-by-one in the checkered gridlock. I've never seen anyone make a Toshinden out of a falling blocks puzzle game before, but Q seem to have pulled it off...

The game isn't totally without appeal... interestingly, the blocks you successfully rocket off the top of the screen are tallied in an inventory, and can be used to buy items, levels, music, etc. Like Lumines, each stage has a different visual theme, and they're pretty, but it feels more gimmicky here than in Lumines. (Plus, the music isn't as catchy.)

So far, I am wholly unimpressed. I still need to play it more before passing final judgment, but already I think I can say that Lumines is the clear winner. Meteos lacks the depth, sense of engagement, and all-round fun factor of Q's PSP offering.

Does anyone else have this? Is there something I'm totally missing?

[Nova]

Plasticfied is the greatest unnecessarily made up word ever.

I’m the only one who things is wrong to make the next gen consoles like small computers?. You can use the PSP to surf the web, the DS to chat. Next thing you know is that you are in the last stage of a game and a virus screws all. People buys consoles because they are cheaper than PCs , easier to use and give less trouble. They are machines to have fun, nothing else. What would be the point of buying a console if they start to make them more and more like computers?.

[Ancient]

Have you killed anyone with flying discs yet?

Nasty things those... PSP's... Why my Grandma almost lost her eye while playing one upside down a couple of years back

[Brazillian Cara]

What?

[j-man]

Plasticfied is the greatest unnecessarily made up word ever.

I’m the only one who things is wrong to make the next gen consoles like small computers?. You can use the PSP to surf the web, the DS to chat. Next thing you know is that you are in the last stage of a game and a virus screws all. People buys consoles because they are cheaper than PCs , easier to use and give less trouble. They are machines to have fun, nothing else. What would be the point of buying a console if they start to make them more and more like computers?.

I love how he quoted Del and then said absolutely nothing replying to what she said.