In December, PlayStation's U.S. director of network operations, Eric Lempel, told me that bringing the widely praised PS3 downloadable twin-stick shooter "Everyday Shooter" "would be great on the PSP."

Today Sony confirmed that it would be so great that it's going to happen. Buried in the press release from Sony Computer Entertainment of America announcing the new PSP-3000 model is a description of a new 4GB Memory Entertainment pack that ships in November and includes a voucher for a downloadable copy of "Everyday Shooter."

Why, Sony press release, would you offer PSP shoppers a voucher for a PS3 game?

The press release explains: "The title is available for PLAYSTATION(R)3 and will be making its debut for PSP. Download Everyday Shooter for PSP from PLAYSTATION Store to your Memory Stick PRO Duo with the included voucher."

Thank you press release, but please be more specific next time.

And analog acolytes take heed, "ES" creator Jonathan Mak told me long ago that his game is really not meant to be played with twin sticks but with two sets of digital buttons, one set under each thumb. The PSP offers that set-up perfectly.

On Thursday, I…

• Conquered nine more puzzles in “Professor Layton.” But my DS beat me. I saw it coming. On my subway ride I got the low-power red light. I thought I'd been smart. Before I left home I had grabbed my DS charge wire, which I usually just keep in my bag. I thought I would charge the system at work. But I forgot. So while I was waiting for the C train to arrive on my way home, I turned on my DS and remembered that, oh yeah, this thing is about to die. What followed was a train ride of compulsive DS game-saving. I tried a puzzle, solved it, then saved. Tried another, solved it, saved again. I pondered sleeping the system while I was working through some of the brain teasers in my head. I was doing a series of chess-based teasers, most of which were pretty easy. Then the game offered its toughest chess puzzle. I just finished reading the rules for it when my DS blacked out. Done. No more playing. I took out my iPod and listened to Lorne Lanning tell the 1UpYours crew how screwed up the gaming industry is for the rest of the ride.

• At home I played PS3 until my wife came home and it was time to watch "Lost" (on DVR delay). Now that I am caught up with disc games I can enjoy some of titles in my PSN backlog. A year ago I had become smitten by "Everyday Shooter," then loved playing it on my PS3 debug, then enjoyed the finished version on my retail PS3. But I had never played the game long enough to get really good at it, and I had refused to use the unlock codes on the debug version, even though a friend told me the optional visualizer modes are spectacular. When I played the game Thursday night it I was reminded how tough the eyeball level is. On my fifth try, I finally got past it. I got to the birds-and-plane level, which looks lovely and is very hard. Having just finished "Uncharted," which is well-tuned to dual-analog play, it felt strange to play "Everyday Shooter," which is designed for d-pad and face buttons. I had asked the game's creator, Jonathan Mak about that control decision a few months ago and he said that he was an eight-directional d-pad purist, because eight-direction control gives the player genuine one-to-one control -- what they physically do is exactly what happens. Interesting idea. I kept it in mind while I was playing. I think it helped me a little

Next entry: I suspect I will finally return to "Super Mario Galaxy" after a three month hiatus.

San Francisco -- You know you're at the Game Developers Conference and not E3 when you leave a panel talking to your friends about ideas, not games or products.

As I left the kick-off panel for the Independent Games Summit -- a satellite event of GDC running today and tomorrow (when I'll be speaking), my head was spinning. I had just heard two provocative ideas I'd like to share.

The panel included Jonathan Mak, the one-man band responsible for the PlayStation 3's "Everyday Shooter." Mak is young, but he presents his ideas with an old-school touch: he didn't navigate his laptop, which was projected onto a big screen, by using Windows. He types his commands right into his computer. And when a sample game he was running to make a point wasn't displaying a bouncing red ball well enough, he jumped right into the code and reprogrammed it, on the fly.

Mak's idea: Arguments about gameplay vs graphics don't lead to any useful conclusions. Instead, think of games as a system of inputs and outputs. Press a red button at the right time and rock music plays: you've got "Guitar Hero," proof that a rudimentary input, if triggering an engaging output (rock music), can make for a great game.

His idea expanded more --> See that picture at the top of this post? That's "Everyday Shooter" as represented by Mak in the form of game icons. He showed that running in motion. Does it look familiar? It's the same as the image here. But now you're seeing it with the graphics turned on. Now you're seeing it with a more engaging output.

So what makes the game fun and satisfying? The input? The output? Mak said he was bored by "Call of Duty 3," but thought he'd love it if it looked like 'Rez.'" Where that leads him, he's not sure.

That was one interesting idea, amplified by Mak's demonstration of a bouncing red ball he was controlling with "Mario"-style jump and run commands. It only looked engaging when he added a shadow, a propeller and some squishiness to the ball -- all outputs representing his inputs. Subjective, but compelling. Outputs and inputs working together.

Then came the second head-spinner:

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Who says that you need a disk to have some fun playing video games? Sometimes all you need is a little bit of hard drive space. Ranging from updated classics to brave new takes on tried-and-true genres, here is my list of the top-ten downloadable games for your consoles.

1. Pac-Man: Championship Edition (Xbox 360)
The original "Pac-Man" was one of the games that changed the world, but the Championship Edition goes to a whole new pellet-munching level. Timed levels, crazy effects, and intense challenges make "Pac-Man C.E." a worthy successor to the Pac-Man crown. Hopefully 2008 will bring us "Ms. Pac-Man C.E." (I really do love her bow).

2. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Wii)
A classic finally made its way across the Pacific in its original form. The true sequel to the greatest game of all time, "Super Mario Bros. 2" (as it is known in Japan) picks up right where the first game left off, and keeps true to the game's 8-bit visual and audio style. Although it was released on the SNES "Super Mario All-Stars" compilation, true hardcore fans know it just wasn’t the same.

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This is the final round. The week-long short-session Vs. Mode between me and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal draws to a conclusion in rather segue-ready fashion.

In this last round, N'Gai and I dissect "Nucleus," "Pac-Man Championship Edition" and "Diner Dash," among others.

And then your favorite Multiplayer blogger brings it home with the discovery of a short-session, itty-bitty game that might be better than "BioShock" at the very aspect of gameplay that "BioShock" is best at.

Say it ain't so! Or say it is so! Or... say what? The surprise game is revealed in the last letter of this exchange, after the jump.

And guess what game we'll be tackling in our next Vs. Mode? Get ready, Ken Levine.

(As always, Vs Mode is co-published on N'Gai's "Level Up" blog.)

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Today's third round of Vs. Mode picks up in mid-stream. I had just asked Newsweek's N'Gai Croal if he agreed that "Super Stardust HD" is the first of a new wave of high-end small games. His reply kicks off today's round. Dust off round two if you need a refresher.

In today's exchange we finally get past our impasse (sorry folks, N'Gai just isn't interested in a "Space Invaders" with really advanced artificial intelligence). Instead he has ideas for a sequel to "Everyday Shooter." Me? I suggest that a rush of small games may change the way we all relate to games.

An excerpt from me that might remind my fellow bloggers who attended a Game Developer's Conference Sony event as the thing I kept asking Phil Harrison about:

I’ve argued that the cost and length of new retail games narrows most gamers's experience. Rentals and demos aside, gamers wind up playing just a few new titles a year and/or are unlikely to try many games outside of whatever genres they’re comfortable with. The widespread availability of small games to console gamers can change that. I feel like we’ve all been given a new (or newly refined) mechanism to experiment with and enjoy a broader array of games. It’s like we all just went from having broadcast TV to 500-channel cable.

This feels healthy to me, as it seems like it will speed the feedback loop of creativity and consumer reaction. And it’s all hinging on getting new thing after new thing.

Read the rest of the exchange after the jump. And in the next round, we'll start breaking down some specific games. Enjoy!

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