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Keep It On The DL: The Top 10 Downloadable Games of 2007

Posted 12/10/07 8:13 am EST by in Best of 2007, Everyday Shooter, Pac Man C.E., PS3, PSN, PSP, Super Mario Bros 2, The Dime, Top 10, Xbox 360


pm2007.jpgWho 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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PlayStation Firmware Interview -- Sony Plans Faster Updates, And Maybe Fewer For 2008

Posted 12/7/07 9:45 am EST by in PS3, PSN, PSP


PlayStationEarlier this week I posted a big interview about the new PSP PC store, the Sony initiative to enable owners of the company's handheld to start -- legally -- downloading fun stuff onto their PSP.

My interview was with Eric Lempel, director of network operations for Sony Computer Entertainment America, who I spoke with last week. Lempel is not just responsible for the PSP PC store. He's also behind any of the firmware upgrades SCEA issues for the PS3 and PSP.

As I noted in a post earlier today, there have been a lot of those upgrades this year.

Lempel and I mostly talked about the store during our interview, but late in our chat the topic of firmware came up. Why have there been so many firmware upgrades this year? What is Sony's current firmware strategy? And what kind of features are coming?

No, he did not say when customizable XMB will be implemented. But he was open nonetheless and suggests a promising, more user-friendly future is in the works. Here's an excerpt from our conversation, the rest of which follows below:

Multiplayer: There've been a lot [of PlayStation 3 firmware upgrades] and it's certainly improved the machine. I can't say that I love every time I turn my system on -- well not every time I turn my system on -- but when I turned my system on last night to check something needed an upgrade already. I just got 2.0.

Lempel: Right. Right. We're trying to certainly cut down on the amount of times we do it. But on occasion when we've got these good features ready to go, let's give them out to the consumers. Let's get them out there. We definitely understand that it does happen frequently and that can be somewhat annoying to some users.

Read on for our full exchange.

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Year-End Trend Review: About 25 PlayStation Firmware Upgrades Later, An Evolution In List Form

Posted 12/7/07 9:18 am EST by in PS3, PSN, PSP, Uncategorized


PlayStationIf you owned a PS3 or a PSP you probably spent a bit of time upgrading your machine's firmware. And then updating it some more.

The promise of the ever-evolving console was realized in 2007 by Sony, with mandatory firmware upgrades to the company's gaming machines adding customizable themes to the PS3, an online store for the PSP, a popular folding@home cancer research initiative, rumble support for PS3 controllers that aren't even sold in the U.S. yet, and a bevy of other security and functionality tweaks (alas, no "Home" service -- not yet.)

How many times has the firmware been upgraded in PlayStation platforms this year?

I count 25 occasions and list them all below.

I pulled the list together using Sony's official U.S. PlayStation blog, the Joystiq-affiliated PSP Fanboy and PS3 Fanboy sites and the handy dated forum posts on NeoGAF from users who reported downloading the firmware.

I have not noted how the PSP's functionality improved each time, but I have mentioned one or two facets of each PS3 firmware upgrade.

Take a look at the list below. PlayStation fans, did you like your year in firmware?

January 24, 2007
PlayStation 3 Firmware 1.50
Included: Addition of auto-sign-in to PlayStation Network

January 30, 2007
PSP Firmware: 3.10

February 5, 2007
PlayStation 3 Firmware 1.51
Included: Improved support for PS2 titles

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How The PSP Original Download Game 'Beats' Came To Be

Posted 12/5/07 9:09 am EST by in mtv news, Music Games, PSN, PSP


Over at MTVNews.com my weekly GameFile  column covers the iPod-style re-invigoration of the PSP.

Some of it borrows from the in-depth interview I ran yesterday here at Multiplayer about the PSP download store.

But the column also has some talk of "Beats," the download-only PSP use-your-own-MP3s rhythm game that was already launched on the European version of the store and will be available for Americans this week.

An excerpt from my column:

"Beats" actually started as something a little different. Development began in the first couple of months of 2007 by about five people at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's London studio. "Originally, we were going to have it as a UMD [PSP disc-based] title, but as plans for the PlayStation Store developed, we decided to change over and make it downloadable," [SCEA producer Daimion] Pinnock said.

It also was going to have different music. Early on, the Sony team considered including licensed music in the game, possibly by the British pop band Sugababes. "We were going to have their videos playing in the background, but we didn't really feel like it added much to the game itself." So Sony went with original music instead and a programming push for users to play the game to their own songs.

For more on "Beats" check the column.

The PSP Online Store - 'A Glimpse Towards The Future' - The Biggest Interview About Sony's iTunes-Style Gaming Move

Posted 12/4/07 9:43 am EST by in PS2, PS3, PSN, PSP, Top Entries


PSN LogoTwo weeks ago, Sony launched the PSP PC store with a whimper. It debuted just two days before Thanksgiving, offering PSP owners the chance to download some free themes and buy and download few old and new PSP games. I didn't hear about any of it until the weekend when it got mentioned on the 1UpYours podcast.

Why the quiet launch? Was Sony embarrassed about it?

Late last week I interviewed Eric Lempel, the PlayStation director of network operations in charge of the store.

And we talked about everything. 

Seriously. I don't think we missed a thing. Want to know what the plans are for this store? The pricing strategy? Why it requires a PC? Whether it will support Macs? Which titles formerly on UMD will be coming to the store (he revealed that "SOCOM Fire Team Bravo" and "Twisted Metal: Head-On" will hit by year's end)? Whether UMD titles will ever be released on the download store the same day as they are in game shops? Which PS3 games he'd like to see on the PSP store? The plans for import titles?

And more, more, more. Check out the chock-full interview below.

One excerpt to get you thinking:

Multiplayer: In general the store looks like it comes one step closer to fulfilling a lot of PSP owners' fantasy of "I want to download everything. I don't want that UMD thing." A lot of people were thinking the PSP revision might even do away with the UMD and this whole thing is going to be like an iPod, it's all going to be downloadable. In your mind, is this a step closer to that? Is this a way of acknowledging those people in any way? Is this the PSP showing that download is where the future is?

Lempel: I would say the industry is at an interesting point right now where we have the ability to quickly deliver content to people. So the retail business is still very important to us. And the UMD business is still doing very well for us and our retail partners. I don't think we're ready to look at that and say, "This is the way it should go right now." But we're at an interesting point in the industry where consumers know they can get things fast and they're getting used to it with other devices from other companies. So it's something we always wanted to do. Technically we didn't have the ability in the past with some of our hardware. But now that we do we want to start opening up some of these channels and getting consumers used to that and experimenting with it.

I would say it's a glimpse towards the future. Definitely just by releasing a UMD title in the store it definitely puts ideas in people's heads, but no I wouldn't categorize this as a shift in business model at this point.

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Comedian Talks PS3 Sitcom Game 'Rat Race,' Explains Why Un-Funny Clips Of Game Hit Web

Posted 11/28/07 3:37 pm EST by in Funny games, PS3, PSN


For fans of innovation, the PlayStation 3's download service, PSN, has been a lovely thing. It has brought gamers things like "flOw" and "Everday Shooter."

And this Winter it will bring gamers an episodic sitcom game called "Rat Race."

On Tuesday, I interviewed comedian and head writer of the game Victor Varnado for MTV News. Turns out he's a bona fide gamer with some programming roots as well.

He says all the right things about "Rat Race" and the trick art of making a game funny. This game sounds like it has a chance to hit its mark. (Watch Varnao's stand-up here, if you want to see what his sense of humor is all about).

But what if you've already heard of "Rat Race," seen some clips from it on GameTrailers, and wondered why it wasn't funnier? From my story:

"Here's what really happened," said Varnado, who followed the reaction. "Some of the stuff that was leaked onto GameTrailers was some of the stuff meant for internal use, not something that was a finished product that would go out." He said some of the material was created to test the game's technology and didn't represent the finished product. "That isn't our best foot forward," he said. Only the video about the roach-bait commercial had gone through the proper approval process. And that one, he said, got the most positive response. "We'll make sure that what we put out next is something we've gone over and that we're proud of."

Read the rest of the story and find out what the first episode will be about in my full story at MTVNews.com.

Where Do "Zelda" Mailmen -- And Tingle -- Come From? The Answer Revealed.

Posted 9/18/07 3:13 pm EST by in 3DS / DS, Gaming in Japan, Innovation, PS3, PSN, shigeru miyamoto, Wii


PixelJunk RacersOver at MTV News I wrote up an interview with Dylan Cuthbert, the sharp developer of one of my favorite DS games last year ("Star Fox Command"), the best GBA game I've ever played that wasn't released in the U.S. ("Digidrive"), and a fun new racing game called "PixelJunk Racers" that's worth downloading for the PS3.

Hey, at least try the demo.

The column covers Cuthbert's ideas about the wild new "PixelJunk" series, but I kept getting distracted during the interview. I kept asking him about his past. Sorry, but I was fascinated.

See, Cuthbert has an amazing resume that includes, of all things, having his company, Q Games, develop the background silk ribbon graphic on the PS3 and made a lot of tech demos that helped launch the PS2 and PSP. Even cooler is the fact that he's one of the only -- maybe the only? -- westerner to work for Sony and Nintendo in Japan.

The man worked in a 40-man office with Miyamoto back in the SNES days and helped teach the great gamemaker English. He also shared this, excerpted from my column:

What was it like being seated at the far end of the EAD Nintendo office, seated near the bathroom where the rest of the team liked to smoke and test out their English? "They had very strong personalities. All very interesting." How interesting? "They were not the sort to go drinking every night, that kind of flamboyant. They were more very fun and outgoing ... a lot of that comes out in the game. If you've played 'Zelda,' the various postman characters tend to be based on people at Nintendo." What about Tingle, the most eccentric of the "Zelda" universe characters? "That's not someone I know. Someone told me he is based on a person at Nintendo. Where else are they going to get these crazy ideas?"

There's more of that in the column.

Mixed Motions — How “LocoRoco” On PS3 Takes Unexpected Twists

Posted 8/31/07 2:59 pm EST by in Happy Games, Motion Control, PS3, PSN, PSP


Loco RocoIs it a game? Is it a screen-saver? What is "LocoRoco Cocoreccho!"?

Confusion currently abounds. And some of the information out there is off. Thankfully, I can clear it up -- a little.

I played the game on Wednesday morning during a New York City demo of Sony's fall PlayStation line-up. After a few rounds of "PixelJunk Racers" and "Go! Sports Ski" the Sony reps loaded up a build of Loco Roco.

They apologized in advance. They weren't sorry for the quality of the game: it's as lively, colorful and engaging as the PSP original and looked highly polished. They just hadn't had much time with the title, only getting it on Friday from the home office. They weren't sure how to unlock every little thing. But together we managed plenty, and had a good time with it.

So how does it work?

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