This coming year is going to be an interesting one for those of us who love to play games on and in portables. It looks like Nintendo will be America-announcing their already-announced-and-soon-to-be-released-in-Japan 3DS this month (the 19th, if I've got my facts straight, so to speak), and then the blog-spin is heating up around the forthcoming and not-announced PSP2. I've been in love with the idea of portable gaming since I discovered the Game & Watch series as a kid. I remember fantasizing about the idea of a Game & Watch with swappable cartridges...and then the Game Boy was released. I played the hell out of that thing. Castlevania. Bugs Bunny's Magic Castle. Tetris...I played that game in my dreams when I wasn't playing it in my waking hours. Handheld gaming has progressed quite a lot, but the question of whether one of these machines can deliver a "console-like" experience has always been met with a resounding "no!". I'm using way too many hyphens in this here story. May need to brush up on their proper use...
Anyway, speaking to the latest generations of major consoles, the PSP tried and failed in the controls and content department. The DS opted for innovation rather than attempting to match the home game play experience, but in the end the library was filled with way too many babysitting, animal hospital working and gardening emulators to please any sort of 'core' gamer.
Onwards and upwards, both the PSP2 (so far only a "rumored" device due to Sony's woefully inept iron curtain PR machine) and the 3DS (about to hit the streets in Japan) are purportedly boasting powerful processors and new control and visualization paradigms (dual analogue nubs on the PSP2, anyone?). And I can't wait. And that's that whole story.
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