Okay, so, Sony stereotypes aside, September was likely a good month if you’re both a PSP owner and RPG lover such as myself. For four weeks straight, a new PSP RPG released that was able to catch my attention for each of those weeks. (Though one came after a second opinion.) This, to me, is a rare occurence, and really had me stretching my wallet for all of them.

So… what were the games that had me investing so much in the PSP recently?

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
For some, this would probably be “how typical.” For me, “how surprising.” I can humbly say that this is in fact the first time I had ever picked up a Kingdom Hearts game ever. (Except when I demoed Kingdom Hearts 2 very briefly at Disneyworld some four years ago now.) For a second, I have to forget about all of the rabid fanboys that this series produces and actually play a game. Since Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the entire series, I thought that it would be a good time to get into it. The game was already coming off of high player and editor reviews alike, and within an hour or so I could see why. The game, although not exactly like the other games in the series as I’ve been told, plays very well, has an interesting story, and looks pretty good for a PSP game. BBS has succeeded in making me want to try other games in the series… well… after hearing that 358/2 days was subpar, I will probably wait for the next Kingdom Hearts to hit on the 3DS

Phantasy Star Portable 2
Sharing the same abbreviation as the system is on, PSP2 could be overlooked if not just by the other games released before it, then also by the fact that Sega announced Phantasy Star Online 2 at TGS this year. That obviously didn’t stop me from picking it up. My friend had gotten me into the Phantasy Star series, starting with Online. Since then I had gone back and played the original turn-based games on the Master System and Genesis, but the Phantasy Star Universe games caught my eye, although it didn’t with some. Portable 2 expanded on a lot of the things that came out of Portable 1, all for the better. The game features online play, which seems like a rarity for PSP games nowadays, as well as bringing in some Universe traits as having a room you can customise and decorate. Also to the positive is the ability to block (if you have a shield) and having a single PP meter that regenerates, instead of having to manage PP for every weapon you’re using. It’s just fun all around.

Cladun: This is an RPG
What is Nippon Ichi without niche titles? Cladun is a 16-bit dungeon crawler-like game… with a twist. Aside from having your story character, you have the ability to create your own characters, right down to the pixel. Yes, you can create any character you like and even define the end boss. The game also features an very interesting powerup system, using the other characters you make to act as “shields” and power the main character up. This game can tend to be difficult at times, and can time some time getting used to, but all in all this game becomes an effective time waster.

Valkyria Chronicles II
How does the earliest game end up as my last game? I tried this out when the demo was first put up on PSN, hastily played it and couldn’t make any sense of anything. However, after reading about it quite a bit I decided to try it again, play it properly, and I ended up liking enough to buy it. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to put it down. Thing is, I’m not even that much into SRPGs, but Valkyria II just has so much going for it. It’s got warfare strategy. It’s got quirky characters that you’ll all get to know over time. It’s got… guns. (Okay, so guns doesn’t really mean much.) But really. It’s hard not to fall in love with the students that make up class G, and never have I played a game in where “grinding” (by repeating old missions) actually felt like I was doing something. You find ways to refine strategies, try different classes, see if you can try to beat each mission faster… It’s a rush. Although the story goes by month to month, you aren’t pressed for time, so it gives me all the reason to level up a bit, dive into each character’s story, and just keep me hooked. I think I might need help.

Probably the hardest thing out of all of these is balancing each of these titles. I don’t really put much time into my PSP at all, although Valkyria Chronicles II has changed that over the last couple of days, but a lot of the time I find myself wanting to play Birth By Sleep yet I know I’ve been neglecting Phantasy Star Portable 2. Always a problem when you’re a backlogger, I guess.

But who knows? Maybe I’ll end up getting through them all… some day.

In this day and age, the Internet is bringing everyone together in new ways. From the days of usenet, to AOL chatrooms and IRC, followed by BBSes (now forums) we are now in an age where social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are commonplace.

For most of the past fifteen years, PC gaming has had its place online in one way or another. At the turn of the century, that started to spread to consoles, starting with the Dreamcast and XBOX. Today, every current-gen console and handheld is online and part of its own distinct service; XBOX Live for the 360, Playstation Network for the PS3 and PSP, and Nintendo WFC for the Wii and DS. Nowadays, many console games ship with multiplayer modes that are strictly online, where in the past we would have split screen. As time wore on, the Internet has reshaped the way we play games with other people.

However, this does not mean that the days of local multiplayer are gone forever.

The best example of that came today. Those that are in the know might have known today was the day that meetups for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies were held today at Gamestops across North America. Taking advantage of this, Gamedeals (the suburban Vancouver independent video game retailer you might have heard me talk about here) decided to have a DQ9 meetup of its own. This store is now twice the size that it was when I went there last, bigger than any EB Games or Gamestop that I’ve ever been in, and converted one of the back rooms into a lounge. A small group of people had gathered to play the game’s unique and somewhat revolutionary multiplayer mode. We all tagged up with each other to exchange maps and players, then split off into a couple of separate groups: A bunch of people tackling some of the more difficult treasure maps, and us lower level people grinding and working through the game’s story. The whole meetup, which was also attended by store owner Brian and the Happy Console Gamer, was a smashing success and reintroduced me what it was like to be surrounded by a bunch of other people, all playing the same game as you and having fun doing it.

It was a local multiplayer experience that you don’t see very often in this day and age, back in the days where kids like myself would be sitting out in the backyard with their Game Boys, or grabbing a bunch of friends and playing Goldeneye. (And if you haven’t heard, the Wii version will have split screen multiplayer, just like its predecessor, the way it’s MEANT to be played.) Back in the days, your specs or ping didn’t matter, only your skill. Your opponent was only across the room, not across the world, and trash talk was completely acceptable in some circumstances. (Though, not like the absolute bullshit trolling you see on XBL)

On the handheld side of things, though, I’ve been noticing a trend: A increasing number of games that are being released on the DS and PSP these days are going local multiplayer only. There are many games nowadays on both systems that probably would’ve worked nicely with an online multiplayer mode do not include these options; Everything is limited to whatever opponents you can find out there, though that’s not always easy. Then again, I’ve found that online multiplayer experiences on handheld games don’t tend to be of the same connection quality as you would see on a console. I tend to find more laggy people playing Mariokart DS than I do playing Mariokart Wii, and seeing how online races on the console counterpart can have triple the number of participants of its handheld descendant, that’s saying a lot. When you think of it that way, it was time to turn back the clock a bit. Even if the 3DS makes improvements in the online multiplayer area, handelds, and most video games in general, are still fit for the local multiplayer experience. It just brings a feeling that you can’t experience online.

And that was apparent in a back room at Gamedeals today, with people collaborating and talking strategy in order to take down a tough boss, or laughing when Zoma flattened half of an average-leveled party in no time whatsoever. Many people have talked about the collective experience, when people come together, for various things, and I think it was shown today in a new light how gamers can be reunited through the split screen.

A more interesting thing actually came out of that meetup today, and that was a group called the “Handheld Gaming Group” for Vancouver-area gamers. The plan is to meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and just play a game together for a few hours; All local multiplayer. Even today, where online multiplayer is prevalent, people are sticking to their roots, getting together and gaming together. Some people nowadays might ask “Why?” But I say “Why not?” It’s how I grew up.

Yes, this is real footage of me playing Dissidia. I haven’t played it much since Zidane is only level 1 here (I recorded this for a friend, actually) but you can see just how I fail so far.

I like fighting games more nowadays, but I’m always shy around them. I’m a fairly average gamer in skill as it is, but it’s fighting games especially that I don’t do well in. All the unique button combinations and techniques were always difficult to grasp. After constant beatdowns at the hands of my friends in Street Fighter II I thought I’d never bother with it again… until many years later (around 5 or so years ago) when I borrowed my friend’s copy of Soul Calibur II. I think I held onto it for months until I finally got my own copy of the game and gave it back to him, but still… Although I got quite decent playing, I’m still stuck in the realm of fighting mediocrity.

And here’s might be why, using Dissidia: Final Fantasy as my basis for this.

1.) I always play the easiest/high tier characters
Let me get this out of the way first; I’m not a Cloud nor a Final Fantasy VII fan, but I tend to run him a lot if I go through Dissidia’s arcade mode… why? Because he’s just so darn easy to use. I can start a bravery attack from far out and likely catch my enemy off guard… same goes with his HP attacks. Plus, his unique trait is to be able to smash his enemy like a baseball, all the way to the other side of the stage. You can just mash away if cloud in the early going, with the occasional dodge thrown in; It’s not really that hard.

Cloud is my highest level character so far, maybe because I did his story on my bonus day, but still. He’s easy to use.  Fortunately I’m not alone on this, since multiplayer matches are riddled with Cloud everywhere, even if it’s partly to do with his rabid fanboyism that I oh-so-dislike.

Yet, I’m still not that good with him.

2.) I always play on the easier difficulties
Even moreso in Dissidia is the fact that I already find the slightly higher level fights to be fairly difficult. (Though, because this is more of an RPG Fighter than a normal fighter the situation is kind of different.) I spend most of my time earning PP in normal arcade mode because of the fact that I find it easier. That, or when I’m not grinding I’ll shoot the enemy down a couple of levels and just have some fun beating on them.  I usually don’t take up a great challenge all that often.

3.) I’m a button masher

Yes, it’s true.  When it comes to FPSes, I spray.  When it comes to fighters, I mash.  Whenever it’s time to attack I start mashing the circle button, or the square button, or whatever button I need to mash to get whatever done. I’m not even paying attention as to whether or not I actually have to press the button or not. All I know is… I know which button to press… just not when. (Unless, of course, it’s an EX burst)

4.) I use spam attacks

You know how I like to fight? I pick Ryu and it’s all obvious from there. Hadouken! Hadouken! Hadouken! Hadouken! Shoryuken! (Whoops) Pretty much the same thing in Dissidia. Once again with Cloud, I use his aerial attack that initiates a chase all the time. Attack, if miss attack again, hit, chase, attack again, rinse, repeat, etc… It’s quite sad. Same goes with Terra and Blizzara. Attack, attack again, attack again, attack again, etc… I’m starting to think that Terra can be quite cheap in that sense, too

5.) I fail at comboing
And finally, this probably goes without saying that if I mash and spam, I can’t combo. Well… sometimes I can; I once found a basic little air combo while playing Melty Blood: Act Cadenza but that’s about it. I can maybe pull off two attacks in a row, but that’s it. I’m too busy spamming Terra’s Blizzara to care though.

So yeah, that’s the skinny.  I suck at fighters. Dissidia is a different beast of its kind, though, and you can’t compare it directly to other fighters, but the same basic elements apply. It doesn’t matter that you can air-dash around massive environments and sent people a hundred feet in the air with a single buster sword swing.  Still, I have fun with Dissidia, despite my suckage.

I’m getting better at it, anyway.

Nintendo’s press conference was pretty much rattling off game after game after game, a lot of which the core gamer will enjoy.  There’s a full list of what they announced after the jump, but be warned, it’s LONG.

• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii – Holiday 2009)
• Wii Fit Plus (Wii – Fall 2009)
• Wii Sports Resort with WiiMotionPlus (Wii – July 26th)
• PGA Tour 10 with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Grand Slam Tennis with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Virtua Tennis 2009 with WiiMotionPlus (Wii)
• Red Steel 2 (Wii) – Note that this game is going to be WiiMotionPlus exclusive.
• Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (Wii)
• Some new Kingdom Hearts game that I wasn’t able to catch the name on. (DS)
• Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS – Fall 2009)
• Golden Sun DS (DS – 2010)
• Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion (DS)
• Cop: The Pursuit (DS)
• Style-Savvy (DS)
• Flipnote Studio a.k.a. Moving Memo (DSiWare – Summer 2009)
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (DSiWare – June 8th)
• WarioWare: Do It Yourself (DSiWare)
• DSi Camera Facebook functionality
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
• Wii Vitality Sensor (Wii)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
• The Conduit (Wii – June)
• Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles (Wii)
• Dead Space Extraction (Wii)
• Metroid: Other M (Wii)

The ones I’m personally excited about are bolded, but right now all that’s going through my mind right now is, “Holy shit it’s a new Golden Sun!” That’s definitely something I’ve been waiting for for a while.  The concept of four player co-op in New Super Mario Bros. Wii also looks really cool.  Although I didn’t really get into Super Mario Galaxy, I’ll probably give it another shot with Galaxy 2, and I nearly creamed myself when I saw the trailer for Metroid: Other M.

WarioWare:DIY is something I’m looking forward to, mainly because of the fact that the game is based upon your own creations. That should be really cool. Same goes with the new Mario vs. DK that’s going to be coming out on DSiWare this coming Monday.

But Nintendo seriously redeemed themselves after last year’s conference. Definitely a strong showing this year, and hopefully they will keep this up for years to come.

Assuming that they were being complete boneheads though and thinking that I was offline for the next 3 or so days, I never thought about checking back, because if I did I wouldn’t have missed Microsoft’s press conference.  I’ll probably watch the archive of it later tonight, but I swear, THIS BETTER NOT HAPPEN WITH NINTENDO’S CONFERENCE TOMORROW.

Judging from Gamespot’s E3 site and what our friends over at GamingUnion have posted up from Los Angeles so far, here’s what I seem to have missed from my ISP’s misadventures this morning:

• Kojima’s eternal teaser finally ends: Metal Gear Solid Rising announced for the 360
• Halo Reach announced. You really didn’t think they’d let the series drop after 3 did you?
• Left 4 Dead 2 coming on November 17th for the 360 and PC
• Final Fantasy XIII slated for spring 2010
• Forza Motorsport 3 coming in October
• Rock Band: Beatles
• Alan Wake
• Tony Hawk Ride
• Supposedly a montion-sensing camera accessory was also announced.

Looks like Microsoft had a pretty solid showing. Too bad my ISP’s a bitch.  Nintendo and Sony step up to the plate tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be online to see it.