PSP Game News

Last week, rumors of a potentially imminent announcement for Valkyria Chronicles 3 started to swirl after it was revealed Sega registered the website valkyria3.jp. Now those rumors are swirling even more fiercely thanks to a new teaser site Sega just launched, which shows the mysterious image above.

As you can see, the image only reveals a silhouetted array of stylized and well-armed warriors, standing behind the silhouette of a tank. So no, there isn’t any certainty yet that this website is teasing a new Valkyria Chronicles game, but it’s an image that is certainly evoking the series’ visual style. And even more convincing, the teaser site’s URL is “code1935,” and the first Valkyria Chronicles was set in an alternate reality Europe in — yup — 1935.

We’ll know the truth for sure later this month, as the image promises a reveal on September 16 — the first day of the Tokyo Game Show. Check back in then.

Share This

At Sony’s IFA 2010 press event in Berlin this morning, Sony clarified yesterday’s rumor by announcing that its cloud-based digital music and video service Qriocity will be expanding to the PlayStation 3 and PSP later this year.

The video on demand portion of the service is currently available on most of Sony’s current Bravia televisions and Blu-ray players, and while there is still no official word of it coming to consoles, today’s announcement confirms that at the very least, Qriocity’s “Music Unlimited” service will be coming to Sony’s videogame consoles soon.

Share This

Infinite Interactive announced today that Puzzle Quest 2 is heading to the PlayStation Portable. This PSP version will include the features from the DS and XBLA versions of the game, along with a new exclusive “Elite” mode with tougher battles and better loot. Specific release details weren’t discussed, but the company mentioned on its Facebook page that it’s scheduled for Q4 of 2010.

Both the first Puzzle Quest and its less popular follow-up Galactrix appeared on the PSP, so it was only a matter of time before Infinite Interactive made the transition with this one as well. If you haven’t picked up the game on the Xbox 360 or DS yet, check out our review for an idea of what’s in store when you grab the PSP version.

[Screenshot from the Xbox 360 version.]

Share This

The fabled PSP version of PlayStation 3 RPG White Knight Chronicles, which we reported on back in June, is finally beginning to step into the light a bit. Sony Computer Entertainment revealed a few more choice details behind the game in this week’s Famitsu magazine, including the full name of the thing: White Knight Chronicles Episode Portable: Dogma Wars.

What’ll be most interesting to those who played the PlayStation 3 WKC is the setting. Episode Portable is set a whopping 10,000 years before the original WKC and its Japan-only sequel, long before Leonard uncovered the titular knight and saved the world from the revived empire of Yshrenia. In the PSP game, the original Yshrenia is still in existence, and they’re busy fighting the Dogma Wars, the conflict that spawned the giant Incorruptus robots…erm, sorry, magical suits of armor that were the centerpiece of the PS3 game’s plot.

Details are a bit skimpy on what the PSP White Knight Chronicles plays like, but chances are it won’t stray too far from the original’s formula. Like in the first WKC, you’ll create an original avatar character before anything else, someone who’ll join your party in the single-player campaign and later take center stage in the online component. There’s a variety of new clothing and the like to outfit him in…and that’s about all Sony is saying right now.

Share This

Capcom revealed in this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine that Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, the third game in what’s become a million-selling PSP series in Japan, is hitting stores sooner than most folks expected.

The game is due out December 1 in the country for a price of 5800 yen, placing it well into the holiday shopping season for Japanese gamers — who, if they’re fans of the portable monster hunting genre, may find themselves scrambling for time and/or spending money in a few months. It’ll come hot on the heels of Square Enix’s Lord of Arcana (October 14), Namco Bandai’s God Eater Burst (October 28), and Sega’s Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (sometime this winter), all inspired by the Monster Hunter series in one way or another. That’s a lot of slaving dragons and such about to meet their doom, isn’t it?

MHP3rd will be fully playable at the Tokyo Game Show starting September 16, so stay tuned for more coverage.

Share This

Sony may be set to announce a major iTunes competitor tomorrow that will run on its videogame consoles, according to an online report.

An article by the Financial Times (warning: registration required) citing “sources in the media industry” says that the service, which covers both music and video and is subscription-based, will be unveiled at tomorrow’s IFA technology show in Berlin.

Share This

All kinds of unlikely subjects have been turned into videogames (farming, amusement park management), but knitting has yet remained unconquered…but perhaps no longer? Sony has posted a teaser site for an unnamed new game, with a countdown timer leading to Wednesday night. And so far the only two clues to go on both revolve around — yup — knitting.

The site shows a looping animation of a dapperly dressed man knitting in low lighting, with two other men hidden deeper in the shadows to his side. What’s more, the page is titled “amimono,” which translate into “knitting” in Japanese. No other clues are given, so it’s unclear what team within Sony is even behind this mystery title.

So okay, the moody lighting and dapperly dressed men more than likely suggest the game won’t actually be a knitting simulator (although imagine the possibilities of using two Move controllers as knitting needles), but rather they’re using knitting as some kind of bizarre metaphor at the moment. A metaphor for what? Your guesses are as good as ours for now. All will be revealed Wednesday night, so check back in then.

Share This

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is set for release on PSP in the U.S. on September 7, but not on the PSP Go. Square Enix has confirmed the game will only receive a UMD release, meaning owners of the digital distribution-based Go won’t have any way to play it.

The confirmation came first by blogger and Arizona Daily Star writer Phil Villarreal, who contacted PR firm Ogilvy, which handles Square Enix releases. “Just found out that there unfortunately are no plans to release KHBBS on PSP Go. If that changes, I will certainly let you know!” a representative told him. Kotaku later contacted Square Enix for first-hand confirmation, and were also told there are “currently no plans” for a PSP Go release.

Besides a delay before the PSP version of Little Big Planet was released digitally, there hasn’t been a high profile game that wasn’t released both on UMD and through digital distribution since the Go came out last year, so Birth by Sleep will be the first spurn Go owners. For the sake of those Go owners, let’s hope this isn’t the beginning of a new trend.

Share This

Sony has flirted with the idea of digital distribution quite a bit over the last few years, releasing full games like Warhawk and SOCOM: Confrontation over the PlayStation Network, and of course releasing the all-digital PSPgo. But according to Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai, don’t take this as an indication that they expect a digital-only future to arrive anytime soon. In fact, he believes it’s still over a decade away.

“We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope,” Hirai said to MCV. “There’s always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium. To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme.”

It’s a bit of a surprising stance, considering Sony is the only platform holder to have already released hardware that was download-only with the PSPgo — although, perhaps it was their experience with that handheld that led Hirai to this conclusion in the first place? In any case, we can take this to mean the next PlayStation console — whether it comes in two, three, or ten years — probably will still be using discs.

Share This

Phantasy Star Portable 2 isn’t quite out in America yet — that’ll be saved for mid-September — but Japan’s already receiving a rather extensive update to the PSP online RPG. Sega officially announced Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity in that region today, an expansion that improves nearly every aspect of the game in one form or another.

“We’re emphasizing the fact that this is not a simple upgrade,” producer Satoshi Sakai told Famitsu magazine. “We aimed to pursue the very limit of the online RPG genre on the PSP with Phantasy Star Portable 2, and we put everything we wanted into the game. At the same time, though, we still felt we could do more, and now Infinity is going beyond the limit. The story alone is half again as large as PSP2’s.”

Indeed, Infinity will feature a whole “Episode 2″ which picks up where the original PSP2’s story ends. The central character of this episode is Nagisa, a mysterious young woman who seems to have no problem wielding gigantic Cloud Strife-size swords around. “Nagisa is lacking in general common sense a bit, and she has a personal mission in mind,” Sakai commented. “You can’t tell if she’s friend or foe at the beginning, but you’ll want to watch her as she kindles a friendship with Emilia and Yuto and begins to grow herself.” (All the other races are getting a visual facelift, too.)

Share This