Many of the games being made for Sony’s PSP successor, the NGP, appear to be built upon past PlayStation greatness. If that’s how it goes, might we suggest a few more?
The following are not real games – at least not as far as we know here at Kotaku. They are flights of fancy, each a game that could highlight something special about the NGP.
MAG NGP – We know the NGP will support some sort of optional 3G connection, though not necessarily for multiplayer gaming (we’re not sure). Still, this gaming device has Wi-Fi, wireless and, with 3G, potentially more connectivity options than any dedicated gaming machine before it. Combine that with twin thumbsticks that make first-person shooters ergonomic on the go and why not cook that recipe into a portable spin-off of the PlayStation 3’s 256-player first-person shooter?
Demon’s Souls NGP – The NGP has a service called Near that is supposed to sniff out nearby NGPs and do some sort of data detection or exchange. It also has built-in GPS and an internal electronic compass. PlayStation 3 cult hit Demon’s Souls didn’t use any feature like that but it did do some things that could have used those tools. The primarily single-player game allowed gamers to see ghost versions of other players running through the game world. It let players leave each other messages — hints, ideally — in the game world’s dark corners. It was a communal game while remaining a primarily isolated one, a grand adventure inflected with the kindness and unkindness of briefly-intersecting strangers. Surely the Near, GPS and compass tech could be used for a similar effect on a portable Demon’s Souls.
Amplitude/Frequency NGP – The PlayStation 2 beat-matching music games from Rock Band studio Harmonix already got a PSP successor in the form of Rock Band Unplugged. But the PSP didn’t have a touch screen on the top and a touch-panel on the back. The NGP does. Imagine all the possible ways to tap an NGP along to the beat. This could be a very good thing.
Killzone Liberation NGP – Someone is already making a Killzone for the NGP. That game appears to be a shooter, similar to the console Killzone games. Back on the PSP, however, Killzone Liberation was a more strategic war game, played from an quasi-overhead perspective. The PSP game required careful movement, use of cover and lots of well-arced grenades. It wasn’t turn-based but it played a little closer to the pace of the great Nintendo handheld series Advance Wars than almost anything else Sony made for the PSP. Surely, a game like this would run well on NGP, controlled with taps, swipes and pinches on the system’s multi-touch OLED screen.
Lumines NGP – Surely, this game is already being made? Q Entertainment, creators of the original Lumines, are already listed as an official NGP development studio. Surely, anything that even smells like a new PSP should have what was for many people the definitive PSP launch game, the wonderful Tetris-at-a-rave puzzle game Lumines?
If NGP is going to be partially used as a platform to remake or reinvent classic PlayStation games and series, what would you like to see? Okami NGP? Tobal NGP? Mark of Kri NGP?
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