Category Archives: PSP

MORE LIKE HEART-ARUS


Oh, hello, Sexy Videogameland is pink. This is because I’m in love. With a video game, naturally, because my heart is black and inaccessible to human beings.

You knew I’m a Persona person. In fact, many of you found my site because of a handful of series or genres I’ve written extensively about, and Persona 3 and 4 kind of fall into the “kinda wrote a lot about that” category. If you’ve always been curious about the games and own a PSP, there’s no better time to get into it than with Persona 3 Portable. Hell, if you like RPGs and want something different, P3P is probably worth buying a PSP for, because you’ll probably spend enough hours on it to justify the purchase.

Though readers of this site are probably the kind to know, I’m not going to assume you do: P3P Portable is a redux of P3 with several fine modifications aimed at portable platforms. Notably it’s received the same kind of streamlining to the battle system that Persona 4 did, and there are some subtle modifications to the story that make it refreshing. Most notably, you can play as either a male or female protagonist (the original version allowed for only a male-focused story arc).

I hope I get some time to write more about how experiencing the game as a female character completely changes my experience. Characters I did not like when playing Persona 3 through the lens of a male seem much more sympathetic if I’m a female, for example. My gameplay preferences and priorities are different; the things I want for my character change.

There is a very specific gameplay framework that’s capable of hooking me immediately; if you’ve heard about P3P, it’s probably about how none of your friends can put it down. There really are few other games that tick all my boxes in quite this way (Pokemon does it, and so does a well-balanced iteration of Harvest Moon, but neither are this emotionally immersive). And yet I thought that I’d always gravitate toward managing the same elements the same way.

Not so. Maybe because I’ve played through P3 and P4 and I have a ‘tactic’ down that wasn’t present when I first played P3 — but there is something subtle nagging at me that tells me that changing my character’s gender (and it’s not just a palette swap; the story around her reacts) changes everything.

Anyhow, I’m not too far into things yet, I think I’m just in the second “chapter”, so to speak, but I’m so glad to return to this game’s world in such a well-done way. Like, seriously, I don’t really write reviews these days and I don’t ever tell you guys BUY THIS but buy this, unless you know a real reason why it ain’t your thing.

SVGL’s current theme comes courtesy of the lovely Sarah Becan, who was kind enough to make the banner for me. Clearly, she’s as into Sanada as I am. Please check out her work.

Bonus Content: I was going to talk about the game’s concept of ‘personae’, and how you have to be whatever your social partners are expecting in order to advance — it gives the game a lovely, dark undertone. Then I realized I already wrote about that like three years ago. Still relevant!


[Today’s Good Song: ‘Road to Agartha‘, Herbcraft via Altered Zones]

What Does A Gamer Look Like?


If you are a Brooklynite or you know one, the perception that Manhattan is like ugh so fucking far, impossible miles comprised of inconvenient steps, is familiar to you. Although Brooklyn is as much a part of New York City as any other borough (holding my tongue against the Staten Island jab, because they’ve had enough) , when discussing Manhattan destinations, we talk about “going to the city” as if it were a cross-country road trip.

In fact, it’s just a matter of train stops. It’s not that big a deal. But when I had to go “to the city” yesterday to see the U.S. launch of Dragon Quest IX at the Nintendo World Store, I fully-loaded my iPhone with brand-new music and brought my PSP (YES! I GOT ONE, present from a lovely friend) for the train ride, and in case I had to wait in line when I got there.

Incidentally, what is the etiquette around playing a PSP at a Nintendo launch event? What if you’re using it to re-play Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII at the launch of a Square Enix game? These are the things I wonder about, friends.

As it turned out, I did not have to wait in line, but I did play a fair bit on the train — the early train sequences in Midgar, incidentally. Semi-surreal; Cloud and his AVALANCHE rebel cohort trying to evade train security so they can take the railway to their scheduled Reactor bombing, while all around me the subway interior is decorated with lectures about “if you see something, say something.” The ride was punctuated by voice-over drones about “suspicious packages.”

You read the ‘Hey Baby’ post, and how unfortunately acclimated girls from my neighborhood get to long stares, unwelcome conversation-starters like “I like your bounce, Mami,” and generally aggressive strange men. So when the guy I sit down next to on the train begins staring at me and grinning stupidly, I simply ignore it, put my headphones on, and keep playing FFVII.

He goes on staring and nodding at me the whole time, this guy in ginormous baggy pants, askew ballcap, sporting a huge diamond stud — like, not my type. By the time we arrive at the station, I take off my headphones and begin putting them away, and glance to make sure this creeper isn’t planning to follow me or something.

But he goes, “Hey, Final Fantasy VII. Old school, that’s cool!”
I was floored and embarrassed, and all I could say was something to the effect of “yeah, it’s pretty essential, right?”

And he goes, “I was surprised. You don’t really look like a gamer.”

Ha. Not for one minute would I have guessed it was my PSP he was staring at, either. Damn, did I feel dumb.

I mean, here I’ve been writing for years about “broadening audiences” and “cultural diversity” and things like that, and yet I suppose I still had in my head an idea about “what a gamer looks like” (those dudes wearing turbans and capes and Slime costumes at the DQIX event, for example).

Do you?

I once wrote this article about the innate desire “we” all have, as part of a culture that’s been historically fairly small, fairly intense and fairly marginalized, to “recognize” one another in the public, offline space. When I wrote it, it was 2007; I lived in Manhattan. I felt very much like the only gamer in the world (if you’ve seen the piece I did for Kill Screen Issue 0, you might recognize some sentiments in common).

To be quite honest, I guess it feels different now, even a few years later. I went to an internet cafe in Williamsburg to print some stuff out and they had a bunch of TW@-branded mousepads there (although, to be fair, the clerk told me I was the only person who’d ever noted the reference). Many weekends I join friends from the local Silent Barn community space in playing and promoting Babycastles, the indie arcade they’ve got going on in the basement (I recently had the privilege of playing Messhof’s Nidhogg with a bunch of my friends whose usual purview is playing music). People at my local hangouts tell me my job is cool. I know one bartender with a Triforce on his arm, and another bartender with a Buster Sword on his calf — and that’s just at one restaurant.

We are proliferating. We should adjust our expectations of strangers.

Bonus material: While we’re on really old articles of mine, one about people who got way too into Final Fantasy VII.

Double bonus: I loaded my iPhone with new music, yes — if you follow me on Twitter you’ve been picking up the mixtapes I regularly post, but if you missed it, here’s volume 2 of my ‘summertime mix’. Due to the limitations of free hosting, it’ll only be available for a limited time, so if you’re remotely curious, grab it now and give an ear to these fantastic artists.

Triple bonus ding-ding-ding: Guess what else I did at the DQIX event? I interviewed Yuji Horii. You’ll get to read that ASAP.
[Slimes on the cobbles of Rockefeller Plaza]


[Today’s Good Song: ‘I’ll Follow You‘, White Fence (via noise narcs)]

Caution

No. I don’t have Peace Walker because I am too poor to replace my PSP. I don’t know when that will change. If you think this is driving me fucking batshit right now, you’re right.

WITH THAT IN MIND, THE NEXT PERSON WHO ASKS ME IF I’M PLAYING IT, IF I LIKE IT, WHETHER I WILL PLAY IT WITH THEM AND WHEN I’M GOING TO WRITE ABOUT IT MAY BE SUBJECT TO DISMEMBERMENT. Stop tweeting me emailing me commenting me and Formspringing me about it.
And if you SPOIL it or talk to me about how good it is or what you’re doing in it you are DEFINITELY SUBJECT TO DISMEMBERMENT.
Violations of this rule will not be cute, funny, snarky or endearing. They will make me hate you. Seriously, this state of affairs is RIDICULOUS.
THANK YOU.

PSP-Tan

SVGL’s newest layout features PSP-Tan. As you might know, I pretty much love console-tans. Why PSP-tan? Well, because she’s so cute. She’s like the little girl in school trying to figure out who she is. Gotta give Sony credit for trying, of course — I recently did an interview with hardware marketing manager John Koller on that new $9.99 PSP game program.

You’ve heard about it? They’ll offer a collection of PSP-3000 games — both first and third-party — for $9.99 each as a way of targeting younger consumers. 2K has decided to help out by offering Manhunt 2. Seriously! Well, no, that’s not true. The second reason they’ve priced them so low is to discourage piracy, which Sony maintains is one of the main things killing the platform. The thinking is someone would rather pay ten bucks than go through the trouble of stealing them.
I don’t actually have a PSP right now. But naturally that’s going to change in a little bit — GUESS WHY?!
Bonus Material: The PSP-tan header image is available as an adorable wallpaper here.
[Today’s Good Song: ‘57821‘, Janelle Monae & Deep Cotton]