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IGN picks its top 10 PSP games for this holiday
Just in time for next week's infamous Black Thursday, IGN has released its 2006 Holiday Buyer's Guide and has also added their 10 choices for PSP games that should fill your stockings this Christmas. That's if you've been a good boy or girl, because if you've been bad, you get Family Guy. Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Daxter Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories Killzone: Liberation LocoRoco Medal of Honor Heroes Mercury Meltdown Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror Tekken: Dark Resurrection What, no Sega Genesis Collection or EA Replay? And while Daxter is a very good game, I don't think too many kids will go Nintendo 64 Kid crazy over getting a game released in March. Still, this is a pretty decent list, and I can't argue with it too much. If you're PSP shopping for someone, you might want to refer to this list.
Hijack PSP Fanboy's 1500th post, win GTA
About two months ago, I was in a bar, having a few drinks, thinking about how awesome my blogging experience was going to be at PSP Fanboy. Then, I blacked out. I woke up, with a mysterious mark on my neck, and then learned that my super power was to blog profusely. In just a little over two months since our 1000th post, we've reached yet another milestone: our 1500th post. And like before, it's time to give away some swag! We're giving away a bag full of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories goodies, including the game, a t-shirt and a sticker. All you have to do is threaten us... GTA style. Imagine me playing my PSP, and you're telling me to give you GTA... or else! Think of your funniest/most intimidating threat, and post it in the comments section. Watch your language, though. Simply offensive comments will be deleted and disqualified. The best entries will be the ones that don't resort to such low-brow measures. Giveaway ends on 11/23/06. Random winner will receive their prize after 12/8/06. Limit 1 entry per person. P.S. Expect a review of GTA soon. Also, thanks for all your support. Our readership has been growing steadily, and I'd like to thank all of you for reading the blog. Please, spread the word and help PSP Fanboy continue to grow! Thanks.
Capcom bringing GTA San Andreas to Japan
With controversy having cooled, Capcom has reached a deal with Rockstar to localize, publish, and distribute the PlayStation 2 version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in Japan. The release is scheduled for January, a full 27 months after the game's initial debut in North America. What's with the delay? Guess car jacking and gang banging doesn't move units at quite the same pace in Japan.
Crackdown gameplay, co-op explored [update 1]
Crackdown, from GTA creator Jason David Jones, is an interesting game. Go find an interview with a Microsoft executive and find the part where he is inevitably asked what 360 games he is looking forward to. Crackdown is almost always on that list. And yet, if you read internet chatter, the first thing out of many people's mouths is, "this game looks like crap." Whether or not you can deal with the (slightly) cel-shaded graphics, one thing remains clear: the game sounds like a lot of fun. Shacknews recently got a chance to sit down with the game, exploring both the single player game and co-op. Crackdown places players in the shoes of an agent, a genetically enhanced super soldier deployed in Los Muertos, a city where regular law enforcement just doesn't cut it anymore. The ultimate goal is to remove all the gang activity from the city -- destroying 21 gang leaders to do so. The game has no set, linear way in which to reach this goal, but does employ some MetroidVania style impediments to point players in a suggested direction. For instance, if you don't have high enough agility to jump over a certain wall, you probably aren't ready to deal with what's on the other side. Of course, there are multiple ways to reach a given destination (including vehicles that drive up walls). Players will slowly gain new abilities as they level up the game's five skills: agility, firearms, driving, explosions, and strength. Firearms and explosions are self-explanatory. Agility governs how high you can jump -- over buildings once it's high enough. When leveled up, strength will allow you to throw cars and other huge objects at deserving miscreants and thugs. Driving, curiously, affects what sort of badass machine your Agency car morphs into.Co-op, always a welcome feature, allows you and a friend to join up online and take down kingpins together. Of course, you could just shoot each other, but where's the fun in that?Update: The name of GTA's creator is David Jones, not Jason Jones. Jason Jones is the co-counder of Bungie. Guess I have Halo on the brain.[Via Evil Avatar]
Game show contestant nun knows GTA better than Ms. Pac-man
The new NBC game show 1 vs. 100 makes a big deal of featuring contestants from many different walks of life in their 100 person "mobs" of contestants. So it wasn't that surprising when Sister Rose showed up as a contestant playing for charity on Friday's show. What was more surprising was the nun's response to two of the show's game-related questions..When Rose was asked, "What crime shares its name with the world's best selling video game series," the sister correctly picked Grand Theft Auto from the multiple choice answers, as did all the 68 remaining members of the mob. Later in the show, though, the sister was one of five members of a new, 100-person mob who could not identify "which of the seven deadly sins is video game character Ms. Pac-man most guilty of?" When asked by host Bob Saget about her response, the nun explained "I know the seven deadly sins, but I don't know Pac-man."We've included a clip of the sister's interesting performance below to document both the ubiquity of Grand Theft Auto in popular culture and the surprising dearth of classic arcade knowledge among one of our country's religious leaders.
Liberty City Stories now a Greatest Hit
It appears that the first GTA PSP game is now a budget Greatest Hits title. Best Buy lists the game with a $20 price tag and the trademark red banner on top. At this price, the PSP version now competes with the PlayStation 2 version of the game, and still retains PSP-exclusive features like multiplayer. Liberty City Stories may feature slightly worse graphics than the Vice City follow-up, but with a better storyline and funnier missions, this might be the game to pick up for GTA newbies, especially at such a bargain price.[Via CAG]
GTA:VCS debuts at 6th in UK game charts
Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, needed some financial help. They looked to the PSP as a source for the big bucks, and it looks like they're making a healthy return. Within one week of sales, the PSP-exclusive Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories debuted at number 6 in the UK game charts, making it the top-selling handheld game for the week. With Bully also ranking high, and nary a DS game in sight, it appears that both Take-Two and PSP can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy their success.[Via Gamespot]
Take-Two in trouble with NASDAQ
Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the famed Grand Theft Auto series, is under pressure to complete its quarterly report. NASDAQ has filed a non-compliance on the company for failing to report its July 31, 2006 statement on time. If Take-Two fails to comply, the company may have its stocks de-listed from NASDAQ, which would cause havoc with the share prices. Take-Two's official stance is that they wish to review their stock options before releasing the financial report, though taking over three months to do so is suspect. According to the SEC, 10-Q forms (the form Take-Two is late on) must be filed within 40 days of the end of the financial period. There's gotta be something more than a simple review of stock options going on. Could Take-Two be shuffling around records to hide or eliminate a fraudulent transaction? Maybe the media exposure over Bully has hampered sales; TT could be stalling for time to release the bad news, hoping the share price impact is softened by strong holiday sales outlooks. In any case, Take-Two needs to get their act together or investors may look elsewhere to keep their retirement assets. If so, TT would need a mega-hit series to keep the investor's money from falling out of their pockets ... oh, wait.
Grand Theft Mario, care of Robot Chicken
If you missed last night's Robot Chicken, then you missed Mario and Luigi's stroll through Vice City where they rang up six stars through carjacking, animal cruelty, drug usage, and assaulting an officer. The world of Mario is always a matter of perspective.Be sure to check out the Resident Evil reference at the end of the video, embedded after the break.[Via 1P Start]
Playing and cheating Vice City Stories through DevHook
The excellent CheatDevice is back. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories became a wonderous playground with the device, letting you do some truly crazy stuff. Mere days after its release, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories has a CheatDevice of its own. Edison Carter has crafted a tool that will let you get Infinite Health & Armor (helpful) and the Video Recorder (more helpful), which lets you capture footage directly from the game. You'll need to be running DevHook on a homebrew-enabled PSP. If you're homebrew-ready, head over to Edison's website to download the device. Remember: we don't support piracy here at PSP Fanboy. Please buy all your games! [Via PSP Hacks]
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Metareview - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
We said it before, and we'll say it again: Grand Theft Auto is stale. But we can't knock the hustle. Rockstar has settled into a niche that continues to sell. Why change?Some critics' thoughts: 1UP (90/100) - "The empire-building facet, though reminiscent of purchasing businesses in the first Vice City, is quite significant ... The other additions aren't nearly as significant, but they are welcome ... [but] some serious series flaws stubbornly refuse to budge, a fact that grows harder to ignore with each passing entry ... It's a shame Rockstar chose not to fix obvious flaws that have been called out repeatedly, but the weight of the total experience more than counterbalances this disappointment". Game Informer (second opinion) (82.5/100) - "I've pimped, extorted, and murdered my way to the top so many times now, the thrill of criminal indulgence has finally begun to fade. This is more of the same from the franchise, with a few more serious themes thrown in. But if you've already drunk your fill of the free-roaming gangbuster cup, then this mix is going to taste a little stale." GamePro (75/100) - "[It's] a big shame that lot of that personality has gone missing ... the characters and dialogue don't have the same snap nor does the game exhibit the same goofy and utterly loveable 80's style. Instead, the game is gritty and dull to a fault ... Vice City Stories retains the same problems that plagued past titles. The auto-aim function doesn't work well, the AI isn't particularly smart, and some missions are completed more through trial and error than anything else." Current overall average: 87/100
Metacritic: Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories
It'll be out on store shelves soon: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. You've seen all our coverage of the game so far. Does the game live up to the incredible hype? Let's find out what some of the critics have to say about this hotly anticipated entry into the GTA series: IGN (90/100) thinks the game falls in very familiar, but high-quality, territory: "It's still largely the same game that we first saw with Grand Theft Auto III. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as Vice City Stories is still easily one of the best games on the system, but if you've began to grow tired of the franchise's mechanics, mission structure or overall feel, this likely won't renew your love of the series.". 1UP (90/100) is still shocked that Rockstar squeezed so much into this portable game: "Like LCS before it, Vice City Stories impresses like few games have managed to do on the system. The fact that the PSP pulls off everything in here with minimal loading screens is amazing. And the sheer amount of variety the game offers -- from side missions to the empire building to the story to the clever collectibles (red balloons, 99 of 'em) to the best sandbox-style, "mess with the world as you'd like" action out there -- will easily keep you entertained on cross-country flights a few times over (though it sucks down battery life at a startling rate).". GamePro (75/100) thinks the story's poor execution hurts the game: "So it's a big shame that lot of that personality has gone missing in Vice City Stories. Maybe it was the jump to a smaller stage that did them in but the characters and dialogue don't have the same snap nor does the game exhibit the same goofy and utterly loveable 80's style. Instead, the game is gritty and dull to a fault and it doesn't have the same sense of humor that made the past titles so entertaining." Unsurprisingly, the game is more of the same. It seems like for many of us, that's perfectly fine: we need our GTA fix. However, for those of you that never got into the formula, or have become tired of the franchise, Vice City Stories won't do anything to really bring you back. The game is now available in stores.
PSP wins best handheld game award; DS gets family nod
The 24th annual Golden Joysticks awards were awarded on Friday. Unlike many other awards, the Golden Joysticks are voted for by the fans. Nintendo DS fans will be comforted to know their handheld took the "Family Game of the Year" and "Girl's Choice" awards with their pet simulator Nintendogs. However, PSP fanboys will be glad to know that we got... well, an award that really matters: the "Handheld Game of the Year." It was awarded to the impressive Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (whose sequel is coming out in just a few days).The "Game of the Year" award went to a non-PSP game, Oblivion. But wait, we're getting that too. I guess Nintendo fans can just enjoy yet another version of Nintendogs.[Via DS Fanboy]
Multiplayer modes aplenty in new GTA
The official Vice City Strories website has been updated with tons of new info about the game's ambitious multiplayer. We stole the details, and made like a bandit. Here are our spoils: Empire TakedownYour team will try to obtain a cache of explosives hidden in the middle of the map. Once you discover the bomb, your team will try to destroy your opponent's team's base. They will, obviously, be trying to do the same to you. VIP RIPThe VIP is protected by bodyguards and must grab five briefcases scattered throughout the city. Play as the VIP, or try to kill him before he succeeds. Might of the HunterIt's a race to get to the helicopter. Once a player commands the mechanized the terror, it's his duty to try and mow down as many opponents as possible. Everyone will try to blow the copter up, or snipe the pilot. Tanks for the MemoriesIt's similar to Might of the Hunter, only with a tank. The player driving the tank must try to reach the target time. All other players can damage the tank, and whoever deals the most damage to the vehicle gets to drive it next. Vice City SurvivorThis is the classic deathmatch mode, available in single and team modes. Protection RacketDestroy your opponents' limosines, while protecting your own. Taken for a RideSteal your opponents' car, and drive back to your own base. It's like Capture the Flag: whoever holds possession of both cars wins. The HitlistIf you're the marked man, everyone's out to get you. Try to survive as long as you can. Whoever survives the longest as the marked man wins. Street RageThe ultimate race, spanning air, land and sea. Grand Theft AutoThe titular multiplayer game. Players must steal certain cars and deliver them to shipping crates. Players that take the most cars, in the best condition, win. Whoa... that was a lot of multiplayer. I loved Liberty City Stories' multiplayer modes, and it looks like Vice City Stories will up the ante quite considerably, featuring 4 more modes than the previous handheld game. The more you hear about the game, the more you want it, huh? Don't fret, though: it comes out in just a few more days.[Thanks, ZENegade!]
Everything I need to know, I learned from GTA
Joystiq's Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is upon us, and we need YOU to rock the vote, GTA-style. Somehow, VG Cats and Penny Arcade always win. But, how about this entry from Dueling Analogs. Any comic that's presented in a faux-PSP has to be good. Especially when it's about GTA.My favorite part? "Only black people can swim."[Via Joystiq]
Partial songlist revealed for Vice City Stories
Man, the 80s were great, and Rockstar's doing a great job of bringing back the classics (again) in Vice City Stories. 1UP has unearthed a partial songlist from the game, and it includes Phil Collins (of course), and a few other classics: Philip Bailey - Easy Lover Alan Parsons Project - Games People Play Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield Jonzun Crew - Pack Jam Run DMC - It's Like That Whodini - Freaks Come Out At Night Dio - Holy Diver Dokken - Breaking the Chains Ratt - Round and Round Exodus - Together Forever Class Action - Weekend Sister Sledge - Lost in Music Bobby Valentin - Mi Ritmo Es Bueno Hector Lavoe - Mi Gente Willie Colon - El Malo Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing Earth Wind & Fire - Fantasy Keni Burke - Keep Rising to the Top Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is The Assembly - Never Never Pat Benatar - We Belong Human League - Love Action Japan - Quiet Life Yaz - Don't Go Wow... this is quite a star-studded cast of artists. I can't wait to run over some prostitutes while having Sexual Healing blasting out of my radio. Hot.
Phil Collins + GTA = win [Update 1]
Philip David Charles Collins (born January 30, 1951 in Chiswick, London) is an English rock and pop musician. He is sometimes known as the lead singer and drummer of progressive rock group Genesis and as a Grammy and Academy Award-winning solo artist. He also commonly goes by the nickname "Philly Cheesteaks." However, Phil "The Man" Collins is best known for his role in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for the PSP. He can be seen in a new trailer on IGN, singing smooth melodies in the violence-stricken Vice City. His affiliation with organized crime is unknown at this time, but may be revealed when the game hits retailers in one week. [Update 1: Phil Collins IS PLAYABLE!!! "You can also take Mr. Collins into the deathmatch arena and kick some arse Genesis-style. Source: CVG]
GTA IV to deliver content to the PS3 as well as 360 [update 1]
Now, the XBox crowd were all grins and giggles when they heard that Grand Theft Auto IV would come with additional downloadable content exclusive only to their precious XBox 360. The content was promised to be epic episodic content with hours of additional play. Now... it seems the PS3 is also getting "exclusive" downloadable episodes with equivalent promises.Don't get into a hissy fit, any of you! The downloadable content is rumored to be independant and unique to each platform (for now, anyway), so each side of the "console war" can still have their satisfaction of knowing that "those darned [insert console here] supporters aren't playing these episodes of GTA4!" Soon enough though, we believe that each system will have one another's content up for grabs, but one will get certain episodes before the other (think Resident Evil 4 for GameCube, then PS2 later... but on a smaller scale). In any case, good news for everyone really, because it means more things to do when we get our hands on Grand Theft Auto IV next October.[update: fixed the "expect GTA IV" date thingy]
Inconceivable: PS3 to get its own "exclusive" GTA IV episodes
Exclusive. The gaming industry keeps using that word. We do not think it means what they think it means. Or perhaps they do -- only the meaning changes from press release to press release, requiring a keen knowledge of context and PR deciphering techniques in order to obtain it. Eurogamer today reports that a source within Rockstar North (probably an exclusive source) indicates that, like the Xbox 360 version, the PS3's Grand Theft Auto IV will receive downloadable and undoubtedly "epic" episodes of an exclusive nature. Surely this renders Microsoft's previous claims to exclusivity invalid? Actually, no. At this year's X06 event, the Redmond giant touted "exclusive access to two downloadable, epic episodes of GTA IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of entirely new gameplay and available only on Xbox 360 just months after the release of the title." As we suggested before, barring the case of Rockstar releasing only two episodes in the game's lifetime, such wording does not rule out different episodes for the PS3.Exclusives and tired movie references aside, perhaps our concern should first switch over to the actual game (releasing in October 2007) before discussing the status of microtransacted add-on episodes. Is doubting GTA IV's quality ... inconceivable?[Thanks, Meh and Ethan.]
The big guns of Vice City Stories
Is that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? IGN has written up yet another hype promotional news post on some of the weapons of this highly anticipated PSP sequel. The Vulcan Mini-Gun (pictured) can shoot 4000 rounds a minute, which should have Jack Thompson creaming his pants. Other instruments of death featured at IGN include the RPG, AK47, Python, and M16. Surely, these weapons will be used for good when you start playing VCS in two weeks. Oh, shnap!
