Locoroco / Patapon my guys. When I was poor at uni I hacked it and downloaded the shit out of those. Still remember sitting with then girlfriend at the wetherspoons under central station playing Patapon.

The PSP was a game changer for me. The first gaming machine that felt ‘grown up’ – and that was 100% down to the design and build of the thing. It felt like a serious piece of kit, worthy of sitting alongside a Braun radio, Bang & Olufsen hi-fi, and all that jazz. And that screen felt like it had dropped in from the future. It was fucking Blade Runner tech.

I bet it feels really, really normal now. Mobile phones have become so glossy, so perfect, so far ahead.

I think you can also look at it in the prism of: Nintendo delayed juggling a HD console and a PSP-tier handheld for a generation compared to Sony and then when they finally did with the 3DS and Wii U, they really struggled with it and had real issues getting software out. So while the PSP catalogue isn't perfect, it doesn't compare that badly to Nintendo's performance in the same circumstances.

EvilRedEye wrote:

I think you can also look at it in the prism of: Nintendo delayed juggling a HD console and a PSP-tier handheld for a generation compared to Sony and then when they finally did with the 3DS and Wii U, they really struggled with it and had real issues getting software out. So while the PSP catalogue isn't perfect, it doesn't compare that badly to Nintendo's performance in the same circumstances.

Yeah looking back it’s easy to see the mistakes. One analog (and rampant piracy) really crippled it. But it was pretty incredible as a device on release.

I got one a few years after release and lost count of the amount of times I was looking at games, thought they looked decent, then realised they had some convoluted control scheme to just even getting around the 3D worlds they’d created and didn’t bother with it.

But the games that worked on that platform really worked. Mainly the smaller, low budget efforts.

It also had probably the greatest handheld racing game ever made in WipEout Pure.

monkey wrote:

It also had probably the greatest handheld racing game ever made in Outrun C2C.

Started my career in QA on that, amazing game, great memories of testing multiplayer day after day.

Was gonna say, the both of those games were sublime. Peak of the series imo.

I didn't get Ridge Racer for PSP and now I have FOMO

I see what you did there.

I used to know the names of the three ladies you'd go driving with, what was it, Holly, Jessica and Clarissa? I'd take Holly every time tbh.

Don't think so, you can buy a cab for £6k in the deals thread.

It came out on XBLA but not sure when, I doubt it'll resurface due to licensing issues. Would love to play it again too, the competition at Sega QA for time attack Goal A was fierce. This route:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd0zIW4act8

Man such fond memories of that time, I'd just moved to London leaving a car insurance call centre job behind to start on £9k a year as a tester, a single bag of clothes over my shoulder. Didn't know anyone in London so I just did overtime every weekend (got free pizza and had to play test Outrun 2 all day). Sega shut their UK QA department earlier this year, sad to see it go really. A lot of people say they were awful, hire and fire, shit work etc, but I had a blast and it made me in the industry, moving through the QA there to Lead status in a few years got me a job in Production at a tiny indie dev I'm still at, which is now one of the largest devs in the UK (that nobody's ever heard of).

Good times, can still remember some bugs I found, one only occurred on a specific series of Xbox, if you paused at a specific place on the San Fran bridge it'd lock the game (ain't no one fixing that). Also if you nudge into the central barriers in the bunki (between level part) the reflections on the bonnet freeze. Never got fixed.

I'd give anything for a Switch version. Just imagine, on that screen.

nick_md wrote:

Good times, can still remember some bugs I found, one only occurred on a specific series of Xbox, if you paused at a specific place on the San Fran bridge it'd lock the game (ain't no one fixing that). Also if you nudge into the central barriers in the bunki (between level part) the reflections on the bonnet freeze. Never got fixed.

Class. God bless your work, man. I really, really love that game.

So with that, I ask kindly, ANY TAT?!?!

Could Sega feasibly swap out the Ferrari for a red rad mobile and rerelease it? Is the car/logo the only licensing issue?

Serious question, btw. How much of the brand/nostalgia is tied up with it ‘feeling’ right? And does it lose that without the Fezza?

Wouldn't bother me at all. It could be a Morris Minor Traveller and I'd be happy as long as it played the same.