Daxter was a tremendous success on PSP, even without the presence of his broody, angsty teen co-star, Jak. Well, a rumor is circulating around the web, speaking about the possibility of a PSP Jak game. The (warning) oft-unreliable Wikipedia appears to have a record of the rumor: it began when the resume of voice actor Robin Atkins Downes revealed two unannounced titles: Jak PSP and Big. Since then, Big has turned into Naughty Dog's upcoming PS3 title, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Could Jak PSP be far behind?

The only other evidence supporting this rumor comes from a previous job opening at Naughty Dog, requesting PSP-specific developers. With Ready at Dawn working on God of War, it could be possible that Naughty Dog is working on a PSP Jak game internally. However, with no concrete evidence available right now, this rumor remains exactly that. But, a new Jak game would certainly be a good part of a revived effort to make the platform successful.

[Via 1UP]

The PSP needs more platform games. I told the same thing to Alfred, my chauffeur, the other day. I said, "It's utterly ghastly that the PSP has so few platform games on it." To which he replied, "Yes, suh." I continued, "Death Jr. doesn't count because it was a terribly horrid game, so I've heard from the Montagues at the club last week." To which he replied, "Yes, suh."

After I woke up from my dream as a disgustingly rich, snobbish heir to a shipping empire, I noticed a review for Daxter in my RSS feed that exultingly shouted loud, raucous props to the technically-proficient title from Sony and developer Ready at Dawn Studios. The review cites the game's slick animation, "refined controls", great level design, graphics, and soundtrack as strong reasons to pick up Daxter. Never mind that the game is also a bit too easy and has a story about as complicated as a Top Model contestant's thought processes; fabulously wealthy shipping magnates like my dream-self should take the Lotus down to that downtown slum they call a shopping center and hobnob with the natives to get a copy of the game.

So says IGN's Chris Roper: "Daxter is simply an outstanding PSP game that brings back the old-school platform gaming the industry has been shying more and more away from. Sure, its story is kind of ridiculous and even a little boring, but the events that said story lead into are fantastic. From the great level design to the ultra-refined controls to the excellent production values, Daxter is a game every PSP gamer should check out."

Seeing as I had the misfortune of blowing my entire nest egg in Las Vegas over the New Year, it was either get back to work in the real world or beg for change to attend the Consumer Electronics Show. Sadly, reality (and nagging hunger pains) prevailed, and so we here at PSP Fanboy had to leave the games previewin' to the ever-present gaming gurus of IGN.

They only have good things to report on Daxter, the by-far PSP-exclusive spinoff of Naughty Dog's trademark platformer franchise, Jak and Daxter. The bi-pedaled smart-alecky sidekick gets his own game this time around, and IGN reports that the portable version seems to suffer no shortcomings even when compared to its home console brethren. Considering that bad frame rates and other acts of corner cutting seem to be commonplace in our expectations of handheld games, it's nice to be able to look forward to a blissfully full-bodied rendition of one of gaming's most beloved pairings.