A few steps away from Sega's booth at DigitalLife was Konami's. I got a chance to talk to Matt Knoles, product manager for Konami, and play a few rounds of multiplayer from the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Although Matt couldn't reveal anything new to you guys, the ability to go hands-on with the game was exciting. Four PSPs engaged in the battle, and I got into the control scheme very quickly. It was relatively simple to move around, lock on and start firing away. It was a great deal of fun, but I worry that the multiplayer may be a bit too shallow. The gameplay was fun, easy to pick up, and graphically very impressive, but at the same time, it felt unrefined. It wasn't hard to find yourself fighting with the camera, and entering first-person view seemed to give you a distinct disadvantage in the game.

I previously questioned whether or not controlling the game using the PSP's analog nub would be effective. The answer is: yes. But, I think it will work much better in Portable Ops' crucial single player story mode, where the pace should be slower, and the game should be... well, stealthier. A slower pace will certainly make the controls much more forgiving. However, the production values of the multiplayer game are so amazing, that I believe that the game should be quite amazing when it comes out in December.


The PSP met the Blue Screen of Death for this unfortunate player.

You may remember that the 1UP network wasn't too pleased with Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins' horrifying difficulty. Now, you can see their complaints in video form in the latest episode of The 1UP Show (available as a video podcast). There's a lot to go over, such as the dated controls, the randomly spawning enemies, and the unpleasant rings system, which can nullify all the hard work a hapless player may have endured through. Will this stop you from picking the game up, or is the masochist in you raging for a beating?

Not many people liked the control scheme with Coded Arms, and early reports are already stating that the forthcoming Katamari Damacy game for PSP will use the face buttons as a secondary directional pad. While we're not one to complain vehemently about game developers attempting new control schemes for the PSP, at some point the expectation of having players control direction using the four buttons on the right does seem more than a bit excessive. Having to manipulate a game in that way can be quite a clunky experience, which is one that I don't particularly look forward to doing for the duration of the game's lifespan.

I admit that there's always room for a person's ability to adapt to these types of control layouts. It may even give some sense of accomplishment to players that they were able to beat a game despite the wonky controls. But how many gamers out there are actually willing to take the time to adjust to a new control mechanism just for the heck of mastering yet another obscure talent? In that regard, seeing as First-Person Shooters these days almost require that the controls for lateral movement be separated from the "look" ability, do you think that the FPS genre has a chance to ever reach maturity on the PSP?