Determinance screenshot

Portable

I’ve always been a huge DS supporter, but my recent purchase of a PSP has shown me something new. The DS is about a different kind of gaming – puzzle games and very toned, polished games. The PSP is about full-on, ambitious, wonky, flawed, interesting gaming.

It’s been eight years since I was last able to play TV console games. I find the experience trapping – I feel like I have to sit down and engage. As anyone who knows me will attest I have a physical need to wonder around, come and go, leave and return at any point. Console games need me to be there with them too consistantly.

I’m not sure why I don’t feel the same about PC games – maybe it’s because a PC’s default state is “on” while a TV’s is “off”, and thus an activated TV feels pressurising.

I love portable gaming for two reasons. The first is that I can play while in a room with people drinking and watching TV; chatting and laughing while having the left hand side of my brain amused by play. It’s my definition of “sociable gaming”. The second is that it doesn’t trap me like console gaming does. I can pause it or sleep it at any time. It feels like a book – it can be consumed at any pace.

But I’ve been massively let down by the DS’ back catalogue so far. It’s not an objective critiscm – the DS just doesn’t have the kind of games I like. I like games that aren’t polished, where you feel almost like you’re in a Soviet city where things don’t quite work properly but nevertheless you may turn a corner to find the most fantastic adventure
; where at the very least you will find many bizzarre and amusing failures. That is gaming as an art form to me. Polish is not the antithesis of the gaming I like, but it is the most regular symptom of the gaming I find truly boring.

The PSP and it’s back catlogue have given me that experience, and on a device which lets me feel happy to just experience. Great stuff.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Portable”

  1. malakian:

    ยง January 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    This is worse than an affair!

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