It's Been A Good Week For The Euro PSP

Perhaps it’s the severe sleep deprivation from playing Deus Ex, perhaps it’s just cautious optimism, but I’m struck with a sudden sense of nostalgia. Because after what feels like an eternity, it’s finally been a good week for the European PSP again. First came the announcement that Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky will finally be coming over, in collector’s edition nonetheless. Collector’s editions are awesome and the PSP has also been known to throw some beautiful bundles to consumers. A favorite might be the Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker bundle, complete with camouflage finish. That, together with a sizeable amount of Playstation Network (PSN) RPG titles, can ultimately turn into a decent library. It hasn’t been the greatest run, but we got there in the end.

Perhaps the biggest reason to ever buy a PSP. It also once spawned a headset.

And to celebrate this big digital library, this week the European PSN had a huge PSP sale. A ton of titles were discounted at up to half price. And they weren’t flunky titles either; no! More than fifty titles received a discount, some greater than others of course, but amongst those would unquestionably stand some major blockbusters. The full list can be found on the Playstation Blog, but to me a few titles stood out that I personally believe anyone should add to their library now: Me and My Katamari for €9,99 and Sid Meier’s Pirates for a mere €4,99. As you all know by now, Sid Meier and his games are my favorite and his pirates are some of his most memorable, even if downgraded for the handheld. It’s gotten me so optimistic that it officially rung in my first ever game I bought a second time. Kudos goes to Sony for finally stepping up on a decent campaign and not just shoveling every mediocre movie franchise game to the Essentials collection for once.

But will this optimism stick around to let the PSP die in style? I highly doubt it; we’ve seen short spasms like this before. Remember Marcus? Of course you don’t. What a farce that was and another broken promise for Sony handheld owners.  Still, let’s not dwell on the negative and focus on the good things happening right now.

Roll that, Katamari, roll that! Some of the most fun you can have tripping balls.

After the PSN breach, my Store wallet had been lingering, waiting for decent material to appear, but no such luck became the European side. It’s perhaps therefore that I shouldn’t stop at these two titles and get all the discounted goods while they’re still hot, right? Like said; these promotions are usually just a blip in the flat line of PSP marketing, so expecting more at this point is more wishful thinking than anything. Rather than just list every game out there, I’ll present you with a list of games I’m taking into consideration to get from this week’s sale. You may view that as the cream of the proverbial crop of 50 titles:

• Grandia €5,99
• Gods Eater Burst €14,99
• Breath of Fire 3 €4,99
• Megaman Maverick Hunter X €4,99

A second batch of sales is also said to be coming up later. This sale is still running until September 7, so jump on board and enjoy while you can, because Lord knows it might not last. And though they might not tickle my fancy, there are also sizable discounts on Disgaea Infinite and BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Portable. They’re fan food, but should you be and do not own them yet, go for it. Though frankly, I’m skeptical as to how Blazblue’s mechanism would work on the PSP control nub. Get Lunar: Silver Star Harmony too, because classic RPGs are the best kind.

Yes, I own a PSP since launch. Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I'm using caffeine to stay awake.

Imagine if things like these would be commonplace on PSP. The Sony handheld would give a solid run for Nintendo’s money and we wouldn’t have our console collect dust 7 months a year. People around the globe would take their handhelds out into the sun and game the day away. Did you know that in Deus Ex, handheld gamers all seem to be holding on to a PSP? Perhaps it’s just the nostalgia, but more likely, it really is the sleep deprivation.

Convince me which games I should still purchase from the sale in the comments!

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)