GamesRadar's potentially annual Platinum Chalice awards 2006
It's been a stupidly big year for games. Why don't we reduce it to a single glib article?
Winner: The PSP
Sony
There seems to be a general consensus these days - not helped by Sony's own very loud, very terrible missteps - that the PSP is spiraling around the bowl. Why? We're gamers. We should care about one thing: games.
How does Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops sound? What about Sony's best in-house argument for the PSP, LocoRoco? If not, how about its Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Killzone: Liberation? The twin trips of Every Extend Extra and Lumines II? There are even more originals based on hugely popular series that can stand on their own: Vice City Stories, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, Me & My Katamari and Daxter. And don't forget the quirky (but quality) Exit (we know you did.)
Yeah, the PSP is weighed down by ports of bad PS2 games, but what about ports of great games? We're talking Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Mega Man: Powered Up. More classics were also reborn this year: Sonic Rivals, Bomberman, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X and Lemmings... the list keeps going.
This is a bad system?
Honorable mention: Wii Sports
Nintendo | Wii
The day we first saw these Playmobil people line up for a sports game, there was a collective shudder. Now, the entire planet is so hooked on Wii Sports they're willing to risk launching a remote at the TV just to get in a quick three holes of golf.
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Winner: The PSP
Sony
There seems to be a general consensus these days - not helped by Sony's own very loud, very terrible missteps - that the PSP is spiraling around the bowl. Why? We're gamers. We should care about one thing: games.
How does Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops sound? What about Sony's best in-house argument for the PSP, LocoRoco? If not, how about its Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Killzone: Liberation? The twin trips of Every Extend Extra and Lumines II? There are even more originals based on hugely popular series that can stand on their own: Vice City Stories, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, Me & My Katamari and Daxter. And don't forget the quirky (but quality) Exit (we know you did.)
Yeah, the PSP is weighed down by ports of bad PS2 games, but what about ports of great games? We're talking Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth and Mega Man: Powered Up. More classics were also reborn this year: Sonic Rivals, Bomberman, Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X and Lemmings... the list keeps going.
This is a bad system?
Honorable mention:Wii Sports
Nintendo | Wii
The day we first saw these Playmobil people line up for a sports game, there was a collective shudder. Now, the entire planet is so hooked on Wii Sports they're willing to risk launching a remote at the TV just to get in a quick three holes of golf.
Stellar Blade director "grew up too poor to afford" a PS1, but when he finally got one in college, Ridge Racer and Final Fantasy inspired him to make games
Oh, that's why the Stellar Blade devs were terrified by demo players: one fan's spent "about 60 hours" maxing Eve's skill tree before the action RPG is even out