Among the trifecta of PSP puzzle games from Q Entertainment, Gunpey probably garnered the least pre-release hype. Lumines II was the obvious attention-grabber, having been one of the surprise hits of the PSP’s catalog; and Every Extend Extra getting sloppy-seconds from its E3 2006 exposure. Yet Gunpey sat like the neglected middle child, just waiting to be released so it can get it all over with.

But over the course of the past month, some strange things have occurred which changed the shift of focus. After the very American Lumines II (Hoobastank? Black Eyed Peas? Please…) was released, I think fans of the original realized there isn’t much that can be done with the core gameplay mechanic, aside from new skins and music. Lumines is Lumines, no matter which way you shake it. That L2 (my abbreviation) even recycled some skins from the first game, coupled with the much-publicized Lumines Live debacle, I think the franchise lost a little respect with the population of fans that escalated it to top-tier status. I’ve shied away from Every Extend Extra – partly because the reviews have been less than stellar, but mostly because it’s based on a freeware PC game that I really should try out first.

So then there was Gunpey. God love it.

Gunpey, like Every Extend Extra, is a remake of an existing title, having originally been released for the defunct Bandai Wonderswan in Japan. And the title also has significance: Gunpey is named after Gunpei Yokoi, the famed creator of Nintendo’s Gameboy, Virtual Boy, and Game & Watch products. Aside from the name-dropping and forced homage, the premise of the game sounded interesting enough. A random selection of four shapes scroll slowly to the top of the screen; the goal is to arrange the shapes five-across into a solid line, before the shapes reach the top of the screen.

This is definitely a Q title, but not as clear as one might think. First, the obvious: a generous helping of skins comprise each of the game’s levels, with each skin providing its own unique look and sound. And, of course, each of the skins contributes to the challenge by throwing distracting visuals at the player.

But now the less obvious: Where L2 is in-your-face (and slightly obnoxious, for the examples mentioned above), Gunpey is decidedly Asian, culturally-rooted, at times trance-inducing, and overall refreshing. Achieving a level unlocks the skin for that level, and looking at the list of unlockable skins it easily trumps the number available for L2, both in quantity and quality. Overall menu design is simplistic, yet futuristic, and the route from power-up to play is just a few clicks (and a loading screen) away. Nothing about Gunpey follows the same nay-subtle presentation of its Q puzzle cousins.

And the gameplay? Again, five-across eliminates the shapes. Several game options are available, but the meat of the game is in the Challenge mode to unlock skins. Here you can play Break, where eliminating shapes causes those above to drop; or Original, where those shapes at the top keep moving up regardless. Shapes can be rotated up or down within a single block on the puzzle grid, creating multiple combinations. The real treat is when a five-across is achieved, the grid freezes for a couple of seconds and other shapes can be added to the line, rewarding the player with a higher elimination score as well as the ability to dump some of those rogue shapes that keep causing problems toward the top of the screen. Setting up lines for that one needed piece is one thing, but rearranging orphan shapes to fit within the line before it disappears is a complete rush. Like Tetris meets Perfection, if anyone can imagine that combination.

Accessibility and skill are major factors in determining if a puzzle game is successful, and Gunpey nails them both. What it also has are those intangible factors that really propel it to must-buy status. Every time I play I realize what I did to cause the game to end, which drives me to pick it up and play just one more time. Of course, with all of the available combinations, there is a different cause every time I play. Which means I can’t put it down. Its addictive nature also has caused me to see shapes in my head – a symptom created by the original Tetris, and achieved by only a few select games since. Gunpey is proudly one of them.

So with its least visible title, Q Entertainment manages to release its best of its puzzle offerings. It’s a game that is clearly worth the low $30 retail price, but dare I say worth buying a PSP? At the very least, it makes that initial investment of owing one a lot less painful. I’ll be playing Gunpey for a long while. Let’s just hope I never see the Gwen Stefani version anytime soon.

We were warned, and we all laughed. Now we are drooling at the PS3′s Trojan horse.

Yes, the PS3′s hard drive can be partitioned to run multiple operating systems. And as long as an OS supports the Cell processor, the PS3 would in theory have access to a plethora of applications which would undoubtedly render the PC redundant. Well, not really, but the PS3 could quite possibly be the best open-source computer for under $600.

Never mind the fact that even though Microsoft owns the operating system market, it lacks interoperability with many standard devices. Want a headset? Buy Microsoft’s product. Want a bigger hard drive? Tough noogies. Want a mouse and keyboard? Good luck. In a weird twist of fate, the PS3 accepts a multitude of devices and peripherals out of the box.

So couple a full-fledged operating system with the ability to input USB devices, and what do you get? Those Virtual Console purchases add up, right? And why wait for Sony to make PSOne titles playable on the PS3? The answers are written on Phil Harrison’s shiny bald head.

J Allard’s shiny bald head was unavailable for comment.

Yes, I am excited about LucasArts’ Thrillville for the PSP, Xbox and PS2. It has been on my watch and wish lists since it was announced because I’m dying for a decent theme park simulation for a console. I loved the original Roller Coaster Tycoon, and even though I own RCT3 and one of the expansion packs, I just can’t bring myself to sitting in an office chair, staring at a monitor building theme park rides with a mouse and keyboard. Even back when the original RCT was ported to the Xbox, I always thought, “there has to be a better way.”

So that’s why I have such high hopes for Thrillville. Judging from the various previews on the gaming sites, it looks like it will be a veritable candystore for theme park connoisseurs. With its various musical nods to classic LucasArts franchises like Monkey Island and Secret Weapons Over Normandy, one can only be excited at the possibility of similar visual cues (think Indiana Jones!) of Lucas lore. Not to mention the plethora of mini-games at the player’s disposal, and this author’s penchant for luring innocent thrill seekers into a vomiting bliss.

I bet you are asking, so why am I writing such a hands-off, infomercial-like preview? Well, for a chance at a free copy of the game, of course. As it is one that I am interested in buying outright, I am hesitant because my diet of Xbox 360 games and accessories this holiday season has run my wallet dry; plus, I’m not particularly salivating at the chance to buy any more Xbox games that aren’t backwards compatible out of the box. And all PSP titles are suspect until they solve the long loading problem, but it would be nice to have a portable theme park builder at my disposal. Hmmm…decisions, decisions.

So in summary, I’d really like to post some hands-on thoughts of the title, and maybe some platform comparisons, if given the opportunity. The opportunity…are you getting the hint, LucasArts?

Dear Sony:

It’s been a few months since I wrote you my first letter, and since it’s been a while since we talked I thought I’d send you an update to tell you how my (un)favorite handheld has been treating me.

I vented about the unfriendly interface and functionality around video playback, and I appreciate the strides in fixing them through the recent firmware updates. Sure they were short strides, and rather late fixes, but fixes nonetheless. I can now take my favorite iPod-formatted AVC podcast and drag and drop to the video folder. Your months of focus groups and R&D in the lab have paid off, and I thank you for coming up with such an innovative, yet still user-friendly, experience. I also recommend you trademark the “drag-and-drop” phrase before anyone else catches on.

Remember my threat of buying a Creative Zen video player? Well it didn’t turn out to be so idle after all. After my old MP3 player took a swim, my replacement plan helped me bury my sorrows in a shiny new Zen Vision:M. It’s so cute, and after seeing it wag its tail at me through the front window I knew I had to bring the little black player-that-could home. It doesn’t like AVC or H.264 files so much (it turns its poop runny), but it does just fine on a diet of DivX, Xvid and WMV files. “Bark!”

And now that Microsoft has updated the Xbox 360 to play WMV files, I have switched over to the WMV feeds of my favorite video podcasts (and in the process left the Land of iTunes – damn you Apple, but I’ll save that for another rant) and can now watch stuff like Diggnation and the 1UP Show on something larger than my 1.5″ LCD screen. You know, the way it should have always been.

My PSP doesn’t get any video playback duties anymore, which is weird because I can now allocate all that time I used to spend converting and recoding video to…playing games? And oddly enough, there are a handful of games out for the PSP I actually want to play, like Gunpei and Lumines II, and the random JRPG. The PSP website is pushing out new demos and videos on a fairly regular basis. Although Sony needs to get the message out better regarding new content, and the content that is made available would be better if it were more standard across the globe, it is a nice treat to be able to download a Loco Roco Halloween demo. It’s kind of like getting that DumDum from the doctor’s office after getting a shot in the butt – the process isn’t very pleasant, but it’s nice to get some candy at the end of it all. On top of everything, I put a nice Hori anti-glare screen film on my PSP. See, I have been treating it well. I just argue about the reverse.

Not all is roses though. What gives about charging me an extra $10 to upgrade my PSP Media Manager software? This is after a $20 initial investment for something that should have been given to me for free? And on top of it, the latest version only costs $16 for new users? Thanks, Sony. I guess you have to make up all of those losses somewhere. I’m just not happy it’s from my empty pockets.

You might have seen my post about partnering with, no – begging to Sega to get their back catalog of console classics on the PSP. Having proven I have been right about these things before, you might want to look into it. It would make me, and about 20 million others, a little less disappointed about not buying a DS instead.

Thanks and Good Luck with PSP 2.0,

Spot

Apologies to all my readers for not keeping up-to-date on my blog. Parenthood and my real job have gotten the best of me lately, but I promise to do better going forward. There has been a lot of great videogame news just in the past week, and with the impending launch of the PS3 and Wii, the rest of the year is looking mighty interesting. I’ve been well inspired by recent events, it’s just that case of Writer’s Block got a lot more physical than mental.

Look for new stuff in the next week, as well as my never-ending quest to get SpotRadio off the ground some time in the distant future (believe me, it’s gonna happen one of these days).