It took a while, but Sony finally has it right in the handheld market; a combination of the perfect game and the perfect piece of hardware to play it on. The hardware? The new PSP Slim. The game? Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.
Much like last winter’s redesign of the previously-bulky Nintendo DS, Sony’s original PlayStation Portable was in dire need of of an attention-grabbing redesign. While the DS Lite went in an standard Nintendo direction, with a trim but boxy design than a wide palette of colors from which to choose, Sony chose a slightly different route.
The PSP Slim is noticably lighter and thinner, but still boasts the spirit of the original PSP design. And instead of making a load of new colors commonplace, Sony celebrated the PSP relaunch with a couple collectible, limited edition designs, while the rest of the forthcoming PSP Slims will remain in standard black. The Daxter version of PSP Slim is a sharp, slick metallic silver, while the Star Wars Edition is pearly white with an image of an adult Darth Vader silkscreened on the back of the unit.
They’re sharp-looking and they won’t be available forever, making them fun to own, and of course, increasing their eBay value in the process for the capitalists among us.
But a redesigned PSP would be nothing without some all-new killer apps to play on ‘em, and one of the big guns just launched: Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions finally makes its way to PSP sporting a complete graphical makeover, new cinematics, new characters, new jobs and lots of other new goodies, while retaining the spirit of the original story that made the PS One classic so damn addictive.
I could go on and on, but I’d rather get back to PSP gaming heaven… you’ll hear more from me later, though. Soon as the PSP Slim has to go on the recharger.
