VideogameVagabond.com

The catalog of PSP games for the next three months has some very attractive options in it; some of them even more exciting than discovering I can save $600 a year on my car insurance. (I jest, I jest.)

Anyway, listen up to some of these choices.

Out in a couple days is Gran Turismo PSP! If this game can live up to its console predecessors even remotely, this title will single-handedly improve PSP’s fortunes of late. Who wouldn’t want to drive this CarPG around on the go?

Then comes Obscure: The Aftermath, a survival horror title. I’m a sucker for survival horror if it’s any good at all. So my hopes would be set high for this one.

Speaking of survival horror, how about some Silent Hill? Shattered Memories is the latest offering from Konami and it’s on PSP as well as PS2.

Little Big Planet is also coming to PSP, as well as Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines.

Sure, as time goes on, the PSP Go may take the fun out of retail and make it a downloadable-only deal; but for right now, I’m certainly looking forward to dropping by my local EB just to browse all these excellent selections.

And come 2010, I haven’t even yet mentioned that XSeed is bringing Lunar to PSP in a fresh remake of the Working Designs classic.

In the next three months, I intend to buy a new videogame, even though I have plenty to play. Mostly, I’ll do this because I’m hungry for something fresh and a lack of funds or slow trickle of free reviewables are not always great appetite suppressants.

The real question will be, which game should I get? If I restrict myself to games out before the end of the year, there are several real contenders.

I could easily get into Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the PS3. I also would enjoy Assassin’s Creed II with its gorgeous visuals. I wish Final Fantasy XIII were among my choices.

But in the end, one game stands out among all the rest; Dragon Age: Origins is my top choice for games coming out on either PS3 or the 360. That’s my most-wanted game for the rest of 2009.

My videogame budget’s gone on a severe diet over the past year; since I’m no longer affiliated with DigNews.com, I get a lot fewer reviewables to peruse. Still, there are upsides, like being able to finally play some of them through to the end before moving on to the next one.

One game that keeps me thoroughly entertained over time is Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 and its predecessor, both for the Sony PSP Slim. I’ll just say it: I love ‘em because they’re easy to pick up and play for a couple holes, and easy to put down if you have to stop what you’re doing suddenly.

Tonight I played about 72 holes waiting for my dentist appointment to begin, and it certainly took the bite out of a potentially nervous wait. There are a lot of other great games on the PSP Slim, but I’ve played more hours of these two golf games than anything else combined.

Could Bret Hart return to the WWE, even after pledging never to work on-air for Vince McMahon again as recently as seven months ago? It’s a deal that seems to be in the negotiation process. Word has it Hart is interested in returning to WWE as an on-air authority figure – perhaps as the new general manager of SmackDown, replacing Teddy Long.

While his appearance would certainly be memorable and unexpected, the kind of shock that could make this Friday’s ten-year anniversary of WWE SmackDown memorable, it would also be largely disappointing to people who sympathized with Hart over the infamous “Montreal Screw-Job,” as well as the death of his brother Owen and his years since his retirement griping about the McMahon family.

To reverse course at this late date to return as SmackDown GM would, for Hart, largely betray the fans who believed in and sympathized with him for the last dozen years or so. Given that Hart is also incapable of resuming an in-ring career, his return would also be a bit hallow at this point.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time a Hart return has been teased by WWE, and while it might still take some long distance moving companies and a lot of money to get Bret to sign, only time will tell if this is actually going to happen or not.

Still, imagine being able to play as Hart in a WWE videogame again after all this time; if he does return, his image could once again be used in SmackDown vs. Raw.

Out of the Park Developments, developer of outstanding sports simulation games, is proud to announce that they are now offering Out of the Park Baseball 8, Metacritic’s 2007 PC Game of the Year and their second-highest rated PC game of all time, for FREE! OOTP 8 is available for download here: http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8.

Out of the Park Baseball (“OOTP 8″), available for Windows and Mac, is the 2007 edition of OOTP Developments’ award-winning baseball management simulation series, about which GameShark said, “Other games in the text-sim world cover certain aspects of the sport, but OOTP combines the best of those worlds – and then some – with a ridiculous amount of depth, options, and overall polish.” The free version of OOTP 8 is fully-functional. There are no restricted features, the game never expires, and you can play unlimited seasons. It’s free in the simplest sense of the word.

What is OOTP 8?

According to GameSpy, “If you have any interest in the guts of baseball, OOTP is simply a must-own product. It’s a landmark achievement.” In most fantasy baseball leagues, you draft players, and then you watch stats. Maybe you pull off a trade or two, but that’s about it. With OOTP, you can create your own baseball world, and you handle everything a real general manager would: draft players, make trades, scour the waiver wire, scout players, sign free agents, and more. In addition, you have the option of controlling the day-to-day coaching duties as well: establish lineups, set depth charts, set the pitching rotation, and manage each game with OOTP’s pitch-by-pitch engine. You can play OOTP using real Major League teams including full minor leagues (with Opening Day 2007 rosters), use any historical year in baseball from 1901-2006, or create your own completely fictional baseball league. OOTP even supports online leagues so you can have the ultimate challenge: managing against other human players!

For more information on OOTP 8, PC Gamer’s “Sports Game of the Year” for 2007, see the OOTP Developments web site at http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8.

About OOTP 10

The current version of this long-running series, OOTP 10, has also received rave reviews, and remains available for PC, Mac, and Linux for $39.99 (customers in the European Union pay €39.99.) OOTP 10 includes 2009 Major League rosters, completely revised pitching and scouting models, and much more. Download links, links to OOTP’s web stores, a free demo, and further information can be found at http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp10/.

About Out of the Park Developments

Out of the Park Developments is the developer of the award-winning OOTP series of baseball management simulations, and also develops “Title Bout Championship Boxing.” German-based OOTP Developments was founded by Markus Heinsohn and Andreas Raht in 1999, and employs two people full-time and three part-time. OOTP Developments has consistently produced games that have met with critical acclaim, including winning Metacritic’s coveted “PC Game of the Year” in 2007. Further information on the company and its games is available from the OOTP Developments website, http://www.ootpdevelopments.com.

You’d just have to know that once I finally acquired a terrific 1080p HDTV, that some jerky company somewhere would ruin my good feelings about life in general. This time, it’s Sony.

Jumping head-first into the 3D bandwagon, Sony has announced it will introduce the first 3D TV sets to the world market in 2010… less than a year from now! Furthermore, they plan to make the PlayStation 3 compatible with the new technology.

Of course, this is a highly risky move by Sony; it took forever for the market to settle on 1080p as the ideal HDTV standard, and it was even messier as Blu-Ray fought and ultimately won out over HD-DVD as the high-def DVD format.

And now, just as the world is slowly catching up to HDTV, Sony wants to make everyone’s set obsolete by introducing high-def 3D televisions? Really? A few Myrtle beach vacation rentals wouldn’t suffice?

Truth is, there are three or four 3D technologies that are at the forefront of technology right now, and all but one of them require special glasses. No word yet on which format Sony will choose for their sets, but it’s certainly anything but a stable 3D format at this point, so if they choose wrong… watch out.

While the PS3 will likely contain support for 3D TVs as promised, I expect that the real full support for HD3DTV won’t come into its own until the introduction of the PS4… which probably won’t emerge until 2014 or so. But count on Sony to make 3D the centerpiece of the PS4, much in the same way HDTV gaming was the centerpiece of the PS3 experience.

SquareEnix will have made fans wait four years since Final Fantasy XII before FFXIII arrives on US shores next year, but the company is promising that they have a goal to deliver installments more quickly going forward. According to an article on 1UP.com:

“For FFXIII there are a lot of firsts, and because it’s a new console that the teams are working on, it took a little time for the team to get used to everything,” said Yoshi Kitase and Motomu Toriyama through a translator. “Now that they have the engine built for it the basics are covered, so the development time for future projects should be shortened.”

Sounds promising, but even at its best, the series has often taken a couple years between installments. Still, that would be a huge improvement. Let’s hope it’s not all a bunch of hot air and horse supplements.

Wolverine Studios has announced the next installment in the Music Wars series, Music Wars 2010! While the transition from freeware to commercial software was a bit difficult for some fans, Music Wars Rebirth did well enough for the developer and publisher to green-light a new installment of the music industry sim. And you heard that here, folks, not on Bell TV.

Among the improvements announced for this new installment include digital distribution as an in game factor, the ability to create videos, live albums and DVDs, improved trend models, new strategic marketing options, Latin America as a new territory, multiplayer option and hundreds of all new bands and artists.

The title, expected before the end of the year, is a joint development between developer Antuan Johnson and Wolverine Studios.