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.