Ones to Watch on PS3 and PSP for October 2008

By Paul Munn | October 1, 2008

October promises to be a very big month for the PS3 with a bevy of potential cross-platform blockbusters, a couple of ports, and some possibly huge exclusive titles.  So many of these games look so good that I’m suspecting I won’t be the only one trying to make tough decisions about what games should be bought now and what should be picked up later.  That said I’m going to give a fuller rundown than usual and I’ll start out with the platform exclusives on the PS3.  That includes the game featuring the guy here who just might end up becoming the console’s mascot.  And not to worry PSP fans, this month has a few nice treats coming our way as well, aside from the PSP-3000 refresh of the system itself.

Exclusives

First up is LittleBigPlanet.  To say this game’s been a darling of the press despite very long delays is quite the understatement.  This “DIY platformer” as IGN calls it is slated to land on October 21st with a deep feature set.  We’re talking Trophies, one to four player online play, one-to-four player offline play, offline co-op level creation, ranks and rewards for different styles of play such as exploring others’ levels, building your own levels, sharing your levels online, rating levels you play, in-game screen shots automatically noting what sackboys are present and linking to their online profiles, and post-launch online co-op level creation will be patched in.  With a Kratos sackboy preorder bonus at Gamestop, a Nariko sackboy preorder bonus at BestBuy, and a pair of costumes to be made avaialble for free the first week only on the PlayStation Store you’ve got an incentive to place an order early for this one.  There’s some great stuff at this Eurogamer hands-on from E3.

Update: Wired has detailed first impressions of the beta here and a top 10 video gallery of user-created levels so far over here.

Slant Six brings Zipper Interactive’s signature SOCOM series to this generation with the PS3 exclusive SOCOM Confrontation.  The beta’s gotten good positive buzz and previews have cited excellent video and sound and a perfect SOCOM feel — a triumph for Slant Six and for the many SOCOM fans out there.  At $40 as a digital download or disc release and $60 bundled with a new official PlayStation bluetooth headset it’s another online-only shooter.  It will also have Trophy support and land on the 14th.  Sony’s hoping the official bluetooth heaset does for the PS3 what the SOCOM USB headset did for the PS2, which is to get people to actually talk in online games that support voice.

Ports

The folks who do the GamersWithJobs Conference Call have a just about built a shrine to Ken Levine and if the reviews of last year’s Xbox 360 and PC versions of BioShock are any indication it’s with good reason.  The PS3 gets a port on the 21st that’s gotten very good positive buzz and a selection of challenge rooms exclusive to this version of the game along with a new Survivor difficulty mode and Trophies.  You’ll see a demo on the 2nd .

The PSN gets a port of the formerly-PC-only shmup Soldner-X sometime in October.  This update will offer 1080p graphics, local co-op play, and Trophies.  You can hit up ps3Fanboy for more information on that one.

A port of Eternal Sonata lands on the system on the 23rd with added characters, scenes, costumes, quests, and music.  If there’s anything else to an RPG, I for one can’t think of it.  One thing it lacks is Trophy support.

Cross-Platform

Rock Band 2 lands on the PS3 on the 19th in game-only and full-kit flavors.  The reviews of the 360 version have been excellent and if the instrument quality goes up as expected the combination of oodles of extra songs, Trophy support, and the kid-friendly no-fail mode may get me to take the plunge since I never picked up the first Rock Band game.

Probably the biggest cross-platform release for this month for the hardcore is Bethesda’s Fallout 3.  Headed for retail on the 28th, the game will feature a rich storyline, a choice of first-person or VATS targeting, and a big postapocalytpic world to explore.  It’s headed to the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the PC, and if you ask me there are two deficiencies with the PS3 version of this single player treatise.  First, no Trophies.  Second, no downloadable content will be made for the PS3 version.  I have a soft spot for post-nuclear-apocalyptic worlds, though, so I’ll be keeping an eye on this one anyway.

The brand new EA game Dead Space plans to blast the idea that the publisher only does rehashes of existing franchises into a lot of messy chunks.  It’s gotten a lot of digital ink and so far the press likes what they’ve seen and played.  Originally slated for release later in the month the sci-fi survival horror game for the PS3 and Xbox 360 was moved up to the 14th and will have Trophy support on the PS3.  I’m far too squeamish to deal with survival horror games, but I know there are many gamers out there who are, well, dying for a game like this.

Volition’s Saints Row 2 is touting two-player online co-op throughout the whole campaign, an unusual online game mode built of a conglomeration of game types, an over-the-top gangster style in a sandbox world, and PS3 Trophy support.  I’m very interested in the game after having played a little bit of the first game on the Xbox 360, but early impressions hint that it could be a bit glitchy.  Still I’m ready to give it a fair shake when it lands on the 14th.

Capcom’s Age of Booty will hit the PSN this month, adding a new online-enabled, pirate-themed, single-player and multiplayer real-time strategy game to the download service.  It’ll ship with 25 maps and three game modes at launch with 20 more maps and three or four more game modes promised for free after launch.  There is also apparently a simple map editor and the maps you create are shared with others when you play online.  No word on Trophy support for this one, so I’m guessing it didn’t make it in.

Guitar Hero: World Tour arrives to go toe-to-toe with Rock Band 2 on the 26th, bringing another full-plastic-instrument music game into the world.  This one won’t have Trophy support the way Rock Band 2 will and their history of DLC is far weaker than Rock Band’s, so I’m not that interested in this one.

Other notable titles coming this month include Far Cry 2, Legendary, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows coming on the 21st.

PSP

There are rumors that the new PSP-3000 hardware coming on the 14th (quite a popular day this month) with its nicer screen, integrated microphone, and ability to output video in 480i will also have changes to try and put a stop to the rampant piracy some say is killing the platform.  This could be a redesigned battery and connector or something more far-reaching.  Rumors of a new PSP firmware are also rolling around, but those have been known to get very pie-in-the-sky so I won’t even link to them here.  If you’re after a good list of cheap games to pick up at retail for a new system, check out the top 20 games for under 20 bucks.

As for software, D3Publisher is continuing to roll out some of their past UMD releases as digital downloads.  WTF Work Time Fun lands on the PlayStation Store alongside PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient on the 2nd for $9.99 each.  On the 16th we’ll see PQ2: Practical Intelligence Quotient 2 and Dead Head Fred land for $14.99 each.  I’m a fan of WTF and have a UMD of Dead Head Fred waiting to be played but the puzzle gamers out there might want to take PQ and PQ2 for a spin if they’re not too busy with last month’s digital release of Puzzle Quest.  You can see the full release schedule here.