How Gamers Have Turned Their Backs on the PSP, and Why Maybe They Shouldn’t Have

The once proud contender to Nintendo's handheld dominance, the PSP is now an object of ridicule.

Had the PSP come out in 1998, everyone would have loved it. Imagine, if you will, playing a game like Crisis Core back then. Arguably a time when the fandom for Final Fantasy VII was at its highest. People would have been foaming at the mouth. Don’t even get me started on how excited gamers would be to battle it out in Dissidia. Other, non Final Fantasy games would also have been potential hits. Games like Valkyria Chronicles II, Ogre Tactics, and Monster Hunter would be appropriate for a time when patience was more prevalent among the gaming community. A time when slow, methodical, in-depth, and incredibly long games were the standard.  There is not a single gaming product currently available that symbolizes how much game design has changed in the last 15 years as much as the PSP. Nor is there another product that embodies the schism between Eastern and Western games as much as it does.

This is most evident in the case of Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter is a craze in Japan, selling a bajillion units every time a new iteration comes out. However, much like Dragon Quest, Western audiences have been fairly lukewarm to the franchise. This isn’t surprising when you consider how much you have to invest into a Monster Hunter title.  It takes hours to really get a grasp on the game’s dense mechanics, not to mention a lot of frustrating deaths because you have no idea what you’re doing. That being said, it’s incredibly rewarding when you take down one of the game’s giant beasts. All of that hard work being paid off leaves you with a feeling of immense satisfaction. It’s the kind of satisfaction that is sorely missing from a Western developed game. When compared to a game like Angry Birds, a phenomenon in the West, Monster Hunter seems its exact opposite. Grueling and inaccessible mechanics coupled with high reward versus the immediate satisfaction and simple gameplay that Angry Birds provides.

There was a time when Monster Hunter’s design may not have always made it such an impenetrable game. Take a look back on an old gem for example. It is generally accepted that the Water Temple in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is complete bullshit. The maddeningly confusing dungeon is frustrating throughout, a smudge on an otherwise incredible game. However, at the time of its release, Ocarina of Time was regarded as an instant classic. Even today, it still stands as the highest rated game of all time. Yet if OoT were released now, I imagine that the infuriating Water Temple would not be tolerated. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is just how our acceptance of games has evolved. As gamers, we demand an incredibly consistent experience. We no longer have the patience to sit through the “low points” of  a game. Perhaps this is why the average length of a game has gotten so much shorter. Rather than risk boring a gamer, develops now cram tons of seizure inducing explosions in an intense six hour campaign.

There is no way that the Water Temple would fly in modern game design.

But aren’t we losing something by giving players a constant climax? Look at Shadow of the Colossus for instance. That game reveled as much in its battles as it did its quiet moments in-between. It needed those moments to make its epic encounters feel so momentous and meaningful. “Boring” moments in games juxtapose excitement, making you invested when everything is on the line.

Yet times have changed. With so many gaming experiences available, maybe there is no longer room for quiet and pause. Many reasons can be attributed to the PSP’s plummeting success in the West: A poor control layout, constant updating, and easy piracy are just a few of the many flaws the system has. But maybe there is much more to the downfall of Sony’s handheld than is immediately obvious. Its best games embody a design that many gamers have long left behind. We can no longer be bothered to give games time to reveal themselves. We decide on the quality of a game within an hour. Less and less do we seek out our adventures, instead having our journeys guide us along. Many modern games are less like wine and more like a 5-hour Energy – a quick fix in a sea of caffeine and sugar.