Rumor: Half-Life 2 on PSP?
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Jul 23rd 2006 at 10:31AM }
The research people of Penn, Shoen, and Berlan Association Inc. are notorious for slipping future releases of games. In fact, they revealed the Xbox 360 version of Half-Life 2 a full three days before Valve admitted to working on it. Considering how Half-Life 2 is branching out to other platforms, is PSP next? Well, according to an IGN post by Nirvanakicks [Insider membership required], a new survey from Penn, Shoen, and Berlan Association Inc. seems to suggest "yes". While I'm skeptical, it would be an amazing addition to the PSP library, even without fancy HDR lighting.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Edge of Blade @ Jul 23rd 2006 11:14AM
The design debacle known an PSP lumbers on.
Why...oh why...make a game that is not designed to be portable on a portable system? It kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it. Nintendo experienced the same phenomenon when they tried Super Mario 64 DS. It was more awkward than Samantha Mathis in the Super Mario Bros movie.
I recently finally had the chance to sit down with a PSP and play Battlefront 2. It was one of the more ill advised console "compressions" I have seen. Stuffing a game into a UMD disk does not make it a portable game...just a game that has been stuffed into a UMD disk.
Erik Stroud @ Jul 23rd 2006 2:38PM
Actaully, I enjoyed Battlefront 2 for the psp. The controls were good to me. So if valve realy does make Half Life 2 for the psp. I will buy it.
pixelator @ Jul 23rd 2006 4:15PM
Hey, I liked Samantha Mathis.
But really, "The design debacle known an PSP lumbers on." is a bit much... Many ports like Syphon Filter, SOCOM, GTA and others have translated quite well.
pixelator @ Jul 23rd 2006 4:27PM
To put your comments in perspective, how about a quote from your blog? "Isn’t the DS absolutely pounding the PSP into submission on the gaming front?" and "The PSP has become an underpowered, marginally portable home console instead of a distinctively portable handheld. Whoops." Sony bash, much?
Plenty of excellent games on the PSP started life on another system. Just because something is a port doesn't negate its viability on a handheld. Same as the DS. SM64DS lacked decent controls because it was a analog-stick game on a device without an analog stick.
Just goes to show, regardless of what awesome news crops up, some is going to twist it into a negative.
The Cat @ Jul 23rd 2006 7:37PM
Regardless of anything said on this or any other blog on the internet, pixelator will accuse the writer of Sony bashing.
The Super Mario Bros. movie was the shit. It even had bomb-ombs.
anta @ Jul 23rd 2006 7:50PM
Edge of Blade got 0wned!
Edge of Blade @ Jul 23rd 2006 10:38PM
Glad to see readers are following that link.
Yes, I Sony bash (and for the record, I just gave Nintendo a jab, too). You would be hard pressed to find a legitimate gaming news source that isn't Sony bashing right now. Even PS3Fanboy takes a shot every once in a while. On the other hand, I could be bat **** crazy like the Sony Execs right now and ignore the writing on the wall while the company line comes spewing forth from my pie hole.
But this is the independent media....now isn't it. I bash Sony because their gaming products have become subpar, yet marketing continues to drag perception kicking and screaming down to it's level, inflating innovation in the industry while borrowing ideas from the ones actually innovating.
Did you read my quote "in perspective"? "The PSP has become an underpowered, marginally portable home console instead of a distinctively portable handheld. Whoops." My post is trying to explain why the DS is winning that handheld war against a technically superior competitor, a fact which I am not about to try to deny. It's a war fought and won on system design philosophy and software design philosophy.
That quote refers to not only the battery life and the load times, but also to the agility of the system to deliver a portable experience that isn't bogged down with un-portable home console conventions. To make games like SW:BF2 and Half-life 2 on a portable with a analog "nub" devalues the original experience.
If you can't follow my reasoning, then take this little nugget and devs take note too: by in large, FPS is not a portable genre...barely on DS, better so on the DS Lite, not at all on PSP.
Just take a minute and try to imagine playing Half-life 2 on a handheld. Are you really trying to tell me it wouldn't be a nightmare to control?
Yes, there is always someone to twist everything into a negative. But that's not me. I'm the one putting things in perspective for you.
Sean @ Jul 24th 2006 1:24AM
Semi-DS fanboy here.
Was originally planning on getting a PSP soon but, if this turns out to be true, I will definitely pick up a PSP for this.
I
breeze @ Jul 24th 2006 5:15AM
Have any of you $ony loving-Nintendo and Microsoft hating fanboys even stopped to think about if your beloved little PSP can even handle a conversion of Half-Life 2? We are not even going to talk about your lack of a second analog stick. I'm sorry but I really can't see how it can be done. When Half-Life 2 was released for the Xbox everyone complained that it had issues with framerate, graphics, and loading. Now you want it on psp but at what cost...
Aamir123 @ Jul 24th 2006 8:30AM
(cough cough) oh sorry im just alergic to bullshit i mean comon there was a ps2 version of the first half life and it looked crappy compared to now but then again it was made in 2001 and they were impressed and the psp is less powerful and wouldent surport half life and now they saying there a true graphical masterpiece with well good graphics and they want to put it on the psp its like putting oblivion on the NES. sorry but its another rumor that gets your hopes down.
pixelator @ Jul 24th 2006 1:52PM
Wow, the anger and hate at Sony and the PSP is staggering. Have you lot even for a moment considered that the thing you're raging on is an inanimate object? It didn't kick your dog, it didn't insult your mom. Neither did Sony.
If you'd take a lot of the fanboy hysterics and histrionics frothing over Sony these days seriously, you'd think that they have, single handedly, killed gaming as we know it. And while I myself find a lot of what they've done in the past couple of years ridiculous, arrogant, headstrong and downright contrary to consumer rights, they haven't done that. Through the pricing issues, format wars and bad planning, they have continued to produce high end hardware for gaming and some pretty damned good games.
So, as for the points:
"Regardless of anything said on this or any other blog on the internet, pixelator will accuse the writer of Sony bashing."
Not hardly. I've gone on record here and elsewhere criticizing Sony and many of their choices, as well as several PSP games - and the PSP. Furthermore, I've likely purchased and own more Nintendo product that any four or five average self-proclaimed Nintendo Fanboys lurking and trolling this blog. I just don't agree with the lynchmob mentality railing against the device and the company behind it, right now. There's a very high ratio of BS to truth, and I'm calling people on it.
"inflating innovation in the industry while borrowing ideas from the ones actually innovating."
Uh, who's stealing what from whom? Please don't try to feed us the line that Sony steals everything from Nintendo, I might gag.
"My post is trying to explain why the DS is winning that handheld war against a technically superior competitor, a fact which I am not about to try to deny."
The DS Lite is enjoying a sales boost because it's a much-needed revision of the hardware, and they've had their long-in-coming spate of good new games. Technical superiority has never won the handheld wars, but there's no denying the PSP has fared quite well compared to others in the past that have tried. It's a glass half full analogy, only in this case, DS fanboys and Sony haters are calling the PSP half-full glass empty.
"That quote refers to not only the battery life and the load times, but also to the agility of the system to deliver a portable experience that isn't bogged down with un-portable home console conventions."
The battery life of the PSP has never really been a problem - and you bringing it up makes me wonder if you even OWN one. Before I upgraded to a 2200mAh batt, I was getting 5-6 hours easily from my 1800mAh. I tested it. Load times for some games are still bad, but many devs are getting better. This was mostly a first-wave issue. Since both the DS and PSP both get a lot of ports, I don't see the big problem with that. The only difference is, the PSP is getting modern ports and the DS has the retro factor of getting new editions of games that date back to the early 90's. For people who don't do a lot of gaming on consoles, like myself, I find the PSP to be fantastic - SOCOM, Syphon Filter and others have been great additions to the lineup.
"Half-life 2 on a portable with a analog "nub" devalues the original experience."
And your presumption shows you're biased and unwilling to even give it a chance, long before the screenshots have even appeared. In short, you're closed-minded.
" by in large, FPS is not a portable genre...barely on DS, better so on the DS Lite, not at all on PSP."
And you're full of shit. I enjoyed Coded Arms. Stylus control on the DS for Metroid was not to my taste. So your personal preferences are not mine, nor necessarily everyone else's.
"Just take a minute and try to imagine playing Half-life 2 on a handheld. Are you really trying to tell me it wouldn't be a nightmare to control?"
I've bloody well played QUAKE and DOOM on PDAs and the GBA well enough, I don't think there's anything so different in HL2 that utterly precludes its potential as you seem to think.
"Yes, there is always someone to twist everything into a negative. But that's not me."
Yes, it is. HL2 on PSP is potentially very good news - not something more to whine and moan about.
pixelator @ Jul 24th 2006 1:59PM
"Now you want it on psp but at what cost..."
I played Duke Dukem, Doom and Quake on handhelds, and there's a cost, but the gameplay can be fun.
Edge of Blade @ Jul 24th 2006 9:15PM
If this goes on much longer, we might have entire pages of comments to ourselves, pixelator.
“If you'd take a lot of the fanboy hysterics and histrionics frothing over Sony these days seriously, you'd think that they have, single handedly, killed gaming as we know it.”
My opinion of the situation isn’t that far off. Everyone else is just starting to see what kind of crap they have been buying into.
I have been preaching the fall of gaming since Sony started winning console wars with a cheap DVD player that breaks a few months later. A $30 DVD player (granted I’m judging by today’s standards) single handedly ripped Sega apart. There is marketing for you. “Added value” you wouldn’t even consider if it wasn’t packed with a game system. Even at the prices of DVD players back then, you would not have taken the DVD lure if you knew how long it would last. Makes me wonder how well this miraculously cheap Blu-ray player in the PS3 is going to hold together…
I, likewise, I bemoan the fall of Nintendo’s diehard devotion to games-and-nothing-but-games by even considering a web browser on the Wii. Pure Gaming…rest in peace. At least they haven’t caved to putting a DVD player on there...or have they?
And thank you, but I am not a member of the lynch mob. I am one of the leaders of the Sony lynch mob and have led long before E3 2006, before it became fashionable.
“Uh, who's stealing what from whom? Please don't try to feed us the line that Sony steals everything from Nintendo, I might gag.”
If that’s all you have to say on the subject, best to just stay quiet. Sony has nothing original about their console aside from the incremental Blu-ray, and gagging or threatening to gag oneself doesn’t change that. And no, they borrow from everyone. Microsoft made the tilt controller first, though granted the technology achieving the same effect is more advanced these days.
Off topic: While I am on Blu-ray, of course PS3 games are going to take up more space than DVD9. Disk space is not a bar to jump over…it’s a point to gravitate towards. Sony gets to self fulfill their prophesy at the cost of inflating development costs across the industry with high res cutscenes. I told you Sony is killing games.
Back on topic: It is true. I do not own a PSP. Why would I? I have no compelling reason to play GTA:LCS on a portable. It just came out on PS2. Lumines is coming to Xbox Live Arcade, too. However, I received the strangest and possibly most interesting assignment at work last week. I had to brief the director on how to use a PSP so as not to look like an old fart next to his gamer son. (Great guy by the way. One of those parents who takes an interest in their children’s gaming habits.) I took several hours with his PSP and wrote up a two page document on how to control SWBF2. A nightmare by the way. He tends to agree. That’s why I hate the analog nub. Flying a fighter was impossible. If you liked it just fine, then ok…but I remember it was much easier to control on any home console. Clearly, I took this as an opportunity to evaluate the PSP, if you happened to wonder where this tirade comes from.
But, ok, I’ll let the battery issue slide. That’s based mostly on the reports at launch. Thank you for the correction. I was clearly not aware of the improvements. For everything the PSP does, it has a remarkable battery life then. But, how important all the things are that it does is still up for debate. Really, was optical media necessary? And do UMD movies’ quality (fuzzy like a Muppet, as tested with Ice Age) really justify their inclusion in the system? It’s a lousy way to get non-gaming divisions involved and inflate your divisional revenue numbers. An MP3 player, however, is understandable and desirable. That’s fine.
But one thing I cannot forgive is its atrocious load times. Not portable-friendly by any stretch of the imagination. It took about 10 seconds just to flip a page in the tutorials for BF2. I could flip the page and read it before it switches! And from what I hear, it’s a universal problem with PSP.
And all the moving parts? Bad idea for a handheld. Regardless of how durable it is or isn’t, it felt like I was going to break it. Whereas, the DS feels solid, except for a hinge. And it closes to protects the screen. I would never dream of shoving a PSP in my pocket next to my keys.
On the DS, by the way, the angle of the upper screen is great for ergonomics, whereas I found keeping my wrists up for an optimal viewing angle on the PSP was fatiguing. A tilt screen on the PSP would be a great improvement, posture-wise…but, it would ad just another moving part for you to handle like a baby.
Oh, and if a Sony employee is following this, another quick tip. When you load UMD disks, a more solid sound in anything that clicks would indicate a sturdier construction, if not in fact, then in image at least. It sounded like the thing was held together with paper clips. I handled it similarly.
As it pertains to Metroid, yes I agree. Pain in the palm to play. The touch screen needs to stick to mini games. That was an FPS experiment failed, in my opinion.
I maintain that I’m the one offering perspective. Fine, let them port it. Let them leave it looking like crap. Let them remove or nerf the physics puzzles that made this game more than a really pretty FPS. Sure it would sell plenty of copies without people actually thinking about it in any depth, but I doubt anyone will go through any amount of extra controller wrestling to actually finish a game they already finished two years ago. Unless they are the previously mentioned bat shit crazy.
I need to stop saying "bat shit crazy". How about “Guano Loco”? What do you think?
Edge of Blade @ Jul 24th 2006 9:25PM
Oh, and also granted. The PSP has come a lot closer than other portables to dethrowning Nintendo in this space. I have to give them some cred for making it this far.
redsmoke @ Jul 26th 2006 12:02PM
You know what I like about all these people saying it can't be done and blah blah blah...Everyone is acting like they would just do a DIRECT port of half-life 2 ...I mean come ON...of course it will probably be a completely different game just with half-life 2 story line. My guess would be something simular to the Kill Zone game coming for PSP(Probably even same engine I wouldn't doubt if Valve licenses the engine for use).