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Since the beginning of cinematic gaming, there has always been this struggle between balancing the experiences of both narrative and gameplay. For some games, there's too much traditional story-telling which detracts from this core gameplay fun factor (take PS3's Metal Gear Solid 4 for example) and other titles get a bad rap for having paper-thin plots. So how do these two seemingly opposed forces integrate smoothly? Christian Nutt has an interesting opinion piece about this on GameSetWatch which takes a look at Crisis Core's DMW system as an excellent solution to this "narrative-gameplay divide."

Nutt points out that the Digital Mind Wave (DMW) system revolves around the story-driven emotional state of Zack (protagonist), which in turn results in affecting his chances for bonuses and his overall performance in battle. Furthermore, the DMW's slots reflect important characters in Zack's life which, when aligned, often play cut scene memories in the heat of a fight. What this does, according to Nutt, creates a reminder of how important the story is to the actions Zack carries out. This style of integrating stories, focusing on memories and short bursts, while maximizing both emotional impact and interactivity is revolutionary in Nutt's eyes.

A lot of his points make a whole lot of sense and we agree, though perhaps not as fervently. But what about you? Do you agree, disagree? Perhaps before you make that decision, best read up on the entire Crisis Core redefines narrative/gameplay article.

Those would be "Gold" awards in Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's annual PlayStation Awards, not actual gold PlayStations. No, we think excellent sales are reward enough to render the composition of a congratulatory gong irrelevant -- the Gold award only goes to those games that sold over 500,000 copies in Japan over the last year.

This year's PlayStation recipients: Senior citizen stealth sim Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots; pointy-haired sword swinger Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII; and Sega's Phantasy Star Portable, which we failed to include in the headline. Similarly snubbed but given a fancy "Platinum" award was Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, which sold over two million copies and completely messed up our Japanese hardware sales charts.

Source -- PSP awards
Source -- PS3 award (singular)

According to MTV Germany's 2008 Game Awards show, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is this year's best handheld title (AKA, "The Whole World in Your Pocket" Award). The Square Enix game that prequels the popular PSOne title, Final Fantasy VII, beat out other franchise software such as God of War: Chains of Olympus, and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Guitar Hero: On Tour.

It even had beaten Patapon to a pulp -- which was an all new, original title that came out this year. Overall, Crisis Core overcame some tough odds beating out strong competition. Congrats go out to you Crisis Core.

Let's talk about the good sales of a PSP game that isn't called Monster Hunter for one second, if you don't mind. The PSP-exclusive prequel to Final Fantasy VII has made quite a bit of dough for Square Enix, as the company revealed updated sales numbers for the game. Since its release, it has seen nearly 2 million units sold across the world, with Japan buying the largest amount: 820k units. North America resulted in 610k sales, and Europe is responsible for 460k.

The strong figures for Crisis Core may be why Square Enix has such a strong lineup of games planned for PSP. Compared to their DS games (Final Fantasy IV) and Wii games (Dragon Quest Swords), Crisis Core has easily resonated the most with its audience.

[Via NeoGAF]

With third-party PSP support dwindling and becoming increasingly coveted -- even by Sony's own Shuhei Yoshida -- it seems that a new plan of action is in order for the high-tech, twice-revised handheld. Speaking to Edge Online, SCEA's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, provided just such a strategy: "You cannot have ports."

Sony hopes to guide publishers and developers down a better path, enabling them to produce PSP games that take a cue from their console versions, but leave the identical content and gameplay behind. "The recipe for success on the PSP resides simply in providing franchise games that are strong brand names like on consoles, but have unique gameplay on the system," said Koller, listing Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, God of War: Chains of Olympus and the forthcoming Midnight Club as titles that stand on their own, despite their recognized branding.

Koller went on to predict that 2009 would see "significant growth" for the PSP, with "a number of very strong franchise games" on the way and revitalized hardware sales bringing publishers back from the brink. And who knows? Maybe those persistent petitioners will finally get their Assassin's Creed PSP game.

Still haven't picked up Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII? Don't want to pay full price? It ain't much, but Circuit City is offering the PSP exclusive prequel to Final Fantasy VII at $10 off, making the total $29.99 including shipping. Take advantage of this offer here.

Square Enix is releasing a Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII PSP bundle for Europe to coincide with its June 20 release. The bundle includes a PSP Slim with the above art and a copy of the game for 189,90 Euros (US $293.43). According to Amazon France, if you bought a PSP Slim (169,20 Euros) and Crisis Core (36,99 Euros) separately, it'd cost you 20,70 Euros (US $32) more, so it's definitely a good deal to pick up the bundle (assuming, of course, you don't already have a PSP).

Fun fact: When the title finally reaches Europe, it will have been over 9 months since the Japanese launch and 3 months since the North American debut.

The limited edition Final Fantasy VII silver PSP is leaving Japan, and going to Europe, just in time for Crisis Core's release. A special bundle, which includes this engraved PSP and a copy of the PSP-exclusive action RPG, will hit European retailers on June 20th for 189.99 Euros.

Combined with a special edition version of the game, Square Enix is trying its hardest to make up for the delayed release over the Atlantic. For many jealous fans in the US, it looks like they're succeeding.