Gamertell

Title: Audition Portable
Price: $48.90
System(s): PSP
Release Date: June 4, 2007
Publisher (Developer): T3 Entertainment (T3 Entertainment)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Spiritual successor to Bust a Groove, fun puzzle/dancing game, cute characters, ad hoc multiplayer and 67 songs.
Cons: Not a lot of track variety, can get old quickly
Overall Score: 7.5/10

Once upon a time, a long time ago, the Playstation had a wonderful, dance/puzzle game called Bust a Groove. It was similar to Parappa the Rapper, and it had players pushing buttons to make characters dance. It became a cult classic, but was possibly ahead of its time.

Cue Audition Online the spiritual successor to Bust a Groove. The campy feel of the original game was gone, but the button-pressing dance goodness lived on. In Korea, Audition Online’s birthplace, the game became so popular that it spawned a PSP version - Audition Portable. Audition Portable is essentially a pint-sized version of Audition Online and is a lighthearted PSP game rhythm fans will enjoy…

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Title: Pump It Up Exceed Portable
Price: $12.90 (on sale at Play-Asia - retails for $49.90)
System(s): PSP
Release Date: November 30, 2006
Publisher (Developer): Andamiro (Studio 9)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Very nice song selection, Korean or English language options, cool background videos playing while you play, online ranking and a video mode where you can just listen to the music and watch the videos.
Cons: The cool background videos are too cool, and often distracting. Also the control scheme takes getting used to and there is no auto-save function.
Overall Score: 7/10

Not too long ago, Play-Asia had a deal on a special Pump It Up bundle, where you’d receive both Pump It Up: Exceed Portable and Pump It Up: Zero Portable for $19.99. Of course I jumped on the deal, and upon receiving my shipment decided I’d dedicate a column to reviewing one of the games.

The Pump It Up games are similar to Dance Dance Revolution, except they have five markers to hit instead of four. This makes the PSP version a bit more difficult, as you would imagine. It also requires a bit of an inventive control scheme to make the whole thing work, as the game involves diagonal arrows facing UP+LEFT, UP+RIGHT, DOWN+LEFT, DOWN+RIGHT, along with a center square/circle thing…

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South Korean publisher/developer Webzen’s forthcoming massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) Huxley has been stalled since it was first announced in 2005. Unfortunately, beyond a few new videos, little information or even a friggin’ release date has been offered.

Thankfully, we might finally be able to play Huxley sooner rather than never with the recent announcement that NHN USA has picked up the distribution rights for Huxley. Don’t expect to see…

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The international game competition Game&Game World Championship (GNGWC) kicked off second season with the preliminary round in Europe earlier this month (August 2007). The international event has gamers from Korea, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and the US competing in preliminary rounds in each country and then against each other in the finals on December 1, 2007, in Seoul, Korea.

The six first place winners from each preliminary event (one for each PC game in the competition) will be sent to Korea to compete in the finals while runners-up winners will receive a digital camera, MP3 player or a DVD player. Some regional runners-up winners for specific games will…

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According to GameIndustryBiz, Sony will release an 80 GB version of the PS3 in Korea but, at least for now, not in Europe.

The 80GB PS3 will sell in South Korea on June 16, 2007, for KRW 518,000 (US$556).

There could be 80GB PS3s released in regions other than Korea, though there are currently not any plans to do so (which means it could still happen).

Of course, if you enjoy the warranty-voiding mod scene, you can put any size hard drive you want in a PS3. GamersReports has upgraded to a 120GB drive provides step-by-step instructions with photos. You’ll need, of course, a PS3, a 2.5mm SATA drive and proper screwdrivers.

Read [GameIndustryBiz] Instructions [GamersReports]

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