NGP Backwards Compatible With and Enhances Your PSP Games

Hey, I'm a fan of the God of War games, but I have zero interest in playing the reportedly excellent PSP versions because of the gimped controls. Maybe I'll finally get around to them on my NGP, since Eurogamer is reporting the PSP successor will have full compatibility, with some perks, too.

In addition to simply running existing PSP games via software emulation, NGP enhances them by allowing access to the second analog stick. That'd be awful useful in God of War when Kratos needs to roll away or in Resistance: Retribution, when camera control is mapped to, er, buttons. Gross.

You'll also have the ability to upscale the visuals, too, which means they may even look better!

Between this and the PSP Remaster series, which I'm expecting we'll hear about at E3, Sony seems to be offering plenty of new ways to take another look at PSP's existing library.

nice
 
awesome got the quest. Hopefully they actually support this with all games and don't just release one janky way to give dual analogue support.

Awesome to know

nice

very nice

Curious to find out how much effort it takes to implement the second stick with older games, and if all games will have second stick functionality.

I bought my PSP for the RPGs, but after my initial struggle with MGS: Peace Walker's control scheme, I can understand why the second control stick is a godsend for so many players.  That back touchpad still sounds wonky, though.

Probably only for first generation and then no compatibility. We will have to buy them all again. Like always.

Damn. I think I'll have to pick one up when I get a chance.

Knowing this makes me actually a little interested in the NGP. Being able to keep my current games and maybe soften the price by selling my PSP makes this possibly affordable.

The more I hear the more I think this thing beats the 3DS.  

Wow, I might actually get one. This will be great for playing Syphon Filter and similar games.

Curious to find out how much effort it takes to implement the second stick with older games, and if all games will have second stick functionality.

Don't the GoW games have a fixed camera anyway? How does this make a difference?

I guess that's nice but with them abandoning the UMD format I'm simply not interested in re-buying these games digitally unless the prices are below the $10 mark. 
  
They surely will not be, however.

So... What about my UMDs? 
  
I'd like some clarification over how it'll be backwards compatible and with what. It seems like it'll just be software downloaded from the PlayStation Store, which would be ultra lame.

Don't the GoW games have a fixed camera anyway? How does this make a difference?

That's awesome 

What the hell is Patrick talking about? The 'gimped' controls were actually superior to a right stick. Dodging didn't require you to completely shift your hand away from the face buttons.
 
Stupid example. Do your research before making such claims.

Wow, I actually think GoW plays much better on the PSP than the PS3 versions.  To each their own...

awesomeness! that is good news for this upcoming device at least.

Well thats pretty nifty. But weren't God of War games rated so highly on the PSP because they had a fixed camera so there wasn't a need for a second analog control? Seems like a pretty weak reason to not play them Patrick.

omg thats awesome!.....wait, i bought all those games on UMD, so..............great, glad to see they are still supporting the people who bought all those games on UMD again 
 
edit: also patrick, comeon, the GoW games on PSP didnt have gimped controls. the L button being hold to block, and move stick while holding L to dodge worked perfectly, and missing L2 and R2 buttons didnt really detract from the game

So, are there gonna be software updates for second stick camera control upgrades?  Simply mapping what the face buttons do to an analog stick doesn't sound like a fix.

FUCK. I'm selling my PSPGOTOHELL immediately.

YES. This is great news. Sort of. I love the idea of backwards compatibility so that old stuff isn't rendered completely vestigial. Here's the kicker though - I don't own any PSP software. 
 
But I am happy Sony decided to do this.

Now I'm especially glad I didn't buy a PSP. This means I'll be playing Valkyria Chronicles 2 & 3 after all!

Warming up to the PS Vita. Can't wait to reach around and give it a good rub.
 
You'd like that! Don't you?

I don't know why I have a problem with "awful" being used instead of "awfully," but "that'd" is a-ok.

People have bought any PSP games?

So, wait.  I'm confused - is it only backwards compatible with games available for download or does it have a slot for UMDs or whatever?
 
Either way, great news.  Glad they decided to include it.

A second analog stick might make Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops playable. 

The Syphon Filter games. Those needed it.

Well, at least this device proves that Sony actually realizes that the one analog stick thing was stupid.

Birth by Sleep with a second stick. I want it.

I take it that doesn't include the UMD games, which probably accounts for almost 100% of PSP games legitimately sold.  

That is great news, I have that game a slew of others. I never finished GOW on the PSP for similar reasons.

Now we can play PSP games the way they were meant to be played.  And it only took 7 years.

I found that both GOW and Resistance on the PSP have controls that made up for missing a stick. How Retribution works may not be for everyone, but both GOWs are intuitive.

The PSP GoW games do not have gimped controls. You can't be that crippled that you're not able to hold down a shoulder button and then use the nub to roll. The shoulder button which happens to be the block button to begin with.

Saying that the God of War PSP games have gimped controls is just silly. 
 
The PSP games that had control issues are the ones that required a second analogue stick for camera control which doesn't apply to any God of War game. 
 
Being able to play the God of War games on the NGP really won't make any difference.

Except that the right stick will be used to map buttons on to.  If a game used the L and R buttons for left-right camera control, using a second thumbstick wouldn't give you full access, because that would be something foreign to the original product.  Instead, you could only use the left-right function of the analog control and not the entire thumbstick.
 
Misleading article is misleading.

So you have to re-buy digital versions I take it - since it doesn't have a UMD slot.

The God of War PSP games controlled perfectly fine. No idea why you are calling them gimped.

Thank goodness. I've been wanting a second stick for Monster Hunter since day one. Down with the claw!