Konami unveils new PSP game bundles Comments by Dan Pearson

Fantastic! But also smacks of desperation for the state of the PSP.

Wait, that makes little sense. If you get both packs, you'll have 2 MGS: POs. Are you sure one of them isn't with MGS:PO+, as it's a different game and that way buying both sets would be worth it, should you want them.

I think it's really sad how a big selling platform (old around 50 million units) have to struggle so much to sell games in the west. This move by Konami is most definately an attempt to actually make some money out of it games.
You can be sure the PSP 2 will be more difficult to play pirated games on than the current PSP.

SH Origins was quite competent, if very by-the-numbers. Coded Arms is supposed to be bad?

I wouldn't call Coded Arms bad, it's jsut that if I had to hand someone a game that was the physical embodiment of Average, it'd be Coded Arms. Still alright, but I wouldn't play it a lot if I had bought it in a pack with MGS:PO.

I wouldn't call it desperation. Nobody called MGS: Essential Collection bundle a desperation. It is just a clever way to making money from old games, and in this case £10 per title is reasonable for both the buyer and from the company's POV.

Konami somewhat did the same with the Castlevania double pack on the GBA.

Shame MGS:PO is on both, I already have that. Actually, I'm not too fussed about the other games. Or maybe any of Konami's PSP output. Other than Castlevania X, what else did they put out?

Metal Gear Ac!d 1 and 2, both of which are better than Portable Ops imowhich has a nice game concept (and story) but is undone by poor level design, lack of balance and going for Subsistance third person view rather than the series traditional camera angles which would've worked much better on the PSP.

Right analogue and optionally installable / downloadable games. If I buy the UMD, I should be able to install all (or part) of it optionally. Bonus points if you let me download the game in full if I can authenticate my purchase on the PSP.

Games should also become available on the PSN around release time - even if the shops get a long-ish exclusivity period.

Finally - a comfy redesign with a right analogue and perhaps even a couple of small face (or back) buttons to help with PS1 titles.

There's no reason why the PSP couldn't potentially succeed in terms of software and games in the right hands. a UMD-less version of the console could especially become a stroke of genius.

There are tonnes of people using PSPs (not always for games - especially not for multiple UMD games). It's just that Sony's games offering on the unit, in terms of the gaming experience - isn't cutting it at present.