The PlayStation Portable’s (PSP) Essentials Range of software, originally revealed by Electronic Theatre last month, has received a number of new additions courtesy of THQ. Revealed early this morning, the likes of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, MX Vs ATV Untamed, Avatar: The Legend of Aang and Marvel Super Hero Squad are joining LocoRoco, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Patapon 2 in the budget line-up of PSP software known as the Essentials Range.
Alex & Mike talk Biomutant, a game from Experiment 101/THQ Nordiq you likely have not heard of. While the AAA side of the industry tends to homogenization and imitative, cinematic presentation, “AA” games remain creative and innovative in 2021. Drawing on inspirations as varied as Dark Souls, third person shooters & kung fu cinema, Biomutant is Ratchet & Clank on acid, developed by a team of 20 people.
In the past, these games wouldn't have received a second lease of life. While it's sometimes easy to roll an eye and dismiss remasters as double-dipping, in the cases of the games that time (almost) forget, there's an undeniable joy in seeing a new audience discover them for the first time.
It's been well documented how gaming has struggled to hold onto its past, in terms of older games becoming inaccessible due to hardware moving on, in ways that film and music have never quite had to. With remasters like these, the hope is that foundations are being laid for these sort of cult curios to exist for a long while yet.
Remember THQ? They published such games as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Darksiders I & II, the Destroy All Humans series, Homefront, the Red Faction series, and Saint's Row 1-3. Almost as famous as their games were the THQ marketing stunts, including a Golden Wii.
