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On Tuesday Edge Online posted a feature detailing the decline of third party games for the PSP.  Backed with data the findings seemed almost damning despite the last year’s increase in PSP sales.  Within two days, John Koller, SCEA’s hardware marketing head, responded to this report.

In the short, boring, and abstract, the answer is that somewhere around two years ago businesses decided that the PSP wasn’t selling super well and decided to push their resources elsewhere, specifically into the then emerging current-gen consoles. 

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In Asian gaming markets like Korea and, to a lesser extent, Japan, there is an entirely distinct business model for video game releasing that's never been tried here in the US at any broad scale or with any success: free games, supported by ads and micro-transactions.

Certain games, like EA's FIFA and a few titles from NC Soft are released for free to download in Korea but give players the option to purchase in-game objects and upgrades. EA's FIFA, for instance, lets you pay a few bucks for customized jersies as well as limited upgrades to a player's stats. Most people just play with what they can get for free, but enough people buy the extras that, combined with revenue from ads placed inside the games (be it actually within gameplay itself or just ads that appear within the interface) for the game to turn a profit.

EA's new chief executive, John Riccitiello, and Gerhard Florin, EA's executive vice president, aim to bring that model to the US starting with a brand new game just announced: Battlefield Heroes.

Not to be confused with Medal of Honor: Heroes, Company of Heroes, Bionacle Heroes, Sonic Heroes, City of Heroes, Heroes of the Pacific, Heroes of Might and Magic, or the TV show Heroes, Battlefield Heroes is a "dumbed-down", cartooned-up entry to the Battlefield franchise aimed at slightly more casual gamers.

“The existing Battlefield games are fairly deep; you have to be pretty good or you’ll die pretty quick,” Gerhard Florin told the New York Times. “Now we’ve toned down the difficulty, shortened each game session to 10 or 15 minutes and made the visual style more cartoony.”

He says that if this is a success, other EA library titles could be given the ad-supported treatment. Worth noting is that these are only PC titles we're talking about here, there's been no mention of applying this model to the console realm.

Here's to goofing off at work and not having to pay for it.

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According to MCV in an exclusive interview with Square's European and US division's John Yamamoto, Square Enix is strongly considering the purchase of Western development studios, in particular European ones.

Said Yamamoto, who claimed that Square Enix is not currently negotiating any buy-outs, "We are now more focused on developing product that will help our expansion in the Western markets and of course this includes more fully localized titles than ever before."

He continued, "In addition, we understand the importance of more global simultaneous releases and this too is a priority. Finally, we are also carefully examining options available for adding product from Western developers to accelerate our growth outside of Japan."

Yamamoto detailed acquisition as "an option" that would help in this endeavor.

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By now you already know that Call of Duty 4 is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Or the greatest thing since Halo 3, at least. It ushered in the first modern warfare title of the series, and the online component is just as great as the single player campaign. With a bevy of reasons to keep playing, namely leveling up to unlock new abilities, weapons, and weapon attachments (and getting cool-sounding military rank names), and game mechanics that work just right, COD4 is a game you're going to want to pick up right now and not put down for a long time. Excuse me while I rank up.



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Right now, not everyone is completely enthralled by the
"jump while shooting a sniper rifle then throw a grenade while melee attacking someone on the way down and land" gameplay that is Halo 3 multiplayer. And While Team Fortress, one aspect of the trifecta of awesome which is the Orange Box, is definitely a fresh fun addition to the 360's online FPS roster, it's a very specific gameplay type that may not appeal to all. Enter Call of Duty 4, the first modern warfare installment of the series - and mayhaps the best first-person shooter on the 360 to date.

COD4's gameplay is based much more on reality than the fantasy and stretches of the imagination other online titles are offering - you don't need to unload an entire clip into an enemy to kill them, as a few choice shots will do. You also don't have leaping abilities that defy the laws of gravity - all combat takes place on the ground here. In fact, you can probably recognize the gamers who had a little more than their alloted dose of Halo 3 when they run at you jumping while firing a sniper rifle - they learn to adapt quickly.

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