PSP Crazy - Story: PSP Official Guidebook released

Posted by Bex on 19/05/2006

I’m sure many of you in the UK have been anticipating the release of the PSP Official Guidebook as it is the first to offer a free UMD with playable demos. Originally cited for release on April 27th, they have been many delays, mainly due to distribution problems. However it is now available from W H Smiths and many other retailers.

The magazine is published by Future, who also produce the Official PS2 magazine as well the Official Xbox 360 magazine among others. Unfortunately this magazine doesn’t carry the same price tag as the Official PS2 magazine. It retails at £6.99, £2 more than the Official PS2 magazine. And much more than any other PSP magazine.

The only other PSP magazines released previously are GO>Play and Pure PSP, which may offer a free cheat book now and then, along with pretty much outdated reviews. But the Official PSP Guidebook definitely sets itself apart from the others.

The magazine itself is of very high quality. It includes previews on games that most of us actually want, including: Mortal Kombat, Loco Roco, Monkey Ball Adventure. The reviews are also very impressive. Gone are the days where all the reviews are of launch titles. Among some of the reviews are Tomb Raider - which is set for release next month, Daxter, Fight Night Round 3, Dragon Ball Z.

The UMD itself however, is not as good as anticipated. It includes 8 playable demos, 5 music videos and 6 video clips.

I say it is not as good as anticipated, as I’m sure many were hoping that the demos would be of games that haven’t been released yet. But it is only Loco Roco that fit’s the criteria. It includes a different level to that of the Japanese downloadable version, and more importantly, it is in English, so we finally know what we are doing.

The other demos on the UMD are: Burnout Legends, Lemmings, Mercury, Medievil Resurrection, Toca Race Driver 2, Virtua Tennis and Wipeout Pure.

The music videos included are: Green day, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Natasha Bedingfield and Faithless.

The video clips are: Steamboy, Stealth, Bewitched, The Longest Yard, Roach, Titanic: The True Story and Terrible Kisses.

Although 7 of the 8 demos are of games already released, the magazine says they have chosen them as they feel that they are part of the “Greatest Hits” games. Also another bonus to this UMD is that it doesn’t require the latest firmware. It only requires 2.60, so you can keep your homebrew via GTA, and still have the opportunity to use this great free UMD.

Front Cover

UMD Cover