The Past
To be frank, PSN games sucked in the beginning. The PlayStation 3 launched on Nov. 17, 2006, and that Friday debut brought crawling downloads from the PlayStation Store and two solitary games -- Blast Factor and Cash Guns Chaos DLX. Neither title was well received (Blast Factor paled in comparison to Geometry Wars and Cash Guns Chaos was just a rip-off of Smash TV and Total Carnage).
Things for PSN games wouldn't get much better from there -- at least not for a while. Nearly three weeks would pass before the Store got any more games (a double shot of Lemmings and Go! Sudoku ended the drought), but even these titles struggled to squeak into the mid-7s on the IGN review scale. Sadly, it wouldn't be until four months into the PlayStation 3's lifecycle that the platform finally got a game to rate as at least "Impressive" on the IGN scale (You go, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection). It would take more than a year for a PSN game, namely Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, to score in the 9s.
Still, if you had to point at a game that made the PSN seem like a viable place for downloadable titles, you'd probably point at Calling All Cars!. A product of God of War creator David Jaffe, Calling All Cars was a super-simple multiplayer game that had cars shooting around the screen, screwing each other over to snatch up criminals, and then trying to get some points by returning the crooks to jail. In an instant, Sony's fledgling online plan was bolstered by a game that had lobbies teeming with people ready to play. Suddenly, some people were pissed if you didn't have a headset and some people finally realized that they needed to buy a headset. Calling All Cars was the first PS3 download that made Xbots -- with their fat, weekly Xbox Live Arcade updates -- envious.
It felt good, but it would be a feeling PlayStation 3 owners would have to wait quite some time to feel again. It would take nearly three months of not-so-great games (see: Rampart, Championship Sprint, and only a few others) to get to Super Stardust HD, a universally loved space shooter that would go on to become the first game ever to have Trophies on the PlayStation 3. Still, like every other bright spot on the PSN horizon, Stardust's release was surrounded by darkness -- no, the games that followed Stardust weren't terrible thanks to standouts such as Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Piyotama, there just weren't that many of them. Games limped onto the PSN -- five in August 2007, three in September 2007, and just two in October 2007.
It was the classic argument: quantity vs. quality. Sure, we weren't getting many titles to round out the year, but they weren't terrible, right? With a few notable exceptions, this was the mantra that Sony took into the end of 2007 and then into 2008 as a whole. November of '07 had the stellar addition of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and January followed up with the first Warhawk expansion pack before releasing the greatness known as PixelJunk Monsters. Sure, Go! Sports Skydiving and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil followed those golden moments, but we didn't have to wait long for April 2008 to bring Stardust and Warhawk expansions and May to follow up with Echochrome and PixelJunk Monsters Encore.
From there, the PSN ship seemed to right itself and find a groove. From June 18, 2008 through September 5, 2008, IGN reviewed 13 PSN games, and none of them scored below a 7.0. Of those 13, seven were rated above an 8.0. Of course, during this time period, the action wasn't always limited to just the PlayStation Network -- E3, the annual videogame show to end all videogame shows, was upon us, and Sony promoted the downloadable platform while taking a shot at its competitors.
"We're not interested in filling up our store with games that nobody wants to play, just so we can say 'we have the most games," SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton told a room full of press.
Tretton's presentation promoted the fact that more than 180 million pieces of content had been downloaded from the PlayStation Store since the PS3's launch in 2006, showed off a downloadable Ratchet & Clank title, debuted Fat Princess (a bloody/cartoony multiplayer game of capture the flag), promised Home was coming, and announced that you'd now be able to download videos and TV shows from the Store.
Basically, Tretton was telling the world that the PlayStation Network was for real.
The Present
Since that Summer rush of greatness, things have been good on the PSN for games -- not great, but good. There have been standouts such as Mega Man 9, WipEout HD, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, but there are still those titles -- the Pain expansions and Brain Challenge spring to mind -- that come out and kind of just exist. Since Tretton's E3 battle cry, the video store has taken off and seems to expand its library each week, and the games have stuck with the quality over quantity mantra. Between September 1, 2008 and December 2, 2008, 15 PSN games have been reviewed on IGN and the average score of those games is 7.7.
Currently, the PSN is atwitter with talk of PlayStation Home. Since March 2007, the world's been waiting to get its hands on Sony's free social program where you'll create an avatar, have a virtual home, and be able to interact with everyone else living in the world. Late last month, Sony promised that the game/experience would be out by the end of 2008, and we're running out of days pretty damn quick.
Although Home won't be a game per say because you're just existing in the virtual world and not really chasing any kind of objective other than to annoy people and fill your apartment with items, the program has the potential to get more people to interact online with others than any other PSN game to date -- even if it's just for a second to see what all the fuss is about. With the ability to launch games from Home, view trailers for games while in Home, and play arcade games in Home, it's going to be interesting to see what this influx of online users will mean to the PSN platform.
The Future
Like the horizon in Superman 64, the future of games on the PlayStation Network is foggy. Sony generally keeps quiet about what titles will be coming to the store until it's just about ready to release them. Earlier this year, we saw the debut of Fat Princess and Flower (a heady game that has you collecting pedals to rejuvenate the world), but beyond that, there's not too much to report. Historically, you should expect a handful of releases a month with only a couple being worth your time and money. However, 2008 ended on an upswing for the quality of games we saw coming from the PlayStation Store. Hopefully, the company can capitalize on that trend and more great games are in the works. By now, developers have had time to experiment with the platform, and titles such as Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando Rearmed have shown that people will play these games when given the chance.
Editors Sound Off
Sick of the history lesson mixed with basic math? We, the members of the IGN PlayStation Team, are too. Seeing how we're paid to sit around and play whatever comes out of the PlayStation Store, you can imagine how invested and opinionated we are when it comes to the topic of what PSN games are and what they could be.
Don't believe this intro? Well, check out what the team had to say for yourself… Chris Roper, Editor in Chief
Favorite PSN Game: WipEout HD because it's fast, sleek and beautiful. Also, it's WipEout.
Least Favorite: I don't care for crappy ports of 20+ year old games, like Championship Sprint.
Most Anticipated: I'm going to have to go with Fat Princess as what we've seen looks like great fun. Plus there's lots and lots of blood.
When I first saw the PSN I thought: it was ugly as hell. The first design was just terrible and slow, but luckily that was fixed this year.
The PSN hit its stride games-wise with: titles like Calling All Cars! That was one of the first titles that I really thought stood toe-to-toe with some of the best that Xbox Live! Arcade has to offer.
That was a defining moment because: See above.
The future of PSN games looks: good, but I'm hesitant to say great. There are certainly some unique titles coming our way, like Flower and Fat Princess, but I'm not quite convinced that many studios are giving PSN-exclusive titles the same amount of care and time as XBLA releases. Greg Miller, Editor
Favorite PSN Game: The Last Guy. I thought it was clever, visually entertaining, and something that was completely unique on the platform. Plus, I got to wear a cape and save people.
Least Favorite: Super Rub-a-Dub. Jeez, what a great example of how unresponsive and frustrating the Sixaxis could be.
Most Anticipated: Fat Princess. I've played it, and it seems like a title I'm going to lose myself in thanks to the ease of drop-in/drop-out play and thanks to how awesome blood splattering on a cartoon landscape looks.
When I first saw the PSN I thought: Sony was missing a huge opportunity. Xbox Live Arcade was so polished and they were getting so many games -- it was sad to see the PSN starving to death.
The PSN hit its stride games-wise with: Calling All Cars and Super Stardust were awesome games, but they were still surrounded by crap. I think we saw the Network hit a stride this summer with games you'd want to play coming out week after week -- PixelJunk Monsters, PixelJunk Eden, Siren, Mega Man 9, WipEout HD, etc.
That was a defining moment because: There was finally a sense of excitement every Thursday.
The future of PSN games looks: Pretty good. Sony's always quiet about what the PSN will bring. We know about Fat Princess, Flower, and very little else. I think developers are embracing the avenue, though, so that makes the outlook better than ever. Jeff Haynes, Editor
Favorite PSN Game: This one is a hard call, because there have been a number of great games recently. I really liked Puzzle Quest, Super Street Fighter, Wipeout HD and The Last Guy, but the one that is probably my new favorite is Bionic Commando Rearmed, because it's an awesome recreation of the classic title.
Least Favorite: That would be NovaStrike. It wasn't enjoyable in the slightest bit – the story had promise, but the gameplay was truly lacking across the board.
Most Anticipated: Fat Princess, hands down. Why? Because this seems like it will be one of the most irreverent strategy titles ever conceived of (not to mention one of the most unique) and that has the extremely intrigued. The various character classes and abilities, coupled with the copious amounts of gore and destruction, really makes me eagerly await how I will stuff my princess with cakes, pies and other edibles.
When I first saw The PSN I thought: Good ideas, but flawed execution. There seemed to be so many separate tabs that would provide a large amount of regular content updates, like movies and video trailers, classic downloadable games, add-on content and more. Of course, providing this on a weekly basis would be a large undertaking for a free service, and it seems that way, since very few updates have included every category with consistently worthwhile content, such as demos for players to get excited by, loads of add-on content not supplied by Rock Band, and classic games (in North America, at least) that would engage PS3 owners with Sony's vast library of great games.
The PSN hit its stride games-wise with: PixelJunk Monsters.
That was a defining moment because: it was one of the first games that was consistently addictive after a somewhat fallow period of quality titles (particularly when the rush of Super Stardust HD had started to wear off prior to the inclusion of trophies). But since PixelJunk Monsters came out, a large number of the recent releases have ranged from good to excellent.
The future of PSN games looks: Reply Hazy, Try Again. Yeah, I broke out the Magic 8-Ball, but it's the truth. While we've been seeing some great games recently, the PSN seems to stake a large amount of its success on expansions to games (i.e. Warhawk or Super Stardust) or games with pre-established audiences (Wipeout, Super Street Fighter). New IPs like Fat Princess could do much to push the service, but it really needs to dip into the well of classic PS1 games that are currently available in other regions outside of North America as well as its classic library to help solidify its distribution of games. Ryan Clements, Associate Editor
Favorite PSN Game: I don't want to sound like a broken record, but my absolute favorite game on the PSN is Super Stardust HD -- without question. When the game was released last year, it blew me away with phenomenal visuals and some of the slickest, most enjoyable shooter gameplay I've ever had the pleasure of being addicted to. Its subsequent expansion packs have enhanced the experience and Trophy support was the icing on the cake. But not all is happy and fine in PlayStation Land.
Least Favorite: Although I'm a huge fan of Q-Games' recent works, PixelJunk Racers is easily my least favorite title on the PSN today. It's trite and has almost no actual gameplay to its name.
Most Anticipated: I'm hopeful for the future because of Flower. This surreal, artistic portrayal of urban life meeting the beauty of nature should definitely appeal to open-minded gamers looking for something different.
When I first saw the PSN I thought: Although this enthusiasm for the PSN has grown as of late, I was fairly happy with the service even when I first purchased a PS3 -- especially because it comes free of charge, but the changes Sony has made along the way are appreciated. Stardust definitely helped the service in the long run by demonstrating the polish a PSN downloadable title can really possess. I've played that one more than some of my full PS3 games, so that's saying a lot.
The future of PSN games looks: What's in the future? I couldn't be sure, but I'd love to see the evolution of some of my favorite games like Stardust, Calling All Cars and the future projects of thatgamecompany. Even though I'm relatively pleased with the PSN service as a whole, I hope Sony gets proactive with its online affairs and continues to improve the experience for loyal PS3 owners.