Untapped PSP Potential

The PSP has shown that it can play handle some really great games and run side by side with its big brother, the PS2.  It has also made for a respectable movie player, allowing people to view high quality movies on the go.  Hell, some people even use it as an mp3 player!  But it has also shown that it can do other things and this is what I would like to mention today.  A couple months before the Silent Hill movie hit theaters, I was in desperate need of a Silent Hill to play through.  All I could think about was that damn franchise.  Unfortunately, I had already played through all of the games in the series and there were no new entries on the horizon except for Origins which had not even been announced stateside yet.  After some searching, I stumbled across something that I didn't even know existed, a PSP digital comic book called "The Silent Hill Experience".  

I immediately placed an order for it. When I received the UMD, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of content. Aside from the comic book material, there was a few developer interviews and interviews with the director of the film, game trailers, music tracks, and so on. But the comic book aspect was what really drew me in. The comic book may not have been the most amazing story or anything but it did expand on the games universe and satisfy my craving for more Silent Hill. What was so cool about it was the way in which it was presented. Basically, the art slowly moves across the screen and provides subtle transitions between storyboards which makes a much more immersive experience than just reading a regular comic book.   The immersion didn't stop there because while you read the book, beautiful music from Silent Hill composer, Akira Yamaoka, plays in the background.   Unfortunately, aside from the Silent Hill Experience, I have only seen one other video-game related interactive comic book which was based on Metal Gear Solid.  I really wish that more developers would exploit this as a tool of increasing interest for their games or as a means of expanding their stories.  Being able to see different artists interpretations of a franchise is really cool and makes every comic interesting.  Imagine if series like Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, God of War, or even Bioshock got the same treatment.  How cool would that be if a new interactive comic book was released every few months!? This my friends, is one of the PSP coolest features (in my opinion) and is sadly overlooked by many developers and publishers.   

--Nick