Daxter dev disses below-par PSP games

News - Daxter to up the ante?

Former Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter) developer Didier Malenfant has spoken out against the standard of new PSP titles, saying that generally speaking they're simply not good enough, and don't rival that standards found on the PS2. Malenfant is currently the president of Ready At Dawn, a new developer he co-founded with Blizzard veterans Ru Weerasuriya and Andrea Pessino. He says his company's debut title, Daxter, will hopefully recreate the quality of a PS2 title on the PSP in earnest, and help alter gamers' expectations of the handheld.

"Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, 'Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game,' or 'We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analogue stick," the designer told UK industry site GamesIndustry.biz.

He continued, stating that his own title Daxter (to be published by Sony), "is not only a really good game, but really something that shows that for the first time, this is a handheld that can give you the same experience you'd find on a home console."

Malenfant continues, claiming that he hopes to open a 'floodgate' of uncompromised PSP titles, as well as broaden the range of titles on the format. He notes that gamers may be dissatisfied with the current line-up of games on the handheld, frustrating given the potential of the powerful system. Finally, the designer waxed lyrical on the joys of his firm's relationship with Sony, which he believes will help foster top-notch titles.

Malenfant would not be drawn on the topic of a Sony buy-out at Ready At Dawn, but admitted the relationship was very healthy. More soon.