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Possible new PlayStation Portal model pays homage to the Vita's OLED

While much of the focus on PlayStation's next steps is the PS6 and PS6 Portable , the two-year old PlayStation Portal could be getting a revamp according to those pesky internet rumours.  Update : Hints at pricing are around £/$250-299 for the new model, but everything remains deeply in rumours territory. Presumably the goal is to hit the 10% (currently 7%-ish) adoption rate among PS5 owners, something that would make it a bone fide hit gadget.   The recent February  PlayStation State of Play  saw no announcement. But, PlayStation needs to make Portal more a core member of the PS5 family, rather than the distant cousin that most of its appearances suggest.  As the improvement in connectivity and streaming tech, proven by many gamers enjoying their PS5 or PlayStation Plus streamed content from around the world, an updated Portal Pro could be on the cards.  Possibly featuring a 120Hz display and an OLED screen in honour of the mighty Vita, that'd be coo...

Drums Challenge (PSN) Review

Drums Challenge takes up the button bashing mantle for music games on PSP with a hi-hat, bass and cymbal mashing experience using all 10 of the PSP's main gaming buttons to give it some welly. Using a career mode, you learn to play the drums, then progress through a series of musical styles, encouraged by a series of stylised characters.

The machine plays a few drums, then you need to play them back in time, with you being rewarded for perfect and awesome timing and mocked for getting it completely wrong. Through blues and metal, its easy enough with little hand movement required, but hit Reggae and you need to start planning to move your fingers around the board.



Beat changes can also throw you, its a lot easier to play fast than it is a slow section, but the game seems fairly forgiving. Its just a shame that everything on the play screen is so fixed and rigid, given were so used to the scrolling beat bars of other music games, and the rest of the game has attractive fluid screens. Also, the cue buttons, tucked away in the corner, are a little dinky, despite being the easier method of learning the patterns (for me).

Still, for a couple of quid, there's a lot of rhythm action to be had and Drums Challenge certainly has the personality to keep you trying. If the game screen was a bit more lively - a crowd, beat bars, the rest of the band, anything - it would be a total winner!



Available on PSN for £1.74 [Musigames]
7/10 Block Rocking Beats, but thinking too small, even for the dinky PSP. 

Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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