PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

I wasn’t going to say anything snarky initially, but I overheard a hilarious conversation yesterday that definitely kick-started this post. Basically three kids were arguing about Sony “copying” Nintendo’s hugely popular Mario Kart games with Little Big Planet Karting (above) and the Super Smash Bros. series with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (below). Granted, if you actually play the games you’ll see that both do certain key things differently, but on the surface, yup – shameless, aren’t they? I had to laugh because while they all were wrong in that way kids who no not a thing about how games are made are, a few nails were indeed hit on the head. Granted, Sony’s other first party stuff has been pretty solid and there’s more greatness to come in 2013. But for this brief, not so shining moment, the Nintendo fanboys and girls out there actually have a genuine gripe that can’t be easily brushed away. Well, at least the two games are good*, so that saves them from a bit of the batting about they’re getting in some corners of the internet…

*”Good” being entirely objective term, as we all know Mario Kart is the gold standard here. LBPK is a wee bit problematic on a few fronts, but the driving and blowing stuff up works OK.

Hmmm. I guess you can file this one under “OK, now I’ve seen everything (again)”. Yes, it’s a blatant Super Smash Bros. clone with a ton of popular Sony franchise characters and maps in place of Mario and company (in lovely HD, unlike Nintendo’s mega-hit). And yes, it’ll probably be the same addictive and competitive party game fun, provided you’re not some fanboy rolling on the ground laughing ’til you pee yourself and drown in it or get so pissed off that you can’t see straight (and that usually misspelled weekly online rant/petition you’re re-drafting to Sony instead of Nintendo or whatever other game company you hated last week is actually spelled correctly because of it). I say deal with it by playing or not playing the game and move on. If it’s fun, it’ll be fun. If it stinks, well, see you at the discount bin. One big saving grace here is Sony can one-up Nintendo by making a Vita version that’s either a standalone experience with online multiplayer (good!) or connects with the PS3 version in some way (better!).

My take? Well, I’m not sure I completely approve of SCEA trying to be “family hip” and “fan hip” in the same product (it always turns out forced and stale when game companies do this wrong), but I really need to pipe down and HOPE someone at SCEA’s PR division doesn’t forget to invite me to another press event so I can play this upcoming game. C’mon guys, Help me do my job here!