Coded Arms Contagion, SilentHill Origins and Sonic Rivals 2, to name a few) failed to live up to theoriginals. Sales figures were anything but Earthshattering, which gavepublishers a fearful attitude toward PSP development.When gamersthink of the following year, 2008, they think of God of War: Chains of Olympus not only because it is an amazing, consoleperfect offshoot, but because it isalso the only standout game to hit PSP that year. There are, of course, a fewgames that deserve an honorable mention: Patapon, Echochrome, Wipeout Pulse andHot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2. Not surprisingly, all of these games were publishedby Sony.(For therecord, FF14 Gil Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was omitted from the list on purposebecause it does not deserve an honorable mention of any sort.)LittleBigPlanet2009: A NewBeginningWith theexception of the Saturn, which Sega attempted to resuscitate on more than oneoccasion, console and handheld manufacturers don’t typically stand by a machinewhose success is dwindling. But despite the dying thirdparty support andslowing sales figures in 2007 and 2008, and despite the failure of UMD as amovie/TV format, Sony was determined to keep the PSP going.PSP Go was onesuch attempt, but again, it is best described as an experiment, nothing more.The real effort came from Sony’s push to bring another string of tripleA games both first and thirdparty to the handheld. This led to the creation of newtitles in the Resistance, LocoRoco, Patapon, MotorStorm, LittleBigPlanet, andJak and Daxter series all built specifically for PSP. There were a couplethirdparty gems as well, most notably Rock Band Unplugged and Tekken 6.PSP onlysuffered two disappointments in 2009, the first of which was visible from a mileaway: Gran Turismo. No game can endure that many delays without tempting playersto expect more than the developers can deliver. The second, Assassin’s Creed:Bloodlines, was somewhat of an important release because it showed that thesekinds of games can be developed for PSP. Now all we need is for someone to makethem fun.