One of the nice things about travel is that it gives me some quality time with the handheld systems.  Usually PC and console gaming dominates my free time, but on the road, it's the PSP and DS that come out (ok, the laptop I'm writing this on now sees a little World of Warcraft action from the hotel too).  I'm really amazed at the quality of portable games these days -- honestly, some of them are quite giving my "normal" console gaming a run for the money.

I've already mentioned The World Ends With You, and examples of good DS games are legion: Professor Layton, Advance Wars 2, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Phoenix Wright, and Picross, just to name a few that have stayed in my "current games" DS case for quite a while.  But I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of games for the PSP, particularly in one of my favorite sub-genres of games, strategy RPGs.  Jeanne d'Arc is well worth checking out, and the ports of Disgaea and FF Tactics are both quite good.  But recently I've been logging a lot of time with Wild Arms XF for the PSP. 

XF hits all the same beats that make me generally fall in love with the Wild Arms series -- overwrought dialogue matched with very solid gameplay, and a kitschy Western-meets-Fantasy vibe that has really grown on me.  Taking a turn from the rest of the series this one is a full on strategy-RPG, with complex tactical combat, a job system, the whole works.  I'm not super far into it, and the difficulty curve seems a little uneven, but so far I have to give this one quite a recommendation.

I'll admit I'm a little sad the way some of my favorite genres, like strategy RPGs and platformers, seem to have been exiled to the handheld platforms.  But hey, I'll take good games on whatever platform I can find them.  Who knows, maybe Operation Darkness and the new Banjo Kazooie game will turn those genres around on the Xbox 360...