The PSP has had a condition for a while where it has lacked some truly innovative and all around fun games. French wild man, Jonathan Choquel, the creator of HotPXL, has teamed up with Atari and they have given the PSP a shot in the arm to remedy its fun time woes. HotPXL is a collection of over two hundred fun and diverse mini-games which are all very brief and provide gamers on the go and casual gamers alike, some fun without having to sit through a long story, long introductions and stopping in the middle of the action only to resume at a later date, losing much of the enthusiasm you previously had while playing. HotPXL’s mini-games are very short indeed and can easily be played in a span of ten to twenty seconds each, quickly moving from one to the next. Each of the games features various styles and some are very reminiscent of the games of yesteryear. Games that have you piloting a space ship through stacked blocks at a 45 degree angle screams of Zaxxon, the old Colecovision favorite, where as the mini-game of avoiding and shooting objects in your triangular ship brings back the nostalgia of Asteroids.

Much like the earlier and highly acclaimed WarioWare for the Nintendo DS, HotPXL takes the same approach in its games but adds a more mature theme to them. Outlining a women’s tattoo or having to find the woman undressing in a window is not uncommon in here, nor is the face plant a skateboarder makes, missing his mark and exploding into a large pixilated shower of blood. Many of the games, some totally out there and some more along the lines of normalcy, have much to do with the urban lifestlye. Plenty of games seem to revolve around skateboarding or spray painting and even DJ’ing. The many games of HotPXL we had the chance to see showed plenty of game variances as well as some original and unique ideas. If by some odd chance, you ever do get bored of the two hundred plus games that HotPXL comes with, there will be more available for downloading as soon as the game is released and more to follow as more are created. Not only will the PSP allow you to keep the game play fresh with new games, but you will also allow you to add your own custom music sound tracks. Mp3’s you load onto your PSP or iPod will be able to be transferred to the game and used through the games media manager and allow you to create your own playlists for you to play along with.

As you might expect, the graphics aren’t going to be the top notch, full 3D mind blowing action stuff found in Splinter Cell or Syphon Filter, and the word PXL or “Pixel” is very appropriate. Not meant to be the next graphical revolution in gaming, the blocky and cartoony images in HotPXL are game play and fun focused only and the fast, quick puzzles drive that fact home. With hardly any load times at all, HotPXL keeps the action moving quickly and at a constant pace, quickly moving from one mini-game to the next and the games are easy enough that you need don’t read instructions on how to play each game every single time. WarioWare was a big hit with gamers and HotPXL looks to be the next big thing with PSP goers. With its more mature attitude directed toward older PSP gamers, the mini-games have more room to spread out and be more diverse than they could just being games for the little ones. With many PSP gamers itching to get their hands on a game that is actually fun and can be picked up and put down without any interruptions, HotPXL looks like it will be one to watch for when it is released later this year around November.