Winner gets "precisely 12% of the swag in Seth's "random Capcom swag" box. You can supply yours at Capcom-Unity. But it's kind of pointless because I've already thought of the winner: Stephen J. Cannell vs. Capcom. You need a franchise with a huge stable of classic action heroes, right? With this you get all four members of the A-Team; The Greatest American Hero; Ken Wahl in Wiseguy; Jim Rockford from The Rockford Files; Fred Dryer in Hunter; Johnny Depp in his 21 Jump Street Days, plus Hardcastle ... and McCormick.

Bam, it's like printing money. I can't believe I'm still here pitching this to you and you're not already working on it, Capcom. Get moving, we can talk about my residuals later.

Capcom vs. (Insert Idea Here) [Capcom-Unity; image from Capcom-Unity]

The Versus mode contains two different game types. Slayer's Rule sees players trying to down the most Majinis within the time limit, while Survivor's Rule has players trying to down the most other players. Versus will be available for purchase tomorrow on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, costing either 400 Microsoft points or $4.99, depending on how your platform chooses to represent money.

So who's buying?

Graphics and Presentation: Really an unfair category to judge a PSP game versus a DS game in. While I was perfectly happy with the DS version before seeing it on the PlayStation portable, after the fact it feels cramped and very small. The PSP has a large, vibrant playfield and special effects for all the spells and abilities, while Nintendo's handheld just has a few basic animations repeated ad nauseum.

Sound figures into presentation as well, and once again the PSP comes out on top, with music of a much higher quality than the DS. Another relatively unfair category for comparison, but presentation is presentation.

The PSP version ends up having much more personality thanks to the large screen. You see more of the characters, more of the backgrounds...it feels more like a full game, leaving the DS version looking like a shoddy port.

Winner: PlayStation Portable

Controls: If only the PSP had a touch screen, it would be perfect. That's one area I wouldn't mind Sony stealing an idea or two from Nintendo on. The DS controls for Puzzle Quest aren't without their flaws, but for the most part it handles much better than on its shinier counterpart. I notice a difference especially in battles with move time limits - the stylus is just a faster way to navigate. I've have a few issues with the small size of the playfield causing me to make stylus errors, and it would have been nice to have the option to use the d-pad instead if you were so inclined, but otherwise the DS controls are the more enjoyable and responsive of the two.

Winner: Nintendo DS

Performance: Here's a tough one. On one hand you have the DS, which has no noticeable load times to speak of but seems to slow down a bit during the actual puzzles. On the other you have the PSP, which has negligible load times for the handheld that seem to pop up randomly throughout gameplay and fighting, while the puzzle action is a bit more fast-paced due to increased graphical horsepower. Almost a toss-up here, but I'm giving the DS the edge for the simple fact that you can play it longer without charging your batteries.

Winner: Nintendo DS

AI: An important element of a puzzle game with a large single-player versus NPC component, I've found that at all difficulty levels the PSP version of the game wipes the floor with the DS version. Perhaps it's just perceptual, but the PlayStation AI is relentless, never missing an opportunity to do damage, while opponents on the DS will sometimes completely ignore potential skull rows in order to chase after items that mean nothing to a computer controlled opponent, like experience or gold. This category really comes down to what level of challenge you prefer. I'm not the type of guy who likes things handed to me, so the winner here is clear.

Winner: PlayStation Portable

Overall Enjoyment: So far we have a tie, so it all comes down to this one category. Which system do I have more fun playing the game on? Which a much more atmospheric world thanks to richer graphics and sound, I give the edge to the PlayStation Portable version. Puzzle Quest is an amazing game on either platform, but Sony's handheld manages to pull off a more complete experience.

Winner: PlayStation Portable

So if you have to choose, you have my recommendation. Never say my obsessive compulsive game purchasing never did anything for you. If you have neither handheld system, Puzzle Quest is a game worth purchasing one or the other for. I'll leave that decision completely up to you. Michael Fahey

GameSetWatch points out that a UK Frag Doll defected to form her own mini-clan.

Siren, the Frag Doll formerly known as Voodoo, posted some interesting thoughts on the whole concept of sponsored girl gamers on her new site, VersuS, in the about section under the subhead Freedom instead of Adverti$ing.

Although we may have strong opinions, you can be sure of one thing; We're not here to endorse any product or sell you anything. If we say it, it's because we mean it, not because it pays our wage. We've both seen the perils and pit falls of "selling out" and have learnt one vital lesson; if you love something then honesty, independence and freedom are the best path to take. We hope that you feel the same and are sick of just how invasive and abundant advertising has become. If so and you are ready to join the resistance, if' you're ready to stick the Vs up to the advertisers... then welcome to VersuS!

On a similar note, we may both be girls who game but we are not here to wave the "girl gamer" flag. We believe that by drawing attention to gender you create a barrier that is otherwise irrelevant. In our experience "promoting girl gamers" can often be used as the cover story of big business trying to widen its market whilst still getting some pretty faces in the Magazines, in other words: Free advertising.

It's a natural progression that more and more women are getting into gaming and of course we fully support that.
However, we don't see any need to define ourselves by gender. We're just two people who love games.

In a pre-emptive strike against the endlessly cynical we want to make it perfectly clear that we have a gallery because we are proud of ourselves, what we do, and what we stand for (and obviously to record our exploits.)

On a completely honest level we enjoy posing and messing around with a camera as much as the next person - so hopefully you can relate to that and share the fun in it. It's all about relaxing and letting go, being comfortable and proud in yourself. Enjoying yourself with your friends. Hopefully our site can help promote and share a little of that fun.

Finally, someone gets it.

Personally, I have nothing against the gamers who make up the Frag Dolls, I'm sure they could handily kick my ass in any game in which we played. My problem is with the idea of using these gifted gamers as walking advertisements for a publisher. Worse still is the notion that perhaps, when Ubisoft is doing a casting call for a new Frag Doll, some Ubi-troll may not be as interesting in their gaming skills as they are in the way the future fragger would look in a newspaper article or on the cover of a magazine.

I don't even think this is just a girl gamer thing, It's a gamer thing. I'm sure that there are sponsors out there who look at guy gamers the same way. They don't want some fat, inarticulate slob representing their brand, they want someone pretty. But pro-gaming shouldn't be about beauty or charisma or speaking skills, it should be about ability. Brian Crecente

Ex-Frag Doll Branches Out, Bits Back [GameSetWatch]