Generally technology format wars--from VHS vs. Beta to the current Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD--have been two-front battles that caused people to bitch about the consumer getting screwed. Yet everyone seems cool with a tripartite gaming world because, well, it's always had multiple players.  Back in the day, each machine essentially had its own lineup of games but with production costs soaring, third-party developers have made exclusivity a rare commodity.

Even Grand Theft Auto, which arguably gave Playstation its dominance last cycle, is going multi-system with episode IV and the once PS2-only Guitar Hero II has already migrated over to the Xbox 360 (where the hard drive and Live Arcade have made long-desired life-extending song downloads a reality). Most people can’t afford more than a couple consoles, at most, so these ports are actually quite consumer-friendly (seriously, what‘s the point of owning something as souped-up as a PS3 and not being able to play Oblivion, despite it being out on 360 and PC for a year).

What’s less neighbourly, however, is the trend of giving ports a new name in hopes that people won‘t notice. Prince of Persia: Rival Swords has just come out for the PSP and Wii but fans of the time-rewinding platformer might want to settle down. Despite its name, the game is actually just a repackaged version of the 2005 multiplatform title The Two Thrones (much as the second PoP game, Warrior Within was redubbed Revelations for its non-revelatory PSP port).

Don’t get me wrong, Two Thrones was, and continues to be a fantastic game with a way cool Babylonian theme, gravity-defying action, intuitive controls and a dark-hued time-travel storyline about a good prince and his bad doppleganger.  But like the recent Lumines Plus, which at least had the good sense to not call itself a sequel, Rival Swords’ slight new content--extra chariot races and two-player, plus motion-sensing controls for the Wii and portability for PSP) does not make it a new game.

In fact, the title runs the very real risk of tricking people into buying a game they already own. It’s almost enough to make me turn into my evil twin.