SONY PSP Games

• Gran Turismo: One of two racing demos on this set of trailers, this demo was pretty much rivaled only by the other racing demo (and Dynasty Warriors, which looked hot as can be.) Several racetracks struck us as smacking straight out of GT4, with a gorgeous fly-by that has to be seen to be believed, and car models were all quite nice. Quite nice.

• Hot Shots: The PSP version aped the PlayStation 2 edition down to the pixel in some cases. The high-res ball, the expansive 3D courses and the superdeformed Japanese characters (which we're sure to lose in the US release ... sob) all made for good news to golfers.
  
  
• Twisted Metal: It's about time that we've seen a new entry in the twisted Twisted franchise, and this one, while early, promises to deliver. An apparent remake of older games in the franchise, the game boasted sweet TM:B effects and also showcased a few returning characters.
  
  
• Death Jr.: Super-sharp and even more impressive than the GDC demo, the game looks to have progressed. In the quick blip of motion, the realtime lighting really stood out as shadows played across monster bodies and wals. The 'shooter-not-platformer' concept also came across a little better in the quick-moving clip

• Hockey Demo: We'll assume that this is the next (not this year's model, but two years from now from Blue42 ) edition of 989's hockey game series. Unfortunately, in keeping with the unfortunate history of 989 Sports, this was one of the less impressive clips on the system -- we'll just say that it looked super early (which we're sure it was) and didn't have much worth talking about in the player detail.
  
  
• Soccer Demo: Also assumed to be part of the 989 franchise offerings, this game looked much more the part -- amazing player details and fan-filled stadiums popped right off of the screen.
• There are enough developers, both big and small, already sgned up to support the PSP Portable (PSP) so that Sony appear to have one of the top requirements of any successful console - games - met and catered for. As the split between east and west across the 99 announced companies is fairly even, we must hope that Sony bypasses any region encoding. If an enforced separation between the world's two gaming hemispheres continues with the PSP all parties will once again lose out.
  

  Sony PlayStation Portable Games

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Underground 2: Yes, you read right -- if you have seen video of this game, you have just seen the first (and possibly only, if word stays true from Activision) video of THPSS:U2. This one was good news, but also something of an anomaly -- the gameplay, in the blip-second clip, looked a little oddly angled from what we're used to in the series. It's full 3D, with character models and stages straight out of the PS2 editions, but it could well be that Neversoft is playing with angles in the game to make more impact and availability for skate lines. Or, more likely, our tired state sent our eyesight spinning for a second. It did feature some VERY strange vehicles -- grinding on a a Segway motorscooter is going to be an experience.
  
  
• Ridge Racer: If anything can put the "Ridged Racer" jests of the early PS2 days to rest, we'd like to hope that this could be one of the games to shut people up. Between this and Gran Turismo, the handheld has racers covered -- GT4 was far superior and more obviously complete, but there was some sharp detail in the car models plus a few nice effects. Oh, and Reiko showed up. Sweet, sweet Reiko.

  PSP USA Games & Import Jap Games

• Untitled RPG : It looked an awful lot like Capcom's Breath of Fire , but new word has it that this game was actually an original RPG with turn-based battle scenes that featured wyvern enemies very similar to BOF .
  
  
• Darkstalkers: If anything could bring a smile to the lips of hardcore gamers, images of at least three (if not four ... it was tough to tell if the other RPG pic was not also Breath of Fire) games in glorious 2D. We're not entirely sure where this pulls out of the franchise (likely the Dreamcast combo edition), but no Street Fighter characters were shown, so we'll guess that this is all Darkstalkers. Not that we're complaining -- the PSP looks to take 2D and spin it wild, so we're quite happy (and hopeful ... hear us, SCEA) for the prospects of 2D on the handheld.
  
  
• Bust A Move: Not Bust-A-Groove, unfortunately (we're tired of dancing at home -- it's time to take our boogie on the road!), this edition of the Taito puzzler was a bit strange -- the game was never shown with just one 'screen' across, and always upside down or in a spinning transition. Our guess: this could be a two-player iteration of the game where players share opposite sides of the handheld.
  
  
• Armored Core Another great demo of detail, this edition of From Soft's mech battler was stunning and true to the PS2 editions of late. Fast-action with a bliustering framerate and with mechs detailed to the nuts and bolts, we're just now imagining the networked possibilities of this game...
  
  
• Dynasty Warriors: One of the games to really send home the detailing power of the PSP, Dynasty Warriors for PSP boasted character models that, if our bloodshot eyes can be trusted, may have bested the PS2 edition. If not, they certainly were detailed enough to make an immense impression on the 4" screen. We were not able to see if this powerful pocket system would be able to deal better with the fog distance than its big brother, but this series has always been a blast, and a handheld version means all the more button-mashing goodness.
  
  
• Untitled Action Horror FPS: We have no idea what this game was, but if there was a killer app in the PSP trailer besides Gran Turismo and a new Metal Gear, this could be it. No title was given, but the effects shot out when a ship landed and the ragdoll physics of dying enemies tossed by explosions, this handheld game easily rivaled Nintendo's Gamecube wonder, Metroid Prime (actually, it even featured the ability to transform into a ball ... we smell a conspiracy, but so far, we still like the smell of things.)
  
  
• Second Third-Person Action Game: It looked like his was the same game as the Metroid Prime clone, but new word goes that
  this is in fact its own title starring a quite-nice golden female mech character. She slices, she dices ... and we don't know her name. Call us...
  
• Frogger: Konami dazzled with its MGS demo, so we'll just gloss over this conversion of the console version of Frogger. Not that Frogger is the type of game would have caught our eye even if it had been dazzling.
  
  
• Pool Game/Demo We couldn't tell if this was meant to be a realtime demo or an actual game, although it looked to be that there was a playable goal to the demo, so we'll guess game. Incredibly rendered 3D balls, shining and shadowing each other, are batted around inside a small box.
  
  
• Ape Escape: When estimates put the power of the PSP somewhere the PS2 and the PS one, all kinds of ideas as far as how deep Sony would dip into its archives were raised. This game demo falls into the PS one category -- although elements were rendered in higher detail and with an apparent cel shading effect, this looked to be an exact remake of the first PlayStation game.
  
  
• Medievil: Another remake, this edition of Studio Cambridge's goofy horror platformer struck us as remake material, like Ape Escape. That's not a bad thing, but Ghosthunter left us longing for the classic series, and the PSP would have been a good place for a third chapter.
  
  
• F1 DS ROMs: They always show an F1 game as part of a visual demo, and we can never tell why -- they all look the same, and they almost all look nice (that low-to-the-road view and short car model have made for pretty pics since the PlayStation.) This is assumed to be the next iteration from SCE Europe's franchise.
  
  
• ATV Off-Road Fury: After seeing ATV Off-Road Fury on PS2, this was a welcome compliment. We're going to assume that it's being developed by Climax (who had earlier announced plans for PSP development), and though which edition of the series this was to be was not displayed at the show, we'll guess that ATV3 and thus one of the few dual-system games planned for PS2.
  
• Syphon Filter: Some thought Gabe and crew would be retired with Syphon Filter: Omega Strain (releasing next week), but not many really believe that the franchise would drop out as well. It hasn't, and its next immediate stop is the PlayStation Portable system. Headshots in dark environments were the highlight of the clip.
  
  
• Spider-Man: It wasn't in the same league as the upcoming console edition -- character models and environment details were not as well rendered as the PS2 game (or the previous PS2 edition, if we have to make a call from memory,) and the gameplay didn't seem to indicate the go-anywhere GTA gameplay of Spider-Man 2 (it would have featured prominently in the clip if it had.) But trust your Spidey Senses -- this game still boasted the incredible fighting mechanics and web-slinging powers of the series, and the short clip looked quite fun all the same.
  
  
• Wipeout: Another in-betweener, this edition of the Wipeout franchise boasted a lot of boost in its liquid framerate and sense of speed. In the blur of the games show, we kind of lost track of this one, but upon further inspection, the stage modeling looks to easily be on par with Wipeout Fusion.