Like the annoying party guest who takes a big, slobbering bite of celery before submerging it back in the bowl of dip, Sony seems to be getting greedy with its game releases. Not content with the massively successful sales numbers for hit titles Daxter and Wipeout Pulse on the PSP, the company announced to a French gaming website that it will be releasing the games once more on the PS2 for those who missed the handheld versions. The games will reportedly be hitting the home platform as early as this summer.

As PSP fanatics, we are unhappy with this policy for two reasons. First, it sends a message to potential PSP owners that they can hold off on buying the great handheld system, since most high-profile games like Liberty City Stories and Silent Hill Origins will eventually make it to their PS2 loading trays, often with better controls and graphics. There are more than 100 million PS2 consoles in living rooms around the world, and the availability of the core PSP library on that system must have a depressing effect on portable hardware sales. Secondly, gamers who already own a PSP system might be more likely to hold off on buying new software for the machine, worried (with justification) that the game they want may be released with noticeable improvements within a few short months.

We imagine many of you probably have strong feelings about this, so feel free to register them in the comments below. As PSP owners, how do you feel about the system’s best games being ported to the home console? As potential PS2 owners, are you happy about these additions to the already massive catalogue?

Thanks: [Jeuxvideo]

Sorry male gamers, but we don’t mean “hot” in the Jade Raymond sense. The programmers we pay homage to below come from companies large and small (some are completely independent), but they all have one thing in common. Each of the teams featured here have taken on the challenge of bringing exciting entertainment content to the iPhone/iPod Touch. Given the amount of buzz that was created by the public release of the Apple SDK last month, we decided to showcase some of the lesser-known developers who have shown their commitment to the iPhone by announcing games using these new software development tools. Anyone with an Apple PC, and iPhone (or iPod Touch) and $100 can sign up to develop and release applications and games on the iPhone Application Store, which will open its virtual doors in June. Some of these projects are still in the early beta or prototype phase, but what we have seen so far leaves us impatient for more. Make no mistake, these indie programmers are hot!

What? Off-road Velociraptor Safari / Unity Engine
Who? Flashbang Studios / Unity Technologies

In what might possibly be the most fun to be had online, the designers of Off-road Velociraptor Safari brag that their game gives players the chance to “Hit Raptors” and pull off “Sick Stunts” while driving around in a presumably dystopian dino-ridden landscape of death. Perhaps the nicest thing about the game is its vivid 3D graphical polish, provided by the use of the Unity 3D engine. The developers of this middleware have promised that they are bringing their powerful 3D authoring tools over to the iPhone, and there is no reason why Flashbang Studios won’t follow there with Raptor Safari and their upcoming game, Jetpack Brontosaurus, as well

What? Multi-player Quake 3
Who? A collaboration of awesome hackers

We have already reported on this working demo of Quake 3 multiplayer that HermitWorks bodged together using code from an earlier project by icculus, and you can follow this link to our earlier story to view a video of the ensuing one-handed deathmatch in action. Of course, there is little chance that Apple or whoever currently owns the rights to the Quake franchise will allow an official release, but the fact that these guys got multiplayer FPS working so flawlessly opens the door to all kinds of amazing possibilities in the FPS genre.

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As our loyal readers know, every month here at PVG we keep a running list of the most promising upcoming games on both the PSP and DS. For the first time this month, the unexpected happened: there are absolutely no upcoming games worth getting excited about for the PSP in April. For the record, fanatical PSP owners in North America have a poker sim and a somewhat promising arcade compilation from SNK to look forward to this month (but nothing else!). Granted, the release of blockbuster games God of War and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core last month may help to explain the drought, as publishers are unwilling to go up against — or fall under the shadow of — those two monolithic franchises. However, looking down the pipeline, there are a few potential surprises, but otherwise very little to get genuinely excited about. So, what does this current situation mean? Are we simply in the midst of mid-life doldrums, or does this actually signify the beginning of the end for Sony’s impressive handheld? Instead of the usual rundown of hotly-anticipated games, we have compiled a list of signs that we may be entering the twilight years of the PSP’s existence.

A lack of highly-anticipated games

What PSP games are you most looking forward to as we slowly approach the 2008 holiday season? If you find yourself scratching your head with difficulty trying to come up with a single title, you can understand why this is worrying. Some of our favorite games around the office happen to be the kind of under-appreciated gems that continue to populate the PSP catalogue, so there will be plenty of titles for us to play (and review) this coming year. However, it is less certain whether Joe gamer is as excited as we are about upcoming cult hits like R-Type Command from Atlus, or Atari’s quirky ninja platformer, N+.

Murmurs of a hardware revision/update

There have been unsubstantiated but steady rumors that Sony is considering the release of a new hardware revision, a Sony-Ericsson branded gaming phone, or an entirely brand new handheld. We are not sure what improvements Sony might make in order to breathe new life into the current PSP platform (it already has GPS, for goodness sake) but certainly the prospect of a PSP 2 might make developers reluctant to pour resources into a costly PSP title. If Sony has something new in the works that they are not telling us about, it would help to explain the reaction of developers such as Ready at Dawn, who recently stated that they will not be working on another PSP game any time soon.

Touching is good

Nintendo has a winner on its hands with the DS, and their handheld has handily won in every possible category during the current round of portable console wars. That said, Nintendo’s success in no way diminishes the very real gains made by Sony in the handheld gaming market, which have been significant (it is estimated that Sony has sold 32 million PSP systems worldwide, to Nintendo’s 68 million). With the addition of a third contender, Apple, the field is now dominated by machines that make touch input the primary interface for playing games. That means that important third-party developers are more likely to invest in touch-screen gameplay mechanics for future titles, leaving Sony’s current console out in the cold as we move toward a touchy-feely world.

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An Internet-sleuthing PSP fanboy has found evidence of a possible upcoming revision to the PSP, however we don’t know much about Sony’s plans to update their handheld hardware at the current time. In fact, there is some speculation that the “discovery” of the PSP 3000 label in an online user manual represents nothing more than a miscommunication between Sony and a third-party web developer. So far, the only scrap of evidence, is a tiny GIF image found buried within Sony’s online technical documentation. Nevertheless, the potential existence - no matter how unlikely - of a new PSP revision, has us quite intrigued.

We have already outlined some of our own ideas about improvements we would like to see in a future PSP model, but we are curious to hear what our readers think. Is it too soon to consider yet another PSP revision?

In a welcome announcement, developers Vicarious Visions today publicly revealed that they are indeed working on a handheld version of the uber-popular Guitar Hero franchise for the Nintendo DS. We already knew that such a thing was in the works, yet we had no official word on gameplay or touch screen use. Surprisingly, the company has gone a step further, and will be including a wicked hardware add-on with fret buttons that they are calling the “Guitar Grip” (check out a prototype shot below the jump). The game will be played in portrait orientation, with the DS on its side like that electonic book from Inspector Gadget (this is also the control scheme favored by the Ninja Gaiden devs).

In an exclusive interview with IGN, company president Karthik Bala said that Vicarious Visions has put a lot of thought into the development of this handheld title:

“We began prototyping ideas for Guitar Hero on DS in early 2007. We quite frankly didn’t know whether it would be possible to bring the core essence of the franchise to handheld and have it actually work. It was 20-something gameplay prototypes that were built, all trying different mechanics and uses of the hardware. Some were pretty cool, others were total disasters!”

Perhaps the most impartant news to come out of the interview for fans of the game is that the DS version will keep both cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes intact. These will both use local wireless connection and allow two players to connect in the same room. There is no official tracklist yet, but the company says that we can expect about 20 songs in total when the game ships “later this year”.

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Even though we did kinda see it coming, Apple still managed to surprise just about everyone last week with the announcement that they are serious about bringing commercial games to the iPhone/Touch platform. They even had third party companies on hand to show off working demos for Spore and Super Monkey Ball on-stage at their iPhone Software Development Kit event. Despite the impressive showing, a number of questions remain unanswered — how well will iPhone games stack up against offerings for dedicated systems like th eDS and PSP? How will they control? No ‘A’ or ‘B’ buttons? Come on, you can’t be serious? While those questions will likely remain unanswered until we get some actual play time under our belts, here is everything we do know so far about Apple’s ambitious plans to bring gaming to the iPhone:

Graphics / Hardware:

Controls:

Connectivity:

Third Party Support:

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We recently had a chance to sit down with a borrowed Nokia N81 phone and try out some new titles for the as-yet-unreleased N-gage platform. In our brief time with the system, we were able to preview three different games: Block Breaker, a pretty-looking Arkanoid clone, System Rush Evolution, an arcade racer resembling Stun Runner, which will be familiar to fans of the original N-gage system and Space Impact, an episodic twitch shooter with great production values and graphics.

As previously revealed, the N-Gage platform is going to be functional across the full range of Nokia’s high-end phones, and will feature an integrated menu system to purchase, select, and play games for the phone. From our experiences, the N-gage system loaded seamlessly from the main N81 menu, taking about 3-4 seconds to initialize. There, we were able to access the games and demos that were previously loaded into the phone through a slick-looking menu interface (pictured below). With its various services and features, the N-Gage menu is somewhat analogous to a mini version of Xbox Live. The care and attention to detail that Nokia has put into this suggests that at the very least, the new N-Gage platform will raise the bar for integrated mobile game distribution and multiplayer connectivity.

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Chances are, if you’ve been on the internet or watching the news at all in the last few days you’ve learned about the inevitable unfortunate demise of Toshiba’s HD-DVD high definition media format. While the news may come as a shock (or a relief) to many, it raises the question of just how the newly-presumed standard high definition media format (Blu-Ray) will effect our beloved gaming industry? We’ve already seen it effect the console side of things, with Microsoft investing in an HD-DVD add-on peripheral and Sony implementing a full Blu-Ray player into their Playstation 3, but is it possible that we could see Blu-Ray; or something similar, on our next-generation portables?

For the time being, it seems unlikely, but not by any means impossible. Sony has already made the step to discs using their own UMD format (which didn’t work out so well for them in the end, but that’s besides the point), and it’s only a matter of time before Nintendo realizes that they need to make the jump from cartridges to discs. But when the time comes for them to do so, are they going to pick a UMD-like format? It’s highly unlikely that Nintendo would make their own format like Sony has (but again, not impossible… Gamecube, anyone?), but a condensed form of Blu-Ray on a portable would sure sound lovely. Imagine your Nintendo DS or PlaystationPortable games in high definition? It makes your mouth (or eyes?) water, doesn’t it? The fact of the matter is, with high definition TV sales constantly rising and the popularity of Blu-Ray disc on the rise, patience is the only thing standing in the way from technology progressing to a point where we’ll see high definition and a high definition format on our portables.

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With all of the megaton games arriving for the PSP in March, we just couldn’t wait to get this list of upcoming titles on the front page. During the coming weeks some major hitters are coming out for the PSP, as well as some not-so-major hitters. Anyone with a PSP will already know about Crisis Core and God of War, but all of the titles coming out next month hold some promise. Kris is particularly excited to try out N+, the quirky ninja simulator from Atari, while I have dibs on the review of Crisis Core, which you can expect immediately upon release of the game. Continue below to get the skinny on these titles and make note of their release dates. We generally aren’t the type to recommend pre-ordering games, but true PSP fanatics might want to consider it next month.

World Championship Cards — February 26th: This game is going to feature 30 different card games. If you are one of those that has to stay away from those addicting poker handhelds you might want to shy away from this one for your own health.

God of War: Chains of Olympus — March 4th: We did a review of the demo for this game last month and needless to say, the brand is in very capable hands with Ready At Dawn studios. This is looking like a must have for any PSP owner.

FlatOut: Head On — March 11th: A racing game that promises real world physics and the “most destructive” racing game on the PSP. Not a whole lot of gamer buzz on this one but hey, this could be the racing simulator you’ve been looking for with wi-fi racing action and three different gameplay modes.

Wild Arms: XF — March 11th: The sixth entry into the Wild Arms franchise, this RPG is going to take place on the same planet as all the others. My guess is that this will contain many of the same plot developments and recycled RPG drama from the other 5, but if you are a Wild Arms fan it’d probably be a crime to disregard this one.

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core — March 25th: The prequel to the if you haven’t heard of it you’re not of this world game Final Fantasy VII. This game has gotten amazing reviews already in Japan and promises the best graphics on PSP to date, in other crisis core news, make sure to check out the new American website to make your mouth water that much more.

N+ — March 25th A simple puzzle game that sets you as a Ninja who really has a thing for gold, this 2D puzzler has you avoiding crazy robots and playing through 50 levels designed by gamers who loved the original. If you like Ninjas (and who doesn’t) you might want to take this one for a spin!

Among the accumulated pool of dead handhelds over the years has come the addition of the Gizmondo, arguably one of the worst gaming handhelds to ever release (despite its impressive listing of features and capabilities). After being mocked amongst the likes of the Tapwave and even the N-Gage, the Gizmondo released to poor reviews and horrendous sales in 2005. After all, who would want a portable with a launch title called “Sticky Balls“? Needless to say, the handheld died off by 2006, as the company that produced it moved into bankruptcy.

Then, late last year, a website appeared claiming that the Gizmondo would be resurrected in 2008. Carl Freer (Chairman of Gizmondo) later confirmed the article to be true, and hoped for a launch of the platform in early or mid 2008. Unfortunately, his optimism and high hopes were for nothing, seeing as Gizmondo has recently been delayed to the very end of the year (Darn! How sad!). Strangely enough, no one has even seen the new Gizmondo or any of its games (if it has any at all for that matter), so all of this is beyond farfetched at this point.

If the handheld does launch later this year, expect more news and coverage on this dreadful wonderful new portable. From the looks of things lately, Nintendo and Sony may be getting more competition than they initially expected in the market. After all, one market can never be too crowded.

[Thanks: Gamespot]