SONY PSP & PSV Emulators
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.
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.
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.
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 Download: 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.
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