SONY PSP 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: 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...