After much rumour and speculation, Sony has unveiled the new PSP, It’s actually codenamed NGP and will revolve around five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual (augmented) Reality. It will be compatible with the PlayStation Suite and is backwards-compatible with downloadable PSP games and content from Sony’s PlayStation Store.

The PSP’s replacement has a five-inch, 16 million colour 960×544 OLED touchscreen, twin cameras, twin speakers and a microphone. There are also twin analogue sticks and a ridiculously powerful quad-core processor based on the ARM Cortex A9. Expect four to five hours from the battery.

Games will come on “new media,” not UMD anymore, but we’re unclear on what sort of flash memory is being used. Sony’s rather proud of the fact it’s offering the world’s first dual analog stick combo on a portable device, though we’re more geeked about the quadrupling of pixel count from the original PSP.

Sony’s live event has been graced by demos of some pretty popular games, including Killzone, Resistance, Little Big Planet, and Uncharted — with the latter serving as a demo platform to show off how the NGP’s rear touchpad can be used to more intuitively climb up some vines. That touch panel on the back is the same size and positioned directly under the front OLED touchscreen, which allows for some pretty sophisticated controls when using the two simultaneously. The combination of a touchy front and back is fascinating – Sony talks about it enabling “touch, grab, trace, push and pull hand movements.”

The NGP doesn’t just have that nifty quad-core processor: it’s got a quad-core Imagination Technologies PowerVR graphics processor too. We can summarise its spec in one word: mighty.

Sony promises that the PSP2′s built-in GPS will mean some interesting location-aware games via the PlayStation Network, and an application called Near will let you know if your friends are, you’ve guessed it, near you. The PSP2 also includes a three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer and three-axis electronic compass for handheld-waggling motion-controlled tomfoolery.

The new console’s UI will be called LiveArea, which has a bunch of vertically navigable home screens and built-in social networking through PlayStation Network. You can jump between games and the LiveArea without losing your progress and comment on your buddies’ great feats of mobile gaming.

In closing its presentation, Sony trotted out Hideo Kojima to show off a cutscene from MGS 4 rendered in real time on the NGP. It was pulled directly from the PS3 version of the game and ran at 20fps, which looked very smooth indeed to our liveblogging eyes. Videos and Sony’s full PR are now available below.

Developer(s) : Square Enix 1st Production Department
Publisher(s) : Square Enix
Director(s) : Mitsunori Takahashi
Artist(s) : Tetsuya Nomura
Composer(s) : Takeharu Ishimoto
Series : Final Fantasy
Platform(s) : PlayStation Portable
Release date(s) : JP March 3, 2011; NA March 22, 2011; EU March 25, 2011
Genre(s) : Fighting
Mode(s) : Single-player, multiplayer

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy​ (ディシディア デュオデシム ファイナルファンタジー Dishidia Duodeshimu Fainaru Fantajī,? pronounced “Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy”) is a 2011 fighting game published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable.

Gameplay

Dissidia Duodecim’s gameplay will be similar to the original’s, featuring all of the original gameplay elements, characters and arenas. Fighters will attack to steal Bravery from opponents, which increases their own, as a character lands Bravery attacks. By reducing an opponent’s Bravery below zero, they inflict Break status, preventing the opponent from inflicting Bravery or HP damage until their Bravery regenerates to a base amount, while the one who inflicted break gets a large boost in Bravery from the Map. When an HP attack connects with the opponent, they take damage equal to the attacking player’s Bravery. By collecting EX Force characters can enter EX Mode, boosting their strength, adding exclusive abilities and letting them execute EX Bursts similar to Limit Breaks. New summons, arenas, music tracks and characters will be included.

One of the main new gameplay features is the Assist system, which allows characters to call an ally into battle to attack, allowing new combos to be created by chaining the two characters’ moves in different fashions. The Assist system acts as a counterbalance mechanic to the EX Mode system, as landing an Assist attack can deplete the opponent’s EX gauge. The EX gauge can also be utilized to execute a new technique titled “EX Revenge,” which will slow down the opponent’s movement for several seconds at the cost of consuming the EX gauge without entering EX Mode. Several characters have gained new attacks since the original Dissidia, and several returning moves have had their properties changed.

The extra damage dealt by Wall Rush has been reduced to 25% of the base damage from the original 50%. Chase Sequences are much faster and absorb the EX force around when entering chase or continuing the chase. Critical Hits now do twice the normal damage instead of quintuple.

Another major new addition is the “RPG Mode” for battle. Switching to this from the traditional “Action Mode” aims to turn combat into something more accessible to players of traditional RPGs by taking over movement and providing a persistent lock-on. Players are thus allowed to focus on attacking and defending, allowing newcomers to learn the game’s mechanics in stages. The feature will also feature on-screen suggestions to help players learn the nuances of combat. The game will have a tournament mode where multiple players can battle, and a Watch Mode will be added to allow players who are not participating in current battles to watch them on their PSP. A new battle mode called “Party Battle” allows a sequence of five battles to be fought between two parties of five characters. The characters can be assigned profiles based on the Job System to help them in battle, such as Black Mages receiving a boost to the power of magic attacks.

Save data from the original Dissidia will be able to be transferred to Dissidia 012, such as character levels and as a bonus, the player will receive a special accessory. The storyline of the original Dissidia, adapted to the new story gameplay mechanics, will be playable after the new storyline of Dissidia 012 has been completed. The original Dissidia storyline is in order by which Warrior of Cosmos obtained their crystal first, from Cloud (Easy) to the Warrior of Light (Hard), however, any story can be played in any order.

The mechanics of the battle system include “EX Mode” and “Assist.” EX Mode functions exactly the same as the first game by collecting EX Cores around the battle map to fill up the gauge and transform the character into a more powerful state, which allows players to perform a powerful EX Burst attack should an HP attack land during EX Mode. The Assist system is a new element to the game which allows the player to summon an additional ally into battle to either assist in attacking the enemy or defend from an oncoming attack. It is performed using the Assist Gauge, which is built up by using Bravery Attacks. Both modes are supposed to balance each other, because when an EX Burst is executed, the opponent’s Assist Gauge is reduced to zero.

The three main countering systems are Assist Breaks, EX Breaks and EX Revenge. An Assist Break is performed by attacking the opponent’s Assist character, causing him/her to be unable to call out the Assist character for a brief period; this also passes the opponent’s Bravery points to the character. An EX Break is performed by stopping an opponent’s EX Mode through the use of an Assist attack which forces the opponent out of EX Mode, additionally passing the opponent’s Bravery points to the player. Lastly, EX Revenge occurs when trying to activate EX Mode while being attacked. While in the first game it would simply halt the opponent’s attack, it now slows down time allowing the player to pummel the opponent instead, though it sacrifices the player’s ability to use an EX Burst as it uses up the entire EX Gauge.

Characters

The entire cast of the original Dissidia will be returning, along with some new characters. Returning characters will get a third costume and are expected to have new and tweaked abilities.

Nine new playable characters have been announced, along with one assisting character. Kain Highwind, Cecil Harvey’s childhood friend and rival from Final Fantasy IV;Tifa Lockhart, Cloud Strife’s childhood friend from Final Fantasy VII; Laguna Loire, the man who appears in Squall’s dreams and the secondary protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII; Yuna, Tidus’s love interest, female protagonist of Final Fantasy X; Vaan, a sky pirate and the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII; Lightning, a former soldier and the protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. Kain is described as a specialist in high-speed aerial combat, while Lightning makes use of Final Fantasy XIII’s Paradigm Shift feature in battle, allowing her to switch between the Commando, Ravager, and Medic roles using the PSP’s shoulder buttons. During Square-Enix’s 1st Production Event on January 18, 2011, it was revealed that Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V and Prishe from Final Fantasy XI would be playable. The ill-fated Final Fantasy VII heroine Aerith Gainsborough is available as an assist-only character (i.e. not fully playable in the game) through the purchase of Dissidia 012 Prologus Final Fantasy download. There will be more than a handful of new characters, but not necessarily an equal number of heroes and villains or factions like in the first game.

Silent Hill Origins tells the tale of a solitary truck driver stuck in the terrifying town while making a routine delivery. New gameplay elements, such as a barricade system that lets players block off rooms from enemies, and an enhanced camera system deliver an added sense of isolation and anxiety in this frightening adventure.

Graphic

It looks like Silent Hill Origins will make pretty good use of the PSP‘s graphics and sound. The visuals look to be much closer to the PS2 Silent Hills than the PSOne version, with lots of gray spookiness and blowing curtains in the trailer. And series composer Akira Yamaoka will be on hand to deliver the soundtrack, which should make any fan grin.

Story

Silent Hill: Origins is a prequel to the popular Silent Hill series. It dates before Silent Hill 1 (1999), hence the name and the “0″ with a line through it in the logo suggesting Zero as well as “O”. Silent hill: Origins tells a tate of a truck driver named Travis Grady on a routine delivery who stumbles across the disturbing town of Silent Hill. Not long after his arrival he realises that the locals aren’t quite normal and the town seems to introduce Travis’ memories of his depressing childhood, reminding him at every corner… He must escape Silent Hill and defeat the memories that have troubled him eversince childhood.
Silent Hill: Origins has new elements to its gameplay which previous Silent Hill games did not have. The camera angles have been re-made to fit the PSP which introduce a new level of anxiety and horror. Originally new a “barracade” system has been introduced which lets the player block doorways and such with surrounding objects to bar the enemy’s path, however William Oertel (CLIMAX Studios) has commented on the fact that it would have taken too much time to finish and would postpone the release further and further, so this element of gameplay was taken out of the game. Sources suggest that Silent Hill: Origins may well introduce some new, and previous characters such as Dallia and Alessa Gillespie and Dr. Kaufmann and others from the past games. William Oertel has offically stated that the ending to the game will directly link in to the story of Silent Hill 1. Along with this, as any Silent Hill, comes brand new monsters.

Gameplay

Horror games demand as much respect as Konami‘s Silent Hill, which focuses more on psychological horror and the terror of half-glimpsed style scares of Capcom‘s Resident Evil games. It follows that Silent Hill games have been reluctant to divulge their secrets. After all, if the unknown becomes known, it won’t be quite as frightening anymore. Fans make due with the clues and snippets they can muster, trying to piece together the horrific history of the haunted town.

You will meet a few new pieces to the puzzle, in the form of Silent Hill Origins for the PSP. As the title suggests, it takes place before the first Silent Hill game and will help to establish the backstory of the cult, reveal how Alessa came to be involved, and show how the town evolved into the hellish place we know and fear.

Developer : Konami Climax studio
Publisher: Konami
Music Score: Akira Tamaoka
Genre : Horror
Release Dates :UK: FEB 2007,US: Q1 2007, JP: Q1 2007?

Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Metal Slug by joining the Metal Slug team on 7 separate adventures that span across the life of the franchise in this definitive collection.

Metal Slug Anthology is a video game compilation for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii. For Wii it will have unique controller functionality and online capabilities. It also marks the return of SNK Playmore as a third-party developer for a Nintendo console for the first time since the Super NES era. It is currently in development by Terminal Reality in Lewisville, Texas.

SNK Playmore is putting a lot of thought into what extras to include as unlockables and bonuses. Art and music collections seem a lock, at least. How you’ll go about unlocking these is a mystery, though. SNK is toying with several ideas, such as awarding spendable tokens for various in-game achievements. Done right, that could be kind of fun, so long as the prices aren’t exorbitant and no essential content, such as the games themselves, need to be unlocked.

In contrast, Metal Slug Anthology for the PSP is coming together into a polished-looking product. The game-selection screen is in and looks quite nice, and the first level of each game is fully playable. Based on my limited playtime, the quality of the porting looks fantastically accurate, with the games playing just like I remembered them playing. Of special note are the multiple screen mode options; you can choose from a blurry widescreen, a less noticeably blurry fit-to-vertical, and the original 1:1 pixel mode. The fit-to-vertical makes a nice compromise between detail and screen size, and both it and the original resolution mode look fantastic on the PSP’s sharp screen.

PSP version features Wi-Fi (ad hoc) support for intense 2-player action Arcade perfect port of each title Pick-up-and-play, non-stop action.

Metal Slug Anthology Features:

Seven incredible Metal Slug games on one UMD – Metal Slug 1, Metal Slug 2, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4, Metal Slug 5, Metal Slug 6

Developer : Terminal Reality
Publisher : SNK Playmore
Genre : Action
ESRB : TEEN
PLatform : PSP, PS2, Wii
Release date : PSP AU November 17, 2006 JP December 2006 US December 19, 2006 Wii EN March 30, 2007 US December 14, 2006 PS2 US December 19, 2006

The next-gen edition of Winning Eleven (aka Pro Evolution Soccer). The Xbox 360 boasts significantly improved visuals and animation over the original version while keeping all of the intense action and features for play on the pitch. Player AI has been upgraded, with players working to turn defenders, and defenders themselves now smart enough to back off slightly to prevent such moves.

Evolution Soccer 2007 expands upon the series’ realism with faster gameplay, more responsive control and improved artificial intelligence. Players will now make intelligent runs without the ball, identifying opportunities and pointing to where they would like the ball to be delivered. Similarly, the game is now more physical, with defenders jockeying for position and strikers working to turn their opponent as they receive the ball. The game’s shooting system has also been refined, letting players take more snap shots, while volleys have been updated for more player control.

Players can also enjoy the Beautiful Game in more ways than ever before with new play modes. International Challenge mode lets players compete through four continents of opposition to become a champion, while Random Selection Match lets gamers take the field with a group of players selected at random from a predetermined league or geographic area. The Master League mode returns with more options, allowing players to take complete control of their favorite team and control its destiny for an extended period of time. The game’s roster of teams is also expanded with new, fully-licensed international teams for players to use including Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, as well as additional club teams.

Developer : Konami
Publisher : Konami
Platform : Nintendo DS, Xbox360,PSP,Playstation2
Release date : February 2007
Genre : Sports
ESRB : E