14 DAY TRIAL // Handheld gaming is slowly becoming a very big and profitable market, largely due to the two main products, the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. The two consoles target two very different types of gamers though, as the DS aims for the casual user, while the PSP offers great action-filled titles to hardcore users who are away from their fully-fledged consoles.
But sadly, despite having recently hit the 50 million unit mark, the PSP hasn't been doing so well in terms of sales or popularity, largely due to the fact that game developers aren't targeting it with their creations. Now, as Sony promised, things will change, as the company has just announced that two of its most profitable franchises that have appeared on the PlayStation 3 will make their way onto its smaller brother, the PSP.
The two franchises are LittleBigPlanet, the popular platformer that made a lot of users explore their creativity by making new levels and sharing them with friends, and MotorStorm, the off-road racer that has already seen two iterations on the PlayStation 3. The two titles will arrive in 2009 and will mark “the biggest year for PSP to date,” according to Sony.
“There are a lot of big claims in the gaming industry but we’re confident when we say that 2009 is going to be an exciting year for PSP,” said Mark Hardy, European marketing director, SCEE. “Our fans have demanded big PSP titles and this year, we’re going to deliver again and again. With Resistance: Retribution, already on its way to stores, PSP gamers are going to get one big franchise after another.”
Finally, plenty of PSP gamers will get a chance to actually play some very interesting titles on their console, as a lot of people have said recently that the other functions of the device, such as a Wi-Fi browser or music player, were used more than the actual gaming services. Look forward to some other big announcements soon.