PSP will get a boost in 2009 with versions of LittleBigPlanet, Rock Band, and Hannah Montana, Sony said Tuesday.
Not to be outdone by Nintendo's launch of DSi, Sony chose today to spill the beans on several upcoming titles, hoping to reenergize its flagging portable game console. It also announced two new $200 hardware bundles that will ship this year, including pink Hannah Montana hardware that's aimed at introducing the PSP to the young girl market.
Here's the whole rundown:
- Hannah Montana PSP Entertainment Pack: Launching in July, this $200 bundle will include the upcoming PSP game based on the superpopular Disney franchise, a pink PSP, a UMD with episodes of the show, a 2 GB Memory Stick, and -- wait for it -- stickers to put on the PSP.
- Assassin's Creed PSP Entertainment Pack: An original, exclusive installment of the series will come to PSP in 2009. This bundle will include that game, a black PSP, and more goodies to be announced later.
- Ubisoft will bring several games in its Petz series to PSP this year, concurrent with Sony's efforts to push PSP towards tween girls.
- Harmonix will launch Rock Band Unplugged for PSP in 2009. No details on the gameplay, but it'll have an in-game music store.
- *Madden *and Tiger Woods PGA Tour will both come to PSP again this year, as will other EA Sports titles.
- Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix this summer.
- Motorstorm: Arctic Edge and LittleBigPlanet, based on the PlayStation 3 games, will arrive this fall.
Fun With Language Time: In the press release, Sony refers to the announcement of a small handful of third-party games as "unprecedented publisher support." Really? There is no precedent for this?
__WTF Time: __How the hell is Rock Band going to play on PSP? Some internet rumors seem to be suggesting that it'll be like a spiritual successor to Harmonix's Frequency and Amplitude for PlayStation 2. That might be interesting.
__Sobering Reality Time: __In the absence of a price cut, not even LittleBigPlanet can turn things around for PSP. And with $200 bundles scheduled for this summer, it doesn't seem like a price cut is coming any time soon. The most impactful announcement in this list is, like it or not, the pink version with Hannah Montana.
Image courtesy Sony
