[1/6] CES 2005: Secret Compartments!

楚盈儿

January 5, 2005 - Much like the surprise curtain raising back when the PlayStation 2 was first available in playable form many E3s back, the PlayStation Portable was debuted today in playable form in a unique way that delivered literally dozens of running PlayStation Portables right into the hands of today's US debut announcement.


As SCEA CEO Kaz Hirai finished up with lengthy demos of the PSP's music, movie and photo modes, the segment was left unexpectedly short when Kaz invited the crowd to play rather than listen to more speech. Out of secret compartments - secret compartments, like a freaking Bond film! - from the chairs all around the room popped playable versions of several PSP games. Curtains were also raised to show off more PSPs and playable games.


All of the games were UMD demos - unlike the Tokyo unveiling, SCEA actually pressed the games to UMD for demonstration purposes, with each playable on Japanese PSPs (no US systems were present at the event - the demo units were the exact same as the ones importers currently own from Japan.) These were the first builds playable on PSP for the vast majority of these games - Japanese developers have been using more complete debug units and have even been able to submit code to SCE in Japan for play, but American and European developers have not been able to see their games running on a PSP (or play the games on a PSP - each game was slightly out of whack because most gameplay tuning has been done with debug controllers that do not feature the PSP's analog nub.) The demo is a chance for CES showgoers to see PSP games running as they should, but it's also afforded developers an extra benefit - many are requesting their CES build on UMD to take it back to the office and tweak their game before the more advanced tools are available to the launch teams.

The following is a run-down of the playable games at the event.


ATV Off-Road Fury
(SCEA / Climax)
Twisted Metal: Head-On
(SCEA / Incog)
Spider-Man 2
(Activision / Vicarious Visions)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour
(EA / EA Team Fusion)
Coded Arms
(Konami)
Ape Escape P [the platforming edition]
(SCEA / SCE Japan)
Need For Speed Underground Rivals
(EA / EA Team Fusion)
NFL Street 2
(EA / EA Tiburon)
Metal Gear Acid
(Konami / KCET)
Darkstalkers Chronicle
(Capcom)
Dynasty Warriors
(Koei / Omega Force)
Ridge Racers
(Namco)
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
(Sony Online Entertainment)
WipEout Pure
(SCEA / SCE Europe)
NBA 05
(SCEA / 989 Sports)
Hot Shots Golf
(SCEA / SCE Japan)
Mercury
(Ignition Entertainment)
Various Music / Video UMD samplers
(Sony, Dreamworks, 20th Century Fox)

We were able to puts hands-on time with all of these games at the event in the time that the after-party play session ran, and will be updating throughout the day with impressions of the PSP games shown so far. Sony's secrets aren't safe with us…