Although there had been a flurry of PSP information cascading from Sony at E3, the initial excitement was largely related to the technical potential of the console. With only vague software rosters offered by publishers, and non-playable demos on show, it has been very much a case of ‘look but don’t touch’.
Sony has now confirmed that there will be playable PSP products presented to the public at the Tokyo Game Show at the end of September. This will give sweaty-handed consumers the chance to grope and prod at the finished article in advance of the portable’s official Japanese release this Christmas.
In terms of software, it’s expected that Metal Gear Acid, Zone Of Enders and Death Jr. will all make an appearance in a guise close to their finished form. This ought to give gamers their first chance to assess the quality of the PSP, which will in turn inform their appreciation (or lack of) of Nintendo’s DS system, which will also surely need to be in a similarly playable form by that stage.