Is NGP still a code name? It’s starting to grow on me, although I’m not willing to bet that Sony won’t officially name their next generation portable device the PSP2. While Microsoft and Nintendo like to name their hardware differently each generation, Sony is all about branding and the PSP is valuable brand.
That said, tons of games are on their way to the NGP and one of them seems to be Magnatron. Originally developed for the PlayStation 3, Sony Computer Entertainment seems to have figured Magnatron was a game just begging for an NGP release.
That’s presumably why a developer from Playerthree Ltd. has Magnatron for the PSP2 in his resume:
I joined Playerthree to head up the development of a new 3D games pipeline which has grown from browser-based games to full titles on PSP2 (Sony sponsored) and iPhone. My first project was creating all the 3D assets and animations for a Coca-Cola sponsored snowboarding game (over a three month period). This was a great opportunity for our team to learn Unity 3D as well as good experience doing realtime character animation.
I have also created a lot of models, textures and animations for augmented reality projects such as creating all the major characters from Doctor Who (BBC). This was a good project for learning the AR pipeline as well as working under large time constraints. I have also created several custom scripts (3dsmax) to improve/speed up our level creation pipeline on games such as Magnatron (for Sony on PSP2).
Sony’s been silent about Magnatron on either the PS3 or NGP, but E3 is literally right around the corner. With the touch screen (and rear facing touch-enabled surface) on the NGP and the six-axis motion support, Magnatron seems like a total no-brainer for the NGP.
It’s also worth mentioning that screenshots for Magnatron are only available in resolutions of 480×272 pixels, the same resolution of PSP gams. This doesn’t necessarily throw the wrench in the NGP possibilities, but it sure makes for a wild development ride for Magnatron and Playerthree.
With Sony’s five-hour presser on the Monday evening before E3, I’m left to assume that journalists will get ahold of the NGP and any game demos available. Thoughts on Magnatron for NGP and the possibility of an E3 confirmation? Drop ’em in the comments.
