The guys at Sega Nerds have noticed something that may upset some Wii fans. They insist the PSP version of Alien Syndrome looks as good as, if not better than, the Wii one. The Nerds point to cleaner and clearer textures that lead to the improved PSP visuals (though you can use the image above to judge for yourself). Certainly no one thinks of the Wii as a graphical powerhouse, but it should be putting out better graphics than the PSP. So is the Wii's Alien Syndrome graphics a victim of PSP being the primary development platform, an unfinished product, the game engine, an inexperienced developer or something more damning? Either way, the very existence of the Wii means more games for PSP due to several developers' desire for cross-platform releases and in the end, that's all that matters to PSP owners.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Looks like Sega held an event (why wasn't I invited?), showcasing all of their PSP games (and there's a lot). There's been a ton of coverage of their games all over the interwebs. For your reading pleasure, here's an index of where to go:

After Burner: Black Falcon
1UP - "As it turns out, Mad Cow mode is not one of the multiplayer options -- it is the entire competitive multiplayer portion of the game."
1UP Video
IGN - "Mad Cow seems like an okay bit of fun, but we're not sure how much strategy is involved here so it may wind up getting old pretty quickly."
IGN Game Trailers

Alien Syndrome
1UP - "It would be nice to have a solid story that could logically explain why no one except Aileen Harding feels the need to fight this alien infestation. You could call her compulsion a syndrome -- maybe even an Alien Syndrome."
1UP Video
Gamespot - "The camera system looks to be quite intelligent."
Gamespot Video Interview
IGN - "While the game pays homage to the original title with gameplay elements like saving hostages and escaping a level before time runs out, the PSP version has definitely got a number of improved features."
IGN Game Trailer

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
1UP - "If you played the original Crazy Taxi, it should be easy enough to pick up the PSP version. The controls carry over fine, so you'll be racking up fares in no time."
Gamespot - "Our cab seemed to suffer from some oversteer at times, but that's almost certainly still being tweaked."
IGN - "While the game was certainly playable, the unoptimized framerate meant that it was difficult to pull off some of the moves as we had to slow our finger movements down to match the game speed. We're told this won't be a problem in the final release however."

Crush
1UP - "The developers have been taking pains to make this a friendly game. If you should accidentally manage to crush Danny, don't worry, because it won't kill you. It is also impossible to walk off the edge of the world, although a jumping error will send you falling."
1UP Video
Gamespot - "It's a heady concept, and it forced us to think in ways we hadn't considered when we first got our hands on the game, and we think that's a pretty good sign for a puzzle game."
Gamespot Video Interview
IGN - "Crush has a very compulsory feel to it, and the idea that there's actually a story to tell (told Memento style as you regress further and further into your memories) is a nice extra touch."
IGN Game Trailer

Full Auto 2
1UP - "They've tried to cut down on frustrating 90 degree turns and added more super weapons which cause massive damage."
1UP Video
Gamespot - "All of the levels pack a surprising amount of detail to them, and even better, the frame rate held up admirably during our time with the game."
Gamespot Gameplay Video 1
Gamespot Gameplay Video 2
IGN Interview - "The result of this philosophy is Full Auto 2: Battlelines for the PSP was built from the ground up and is not a port of the PS3 version. We knew in order to create a great game we needed to start fresh and create our own take on what Full Auto on the PSP would be like."
IGN Gameplay Videos

Virtua Tennis 3
1UP Video
Gamespot - "For the PSP demo, we cranked up the difficulty to the maximum level and were pleased to find out that it's practically a whole new game. Instead of letting you chase them around the court, the AI opponents will mix up their shots brilliantly, hitting deadly accurate crosscourt shots with ease to turn the tables so you're the running monkey. It's a promising sign that the game will have a good amount of replayability."
IGN - "The PSP analog nub is a little stiff, but it isn't anything we haven't run into before and it seems to work pretty well with the couple of guys we tried it with."
IGN Gameplay Video

IGN has up screens and a trailer for SEGA's upcoming Alien Syndrome. The action-RPG is a continuation of the long dormant Alien Syndrome franchise. It's great to have SEGA bring back some of their old franchises, but the graphics and voice acting seemed below average. Of course the game is early in development and the graphics could improve and the voice actors changed. Even if they stay the same, if the game is fun, that alone will trump the audio and visual short comings. What I want to know is what Alien Syndrome fans think of this new iteration? Are you excited or horrified?

It's no secret that the PSP (as with any system) gets ports of games from other consoles. Most of the ports to PSP logically come from the PlayStation 2. But all that is starting to change. With the PS3 on the rise and the PS2 on the decline, PSP is starting to get ports from some unexpected places.

The DS has many a game that it's shared with the GBA, but recently it seems like more and more GBA games are jumping over to Sony's portable. The most obvious of these are all of the recently announced Final Fantasy projects. From Final Fantasy Tactics to just plain ol' Final Fantasy, these GBA remakes are being remade again for the PSP. But it doesn't just end there, the PSP will also see a port of the GBA RPG title Riviera (which is great for me, since I never played that game).

Of course, while it seems like quite a few PSP games are from GBA land, that isn't the only system sending off titles to PSP's library. Xbox games like Xyanide and Painkiller: Hell Wars are reported to have versions coming out this year for PSP and the DS racer Asphalt Urban GT 2 will be out shortly. Even the PC isn't exempt as fantastic physics platformer Gish has a release date for our system of choice.

The future though seems to be the Wii and PSP connection. While Alien Syndrome is one of the only Wii/PSP games announced so far, the fact that Wii games have to be developed independently from the rest of the home consoles means many developers may be looking to PSP versions as another source of profit. Of course as with any business move, these ports will have to make money if this is to become a serious trend.