When it was a cell phone game, no one knew what it was about. Then it became a PSP game, and still no one knew any details about it. Finally, the project director of The 3rd Birthday, Hajime Tabata, has revealed some facts about the third game in the Parasite Eve franchise. Square is cooperating with another development studio on the game, but he refuses to divulge which studio.

Unlike its predecessors, The 3rd Birthday will be a "true third person shooter," but Tabata notes that it will not the same as Dirge (thank you!) of Cerberus: FFVII. Some sort of wireless gameplay may be implemented, but it was not specified whether it will be infrastructure or ad-hoc.

The game's scenario and design are currently almost complete. Our curvy heroine Aya Brea will utilize an ability called overdrive that allows her to "cross time." This power lets her to fight and eliminate the Twisted, who are the new antagonists of the game. No release date is set, but it sounds like we'll see the game over in Japan some time next year.

We knew software support for the PSP was relatively dire but this chart says it all. According to Siliconera, who've compiled a comprehensive analysis of publisher support, 2006 was the peak while 2007 saw a huge decline. The top six contributing publishers to the PSP's software library have all taken a considerable dip in scheduled titles, but Siliconera also points out that 2008 is actually starting to curve upward.

Does that mean we're on the cusps of a healthy and steady recovery? Possibly, as games like Dissidia: Final Fantasy and LocoRoco 2 are on the way this year, and future titles like Resistance: Retribution and The 3rd Birthday are also on the way. The report is a very good read; we suggest you check out the whole thing at Siliconera for an in-depth look.

We were all a little disappointed to hear that a title like Parasite Eve: The 3rd Birthday was being made for mobile phones way back when it was first announced. The third game in one of the best and most original series Squaresoft ever made (well okay Parasite Eve 2 was admittedly horrible) should not have been brought to such a non-traditional gaming machine. And even though it has taken Square Enix a very long time to finally realize this, the company is actually waking up and doing something about it.

News coming from the Square Enix party unveiled that the game will be heading to the PSP. It is currently unknown if the game is still in development for mobile phones or whether that's been scrapped in place of full-on PSP development. What is known, however, is that the title is scheduled for a 2009 release in Japan. A stateside release is still up in the air, but the fact that it's a PSP game now makes chances much better.